Gibbs' phone rung, just for a second, he stared at it before answering it. He held it away from his ear as he immediately recognized the sound of gunfire on the other end. The sound of Ziva's loud voice could be heard over the shooting.
"Gibbs," she screamed into the phone.
Gibbs stood up and Tony watched him. "What's going on?" Gibbs asked. "Where are you and McGee?"
Tony's attention was fully on Gibbs as he listened intently on the phone. That didn't sound good and the blue eyes narrowed. Tony quickly stood to his feet. "You have to stay here DiNozzo," Gibbs pointed to the living room. "Can I trust you on that?"
"They're in trouble? That Ziva and Tim McGee?" Tony asked referring to the two people he'd met in the bullpen.
"Stay here," Gibbs ordered him.
Tony figured that he could spend all day arguing the whys of the order but there was a tone in the older man's voice that meant serious business. "Alright, just make sure they're alright," Tony said. That was something he hadn't needed to tell Gibbs but he knew that they were out somewhere helping him out.
Building Site
Screeching tires interrupted the firing. "Helps here," there was relief evident in her voice as she watched the car pull up and the familiar faces of Agent Conners and Wilson ran to their direction under a hail of bullets, blindly firing in the direction of the building. Fortunately they had brought with them the extra ammo that was surely needed.
"We're the cavalry," Conners handed over a couple of clips.
"Thank you," Ziva said, reloading her sig.
"Are you alright?" Conners examined the side of her face which had some red spots.
"It is nothing," Ziva responded. Each time her mouth moved which in turn moved the cheek, she could feel the tiny bits of glass irritating her. "I am fine," Their attention was now onto getting from the car to the building and getting the suspects into custody. McGee managed to steal a look above the bonnet of the car. The firing seemed to have died down now that all of them were hiding behind the car. "Agent Conners," Ziva called out.
But it was too late, she was already madly scampering past the firing line and stood safely against the wall before looking towards the door. McGee, Ziva and Wilson provided distracting fire. Ziva was about to call out when she ran inside which left Ziva and McGee no choice but to unsafely follow Conners inside and left the others to provide the necessary cover fire to keep the other two safe. They had to occasionally duck back behind the protection of the car anytime a bullet came too close for comfort. Another car skidded to a halt extremely close to them but the shooting had suddenly ceased.
"Hey Boss," McGee exclaimed. "You missed it,"
"Where's Ziva?" Gibbs asked as he looked around and saw that Agent Wilson was looking at the building still and just then, stood to his feet. "And Agent Conners?"
"We answered the call," Agent Wilson answered. "and we helped them out and Mel went inside and we provided cover fire and then Ziva went in, you came in, the firing stopped and now... No, that's pretty much it," he gave the rundown of the situation without taking a breath.
Gibbs noted the signs of an adrenaline overdose, he'd seen it plenty of times before, therefore doubted if he could get anything out of the young agent. "They went in not long ago," McGee said. "Since then, the shooting had stopped."
"What are you doing out here?" Gibbs asked.
"We found some stuff off an abandoned car that matched the make and model of a van that was hanging around the time Tony allegedly handed over the files," McGee kept reminding himself to use the word allegedly. "It had material that coincided with a building site and came here to start eliminating them and when we arrived we were fired at," McGee explained the situation. "We thought about calling you earlier you were somewhat preoccupied."
"Stop them!" Ziva's voice called out as her sudden cries interrupted the explanations.
Agent Wilson was the first one to react and sprinted to head off the escapee's escape. He'd just manage to tackle to grab hold of him before they both went rolling over the ground. He felt and elbow dig into the ribcage as they hit the ground and wrestled somewhat until Gibbs managed to pull them apart.
Wilson got to his feet slowly. "Where's Melanie?" He asked, his tone full of concern for his partner.
"She went chasing after Ashley Williams," Ziva told him. "A couple of them escaped out of the back way," she pointed towards the building. Gibbs called in Ducky and Palmer over to the site to take the bodies that were inside since Ziva had told him about a couple of people that they had shot.
Wilson went to run in the direction of the building to offer his assistance to the partner but half way there when he couldn't take a deep breath in without wincing in pain.
"Agent Wilson," Gibbs' eagle eye noted the discomfort, even looking at him from behind.
"Ye-ah," Wilson said slowly.
"Are you ok?" Gibbs asked. There was definitely something wrong with him.
"I just have to," Wilson began to say but had to stop.
"Sit in the car," Gibbs ordered him.
Wilson wanted to argue but knew that it was hopeless to argue with the Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He sat down in the car. "What if she gets into trouble," he said.
"Ziva? McGee?" Gibbs asked. "Which one of you are in charge?"
"You are," McGee looked in Gibbs' direction.
"You two have taken the case in your hands," Gibbs responded. "So..."
They hadn't really discussed who was in charge but McGee had felt that Ziva had naturally assumed command. "Ziva is," McGee said.
Gibbs looked in her direction. "That is true I guess," she said.
"So what's the order?" Gibbs asked. There hadn't been too many times where he had allowed anyone else to be in charge. Perhaps that was the best call given the circumstances.
"You stay here with Agent Wilson," Ziva said. "McGee and I will go assist Agent Conners," she hung about a bit to receive confirmation or maybe correction.
"Ok," Gibbs replied and Ziva went sprinting off towards the back of the building.
"I should go with them," Wilson winced as a firm hand kept him from moving.
"Open your shirt," Gibbs ordered. He suspected the injury to be a rib related due to the pain he displayed each time he breathed in.
"Are you a doctor?" Wilson asked. Gibbs shook his head with the answer. "I'd rather be examined by someone who is trained," he told him. He had a thing about people examining him that wasn't either a doctor or his fiancee.
McGee, Ziva and Conners returned empty handed. "I lost sight of him," Conners shrugged her shoulders looking really pissed. "I had him, but he lost me somewhere," she said.
"I could just take a look," Gibbs said to Wilson again after awhile but was interrupted by a couple of NCIS vans rolling to a gentle stop on the building site. "Hi Duck," Gibbs said. "I need you to check Agent Wilson out," he told Ducky.
"Unbutton your shirt young man," Ducky said as the others went to gather the bodies.
"Shouldn't you get the bodies first," Wilson said, feeling a little lightheaded as he tried not to breathe in too deeply too often.
"The others are taking care of them and I'm sure they wouldn't mind waiting in line," Ducky said. When Wilson finally opened his shirt he carefully placed his gloved hands over the ribcage. He could tell by the painful breathing that the problem more than likely was there. "Does it hurt there?" Ducky asked. Wilson's body flinched and he hissed which answered the question better than any words could. "Ah, right." Ducky muttered. "My diagnosis is that you have a broken rib... I'd like you to go to Bethesda to get it confirmed," he told him.
"Oh great," Wilson whispered. He knew there wasn't much that could be done with a broken rib really. Even though he hated the thought of taking a trip to the hospital, he knew the wrath from his fiancee, Caroline would be hell if he didn't see a doctor over this.
"How's Anthony?" Ducky asked as he watched Conners lead Wilson to the car.
"He's at my house till court," Gibbs answered him. "But he's still confused and scared but he seems to be getting some things back. He did remember his favorite pizza, but not that it was his favorite pizza," he said.
"The fact that Anthony is remembering stuff even in dribs and drabs is a good sign," Ducky replied as helped the others finish loading the bodies onto the trucks.
"I wish I could believe that you know," Gibbs said quietly. "I just don't know how Fornell could be doing this to him," he was angry at everything. He was angry at Tony being accused of the crime, he was angry at Fornell being the ass he was. Now he found himself seriously pissed at McGee and Ziva for not keeping him informed and for taking it upon themselves to take care of the investigation.
"We'll take this guy into interrogation and see what we can get from him," McGee asked.
Gibbs just nodded before taking off in the car. McGee looked over at Ziva. They could see the tension building in Gibbs but didn't dare take it up with him. They rode in the NCIS truck with Ducky after they had called for a tow truck to come and tow their car.
Gibbs residence
Gibbs walked through the front door. Something just felt out of whack as soon as he entered. Everything was too quiet. Tony had his back against a wall, out of sight from the entrance of the living room. His knees were drawn to his chest and he rested his chin on the knee, staring into nothingness.
"DiNozzo?" Gibbs went down to one knee.
"Gibbs?" He looked up after realizing someone was there.
"What's wrong?" Gibbs asked. "Are you alright?"
"I remember a couple of things," Tony said but wished he hadn't remembered anything again. "I think that it was Ziva and Tim being caught in trouble," Tony tried to find the words to explain things. "I don't know much, hell I don't know anything but I do know this... I get people killed," he said. "We were on the roof, she took a bullet for me. I don't remember why she dove in front of a bullet that was meant for me," Tony tried to keep his tone even. "Then another woman. I was meant to be there but I went out sightseeing and got her killed... Oh God, if I only had been there," he said, his voice sounding shaky. "And now these two were doing something for me and they were in danger," Tony said.
This wasn't the first time Gibbs had been through everything with his senior field agent. "None of that was your fault Tony. The one on the roof, she took a bullet for me but then she was shot in the head. As for..." Gibbs almost choked on his reply. "As for Jenny, the second one. She ordered you and Ziva off the job... You were following orders," Gibbs explained calmly. "Ziva and McGee were fine. They're just doing their job," Gibbs said.
Tony still didn't look convinced. "I can't be sure of anything," he whispered.
"You have to trust me DiNozzo," Gibbs made sure they made eye contact. "When all this blows over, you'll see it that way. I know you're confused," he squeezed Tony's shoulder until he smiled just a little. "But you can't go blaming yourself for anything until you get all your memories back, can you at least do that?" Gibbs asked him.
Tony silently shrugged before slowly nodding a yes. It wasn't convincing.
"Good," Gibbs said. "Now come on. We're going to get something to eat," Gibbs helped him to his feet.
A/N: Preview for next chapter: Gibbs and Agent Simon have a little discussion. Ziva and McGee interrogate the suspect in a hope to find Ashley Williams. Hope yous are still enjoying this story.