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Chapter 5

Lance Coporal Philip Moore was one unlucky guy, Tony thought. He had changed his name, lost his inheritance, and broken all ties with his family; yet, someone had obviously believed that those family ties were still worth something, and this was how their Marine had ended up in his current predicament.

Philip Moore was being used as a bargaining chip to ensure that his father would relinquish an enormous deal in a foreign market, an action which would benefit a competitor who was on the brink of bankruptcy. Alexis Damon, the competitor / kidnapper also happened to be an old friend and former business associate of Kisarios.

Tony was watching from the observation room along with McGee and Ziva, while Gibbs sat facing Kisarios in the interrogation room. Tony could tell, even through the one-way mirror, that Kisarios' eyes had considerably softened compared to the last time he saw him, and that his voice had lost that cold and unconcerned quality that had incensed him hours ago. The exhaustion that the man had kept hidden behind a rigid posture and brisk movements was quite visible now, as he continued his tale in a strained voice, "Alexis contacted me yesterday, I had not heard from him for quite a while, but the news about his financial situation had reached me. He told me he had Philip, asked me to give up the deal, and promised that Philip would not be harmed. I was stunned.. actually I am still stunned .. I have known him for so long .. that he would be capable of such an act is just unthinkable!"

Gibbs could sympathize. His own recent and painful encounter with a couple of old friends who turned out to be back-stabbing murderers had left him reeling in shock for days.

Kisarios gathered himself and continued, "I thought that the best way to guarantee Phil's safety would be to follow his instructions to the letter, so when you came to my office today I did my best to convince you to look elsewhere for answers."

"What changed your mind?"

"Several things; I made some inquiries into Damon's financial situation and it is, indeed, disastrous. I once thought that the suspicions surrounding his activities were just petty rumours, but now I know better, and I can't help wondering how far he may take this. There was also your own reputation to consider, Agent Gibbs," he added with a faint smile, "you are a very determined investigator, and Agent DiNozzo appeared highly and personally motivated today, I had a feeling you would end up uncovering the truth, but that may eventually harm rather than help Phil. Then, there is Phil himself, I am sure that, if given half a chance, he would try something against his captors, and this may not end well. I weighed the options and decided that Phil's chances would be much better if you knew all the facts."

Gibbs nodded then asked him, "Does Damon has any reason to doubt that you will comply with his demands?"

"No," Kisarios shook his head firmly, "he knows me well enough to know that I will not jeopardize Phil's life. When it is a choice between business and family, family will always come first."

The doubtful look in Gibbs' eyes spoke for itself, and Kisarios didn't miss it, "I know how Phil's actions and my own must look. But I still care for my son, and still hope that we can find a way around our differences. Damon was one of the few people who had some idea about what triggered those drastic actions on both our parts." A pained look came to the man's face as he explained quietly, "A while ago, I had a serious disagreement with Philip about a critical personal issue, something that he claimed he couldn't change and that I couldn't accept. I have to admit that Philip tried .. but I was adamant, and we reached a dead end. I spoke harshly and hastily, I basically told him that this was unacceptable for a Kisarios, and he replied that this was easily fixed… and the rest is public knowledge." Kisarios fell silent and Gibbs didn't break the silence for a few minutes.

Silence reigned in the observation room as well. A silent and brooding DiNozzo was reason enough for McGee to feel a bit uneasy, and a bit tense, and McGee was puzzled by his own reaction to his teammate's sombre mood. One day he will have to ask himself about the effect DiNozzo had on him, but for now, he simply took note of the fleeting emotions of longing, pain, hope and doubts that he could see mirrored in Tony's eyes, for just a brief moment, before they both had to focus their attention once more on the man in the interrogation room.

"Were you in touch with Philip, at all, after those events?" Gibbs asked.

"I am not sure if you can call that being in touch or not, but after a while I tried to reach out to Phil. I called and wrote to him, but he neither called, nor wrote back.."

Ziva remembered Gibbs' own father making the same complaint recently. She thought with some dark amusement, that out of the four of them, McGee was the only one to have a normal family life, she hoped for his sake that family troubles were not contagious!

"There was one good sign, he did not send back the gifts I sent him regularly on his birthday and at Christmas. You have to understand, Agent Gibbs, we are both headstrong, and Philip can hold a grudge for a really long time.."

Gibbs knew that he was guilty of the exact same thing, and wondered, once again, how his father had really taken his resentful silence all those years.

Kisarios continued looking at his clasped hands, "Then, the one time Philip actually talked to me was not of his own choice, Damon let him talk to me for a few seconds to persuade me that he had him, and that he was unharmed so far. It was his voice, there was no doubt about it, but there was something odd, he sounded kind of lethargic.."

Gibbs interrupted, "like he had been sedated?"

"Yes, that may be it," then he raised his head to look at Gibbs, "I wasn't happy when he joined the Marines, I thought he would surely end up being injured or worse, never thought that it would be because of me.. because of the business." His voice gained strength as he added, "we have 30 hours, Agent Gibbs, before it is time to give my final answer for the deal."

Neither of them said it aloud, but they had their doubts that it would in fact end there, or that it would end well.

He pointed to a number of files he had brought with him, "I thought you might need this, I compiled all the information I have about Damon."

"Yes, but you also said that you hadn't been in touch with Damon for a while, so I will also need information about your own personnel, at work or at home, people who may have a connection with Damon. Agent McGee will assist you." This was McGee's cue to come in while Gibbs joined Tony and Ziva outside.

"I agree with you boss", Tony started, "Damon has probably been in touch with someone on the inside."

"This is really frustrating," Ziva said a bit impatiently, "we know who has him, we know why, but it seems like we still have to tip toe around the issue."

"We can't just storm the doors, Ziva." Tony answered.

Gibbs added, "If we do anything to alert him, he will move Philip where we can't easily reach him, or do something even worse, we have to get as much information as we can, and tread carefully."

"I am on it, boss."

"DiNozzo," Gibbs called him before he had the chance to head back, "get some dinner, first, all of you. We still have a few hours of work ahead of us."

"What about you?" The question was a bit unusual, though it really shouldn't have been. After all, even Gibbs could not survive indefinitely on caffeine and willpower, as much as he would like them to believe that.

"All right, get me something as well." Tony smiled at him, for some reason, and quickly left accompanied by Ziva.

A few hours later, they had some sort of plan formulated for the next day, lists of possible hideouts and warehouses connected to Damon, and a tentative short list of personnel that may have some connection to the man.

"All right, head home all of you, we will need to be here early tomorrow morning." Gibbs' command took them by surprise as they have expected to pull an all-nighter. "We will need to look at all that with a fresh mind, and we will need to be alert, come on, head out, you only have a few short hours before you have to be back."

Gibbs noticed Tony lingering after McGee and Ziva had left. The tension and unease that had been there since their argument – if you can call it that – had seemingly vanished. They were back to working like a well oiled machine, at least until something else goes wrong, which is likely to happen.

"Go home, DiNozzo."

"What about you, boss?" There was that question again, Gibbs thought. He resorted to a well tried method, he just stared at him without answering, usually that was all it took to make DiNozzo move. Not this time, though. His senior agent just stood there waiting for him to answer.

"Tony .. go home. You have just a few hours left."

"You are as tired as I am." Tony said simply.

"I know my own limitations, DiNozzo.. and why the sudden interest?" He snapped impatiently. As he listened to himself he realized how easy it was to get him riled these days, and how defensive he sounded.

Tony didn't answer right away, just studied Gibbs for a few seconds, then nodded and left. He wasn't sure about the answer to this question, why, indeed, the sudden interest in seeing Gibbs as less than a superhero?

Next Day, an unknown warehouse, 12:30 a.m.

Stealth is kind of a prerequisite for a spy, which means that Ziva is an expert when it comes to the stealthy approach, though by necessity rather than by choice. After hours of tiptoeing around mansions, warehouses and possible suspects, she was ready to abandon stealth altogether and take her frustration out on the next convenient target. Anthony DiNozzo was no fool, so he gave his partner a wide berth, and thought about getting himself another partner. Gibbs was not a patient man, but as a sniper he definitely had done his share of waiting and watching for his prey, however, the thought of Gibbs in hunter mode was a bit disturbing for Tony, and since McGee was still busy digging for information, so he resigned himself to cope with Ziva's increasing frustration.

An hour later, they were back at the bullpen, so far nothing has panned out, and they needed to re-evaluate their options, which were still limited.

"We can't search his home or company building openly, we don't have much time to send someone undercover, and it doesn't look like our marine was held in any of the places you have searched."
"We didn't really search anything McGee." Ziva interrupted him, and Tony added, "it was more like taking a stroll and sniffing around for anything suspicious. It would take a stakeout to be 100% sure and we don't have enough time for that."

Ziva turned to Gibbs, "May be the place is not directly connected to Damon, the man is married, right? May be a property belonging to his wife?"

"Check it out, McGee, anything to add DiNozzo?"

Tony was looking intently at the list of personnel, he turned to Gibbs, frowning a little, "I'm not sure, Kisarios said that he sent his son gifts regularly, and that he took it as a good sign that Philip didn't send them back. Is it possible that they were delivered by person, rather than by mail?"

Tony was thinking of the gifts that his own father had sent him over the years, he sometimes had a feeling that there was definitely some mix up and that some of the gifts were meant for someone else. His father's choice of gifts was odd, to say the least.

Gibbs pointed to the phone, "Ask him."

A few moments later, McGee's search got them a potential break, Damon's wife had a property at the outskirts of town, in a remote and secluded area, and it seemed like a perfect choice for a hideout.

McGee and Ziva got ready to head out as Tony finished his phone call, "Boss, his driver delivered them personally, and apparently Philip was friendly and welcoming, chit chatted a bit with the driver, and that's why Kisarios thought it was a good sign. A couple of months ago, he suspected the driver of foul play – Kisarios didn't elaborate - and fired him, that's why his name was not on the list he left us yesterday."

"That may be our guy.. Moore knows him, he lets him in, then lets the others in. That may also explain why no one in the building heard anything suspicious. All right, McGee, check the driver's records, and get me an address."

A few minutes later, it became clear that Kisarios' suspicions about the driver were well placed, Mr. Michael Santos, was under investigation for suspicion of counterfeit. The man lived alone, no wife or partner and no dependents.

"Ziva, McGee, check out Mrs. Damon's property, there is a big chance that this is the place we're seeking, take extra precautions, make sure your wires are in place, anything suspicious call me, don't go in without proper backup, and don't take any chances, no heroics, Understood?" Gibbs seemed a bit more worried than usual, so they dutifully nodded and left.

Gibbs turned to Tony, "DiNozzo you're with me, let's go bring Mr. Santos in." As Tony gave his customary "on your six, boss," Gibbs found himself wondering if DiNozzo was aware of the comfort and warmth those words brought him, and how much he had missed them when DiNozzo was on the carrier.

Santos lived at the far end of a quiet residential and wooded area. They located the house, and parked their car a few meters away. As they were walking towards the entrance, the man that they recognized as Santos, came out of the house quickly, and opened the door of the car that was parked right outside.

"Mr. Santos," Gibbs started holding his badge, "NCIS," even before he got the chance to go through the tedious explanation of what that meant, the man had bolted.

"Oh joy," Tony muttered as he took off after him, "got him, boss." The man didn't look to be that much of an athletic, and there was always the chance that he will try to double back to the car, so Gibbs remained behind.

A moment later, the sound of a suspicious crash coming from the house attracted his attention, the man was supposed to live alone, and a partner or a pet would not make that kind of noise. Gibbs drew his gun out, approached the house slowly, and spoke softly through the wire, "DiNozzo, there is possibly one or more individuals in the house, there are sounds of possible struggle, I will check that out."

An out of breath DiNozzo answered, "I almost got him, be careful, boss."

The advice was unnecessary, Tony knew, but it was all he could offer until he ended this merry chase. He was needed back there. The guy was just a few steps away, so he executed a flying tackle that would have made his football coach proud, and which would make him feel like an old man for the next couple of days.

He cuffed the guy and was about to take him back, when alarming noises came through the wire, a shout and a thud confirmed that Gibbs was no longer alone.

Tony and Santos had made enough commotion to attract the attention of one of the residents – a senior citizen who approached Tony warily, "I called 911."

Tony cuffed Santos to a fence, and had already started running back as he answered, "Federal Agent, need to get back to my partner, keep an eye on him."

"He won't be going anywhere." The old man replied with a confidence, showing a small hand gun.

A fleeting image of Jackson Gibbs holding a rifle came to Tony's mind. One should not underestimate senior citizens.

A minute later, all thoughts flew out of his mind as the loud sound of a gunshot echoed through the wire. The silence that met his frantic calls to Gibbs was deafening.

Tony ran for all that he was worth.

Tbc.