CHAPTER SEVEN

It had now been four hours since the stand-off started. Outside the bank it was "hurry up and wait" while the FBI made a show of negotiating for the money and the media coverage. They had to wait long enough for it to look realistic, but not so long that it looked suspicious. Two SWAT vans that had been reworked to look like news broadcast trucks had been pulled into position near the bank. The vans held just enough equipment and quickly-applied news decals to look convincing from the hostage-taker's point of view, but inside they held enough tactical equipment and personnel to mount a full assault of the bank if that became necessary.

Inside the bank the hostages were settling into their situation, most of them realizing that they were in no imminent danger as long as they stayed quiet and didn't try any quick moves. One of the group had illustrated this to them when he decided to take control of the situation.

"I'm not entirely sure I'd do that," Tony said, as the man – later identified as a commodities trader named Eric – made his way over to Cal.

"Yeah, Fed?" Eric responded, in a condescending 'I'm so much more important than you, I shouldn't even be speaking to you' tone of voice. "Well, I have things I need to get done today, and I'm not spending another hour in this bank while you make friends."

"I'm just sayin'," Tony began casually, as Eric walked straight to Cal, with purpose and anger.

Eric had gotten within a few steps of Cal when Mick came up behind the investment banker, grabbed his arm, wrenched it behind him, and cleanly broke it, with a sickening 'snap'. Eric screamed, then swore, then crumpled to the ground.

"Damn it, Mick!" Cal said, shoving the other man out of the way. Mick smiled and chuckled at the banker writhing on the floor.

Tony kept calm and sighed as he looked at the banker. He could tell the man was in pain, but it certainly wasn't life-threatening. "I told you," he said, matter-of-factly. Then, he turned to the rest of the group. "Anyone here a doctor? Nurse? Eagle scout with a first aid badge?"

A young Asian man sitting quietly in the back tentatively raised his hand. "I'm a student in applied nursing at George Washington."

"Come on down, then," Tony said, with game-show-host aplomb. Then he quickly held up his hand in a 'stop' motion and turned to look at Cal. "Sorry, man," Tony said to the gunmen's leader. "Not my place. Is it okay? To help him, I mean?" Tony gestured to Eric, still in obvious pain on the floor.

Cal smiled and thought, 'yup, a great chess partner'. But he nodded and allowed the assistance.

"Thanks," Tony said, with slightly exaggerated gratitude. He motioned to the Asian man, who cautiously came over. "I'm Tony."

"I'm Haruki," the Asian man said. "My friends call me Harry."

"OK, Harry," Tony said with a smile. "You know how to set an arm?"

Harry nodded. The next hour or so was focused on the efforts of Tony and Harry to treat Eric as best they could. They used a splint set that they found in a first aid kit in the bank's break room. The break room was located off a long hallway that led to a back exit. 'Probably where the smokers sneak out for breaks', Tony thought. Tyler had accompanied them to the break room and was intently watching Harry, to make certain the ONLY thing he took was the First Aid kit. Tony, meanwhile, was scanning every inch of the hallway, looking for an escape route or an entry location. Just as Harry located the kit, Tony noticed a very slight sliver of light coming in through the exit door. It looked to be propped open, just barely – probably by a pebble or stick or something else that someone had tracked in. Tony smiled to himself. He had a way for the FBI to get into the bank. He just had to figure out a way to tell Fornell.

"What are you smiling at?" Tyler asked, not sure if he should be worried or not.

"Just glad we found a First Aid kit," Tony said, smoothly covering his discovery and focusing Tyler's attention back towards the bank. "I really didn't want to start breaking furniture and ripping up peoples' shirts to create a splint."

Tyler looked at him a bit cautiously and then glanced around the hallway. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he gently pushed Harry and Tony towards the door that led out of the hallway and back to the main bank lobby, clicking the lock on the hallway door as they joined the rest of the group.

The break of the arm had been clean – Tony complimented Mick on that – and the splint was easily applied. One of the older women in the group offered her scarf as a sling, and Tony had to bite back a laugh as he helped Eric, outfitted with his awkward splint and a brand new bright pink paisley sling, over to one of the couches. A few Tylenols and a mumbled apology later, Eric was off in a corner, nursing his arm and planning a lawsuit against his karate instructor for not better preparing him for such a situation.

Harry had cleaned up the area, stowed the first aid kit under one of the lobby coffee tables, "just in case," and went back to his studying. He wondered if he'd get extra credit for this.

Tony moved back to his original position near the counter, his phone, and the bad guys.

"Anyone else want to play hero?" Mick said, with a menacing glare at the hostages. They all looked at him silently, some shaking their heads, others meeting his eyes and then quickly dropping their gazes to their laps. Mick was satisfied.

Tyler walked over and looked at Tony. "You didn't try to bring in paramedics or have him sent out for treatment," he said, suddenly. Everyone was a bit startled. Tyler had barely spoken since the takeover had begun.

"Who, me?" Tony said, looking around. He was also surprised at Tyler's newly-found conversational skills.

Tyler repeated his statement, this time in the form of a question. "Why didn't you try to bring in paramedics or have him sent outside?"

Tony shrugged. "Cal said there wouldn't be any more 'good faith' gestures. It would've been a waste of time. And the injury wasn't that serious. I'm not falling on a sword for a broken arm."

Tyler looked at Tony intently for a moment, and then moved back to his place near the hostages. Tony looked at Cal, who chuckled lightly and let his gun drop back down to his side.

Outside the bank and inside NCIS headquarters, things were moving along at a fairly steady clip. Ziva had been stationed in an office near the entrance to the building, sharing the command center with four of Fornell's men. She'd used what Tony called her 'super ninja powers' to eavesdrop on pretty much every aspect of the FBI's plan. Gibbs almost had more information than Fornell did.

McGee had pulled every piece of information he could find about the Virginia Savings & Loan branch – building permits, licenses, contractor info, blueprints, conceptuals vs. 'as-built' diagrams; he even had a list of the people who had been on hand at the groundbreaking and dedication. Once he passed that all on to Gibbs, McGee had been sent downstairs to update Abby and to gather as much information on the gunmen as they could find. They were running them through every database they had access to. And a few that McGee got them into anyway.

Jess had passed along the 'similar MO' intel to the FBI's research guy, who was grateful for the help. She'd been able to dig deeper and higher, due to some back-door clearances she'd managed to hang onto after her stint at NORAD. It was through her intel that they determined that this was the work of "Peace Before Profit", the same group that had threatened the IMF / World Bank meetings in Washington DC earlier in the year. The men holding Tony and the other hostages were small-time members of the group who were running a rogue operation to gain some publicity and stature within the larger Paix Avant Bénéfice organization, based in Montreal.

Gibbs sat at his desk, looking through the files they had on the organization, trying to see something that the FBI had missed.

"It's not Tony's fault, you know," Jess said quietly, from her place at Tony's desk. Gibbs had almost forgotten she was there.

"What?" Gibbs replied, looking up from his computer.

"That he's in there." She continued, running her hands through her hair and stretching. "I was supposed to hit the bank sometime this week, to drop some papers in the safe deposit box. He went in this morning so that I wouldn't have to." She didn't sound as though she was blaming herself; she was just stating a fact.

"It's not your fault either, Jess," Gibbs reassured her anyway.

"Yeah," she said, with a half-smile. "I know." She gave him an earnest look. "I just didn't want you to think he'd been stupid or reckless and gotten himself into …" her voice faded out.

"Tony's not stupid, Jess," Gibbs said, as he walked over to the desk and looked her in the eye. "Frustrating? Yes. Annoying as hell sometimes? Uh huh." Jess smiled and chuckled. "But he's a great agent, Jess. He knows what he's doing. If I didn't believe that, I'd have pushed Fornell to send in a team or pull in another negotiator. But Tony's good on his own; he's at his best on his own. He's been in this situation before. He'll get everyone out alive."

"Can I tell him that you said he was a great agent?" she said, with a small smile.

"I'll tell him myself, when this is done, OK?" Gibbs responded, returning to his desk.

"I'm holding you to that, Jethro," Jess said, as she turned back to the computer.