Abby had been staring at the phone for close to an hour, willing it to ring. She was so fixated on it that she didn't notice McGee walking into her lab until he set a Caf-Pow! practically in her lap. She whirled around, and launched herself into her co-worker's arms.

"Tim! Thank God you're here."

McGee gently pushed Abby back onto the stool where she'd been sitting. "Good to see you too, Abby. Gibbs sent me down to see how the case-"

"Tony's gone!"

"Umm…yeah, I know, Gibbs did the whole angry thing, remember?"

"No, you don't understand. Tony's missing!"

McGee frowned. "What are you talking about, Abby?"

"He said he would call today, and he hasn't!" Abby was pacing, moving frenetically around her lab.

"Abs, he said he'd call in three days, which is today, and it's only been today for about twelve hours, so he's got time."

"I know, but when he says he'll call, he means the morning, because he knows how much I worry, and besides, I have a really bad feeling about this."

McGee was used to Abby's feelings. It was always better to just go with the flow. "Abby, it could be anything. Did you try calling him?"

"He didn't answer."

That was slightly disconcerting, but Tony had been known to ignore calls before, especially lately. "He's working on a pretty important case, Abby. I'm sure he's fine."

"I had a nightmare last night." She had stopped pacing, and was now standing perfectly still, a frightened expression on her face.

McGee didn't like the sound of that. Abby's nightmares couldn't be ignored – not since Kate. Still, he wasn't willing to take the leap just yet. "What was it about?"

Abby sat, hugging her knees to her chest. "Tony and I were at a club. I turned around for a few seconds, and when I looked back, he was gone! I searched everywhere, but I couldn't find him. I ran outside to the alley, and Tony was laying there in one of his expensive suits with blood all over him! His eyes were open, but he wouldn't look at me. He kept saying it was my fault that he was missing, and I tried to get him to look at me, but he wouldn't! It was horrible!"

McGee sat down next to her, hesitant to do more than pat her on the arm. "Shh…it's okay, Abs." She pulled back, curling into a tight ball of misery. Dark mascara was running down her face, and McGee knew then that he'd have to do something to make her feel better.

"Abs, look at me." He waited for her to comply. "You're sure about this?"

She nodded.

"Let's go talk to Gibbs."

xXxXx

Gibbs, it turned out, had been experiencing a similar twinge in his gut that had nothing to do with a lack of coffee, and everything to do with his Senior Field Agent. He'd had a bad feeling about this since Tony had asked for time off, and it was wreaking havoc on his ability to concentrate.

So when Abby showed up with a mystified McGee trailing after her, he knew he had to settle the matter once and for all. He had the phone dialed before they reached his desk.

"Homicide, Captain Bradford's office."

The hairs on the back of Gibbs' neck stood straight up. Different voice. "I need to speak with Bill."

"May I ask who is calling?"

"Special Agent Gibbs from NCIS."

"One moment." There was a slight pop as the line was transferred, and then Bradford came on. "Jethro! I hope you're not stealing more of my Detectives."

"Still haven't completely trained the last one, Bill. That's why I'm calling."

"DiNozzo giving you trouble? Please say yes, because I'll take him back. Hell, word on the street is I'd have to stand in line to get that boy to work for me."

"He's not in Philly?"

"No, though not for lack of trying."

"What about the Jasper case?"

"He called a few days ago to have our semi-annual chat about the lack of leads. He had a good idea, and we've been following up, but when I asked him to come out here, he said he was in the middle of a case there."

"What about the body?"

"What body? We fished one out of a pool a while back, but it didn't have anything to do with DiNozzo. Jethro, what's going on?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, Bill. I'll call you when I do." He hung up, sitting back in his chair.

Abby, who had been listening in, wrapped her arms tightly around McGee, who looked startled. Ziva left her desk to stand near them.

"Where would Tony go? And why would he lie about it?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the Director," McGee theorized.

"This feels different."

"He didn't lie." Gibbs said.

"Boss?"

"He didn't lie, McGee. Everything he said was true. He just made it sound like he was saying something he wasn't, and I fell for it." Gibbs scowled. "Ziva, what happened before Tony came down to see me on the day he left?"

Ziva walked over to her partner's desk. "He received a phone call from Melissa Jones at BlueRay Security. He was very upset that I had answered his phone. I thought it was a new girlfriend."

"McGee!" Gibbs barked.

"Checking it out, Boss." He extricated himself from Abby, and began a search on his computer. "There's no record of a BlueRay Security anywhere in Maryland or Virginia."

"Melissa Jones?"

McGee checked. "Boss, there are hundreds in the DMV database. It's a pretty common name."

"Airlines?"

Abby had commandeered Tony's computer to do the search. "He's not on any flight records, and I checked the trains, too. He hasn't used any of his credit cards in the last 72 hours. He's completely off the grid, Gibbs."

Gibbs frowned. "Ziva, McGee, go check his apartment. Abby, keep running searches, see if he surfaces."

Ziva and McGee grabbed their gear and headed out. Abby turned forlornly to Gibbs.

"What if something happened, Gibbs?"

"We'll find him, Abs," Gibbs said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Go see what you can find out."

Gibbs watched her leave, and then headed for MTAC. He wasn't completely convinced that Jenny didn't have something to do with this. He was stopped halfway up the stairs by the ringing from his cell phone.

"Gibbs."

"If you want to see Special Agent DiNozzo alive again, be in Baltimore in two hours. Tell no one."

"Who is this?" Gibbs demanded.

"Not important."

"Where in Baltimore?"

There was a soft chuckle. "Know any good coffee shops?"

xXxXx

Gibbs didn't like following orders from someone he knew nothing about (hell, he didn't like following orders, period), but he also didn't like not know what was going on, which was why he found himself throwing money to a cabbie outside the Barista Espresso Café in Baltimore. It wasn't his type of coffee joint, but it was where DiNozzo had taken him after their first case together when Tony was still a cop. It worried him that whoever had Tony knew such a small detail from their past.

Gibbs wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he was pretty sure the two hulking, vaguely military figures leaning against the dark sedan in front of the shop were there for him.

Sure enough, as soon as one spotted him, he nudged the other and nodded. The one in the expensive suit with the broad shoulders walked around the car and got in the driver's seat. The other one, solidly built but more relaxed in tan pants and a button down shirt, opened the back seat and gestured for Gibbs to get in, and then sat beside him in the back seat.

"I'm going to give you the chance to disable any tracking or listening devices, because I'm nice like that."

The driver grinned slightly. "Failure to deactivate such devices will result in my friend back there becoming not so nice."

Gibbs stared stonily at them, silently refusing to respond.

The driver sighed. "Figures we'd be the ones stuck with a Marine. Leathernecks and rockheads, the lot of 'em. No sense of humor."

Back-seat guy laughed. "Not that it matters." He turned to Gibbs. "Any devices you might have had were rendered inert as soon as you stepped into the vehicle. Sit back and enjoy the ride." He looked at the driver again. "Rangers all the way."

"Hell yeah!"

Gibbs sighed. There was a reason he worked for the Navy. "Any chance you're going to tell me what's going on?"

The driver merged into traffic on the highway. "We need your help."

Gibbs was more than a little surprised by that, and decided to push a little further. "Where's DiNozzo?"

The two men exchanged a glance, and Gibbs could tell he'd struck a nerve. "What did you do to him?"

His friend in the back seat crossed his arms. "The Boss will explain everything when we get there."

The rest of the trip was made in silence until they pulled up in front of an apartment building downtown. Gibbs got out, flanked by the two men. The driver glanced at the other man.

"Can you take care of the car? I need to talk to Mr. Black."

"Wilco."

The driver took Gibbs arm, holding it firmly, though not uncomfortably. "Let's go," he said to Gibbs.

They took the elevator to the top floor, where they entered a rather spacious condominium. Gibbs was pointed to a chair while his escort fussed with the flat screen television. Gibbs didn't know what he had done, but after a few minutes, a woman's face appeared on the screen. It was a video conference, and the camera slowly zoomed out to take in what looked like a living room.

The woman nodded to Gibbs.

"Special Agent Gibbs, I apologize for my rather abrupt nature on the phone. We're all a bit on edge right now."

Gibbs recognized the voice as the one he'd heard when he thought he was calling Philly, and then again as the one ordering him to Baltimore. This whole thing was rapidly becoming more complicated.

The driver stepped up to the camera. "Brown will be here in a few minutes. We haven't had any further contact with Green or Blue. Are you sure this is what you want?"

A tall, somewhat portly man stepped forward. "We have no choice. Special Agent Gibbs, I realize you have many questions, but I'm afraid we have some business to take care of first." He turned to the brown-haired woman who had spoken to Gibbs. "Miss White, what have you found?"

"My contacts in the FSB were decidedly unhelpful, but I spoke with Director David at Mossad this morning. They tried to get an agent into the recruiting program, but he was discovered and executed. David sent all the information he has, I'm still going through it."

"Miss Grey?"

"MI-6 swears MOIS had nothing to do with this. Their attention has been focused on Iraq, and our contact seemed genuinely surprised that something was developing in the States."

"Miss Red?"

"Security in Washington has been increased, and the President has canceled two events in less-secure areas."

"Mr. Brown, were you able to get anything from the CIA?"

Gibbs saw the man who had traveled with him enter the room. "I got the file on the handler. I also got the unofficial file they've been compiling. Apparently, the CIA had concerns about him before. They are still on the fence about Blue, so don't expect much help from them. I also spoke with the Colonel. Most of the teams are on deployment, but we have three members on stand by."

"Good to know. Special Agent Gibbs, allow me to introduce myself. I am Mr. Black, founder of the MJ Agency."

Gibbs was slightly overwhelmed. He was fully aware that the run-down had been for his benefit, but really – these people had personal contact with the alphabet soup of the world, and he'd never heard anything about them. He filed away the comment about the Director of Mossad, and focused on Black. "Who are you people, and what the hell have you done with my Agent?"

"Modus Justi was founded several years ago as an anti-terror unit, and as a last line of defense for its members. Since then, we have expanded somewhat. We gather intelligence from our various contacts, most of which we pass along to the appropriate authorities. There are times, however, when that is not an option. This is one of those times."

Gibbs didn't like the sound of this. "You operate outside the law?"

Black smiled. "We are the law to some extent. Everything we do is to protect this nation. I assure you, Special Agent Gibbs, what we do is vitally important."

"What does this have to do with DiNozzo?"

"Special Agent DiNozzo is a member of our organization."

If Gibbs had been surprised before, he was shocked at this piece of news. "How long?" he managed to choke out.

"A little over nine years, now."

So before he had come to work for Gibbs. How, in all this time, had he missed something like that? Sure, he'd missed the thing with Jeanne, but he'd been off his game then. He entertained the idea for a moment that this was a practical joke, or the result of a really bad night of drinking, but he dismissed it immediately. It was just too farfetched for it to be anything but the truth.

"I realize this comes as a bit of a shock, Special Agent Gibbs, but we really do need your help. Mr. Orange, if you please."

The man had been standing slightly behind Gibbs, but now he took a seat to his right, so he faced both Gibbs and the camera.

"Tony and I came to Baltimore a couple days ago to track down a fellow agent. Mr. Black can fill you in on the details. This was our guy's last known location, so we went to his safe house. When we got there, the place was a mess, looked like a tornado had gone through there. We were about to call it a lost cause when Tony found something. He and Blue were always talking about different codes, and it's a good thing Tony was there, because I would never have figured it out. We were just about to leave when we see Lincoln and a couple other guys, who decided it was a good day for a gunfight. We split up to make it harder for them. That was the last time I saw him." He held up a small piece of paper. "This morning, I found this note slid under my hotel door, addressed to Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"Hang on. Let's ignore for the moment the fact that you left him. What have you been doing for the last two days? Have you even tried to find him?" Gibbs asked angrily.

Orange scowled, but Black broke in before he could say anything. "I assure you, we have made every effort to locate Mr. Green. We are taking his absence very seriously."

Gibbs tried to hide the cringe at the barely veiled insult. He should have known Tony was in trouble. It should never have gotten this far.

Black continued. "We are operating under the assumption that Mr. Green is still alive, but has a reason for not contacting us. Mr. Orange, tell him the rest."

The tall man faced Gibbs. "Before we separated, he said he knew where Blue was holed up. As soon as he got rid of his tail, I'm sure he tried to find him. They could be anywhere by now."

"Which is why we need you, Special Agent Gibbs," Black explained. "It would appear from his note that he would rather speak to you."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. "How do you even know Tony left that note?"

"We don't. But it is certainly his style. We were hoping you can translate it."

Gibbs took the note, immediately understanding what they meant. He chuckled quietly.

I came to America in 1914 - by way of Philadelphia. That's where I got off the boat. And then I came to Baltimore.

oNCISo

Blue: Hamid Sakhar (the guy they're trying to find)

Green: Tony (our favorite NCIS agent!)

Orange: Seeley Booth (FBI agent from Bones)

Brown: Bob Brown (member of the Unit)

Black: leader of MJ (he's got a name, I'm just not telling)

White: secretary for MJ (she doesn't have a name)

Grey: Erin Waters (MI-6)

Red: Trista Kraven (Secret Service)