A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers, please keep it coming! Hope you like the story so far, plenty more yet to come.
Gibbs waited until the others had left the bar before he dialled Morrow's number. The Director of NCIS picked up immediately, with a curt 'hello'.
"Sir, you cannot expect my team to clean up everyone else's mess!" Gibbs snapped, not bothering to even try to be polite. "You are endangering my people, knowingly, and I'm not even allowed to warn them!"
"Calm down. No one is putting your team in danger."
Gibbs snorted in derision. "You want us to flush out the old warlords, find out who killed our two corporals, or whoever Franklin really is, and find out the leak in the chain of intelligence, all without any real backup, or information! Of course we're not in danger!" he sneered.
"For intelligence purposes, we cannot reveal any more than absolutely necessary. You know the policy on this Gibbs. Need to know only. I'm sorry." Morrow sounded genuinely apologetic. "If you tell anyone what you've been told, you're potentially endangering the whole theatre of operations in Eastern Europe."
"So you want my people to work with traitors, and not even be aware of this. One of these people is a trained killer. What if the next body left in a construction site is DiNozzo's? Or Kate's?"
"We don't know who the traitor is yet," Morrow kept his voice calm, trying to placate the other man.
"But you've got your suspicions!" A sigh was the only response that comment received. "My people need to know to watch their backs."
"I understand your feelings on this Gibbs, I really do. But your orders are the same as mine: no one knows the truth. It could ruin years of careful work." As Gibbs started to speak Morrow interrupted him, "No Gibbs, that's my final word on the matter." Gibbs flipped his phone shut and downed the rest of his bourbon in disgust.
"So why do we need to watch our backs boss?" Tony asked quietly. Gibbs smiled lazily, hiding his surprise at the younger man's sudden appearance. With Tony, it was easy to forget that the light-hearted exterior hid a highly trained agent, skilled at undercover operations. Tony was one of the few people who ever managed to sneak up on Gibbs, though he never told him that.
"How much did you hear?"
"Enough to know we've got problems." Tony sat back down in the chair he had recently vacated. "So who wants to kill us this week?"
"I can't say." Gibbs held up his hand, forestalling Tony's comment. "But, what I can tell you is that you can't trust anyone in this country. Only members of the team. Am I clear?"
Tony nodded, leaning back in his chair. His meaning had been perfectly clear. Without specifically saying anything, Gibbs had basically told him that Isak and Edvina were not to be trusted. Which was a shame, because Tony liked both of them.
When Tony rejoined Kate and McGee in the hotel conference room, which had been the deputy manager's office until they arrived, he was as bouncy as ever. Edvina and Isak were sitting there, helping sift through the vast amounts of information that UNMIK (the UN Mission in Kosovo) had sent over. Six files were open on war criminals wanted for questioning, while another three noted people who had already been arrested for war crimes. Looking at the names, Tony wondered how they were ever meant to remember them, let alone pronounce them.
"So who do we have?" he asked, perching on the side of the table.
"So, we can rule out the three who have already been questioned for war crimes," Edvina said firmly.
"Rule them out for what?" Tony asked, playing his usual role of deceptively stupid playboy. Edvina seemed to know what they were talking about already. Now, unless Kate or McGee had been really dumb, not entirely out of the question, that meant she was suspiciously well informed.
"Of whatever it is you're interested in," Edvina said, as though it was obvious. "Two of them are not in the country, and Ramush Haradinaj is innocent. He would never be involved in anything hinky." She seemed proud to have learnt a new word, and Tony winced internally. He hated suspecting the people he worked with.
"If we knew how they were meant to be connected to this, we might be more help," Isak said tiredly.
"They're suspected of arranging the murder of one of the corporals. Something to do with gun running," Gibbs said from the doorway.
"Hmm. That would rule out these two," Isak said tossing aside the files. "They are well known for drug dealing, but I've never heard anything about guns." He and Edvina had a quick conversation in Albanian, before he carried on, "And this one is out of the country. Do not ask how we know," he added hastily. "These rumours go around Pristina all the time. You learn to listen when certain people tell you things."
"So we're left with Vladan Mandic, Goran Batic and Zeljko Tomanovic," McGee said, stumbling over the last name. "It could be any of them."
"DiNozzo, Kate, McGee, take one of them each. I want to know everything about them. Mother's maiden name, favourite colour, food allergies, every damn thing. Got it?" Gibbs snapped. He gave Isak and Edvina a hard look as he left them to it. According to what Colonel Hunter had told him, one of them was very likely the killer. Not that Gibbs had ever been one to believe what he was told though. Not even when it came from an old, trusted friend.
Abby found Ducky in autopsy, working on his latest customer with Palmer assisting as always. "Ah, Abigail, what can we do for you?" Ducky smiled at her.
The ME's perpetual good humour made her smile in return, despite the news she had. "Jimmy, would you be a sweetheart and get me a Caff-Pow? Thanks," she grinned as Palmer practically ran out of the autopsy theatre. "I do like them well trained."
"And Mr Palmer is always so anxious to please," Ducky rejoined dryly. "But I doubt that is what you wanted to discuss my dear, and the fact that you asked Mr Palmer to leave suggests that you wish to discuss what our friends are up to this time."
Abby jumped up on to one of the spare autopsy tables, pigtails swinging. "I'm going to get in sooo much trouble if anyone finds out I hacked into CIA personnel files. And Gibbs is really not going to be happy. I mean, this guy was pretending to be a Marine, but was actually CIA and now Gibbs and everyone is stuck in the middle of nowhere without a clue who the raving lunatic trying to kill them this time even is!"
"Jethro and the others are more than capable of dealing with this situation," Ducky said soothingly. "And it's unfair to call Kosovo the middle of nowhere. It was once the furthest reaches of the Ottoman Empire you know, and there used to be some stunning examples of Islamic architecture and art. Of course, that was before the war destroyed much of it."
Abby let Ducky's lecture wash over her. She had had too much practice to even notice that she had zoned him out. Ottoman architecture or not, Kosovo was far down her list of favourite places at the moment. However nice the place was, it was impossible to disguise the fact that her friends might get hurt, and maybe even killed while they were over there.