Vance and Gibbs walked into the conference room once they got to NCIS. Two men in dark suits sat at the long table. Both rose as the men walked in. "Director Vance. I am Tom Kennedy and this is James Seymour. We are from the Secret Service." Both men shook Vance's hand. Gibb's hung back by the door. "We actually called your home first but your wife informed us that you had already been called into work. We came here right after that. I assume you already know about the situation?" All three men sat down when Vance gestured towards the chairs the men had been sitting in.
"How about you brief me on this situation and then I can comment." Vance unwrapped the toothpick he had taken from his pocket and stuck it in his teeth.
"Okay. About 90 minutes ago, around 0030 hours the White House received a call. The caller said they had abducted the Press Secretary to the White House Molly Rydell. Since then we have attempted to reach her on her phone several times and it has gone straight to voicemail. When we set up the car and driver for her this evening we were under the impression that she was going to be escorted by NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. We were hoping to find out if you all are able to locate him. It's our last effort to dispel the caller's claim. If you cannot locate him than we are going to take further action under the assumption that the abduction of Ms Rydell has actually occurred."
"That all you got? Who kidnapped them? What do they want? How did they get to them?" Vance began throwing questions out once Kennedy stopped talking.
"The caller refused to identify any group or demands. They said they would call back at 0300 and issue their demands once we had time to verify she was missing. We have sent a car over to her home in Georgetown and she is not there. However, we have been told that it is not uncommon for her to spend her nights in the Capitol Hill District with an Agent Gibbs. I am told she is carrying his child." Seymour looked to Vance as if only he could confirm the last statement. "We sent a car to his home but there was no answer."
Vance looked over at his agent. He could see Gibbs' jaw clench and unclench. Vance thought he was going to come flying across the room at the mention of his unborn son. Vance could not blame the man. There was nothing he would not do to protect his own family. He could only imagine what Gibbs would do to protect his second chance at a family and a member of his team. It had to make Gibbs' blood boil when the agents refused to acknowledge the kidnapping of DiNozzo. In fact, they only time they mentioned him was to inquire where he was. "We are aware that both Ms. Rydell and Agent DiNozzo have been abducted. It is our belief that the driver of their car was involved."
"How do you know? Were you contacted by the same people we were?" Seymour looked almost shocked that Vance could offer insight into the situation.
"We were contacted by Agent DiNozzo. He was under duress at the time and gave a very cryptic message before hanging up. A trace of his cell brought us to the Escalade they were taken to the theatre in. It is completely burned out. There was no sign of the driver and since no one has called you all with the driver being unconscious it is safe to figure he was involved-"
"We want that vehicle and any evidence you got from it." Kennedy interrupted in a tone that was all too demanding for Vance's liking.
"The evidence is already being processed and you will have access to the findings once our lab is finished. As for the vehicle, we knew you would want that so it's sitting downstairs in the garage and you can have it towed out of here at your convenience." Vance looked again to Gibbs and saw the rare sight of approval in his eye.
"Need I remind you that Molly Rydell is a White House Official and it is our job to investigate this? You have no right to keep us from that evidence." Kennedy's voice was rising and Vance did not appreciate it.
"That would be fine if Molly was the only one missing. She is not. You seem to forget that there is an NCIS agent with her in this mess. If Molly is the leverage then that makes Agent DiNozzo extra unneeded trouble. They may kill him just so they don't have to deal with him. He is likely in more danger than she is. Therefore, I have every right to do with that evidence what I wish. Just because you did not do your job does not mean you will dictate how I do mine!" Vance looked over at Gibbs and nodded. If Kennedy continued to argue it was show time.
"Do our jobs? She was under the protection of an NCIS agent when this happened." There it was. It was all Kennedy had to say. Gibbs moved from his spot at the back of the room near the door.
Gibbs felt his heart race. When he saw the nod from Vance he knew he was going to take the anger inside him out on the two morons sitting at the table. "She was escorted by a friend who happened to work for NCIS!" Gibbs slammed his hand on the table. "You knew about this threat for months. She was abducted by CAMS. They have been threatening her by email for two months. We've known that for almost an hour now. How is it the organization she reported it to could not put it together when all we had to do was read the emails?"
"You hacked into the White House email system?" Seymour looked shocked yet again.
"I assure you, he did not hack into anything. We're lucky if we can keep him from taking a baseball bat to his computer once a week." Vance hurriedly interjected before Gibbs got McGee into trouble.
"Why wasn't she under your protection at all times until you caught these sons of bitches? Why weren't we notified about a threat against her when DiNozzo volunteered to escort her tonight?" Gibbs' eyes were piercing a hole through the two secret service men. He dared them to answer.
Kennedy sat up straight and thought it was wise to stand up to the agent standing in front of them. "She told us that she did not need protection since she stays with this Agent Gibbs guy. We checked into his record. It's very impressive. We agreed with her that she would be safe when she was at the White House and at home with him. We assumed Agent DiNozzo was told by Gibbs and Ms Rydell."
"So the Secret Service runs on assumptions? God help the President. Let me tell you how your assumptions have worked out. You assumed that Molly would tell me there was a threat against her." Gibbs got some satisfaction out of watching the light come on in their eyes when they made the connection that they were talking to the Agent Gibbs they had been speaking of. "Molly is stubborn as they come and would not tell me something like that simply because she wouldn't want to worry me. So there's Molly running around here and there with no protection. But you didn't care to know since you assumed that NCIS was taking care of her without verifying anything. Then on the one night you are ordered to keep her safe by the President you once again assume that NCIS was taking care of everything. The kicker is the one part of this night you handle, the one simple thing she needed from you, you hired a driver from a service rather than have an agent drive them. So now that the one small responsibility you had has come around and kicked you in the ass. Now is the point where you want to say NCIS did not do YOUR job well enough? Now you want us to allow you to investigate the disappearance of my family and my agent?"
"If Agent DiNozzo had done his job-" Kennedy stood up.
"It was not Tony's job to die for her! It was yours!" Gibbs was now in the man's face. "That driver was supposed to be the one person he should not have had to view as a threat during the event! Hell, he didn't see anyone as a threat because he didn't even know there was one! Now you want to go take over the investigation to find them? Correction- you want to take over the investigation to find her. If Tony falls victim then so be it right? That is not going to happen. They are ALL coming home to me."
"DiNozzo is an agent. He can take care of himself. We are talking about the Press Secretary to the White House. She is not trained-"
"No we are talking about the mother of my child, my baby, and my agent. My family. I can tell you she will come out of this in one piece and it will be because of my agent. But maybe I have a solution." Gibbs backed off from Kennedy. "You know Vance; I have Molly's cell phone at my house. Maybe I will go home and turn it on. See I think that since these guys are so great at communication I bet no one has called the President in New Hampshire yet. In that cell is the number to his blackberry. Maybe I will go and make a call and see how impressed he is with how well his orders were carried out this evening. Maybe he can decide who gets this investigation."
Seymour's eyes went wide. He did not know how to respond to that. As it was he was afraid of the President's reaction when they had to call him and let him know what had happened. He wished his partner would shut up and take what NCIS had to offer. He did not want anyone making that call to the President before they did.
"Relax Seymour. I won't do it. Know why?" Gibbs again got into Kennedy's face and lowered his voice to almost a whisper. "I don't play politics with my family and I don't leave a man behind."
Gibbs went to walk away when Kennedy murmured, "How very semper fi of you" under his breath. Before his brain could stop him Gibbs felt the crunch of cartilage under his knuckles as his fist connected with Kennedy's nose. Blood instantly began to pour out of the man's nose as he clung to his face. Gibbs felt it was time to make his exit before Vance ordered him out. That was way beyond the plan the two men had made before entering the office.
Seymour took his handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to his partner. "We expect those results as soon as they are done. Any information you come across should be passed to me. Here's my card." He slid a few cards across the table. "If we get anything we will let you know as well."
"That fucker should be pulled off the case. He is too personally involved." Kennedy's voice was muffled through the now blood soaked handkerchief. "His whole team if they can't handle DiNozzo being held with her. They obviously have no regard for the law when it comes to their own. I know you got those emails by hacking into the system. When we find out who-"
"The last time this team was locked out of the resources in this building and taken off an investigation they proved that the murder of an international arms dealer was actually a hit sanctioned by our CIA. They did this out of Gibbs basement using a computer that was 20 years old, some autopsy photos, and the wireless internet signal off of a cell phone. Trust me when I say, they are easier to control when they are working for you not against you. I will let you know as soon as that report is finished." Vance's tone made it clear that the discussion was over.
Once the two men left, Gibbs meet Vance in the hallway. "His nose is probably broken."
"No probably about it Leon. It is definitely broken. I sent word to Abby to lock the lab down. She is not to open it for anyone except the team and you. I don't want to take the chance that these guys are going to try and take the evidence."
"Can I ask you a question?" Gibbs nodded. "You lost your first wife and daughter when they were under the protection of this agency. I know this is gotta be bringing up a lot of stuff for you. Has NCIS changed so much that you put your money on this agency to bring Molly back home safely."
"Nope. My money's on DiNozzo." Gibbs then headed down to Abby's lab.