Chapter Seven
Much to Tony's surprise Simon had a passport for him in the name of Anthony Paddington. It had him listed as a British citizen. He looked at his associate with a grin.
"I had a feeling you wouldn't say no. I'm a good judge of character," he laughed.
They were preparing to get on a plane, first class, to Heathrow. Simon took care of the tickets and had tony carrying one of his bags treating it as if it was his luggage, since people without luggage were automatically flagged as potential terrorists.
"Better to bring a bag with a few items in it or a couple of pillows in it than nothing at all," said Simon.
"Should I try an accent?" Tony asked.
"Let's hear one," said Simon.
"I could go with the Connery growl," said Tony imitating Sean Connery.
"Sounds like a parody of the man. Next, please," chuckled Simon.
"Okay," Tony said then paused. "My cousins speak like this."
It was an upper class English accent and passable at that. Simon nodded his approval.
"I should have known your best English accent would be a posh one," he said. "You are a Paddington."
"I spent a summer with my Uncle Clive," he said then for no apparent reason he thought of Ziva. "How long is this little adventure going to last?"
"Month or two, maybe more," said Simon. "It needs to be done, mate. The brothers grim have to be found and dealt with."
Tony took a deep breath. He knew he was caught in Simon's trap.
"We'll need US help," said Simon.
"So, when we get to London I can call Fornell," Tony said with hope.
"Sure. Fornell is a start," Simon smiled.
"I trust him," Tony said.
"Then I trust him," said Simon.
"You don't trust anybody, Simon," said Tony.
"I trust you because I have worked with you. I know how you act, sometimes how you think, and where you loyalty lies," said Simon. "I trust you."
TWO ROADS
They had discovered through surveillance that Shahi was using the safe house in Anacostia. Fornell, Sacks, Ruiz, Ziva, Burly, McGee, and Gibbs moved in on the house. Their orders from Vance was to bring him in alive, but dead was okay. Gibbs and Fornell along with Ziva and Sacks took the front door with the rest of the team taking the back.
They entered the house after Ziva picked the front door lock. It was three stories and the first appeared empty of furniture and people. With Burley come in the backdoor, Gibbs motioned him to stay on the first floor with Ruiz and McGee just in case Shahi got passed them. Burley nodded yes.
Gibbs, Fornell, Ziva, and Sacks headed up the stairs. When they got to the second floor landing, Gibbs motioned Ziva and Sacks to check the second floor rooms. He and Fornell headed up to the third floor. Before they go to the top of the third floor, they heard a commotion below them. Gibbs and Fornell immediately backtracked to find Sacks with a gun to his head and Shahi hiding behind him. Ziva was pointing her gun at Shahi.
"Give up, Shahi," Fornell said.
"Listen to him or you'll leave here in a body bag," growled Gibbs.
Gibbs took aim. Shahi kept his head behind Sack's head. He tried to leave very little uncovered. The man was well trained by the Marine Corp.
"You three back away and this agent and I will disappear," said Shahi.
"Wrong answer," said Gibbs.
Gibbs focused his aim. It was time to show off his own shooting skills. He fired a single well-aimed shot catching Shahi in his right shoulder making him stumble back a foot from Sacks. Ziva took advantage of this opening and put two in his chest. He fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Fornell checked for a pulse.
"He's dead," said Fornell.
"Well, we got him," sighed Sacks.
"Thanks to DiNozzo," Fornell said.
Gibbs walked over to Ziva and patted her on the shoulder. She nodded to him letting him know that she was all right.
"Now we need to get whoever is behind Shahi," said Gibbs.
Fornell looked over at him.
"I hope to God, Jethro, that DiNozzo isn't over his head," said Fornell.
"We've got his six, Tobias," Gibbs said.
TWO ROADS
The first stop that Simon brought Tony to was a Savile Row tailor: Chester Barrie, Savile Row, Mayfair. It was there that he had a rush job done on a fitted charcoal grey vest and suit along with a nice pair of black oxford shoes. Simon had to admit that Tony in a well-tailored Savile Row suit actually looked like a proper Englishman. He checked that up to his currently un-tanned skin, light brown hair, and green eyes.
Next stop was The SIS Building at Vauxhall Cross on the banks of the River Thames. As the London taxi brought them to meet with some MI-6 officials, Tony was struck at how much the building looked like a giant Lego building instead of a building filled with spies. Simon looked at him.
"I know it rather impressive failure of a building. A critic described it as Babylon on the Thames," he said.
"Who are we meeting with?" Tony asked.
"You know there is no license to kill branch, 00 agents," Simon said. "Some of us are just trained to kill and told when to do it. We'll meeting with Asst. Director of Counterterrorism Sir Michael Philbin."
"Tell me something, Simon, why me? Not the trust shit but the reality," he said.
"You're an American who Hasan hates, which makes you excellent bait if all else fails. However, more importantly, you are an excellent investigator and you have no qualms killing when you have to and you do it well. Remember, I was with you on several ops. Very good hand eye coordination, damn better aim than me, and no hesitation when pulling the trigger. Most MI-6 officers and operatives are intelligence gathers. I'm a field operative and I need a good partner on this. Tag, you're it," said Simon.
"Bait, huh?" sighed Tony. "We better catch this bastard."
"I agree," Simon said.
It took a total of thirty-five minutes to get Tony through security, which was impressive. Once through he was brought to a situation room in the subbasement. They entered and Tony noticed a thin man, greying hair, hawk-like nose, and average height in a suit and vest. Standing beside him there were two men, who had muscle in suits written all over them. Another person in the room was an attractive blond haired woman in a suit with a skirt.
The grey haired man offered his right hand to shake: "Michael Philbin."
Tony shook his hand: "Anthony DiNozzo."
"Ah, for our purposes it will be Anthony Paddington and you will remain listed and a British citizen," said Philbin.
"No argument," said Tony.
"We have a secure hookup in a few minutes that will be piped into here with Director Vance of NCIS, Agent Fornell of the FBI, as well as a few other NCIS agents. It appears that they are trying to work out your status for their purpose," said Philbin.
Over the intercom, a male voice sounded: "NCIS is ready."
"Set it up," said the woman, as she pressed a button on the table.
Tony had a bubble of apprehension in his stomach as he waited for an image to appear. On a giant plasma screen appeared Vance, Fornell, Gibbs, and in the background Ziva and Sacks. Tony looked into the camera above the plasma. He wished he could grab a few minutes with Ziva. He wanted to talk to her, but he knew that was impossible now.
"Asst. Director Philbin," Vance spoke, "Leon Vance, Director of NCIS. This is Agent Fornell of the FBI and Agent Gibbs NCIS."
"I think you know Anthony," said Philbin. "For our purposes he will be listed as Anthony Paddington, which is his mother's family name, and as a British citizen. It will make our accounting easier."
"Well, for our purposes the FBI is officially loaning Anthony to NCIS for this op. He can thank Agent Fornell for remaining with the FBI," said Vance.
"Thanks Tobias," smiled Tony.
"You still may end up without a job, but, at least, it won't happen during this op," said Fornell.
"Don't stick your neck out too far, Tobias, I knew what could happen when I said yes to this," Tony said.
"You know I have you back," Fornell told him.
"Now that we have accounting purposes straightened out and know how we can right off Anthony, Anthony and Simon will be headed to Israel for a debriefing in two days. Until then they will be readied for the op by us, including outfitting Anthony," smiled Philbin.
"After Israel?" asked Vance.
Tony looked over Vance's shoulder at Ziva. He almost felt like she was looking at him.
"Depending up the intel and what help Israel is willing to lend us, Simon and Anthony will go hunting," said Philbin.
"Define hunting," said Vance.
"Since this is secure and encrypted line, I shall. They will seek out Tariq and Talib Hasan and kill them and whoever is with them, after they discover what the bastards are up to," he said.
"And if the intel is not good enough to track them," said Vance.
"Anthony is hated by Talib Hasan because of his time in Afghanistan," said Philbin. "That is why Shahi tried to kill him."
"I'm bait if all else fails," Tony spoke up.
"DiNutso," growled Fornell.
"I know, Fornell, I'm going to get myself killed. If it is true that these two nutjobs have either a biological or nuclear weapon, they have to be stopped. I've got to do it, boss."
"I want you back in DC so I can kick your ass. And Emily wants you back so she has her big brother around." Fornell said.
"I understand, boss," said Tony.
Philbin nodded to Simon.
"Anthony and I have worked together before. We make good partners. You can trust me that I'll do my best to get him back to you in one piece," said Simon.
"Simon is one of our better field operatives. He has a knack of getting out of difficult situations," said Philbin.
"Yeah, but does his partners?" asked Gibbs.
This drew a laugh from Simon. Everyone else seemed amused by the comments, except Ziva. She remained straight-faced. Somehow she wasn't amused.
"I will keep you abreast of things, or my associate Rebecca," said Philbin, who nodded towards the blind.
Rebecca smiled for them but that was all.
"Being seeing you," smiled Philbin and the screen went blank.
"Hey, Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner," said Tony. "Great 1960s TV."
"Are you a fan?" asked Philbin.
"I not a number; I am a man," Tony quoted Patrick McGoohan's character, Number Six.
"I like you, Anthony," smiled Philbin. "Try not to get killed."
"Or end up in the Village," said Tony.
"Yes, I like you very much, Anthony," said Philbin.
"Come on, Anthony," said Simon. "We need food and a few drinks before we get to work tomorrow."
TWO ROADS
Simon brought Tony to the Metropolitan in Notting Hill, since his flat was in the area. Since it wasn't too crowded they grabbed a corner booth, which were surprisingly comfortably padded leather. With a square bar in the middle of the bar and milling about of the upwardly mobile of the neighborhood, Tony sat with Simon sipping MaCallan's Scotch and letting the tension of the day drifted away.
"I noticed your eyes were on that rather hot NCIS agent again. What is her name?" Simon asked.
"Ziva David," he answered.
Simon almost choked on his drink.
"Ziva David as in Deputy Director David?" asked Simon.
Tony nodded in the affirmative.
"Do you like breathing, mate?" asked Simon.
"I've grown used to it," Tony smiled.
"No, really, are you boffing her?" asked Simon.
"We've boffed and I have to admit that I'm crazy about her. I think I've fallen in love with her," Tony admitted.
"Please, I beg you, don't mention this to Eli David when we meet him," said Simon.
"You don't think he'd like me," Tony smiled.
"Let tell you what happened there. She was exposed on ZNN while working as a liaison at NCIS. The Director of Mossad demanded that she either become a handler or retire and considering her background as one of the youngest Kidon unit assassins and her affiliation with NCIS, if she chose retire then she was being asked to stay in America for a period of time. She chose to retire then to spite her father she became an American citizen," he explained. "Her father still hopes to bring her back into the Mossad once the latest director is replaced with by the new prime minister. From what I've heard about her, she'd rather completely lose her Israeli citizenship than work for her father again."
"I'll not mention our relationship," Tony said.
"Smart move, Anthony," said Simon. "To be on the safe side I'd hope he hasn't been spying on her and has pictures of you two making the beast with one back."
Tony drained his scotch.
"I'm going to need another one of these," he sighed.
"At least one more," added Simon. "I hope you're good at least to briefings while hung over."