Ziva gasped.
"What?" Gibbs blurted out, and then looked at Vance furiously, "When the hell did that happen, Leon?"
But Vance shook his head angrily, scowling, "I was not informed, Gibbs."
(Flashback)
Tony was buying his morning coffee, in the shop near the office. He was checking his email from his phone while he waited on line.
"Good morning, Tony," the familiar voice said behind him. Shit. He thought. That voice.
He turned slowly, plastering a forced smile on his face. "Good morning, Mr. Secretary."
Jarvis stood looking at him for a moment with the sort of beady-eyed evaluation Tony had grown to expect from the man.
"I'd like you to come sit down with me for a moment. I have something to discuss with you." He turned and went to a small table, in an emptier corner of the shop.
Awesome. I could've used the coffee first. Tony grimaced and followed him to sit down, feeling apprehensive about what Jarvis might want.
"I think we got off to a bad start together." Jarvis said, leaning forward as Tony sat.
"Bad start, eh? I'd say that's an understatement, Mr. Secretary."
"Regardless, we both have a duty to protect our country. And I expect you to remember that I'm in charge here."
"In the coffee shop? Wow..." Tony chuckled, "that's some moonlighting job."
Jarvis ignored his sarcasm for the moment. "We have an opportunity to get to the bottom this. To find out who the mole is, and who Stratton is. I'd figure you would want that. To find Agent Barrett's killer."
Tony's stomach clenched. "We don't know for sure she's dead."
Jarvis looked to be getting impatient. He frowned.
Tony sighed. "What is it you want me to do?"
"I want you to have the microchip we recovered… implanted."
Tony looked at him like he was crazy. "You want me to what?"
"If you have the implant, we can control who knows about it, and once they come after you, we can catch them with their hand in the cookie jar."
"The cookie jar being my arm? It's suicide."
"We can protect you."
"You're insane, Mr. Secretary, do you know that? Gibbs would flip if..." Tony's eyes widened a little, "that's why were here. You didn't even tell Vance."
"Tony, I don't know who the mole is. But I want to eliminate as many people as possible out of the chain of information."
"No." He glared at Jarvis.
Jarvis paused, changing his approach. "You know...I could send McGee to a sub basement for the rest of his career." Tony stiffened.
"It's about time Gibbs retired anyway. I can still find a reason to send Ziva back to Israel."
"You can't, she's-"
"Oh, I can make it happen. How long you think, before she's on ops for her father again? Maybe next time she's captured on a mission, no one will rescue her."
Tony was shaking with anger at his threats. But he was the secretary of the US Navy. He knew they were real.
"And by the time I'm done with you, Agent DiNozzo, you'll be at sea so long, no one will remember your name. I told you before, I own you."
"And who owns you?" Tony hissed.
"You think I was involved in what happened with Barret and Cade."
"I don't know… and that's the point. I don't know."
"Will you do it or not? I need an answer so I know what I'm doing with your team." Jarvis stared at him, unwavering.
Tony gave an almost imperceptible nod. His mind already trying to think of ways around the situation.
"Good. Not a word to anyone. Not Gibbs either. Or he goes on my suspect list. No one is above suspicion at this point."
"What about your buddy, Latham?"
"Sean is solid. I've known him many years."
Tony sighed. He thought about quitting but...knew Jarvis would try to disband the team to teach him a lesson. Somehow, he was going to have to survive this without it affecting them, his family.
Jarvis stood up, "I will call you tomorrow and tell you where to go for the implant. This is top secret Tony. I can't impress upon you enough the need to keep this quiet."
Tony nodded again, not looking at him anymore. He stared dazedly at Jarvis' back as he left the shop. He looked down at the table, and rubbed his head, wondering how long he was really going to be alive.
It was a black van that met him the next day, on a street corner. It was on his lunch break. He got in, they gave him a local anesthetic, stuck a rather sizable needle in his wrist, and with a quick jerking sensation and burn, it was in place. They practically threw him out of the van. It took less than one minute.
When he got back to the office, looking a little pale, He decided to start his own secret plan to keep his family safe. By pushing them away.
"You okay, Tony?" You look pale," McGee asked when he saw Tony arrive at his desk.
"Mind your own business McGee," he said flatly, no nickname.
"You are in a bad mood," Said Ziva.
"No one asked you."
"Problem DiNozzo ?" Gibbs walked by, going to his desk.
Tony didn't answer, but glared at his Boss. They had never seen him look at Gibbs that way.
"Hey, DiNozzo, what's with you?" Gibbs asked it, perplexed by Tony's attitude.
"Nothing Boss," he said sourly. He turned to his computer, ignoring their confused glances.
That's how it started. Tony had no idea how long he would have, until someone came for the chip. Jarvis had a secret team watching Tony. They were good, Tony had to admit, barely detectible. But what if they came after him on the job? And someone got hurt...besides him? Could he live with Ziva, Gibbs, or McGee getting hurt or killed because he'd let himself become Jarvis' bitch?
He hid his anxiety every day, ramping up his anger, annoying them all. Until the day he got himself suspended by Gibbs for the week.
He knew what it would take. He just had to work himself into it. He hated the idea of going through with what he'd planned.
They were at a crime scene. He was continuing with his surly behavior, which had them all vaguely annoyed all morning..
McGee was collecting evidence. Tony was taking photos, and made sure no one saw when he pretended to trip over McGee. Of course McGee got annoyed.
He stood up and griped at Tony. "Tony, why don't you look where you're going?"
"And why don't you shut the Hell up?"
McGee was about to say something when Tony punched him in the nose.
Of course, that was the part Gibbs caught. Bingo.
He yelled, "DiNozzo ! Knock it off right now!" He ran over, grabbing Tony's arm. "What the HELL is wrong with you?"
McGee was in shock, holding his bleeding nose. He was so surprised and shaken, that he didn't say anything at all.
Tony shrugged Gibbs off, "What the Hell's wrong with me? McGee almost knocked me off my feet."
Gibbs got in close, staring at Tony, he tilted his head a little and narrowed his eyes. " I dunno what's going on with you Tony, but you're going home for the rest of the week, without pay. And next week you're riding your desk."
"Fine with me," he ground out, and then stormed off.
"Boss...what's wrong with Tony?" McGee said behind his hand.
Gibbs looked with concern now at McGee, checking his nosebleed. "I dunno, Tim, I dunno."
(End Flashback)
Tony stopped talking for a moment, having gone all over that last part for the benefit of his team.
"Wait..."McGee blinked. "He broke my nose on purpose to get suspended?"
Gibbs sighed. "He didn't want any of us in a body bag. Broken nose is better n' dead."
Tony was rubbing his eyes. He let out a long breath. He stared at the table for a moment, and then back to Jarvis.
Jarvis asked, "You didn't tell anyone about the chip?"
Tony said tiredly, "No. But…I...wanted to." His green eyes, now becoming glassier, looked back up to the mirror again but just for a flash.
Gibbs remembered, two days after he'd suspended Tony, he called him and asked him to come over. Tony reluctantly agreed. But Gibbs wanted to know why his gut was driving him crazy, telling him there was something deeper going on with his SFA.
Tony showed up...looking somehow antsy, and very tired, but glad to see him.
"What's up, Boss?" He asked nonchalantly, as if there weren't a huge freaking elephant in the room.
"I think you know."
Tony froze for a moment.
"I want you to explain what's gotten into you lately. It doesn't take a genius to see something is wrong."
Tony looked away. It was obvious he wasn't ready to talk.
"Why don't you go down to the basement. I'm gonna' make sandwiches, and work on the boat. Maybe you can help me."
Tony smiled at him, giving him an odd look. He looked like he was going to say something, but didn't. He just nodded and went down the steps to the basement. Ten minutes later, Gibbs was about to bring the plates down, when Tony came back up the stairs.
"Boss...I'm sorry, but, I've got an awful toothache. Really hurts, and...I think I just need to go home and take painkillers." Tony wouldn't look him in the eye. It was obvious to Gibbs, Tony didn't want to have the discussion. "Since I'm off anyway I can go to the dentist..." he looked at the sandwiches on the counter. And finally back at Gibbs. "Rain check?"
Gibbs looked at him, with an appraising stare. He knew something besides a toothache was wrong. But...the look in Tony's eyes...he couldn't pin down what it was.
He sighed. "Okay. No problem. Check in with me tomorrow. We still need to talk."
Tony swallowed, and nodded. "Okay, Boss. I'm gonna' go." And he left.
Gibbs' gut was twisting again.
The next day he questioned Vance, who told him Tony hadn't been given any other secret missions. So what the Hell was wrong with him ?
He had never gotten the chance to ask, because Tony disappeared the next day, along with his car, without a trace.