Gibbs tried to get him to snap out of it, but he just looked around, as if trying to remember something. They got him into the chopper, to go back to the base at Camp Patriot, with Ziva and McGee.
Other transports were arranged for the men who had helped them, and for the ones taken into custody.
Before they got into the chopper, Prince Ibn Alwaan had approached Gibbs.
Gibbs put his hand out, "I can't thank you enough for your help, for our country, and for Tony."
The Prince smiled, "It was my great pleasure, Agent Gibbs," he said, returning the handshake. "Mr. DiNozzo Senior is my friend. And I know what it is to have a son." The Prince gave his hand a bit more of a squeeze at the last word, before letting his hand fall away, and bowing slightly. He smiled and left, getting into his car.
Gibbs watched the HUMV lurch forward, the second one following it, clouds of dust following in the path of their wheels.
He turned to the chopper and hopped up into it, sliding the door closed behind him.
McGee was in the cockpit with the pilot again.
Tony was shaking in his seat and had his arms wrapped around himself, looking down.
Ziva tried to touch him, putting a hand on his shoulder, and he shook his head, curling himself into a ball over the seat, hyperventilating, tears streaming down his face.
She pulled her hand away, looking at Gibbs desperately.
He stared at her for a moment, worry lines around his eyes becoming more prominent. He shook his head at her in silent misery.
She swallowed and looked down at her feet, sadly, while still pressing gauze to the bullet graze at her shoulder.
At best Tony had let himself be led, almost stumbling, back into the Camp Patriot facility for a quick check with medics. He barely looked at anyone, or spoke.
It frightened them all, since this was just not Tony. His silence was deeply disturbing.
The medic who looked at him couldn't say if it was just shock or a breakdown of some kind, and to make things easier for Tony, suggested sedation.
Gibbs stayed with him the whole time, trying to talk to him, as if he were listening.
When the medic approached Tony with the needle, he jumped off the cot he was sitting on, backing away, and started screaming. Before Gibbs could stop him, he fell down in a tangle of the various trays and stands next to the bed he had been sitting on.
As Gibbs pinned him, holding his arms down, he cried out in terror, "NO! NO! DON'T!"
He gasped for air, struggling and kicking, catching Gibbs in the shin painfully.
"GOD-" he clawed at Gibbs, but the man just held onto him.
The medic dove in and gave him the shot.
As he quickly faded, he blinked tears from the green eyes, looking at Gibbs accusingly, "I…trusted you…" and with that his eyelids shut.
And now they were on the transport home.
Aside losing Jarvis, it was a victory, getting Latham, and tracing his accounts back to several previous buyers.
In the end, the SecNav had proved to Gibbs he was more of a man than they had all thought.
The CIA was already hunting down all the missing microchips, not just the ones Kort had allowed them information on.
They should have been feeling relieved about the success of the mission, and the prospect of recovering the technology that threatened national security.
But no one was.
Instead, were all stealing exhausted glances at Tony, pale, and unconscious, buckled into his seat along the wall.