22 Tony's people
"They are so going to make me pay for that door."
Gibbs notices that, with Ziva gone, something has gone out of Tony. His face is pale and he holds himself stiffly, as if to avoid even slight movement. "You've already dialed back on the painkillers."
"You know how loopy I get. Tomorrow I plan to be Lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds high. Not today."
Gibbs sits in the chair Ziva's just left. "There's a leak somewhere. Someone knows about your plan for Hassan."
"It didn't come from our end."
"How'd you get the information?"
"Last week Vance mentioned some new directives at a teleconference. That's my heads up, but only in a general way. I got a call from him last Friday to go over the details. Then I got an email message from him yesterday reminding me to file my personnel 52s. That's my confirmation."
"Where'd you take the phone call?"
"In the bullpen. On speakerphone. I know you think I'm incompetent, but I'm not that stupid. In my office with the door closed on my encrypted phone. We're probably not the only agency using the earthquake as cover to snoop. Someone else in Turkey could have spotted Hassan. There are five thousand sailors on the Reagan alone. One of them could be a double. Or could have passed on information innocently."
"But they wouldn't know about the Rota transfer stunt."
"Other agencies might know, however hard we've tried to keep things quiet. Or they might just be taking a flyer, hoping that Hassan will get off at Rota, or there'll be an opportunity to get on the Reagan."
"Killing you and kidnapping your daughter is quite a flyer."
"He's a high-value target. People take big risks for high-value targets."
"Your people are mostly young, not much experience with the agency or law enforcement."
"They've all been vetted. I know them. And I know hinky when I smell hinky."
"Okay, okay. Tell me about your people. How do I use them?"
"Tawan is the best guy. He's smart and he can scrap. He'll push back but in a good way. You want him on your six."
"Burns."
"Smart. Very smart, though kind of by-the-book. Not the best guy in a fight. He'll snark a little but take orders and he can execute. And if you put Burns and Allen together? Comedy gold."
"I'm sure that'll come in handy. Green."
"Utility infielder, sixth-man. Good all arounder. Jack of all trades, master of none. But every team needs one of those."
"Hancock."
"He's your armory. There's not a weapon been made that he can't use and use well. I wonder why his great great great grandfather didn't just snipe Robert E. Lee."
"Cosgrove."
"Sarah." Tony sighs. "Very smart girl, very good with tech stuff—she's our McGeek. Dad was NYPD, very much wants to be in law enforcement."
"But."
"But. You know who she reminds me of? Kate. So smart. So promising. But she looks in Ari Haswari's eyes and sees a lost puppy. She's dating some part-time grad student in Seville. Alleged grad student. He's probably stealing her credit cards as we speak."
Kate Todd. Oh, yes. Smart, good questions, a bit of impish humor. She even looks like Kate. He wonders if that's why DiNozzo had hired her, and kept her on despite his doubts. Could distrust be learned? Eventually and unevenly. But instinct: you have it or you don't.
Gibbs says, "Abby thinks there's two perps, and I think she's right. I think the man that stabbed you is the man who's on base and is after Hassan. But I think there's someone else involved—maybe someone who wasn't willing to see Rebecca hurt. That's why I pressed you on your people. I could see even a double agent being hesitant to harm a child he knows well."
"It's not one of my people," Tony says. "None of them knew about the transfers, and even Ziva didn't know about Hassan until this morning."
"You really keep secrets like that from Ziva?"
"Yes. Screw Rule 12. I'm with the one person in the world who gets my job and what it means. I don't have to explain why I do what I do. And even if I did tell her, she'd never spill. It's not one of my people, Gibbs."
"Not intentionally," Gibbs says quietly.
"Not one of my people."
There is a pause, and then Gibbs asks, "What do we do with Ziva?"
Tony's mouth gets even narrower and tighter and he turns away, but Gibbs can see the struggle play out on his face. He has just come within a breath of losing his life and his child, and those wounds, especially the latter, are fresh and raw. His instinct has to be to grab his wife and child and hunker down. But he has sixteen years in as an agent, four as an SAIC, and Gibbs knows just how much that means to Anthony DiNozzo. The SAIC knows what's at stake; the field agent knows how much Ziva may be needed today.
To himself Tony says, "It's too much." But when he turns back to Gibbs, he says, "She's in. Use her as you think best. She'll get in anyway."
"Okay."
"Paula Cassidy."
"It's not the same."
"We sure know a lot of dead people."
Tony's fists are tightly balled, his shoulders drooped. He looks defeated. Gibbs lays a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Tony. Your people are here." And Tony takes a breath and pulls himself back together.