Chapter two
Tony went home, ignored the gathering of young people in the parking lot and let himself into his now-empty apartment. It was so different from when he'd been really ill, empty and echoing with the ghosts of laughter. It still held a faint scent of eucalyptus.
He turned on his TV, found a movie to "not-watch," and settled to veg until bed time. He felt good, but he still wound up sleeping the second he settled.
.
Gibbs woke with a snort and realized that, with people in the house, he'd slept nearly 8 hours, something of an accomplishment for him. He lay in bed for a few precious minutes, trying to figure out what had awakened him. He decided that it had to be the smell of coffee. Or the sound of Dean whispering to Cosmo.
Since Dean's whisper was one of those that seemed louder than his normal voice, Gibbs was up and dressed in three minutes. He ambled into the kitchen just in time to hear Cosmo tell Dean, "Chill, dude, leave the eggs out on the counter and they'll be warm by the time we're ready for breakfast. I'm not about to run on a full stomach. Puking isn't on my to-do list for the day."
Dean, who'd been grumbling about trying to make an omelet with cold eggs, shut up.
Gibbs demanded, "Coffee. Now. Where's LeBeau?"
Remy answered. "Here. I'm ready to go, if you are."
Gibbs gulped down a cup of boiling coffee and settled his shoulders. "I'm ready as soon as the rest are here."
The knock on the back door was no surprise. Cosmo answered it to find Tony, Tim, and Jimmy standing in the garage. "Well, in or out." They filed in, carrying bottles of water and duffle bags.
Gibbs eyed them for a moment then announced, "Just walk in, unless the doors are locked. We ready?"
Remy looked everyone over. "Looks like. What's the deal of the day?"
Tony nodded to Tim. "We're all just taking a run, then a trip to the gym. Back here for cleanup and breakfast, then in to the office." He eyed the SEALs and Jimmy. "Or wherever you're supposed to be. We'll start the grinder with an eval on Saturday. You're the sap. Tim will keep records on us all, just like last time. Only this time, he's expected to keep up."
Tim moaned piteously and hid his face in his hands. Everyone else laughed, even Jimmy.
They got themselves together and took off for their run.
Tony, true to his usual way, kept moving up and down the line of men, encouraging Tim and Jimmy, hounding Cosmo, Dean and Remy, and pacing Jethro. He worked on wearing himself out until Remy and Cosmo both demanded that he get himself between them and stay there. Gibbs closed the circle by getting behind Tony and snarling, "Damn it, AJ, you've already gone half again the distance. Stay put."
Tony laughed. He settled in place and jogged easily, catching his breath in a way that made Tim envious, but he noted that Tony's shirt was as sweat-soaked as his.
Tim and Jimmy somehow wound up in the front of the pack; neither one realized that this was so that the rest of the group could be sure that they didn't out-run them. Jimmy was doing just about as well as they thought he would, but Tim was struggling a bit.
He was sweating heavily and beginning to pant by the three-quarter point, while Jimmy was sweating, but still breathing easily. Tony was sweating heavily, but not breathing too hard. Jethro seemed to be doing well, sweating lightly and running easily. Cosmo, Dean, and Remy were doing a bit better than Jethro, in that they were barely sweating at all.
They got back to the house in good time. Breakfast was fruit and coffee, easy on a stomach that was going to a gym in just a few minutes. No one bothered to shower; they were just going to get sweaty again. They all piled into one SUV, Remy's, to go to a nearby gym to work out. Tony announced, "When we're up to it, we'll be jogging to the gym and back home again." He listened to the moaning and pissing for a moment then barked, "Suck it up, SEAL and deal." Everyone shut.
Jimmy Palmer turned out to have a lot more muscle than anyone expected. He also had, as Cosmo observed, "A hell of a six-pack."
Jimmy flushed, ducked his head, and mumbled, "You lug bodies out of ravines, up hillsides, and around a morgue and see what happens." He grinned in that shy, self effacing way of his.
Tony just nodded as if to himself and announced, "Weight room. Now. Then Yoga." He was not impressed with the response. "Look, we're all too stiff. One of the best ways to get hurt is to be inflexible. So shut up and deal. I'll buy the man who planks the longest a smoothie."
Gibbs had his doubts about yoga but kept his mouth shut. He'd decided that, as Tony was doing all the arranging, and his team seemed to accept his ideas, he'd keep his thoughts to himself and just go along. Little did he realize that Tony's idea of yoga and Tim's Grandmother Penny's ideas were two very different things.
They started out with a stretch warm-up, then on to weights. Tony efficiently sent the young attendant, who thought he'd get a nice tip out of 'helping' the older guys, on the run with one hot glower. He was a bit pissed that his regular trainer was off today.
He put Tim on a machine with Cosmo to watch him; Jimmy admitted that he preferred free weights, so he went to a bench with Dean to watch. Gibbs went to another bench with Tony on spot. This left Remy on a 'safety' machine by himself, but Tony kept half an eye on him as well.
Tim was not happy to find that he was lifting at 'beginner' level. He wondered exactly how much he was lifting, then realized that it didn't really matter. He was doing all he could without hurting himself and had to be satisfied with that. He was lifting for combination—strength and conditioning—so he had to be careful not to lift too much and hurt himself. That would put him way behind. He didn't realize that he would soon be looking back on this as the easy days.
Jimmy was lifting at intermediate levels; Dean encouraged him to do a few extra reps, making him smile. Dean was good at judging people and their personalities. He knew just how to encourage Jimmy without pushing him to do too much. Both Dean and Jimmy were pleased with his initial workout.
Gibbs lifted like a man who knew what he was doing. Tony hadn't been aware that he visited the NCIS gym on a regular basis, usually before he came in to work. This resulted in his being at an advanced level. Tony couldn't help observing, "Shit, Jethro, you're a beast. What the hell am I doin' wasting time on this?"
Jethro grunted, "Counting reps ... Next time, I'll just use ... a safety machine ... and save us some time."
Tony counted, "Eighteen ... nineteen ... twenty. That's it. This time I need to see what you can really do. Seeing is believing ... right?"
Gibbs pushed the weight up and onto the rack. "Yeah. Okay."
Twenty minutes later and Tony and Gibbs were changing places.
Tony looked around, noted that Dean and Jimmy, and Tim and Cosmo had also changed places, while Remy was taking notes on his tablet. He set himself to work out, with Gibbs spotting and counting. He put on two-thirds the weight he was used to and started working. As Gibbs had, he moved from one exercise to another with ease.
A complete workout moved from one type of weight to another. This worked out every muscle group and included several machines as well as free weights or safety machines. A safety machine was more controlled and kept the lifter from dropping a weight on himself. Tony decided to have both Jimmy and Gibbs use a machine as, after today, everyone was going to be responsible for their own workout.
They convened, hot and sweating hard, in the yoga room.
The yogi met them at the door with a smile and the comment, "I see that you're already warmed up. Good, good." He motioned to the mats, continuing, "Shall we begin?"
As soon as everyone was on a thin rubber mat, the yogi started. "Very good. I will show you the asana, that's the position you should be in. Each one has a name. After you learn the first, simple, Sun Salutation, I'll expect you to be able to assume an asana as soon as I name it. We'll keep to Sun Salutations for now. But we will be working our way up to a full routine that will take between twenty and thirty minutes, depending on how fast you want to go. So. I will demonstrate the asana, name it, then walk around and help you make sure you have it right. At the midpoint of this class, I expect you to be able to complete a Sun Salutation without a mistake. Do not worry, I expect; I do not demand. If it is beyond you, we'll work on it."
As he demonstrated, Yogi Michaels named each position, or Asana, explaining, "Each asana has a name; I use English names, as the Sanskrit is confusing to those who aren't interested in the spiritual side of yoga. First is Mountain pose." He demonstrated it, and they all copied it easily as it was just standing, more or less, at attention.
Then Hands Reach Up, Back Bend, Standing Forward Bend, Lunge, Plank, Worm, Cobra, Downward Facing Dog, and back through the cycle to Mountain Pose. The poses weren't that hard, most of them were easily understood from the names, Cobra was harder than it looked, as the scooping motion of Worm into the hard back bend of Cobra was harder than it seemed. Downward Facing Dog was a four-point pose that put everyone's butt in the air and caused a bit of snickering, quickly squashed.
They all did well, remembering the poses easily. SEALs learned quickly or washed out. Tim had a bit of trouble as the backward bend of Cobra proved that he wasn't as flexible as he'd thought. Jimmy was a bit of a surprise; he admitted to going to yoga classes with an ex-girlfriend. But Gibbs was the biggest surprise of all. He was a great deal more flexible than anyone had thought he'd be.
Yogi Michaels was pleased and announced that he thought they were ready for their first routine. He called the asanas and everyone was soon sweating as they moved from one to the other at a speed that kept them hopping. Their 45-minute class was over more quickly than expected, and not a second too soon.
Everyone moaned piteously as the yogi announced, "Now for the final Asana. Stop moaning. It's called the Corpse Pose. Lie down on your mat, arms at your sides, feet shoulder width apart and relax."
There was a bit of shuffling as everyone got comfortable. They were talked through a relaxation that allowed them to cool down without chilling. After ten minutes Yogi Michael said softly, "And now, get up when you feel like it. Do not rush around, getting ready to leave. Take your time. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids and eat a good meal. Namaste." He left, leaving them to collect themselves and their things.
Dean groaned, "Man, I'm gonna hurt tomorrow. Yoga! Who knew?"
Tony laughed at him then said, "Me. I took some when I was a kid at RIMA and sorta kept with it."
Gibbs snarled, "AJ, you ... I swear, I feel like I've been pulled through a knothole sideways."
Tony took a chance. "Well, Jet, deal. It's gonna get worse."
Tim whimpered, "Oh, my God. Worse?"
Jimmy, unknowingly, repeated the SEALs motto. "Man, the only easy day was yesterday. It's gonna come in waves, so get over yourself. Water." Cosmo, Dean and Remy nearly hurt themselves laughing. Jimmy looked around then announced, "I know that wasn't inappropriate." He caught the bottle of water Gibbs tossed him and downed half of it in two gulps.
All the SEALs said, in unison, "Yesterday was easy, today was hard, tomorrow will be a raving bitch." Tim just hid his face in a towel. Gibbs smirked.
They drank water and Gatorade, and handed around 'recovery' gels that Jimmy produced. These were made by Abby and contained micronutrients and electrolytes to replace those lost by exercise and sweating.
Tony nodded to the group and demanded, "Plank. Now." They all assumed the plank position, balancing parallel to the floor on their hands or knuckles.
Tim fell out first, then Jimmy. Remy was next. Dean and Cosmo dropped out at the same time, leaving only Tony and Gibbs. They managed two minutes almost to the second and dropped together.
Tony laughed and declared, "Jet, you're the most stubborn bastard I've ever met. I owe you a smoothie."
Gibbs snorted. "Give it to Tim. Don't like that crap. Coffee." He wiped sweat off his neck with a towel that Remy handed him. "As to stubborn? Damn straight. Come on."
They headed out to the SUV swearing and moaning. They were all going to be sore, SEALs included. Tony eyed Jimmy and Tim, they both were moving a bit stiffly but didn't seem to be in any real distress. He nearly lost it when Jimmy told Tim, "Oh, shut up, you girl, I'll give you some Vitamin M when we get to work. But not until. You have to eat first. I wonder what Jethro has in mind." He waited until Tim was in the back seat, then clambered into the middle seat with a smirk. Tim protested weakly but gave it up as a bad job when Cosmo settled beside him.
Tony took the wheel, as none of the SEALs would ride if Jethro was driving. Gibbs took shotgun and everyone else managed to cram themselves into the vehicle.
.
Breakfast was a quick, down-and-dirty deal of scrambled eggs mixed with the omelet fillings, as they'd realized that individual omelets would take too much time. Tim toasted bread while Gibbs scrambled and Tony made coffee. The rest stayed out of the way. They'd clean the kitchen after. And they all had to take showers.
This led to the first argument of the day. Dean and Cosmo took the master bath and guest bath, respectively, and showered. Remy thought he'd have time to shower too, as they could all manage a decent shower in about five minutes, but the hot water heater ran out. Remy's swearing led to Dean calling him a sissy. Remy popped Dean with a towel. That led to Dean chasing Remy around the living room; both of them started to wrestle and fell on the coffee table, which collapsed under their combined weight.
Gibbs whistled loudly and announced. "Okay, that's enough! You two are too old to act like a couple of middle-schoolers. Sit down."
They sat, apologizing all the while. Tony just snarled, "You'll be replacing that out of the next pay."
Dean looked mortally offended, while Remy calmly answered, "Of course, what do you think we are?"
Gibbs shook his head, plopped a bowl of eggs on the table and barked, "You really want me to answer that, squid?"
"Um ... on second thought, no. Really sorry about that." Dean took some eggs, then passed them on.
They spent the next few minutes filling their plates. Jimmy finally asked, "Um ... seriously, that table was ancient. They shouldn't have been wrestling in the house but it really isn't that big a loss?"
Gibbs shrugged, "House rule. You break it, you buy new." he eyed Remy then Dean. "But, in this case, you two lugnuts will be buying wood. I'll build a new one."
Tony snickered at the sight of their relieved faces. "Great idea. What are you looking at?"
Gibbs smirked as he replied over his mug, "Thought a nice solid top of mahogany, or maybe cocobolo or bocote. Parota is nice." Everyone winced. Due to Gibbs' hobby they were all well aware of the price of the exotic hardwoods. Some of them came in at over $100 a board-foot.
Dean hid his face, while Remy just grimaced. The rest of the group just snickered and continued eating.
When they were done with their meal, Gibbs announced that he was taking a shower, as was Tony. Tim, Cosmo, and Jimmy would have to wait until the hot water heater recovered again. He also promised that he wouldn't count them late. Cosmo thanked him with awful politeness then remarked, "Although, your permission doesn't mean shit as you aren't my commanding officer."
Tony called over his shoulder as he left for his hot shower. "Yeah, but I am. Choice: be late, or cold shower. Up to you."
Cosmo yelled after him. "I'd rather take a cold shower than put up with the chewing-out I'll get for being late."
Tim and Jimmy decided to wait. Jimmy could ride in with Tim, as his old car was on the mechanic's buddy list.
Showers duly taken, they all headed out for wherever they were supposed to be, except for Tim and Jimmy, who had to wait another twenty minutes for Gibbs' old, cranky hot water heater to do its thing.
.
As they drove in together, Gibbs told Tony, "I need to do something about that water heater. It's old and barely keeps up with me. Guess it's time to go to the home improvement center."
Tony grimaced, "Don't look at me. I can hand-build a claymore, field strip and clean almost anything that goes bang, but plumbing? Hope that boat holds water. Seriously."
"Don't sweat it. I can deal, and Cosmo is good. We'll manage. I mean how..." Tony clamped his hand over Gibbs' mouth. Gibbs was startled enough that he nearly slammed on the brakes.
Tony turned horrified eyes to his best friend and boss. "Oh, no, Boss. Do not say that. Sure jinx. Never, ever ask how bad it could be. Fate is a nasty bitch and will show you just how bad it gets."
Gibbs, well aware of battle superstitions, just shrugged. "Okay."
They pulled into Gibbs' parking place, checked in, and went to their desks.
What they discovered made Gibbs snort.
Ziva's desk had been cleared out and was now actually empty of everything. Her computer had been taken down to IT for a good scrub. Tim had grumbled that he could do it, but Vance had told him that, since he was on Gibbs team, he'd rather have IT do it. That way there couldn't be any hint of favoritism or malfeasance. So now all that was on it was a blotter, lamp, and pen holder. The drawers were empty. Tony had checked before he sat down.
So Tony tried to decide who would get what case of the huge pile Gibbs had plopped onto his desk before heading upstairs to see Vance. Tony sorted quickly, keeping the cases he considered the most difficult to split between himself and Gibbs. He gave Tim the computer-tech-heavy stuff and split the simple cases into three piles.
He then settled down to read. He figured that Dean, Cosmo, and Remy would spend most of their time in MTAC or SEAL DC, but he intended for them to experience what he did. He hoped Vance would OK it.
It turned out that Vance was fine with his team helping out his other team. He shook his head; that was going to get confusing.
Gibbs eyed Dean and Cosmo; Remy had announced that he was working on something for SecNavOf so he couldn't do cold cases. He looked very smug about that. Tony snarled wordlessly at him but let him amble off to do whatever.
Dean took Ziva's old desk, while Cosmo took the desk behind Tim's. No one used it much, because the cubicle divider put it out of the bullpen. It was relegated to occasional use by visitors or TADs. Cosmo eyed the partition and Tim's area. The chest-high wall between Tim's area and the isolated desk was covered with all sorts of 'stuff:' Pictures, notes, reminders, wanted posters and who knew what else.
"Tim. You really use all that shit?" Cosmo gave Tim a hopeful look.
"Not really. I could just file it all. Let's move that partition to the other side of your desk. We can't take it down completely. We tried that, and people started wandering through the bullpen. Drove Gibbs nuts. Me too." Tim got up and started taking papers off the wall. "I'll just file all this."
Cosmo shook his head. "We can move that filing cabinet over to the other side of my desk. I'll file all that shit for you. We need tools."
Tony pulled out his bottom drawer. "Here. Not much, but enough for everything around here." He handed Cosmo one of those clamshell kits that had a bit of everything. "You won't need a hammer. All you have to do is unscrew the braces from the foundation wall and pick it up. It's on feet."
Cosmo looked and realized that the partition was held to the back 'wall' with angle irons, screwed into the uprights. The back wall had been permanently fixed to the floor with 'shot' bolts. "Gotcha. Won't take more than five minutes." He took the tool kit and went to work.
He was right; it took them five minutes to unscrew the screws, pick the wall up and move it, then reset the brackets.
"There. Now what?" Cosmo eyed the pile of folders that Tony flopped on his desk. "Um... yeah?"
Gibbs nodded to the files. "Just read them over. Make notes on anything that seems odd or out of place. New eyes sometimes see what old eyes have missed. These cases are up to ten years old. But NCIS hates to give up on anything."
Cosmo nodded. "Okay. Dean?"
Dean looked up from the file he was reading. He'd gotten the lowdown while Cosmo and Tim were moving the wall. "AJ, I think I've got something. The ballistics on this don't seem right. Now what?"
Tony didn't even look up from his own file. "Take it down to Abby and have her check them."
Gibbs shook his head. "Can't. Her lab is still shut down. Won't be back up for another ..." he looked at a note on his side wall, "two days. Get McGee to check."
Tim looked up at the mention of his name. "What do you need?" He finished putting Tony's tools back in their case, and put it on the end of Tony's desk.
Dean handed the file to Tim. "Here. Can you run numbers on this? The ballistics don't compute in my tiny brain."
Tim eyed the diagrams and numbers on the form. "Mmmm. Don't ..." Tim entered the information in his program, one he'd written himself. "It'll take a minute or so." He winced as he sat down. He was going to hurt, he knew it.
Dean twisted where he stood. The unaccustomed activity of yoga had him hurting too. "Need something?"
Tim thought for a moment. "Couldn't hurt. But I don't have anything except some Motrin. 200 mg."
Dean snorted, "M&M's, man. Here." he pulled a bottle from his pocket and dumped two capsules into his palm. "Grunt Candy."
Tim took them and chased the huge things with a gulp of water. "Ugh! Damn it, those things are like swallowing a football."
Tony shook his head, "They'll take at least half an hour to work, too. Why do you think we chew 'em?"
Tim thought about that for a second. "Only reason I can think of will get me on the mats with Gibbs. So ... no idea at all."
Gibbs broke in, "It's not a case of ¿quién es el más macho?; it's a case of making it work faster." he then returned to his contemplation of an inventory.
Cosmo settled in to read through another file. He'd found something in the first file, written up his notes and put the file aside for Gibbs to review. As they weren't agents, they couldn't do anything themselves. The notes went to Gibbs, who would assign the case to a team of probies. They would do the footwork and return their assessment to Gibbs. This was a good way to train new agents.
They spent most of the morning going over cold cases.
Tony called a halt at 11:30. "Okay, people, time for lunch. Who wants what?"
Cosmo looked up. "Food would be good." He return to the file he was glaring at.
Dean stood up. "I'll go with. Fetch an' carry."
"I'll take a goat burger with feta and lettuce." Gibbs didn't even look up.
Tim said, "Me too. And fries. Or maybe not."
Tony blinked. "We don't want ... um ... Damn it. McGee, you're not bulimic or something, are you?"
McGee was well aware that Tony was referring to his recent major weight loss. "No, I'm not. I just got some ... bad advice. But I don't want to put too much back on. No sense in losing ground."
Tony frowned, "I'd like a word or two with your ... advisor." Gibbs snorted. "Well, I would."
Tim shook his head. "Don't bother. Penny had a word with him." Those who knew Penny shuddered.
"Anyway, think about how many calories you've burned today. I eat about 5000 a day and have trouble keeping weight on. Dean and Cosmo eat about the same, while Remy eats more."
Gibbs nodded, looking up from his file. "I eat about the same as AJ, Dean and Cosmo. You don't think I'm fat, do you?" His tone of voice said he'd better not.
"Oh, no, Boss. I just ... it was so hard to lose what I did and I'm putting back on what I need to, but I don't want to gain too much and have it all to do again."
Tony eyed Tim for a moment. "Take my advice and you won't. Chicken salad wrap for you, with a side salad. The worst thing you can do is be hungry. You'll break over and eat all sorts of things you shouldn't. If you want pizza, buy a slice. See?"
Tim admitted he did. He also thought for a moment then asked for sweet tea. "And not that sugar substitute crap. It just makes me want sweet even more."
After taking everyone's order, Tony called down to the morgue to see if Jimmy and Ducky wanted anything. Ducky replied that he and Jimmy had just been called out by another team and would be eating together later.
Leroy Jethro Gibbs was a tough man, a Marine. He was also a pragmatist, and he hurt. He fished around in his desk and came up with a bottle of what he called Vitamin M. He chewed three, dry, and went back to work. "Man, am I out of shape."
Tim looked up. "Sorry, Boss?"
"Nothing. Those ballistics work out?"
Tim clicked on this and that and brought the results up on the big screen. "Well, they don't check out. See?" he went into detail, making sure that Gibbs got everything he knew.
Gibbs eyed the screen for a moment then picked up his laser pointer. "According to my figures. Off the top of my head. The shooter was here." He pointed to a rooftop. "Not here." He pointed to a hill in the middle distance. "So, it wasn't a hunting accident, it was murder, just like the man's wife claimed. Give everything to Balboa."
"Okay, Boss. Um .. Boss?" Tim wasn't sure how to ask his question so he just plunged in. "You hurting?"
"Damn straight, I'm hurtin'. Why?" Gibbs braced himself for some 'old age' comment.
"Just wondered. Makes me feel a bit better." Gibbs glowered at Tim. "Oh, not that you're in pain or anything like that. Just that ... If you're hurtin' too. I ... well, I'm so stiff, I might not get out of this chair without help. So. Just ... weird, but I feel better about myself. See?"
Gibbs did. "Misery loves company."
Tim grimaced. "Sort of." He subsided, sticking his nose back in his work.
Gibbs watched him for a moment then smiled to himself.
The two SEALs came back with the food and passed everything around.
Tim noticed that no one ate things like fries; they all had salad instead. Tony and Dean stuffed most of the salad into their sandwiches, while Gibbs squeezed lemon over his and added a drizzle of oil from a packet that came in the salad box. Tim decided to split the difference, until he noticed that his chicken salad had a lot of lettuce on it already.
They all ate at their desks but chatted about this and that. All the cases were cold, so there was no particular pressure to do things now.
As they were going back to work, Tony noticed one case that made him scowl. The Hernandez case came up from time to time. The Mexican government kept pushing it; SecNav let the shit roll downhill, instead of dealing with it.
"Boss?" Gibbs looked up at him, mouth full of the last bite of his sandwich. "When you opted out, did you transfer to Reserves or what?"
Gibbs swallowed then replied, "I took terminal leave. I had 120 days built up. My CO thought it was a good idea if I took time off before I signed up at NIS. Why?"
Tony got up and walked into Gibbs' personal space. He squatted down, balancing on the balls of his feet, to get closer to Gibbs. He continued his questions in a soft voice. A voice that no one but Gibbs could hear. "So, when you went down South and dealt with a certain problem, you were still in the Corps?"
Gibbs wondered where this was going but answered easily enough, "Yeah, technically; I was on leave."
Tony eyed him up and down, then demanded, "And how many times were you ... on leave ... when you were on an op?"
"Half a dozen. You gonna tell me what the hell you're up to?" Gibbs wasn't annoyed, he knew Tony had a good reason for his questions.
"Hernandez came up again. I'm sick of that mess. Boss, if you were one of mine, I'd have you in SID for 90. Idiot."
"Yeah." Gibbs admitted that the Hernandez mess hadn't been one of his brighter ideas.
"Okay. I got a call or two to make. And, Boss?" Tony smacked Gibbs in the back of the head.
"Ow." Gibbs just went back to his case.
Tim eyed Tony like he'd lost his mind. Dean and Cosmo were wide-eyed too.
Tony got on the phone to his commander, Captain Rafe McKinley, the East Coast Commander. He explained the problem and his suggested solution. It wasn't 20 minutes later that a group of Marines in dress blue Charlys came in. One went to Tony's desk, saluted and asked, "Are you LtCmdr Anthony DiNozzo?"
"I am. How can I help you, Master Gunny?" Tony knew exactly what was going on but he wasn't about to let on.
"You can hand over everything you have on Operation Mexico, Sir." The Master Gunny wasn't about to offend, but he had a job to do and he was going to do it.
"Operation Mexico? More information is required for me to figure out what, exactly, it is you want." Tony returned the Marine's level look.
Master Gunnery Sergeant Oppenheimer was no man's fool. "It's also called the Hernandez Op."
Tony nodded, "That mess. The Mexican Government makes a point of annoying us about it at least once a year. Why isn't it marked classified?"
"No one connected the two until recently. I'm sorry to be importunate, sir, but I'd like to get this taken care of with a minimum of attention." The Master Gunny shifted uneasily.
"Very well." Tony shuffled files until he 'found' the one in question. "Here's my hard copy. There's also a hard copy in files, and an e-copy on the main server. You can take care of that?"
"I have one of my men in Director Vance's office as we speak." He paused as his phone began to ring, "If you don't mind, sir."
"Go ahead." Tony listened, with some amusement as Director Vance's voice informed Master Gunny Oppenheimer that, in order to get the files removed from the server, he had to speak to Timothy McGee.
"Sir, could you point me to the desk of Special Agent Timothy McGee?"
Tony pointed to Tim. "Right there."
Tim looked up from where he was pretending not to be watching. "Yes?"
The Master Gunny produced an order from the leather portfolio he carried.
Tim took the order form and examined it carefully. "Okay, remove all traces of a classified special black op involving this information." He sucked his lip for a moment then glanced at Tony. "Legit?"
"Yeah. Just do it, Probie. You're not responsible for this. Follow orders." He stared at Tim for a moment, trying to convey how important this was.
"Okay. Just makin' sure." He jumped a bit when his phone started to ring. He picked it up, barking, "McGee." After listening for a moment he said, "Yes, sir, Director Vance. I'm right on it." He gave Gibbs a seraphic smile, sat down and started working his magic. "I'm going to use a worm to remove even the backup of backups. It's against NCIS policy but, in this case, orders are orders." He smirked at Tony who smirked right back.
Gibbs, meanwhile, was reading orders from someone on the Secretary of the Navy's staff and backed by the Commandant of the Marine Corps. These orders stated that he was not to discuss any detail of the sanctioned removal of one Pedro Hernandez with anyone without clearing it through the Office of the Secretary of the Navy first. The op was classified and no one was sure how it had slipped through the cracks. He was commended on his personal sacrifice and dedication to duty.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs gave Tony a fulminating look.
"Gibbs." Tony glowered right back.
Gibbs sighed, rubbed his face, then gave up. "Fuck it." He signed where indicated and handed the papers back to the grim-faced Corporal.
"Sir, I hope you understand the significance of this order." Before he could make even bigger a fool of himself, Cosmo came to his rescue.
"Medal of Honor, dude. Look him up."
The Corporal glanced at his tablet, gulped and snapped to ramrod straight attention. "Sir!"
Gibbs saluted back. "As you were. Relax. I know my p's 'n q's quite well. I assure you that I will observe all appropriate rules and regs in relation to classified information." Gibbs waited, wondering who else was going to salute him. It made him uncomfortable for anyone to salute him while he was in civvies.
He didn't have to wait long as a trail of men showed up in short order. Two of them were carrying boxes of files. After quick, whispered, discussion the boxes were set on Tony's desk and the men all formed up in ranks, snapped to and saluted Gibbs. He saluted back with good grace.
"Sir, all paper copies have been collected, inventoried, and accounted for."
Tim looked up. He nodded at the Master Gunny's questioning look. "All files are not only deleted but written over ten times. It's gone."
And with that simple statement they were done. The Marines gathered up the papers and strode out.
Tony eyed Gibbs. "Any comment?"
Gibbs didn't say anything, he just smiled that sly, secret smile of his.