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“I will put a bullet in the back of his head as I run my fingers through his hair.”
Kate stared at the woman in the pink and yellow running outfit. She willed the fear and disbelief she felt not to show on
her face. They’d been set up, she and Tony both. Well, there was no way she’d let that blonde kill Tony. They
were teammates; they hadn’t failed each other yet, they wouldn’t fail each other now. Besides, she did have one
ace in her hand. Tony had lunch with her and he’d surely be with Gibbs. She’d save his life, and with the right
words, he’d save hers.
“Tony’s right, never eat oysters in a month without an R. I’ll be fine by tomorrow.” She heard Gibbs
cut the connection and for one absurd moment wondered if the man had ever uttered the words ‘Good-bye’ in his life.
Her captor’s hand reached out and plucked the phone from hers and he gave a smirk. “Do you think he got the message,
my dear Caitlin?” he asked softly?
Kate picked up another ice cube to run along her bruised and swollen lip. “He certainly seemed to be fine with my being
ill, if that’s what you mean,” she countered, meeting his eyes, daring him to actually call her on her words.
He held her gaze for another moment then nodded. “Outside, I think. And Marta, please bring that Chardonnay for our
guest.”
^^^^^^^^^
Tony watched as Gibbs took a call, clearly from Kate. He couldn’t tell what was wrong from the little Gibbs was saying,
but it seemed that she was ill. ‘That’s odd,’ he thought. ‘She was fine at lunch. Something’s
not right.’
He stood and walked over to where Gibbs and McGee were working. “She okay?” he asked.
“Food poisoning,” came the flat and distracted answer.
“Food poisoning?” Tony tried not to make the words an implication of doubt. Instead he kept them neutral, as neutral
as he’d tried to be since that Moby Dick crack.
“I need coffee.” Gibbs’ muttered words were an indication that he wasn’t really listening to Tony.
“Well, what’s wrong, other than not catching the Hamas guy?” He had an ugly feeling about Kate being ill and
a worse one about Gibbs’ inability to see anything beyond that damned computer screen.
With Tony’s words, Gibbs exploded. The younger agent took his superior’s tirade in stride. It wasn’t the
first. He doubted it would be the last. Instead, after the furious agent stormed off, he made a show of irritation at having
to break a date with the hot blonde he’d picked up. As he sat back down at his desk and picked up the phone to cancel
their date, however, his thoughts drifted from the aloof Swede to his brunette partner. The woman he’d chased seemed
insignificant, fading in his mind’s eye and leaving him with Kate’s vulnerable visage; he was certain he could hear
her trying to get a message to him.
^^^^^^^^^^
Kate sat at the picnic table, alert, on guard. Marta, the latest love of Tony’s life (and possibly his death, her
brain taunted) sat smugly at the end of the table, keeping her distance. Haswari, the terrorist who had haunted Gibbs every
breath for months now sat across from her, offering her wine. The chirping of his cell phone distracted her from her scrutiny.
“We are leaving. Do you know?”
Kate heard the foreign words he murmured into the phone. They meant nothing to her, but the inflection told her the information
being requested was vital. The minute he stopped speaking she stared him down, demanding, “Do you know what?”
There was no response other than that of vehicles departing. She returned her gaze to her captor.
“That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?” Though her request was conversationally voiced, Kate was insistent
upon an answer.
“Where is the pea?” The small green object was rolled around between two digits breifly before being placed on
the table.
Kate recognized the diversion for what it was. Still, she fought off a smug look at the challenge of the age-old shell game.
She barely had to watch his hands as they moved the walnut shells around. She’d always been observant, her work with
the Secret Service had honed her skills to a razor sharp edge. Keeping her eyes on him, his hands in her periphery, she made
it look as if she didn’t care where the shells moved.
“You tell me where the pea is, Caitlin, and I will answer your question.”
Without hesitation, she tapped the shell concealing the tiny sphere. She kept her emotions in check when Marta chimed in
with her comment.
“Lucky guess.”
“Was it, Caitlin?” The terrorist held her eyes, dared her to do it again. Yet she read more there; it was as if
he knew she had this skill and this was a game. But for whose benefit? And what else was he telling her with only his deep
brown eyes. Were these the eyes she found kind while held hostage in Autopsy?
They continued this strange drama until finally Kate heard the words that put the picture into perspective.
“Amazing. How did they teach you to be so observant?”
“Who?” No, please let me be wrong.
“The Secret Service.” He met her eyes once again. Or did Gibbs have the right of it all along? Were these the
eyes that could lie to her?
She tried to keep the emotion off her face even as it churned in her stomach. There had to be a way to warn the team. There
had to be a way out of this.
^^^^^^^^^^
Tony and McGee were tossing data about the terrorist back and forth as quickly as possible. Tony was impressed; McGee’s
tweaking had paid off and they’d found him, one Ari Haswari. Abby sat nearby, soaking up the information McGee tossed
out the way only a proud girlfriend can. Tony averted his eyes from that one. He still wasn’t used to them as a couple.
Ducky chose that moment to make his entrance, joining in the general conversation and feeling of satisfaction at having actually
found the bastard. Which didn’t last long, seeing as how Gibbs came storming into the bullpen, picking up on Ducky’s
last phrase and breathing fire along with it.
“I’ll be doing some bloodletting if this huddle isn’t work related!”
Everyone rushed to be the one to tell him they found the terrorist. Everyone but Tony. Tony waited. He knew there’d
be a moment when Gibbs would ask for something. That would be his moment, the one where he’d gotten it right while everyone
else just stopped and stared. That was why he took the tirades, and talked back every now and then. Because he was good.
Because he knew how Gibbs worked a case. Because he wanted to learn to be the best.
“McGee, find someone who knew him at Edinborough,” Gibbs was proud of the team for their efforts, for finally finding
this bastard.
“Already did, Boss,” Tony chimed in from across the aisle. He waited a half second and then smiled as he passed
on his findings. If he was disappointed that Gibbs didn’t seem to notice his efforts, thorough though they were, he
never let his smile slip.
“Tony! Let’s go! McGee, give me a GPS search on Kate’s cell phone. It’s off now, if it comes on, I
want coordinates.” Gibbs was two steps ahead of Tony toward the elevator.
As they reached the silvered doors, Tony spoke up. “Kate’s at home, Boss.” ‘No, she’s not!
screamed his inner voice. Damn, but he knew there was something wrong, earlier!
“She didn’t answer her phone,” Gibbs muttered in reply.
Oh, so now you care about someone besides yourself? Tony felt a flash of white-hot fury.
“I don’t think she ate bad oysters for lunch,” the older man continued.
You bastard! You knew I went to lunch with her. But you wouldn’t even talk to me before. Tony was silently
fuming, but he kept if off his face and out of his voice. “She had a tuna salad.”
“Tony, that bastard’s got her...”
“Boss,” Tony began.
“He’s got her!” Gibbs turned and stormed off.
Yeah. And if you’d had your damned head in the game, we’d have know that at least an hour ago.
^^^^^^^^^^
Things had reached a breaking point. Marta held Kate’s gun on her ready to fire, Kate furiously refused to ever betray
her country and her president. Haswari remained calm throughout the confrontation and neatly disarmed Marta by verbally exerting
his male dominance.
Laying the gun aside, but still close at hand Kate noticed, he again implored her to have some wine.
“Catilin is telling the truth. There is no way to identify Marine One from the others,” he informed Marta. Haswari’s
eyes never left Kate’s, and she found herself drawn in, waiting, wondering. Kind or liar? Life or death?
Kate didn’t really process Marta’s last words. She did see the blonde lunge for the phone at the same time as Haswari
snatched up the gun and shot his partner with only the barest glance at her before returning his gaze to Kate.
Stunned, Kate could only stare at the corpse. Am I next? Is Tony safe? The words that Haswari spoke made little
impression on her at first. When she heard him say “Secret Service” she began to pull her shattered concentration
together enough to slowly take the phone and make the call.
She must have told her story three times on the damn cell phone alone. Even after there were choppers in the air, she was
talking. Finally she hung up and threw the phone at Haswari, needing to get away from him, from here.
Inside, she paced, fighting with an overwhelming need to destroy anything she could. Gibbs had been obsessed, she and Tony
played and duped. And for what, exactly? That was the part she understood the least.
She heard the door open and turned to see Haswari step through. “Secret Service have a helicopter about to land to take
you back.” He extended his arm, holding her Sig. “Forgive me if I’ve taken the liberty of removing the clip.”
She snatched her weapon from his hands and moved to shove past him. She should have know he wouldn’t allow her to leave
so easily.
“Caitlin, please,” he said softly. “I do what I do for my country and to protect others around the world.
If you had the chance...”
“No!” She spit the word in his face. “I don’t kill like that!” She flung her hand in the general
direction of Marta. If she thought of her as a corpse she would be violently ill right now. “You do what you do, I
will grant you that. Maybe we even need people like you, I don’t know. But I don’t need or want to know a man
like you. I could never live wondering if today was the day I would wind up with a bullet in my brain because of you.”
With that, Kate very deliberately stepped around the man who so charmingly introduce himself as Haswari only a few short hours
ago. She let the door slam and never looked back.
^^^^^^^^^^
The bullpen was dimly lit and Tony sat alone at his desk. Everyone else from the team had left hours ago. He, on the other
hand, felt glued to his chair. He couldn’t leave until he knew she was safe and unharmed. He’d let her down earlier.
He didn’t push Gibbs when he knew there was something wrong. What had that wasted time had cost her? He tried not to
think of Gerald and Gibbs after their last meeing with Ari. He tried to erase the look of fear on her face as she was freed
from the body cooler. He didn’t dare think about what might have happened to her this time.
He tried doing paperwork. That soon became pointless, one had to actually look at and read the papers in order to get the
work done. His eyes were drawn constantly to Kate’s desk, as if wishing to see her there would make it true.
He was just about to order food to be delivered when the elevator opened. A cluster of black suits that radiated ‘We’re
Feds and We Make More Than You’ stepped off as one. It was almost the comic relief Tony needed from the stress of the
day. He watched as they moved along the walkways and as they turned down one of the larger halls, Tony was sure he caught
a glimpse of a pale brunette that made him forget everything but waiting for her to be done with the director.
^^^^^^^^^^
Kate was grateful that she wasn’t claustrophobic. These Secret Service apes were making her crazy. “Guys, we’re
in my building now. Can you spread out some?”
“Sorry, Ma’am. We have our orders. Once we deliver you to Director Morrow, we’re done. Not much further.”
As they stepped off the elevator, through the crush of bodies, Kate thought she spotted Tony at his desk. She closed her
eyes briefly, relief flooding her body at seeing him unharmed. She tried to keep her eyes on him as her escort pressed her
onward, as if letting her partner out of her sight would somehow open him up to Haswari’s cold-bloodedness.
True to their word, the cadre of black suits ushered Kate into the director’s office then promptly vanished, leaving
her to wonder about her sanity or her vision for a moment. But that was all the luxury she was permitted before being forced
to relive her day. From her self-inflicted capture, the hellish minutes when she wondered whether her body would lay next
to Marta’s on the ground to the insanity, the inhumanity her own government was actively perpetrating in the name of
intelligence. Tiredly she recited the words, now a memorized litany shielding her from the emotions she did not have time
or energy to process.
Freed, finally, with an admonition not to discuss the days events with anyone. As if I’d want to, she thought
as she plodded toward her desk. Just as she reached it, every minute from lunch onward crashed down upon her, overwhelmed
her, and she began to tremble uncontrollably.
Tony watched her approach, looking exhausted and emotionally drained. He couldn’t bear it any longer; he stood and moved
toward her desk just as she reached it. He was there when she began to shake and it never occurred to him to do anything
else but wrap an arm around her. Suddenly the feel of her safe in his arms was the key to the lock he’d put on his anger
and frustration of the day. He rested his chin on the top of her head and pulled her close, taking solace in her living,
breathing presence, letting her touch and scent cleanse his fear. After long moments, halting words fell unexpectedly from
his lips.
The apology, whispered, for failing her earlier. The reassurance that her partner was here for her now; given guiltily, but
geniuinely and freely.
Tony’s words tore the last of her self-control to shreds and the tears she’d kept at bay now slid silently down
her cheeks. How many times had she failed him? How many times had he needed to extricate himself from a situation where
she should have had his back instead of turning hers until it was too late.
“Kate?” She started to pull back from him. He let her go, but held onto her hands and ducked his head to look
in her eyes.
“We need to talk, Tony,” she said softly.
“Does this mean you can’t forgive me?” His voice was equally soft, concern in his eyes.
“It means we need to talk about why we’re standing here having this conversation in the first place.” Kate
sighed.
She watched him nod his head. “Hungry? I was going to order take-out, but I think we both need to get out of here.”
He gave her one of his grins, the ones the ladies always fell for and he was relieved to see a small smile in return. Even
if she did bite her bottom lip and turn her eyes away.
“Yeah. Oh, yeah. By the way...” Kate leaned against her desk as she looked around the silent bullpen. “Where’s
Gibbs?”
“Home, working on his boat I’d guess. He and the director had... words... earlier.” Tony had moved around
his desk, picked up his leather jacket and backpack, but instead of slipping the coat on himself as he rejoined Kate, he
draped it over her shoulders. She looked up in surprise.
“Kate, you’re shaking. You’re in shock, letting yourself get cold isn’t wise. That will keep you warm
for now.” He proceded to take her bag from her, managing both his and hers easily, leaving her with very little to carry.
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