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"Agent Gibbs."
Jethro turned around so he could see who called out his name.
"Nobody's called me that for 3 months."
"I know, but NIS needs your help."
Sometimes he wished he hadn't listened to that beautiful red-head back then, when she stumbled into his life and brought back a part of the Chaos and pain he wanted to fleed. And other times, NIS was everything he had in his life, since his third wife called it quits. Excuse him, NCIS, is what the agency is called nowadays. That's not the only thing that has been different since his departure. A lot has changed. Much to the better, but not everything is after his tasting. That red head, for example, is now the Boss of him and none of his old collegues or other team members stayed after the agency blew up because many Missions went down the drain and the SEC-NAV wanted to see heads roll. Jethro didn't wait around to receive his letter of termination so he decided to take matters in his own hands and quit before they could.
Now he's back in the bullpen. The Orange room flooded with bright skylights that could make you go crazy. Jethro wasn't part of a Team again, yet, what made him a very valuable asset for undercover assignments led by none other than the red-headed, and first ever female NCIS director, Jenny Sheperd. He already knew, the moment she called out his name, that she was going to be the death of him.
His new undercover assignment is going to be the portrait of a navy cadette (he had Navy background so that will help him) trying to become part of a wanted drug Cell that provides Marines, seals and soldiers with whatever they need to fullfill the Navy's high Standards of being capable going into war. In itself it's not a big case, but for a certain time the drugs have been spiked with toxic materials, so that the NCIS coroner, Dr. Mallard, has had more dead soldiers brought to the autopsy in the last 12 weeks than in the last two years combined.
"Aye, old man, how'd they let you join the Navy this late." a young soldier asked him.
Probably a question many of the other guys wanted to ask, too, but simply didn't cause fact was, he was there and nobody should question their superiors' choices. But that young man certainly had his own mind and he was going to say and follow every thought that came into it.
"It's never too late to serve your country now, is it?"
"I guess not. I doubt you have anything left to give to your country, tho, but we'll see tomorrow. 10 mile run with our backpacks and everything, after that 3 rounds in the backyard parcour... you think you're up for it, newbe?"
Jethro gave that young man a smile and a soft nod and went away to his sleeping cabin. Bunk beds and 8 square meters for four men. That's something he never missed from his old days in the Navy. He's 35, a little out of practice but still confident to be running the track tomorrow held for him without any problems. But that young fellow definitely put some doubts in his head. One of his roommates told him, to not give too much about the opinion of a 18 year old baby and within a second, he felt bad for that boy. Nobody should be enlisted this early and what about his parents. Yeah, sure, the guy was 18, but until 21 he still counts like a minor. He by far, was the youngest cadette in their group, so Jethro figured he tried to be tough so nobody would be tough on him.
He went outside the so called 'tent' and wanted to go on the Look out for some Late night meeting points of the soldiers. The drugs are sold where buyers are, so he was looking for some kind of party, hangout or poker game with many participants. Before really starting to search for a place like this, he overheard the young boy talking on the phone. It seemed he was very angry or someone on the other end of the line was. It definitely was some kind of argument. It was a heated talk and Jethro couldn't but try to listen. Before the conversation even started it was over again and the young cadette looked in his direction.
"What, are you spying on me, DeNiro?"
"DeNiro?"
"Yeah, a wayy too old guy playing roles way younger actors should get. What are you doing out here?"
"Wanted to call someone, but I hope my person reacts more kindly than yours just did."
"Well, girlfriends can be annoying sometimes. Especially when you tell them you enlisted yourself."
"Yeah. I've got to say, when I'm DeNiro you are a child actor. You're too young for the job and can't act straight, yet. People ask themselves how you ended up here."
"Uh, nice carrying on my little metaphor, there. ... My old man was in the Navy. Unhonorably discharged because he went on a Mission hurt and endagered his Team. He saved one guy from getting shot at, but the Navy said he put them in danger. They showed no mercy. But you know, there are a lot of Marines or other guys in the army fighting injured without their supervisors' permission or knowledge. If they discharge all of them, then U.S. NAVY no more. I'm trying to honor my old man and maybe bring home the medal he deserved, but never received."
"Have you always wanted to become a Marine?"
"Since I can think straight, DeNiro. ... It was a nice chat but I gotta do something so excuse me."
Jethro nodded and watched him walk away. That young man definitely has more seriousness and depth to him than the first look lets one to believe. Tonight really seemed to be a quiet night, all lights were out and only a couple men were still awake. Probably because the majority of them knows how hard tomorrow's going to be. He wondered what that something was, the young boy had to do, considering how still and vacant everything was. He called director Sheperd and gave her an Update on the Mission. He had thought about asking her if he could only do undercover work in the future instead of joining a certain Team permanently. He's always been a loner and worked best when alone. It took him years to even adjust to his Former Team mates, it would probably make more sense, if he'd be on his own from now on. Therefore his current Mission needs to be a success.
"Aye, spikey, I told you not to do this. We wanted to help those guys not let them go overboard."
"They pay more for the special stuff."
"Well, if you kill them all, you won't have anyone left to buy your special stuff!"
"We don't need to just sell it to sailors. As long as you stay away from it yourself, we gonna get rich with this, kid. Now, here's the next bag. Sell them till Thursday, then you get new stuff."
"What if I don't want to anymore!?"
"Then I'm going to tell the captain that you only passed the test 'cause you swallow pills and that you're a failure just like your dad. Oh, and that you are responsible for 3 of his men dying from an overdose. I bet he'll love that last part."
Tony closed his eyes and swallowed. It's true. The captain would believe this asshole more than him. Since it was him who first sold some of his pills to a fellow recrute. He had a severe knee injury playing highschool Basketball. Otherwise he might have become pro. But because of the injury he became Dr. HOUSE. Taking pills for the pain although it shouldn't be there anymore. Spikey saw him once in the community bathroom and told him to start a Business with him or he would tell the captain. It was a bribe right from the beginning. And now that his companion found a way to give those pills a little extra spice, their Business grew and more and more soldiers, Marines and others NEEDED to get their hands on the stuff. It all became wayy too big wayy too fast. And there was no way for Tony to stop this.
He stuffed the bag full of spiked pills in his trousers and got out of the car. In the community room he put one bag of pills in each soldiers bag that at least once had used their product before and collected the already positioned money in return.
When he returned, he saw Gibbs still standing outside on the phone and decided to get out of the man's way. DeNiro is a newbe and you can never be sure to trust someone new. They have to prove themselves to you first. At least that's Tony's way of thinking. It's something he's learned from his dad.
"Aren't you a little young for that." Gibbs pointed to the cigarette dangling from the young man's mouth. If he only knew... .
"Are you my keeper now, DeNiro?" He answered sassily, but still put his newly lit cigarette out. "Bad habit, I know, get off my back."
The boy seemed nervous and not at all ready for the task infront of him. Yersterday he talked about it way more confident. Almost with a challeging tone. Gibbs was up to the challenge, but that boy didn't look like he was. He was pale and his body was trambling slightly. But he ate a protein bar and suddenly seemed like he was good to go and get this run over with. Gibbs put on his backpack and started running. He KNEW he wasn't in bad shape but in comparison to all these other guys he didn't even stand a chance to beat one of them to the finish line. He came in last with a huge time difference. Some of them didn't even look like they were sweating and Jethro already felt like he had just lost a fight against Mohamed Ali.
"Alright new guy. At least you finished the run. All these other guys were as slow as you when they first came here. We're going to get you to their Level soon. But for now, the loser has to clean the boots, so have fun."
Jethro wondered how Tony, he finally got to know the boys name from someone who called it during the run, had managed to get through the run without throwing up, after the condition he was in before. But he couldn't finish his thought. One of the guys from his Training group had collapsed and fell to the ground not breathing steadily. He knew immediately that this had something to do with his assignment. He had to find out what that guy took before the run and where he got it from. If he found answers to those questions he'd most likely get to know who leads the 'Cartel'.
Suddenly one of the cadettes collapsed. He saw Tony running to the shallowly breathing man on the ground. The boy started CPR and continued to do so, until the doctors arrived. Later on Gibbs found out, that this had saved petty Officer Jeremy Ryan's life.