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“His name is Ari Haswari.” Tony's voice sounded calm, which surprised him, since cold fury was tightly coiled in his stomach. He had dealt with his transfer from active service to intelligence rather well, but right now all the wanted was a gun in his hands and this man in front of him. His aim might not be perfect anymore, but Tony was certain he wouldn't miss.
“Haswari was a Moussad agent originally, but a little bit of research reveals that he is actually working for the Hamas and has ties to Al-Qaeda as well.”
He turned and ran a hand through his hair to keep his hands from clenching into angry fists. He couldn't remember ever hating someone the way he hated this man. Haswari had tried to hurt Gibbs. He'd also succeeded in changing Tony's life forever and taking away his job as an active secret service agent, condemning him to a job gathering intel. However, that paled in comparison to the fact that he'd tried to kill Gibbs.
Gibbs was sitting on the couch, looking entirely too undisturbed considering that the man who had attempted to kill him was a terrorist with considerable connections. He patted the empty space next to him, beckoning Tony to sit with a tilt of his head. Tony did.
“It's okay, Tony,” Gibbs said. “The bullet didn't hit me and you'll get the guy.” Time and time again, Tony was amazed by how well Gibbs could read him- and then find just the right words to say.
He kissed Gibbs, not more than a quick peck on the lips, but it was enough to reassure him that Gibbs was still there, still alive, still breathing.
And Tony would do everything in his power to keep him that way.
It was hard work trying to trace a terrorist, but in a different sense than Tony was used to. Instead of staying up all night in the vicinity of the president, waiting for one adrenaline-filled moment of action, he now stayed awake all night drinking coffee and watching one picture after another flick over the screen as the face recognition programme ran through all security camera material available.
It was just as boring as regular bodyguard duty had been (at least as boring as it had been before Gibbs took an interest in Tony) and Tony took to it with the same determination. The work might be boring, but there was much at stake.
The men he worked with (mainly a guy named McGee who had only recently graduated and joined the Service to help with the technical aspects of protecting the president and other figures of importance) didn't seem to realise quite how seriously Tony took his work, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was finding Ari.
It was complicated, but they finally found a trace of Haswari. Tony shrugged when Gibbs asked how they'd managed. “It involved something with bank cards and ATM security surveillance and really, it was mostly just a lot of staring at a computer screen.”
Gibbs and his bosses in the Service told him that there was no way he would be allowed to join the team that would make the attempt to capture Ari Haswari, but Tony would have none of it.
“He hurt you,” he told Gibbs, frowning with his jaw clenched tight, and in the end, Gibbs gave in and let him go.
“Don't get shot again,” Gibbs said in lieu of a goodbye, kissing Tony.
According to their information, Ari Haswari would meet a known member of Al-Qaeda this evening. They even had information as to the location (an abandoned warehouse, and what was it with criminals and clichés? Tony had asked himself that question many times and had never received an answer) and had set up tiny transmitters.
Officially, this wasn't their jurisdiction, but they worked for the president of the United States and Tony refused to even think of the possibility of giving this up to someone else. He didn't trust anyone else with this.
Two hours before the meeting was supposed to take place, they all took positions. Then the waiting began.
“Secret Service! Nobody move. You're under arrest.”
The words had the opposite effect. Haswari was fast and the fact that he managed to disarm one of the agents before anyone was able to react said more about him than it did about the team, Tony told himself.
Haswari pointed his weapon at Tony. “I shot you before,” he said, accent heavy in his voice, “didn't I?”
Tony nodded, smiled, and pulled the trigger.
Instead of one, three shots rang out. Tony had aimed at Haswari's shoulder, but another agent hadn't. Haswari fell to the ground, eyes going blank almost immediately.
Tony almost regretted not having killed Haswari himself, and that thought scared him – though not as much as it should.
That night, after all the paperwork had been dealt with, Tony mapped out Gibbs' body with his lips and his tongue and whispered words like “safe” and “love” into the skin over Gibbs' hipbone.
There'd be a funeral and an internal investigation about whether the shots had been justified or not, but for now, Tony didn't care. He was with Gibbs and they were both okay. They could deal with the rest in the morning.