“Director Shepard?”<\/p>\n
Jenny looked up from her computer, peering over her reading glasses at her secretary, who was standing in the doorway. “Yes, Cynthia?”<\/p>\n
“Assistant Director Vance is on the line. He says he wants to speak with you.”<\/p>\n
Jenny sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she removed her glasses. “Of course he does,” she answered dryly. Assistant Director Leon Vance sometimes seemed to think that he was better suited to her job than she was, and as a result had made something of a habit of second-guessing her decisions. Considering he had also butted heads with Jethro on more than one occasion, she didn’t need to speculate what this particular call was about: she already knew.<\/p>\n
What she didn’t know was why Vance was awake–it was barely four in the morning in San Diego. “Put him through: I’ll take it in here.”<\/p>\n
Cynthia closed the door with a parting, sympathetic smile and Jenny turned to the phone, picking up the blinking line and forcing a calmness she didn’t feel into her tone: “Good morning, Leon.”<\/p>\n
“Madame Director.”<\/p>\n
Aside from Gibbs when he was irritated with her, no one else she knew could put quite that much disregard into her title. Jenny smiled bitterly but didn’t let it show in her voice. “What can I do for you, Assistant Director Vance?”<\/p>\n
“Well, for starters you can explain to me what the hell you were thinking when you assigned Leroy Jethro Gibbs and company to find this missing admiral. I always thought you had, well, I guess the best way to put it is a better sense of self preservation.”<\/p>\n
“Agent Gibbs is probably the best field agent NCIS has,” Jenny answered.<\/p>\n
“He’s also a blunt instrument,” Vance pointed out. “He doesn’t care who he offends as long as he gets the job done. And while that may be an admirable quality in a field agent under normal circumstances, in a situation like this, it’s nothing less than a liability. We’re already close enough to having an international incident on our hands.”<\/p>\n
Jenny silently blessed years of practice putting senators, admirals and four star generals at ease, because her voice didn’t show a hint of her growing irritation. “I assure you, Agent Gibbs is well aware of both the sensitivity and the urgency of this particular case.”<\/p>\n
Leon snorted. “Oh, I’m sure you informed him. I just doubt it will make any difference.”<\/p>\n
Jenny briefly considered letting him keep going, if only out of a morbid curiosity as to how long it would take him to run out of steam. Ultimately, though, she decided she didn’t have the patience. “While I appreciate your thoughts on the matter, Assistant Director Vance, I’m afraid the decision has already been made. And I have no desire to raise questions both at home and abroad about the efficiency of this agency by reassigning the case less than six hours after assigning it. Now, was there anything else?”<\/p>\n
Vance was silent for a little while before admitting, “I have no other concerns at the moment.”<\/p>\n
“In that case, I have an agency to run, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t take time to chat. I’m sure you’ll let me know if anything else comes up that concerns you.”<\/p>\n
Hanging up, Jenny let out a deep sigh. So help me, Jethro,<\/em> she directed one fierce, silent thought in Gibbs’ direction before going back to her paperwork. If you do one thing to screw this up and give Vance reason to lord it over me? I will have your ass in a sling so fast you’ll think you were born in it.<\/em><\/p>\n +++<\/p>\n She’d gone over it so many times in her head but the memory stubbornly refused to gain any clarity. One minute the sun had been shining through the windows of the car and Admiral Sullivan had somehow gotten her talking about her childhood. Then she’d blinked…<\/p>\n …and the sky had turned dark overhead, stars coming out like an explosion in the sky as they pulled up to the gatehouse at the base, six hours late and Admiral Sullivan had vanished without a trace.<\/p>\n Stephanie was afraid. Not just for her career–although even if NCIS and her superiors ultimately did believe her story, that could still be over just for being careless enough to misplace someone so valuable–but even more for the kindly admiral who had begun to remind her of her grandfather before he’d disappeared. He might have been old fashioned, but there was a sincerity and a kindness about him that covered a multitude of sins.<\/p>\n What could have happened that was so horrible she’d blocked it so completely from her mind?<\/p>\n The door opened and Stephanie glanced up listlessly at the man who entered. He was tall, handsome, and impeccably well dressed. Probably NCIS, which meant another round of questions she wouldn’t be able to answer.<\/p>\n “Hey,” the man greeted her with a smile that was almost blinding it was so gorgeous. He stepped into the room and set a paper cup on the table. “Thought you might need a cup of coffee.”<\/p>\n She reached for it. “Thank you. You’re NCIS, aren’t you?”<\/p>\n The agent grinned and took a seat opposite her, holding out a hand in greeting. “Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. Call me Tony.”<\/p>\n Stephanie smiled and shook his hand before taking a sip of coffee. “You know I won’t be able to tell you any more than I told Chief Poindexter, right? I honestly don’t remember what happened.”<\/p>\n “So tell me what you do remember,” Agent DiNozzo suggested with surprising gentleness.<\/p>\n She swallowed hard and nodded. “All right.”<\/p>\n Taking a deep breath, she started her story over again from the moment she’d met Admiral Sullivan emerging from customs. She felt the holes in her story as keenly as Agent DiNozzo must, if not more, but despite hours of struggle still couldn’t fill them.<\/p>\n When she’d finished what had almost become a recitation, he asked, “What can you tell me about the purpose of Admiral Sullivan’s visit?”<\/p>\n “Without consulting my superiors? Nothing. It’s classified. Beyond classified.”<\/p>\n “If it’s on a need to know basis, I think this would qualify as me needing to know,” DiNozzo pointed out.<\/p>\n “I understand that, Sir, but I’m still not at liberty to speak about it.” She hesitated for a moment before admitting, “I’ll probably lose my clearance anyway, if not my commission, over this. But if not…”<\/p>\n He nodded. “I understand. Can you tell me who I should contact to see about getting that information released?”<\/p>\n “The only names I knew aside from Admiral Sullivan were my direct superiors,” She explained. “I suppose they might know more. But with the Admiral missing, I’m not sure how willing they’ll be to give out any information.”<\/p>\n DiNozzo sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I figured. And also what I was afraid of.”<\/p>\n +++<\/p>\n “I don’t understand,” Martha asked quietly as they followed the Corporal across the compound. “Who’s Harry Sullivan and why’s he so important?”<\/p>\n “Someone I knew a very long time ago,” the Doctor answered distractedly. “A lifetime ago. Well, several lifetimes ago, really.”<\/p>\n “An admiral? Really? How’d that come about?”<\/p>\n “Well, he wasn’t an admiral then, just a lowly lieutenant. And he travelled with me for a while.” The Doctor grinned, eyes twinkling. “You’d like him, I think. He’s a doctor too. Only authorized to work on sailors, though. Bit old-fashioned when I knew him, but then so was I, rather.”<\/p>\n Martha’s world tilted minutely on its axis, but not really in a bad way. She’d been expecting Admiral Sullivan to be some person of great future importance, like the man who cured cancer or something: certainly not an old friend of the Doctor’s. Why, the way he’d talked when they first met, she’d rather got the impression that Rose, whoever she was, was the only friend he’d ever had.<\/p>\n “So if he’s a doctor…what would he be doing here?” she asked, confused. “The Americans haven’t spread their military quite so thin they need to borrow high-ranking medical officers, have they?”<\/p>\n “I shouldn’t think so,” the Doctor answered, shaking his head. “Although, given he’s disappeared under mysterious circumstances, I suspect Harry’s presence here had less to do with his medical expertise and more to do with his UNIT affiliation. Or alternatively, with me.” His face sobered on that last. “Though if that were the case, surely they’d be more inclined to nab Sarah Jane or Jo or the Brigadier than Harry<\/em>.”<\/p>\n Three more names she’d never heard before: Martha almost inquired who Sarah Jane, Jo and ‘the Brigadier’ were too, but thought better of it since they were approaching a very official-looking building.<\/p>\n Corporal Nelson led them into the building and into the midst of a group of quite important looking people: some in uniform, others in civilian clothes. Her eyes were drawn to a couple conversing in a corner; a tall, handsome man about the same age as the Doctor looked and a woman about her height, with long black hair and the bearing of a soldier. Both looked up as Nelson led Martha and the Doctor inside, their conversation coming to an abrupt halt.<\/p>\n Stepping away from his partner towards them, the man smiled: a smile that skipped over charming and went right to seductive, one hundred percent of it directed at Martha. “Hey. I didn’t know we were expecting anyone else at the party. Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS.” He held out a hand. “Call me Tony.”<\/p>\n The Doctor jumped in front of Martha, intercepting the offered hand and pumping it vigorously as if he hadn’t even realized it was intended for her. “John Smith. This is my associate, Martha Jones.”<\/p>\n “Smith and Jones. Seriously?” DiNozzo grinned, again never taking his eyes off Martha. When they both just stared at him, he elaborated: “You know, like the old TV series, Alias Smith and Jones?”<\/p>\n Martha snorted. “Bit more like Will and Tommy Lee, thanks.”<\/p>\n She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but DiNozzo’s grin got even bigger, his eyes shining with what looked like approval. Beside her, the Doctor snorted and muttered something under his breath that sounded vaguely like, “Not another one.”<\/p>\n “I don’t suppose anyone would care to enlighten me who these people are and what they are doing here?” the woman demanded in a clipped tone. “Corporal?”<\/p>\n Agent DiNozzo shot her a dirty look. “Ziva, relax. Who died and made you Gibbs anyway?”<\/p>\n Ziva bristled. “This is a closed crime scene under NCIS jurisdiction. I think we have a right to know.”<\/p>\n “They’re with UNIT, Ma’am,” Corporal Nelson explained.<\/p>\n “There, you see?” DiNozzo winked at Martha before turning his attention back to Nelson. “Which unit would that be?”<\/p>\n “Not a unit: UNIT. U-N-I-T. Short for United Nations Intelligence Task Force,” the Doctor interrupted. “Then again, I think last time we met they’d shortened it: Unified Intelligence Task Force or something like.”<\/p>\n “The intelligence arm of the United Nations,” Ziva explained when DiNozzo still didn’t look enlightened. “Which still doesn’t explain what they’re doing here?”<\/p>\n “I think if you examine Admiral Sullivan’s file, you’ll find he’s been attached to UNIT for quite some time,” the Doctor answered. “Nearly since its inception.”<\/p>\n “How did you even find out?” DiNozzo asked. “For that matter, how did you get here so fast? Didn’t they retire the Concorde five years ago?”<\/p>\n “You think we wouldn’t have known something was wrong the minute the Admiral missed his check-in?” Martha improvised.<\/p>\n The Doctor gave her a sidelong, approving glance. “Quite right. Of course, if it’s inconvenient, we could always arrange for transport home…inform the Prime Minister and Her Majesty that our involvement was not welcome…”<\/p>\n Tony and Ziva exchanged an uneasy glance. “Right,” DiNozzo finally acceded. “Where would you like to start?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Director Shepard?” Jenny looked up from her computer, peering over her reading glasses at her secretary, who was standing in the doorway. “Yes, Cynthia?” “Assistant Director Vance is on the line. He says he wants to speak with you.” Jenny … Continue reading