Chapter 174: Nothing Lasts Forever
Dinner had wrapped up an hour before. Jimmy, Breena, and
Molly had gone home. Which meant Gibbs was alone with his core team, sitting
around the McGees' living room, and it was time to have a serious conversation.
"We know I'm leaving in January." Gibbs said, and
looked to Tim.
"I don't know when, yet. I have to talk to Vance, let
him know I want Cybercrime when it's open."
"Is it going to be open?" Ziva asked.
"I've heard enough rumors about Jenner not being happy
to think it will be, probably in the next year. And I think if I tell him I
want it, Vance will give it to me. He offered Okinawa when it opened up, and
that's actually a better team than DC. I don't think he'll have a problem with
me taking it when Jenner leaves."
"So, in the next year you're going to make me break in
two probies?" Tony asks.
"That's the question, isn't it?" Abby adds.
"We can start bringing in new people now, see who fits.
Make sure you don't end up with a new team all at once," Tim says.
"Dornaget." Gibbs says.
"Yeah, I know he's been waiting five years for a spot
on our team," Tony said. "And… look, he's not bad, but I'm not sure I
want him. He's been in the evidence lock up for years, getting rustier and
rustier. I'd rather have someone who took a field assignment than waiting
around for us."
"You sure it's not just that he caught you out on the
Probie crap?" Tim asks, smile on his face.
Tony gives him a little glare, trying to figure out how to
recover from losing half his team is something that keeps him up at night.
"I'm losing my tech specialist, half of my precision shooters, my sniper,
my connections to three quarters of every organization with initials, my
interrogation specialist, my hacker, my only person who speaks Marine, my
Gunny, my 'Gut', half of my intimidators, and two men who have my back in any
and every situation, can read Ziva and I with a glance, will back any play
either of us comes up with, and have been there for me every single day for the
last decade. Dornie fills none of those holes."
Gibbs nods, feeling a whole lot better about Tony being in
charge of the team.
"You've given this a lot of thought," Tim adds.
"Yes. At a bare minimum I need tech and an interrogator.
Precision shooting and intimidation are my next highest skills. Quick enough on
the subtle clues to back Ziva and I no matter what comes next. I'll give Dornie
a shot, he's earned that, but I don't think he's got what we need."
"Between the two of us, Tony and I have charm, evidence
gathering, questioning skills, fighting, leadership, explosives—"
"Two-thirds of my explosives team, too. Forgot about
that."
"Lock-picking, precision driving, intuition, and
tactical planning. We're short a lot of skills if it's just the two of
us."
"I can find you your hacker," Tim says.
"Either out of Cybercrime or fresh out of FLETC."
Tony looks at Ziva. She nods a little. "FLETC. Get me
someone young, who hasn't been around long enough to learn anyone else's bad
habits. Filling your shoes is going to be almost impossible, but I've only got
two slots, and I can't have someone who's just a desk jockey."
"They graduate in May. One of my classmates is an
instructor now, I'll see who he recommends."
Gibbs smirks at Tony, and Tony turns to him,
"What?"
"You'll be twenty, maybe twenty-five years older than
anyone out of FLETC. Same difference between me and Tim."
Tony winces. "Oh God."
Gibbs nods, looking really smug.
"Were you really Tony's age when I started?"
"I was four years younger."
"I thought you were older than God," Tim said,
shaking his head.
"And I was. And if you don't want just Probies on the
team, ask for the rosters on the Agents Afloat. One of them might want a land
based assignment."
"Burley," Ziva said. "Where is he
stationed?"
Tony's eyes lit up. He knew they worked well together,
they'd all come out of the Gibbs school of criminal investigating, and Burley
knew what they were doing.
Gibbs shook his head. "Running his own team out of
Pearl. Don't think he wants to come back here and take a demotion. Really don't
think his wife wants to move."
"You could ask him if he's got someone who wants to be
on the mainland. Borin's moved up at Coast Guard, maybe she can give you a lead
on someone who's not happy there but would be a good fit," Abby suggested.
"Maybe, but if you're not a good fit there, you're
probably not going to be a good fit for us, either," Tony says.
"Are you kidding? I'd have been miserable with the
Coast Guard, but I'm happy as a clam at NCIS. We do really well with round
pegs, go ask her who they've got that's not fitting into their square
holes."
"Fornell could give you some names from the FBI as
well. Guys who don't quite fit in there might work really well for us,"
Tim suggests.
"So, you're scouting the best and brightest FLETC has
to offer. We're headhunting Coast Guard, NCIS Pearl Harbor and Agents Afloat,
and the FBI for talent. And for either side, I'd prefer someone who was a
Marine or Sailor," Tony said.
"Monday, I'll make the appointment to talk to Vance
about moving on, and send Geoff the email about who we want out of FLETC.
Hopefully by June I'll have some people who we can start working with.
Next
No comments:
Post a Comment