Paranoia or Reality

Paranoia or Reality Chapter 11

It had only been three years since Leroy Jethro Gibbs had been in the city of Paris, but it felt like only yesterday when he last visited the cafés it was known for. He sipped from the cup that held his black coffee and scanned the footpath for any known risks to him or his companion. Samuel Hanna was a presence of his own, and couldn't blend in like Gibbs usually managed to achieve. His six foot three in stature and two hundred and twenty-five pounds presented him as a force not to contend with, but that didn't mean any bad guys they faced wouldn't give it a go. It was reassuring for the ageing agent to have Sam with him. Although Gibbs could still very much hold his own at sixty-seven years of age, it was a comfort to have Sam beside him.

"See anyone?" Sam held his eyes on the window reflection behind Gibbs, trying to not look suspicious in his own surveillance of the area around them.

"Not yet. He's late." The intel provided, told them that Special Agent Adrian Prior frequented this cafe at eight forty-five every morning, while he was undercover nearby for a sting of a local terrorist group. They were foreigners who'd managed to sneak into the borders of France a few years back, causing alarm to the U.S. with threats towards the U.S. Navy had been caught up in the chatter, although this group Prior was involved in, were far from the ports. Marseille was well known to hold the U.S. Naval ships, whereas Toulon was the main French Naval Port. Paris wasn't near either of those ports, but that didn't mean these men Prior was friendly with weren't behind any attacks on either port which sat on the southern coast on the Mediterranean Sea.

"I see him." Gibbs took another sip of his coffee, his blue eyes boring into the walnut brown eyes of Prior as he approached. The younger man caught Gibbs' eyes and quickly wiped his nose as he walked passed for his coffee order. Gibbs picked up the signal that Prior was being watched and at what position on the clock from where Prior stood.

"He's being watched," Gibbs muttered into his cup. "Two men. One at my nine o'clock, the second at my twelve."

"I'll leave you to settle the check." Sam rose from his seat. He'd seen the men Gibbs pointed out and shoved his hands into his pockets, hunching his shoulders and ducking his head. He casually bumped into the first suspect.

"Je suis désolé." [I'm sorry.]

"Regarde où tu vas" [Watch where you're going], the man with deep pools of dark cinnamon eyes, snapped back at him.

Sam moved along, satisfied the GSP tracker he'd placed on the man had taken place. He walked away as if he was leaving the area, yet instead, he turned back and came up behind the second suspect. He pulled him into an empty alleyway and rendered him unconscious quickly and quietly. The second man was bigger, but still no competition to Sam's bulky frame. He'd flayed his arms and legs to fight back—however, the hold Sam held him in made them useless.

Meanwhile, inside the cafe, Gibbs left the euros to settle the check and a tip for the waiter and stood behind Prior. "Meet me out back." He whispered to him. He shifted behind the customers and headed for the restrooms. He waited inside the men's room and checked that he was alone. The moment he'd completed the checks, Prior entered, annoyed he'd been contacted while under the watch of two men.

"What are you doing here?"

Gibbs locked the door and signaled for him to move over to the basins. He ran the water from the tap. "You know who I am?"

"Yes. Agent Gibbs. I've seen you around in Virginia."

"Then you know it's important for me to be here."

"I've received intel regarding the agents in L.A. I'm far from L.A. and undercover. I'm safe, but if those two men watching me wonder where I am, I'm done for and all of my work on this case was for nothing."