Disclaimer: If I owned NCIS I would be writing the scripts not fanfiction. It is Christmas soon though *hint hint*

Dragon

The team got out of the van with their guns drawn. Gibbs put his finger to his lips for silence and then signalled McGee and Ziva to go round opposite sides of the building. He and Tony crept up the main path. He stood in front of the plain white door and knocked briskly.

"NCIS, we have a warrant!" No sound could be heard from inside the house.

"Open up!"

Gibbs waited 3 seconds and the quickly kicked the door in. He swept into the hallway, eyes roving searching for any sign of movement from the open doorways, Tony following closely behind. McGee and Ziva entered round the other side of the house through the back door. Ziva had already picked the lock before McGee had even thought about trying to kick the door down. They entered quickly, their shoes making little noise against the black and white tiles on the floor

Gibbs quickly pushed open 2 doors in front of him, while Tony took the ones behind him already. Only when he was sure there was no-one there did he shout through the house.

"Clear."

"Clear". He heard Ziva shout from the door ahead of him. It was only then he relaxed and began taking in what he had seen in the other rooms. The living room and bathroom had been normal enough, but the third room he had checked in….

"Gibbs," he heard a shout from Ziva". You should see this." He walked forward towards the final door ahead of him, his gun in its holster, but his hand not far from it. He was closely followed by Tony.

"Wow, those rooms were weird. It's like petty officer Jenkins had his own little secret lab."

"I know, DiNozzo, he said with a hint of impatience, "I saw it too."

"Do you think Jenkins was stealing supplies for his 'labs' from work and that's why he split?" Gibbs thought about it. The petty officer had been missing for 5 days now, and no-one had heard from him. He had worked in one of the navy's research labs.

"Maybe, DiNozzo," he said. He pushed open the door. Tony and Gibbs were treated to the sight of McGee sitting down in one of the wooden chairs around a tabled, clutching his ankle and Ziva standing next to him watching something in the corner suspiciously.

"What happened," he asked crossly. McGee and Ziva both started speaking at once. They stopped and looked at each other.

"Will one of you please tell me what's going on?!" he shouted with frustration. McGee started speaking.

"Well Ziva picked the lock and we entered the kitchen. I didn't take any notice of the cage on the way in. I though it was probably just a cat! I was more concerned with looking for Jenkins. We checked out the bedrooms and I walked back into the kitchen to check outside again through the backdoor and it got me!"

"Got you?"

"It singed his ankle," Ziva explained.

"What singed his ankle?!"

"That," Ziva pointed. Gibbs looked round the edge of the table and saw a wire cage about 1 metre by 1 metre by 1 metre. It had a handle and a door that latched shut. Inside there was a creature about the size of a household cat and it had a tail. But that was where the similarities ended. The creature had scales which were a cross between muddy brown and dark green. Its long tail was covered with scales, and from the torso, two leathery wings extended, one from each side. It had four short legs and a long neck, on top of which was a small head. Triangular ears stuck up from its head and its large eyes met Gibbs and it blinked dolefully. Even as he watched, a small burst of flame came from two silts in its face, which he assumed was its snout.

"What is it?" Ziva asked. "I have not seen anything like it in my country, is it some sort of lizard."

"Its not lizard," Tony said. "That Ziva, is a dragon!"