It had been three weeks since Angela and Peter Shaw had been taken into custody at her apartment, the various weapons found with them was a stark reminder of what could have happened to their friend and partner. His history of mental illness had gotten Peter Shaw committed to yet another mental hospital, but this time his sister couldn't sign him out. It had taken every dime their parents had left them for Angela to make her own bail.
When Angela first made bail Tony came back from lunch to find paperwork on his desk, awaiting his signature. Even after he'd filed and received the restraining order his friends had insisted upon, Tony rarely found himself alone. Two weeks after the arrests he'd tried, refusing to go with Gibbs or to allow either Tim or Ziva to go home with him. Guilt over the fact that McGee was sitting in his car outside Tony's apartment at 0300 drove him to call the other man inside.
After that, Tony didn't argue with the schedule Abby had set up and willingly rotated between his watchers. He almost admitted how much it meant to him, but he suspected they already knew.
Now at the three week mark, solving cases was the most normal part of their lives. Even a call-out at the end of their shift was a moment of normality. After a tense drive through a heavy downpour, Gibbs pulled the truck up next to the the police car and started barking orders. "This rain is going to wash away all of our evidence. Leave the body to Ducky and Palmer. Get everything else photographed, bagged and tagged as fast as you can – and stay away from the ditches. That water's rising fast."
While the team scrambled, Gibbs jogged over to the local LEO's holding a tarp over the body stretched out next to the road. "Thanks, guys, appreciate it. What can you tell us?"
"Not much, sir. Anonymous call, body was like this when we got here, so we called you guys." The uniformed officer pointed to the open jacket that revealed the Naval Dress Blues. "It's almost like somebody wanted us to know this guy was Navy."
Gibbs frowned as he agreed, but the ringing of his phone distracted him. "Yeah, Gibbs."
"It's Fornell, we've got a problem. Peter Shaw hung himself earlier today."
"Not sure I'd consider that a problem."
"Well, you'd better because his sister went nuts, according to the staff. She was screaming about making someone pay."
Suddenly, their odd crime scene had a whole new perspective. Gibbs slammed his phone shut and looked around for Tony as he realized how exposed they were. Running, he caught up with DiNozzo and hustled him back to the truck.
"Boss, what..."
"Peter Shaw offed himself and your ex-girlfriend went off her rocker."
"But what does that have to do with..." Tony looked around and realized what Gibbs had already determined. "You think this is a set up?"
"Somebody worked hard to get us out here."
A flash of lightning lit up the night sky. Behind a clump of trees, Tony thought he saw a car. "Boss, was that..."
The next burst of lightning and the area behind the trees was empty. Gibbs squinted as he looked around, finally spotting it as it approached the road, picking up speed, the headlights still off. "Stay here, DiNozzo." Gibbs took off running, pulling his weapon as he yelled at McGee. The younger man was taking pictures of some debris on the edge of the road, unaware of what was coming up behind him. A clap of thunder drowned out his shout and Gibbs yelled again. McGee looked up, turning at the same time, but there was no place for him to go.
The car clipped Tim, sending him tumbling down the embankment before aiming at its next target. Out of the corner of his eye, Gibbs saw Ziva reacting to the attack and he changed his focus to the falling man. Ziva had the time to react and opened fire on the car. Her third shot blew out the tire and the car lost control, rolling twice before coming to a stop. Gibbs was already on the move, scrambling to find a way to reach McGee.
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Tim McGee was freezing cold from the heavy rain as he quickly snapped photographs of what looked to be a woman's scarf tangled up with a broken branch. A flash of lightning illuminated what appeared to be tire tracks in the mud, slowly being washed away. He immediately started taking pictures, one after the other, hoping that enough detail would be caught for Abby to identify the car that made the tracks. It wasn't much, but as heavy as the rain was coming down, the car had to have driven down this road recently, possibly near the time the murder occurred.
A loud boom of thunder had him ducking instinctively, but only seconds later he heard Gibbs yelling for him. Tim looked up, squinting as the water hit his face. Gibbs was running towards him, pulling his weapon at the same time. Instinct took over and Tim let go of the camera as he spun around. A fast moving sedan was bearing down on him. Recognizing the danger, he reached for his own weapon. Just as his fingers touched the grip, the bumper grazed his leg and he was airborne.
He hit the muddy slope with enough force to knock the wind out of him and helplessly tumbled the rest of the way down to land in the icy water of the ditch. The shock of the freezing cold water further paralyzing his diaphragm. Knowing that he was in trouble, Tim grasped at the few large rocks along the water's edge. It stopped his momentum for a second, but he could feel his fingers slipping. A broken branch traveling under the water caught the camera strap, pulling him from his precarious perch.
Still struggling to take a breath, McGee was tossed around in the rapidly rising water as he was pulled further away from the crime scene. One last lightning bolt lit the sky enough to outline Gibbs as he ran along the roadway, trying to find a way to reach McGee.
"McGee, grab hold."
Tim barely heard the words over the rushing water, but he looked around frantically, grabbing the edge of the culvert as he was sucked in. His momentum slowed for a brief second, but his rapidly numbing fingers couldn't hold on. One last flash of lightning illuminated Gibbs' alarmed face before McGee was swept into the underground waterway.
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Despite Gibbs' order to stay in the truck, Tony rushed out the second he saw McGee get hit. It was too dark to see the driver, but he recognized the shape of Angela's black Honda. He was aware of Ziva opening fire on the vehicle as it veered towards her, but his attention was on what was happening further up the road. When Gibbs started running, he knew McGee was in the water. The sound of the Honda crashing distracted him for a moment, then Tony returned to the truck, slinging mud and water everywhere as he made a tight turn to catch up with Gibbs. In the rear view mirror, he could see the local LEO's rushing to assist Ziva and turned his full attention to McGee's rescue.
Gibbs didn't waste any time as he jumped in the truck. "He got swept into the culvert, go." As Tony pushed the truck to its limits on the steep, winding road, Gibbs was already on the phone to Abby, quickly telling her where they were and to find the next access point to the underground pipe. Tony could hear her panicked voice over Gibbs' phone, but he could also hear her frantically searching for what they needed. The minutes ticked by as they rushed down the curvy road, hoping to get ahead of their friend, neither of them willing to acknowledge McGee's dwindling chances with every second he was underground. They were almost on top of the access when Abby found it and Tony barely kept the truck on the road when he slammed on the brakes.
Gibbs was out of the truck before it rolled to a full stop, with Tony just seconds behind him. They looked around, afraid that Abby's research might have been wrong, but then Gibbs spotted a metal grate almost completely covered by brush. "McGee, hang on, we're coming." Refusing to believe they'd missed him, neither man took a deep breath until they reached the opening and found McGee clinging to the metal bars.
"Probie, thank God." Tony waded into the water, Gibbs right behind him, and wrapped his fingers around Tim's icy ones, helping him hold on. While Tony helped Tim cling to the cold bars, Gibbs assessed the situation. A wider, shallower ditch meant the water was only half way up their thighs as it rushed into the lower storm drain. The access was small, and the metal bars were thick. The hinges were hidden, the latch closed with a padlock. Luckily, the angle of the access door combined with the difference of elevation between the deep culvert and the shallower overflow ditch gave McGee a small space of air. Even with that small mercy, McGee was definitely struggling as the fast moving water threatened to pull him under and the slightest movement of DiNozzo or Gibbs would send a wave of water over his face.
Gibbs lifted the lock to take a better look, pulling a small maglight out of his pocket. Long term exposure to the elements had corroded the lock, making it almost impossible to pick. If they were out in the open, he wouldn't have hesitated to shoot the lock, but the crowded space, rocks and cement almost certainly guaranteed a ricochet.
Tony saw the problem and pressed his body against the bars, shielding McGee. "Shoot it, we don't have any choice."
Instead of pulling his SIG, Gibbs grabbed a large rock from the edge of the ditch. "Not sacrificing one of you boys for the other." Targeting the weakest side of the latch, Gibbs lifted the rock over his head and slammed it down. The impact jarred all the way up to his shoulders, but Gibbs didn't hesitate before repeating the process. Again and again, the rough edges of the rock tearing at his hands, Gibbs beat the rock against the bending metal. At his shoulder, Tony continued to cling to McGee's hands, yelling as the trapped man's eyes started to close.
"Damn it, McGee, stay with me. We're going to get you out of there." He felt the fingers under his go limp. "Tim? Tim?"
Realizing that they were out of time, Gibbs let out a yell as he slammed the rock down hard one last time. The latch snapped free and Gibbs dropped the rock to start tugging on the grate. Still holding onto one of McGee's hands, Tony added his effort as both men steadily pulled while they kicked the debris away that blocked the bottom.
With a screech, the metal swung out and they grabbed at McGee, tugging his now unresponsive form out of the small hole. Flashing red and blue lights reflected off the water and they were quickly joined by Palmer and one of the officers that had been at the original crime scene. They handed McGee off to Palmer and the officer, who laid him up on solid ground where Ducky immediately started assessing his condition. Palmer scrambled up to help Ducky, while the officer gave the two cold and soaked agents a hand up out of the water. Approaching sirens told that plenty of help was on the way and as soon as McGee started coughing up water, Tony and Gibbs both sunk to the ground in exhaustion.