Chapter 2

Gibbs watched as he was becoming frantic. Nothing. Suddenly, he heard a groan and a gasp. The next thing Gibbs heard was heart-stopping. A frenzy of shots were heard through the microphone. Gibbs was concerned at was going on. It quieted for a moment, then one single shot rang out one last time. Gibbs thought of the worst. His agent could have been gunned down and was now dead. That last shot could have been one last bullet to make sure he wasn't still hanging on barely; that he was completely dead.

"Tim!" Gibbs shouted once more, only to be greeted by some silence, groaning, and some coughing. Gibbs couldn't take it anymore. Discarding the microphone, he bolted out of MTAC and downstairs and to the car.

Gibbs took out his phone and called the fire department and an ambulance. He had a gut feeling that he was definitely going to need them. The car screeched to halt and Gibbs jumped out, the fire department and EMT's not far behind. After 5 minutes of running around, Gibbs found Tony and Ziva sitting by a closed door, talking.

Tony was the first one to notice Gibbs. "Oh, hey Boss! Finally come to free us from our doom?"

"Can it, DiNozzo," said Gibbs in annoyance. He turned towards the hallway opening and saw the rescue crew come running in.

"Boss, you didn't have to call an ambulance; we're fine," said Tony, worry growing in the pit of his stomach.

"Can you break through this door?" Gibbs asked one of the firemen. One stepped up and examined the door for a minute then faced Gibbs.

"It's going to take about three hours, sir, so just hold on and-"

"We don't have three hours! We have 10 minutes, maybe less! My agent could be hurt, maybe dying in 3 minutes! So figure a way to open the damn door!" Gibbs shouted angrily.

The smile on Tony's face dropped and looked at Gibbs with a pale face.

"Boss what happened? Did something happen to McGee?"

Gibbs didn't answer him. Instead he helped the firemen break down the door. In a matter of three minutes, the door was busted open and Gibbs was the first one through. He frantically ran through the halls looking for his missing agent. He suddenly saw smoke and knew that was where McGee was.

"Gibbs! What happened? Where are you going?" yelled Ziva as she and Tony shared concerned glances at each other. They followed Gibbs until they reached a smoky room.

Gibbs squinted through the clouded air and called McGee's name. Finally, he found a dark form laying completely still by the side wall; instantly he knew it was Tim. He ran over and dropped next to him. Gibbs gasped when he saw the condition of his youngest agent. There were cuts on his face, blood was running down from his temple, his arm looked a bit twisted and a metal shard had lodged itself into McGee's side

"Oh, no...Tim," Gibbs sighed as he rolled McGee over to his back.

At that, McGee groaned and coughed. His eyes fluttered open and looked around, disoriented.

"B-boss?" McGee said weakly.

"I'm here, Tim, just stay awake until the paramedics come, okay? You're gonna be alright."

"I-I'm sorry b-boss. I screwed up. I-I managed to stop-" but before he could finish, McGee went into a coughing fit. He couldn't stop and he was losing air. All of a sudden, his coughing stopped; along with his breathing.

"Tim! McGee, get back here, I don't give you permission to die!" yelled Gibbs as he began CPR.

Tony and Ziva just watching in horror as they saw their friend struggling to breath, then just die all at once. Ziva was close to tears, while Tony was just about to break down.

Just when they thought it was over for McGee, the paramedics came rushing in, pushing Gibbs out of the way and getting the paddles.

"It's about time you got here," said Gibbs in a crass and annoyed voice. They should have been right behind him and then maybe his agent would already be in the ambulance by now. Alive.