Warnings: Spoilers for "Patriot Down".

A/N: I wasn't planning on updating so soon but I needed a break from writing a paper, so... here is the next part. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and that you enjoy this post! Please let me know what you think :)


Tony noticed a black sedan parked across the street from his daughter's daycare when he came to pick her up. It wasn't unusual to see cars parked on the busy street, but it was unusual to see it running with someone inside.

He glanced down the quiet downtown street. Most of the shops were closed for the night, having closed at five, and there were only a handful of pizza and Chinese places open. And since school was out most of the apartments on this street near Georgetown remained vacant until fall. Immediately, Tony felt his guard going up. He wasn't sure if it was because of investigating Lara Macy's death or exhaustion but he felt as if that person sitting in the black sedan was watching him.

And he must have made the person watching him jittery because they started the car up and drove off. Tony made a mental note on the plates and stepped inside the daycare. He'd left NCIS... and Tim... still working on the case. He sent his partner the numbers and asked him to run the plates. Shoving the phone into his pocket he concentrated on the happy face of his daughter.

Kaitlin greeted him with a big grin and went directly towards her cubbie to grab her things, pulling the backpack and jacket off the hook and plopping them at her father's feet.

"Guess you want to go home, huh?" Tony asked her with a grin, picking her up. He helped her into her jacket and grabbed her backpack. After instructing her to say good-bye to her teachers, and doing so himself, Tony headed back out to his car. Outside he still had that feeling of being watched and it unnerved him even more because this time he had Kaitlin with him. But a glance down the street didn't yield anything and he didn't see the black sedan.

"Dada... Elmo?" Kaitlin asked, gesturing to her bag where the toy was. "Pleeze?"

Tony situated her into her car seat and buckled her before giving her the toy. As he pulled it out of her bag, he dislodged a water bottle that rolled underneath the SUV. Silently groaning, Tony handed the toy to Kaitlin and climbed underneath the car to retrieve the water bottle. Immediately he sensed that something was off and climbed out quickly, tossing the toddler's water bottle into the backseat and grabbing his flashlight from his own bag.

Crawling back underneath the car, he turned the light on and flashed it upwards, revealing the brake lines hanging down, clearly cut. Heart beating wildly, because if he hadn't dropped that water bottle he never would have discovered the tampered brakes... he would have gone to stop and the car wouldn't have cooperated... both Tony and Kaitlin could have been killed in an accident. Killed in an accident like Shannon and Kelly.

Forcing himself into action, Tony slid out from underneath the SUV and reached for his cell phone again. He dialed Tim's number. "Forget running those plates right now, McGee... someone tampered with my brakes... we need to get my car back to NCIS... now."


Gibbs was on his fifteenth coffee that day, or at least it felt that way. And he wasn't about to let up. Not when someone had tampered with his SFA's car. He shuddered thinking about what could have happened if Tony hadn't discovered it. Both Tony and Kaitlin might be dead at that very moment. He shook off the horrible feelings of helplessness and stepped into the garage. "What ya got for me, Abs?"

Abby appeared from underneath the SUV. "The brake lines were cut alright. Here's something interesting though... I found traces of blood on the lines and... the markings are very similar to those that were found in the wound on Lara Macy's neck."

"It was the same knife that killed Macy that was used to cut Tony's brake lines," Gibbs surmised.

"It looks that way. Gibbs... someone is out to... to get NCIS agents," Abby said, near tears. "If Tony hadn't discovered the tampering..."

Gibbs reached for her and pulled her close and kissed her cheek. He hoped that it would reassure that Tony... and Kaitlin were going to be fine, but the truth was... he wasn't sure. Until they made connections to the death of Lara Macy and the tampering with Tony's car... Gibbs had to believe that everyone associated with NCIS, this case... with him... was in danger. He turned to go but Abby grabbed his arm and stopped him.

Her eyes were hard and filled with tears. "We need to talk... about Mexico. I know that we have a case right now and that we're super busy... but Gibbs.. I don't know what to do."

"You do what I've always asked you to do, Abs."

"My job. But this time... Gibbs... it's you! I can't... I can't send you to jail!"

Gibbs shook his head. "Abby... I won't ask you to cover it up. Just do your job."

Abby looked ready to burst into tears and opened her mouth to say something when the elevator dinged and she glanced up to see Tony and McGee arrive and judging by the grim looks on their faces, she knew that they didn't have good news.

Tony took the lead. His jaw had been clenched pretty much since he'd arrived at NCIS with Kaitlin in tow. "McGee and I traced those plates to the black sedan I saw parked outside of the daycare... it was registered to a rental company and the last person to rent it was Jason Dean. Boss, it looks like Colonel Bell is out of Mexican prison and looking for revenge."

"We checked into Jason Dean and Colonel Bell, boss," McGee reported. "Colonel Bell's private jet left about an hour ago for Baja, Mexico. Jason Dean was on the flight manifest as a passenger. It was also Dean that made those phone calls to Lara Macy before her death... he lured her out and then killed her."

"And he was staking out Kaitlin's daycare," Gibbs mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face. "He cut the brake lines."

Tony licked his lips and clenched his fists. He wanted to go to Mexico right then and there and confront Dean himself. Threatening him was one thing, threatening his daughter was an entirely different matter. "If he's going back to Mexico... it's possible that he's going after Mike Franks... he's targeting people close to you boss... people that were involved in that MP case all those years ago."

Silence engulfed the garage as Tim and Abby held their breaths. Gibbs squared his shoulders at the senior field agent, not surprised Tony had dug up that information. "What are you suggesting, DiNozzo?"

He didn't back down, Tony decided that it was time to no longer remain silent. "Someone is forcing our hand... someone wants the death of Pedro Hernandez to come to the surface. I get it, boss... you weren't right in the head back then... hell, you'd just lost your family... but now... people are dying over this."

Gibbs shifted his feet and stepped closer towards Tony. "Do you think I wanted this when I pulled that trigger all those years ago? Do you think I wanted Lara Macy to die because she pitied me and made the case go away? And Mike... do you think I want him hurt because he led me to Hernandez?"

Tony's jaw twitched, slightly. "Boss... it wasn't coincidence that my brakes were cut. Shannon and Kelly died in a car crash. Dean was going to have me and Katie die in one too... to taunt you. Bell knows about your killing, knows that Mexico could extradite you and you could serve time in prison down there just like he did. He's out to hurt you no matter what the cost."

"I am very much aware of what Bell is doing, DiNozzo," Gibbs snarled turning on his heel and heading towards the elevator. "And I'm going to put a stop to it." It ends now.

He stepped inside he elevator, looked back at his team, noting the concern in their eyes. He slapped his hand down onto the button and closed the doors, wanting to drown. He would never forgive himself if something were to happen to Tony and Kaitlin... to Abby... or Tim. They were his family now that Shannon and Kelly were gone... and he had to protect them like he had not done with his wife and daughter.

If that meant going off the grid, separating himself from this case, the team, then so be it. Gibbs would face the consequences later. Right now he had to get in touch with Mike and warn him that the ghosts of their past were coming back to haunt them with a vengeance.


Erin noticed two things when she arrived at work that morning. One, Tony and Tim had not changed out of their clothes from yesterday, two Kaitlin was playing on a blanket in the middle of the bullpen. "Did I miss something?"

Kaitlin was the only one that looked up at her and smiled. "Hi, Aunnie Rin," she greeted, sleepily. His daughter's voice caught Tony's attention and he looked up, grimly.

"Oh, this doesn't look good," Erin mused, setting her bag down by her desk. "What's going on?"

"Someone tampered with my car last night. Brake lines were cut."

"Do you know who?"

"Jason Dean."

Erin knew that name. She ran through all their cases in the last year and startled when she came to the realization why she knew that name. "He worked for Colonel Bell... he was a former Army Ranger."

Tony nodded and stood up, hitting the remote for the plasma. Jason Dean's picture lit up the screen. "We think that Dean is working under the orders of Bell to extract some kind of revenge on Gibbs. Bell spent time in a Mexican jail... he believes that Gibbs killed a Mexican drug dealer. By killing Macy, Bell is forcing our hand. If he had succeeded in killing me and Katie it really would have forced our hand."

Tim stood and joined them. "Bell is in Mexico now. We think he's going after Mike Franks."

"He's killing everyone that Gibbs' cares about."

"Looks that way."

"So... none of us are safe?"

"Probably not."

Erin let that sink in while Tony's phone rang, loudly. The senior field went to answer it and his partners stood there, watching the color he had left in his face drain. When he slammed the receiver down, Erin found her voice before Tim and asked, "Tony? What's going on?"

Tony looked up, his green eyes filled with worry. "That was Camilla. She owns a cantina that Franks likes to frequent. She said Gibbs called her last night and told her to rely a message to Franks. Armed men showed up this morning and when she went to call Gibbs... he didn't answer. She said he left my number in case she couldn't get in touch with him."

Tim swallowed the nervous bile in his throat. "What was the message that Gibbs gave her?"

"Rule forty-four."

"Rule forty-four? I don't know that one."

"That's because rules in the forties are only reserved for emergencies. If the forties are in place... something bad has gone down."

Leon Vance appeared in the bullpen then, his dark eyes falling on all the agents and the toddler playing. "It's bad," he announced, sternly, "Gibbs has gone off the grid."