Author's notes: Thanx to Lynette and Kate for the beta job and to everybody for reviewing this so far! I'm glad you are enjoying this... On with the story, Let the trouble begin...


PRINCETON CORNER, WASHINGTON D.C.

Gibbs was already a few yards ahead of them. An officer was walking towards him. Gibbs waved his ID. "Gibbs, NCIS," he introduced himself. Lifting a hand, he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. "Special Agents Todd and DiNozzo, right behind me."

The officer gave a curt nod. "Agent Marlow, Sir."

"Have you touched anything, Agent Marlow?" Gibbs asked. He looked around, scanning the area for anything amiss. He saw the body of their victim sprawled out on the ground, the skateboard still there where the kid must have hit the body.

"I checked his breathing, Sir. Had to know if our victim was still alive. Couldn't find a pulse, so left everything intact and called you guys."

Glancing again at the body, Gibbs noted the man was dressed only in his boxers. He then let his eyes drift to the other side of the street. Another officer was standing there, and two nervous looking boys were standing next to him. "Those the kids who found the body?"

"Yes. Jimmy Clark and Abe Russell. They're 15 years old, and were racing through the area. Jimmy came around that corner," Marlow indicated the general direction, "and came to an abrupt stop, as you can see by the position of his board. The kid fell, rolled over a few times. Abe helped him up, they went back to see what was in their way and found the body. Abe called 911 with his cell right away."

Kate and Tony also checked out the scene as they listened to the story. "How did you know the victim is from the Marine Corps?" Kate asked as she looked at the almost naked body on the ground.

"The tattoo," Agent Marlow explained.

"Semper Fi?" Tony asked.

Marlow nodded.

"Kate. Pictures and sketches," Gibbs ordered. "Tony, search the perimeter. A hundred yards."

"What am I looking for, boss?" Tony asked.

"Anything, Tony," Gibbs growled. "Anything telling us what happened to that Marine. Now what's keeping McGee and Ducky?"

"Boss, maybe you shouldn't have sent McGee with them. He usually takes the bus. So you know he always gets lost..." Tony started.

Gibbs raised a hand and hit him on the back of his head. "Did I ask for your advice, DiNozzo? Perimeter, now."

"On it, boss." Tony hastened to say and was happy to see the other NCIS truck arriving. It meant Gibbs' attention would be diverted to something else.

Kate was already taking photos with her camera. Tony started circling around the body, searching the ground for clues, making each circle wider as he continued.

Meanwhile, Gibbs had motioned McGee over. "Help DiNozzo search the area, McGee," Gibbs instructed. "I want to know what happened here. I need answers, preferably today."

The younger man gave a sharp nod and immediately rushed over to Tony's side to offer his assistance.

Gibbs followed the youngest member of his team with a satisfied smile on his face. Despite the bantering between them, the team got along really well and McGee, as probie the main target of the other two agents, was keeping his ground pretty well. Gibbs respected him for that, although he would never let on.

"What have we got, Jethro?" the smooth voice of Dr. Mallard drew his attention back and Gibbs turned around, looking intently at the older man. Dr. Mallard, called Ducky by his friends and colleagues, was the medical examiner of NCIS.

"A dead Marine," Gibbs told him. "By the looks of it..." he glanced at the body, "I'd say he was tortured, Duck. But I'd like to get the details from you. Kate is nearly finished with her pictures, then he's all yours."

Dr. Mallard looked at the body on the ground. "Poor man," he said, shaking his head in dismay. He gently placed his hand on Gibbs' arm. "Indeed, he doesn't seem to have been treated well. Be assured, Jethro, we will take really good care of him now."

"I know, Ducky," Gibbs gave him a faint smile. "I'm going to talk to the kids who found him." He watched how the medical examiner motioned his assistant, Jimmy Palmer over to the scene, then turned to walk away.

Approaching the boys, Gibbs gave a brief nod toward the officer standing next to them. "Hi," he greeted the kids, smiling at them for reassurance. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS."

Both boys looked up at him.

"That's the Naval Criminal Investigation Service," Gibbs explained. "The dead man over there," he glanced over his shoulder, then faced the kids again, "is a Marine."

The tallest boy nodded. "So we've been told."

"So what's your name?" Gibbs asked.

"Abe," the boy answered. "Abe Russell. And this is Jimmy Clark."

"All right. Abe, wanna tell me what happened?"

Abe looked up at the special agent. He liked the older man, he was friendlier than the officer who'd been standing next to them the whole time. "We were racing through the area," he started. "I like to jump with my board, and Jimmy likes to go fast."

"Cool," Gibbs commented, smiling. "I wish they had skateboards when I was a kid."

Jimmy grinned. "You would have been good at it," he spoke up for the first time.

"You think?" Gibbs winked at the boy. "So, you were taking the lead?"

Jimmy nodded. "We come here often, and know the way pretty well. I knew we were running late, so I took a shortcut and we came through that alley..." the boy pointed with his finger in the direction of the alley. "I came around the corner and slammed into something... him..." A shiver ran up the boy's spine.

"It's okay," Gibbs said gently. "This is not your fault. So you fell, didn't you?"

Jimmy nodded. "Rolled over a few times, too. I was going pretty fast and hadn't counted on this abrupt stop." Nervously he glanced in the direction of the dead body.

"Did you hurt yourself?" Gibbs wanted to know, looking the boy over for injuries. Other than patches of mud covering the boy's jeans, the special agent couldn't detect anything amiss.

"Nah," Jimmy shrugged. "A few scratches... nothing that won't go away in a few days."

"And you," Gibbs turned his attention to the other boy. "You were close behind him?"

"Not that close," Abe explained. "When Jimmy is on the run, he's really going fast, man. I'm not that good..."

Gibbs glanced back at Jimmy, who smiled at the implicit compliment.

"I think I heard him falling before I actually turned the corner and jumped off my board. I helped Jimmy back up and then we looked at the obstacle that was in his way..."

Gibbs nodded in understanding. "And then, what did you do?'

"We got scared, man! I mean, that guy didn't really look too good, right?" Abe shivered, then looked at his friend.

"I wanted to run away," Jimmy continued. "Go home and forget about the whole thing..."

"But you didn't," Gibbs helped him.

"Hah." Jimmy shrugged and pointed back at Abe. "He said we had to call somebody and get help... I mean, the man looked dead, but what if he wasn't? So we called 911".

"Did you touch anything?" Gibbs wanted to know.

Abe shook his head. "No, sir. We even left the board where it was. We were afraid to come any closer..."

"That's good. You did real good," Gibbs complimented the boys. He took a card from his pocket and handed it to Abe. "Here's my card. There's the number of NCIS, you can reach me there if you remember anything else. My cell phone number is also on there. Feel free to call, for whatever reason, all right?"

Abe took the card and nodded. "Sure, Agent Gibbs."

"Now, why don't you go with this officer over here, and he will drive you home."

"Agent Gibbs?" Jimmy asked, looking up at the older man. "When am I going to get my skateboard back?"

"Soon, Jimmy. Soon," Gibbs promised. "I'll have somebody bring it back to you as soon as we're done. Now, go on. You kids need to get home."

Gibbs watched them being lead away by the cop before turning his attention back at the scene. Looking over at the spot where the dead marine was, he saw Ducky and Jimmy Palmer already busy wrapping the body in a body bag.

Kate, McGee and his senior field agent were all investigating the area, like he'd instructed. He moved to head over to where Tony DiNozzo was, fully intending to demand an update.

Abruptly, Gibbs stopped.

There was a slight noise coming from the warehouse next to him.

Glancing sideways at the entrance of the warehouse, Gibbs concentrated on his hearing. There it was again. A scraping noise. His gut told him somebody was inside, not far behind the door. His gut also told him that whoever it was, he or she was moving, trying to silently get away.

DiNozzo turned and looked at him. The younger man must have noted that something was amiss. Gibbs raised a hand, one finger warningly in the air, then moved it to place it over his lips.

DiNozzo understood and silently drew out his gun.

Gibbs did the same, while he signaled with his other hand, that way instructing his field agent to move closer to the door. Without looking, he knew Kate was approaching as well, which also meant McGee wouldn't be far behind.

Signaling again, Gibbs let Tony know how they'd deal with the situation. Gibbs would open the door to the warehouse, then they'd wait a few seconds before stepping aside, Tony covering the left side while Gibbs would do the same on the right side.

One hand steadily on the door knob, Gibbs brought it down, then swung the door open, while he remained in cover beside the door.

Nothing happened. Giving an affirmative nod, Gibbs quickly stepped inside, his Sig Sauer covering the area on the right side of the warehouse. DiNozzo had followed suit, and was covering the other side as instructed.

Blinking as his eyes tried to adjust to the dark interior of the warehouse, Gibbs scanned the area looking for movement, looking for signs of trouble, looking for anything telling him where the person making the noise earlier was hiding.

He saw the movement from the corner of his eye, then registered the flash of a gun firing. His arm already swung around to aim, his finger pulled the trigger twice as a solid thud punched against his shoulder.

His ears were ringing, the sound of his gun clattering to the floor overwhelming him as he found himself suddenly on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the warehouse. His right arm was numb, his vision was blurring and he heard Tony calling out his name. Wanting to tell the younger man he was fine, Gibbs shifted and regretted it immediately, as a fierce, burning pain set in, centering on his shoulder but quickly spreading outwards.

Breathing was getting difficult and black spots were clouding his vision. Hanging onto a thin thread of consciousness, the NCIS team leader vaguely registered Tony's frantic call for help. He briefly wondered if he'd gotten the suspect then berated himself that Tony was fully capable of handling the situation. Trusting his team to have his six, Gibbs gave in to the blackness that was surrounding him, let his head roll back and passed out.

---oo---oo---