Authors note:- No offence is made when referencing certain countries and governments in this chapter. Similar conversations and ideas have appeared in television programmes I have watched


Timothy McGee looked up as he entered the NCIS Headquarters building. He couldn't believe that it had been three months since he had left the building, and the Major Case Response Team, but he was glad he had. His new job as the Section Deputy Chief for NCIS at the National Counter Terrorism Centre was a dream come true for Tim. He was responsible for collating and actioning all intelligence gathered in Europe, Asia and Australasia as it affected US national security and naval assets. Today, he was officially here to brief the Director on ongoing intelligence gathering operations, unofficially he was there to hand over the decrypted laptop of a Petty officer who had been murdered.

Tim wasted no time heading up to the Directors office, ignoring his old desk and fellow colleagues. McGee had been avoiding Michelle Lee since he had been told she was a mole two months earlier. Tim had taken the news badly, not believing it was true until Gibbs had shown him the evidence, the text messages and emails that had been exchanged between Lee and her handler. All the conversations had been encrypted, which Tim had now broken and was devastated by. Lee had sold them out for money, and a plane ticket and house in Vietnam.

Entering the outer office, Pamela Cook looked up at the handsome green eyed agent, admiring his athletic physique and tailored suit. "The Director is waiting for you, Deputy Chief McGee." The title had taken some getting used to, with most of the people in the NCTC being Special Agents, the Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs were referred to by their positions to try to avoid some of the confusion of people shouting Agent all day long.

"Thank you, Pamela," replied Tim, heading straight into the Directors office. Tim hoped this meeting in here went better than the last one. Tim saw Vance and Gibbs sat at the conference table, along with Brent Langer, the fourth member of their in house mole catching team.

"Deputy Chief McGee, I didn't expect you for another week, those encryptions are extremely difficult, from what I looked at," Vance had been surprised by the short amount of time it took Tim to break the encryptions, knowing each level of encryption got more and more difficult as each one was broken.

"They were, Sir, but there was a cascade command written into the last level of encryption," Tim had been surprised by that, believing it had been put in to allow certain people access to the computer, but Petty Officer Fargo had been killed before being able to pass the decryption key on to the Director. "I had to use a side channel attack to decrypt it. I also have the passkey on this disc for you, each time the computer is locked or turned off, it will automatically encrypt itself again. There is also a kill sequence on the disc for you to memorize, as well as the encryption protocol that can be used again for other computers."

Gibbs and Langer sat in silence, both men understanding very little about this conversation.

"Excellent work, Deputy Chief McGee, glad to see you haven't lost your skills up there in McLean. Let's take a seat and discuss our next steps," Vance was actually astonished that McGee had done all that and still be "a godsend" in his new position, according to Vera Strickland.

"Before we do, Sir, I would like to explain and apol…" McGee was interrupted, twice before he got any further.

"Sign of weakness, Tim," was Leroy Jethro Gibbs' first sentence uttered since McGee had entered the room.

"No apology or explanation needed, Tim. As mad as I wanted to be at you, not once did you raise your voice to me, or say anything disrespectful. I wish all our agents spoke as courteously as you do when they tell me I'm making a mistake," Vance glared at Gibbs when he said this last sentence, knowing Gibbs tend to rebel against certain authority figures. "Now take a seat, and summarize what that woman is getting." Sitting back down, Vance watched the young man take a breath, Gibbs pouring him a cup of coffee. Gibbs had told Vance that McGee was the only man he had ever met that could outdrink him when it came to coffee.

"There is a plane ticket booked under the name of Phan Mai Loan, one way to Hanoi. Once there, a house and car have already been purchased for her, and so far I've found three different bank accounts in Vietnam, China and Tunisia." Tim had been amazed what had been purchased for her.

"Do you have any idea who her handler is?" Vance needed to know if she was alone, or a part of a bigger operation.

"Dariush Asnik, VAJA," Tim felt like he had dropped a bomb on the room.

"Iranian Intelligence," whispered Langer, not quite believing what Tim had just said.

"From the emails and texts, Asnik has a whole team here in DC set up to assist her. They use dead drops for picking up the intelligence, and one man, Ghorbanali Bakshi, has taken up a job as a night watchman in her apartment building."

"That is no coincidence," Gibbs said. "We take her in, now. Before she tells them anything else."

"Gibbs, we need to know what else Iran knows about us." Vance also wanted her in custody, but needed to know the full scope of the operation.

"You can always arrest Asnik, Bakshi and the rest of the team, at their safe house," Tim offered.

"She knows where it is?" Gibbs asked.

"Not sure, but I do," Tim smirked at his former boss. "I hacked Lees home computer, and back hacked Asniks computer through the connection. I've got the exact location, along with a direct feed from his webcam." Gibbs always knew Tim was good at his job, but not exactly how good, it seemed.

"Director?" Gibbs looked at Vance.

"Get me a takedown operation within the hour, and I'll get approval from SECNAV, but Lee does not leave the building. McGee, stay awhile, I don't to tip her off. Langer, back to your desk, keep an eye on her," with that, Gibbs and Langer left, leaving McGee and Vance alone, the first time in three months. Once the door was closed, Vance decided to conduct an unofficial review with McGee. "How is the new job, McGee?"

"It's amazing, Director. I never knew how far and wide NCIS Clandestine operatives and assets were stationed." Tim had been amazed as he saw the reports on his desk, day after day. "Or how different they were, they range from teachers to government officials."

"I know, I was shocked when I first found out about it. Chief Strickland passed along a report you wrote, regarding what you have termed Operation Greenfire. Tell me what it would entail."

"After reading the emails by Lee and Asnik, I have realised our intelligence networks in certain countries are practically zero. The plan would be to recruit assets who are currently in positions beneath the power, such as assistants and deputies, those that have unofficial access to reports, places and meetings that only their bosses have official access to."

"What countries have you got planned for this?" Vance had been amazed at the audacity of the plan, but knew it was something worth a lot of thought.

"Iran, Russia, and China. Two countries which we are currently in a state of cold war with, and another where diplomatic relations can be described as frosty at best." Tim had picked these three as they were the ones they had the most issues with.

"Iran and Russia would be much easier to cultivate assets in. Tim, no one has assets in the Chinese government, not us, Russia, France, the UK, no one." Vance had tried to cultivate a Chinese asset many years ago, only for the man to be killed upon his return to China, in a supposed car accident.

"That is because we go for the people already in power. During the last educational year, more than a quarter of a million chinese students came to the US to study, most of them for a full year," Tim had done his research on this. "If we only look at those students who are here for the full year, and are studying computers, mathematics, or have been state sponsored for the government training programs, that number drops to just over seventy thousand. Rule out those that are over twenty five, and or married, and that number drops to just under forty nine thousand."

"Why those particular parameters?" Vance knew the reason, he wanted to see if Tim did as well.

"Those that are married have much more to lose, and less likely to be able to be turned. Mathematics and computers are huge industries in China, as the US sanctions against exporting the more recent computers and related technologies to China has resulted in an explosion in their homegrown IT industry have normally been pushed into their degrees, and are normally the most mistreated amongst their peers, having been selected for advanced courses, causing resentment towards the government for having taken away their childhoods, and often having restricted their college choices." Tim had felt physically sick when reading State department and Amnesty International reports over treatment of students in China, similar programs had happened in Russia, India, Pakistan, and several other nations of concern.

"Well, Tim, you have certainly done your research. I'll pass along your recommendation to the Director of National Intelligence, my guess is he will take it very seriously." Vance decided to bring the metting to a close, knowing McGee would be needed back at the NCTC. "Vera Stickland sent me a report on you last week, it's nothing bad," seeing Tims panicked face. "She has nothing but praise for you, your work has been excellent, as well as your handling of NCIS staff, both at the NCTC as well as abroad. I just want you to know I stopped your transfer to the NCTC when Vera had asked, about a week before you were last in this office. I also turned you down for the post of Senior Field Agent on the MCRT in Naples. I wanted you in Cyber Crimes so badly, I didn't realise you could do the encryption breaking alongside a full time position within the agency. For that, Tim, I apologize, it's not a sign of weakness, but a sign that I had become so focused on the mole, I didn't think you could be of help by being read in on the mission. It won't happen again."

Tim was floored by Vances admission, not expecting the Director to be so candid with him. He knew he had to magnanimous at this point.

"Thank you, Director, for your honesty. I also apologize for not trusting you when you reassigned me." Tim knew he should have accepted the transfer and not offered his resignation, but Tim was aware that the reassignment would have been seen as a demotion, if not officially, it would have been part of the scuttlebut for months.

"Well, now we have sorted, you need to get back to the NCTC. I'll have to explain to Vera when this is all over why I had you here at four in the afternoon, I know she prefers all meetings to happen in the morning." Tim had noticed that particular habit, being told it was a better to have things done, leaving the afternoon free to focus on reports without being dragged away, and having to start over when you got back to your desk.

"Yes, Sir, and Director, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to work at the NCTC. I know you could have ordered me back here, and I would have insisted on my resignation being made official. I'm just glad that didn't happen," Tim admitted.

"Me too, Tim, me too."