Gibbs walked through the bullpen with Tony trailing behind him. Ziva was there seated at her desk. "Tony, get on the phone with Sacramento PD and find out where they are in the investigation. Get the name of Chloe's school and any friends numbers she might have." He knew that Vance had spoken with them, but it didn't seem like they gave out any leads.

"I thought we could not use those methods," Ziva said, having heard him

"McGee's not a suspect anymore. We were misled. McGee has custody right now. The case is ours," Gibbs explained as he made it to his desk

"McGee has custody? That is great," Ziva said. She'd seen how depressed McGee was, knowing he did not have any legal rights over his daughter and believing he never would. She had wanted to personally murder Jackson.

"He has it for now. He's still got a major fight on his hands," Gibbs said.

"Yeah, but at least when we find her, he can take her home," Tony said.

"Where is he?" Ziva asked.

"With his new lawyer," Tony answered.

"Nice job with that, DiNozzo. What's Thomas' connection with Jackson anyway," Gibbs asked. He'd seen and heard Jackson's reaction to Thomas. They knew each other.

"He worked for him. I was looking up Jackson's old cases and found Thomas' name on one of them," Tony said.

"He went from working for a powerful lawyer like Jackson to working for the government?" Ziva asked surprised. Thomas couldn't be making even a fourth of what he made while working for Jackson. Had Jackson fired him or something?

"He says that he didn't wanna be the kind of lawyer Jackson is. He didn't wanna wake up one day and find he no longer had a heart. I believe him. The way he looked and spoke made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with Jackson and his tactics. However, I was able to convince him to go back to those tactics briefly to help McGee win," Tony said.

"You are thinking that if anyone can beat Jackson, it is someone who knows how he operates," Ziva realized.

"Well, if it's going to at all matter, we need to find McGee's daughter. Make that call, DiNozzo. Ziva, you still looking into Jackson's financials?"

"Yes, Gibbs, but there is no evidence to suggest he is responsible," Ziva said.

"I don't think he is anymore anyway. This worked against him, not for him," Gibbs said thinking of what Thomas had told them. Jackson's plan was to keep his daughter's death a secret until he could manipulate or bribe another judge into giving him custody. The kid's disappearance only sabotaged that. I want you to keep an eye on his finances though. He's pissed and will probably try something to screw McGee. I wanna know about it should he move a large amount of money," Gibbs said. Bribing people seemed to be a specialty of Jackson's and he wanted to make sure he had the evidence if the man tried.

"Yes, Gibbs," Ziva said before getting right to work.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim was sitting in the conference room with his new lawyer. He'd finally managed to wrap his head around what had just happened in Vance's office. For the moment, he had custody of his daughter. Although, it didn't matter too much, as he had no idea where she was right now.

"Okay, I realize this is probably the worst timing in the world for you, but we have to plan our next move. Henry is going to act quickly to try to overturn your custody."

"You use his first name and he said you worked for him," Tim said as he remembered the conversation that went on earlier.

"Yes, I did. I worked for him for three years," Thomas told him.

"Are you still working for him?" Tim asked as it occurred to him that maybe Jackson put him up to all this to sabotage him. Yes, he'd seemed pissed when he found out Thomas would be his lawyer, but Jackson was a good liar. He wouldn't put this past him.

"No, I don't. I get why you'd be suspicious, but I'm here for you, not him. I stopped working for Henry Jackson because I knew what he was like and I didn't want to be like him. McGee, I knew about you years before actually seeing you here. Henry bragged about what he did to you, and you were far from the first or last he screwed over. I didn't wanna be like that, so I left," Thomas explained.

Tim felt that Thomas was telling him the truth. He could hear honesty and some guilt in his voice, probably from staying for as long as he did. "But you're willing to go against him?"

"Well, I was hesitant because to win against Henry Jackson means having to stoop to his level, but I wouldn't be able to live with it if I condemned an innocent girl to him any longer than necessary. Yes, I am willing to go against him. It won't be easy though. You're looking at a brutal fight here," Thomas warned.

"Yeah, I know. I know his tactics just as well as you do," Tim said.

"Great. So first, we need to make sure Henry doesn't pull a fast one. Now he had a hearing scheduled for next week to try to snake legal custody away from you without you even realizing you had it," Thomas said.

"I'm not surprised," Tim said.

"I've already filed a petition for a stay of all proceedings until your daughter is located. I'm due in court for it in three hours," Thomas said.

Tim nodded. "Okay."

"I don't intend for it to be a problem. Any judge will see that a child is currently missing and have no problems delaying the proceedings," Thomas said.

"It won't be that simple. Jackson will fight it," Tim said. Did this guy really think it would be so simple. He was supposed to have worked with Jackson. He should know that the man would fight hard against any action they took.

"Not if his notification of the petition gets 'lost'. It'll be sort of how your summons for court next week got lost," Thomas said with a smirk.

"That's pretty underhanded," Tim commented

"Are you okay with that? You're my client, so this only goes how you want it to," Thomas said.

Tim thought about it. If it were anyone else or about anything else, he wouldn't be at all okay with it. But this was about keeping custody of his daughter, and with the tactics Thomas was willing to use, he had a glimmer of hope that he could win. And it wasn't like he would have anything to feel bad about. Jackson was a scumbag who pretty much stole his child from him. It would be karma for him to be subjected to his own tactics. "Yes. I want my daughter back. I don't care what I have to do to make that happen."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

A few hours later, Tim was at his desk searching for his daughter. He was on the phone calling the list of people his daughter spoke to the week before she disappeared. He wasn't getting far. Most of the parents he'd spoken to had no idea. The woman on the other end of the phone now was no exception. "Okay, thanks for talking to me."

"We will find her, McGee," Ziva promised as she watched him hang up.

"Tony, meanwhile, was on the phone with one of Chloe's friends and he seemed really annoyed. "Kid, just put your damn parents on the phone. Or what? Or I will come over there and haul your ass in for interfering with a federal investigation!"

Despite the situation, Ziva couldn't help but smirk at the trouble her partner was facing. It wasn't often that Tony was the one being annoyed.

Tony took the phone away from his ear for a minute and looked at Tim. "McGee, I pity you on so many levels. I'm never having children," he said before bringing the phone back to his ear. "Yes, hi, Mr. Lee, my name is Special Agent DiNozzo. I'm with NCIS. I'm calling about a friend of your son's. She's been missing for a couple of days now. Her name's Chloe McGee. What? Oh, man, if he gets there before us, do not let him leave with her."

Tim immediately became both hopeful and alarmed by Tony's statement. He immediately got up and went over to his desk, begging with his eyes for an explanation.

"No, he does not. custody reverted back to her father when her mother died. Do not let him take her. In fact, call the police if he tries," Tony said before hanging up.

"Where is she?" Tim demanded to know.

"Bowie Maryland. One of her classmates from her boarding school, Ryan Lee, was hiding her. His parents were out of town. The kid was supposed to be spending the week with a friend, but the parents came home early and found the two kids shacking up in their house," Tony said.

Tim's face blanched from the words Tony chose. Images of his little girl being taken advantage of by some little punk immediately hit his brain.

"Oh, sorry man, bad choice of words. I didn't mean that in that way. Anyway, the parents apparently probed the two kids and got Jackson's number. They called him to go get her," Tony explained.

Tim rushed back to his desk and grabbed his jacket before running to the elevator.

Gibbs got up too. "You two stay here. No need for all of us since there's no danger."

Tony and Ziva both nodded and watching him leave.