Tim made it back to Gibbs' house about an hour later. Abby and Gibbs were there waiting for him. "Hey, how'd it go?"
Abby shuddered a little. "It was a really close call. Just as I was finishing up, two guys and suits showed up."
"Please tell me you weren't seen," Tim begged. That was all that they needed. If Abby was seen and possibly followed, they were all screwed.
"No, I managed to slip out before they could see me. I'm not even sure they were CIA, but I figured it was better not to find out for sure," Abby said.
"Well, you were right. Did you get anything?" Tim asked.
Abby smirked. "Did I ever," she said before handing him the computer. "They apparently 'found' wire transfers between Callen and the terrorist group."
Tim quickly read through the information. It listed the terrorist group and the money transfers between them and Callen. "This is a croc. Even if Callen was the type to do something like this, he wouldn't be this stupid. There's no way he'd leave a paper trail like this."
"I agree. Callen is nothing if not smart," Gibbs said.
"Gibbs, do you have a printer?" Tim asked. It was probably a stupid question given that Gibbs and technology didn't mix, but he figured he'd ask anyway.
"Actually, I do. Don't ask me why, but someone decided to give me one as a gift. Actually, I think it was just to irritate me. It's stashed in the basement somewhere.
"We shouldn't need it anyway. I saved the information on the computer," Abby said.
"Yeah, but I'm wiping the hard drive as soon as I have a paper copy and then I'm destroying the computer," Tim said.
"Isn't that a bit much?" Abby asked. That seemed a little excessive than even this situation called for.
"Sometimes paranoia is a good thing, Abs. McGee's right. Better safe than sorry," Gibbs said before getting up and heading towards the basement.
There was an uncomfortable silence between the two remaining occupants of the room before Abby decided to break it. "So how have you been?"
"Fine," Tim said tightly without even looking at her. He was up for the uncomfortable small talk. Honestly if it didn't have to do with the investigation, he would prefer they didn't talk at all.
"That's good. Things have gotten a little dicey with us around the office since Gibbs left. Our new boss is seriously strict. Not the way Gibbs was either. He's like a total control freak. Tony and I played this harmless joke on Berk and he totally…"
"Abby!" Tim exploded. He simply could not take it anymore. He could not sit there and listen to her talk to him as he'd never left. "Look, I'm grateful for your help, I really am, but I don't care about your petty problems. We're not friends. You can't just talk to me like you used to."
"But you came to us for help. I thought that meant…"
"You thought it meant what? That all was forgiven? I didn't come to you because we were friends. I came to you because I was desperate. I couldn't ask my friends for help because that would be expected of me. We would've been busted before we even started. I came to you because no one in their right minds would believe that I would. I hardly believe it. Swallowing my pride to come to you was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I did it for Callen and Callen alone. I did it because he would do the same for me.
Just then, Gibbs came in carrying a box. "Got it. I don't think I need to tell you you have to hook it up though."
"No, I got it," Tim said as he got up and took the box from Gibbs. He immediately started opening the box. "So did you see him?"
Gibbs had no problem figuring who Tim was talking about. "Yeah. Not for long though. They kicked me out in about fifteen minutes."
"How is he? Is he okay?" Tim asked with concern.
"Yeah, he's fine," Gibbs said. He decided to leave out what the fact that Callen had been roughed up. There was no reason to worry him with that information.
Tim stopped what he was doing and narrowed his eyes at his former boss. He knew immediately that the man was holding something back. "Don't lie to me. I don't need your protection, Gibbs, not anymore. And frankly, it's a little late for you to try to give it."
Gibbs sighed. "You're right. Okay, he um… Well, you know how terrorists are treated."
"How bad?" Tim asked.
"I've seen worse. They rearranged his face a bit, but he seemed to be holding up alright. He was more worried about you all than anything else," Gibbs said.
"Us?" Tim asked in surprise as he pulled the printer out and began hooking it up. He couldn't' see why Callen would be worrying over them. He was the one that was in trouble.
Gibbs nodded. "He wasn't sure if it was just him or if your entire team had been taken out. He knows now though that it's just him. I made sure he also knows that he's not alone. He knows that there are those working to save him, but he doesn't know it's the three of us."
"Good," Tim said before grabbing the computer and began installing the printer software onto it.
"So what's next?" Abby asked.
"Well, as soon as I get this stuff printed out, I'm going to my hands on a fax machine and get it to Ziva," Tim said. He would of course have to make sure Ziva was right next to the fax machine on the ship so that no one else would intercept it, but he didn't think that would be too much of a problem.
"Anything we can do?" Gibbs asked. It wasn't common that he was on this end of that question, but this one was McGee's. It was his teammate that was in jeopardy and he was the one that had the most to lose. Not to mention that he was the only technical NCIS agent involved.
"Yeah. Watch out for Trent Kort. He knows someone hacked into the system today and I'm pretty sure it won't be a big leap for him to guess that I'm responsible. I don't think he's smart enough to guess I'd come to you, but better safe than sorry," Tim said.
"What makes you think he knows it was you? He doesn't even know you're here, does he?" Gibbs asked.
"Oh, he knows. I told you I was stalking the CIA," Tim said.
"So you were serious about that?" Abby asked.
"Oh, yeah. He was standing right in front of me when he got the call. He didn't look happy."
"Why would you do that? That seems kind of stupid," Abby said.
"Actually, it's smart. He just gave himself an alibi. Even if Kort does think he's responsible, he can't do a damn thing," Gibbs said with a smirk.
"It's kind of hard to accuse someone of hacking when he's sitting right in front of you when said hacking was taking place," Tim said. He then hit the button to print his documents.
"But there is a good chance that Kort does know you're responsible. And that was exactly what you wanted," Gibbs said confidently.
Tim grabbed the papers as soon as they printed and stood up. "Let's just say that I have Kort exactly where I want him. And if all goes well, he'll be taking Callen's spot behind bars. Now I better get this to Ziva. I'll be back," he said before heading out the door.
