Chapter 8

"To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the power which enable us to shape the processes of society entirely to our liking, knowledge which in fact we do not possess, is likely to make us do much harm."
Friedrich August Hayek

"Can you do it or not, Abby?" Gibbs demanded.

"I don't know, Gibbs!" Abby said. "You're asking me to hack someone who knows all about hackers. Tim is really not stupid for all that he's been acting like it the last few months. He knows how to stop things like that! He knows how to keep people out!"

"Abby, he didn't bother to lock his door when he left. He left his badge. He left his phone. Maybe he didn't care enough to lock his computer."

"Not his gun, Boss?" Tony asked.

"No. Not his gun. He took that with him."

Ziva was looking at the plans.

"It is a clumsy plan," she said, "but he was clearly trying to figure out how to get inside this house, and he seems to know all the outs and ins..."

"Ins and outs," Tony corrected.

"What difference does it make?"

"None."

"Then, why–? Never mind. He seems to know this house very well. He has furnishings inside labeled."

"Well, I can't tell exactly what he was doing, but I can tell you where Tim has been for the last...wow, almost a year."

"Where?" Tony asked.

"Right here in this seat. Up until today, his browser history is almost exclusively one site. No games. No real random surfing. Just one site."

"What is it?"

"Don't know. It requires a log-in even to get onto the front page. Members only...and I can't figure out how to get in behind the scenes. It's locked up tight."

"Okay, doesn't matter what that site is. What matters is where he's going now...and that seems to be this house. Can you figure out where this house is?"

Tony took it and looked at it carefully.

"Hey, wait! I know where this house is!"

"You recognize the house by the blueprints?" Ziva asked a bit incredulously.

"Yes...and you know where it is, too!"

"No, I do not."

Tony held up the blueprints again, the streetview of the house. "Look again. You do. Actually we all should recognize it. Don't you remember? About five years ago...some rich guy came and made a shady deal to get his hands on some property in the wildlife preserve south of Alexandria. There was a huge stink about it because it wasn't supposed to be up for sale. He even got taken to court...but he won...and built this huge house there!"

"Oh, yeah!" Abby said. "And he sold it three years ago to someone else! One of those environmental groups tried to block the sale but didn't make it."

"Address?"

"I can get it for you right here!" Abby said. She started to type and then paused. "Why is Tim going there?"

"I don't know."

"Is he going there as an agent or–?" Ziva asked.

Gibbs looked grim. "He left his badge. He's not going as an agent, but I don't know why he's going."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim struggled to keep working against his own guilty conscience. He had paused once, saved his place and then gone and joined the others for one of the ceremonies. Emil was increasing his level.

He watched with a bitter smile, played his part and then hobnobbed for a few minutes. Emil was so excited. Tim wanted to cry, knowing that all this was going to be meaningless after tonight.

Then, he excused himself and went back to the computer and turned off his aura again. He had only been working for about an hour when the lights began to flash in a peculiar sequence, one he'd never seen before but one he knew nevertheless. They all knew it.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

They pulled up to the enormous house, surrounded by trees. ...with the front drive full of cars.

"Wow. Having a party, you think?" Tony asked.

Gibbs pulled out his gun.

"So...no party?"

Thwack!

"McGee came here with his gun. Whether he's doing it for the right reasons or the wrong ones, we should be ready. Ziva, call for backup, tell them we're not sure what we're getting into."

Ziva nodded and sat back in the car. Gibbs looked around the yard.

"There's McGee's car."

"So he is here...not sneaking inside. Why make the plans if he could just go in?"

Gibbs shrugged. Ziva got out.

"They are on their way."

"Good. Let's go."

They walked together up to the front door. A camera dropped down and scanned them all.

"Image not in database. Voice print identification required."

"Voice print?" Tony asked. "What the heck is that?"

"I have no idea," Ziva murmured.

"Voice print not in database." Then, suddenly, the mechanical voice increased dramatically in volume. "BREACH! BREACH! BREACH! BREACH!"

The gates behind them closed and strobe lights began to flash. Gibbs looked briefly at Tony and Ziva and then nodded. No retreat.

"Take cover!"

The three of them charged into the house, into the flashing lights.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim looked up as the voice warned them of a breach. Instantly, the lights went down. Strobe lights began flashing, but they were all filtered by the mask lenses. Breach? Everyone was running around, preparing for attack...and Tim himself almost did the same...but then, he hesitated. Who was invading? What were they trying to do?

Emil ran over and grabbed Tim by the arm.

"Come on, Tim! Hurry! It's just like they told us! The world is trying to get rid of the people who know how to think! They're trying to stop us from having any kind of influence. They don't want us to improve things! Hurry up! We have to get armed! It's time to fight back!"

Tim let himself be dragged away from the computer. In no time at all, it seemed, he had one of the energy weapons he'd seen plans for...the same weapon he suspected had been used to kill a sailor. He looked at it and then at Emil. He couldn't see Emil's face because of the mask, but he recognized him by his aura. Everyone's auras were brighter than usual, the brilliance increased so that they could identify each other.

"I know it's scary, Tim, but we have to defend ourselves. We can't let them win against us!"

Tim nodded, wishing he could just go along as a big part of himself wanted to. He followed behind Emil and then stopped dead in his tracks.

"Federal agents! Drop your weapons!"

He recognized the voices.

"Oh no," Tim whispered. "It's them."

Now, he didn't know what to do. It was his team...the people who hated him. ...but had he started hating them first? He couldn't even remember now. His whole life stuttered to a halt in the middle of the entrance hall. He could see them clear as day, trying desperately to hold off the 40 people firing on them, people who had no trouble seeing where they were.

They're going to be killed.

He began to take a few steps back, heading for the computer again. He had to change his plans one more time.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"What's going on, Boss?" Tony asked. "I can't see a thing!"

"They are having no trouble seeing us," Ziva said. She fired and was rewarded with a cry of pain.

...a cry that was quickly echoed by Tony.

"Ow! What was that?"

Ziva peered through the annoying lighting and gasped. Tony's jacket looked like it had been burned. ...as had the skin underneath it.

"They shot at me...and...and it burned me!" Tony met her gaze and was clearly thinking the same thing. "Remember those...laser guns McGee mentioned a few months back?"

"Not lasers."

"Whatever. If these nuts have got them, I'm not letting them burn another hole in me!" He took aim and fired...and hit.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim typed at a furious rate, but then he heard cries of pain and he stopped, completely distracted by what was going on out there. People were getting hurt!

He jumped to his feet and saw three or four of his friends injured or dead. Then, he saw Emil aiming...at Gibbs. Gibbs clearly didn't realize that...and Emil didn't seem to have any compunction about killing.

Tim looked at Emil and then looked at Gibbs. Which one?

Emil lifted the gun and was ready to pull the trigger.

...and Tim pulled out his own gun and shot Emil...in the back. His eyes filled with tears as Emil pitched forward onto the floor and lay motionless.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, the tears clouding up his lenses. "I'm so sorry. No one else was supposed to die."

Then, Tim turned back and saw the glowing white light of their leader. He'd already killed his closest friend. What was one more? He fired...and the white light fell to the floor. Then, he ran back into the ballroom and sat down at the computer. It took less than five minutes to shut down the masks, the lights, the auras...everything. He opened the gate so that the team could retreat rather than being forced to fight back against the overwhelming odds.

Then, he headed back to the entrance hall.

He didn't make it very far.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The strobe lights stopped and the regular lights came back on. Before Gibbs, Tony and Ziva could do anything more than register what had happened, the gate opened behind them, admitting Lovitz and his team...who came in firing.

The energy weapons stopped...but their attackers proved that they weren't above using conventional weaponry. Bullets started flying, but it was also clear that they weren't nearly so adept at firing guns. The NCIS agents began picking them off, wounding many. Others began running away. Another NCIS team came in from the back and caught them. After a lot of yelling and shouting, the firing stopped...and Tony, Ziva and Gibbs came out from their hiding places, looking around the room.

"Wow. What was going on here?" Tony asked, his voice low. "Who were these people? And what's with the masks?"

"We need to find the survivors," Gibbs said.

They nodded and began checking.

"Where's McGee?" Tony asked in the silence. "His car is here. I didn't see him. Does that mean he's..."

"One of these..." Ziva finished, looking at the motionless bodies on the floor.

Gibbs didn't answer. They slowly worked their way across the floor. A few were still alive, but most that weren't moving were dead. None of them had expected this when they came to house.

As they pulled off the strange-looking masks, what they found was that almost all of them were relatively young.

"They look like geeks," Tony said.

"What does a geek look like?" Ziva asked.

"Like this," Tony said, staring at a man who was probably in his late twenties. "Which of us got this one, do you think?"

"I do not know," Ziva said. "But I suppose we may find out."

"Yeah."

Tony got up and walked to a body that was apart from the others. There was a tear in the mask along the top. Bullet graze. It looked like at least two other bullet wounds. He checked for a pulse.

"This one is still alive, Boss," he called. "Better get another ambulance."

He pulled off the mask and his eyes widened.

"Get it here fast," he said and rolled the man over onto his back.

He groaned.

"What is it, Tony?" Ziva asked.

"It's McGee!"