Tony walked through the bullpen towards his desk. He'd just come from Abby's lab where he slept for about three hours. None of them left, but he and Ziva took turns getting a few hours sleep, per Gibbs' orders.

Tony found Ziva and Abby by Ziva's desk as he made his way to his own. "Hey, Abs. I was wondering where you were. You weren't in the lab when I woke up. Any news?"

"No, and I think if we do not find something quickly, Gibbs and the director might kill us," Ziva said.

"Yeah, the director's been kinda irritated and driven to end this quickly too. Do you think it's just because of her connection with Acosta?" Tony asked.

"I should get back to my lab," Abby said before hastily moving to leave.

A suspicious Tony planted himself in Abby's path. "Hang on, Abs. Do you know something we don't?"

"No," Abby said unconvincingly.

"Abby, you're a horrible liar. You're worse than McGee at it, What's going on?" Tony asked.

"I can't tell you. Well, they didn't actually say I couldnt' tell you, but I think that's just because they were shocked. I'm pretty sure if they hadn't been, they would've said I couldn't tell you," Abby rambled.

"Who is they?" Ziva asked.

"Gibbs and and Director Shepard," Abby said.

"And this has to do with why the director is much more determined to get McGee back than before?" Tony asked. She was of course always determined. She had been pissed that the CIA had interfered with one of theirs behind her back and she wanted to put a stop to it, but at some point, she became even more driven to get McGee back and stop Kort.

"Tony, seriously, I can't say. I'm pretty sure it's Classified. Well not 'if I tell you I have to kill you' type of Classified, but definitely big secret kind of Classified. I'm not even sure if Timmy knows about this. I do know that the director didn't know though," Abby said

Soon they all heard someone clearing their throat. They all turned to see Jenny standing by the stairs looking irritated.

"Good morning, Director," Tony said.

"Is there any news on J… Agent McGee?" Jenny asked with a slip slip up. She couldn't really think of him as McGee anymore. That wasn't who he was. He was Jasper to her and that was all she could think of him as.

"Not yet, Director," Ziva said.

"Then could you possibly explain to me why you are all standing around instead of finding him?" Jenny asked annoyed.

"I uh…"

"We were just…"

"You were just getting back to work," Gibbs said from behind them.

"That's exactly what we were doing, Boss," Tony said without even turning around.

Gibbs passed them all and followed Jenny upstairs and to her office.

"Twenty-four hours and still nothing," Jenny said once they were alone.

"We'll find him," Gibbs assured her.

"It's not finding him that I'm worried about. It's the condition he'll be in when we do find him. He's been in the same vicinity as that sadistic bastard for a day. God only knows what's happened in that time," Jenny said with a shudder.

"He's not a kid anymore, Jen. He's a trained federal agent. He can fight back now," Gibbs said. He couldn't deny his own worry though. One of his people was on his own with a known murderer. Sure, Kort was there, but that wasn't exactly reassuring. He just hoped McGee's training would be enough until they got there.

"My brother was trained too," Jenny said as she sat down behind her desk. "It didn't stop his murder."

"We'll find him. Have you given any thought of what you're gonna do when we do?" Gibbs asked in part to distract her from her worry, but also because it was something that had to be thought about. This didn't all end when McGee got home. HIs life would no longer be in danger, but he was still going to have to deal with a lot and so would Jenny.

"Not much. I've been too worried about making sure he does come back. There hasn't been much time to worry about the aftermath. All I know is that I will do everything in my power to be there for him. He's been alone this whole time and that's going to stop," Jenny said firmly.

"Good. He needs you, Jen. He can't admit that to himself because he's too busy trying to hide from everything, but he does. You're the only person he has left," Gibbs said.

"You know, I keep thinking about how he's been around me since I got here. He's acted nervous at best and downright afraid at worst," Jenny said. That hit her hard because Jasper was never like that around her in the past. They had a good relationship. He used to talk to her about things he wouldn't talk to anyone else about.

"He wasn't afraid of you. He was afraid of you learning the truth. He couldn't face you because he didn't wanna face the severity of what happened to him," Gibbs said.

Jenny nodded. "It's easy to hide the truth even from yourself when no one else knows about it. He remembers what happened, but he can push it to a distance. That's what you were saying last night.

"Yeah, and like I said, he knows that once you know the truth, that ends. You won't let it go on," Gibbs said.

"I can't. He may think it does, but hiding from the truth doesn't make anything better. He has to face the severity of what happened to him if he ever wants to heal. I have to make him deal with it," Jenny said.

"I'll do whatever I can to help," Gibbs said. He cared about Jenny and Tim in different ways. He wanted to be there for the both of them.

"I keep wondering if he saw. We both know that Acosta did a number on him physically, but I wonder if that's where it ends of if he saw it happen. Did he watch as his family was murdered?" Jenny asked. She prayed to God that the answer to that question was no. She couldn't imagine the horror that would be for a little boy. It would be hard for an adult if it was just a stranger, but for a twelve-year-old boy to watch his parents and his baby sister be murdered would be devastating and life changing.

"I wouldn't put it past someone like Acosta to force him to watch," Gibbs said. He hoped his agent hadn't seen something that horrible as a kid, but his gut told him that hoping anything with McGee wasn't gonna get him far. It had already been proven that the younger man had no good luck as a kid.

Just then, Jenny's phone began to ring. She quickly composed herself and got into full director mode before answering the phone. "Director Shepard. What? Oh, that's great," she said before quickly grabbing a pen and a piece of stationary. She quickly jotted something down. "Thank you, Alan."

"What's going on?" Gibbs asked once she hung up.

"That was a friend of my brother's. He used a contact he has in the CIA to get me a list of CIA safe houses. He's faxing them now. He also gave me an address for a personal apartment Kort has," Jenny said as she handed him the slip of paper.

Gibbs looked at it. "This is a couple of hours away, and if it's a personal place, Kort probably thinks we wouldn't find it. We'll check this place first."

"No, we'll check them all at once. I'm gonna send agents to the other locations as soon as the list comes in. Grab your team. We leave as soon as I can arrange that," Jenny said as she pulled her gun from her desk and strapped it on. She was going as well. She trusted her agents, especially Gibbs and his team, but this was her nephew and would not sit at her desk while he was in danger.

Gibbs nodded and left the room. He waited until he was out in the hall and then dialed a number. He put the phone to his ear and waited. "Tobias, it's me. Got an address for you. You need to be there before us."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim was gone much longer than twenty minutes. He decided to call Kort's bluff slightly. He didn't believe Kort would go to Jenny now, not unless Tim backed out completely. Kort knew that if he did, it all ended. Any leverage he had would be gone and Jenny wouldn't allow the mission to continue. It was in his best interest not to say a thing.

The first thing Tim noticed when he got back to the apartment was that the guard stationed outside wasn't there. He didn't really think anything of it at the time. He was probably inside with Kort.

Of course that notion when out the window as soon as he stepped inside and saw the agent laying lifeless on the floor

Tim had an involuntary flashback from years earlier. He remembered looking on in horror at his parents and his sister's bodies. That was of course after having to watch them all die. He'd been held in a firm grip by two men as his parents were murdered brutally right in front of him. No matter how many times he tried, he could never get their screams out of his head. Sarah's death had been much quicker. In fact, she was asleep while it happened and never knew a thing. But it was all traumatizing to his twelve-year-old self.

Tim was so engrossed in his horrible memories that he didn't see Acosta come up from behind him. He felt the blow to the head and then he was out.