Chapter 12. Well…not much to say here. Did you guys like the season opener? I thought it was pretty good. Not the best we've ever seen, but pretty good.
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone.
Spoilers: Nothing.
"I always rather liked Rostov," Jenny murmured as she looked out the window.
"Yea, I always liked Rostov too," Gibbs replied annoyed, "Expect for the part where you got shot and our mission nearly got blown before it started."
"Well yes," Jenny agreed conversationally, "That put a little bit of a damper on it, but it really is a beautiful city."
Gibbs almost had to laugh at that. "Yes it is," he finally agreed, "Now get some sleep Jen."
Jenny ignored him and continued watching the city outside the window. Gibbs shook his head slightly and turned his attention back to driving. Their plane had landed in Rostov about an hour ago, and after collecting their baggage, they had made their way out to a waiting van. Gibbs had volunteered to drive and everyone else had climbed into the back at fallen asleep, except for Jenny. She was ridding shotgun beside him and was still fully awake.
"So Jen," Gibbs started conversationally, "Do we actually have a plan?"
"Not to my knowledge," Jenny replied still looking out the window, "Do you have a plan?"
"I always saw that as your department," Gibbs replied.
"True," Jenny agreed, "But it wasn't always. You made all our plans for the first six months. I did the plans for the last twelve months."
"Oh yea," Gibbs remembered with a slight smirk as he threw a glance sideways at his old partner, "I let you have the honor after your little stunt in Rostov."
"Which little stunt in Rostov?" Jenny asked evenly looking at him.
"The one where you got shot and still managed to run all the way to the safe house," he explained.
"Oh," Jenny said with a nod, "I don't remember most of that one."
Gibbs shook his head. He refrained from pointing out that remembering any of was a miracle because most people probably have died, but not Jenny. She was just too tough to die. "Which stunt were you thinking of?" he asked her.
"Well I was thinking of the one where I convinced you to come to the high profile party our mark was at," Jenny replied, "And I didn't actually tell you he was there."
"Oh that one," Gibbs replied a little annoyed.
"Are you still mad about that?" Jenny asked him with a shake of her head. Taking his lack of answer for an affirmative, she continued, "That was a decade ago."
"Yea well," Gibbs replied, "A lot of things were a decade ago." It was Jenny's turn to not make a reply.
"Why did you let me plan missions after Rostov anyway?" Jenny asked him curiously. She had never really known nor had she asked. All she knew was that after Rostov she would come up with the base of the plan, and he would edit.
"Because you were smart enough to have safe houses scattered across the city," Gibbs told her.
"Still do," she replied with a slight smiled that quickly faded, "That's it."
"What's it?" Gibbs asked her annoyed he had missed the connection.
"I still have the safe house we hid in that first night," she told him, "That is where the note wants us to go. It is the only place we went that the kidnapper would be sure we could get to, and nobody else would get in the way." Gibbs looked at her for a moment, and then wheeled the van around. "Where are we going?" Jenny asked.
"Your safe house," Gibbs told her.
"Shouldn't we have," Jenny asked him, "oh I don't know…a plan."
"That would be good," he replied, "You have about ten minutes." Jenny glared, but lapsed into a thoughtful silence.
Within the promised ten minutes they were parked in the alley beside the safe house, and Gibbs had turned expectantly to Jenny. She glanced over her shoulder at the sleeping team.
"As much as I would like to leave them in the car," Jenny started.
"That would be a bad idea," Ziva finished for her. Jenny gave a Gibbs a look that said 'see what I mean' and he nodded in amusement.
"Wake the other's," Jenny instructed Ziva, who did as she was told with only slight regrets about choosing not to torture Tony. Soon the others were all blinking awake. "Okay," Jenny explained to the team, not missing Gibbs smirk that she had managed to come up with a plan in the ten minutes he had allowed. "Jethro and I will go in. Tony and Ziva, you two will do perimeter and provide backup if needed. Paula and McGee, I want you two here monitoring whatever you can."
"Why I'm I on monitoring duty," Paula asked annoyed. She had not gotten much sleep and was a little irritable.
"It doesn't matter," Gibbs told her, "You have your orders."
"Because you are less likely to distract McGee and more likely to find something than Tony is," Jenny explained at the same time as Gibbs. Tony's smile slid off his face. "And I want Ziva as backup."
Paula nodded, and most of the team climbed out of the van. Outside of the van, the four agents pulled out their weapons, and with a silent look they all moved to the door.
"Do you still have those sunglass that reveal heat signatures?" Jenny asked Ziva in a whisper.
"Yes," Ziva replied just as quietly, "But I left them in DC"
"Alright," Jenny replied bending down to check the door, "It doesn't look like the door is rigged to any sort of trap," she concluded.
"No," Ziva agreed, "It does not, but it is impossible to tell what is on the other side."
"So we're doing this pretty much blind," Jenny told them with a shrug. To be honest, she was not nearly as calm as she was pretending, but it was important to at least look calm and organized, so that is what she was doing. "You ready?"
"Do we have a choice?" Tony asked.
"Yea," Gibbs replied, "Go tell Paula you want to switch places with her." Tony was silent.
"One, Two," Jenny looked up at Gibbs with her hand on the doorknob. He gave he a tiny nod, and she returned it. "Three." She opened the door.
And yes I am really going to leave you there. Want to know what happen? Then review. Please.
