Chapter XIII: A Tale of Two Plans

The plan was finally in the end stages. Gibbs was pacing liked a caged tiger. Ducky, noticing this said:

"Jethro, why don't you sit down?"

Gibbs gave Ducky a look that could've melted titanium. He was in a foul mood. He wanted to rescue his daughter now, before any harm could come to her. He continued to pace like a caged tiger. It took a Marine to get his attention.

"Agent Gibbs, sit down before you fall down."

Gibbs looked at the Director. She was using her Marine officer voice, which was not easily ignored.

"Yes ma'm"

Gibbs finally sat down. He still looked like a caged tiger, but not as obviously so. McGee started talking.

"Okay, we've got a GPS fix of the phone calls that Gibbs has been getting. It's a remote area of Virginia, kind of hilly, and is 50 miles from any major town. It's to a bunker complex that goes deep underground. We are assuming that they'll bring at least one of the girls up with them, probably Alex herself since she's the whole reason for this situation. With our two snipers, Booth and Wilson, who will provide sniping skills to the field, will provide part of the cover fire. Boss, you'll be driving the car as we've been instructed with Kestrel. But not alone as they said. I will be riding in the back seat. You will be armed, but not right away. I will be armed with the SIG…" Gibbs then interrupted.

"What good are SIGs when they've got machine guns? They could cut us down without blinking an eye!"

"GUNNY, SHUT UP!" barked Director Mackenzie.

McGee just smiled and said,

"Boss, you interrupted me before I could mention that the FBI and Special Forces will also be helping us. Ducky will be there for the aftermath.

Meanwhile at the Hoover building…

Special Agent in Charge Tobias Fornell was getting ready for a rescue op. It was to rescue three girls from the Russian mob. One of them, surprisingly enough was Gibb's daughter. He smirked to himself and said:

"May God have mercy on those Russians, because Gibbs will not!"

On a lower level of the Hoover building, Agent Grayson sighed. He was nearing retirement. He hadn't gotten anything interesting in years. That was about to change. He noticed that there was a code being used to contact the FBI. It was an old code. He wrote it down and deciphered it.

"My God, I haven't seen this code since 1962… it must be a Cuban!"

He started to read the message:

Three girls kidnapped. One of them is Alex Shepard. We are in a bunker in a remote area of Virginia. This was no random snatch and grab. The Russian mob kidnapped her on the orders of a former Lieutenant Commander Walker. Come quickly.

Grayson hurried over to Fornell. He gave him the message.

"You're sure about this, Grayson?"

"Positive"

"Good. I have to get this over to NCIS".

Agent Booth had just walked in.

"What's the ruckus?"

"Bring an M-21 from the armory. You and Wilson are going to show just how good Army snipers can be"

"Yes Sir"

Way out in rural Virginia…

Batista had been working all day on the escape plan. It involved tampering with the video cameras in the girl's cells, using Alex's judo skills, and using a rope bridge across a narrow but deep gorge. He hoped that none of the girls were scared of heights. The girls were aware of his plan. He was the one that was in charge of keeping an eye on their cells

"Alexandra, it is almost time."

Alex looked up. She looked ready for bear.

"Thank you for everything Major, I am in your debt."

"You are not in my debt, rather I am in yours. You gave me the courage to stand up to the Russians."

"Shall we get started Major?"

"Yes we shall."

Driving towards the bunker…

"The relationship must have ended really badly for her not to tell you about your daughter, how badly did it end?"

Gibb's fingers tightened on the steering wheel to the point of his knuckles turning white. Kestrel had been needling him since they'd started the drive to the bunker where his daughter was being kept. He'd been needled about everything from his intelligence to his competence as a father. He was beginning to lose his patience, even though Kestrel was supposed to arrive alive. And if Kestrel wasn't delivered alive, he would be burying another daughter. McGee was also visibly losing his patience with Kestrel. He put a knife to Kestrel's ear and said,

"You are not only irritating my boss, you are irritating me. You are going to be delivered alive. Your friends did not specify what condition you were to be in. If you do not shut up, you will find yourself doing a Van Gogh impression, because you will only have one ear, as I will be cutting one of them off!"

That shut Kestrel up. He knew that Gibbs wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his daughter's life. But the look in McGee's eyes was not something to mess with. He figured that the swap would go relatively easily. What he didn't realize, was that it would be far from easy.

Back to the bunker…

Batista was getting ready to tamper with the cameras in the cells of the three girls. He would start with the blonds, as she would raise the least amount of suspicion. Unfortunately, Yuri walked in.

"This is almost over, we will have Kestrel back, and then we will kill the girls, starting with the redhead"

Batista was not surprised that Yuri would try to double cross the US government. He obviously hated Gibbs that much. It was galling that he had to work this man. He didn't want to let this happen.

"Yuri, I cannot let you do that. The girls are innocents."

Yuri then smiled evilly.

"You are not going to stop me. And you will kill the redhead, since you are so attached to her".

Just as Batista was about to argue, one of the Kurds came in. He whispered to Yuri,

"The car from the US government has arrived".

Yuri grinned. He would kill the redhead himself in front of both her father and Batista.

"Bring the girls out. They need to have a semblance of hope."

Gibbs was getting edgy. He wanted to see his daughter alive and unhurt. Kestrel was for once, keeping quiet. He then noticed Yuri walking out with three girls, whose hands were bound. He watched for Alex. She would stand out because she'd inherited her mother's red hair. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the last girl. It was his daughter. Seeing this, he got out of the car, went to the other side, and yanked Kestrel out of the car none too gently.

"Time for you to go home, Russian fleabag", he said talking to Kestrel.

The two groups walked towards each other. They stopped about 100 yards from the other group. Yuri smiled at Gibbs. Gibbs only gave him his patented death glare.

"So we meet again Agent Gibbs. You have what I want, and I have what you want most". As he said, one of the mercs dragged Alex from the back of the line, gave her to Yuri, who put a knife to her throat. She betrayed no sign of fear to the Russians. Gibbs could tell that she was scared out of her mind. She was just like her mother.

"As soon as you let Kestrel walk towards us, we will let the girls go"

Gibbs shoved Kestrel into walking. The three girls also started to walk. Then all Hell broke loose. Yuri barked to the Kurds,

"Kill the girls"

Right after he said that, Yuri felt something tear into his ass. They were bullets. It was Batista.

"That is what you get for trying to kill innocents"

Batista then had to fight his way away from Yuri and his men. He distracted the Kurds from the girls, so that they might have a chance to escape unscathed. He knew that he would probably die, but it was worth it.

Alexandra, Elena, and Arianna made for the rope bridge that Batista had made over the course of the last few days. As they caught their breath, they decided who would go over the bridge first.

"Arianna will go first, then Elena, and once you two are safely across I follow"

Arianna had no objection to this. She ran straight across the bridge. Elena had objections however.

"This whole operation is intended to rescue you, go before me."

Alex shook her head.

"No I will go over once I know you are safe."

Elena ran across the bridge. As she got to the other side, the bridge collapsed. Elena then yelled across the bridge,

"What are you going to do now, Alex?"

Alex was thinking for a moment. There was only one option. She would have to jump across the chasm. Elena noticed the gleam in her eye. She was going to jump across.

"ALEX, NO!"

Alex jumped across the chasm after a running jump. She almost made it unscathed. As she landed on the other side, her right leg was too low. Her leg collided with the side of the cliff, breaking her leg. As Alex landed, she screamed in pain. Elena dragged her to a tree. She tried to keep her new friend from moving too much, since she could tell that her leg was broken.

Wilson and Booth were enjoying themselves in their fashion. They were getting to show off to a Marine sniper as to how good Army snipers could be. They were also keeping an eye on the girls. When they noticed the rope bridge collapse, they winced knowing that one of the girls was still on the offending side of the bridge. Wilson checked through his scope to see who it was. It was Alex.

"Hey, Joe you might want to warn Doctor Mallard that he might have someone with a broken leg soon."

"Why Mike?"

"Because Alex Shepard is going to jump across the chasm"

They both watched in horror as Alex jumped across. She made it to the other side, but not without breaking her right leg. They saw her scream in pain, but was dragged off by one of the other girls.

"Contact Gibbs. He needs to get to his daughter NOW."

Gibbs watched the fracas; also taking part in bringing down the Russian bastards. He was more worried about his daughter than the Russians. He wanted to kill Yuri himself, but would be satisfied if he was just killed. While he was thinking, he got call on the line for the radio. It was Booth.

"Hey Gibbs, you might want to head to your daughter, she broke her leg"

Gibbs, after receiving directions from Booth, broke off at a dead run. He had been tired; but realizing that his daughter was hurt gave him new energy. As he got to the spot where the girls were hiding, he heard soft cries of pain. He saw Alex. He ran to her, and hugged her. This moved her leg, which caused her a lot of pain.

"I'm here Alex; I'm going to bring you to some help".

Before she passed out from the pain in her leg, she smiled her thanks. Gibbs noticing this motioned to the other two girls to follow him, so that they could be checked out for injuries. They did not seem to have any obvious injuries.

Batista was bleeding all over. He'd manage to evade most of Yuri's men, but not before they got some shots into him. Then he noticed two snipers walking towards him. The taller of the two spoke first.

"I'm Special Agent Booth of the FBI. Are you Major Jose Batista?"

"No one has called me that in a long time, but yes I am."

"You earned being called by your rank Major, by helping us save the girls."

"Are they all right?"

Booth and Wilson looked at each other. They did not answer that right away. Noticing this, Batista asked again,

"Are the girls all right?"

"The redhead broke her leg jumping across the chasm after the rope bridge broke. But other than that, they are all fine. You need medical attention Major, let us take you to the hospital".

Before Batista would let them do this, he asked,

"Did the FBI get my coded message?"

"Yes we did. You got attention using that old code. The information is being looked into as we speak", said Booth.

Batista finally let them carry him to the ambulance. He'd saved the girls.

His plan was going down in flames. The girls had escaped, Kestrel had been recaptured, and he'd been shot by that Cuban. Yuri Pashenko was trying to salvage whatever was left of his plan. He then heard walking through the woods. He fell down, hoping that he hadn't been noticed. He had been noticed. And the worst person to find him was there; it was Gibbs. He could tell that Gibbs really wanted to kill him. His SIG was cocked and his finger was on the trigger. But his hand was shaking. Then another agent walked up. He obviously knew Gibbs, because he put his hand on his shoulder, and shook his head at Gibbs saying,

"Don't waste the bullets Jethro"

Gibb's hand stopped shaking. Instead of shooting him in the head, he kneecapped Yuri.

"You are getting off easy, you Russian rat. Enjoy Hell when you get there. This is part of what you get for killing Director Shepard and for kidnapping my daughter. You will get the rest of it when you die."

Fornell gave Gibbs a look.

"I had to shoot him somewhere, Tobias. Killing him would have been letting him off easy. Now he has to live knowing that he failed."

Leaving Fornell with a cuffed Yuri, Gibbs went to the ambulance. He had to go with his daughter to Bethesda. He would also find out who sold her out to the Russians.