Tony clutched his Sig Sauer tightly in his right hand as he pulled on the back of McGee's jacket with his left, dragging him away from their sedan.
McGee struggled to his feet, the heels of his shoes scraping along the parking lot as Tony hurried him backwards.
Tony let go of McGee and turned, lifting his weapon up, pointing it. The Sheriff raised his arms and yelled, "WHOA!"
Tony eased his finger away from the trigger as the Sheriff moved closer, "YOU GUYS OKAY?" The man shouted. Their ears still buzzing from the explosion.
McGee stood up, his eyes immediately locked onto the wreckage, only to shake his head and looked at Tony, "Where's Palmer?"
Tony lowered his head and didn't say a word.
"Do you mean your Medical Examiner?" The Sheriff asked.
Tony and McGee looked towards the bearded man, who was pointing towards the golf course.
Tony quickly ran over, seeing Palmer laying facing down in the sand-trap, his hands crossed across the back of his head, "JIMMY!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
Palmer raised his head, looking up at Tony and made his way to his knees, "I forgot my bag!" He yelled, picking it up from underneath him.
Tony smiled, placing his weapon back in his shoulder holster. He ran down to Palmer and helped him up.
"Like I told you, I'm absent-minded today, Tony." Palmer confessed.
Tony smacked Jimmy in the back of the head, "Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry."
McGee made his way over, he let out a sigh of relief seeing Palmer standing next to Tony.
"DiNozzo new number one rule: No one dies without my permission! Ya got it?"
Palmer nodded and Tony gave him a playful smack on the cheek.
Tony put his arm around Palmer and walked him over to McGee, "That goes for you, too, Tim!"
"Got it, Boss!" McGee smiled, "Anything else?"
"Call Abby and tell her we're okay before she sends the Marines or worse, Gibbs!" Tony ordered.
"On it!"
Amit Hadar shook his head, "I do not see the resemblance, I am much better looking than him and he's South African."
Nettie laughed as she and her husband were sitting on the couch watching the sequel to the Mummy, "You have been doing research, hmm?"
Amit scrunched his nose at her question making her laugh harder.
The doorbell rang, "Are Ziva and the kids coming over?" Nettie asked, looking towards the front door.
"Not that I recall." Amit stood up to go see who was at the door. He opened the door, Eli David stood with his back to the door, "What are you doing here, Eli?"
Eli slowly turned, he took a long drag from his cigar, "Aww, Amit, my old friend, I have a proposition for you that you will not be able to turn down...I guarantee it."
"Shalom, dod." A woman's voice called out from within in the house.
"Mom?" Tali said, standing behind her mother as she sat at the kitchen table; her small, slender finger sliding through her mother's hair.
Ziva tilted her head back, looking back at her daughter's face, "Yes, daughter?"
Tali smiled, "Can I braid it?"
Ziva laughed, "Do you not remember what happened last time?"
"But I've been practicing since then."
"Oh?"
"Yep!" Tali grinned
"On?"
Tali's grin widened.
Meanwhile in the living room...
Gibbs groaned as he took a sip of his coffee, then finished off the rest of it in a single gulp, "I dunno what's worse: that I'm drinking instant or the fact that I'm starting to like it."
Junior ran up and jumped on the couch, he turned around and his eyes widened as he pointed at the TV, "DADDY!"
Gibbs squinted at television, it was turned on ZNN, there was breaking news about an explosion in Leesburg, Virginia.
"Mommy!" Junior shouted, "Daddy's on TV" He jumped off the couch and ran to television placing his hand on his father.
Ziva and Tali walked into the living room, "What?"
"See? Daddy." Junior grinned, pointing at his father on the television.
Ziva cocked her head slightly, a look of worry covered her face, the pigtails in her hair shook back and forth as her face turned to agitation and she darted back into the kitchen.
"Uh oh..." Junior stated, "Daddy's in trouble."
"It's one of yours, Duh-note-so." Fornell confirmed walking towards Tony and McGee next to their car, "The bomb squad found sections of the missile casing and the serial numbers do match and they found scorch marks on the fairway on 13, approximately 1800 yards away."
"This was set-up." Tony stated.
"Set-up?" McGee questioned.
"The body was positioned, it's ID out and opened and they waited until the body was in the van before blowing up the van. I walked us right into it." Tony shook his head in disgust, but quickly turned back to them, "Wait, they targeted the van for a reason, but why?"
"To get rid of the evidence?" McGee answered.
"Then why leave the body in the first place, McGee?" Tony asked, "And why go to such great lengths to blow up a van?"
"Sounds like you really pissed someone off to me." Fornell expressed, "Of course, you're used to that being under Gibbs. He's taught you well."
"Mossad hates you, Boss." McGee unleashed the obvious, "A LOT."
"If her father wanted to kill me, McGee, he'd want to do it personally, probably a duel with Uzi's at 20 paces, but yeah, check it out and while you're at it, have someone head over to Max's and actually see if she's sick."
"Really, Tony?"
"Yeah, I want everything covered; of all the days to call-in sick, the day the medical examiner's van blows up?"
McGee nodded, understanding, "We don't believe in coincidences."
Tony's cell phone began to ring. He lifted it from his pocket and saw it was from Ziva, "Ahhh, crap, Abby called you, didn't she?" He opened it and hoped for the best, "Hey, baby, what's up?...whoa, whoa, whoa, what?...I'm on TV?" He turned, seeing the camera in the distance, "The kids are watching?...what do you mean, don't wave?" He turned away from camera, "Everything is fine...yeah, there was an explosion, but everyone is fine, okay?...I'm sorry, I just didn't want to worry you...forgive me?" He smiled, "Okay, gotta go catch the bad guys. Love you, guys." He kissed his phone before hanging up.
Ziva walked back into the living room, "Everything okay?" Gibbs asked.
She nodded, "Tony being Tony." A knock came from the front door. She stepped past the television making her way over to the front door, she opened it and a man in a UPS uniform was holding a small cardboard box,
"I have a package for a...Tony DiNozzo?" The man spoke.
"I'm his wife." She answered, opening the screen door.
"Sign here." The man said, holding up a computerized pad. She signed it and the man handed her the package, "Thanks."
"No, thank you." She smiled and closed the door behind her.
"Ziva." Gibbs called out. She looked up seeing that he tossed her his knife.
She caught the knife and flipped it open in one motion, cutting along the tape and opened the box, a small blank white card was laying on top, she flipped it over and read, "Return to sender." She squinted at it, not knowing what it meant. She slipped the card until the box and dipped her hand into the peanuts and pulled out something soft, the peanuts fell away from her hand revealing an eyeball. She quickly pulled her hand away, letting the eye disappear back under the peanuts.
Author Note - Mmmm, packing peanut butter and jelly...in my belly!