Chapter 14

Ray looked at nothing in particular as he disconnected the call. He looked at the burner he had purchase as he brought his other hand to his chin as if to think. He figured that his little call would spark a trace and they would get the burner and they were virtually untraceable. Even if Tim were up and running, he'd hit the same end. Thinking along that line had him wonder how Tim was doing.

The plan he formed on the fly upon waking was a result of years of practice in focusing techniques. He knew from the beginning the moment that he cracked the last of the encryptions that he would be taken the wrong way and be suspect. He also knew that once Team Gibbs and anyone else interested in getting the nanites back started on the move, retaliation would follow. Simkins could hold a grudge and he wouldn't hesitate to take it out on the team.

After getting into the cab, the first stop was to the one place that not even Simkins would know about. It was clichéd but warehouse studio apartment buildings were out of the way and a good place to keep low. This building was one he found when he was with the undercover unit and did the necessary paperwork and had a second place aside from his actual apartment. It was born out of his training.

Ray rubbed his head on his hand and felt the sweat and heat on his brow. His arm throbbed as well as his lower back. The pain killers were wearing off and he was not willing to take more at the moment. He was going to have to take more eventually since he could tell that his injuries were serious. The doc did note that the glass did some work on his kidney and they were able to save it. Lucky him.

When he got to the apartment, he went to through the place to the usual places. The Hole, as he called it, was still there and as untouched as ever. It was the stash when he needed to be someone other than Ray Salazaar and it wasn't just when he was an undercover routing out smugglers and drug runners. He was running shotgun with operatives in those days and he learned more on the job than the few month stint at the farm.

Inside were the IDs that he created when he went to NCIS but never used. There was also cash and a few credit cards and few other important cards like gym memberships and library cards. He also had a stack of passports just in case. He selected the ID he wanted and went to make clothing purchases and other odds and ends including a few burner phones and re-acquaintance with a few of the internet cafes. He had a clean computer but he didn't want to risk that yet. It was then time to get to work and the first stop was the Navy Yard and taking a peek at Team Gibbs as it stood.

He was familiar with the Yard and knew how to get in without raising red flags. Security waved him in and didn't bat an eye. They didn't even notice the bag that had his scouting equipment. He didn't really need to go to the Yard but he wanted to check on Team Gibbs and see how they were doing. Besides he knew that the alphabet soup was going to be there probably as a courtesy to Gibbs. He just wanted to see who. It wasn't hard to guess who top players were from the different agencies and Ray could take a guess at who would be sent.

When he peeked in, he saw Tony playing with his cell phone while working on something on his computer. Tim's desk was empty and surprisingly not messed around with by Tony. He then moved on to Ziva and that kept his attention longer than necessary. Then came Gibbs, Fornell and Hicks. He recognized them off the boat and gave an affirming nod.

It was probably stupid to goad Hicks like that but he had to let Gibbs know especially that he was going to fix this. While it was a reenactment of Dead Zone, there were some deviances. Ray had figured early on that this was about revenge. While it was touching that they were doing it to make a point about the wrong that he suffered, he was no traitor and in the end, he saw it as what it was; it was something that happened and there was no going back with it.

Putting the burner down, Ray stood up slowly. It had been a scramble to get back here but it wasn't like Hicks was going to find this place quickly. She may have a lot of things at her disposal but she was playing chess with pretty much a grand master of the game. Besides she would go with his known aliases; she had no idea that he was now Cesar Torres who was a Brazilian national on a student visa. Not one of his best but it was the last place people would think to look. He had travelers' check, cash and an American bank account with modest savings; everything to fly under the radar.

Slowly Ray picked up his regular cell and looked at it. For safety's sake he disabled the GPS and switched cards. Looking at it, he slowly ejected the sim card that was used to store stuff like pictures. Pulling it out, he held it between his first finger and thumb and examined it. If Tim was not hurt, he would have gone straight to him even though he was capable of doing what needed to be done and it was his intention. That was before he saw the bomb.

A bang sounded nearby and Ray did a slight jump. It was nowhere near the sound of the explosion that he and the team had been caught in. Yet it had him jumping and remembering it so well and he considered the whole PTSD thing was happening and it surprised him. Previously he had never suffered the effects but then again he had been younger. Now he was older and had responsibilities. It was the way of things and a part of growing up. It also occurred to him that he was still fresh from the incident and he was still working towards getting this thing resolved.

Taking a breath, Ray put the card into his pocket and went about packing the new shoulder bag full of things that he would need. He knew he needed to find Simkins and his crew. Where they were holed up, they were probably making plans or whatever. It was just a matter of finding them and dropping them neatly into Gibbs' lap. He paused only momentarily to swallow two more painkillers since his hip was throbbing.

A phone began ringing and it had Ray look up. He realized that it was the apartment landline. He raised his brow warily as he walked/hobbled towards it. It continued to ring as he stared at it. As far as he knew, Simkins didn't even know about this place. There was only one other and he died. Slowly he picked up and answered, "Hello."

It has been a long time.

Ray recognized who it was instantly and was surprised but then again he wasn't. It wasn't brain surgery in this line of work. He replied, "Indeed it has. What do you want?"

There is not much that escapes my attention in regards to you. I learned that you had returned to your former home.

"You could say that," Ray replied. He looked towards the window that overlooked the street. "I am curious as to how you found me."

There is much I know about you and you know that.

"And the bill comes to me?" Ray couldn't help with the joke. There were few times that he had a conversation with the caller on the phone and always charges were reversed. It was something that was a joke between them.

Only when it stops being funny.

"Then I guess I am safe then," Ray replied. He paused a moment as he winced involuntarily from bumping into the cabinet nearby. It hit his bad hip and he gritted his teeth. "Seriously though, why are you calling me and now?"

Is it hard to understand that I wish to speak with you?

"A little considering what we've been through. You know I never really liked you spying on me."

A hard thing to ignore when you are like a son to me. There were rumors of trouble, an international arms deal regarding powerful technology.

"So the grapevine is still in effect," Ray replied as he peeled away the gauze to look at the blood slowly oozing out on his hip. The stitches weren't broken but they had been pulled. That was just perfect. "That's old news."

And it is related to you. Your name has come up.

"I figured that. I know what it is they are after and they aim to burn me for it again. It's not just about revenge."

Revenge was the word going around. Martyrdom for you. Vindication for a past wrong.

"That's all well and good but I don't want that. What I want is to find them and bring them in and get it back." Ray applied pressure with a set of paper towels he had retrieved. He was going to have to be more careful if he was going to stay a step ahead of Hicks and her posse.

You know how to do that. What better person to track them is you? But it does help to ask for help from close and trusted friends.

"That may be difficult. Most of it would be on faith."

Then faith is all that you need.

Ray listened as the phone clicked and the dial tone came on. He gave a slight chuckle as he hung up the phone. He did get a little bit more information. So there was a deal going down. Probably players would be going be in town and they will get a demonstration. That's what he would do. It was disturbing but practical to think in terms of the enemy. That was how he finally got them out during Dead Zone and he owed it to a Mossad agent for reminding him of that. That gave him an idea.

Abby was upset. She was more than upset, she was livid. How could they accuse her Raymie like that? He wasn't a traitor. He wasn't what they said he was. It just didn't make sense. She couldn't talk to Gibbs about it because he was with Fornell and that evil woman Hicks who wanted to arrest her Raymie. She knew Gibbs knew that Raymie was innocent. They were like father and son though neither of them acknowledged it. He was Gibbs' favorite.

"Are you okay Abby?"

Abby turned her attention to Tim who was fully awake now. She had gone on an extended lunch to pay him a visit. It was a surprise to see security around but when she learned of what happened, she figured that it was exactly what Ray intended. She looked at Tim and replied, "I'm okay."

Tim knew when Abby was lying. He always knew. Something wasn't right and she knew it. When he had woken up, he had noticed the security wandering around. When he asked, they didn't tell him anything. His first thoughts were what he remembered and that was their suspects getting away with the nanite prototype. He figured a threat had been made and that was the reason for the security.

Seeing Abby though told him otherwise. He said, "The truth Abby. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Abby, I wake up and see security patrolling like they were expecting a high profile patient or an attack. No one is telling me anything."

Abby looked at her lap. "I'm not supposed to tell you. That evil woman said not to." She played with her hands.

"Then you know what Gibbs would do right? What we would do since we're friends?" Tim was feeling exhausted after getting excited over Abby's reluctance to tell him anything. When she came in she babbled on about how Gibbs and the rest of the team were going to get the guys and that they were close. He didn't buy it and she didn't say a word about Ray. "Abby."

Abby knew that Tim was right. They didn't keep secrets from each other and it seemed like Tim and Ray were getting along. She sighed, "What they didn't want me to tell you is that the security is to protect you."

"Why?" Tim was confused by the whole thing. He wasn't that important unless they dug and they found out about the Admiral.

"From Ray," Abby dropped. She waited for the other shoe to drop and studied Tim, watching for his reaction.

Tim processed what Abby told him and shook his head, "No. That's stupid." He gave a quick look to make sure there were no nosy nurses and whispered, "Do they think that he was in on it?"

Abby nodded, "They do since it was in the report that he broke the into the vault."

"He was trying to save me."

"I know McGee but someone doesn't like him and they want to nail him for it."

Tim thought it was ludicrous. True he had only known the guy for two days but his gut told him that he was good. This was… crazy. His energy levels were dropping as he adjusted his position. It was difficult since his shoulder was in a sling and his abdomen and chest hurt from the glass and bullet wound. "This is wrong Abbs. What's Gibbs doing about it? At least he's defending him right since he's stuck here."

Abby made a slight face and replied, "Timmy, Ray is not here."

"So they have him in custody?"

"He's not here Tim. He walked out this morning taking everything except his clothes and his bag was taken for evidence processing."

It dawned on Tim what Abby was getting at. He attempted to do the same thing and tried to get out of bed. Abby restrained him but he protested, "Abby, we gotta help him out. He's one of us."

"I know Timmy and Gibbs has a plan and Fornell is looking for him."

"Great," Tim muttered as he settled down. He really was in too much pain to think clearly but he did acknowledge that his sudden movements had been stupid ones.

"It's Hicks that I'm worried about," Abby continued as she held onto Tim's hand as he settled down. "She has a vendetta and firmly believes that Ray had something to do with it. I aim to prove her wrong so I've been running that program you started yesterday and pulled some more pieces out of the emails."

Tim was surprised that Abby took that initiative. "I guess you'd do anything for him huh?"

"Raymie's like a brother. He indulges me like Gibbs but he's more authoritative. It's not the same thing as you," Abby replied explaining. "He told me once that I reminded him of his sister."

"Sister?"

"Sylvia. He doesn't talk about her much but…"Abby gave a slight shrug of her shoulder. She then said, "The doctor says that you're doing good. Ducky said he would come by later to see for himself."

Tim recognized the change of conversation and went with it. It must have been bad and he could see that it was looking bad for Ray at the moment. He was confused though. He knew that Ray had gunshots to the arm and his hip and then there was the damage from the bomb. It would take some set of will power to be able to move like that and walk out without being noticed.

Looking at Abby, Tim tried to make her visit pleasant. His mind though was at work. Mostly it was trying to figure out how to convince Gibbs to let him help Abby out with the tech work on the emails. He didn't say anything to Abby about it since she was upset and it seemed that she was mostly upset that someone hurt him. She spoke of using her chemicals to get the guys and put the final nail in the coffin and they would go down.

They had been friends since they broke up and their relationship had its ups and downs. Some he couldn't get like when she scolded him for shooting Jethro. He had been wary and suspicious of the dog when she begged him to take him but now he loved that dog. He was a good companion and was pretty good at the whole guard dog thing since he was trained as a drug sniffer. That reminded him, "Abby, did someone check in on Jethro?"

"Yeah Tony did. I was going to swing by later after work and make sure that he's fed," Abby replied. She didn't blame Tim for thinking of the dog last but she also knew that her Timmy loved Jethro. She knew that they were a perfect fit even though they had been at odds from the beginning and she apologized to Tim later for her behavior. "Don't worry."

"Didn't say I was," Tim countered, hiding the fact that he did have an attachment to his dog and it didn't help that Tony saw the photo of them together.

Abby gave a smirk. "Sure thing Timmy."

Ziva looked around at the sights. She knew that she was being watched. That was made clear by the unwelcome visitor named Hicks. They had been brought into the conference room and it felt like one of those mandatory workshops about sexual harassment. The only people that had been absent were Tim, Abby and of course Ray but he wasn't counted since he was the one that they wanted. The whole thing was more agitating than anything.

Hicks introduced herself after she concluded a conversation on her phone. From Ziva's view she didn't look happy. When she looked at Gibbs, she got the hint. Apparently Ray had come back and had been spying on them. From the looks of things, Hicks didn't get her man and Ziva couldn't help but be pleased at that.

"I assume you know why you are here." Hicks had wasted no words. "You are here because each of you has had interaction at some point within the last two days with one Agent Ray Salazaar and you all were involved with the incident that happened at Leland Biotechnics."

The rest of the meeting was Hicks stating that they were to report any future interactions with Ray and to aid in the capture of the rogue agent. Ziva felt resentment at that and a glance told her that Gibbs felt the same way and in her opinion he had every right. She noticed that Tony and Ducky were looking offended at this.

True that Ray had only been on the job for two days but Ziva could see that he made an impact. He was quiet in his insertion to the team and didn't step on anyone's toes except maybe Tony's in the beginning but he held the olive branch with the coffee. Ziva was drawn to him for a different reason. He reminded her of someone she had met and the way he looked at her and stood up for her… it was a very pleasant feeling.

There was one thing that thoroughly agitated Gibbs and that was Hicks had arranged a tail for each of them. Everyone on Team Gibbs knew that Gibbs disliked anything or anyone hindering his investigation. Apparently Hicks thought that Ray would try to contact one of them and reach out for help at some point. Ziva wasn't sure since they had only been told the what Tim called the Cliff Notes version of Operation Dead Zone.

Ziva sighed as she waited in line for her lunch. She had decided to go to a café that was fairly public near the Navy Yard. It reduced the feeling of being watched even though she knew she was being watched. She spotted her tail and in her mind he stuck out like a sore thumb even though he was like any other person there. If Ray did decide to contact her, he would have to be crazy. Abby said he was that good.

"You dropped this."

Ziva turned to see a hand holding something out to her. She saw that it was a ticket for her food and realized that she might have dropped it. She took it back, "Thank you."

The owner gave a slight nod and turned to walk away. Ziva watched him leave and turned to pay attention. Suddenly she heard, "Funny how I pegged you to be ever alert."

Ziva tried not to jump at the voice since they were watching. She whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"Checking up on my team," Ray offered as he stood there looking like he belonged.

Ziva took her cue to not acknowledge the fact that she was talking to someone that was wanted by the Pentagon. She thought it was brazen for him to be out there. She replied, "You know you are a wanted man?"

"Of course. I wouldn't expect less from Olivia Hicks," Ray replied. He shifted but made it seem like he was waiting for his order. "She's the top investigator for her division."

"You know this and you still show up? She's having us watched."

"Obviously she expects me to wear the neon sign and waltz right in."

Ziva had to admit that this was crazy and yet she felt a slight thrill that this was happening right under their noses. Still she had to keep her head and not let this blow up and cause a problem. She replied, "Well you may not be wearing the neon sign but you did waltz in. You must know she is watching us."

"I know," Ray replied as he looked off like he was bored. "I had him made the moment you two left the Yard." He thumbed the receipt for an order of food. He had to buy food if this meeting was going to work. "Even you made him. I wouldn't expect less from you."

"You presume much," Ziva replied. She looked at her number. There were a few more before her order came up. "We have only known each other for two days."

"And yet you witnessed my computer savvy Ziv," Ray replied. It had been a slip to shorten her name but he couldn't help it. It suited her in his mind. He continued, "You went through my laptop issued by NCIS. Surely you must have found a few things."

"Just a picture of you and your daughter. She is very beautiful." Ziva flipped her receipt in her hand. She knew that the longer Ray stayed, the greater the risk of getting caught. That was common sense going back to her Mossad days. "Ray do not make this worse."

"Little choice Ziv. Revenge is what they want and they are using DZ to get it."

"They think you are in on it. They want you and Hicks is willing for either dead or alive."

"Wouldn't expect less. They are so busy chasing me that they are ignoring the reasons why."

A number was called. Ray recognized it as his. He moved forward and bumped into Ziva. He ended up leaning forward and it allowed him to say, "Dig deeper. The key is in the emails." Louder he said, "Sorry for that."

Ziva watched as he went to pick up his order at the window. It was then that she noticed the dog that accompanied him. In fact she recognized that dog. She had to work at schooling her features into a controlled calm but she couldn't deny the surprise she saw of Ray walking Jethro, Tim's dog.

A/N: Battle lines have been drawn and Ray is moving forward. And Abby and Tim moment and Ziva gets a surprise visitor. Who is the mysterious caller? More surprises on Operation Dead Zone...