A/N: I wrote the description below of the instability in Sana'a before all the stuff with ISIS got going and before the current meltdown. I'm well aware that Yemen is different from how I wrote it, but it wasn't worth trying to update to the situation now. In another few months, things will probably be very different again. :)

Chapter 21

It was very early in the morning when his phone rang. Dr. Hicks debated whether or not he wanted to answer it, but in the end, there was very little choice. An inconvenient phone call could be a patient in crisis.

It could also be a telemarketer from Vanuatu wanting to sell him the latest and greatest in whatever technology, but unfortunately, Dr. Hicks knew that he couldn't take the chance.

"Hello? This is Dr. Hicks," he mumbled.

"Tell them to be at Dulles in three hours."

Dr. Hicks was instantly awake.

"Dulles?"

"Yes. They should go to General Aviation and say that they're waiting for flight 451. They'll be taken to the plane."

"General Aviation. Flight 451. Three hours."

"Yes. I hope I don't regret this."

"So do I."

The call ended. Dr. Hicks sat up in bed and dialed Tony's number.

"Hello? Who is this?"

The sleepy voice made him smile. Clearly, even worry for Tim's safety wasn't enough to keep Tony awake all night.

"Tony, this is Dr. Hicks."

"Dr. Hicks? What is it? And what time is it?"

"Earlier than I wish it was, but I have news for you."

"News?"

"A ride. To Yemen."

"What? You got it?"

"Yes, I did...to my own surprise. You have three hours. You need to be at General Aviation at Dulles in three hours. When you get there, you tell them that you're going to be on flight 451 and you'll be taken to your plane."

"How are you doing this?"

"I have more pull in the CIA than I thought I did. There are no strings attached so far as I am aware. That doesn't mean someone won't try to put them there, later, but at this point, there are none. I'd recommend not being difficult, though. I have a feeling that this is as much a testing of the waters as it is help. If it's too onerous, the help may evaporate."

There was a pause.

"Okay. Thank you, Dr. Hicks."

"My pleasure. I hope you can do what you want...and I think you people have a better chance than most. Good luck."

"Thank you."

Another disconnection and Dr. Hicks lay back down in his bed. He took a couple of breaths and stared at the ceiling.

He had every confidence in the people involved. It was all a matter of who was on the other side, fighting against them.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Gibbs, Tony and Ziva parked and walked into General Aviation.

"I do not like this," Ziva said in a low voice. "We just come and trust them?"

"I don't think we have much choice," Tony said. "It's this or nothing. ...and since you're here, I'm not worried about them being able to take us down."

Ziva smiled a little, but she was clearly not happy. Gibbs said nothing. He just walked to the counter where a friendly-looking woman sat, waiting for them to approach.

"Hello. How can I help you?" she asked.

"We're looking for flight 451," Gibbs said.

"Flight 451?" she repeated. "I don't think that..."

Before they could think that Ziva was right, that this had been nothing more than a trick, she stopped talking.

"Oh, I see. If you'll just wait here for a minute, someone will be out."

She walked into the back, leaving them standing alone.

"Well, something is happening," Tony said.

"What kind of something, though?" Ziva asked.

A man came striding out of the back. He had dark brown eyes, currently narrowed with something near suspicion. He didn't have the look of a regular American, but when he spoke, there was no trace of an accent.

"You're here for flight 451?"

"Yes," Gibbs said.

"This way."

They followed along behind him. He made no conversation and they got the unspoken message that they weren't supposed to speak, either. They walked together out of the building and to a hangar where a plane was waiting. So far, so good.

Once they got on the plane, the man closed the hatch and then looked at them.

"I thought there'd be more of you," he said.

"The more we bring along, the more obvious we'll be," Gibbs said. "You are?"

"Agent Donovan, CIA. You are Agent Gibbs, DiNozzo and David. We thought that you might have brought the M.E. along like you did last time."

"We don't anticipate needing him," Gibbs said.

"I see." Donovan picked up a bag from one of the seats.

Tony tensed a little bit as he opened it, but he simply pulled out some papers.

"Yemen is unstable, right now. The current government isn't strong enough to lead, but so far, things have been holding together. There's no guarantee for how long that state will last. There's some degree of corruption but not as bad as other countries. The north and south don't always get along." He handed the papers around. "We got visas that will allow you to move at will, but if the government topples, they won't be worth anything. We have no indication of that happening at the moment, but you never know."

"Understood," Gibbs said.

"We'll be flying to Sana'a. We have permission to remain for an undetermined amount of time, but at some point, they'll start asking why we're there."

"To find our friend," Gibbs said.

"I understand that, but it may not be enough."

So far, Donovan hadn't expressed any emotion. He was simply fulfilling an assignment. That much was obvious to everyone. He had no stake in this, but he would do his job.

"We won't be leaving without him," Gibbs said. "If that means you have to leave without us, so be it. We'll take our chances, but until we know one way or the other, we're not leaving."

Donovan raised an eyebrow and the walked out of the cabin.

"CIA spook," Tony said when he was gone. "Why him?"

"Because, undoubtably, he is very good at his job," Ziva said. "He is stiff, but he is skilled. He has shown nothing of what he feels."

Donovan came back in.

"The pilots are ready to leave if you are."

"We're ready," Tony said.

"Good. Have a seat. It's a long flight." Then, he looked at Ziva. "You're Israeli. I hope you'll have the sense not to flaunt that."

"I never have before."

"Well, don't start now."

Tony bristled a little bit, but Ziva just shook her head. It wasn't worth it.

Donovan sat down, facing away from them, and said nothing more.

The three of them sat down close to each other and began to talk in low voices.

"Okay, so, when we get there, what do we do, first?" Tony asked. "Unless you two have connections there, we're going to be walking blind."

"I have none in Yemen. This is not a place I have ever worked," Ziva admitted, "but there is a way we can make progress. Away from the center, people will be living their lives without worrying about the outside world. They may be willing to speak with us if we ask them about who they've seen."

"That's a risk," Gibbs said. "We can't know who else might be looking for Tim, too."

"That's probably a risk we'll have to take, Boss," Tony said. "We can't just sit around and hope we hear something. I'm pretty sure Donovan wasn't kidding about what he said, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't hesitate to leave us."

"Do you think he knows about Carew?" Ziva asked, almost in a whisper.

Gibbs shrugged. There was no way of knowing just how far that particular tidbit might have been shared within the CIA, but finding out was more than they wanted to risk right now. That would be more valuable to hold in reserve until later...if it was needed.

"We're going to stick out there," he said.

"Maybe we could use that to our advantage," Ziva said. "Tim and Carew would have stuck out as well. Perhaps, we could find a place where they were and people would notice us."

Gibbs noticed that Ziva had deliberately not mentioned Ray.

"That would be in Sana'a itself, not the outskirts. Tim mentioned being on the move. That wouldn't be as important in the city. They clearly weren't staying where they started."

"Of course, we are only assuming that they started in Sana'a."

"It's probably a safe assumption," Tony said. "Sure, they could have used Aden or one of the other cities with an airport, but Sana'a's the biggest city, right?"

"Yes."

"By a lot, I'm assuming."

"Yes."

"If they wanted to go someplace where they wouldn't be obvious, that would be the best best, even if someone did notice that they were there. It wouldn't be as much of a reason to talk about it to others."

"We're going to Sana'a, regardless," Gibbs said. "Let's just be ready to move if it's necessary."

Tony nodded in agreement and they resumed discussing the possibilities. Donovan said nothing to them on the entire flight.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim woke up with a start. He wasn't sure what had awakened him, at first, but then, he saw Suhayl moving around in the predawn darkness. It was time to get moving, time to start this. Tim sat up and followed Suhayl's silent example. He grabbed some food from his pack and ate it quickly. They would need to have the energy, but this wasn't a time for lingering.

Carew sat up as well and also was silent as he gathered up his bed roll and stowed it by a rock. Suhayl began to distribute the explosives and the weapons. Tim knew they were going in, willing to use force if necessary, but hoping that they only needed to kill one man.

"We are about one kilometer from the entrance," Suhayl said. "I have not been inside the installation. I cannot tell you where to go when we get there."

"Trial and error," Carew said. "Can't be helped. If there a chance of avoiding gun play, do it, but if someone has to die, they have to die. Just make sure it isn't you."

Tim said nothing. He wasn't in charge. He was just the assistant, but he mentally added that they were getting Bri out if she was alive. Nothing would change that.

They started toward the hidden entrance Suhayl had found. They didn't speak. If the smartdust was being used, there was little they could to avoid detection, but audio would be easier to capture via dust than visual. They could only hope that they would have the chance to take the installation by surprise.

Suhayl gestured for them to stop. He strode ahead, out of sight, for a few seconds. Then, he was back, beckoning for them to come. Tim and Carew joined him and Tim saw a camera which had been disabled. For the moment, they were safe enough. He looked at the entrance Suhayl had found.

It was a circular metal lid leading to an access shaft. Tim looked at it and he had a moment of pure panic. He couldn't keep himself from inhaling deeply. Carew and Suhayl both looked at him in surprise. It took him a second, but he got control of himself again. It was too much like when he'd been trying to get out of the underground base a few years ago, but he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and then let it out, very slowly and silently. He opened his eyes and nodded. Suhayl raised an eyebrow. Tim nodded again and gestured for him to go on.

Suhayl and Carew knelt down by the entrance and got the access to open.

No alarms. Tim wasn't sure he liked this. Could they really be lucking out like that? It wasn't his experience that things went right. ...but then, maybe they'd already had enough go wrong that they were getting things to go right now.

...but Tim doubted it was that simple.

Still, they climbed into the access shaft. It wasn't nearly as far down as Lawrence's base had been, for which Tim was thankful. Still, he had the feeling of climbing into a tomb and it didn't help his uneasiness.

Once they got to the bottom, they took stock of their surroundings. They appeared to be in a storage room of some sort.

And it was dusty in there.

Still, they said nothing, hoping that they could elude the smartdust as much as possible.

Then, it was time to get to the door. This was the first real risk they were taking. There was no way of knowing what was on the other side of the door. This could be a trap about to spring and they wouldn't know until they stepped into it.

Carew walked to the door, hesitated for a moment and then swung it open in one quick motion. It didn't even creak. Not a bit. It was silent out in the hallway. The hallway curved away from them in both directions. There were no signs indicating which way to go. Carew looked both ways. Then, to Tim's surprise, he started pointing his finger both ways, his lips moving silently. Was he really choosing their direction using eeny, meeny, miny, moe?

It seemed as if he was. He finished and pointed to the left.

There seemed to be no other recourse but to follow. They started down the hallway, walking silently, guns at the ready, hoping that they wouldn't be needed.

There was dust in the air.

They walked carefully through the hall and found two doors. These were actually labeled as Lab 1 and Lab 2 in both English and Arabic.

Tim thought that was probably a good place to start whether Higgins was in there or not. Carew seemed to think the same. He walked to the first door and tried it. It opened, but the room was empty. Some apparatus, but nothing more.

Carew closed the door and tried the next one.

It was not empty.

"I wondered how long it would take you. I heard you were coming. After all, the dust is in the air. Isn't it."