Chp. 25

Jake waited while all the NCIS agents got out of the truck and joined him and his men outside the vehicle. This was the part of the mission he'd secretly been hoping to avoid. He would have to lay down the law to these people, whose first priority would be to arrest DiNozzo Sr. and his men.

But there wouldn't be any arrests, trials or conviction. Well…that wasn't entirely true. If you counted the bullet each of the opposition would receive as a conviction. But these law and order types were funny around people like him. He knew that his father and Ziva would understand, but Kate and McGee would be the tough sell. Jake was just glad that neither of them were in charge.

Gibbs spoke first, cutting to the heart of the discussion as was his habit. "What's your plan?"

"Travis and I disabled DiNozzo's transportation, so unless they can come up with a vehicle, their on foot. Sneak attacks and ambushes are the order of the day." Jake answered.

"Until?"

Jake wasn't surprised that Kate had spoken. He rolled his eyes in annoyance. People with badges and covert ops were like oil and water.

"Until we kill them all, agent Todd."

"What do you want us to do?" Gibbs asked, before the conversation could descend into Jake and Kate going back and forth debating what was right and was wasn't. He personally didn't care what happened to DiNozzo, sr., as long as Tony was safe. If the man died, so much the better.

"Keep Tony and the other civilians out of the line of fire."

"Thirty-two on four is pretty long odds, even for you boys." Mike said.

Jake nodded and looked at Ziva. "Think you could help even the odds, Ziva? That is, if you haven't lost a step by becoming a paper pusher." He said with a grin to let her know he was kidding.

Ziva gave the mercenary the Mossad version of the Gibbs stare. "No, I have not 'lost a step', Jake."

"Ok then, grab your gear and come with us." Jake finished and turned to walk back to their truck.

Ziva turned to back to see Abby with a huge grin on her face. She couldn't help herself. "What is so amusing, Abby?"

"You, Jake, I think it's cute."

"Actually," McGee interjected. "I have another word for it, scary."

Ziva thought about her friends' description of Jake's attraction to her and laughed. "You are both impossible."

000

Dinozzo, Sr. was not a happy man. Of course, happiness was an emotion that he rarely felt anyway, but that was beside the point. The current reason for his foul mood was his son. To put it simply, the boy was weak and he always had been. Sr.'s wife, Maureen had believed that the boy needed to be given everything he wanted and showered with love. All that had served to do was disgust Senior further.

One of his men walked up, a black thirty something former Force Recon Marine named Burns. Dinozzo turned and looked at him. "Report."

"Tire tracks indicate they went west. Satellite imagery shows that the SUV that attacked us linked up with another SUV, containing ten people."

"Any details?" Senior asked.

"Nothing other than the fact that the images are human."

Senior grinned. Perfect. "Round up the crew. We're going after 'em."

Burns smiled and nodded. "Yes, sir."

000

Jake finished wiring the last M18A1 claymore mine and moved back to the lay-up position he was sharing with Ziva. She noticed that he had a bounce in his step, his eyes were bright. "Are you enjoying this?" Ziva asked.

Jake shrugged. "You aren't?"

"We are going to kill them." Ziva said, as if speaking to a child.

"Well, duh. But you've got to admit there's a certain satisfaction in taking the lives of men who were complacent in the abuse and molestation of a seven year old child."

Ziva thought for a moment before answering. In Mossad, she'd been trained to think of the mission and only the mission. But her time with team Gibbs had changed her, she knew. At first, she felt that it weakened her, made her vulnerable. But now, Ziva understood that she may have regained some of the humanity she always felt she lacked during her time in Mossad.

"Yes, you are right."

Before Jake could say more, their radio clicked twice. That was Travis' signal that he and Dave had spotted Dinozzo and his men headed their way. Jake smiled. Act I was about to begin.

000

At the last minute, Jake had asked his father to partner up with Max since he would be with Ziva. That way they would have three two man position, and be about to come at the enemy from three sides. But Tony hadn't liked the fact that Jethro was leaving. In the end, Jake had promised Tony that nothing would happen to Gibbs. But Jake, who considered himself a hard man, wasn't prepared for what the little boy said next or how it affected him.

"You gotta come back too, Jake." Tony said, with all the seriousness a seven year old could muster.

"Sure, kid." Jake said, turning to walk away.

But it was what Tony said next that seemed to chip away at the wall Jake spent the last twenty years building around his heart. Running up and grabbing his hand, Tony pulled until the man stopped and said, with tears rolling down his face. "No, you gotta mean it! You gotta come back and be my big brother and stay so Shannon won't be sad anymore 'cause you're not there." Tony said, solemnly.

Jake sighed. This kid was going to be the death of him, he was sure of it. He knelt down and placed his hands on Tony's shoulders. "Ok, kid, I promise. I'll come back."

Tony nodded, turned and ran back to where Shannon was standing. As he stood, Jake caught his mother's eye and she mouthed, 'thank you.'

His only response was a curt nod as he turned and walked away. But when they were far enough away that the others could hear, Jethro fixed his son with his patent stare and said, "If you lied to him about coming back, Dinozzo won't get the chance to kill you. I'll do it myself, regardless of the fact you're my son. We clear?"

Jake had to give his father credit. Even though he wanted to repair their relationship, he put Tony's best interest ahead of what they wanted. Even if it included threatening to blow Jake's head off. "Yeah, Gunny. We're clear."

000

Jake put these thoughts out of his head for the time being. He heard an explosion further up the road where Dave and Travis were. That was the lead truck being taken out, hopefully. At worst it was only disabled and the occupants were alive and in fighting shape. At best, the truck was destroyed and its occupants were dead. Seconds later, he heard gunfire and from his men's position, then at almost the same time he heard return fire. Then an RPG was fired from Gibb's and Max's position. "Boss, the opposition isn't as dumb as we hoped." Travis said into his radio.

"Yeah, how so?"

"They salvaged two of their trucks."

"That's what I figured. How many left?"

"Nine."

"Good work. Is Dinozzo alive?"

"Yeah."

"Tighten the perimeter. Let's see if we can't even the odds a bit more."

Jake could almost hear the satisfaction in Travis' voice when he responded. "Roger; moving."

"Max, Gunny, cover our rear. Moving." Jake said as he stood and moved in a crouch, Ziva right behind.

000

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger. Looking like one, maybe two more chapters to wrap this story up. I'm considering making this story the start of a series. Opinions would be appreciated.