MULTIPLE THREAT ALERT CENTER, JUST OUTSIDE THE DOOR
"Kick down the door if you have to..."
Gibbs' words echoed in her mind as Abby Sciuto stood in front of the door blocking her way to MTAC. She pressed two fists to her mouth, looking from the left to the right, hoping nobody would see her.
She'd already checked Director Morrow's office, but of course he wasn't there. That was why she was looking at the closed door, the iris scan next to it, wondering what to do.
"Kick down the door if you have to..."
Abby started walking up and down the hall, sharply turning around after taking eight steps. The idea of kicking down the door, possible of not, scared her and she was pondering on a solution.
"I have to get in there, I have to get in there," she quietly mumbled, still pacing. "Gibbs needs me, Colonel O'Neill needs me... they broke his fingers.. Oh god, oh god, oh god..."
She came to a halt in front of the door and wondered if she should just go back to her lab and try to call MTAC using a satellite hovering over Florida. Of course she could also ask one of the other agents down in the bullpen. Or she could just do as Gibbs had suggested?
She was nervous and worried at the same time. So she started pacing again with her shoulders slumped as she looked at the floor, talking softly to herself, "kick down the door, just knock, what if I just let the scan read my eyes, will they notice? They broke his fingers, oh, god..."
She stopped again and looked at the door. "I'm a scientist, not an agent... I don't belong in there...," she bit on her lip, then shook her head. "I can do this, I can do this." Giving a nod to build up courage, she stepped closer to the door, took her position and swung back one leg.
Abruptly, she stopped, shortly before her foot reached the door, muttering, "I can't just kick down the door!" She placed her foot back on the floor, then a thought occurred to her and, taking one step forward, she balled one hand and started knocking on the door, three times quickly, then three longer, solid knocks, followed by another set of three short, sharp ones.
She smiled, proud about the solution she'd come up with, waited a bit then repeated the process, imitating the morse sign for SOS.
The third round was barely finished as the door opened, showing an irritated agent who looked at her questioningly.
"I need to talk to Director Morrow! I have a message for Cheyenne Mountain. Gibbs told me to get in here and get him satellite coverage... They broke Colonel O'Neill's fingers. I know I don't belong here, but Gibbs said I had to kick down the door..." Abby started rambling non-stop.
"Miss Sciuto!" Director Morrow appeared, stopping her in mid-sentence and motioned for her to come in. "Slow down," he tried to calm the hyper Goth as he tried to determine how important the information was. Deciding that Gibbs wouldn't have sent her if it wasn't absolutely necessary, he turned to his staff and ordered, "Get me General Hammond, Cheyenne Mountain, stat."
It took only a short time then General Hammond appeared on the big screen.
"General Hammond," Morrow greeted the other man. "There's a development. This is Miss Sciuto, our forensic analyst. She's got some information."
"Gibbs is on his way to Maryland, an area east of Patuxent River State Park, near Cattail Creek at Roxbury Mills. He needs satellite images of the area," Abby quickly tried to explain. She stepped closer to the operator, grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled down some numbers. "These are the coordinates."
Hammond responded efficiently. "What's there?"
"A private property of the Tobias family," Abby replied. "We've discovered that the woman driving the van at the time of the kidnapping is Clare Tobias' sister Maria."
"We're establishing radio contact with the helicopter," Hammond said.
"Satellite in position, sir," the operator called out.
Morrow looked at the images appearing on the left side of the wide screen, while the frame showing General Hammond adjusted in size and repositioned itself on the right side. "Patch them through to the helicopter," he ordered.
"Their ETA is sixteen minutes," Hammond informed them.
"There is some movement at the back of the house," Morrow remarked. "Probably some guards."
"Looks like there's more of them there, and there," Abby pointed out, her nerves gone now they were all business.
"The west side looks the best for approaching the house," Morrow concluded after studying the footage for a while. "There are probably six or seven guards, three in the back, one on both east and west and I can spot two of them in the front."
Hammond just nodded, briefly glancing sideways to assure himself that the message was being passed on to the pilot. "Pilot responds that's perfect regarding the wind as well. Where can they set the helicopter down?"
"We're getting to that," Morrow replied as the images of the area zoomed out, showing them more of the surroundings. He pointed at a specific area.
"That would be perfect," Abby called out, agreeing with the director. "There's a little field, approximately fifteen-hundred yards south-west of the house."
"They can approach the house from that side, there's a lot of trees," Morrow mentioned. "Can't tell if there are guards there waiting, though."
"I see it," Hammond replied as Sergeant Siler had managed to hook up the images to a large flat screen that was positioned on the general's desk. "Looks good to me. I guess they're nearly there. I've seen plenty of operations from above, some successful, others not. I hope this is one of the successful ones."
---oo---oo---
THE TOBIAS FAMILY PROPERTY, NEAR CATTAIL CREEK
By car, it would have taken the team at least ninety minutes to reach Cattail Creek. The helicopter had taken them there in half that time.
Besides the pilot, there were three airmen with them on board. Major Carter had spoken with them during the flight, giving them orders to secure the perimeter after they landed, thereby providing them a safe escape-route.
McGee had pulled up a map of the area on his Blackberry. With that, and the additional information given to them by the pilot, who had been in contact with MTAC, the team knew where they were going to land and had discussed their options on approaching the house.
Reaching their destination, the pilot took the helicopter down and flew as low over the trees as he dared. McGee, the only one of the team who had a problem with heights, sometimes had to close his eyes, afraid as he was they would actually hit the top branches of some trees. That didn't happen, however, and only moments later the little field appeared below them. The helicopter descended and smoothly landed on the grass and the pilot shut off the engine.
The three airmen left the helicopter first, securing the area and taking in their positions, before the team got out, Gibbs first, Major Carter right behind him, Tony, Kate, Tim and Daniel following suit.
Gibbs and Carter briefly communicated with each other with hand-signals, then, with their heads low as the rotors were still spinning, the team started crossing the field towards the trees in the direction of the Tobias property. Carter kept scanning the area to their right, Gibbs to their left.
The silent group reached the trees and quietly made their way through. They'd covered about twelve-hundred yards without trouble when Gibbs called a halt. They were reaching the end of the trees, the contours of the property already visible.
Whispering, Gibbs talked his plan through with his team and Major Carter and Daniel Jackson. With the information they could get on the house they had determined a couple of possible rooms Colonel O'Neill could be in. One was in the basement and one on the second floor of the house.
Intel from the satellites had told them about the guards around the house and Gibbs had his plan ready on how to approach. He explained it, once again making sure everybody knew what his or her role was.
Before they continued, Gibbs wanted to observe the guard on the west side of the house for a while, making sure there was only one, and that nothing would jeopardize the operation. Trusting Major Carter to secure the perimeter, he searched for the right spot.
Taking out his binoculars Gibbs crawled forward, searching for the best opening between the branches and leaves to observe the house. Carter whispered some instructions; she wanted Tony to sweep the area to their left, while she would do the same to their right.
She was about to turn and leave, indicating for Tony to do the same, when a faint scraping sound from their right startled them, followed by a soft familiar voice. "Hi, kids. Missed me?"
Gibbs turned sharply, then immediately relaxed as he recognized O'Neill. Carter looked up in surprise, answering briefly, "Sir."
Tony and Kate both had their weapons drawn in a split second but they put them down just as quickly. McGee stared at the unexpected visitor, surprised the other man's approach had remained unnoticed to all of them, but especially to Gibbs.
Daniel just rolled his eyes skyward. "Jack! You shouldn't sneak up on us like that!"
O'Neill grinned in a boyish manner.
Daniel looked him over. Jack looked better than he'd expected. His face was bruised and swollen, some dried patches of blood crusted on his skin. Only someone that knew him well would notice his slightly bent posture, indicating his ribs were bothering him. He had his left hand raised in front of his chest, a rough makeshift bandage wrapped around the fingers, fastened with a knot at the back of the hand. Indicating it, Daniel remarked, "Your fingers. They're broken."
Jack threw his friend a look of annoyance. "Yeah. I kinda noticed that."
Gibbs, remaining on alert, threw a quick examining glance at the colonel, asking, "You okay?"
"Oh, I'm just peachy," O'Neill answered lightly. "Don't worry, there are no guards left on this side of the house."
Carter, knowing her commanding officer wouldn't just stand there if he hadn't made sure it was safe, smiled as she took in the surprised glances from Gibbs' team. "Good to have you back, Sir." She pointed in the correct direction, reporting, "There's a helicopter waiting for us about two clicks that way. We can be back at NCIS HQ in forty-five minutes."
"That's good, Carter," O'Neill replied without glancing over his shoulder. "That's really good. But we're not going."
"Colonel," Kate spoke up in protest, "you need medical attention."
O'Neill briefly glared at her, then shifted his attention, facing Gibbs. "They have Makepeace's package. I'm going back in. It could be Robert's ticket out of jail. Or at least save his life."
Gibbs nodded in understanding. "What have you got in mind?"
Jack reached with his right hand for a small branch, broke it off and started drawing in the soft soil on the ground. "This is the house. There are at least a dozen of them, four are neutralized." With a mark, he indicated as he spoke. "There are two guards at the front of the house, here and here, one at the back and on the east side."
"We better move, before they discover that you've escaped," Tony remarked, wondering why they hadn't already.
"Oh, they're kinda busy right now," O'Neill said, ignoring the quizzical looks to that exclamation. "But you're right, we've got to move. Carter, you and Daniel move around the back all the way to the other side and take this one out," O'Neill pointed at the guard located on the east side of the house fully trusting them to get the job done, then looked up at DiNozzo as he tapped on the guard's location at the back of the house, "You can handle this one alone?"
Tony nodded in confidence.
"Good. You kids get going. Take them out, secure the area and don't let anybody slip past you."
"Give us ten, Sir," Carter replied with a sharp nod as she turned, preparing to leave. The three of them headed off in a northern direction, Carter whispering a few more instructions to DiNozzo as they went.
"All right," Jack continued when they were out of sight. He tilted his head and glanced at McGee and Kate. "You two seal off this side. If one of you takes up position here you can keep an eye on the front as well. Don't let anybody pass."
"And you will be?" Kate had to ask, looking from O'Neill to Gibbs.
Gibbs smiled purposefully at her. "We're going in. Let's get those dirtbags."
---oo---oo---