Previously On NCIS
Kort pulls his car over in front of a café. "I have to make a phone call and the cell phone connection is horrible in this area." Kort grumbles and gets out of the car and walks across the street.
Gibbs pulls over at the end of the block. "What's Kort up to?" Gibbs asks.
Tony with his gut churning inside remembers Ray's cryptic words on how Kort was responsible for the bomb that was planted under his Mustang. "Ray!" Tony frantically shouts out, just as Tony is about to open up the passenger side door, Kort's car explodes.
On the street corner, Kort smirks over at his burning car. "That was so unnecessary Ray." Kort laughs and jumps on top of an awaiting motorcycle that quickly speeds away.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouts at him. "Get back in the car there's nothing we can do for Ray."
"Boss!" Tony protests and gets back inside of the car.
"We're undercover and part of the job is leaving part of your team behind." Gibbs sadly informs him and pulls away from the curb.
"We'll never catch up to Kort now." Jenny snaps.
"He's more than likely on his way back to Benoit's." Gibbs answers and makes eye contact with Byron and Mortimer from the rear view mirror. "You two going to talk now.
"No!" They defiantly answer.
Jenny flips open her burn phone and dials Fornell's number. "I better let Fornell know what happened." Jenny frowns.
Washington, DC
NCIS Headquarters
Vance's Office
2100 Hours EDT
McGee and Wong are sitting behind Vance's desk going over Vance's desktop. Fornell is sitting over at the conference table with Ziva. Fornell's cell phone begins to ring. "Fornell!" He answers.
"Fornell, its Jenny!"
"Did the meet up go ok?" Fornell curiously asks.
"No!" Jenny swallows and glances over at a shaken Tony. "You're going to have to notify Director Petraeus that Ray Cruz was killed five minutes ago by a car bomb that Trent Kort had planted underneath of his car."
"Damn it!" Fornell snaps and gets up from his chair. "I'll make that phone call right away." "Anything else?"
"Yes, two of Benoit's morons were tailing Tony and Ray on their flight from Washington."
"Since their morons I gather Jethro apprehended them." Fornell snorts.
"Yes, they won't give us any information out on where Benoit's house is located at."
"I'll have McGee do a GPS trace on Benoit's home computer." "We're at NCIS Headquarters checking over Vance's Office computer." Fornell nods.
"Did McGee find anything?" Jenny asks.
"Oh yeah, it seems that Tyler has multiple bank accounts in the Cayman Islands." Fornell grumbles.
"I want that bastard put into general population with Davenport when they both go to prison." Jenny fumes.
"Doubtful, they'll both go into an isolation wing, sitting alone for twenty-three hours a day in their cells." Fornell shrugs and takes in a deep breath. "I better go make that phone call to Director Petraeus."
"Gibbs is going to find a secluded area until you get back to us on the location of Benoit's house."
"Ok don't do anything until I speak to Director Petraeus." Fornell instructs her.
"We won't." Jenny answers and hangs up.
"What did he say?" Gibbs asks.
"We have to wait until Fornell speaks with Director Petraeus."
"What?" Gibbs growls.
"You think I like it that we now have to take orders from somebody." Jenny sighs.
"I'm sort of relieved that everything is now out in the open." Tony's voice is heard from the backseat. Jenny turns and glances over at Tony, Gibbs makes eye contact with Tony through the rearview mirror.
"Face it what would the two of you have done if you would have confronted Kort at Benoit's house without back up."
"They would have gotten blown away." Byron laughs.
"He would have, the dame would have been taken back to Palm Springs and would have faced the wrath of Monsieur Benoit." Mortimer smirks.
Back in Washington, Fornell has broken the news of Ray's death to Ziva, McGee, and Wong. "Ziva I'm sorry." Fornell frowns over at her.
"Nothing to be sorry about Fornell, Ray and I broke up a few months ago." Ziva softly answers.
"I'm going out into the outer office to make the phone call to Director Petraeus." Fornell nods and walks out of the room.
"Ray loved you Ziva." Wong chokes.
"I didn't love him Darren I'm sorry." Ziva sadly answers. "It was the reason why I turned down his marriage proposal."
"Now we have more of an incentive to take down the bad guys." "Whether it's the CIA or NCIS we're still Federal Agents of the United States of America." "Nobody kills one of our own." McGee angrily vows and gets back to the task at hand, finding the location of Benoit's house in Nice.
Out in the outer office Fornell is sitting behind Tom Watters desk on his cell phone with Director Petraeus. "I'm so sorry." Fornell apologizes.
"It's one thing when an agent dies in the line of duty, but to be murdered by one of your own, that's where I draw the line." Petraeus angrily seethes. "I'm writing an order out for a sanctioned hit on Trent Kort." "My orders are shoot to kill." Petraeus instructs Fornell.
"Gibbs will love to hear that." Fornell snorts.
"Before I put my orders out I'm getting in touch with the head of DCRI."
"You think that Squarcini will be up at this hour." Fornell asks.
"We have three agents holding two of Benoit's men, how are they suppose to hold them off and sneak into Benoit's house at the same time, plus if something happens."
"I know if the French Authorities aren't informed, all hell is going to break lose." Fornell sighs.
"Brief Agents McGee, David, and Wong and then head on back to CIA Headquarters."
"That should take five minutes, I'll see you in about twenty minutes." Fornell answers and hangs up. "Poor Jenny!" Fornell laughs and shakes his head. "Gibbs is going to be a raving maniac when DCRI shows up and joins op with them." Fornell chuckles and composes himself, he gets up from the chair and heads back inside of Vance's Office. "Director Petraeus is getting in touch with DCRI."
"What's that?" McGee asks.
"Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence" Ziva announces and then glances over at McGee. "Combination of France's version of the FBI, ATF, CIA, and DEA all rolled into one."
"Gibbs is going to flip out if the French Authorities join op with him." McGee groans.
"I was just thinking the same thing, and poor Jenny is going to have to listen to it." Fornell laughs and starts off for the door. "Director Petraeus has requested that I head back to CIA Headquarters, if anything should come up let me know, and if anything should come up on Gibbs' end I'll let you know." Fornell nods and walks out of the room.
"Gibbs really that bad?" Wong sheepishly asks.
"He doesn't play well with others and its worse when they speak a foreign language that he doesn't understand." Ziva laughs.
Nice, France
0430 Hours CEST
In a secluded section of the city Gibbs is screaming on his burn phone to Fornell. "Absolutely not!" He barks into the phone.
Langley, Virginia
CIA Headquarters
MTAC
2230 Hours EDT
"Say that again Jethro." Fornell grins knowing full well that he's on speakerphone and that Petraeus and the SecNav Jarvis are sitting nearby.
"When hell freezes over." Gibbs snarls.
"Special Agent Gibbs, you are under Agent Fornell's orders." Jarvis chastises him.
Gibbs sucks in his teeth. "Any other surprises?" Gibbs sighs in annoyance.
"None that I can think of." Fornell laughs.
"Your orders once you and your team and along with DCRI as a joint agency is to take out Trent Kort." "I've already notified Bernard Squarcini the head ofCentral Directorate of Interior Intelligence that Trent Kort is a CIA Operative that is wanted for the murder of CIA Agent Ray Cruz, and is also wanted in connection for the murder of CIA Operative Kosmo Galanos." "Your orders are to shoot to kill Trent Kort." "I do not want him taken out alive." Petraeus orders him.
"That should not be a problem." Gibbs icily answers and stares over in the direction of his lover.
Two hours later in Vance's Office, McGee finally has found the location of Julien Benoit's house. "It's about time." McGee groans.
"Firewalls up the wazoo." Wong answers.
Ziva narrows her eyes over at Wong. "Another slang term for butt Ziva." McGee laughs.
"Another American idiom that I have to file away in my vocabulary." Ziva smiles.
Wong taking in the location of where Benoit's house is located at. "He likes to live in style?"
"I'd say and there are mansions in Valrose." Ziva answers glancing up at the plasma screen on the wall.
"Gibbs is going to need an army to get inside of that house." McGee notes.
"Why do you think that Director Petraeus brought in DCRI?" Ziva answers.
Nice, France
0600 Hours CEST
Gibbs, Jenny, Tony, DCRI Agents, and Nice Police are briefing one another at Nice Police Headquarters. "We have full authorization from the CIA Director Petraeus on orders to shoot to kill Trent Kort." Gibbs roughly informs the roomful of agents and police officers.
"We've been given our instructions from Monsieur Squarcini." "Americans are the lead agency, we go in to oversee, and Nice Police will go in as back up." DCRI Agent Francisque Lambert nods over at Gibbs.
"We'll need earwigs before we raid Benoit's mansion so that we can communicate with one another." Gibbs smoothly answers.
Tony drooling over DCRI Agent Marguerite Charpenter. "I'll volunteer to be Agent Charpenter's partner." Tony grins.
"I believe there's an engagement ring on my finger Agent DiNozzo." Charpenter chastises him for inappropriately drooling over her.
"If anything I'm going to partner you with Jen." Gibbs answers.
Jenny once again is not happy with Gibbs; she angrily glares up at her lover. "All of a sudden I'm not his equal anymore." Jenny fumes inside.
"She doesn't seem too happy about it." Tony notes taking in Jenny's facial expression.
"What's David's status back in Washington?" Gibbs bitterly reminds Tony.
"Desk work, because she's on restricted duty." Tony shrugs.
"Last time I checked, the same rule should apply to Jenny since she's also recovering from a gunshot wound." Gibbs barks.
Jenny rolls her eyes in exasperation. "That's bullshit and you know it Jethro." Jenny sarcastically answers.
"Keep in mind Shepard I'm the boss and you're not, so get over it." Gibbs smirks at her, and then glances down at his watch. "In one hour I want us to be surrounding Benoit's mansion." Gibbs addresses them and walks out of the room.
Tony leans up against Jenny's ear. "He got the last word in." Tony whispers.
"Shut up Tony!" Jenny angrily hisses and gets up out of her chair and leaves the room.
"What's her problem?" DCRI Agent Luc Giroux sheepishly asks.
"Their roles are reversed again and Jenny doesn't like taking orders from Gibbs." Tony laughs.
Julien Benoit's Mansion
0700 Hours CEST
Through the window of Julien Benoit's Study, Trent Kort is watching Gibbs, Tony, DCRI Agents, and the Nice Police surround the house. "Well, well, it suddenly occurs to me on how Galanos' Villa got burned down." Kort angrily snaps. Hearing the front door being broken into, Kort runs over to a hidden wall and ducks inside.
Outside of the house, Jenny steps out of a Nice Police van wearing her bullet proof vest. "DiNozzo and Shepard, I want the two of you checking the downstairs of the house, while I go upstairs with Agents Lambert, Charpenter, and Giroux." Gibbs orders them through his earwig. Tony who's standing next to the van. "Copy that boss." Tony answers into his COM.
"Shepard!" Gibbs angrily snarls when Jenny doesn't respond to him.
"I'll be covering DiNozzo's six." Jenny mutters.
"No it's the other way around." Gibbs barks….."I'm stepping through the front door now."
"Copy, we're making our way over now." Tony answers and nods over at Jenny to walk in front of him.
"I can't wait for this to be over with." Jenny hisses.
Tony turns off his COM. "Hate taking orders from him." Tony smirks.
Jenny shuts off her COM. "I've been a Team Leader, the Director of NCIS, and for the most part when I did my father's arms deals; I worked alone and was my own boss." "Other than answering to my Operation Manager in Naples and London, the SecNav, Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States when I was Director, and my father." "I haven't had to work under anybody in eleven years." Jenny angrily answers.
"Well come Monday morning if we get through this, he won't be your boss anymore." Tony smiles.
"Nobody will be my boss." "I'll just be Jenny Shepard." Jenny smiles and turns her COM back on, slowly she walks into the house with Tony following behind her.
Tony turns his COM back on. "We're inside the house."
"I'm up on the second floor with Lambert, Charpenter and Giroux are up on the third floor." Gibbs answers.
Jenny and Tony make their way through the downstairs checking each room out. "I take it Nice PD is down in the basement." Tony snickers hearing them below.
"They came through the basement door in the back of the house." Jenny answers.
After checking out the kitchen, Regine's Office, the living room, and the dining room. Jenny and Tony approach Benoit's Office, Tony nods for Jenny to slowly walk in. Jenny steps in with her weapon drawn, Tony follows her from behind. Tony takes in the large cherry desk and the paintings and sculptures that are decorated throughout the room. "Whoaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Tony says in awe. "What a room?"
Jenny approaches a closet door; Tony slowly opens it with Jenny cautiously approaching the door, noting that the closet is empty. "Clear!" She shouts.
"Boss we've checked all the rooms downstairs and there's nobody here." Tony informs him through his COM.
"We're still going room to room." Gibbs answers.
"Same here!" Charpenter answers.
"I'm going to see how Nice PD is making out." Tony answers and walks out of the room.
Jenny securely puts her weapon back in her sidearm, with her back facing the entranceway to the hidden wall; Kort comes up from Jenny from behind with a knife against her throat. "Bonjour Cherie!" Kort grins at her.
"Kort!" Jenny chokes from the pressure of the knife up against her throat.
"I see you out smarted your father." Kort sarcastically laughs. "And almost out smarted me."
"You won't get out of this house alive." Jenny laughs at him.
"Oh yes I will." "With you being my hostage." "Besides I promised my boss that I would bring you to him alive." Kort grins and grabs a hold of Jenny's gun, releasing his hold on her throat with his knife. Kort presses Jenny's gun against the small of her back. "Move!" He orders her. Unknown to Kort, Jenny has her COM on and Gibbs, Tony, and the DCRI Agents have over heard him, Kort walks Jenny out of the study, just as they approach the front door, a gunshot is fired and hits Kort in the back of the head, the force of the gunshot throws Jenny down on the ground with Kort's weight on top of her.
Gibbs, with Agent Lambert run down the stairs and find Kort dead on the floor, he rushes over to Jenny and helps her up from the floor. "You alright!" He frantically asks.
"Fine!" Jenny whispers.
Tony from the basement doorway with his gun in his hand. "That was for Jeanne!" Tony viciously answers.
Ten minutes later, in an upstairs bedroom getting a shower to remove Kort's blood from her, Jenny steps out of the shower and finds Gibbs waiting outside with a towel. "I'm perfectly capable of drying myself off." Jenny angrily snaps at him and grabs the towel from him.
"Stop it!" Gibbs barks at her.
"I thought that you referred to me as you're equal."
Gibbs grabbing the towel from her and begins to dry Jenny off. "Not at the moment you are." Gibbs sighs and pulls Jenny into his arms. "Maybe in a month or so when your stamina has returned."
"I believe my stamina returned quite nicely on the plane." Jenny smirks at him.
"Short term stamina." Gibbs laughs and leans down and passionately kisses Jenny on the mouth.
On the outside of the door. "Boss!" Tony shouts.
"Yes DiNozzo!"
"Nice PD has picked up Regine Smidt."
"And just now out in front of Benoit's somebody that Jenny is quite familiar with has just gotten out of a taxi."
"I'll deal with that tramp myself." Jenny grins.
"You better get some clothes on first." Gibbs chuckles and walks over to the doorway.
Fifteen minutes later in Benoit's Office, Iris is outraged that she's being held as a suspect. "I want a lawyer." Iris screams.
"You'll get one, in the states." Tony smirks.
"I just work for Julien Benoit." Iris hisses.
Walking into the room and overhearing Iris. "That's funny; two days ago you were working for my father." Jenny smirks over at her and approaches Iris. "But then he unexpectedly took a bullet in between his eyes when you were screwing his brains in."
"You bitch!" Iris screeches at her. "You were the one who changed your father's business account passwords."
"I can't help it that he didn't teach you to read his shorthand." Jenny laughs.
"Iris Stathos you are wanted for the murder of Kosmo Galanos and the distribution of arms." Tony informs her.
"I did it for the CIA." Iris whines.
"Julien Benoit is not the CIA; he has nothing to do with Operation Lodestone." Gibbs laughs.
"I thought since Kort worked for the CIA, that we had their backing." Iris hisses.
"Kort was freelancing on his own Iris, the current CIA Director had no knowledge of Operation Lodestone, or the overseer of the Op, Code Name: Lucifer, Kosmo Galanos aka Jasper Shepard." "And Director Petraeus also was not informed that former Director of NCIS, Jenny Shepard was alive and working for the CIA against her will under the operative title, Code Name: Phoenix, using the alias CIA Operative Harriett Jones." Gibbs smoothly answers.
"Kort has something on the both of you." Iris smirks.
"I'm sorry Iris, if you want to visit your lover; he's lying in a body bag out in a Nice PD Van." Tony grins.
"You killed him." Iris screams and begins to burst into tears.
"Quit the dramatics'." Jenny sighs in annoyance. Iris gets up from her chair and is about to slap Jenny with her right hand, when Jenny grabs Iris on the wrist. "Is that the best you could do?" Jenny laughs at her. With Jenny's right hand free she punches Iris in the jaw sending her back down into her chair. "I've been wanting to do that for three years." Jenny grins down at Iris and walks out of the room.
"Tony see if you can get a CIA MTAC feed." Gibbs nods over at him.
"It's a little bit tricky since Benoit's computer is in French." Tony groans.
Langley, Virginia
CIA Headquarters
MTAC
0200 Hours EDT
"I'll have the French authorities hold Iris Stathos and Regine Smidt until Monday morning." "Then I'll send them to CIA Headquarters to be questioned." Petraeus nods up at Gibbs.
Nice, France
Benoit's Mansion
Inside Benoit's Office
0800 Hours CEST
"We have four more take outs." Gibbs sighs.
"I know, since Benoit is having a party at his house, Central American Drug and Weapons Dealers are the guests of honor, I had to bring in the DEA and ATF on this."
"What?" Gibbs growls.
"I know more of the alphabet gang." Fornell laughs.
"I want to be there with my team to take him down." Gibbs demands.
"Jethro there's no way that we can get the three of you a flight to Palm Springs that quickly." Fornell sighs.
"Yes we can." Gibbs smirks and glances over at Jenny. "Kosmo Galanos' private jet."
"Since you want your team involved and I'm the agent in charge of this op, I'll see if I can get a flight out to Palm Springs with McGee sometime this morning." Fornell nods.
"It began in California and it will end in California." Tony smirks.
"No it will end in Washington on Monday morning when Tyler gets taken down." Gibbs bitterly snaps.
Washington, DC
NCIS Headquarters
Vance's Office
"McGee, Ziva, and Wong go home and get a few hours shut eye." Fornell orders him from his cell phone in the parking garage at CIA Headquarters.
McGee with his burn phone on speakerphone. "We'll pick this up first thing in the morning." McGee answers.
"No you have a 0700 Hour flight to Palm Springs." "I've arranged a private flight from Langley Air Force Base." "We'll meet Gibbs, Jenny, and DiNozzo in Palm Springs tomorrow afternoon.
"I take it they're on their way to Palm Springs now?" McGee gathers.
"After they wrap things up at Benoit's." Fornell smoothly answers. "Ziva I'm going to arrange it that you and a CIA Agent will watch Vance tomorrow."
"Good it beats sitting behind a desk." Ziva mutters.
"Who's going to work with Wong?" McGee curiously asks.
"Ms. Scuito!" Fornell answers.
"That should be interesting since Wong hasn't met Abby yet." McGee laughs.
Half an Hour Later
Nice, France
Nice Côte d'Azur Airport
Gibbs, Jenny, and Tony board Kosmo Galanos' private jet. "Boss your right it's just as big as Air Force One." Tony says with a smile on his face.
"Soon as we get airborne establish an MTAC feed via the laptop in Galanos' private room in the back." Gibbs instructs him.
Jenny walks over to one of the seats and straps herself in. "Four more to go." Jenny sighs in exhaustion.
Gibbs takes a seat beside her. "Once we get up in the air I want you to get some shut eye." Gibbs tenderly says to her and kisses Jenny on top of the head.
Fifteen minutes later, the plane is up in the air, Jenny is stretched out on a sofa sleeping. Gibbs is on the phone with Director Petraeus with further instructions. Tony gets up from his seat and walks over to the back of the plane and steps inside of Galanos private room. Immediately his attention is drawn on to the unkempt bed. "They were doing something alright Toby." Tony snickers.
Gibbs having finished his phone conversation with Director Petraeus is standing right behind Tony. His hand goes to the back of Tony's head, Tony grimaces and rubs the back of his head. "Our sex life is none of your business am I making myself clear DiNozzo." Gibbs snarls.
"Crystal!" Tony gulps and continues to rub the back of his head.
"I believe I had asked you to establish an MTAC feed to CIA Headquarters." Gibbs growls.
"You did and I'm on it." Tony quickly answers and walks over to the desk where the laptop is located. "The President's private suite on Air Force One was bigger than this." Tony notes.
"I know and he also had his own private bathroom." Gibbs shrugs and flops backwards on the bed, he flashes back to Friday afternoon, where he lost himself in his lover's body, the feel of Jenny's body on top of his as she sent him over the edge.
Tony taking his eyes off from the laptop and taking in Gibbs' facial expression. "Boss you seem like your someplace else." Tony smiles.
"In a place that I haven't been to in years." Gibbs smiles and closes his eyes.
Tony as he waits for the MTAC feed to come through, he watches over Gibbs as he drifts off to sleep. "The weight of the world is finally off of his shoulders." Tony smiles.