Hailing skies

The man with the gun pushes McGee back inside of the apartment, while McGee takes a step so he's in front of his sister, protecting her. He's unarmed. He had locked his gun in his safe as he had entered the small apartment. Another five men come from their hiding place, the emergency stairs. They enter the apartment shutting the door behind them.

"So you're the little prick the commander told us about," the head thug smiles maliciously, measuring Tim up and down.

"Hey, Mike never said that the package would be such a juicy peach," another one, bald with a scraggly beard, and a long thin face, leers at Sarah. He has a long thin scar running down his face, from his forehead to his cheek.

They all laugh but Sarah starts to shake.

Something growls at the thugs, and they are surprised when Jethro the dog charges against the man with the gun, who cries out in pain as the dog attack. In the confusion, McGee pushes Sarah to his bedroom, trying to take her to safety, but his action is stopped by two thugs, who tackle him and throw him to the floor. Jethro senses his master's difficulties, and lets go of his victim and charges against McGee's attacker. The man kicks at Jethro with the heel of his boot. The dog whines in pain, and the head thug shoots him.

"Jethro!" McGee shouts, fighting against the men holding him down to the floor. McGee stares at his dog. He doesn't move from where he landed with final yelp.

Sarah's escape to the bedroom was thwarted by one man, who grabbed her by her waist and, despite her struggles against him, doesn't let go. She scratches and screams at him, but his grip is firm.

"Let me go, you bastard!" she slaps him, but he shakes her like a rag doll, ignoring her attempts to be set free.

"Let her go!" McGee shouts looking at the man holding his sister. "What do you want from us?"

"From you, nothing," the head thug says, his deep baritone voice sending shivers down McGee's spine. His black eyes stare at McGee, struggling at the floor, his black goatee making a strong contrast against his pale skin, "we just got orders to take the peach home to the commander, and that's what we'll do," he smiles cruelly, "whether she likes it or not."

Timothy frowns as he hears that, and he deepens his resolve to keep Sarah safe. "Over my dead body," he hisses.

The thugs laugh, "That's not a problem for us."

McGee struggles against the two men who are pining him down to the floor, as he sees Sarah being manhandled by two men, each holding one of her arms to avoid her nails and to better control her. He fights them with his legs, hitting the computer table in the struggle, and the monitor falls to the floor with a clash of glass and metal. The two thugs stand up and bring McGee to his feet.

"Noooo! Let me go! Tim!"

"Sarah! Let her go, don't." Tim struggles against his captors. One of them punches him in the face. Pain shoots through his nose as blood starts gushing and his eyes water.

One of the thugs holding Sarah laughs, perversely. "This one has spirit! It'll be nice to break it."

The other one holding Sarah smiles back. "Hey, Mike never said we couldn't taste the goods."

The two thugs smirk at each other, and start dragging a kicking and screaming Sarah to McGee's bedroom.

"Sarah!" He fights even more desperately against the two men holding him down. The head thug approaches him and punches him in the stomach knocking the wind out of him. He falls on his knees, gasping for breath.

The head thug smiles down at the fallen man. He leans over to him, catches a hand full of McGee's hair and painfully pulls his head up, bringing tears to the fed's eyes.

"We were told to teach you a lesson, so you better pay attention." He grins savagely.

He punches him in the face again, and this time Timothy falls to the floor, moaning.

In the bedroom, Sarah starts screaming louder than before.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The police car taking Matthew to the McGees' address is speeding towards Silver Springs zigzagging between the slower cars on the avenue. The metro officer glances at the young man from the car crash, and he's barely containing his nervous energy.

"Can't you go faster?" Matt asks in a quivering voice, holding his broken wrist carefully over his lap. His legs move in a nervous twitch, eager to get into action.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Officer Stuart answers.

"They might be dead by now." He closes his eyes, and feels a shudder run up and down his spine at the images his mind comes up with. The pain he feels on his wrist doesn't even get close to what he knows he will feel if he gets there too late for Sarah.

Officer Stuart glances at the young man and steps on the gas pedal harder. Only five minutes later, he brakes in front of the McGees' apartment. Before the car even stops, Matthew jumps out and runs towards the entrance of the building. He shouts to the officer, pointing to a sedan dangerously parked over the curb, "That's my sister's car."

As soon as they get to the door of the building, they hear several shots upstairs. The metro officer draws his weapon and rushes into the building, with Matthew hot on his heels.