Chapter 44

While the adult McGees were shopping and the junior McGees ice-skating, Leon Vance was in his office, thinking. With the McGee-Gibbs family in London, he was happy to have both McGee and Gibbs back at the agency, when they were available. However, it had been more than 2 years since the murder of Kathy Hart and the subsequent separation of Tim from the agency. It was 18 months since the FBI had to literally smuggle Tim, Greg, Kyle and Jethro out of their own country, admitting they couldn't adequately protect them because of IPF's seemingly limitless resources.

He shook his head, he was now certain this had nothing to do with Hatman's trial, which had either already happened or would never happen. It had nothing to do with the other governments that wanted Hatman's head. This was personal, a vendetta against Tim, for reasons unknown. For all that McGee and Gibbs stuck to the party line about the trial, Vance was sure they would agree with him.

He sighed, looking at the time, 30 minutes until he needed to leave for the meeting with Sailes. He hoped the man would have some good news. Resolutely, he picked up the next file on the pile that needed his approval.

Finally on his way to the Hoover Building, he was frustrated when he received a text from the FBI Director, telling him the meeting had been moved to Langley. He told his driver and sent Pamela a text so she'd know.

He disliked going to Langley, the CIA's headquarters. In his experience, good things never happened in meetings there. Either he had his butt chewed for something NCIS did, and in the past, many of those accusations had included Gibbs' name, or he was doing the yelling about yet another of their rogue agents. Kort, Cruz, Rinnert, Carver, Choyce, the list went on.

On the other hand, Sailes sounded hopeful when they spoke about this meeting. Shrugging, Leon pulled a file out of his briefcase, he could get through a few more files on the drive to and from.

Once at Langley, he was escorted to an area he'd never seen before and took an elevator several floors down. As he'd entered the building at ground level, he was now definitely underground.

Walking down a well-lit hallway, he entered a room, still following his escort, and was glad to see Sailes there. Then he was surprised to see Geoffrey Peterson, the United States Attorney General and Sailes' boss. He'd met Peterson a few times, once during the Parsons' witch hunt. He shook hands with both men, pulling out a chair to sit.

The door opened again and Beau McKinley, the director of the CIA, entered. Leon had always found the name perversely amusing. It sounded so light-hearted, debonair, perhaps the carefree son of wealthy aristocrats. In reality, the man had a cloudy background and a deadly reputation. Back in the day, there'd been a fantasy pool at NCIS Leon wasn't supposed to know about, pitting Beau McKinley against Leroy Jethro Gibbs in a stone cold, 'who blinked first' contest.

McKinley nodded to each of them and sat. Peterson took a deep breath, "Director McKinley, thank you for allowing us to meet here. As I explained, the call I had left me a bit unsettled."

One of Vance's eyebrows rose as he waited. Peterson continued, "I was in my office, working late last night when I had a request for a video call. The number was local. I alerted Security, just in case and when they were ready to trace, I accepted the call. There was a shadowy figure and a disguised voice. I would have laughed, but what he or she said stopped me. Said he was the new head of IPF and was calling about Commander David Hart and his brother Timothy McGee. He said, and I still think this is funny, that the two of them were bleeding his agency dry.

"You know that IPF is paying the bill for all of the protection details for the McGees and Harts. That includes the FBI, London Metro, MI-5 and law enforcement in the UK, Turkey, Greece, Sweden, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, wherever the McGees have been."

McKinley said, "Italy, France, and the Czech Republic. We've been brought in, too, sir."

"Yes, Director Sailes briefed me."

Vance sighed, "Everyone but us. His own agency."

The others nodded and Peterson continued, "I told him it was ironic that he was complaining as his agency is the one targeting Commander Hart and Agent McGee. That set him off. He claims that the men who attacked McGee in Cambridge 2 years ago were rogues, no longer attached to the agency. That rogues are still on his case now because Hatman went into his house and hasn't been seen since."

Vance frowned, "That's not true. I was there, he walked into the house with us and I saw him walk out of the house, right after McGee threatened to physically throw him out. There was a shot on the BBC, we have a clip in file, of Hatman being removed from an SUV in London and walked into booking."

"Shadow man said the rogues don't believe that was Hatman, that it was a decoy."

McKinley twisted his lips, "How? Hatman has a unique physical structure. My understanding was that the transatlantic flight was more or less spur of the moment and there wasn't a plan to arrest him, that was McGee's deal. How would a double have been arranged so quickly?"

Vance nodded, "I was on that flight and I saw who disembarked in London. The same person was in McGee's house and walked out to be arrested. For this to be true, Hatman's double would have already been in place when Secretary Porter confronted him in his lair." He frowned, "Is there any evidence, even anecdotal, that Hatman ever used a double? Can anyone outside of IPF confirm that was Hatman? Or is this just more BS from them? What's their endgame?"

"He claims they don't have an endgame, that they're being forced to pay for the actions of a few rogue operatives." He held up his hand as all 3 directors protested.

"Let me finish!"

When the others sat back, he continued, "I had the same reaction but decided to ignore his tantrum. Instead, I asked him what it would take for him to get those rogues reined in, to allow McGee and his entire family to live without fearing for their lives. He said that's why he'd called. He's been in contact with the former operative who leads the rogues. He wants a meeting with Hatman, says most of his people think Hatman is dead, murdered either by McGee or at the request of McGee. Shadow man said he wants amnesty for these rogues, if Hatman is indeed alive. He also said that if Hart ever wakes up, he'll be joining Hatman in prison."

"For what?"

"Treason, for one thing."

McKinley shook his head, "I can refute that and Leon, I'm sorry as hell I've never been able to divulge this before. It was highly classified, but with Mr. Peterson's help, it's been re-classed to Director level. We're working on getting special permission to tell McGee."

Vance had to think about that, "Without that permission, how long will it be until it's reduced to need to know?"

"Ten to fifteen years."

"Then thank you for all your efforts but let's leave it. I'll take the hit with McGee, if it comes to that and anyway, he could be running NCIS by then. I know Timothy McGee and I believe he'd rather not know something about a family member than have knowledge and not be able to tell, in this case, Hart's sons. With their adoptions finalized, they're both McGees now and any rumors floating around about David Hart won't be easily connected to them." He shook his head, "I'm off track; Beau, what's the intel?"

"Hart was working with us when he was first approached by IPF. He told our agent then and again when IPF stepped up the pressure. When I heard, I updated then Secretary Jarvis and we helped Hart, who continued to work closely with us. Until the explosion that knocked him into a coma, we believed he was safe from them."

Vance sighed in relief, "Thank you. Then do you believe the cartel struck back at Hart or was it IPF retaliating because he refused and told his superiors?"

McKinley gave him a look and Vance nodded, "Same conclusion McGee's reached."

"A hunch, like his mentor?"

"Acorn didn't fall far from that tree. Probably should have figured it out years ago."

"Huh?"

Sailes started laughing and McKinley made a face, "I'm not following. I was referring to Gibbs as his mentor, God help McGee."

"I know, so was I."

"But acorns…that's a father-child metaphor."

"Yup."

"Thought McGee's an orphan."

"He thought so, too. Until he discovered he wasn't and that his daddy sat across from him at work for over a decade."

The look on McKinley's face was priceless and Vance wished he had a photo. Sailes told him later he'd wished the same thing.

"He's Satan's spawn?"

"Aw, come on, Gibbs isn't…" Leon stopped at the glare from McKinley. "I was going to say he isn't in charge of Hell."

"Nice save. You're just yanking my chain, right? I've met McGee, seen him in action. Great agent, smart as a whip and a decent guy."

"Not yanking your chain. I've seen the DNA results, they're definitely father and son. McGee's a lot tougher than most people know. Grew up on the streets and raised his baby sister and brother there. Killed a man with a shiv when he was 10 years old. I've talked to the detective who investigated. At the tender age of 10, McGee threw a homemade shiv 6 feet with such force that he killed the guy."

"Self-defense?"

"Creep was a child trafficker and had cute little Sarah, age 4 and cute little Robbie, age 3, wrapped in one arm, a gun in his free hand. Big, ugly and mean. And very dead, shiv went right into his heart."

Sailes cleared his throat, "Which explains why he was able to work for Gibbs for so long. Tough. Back to Hatman, Shadow Man and their merry rogues, what do we want to do, if anything, with the demands? Or requests."

"Has anyone run this by the Brits?"

Sailes shook his head, "I'm just hearing about this, same as you two. If we agree that it's worth it to get McGee and all his family members their lives back, then I'll get in touch with my contacts. When's the family going back?"

"Red-eye, Jan. 2nd."

"Doesn't give us much time but then an operation like this, that might be a good thing. Sir," he addressed his boss, "is Shadow Man in close enough contact to get to the rogue leader when we're there? We'll have to play this very close to the vest. As widespread and resourceful as IPF is, they'll have IDs for every law enforcement agency in the UK if we give them too much time."

"I asked him that and he said yes but he won't do it unless we're in. Says getting the McGee family off their payroll is his number one priority."

Sailes leaned forward, "We need to plan and execute this as soon as possible. Beau, you in?"

"Yes, we're in."

"Leon?"

"Yes."

"All right; first of all, are all the McGee-Gibbses here?"

Vance shook his head, "No. His wife's grandmother lives near Athens and her sister and fiancé live in Edinburgh; I believe they're with the fiancé's parents for Christmas, also in or near Edinburgh. The brother's wife and children are with her parents in northern Greece, where I'm assuming she's filing for divorce. Tim's mother-in-law is persona non grata with his wife and her sister but she is living in Athens. There's an aunt, uncles and kids, one set in northern Greece, the other set lives in Sorrento, near Naples. Beau, your folks in Athens work pretty closely with my folks in Athens. I've got 4 agents available."

"And I have 2, yes, good idea. Let's partner them in protection details. Do we need to stretch to northern Greece and southern Italy? I've got the resources."

The others looked at Vance and he thought for a minute. "I'd rather we cover them than risk them. We don't know how many rogue IPF operatives are out there or how well organized they are."

"Anyone else in England?"

"No. Tim's future brother-in-law and his parents are here with the family. The only thing I can think of there is the house. It's an old Manor house, historically valuable and they rent it."

"How many agents would you want?"

"5. Front, sides, back, and outside the back gate – there's a popular walking path. The gates are locked and have security cameras on them; McGee has eyes on all the windows and doors, which are also alarmed to the local PD. I've got 4 agents in London."

McKinley nodded, "We'll have 1 or 2 to work with them."

Knowing they would likely have to revise the plan once British law enforcement agreed, they decided to get as detailed as possible now. That way they'd tweak the plan where necessary and move quickly. The last contact, if the Brits bought into this, would be Shadow Man.

McKinley showed Vance and Sailes to private offices to contact their teams. Sailes' first call was to his main contact in the UK, wanting to speak with her before they went any further. With Peterson's permission, he told her of the Shadow call and the message. He had a sneaking suspicion that she'd be just as happy as he would be with the McGees free to live their lives free of IPF and/or rogue operatives.

She was glad to hear there'd been some development, not so happy about the proposed prison visit. Nor was she happy when she heard the timeframe, as soon as they could get everyone in place, within the next 2 days. Sailes told her the rest of their plan and that got her attention, now she was on board.

He was sweating in the air-conditioned office when he finally disconnected, but the Brits were in. 'Operation: Free Us All', the very unofficial, never to be said outside the conference room, name of the mission, was a go.

Vance contacted Secretary Porter and read her in. She agreed to the plan and understood when he turned down a SEAL team. They still had no definite count of who in the Navy or Marines might have been, might still be, compromised and there was no way he'd risk compromising the mission. He decided if they came up short, he might take her up on it, but wouldn't say so until everyone was in place.

By the time Peterson contacted Shadow Man and told him the prison visit was happening, everyone was in place, either on protection detail in the U.S., Greece, Italy or in the UK, outside the prison and at the house in Brambury.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Nobody in the McGee household got much sleep Tuesday night, too excited about their baby returning to them in just a few short hours. Tim and Artie's phones buzzed with texts about 0700 Wednesday morning, the Turkish flight was beginning their descent into DC airspace, their ETA at the gate was 30 minutes.

They were dressed, fed, had a new car seat for the baby already installed in the rental van, ready to go, Grandpa and Grandma with them. With Christmas only a few days away, traffic was light this early and they reached the airfield in 20 minutes. Waiting inside, they watched, covering their ears as the jet landed. Jay Whitman, a policy advisor from the State Department, waited with them and when his phone beeped, he looked up with a smile, "They're disembarking, the baby and her minders will be off first."

The family waited inside at the gate, cheering when they saw a woman carrying a little girl. The girl turned when she heard the noise, smiling and waving. Tim kept telling himself she was just waving at people, she wouldn't remember them. They'd told the kids that, not to expect her to remember them.

Passport control was right there and checked the woman and child through quickly. The woman, her flight nanny, handed her to Artie with a smile while Tim took the suitcase from a flight attendant. He and Artie were both crying and kissing their little girl. Safe in Artie's arms, Hope looked at them, looked at her reclaimed mama and squealed. When she transferred to Tim's arms, she patted his face and laid her head on his shoulder, making happy noises. Greg was so happy, he yelled, "She remembers us! She does, Papa, Mama!"

Hope looked up and giggled. Whether she remembered them or not, she seemed to know she was home and most definitely loved.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

While the family reunion played out, several of their protectors gathered in the United Kingdom, ready to execute their plan, while others continued their various protection details. Timing was tight, especially when the number of rogue operatives who'd be in the area was still unknown. They'd told Shadow Man no more than 3 of the rogues and he'd agreed. Since his initial call to Peterson on Monday night, his call had been traced, his location was known and his phones had ears on them. He made a call to a number in Belgium that lasted nearly 15 minutes.

By the time he disconnected, the party who'd spoken with him had his own shadow. After years of living off the grid, so to speak, that man, calling himself Rogue1, the leader of the IPF rogues, was too arrogant to believe anyone could track him. While he was excited about the possibility of seeing his boss, he was wary. He'd come to believe Hatman was dead, but insisted on following one of the last orders he'd been given, not to kill the McGee family.

He'd witnessed what happened to his colleagues who'd mistakenly attacked McGee, witnessed and participated in the attackers' takedown, boss's orders. No loose ends, although that was what those 2 kids were, loose ends. Boss was clever when he took care of the wife but then, inexplicably, stopped the mission that would have cleaned up the whole mess that David Hart created by refusing to carry out his patriotic duty, to join the best of the best in making sure their country's enemies were silenced. Hart had signed his death warrant when he squealed like a little pig to the CIA.

When he didn't die as planned, they'd watched his hospital bed, easily installing cameras. When they saw him starting to emerge from the coma, they were ready with the drug. Why his boss hadn't let them kill him, Rogue1 didn't understand. Once they were accepted as part of the medical team and Hart sank back into the coma, the cameras were removed. Too bad they'd ultimately had to lose 3 more operatives when the medical team finally figured out what they were doing. Luckily, their backstories held up to scrutiny and gave Hatman an excuse to destroy 2 cartels. It was a shame the 3 had to be sacrificed in the takedown.

Now he made a few calls. IPF's new head said he could take 2 of his operatives with him. That was fine, he'd have 2 with him and 2 more outside, watching. They didn't need any more than that and frankly, he couldn't afford more than 4 of them.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

By the time they got back to the house, Hope and her siblings were hungry. She squealed at the borrowed high chair and giggled at the music she made pounding on the tray. She had a sippy cup with formula and used her hands to eat the bits of fruit, toast and a few round pieces of cereal.

When they took her from the high chair, she wanted down and dropped to the floor, crawling around the room, examining everything. They'd covered all the electrical outlets with tape, the baby gates were closed and the front and back door handles were too high for her to reach.

Sarah's babyhood was too far in Tim's past to remember how fast a crawling baby can go. Artie and Andy remembered and Tim, Greg and Kyle learned fast. While Marissa watched, she was a little young to understand the dangers and mostly thought it was funny. However, she was very good at letting the bigger people know what Hope was up to, including her crawl under the couch and opening a pantry door that wasn't closed all the way. When it was time for her nap, most of the family were also ready for a rest. The 4 older kids went to Grandpa's to hang out with them while their parents laid down. When Tim asked if it would get easier, Artie laughed at him. "Was Kyle difficult for you?"

"No, but he was almost 2 ½. Baby gates, outlet covers, locks on the toilet lids, those plastic things on door knobs, drawer latches, we were good to go. And Marissa wasn't even 2, she was fine. Or did you take care of everything?"

"You and Jethro helped me, you just don't remember. She was a little scamp on the stairs and we would have had to call a plumber a couple of times if your father hadn't caught her trying to see if Kyle's train cars would float."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. When we get home…"

"She'll be fine, we'll be fine. It will take some adjustment but we'll survive crawling. And then she'll learn to walk. Did you know babies don't have brakes? They learn to walk and then to run and crash into just about everything until they figure out how to stop themselves. We'll have a few weeks to cover everything in foam padding."

"Are we covering her in foam padding too?"

"No, she'd have it off by the time we finished putting it on her, or worse, she'd eat it. However, there are kits we can buy to keep her from opening doors, drawers, etc."

"You said a few weeks. That's how long she'll crawl?"

"We don't know how long she's been crawling but she certainly looks like an expert to me. Once she figures out how to stand and stay standing, balancing on her feet, she'll be on her way. I think we should baby gate the kitchen too."

"I know we'll need to wait for the outlet covers but can we buy other things online here and have them sent home? Will they be right for the UK configurations?"

"I believe so. However, there's no one at home and our neighbors are in Switzerland for the holiday. We'll be back before they will."

"Oh. Yeah, everyone's gone. We could ask the Morrises, they've said to ask if we need help with anything."

"That's a good idea, honey."

"I'll send an email later."

Artie laughed, "Better do it now. We'll be busy chasing little Missy once she wakes up."

"How are we going to do this?"

"There are structures, called baby corrals, that will give her a secure area to play in and give us a break. That's one of the first items we should order, maybe even 2 of them, one for upstairs, one for downstairs."

"Good! And more toys."

"Nothing noisy, please. No drums or squeaky things. Books with animal noises are fine, nothing more than that."

"Okay." Tim sat up and grabbing his laptop, sent an email to Joel and Carol Morris. While they waited for a reply, they started shopping, leaving everything in their online carts until they knew where to send them. When they had an affirmative and congratulatory reply from Carol, they completed their orders, shipping it all to the Morrises' home address.

They'd had lunch and cleaned the kitchen when they heard a little voice on the baby monitor. They grinned as they watched her on the screen, she was singing something to herself, playing with her toes. Artie said they could wait a few minutes, not to rush to her all the time, unless something was wrong. Then they looked at each other and ran upstairs.

When she saw them, she smiled and said 'merhaba', hello in Turkish. They said it back to her and then said hello in English. Artie said she'd start teaching her Greek once she knew English. When Hope looked at Artie and said 'anne', the Turkish word for mother, Artie pointed to herself saying 'mama'. Then she touched Tim, saying 'papa'. Hope made a noise and held her arms up. After Tim changed her, he cuddled her in his arms. She put her head on his shoulder and said quite clearly, 'bapa'. He held her up, giving her a kiss and then set her on his hip. With one hand, he tapped her lightly, saying, "Hope".

She looked at him with a frown, saying, "Umut".

"Yes, Umut and Hope."

She watched his mouth this time, smart girl that she was, and then echoed him, "Hobe".

He said it again, slowly so she could watch his mouth, "Hope."

"Hopah." She almost had it but over pronouncing the 'p' resulted in the 'pah' sound.

Tim tried again and she got it right this time. "Hope?"

"Yes!" She laughed as they clapped their hands. Then she frowned again, "Umut?"

"Yes, you are Umut and Hope." When she heard both names she was happy again and they left it at that. As he carried her downstairs, she practiced her new words, 'Mama, Bapa, Hope, Mama, Bapa, Hope."

By the time the kids brought their grandparents over, Hope had repeated her new words several dozen times, throwing in 'Umut' every so often. She stopped for a while, more interested in exploring again and now when she touched something, they told her what it was. "Sofa, lamp, chair."

When Tim wondered aloud whether they should replace their lamps with battery operated lighting fixtures, to avoid electrical cords, Artie shook her head, "Theoretically it's a good idea, but she needs to learn what's safe and what's not. Outside of our house, there will be places she'll go with electrical cords, she needs to know. Same with the oven and stove top, we'll put a lock on the oven door and a shield at the edge of the stove, but she'll still need to learn the concept of hot and dangerous. For her, that will be the word 'no' for a couple of years, until she's old enough to start to understand why."

Little Hope clapped her hands, squealing when her siblings and grandparents came in. Safe in Mama's arms, she leaned forward to kiss each person as she was told his or her name. Then, to Tim's delight, she pointed to him and told her new people, "Bapa". The boys grinned, "Papa, that's what she called you before!"

"Yes. The Turkish word for father is Baba, so she's probably melding them now."

Greg smiled, "She remembers us."

Hope squealed again, pointing to her mother, "Mama."

"That's right, sweetie! Very good!"

Grandma became 'Gwama' and Grandpa was 'Gwamba', which was fine with Lu and Jethro.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Joel Morris squared his shoulders as he and his partner, a CIA agent called Mulligan, at least for today, joined 3 MI-5 officers. Each wore the latest and best protective gear available. After a quick briefing, they were joined by the 3 IPF rogue operatives and their escort, who handed them over and quickly left.

Once inside the prison walls, they were led to Hatman. He'd been told he had a visitor and was expecting the usual court appointed lawyer who arrived every 3 months for his court mandated visit.

When 2 federal agents and 3 British agents entered the room with 3 of his special rogue operatives, his eyes lit up. He stood. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Americans, Brits and my own people? Is it my birthday?"

The man calling himself Rogue1 smiled, this was his boss, he'd know that voice anywhere, in his dreams and his nightmares. "Happy early birthday, Boss!"

One of the Brits stepped forward. Hatman mentally scoffed, of course they'd insist on the lead, he was their prisoner. So unimaginative!

"These men are here to confirm you're alive. In exchange, they will cease the vendetta against the McGee-Hart-Gibbs family."

"The what?" Displeased, Hatman turned to his men. "What have you done? Have you disobeyed my final order?"

"No, sir. Nobody's been killed, per your order. But we've had them under surveillance."

"Why?"

"Because you went into McGee's house and were never seen again. We thought you were dead."

"And?"

"We follow them, everywhere. All of them."

"All of whom? McGee has a sister and 2 brothers. Are the boys still with him?"

"Yes, sir. He's adopted them. He's married now and his former boss adopted him and his siblings. McGee and his wife have 4 kids." Listening, Joel realized their connections weren't as great as feared, they didn't know about the baby and that was now 3-day-old news.

Hatman made a disgusted noise, all that sentimentality, such a waste of energy.
"Number 1, I gave you access to my personal funds to continue our fight for our country, not to harass our own people. Hart has been sufficiently punished, justice has been done as far as he is concerned. But his brother did not betray us, you know that and you know what happened to those sadly mistaken attackers.

"McGee and Gibbs are patriots too, serving in their own ways. Neither one, nobody in that house, laid a hand on me. You were in the basement with me, you know I openly consented to coming here with the Secretary. It was my choice. Did you think I walked into this blind? How dare you second-guess me, I'm most disappointed in you. Is that all you've accomplished?"

"No, sir. But we haven't been able to do much more. Our surveillance is blocked by law enforcement wherever the McGees go."

"Wherever?"

"They travel around Europe a lot. And home, once a year. They're there now."

"You're done, that is over with, to be stopped immediately. Do you understand me? You three? Officers, who's paying for this?"

"Paying for what?"

"The Bureau removed McGee, his brother, the Hart boys and Gibbs after that ill-conceived attack. As these idiots here have not harmed them, they must be in protective custody."

His man spoke again, "They have protection details, 24/7, everywhere. The whole family. The Marine, the one who's still in DC, the people in Greece, Scotland and Italy. We can't get at any of them."

"Shut up, you idiot! Officers, who is paying for all that?"

"IPF."

"IPF is paying to protect the McGee family against rogue operatives of IPF? Oh, that's wonderful, whoever came up with that deserves congratulations."

Hatman was laughing and laughed so hard he had to sit down. When he stopped, he stood again, addressing the rogues: "These are my orders. 1) Cease and desist any and all surveillance, harassment, anything toward the McGee-Gibbs family, including Hart and his sons, the McGee extended family and friends, immediately and for all time. 2) You're fired, all of you rogues, from whatever organization you've made up. I order you to dissolve it, now, immediately and for all time. Find shelter and new ways to make a living, no more punishment, killing, maiming, harassment or surveillance, you're done with that business. 3) There will be no revenge taken out on any of the McGee-Gibbs familyor anyone connected to them in any way, shape or form because of my orders. All and each of you are to stay away from all and each of them. In perpetuity. 4) Number #1, you're cut off from any funding. You've wasted every penny and all of your time. You should have been tracking our real enemies. I'm disappointed that I ever trusted you. Dismissed."

He looked at the Feds and Brits. "If someone will give me a piece of paper and pen, I will write this down and you Feds can get it to whoever is running IPF now."

"What makes you think it's still in operation?"

Hatman scoffed without saying a word. When he had paper and pen, he wrote out his orders with an additional order to use extreme prejudice on any IPF operative, rogue or active, who tried to follow, harass, attack, maim or kill any member of the extended McGee family and their friends. He signed it, Marvin Lee Hatman and asked for the date before adding that.

When he finished, he looked at the lead Brit. "No extradition orders have been mentioned, have you not yet told the others about my trial?"

"We will now."

He nodded and as they left, called out, "Hold up. One more thing. Let McGee know all that was unauthorized? Except Hart, of course. He deserved his punishment for turning down the opportunity to join IPF and then tattling on us."

"He won't believe you any more than we do. Everything you've said to him has been a lie."

"Yes, that is true. Then go." Making a dismissive gesture, he summoned his guards, who waited for the others to leave.

As they left the super maximum security prison, they put their headgear back on, only to take it off again when told to stand down. The rogues outside the prison had been taken into custody by MI-5.

Part of the deal the U.S. Attorney General made with Shadow Man, real name Avrit Coffey Sifts, was that the rogue operatives would not be arrested by his agents. Sifts never said anything about British law enforcement. Nor had he acknowledged the warrants in effect for the rogues, in the UK and the same 6 other countries who wanted Hatman. Sifts wasn't ignorant, he knew this would mean the end of Hatman's special Rogue program and the arrest of the remaining members. He looked good to his new operatives, who knew little about Hatman, and the operatives from Hatman's time understood he'd made the best of some tough choices. In any event, the vendetta against the McGees was over.

The head of MI-5 updated the Prime Minister, who agreed to postpone the press conference until they had confirmation that the McGees had been informed.


Episodes for CIA agents: Choyce (the former CIA agent who gave the phone number/address to bad guy) in Designated Target; Roy Carver, Faking It; Rinnert: Ex-File; Trent Kort: Blowback, Brothers In Arms, etc.; Ray Cruz: Two-Faced, A Desperate Man, etc.