Chapter 18: Twilight (part 2)
AN: Thank you so much for the support. I really, hope you like this chapter. And I am excited for you to read next chapter.
A while after Gibbs left NCIS Tony and McGee are in the bullpen, both desperately trying to get through to Gibbs.
"Please call me back," Tony says, into his phone. "That's twenty messages I left," Tony reveals. "We should look for him, McGee," Tony comments.
"Look for who?" Gibbs asks as he walks into the bullpen.
"We've been calling you for the last hour, Boss," Tony reveals.
"Well, yeah, my ringer thing got turned off," Gibbs explains.
"You're not going to believe who's back in town," Tony comments.
"Ari," Gibbs answers.
"Maybe you will," Tony says surprised.
"Fornell said that he's here to…." McGee starts to explain.
"Kimm me, yeah, I know. I just had coffee with him," Gibbs explains.
"So, what happened?" Tony asks curious.
"He tried to kill me," Gibbs reveals. "We found out what Westfall was doing in Aberdeen yet?" Gibbs asks.
"Uh, Boss, aren't you going to elaborate a little bit first?" McGee ask.
"Yeah, McGee! I'm alive! Now tell me about Westfall," Gibbs requests.
"Uh.. he was only attached to Aberdeen. He was actually working with an aerospace contractor in Maryland. Danborn Avionics," McGee explains.
"Doing what?" Gibbs asks.
"Testing field service modules or something like that. I have no idea. The FBI sent a team over to the company to investigate their security," Tony explains.
"The FBI?" Gibbs asks.
"Lots happened in the last hour, Boss," Tony reveals.
"Where's Fornell?" Gibbs asks.
"MTAC," Tony answers.
"Make the ringer thing work," Gibbs says, giving McGee his phone as he heads upstairs.
"Is it me or did he take the whole Ari situation really well?" McGee asks surprised.
"That's because he's looking for to it," Tony comments.
"Looking forward to what?" McGee asks curious.
"Finally getting to kill him," Tony answers.
Heading upstairs, Gibbs gets to the catwalk just as Fornell is walking out of MTAC.
"How long did you know that bastard was here?" Gibbs asks.
"We had our reasons, Gibbs," Fornell defends.
"How long?" Gibbs asks angrily.
"About a week," Fornell explains.
"Is Ziva here too?" Gibbs asks, wondering if Fornell knows more than him.
"I don't know. We didn't know what his cover mission was with Al Qaeda until today," Fornell explains.
"I'm taking him down," Gibbs reveals.
"Not this time, the FBI can handle this," Fornell reveals.
"The civilians in the coffee shop that he tried to blow up today will probably disagree with you, Tobias," Gibbs comments.
"Look if it was up to me I'd put a round through his forehead, it's not," Fornell explains. "You're sitting this one out," Fornell reveals.
"You gonna try to stop me?" Gibbs asks.
"No, not me Jethro," Fornell says gesturing to MTAC, and so Gibbs heads in.
Walking into MTAC Gibbs heads straight down towards the screen where he finds Morrow waiting.
"Ari has been declared off limits," Morrow explains. "NCIS will have no further involvement in the case," Morrow says.
"You're kidding, Sir?" Gibbs asks.
"I've also been ordered to place you under protective custody.. for your own safety," Morrow explains.
"Meaning for Ari's?" Gibbs asks.
"Take it for what it is. A direct order, Agent Gibbs, and you damn well better follow it to the letter," Morrow explains.
"Yes, Sir. I'd also like to take this opportunity to offer you my resignation, Sir," Gibbs reveals.
"And I will accept it… after you completed your current case," Morrow explains.
"Sir?"
"Have you found any evidence connecting Ari to the murder of our two Navel Officers?" Morrow asks.
"No, we haven't, Sir," Gibbs reveals.
"I will now hand you over to our federally certified protective custody expert, Agent Todd," Morrow reveals. "I hear she used to protect the President, you should be flattered," Morrow explains. "He's all yours. I expect you to follow her orders to the letter, as if they were mine," Morrow explains.
"That last part? He meant it," Kate reveals.
A few minutes later Gibbs heads out of MTAC, and gestures to Fornell, who is still waiting outside to follow, and the two of them head to the elevator. After a moments of silence Gibbs flicks the elevator off.
"When did you talk to her last?" Fornell asks, there being no question who he is asking about.
"A couple of weeks ago," Gibbs explains, the worry being clear in his voice.
"We need to get her home," Fornell says, and while he would like nothing more than to do that Gibbs realises a problem with doing that.
"I don't even know where she is Tobias," Gibbs points out. "And if she is with Ari, or monitoring him for Mossad, she won't answer; and we'll just put her in danger by calling," Gibbs explains.
"So you're saying we do nothing?" Fornell asks surprised, feeling that that doesn't sound like Gibbs.
"I don't want to do nothing, I want to do whatever I can to make sure she's safe, and get her home," Gibbs admits. "But for now, we just have to wait for her to make contact," Gibbs says, as he flicks the elevator back on.
"I'll monitor everything. Any hint of her and I'll let you know," Fornell promises.
"Thank you," Gibbs says, gratefully.
While Gibbs is in the elevator with Fornell Kate, Tony and McGee are in the bullpen, talking about Kate's plan for Gibbs' protection.
"In his home, two teams. Six-hour shifts, alternating radio checks every ten minutes," Kate explains. "Outside I want a mobile foot patrol and two permanent observation posts," Kate instructs.
"Gibbs is not going to like that," Tony comments.
"Well screw what he likes, Tony. I'm not going to let that psycho within five miles of Gibbs," Kate reveals. "McGee, I need full audio and video surveillance inside and out. everything tied back into MTAC," Kate explains.
"You've got it, Kate," McGee says, as Gibbs walks into the bullpen.
"Go home, it's late," Gibbs says.
"Gibbs, I don't think we're going to be going home," Kate comments.
"I'm staying here. I do not need an army of agents staying up all night watching me build a boat," Gibbs reveals.
"You won't leave the building?" Kate asks.
"If I do, I'll call you," Gibbs says. "Go, go home, get some sleep," Gibbs instructs. "First thing tomorrow morning we're going to check out Danborn avionics and find out what the FBI missed. GO!" Gibbs exclaims.
A little while later Tony, Kate and McGee are asleep in the bullpen and Gibbs is still awake. As the team sleep Gibbs looks out the window and thinks about Ziva, about how much he desperately hopes she is okay.
The next morning Kate is asleep in the bullpen, having a horrible nightmare, when Tony shakes her awake.
"Gibbs!" Kate exclaims as she bolts up right.
"You dream about Gibbs?" Tony asks shocked.
"What? No. god no," Kate explains.
"You just said his name," Tony comments.
"No, I didn't," Kate responds.
"Yes, you did," Tony responds, as McGee walks into the bullpen.
"What's going on?" McGee asks curious.
"Kate dreams about Gibbs," Tony explains.
"Oh, what was it about?" McGee asks curious.
"No, I didn't dream about Gibbs," Kate comments.
"She screamed his name," Tony comments.
"Really? Here you go," McGee says, handing Kate a coffee, as Gibb walks in.
"Look, if you want to check out the defence contracting company with us today, you're wearing a vest," Kate explains, picking up a bulletproof vest.
"I can live with that," Gibbs comments.
"That's kind of the point, Gibbs," Kate reveals.
A little while later the team went the company and found out a drone is missing. After making the discovery the team are back at NCIS and Kate and Gibbs are in the lab with Abby.
"According to these schematics, the drone's pretty outdated from a tech perspective, Gibbs," Abby explains.
"So is a hand grenade," Gibbs comments.
"Excellent point. The Danborn TX-Bravo is basically a jet-propelled RC plane. Meaning, it's manually controlled by a radio transmitter," Abby explains.
"If the transmitter they stole was from a modern UAV, they might not be able to fly it," Kate comments.
"True, true," Abby comments. "But Danborns flight codes are based on the original software. So, a few tweaks…" Abby explains.
"What's the range?" Gibbs asks.
"Forty miles. Unless they load it down with explosives," Abby explains.
"Ah, they will," Gibbs says, knowing that.
"The payload would have to be pretty small, Gibbs. Twenty give pounds or less if they want to get it off the ground. It's not a lot of bang for your buck," Abby explains.
"It is if you're going after a soft target, Abs," Gibbs comments.
"Soft target?" Abby asks confused.
"People," Kate supplies.
"Oh,"
"Any way to stop it if it's launched?" Gibbs asks curious.
"It wouldn't be hard to destabilize the system. I have the operational frequencies. Another controller could probably jam it," Abby explains.
"Get me another controller," Gibbs requests.
"But Gibbs, there's a catch," Abby explains. "You'd have to be within a forty-mile radius to jam it," Abby explains and Gibbs walks out of the lab.
"Kate, I had a weird dream about Tony last night," Abby comments.
"Eww, not the one where the two of you were at the zoo and he…" Kate starts to say.
"Oh, no, no, no. He's fully clothed in this one," Abby explains. "But he had blood all over his face. I woke up crying, Kate. I never cry. Never, ever, ever," Abby explains.
"Hey, it was just a bete noir," Kate explains. "Gotta go," Kate says, before leaving.
Not long after he left the lab Gibbs is walking into the bullpen, where Tony and McGee are.
"What do you got?" Gibbs asks.
"A shot of our drone thieves from Danborn's security footage from two nights ago," Tony explains.
"The day the Lieutenants were murdered," McGee explains.
"Can you ID them?" Gibbs asks curious.
"Well, there both wearing ski masks, but check this out," Tony says, playing the security footage. "Maybe I'm paranoid, but does this guy look familiar?" Tony asks as they watch the video of a guy having a problem with his shoulder.
"You're not paranoid. That bastard's Ari!" Gibbs exclaims, feeling that that means Ziva is in even more danger.
"He's not looking for an Al Qaeda cell," Tony realises.
"Hell, no. he's running it! You get Fornell in here!" Gibbs orders.
"How much should I tell him?" Tony asks.
"Tell him he's about to make the second biggest mistake of his life!" Gibbs says, as he walks out of the bullpen, just as Kate walks back in and is confused about what is going on.
"My second biggest mistake, Jethro?" Fornell asks as he walks into MTAC a little while later with Tony, Kate and McGee. "That's very dramatic. What was the first?" Fornell asks.
"When you married my second wife," Gibbs says, speaking of Diane, causing Tony and Kate to exchange shocked looks.
"You could have warned me," Fornell says, even though he knows the truth.
"I did!" Gibbs defends.
"In my own defence, I thought he was exaggerating. He wasn't," Fornell explains.
"Where's Ari?" Gibbs asks, as he needs to know.
"What part of sit this out don't you get?" Fornell asks.
"The part where he steals a Navy UAV and kills a whole bunch of people with it," Gibbs explains.
"My people checked out Danborn Avionics. Their only UAV is accounted for," Fornell explains.
"He stole a target drone, Fornell. Pull it up," Gibbs says and McGee puts the images on the screen. "Packed the nose with Semtex, he's got a poor man's Cruise missile," Gibbs explains.
"Guess your boys missed it," Tony comments.
"Ari's playing you. He's no double agent! He never has been! Where is he!" Gibbs asks, needing to know.
"All we've got is an encrypted spook cell phone number," Fornell explains.
"Call him," Gibbs says.
"But you can't trace it from here, Gibbs. You need a high level NSA intercept," Fornell explains.
"Patch us through," Gibbs requests.
"We're talking dedicated satellite time," Fornell explains, as a general appears on the screen.
"I've got two NSA satellites in range for the next five minutes, Gunny. What's the number?" General Cranston asks. Our
"Are you sure about this?" Fornell asks.
"As sure as when I told you she would clean out you bank account when she left," Gibbs reveals as Diane left Fornell less than a year ago, and Fornell gives the number to McGee.
"Patching it through now, are you sure he's going to answer?" Cranston asks.
"Put my name on his caller ID. He'll answers," Gibbs says, and it isn't until after he says that that Gibbs realises that Ari could potentially think it is Ziva if only 'Gibbs', is put on the caller ID as he has no idea what Ari calls her.
"Special Agent Gibbs, how did you get this number?" Ari asks, and Gibbs glad that at least he didn't think it was Ziva, as that could be bad.
"I pulled some strings," Gibbs reveals.
"Yes, your friend Fornell. Imagine he is there with you," Ari points out, and Fornell gives him a look.
"Nope. Nope. I've been throw off the case," Gibbs comments.
"It's for the best. I really wasn't looking forward to killing you," Ari lies.
"I wish I could say the same thing, Ari. I've resigned from NCIS," Gibbs explains.
"I hope it wasn't something I said," Ari comments.
"Next time if we meet, Ari, it'll be the last time. There won't be anybody to stop me," Gibbs reveals.
"Gibbs, I'm honoured I had no idea you made so much of a…" Ari starts to say as Gibbs signals to cut the call.
"He's on a cell phone grid thirty miles out of Norfolk Newport news area. I got it narrowed down to a two block radius," Cranston explains.
"Let's go," Gibbs says.
"What the hell is he doing in Norfolk?" Fornell asks confused as Kate, Tony, McGee, and Gibbs hurry out of MTAC.
In the apartment she is renting Ziva is doing research, and listening to law enforcement radio calls, when her phone she uses to communicate with Ari goes off. Quickly checking she sees a message saying; 'Plan worked. They hung up, call was trace'. Reading the message Ziva knows it means that Ari is leading NCIS to the cell, which means, he is doing what he told her he would do, and maybe he is a good guy.
At the same time Ziva gets her message from Ari Gibbs, McGee, Kate and Tony are arriving at the location where the call was traced to; alley between several warehouses.
"Did you figure it out?" Gibbs asks curious.
"I did," McGee confirms. "The drone is on one of three radio frequencies. It'll take a few minutes to jam each of them, but when I hit the frequency it's on the drone should go off target," McGee explains.
"It'll take hours to search these warehouses, Boss," Tony notes.
"Give me the shotgun," Gibbs says, and once he has it he fires it, which causes the people in one of the warehouses to come out and shoot at them, so they fight back. "Tony, get the fire escape. Kate, with me. McGee, start jamming," Gibbs instructs, and they proceed to do exactly what he said.
Over the next few minutes Gibbs, Tony, and Kate fight against Ari's forces while McGee tries to jam the drone.
"Boss, they fired the drone!" McGee exclaims.
"Jam it, McGee!" Gibbs orders.
"I can do this, I can do this," McGee says as he continues to walk.
"One down, boss, no visual on anyone else," Tony says, once he gets to the roof.
"Let's do it," Gibbs says and they head onto the roof.
As Tony, Gibbs and Kate head onto the roof they fight back and within a few moments they have taken down everyone on the roof.
"Clear," Tony comments.
"McGee, this thing is still flying," Gibbs comments, as he looks at the controller.
"One frequency down, two to go," McGee says, as he is fired upon so he gets pinned behind the car.
"Boss, one of them shot my transmitter!" McGee exclaims.
"Do you know how to fly this thing?" Tony asks Gibbs as they are the only hope.
"No, but I know how to crash it," Gibbs says as he shoots the controller, sinking the drone. "McGee, are you okay?" Gibbs asks concerned.
"I got one terrorist inside! I don't know if I got him, but he stopped shooting," McGee explains.
"Hold your position. We'll flush him," Gibbs instructs.
"Okay," McGee responds.
"I'm out," Gibbs says, checking his gun, as Tony gives him a new magazine.
"Me too," Kate responds, and as she does she notices something. "Shooter!" Kate yells as she dives in front of Gibbs, and Tony and Gibbs quickly fire bac k.
"Kate? Are you okay?" Tony asks as he and Gibbs check to make sure Kate's vest caught the bullet.
"Ow, I just got shot at point blank range, DiNozzo. What do you think?" Kate asks.
"You're not going to be going to Pilates class tomorrow?" Tony asks, as Kate groans, as she stands up.
"Protection detail is over," Gibbs reveals.
''You did good," Tony comments.
"For once, DiNozzo is right," Gibbs reveals.
"Wow. I thought I'd die before I ever…." Kate starts to say, before getting shot in the head.
"Ari," Gibbs says and within minutes he is trying to call Ziva, trying to get her to come home, but she doesn't answer, and he cannot risk leaving a message.