Chapter 26
The day was full of planning. Agent Andrews came back to NCIS and sat down with Levi and the team to go over what the actual plans would be, modifying what they had done with the new information about what they'd be doing. Throughout the day, there were messages from the team who had taken up observation at the house. Everyone agreed that getting to Tim without things getting bloody would be difficult, but there was no question that something would happen, that they'd do it, and tonight would be the end of Tim's captivity.
What state Tim would be in was another matter all together, though. It had been a few days since his message about breaking down, and in Tim's worst moments, he hadn't even allowed people to come close to him. Would he be that bad? It would be too much to hope that he didn't have any issues at all, but they could hope that he'd be all right.
The hours seemed to crawl by until sunset, but at the same time, there didn't seem to be time enough to make sure everything was ready.
Finally, though, it was dark. The one part of their plan that was definite was how they would get there and where they would set up their base of operations. While Gibbs didn't want Levi along at all, he recognized that he would simply show up if they tried to keep him out of it. As Tony had said, Levi was smart. He thought quickly and he had a knack for figuring things out. He knew where the house was, and he'd be there, no matter what.
"We're leaving," he said, tersely. "Are you coming?"
Tony and Ziva paused in their preparations and stared. Gibbs saw it but he didn't look away from Levi.
He was gratified to see the faintest hint of surprise on Levi's face.
"You're not going to try to leave me behind or tell me not to come, Agent Gibbs?" he asked.
"Not worth the effort. You know where the house is."
Then, Levi smiled that annoying, knowing smile. Very few things could remove that expression.
"Good point. Yes, I'm coming. Bri and I will go in our own car. Don't worry. We won't give anything away."
The idea of the former director of the CIA and his former CIA agent daughter doing something like giving away their position was ludicrous and Gibbs almost rolled his eyes. He might even have almost smiled at it.
"Then, I'll meet you all there," Levi said.
He left the bullpen with Bri in tow.
"Are you sure about this, Boss?" Tony asked. "What is he going to do?"
"Be there," Gibbs said. "And if he's decided he wants to be there, he'll be there. I'd rather know where he is than have to guess. You ready?"
"Yeah."
"Then, let's go."
This was going to end tonight.
One way or another.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"Are you ready for this, Ray?" Levi asked as they neared their destination.
"Yes."
That was it. Levi left it at that. Bri was a reluctant participant, but Levi was simply trying to keep himself calm enough that he didn't trigger a tachycardic episode. It had been embarrassing to be brought to that state simply by the surprise of Gibbs knowing something about what had happened in Yemen. He certainly didn't want it now when he was so focused on making sure that Tim got out.
Finally, he saw where they were meeting up. There were more people than he had expected, if he was honest, but still few enough that they wouldn't necessarily attract attention. There was definitely a meeting of some sort going on.
As soon as the car stopped, Levi got out and walked over to join them. Ray followed, silently.
"What's going on?" he asked, keeping his voice low.
"We're discussing how best to get Agent McGee and the others out of the house. There is zero cover, and I don't think we want to risk a full frontal assault on this place," Andrews said. "What little we know about these people is that they're willing to kill, and I think it's a good chance that they'd kill Agent McGee rather than let him get free."
"I agree," Levi said.
"The problem is that if we go in by stealth, the one we send is the most likely to be in the line of fire, especially if something goes wrong."
"And be killed," Gibbs added.
"Exactly."
"Then, send someone who's already dead," Ray said, getting people's attention for the first time.
"Ray," Ziva whispered in shock.
But she wasn't the only one surprised. At least, she had known he was still alive. There were a couple of the CIA agents who were quietly shocked as well. They just didn't say anything.
Andrews was one of the shocked agents but Levi was glad to see that he hid it well. He hadn't been sure of Andrews' potential when he was first hired, but he had matured dramatically and he was an excellent agent.
"You need someone you can potentially write off," Ray said.
"I don't like writing anyone off," Andrews said. "Not if it's not necessary."
"It's necessary. I scouted this place out last night before you got here. There's no way to do this being hidden. You can't come in from the back and get to the house."
"Then, what will you do?" another agent asked.
Ray smiled, but it was an empty smile.
"Come in from the front where they're sure to be watching."
"And how will you get into the house?"
"I won't need to. Not at first."
"What do you mean?" Andrews asked. "I need to know what you're planning if I'm going to let you go in."
Ray bent down and picked up a few pebbles from the ground.
"I'm going to throw rocks at their window."
A couple of the CIA agents chuckled.
"Go for it, Cruz," one said.
Andrews didn't smile. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Okay. Go for it. We'll be on guard for whatever happens. If they start firing, we start firing, but if you can get them out before that, it would be even better. How long do you need?"
"Ten minutes. Five to get up there and another five to get into position."
"Go," Andrews said.
Ray nodded. Levi saw him glance at Ziva for a moment but then, he turned and walked away into the darkness.
Andrews looked at Levi.
"He was your source?"
"Yes."
Just a nod. Nothing more.
"All right. We have ten minutes. Agent Gibbs, can you and your team allow me to have the lead here? We need to have only one person in charge."
Levi watched as Gibbs considered whether it was worth it or not to fight for control since it was his agent they were rescuing. But then, he could see the moment that he decided it wasn't worth it.
"You're in charge," he said. "...unless you try to take my agent out. Then, all bets are off."
"Understood." Then, Andrews looked at Levi. "Can you stay out of the way, Carew? Or are you going to argue that you can do something?"
"I could do more than you think, Agent Andrews, but I'll stay out of the way until I'm needed."
Andrews looked like he wanted to ask in what capacity Levi thought he could be of any use, but he didn't.
"Good. Agent Gibbs, take your team to the east side of the house. That's the most likely route for Cruz to take to get them out. That'll give you the chance to lay down covering fire if needed and get to him first. Washington, take your guys to the west and be ready for everything to go wrong. I'll stay here and coordinate. Blazer, be ready for casualties and hope we don't need you. Any questions?"
Silence. They'd discussed the best plans and the backup plans and the plan Z if everything failed. There were two FBI teams on standby, ready to move in if a frontal assault was actually necessary. The NSA was set up to intercept any messages once the rescue began. The operation was also being watched both by the CIA and NCIS from their secure monitoring stations.
They were as ready as they could be.
Levi followed Gibbs and his team without asking for permission. He would stay out of the way, but he would still be there. He could feel his heart speeding up, and he tried to calm it down. Any exertion could trigger an episode, but this was more than he usually did in a day, and this day was already a lot longer than it should have been for him. He was at his limits, and he was about to push beyond them.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Ray stayed in the woods, old habits of years coming back with ease. He remembered how to do all this. Stealth had been one of his strengths as an agent. Sneaking up on people was his forte, and part of the reason for that was because he knew that there were times when sneaking was not possible. Some people always tried to sneak, even when they couldn't. He recognized that there were times when you just had to be willing to take a risk. And he was. They'd already determined a weak point in the fence that went around the entire estate. Dozens of acres of land, some of it in forest, some in fields, and in the center, a large house.
With bars on one window.
These weren't the best terrorists out there, but it never was useful to underestimate the enemy. So Ray crept for as far as he could. Then, there was the long driveway. It was time to get close. It was a moonless night. As dark as it could be. He was wearing a kind of mottled gray that wouldn't stand out so much in the darkness. There were a couple of lights on in the house. He found a lower area and started walking closer. If it worked, great. If not...well, Ray wasn't sure how much it mattered at this point. But he did want to get Tim out, so he'd try his best.
Closer and closer to the house, hoping for a chance to get around to the back. He had hazarded that they wouldn't have too many sensors in place because of all the deer in the area. They'd be going off constantly and he couldn't imagine that these guys would be thinking that it was better to be bombarded by constant alarms.
He was now thinking that he just might make it.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tim was lying on the couch. Awake again. Had he even slept? He didn't really know.
Then, into the absolute silence of the room, there was a soft tap.
On the window.
Instantly, Tim was up, quivering with tension. He sat still.
"Sir?" came Curtis' voice.
Tim held up his hand and waited.
After a few interminable seconds, there was another tap on the window.
Instantly, Tim was off the couch and crawling over to Bill, who seemed to be asleep. Tim shook him to wake him up, covered his mouth so he couldn't speak and then rifled through his clothes to get the jammer. He turned it on.
"Someone's out the window. It's time to go," Tim said.
"What? How do you know?" Bill asked.
"Someone is throwing rocks at the window," Tim said. "That's our cue. You can get the bars out?"
Curtis nodded. "Yes, but it'll take a couple of minutes and it won't be quiet. I'm sure they'll hear."
"Then, we'll have to be ready to get out as soon as the bars are down. In fact, let's get something to block the door as much as possible. But once the jammer is off, we say nothing."
"We're on the second floor," Bill said. "How will we get down?"
"Jump."
"What? You're crazy!"
"Yes, I am," Tim said, hearing his own voice shaking, along with his hands. "And I don't have the time to convince you. You have to make a decision, Bill. Are you coming or not?"
Bill sat there, looking ambivalent.
"No time left!" Tim snapped quietly. He had so much adrenaline coursing through him at the moment that he had zero patience. "Choose! Are you going to stay here and hope they'll let you go eventually or are you going to come with us and risk a twisted ankle...or worse?"
A few tension-filled seconds and Tim was ready to start screaming, but then, finally, Bill actually made a decision and he nodded.
"I'm coming."
"Good. The jammer's going off. We say nothing until we absolutely have to," Tim said. "Curtis, you start on the window. Bill and I will move the couches."
Curtis just nodded, too used to taking orders to need to ask questions. Then, Bill turned off the jammer and Curtis went to the window. Tim walked over to his couch and pointed to the other side. Bill still looked reluctant but he nodded and helped Tim move the couch to the door. It wouldn't stop them, but it would delay them. Possibly enough. Then, they put the smaller cot on top of the couch. They couldn't do anything else without making noise.
Then, they went over to the window. Curtis had opened the glass and pointed down at the figure below them. No speaking yet.
Curtis held up three fingers and then gestured for them to stand back.
Three fingers.
Two fingers.
One finger.
Curtis grabbed the bars and gave a strong pull. With a noise that sounded like a cannon after the silence of the room, the bars and concrete gave way and fell into the room. There were sounds from the hallway.
"Okay. No time left. Let's go," Tim said.
"You first, sir," Curtis said.
Tim wanted to argue but he didn't want to waste any time. He just nodded and then crawled over the window sill, hung down as far as he could and heard a whisper.
"I'll break your fall."
He trusted the voice and let go. He fell a couple of feet and felt the jar but no more than that.
"Next!"
There was shouting.
"Come on!"
Bill's face appeared over the windowsill.
"If you change your mind now, Bill, I'm going to kill you," Tim said.
The head withdrew and then, Bill was awkwardly hanging over the edge.
"We'll catch you," Tim said. "Let go!"
Two seconds longer than Tim wanted, and Bill let go. Tim and their rescuer caught him.
Then, Curtis was out the window and dropping before there was time to say anything.
The shouting got louder. Lights were coming on.
"Time to go."
Tim turned.
"Ray," he said, suddenly recognizing the voice.
"Let's go, Tim. No time to waste," Ray said.
"What now?" Bill asked.
"Run!"
Curtis grabbed hold of Bill's arm and yanked him in the appropriate direction while Tim ran with Ray.
Then, there were guns firing.
Bill automatically started to slow down.
"Keep going, idiot!" Curtis said. "The farther away we are, the less likely it is that they'll hit us!"
Tim was feeling jittery, even with the adrenaline and things weren't quite looking right for him.
Before he knew it, he was tripping over...something. His own feet? A hole in the ground? A blade of grass? Who knew? All he knew was that he lost his balance and was about to tumble.
Ray grabbed hold of him and slowed to steady him. Tim looked over and saw Ray looking back. In a timeless moment, he watched, almost as if he was watching a movie, as Ray pushed him forward and moved to the side, just one step. As he did, there was a roar of sound, and Ray jerked forward. Tim stared and realized that Ray had just moved to keep him from getting shot and something seemed to fracture in his brain. He almost stopped moving, but Ray kept pushing him onward.
That only worked for about ten more seconds. Ray began to slow, his arm from the shoulder down was dripping blood that was gushing from several wounds.
They'd used a shotgun.
Tim turned and now, instead of being rescued, he was struggling to rescue Ray who was looking more and more pale by the second.
They were almost to the trees when Ray fell to the ground. Tim stopped and dropped to his knees.
"No!" he said. "No. We're almost there, Ray!"
The blood was bright red.
"Tim!"
The voices were coming from some other universe.
"No!" Another voice.
And suddenly, there was someone there with him.
"Let's get him to the trees, Tim. We can make it."
The voice was almost familiar, but Tim found that he couldn't focus on more than one thing at a time. All he could see was Ray, bleeding out from a serious wound.
"Lift, Tim!"
With a breath, Tim did. He grabbed Ray on one side and then, whoever it was grabbed the other side and they started to pull Ray the last few yards to the trees. Then, there was another person and another, all helping get Ray back.
In the security of the trees, there was a lot of movement, still shots being fired and the sounds of a lot of people. Tim didn't care. All he cared about was that Ray was dying on the ground in front of him.
A medic was there, working on stopping the bleeding. Ray's eyes opened and he looked at Tim.
"Is... it enough?" he asked.
"What?" Tim asked.
"I killed someone... and tonight... I saved someone. Does that..." His eyes started rolling up in his head.
"Ray!" Tim said and shook him.
Ray focused on him again.
"Does...that... help... Is it... enough... to be... forgiven?" he asked with gasping breath.
Tim wanted to cry but he couldn't.
"Yes," he said. "It is, Ray. You saved my life."
He didn't care if he was lying. He didn't know if he was, but he didn't care one way or another.
"Thanks," Ray said.
Then, his eyes closed again and there was a long sigh.
And no inhalation after that.
"No!"
The medic started performing CPR with someone else still trying to stop the bleeding.
Tim knelt there, watching.
Then, after an eternity, the medic sighed and sat back and swore.
"That shot hit his brachial artery. I couldn't stop the bleeding. He's dead."
Tim sat there, shocked. He didn't know what to say or what to do. The entire world had ceased to exist in this moment of realizing that Ray had died...
To save him.
"Dad... Dad!"
That voice suddenly penetrated his shocked bubble and Tim turned to see Levi collapsing to the ground, Bri kneeling beside him and checking his heart, listening to his breathing.
What was Levi doing here?
And then, it suddenly registered that Levi had been the one who had been helping him get Ray back.
What was he doing here?
"Tim."
The voice was familiar, but Tim was staring without moving.
People moved in between him and Levi and Bri and he couldn't see what was happening.
Someone knelt down in front of him and shook him.
"Tim."
He stared, knowing who it was but unable to engage his brain in any way. The adrenaline was gone. All he had left was whatever energy he'd had before the escape...and that was meager indeed.
"Tim, talk to me."
He couldn't. He was shocked to the core and it was taking all he had not to start screaming.
There were others near him. He could tell they were there.
"We need to get him out of here. They could still come at us again."
He knew that voice, too.
"Tim, you need to say something."
"Curtis," he whispered.
"He's fine. He and Bill Joyce got into the trees. They're already being moved out of the way."
Tim nodded slowly. He was screaming on the inside, but it was all tightly clamped down and all he could do was stare.
"Come on, Tim. You're free. Let's go."
"Ray."
"We... will take care of him."
That voice sounded teary.
"Levi."
"Bri's with him."
The hands began urging him to stand. He was shaking. He wanted to grab a gun and start shooting at the people who had done all this. He wanted to scream. He wanted to hit something.
But he did nothing.
He stood when he was told to and he walked.
But that anger was churning inside of him, and now, it was joined by grief. It was stuck inside and he thought he'd explode with the force of it.
But he did nothing.
He was free.
And somehow, it didn't even matter.