DISCLAIMER:- I do not own NCIS or its characters and no copyright infringement is intended.
Overwhelmed by the support for this story - thank you all, L
Chapter Four
Tony and McGee arrived at Khalil's property and parked the SUV behind a small cluster of trees, approximately 50 meters from the entrance to the long driveway. The land surrounding the house was quite vast with at least 5 miles to either of the neighbouring properties, ensuring privacy. The south side of the house bordered a heavily forested area. The house itself was nondescript – presumably to blend in with surrounding properties.
Dressed in black jeans and black sweaters, they grabbed their backpacks and the rifle from the back seat of the vehicle. McGee placed his ball cap on his head and Tony removed a black knitted 'watch cap' from his pocket. Their breath was visible in the cold night air.
"You ready?" Tony asked while adjusting the fit of the knitted cap. Seeing McGee's nodded reply he added. "Okay, Probie, stay sharp – let's do this."
--oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—
Gibbs, Ziva and Abby exited the elevator and walked into the bullpen, placing their overnight bags behind their desks.
"Ziva!" Gibbs called.
"Keep trying to reach them on their cell and home phones," she pre-empted.
"I'll be with the Director," Gibbs said over his shoulder as he made his way up the stairs two at a time.
It was nearing 2100 and as a general rule, Vance endeavoured to leave the office each night in time to have dinner with his young family. Gibbs' suspicion was confirmed when he saw the light shining through the crack under the door to the Director's office. He knocked on the door and entered without waiting to be asked.
"Working late, Director?" Gibbs asked.
Vance looked up from his paper work and steeled his expression to hide his surprise and frustration.
"Gibbs, back so soon? I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow night."
"Case wrapped up early and we caught an early ride," Gibbs replied. "I was wondering about the whereabouts of the rest of my team?"
For a fleeting moment, Vance thought about denying all knowledge but then thought better of it.
"They're on a special assignment," he replied. "They'll be back tomorrow."
"Special assignment for who?" Gibbs asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"It's a 'need to know' assignment, Gibbs. You don't need to know," Vance stated.
"We're talking about my team, Director! Believe me, I need to know!"
Vance stood up from his desk, his eyes flashing with anger but his voice was laced with an edginess that Gibbs hadn't heard before.
"You of all people know that's not how it works. I have my orders! This is a routine operation, nothing to be concerned about. DiNozzo and McGee are expected back by 0330. There's nothing more I can tell you."
"Routine…nothing to be concerned about?" Gibbs repeated as he searched Vance's thunderous expression for any sign of a lie. "If you weren't concerned, Leon, you wouldn't still be here at 2100?"
Vance indicated his desk with the sweep of his hand. "Paperwork, Jethro, you think this agency runs itself?"
Gibbs turned to leave, realising he was not going to get any answers. He opened the door and turned to face the Director.
"You wouldn't have sent me to that half-assed interrogation at Parris Island, to get me out of the way, would you, Leon?"
They held each other's gaze for an uncomfortable moment before Vance replied coldly. "You're done for the night. Go home, Gibbs."
"I'll be downstairs," Gibbs answered defiantly. "Oh and Leon? You and I both know that there's no such thing as a routine assignment."
As Gibbs closed the door firmly behind him, Director Vance rubbed a hand over the beginning of stubble on his chin and exhaled deeply as he reached for his phone.
--oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—
Tony and McGee made their way quickly across the lawn to the east side of the house, easily locating the fuse box. Tony deftly picked the lock and opened the lid, exposing the power board and circuitry for the house. He isolated the power source of the security system and extracted two alligator clips from his backpack to temporarily cut power to the alarm. Repositioning the lid, they confirmed their intel that all windows were barred and made their way to the front door.
A security screen door with stainless steel mesh and grill protected the large front door. The 5-pin cylinder lock posed a minor challenge but with his trusty lock pick in hand and a glib "Pay attention, Grasshopper," Tony had it opened in very little time. Both agents exhaled and stared at their next challenge – a combination cyber lock secured the front door.
"Over to you, Probie. I'm gonna check the perimeter," Tony said as McGee moved closer to get a better look at the lock.
Tony grabbed the night vision goggles from his backpack and quickly and cautiously circumnavigated the house, carefully scanning for any sign of un-friendlies. He returned to find McGee still working on the lock.
"This reminds me of the 1999 movie Entrapment," Tony whispered. "You know, the master thief, using his cunning and guile to break into properties and steal exotic works of art." Immediately he broke into his best Connery impression as he quoted from the movie – "It's impossible, but do-able."
"It goes without saying that I'd be Sean Connery," Tony continued. "That makes you Catherine Zeta-Jones."
McGee threw Tony an exasperated look but remained silent and continued to work on the lock.
"Take your time, Probie…there's noooo hurry…anytime now…you can do this …just rela-"
"Tony!!" McGee hissed. "If you don't mind, I'm trying to concentrate."
"Keep your pants on, Catherine!" Tony replied. "Our collective buttocks are a little exposed out here…I'm a little jittery…a trifle taut….a tad on edge…a bit skittish…"
"Tony, please!!" McGee hissed.
"There's a side to you that comes to the fore at times like this, Probie, and it's not a very pretty side."
Tony continued to scan the area around the house and, moments later, was relieved to hear the click of the door opening and McGee's satisfied "Yes!"
Flicking his flashlight on and moving to take the lead into the house, Tony clapped a hand on McGee's shoulder.
"Nice work, Genius Boy, never doubted you for a minute."
Moving quickly and stealthily through the house, the agents cleared each room and the small basement before returning to the den where Khalil's computer was situated. McGee switched the computer on and grimaced when it immediately requested a password.
"I'll have to run a "code breaker" program before I can access the emails. This is gonna take some time," he said.
While McGee started the program to break Khalil's password, Tony looked around the interior of the house. He noted that the décor definitely reflected Khalil's upbringing in Pakistan and India. The rugs, wall hangings, furniture and statues all bore a distinct sub-continental flavour.
Tony slowly turned 360 degrees, scrutinizing the walls and furnishings and locating at least 6 lipstick cameras covering all angles of the living room and the den.
"The closed circuit cameras shut down when we disabled the alarm, right, Probie?" he asked.
"According to the schematics we were given, why?"
He walked closer to one of the cameras, eyeing it warily and waving his hand in front of it.
"I don't know, it just feels like we're being watched," Tony replied feeling a shiver run down his back. "There's a lot cameras around this place, inside and outside."
"Will you relax?" McGee complained. "As soon as I decrypt and forward this email, we're back in the car and on our way home – nothing to it."
Joining McGee in the den, Tony's gaze fell upon a huge bookcase and he removed a large book from the shelf. Although he couldn't read the words, the photos of various types of shoulder mounted rocket launchers; surface to air missiles, grenades and other assault weapons sent shivers up his spine.
"Hey, be careful." McGee warned. "We're not supposed to leave any sign that we were here, remember?"
Tony re-shelved the book and seeing a large DVD collection, wandered over to view the titles. Typically, most were Bollywood movies and Tony's eyes widened when he saw a familiar title. Taking the cover from the shelf, he flashed a smile at McGee.
"Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – I wonder if this one has subtitles?" he said, unsuccessfully attempting to read the non-English wording on the cover.
"Khalil is Pakistani and spent many years in India, so my guess is he wouldn't need subtitles." McGee replied. "Anyway, since when have you liked Bollywood movies?"
"Since I found out that they're extremely babe-heavy. This one's a personal favourite," Tony said. "I watched it with Ziva a few years back but our copy didn't have sub-titles, it was a little hard to follow." He sighed wistfully and replaced the DVD as the computer gave a small beep.
"I've got the password!" McGee informed him.
"Great, Probie! How long to decrypt this thing and forward the email?"
"There are several programs I need to run," McGee explained. "If we get lucky, it could be as quick as 30 minutes."
"And if we're not?"
"Two to four hours," he said with a grimace.
"Get to it, Probie, that Navy chopper leaves at 0200 and we need to be on it. I'll be outside checking the perimeter."
Tony walked outside and donned the night vision goggles as he scanned the area around the house. He detected no movement but couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that they were being watched.
--oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo--
Deep within the Pentagon, the Under Secretary entered a small, secured room similar to MTAC with sophisticated communications equipment and a large plasma screen. He took a seat beside Brady.
"What did I miss?" he asked.
"Nothing yet, Sir," Brady replied. "The agents have disarmed the security system and entered the building. They are now attempting to decrypt the email and are keeping up regular perimeter checks."
"They don't suspect they're being watched?"
"No, Sir, they believe that all the surveillance systems have been disabled when, in fact, our cameras are set to take a still shot every 90 seconds. This will enable us to identify everyone involved and shut this terrorist cell down before it becomes a threat to national security."
"The President will be pleased," the Under Secretary said. "You're certain that these agents can handle any incursion?"
"Yes, Sir, our intel confirmed that this cell is still in its infancy – four or five radical college kids with no weapons, combat or explosives training," Brady said. "That's why Khalil went to Afghanistan, he was on a recruiting mission to bolster the number and level of expertise within the cell."
"Still, five armed radicals against only two agents…" the Under Secretary frowned.
"Two highly trained and seasoned federal agents, Sir," Brady emphasised. "Judging from the arsenal they took with them, they should have no problem dealing with a few kids."
"You're sure the correct information was leaked?" the Under Secretary asked.
"Positive, Sir. They'll come, – it's just a matter of time.
--oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—
Gibbs returned to the bullpen where he found Ducky had joined Ziva and Abby.
"Welcome back, Jethro!" the affable ME said. "Abigail and Ziva were just telling me that you seem to have misplaced two of your underlings. Well, I sympathise of course, I can't tell you how many times I've misplaced Mr Palmer. Although, in my defence the lad has the most dreadful navigational skills and has always had a propensity for getting lost. I remember one time…"
"Ducky…Duck!" Gibbs said. "I didn't lose them."
"You found them? I knew you would, where are they?" Abby said excitedly. "Why did they leave without saying goodbye?"
"I haven't found them, Abs. Someone borrowed them without asking," Gibbs replied. "I need you to run a trace of their cells, use Tony's computer. Ziva, check the records of Special Agent Mike Holden."
"The NCIS agent assigned to Parris Island?" Ziva asked with surprise.
"Find out why he took emergency leave."
"Gibbs, what has happened? Are Tony and McGee okay?" Ziva asked.
"That's what we're gonna find out," Gibbs said. "If I'm right, the Director went to a lot of trouble to get me out of the way so he could engage members of my team in some covert operation."
"Why go to all that trouble, Jethro?" Ducky asked. "He does out rank you after all. He doesn't need your consent."
"No, but if he wanted me out of the way then he expected me to strongly oppose whatever it is he's got DiNozzo and McGee into," Gibbs told them. "We're gonna find out what that is."
--oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—
It had been almost an hour since Tony had gone outside to check the perimeter of the property and McGee was becoming more and more agitated. He heard the slight creaking of the back door and immediately got to his feet and pressed himself against the wall next to the door of the den. The sound of footsteps got progressively louder as they approached and he removed his Sig from its holster and readied himself for any possibility. As the dark figure rounded the corner and walked into the room, McGee grabbed him from behind in a chokehold and pressed his Sig firmly against his spine.
"Don't move," he hissed through clenched teeth.
"Probie, it's me!" Tony gasped.
McGee simultaneously released Tony and the breath he'd been holding. "Where the hell have you been?"
"I told you, I was checking the perimeter!"
"That was 55 minutes ago! I thought something had happened to you!"
"Something did happen to me, I nearly got shot by my own partner!" Tony countered as both men slumped onto the couch to regain their breath and composure.
McGee's eyes narrowed as he noticed the rosy colour of Tony's cheeks and nose. "You sure you're okay? What took so long?"
"I'm fine but it's freezing out there," Tony answered, removing his gloves and blowing warm air onto his cold fingers. "The wind is causing a lot of movement in the trees to the south of the property. I had to check it out, make sure there were no uninvited guests. It's kinda hard to tell but it looks clear."
McGee turned his attention back to the computer as Tony climbed to his feet. "How's the decryption coming?" Tony asked.
"Slowly. Could be at least another few hours yet," McGee replied.
"Arghh! Come on, Probie, I'm starvin' like Lee Marvin. You may recall that one of us missed lunch!" he said throwing an accusatory look in McGee's direction.
"Then have an energy bar, you packed plenty."
Tony reached into his backpack for an energy bar as McGee's PDA sounded it's familiar beeping alert.
"You didn't turn that thing off?" Tony asked furiously. "What if that had sounded while we were trying to hide from someone? You could have got us killed!"
"God, Tony I'm sorry," McGee said contritely. "I meant to turn it to silent earlier and it completely slipped my mind."
Tony glared angrily at McGee. 'That was a rookie mistake,' he thought before suddenly realising that, in this kind of operation, McGee was a rookie and his anger quickly transformed back to calm resignation.
"No harm, no foul," Tony said. "Just turn it off now. By the way, Probie, that was a nice move behind the door. Those extra training sessions with Ziva are paying off…remind me never to get on your bad side."
"That's not always avoidable, Tony," McGee muttered under his breath.
--oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—
"Abs, what have you got?" Gibbs asked as he strode back into the bullpen and saw Abby still seated at Tony's desk.
"I traced the GPS in Tony and McGee's cells. There is no signal for McGee's but Tony's indicated that he, or rather it, was still right here in the building. On a hunch, I opened Tony's desk drawer and found this." She worried her lower lip with her teeth as she held up Tony's cell phone. "Then I checked McGee's drawer and found these." She held out her hand and revealed 3 small chips. "My guess is that McGee took his new PDA with him but he removed the chips to disable the phone, SMS and GPS capabilities."
"Why would he do that?" Ziva asked. "Would it not be easier just to leave the PDA in his desk?"
"Not for McGee!" Abby replied. "He's, like, totally infatuated by that thing. It's like his new baby! McGee and his PDA are like Tony and his car, Gibbs and his boat, David Caruso and his sunglasses…or, or…"
"We get it, Abs," Gibbs shook his head to clear the confusion. "Ziva, tell me you got something."
"I contacted Special Agent Mike Holden at his home in Beaufort, South Carolina," Ziva reported. "He told me that he did not request emergency leave, he was in fact ordered to take a week of annual leave. He does not know why but the order came in the middle of a case and was effective immediately. The order came from Director Vance's office. It seems you were right, Gibbs, the Director went to a lot of trouble to get you out of the way."
"I just came from the armoury," Gibbs said. "Tony signed out a sniper rifle with a night scope and lots of spare ammo for the rifle and their hand guns."
"That could be just precautionary Gibbs," Ziva tried to reassure him. "It does not mean they expect to use them."
"I checked the security tapes of the front entrance to the building but there's no sign of Tony or McGee leaving," Abby said. "They didn't sign out a vehicle from the car pool and their own cars are still parked downstairs. I'm still reviewing tapes for the car park."
"That won't help," Jimmy Palmer said as he approached the team from the elevator. "I just heard you were looking for Tony and McGee."
"You know something, Palmer?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes, Sir…I mean Agent Gibbs. I was assisting with the transfer of a body to a funeral home and I saw Tony and McGee leave through the loading bay area," he said. "They were both dressed in black and Tony was carrying a rifle."
"What time was that?" Gibbs asked brusquely.
"About 7-00pm…er…1900." Jimmy replied.
"What were they driving?"
"Oh…they weren't driving. There was someone waiting for them in a dark SUV. They got in with some other man who was wearing a suit and they drove away," Jimmy advised.
"Good job, Palmer," Gibbs said. "Abs!"
"Accessing the tapes from the loading bay," Abby said anticipating the order.
Within moments they had all gathered in front of a large plasma screen as Abby reviewed the security footage of the loading bay area. They watched as Jimmy assisted funeral home staff to collect the body of Petty Officer Hale and transfer him to their hearse for transportation.
Then, just as Jimmy had described, Tony and McGee exited the building, both dressed in black, both carrying a backpack and Tony was also carrying a rifle. On their heels was a young man in an expensive suit. As they climbed into the waiting SUV, Abby hit the freeze frame while Ziva jotted down the partially visible registration plate. Abby allowed the tape to run and stopped it again on the face of the man in the suit, printing copies for Ziva and Gibbs.
"Ziva!" Gibbs called.
"Run the partial plate through DMV. I am on it Gibbs," Ziva replied.
"Abby!"
"I'm going back to my lab to run a facial recognition."
Gibbs looked at the nameless face intently. He knew that once they had identified this man, they were a big step closer to finding his agents.
--oo00oo—oo0oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—
Tony's gut was still protesting loudly and he knew it wasn't due to skipping lunch and dinner. Unable to sit and wait for McGee to complete the decryption of the email, he completed perimeter checks every 20 minutes, each time returning to the house chilled to the bone and wind swept.
"Why don't I take the next check, Tony?" McGee offered, realising he could hear Tony's teeth chattering.
"Thanks, Probie, but I'd rather you concentrate on that email. I want to get out of here. I've got a bad feeling about this."
McGee nodded and walked back into the den to check the decryption program he was running. He had to admit, he was starting to feel a little uneasy about this place, too. Each time Tony went outside to look around, McGee found himself, Sig in hand and watching his every move from the door or window. Though he would never admit it out loud, Tony's presence provided comfort and security.
Tony was almost ready to go back outside for another patrol of the premises when he caught movement from the road. A black panelled van with its headlights switched off, had stopped at the entrance to the driveway. Tony's gut clenched painfully as he watched through the night vision goggles as six men, all armed, climbed from the van.
"We're out of time, Probie. We've got company."
McGee felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as Tony's warning sounded and he realised he was no where near ready.
Tony watched as the six men spread out across the sizeable width of the property's frontage and made their way toward the house in a crouched run, using the many trees and a large hedge as cover. 'This is so not good.' He thought.
A heavily accented, sub-continental voice rang out from behind the hedge. "You in the house. Throw your weapons down and come out with your hands up or we will shoot."
Tony tapped the barrel of the rifle against the window, hard enough to break the glass. Lining up a shot through the night scope at this distance would be difficult enough, but they were heavily outnumbered and he couldn't afford for the glass to interfere with the trajectory.
The men slowly approached the house and Tony was somewhat relieved that, for the moment, they had elected to improve their positions one at a time. Had they all rushed forward at one time, he would have little chance of holding them off.
"How's it coming, Probie!" Tony's voice was calm and clear.
"Tony, I'm gonna need at least another hour to by-pass the site's security protocol and encryption program and extract the data we need."
Tony took careful aim and fired as one intruder tried to make a break around the eastern side of the house. The man cried out briefly and stilled forever as Tony's shot ripped through his chest.
"I can hold these guys off for maybe 5 minutes. That's all the time you get."
"Tony!! That's impossible!! I can't possibly…."
The window disintegrated as a round of bullets shattered the glass and lodged in the wall a foot above McGee's head, showering him with plaster and paint particles.
"Five minutes…more than enough time!!" McGee muttered himself.
Tony was crouched low, moving from window to window in an effort to improve his line of fire on the ever-moving targets. His heart leapt into his mouth as he noticed another dark figure making good ground towards the western side of the house. He was well aware that if one or more of these men made it to the back of the house, they would be surrounded and their escape route into the forest would be cut off. Aiming carefully, Tony took him down with a shot to the head.
A cacophony of gunfire and shattering glass followed as the remaining gunmen fired repeatedly at the house.
"Probie, forget the decryption – pull the hard drive. NOW!"
"Already on it," McGee answered. Tony chanced a quick look and saw that he had already opened the tower and begun to unscrew the hard drive. McGee glanced nervously at Tony.
"You think Khalil will guess that someone's been here?" he quipped sarcastically.
"Yep, I'd say the cat's pretty much out of the bag on that one," Tony responded flicking his eyes to the destruction around him.
Tony turned his attention to the men outside as one of them broke cover and ran directly for the house, firing his machine pistol indiscriminately and causing the remaining windows to disintegrated and implode. He yelled maniacally in Urdu and although Tony didn't understand the words, he had seen the look of extreme fanaticism many times. His finger squeezed the trigger and he placed two rounds into the man's chest and shoulder. The man staggered and fell to his knees and Tony was shocked to see a look akin to serenity on the dying man's face.
Tony was transfixed on the man's expression and acutely aware of his own skin turning to gooseflesh as his stomach muscles lurched violently. He knew it was coming even before he'd seen the grenade appear from behind the man's back. He fired his rifle again, this time he struck the man in the temple and watched as he fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. Tony's world slowed almost to a stop, then moved forward seemingly frame-by-frame as he realised that, a second before the dying man had fallen; he had hurled a grenade towards the gaping window of the house.
--oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo—oo00oo--oo00oo--oo00oo--oo00oo--oo00oo--oo00oo--oo00oo--oo00oo--oo00oo--oo00oo--
A/N Ooh, that's a nasty cliffie, sorry about that - the good news that with daily updates, there's not too long to wait. L