Stunned by the violence of the explosion, Gibbs lay still a moment, trying to gather his wits. Even though he had been on the far side of the room, away from the blast point, the concussion had picked him up, tossing him against the wall. With some effort, he crawled out of the wreckage of what had once been a pleasant hospital cafeteria. He stood slowly, using the wall to balance himself before turning to see what was left of the room.

It was a scene straight from his worst nightmare. Tables and chairs were upended, strewn around the room. Under them people lay like broken dolls with arms and legs askew, blood was everywhere. He could hear the crackle of flames as smoke began to billow, filling the room with its toxic fumes.

Even as Gibbs climbed to his feet, others around him were beginning to stir. People began to call out, looking for loved ones who had been sitting next to them scant moments before. The injured began to call for help, crying out in pain and fear.

Realizing that Ducky hadn't emerged from the ruble, Gibbs began to frantically search for his friend. He tried to search methodically, logically Ducky had to be close, he'd been sitting across the table from the man. Swiftly he moved tables and chairs and pieces of the ceiling in the area around where they had been sitting without revealing the medical examiner.

Quickly, the smoke was beginning to become a problem.It swirled through room, hampering the efforts of those searching for the injured. The crackle of flames was getting closer although Gibbs couldn't identify where the fire was exactly. He could just feel it looming like a beast waiting to pounce.

Grimly Gibbs kept looking, he knew Ducky had to be there…

Somewhere.

There was shouting and screaming from the hallway, something was terribly wrong.

And there was no way Tony was staying in a hospital bed, waiting for someone to come rescue him. The explosion that had rocked his room hadn't been an accident.

He remembered the pile of explosives in the cabin where he had been held. He thought he'd blown it all up, but then he flashed on Ben's voice telling him, "Leo's gone out to set the perimeter."

There had been more explosives, Tony hadn't gotten it all. So, now Morgan had caught up with them, and all of Gibbs' team was in one place.

Frantically, Tony tore at the tape holding the IV in place on his wrist. It came away with a smear of blood, mixing with the solution still dripping from the IV line. He pulled the breathing tube from his nose, and threw the covers away.

He knew the drugs were definitely the good kind as he put his feet on the floor and felt nothing through the layers of bandages that they were swathed in. He'd pay the price later he knew, but for now he had to move.

Ben stood beside his bed, as if rooted to the spot, seemingly unable to move. The kid had already endured more than anyone should have to deal with.

"Ben," Tony put his hand on the boy's shoulder, giving him a gentle shove toward the door just as it opened.

Tony felt his gut clench at the figure that stood there.

"Hey, DiNozzo, you left without saying goodbye," Morgan said pleasantly, stepping into the room.

When Kate came to, she openend her eyes to nothingness, blackness. She told herself it was because the lights were out and firmly refused to think anything else. Lying on the floor, her cheek was pressed into the cold tile. Tentatively she pushed herself up, and managed it without too much trouble. Doing a quick internal check, she thought her only injury was a massive headache.

With trembling fingers she investigated, finding a sizeable lump on the back of her head. It hurt just to think about touching it. Her fingers came away suspiciously sticky and damp. Dismissing her own injury, she began tosearch for Abby. She needed to find Abby and they needed to get out of the bathroom.

The only problem was she had no idea where exactly 'out' was.

It seemed ludicrous to think that she was lost in a hospital bathroom, but the darkness was disorienting. Everywhere she tried to put her hands was debris that she couldn't identify. Her head ached and she had no real idea which way was out.

She could hear an alarm sounding stridently in the hallway and decided that was the direction she needed to go, but first she had to find Abby. She scrabbled around, searching among the debris. She found lots of concrete and the smooth steel of the doors, but no warm, living human flesh.

"Abby?" her voice echoed strangely in the room, distorted.

But it elicited a faint moan from her left. Feeling her way, shifting debris out of the way when she could, Kate slowly inched her way to where she thought she'd heard the moan. She nearly cried when her fingers connected with something soft and yielding.

"Kate?" Abby's voice was weak and raspy, but she was alive.

"Here, Abby." Kate ghosted her fingers up Abby's body to find the rest of her. Abby stirred and Kate could feel her trying to sit up.

"Lay still," she told the young woman firmly.

"Kate, we've got to get out of here, this was no accident," Abby said.

Kate knew the urgency. She could put two and two together and come up with Leo Morgan.

"I know, but we've got to make sure that you're not hurt." She ran her hands down Abby's arms.

"I'm not," Abby assured her, pushing her hands away.

"Abby?"

"At least, not bad enough to keep me in here," Abby's voice was getting stronger. That was a good thing. "Help me up."

Despite her own misgivings, Kate found Abby's elbow and they stood together, supporting one another.

"Now which way is out?" Abby asked when they were both upright.

They stumbled in the direction that Kate thought the door should be. It seemed like an eternity before they found the door. They emerged into a hallway filled with smoke and people running back and forth in seemingly mindless panic.

Holding on to one another, supporting each other, they made their way down the hall.

McGee ran through the tunnels, water splashing beneath his feet. It didn't matter where he ran, he could hear the evil laughter echoing behind him. His own heartbeat thundered in his ears. In the distance he could hear an alarm wailing an eerie tune.

There was something in the water and he stumbled and fell.

He scrambled to rise, but it was too late. The man caught him, had an arm around his neck, was choking the life from him.

And all the while the laughter continued to ring in his ears.

Someone was shaking him and McGee flung his arms up to protect himself. The arms on his shoulders retreated and he heard someone call his name.

"Mr. McGee, please wake up."

The agitation in the voice was enough to convince him to open his eyes. The woman staring down at him was someone he'd never met before. Lifting himself, he looked around the room questioningly. Abby was gone, and in her place stood a stranger.

The woman must have read the question in his eyes because she said, "There was an explosion. It was close. They're all gone. What are we supposed to do?"

'They're all gone,' it rang in his ears along with the evil laughter he couldn't seem to rid himself of. What did she mean? And an explosion?

He became aware of the sound of the alarm. It had intruded into his dream and now he could still hear it once he was awake. If there'd been an explosion, that meant one thing.

Leo Morgan had found them.

The room spun around him as he sat. The woman flung her arms around him to hold him up as he sagged, but determinedly he stood. She kept her arms around him as he moved to the door. It didn't matter that his brain felt like it was made of jello and thinking was difficult. If there'd been a bomb, McGee knew who's work it was. And he was determined to make the man pay for all the injury that he had caused; to McGee himself, to Tony, and to a little boy who was innocent of all this.

It didn't matter that he couldn't take a step without thinking that he was going to fall on his face. The only thing that mattered was getting out of the room and finding the rest of his team.

To be continued...

Really, I'm writing as fast as I can ;-)