Sunrise

Chapter One

Gibbs froze when he heard Tony's words. On the outward, he kept his steely face, but inside he was seething. What had he said a few moments earlier? "For once, Dinozzo is right." Darn right he was. Ari could have been dead a year ago, and Kate would have many years ahead of her. The one shot he took could have gone through the terrorist's forehead. Haswari would be lying dead, blood surrounding his head, bleeding on the floor of autopsy. Lying on a table in autopsy, with Ducky and Palmer leaning over him, ready to converse over his anatomy. Instead of Kate, who was lying on the ground at a harbor in Norfolk, Virginia. Ready to be zipped into a body bag by a coroner. Who would have thought--Kate was always the one to watch a body being taken by the medical examiner. Now she was the victim. It could have been someone else.

And it was himself Al-Quaeda was after, not Kate, thought Gibbs. It should have been him. The bullet was meant for him. If he did not have the guts to kill Haswari once, for fear of the FBI, or the knowledge of him being a "double agent", Ari should have sent the bullet through his brains. Kate was doing nothing but protecting him. He knew Kate was terrified of Ari. It had taken more courage then she let anyone know to come here, realizing she might come face to face with the captor she has suffered emotionally so much with. Gibbs was probably the only one who noticed the fear in her eyes the whole case. She was trying to do her job--trying to protect him, trying to protect the families and friends of hundreds of Marines, trying not to let anyone, especially Dinozzo, see her terror of the "double agent."

Gibbs mind wandered, as he watched Tony glaring down at McGee, back to a case a few months ago when he had sent Tony and Kate to Paraguay. Investigating a Naval Intelligence professor, they had sat in on one of his lectures. It had been about double agents. What kind of threat does a double agent pose? The man had asked this question. A young sailor had answered, "He could double-cross you back, sir."

Gibbs almost laughed. What a fool Fornell had been! What a fool they'd all been, to let their trust go to the man. The man that was responsible for the terrorizing of on eof his best agents, and finally the death of her. For disabling Gerald. For shooting him. For trying, several times, to kill innocent people. And he wasn't going to stop until Gibbs was dead. And many others with him.

"We're gonna get him for you, Katie," Gibbs swore to himself, as he watched her being taken away.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The clear doors to the lab slid to the side to make way for Special Agents Gibbs and Dinozzo. Abby Sciuto glanced barely up from her computer.

"Hey, Boss-man. Err…I mean….Gibbs…you got any precious things for me?"

Tony, without a word, held a sealed evidence bag in her face.

"Ooh, now that bullet is a ballistic beauty!"

She met Tony's eyes and gasped.

"Tony…..I….dream…your face!"

Tony lifted his hand to his face, where the blood of his partner had dried. He and Gibbs exchanged glanced, but when Tony remained silent, Gibbs spoke up.

"Abbs….I don't know how to tell you this…."

Abby gasped again as she turned pale. "McGee?"

"Not Probie….its Kate…." Tony finally spoke, dropping the bag on Abby's keyboard.

Abby closed her eyes, her dark eyeliner showing clearly, while the shock in her eyes was hidden.

It took a few minutes for her to control her emotions, and she opened her eyes. Tony was already heading towards the door.

"Tony?"

He paused, without turning.

"Tony, I'm sorry." Abby said to his back. He did not acknowledge her, but it was apparent that he heard her as his shoulders slumped and he walked out. Gibbs took one more look at Abby's stricken face, and followed his senior field agent.

Abby took the figurine from her desk, and looked at it hard.

"I told you it would happen one day, didn't I?"

Getting nothing but a blank stare in response, she threw it down, and buried her head in her hands.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The bullpen was unearthly silent. Gibbs had the picture of Ari he had gotten during that first unexpected visit up on the plasma, and he was staring at it grimly. Really, the only sound was McGee venting his anger by typing up his case report to Director Morrow. The unmistakable sound of the backspace key was heard frequently. Tony was staring at Kate's empty desk, not believing that she would not soon walk into the office, fresh and happy.

Gibbs finally turned with a heavy sigh. "You call in her parents, Dinozzo?" he asked.

Tony turned white. Call Kate's parents? Tell them that their oldest daughter was at the moment lying on a slab in a coroner's office, fatally shot by a terrorist whom they had had the opportunity to kill before he killed? Tell them that their daughter's death could have been prevented, hoping they'd find comfort in the fact that she was killed saving thousands of lives?

Not the hope they were looking for, thought Tony. Not the hope he was looking for, either. They couldn't even let them know that he was captured. Revenge is better served cold? Sure, that would comfort them.

"Uh, Boss?" It was McGee who spoke. Gibbs glanced at him, eyes shooting daggers.

"I've got your coffee here—if you want it."

"Do I look like I want it?"

"Uh…"

"I don't!"

"Okay….umm…isn't it…isn't it your job to call Kate's parents?"

The last part was added hopefully. Tony shot McGee a look of thanks. Probie was just trying to spare him the pain. At least Abby and he were being thoughtful.

And why had Abby specifically told him was sorry? Was it really that obvious he was totally numb with devastation? That Kate meant more to him than he told anyone? Had they all seen it? Why hadn't he done something before it was too late?

"Katie, you can't leave me—us—here," he thought to himself.

Tony caught Gibbs looking strangely at him. It wasn't a why-are-you-disobeying-me look that he normally got. It was an Am-I-putting-too-much-painful-responsibilty-on-Dinozzo look. A part of him wanted that look; part of him wanted to buckle up and do his job.

Which, at the moment, was to fight for Kate.

Tony reached for the phone, and punched in some numbers.

"Hello, is this Mrs. Todd?"