Sandblast [part 2]

...

3rd Person POV:

McGee grimaced as he typed in the info to do some database searches. Glancing around he noticed that Claire was still grabbing her water from the vending machine, Tony was reading off the big screen, and Ziva was busy on the phone. Taking his chances, he quickly turned his back to the bullpen and hurriedly scratched his inner thigh….among other things…. nearly sighing in relief at the sensation. Almost instantly Claire made her way back into their space, water in hand and she froze watching the man from across the bullpen. From behind it looked as if his hand was busy…..fondling…himself. But she knew McGee would never do that, however there was no harm in having some fun with it right? Biting back her grin she quickly slid up next to Tony and turned his face towards Tim who was still preoccupied. Quicker than she had ever seen him move, Tony had whipped out his cellphone and began recording the event. Filming enough to keep him satisfied Tony snickered.

"Ah, to think people once questioned the need for a video camera in a cellphone." He taunted, getting McGee's attention. Tim whipped around in alarm and his eyes widened in horror as he watched the newly made video.

"Tony." He grumbled in annoyance. Tony ignored him and gleefully made his way over to show Ziva who was now free.

"Wait till you see this." he chuckled, leaning down to give her a good look at his phone.

"Any ideas?" he asked innocently. Ziva laughed.

"He's definitely not making cappuccino." She mused with a grin. McGee glowered in embarrassment at his desk.

"There's no way he's got an STD." Tony added, the two of them looking over at Tim curiously.

"I was itching. It's poison ivy and its spreading ok?" McGee spat defensively.

"Oh sweetie. Isn't this your second run in with the stuff?" Claire asked with a sympathetic grimace.

"Maybe you outa learn what it looks like." Tony added with a pointed stare.

"And avoid it!" Ziva imputed.

"I thought I did" McGee whimpered dismally.

"This is killing me. Gibbs told me to check out the forest I should have just told him…."

"Tell me what McGee?" Gibbs asked as he arrived, conveniently behind Tim.

"Nothing!" McGee gasped in despair.

"Well that probably would have been a good idea McGee. Baking soda and vinegar, you make a paste and slap it on." Gibbs informed the man, already knowing his dilemma.

"Ok thank you, thank you, boss!" McGee bolted out of his seat.

"Not now McGee, after we catch the terrorist." Gibbs caught him before he could clear the room. The other three agents grinned with both amusement and sympathy.

"Ugh that might be a while." Tim lamented as he uncomfortably waddled back to his desk.

"All the club guests check out, local Leos report no unusual activity in the area." he explained.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs called.

"I've gone through the last month of the club's video surveillance. If the terrorist cell was casing the joint they hid their tracks very well." Tony sighed as he relayed the information.

"Your contact at Interpol?" Gibbs turned to Ziva.

"He said there was almost no uptake in chatter prior to the explosion." She told him with a frown.

"It could be home grown bad boys boss." Tony imputed.

"Still there should be some chatter no matter who it is." Claire countered.

"So if the terrorist cell is operating, they found a way to do so without leaving a shred of evidence." Ziva pointed out.

"Other than a dead marine?" Gibbs quipped dryly before walking away. Tony nodded in approval.

"Nice." He whispered with a grin. He reached around Ziva to hold a fist out for Claire who grinned in amusement before lightly returning the fist bump.

...

After getting a tip from the Director that there was a suspected homegrown terrorist cell, the team headed out to a warehouse to meet up with Colonel Mann's team. They pulled up in the car behind all the military vehicles as the Colonel was giving her men orders.

"CID beat us to the punch again, that's twice in one week." Tony complained as they exited the car.

"I didn't know this was a race DiNozzo." Gibbs quipped, sparing the man a glance as he continued towards the others.

"Oh no its not, I'm just not used to these joint efforts." Tony backtracked as the other three joined him. As Gibbs continued Tony winced, glancing at Claire beside him. That was certainly new.

"Glad to see you finally made it. To be honest I thought you'd beat me here and head on without me." Colonel Mann commented as she readied her gun. Pulling the strap over her head she walked on with Gibbs alongside her.

"I thought you said I was the one with trust issue?" Gibbs smirked in amusement. The NCIS agents trailed behind, remaining silent as they watched the interaction. Forming up the CID lead the way into the warehouse and quickly fanned out in the large room. NCIS came in the middle guns drawn as the large flow of agents filled the building. Soon the room was filled with shouts of 'clear' from all around, allowing the agents to lower their weapons. On the wall the words 'Death To America' were spray painted in red.

"Oh that's original." Claire muttered as she walked towards the desks under the words.

"Subway maps, national monuments, bridge blueprints." Colonel Mann read over the map alongside her.

"Potential targets." Ziva helpfully pointed out.

"Well they sure weren't sightseeing." Claire countered with a 'duh' look in her direction. Ziva pursed her lips. Claire turned around fully and frowned as she watched Tony stare up at the ceiling.

"What are you staring at?" she muttered, standing beside him and looking up into the rafters. Her eyes widened.

"Uh I think I know who their target is boss." Tony commented, pointing up at the large box in the middle of the ceiling rafters.

"Us." Claire nodded as the rest of the team stared up at the bomb.

"Alright secure the building now!" Colonel Mann shouted, heading towards the door.

"Ziva, Tony out the back door. No one in until EOD gets here." Gibbs ordered, the two taking off to the other side of the room. Gibbs waited and made sure everyone was out before leaving through the front door. Almost as soon as the door closed behind him the back one opened up; Tony, Claire, and Ziva running back inside. Ziva leading the way while the other two were trying to stop her.

"Ziva? Hey what the hell are you doing?" Tony whisper shouted incredulously at her. Ziva stared at the bomb and started taking off her NCIS jacket.

"I can disarm it." She told him and made her way over the machinery, climbing her way towards the rafters.

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should." Claire pointed out, hovering by the door and peering outside.

"Ok great, let's go outside and talk about this." Tony insisted worriedly.

"If it detonates before EOD gets here, we'll lose evidence."

"And our lives." Claire pointed out.

"Well what a bummer…" Tony rolled his eyes and began climbing up after her.

"…it's a real shame. Ziva! Ziva!" Tony shouted urgently as she continued just ahead of him.

"Ugh this has to be the stupidest thing any human being has ever done." Tony whined as he held on to the piping around the beams.

"Then why are you following me Tony?" Ziva questioned, not looking back as she headed for the bomb.

"I don't freaking know!" he spat anxiously. Tony continued to whimper anxiously as the duo carefully made their way through the framework before finally sitting on the beams right next to the bomb. Ziva slowly pulled out her pocketknife and set it down gently on top of the cans that made up the bomb.

"Here, hold this." she instructed, handing Tony the cell phone that would be the detonator. He stared at her with wide eyes.

"You have any idea what's gonna happen if this cellphone rings?" he pointed out. Ziva closed her eyes and shook out her hands to get rid of her building nerves. Letting out a breath she gently picked up the box where the wires connected and slowly used her knife to slide off the lid. Tony watched her anxiously as the licked her lips, knowing she was nervous too.

"I can see down your shirt right now." Tony joked, staring at her intently. From the floor Claire pursed her lips and shot him a deadpan stare. Shaking her head she turned back to peek out the door, as she was still on lookout duty. In the rafters Ziva's lips quirked up in amusement.

"I don't think your new girlfriend would like that." She pointed out. Tony frowned.

"What are you talking about…I don't know what you're talking about." He quickly fired off. Claire's eyes shut upwards, trying not to groan at how bad he was hiding it.

"I'm talking about you. and the fact that you no longer stare at every woman as they pass you by." Ziva calmly answered, still very focused on finding the correct wire. Claire bit her lip to stifle a grin.

"Well I'm looking down your shirt right now." Tony pointed out childishly.

"See anything good?" she continued.

"Yea, real good. But I'm not entirely sure it's worth dying…" he grunted nervously as Ziva suddenly cut one of the wires. They both sighed as nothing happened.

"…over" he finished heavily.

"Not worth dying over….I'll remember that." She pursed her lips teasingly as she zipped her shirt the rest of the way up. Tony stared at her with a grin.

"What if I said it was?" he asked curiously.

"Now you'll never know." She hummed. Tony nodded thoughtfully and quickly brought himself back down to the ground, Ziva following after him. Once the two of them had dismounted Claire made her way over to meet them in the middle.

"Alright…..so who is going to tell Gibbs that we didn't listen to orders and you two nearly killed yourself?" she inquired, her posture screaming that she was not taking the fall for this one. Tony gulped and looked over at Ziva.

"Well since it was your bad idea, I vote you tell the boss man." He suggested. Ziva narrowed her eyes at the other two but huffed out a 'fine' and made her way across the warehouse. Once she was out of view Claire reared back and punched Tony in the shoulder…hard. Tony squealed in pain and stared at her with wide eyes.

"Wh.."

"What is wrong with you!? You let her go up there and then on top of it you kept following. While I can appreciate the loyalty to teammates I still think it was stupid to risk you life unnecessarily like that." She growled, not letting him get a word in. Tony nodded, knowing she was right.

"But I didn't blow up…I'm right here. However, taking a beating from my girlfriend isn't exactly healthy for me either." he joked pointedly, attempting to placate her. Claire glared at him.

"Better to have a bruise than being blown up."

...

Claire's POV:

Once the whole fiasco with the bomb had blown over, we all headed back to headquarters with the new information we had gathered from the warehouse. Tony was flipping through the pictures that were taken at the warehouse.

"The bomb was set to go off when the cell was called." he explained, as he held the remote.

"It's prepaid and disposable, never been used." Ziva added.

"So there's no call log." I finished with a frown.

"Thanks to our bomb disposal expert, we still have plenty to work with." Tony pointed out, shooting Ziva a glance from across Gibbs.

"Looks like 2 or 3 people were staying there." Ziva explained as we continued through pictures.

"Abby is processing it." I continued for her. Gibbs nodded.

"Nice job Ziva." He complimented before walking off. Ziva stood there looking at the screen with a satisfied grin. However, Tony and I were less than amused.

"You disobey me like that again, I'll kick your ass back to Israel." Gibbs added once he sat down. At this I grinned, satisfied with that outcome. Colonel Mann entered their bullpen, allowing the rest of us to scatter to our respective desks.

"The CIA refuses to let us talk to their source directly." She sighed, standing in front of Gibb's desk.

"They're protective." Gibbs muttered.

"Well the right hand still isn't talking to the left hand and we have no idea what this source actually said." She refuted.

"McGee." Gibbs called, without looking up from his computer.

"Yea, almost there boss." Tim responded as he typed away.

"You..you're not hacking the CIA." Colonel Mann looked to Gibbs in disbelief. Gibbs looked up at her innocently.

"No, no, no Homeland Security. They post a redundant CIA archive." McGee quickly corrected.

"Alright my, my superiors aren't going to like this." she shook her head uncomfortably.

"Don't tell them." Gibbs shrugged. The colonel stared at him in shocked amusement.

"Smart and devious. That's a dangerous combination." She mused, earning a grin from Gibbs.

"You forgot charming." He pointed out. The other four of us shared mildly disgusted and scandalized expressions. Watching Gibbs flirt so openly was just bizarre.

"Ok we're in." McGee announced, thankfully cutting off the sexual tension.

"No, I didn't." the Colonel quickly answered Gibbs before joining mcgee.

"Ok the informant's name in Mamo Shariff. He is from Lebanon, arrested in Beirut for extortion by Interpol…"

"He helped break one of our stolen weapons rings in one of our bases in Turkey…"

"…and then the CIA moved him to the states. Been a retainer since then. He owns a small convenience store in Rosslyn, Virginia." McGee finished, holding up the address which Colonel Mann snatched out of his hand. With that the Colonel and Gibbs made their way to the elevators chatting the whole way. The remaining four of us stared at one another in bewilderment, wondering what was going on. But none of us we ever going to comment on it aloud while at the office. That was just tempting fate.

...

3rd Person POV:

Soon enough both Gibbs and Mann were back from interrogating the informant. As they did Gibbs waited for a beat, letting Colonel Mann step out of the elevator first. From next to Ziva's desk McGee's eyes bugged slightly.

"Did you see that?" McGee whispered. Ziva frowned and turned her head back at the two exiting the elevator.

"See what?"

"Gibbs, he let her go first. He never lets anyone go first." he quickly pointed out. Gibbs rounded the corner and held a video tape to McGee.

"Give this to Abby." He instructed. McGee nodded as he took it, the gossip quickly forgotten.

"Get an ID on anyone buying a slurpee." Gibbs added. Looking up he noticed that Ziva, McGee, and Claire were staring at the colonel who was confused as to why she was getting so much attention.

"Where's DiNozzo?" Gibbs questioned, ignoring all the looks.

"Uh at a doctor's appointment." Claire piped up.

"I want him on that grocery store." Gibbs instructed as he walked back out of the cubicles.

"He said he would be back ASAP." Claire called. Gibbs glanced back at her pointedly.

"I will get him back here faster." She muttered with a nod.

...

At the hospital Tony was sitting against the hood of his car smiling down at the photos of Claire on his phone camera. His vision was blocked when her name came up on the screen instead.

"Claire?" Tony whispered over the phone. On the other end Claire frowned.

"You're not really with a doctor, are you?" she asked, ducking under the stairwell as she spotted Gibbs.

"As a matter of fact, I am." Tony corrected. Technically he wasn't lying.

"Is this a personal reason or work related?" she pursed her lip. Tony hesitated, giving her the answer she was looking for.

"Anything wrong. Do you need help?" Claire pushed. Tony sighed, running his hand down his face.

"No. Everything is fine, and I'll be back when I finish."

"Well Gibbs keeps looking at your desk and his watch." she warned. Tony held his phone between his ear and his shoulder so he would be able to look at his own watch.

"Tell him I'll be right there." He assured.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Claire inquired.

"I was fine." Tony sighed pointedly. Claire glared at the phone.

"Well sorry for ruining it." She snapped irritably.

"No….that's not…..I'm sorry it wasn't you. I'll be there soon." Tony quickly assured her, his mental exhaustion seeping through. After a moment of silence, he hung up leaving Claire even more frustrated with whatever he had been dragged into.

...

"Homeland Security says there's an uptake in chatter. Something is definitely going on." Ziva informed Gibbs as she leaned on his desk. Before he could answer, Gibbs' attention was drawn away by Tony who had finally showed up.

"Better have a fatal disease DiNozzo." He warned.

"Josh's mom called; he's looking for payback. He wants to skip Princeton and join the Marines. I went to talk him out of it." Tony explained gently.

"Did you?" Gibbs inquired, concerned as well for the boy. Tony pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"I don't know." He admitted. There wasn't much he could do until Josh moved one way or the other.

"McGee turn this up. Gibbs." Colonel Mann requested, McGee turning up the small TV broadcasting the news. The team gathered around the screen listening to the reporter explain that the store went up in flames, the owner still inside.

"That's Sharif's place." She turned to Gibbs solemnly. He scowled at the screen.

"McGee make sure we get the body and the write-up transferred over to NCIS. Not much else we can do now. Go home, get some sleep and be back here early tomorrow." Gibbs dismissed, his mood officially fouled up. Everyone nodded silently before grabbing their gear. They wouldn't be getting much sleep but some was better than none. In the parking lot everyone split off towards their individual cars, waving at one another tiredly. Claire and Tony headed over to their vehicles, parked side by side.

"So, I know the talk with Josh didn't take you multiple hours. What were you doing at the hospital?" Claire ventured, looking over at Tony. He pursed his lips and paused in between their cars.

"Just some personal stuff, nothing to worry about." He quietly assured. Claire narrowed her eyes at him.

"You already had your annual checkup. So either there is something wrong with you or.."

"..Or it's something that I can take care of personally." Tony insisted, giving her a stern look. Claire sighed and ran a hand through her hair, tugging at the knots that had formed throughout the day.

"Tony I don't like this. Whatever the director has you doing…" she trailed off, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.

"You shouldn't be doing any assignment 'personally'. Everyone should have at least one form of backup and I don't think you do." She explained, being sure to put air quotes around 'personally'. Tony nodded absently, watching her. He hated keeping things from her and he knew she was right. But he just couldn't tell her or ask for help even though he was pretty sure he was going to need it soon if things continued to progress.

"I know…but I just...can't. You need to drop it." He insisted gently. Claire bit her lip but didn't answer.

"I'll see you in the morning, ok?" Tony gently took her hand and squeezed it before walking back around to his driver side.

"Night." She whispered mostly to herself as she got into her own car.

...

Claire's POV:

The next morning Abby had made a breakthrough with the video feed from Shariff's store. After hours of lipreading she finally pinpointed a suspect.

"According to Maryland DMV records the man is Abraham Moosala, born in 1974. Served three years for robbing a convenient store in Baltimore. Almost got away with $86 and some DingDongs." Ziva explained, pulling up the man's DMV photo. With a frown she turned to me.

"What is a Ding..Dong?" she inquired in confusion. I smirked in amusement.

"Uh it's a cheap pastry. Little chocolate cake with a cream filling." I quietly explained, grinning when Ziva nodded in understanding. We both turned back to the main conversation.

"He spent some time in a psych ward. Then he converted to a radical sect of Islam." McGee muttered, typing away in search of more information.

"Got a last known place for him?" Colonel Mann inquired. McGee shook his head regretfully.

"His parole officer hasn't heard from him in over a year." I elaborated.

"There's no credit cards, no car registrations. Boss, this guy has gone off the grid." McGee added with a sigh.

"I'll check the BOLO, see if there's any hits." Ziva commented, heading over to her desk.

"See if CID should have intel on Abraham's sect, I'll make a few calls." Colonel Mann imputed before taking off towards a phone.

"I'm going to coordinate with local LEOs and highway patrols…where is Tony?" McGee pointed to the empty desk curiously.

"Don't worry about Tony. Tony is fine." Gibbs assured vaguely before answering his cell. Abby asking for his presence had Gibbs leaving for the lab, the Colonel on his tail. Once the two had left the area McGee peeked over his computer.

"Claire, Tony is…?" he questioned. I frowned thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging. I don't know where he went much anymore.

With still no sign of Tony, Gibbs came back upstairs with the detonator cell number that Abby retrieved.

"The incoming call came from the warehouse Shariff gave the CIA. Must be where Abraham was testing the detonator." McGee pulled up a grid map of the area.

"Well he's not there now." Gibbs pointed out.

"The place has been crawling with EODs since yesterday." Mann tacked on.

"Trace that call." Gibbs requested watching McGee monitor.

"It's on, Ziva trace that call." McGee called.

"Almost done." She assured.

"I'm having Ziva track the cell tower frequencies operating in the cell track's requests." McGee mumbled. Gibbs frowned at him.

"She's waiting for it to pop up on the radar again." I supplied for McGee.

"McGee it just powered up." Ziva alerted.

"Tell me he's not making a call." Gibbs groaned as McGee bolted over to her desk.

"Nope, not yet." McGee sighed a little as he analyzed the feed.

"I've got his location. Penn street, and Wisconsin." McGee read off. Gibbs nodded and headed for the elevator, the rest of us on his heels.

...

In Georgetown Gibbs fixed his earwig one last time as he approached where the cell was located, the rest of us were following closely behind.

"You guys weren't planning on starting without me were ya?" Tony joked as he jogged up to us. I glanced over at him questioningly.

"Who's that?" Ziva shot back, earning a small snicker from me. Colonel Mann and Gibbs made their way through the street, while quietly giving orders to clear the street and secure the area surrounding it.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"Princeton." Was the one-word answer. Josh had decided to go into law at Princeton. Thus, why he had been absent. I smiled over at Tony, who grinned right back. At least Josh was making a well thought out decision and not jumping in headfirst for revenge.

"There, Abraham on the bench." Colonel Mann pointed out the man playing a game on his phone, backpack in his lap.

"If he sees us clear the area he may detonate." Ziva pointed out.

"If it's a trip wire any of these people may detonate it." Mann countered.

"On the second bomb he only used a cell phone." I pointed out.

"This cellphone isn't connected to the backpack?" Tony inquired, glancing up at the man.

"Tripwire, cellphone. Who knows how he armed this one?" Gibb mused, striping off his NCIS jacket.

"Deadman switch?" Tony guessed again.

"Or not." He deadpanned, watching Gibbs take off any indicators that he was NCIS.

"DiNozzo, you keep your ears on me." Gibbs ordered leaving his jacket behind and snatching a khaki one off a bench. He stripped off his earwig and made his way towards the bomber. I gently tugged Colonel Mann to crouch behind one of the vending carts with the rest of us.

"What the hell is he doing?" she inquired.

"What he always does." Gibbs continued his way through the crowd, snatching a hat off another man's head as he powered on.

"Four marriages, negotiating is probably not his thing." Mann pointed out.

"You'd be surprised." I hummed.

"Well I have been so far." She deadpanned. Gibbs picked up a newspaper before walking over and casually walking by Abraham, who was playing a game on his phone.

"The cell is not the detonator." He relayed through his wrist mic, throwing away the paper. After a moment of thought Gibbs went over on the bench next to Abraham.

"My son Tony plays that same game. What's your name?" Gibbs started the conversation. Tony pursed his lips indignantly.

"Abraham." The man droned in disinterest.

"Hey Abraham, I'm Jethro." Gibbs held out his hand to shake. As Abraham reached out, I caught sight of the wire around his wrist which was threaded into the backpack. By Gibb's expression he did too.

"Jethro." The man gasped in interest.

"That's the name they gave me." Gibbs nodded as he settled onto the bench.

"That means 'Friend of God', the father in law of Moses. He walked over with the Israelites when God parted the Red Sea." Abraham explained excitedly.

"Do you know why God parted the Red Sea?" Abraham continued.

"No." Gibbs answered, trying to get a better look at the wire.

"To show the people that sea creatures were totally dependent on God's will…."

"What's he talking about." McGee frowned in confusion as Abraham continued on.

"I'd say this guy is a few puppies short of a pet shop." Tony commented.

"Most suicide bombers are." Ziva pointed out.

"Abraham can I ask you a question?" Gibbs jumped in, knowing we were running out of time. Abraham nodded hesitantly.

"Do you think its ok for someone to hurt innocent people?" he asked gently.

"No, Jethro!" Abraham insisted as if he was crazy to ask such a question.

"I didn't think so. What are you doing here Abraham?" Gibbs asked in confusion.

"I'm waiting for my friend. He's gonna take me to dinner." Abraham answered.

"Did your friend give you this backpack?" Abraham nodded.

"About an hour ago. He said it's so I don't lose it." Abraham indicated the wire around his wrist to Gibbs.

"What's this friend's name?" Gibbs asked.

"Sheriff." Our informant…..

"So who's laying in autopsy then?" Tony asked. Abraham looked around at the crowd on the edges of the street with a frown.

"He was supposed to meet me here at 3 o'clock." That was about a minute from now.

"Ziva!" Gibbs shouted, not wanting to waste any more time on getting the bomb disarmed. At his call all of us sprinted forward.

"Right behind you!" Ziva bolted towards the bag.

"Abraham is it alright if we look in your backpack?" Gibbs offered gently. Abraham nodded in confusion as the rest of the us gathered around him.

"EOD is still on their way boss." Tony pointed out.

"We're out of time." Mann pointed out.

"Do you want me to defuse it because before you said you'd kick my ass if…"

"Do it!" Gibbs barked, cutting off Ziva's rambling as she already began looking over the device.

"The rest of you go, go on get out of here." Gibbs shooed his hands at us. We all glanced at one another briefly before crouching down next to the bench. We weren't going anywhere.

"30 seconds." I pointed out, watching the red digital numbers get smaller.

"Army knife." Ziva held out her hand to Tony who quickly handed her his own.

"What's your name?" Abraham asked McGee, not fully understanding the situation. McGee blinked in confusion before realizing who Abraham was addressing.

"Uh…Tim." McGee muttered.

"It means he who is about to wet his pants." Tony quipped anxiously. We all held out breath as the seconds ticked down and Ziva slowly analyzed the wires. After what seemed to be an eternity, she snipped the red one, everyone wincing before sighing in relief as the bomb stopped at the 5 second mark. It was a bit too close for comfort.

"Wh…Why is he gonna wet his pants?" Abraham asked innocently, looking to Tony. I grinned and let out a light chuckle. Meanwhile Gibbs was up and staring at the crowds around us.

"He's here." He muttered.

"No, not anymore." Mann countered with a frown. I glanced around at the crowds around us with a frown. Shariff was in the wind