Chapter 9

For almost 40 minutes, the two Blackhawk helicopters have been assisting the Coast Guard with the search and rescue. The two Blackhawk helicopter are heading in a South Eastern direction and keeping a wide distance from each other. Each person in the helicopters has a headset on in order to keep in contact with each other and the Coast Guard. A couple police helicopters and boats have also been deployed to assist in the search and rescue. McGee, who is at the Marina in Norfolk, makes a call to the military base in order to be patched through to the helicopters in order to speak to Gibbs.

"Yeah McGee?"

"We have a major problem Boss."

"What is it?"

"Peter killed two police officers and tied up the man in charge at the Marina, but a person finally came along and untied…"

"McGee! What's the problem!"

"The boat Peter stole has a motor problem."

"What type of motor problem?"

"One that makes the boat a ticking time-bomb… That thing is on the verge of exploding."

"Thanks for the info McGee."

The two Blackhawk helicopters continue in their South Eastern direction in order to search the area. The helicopter Tony and Ziva are in goes a little further South while the helicopter Gibbs and Fornell are in continues on their path. Splitting up and keeping a much wider distance from each other means they'll cover more ocean surface. Due to the distance between them, the two helicopters just look like little dots to each other now.

Meanwhile, on the boat Peter stole, the motor begins to make a lot of noise. There's a small explosion. Peter stops the boat and steps out from where the steering wheel is. He walks over to the motor to take a look at it. Without knowing much about boats, nor the fact that the motor needs to be repaired, he grabs a wrench and hits the motor. While Peter isn't looking, Max crawls to the very front of the boat. The front of the boat has a thin diving board type piece that juts out from the boat that a person can walk on in order to get to the tip. Peter, who is still in the back of the boat, smashes the wrench inside the motor. The motor explodes and Peter's body goes flying into the air and eventually lands in the water. Almost the entire back end of the boat is completely destroyed and the boat is now slowly sinking.

From the helicopter Tony's in, he saw the explosion off in the distance and brings it to the attention of the pilot.

"Pilot… Move in the direction of the smoke!" Tony exclaimed.

The pilot now turns the helicopter in order to go in the direction of the smoke. After a couple minutes the helicopters I near where the boat is sinking. They see a body floating in the water near the boat and see Max on the very tip on the front end. Ziva gets on the headset.

"Mayday, mayday… Agent David, requesting immediate assistance for a sinking boat. We found the boy, but need immediate assistance! Over…" Ziva turns to the pilot. "Give them our coordinates."

After hearing the distress call, Gibbs' helicopter is now on route to where the second Blackhawk is as they can see the helicopter in the distance. The pilot of the helicopter where the sinking boat is, radio's the coordinates to the Coast Guard. A person from the nearest Coast Guard rescue chopper gives a reply that they've heard right and are heading their there direction. The pilot relays the reply to Tony and Ziva.

"A Coast Guard rescue chopper will be here shortly. ETA 14 minutes." The pilot stated.

Tony takes his headset off and begins taking a couple things off. Ziva looks at Tony.

"What are you doing?" Ziva asked.

"That boy doesn't have 14 minutes! I'm not gonna take the chance that he doesn't know how to swim!" Tony exclaimed.

Ziva turns to the pilot as Tony takes his shoes off.

"Bring this thing down!" Ziva exclaimed.

The pilot brings the helicopter lower to the ocean's surface. Tony goes to the edge of the open part of the Blackhawk is. The pilot continues to lower the chopped by finally stops.

"This is as low as we go!" The pilot exclaimed.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Ziva asked Tony.

"No."

Tony jumps out of the helicopter. He plummets downward to the ocean water. Finally, he lands in the water and is submerged for a couple seconds. Tony swims upward and pops his head out of the water. He begins swimming toward the sinking boat.

"We have an agent in the water… I repeat, agent in the water! Over…" Ziva said over the headset radio to communicate the recent activities.

The helicopter remains hovering around the area as Tony swims to the boat as fast as he can. Ziva watches from the helicopter. Tony finally reaches the boat as it's more then halfway below the surface of the water. Max, who is crying, is clinging to the rims on the tip and run along the entire boat. Max is out of Tony's reach for the moment since the boat hasn't sunk enough yet. Tony treads water in order to keep afloat next to the sinking boat.

"Max! I'm Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo with NCIS. I'm here to help you."

"I'm scared!"

"I know you are."

"I want my mommy!"

"And I'm gonna bring you to her. But I need you to jump down to me."

"I can't swim!"

"That's alright… I'll swim for the both of us. But I need you to jump down to me." Tony said. "Trust me, Max. I'll take care of you. Just please jump down to me."

Max tries to get into position in order to jump down to Tony but he can't get his foot loose.

"My foot!"

"Your foot what Max? It's ok if your foot is hurts. We'll get that taken care of by a doctor."

"No… My foot is stuck!" Max begins crying more.

"Max… I need you to listen to me. I need you to be a big boy and do exactly what I say. Can you do that? Can you be a big boy for me?"

"Yes." Max whines.

"As the boat sinks, I'll be able to get closer to you. What I want you to do is grab onto me as soon as you can. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes." Max whines again.

"I'm gonna get your foot loose Max, but there's one last thing I'll need for you to do."

"What?"

"When the water reaches your shoulders, I want you to take a deep breath and hold it. Then close your eyes."

"Are you gonna leave me?"

"I won't leave you Max. I promise."

Gibbs' helicopter finally enters into the vicinity but needs to keep moving in closer. He looks out from the moving helicopter in order to see what's going on. He watches as the boat continues to sink.

Tony is finally able to start moving in closer because the front of the boat becomes skinner. Tony grabs the rim and slides his hand up as the boat sinks. He moves up close to where Max is. With his left hand, Tony clings onto the rim as tightly as he can and Max grabs onto Tony with both hands. Tony reaches his right hand under the water to try loosening Max's foot. The water quickly rises as the boat sinks. Tony tries to keep his head above the water for a couple more seconds.

"Max… Remember what I said. Take a deep breath and hold it. Then close your eyes."

Suddenly, Tony himself takes a deep breath then is finally submerged in the water struggling to get Max's foot loose. The water quickly creeps up the rest of Max's body. Max shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. The water finally consumes Max and the rest of the boat.

From the moving helicopter, all Gibbs now sees is ocean water and Ziva, from the stationary helicopter, only sees ocean water as well. After a minute of being completely submerged, Tony, along with Max, pop their heads out from the surface of the water. Max has his arms wrapped around Tony's neck. Tony's right arm is around Max in order to support him. Tony is kicking his legs and waving his left arm around in the water in order to keep afloat.

The Coast Guard rescue helicopter finally enters the vicinity and commences the rescue operation in order to get Max and Tony out of the water.