Up in MTAC, Jethro was a little annoyed with Captain Quincy for not cluing him in on the possibility of insurgents playing both sides. Captain Quincy said the locals doing that was standard, which, he supposed shouldn't have surprised him. People would do a lot to survive. The school apparently kept minimal records. There were two teachers; one male and one female. There was also a bunch of labourers wandering in and out of the area. No locals felt like talking which didn't come as a surprise.

"Agent Gibbs, tell me what you need and I'll do it." The captain then eyed Jethro. "But if your people, Dover, and A.I.U. are all saying Lieutenant Flores' DNA wasn't in those remains then pardon my French, but where is she?"

"Keep looking, Captain!" he said. "We'll find something. We have to."

"I understand next of kin has been contacted," the captain asked him after a moment. "What are you gonna tell them now?" Jethro shifted uncomfortably. "Sir...?"

He continued to shift uncomfortably. Jethro has no idea what he was going to say.

Ending the call, Jethro set up a meeting with Mr. Flores who requested to meet him at Arlington National Cemetery. Jethro was passing by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where a lone individual was standing guard, when a large helicopter flying overhead swiftly caught his attention.

He found himself lost in thought once again, thinking about things that had happened what felt like several lifetimes ago now.

Jethro's unit had just gone on liberty and instead of going to the E Club with everyone else he was relaxing off on his own, still dressed in his cammies, sanding a birdhouse that he'd been working on when he had a few minutes to himself. He managed to talk to this girl he had befriend three weeks earlier named Shannon for a few minutes on the phone and then grabbed his birdhouse and left.

Jethro's attention was pulled away from his little woodwork project when PFC Matteson walked up. "Is this how you spend liberty? You like birds?"

"It's for my dad," he replied simply.

"So you like your dad," she commented.

"Like the work," he corrected. "Makes me feel like my head's on straight."

"Well, look at you!" the brunette said. "That's the same reason I run so much." She smirked at him. "Beating your times is just an added bonus."

"You haven't beaten my times," he replied with a smirk of his own.

"So you've been checking," she teased.

"Might make a difference," Matteson said, somehow understanding what he hadn't said. "My father can be difficult too."

"I never said he was difficult," Jethro pointed out.

"I know," she said. "But you love him, right?"

"Well," he said, "it's just... You know, it's one..." He loved his father but things had just never been the same between them since his mom had passed. Hell, the Gibbs patriarch wasn't even aware that Jethro knew how his mother had died. That she had taken her own life. The man had never seemed to really understand him and everything that Jethro did or said seemed to lead to a fight.

"Dads can't help it," the brunette said. "There's no use holding it against them."

Jethro gave a slight chuckle and she joined in.

"Well, Gibbs." Matteson stood up to leave and presumably go do some more individual P.T. "Good luck keeping that head of yours on straight."

"Good luck trying to beat my times," he teased.

"Oh, she replied cheekily, "I will."

Jethro smiled as he watched her walked away.

Pulling himself back into the present, Jethro approached Mr. Flores - who was clearly waiting for him - at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. "Hello, Mr. Flores."

"I've been spending some time here," the man explained. "Trying to get used to it." He turned to Jethro. "I was right, wasn't I? Her body was on that plane."

"No," he said curtly.

"What do you mean?" Mr. Flores asked. "Where is she?"

"Dog tags were found at the scene," Jethro explained, still trying to figure out the best thing to say. "Gabriela wasn't. We don't have her body."

Mr. Flores' countenance immediately shifted. "You telling me she's alive?"

"I'm telling you we're still looking for answers," he replied. Jethro really didn't want to give the man false hope or promises and hurt him even more. The truth was, they had no idea what the first lieutenant's condition was.

"You gotta find her, Agent Gibbs!" the other man demanded pleadingly. "You gotta put every... everything you've got into finding her."

He tried to reassure Mr. Flores. "We already are."

"No, no. Here." Mr. Flores took several photos out of his right jacket pocket and looked through them before selecting and passing one of them to Jethro to look at. "She sent me this." The man pointed to the photo. "That's Gabriela and the teacher and one of their students." Jethro nodded. "You see? All she cared about was giving these girls a place to learn! If anybody on this earth deserves your help, it's Gabriela."

Glancing at the photo more closely, Jethro noticed a tattoo under the Afghan teacher's wedding ring and his gut immediately told him to look into it.

Back at NCIS, Jethro brusquely dragged Lieutenant Commander Burke away from the Navy Yard coffee stand. He then showed her Mr. Flores's picture and after directing her attention to the ring on the teacher's finger and the possible tattoo underneath, Jethro asked the chaplain if she'd ever seen anything like that in her two tours over there.

She hadn't, so Jethro got Abby to look into it and she, thankfully, did have some luck. The forensic scientist had been able to match the Afghan teacher's tattoo to an I.E.D specialist as well as to a would-be female suicide bomber out of Helmand. All of them were linked to the Jaysh El-Mo'mineen insurgent group which translated to 'Army of Believers' in English. Intel also suggested that the group's tattoo design symbolized entrance into martyrdom.

After talking with Abby and having her forward her findings to McGee, both Jethro and Burke headed back upstairs and made their way into the squad room.

"Start talking," he barked as they walked in.

"Jaysh El-Mo'mineen," McGee immediately jumped in, putting several different files up on the plasma for Jethro to look at. "Small but growing. Specialties are I.E.D.'s, direct assaults and employing females to advance attacks undetected."

"Chief mission is to get rid of anything apple pie or NATO," DiNozzo said.

Ziva chimed into the briefing. "They are known to hide and move their headquarters in the remote areas of the Chagai Hills."

The Chagai Hills aren't that far from the attack point. Another piece of this convoluted puzzle fell into place. "Bring up the satellite."

"Okay," McGee said, "but I've got nothing new to show you, Boss. I'm still waiting on a better copy. I've tried everything I can to sharpen it."

"Not sharper, McGee!" he said. "Wider. South."

"Chagai Hills are just south of the attack point," Ziva realized.

"It's nothing but desert," McGee said.

"Wider, McGee!" he demanded. "More than two kilometres. Go."

"Boss, what are we looking for?" McGee asked.

"Zoom in," he ordered. "Closer."

There was a very noticeable heat source showing on the satellite now.

DiNozzo's voice was an audible mix of awe and relief as the man stood up to get a bit better look. A sentiment they were all feeling. "That's gotta be her."

A moment later they got yet another massive shock as they spotted two smaller heat sources moving through the desert with the bigger one.

"Are those children?" the chaplain asked in shock.

"Two of them," Ziva replied in disbelief.

"She didn't die in the attack," McGee said.

"No," he stated, "she was trying to save them." They then saw a large vehicle stop and grab their three school-attack escapees. "And she got caught."

An hour later, Jethro found himself upstairs once more meeting with the NCIS director, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

The SecNav was the first to speak. "What do we know about the vehicle?"

"It's not one of ours," General Ellison informed the group. "My analysts say the truck is Russian-made; ten to twelve years old at least."

"And the kids?" Secretary Jarvis asked.

"Likely boarders at the school," he suggested. "Girls. Orphans"

"No one to report them missing," Vance said with a tone of sadness.

"Chagai Hills?" the SecNav inquired.

"Days ago," he replied.

"Difficult to track after all this time," Vance commented.

He turned to General Ellison. "You said something about moving mountains, Sir?"

"Plane leaves at 0500, Gibbs. My people will get started." The commandant shot him a pointed look. "Don't come back without her."

With a curt nod, Jethro strode purposefully toward the door of the director's office, not thrilled about deploying to Afghanistan early the following morning but not seeing any other choice either. He had to go and help that woman. He had a job to do.

His wife and daughter were both relaxing in the living room watching some TV show that both of them liked when Jethro walked into the house at 1730.

He took advantage of the slight distraction to hide the protective equipment he'd just been issued from view momentarily.

Shannon looked over at him almost immediately and smiled. "Jethro, you're home."

"Hi, Dad!" Kelly chirped.

He gave his wife and daughter a tight-lipped smile, not overly looking forward to the conversation that he was forced to have with them without delay.

The younger redhead then got up from her seat at the kitchen table and pulled Jethro into a one-armed hug.

He kissed his daughter on the head. "Hey, Kel. How was your day? Both of you."

Kelly gave him a warm smile. "It was good, all things considered."

"Mine as well," his wife replied. She then pulled him in for a chaste kiss and once they parted looked back at him, swinging her arms slightly in contentment.

They talked amicably for a couple of minutes and then Jethro gestured for them to go and take their conversation into the living room.

Once all three of them were seated, Shannon look at him, eyes narrowed slightly. She had always been able to read him well. "So, what is it?"

Kelly tilted her head slightly, lips pressed together. "Does it have something to do with the case you've been working?"

Jethro pinched his nose and then took a deep breath. "Both you girls recall that recent plane crash the was all over the news?"

His wife leaned forward slightly. "Of course."

"Uh-huh," Kelly agreed, "but I thought that was an accident?"

"It was," he confirmed, "but during that investigation, some things came to light about a missing Marine and a terrorist group."

Shannon tapped her fingers. "And?"

He hesitated. "I ship out for Afghanistan at 0500."

Shannon's hand firmly gripped the arm of the couch beside her and their daughter was sitting there, hunching her shoulders.

Both girls quickly recovered and his wife put a hand on his knee. "For how long?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Until the issue's resolved."

Shannon nodded. "Okay. Okay, we'll figure it out."