The weekend flew by much too quickly, Jethro really enjoying having his old man down for the weekend. The workweek was pretty calm as well, the MCRT team just catching up on paperwork and following up on a cold case lead or two. On the other hand, the lack of new cases meant that Jethro was wrapping up at work by 1600 and managed to get quite a bit of the work in the kitchen done. They both wanted it finished sooner rather than later, but a bit of an update to the kitchen wasn't the worst thing.

That Saturday, though, his day started out with a bit of a bang.

He was fast asleep, but we woke up to the tell-tale sound of his cellphone ringing. Half-awake, he answered the call. "Gibbs."

It was his boss on the other end of the line. They'd pulled the short straw and got the weekend shift. "Gibbs, the DEA raided what they'd thought was a hardened meth lab this morning in Columbia Heights but they found what looks to be a chemical dispersal device instead."

He played tiredly with his face. "Did they raise the threat level?"

"Negative," Vance informed him. "And there's a media blackout. We need to keep a lid on this for now. The last thing we want is mass panic. Get in here."

"No," he agreed with a small sigh, "that's probably best." Group panic would do them all no favours, only serving to make it a lot harder for them to do their jobs. "Alright, I'll call the others in and will be there shortly."

With the call over, Jethro closed his flip phone and placed it down on his bedside table. He then turned to his wife who was now sitting up in bed.

She spoke through a yawn. "What's goin' on?"

He gave Shannon a slightly hesitant look.

"It's five in the morning and you're talking about threat levels," Shannon said, playing a little with her face as she did so. "It's bad, isn't it?"

Jethro sighed as he grudgingly got out of bed and headed over to the closet. "It might be." He started throwing a pair of pants on as he spoke. "I may not be home tonight. I mean, I might be home late."

His wife nodded, more than a little used to that idea by that point. "I know."

"Damn," he said, "I forgot. Tomorrow's the day we…" Jethro started putting on a white crew-neck t-shirt as he spoke. "… scheduled to have the new appliances delivered."

"Don't worry about it," she replied. "I'll figure it out. Worst case scenario, I ask Wayne for a hand. Just come back safely."

He tried to reassure her. "I will."

Jethro quickly finished getting dressed and then made his way over to his wife's side of the bed. Jethro leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. "Bye. Love you."

"Love you too," his wife replied, understandably concerned.

Rushing downstairs, he threw on a pair of brown dress shoes and let Bailey out to do her business. He called his team and then took his SIG and badge out of the gun-safe, let their dog back inside, and ran out the front door, locking it firmly behind him.

He grabbed a coffee from Elaine's Diner on his way to work, needing some caffeine, and then rushed to NCIS. Once he was at the Navy Yard, Jethro met with his director, the leader of the DEA team who executed the raid, a Homeland Security agent as well as Tobias Fornell, getting thoroughly briefed on the situation.

As Jethro and Tobias walked into the squad room, his team was there waiting for him.

"What's going on, Boss?" DiNozzo asked.

"It must be pretty bad for a call this earlier," Ziva stated. She dipped her head slightly as she noted who was with him. "Agent Fornell."

Tobias gave a curt nod. "Agent David."

Jethro preferred to get right down to business. "Just after 0400 this morning, the DEA raided a suspected drug lab in Colombia Heights." He showed his agents a photo of the device that was found on scene. "The SWAT team found this instead."

"That could be a dispersal device for a chemical weapon," Ziva said.

McGee eyed the device. "Sophisticated."

Jethro glanced between his three field agents. "Homeland security's thinking Al Qaeda, which also means there's a media blackout."

"They have developed devices that span the spectrum of sophistication," Ziva informed them. She shifted slightly to get a better look at the device in question. "Some are as simple as soda bottles and paint cans. They're called al ikhteraa or the invention."

DiNozzo turned to him. "Do we know what the biological or chemical agent is yet?"

Tobias sighed. "No, not yet. The members of the cell bailed out through a tunnel." The field agents all shared a grave look. "The DEA agents recovered a Nextel two-way and managed to intercept a message."

Jethro passed a copy of the aforementioned message to Ziva, taking advantage of the fact that she was fluent in Arabic. They didn't have the time to sit around and wait for a copy of the official transcript to come their way.

The young Israeli started translating the message for the group. 'Our friends surprised us and eloped. We can no longer wait for the wedding as planned. We can deliver our gift at the next crescent.'

Tobias looked at Ziva quizzically. "The next crescent?"

"At-taqwim al-hijriy," Ziva said. "Also known as the Lunar Hijri calendar." She wracked her brain for a moment. "I believe the next crescent moon is in two days."

"So whatever it is they're planning," DiNozzo pointed out seriously, "it's going down in less than forty-eight hours."

He dipped his head slightly. "So, we better get to work."

"The payment for the Nextel was linked to this man." The FBI agent pulled out a photo from the file he'd brought with him. "Karim El-Sayed. A known recruiter." Tobias' gaze flickered between all of Jethro's field agents. "Two months ago, El-Sayed was captured leaving the U.S. on a forged Pakistani passport via BWI Airport. The guy got himself a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."

DiNozzo frowned. "Have interrogators gotten anything out of the guy?"

"Negative," he said. "Given the situation, I've been asked to fly out. Ziva, you're with me. You speak fluent Arabic. Navy's giving us a priority ride immediately. DiNozzo, you and McGee will work the case from here with Fornell."'

"As it's no longer a simple drug sting," Tobias stated, "I'm taking over from the DEA." The FBI agent turned to face him and Ziva. "You'll be working with SSA Adam Murdock while at Camp Delta. He's the current intelligence supervisor there."

Both agents nodded at that piece of information and the briefing quickly wrapped up. On a time crunch, Tobias took DiNozzo and McGee to check out the property that had been raided while Ziva and Jethro went to get their go-bags. They had just four hours before they were expected in Norfolk.

Walking through the front door, he spotted his wife at the kitchen table, chatting with a blonde friend from work about something or other. Shannon was wearing a pair of light blue jeans with a dark grey, wool, sweater.

Jethro walked over and gave his wife a chaste kiss. "Hey, Babe." He then gave a small nod to his wife's coworker. "Connie."

Connie dipped her head slightly, a small smile on her face. "Jethro."

Shannon smiled warmly up at him. "Hey, you." She then adopted a much more serious expression. "You're home shockingly early." There was a false levity to his wife's voice as she spoke. "Going off to war, Gunny?"

She always has been good at reading me. He crossed his arms, taking a breath. "Yeah, I have to leave for work. Here to let you know and get my go-bag."

His wife pursed her lips. "The call from this morning?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "Shouldn't be gone for more than a couple of days."

She swallowed anxiously. "Can you tell me where you're going?"

He debated how much he could tell her without breaking protocol. Her having a friend over made things that much more difficult. "The Caribbean. On a fact-finding mission." He gave his wife a grim smile. "That's honestly all I can tell you." Jethro leaned in and kissed Shannon. "I'll grab my pack and be right back down."

His wife nodded, clearly a bit concerned by the lack of information that he was able to give her. Although the redhead understood it, she understandably didn't like it.

Heading upstairs, Jethro quickly grabbed his old U.S.M.C pack, which already had all of the essentials besides a fresh change of clothes inside. Rummaging through the closet, Jethro took out two days worth of clothing, neatly folding the outfits and placing them into the green bag. He figured that would be sufficient. Jethro didn't expect to be gone long, but there was no real way to tell either. If his career had taught him anything, it was that circumstances could and often did change rapidly.

Throwing the pack over his right shoulder, Jethro swiftly made his way back downstairs to say goodbye to his wife. He still had a bit of time before he had to run back out the door in order to make his flight.

His wife, in an exceptionally kind gesture, passed Jethro a plate with a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich along with BBQ chips and a hot cup of black coffee. "I know you probably haven't eaten since last night, so -"

He gave her a very appreciative look. "Oh, I'll pound down some of that chow." Jethro placed the plate and cup down on the kitchen table. "Thank you, Shan. I'm starving."

"Work's been a bit hectic, I take it?" Connie asked.

He gave a little shrug. "Someone's gotta keep the wolves away from the door." Jethro took a bite of the BLT. Swallowing the food, he tried to keep the tension down as much as possible. "What've you two been up to this morning?"

The three of them continued chatting for a bit longer before Jethro had to seriously hit the road if he was going to make it to the AMC terminal at Norfolk on time to catch his flight. It was hard pulling out of the driveway, but he had a job to do.