Pulling up to the white and wheat-coloured Single-Family home shortly after 1630, he and Tobias hopped out of the car and walked down the driveway. Both men could hear a lot of boisterous laughter and chatter coming from the bag yard, so made their way to the nearby gate and entered the rather spacious backyard.
One glance around the property made it rather obvious that they were interrupting a little girl's birthday party. There were decorations up, a table with presents on top, as well as about a dozen or so children running around the yard and playing animatedly after having what looked to be some hotdogs, chips, and soda for dinner.
The captain, spotting Jethro and Tobias almost immediately, quickly said something to his wife Lilian - who was starting to light the candles on the birthday cake - and made his way across the yard to where they were.
"Gentlemen," the captain greeted. "Must be important for you to come all the way out here." Wayne stopped directly in front of the pair. "We're having cake in just a minute. Might make it worth your while."
"Start with the truth, Captain." Jethro had little respect for a leader who betrayed the people who were under their command, those who literally had to trust the individual with their lives. "Tell us about Lieutenant Chad McBride's orders in Iran."
Tobias eyed the captain. "More specifically, his orders to come home."
"Come home?" the captain reiterated. "What are you talking about? He came home in a box. It was your job to find out who put him there."
He shot the man an accusatory look. "You did."
"You know," Tobias said pointedly, "it's against regulations for military personnel to tell their loved ones their orders have changed."
"But I used to write my wife anyway," he chimed in. The combat veteran reached into the left pocket of his blazer and pulled out the very succinct letter he'd dictated earlier. Jethro then glanced back up at the man. "So did, uh, Chad McBride."
"Just came in the mail today," Tobias added.
Jethro opened the letter and started reading it aloud, making sure to turn the missive towards the captain to really sell it. Thankfully, they'd had a sample of the lieutenant's writing and McGee turned out to be a very passable forger. God knew that McGee had signed enough things for DiNozzo over the years when the SFA wasn't in the mood to do his paperwork. 'Thought you should know, I talked to Captain Wayne. He changed my orders. You can stop worrying.'
"Little did he know," Tobias retorted, "you set him up to be executed."
"I didn't know they were gonna kill him," Captain Wayne finally confessed after a long moment. "I wouldn't have made that call."
"Who paid you?" he demanded
Tobias matched his tone. "Where's the money?"
"They didn't offer me money," the captain explained with a clear note of regret. "They offered pictures. Of my infidelity."
He turned towards Tobias. "Blackmail."
"Another Capone tactic," the FBI agent commented.
The captain glanced over at his wife and daughter who were right where he'd left them a few minutes before. "I couldn't let them take all this away."
"Them?" Tobias pressed.
"I got a call," Captain Wayne explained. "To change McBride's orders. Another to send Agent Gibbs to Iran. But I don't know who it was." The officer shook his head slightly. "I-I'll give you my phone records, anything." The man's gaze then dropped to the ground. "Including my resignation."
"And don't forget your prison time," he stated without an ounce of pity for the younger man. He was doing his best to be civil, but he'd lost any respect he'd held for the man and was, frankly, angry. "And your court-martial, Captain."
Captain Wayne locked eyes with him. "I'm sorry."
He shot the captain a dirty look. "Tell it to McBride's wife." With that last dig, he made his way back over to the gate and out of the Wayne family's yard.
Heading back to the Navy Yard with Tobias, Jethro quickly found himself called into an impromptu meeting up in the director's office; no explanation from the man's assistant other than that Vance wanted to speak with him.
Figuring that it was probably important, however, Jethro didn't dillydally and made his way straight up to his boss' office.
"Supervisory Special Agent Gibbs," the director introduced without missing a beat. "I want you to meet Tomás Méndez." The name seems familiar, but I can't quite place it. Where have I heard that name before?"He's on the board of the Public Anti-Terrorism Coalition."
Ah, that explains it. I've crossed paths with the coalition before.
The Cuban-American man then decided to jump in with a brief explanation of his own. "The coalition helps facilitate cooperation between private businesses and government agencies in the fight against terror."
"What brings you here, Mr. Méndez?" he inquired.
"Tomás was working closely with Homeland," the director informed Jethro. "They were monitoring Parsa and the new terror cell."
"Parsa's hard to pin down," Méndez added, showing him a photograph of the man that was running the new local cell. "This was taken by a surveillance camera in one of my apartment buildings in Miami." The young man in the photograph definitely looked as though he was up to something. "As part of the coalition initiatives, all of my building security cameras are linked with government lists. And his face flagged." Méndez then glanced between Jethro and Vance. "We had been working with Homeland, but since Morrow was injured, we thought we'd reach out to you."
Jethro gave a little hum to show he was listening.
The man continued unperturbed. "It's best we're all on the same page."
"You own any property in Arizona, Mr. Méndez?" he questioned.
"Beautiful state," the man replied by way of confirmation. "Why?"
"We think whoever's calling the shots has a cell working there," the director explained matter-of-factly. "We could use your help."
Wrapping up the impromptu meeting with the director and the representative from the Public Anti-Terrorism Coalition, Jethro made his way back down to the squad room and briefed Tobias and the rest of the MCRT.
Tobias stuck around at NCIS for another hour and a half, the team ordering in a couple of pizzas for dinner, but as it got dark out Jethro offered to walk his fellow team leader and long-time friend out to his car so that they could have a little chat.
Tobias shot him a sideways glance as they reached the parking lot. "You know, I'm not gonna kiss you good night."
"What?" he asked incredulously.
"Why are you walking me to my car?" the man asked. "We breaking up?"
He gave the man a pointed look. "If I could, I would. Unfortunately, I trust you." And that's hard to find right now.
Tobias instantly seemed to understand what he was getting at. "Well, feeling's mutual, so there you go. Somebody's got to slay the dragons. Might as well be us."
He just hummed in response.
"Look," Tobias stated as he brought them both to an abrupt stop, "if this is gonna turn into a proposal, I'm just not ready."
Deciding to just get to the question that had been eating at him for some time, Jethro locked eyes with Tobias and came out with it. "How long did you know NCIS was in danger before you stepped in?"
Much to Tobias' credit, there was no hesitation in the FBI agent's response. "As soon as I found out some jackass was hiring turncoats, I came to you. And I can only hope that you'd do the same if it was me."
That was a major relief. Well aware that his friend would likely end up having to face some blowback for having read NCIS into the Bureau's Parsa investigation against the higher-ups' wishes, Jethro then reassured and made a promise to the other man. "No matter how this unfolds, Tobias, I got your back."
The FBI agent silently nodded, a small smile playing on his lips.
Jethro raised his index finger in the air with a warm smile, turned around, and started walking back inside the NCIS building.
Coming off of the main elevator, Jethro spotted Ducky telling Abby some story from his childhood over by his desk. "End of the war, I had a terrific shrapnel collection. It was better than cash in the school playground. I could even identify many of the pieces."
"I'm hoping you still can, Duck!" he stated as he walked up.
"Ah," Ducky said as he got up from his desk. "Well, you're in luck, Jethro. With the aid of Abby's chemical analysis and Timothy's database, we have done just that."
"Times have changed since you were five," he commented.
"Not as much as you might think," Abby said as McGee pulled some images up on the big plasma screen. "By using the same methods that Ducky used when he was a child, metal types and manufacturing marks, we can link the shrapnel removed from SecNav Jarvis and others to devices that were used in the past."
"A trigger used twice in Yemen," McGee chimed in. "Plastic explosive used by a white supremacy group in South Dakota."
"Times have changed," Ducky said. "People, not so much."
"But the majority of links were on the casing itself," McGee stated as he pulled another series of photos up onto the plasma screen.
"Bike?" he questioned.
"Yup," Abby said. "Somebody filled all of the empty tubing on a mountain bike with the contents from a pipe bomb."
He took a breath. "Hell of a signature."
"And it's the signature we have on file," McGee stated. "Belongs to a soldier-of-fortune group the FBI has been tracking called The Brotherhood of Doubt."
Ducky shot Jethro a pointed look. "No doubt made up of people who have little faith in the country that protects their inalienable rights."
"Where?" he demanded.
"Yuma," Abby informed him. "Arizona."
"That's good work, guys." With that, he turned around and pulled out his cell phone to make a call. A moment later the phone was ringing. Thankfully, the man picked up on the second ring. "Hey, Tobias. Come on back. You're not going home yet."
It looked like they were all in for a long night. Now that they had a solid lead, though, they couldn't just not follow up on it. The clock was ticking.
They didn't have to wait long for Tobias to walk back into the squad room, thankfully, as the FBI agent had still been in the area. Once the man walked in, Jethro filled his friend in on what the team had found and handed the reigns to Tobias momentarily as he wasn't in the mood for a trip to Arizona.
Tobias' team was well aware of the situation, in any case, so the team leader took out his cell phone and sent several of his agents down to Arizona to rendez-vous with the local LEOs and hopefully make some arrests.
Once that had been arranged, Jethro sent his team home for the night. They were all running on empty and needed to get some rest, not on a plane or at a desk.
Walking through the front door of their home, he noted that Shannon was curled up on the couch with a blanket and a book. He started taking off his shoes as she placed the book down on the coffee table beside her cup of tea and rose to her feet.
Shannon then walked over and pulled him into a hug, planting a kiss on his cheek. She then shot him a rather pointed look. "Jethro, have you met Darren? Darren's a REACT agent. He's recently been assigned to guard me. Our daughter has some company too, apparently. Although I have no idea why that might be." Well, I knew she wasn't going to be thrilled about having a protective detail on her tail. "Except when I look at you, I know exactly why."
Jethro licked his lips, eyeing her. "Shannon, I'm sorry." Yes, he was breaking one of his own rules, but that had always come with an exception.
"It's fine," she said. "If you feel it's necessary, we'll keep the protective details. We've been playing nice." She glanced at his shoulder. "What happened?"
"Got shot," he admitted. "I was set-up, ambushed. The entire thing was a trap."
His wife nodded, swallowing. "I'm glad you're okay."
He gave her a small smile. "Me too, Shan." He felt like he had to reassure her. "I don't think you or Kel are in any direct danger right now but Leon and I both think having a detail, for the time being, is for the best."
Shannon gave him a curt nod before she pulled him in for a kiss again, the couple then moving the conversation to the couch. God, it felt good to be home.
