A/N: I'm back with another chapter! A great shout out to my new followers/favourites, welcome aboard! Hope you'll enjoy the ride! To my reviewers, YAY! I love hearing your thoughts, so thanks for sharing! It makes my day all the more brighter!

Now, let's see how Tony & Tim are travelling...

Tony had barely pulled out of the navy yard when McGee's phone went with the address & basic instructions to keep an eye on some kid, but had no idea who, not even 5 minutes later his phone rang.

"Ok, McGee's got the address, should take us about 40 minutes to get there, who's the kid?" Tony asked. 40 minutes if he broke every speed limit that is.

"The boy's name is Phoenix, you need to ask for a Mr Stephens, show your ID & say that you've been set to watch him & no mention of Gibbs at all" Ziva answered, Gibbs had given her strict instructions, no details, he didn't want his son finding out he was alive the wrong way.

That confused Tony even more "What's going on?" he demanded, he didn't like walking into a situation without knowing everything.

"DiNozzo! You will go there and you will watch him, you will not let a single soul barring Mr Stephens & Mr Dayle near him & wait for me. If anyone, anyone, attempts to take him you shoot them! Then arrest them... and if you utter a single syllable of my name I will headslap you all the way to the moon! Am I clear?" Gibbs finished sternly. He knew Tony would be confused, but he couldn't have his son find out about him the wrong way. He just needed him to get there & keep him safe, he pushed his foot down even harder on the gas propelling the car faster.

"Crystal boss!" Tony replied automatically. He was beyond confused but knew that right now his boss wasn't really in a sharing mood, whatever was going on was serious, very serious. He pushed his foot down on the gas propelling the car faster.

McGee was jolted in his seat by the sudden thrust forward "Tony? Do you have to drive like Gibbs?"

"Right now, yes Probie, something tells me we need to get there as fast as possible, so buckle up" Tony replied.

"What's going on?" McGee asked.

"Not quite sure, but whatever it is, it's got Gibbs acting even worse than when Ari was on the scene" Tony replied.

McGee's eyes widened "Worse?" he really didn't think that was possible.

Tony didn't answer he just concentrated on his driving, at this speed it was requiring all his attention, he saw he was going at least 90m/h (150km/h), his phone rang again "who is it probie?"

"Ahh, the Director" McGee answered.

"Ignore it" Tony answered.

"you nuts?" McGee asked.

"I don't know what's going on, how do I explain it to her? We're supposed to be in the middle of man hunt. Rule 18 McGee, better to seek forgiveness than ask permission" Tony said.

McGee couldn't believe Tony was going to try to use a Gibbs rule against the Director, but it wasn't his call, so it let it go.

Tony pulled up into the parking lot of the campsite, he'd managed to get there in 30 minutes, he had a strange feeling he'd broken ever speed limit between here & DC & was certain he saw at least 4 speed camera's go off, but he doubted Gibbs would care & that he'd take care of it.

"Looks like the site's up that trail Tony" McGee noted.

Tony nodded as he grabbed his rifle & lead the way up the trail, it was still pretty dark, but they both had torches, it took about 10 minutes to reach the campsite & were a little surprised to see it fully lit, all the lights were on, he wondered why, it wasn't even 5am!

Mr Dayle saw 2 men come into view, both had vests on with NCIS across the front, though he thought he might be the agents, he had to be sure, one had a rifle! "Hold up!"

Tony saw the guy, he was by no means small, well over 6 ft & solidly built, he had military haircut & was holding a massive mag-light in his hand, it looked more like a massive baton, he was in his mid 40's he guessed. "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS. This is Special Agent McGee, we're looking for Mr Stephens or Mr Dayle"

"ID's!" Mr Dayle asserted.

Both men held out their ID's for Mr Dayle to look at.

Satisfied they were agents, he let out a breath "Ok, I'm John Dayle, Terry Stephens is over here with Phoenix, do you know what's going on?"

"Our instructions are to not let Phoenix out of our site until our boss gets here & to not let anyone near him apart from you & Stephens" Tony replied, as they approached some cabins.

"Stephens" Dayle called.

Tim watched as Stephens came out, he was just a tall & solid as Dayle & could definitely tell this guy had been in the service.

"They NCIS?" Stephens asked.

"Yes sir" Tony replied.

Stephens eyed him "Phoenix is in here, don't suppose you've got an explanation?"

"They don't" Dayle replied.

Stephens motioned them in.

"Stay out here probie" Tony instructed.

Tim nodded.

Dayle eyed the young kid "You have any backups on you?"

"Ah, yes, why?" Tim asked.

"hand it over" Dayle instructed.

Tim eye's widened "Ahh, no"

Dayle got closer "Look, I can understand your hesitation, you don't know me. But what I know is that I don't want to see harm come to that boy, or any of the kids up here, so I will do what I can to protect them all, oh & I've been handling weapons since before you were born, hand it over"

Tim swallowed & he reached down for his backup, this guy was like Gibbs, a marine? "here, marines?"

Dayle smirked "army"

Tony entered the room behind Stephens & saw a young boy sitting on a bed, he looked no more 10, maybe 11, he was perched in the far corner of the bed with his knees right up against his chest & he was hugging his legs.

"Phoenix, this is Anthony, one of the NCIS agents your sister sent" Stephens said as he sat down next to him, he'd been scared ever since he'd heard from Kelly.

Tony put on his best smile, he could tell the kid was scared "Hi, you can call me Tony"

Nix looked up & eyed him, trying to work out why his sister would send him "Hi"

Tony got a first look at the kids face & hair, it was red! and that stare was off-putting & familiar, he got a funny feeling about this kid, but what did the teacher mean by the fact that his sister had them? Gibbs had sent them, what was going on?

Stephens motioned Tony outside "Cabin's only got 1 door, he's safe in here"

While Tony came outside, he didn't budge from the doorway, remembering Gibbs instructions, watch him.

"You have no idea what's going on yet you've obviously been told to not let him out of your sight, what exactly do you know?" Stephens asked as he too stood close to the doorway.

"Like I told Mr Dayle, we've just been given instructions to not let him out of our sight & to not allow anyone baring you two near him until our boss gets here" Tony re-explained "what do you know?"

"All we know is that the kids grandfather may have sent some guys to get him" Stephens answered, he could see the puzzled looks on both Tony & Tim "Let's just say he's not the kind of guy that I want to see come anywhere near Phoenix or his sister, bad news guy. You know nothing about the situation or these kids?"

"Our boss isn't really one for sharing when he doesn't want to, is that a marine thing?" Tony asked, he was suspicious this guy was a marine, or at the very least in one of the military branches.

Dayle smirked "yea, that's a marine thing"

Stephens let out a smirk too "think I like your boss already"

Tony smiled, he looked around, "what's the setup?"

"Phoenix's whole year is up here, that's 60 boys, another 8 teachers. They're all in the rec room which is on the other side of these cabins, they're doing an indoor bootcamp experience as best as the teachers can manage. We don't want to scare of the other boys" Stevens explained.

"You can only get close to the road from the direction you came from the south, to the north & west it turns into quite dense forest, to the east a small river, if they're going to come from anywhere anytime soon, it will be from the south" Dayle added.

Tony nodded, knowing to trust these men's guts "ok, probie do a quick sweep anyway".

Tim nodded & headed off with Dayle.

"Agent DiNozzo" Stephens said calmly, he waited for Tony to look at him "While I can appreciate you are here to keep Phoenix safe, I wont risk the lives of any of my fellow teachers or kids, to me their safety is just as paramount as Phoenix's is"

Tony understood where this guy was coming from "Myself & Agent McGee will do all we can to protect everyone Mr Stephens, that you can certain of, not just Phoenix" though this kid was the most important.

"Good, glad that's cleared up" Stephens was starting to like the cut of this guy "and so you know we've got your backs".

Tony nodded again in understanding.

All four men kept close watch on their surroundings, as time went past the darkness was subsiding & the first rays of sunlight befell the campsite.

Tony had guessed that Gibbs & Ziva were coming from Portsmouth & based on that and Gibbs's driving, should be arriving fairly soon, the silence was rocked though by the sound of gunfire. Tony tensed immediately & had seen the others do likewise "probie stay here"

"Tony, Gi...boss told you watch him, I'll go" McGee replied, almost saying his name before catching himself, he had to admit though he would have preferred to remain behind but Gibbs had told Tony to watch him explicitly.

Tony looked at his junior partner, he knew he was right, but it still cut him the wrong way "just be careful" he saw that Dayle had already gone somewhere.

"He's gone to cover the other boys, I wont risk their lives" Stephens said, though he knew sending one man alone was a risky move, as he told Tony his first priority was the safety of his boys & fellow teachers.

Tony nodded in understanding, he checked his rifle & took a few steps away from the cabin giving him a clearer view of the area, he needed to be ready for anything, he just couldn't help but feel guilt at sending McGee out on his own.

Stephens quickly went into the room, he could see Phoenix was shaking "Phoenix, look at me"

Nix looked up at him, he'd heard the shots & became petrified immediately.

Stephens looked him in the eye "Nothing is going to happen to you, I wont let anyone take you nor let anything happen to you. I make that promise to you as a marine & you know that when a marine makes a promise..."

"he means it" Nix whispered.

Stephens smiled "that's right son, so sit tight, I'm sure your sister will be here soon enough & I wont let anything happen to her either"

Nix nodded.

Tony saw Stephens come back out & handed him his backup "figure a marine knows what to do with this"

Stephens accepted the weapon & readied himself, he heard more gunfire, but it sounded like there were 2 parties firing at each other. How bad was this guy?

A/N: Phew! Tony & Tim got there in time! But oh no.. gun shots! Is it Quinn? What is going on?

How are Gibbs & Kelly doing? How will he react when everything starts to come out? Will Kelly make it all the way & not get sick? and will they get to the campsite in time?

More up soon, so stay tuned! I always love to hear your thoughts/comments, so review away!