A few minutes later, Gibbs and Tim were back in the bullpen with the rest of the team. Tony, who had been on the phone, hung up and turned to Gibbs. "Boss, that was Metro. The body and evidence gathered it "on route, it'll be here soon. They're faxing a photo of the body over now though."

As if on cue, Tony's fax machine went off and a photo slowly appeared. He immediately took it out.

Tim went over to his colleague and took the picture. The man had black hair and brown eyes. "I've never seen this guy before. I don't know who he is."

Gibbs walked up to him. "He was probably a hired gun, McGee. You wouldn't know him."

"But I should've at least seen him. He's been following me for a few weeks at least. I should've seen him at least once. God, I should've known someone was following me," Tim said. He felt like an incompetent idiot. He was a federal agent for God's sake. He should be aware of his surroundings. He should know when he's being watched.

"McGee, none of us knew. Look, there are photos of you with the rest of us at crime scenes," Ziva said as she held up a photo of Tim and Tony in NCIS uniforms outdoors. "None of us noticed that someone was watching you."

"I can't believe someone had the nerve to follow one of us while we were on the job," Tony said.

"Alright, McGee, you've gotta think. Who has a reason to stalk you like this?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't know, Boss. I can't think of anyone who would wanna have me followed or any reason for them to do it," Tim said honestly.

"There's gotta be something," Gibbs said.

"It's could be about a case, Boss. I mean, we do make a lot of enemies with what we do," Tony said.

Gibbs wasn't so sure of that. If it were about a case, they would all be targets. Still, he'd consider the possibility. He wouldn't assume it wasn't about a case. Now wasn't the time to go breaking his own rules.

"Start going through our cases from the last few months. See if anyone looks good for it. Focus on McGee's part in all of them," Gibbs ordered.

"We're on it, Boss," Tim said before moving to go back to his desk.

Gibbs grabbed his arm to stop him. "Not you. I need you to keep thinking about who would do this."

"Boss, I told you, I don't…" Tim trailed off at the look his boss was giving him. "I'll keep thinking," he said before going to his desk and sitting down.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim was still seated at his desk. He'd thought as hard as he could about who could be following him and why, but he'd come up absolutely nothing. Other than on the job, he had no real enemies. No one had any reason to stalk him like this.

Tim was soon pulled from his thoughts when Tony walked through the bullpen carrying an evidence box. "Evidence is here, Boss," he said before bringing it over and putting it on Gibbs' desk.

Tim and Ziva got up and followed Tony over to see what they had.

Tony opened the box and began going through it. He pulled out the file and handed it to Tim.

Tim opened it and immediately started reading. "Hispanic male listed as a John Doe. He was shot in the back of the head. That's really all that's here."

"Yeah, there's not much else here either. We've got samples of his blood. I'll send that to Abby. We'll have to wait on Ducky for the bullet. Oh, here's his cellphone," Tony said as he took it out.

"McGee," Gibbs said simply.

"On it, Boss," Tim said before taking the phone from Tony and going back to his desk to fiddle with it.

"Tony, go ahead and take the blood to Abby. We need to find out who this guy is now," Gibbs said.

"Uh, Boss, I have some texts here, but they're in Spanish," Tim said.

Ziva went over to him. "Let me see, McGee."

Tim immediately handed her the phone.

"Well, there are no names used, but the dialog is very telling," Ziva said.

"Read 'em," Gibbs ordered.

Ziva immediately began reading aloud. "'We have been following them for months and there is still nothing."

"Them? What do you mean them? I thought he was just tailing McGee," Tony said.

"Maybe there are more pictures of the rest of us elsewhere. So maybe it is about NCIS," Tim said.

"I do not think it is about NCIS. I do not even think it is really about you," Ziva said.

"Why?" Tim asked.

"Because the text goes on. It says, 'There is no contact on either end. I say we kill them and draw the bitches out,'" Ziva read.

"So what, Probie's bait? And who else is targeted. He keeps saying 'them'," Tony said.

"Keep reading, Ziva," Gibbs said. He wanted the answer to Tony's question too. He was hoping it would be in the texts.

Ziva read to herself for a minute and then looked up in confusion. "This does not make sense.

"What does it say?" Tim asked.

"It says, 'Fine, but only kill one of them. Kill the boy. The girl will come out of hiding to avenge her husband," she read.

"Well, that obviously isn't about McGee. It must be one of the other targets," Tony said.

Gibbs, meanwhile, was staring at McGee. The younger man's face was drained of all color and he looked to be shaking. McGee obviously thought the texts were him. "McGee?"

Tim looked at his boss. He knew he looked as terrified as he was. There was no possible way for him to hide it. "I... Boss, I..."

"Elevator," was all Gibbs said before getting up and leading the way.

Tim got up and followed his boss, completely oblivious to the confused looks Tony and Ziva were giving him.