Tony and Ziva were standing in Vance's office in front of his desk. The man seemed quite peeved with them.
"When in the hell were the two of you going to tell me that two of my agents were UA?!" Vance asked angrily. He'd been wrapped up in conferences for most of the day, so he'd only learned about an hour ago that Gibbs and McGee were missing, and that Mike Franks had been brought in. Needless to say, he wasn't happy.
"Sir, you were busy all day," Tony said. It was a lousy excuse and he knew it, but it was all he could come up with.
"And you didn't think that Gibbs and McGee being missing when there is a hit out them was reason enough to interrupt me?!" he asked incredulously.
"To tell you the truth, Director, it did not occur to us," Ziva said. They'd both been so worried about Gibbs and McGee that they just didn't think to fill the director in.
"It didn't occur to you," Vance repeated as though he hadn't heard correctly.
"We were dazzled by their disappearances," Ziva said.
"Frazzled," Tony corrected, an action he instantly regretted as it caused Vance to turn and glare at him.
"We were not thinking clearly enough to inform you of what had happened," Ziva said.
"I see, but you were thinking clearly enough to inform Franks?" Vance asked.
"No sir. Franks called us. He was helping us with information on Juan Garcia. He called to tell Gibbs what he'd found and that's when we told him Gibbs and McGee were missing. He got on a plane right away," Tony explained.
"And what did he find out?" Vance asked.
"Well, apparently Juan Garcia was working for the Reynosa Cartel," Tony told him.
Vance leaned forward in his chair, his interest peaked. "What?"
"We think he was doing their bidding by going after Gibbs and McGee," he said.
"Damn it," Vance cursed. He thought this whole business with the Reynosa Cartel was over when Paloma Reynosa and Alejandro Rivera were killed. It certainly seemed to be over.
"We cannot figure out what the connection is though," Ziva said.
"Yeah. Separately, it makes sense. The Cartel would go after Gibbs for revenge and it's clear that they want McGee because of his wife and mother-in-law, but there's no connection between the two cases. Gibbs had nothing to do with McGee's family and McGee had nothing to do with the vendetta the Cartel has against Gibbs," Tony said. It was actually starting to frustrate him. As hard as he tried, he couldn't for the life of him figure this out.
"And you're sure that they are connected?" Vance asked.
"Absolutely. It's too big of a coincidence," Tony said.
Vance nodded. He had to agree with him. Even without Gibbs' rule, this was just too big to be a coincidence. "Okay. When was the last time Gibbs and McGee were seen?"
"Leaving here. They went to Gibbs' place. We already checked it out. Gibbs' care and keys were there, but they weren't," Tony said.
"Any sign of a struggle?" Vance asked.
"No, there was nothing. There was no sign that anyone else was even in that house. We figure they must of left on their own, but we can't figure out why or where they would go on foot," Tony said.
"If they left on foot. Just because they didn't leave in Gibbs' car doesn't mean they didn't get in another car," Vance said.
"McGee's car is still in the lot here," Tony said. They'd checked it just to be thorough and found it right where he left it.
"But they might have gotten into someone else's car or a cab. It's unlikely, but we have to consider every angle. I'm gonna pull all the traffic camera's by Gibbs' house. You're gonna go over it with a fine tooth comb," Vance said.
"Got it. What about Franks?" Tony asked.
Vance sighed. He really didn't like the idea of Mike Franks being involved. The man had a tendency to ignore the rules and do whatever he wanted. But he had two agents missing and Franks knew one of them like the back of his hand. He could be useful. Besides, all Vance cared about was getting Gibbs and McGee back safely. He didn't particularly care how that was done. "Work with him. Dismissed."
Both agents nodded and left the room.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Two hours later, Ziva and Mike were seated in the bullpen. Ziva was getting antsy. It was seven-o-clock at night, nearly twenty-four hours since they'd last seen Gibbs and McGee, and there were still no leads. They were awaiting the traffic camera's from Metro, but so far there was nothing.
Ziva was pulled from her thoughts by Abby's voice. "Where's Tony?"
Ziva turned to her. "He went for a walk. He should be back soon."
"You get something, Abby?" Mike asked from Gibbs' desk.
"Sort of. I didn't actually find anything, but our drug dealers did make their presences known. I was just downstairs helping Cybercrimes with Timmy's computer. There's some pretty heavy duty spyware on his computer," Abby said.
"Spyware?" Mike asked confused.
"Yeah. It means they were tracking his every move on the computer. So they were spying on him physically and technologically," Abby said.
"But how. McGee is a genius with computers. How could they spy on him without his knowledge?" Ziva asked.
"Like I said, it was really heavy duty. He wouldn't have been able to find it unless he was looking for it," Abby said.
"Can you figure out who put it there?" Mike asked.
"Cybercrimes is working on it, but I don't think it'll come to any surprise as to who it was. It was probably Garcia, and if not, someone else in the Reynosa Cartel," Abby said.
Just then, Tony came through holding a bunch of DVDs. "I got the footage. Hey, Abs, what are you doing up here."
"Later. Let's see the footage," Mike said.
Tony went over to his desk, pulled out one of the DVD's, and inserted it into his computer. "This is the one closest to Gibbs place," he said before keying it to the plasma screen. An intersection immediately came up and they watched as several cars drove by.
They all just watched for a few minutes before something caught his eye. "Pause it."
Tony immediately did so.
"Can you get closer to the black SUV?" Mike asked.
"I'll do it. Out of the way, DiNozzo," Abby said.
Tony immediately moved and let Abby take his seat. He looked to the plasma and saw as the screen closed in on the van. They all immediately saw a man with grey hair in the back and recognized him as Gibbs.
"It is Gibbs. He is in that car," Ziva said.
"I see an arm next to him. That has to be Timmy!" Abby said excitedly.
"But why are they in the car? And who are they with?" Tony asked.
"Only one way to find out. Zero in on the driver, Abby," Mike said.
"I'll try," Abby said before messing around with the computer a bit. The driver of the car immediately became more visible, visible enough that they were able to get a good look.
Mike walked over to get a closer look. Recognition immediately crossed his face. "Son of a bitch."
"What is it?" Tony asked.
"I've met him before," Mike said. It had been a very long time ago and he only met him once, but he didn't forget him. You don't forget anything that had to do with someone you failed to protect.
"When?" Tony asked.
Mike didn't take his eyes off the screen when he answered. "Twenty years ago, through Shannon Gibbs."