Chapter 7 August 2024
"So the doctors are saying she will be in a medically induced coma for up to a month, depending on how her body starts healing. After that it's up to her," Tim reported the latest information about Ellie to Tony and Ziva. "The damage to her spine and spinal cord is extensive. All three bullets lodged in her spine and her neurosurgeon won't risk removing them until her vitals and brain function are stable."
"Damn," Tony shook his head. "So we have no way of knowing from which weapon the shots were fired?"
Tim ran a hand over his face and sighed, "All we know is from the x-rays. Small caliber, most likely either a nine mil or a twenty five caliber. Both fit with handguns found near the deceased at the scene. The guy who Torres says shot Ellie had four weapons; two rifles and the two pistols. One of each caliber on the pistols, both stolen items. Rifles were also stolen about a year ago."
"What happens after they stop giving her drugs to remain in a coma?" Ziva was curious; she felt bad that Ellie had been shot in a raid that should have been textbook simple.
Tim shook his head, "The doctors don't know; it's all up to her and how her body heals. She could remain in a coma, she could regain partial consciousness, or she could, gah… She could die on us."
"Sucks." Tony shuffled the pages on the table in front of him. "Here's what we have about the five we were able to identify as part of Gibbs' vigilante militia." He spread the piles by person; each one had several pictures, personal data, and expertise if known.
"First, we got Gibbs himself," Tony pointed to the pile of information about their former boss. "Trained sniper, known to bend the rules, has murdered before, trained investigator. Pissed at the system for forcing him to retire… Lone wolf until now."
Ziva spread the file about Hampstead on the table, "Briggs Hampstead, FBI. Has a record of disobeying protocol; several disciplinary actions against him at the Bureau. Stuck in a slow-track because of his temper it seems. Grew up poor in the housing projects in Philadelphia. Played football in high school and was first-string for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Had a history of tantrums on the field though. Until now he was also the lone wolf type. His FBI profile shows extensive training in hostage negotiation, witness protection, and a high level of competency with firearms."
"Nick Torres, NCIS. Has been deep undercover in the past. Has a bit of a temper, and an attitude," Tim held up the file on Torres. "He has been a lone wolf as well. Firearms certs are all in the competent to highly competent range. His recent training in firearms has been with sniper-type rifles. Jealous that Bishop was made SFA when Gibbs retired. Still pissed that I won't make him SFA now."
"Darla Langston, the lone female in the group," Ziva spread the pages of the file across the table. "Former Army CID, excellent weapons skills. Trained as a sniper before cross-training for CID. No known employer at the moment but is on full disability from the military. Honorably discharged after a hostage situation went bad; was treated by a psychiatrist for PTSD because of it for six years. Not known if she is currently under treatment or therapy."
Tony spread the final stack of files in front of the other two, "Rick Milham, NCIS agent. Assigned to desk duty as an archivist. He scans paper documents from old case files from twenty or more years ago to make the records digital. Saves space in storage to eliminate all those boxes of paper. Anyhow, he threatened his former team leader with bodily harm; was disciplined because of it and then later had the incident "removed" from his service record when said supervisor was convicted of fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering. Milham was offered a severance package that he didn't like; stated that he wanted his full retirement or he wasn't leaving. So he got sent to be a paper-shuffler in the case archives. Has made it known that he holds former Director Vance responsible for his current situation and lack of promotions that Milham felt he deserved."
"It is a common theme, all of them are angry with the system for one reason or another," Ziva noted. "And all of them have been described as 'lone wolf' also."
Tim sighed and blew out a breath, "So how do we keep track of five of them when there are only three of us?" He was glad that SecNav had sent Diamond and Torres to another team and requested that Tim's status be changed to 'special mission for SecNav' in official records of job assignments.
~Vigilante~
"Unka Leon," Arianna poked at his arm. "Unka Leon," she tried again a bit louder and a bit harder with the poking. "Wake up Unka Leon. Me scared."
"Arianna? What's wrong baby?" Leon sat up wiping the sleep from his eyes; he glanced at the clock on his nightstand. 0445; daylight was just starting to peek through the window blinds.
"Me scared," she held out her arms to be picked up. Leon lifted the little girl onto the bed beside him.
"What scared you? A bad dream?"
She shook her head and opened her eyes wide as saucers. "HIM," she pointed at the doorway to Leon's room. He followed her finger to see Gibbs standing in the door.
"What the fu… freak? How did you get in here?" Leon moved off the bed and stood in front of the child, placing himself between her and Gibbs.
"Won't harm the kid," Gibbs smirked at his former coworker and boss. He raised his hand and shot into the other man's knee. Leon noted no sound so the weapon must have a silencer.
Leon crumpled to the floor in pain, "Damn it; why did you do that?"
"YOU A MEANIE HEAD!" Arianna shouted at Gibbs. "MEANIE, MEANIE; BAD MAN! YOU HURTED UNKA LEON!"
Delilah heard the shouting from her room; she quickly sat up and maneuvered into her chair. She grabbed the firearm that Leon had placed in her nightstand 'just in case' and silently wheeled towards the shouting.
"Arianna Maria DiNozzo, born 13 January 2022," Gibbs spoke woodenly, no trace of emotion in his voice. "The spawn of…"
"What the?" Delilah cut Gibbs off from behind. "How the hell did you get in here, much less find us?"
Gibbs spun around to face Delilah; Leon took advantage of the distraction to pull his weapon from the nightstand. He eased up onto the chair beside the bed, grimacing in pain from the wound in his knee.
"Arianna, get under the bed; let's play active shooter drill," Delilah shouted to the little girl.
"K," she dove under the bed as instructed by her aunt. Leon made a mental note to thank De for her quick thinking later.
Gibbs turned around to Leon; he spotted the weapon in the man's hand and put a bullet through the former director's wrist. The pistol that Leon had been holding clattered to the floor.
"Gibbs, why are you doing this? Come on, Leon is your friend." Gibbs spun on De, aiming the pistol in his hand at her head. "You don't want to shoot all of us."
He growled, "Don't wanna do none of it; forced to do things my way by him." He jerked his thumb at Vance who was fighting to stay conscious with the pain. Luckily, he wasn't bleeding much, so far.
"What do you want?" Delilah persisted, trying to talk Gibbs down.
"Get all the children in one room; get him a towel or something to wrap around his wounds. Don't try nothin' stupid; I got others watching the house outside. DO IT, NOW," he waved the gun at her. "Arianna, come out from under the bed; game's over."
"NO, AN' DE NO SAY SAFE WORD."
Gibbs noted that Delilah was too far away to say whatever the child was expecting to hear; he looked to Leon, "What's the kid talkin' 'bout?"
"Have… safe… word… so… kids… know… it…" he groaned loudly as his wrist suddenly felt as though it were on fire. The bullet was probably lodged against a nerve bundle. "Know… it… is… safe… to come… out… of… of…" He took a deep breath, "Hiding."
"You gonna tell me? Or make me guess?"
"Arianna… you can… come… out… 'kay… now…" Leon spoke around flashes of pain in both his knee and his wrist. "Nes qatan."
"Toda raba," the little girl peeked out from under the side of the bed. "Meanie head go away?"
"Not... yet, baby… but... come... on out," Leon struggled to sound normal; he didn't want the child to be any more scared than she already was.
Gibbs pulled the wheeled office chair from Leon's computer desk over to where the man sat. He shoved him into the wheeled chair roughly. "Where would she gather the other kids?"
"Living room." Vance pointed with his good hand in the direction of the room.
De had awakened each of the four other children; Johnny and Morgan were both asleep on Morgan's bed. Ariella had crawled into Tali's bed during the night. "We got a situation, head to the living room, quietly," she instructed the kids. "Sit on the sofa and be as quiet as you can. Okay?"
The kids all nodded and walked quietly to the living room as asked. De noticed Gibbs pushing Leon on his office chair. Arianna was holding her uncle's good hand and looked terrified. From the look on the child's face alone, De knew that it would take her a long time to forgive her husband's former boss for whatever he was doing, if ever.
"Delilah, Leon, don't even think about tryin' anything stupid. I'm gonna put him next to you, but away from the kids," Gibbs wheeled Leon to the opposite side of the room from the sofa where the four older kids sat. Both adults could see the fear on the children's faces. "Arianna, go with your sisters. NOW!" he barked at the little girl. She ran to Tali who wrapped an arm around each of her little sisters; Johnny and Morgan held hands as they watched wide-eyed.
Gibbs used a belt and one of the towels De brought from the hall linen closet to make a bandage of sorts for Leon's knee. He also wrapped the belt around Leon's good leg, effectively binding the man's legs together to keep him from trying to stand or move. As added prevention of movement, he wrapped duct tape around both legs as well. He used a second towel to wrap around Leon's wrist and then duct taped his arm to the chair's armrest. He didn't bind Leon's left arm.
He then turned to Delilah and dropped a smart phone in her lap, "Want you to make a video for me." As she nodded, he continued, "Will tell you when to record."
Finally, Gibbs strode over to the sofa; he looked over the five frightened children. "Arianna, the youngest DiNozzo – David spawn. Talia DiNozzo, born 7 June 2014, a month early. Oldest DiNozzo – David spawn. Ariella Eve DiNozzo, born 18 October 2020; they didn't waste any time when she reappeared." He pointed at each of the girls as he spoke.
"John McGee; Morgan McGee, born 21 November 2017," he returned to Tali. "Tali, get up." He motioned with his hand for the ten year old to rise. "Leave your sisters on the sofa." Tali rose and looked Gibbs in the eyes. He swore she was channeling her mother with the look she gave him.
"Walk in front of me towards Delilah," he ordered. Tali obeyed and no sooner had she moved so her back was to the man than he grabbed her around the neck and shoulders. He pulled a knife from his pocket and held it at the girl's throat. He nodded at De, "Start recording NOW."
De hit the button to start the video; she could see the fear in Tali's eyes, but she could also see Ziva's fiery determination and Tony's dogged persistence. She prayed that Gibbs would keep his promise not to harm any of the kids.
"DiNozzo, David, McGee; I know you three are somehow trying to bring me in. I warned all of you to leave me alone and let me do things my way. Would hate to see this girl have to lose her mother again and have her father be absent from her life again. Would hate to see any of these five kids be without a parent or two.
"Ya need to back off; leave me and my team to do our jobs. I could very easily take your kids from you like my Kelly was taken from me; ain't hard to do these days. While you're at it, ya need to send help to this location for Leon. He's not doin' too well at the moment. Multiple gunshots to the limbs…" Gibbs sneered at Vance.
"Stop the video," he barked at Delilah. She pressed the button to stop recording. "Send it to DiNozzo, David, and McGee… numbers are already in the phone. Do it now, and show me proof of sending." Delilah did as instructed.
"Just one… thing…" Leon struggled to speak through the pain. Gibbs turned to the former director; Leon had the weapon that De had slipped to him in his left hand, aimed at Gibbs.
Gibbs raised his own weapon, "You don't want to kill me in front of the kids." He glared at Leon, daring him to pull the trigger.
"I want… to… know… how… you found… us…"
Gibbs smirked again, "Got my ways. But since you can't do a thing about it now, I'll tell ya. Remember that outing to the roller rink in June? Well, one of the two agents who came for extra security is workin' for me. Milham just happened to get put on that detail, and I got some much-needed intel when he recognized you."
"Milham?"
"Yeah, the one you sent to archives to scan paper into computer files…" with that, Gibbs turned and ran as fast as his bad knees would allow to the front door. He yanked the door open and flashed a light towards the driveway. Langston pulled Gibbs' truck onto the walkway to the front porch and slid over in the seat. Gibbs climbed in the driver's side and floored the accelerator; hurtling the truck down the driveway to the road.
~Vigilante~
Tony, Ziva, and Tim were sorting through case files and news reports trying to predict a possible next target for the vigilante group. Ellie's recording had captured some conversation about a job that needed two or three of the group. Tim was listening to the voice recording with headphones and digital enhancing software hoping to pick up any missed parts of the conversation.
All three of their regular cell phones chimed with the incoming text alert tones. Ziva reached over for her phone and swiped the screen, thinking that it could be an update on Ellie's condition from Jimmy or Kasie. She opened the message and dropped her phone, her mouth opened in a silent scream. Tony took one look at Ziva as her phone hit the floor and rushed to his wife's side.
"Zi? What is it?"
She pointed at her phone, "HIM… He has… he has…" She swallowed hard and fought back tears. "HE has Tali," she whispered as she flung her arms around her husband.
Tim sensed something was wrong and removed his headphones. He turned and glanced at Tony and Ziva hugging each other and staring at Ziva's phone with shocked looks. He was about to say something when he heard Gibbs' voice.
The three listened to the entire message and then Tim used his secure cell to call SecNav directly. Help and agents were on the way to Capon Bridge within minutes of the call.
~Vigilante~
Tobias Fornell adjusted the small digital recording device under his shirt for the third or fourth time; he should have listened to McGee and used the device that resembled a small patch that adhered to the wearer's skin. He turned the handle of Gibbs' front door.
Gibbs was cleaning his weapons in his living room when Tobias walked in his front door; the last person he expected to see that night.
"Hey, Gibbs," Fornell greeted his long-time friend.
"Thought you retired to Vermont," Gibbs didn't look up from his pistol.
The retired FBI agent shrugged, "Vermont gets boring; decided to visit my old friends in DC."
"You're lyin'."
"Yeah, I am. McGee and the DiNozzos asked me to talk to you; try to get you to turn yourself in."
"Ain't done nothin' that calls for me to turn myself in."
"Well, I've heard differently. Heard you got yourself a vigilante group and you've been taking out cop killers, bad cops, murderers who got off, et cetera," Fornell sat on the arm chair across from Gibbs. "What ya got to say for yourself?"
"Ain't doin' anything that isn't justice."
"What about the threats on the DiNozzo kid?"
"Didn't harm her; you know I don't hurt kids. Only tryin' to get the parents off my back."
Tobias felt the recording device shift under his shirt. He tried to reposition it with his hand surreptitiously. The former NCIS agent noticed his movements and became suspicious.
"Open your shirt," he ordered.
Tobias unbuttoned his shirt and exposed the recording device. Gibbs grabbed it and threw the device on the floor. Tobias reached for the weapon tucked in the back of his waistband. Gibbs lunged and the two fought over the pistol. A shot rang out; Fornell dropped to the floor with his hands on his abdomen.
"You shot me… in the gut!" he gasped out before losing consciousness.
Gibbs watched the man bleed onto his throw rug; good thing the throw rug was just the right size to roll up around a body. He checked for a pulse, but felt nothing. He rolled the body of his former friend in the rug. He dialed a familiar number on his cell.
"Hampstead, I need a favor. Need you to help me move a damaged carpet tonight."
An hour later the two men were in Gibbs' truck outside the NCIS main gate. They waited for the usual early morning delivery trucks to queue at the entrance. With the guards distracted, the two men carried the rolled up carpet to the sidewalk near the gate. The two then left in the opposite direction from the guard house, using the eighteen-wheeled delivery trucks as a block to visuals.
~Vigilante~
Tim, Tony, and Ziva sat in the director's office with SecNav and the new NCIS director; the room had been secured prior to anyone speaking.
"Are we any closer to having anything that can stick as far as charges?"
"Kasie is working to enhance the video from the main gate; if we can get a positive id on the two individuals who left Fornell for dead at the gate, we can start there with charges," Tim explained. "By the way, how is he doing?"
SecNav had a grim look, "He is expected to pull through; lost a lot of blood and nearly bled out, but the surgery repaired the hole in his intestine. He'll have a long road ahead to recovery though."
"What about the kids, Delilah, and Leon?" Ziva asked.
"They are in the safe house; two more agents are guarding them twenty four seven. Leon has a cast on his arm and on his leg; the bullets were removed as you know. The one in his leg shattered the patella; he may need rehab after the cast comes off.
"Two additional armored vehicles, identical to the one Leon was using, were sent late at night to whisk the five kids and Delilah away from the safe house while Leon was at the ER in a nearby town. The three vehicles travelled north to a grain farm outside Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Two of the vehicles entered the farm property; the third vehicle returned to the prior location," SecNav told the parents as much as she could without revealing the location of the two families. She knew that the third vehicle had been the one with De and the kids. It was a brilliant plan; take them back to the safe house that had been home since March. NO one would even think to look for them there since the location had been compromised.
"Let's wind this up as soon as possible; I'm authorizing whatever you need to bring this situation to a swift end. You name it; you got it, within reason."