CHAPTER 3

The wave-off

Gibbs burst through the door to the control tower. All the people in the room looked up startled, wondering why the very determined looking man had been able to march right in without anybody stopping him. A clumsy looking security guard with a large figure, appeared right after Gibbs. He appeared quite winded. Jenny followed not far behind him.

Gibbs stopped in the center of the room and intensively eyed the men working at their stations. The guard rushed and stood beside him, looking both flushed and upset.

"Sir, you can't just..." he seemed to be searching for a proper word. "enter here without permission. Now I must ask you to come with me." Gibbs turned and gave him an icy stare that actually made him visibly gulp. "Please..." he added a bit nervously.

Jenny came over to them and put a hand on Gibbs' arm. "Jethro..." she started.

Gibbs reached into his pocket and grabbed his badge, flashing it to the people in the room he continued without hesitation. "Federal Agent, who's in charge here?" he didn't yell but it wasn't a peaceful tone either. "Hey! I asked who is in charge in here."

"O...of what...sir?" the guard stammered.

Gibbs gestured angrily toward the runway outside. He raised his voice some. "Of the plane that's coming in for landing right outside the window!"

One tall, curly haired man wearing glasses, stood up and took a step forward. "I am in charge." he peered at Gibbs suspiciously. "May I ask why you want to know?"

Gibbs and Jenny both approached him with the security guard following closely behind, afraid he might get fired if he were to leave the room without at least appearing to make an attempt to hinder the two of them.

"You have to issue a wave-off!" Gibbs ordered.

The man raised his eyebrows and looked about as skeptical as a person could look after having been issued an order that sounded more like something a person in the military would receive. And he still had no idea what had the man so worked up. He cleared his throat before he spoke. "I'm sorry, Sir. But that is impossible. This is an airport. NOT an aircraft carrier. We don't do...wave-offs... at the last minute here."

Gibbs eyes narrowed some and Jenny decided it was her turn to try to get through to this thick headed man. "Sir, my name is Jenny Shepard. I'm sorry for the intrusion but there simply is no time to argue about this. Out there" she pointed to the window and the runway outside, "are two children about to attempt to outrun one of your airplanes. Now you have to stop that plane!"

The man in charge was still looking at them, air brows raised in an almost ridiculing stare. "I don't know what kind of prank you two are trying to pull here, but whatever it is it's not working. Now get out and let us do our jobs."

Jenny glanced at her partner and could tell he was getting dangerously impatient with the man's attitude toward them. He took a menacing step closer, like a tiger approaching its prey, and fixed him with a dangerous stare. "You listen to me," he cast a quick look at the name tag on the man's chest, "Mr Casca. We are Federal Agents." he again showed him his badge. " Are you really stupid enough to think we would rush in here only to make a joke? If anything happens to those children I will hold you personally responsible after receiving the Intel that they are down there. Do you understand me?" he bellowed, having run out of patience now.

At first the curly haired man recoiled a bit but a second later he straightened and stared back at Gibbs. "I don't believe..." he got no further before a young man in his early twenties, seated in front of a computer, turned in his chair and yelled, "Sir! I see a boy and a girl down there! What should I do?"

Panic rose in the room and everyone started talking at the same time. The curly haired man ran straight over to where he was sitting and stared out the window. He could not believe his eyes. There were in fact two kids running right where the plane was about to land in approximately one minute. "Contact the pilot immediately! Tell him to head for runway number two instead! State emergency as the cause."

Knowing they couldn't accomplish much more up there Gibbs got Jenny's attention and gave a nod towards the door. "I think it's time we straighten things out with the people chasing our kids." he murmured as they descended the stairs and headed down to the gates.

The security guard who had tried to stop them looked up and noticed the Agents gone. He quickly ran after them and caught up as they were headed towards the gate area. "Hey you two! I'm sorry for trying to prevent you from accessing..."

"It's alright you were just doing your job." Jenny interrupted as they continued to move.

"Well, I didn't know there were two little kids down there. I hope they're alright." he said trying to keep up with them as he almost tripped over his own feet.

Gibbs stopped for a second as he got an idea that might save them some time. "Take us to where they are most likely to emerge from the runway." he said and took hold of the man's arm, pulling him along with them.

"Uh...uh...sure. I can do that." he said, seeing any possibility of promotion head out the window as he moved alongside the Agents.

=================%%%To be continued%%%==============================

Please review! Coming up next is Gibbs and Jenny meeting Ziva and Tony.