Gibbs was able to grab Tony's arm before he raced down the hill.

"Tony!" He tried to pull him down towards the ground and was catching resistance. "We can't take them now; they're ready for it…"

"Gotta get McGee boss…" he started to breathe heavily.

Gibbs grabbed Tony's shoulders and forced eye contact. "Then you die too."

He began to shake his head but when he opened his mouth to speak nothing came out.

"Call Ziva, if my gut is right, she's on her way here too…have her call in back up. This just went to a whole new level."

Tony only stared straight ahead.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs practically shouted. "You with me?"

It was a few seconds before Tony snapped back into reality. "On it." He reached for his phone and noticed the missed phone calls. "Boss…I got like ten missed calls from Ducky."

Gibbs reached for his own phone. "Me too…I'll call him…call Ziva now, I don't want her ending up like…" he stopped himself and took in a breath. "Make the call DiNozzo."

With a nod, he did just that. After a few minutes he turned to find Gibbs back turned to him and his head looking up towards the sky.

"Ziva is coordinating the back up boss…" But he noticed that Gibbs wasn't responding. "Boss?" He reached to tap his shoulder. "Gibbs?" He turned to face him with glossy eyes and a wry smile. "What could you possibly be smiling about?"

"The body in the morgue, it's not Abby."

"They're sure?"

"It's Ducky…he's sure. Palmer noticed one of her tattoos was missing…and they ran with it." He rubbed his temples. "That bastard still has her."

Just then Tony's phone rang and he reached for it quickly. "DiNozzo…okay, Ziva, we're heading there now…" Gibbs then motioned for him to hand over the phone.

"Ziva, we're gonna need blue prints...and… okay…we're five minutes out." He closed it and tossed it back at Tony.

"Why'd you stop your orders boss?"

"Cuz DiNozzo, she'd already done what I was about to ask…"

The drive to the coordinating area was relatively silent, except for the deep sighs that emanated from Anthony DiNozzo. Gibbs managed to offer a few words of comfort amidst his frantic driving.

"We'll get him."

He didn't respond and only took in another deep sigh. When they reached their destination, it was only seconds before Gibbs made his presence known.

"Alright listen up, we got at least fifteen ex cons who are on a revenge mission against myself and Agent DiNozzo, they've already proven they will kill and have already done so twice today…we have sufficient evidence that they are in that compound…" he stopped for a moment. "We have one confirmed agent down and another that is being held hostage. We are unclear at this time whether either are still alive…we must proceed on the knowledge that they are, and move forward on that presumption." He was handed the blue prints moments later. "We're gonna get him, and this is how we're going to do it..."

--- ---

"Tony…" Ziva began as she approached him from behind. "We have a few minutes before we move in, thought you might want to…"

"Talk?" he finished her sentence. "Sorry to disappoint you Ziva, but I'm not in much of a talking mood." He started to walk past her, but she softly reached for his hand.

"When you are…I am here."

He nodded his thanks. "Come on; time to catch ourselves some revenge…"

When they saw Gibbs barking out orders, a sense of calmness came over them. Somehow watching him in action reassured them, that everything would be okay in the end.

"DiNozzo, man your team…David, you're with me."

The assault that was mounted took only minutes. It wasn't long before Tony's team cleared the rear of the compound and rendezvoused with Gibbs near the front gate. Tony's running came to a halt as he saw Gibbs knelt over a familiar body. He stood up slowly as he approached and motioned that Tony step a few feet away. "What do we have DiNozzo?"

"Boss…that's McGee, is he?"

"What do we have?!" He said in a firm tone, and continued to walk Tony away from the body.

"Uh…we uh…most of 'em were taken out, they're all accounted for except…"

"Steeples and Abby." Gibbs finished and watched Tony nod in agreement. He then moved aside and allowed him to have full view of the body.

"He's dead isn't he boss?"

Gibbs only nodded.

"I shouldn't have left him behind, I should've known he wasn't stable…you, you didn't see him…he wasn't himself…"

"He made a choice Tony…the same choice you and I were willing to make. He had to know what he'd be up against."

Tony stormed a few feet away. "I feel like we're losing this battle boss…"

Gibbs shook his head and peered back towards McGee's body.

"The hell we are DiNozzo, the hell we are."