Chapter 23

"Boss, I know where they're going to meet!" It was almost a repeat of Tim's performance a couple of days earlier, but where he had been almost frightening in his intensity, today he was ebullient.

"How?" Ziva asked.

"I remembered. Robertson, he-he talked about it when...before. He was on the phone with someone and said he'd meet them at the end of the pool."

"Are you sure, McGee?"

"Look, I know that I may have misheard. I know that it may have been for something else, but I'm right." He looked steadily at Gibbs. "Boss, I'm right."

Gibbs looked at Tim for a moment, reading him like he read everybody. For once, there was no sign of uncertainty. This McGee was absolutely sure that he knew the answer. Finally, he nodded. "Okay, McGee." He looked at Tony and Ziva. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"On it, boss."

"I've got the short list of attendees. We only know the location of one of them," Ziva reported.

"Where's the one we know?"Gibbs asked.

"Dead. He was killed in Cairo a few months ago."

"I guess he's out then."

"Uh, yeah." Tony said.

"So who are we watching for in addition to Robertson?"

Ziva pointed to the images she brought up on the big screen. "These are the three."

"They're all so young," Tony said.

"I told you it was a student group. Mu'iideen is an Arabic word meaning teaching assistants."

"This is a group of TA's? You've got to be kidding."

"It started that way. The leader is a former professor at the University of Cairo, Mahmoud ibn Hussein. The three that could be at this meeting on Saturday are Khalid Ali, Syed Faisal Pasha, and Ibrahim Alwan. They were all graduate students until they decided to join Ibn Hussein's crusade."

"Why would they deal with an American?" Tony asked. "That would seem to go against what they believe in."

"I don't know, but the al-Qaeda operatives in 9/11 took flying lessons here rather than in the Middle East. I don't think they'd hesitate to take advantage of an American willing to sell them weapons."

Suddenly, McGee spoke up. "Look at his picture, boss." He leaned over and replaced the three students' photos with the old grainy image of Darius Robertson from the FBI file. "He's not Caucasian. His facial features are different. He didn't have an accent when he talked to me though so he'd have to have been here for awhile."

Gibbs turned to Ziva and Tony and asked, "Is it a possibility? You both saw him."

Ziva shook her head. "The brief glimpse I got of him... he was darker skinned than a Caucasian, but not black. It's possible. Darius is a Persian name."

Tony nodded his agreement. "If that's the case, possibly he was actually raised here or his name is simply an alias. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was an alias. We know very little about Darius Robertson before he showed up in the FBI files five years ago. Do you think he'll be there himself or will he send Bourdan in his place?"

"Too dangerous. We know what Bourdan looks like, and we're looking for him already. It would be safer for him to show up himself where we don't have good photos of him. However, we should assume that he'll have back up there, maybe Bourdan, maybe someone we haven't seen yet."

"The Mu'iideen representative will definitely have back up," Ziva added. "This type of transaction will be important enough that they won't leave things to chance."

"Neither will we."

The planning went on, and Tim couldn't help but notice that he was being left out of the takedown. He didn't say anything at the time. Instead, he waited until Tony and Ziva had left and Gibbs was typing something. He sat at his desk, fidgeting, trying to work up the courage to say something.

"What is it, McGee?" Gibbs didn't even look up.

At first, Tim couldn't figure out what to say.

Gibbs looked up. "What?"

"Am I going to be a part of the operation on Saturday, boss?"

Gibbs just stared at him. Tim hated to maintain eye contact, but he wanted to know. He wouldn't back down this time.

"I need to be there, boss. I need to be a part of it."

"Why?"

"I have to see it."

"Why, McGee?"

"Because I need to see that we get Robertson." It was a flimsy argument, and he knew it, but the plain fact of the matter was that he wouldn't really believe Robertson was out of the way unless he saw the arrest himself.

He didn't know it, but Gibbs understood his unvoiced reasons. "I'm sorry, McGee. That's not possible."

"Why not, boss?"

"Think about it. You are the only witness against Robertson right now. He knows it. If you show up and he sees you, that will immediately blow our cover and he just might get away." Tim opened his mouth to argue again. "No, McGee. If you want to be a part of it, you can monitor from here. Maybe you'll even see something we miss."

"Okay, boss," McGee said, but his tone conveyed a completely different message.

"Tim, I understand why you want to be there, and if it were only Robertson, I might agree, but we have the chance to intercept a terrorist cell as well. Nothing can jeopardize that. Are we clear?"

"Yes, boss. I guess I'll go back down to the lab." He stood up and walked to the elevator. When he got to the lab, Abby was gone, on a much-needed break most likely. In a fit of frustration, he kicked one of her chairs. It rolled across the room and tipped over... at Ducky's feet.

"Feel better, McGee?" he asked.

"A little," Tim admitted.

"What happened?"

"Oh, nothing really. I'm just frustrated."

"Why?"

Tim sighed. "It's just that I feel like I've been here forever, and now that there's a possibility of ending the whole thing, I still have to stay here when they go to that meeting on Saturday. Gibbs says it's because I'm a witness."

"But you don't believe him?"

He looked away. "I just wish everything was back to normal, but it never will be."

"Think of it this way, Timothy: In less than two days, this will probably be over and you can go home. It won't make everything 'back to normal' but it will be a step closer."

"You're right, Ducky." It was said with resignation rather than actual acceptance, and Tim walked to his cot and sat down, his head in his hands. He only came out when Abby came back with Chinese food.