A/N: The story is back. I've been pretty sick with asthma and bronchitis, and I can't say that my direction is as clear as it should be. Hopefully, you're still with me. Sheila

The Fear Game

Chapter 4

The buttons on the elevator blurred for Gibbs, and he wished he remembered where he'd left his glasses. DiNozzo reached past and pushed the correct one. The two of them hadn't talked since they left the warehouse. The intensity of the last 24 hours had left them exhausted in every way.

The door opened and they looked around the critical care unit. Tony spotted Ducky at the nurse's station and led the way. The medical examiner looked up and nodded. "You both look done in. I had some blankets and pillows brought into the waiting room."

"What about Tim?"

Ducky looked at Gibbs. "He's sedated while they continue evaluating his condition. It's unorthodox, but x-rays showed serious damage to his rib cage. His pressure is low, but they haven't detected any internal bleeding. It's a miracle, really."

"His hand, Ducky. I can't get the visual out of my head."

"Yes," Ducky took off his glasses and wiped them absently. "They are trying to save the hand. Several bad breaks."

Tony frowned. "He could lose it?"

"It's a possibility. He's probably going to need several surgeries to repair the damage. It's hard to know if he'll have any function at all."

"Damn!" Tony shook his head and looked away.

"Do we have the best people, Duck?"

He nodded. "It seems SecNav has a soft spot for our Timothy. She got a hold of the best Orthoped in the country, according to the surgeons here. She'll be here in a few hours."

Gibbs nodded. "Good."

"The two of you need rest."

"We want to see him."

Ducky shook his head. "He's very drowsy right now, and he needs complete calm. Shock is still very much an issue. I've been going in off and on to sit with him, but right now I should be the only one outside of other medical personnel. You'll have to trust me on this."

A nurse looked up from her notes. "There is a gentleman that went in about 15 minutes ago. He said he was authorized."

Ducky frowned. "I didn't authorize- who was it?"

She shrugged. "He must be still in there. I haven't seen him leave."

Ducky turned sharply and headed into McGee's room, Gibbs and DiNozzo on his heels. They walked in and saw a large man leaning over Tim talking softly.

Gibbs stepped up. "Agent Miltonoff, what are you doing?"

The grizzled face looked up. "Just checking in with my friend, Tim."

"No! Absolutely not. You will not speak to my agent without my permission."

Miltonoff looked at McGee. "Very possessive, this one. I hope that he and I don't do too much wrestling over this case."

"Boss wants what's best," McGee murmured softly.

"Right now, that means no visitors," Ducky said sharply.

Tim raised his head, his eyes bleary. "Marv saved my life."

"No one is forgetting that," Gibbs said tightly. "But there is a time and a place. You need quiet right now. You've got a lot of healing to do."

"Don't want to be alone," McGee said softly.

Gibbs looked at Ducky. "Let me sit with him for awhile. No stress."

"Boy has a story to tell," Miltonoff said as he got to his feet.

"And it'll have to wait until he's more coherent." Gibbs said. "We owe you a lot, Miltonoff, but right now, you're going to have to back off."

Marv smiled at Tim. "He's still sore I wouldn't let him stay in the warehouse with you and I. We'll talk later, buddy."

McGee nodded.

Tony shrugged. "I'll sit here. I can be quiet."

"You? Quiet? I've never seen it" Ducky patted his shoulder. "If I weren't so tired, I'd be doubled over in laughter. Come on, Anthony. You, I, and Agent Miltonoff will get some coffee."

Gibbs settled into the chair next to Tim's bed as the room cleared. He put a calloused hand over McGee's uninjured hand and squeezed gently. "So damn good to have you out of that warehouse. I think I held my breath for almost two hours there."

Tim nodded. "You found me fast. Darrell didn't count on that."

"You know we have that son of a bitch. I told you that, right?"

McGee closed his eyes. "Good. Winston?"

"Don't worry. We'll find him."

Gibbs thought McGee had drifted off again when he heard. "Boss, am I going to lose my hand?"

Gibbs frowned. "Nobody's talking like that, Tim."

"Hmm," McGee nodded. "You're a good liar, Boss. I can never spot it on you."

Something about that stung and Gibbs grimaced. "SecNav is sweet on you, Tim. She's flying in the best. I suspect you're going to have a surgery or two over the next few days."

"I see." McGee swallowed. "Diane and Emily are safe?"

"Yup. I told you before."

"I have to apologize-"

"No!" Gibbs squeezed his hand harder. "You did exactly the right thing."

McGee frowned. "You were expecting me to fail?"

"No! I expected you to use that call to warn her."

"You believe that, right?"

He nodded. "It's what I would've done."

McGee focused on his face. "There's never a tell with you. I always show the truth in my face. Can't help it, but you- you're like a statue."

"Nothing to find, Tim."

He closed his eyes again. "Feels like there should be."

"Torture does that, Tim. It exposes all your fears. Steals your confidence."

Tim breathed into the pillow. "Ducky said this whole thing started 36 hours ago. Seems impossible. Can a person really loose everything they are in such a short time?"

Gibbs stared at him as McGee's eyes closed and his breath deepened. "Tim? Tim?"

Gibbs sighed and he sat back in the chair. He waited a few minutes to see if Tim woke again, but his agent's grasp on consciousness was gone.

….

"Wake up, Jethro. Wake up!" Gibbs startled at the hand on his shoulder, eyes blinking open wide, as his hand instinctively reached for his gun.

Fornell stepped back. "Probably good that you can't carry your weapon in the hospital."

"What's going on?! Where's McGee? What time is it?"

"He went into surgery a few hours ago. Ducky made the executive decision to let you sleep."

Gibbs got to his feet, running his fingers through his hair. "Coffee."

Fornell reached behind him and grabbed a steaming cup from a table. Gibbs took it and sipped at it. The scowl on his face betrayed the quality of the java.

"Hey, I didn't have time to stop somewhere fancy."

Gibbs sniffed. "What do we know? What's new?"

"Diane and Emily want to see Tim."

He shook his head. "No way."

"Yeah. That's what I thought. Had to ask. She's determined and you know what that's like."

"He can't handle the emotions right now, and they can't handle what those bastards did to him. Incarcerate her if you have to. But that's not your big news. I can see the look on your face."

Fornell grimaced. "We made a deal to get the address on McGee. Darrell now has the right to an attorney. He made a phone call and a very high priced lawyer showed up a few hours ago. Darrell knows that we didn't get Winston and that McGee is alive. I was hoping we could've surprised him with those details."

"The deal was broken when he lied about not being at the warehouse."

"McGee hasn't made a formal statement yet. And once he gets a lawyer, we can't take him away."

Gibbs shrugged. "Maybe, we lose the edge on finding Winston, but Darrell is still going to have to take a plea. McGee can place him in the warehouse."

"Still, wish we could've had another run at him without the lawyer."

"Let's go check on my agent," Gibbs said as he headed out of the hospital room.

…

The waiting room looked a mess with blankets, pillows, and agents draped over all available furniture. Ducky was the only seated upright. He looked up at Gibbs and Fornell. "Good afternoon, Jethro."

"What's happening to McGee?"

"Lovely surgeon by the name of Zehringer has mapped out three surgeries over the next week. Very optimistic. She's in the midst of the first one right now."

"She can't do it in one surgery?"

Ducky sighed. "The bones in his hand are in pieces, Jethro. To say that this is an ambitious endeavor is an understatement."

"Yes, of course," he said. "I just want him to be well again."

"Patience!" Ducky scolded. "This will be no small journey as you well know."

Heads popped up from under blankets. Bishop stretched her arms. "Do we know something?"

"Time to get up and wash your face. We have work."

She nodded and nudged Abby whose pigtails were in wild disarray. "How is McGee?"

"Still in surgery, Abbs, but we need you in the lab processing evidence from the warehouse."

She looked at Ducky who nodded. "I'll keep good watch over our Timothy."

DiNozzo was scratching his head. "Where's Miltonoff? I was going to tag along with him."

"He's at my office coordinating the search for Winston. There are probably only three other agents in the bureau that know as much about militia groups as he does."

"What the hell? He was going to wait for me," Tony said as he tried to smooth out his wrinkled suit jacket.

"You needed sleep, Tony. We all did," Ducky said.

"Well, we did that. Everybody, go home, shower, eat, and meet me at the office." Gibbs started for the elevator.

"We should be here when he wakes," Abby mumbled.

Ducky took her by the shoulders. "When he is ready for visitors, you will be my first call."

"Then me," Tony announced as he grabbed his bag. "The probie will need me. No one understands that computer of a brain like I do."

"Me too, please," Bishop said to Ducky as she scrambled after the others. "I'm new but I care."

….

Miltonoff looked up when they walked in. "Tobias, your office is chaos from the very depths of hell."

Fornell snorted. "I've seen your space in Nashville. You are not one to talk."

"Okay. My space is impeccable. Can we be done with the chitter chatter now?" Gibbs growled.

Miltonoff sighed. "He's not warming up to me, Tobias."

"The two of you in one room together is like a testosterone tornado. Both of you just need to get over it." Fornell jerked his thumb at Miltonoff. "Get out of my chair already."

Miltonoff moved his considerable bulk over to an armchair and scowled. "You pull this one out of an elementary school?"

Fornell pushed his office chair at him and perched on the edge of his desk. "Game plan."

Gibbs ignored the chair left to him. "Darrell is sewn up. McGee's alive. We called his bluff. Game over. Winston is our concern now."

Miltonoff shook his head. "I've been studying the Arnolds for a good long time. They don't acknowledge the rule books we use. These fellers have been living off the grid for years. They are real heroes to the militia movement. They come in, do a job, and move on. No address. A different burn phone every month."

"I get it. Winston will be hard to find."

"I think it's a little more complicated than that, Gibbs. Darrell has him some high priced counsel. Hiram Baker. He's out of Michigan. He's had a 2nd amendment focus and militia type clientele for a long time. A real good track record too."

"Marv, we have a solid case," Fornell said.

"If it's so solid, why did they send down Hiram? And how the hell did he know that McGee was alive? Your leak is still a problem."

"And here we are talking about it in the place where the leak originated," said Gibbs.

Fornell shook his head. "They swept everything last night. No bugs. And as for a mole, information is being shared with only senior agents- people I've known for a decade or more."

"Are we back to the theory it's in my house?" Gibbs glared.

"Vance starting sweeping your floor early today. We have to check everything."

Miltonoff leaned toward Gibbs. "I'm worried about McGee."

"He'll recover."

"I'm worried this isn't over for him."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I don't think we're going to have to look for Winston. I think he's going to find us."

"McGee said he was lost without his brother. He was sloppy. He left the detonator behind."

"Yup. That's our Winston. He listens to his brothers. He's got Chuck's execution coming in a few weeks, and then there's Darrell captured. He's really feeling it right now. He's got to be waiting for orders."

"From who?"

"Darrell."

"He's locked up tight, Miltonoff."

"And he's got a shady ass militia lawyer. Hiram will pass on what he feels like, and couch it in client privilege. He's done it before."

"What's Darrell's message to Winston?"

Miltonoff sighed. "Darrell is all about Darrell. He likes acting Robin Hood to the anti-government crowd, but his endgame has always been about his glory and his glory alone. He had a chance to get out of this, but Winston screwed that up. My guess is that his message to Winston right now is 'fix it'."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. "You know a lot for a guy who's had 7 years to put his hands on this perps and had no luck."

"Ain't that the truth," Miltonoff snorted. "Tell me something I don't know."

There was silence for a moment as they all contemplated Miltonoff's admission and then Gibbs nodded. "My team has a remarkable skill set. You got the instincts, munitions expertise, and a history with the Arnolds. We're going to work together just fine."

"Well hell, shit, and damn, and here I was wondering how many more of your team I was going to have to save to get a nice word out of you."

"Don't take it personal, Marv. Jethro here isn't an easy man to know."

Gibbs' phone sounded and he pulled it out. "DiNozzo." He put it to his ear and listened. The granite face darkened. "Be there in 30."

"What's up?" Fornell studied him.

"The leak is with me. Two bugs in my bullpen. I gotta go." Gibbs grabbed his coat and headed out. Fornell leapt off his desk and followed.

…..

Tony stood against the wall, arms folded, and watched technicians go through their desks inch by inch. Bishop stood next to him. He could feel her twitchiness. She wanted to ask questions, brainstorm ideas, but he was hard as steel and rebuffed all attempts at dialogue. It was only when Gibbs got off the elevator and headed toward them that he spoke. He pointed at Gibbs' desk. "Traitors. One found underneath your desk in the front. One buried in the light above your desk. In our house, this happened. They're in our house."

It was as if he was spitting words, and Gibbs barely acknowledged him. He gave a barely perceptible nod, and DiNozzo followed him and Fornell up the stairs. Bishop started to follow, but Tony turned, shaking his head sharply.

Gibbs pushed straight into Vance's office. Vance was standing at the window and turned. "I've been waiting for you."

"What do we know?"

"Miss Scuito has the bugs. They are state of the art. Sophisticated audio. Probably picked up every conversation you had. Trying to figure out if there were other ways we were compromised. Scuito says that they are short term devices. Couldn't have been there for more than a few weeks. We're going to do a review of cases you might have discussed-"

"I know when it happened," Tony interrupted. "It was about a week ago. Tim was making faces after a phone call. You know how he is. I made him talk. I always do. Never leave well enough alone. He said he was worried that Fornell was going to take his helping Emily out the wrong way. Seems Diane kept it from you for a bit. Tim, of course, thought you were going to stomp him for helping her with algebra. We talked about it back and forth maybe five minutes. It was their way in. I'm sure I mentioned his name. I'm always saying McGee this, McGee that."

Gibbs looked at Fornell. "They thought the best way to you was through me?"

"You and I know that this was about opportunity. They couldn't find a way into my building, but they could find their way into yours. It happens."

Vance slapped his desk. "That's not good enough! We have a rat in my house and I want it found!"

"Cameras?"

"Nothing is a direct angle on your desk, but we've pulled everything from the last month that highlights the bullpen. I have a team in a room right now working on it. They're going to be drinking coffee and sleeping on cots until they find something."

"Bishop has been with you less than six months," Fornell observed.

"No," said Gibbs. "It's not her."

"Still, I want her on the outside for right now," Vance said. "She's too new and emotions are going to get raw around something like this. People are going to point fingers."

Gibbs nodded. "She's tough enough, but you're right. Let's put her somewhere she can look over the cases we've had in the bullpen the last month. We can have her analyze threat, liability, whatever."

Fornell looked at each of them. "How are you feeling about McGee's protection? Marv raised some possible concerns. You feel good about his detail?"

Vance shook his head and looked away.

"It's a tough question. I know. I'm not trying to offend. I'm asking because I'm offering to use bureau agents for his detail."

"Not going to happen."

"Jethro, you have a mole."

Gibbs pointed a finger. "And we don't know how safe your house is either. Arnold's lawyer did not find out that McGee was alive from those bugs. We haven't been in the bullpen since we found him. You and I both know they've been trying to get a foot in your house a lot longer than here. I don't want to risk it."

Tony looked from one to the other. "Miltonoff mentioned concerns about McGee's protection. What does that mean?"

Gibbs turned. "It means that I need you to get over to that hospital and personally take over McGee's protection detail. Miltonoff believes that Winston will try and fix his mistake."

…

Tony couldn't sit still. He bounced from one end to the room, careful to give ample space to the hand they had trussed up in a wire contraption. The wound wasn't closed like Tony expected after a surgery. There was some complex explanation having to do with the next surgery being in a couple of days. Tony had scowled at the nurse the whole time she spoke about it while McGee seemed to take the whole thing in stride. Morphine did that for a person.

McGee watched him pace. "Tony, please sit down."

"What if I put a towel over it?"

"It's elevated. I can't see anything."

"I can."

"Then sit down."

Tony plopped down in the chair. "It's starting to hurt, isn't it? We can get a nurse in here."

McGee shook his head. "You said Gibbs and Fornell are coming. They need me sharp. Time to give a statement."

Tony studied his hands.

McGee watched him. "You don't have to stay."

"Yeah, I do."

"Winston isn't coming for me. He's hiding under a bed somewhere. You should be out looking for him."

"18 hours with him and you know everything you need to know?"

"It was that kind of day, Tony. I can tell you the look on Darrell's face right now. I can tell you that Winston is sitting somewhere lost without his brother, and I can tell you that I am not ever going to be the same."

"What does that mean?"

He shook his head.

"It's going to get better, Tim."

"I begged, Tony. I pleaded. I cried. I would've given them Diane and Emily if they'd played me right. Most men live their whole lives and never know the truth of that. I know that truth now."

"Don't. Nobody lives through something like that, and comes out right. It's impossible. You need some time, perspective. You can tell yourself whatever you want, but the truth is that you didn't give in and they are alive because of it."

He swallowed. "I don't want my gun back or my badge. I'm an agent anymore."

Tony stood. "That's enough. The pain in your hand must be agony. I'm going to get a nurse."

McGee's chin trembled and he looked away.

Tony got out the door and leaned against it, closing his eyes.

"DiNozzo."

He turned and saw Gibbs and Fornell coming his way.

"How's McGee?"

"Still back in that warehouse, Boss."

"We're going to move him. U.S. Marshals are on their way."

"What!? His detail is mine!"

"Tony, we just don't know what we're dealing with yet. We got bugs, a fugitive on the loose, Darrell lawyered up, and a pending execution. Neither Fornell and I can control who talks to whom. Too many variables."

"No! He is messed up! His hand is all jacked up! We do not send him away!"

Gibbs walked into him. "Tony, this is not a discussion. It's going to happen."

"You didn't hear him in there. He's not right in the head."

"I know that but right now, we have to focus on safety. I've talked to the surgeon. He's getting transported somewhere safe. She'll finish the surgeries. He'll recover, and in the meantime, we are going to put our houses in order."

"You can't send him alone."

"I can't spare you, Tony."

"This isn't right."

Gibbs shook his head as he pushed past him into the room. "None of it is."