Tim made his way down the hall of a local hotel. He stopped about halfway down and knocked. The door was opened seconds later by Doctor Nate Getz. "Hey, Doc."

"Hey, Tim. It's good to see you," Nate said before shaking his hand.

Tim walked inside. "I assume you know everything."

Nate closed the door behind him. "You mean that Callen has been arrested and the CIA is actively obstructing the rest of you? Yeah, I know. I also know you've been working with your old team. You had to be pretty desperate for that."

Tim nodded and sat down at the small table by the bed. "So how'd you find me? Sam or Kensi tell you?"

"Are you kidding?" Nate asked as he sat down across from him. "The whole team is under a microscope right now. They can't even go to a coffee shop without the CIA knowing it. Hetty gave me a call, and she was only able to do that undetected because... Well, she's Hetty," Nate said as though it explained everything, which it did.

Tim laughed. "Yeah, that pretty much says it all, doesn't it? If anyone can get past the CIA it's her."

"Well, you managed too," Nate pointed out.

"That's because Trent Kort is an arrogant bastard and he underestimated me," Tim said.

"People really should stop doing that. It never ends well for them," Nate said. He'd seen quite a few people underestimate Tim. They ended up regretting it every time.

"Well, it works for me. Because Kort underestimated me, I was able to get information I wouldn't have been able to otherwise," Tim said with a smirk.

"Such as?" Nate asked.

"The CIA has a paper trail between Callen and the terrorist group. I've got Ziva working on it with her father. Hopefully she'll have the proof to exonerate him soon" Tim said. He believed that Ziva and her father would get the information to free Callen. The issue he was having was doing nothing to free his friend in the meantime. He just wished he could do something.

"That's ridiculous. Even if Callen were capable of betraying his Country, which he's not, he's not stupid enough to leave a trail," Nate said.

"Of course not. He's being set up. Care to take a guess on who I think is doing it?" Tim asked.

Nate sighed. "CIA." It was pretty obvious what Tim thought. Hell, he even thought it. Why else would the Agency try to keep NCIS out of it? They were trying to hide something. The question was why would they do something like that?

Tim nodded. "Yeah. More specifically Kort and his band of low lives. Either he did something to piss them off or they're the ones involved with terrorists and they want to make Callen their fall guy. I personally think it's the latter."

"Okay, Don't take this the wrong way, Tim, but isn't that a bit farfetched?" Nate asked. It wasn't that he didn't trust Tim's instincts because he did. It was just that he found it hard to believe the CIA would actually get involved with terrorists.

Tim shook his head. "You don't know Kort like I do. He's as shady as they come. He doesn't follow the rules. He's more than capable of it, Nate."

Nate was silent for a minute. He then leaned forward and looked at Tim seriously. "If you're right, it could turn the Agency upside down. A CIA operative involved with terrorists? Nobody would ever trust them again."

"It's better than the alternative," Tim said. The alternative was members of their own government betraying them over and over again. That would be even worse for the entire Country.

"Agreed, but the CIA will never let it see the light of day. Even if you do exonerate Callen, the CIA will find another way to keep it under wraps," Nate said.

"There's no way in hell I will let that happen," Tim said firmly.

Nate shifted uncomfortably. He knew that look. He'd seen it often in Tim before. It was determination. In most cases, it made him a damn good agent, but sometimes determination could be dangerous, especially when it involved the CIA. "Tim..."

"No, Nate! There's no way in hell I'm going to let Kort and his cronies get away with this," Tim said. He'd already promised himself that Kort would pay for what he did and he intended to keep that promise.

"Tim, I know you think you owe Callen, but he would not want you to risk yourself like this out of revenge for him," Nate told him.

"I don't think I owe, Callen, Nate, I do owe him. But that's not what this is about. You're right, I could just let this end with Callen's exoneration and he would be okay with that. Hell, it's what he'd want, but I won't do that. This is about more than just Callen. Kort went too far this time. He came after one of ours! He targeted a decorated NCIS agent and thought he could get away with it. Now I'm going to make sure that he and everyone else knows that that was a grave miscalculation," Tim said seriously. He considered himself to be a pretty easy going person, unless his old team was involved anyway, but he was also very passionate about his job and those he worked with. Nobody targeted them and got away with it. Everyone involved would pay for what they did.

"You're talking about taking on the CIA. That's a big deal, Tim," Nate said seriously.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Vance just yesterday. I didn't start this, they did. They did this by coming after Callen. As far as I'm concerned, they declared war. I wouldn't be the agent Callen taught me to be if I just ignored that," Tim said.

"Somehow I doubt Callen will see it that way," Nate said.

"Doesn't matter. Like I said, it's not just about him anymore. It's the principle of the whole thing. If we let Kort get away with doing this, who knows what he'll come up with next? I have to stop him," Tim said firmly.

Nate sighed. "And do you have a plan for how to do it?" Nate asked.

Tim smiled. "Of course I do. But you're right about one thing, Callen would never go for it. That's why he's not going to find out until it's too late. And for that, I need your help."