Trent Kort walked into the hotel McGee was staying in with his gun drawn. He found McGee leaning over the front desk in the lobby. Kort carefully closed the door so McGee wouldn't hear him and advanced on the agent. Once he was close enough, he pressed the trigger end of his gun to the back of the man's head. "Take your gun out and put it on the desk."
If Tim was at all intimidated, he didn't show it. "Well, hello, Kort. Fancy meeting you here."
Kort pressed the gun to his head harder. "Do it!"
"Alright, already. No need to have meltdown," Tim said before slowly taking his gun from his belt and placing it down on the desk.
"Knife too," Kort said.
Tim chuckled. "Gibbs will be happy to know that the CIA is up to date on his rules. You know that was the only rule I ever bothered to stick to after I left his team?" he asked before taking the pocket knife he carried too.
"You seem pretty cocky for a man about to die. Maybe you spent a little too much time around DiNozzo," Kort said.
"Hey, now that's just uncalled for. There's no reason to go around insulting each other," Tim said.
"Did you really think you could come after me? Did you really think you stood a chance?" Kort asked.
"You came after me. You attacked my team and though you could get away with it. As for standing a chance, I think I did a pretty good job. You tried to frame Callen. I stopped you. You tried to implicate me in an attempt to get me to let Callen fry. I saved him and I got out of dodge. You didn't get either of us. Then I managed to make your buddies to think you'd turned on them. I'm sure you managed to talk them out of killing you on the spot, but it was too late by then. You'd already made a trip to Iran, the country where terrorists were working with an American agent. You made yourself a suspect by doing that and you knew it. The moment you made it here, my agency started explaining their theory to yours. And last but not least, I made it look like your terrorist friends had turned on you. I'd say I did a pretty good job for a computer geek," Tim said. That was what Kort had called him that day at the coffee shop. It felt only fitting that he throw it back in his face.
"And yet you're still going to be the one dead," Kort said before cocking the gun.
"If you're gonna kill me, at least look me in the eye when you do it. Only a coward shoots a man when his back is turned," Tim said.
Kort thought about it for a minute and then moved the pressure of the gun from McGee's head. "Fine. Turn around."
Tim smiled and turned around. "Great. Now where were we? Oh, yeah, you were about to shoot me. Tell me something first. What was the point? Why would you work with terrorists?"
Kort shrugged and kept his gun trained on Tim. "Why does anyone do anything, McGee? Money."
"Yeah, I figured. I just wanted to hear it. Why Callen? Why set him up?" Tim asked.
"Never liked him much. I didn't even like him when we worked together. And when my bosses started catching on that there was a rogue agent, it just came to me," Kort said.
"So you thought you could just frame Callen and that would be it," Tim said.
"It would've been if not for you. You should've just left well enough alone," Kort said.
"You should've left it alone. You should've left us alone. The moment you came after Callen, you declared war. I just responded," Tim said.
"And you'll still lose," Kort said with an arrogant smirk.
"Yeah, I don't think so. Even if I did die tonight, which I won't, you're still finished. My boss is right this minute working to prove what you really are. And she never gives up until she wins. Not that she'll have to try that hard. You made it easy by falling into every trap I laid out for you. You're done, Kort," Tim said with a smirk.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. I'm good at maneuvering out of touch situations," Kort said.
"So am I," Tim said.
Kort laughed mockingly. "You think you still have a shot of getting out of here alive. Look around you, McGee. We're alone and unarmed."
"Well, you're half right. I am unarmed, but what makes you think we're alone," Tim asked before staring passed Kort.
Kort turned to find Callen and Sam behind him with guns trained on him. He turned back in time to see Ziva and Kensi come out on either side of Tim.
"Like I said, I don't intend to die tonight. You know, you really should've realized this was a trap the moment you walked through the door. This is a hotel for God's sake. Why would it be deserted? You let your arrogance take control over your common sense just like I knew you would," Tim said.
Kort didn't speak. He was too busy fuming. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to end McGee's pathetic existence and then figure out how to get his life back.
"It gets better," Tim said before reaching underneath his shirt and pulling out a wire. "Everything you said was recorded and it went right to Eric in LA. So even if somehow you managed to kill us all, you'd still go down."
"Put the gun down, Kort," Callen ordered.
Kort didn't comply. He just stood there and weighed his options. He knew one way or another, he was going to go down. If he dropped his gun, he would be charged with terrorism and attempted murder. If he didn't drop it, he would be killed. He was going to meet his end no matter what. But he would be damned if McGee went back to his life when he couldn't.
Kort lowered his gun as if he was going to surrender, but then quickly raised it again. Several gunshots rang out at once.