McGee's instinct that something was off was confirmed when security insisted on frisking him as he and Sampson cut through the garage, in spite of the fact that he knew the man searching them and the lockdown was aimed at preventing egress rather than ingress. That actually sounded like something that might make a good plot point in his next novel – NCIS could be fooled into thinking someone was trying to get out when, in fact, someone was using the chaos to… McGee jumped. "This is not a cavity search, Wheeler!"

"Sorry, Agent McGee, but protocol states that even authorized personnel are subject to…"

"Not this!" He strode as confidently as he could manage toward the elevator, attempting to adjust his belt while maintaining his hold on the box of evidence he was carrying. Maybe having someone sneak in during a lockdown wasn't the best idea. Tony was certainly onto something when he said you should never give the welder-probies delusions of grandeur. At least Ducky had been thoughtful enough to give him a call regarding the situation, giving he and Sampson time to prepare for what was sure to be an unpleasant atmosphere in the bullpen.

McGee grabbed Sampson's hand in the elevator, preventing him from hitting that particular button. He wasn't sure if invasive frisking wasn't preferable to angry Gibbs. No, he knew. Rather than returning to the garage, he hit a different button. "We should really stop by the lab to drop off the evidence from the hotel first."

"Of course." Sampson shifted the bag containing the damaged computer to his other hand. "Should we have brought coffee, too?"

"No, but…" McGee nearly dropped his box when Abby launched herself through the elevator doors at him. "I'm happy to see you too, Abby."

"No! Now is not the time for happy!" She pulled away from him and, after a moment's consideration, enveloped Sampson in a crushing hug as well. McGee reached out to catch the bags the less experienced agent wasn't able to juggle with the hug. Abby continued to prattle as she dragged them both out of the elevator, "People have been in and out of my lab for the past thirty minutes looking for this Nobby-dork guy, like he's going to sneak pas t me and…I don't even know! Right, plop down the evidence and my Caf-Pow and get out before…"

"A minute ago you were…"

McGee was unfortunately caught between breaths when she hugged him again. "I know, I know! I'm just glad you're back and no one tried to kidnap you while you were out, but Gibbs told me that he wanted you upstairs as soon as I was done hugging you. Well, he didn't specifically say hugging, but he did say once you were done here and he knows that means…" she trailed off, releasing him and looking at the table. "Where's my Caf-Pow?"

"Isn't there already one in your refrigerator over there?"

"Sammy, that is my spare, and if I drink my spare, I will no longer have a spare. Should I make you a diagram?"

McGee stepped between the wide-eyed Sampson and Abby. "Abby, why don't you drink your spare and we will bring you a fresh one plus an extra as soon as we find Tony and Ziva, okay?"

She brightened. "So you're definitely going to find them in the next hour, then? Because that's when I'll need another…"

McGee frowned as he stepped back into the elevator. The fact that he hadn't had any luck trying to track the feed that had come through the laptop at the hotel made an hour seem a little out of the question. Unless there was some other breakthrough within… He turned to Sampson. "This Safad guy is supposed to contact us with information soon, isn't he?"

"That's what he said on the video."

McGee nodded slowly. "We need to be ready to run traces on phone and internet connections. This is gonna be tough if we don't know who he's planning to…"

Director Shepard's voice was immediately audible as the elevator doors opened. "And you thought that was an acceptable reason for you to disobey your orders and leave a suspect alone?"

McGee grabbed Sampson's sleeve to stop him from entering the bullpen where a cowering Agent Mather was suffering a very public dressing-down when they arrived. "He was passed out drunk on the table! I just stepped out for a second to use the bathroom!"

Gibbs circled him slowly, speaking in a quieter but no less angry voice, "And you didn't think to have someone watch Nozdryov while you tinkled?"

McGee bit his tongue at the Gibbs' choice of words, though the disgraced agent was blushing deeply. "Like I said, he was passed out. I didn't think he'd go anywhere!"

"And that is still not an acceptable excuse, Agent Mather." Gibbs stepped behind his desk as the Director held out her hand. "You are dismissed for the remainder of the day. In fact, take the whole week. Be in my office at eight o' clock Monday morning to discuss your future with this agency." She yanked Mather's weapon and badge from his grasp and turned on her heel, shouting to the assembled gawkers, "Is there some reason all of you are standing around when Nozdryov…"

"Ma'am, we need you in MTAC," Cynthia interrupted from the catwalk.

McGee flattened himself against the partition as she charged past, looking up as she said, "Unless you've found…"

"Director, you should really come up to MTAC."

Director Shepard glared upward, but made her way to the stairs, pausing at the first landing to declare, "Is there some reason the rest of you aren't trying to track down Nozdryov?"

McGee was about to drag Sampson into the search when Gibbs propelled them both toward the bullpen. "Not you. We've got other things to handle. You get anything useful from the hotel?"

"Um, not really. We just handed the evidence over to Abby, so it…maybe I should go down and help her with the laptop or…"

"Agent Gibbs!"

McGee stepped aside as a junior agent he didn't know by name rushed past him. She stopped short as Gibbs turned to her with an annoyed grimace. "We're a little busy right now, Agent…?"

"Patel, sir. The guard downstairs told me to grab you or the most senior agent I could find and bring them out front ASAP."

"Is it Nozdryov?"

"What?"

"Did they get Nozdryov trying to leave?"

"No one was trying to leave and I don't know his name, sir."

Gibbs had started to walk away, prompting McGee to move out of the way once again. "I suggest you find someone else to handle parking lot duty, because we've got…"

"But your name was on the note, sir!" Patel interrupted, looking terrified that she'd dared to do so.

McGee could sympathize, especially given the way Gibbs was now glaring at her. "What note?"

She took a step backward, bumping into Sampson as she did so. Her already quiet voice dropped to a mousy squeak. "The one pinned to the dead body out on the front lawn."

McGee didn't have to step out of anyone's way this time, as he was leading the group running to the elevator.

"What do you mean, a fire?" Jenny rubbed her temple, wondering what else could go wrong as the agent onscreen shrugged and waved his arm vaguely in the direction of an orange glow in the distance.

"We don't know anything more than ZNN does at the moment, Ma'am. Preliminary report from the guys at the airfield is an electrical fire from old wiring that spread to their fuel tanks and then all hell broke loose. Literally. No one but fire crews are getting near that place for a while."

"Right." She sighed, deciding that complaining about fuel storage protocols at rural airports served no purpose. "Keep me posted , Agent Cunningham."

Jenny sank into one of the seats in MTAC's front row as the screen reverted to its usual test pattern. There was no way the fire at the airport where Safad had landed a few days previously was a simple coincidence, but she couldn't even be sure that anything worthwhile would have turned up there. Safad couldn't have gotten that far since kidnapping Tony and Ziva, but it had been the closest they'd had to a solid lead since…

"Director?"

She forced herself not to snap at Cynthia, "Yes?"

"Someone dumped a dead man out front."

Jenny waited for more information before prompting, "Out in front of what?"

"Here."

"Here?"

Cynthia knitted her eyebrows. "Right next to the NCIS sign. Agent Gibbs and his team just went down. Apparently there's some kind of note attached to the body."

"Cynthia, would you like to be Director for the rest of the week?"

She half-smiled. "Shall I get your coat?"

Jenny stood, noting that her limbs felt heavy. "Meet me outside with it. And a coffee."

"Yes, Ma'am."

She bumped into McGee in the lobby and ignored his explanations about checking security cameras and gate passes. She realized she should have asked Cynthia for her sunglasses as well. How was it still daylight? She felt so tired all of a sudden. Wanting to believe that her energetic chewing out of Agent Mather was the reason, she drew herself up and strode over to where Gibbs and Sampson were crouching beside a corpse clad in dark clothing sprawled beside the agency's simple sign. Had circumstances been different, she could see someone making a joke about this picture not being in the running for the front page of the NCIS website. Tony, probably. The thought that he wasn't here to make that joke served to focus her as she leaned down to hear what Gibbs and Sampson were discussing.

"You sure?"

"Are you testing me, Agent Gibbs?"

"No, I'm asking you if you're sure."

"Sure of what?" Jenny interrupted.

Gibbs glanced at her. "Sampson recognized this guy from the hotel security footage. He's the guy that brought the computer to Nozdryov's room."

"Safad is killing his own men."

"The one we can trace back to him," Gibbs added. "Can you see the paper on his chest?"

She craned her neck. The note was addressed Dear Shepard and Gibbs. She ignored the false pleasantries in the first few lines, skipping ahead to a series of numbers. "Coordinates?"

"And a drop time. This is where and when they want to trade DiNozzo for their guy."

"Ten hours." Jenny rubbed her head again, promising herself that it was not going to be that long before she was collapsing into her bed.

"We'll get them back before then. And if not…" he trailed off, looking at her expectantly.

"If not, I need to start making calls now to make sure the op is ready to go on time." The coffee she grabbed from Cynthia in the lobby was half-gone by the time she was back in MTAC, but it didn't seem to be providing the second wind she'd wanted.