TOML chp

TOML chp. 7

George Washington University Hospital

September 23, 2007

0700 hours

The feeling that he was being watched made Terry open his eyes. He saw his father watching him from a chair by the window. He sat up and stretched. "I'll right, you caught me. What's up?"

Gibbs pointed to the hallway and the two men left the room. "The FBI has jurisdiction on both bomb sites." Gibbs said. Terry opened his mouth to protest, but Gibbs held up a hand and Terry remained silent.

"Fornell's running the investigation, so we'll stay in the loop."

Terry nodded. "Ok," He said, going back to his wife. He sat on the bed as she stirred, opened her eyes and smiled up at him.

"Hey, beautiful."

She smiled. "Hey, yourself. You better?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Listen, FBI's running the investigation, so…"

"Let me guess; Fornell is running the investigation so we'll be able to stay in the loop?"

"Yeah."

"Alright; give Collin my love."

"Will do. Get some rest."

"I will; be careful."

"I will." Terry said, leaving the room. He found his father with a cup of coffee in each hand. Terry took one and they walked to elevator.

"I know it's out of the way, but you mind if we swing by my house first?"

"Sure, what for?" Gibbs asked as they got into the car. Even though he already knew the answer

Terry grinned. "I need some heavy artillery."

000

Terry and Ziva's house

September 23, 2007

0730 hours

Traffic was light and the two agents reached the house quickly. Gibbs followed his son through the house and they stopped at a door with a ten digit key pad next to it. Terry entered a code and after some clicking and tumbling noises, he opened the door. "I know what you're thinking. Ziva made me put it in after we moved it. Said the basement was mine and I could have as much firepower as I wanted, just so long as Collin couldn't get to it."

"Smart." Gibbs said as they reached the bottom of the stairs and Terry pulled a chain, bathing the space in light.

Gibbs raised his eyes brows and breathed a long low whistle. "You don't mess around."

Terry grinned. "Nope."

One wall was taken up with a reloading bench and equipment. Another was taken up by two large guns safes and a storage cabinet. "Grab ammo." Terry said as he opened one of the safes.

"Good grief! What'd you do, open your own factory?" Gibbs asked his son as he took a duffel bag from the storage locker and filled it with every type of round for handgun, rifle, machine gun, or shotgun known to man.

"No, I just like to be prepared." Terry said as he filled another duffel with weapons. Gibbs eyes widened some more when he saw what was already in the bag. In addition to two MP-5N sub-machine guns, a benelli M-1014 semiauto shotgun, Springfield M1-A SOCOM 16 tactical battle rifle was an M-249 SAW. Next, Terry removed and put on a tactical vest with six loaded magazine pouches and a pistol holster. Terry put a three inch barrel 1911 into the holster and put on the vest. Then he removed the M1-A from the bag and zipped it up.

He stood up and suddenly remembered his father had come with him. Gibbs was grinning from ear to ear and trying not to laugh. Terry shrugged. "What? Not enough?"

Gibbs shook his head and collected the bag of ammo. "No, son, I think that's more than enough. We'd better get back to the office before your mother puts out an APB on us."

Terry laughed at the thought. "Yeah, right."

Gibbs shook his head as the struggled upstairs with their burdens. Let it never be said that his son messed around. He almost felt sorry for the men who would be on the receiving end of this arsenal.

000

Jenny sat in her office, trying to focus. Samuel and Collin went to daycare willingly. She suspected it was normal and they craved normalcy. One thing was certain, the bastard who'd bomb the bar were going to pay, dearly. She knew Terry wouldn't stop until they were all dead. But she wanted vengeance, not for herself but for the fact that Samuel was again afraid. She, Gibbs and the team had worked hard to give the boys normalcy and allowed them to be the toddlers they were supposed to be. But now…

I hate this job, she thought pulling out her cell phone and punching one on speed dial. It rang twice and a gruff voice answered. "Gibbs."

"Jethro, how are you and Terry?"

"Good; Ziva's doing better. We stopped by their house, but we should be their in about thirty minutes. Hang on a minute, Jen." Gibbs said as he saw a car parked in the middle of the road. He slowed and then both men ducked.

"Jethro…Jethro?" Jenny tried to get her husband back on the line, then she suddenly held the phone at arms length, as sharp loud noise came through the speaker. Even as her gut turned to cement, Jenny knew she'd heard gun fire, the screech of tires, and what sounded like bending metal. "Jethro!" She yelled over the gunfire, but the only response was a dial tone. She dropped the phone on the desk and ran to the bull pen.

000

Staying below the windshield, Terry and Gibbs scrambled out of the vehicle, and took up defensive position. Terry saw a man armed with an AK-47 and fired once. The .308 knocked him down and he didn't get back up. "How many'd see?!"Gibbs yelled as they ducked to avoid returning fire. "Five, maybe six!" Terry yelled, pushing himself back up and letting loose two more, well aimed shots. Then an eerie silence fell over the scene. Both men took stock of their surroundings. "If I cover you, do you think you can flank them?" Gibbs asked.

"Sure." Terry said.

"Which way?"

Terry pointed east, toward a buildings fire escape. Gibbs nodded. "Ready?" Terry nodded and Gibbs raised his weapon. "Go!"

Terry ignored to bullets flying around him and ran for the fire escape, oblivious to the fact that his mother might at in any moment watch his death, live via satellite.

000

"Where are they, Tim?"

"Almost up, director." McGee said, not bothering with his usual explanation. He managed to triangulate Gibbs and Terry position using cell phone towers.

"Ok; should be up now, Director."

And indeed, the plasma screen in the bullpen filled with the image of a wrecked car and a man taking cover behind it, while several other men tried to kill him. But they could see another man carrying a rifle, moving a building at about two o'clock of the wrecked car.

000

Terry reached the building unscathed and moved up the fire escape. Their adversary's were still busy with his father. Terry took aim at another man and fired. The bullet sent him flying. He repeated the action three more times and one man was still alive. He dropped his weapon and attempted to retreat. Terry altered his aim and fired. The man dropped to the ground and grabbed his leg. Only when Terry was sure his father had this last man cover did he leave the roof and returned their wrecked vehicle.

But several questions buzzed in his mind. Who were these men? Why were they after him and his family? Terry knew now, that he and his family had been the intended targets of that bomb the night before. Nothing in the past twenty-four hours had been a coincidence. But the fear Terry had felt for his family the previous night was gone. That fear was replaced by rage. If these bastard wanted a war, Terry was prepared to give it to them.