Tony and Ziva walked up the stairs toward Director Vance's office but his secretary stopped them. "The director is waiting for both of you in MTAC."
"Thank you." said Tony and walked to MTAC and headed inside. McGee, Abby, Director Vance, and the other tech people were already assembled in the room. On the large center screen there was a satellite view of the forest where Gibbs was camping for the weekend. The footage had obviously been recorded the night before and they were using thermal imaging to pinpoint human movement.
"Glad that you could join us agents Dinozzo and David." said Vance as he quirked his eyebrow at the two of them.
"What's the status on Gibbs?" asked Tony getting straight to the point. Tony's eyes were glued to the screen. The vastness of the forest was not lost on him. Why couldn't Gibbs have picked a smaller forest to play hide and seek in.
"Gibbs' cell phone was last used at 1900 hours last night. The cell tower it hit is in the area were Gibbs said he would be camping." "The cell service out there is spotty at best especially once you venture deeper into the woods. It is harder to maintain a signal." "Our friends at the agency have provided us with satellite imaging last night. There were two heat signatures picked up at the coordinates Gibbs gave." "And then this happened…." said Director Vance. "McGee…fast forward please."
"Yes, director." said McGee. McGee fast forwarded the footage to a point and then stopped. On the screen you see the two heat signatures but you also see six others approaching the campsite. The blob in the center of the screen went dark and then the original two heat signatures headed off deeper into the forest.
"That was taken at 2340 hours. The rest of the forest is thick and the satellite lost them." said Director Vance.
"I never expected Gibbs to stay up so late." joked Tony trying to lighten the mood in the room.
"More like he was waiting up to be pursued and he had a companion with him." "Can we find the whereabouts of Mike Franks?" asked Ziva.
"I'm way ahead of you David. Mike Franks arrived in D.C. Thursday morning. He didn't check into any hotels or rent a car. I am assuming he stayed with Gibbs." said Director Vance. It currently was noon on Saturday.
Tony spoke up. "As senior field agent I think that I should take point on this investigation."
"Oh you do Agent DiNozzo?" "Considering you couldn't be reached by phone this morning I don't know how reliable you are." countered Vance. He had his signature toothpick in his mouth as he waited on DiNozzo's reply.
"Director I am sure you more than anyone else understands how hard it is to have a life outside of the office. Today was my day off. I was just trying to enjoy it in peace and quiet with a few movies to keep me occupied." "It was a lapse in judgment that will not happen again."
"Make sure of that. Tony is going to be the point man on this. He will coordinate the efforts to find agent Gibbs." "I will be in my office. I expect to be updated frequently."
Tony said "Yes, sir." Tony looked at Ziva, McGee, and Abby. "Let's go down to the bull pen and strategize." Tony led the way downstairs. "Alright everyone let's get together for a campfire."
"Oh god. I hate campfires." grumbled McGee.
Abby gave McGee a Gibbs slap to the back of the head. "This is for Gibbs. He's out there on his own with six really ugly Russian guys who want him dead." "We've got to do something." said Abby seriously disturbed by the idea that Gibbs' life was in danger. Abby looked to Tony who was pulling his rolling chair to the front of his desk. "Gibbs is going to be alright…right?"
Tony hugged Abby. She was like a little sister to him. "You know that Gibbs can take care of himself. If anyone can take out six Russians in the woods..it is Gibbs. And at least he isn't out there alone. He has Mike Franks with him."
Ziva and McGee had already pulled their chairs around to the middle of the area and were sitting down.
"I guess I'll go back to my lab…try to keep myself busy." said Abby reluctantly.
"No, you can stay up here with us. We need your input too." said Tony having a seat in his chair. "Okay Gibbs obviously knew these guys were coming after him and he called Mike Franks for back up." "Mike got here a day before they left for this trip which means they were putting together supplies." "We are going to look at Gibbs' house to see if he left anything behind. Maps, receipts, anything that might give us an idea of fire power or location. I also want you to run his financials McGee see what he bought recently and when was the last time the cards were used." "Anyone have any other ideas?"
"I can run video footage from the airports and see if any known Russian criminals came in on any flights. We might be able to pin point just who is looking for Gibbs." said McGee.
"If we find out who they were I can give you information about if they are just here to kill Gibbs or torture him and then kill him. Different teams do different jobs." said Ziva.
Abby shuddered at the thought. McGee reached over and discreetly squeezed her hand. Abby gently squeezed McGee's hand in return.
"Okay good. Does anyone else have any ideas?" asked Tony.
Abby said "Uh..I might have one." "The team has to be communicating with one another some way. Cell phones are out so they might be using radios." "With the right equipment once we are in the area we could pick up on their signal."
"Good thinking Abs. It might be a way for Gibbs to communicate with us too. He knew he was going to a cell phone dead zone. He may have come up with an alternate way to communicate with us." said Tony.
"Alright, everyone get started on everything. Ziva I want you to look over the information Fornell gave us and see what you can figure out about the names in the tip he received. McGee…" said Tony.
McGee cut him off. "I know I need to get started on the airport footage. I could really use Abby's help."
Tony nodded and said "Alright the two of you can go to her lab to go over the footage, update me when you have anything." "I am going to go update the director and then I am going to go and check out Gibbs' house."
"On your own?"asked Ziva worriedly as McGee and Abby left for Abby's lab.
Tony watched McGee and Abby left and thought it was strange that McGee was still holding her hand. He was snapped out of his thoughts realizing Ziva was still standing in front of him waiting on his answer.
"Yes, I am going alone. It will be safe Ziva. The Russians are in the forest looking for Gibbs not staking out his place. The coast should be clear." said Tony.
"Should be…is the operative word." "You could be walking blindly into a bad situation. You need back up." insisted Ziva.
Tony knew that he needed back up but he didn't want to take Ziva with him. He didn't want anything happening to her. But he looked at the determined look on her face and knew that even pulling rank as senior field agent would not be enough to get her to stay behind. "Alright grab your gear and let's go. You start up the car I am going to update the director" said Tony. Tony took the stairs two at a time going up to the Director's office. He went in and briefed director Vance and then raced down to the parking garage to catch up to Ziva.
Ziva was already in the car and Tony frowned realizing by letting her get to the car first she was going to be driving. "Try to keep us in one lane and under 65 miles per hour." begged Tony.
Ziva just smiled in his direction and took off toward Gibbs' house. She drove like a bat out of hell the entire way there. She parked a ways away from Gibbs' house hoping to catch anyone in his house by surprise.
Tony and Ziva both approached the house with their guns drawn and headed inside of the house. They looked around and realized that Gibbs' house had been ransacked. They walked around the house making sure there was no one inside. As they headed to the kitchen Tony sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?" asked Tony.
Ziva sniffed the air and said "Run!"
Tony and Ziva both ran for the front door as an explosion ripped through the back of Gibbs' house. The shock wave knocked them on their butts on Gibb's front lawn. The ripple effect shook the street and car alarms started going off. The shock wave from the explosion coupled with the car alarms left Tony and Ziva barely able to hear. "So much for taking them by surprise." said Ziva.
"What?" asked Tony unable to hear her.
"I said! So much for taking them by surprise!" yelled Ziva.