Part Five

For the second time in as many days, the NCIS agents found themselves visiting one of their own in hospital. The same nurse who had treated Ziva the day before greeted them, less stressed with McGee as a patient than she had been with Ziva, and commented that maybe they should have their own room.

A glare from Gibbs made sure that she quickly made herself scarce.

"I'll be free to leave in a few hours," McGee told them, his voice muffled through the oxygen mask he wore. "The Doctor said I was lucky it wasn't more serious than smoke inhalation."

Having already visited what remained of the agent's apartment, his colleagues couldn't help but silently agree.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Abby leaned over to give him a hug. "I'm glad you're okay, Timmy."

"Me, too, Abs." He managed a smile through the mask, his eyes closing briefly as a wave of exhaustion passed over him.

"We should let you rest," Ziva murmured, patting his hand where she stood on the other side of his bed.

"I'm okay." A yawn interrupted him and McGee looked sheepish. "Before you go... Jethro...?"

It was Abby who answered, the only one present who was as attached to his dog as he was. She was the one who'd fallen for the dog first, who'd named him after Gibbs and who'd convinced McGee to adopt him when her own landlord had refused to let her take him. "He's doing okay," she answered quickly, a flash of a smile on her face. "He's going to have to stay at the vets for a few days but they said he'll make a full recovery."

Temporarily appeased, McGee sank back against the pillows. His gaze shifted from Abby to Tony and Gibbs, who stood back from the bed. "My apartment...?"

He didn't miss the way Tony looked at Gibbs as if for guidance, or the way Gibbs himself seemed to sigh before answering. "It doesn't look good, Tim," Gibbs said honestly. "What wasn't damaged by the fire was hit by the smoke."

"We'll salvage what we can," Tony chimed in immediately. "I told the guys working the scene to bring what they can to my place. You can keep it there until... until you're back on your feet."

"Until I find somewhere else," McGee finished for him, his expression grim. "Guess I really am lucky."

"It took two hours for them to put out the fire after everyone was evacuated," Ziva informed him quietly. "You and everyone else are very lucky to be alive."

McGee gave a small nod in acknowledgement. "Guess it's too much to hope it was an accident?"

The looks exchanged by the others in the room confirmed his sinking suspicions.

"The official cause of the fire is faulty wiring," Gibbs informed him seriously. "We suspect the wires were tampered with deliberately."

The statement was met with silence as the grim reality sank in; the attempt on Ziva's life coupled with the attempt on his own meant that someone was out to hurt all of them.

And it meant someone else would no doubt be targeted next.

It didn't take long for them to get the evidence they needed to prove that the fire had been started deliberately and it didn't take long for McGee to be released from hospital. He sat silently in the car beside Tony as the senior agent drove him home to see what remained of his apartment and he stood in the doorway in silence as he surveyed the wreckage that was once his home.

His record collection, his typewriter, the small network of computers he and his sister, Sarah, had built from scratch... All of it was gone, all of it destroyed by the fire.

McGee knew his apartment wasn't the only one affected by what had happened and he felt guilty knowing that his neighbours had suffered when he had been the intended target.

Tony's hand on his shoulder startled him and he jumped, turning his head to find his teammate standing beside him. The look on Tony's face was serious, concern in his eyes instead of amusement at having surprised him.

"You're welcome to stay at my place as long as you need," Tony told him quietly, letting his hand drop back to his side a little awkwardly. "The stuff the guys could recover is already there so... it makes sense."

"Thanks, Tony." McGee's smile was genuine, even if it didn't last as long as he would have liked. His mind was spinning with thoughts of everything he had to take care of, of contacting his insurance company, trying to remember what he'd lost and where replacements, if possible, could be sought. "I appreciate that."

Tony nodded, dropping his gaze. "Ah, the boss said the dog can stay with him when the vet lets him go. I'd have the mutt at my place but I think the neighbours would complain. Mrs. Henson across the hall went crazy when the Marley kids let it slip they have a cat."

"Gibbs offered?" Surprise on his face, McGee let Tony lead him from the shell that had once been his home. "I thought he'd have asked Ducky..."

"Think he's trying to make it up to Abby for something." Tony shrugged and ducked under the tape that cordoned off the apartment, waiting until McGee did the same thing before heading out of the building, away from the heady scent of smoke and burnt wood. "Don't know what, but I hope they make up soon. Abs really isn't acting like herself."

Concern for his friend and former flame made McGee frown. "Abby could be a target," he found himself saying as he got into the car. "I'm surprised Gibbs hasn't made her move in with him yet."

"He's asked," Tony confided, slipping into the car behind the wheel. "I think he's hoping having the dog there will make Abby more likely to agree since she keeps saying no at the moment."

"She does love the dog," McGee agreed, leaning back in his seat as Tony started the engine. He felt tired, the events of the last forty-eight hours having taken its toll.

Sensing his exhaustion, Tony let the subject drop and they completed the rest of their drive to Tony's apartment in silence.

Due to the events of the last few days, McGee soon decided to call it a night, heading to the spare room in Tony's apartment with slow steps and drooping eyes. Tony bid him goodnight but didn't share his friend's exhaustion, feeling full of restless energy instead.

After attempting to watch several movies, none of which helped calm him down, Tony scribbled a quick note for his temporary roommate and grabbed his gym bag, telling himself a workout would not only help him sleep but would also help him deal with the sense of helplessness he felt.

Two of the people he cared about most had been injured and another two were suffering in silence and there was nothing he could do about it.

Their search for the man responsible for both tampering with Ziva's brakes and with the wiring in McGee's apartment block seemed to have hit a wall; no one had witnessed anyone acting suspiciously in the vicinity of McGee's apartment and the grainy image Abby had pulled from the security footage outside of Ziva's place was too poor quality to have found a match in the various databases she used.

As for Abby and Gibbs... Tony sighed and quickened his pace, desperately needing something to take his mind off everything. Their relationship was the one thing he would never consider interfering in but he was the first to admit that, if there was something wrong between them, it would ultimately end up affecting every member of the team. Abby, Tony had theorised once after too much tequila courtesy of the forensic specialist, was like the heart of the team while Gibbs, though he'd never in a million years tell his boss, was like the soul. Without one, they weren't a complete, coherent unit. Without them both...

Tony shuddered and turned the corner, the bright luminous sign of his gym like a beacon of relief up ahead.

He hoped they worked it out, whatever it was, soon and he hoped, for all of their sakes, that they had a break in their investigation as to who was after them before anyone else was hurt.

Two men followed their target, swaggering down the street. One was overly confident, the other fuelled by adrenaline. Both had their eyes fixed firmly on the NCIS agent walking ahead of them.

They waited, impatiently for the most part as he disappeared inside the gym, leaning against the wall outside until he made a reappearance.

"We should have done it on the way here," one whispered to the other, frustration colouring his voice.

The other shook his head, his expression calculating. "He'll be an easier target once he's exhausted himself," he explained patiently to his companion. "Much easier to take out."

"We're lucky he left the apartment," the first man muttered. "How did you know...?"

The second shrugged his shoulders, his gaze fixed on the brightly lit doorway to the gym. "I've studied him. I've studied all of them. I know how they think, how they act. I know them better than they know themselves."

The first man was temporarily appeased but, as the minutes ticked by, grew restless again. "You sure about doing it this way? We'd planned another accident for him..."

"Accidents aren't working," the second man shot back, the glare on his face showing he clearly blamed the first for the lack of a satisfying result. While he'd taken responsibility for tampering with the brakes, it was his companion who'd promised a fireworks display the NCIS agents wouldn't forget – promising more than he'd been able to deliver. "At least this way, he'll suffer for sure."

"And after?" The first man stared at him intently. "You haven't told us what you plan for the last one."

The second man shrugged, a twisted smile on his lips. "There'll still be one to go before we get to him."

It took a moment for the first to get it, to understand what his companion meant. When it sunk in, his eyes widened and he stared at the second man in shocked confusion. "You promised she wouldn't be hurt... You promised him..."

"He's hardly in a position to stop me." The second shrugged again. "He'll thank me in the end. He could do better."

"He loves her."

"He's pathetic. She's the one who sent him down in the first place. And she helped build the case against me." The second man scowled darkly. "She needs to suffer just like the rest of them."

"That wasn't part of the plan." The first man shook his head and backed away. "He'll be furious. No, he'll be heartbroken..."

"He'll get over it." The second man glared at him. "What's it to you, anyway? It's not like any of them mean anything to you. You're only here because of him, and I'm telling you, this is what's best for him. She'll only hurt him again if you let her."

The first man hesitated, torn between wanting to believe him and wanting to keep a promise to a man he considered one of his closest friends. "What do you have in mind for her?" He asked eventually, keeping his voice low even though there was no one around to overhear.

The second man grinned, a gleam in his eye that was unmistakable. "It's already started for her."

The doors to the gym opened before the first could question him further and their intended target for that evening walked out. Both men straightened and edged back into the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike.

It was a sombre group that met the following morning, gathered around a gurney in the morgue at NCIS. Ducky glanced up when the doors to his domain opened, his expression solemn, before returning his attention to his patient.

"Ow, Duck, not so hard."

"It would be less painful, Anthony, if you stayed still like I asked," Ducky replied with an exasperated sigh that did nothing to hide his relief. "Even less so if you'd gone to the hospital like I suggested."

Tony shook his head without thinking, wincing when the action only caused his injuries to hurt more. "No hospitals. Not again. Think we've all seen too much of them recently."

Abby approached him cautiously, her toy hippo, Bert, tucked under one arm. She reached out and took his hand, wary of hugging him as the Medical Examiner continued to stitch and bandage Tony's injuries.

"I'm okay, Abs," Tony tried to reassure her, squeezing her hand with as much strength as he could muster. "They weren't that strong."

"They?" Gibbs took a step closer, his blue eyes intent. "There were two?"

"This time, yeah." Tony flinched when Ducky touched a particularly bruised area of his face. "One grabbed me from behind, the other hit me from the front. One of them said something about 'finally being able to make one of them pay'. I get the feeling they're upset their plans for Ziva and McGee didn't work out like they'd hoped."

"Did you get a look at them? Or recognise anything about their voices, like an accent or...?"

As Gibbs questioned him, Abby moved away, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. No one had heard it ring but, as Tony watched her out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the screen was lit up, signalling an incoming call.

Turning her back on them, Abby answered it and murmured something they couldn't hear before hanging up, turning back to them. Her unnaturally pale cheeks flushed with an unhealthy colour when she noticed she was being watched.

"There was no accent that I can remember," Tony answered slowly, diverting the attention from the forensic specialist back to himself. "And I didn't get a good look at either of them, sorry, boss. It all seemed to happen so quick..."

"It's okay, Tony." A note of reassurance crept into Gibbs' voice. "A couple of the shops in the area have surveillance footage. Maybe we'll pick something up from there."

"I'm on it," McGee volunteered instantly, turning on his heel to head towards the doors.

"Not so fast, McGee." Gibbs stopped him before he could leave. "While everyone's here, we should make plans on how we're going to handle this. It's obvious that whoever is behind this won't give up and that all of us are potential targets. The Director suggested we find a way of sticking together and I agree with him. No one should go anywhere alone."

No one protested but then he hadn't expected them to. Gibbs sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking towards the doors when he heard them open with a gentle hiss.

Director Leon Vance walking through them wasn't a surprise but the man who joined him, grinning widely in greeting was.

"Hey, Probie," former NCIS Special Agent Mike Franks greeted him. "Hear you've got a bit of a situation on your hands."