"Are you an idiot, Franjo?" Petar Cvetko had him by the throat and against the wall. "I need the geek taken alive, his computer intact. You do not just go in and start shooting up the place."

"He wasn't there, Petar. I give you my word."

"And that is the only reason you are still alive. Now, you and Nikolai find them before NCIS does."

"What about your man, can't he find them? You've certainly paid him enough."

A deadly glare and a hard slap to the face stopped that line of questioning.

-NCIS-

"Good morning."

Tim opened his eyes at the slightly raspy voice. "Morning. How'd you know I was awake?" He smiled as fingers brushed against his forehead.

"You've got a headache, don't you?" Kort's hand trailed down to cup Tim's jaw. "I could see the crease forming between your eyes."

"It's not as bad as it was. What about you, how's your back feeling?" Tim mirrored Kort's actions by reaching up to touch his face. "You're still running a fever."

"I'll be all right."

Tim wasn't convinced, but he knew staying where they were wasn't the answer. "How's your stomach? Can you keep down some more of the antibiotics?"

"Yeah." He wasn't totally convinced, but knew he had no choice. Kort started to move, but the hand moved down to his shoulder and he waited, trying to not be obvious as he watched Tim slide out of the bed and slip into the bathroom. Now dressed, he came back with Kort's clothes and carefully helped him dress after handing over the next dose of meds.

Once dressed, Kort felt much more in control of the situation when Tim again left the room, this time for breakfast for the two of them. Slowly nibbling on the food and sipping the tea, Kort looked over the newspaper Tim brought back, paying close attention to the national news. "Big fire in West Virginia last night."

Tim leaned over his shoulder, studying the photographs. "Crap, that was one of the agency's safe houses. Guess we were right to run. Speaking of running, we should probably get moving, check out is in an hour."

Kort sat in the chair with the bags while Tim knelt down to tie the injured man's shoes. Once they were ready to leave, Tim checked the bathroom one last time, using a towel to wipe away any fingerprints. He continued through the room, wiping down every hard surface they might have touched before tossing the towel onto the bed. A serious forensic sweep would still find evidence in the room, but this would have to do.

They took their time walking closer to downtown, Tim keeping an arm around Kort's waist to support him. After the first several blocks, they were able to pretend to window shop and as soon as they were far enough away from last night's motel, Tim flagged down a cab. With Kort tucked against him, McGee was well aware how they looked, so he encouraged it by asking the driver to take them to the Blue Moon Resort. Smirking, the driver took them to the male only gay resort a few blocks from the strip.

When Kort gave him a curious look, Tim just smiled. When they arrived at the hotel, his smile grew wider as Kort looked around in amazement. He leaned closer and whispered in Trent's ear. "Even if they somehow track us to Vegas, this is the last place they'd look for us." He heard a returning snort before pulling away.

"Welcome, you boys checking in?" The heavy make-up didn't quite hide the slight razor burn on the neck, but the desk clerk was friendly and efficient as he checked them in. "No luggage?"

Kort had recovered from the shock enough to come up with an answer. "Afraid our luggage was stolen when we arrived in Las Vegas."

"Oh, you poor things. Remember our pool is clothing optional, so at least you won't have to worry about swim trunks, handsome."

Tim stepped in between them and took the offered key card. "Thank you, we'll keep that in mind."

-NCIS-

The trick about keeping important information away from people that are spying on you is to give them enough so they don't know you're onto them. Knowing that, Tony loudly announced when he'd figured out how the phones ended up on the stopped train. While the rest of them gathered, he sent the map to the plasma.

"Okay, this would have been easier if Probie were here, but luckily I didn't have to figure out how fast the trains were actually going." Since McGee was the one missing and Ziva hadn't been part of the team during the Watson case, the joke fell flat. He clicked to enlarge the map. "There were three trains that left the freight yard that day. Even though it might be against the rules,I'm assuming that it was the last train that was involved because if it was a later train, the conductor would have noticed the fire."

Gibbs nodded in agreement. The damage from the blast would have been quite visible to an arriving train. "Good theory so far, DiNozzo."

"Thanks, Boss." Despite the seriousness of the situation, Tony enjoyed the praise. "Now that we know which train they left on and where it was going," he clicked again, "and we know where the other train was going." A third click brought up a map with both trains routes clearly marked. "You can see that the two trains passed less than five feet from each other at that junction. An easy jump, even for McGee."

Gibbs remembered the location of the fingerprints on the phones, especially McGee's It would have been an easy jump but an even easier toss, but he wasn't going to mention that in front of Hicks or the rest of their audience. "Start searching for anything unusual between the transfer site and where the second train came to a stop, and tell Abby good job on the graphics."

He smirked at the look on Tony's face before picking up his coat. "I'm going for coffee."

-NCIS-

A whispered confession to the desk clerk that his partner had injured his back trying to save their luggage brought an extra stack of pillows. Before he left to put his plans into motion, Tim helped Kort get comfortable on the plush, king-sized bed.

"How's that?"

Kort relaxed against the soft bedding. "This was a stroke of brilliance, kid, pure brilliance."

Blushing slightly at the praise, Tim pulled the blankets up after checking the bandages. "Try to get some more rest, I'll bring some food back with me."

"Maybe by tomorrow I'll be able to go and watch you play blackjack. Which casinos are you going to hit today?"

Tim hesitated for a second as he tucked away his sidearm again. He wasn't going to lie to Kort, but he knew the other man was not going to be happy with his plans. "No gambling until later this afternoon. It's hard to get lost in the crowd if there's no crowd."

"Then what are you up to?"

"The codes I intercepted came from our side, Kort. If I can backtrace the signal, I can find who's selling us out, but I need more than just that little netbook. Besides, Gibbs and I set up a fail-safe and it's time to get it started."

As much as he'd come to trust McGee, it was still the principle of the matter. "You do realize that when Gibbs comes riding in to save us, I'll never hear the end of it?" Kort tried to look disgruntled, but it really didn't work, surrounded by pillows and satin sheets.

Tim managed to keep a straight face as he left the room, trying not to look at the naked men at the swimming pool. He found a convenience store and purchased a cell phone using cash, staying out of view of the security cameras. Checking his watch, he hurried out and began wandering through a large parking lot.