A/N: Ok, after this chapter, you guys are going to hate me. You'll understand why in a few minutes lol. This is the last of the chapters I have saved up, and it's going to be a couple of days before I get another one posted. Tomorrow I'm heading to another store to help out for a day, then back to work at mine on Thursday, so I'm not going to have time to write.

Enjoy! F.

Tony would always remember the hours that followed with a sense of unreality. In all the years he'd been working at NCIS, he'd never seen the building evacuated.

Like everyone else on the floor, he looked up quickly as the emergency klaxon sounded. Both he and Ziva were still making phone calls, trying to track if there were any missing explosives. He kept getting the run around from commanding officers that either didn't know or wouldn't admit to any missing ordnance; from the sound of it, Ziva was working one of her many contacts. He saw Gibbs and the Director re-enter the squad floor, followed by two of the burliest MPs he'd ever seen. He slammed the phone down, hanging up on another less than helpful officer, then went over to meet them.

"Boss; what's happening?"

"We're evacuating; find out about missing explosives?"

"No-one's giving me a straight answer, Boss."

Gibbs nodded. "Haven't got time now." He strode over to his desk, pulling out his gun and badge. "This bastard's after soft targets. Tony, go and get Abby. Ziva, get Ducky and Palmer. He doesn't get another one of my people. Meet at the front entrance."

"Gibbs, what about Adams?" Tony asked.

Gibbs jerked his head in the direction of the MPs. "That's why they're here. Go!"

Tony pushed his way through the growing trickle of people heading towards the stairs. He knew you weren't supposed to use the elevator in an emergency. Shrugging, he decided he'd take his chances. Soon the stairwell would be so crowded with Agency employees that it would be impossible to move through there quickly.

Reaching the lab, he found Abby shutting down her equipment frantically, anxiety and fear obvious in her face and her movements.

"Tony! What are you doing here? You should be evacuating."

"Gibbs sent me down here to get you, Abs" he reassured her. "Come on, we don't have much time." He half towed, half dragged her to the elevator, ignoring her protests. He saw her safely to the main entrance, leaving her with Ducky, Palmer and Ziva, searching the crowd. He couldn't see Gibbs anywhere; something felt hinky about this, and he needed to let the Boss know.

He struggled against the flow of evacuees, fighting his way back into the building.

...

Finally reaching the stairwell, he forced his way upwards, making the other people on the stairs give way to him. Entering the squad room floor, the first person he saw was Adams, in handcuffs, being escorted by the two MPs he'd seen before. Outwardly, Adams appeared calm, a small half smile playing on his lips and a strange light in his eyes. Tony didn't like the look of that; it puzzled him for a moment.

With a sick feeling of horror, he recognised the gleam in Adams' eyes for what it was. Glee. His mind screamed a warning. Something isn't right here! He spun, looking for Gibbs. Catching a glimpse through the crowd of frightened federal employees, he pushed and shoved his way through to his boss.

"Gibbs, this is a bad idea." Gibbs just gave him the famous stare, so he hastened to explain. "Adams is after people, right? So what if he's rigged the evacuation area?"

He saw the Boss' eyes widen as the idea took hold, heard the sharp intake of breath.

"The first evacuees; they'll just be reaching the evacuation area."

...

Pushing, shoving, yelling, Tony and Gibbs fought their way through the crowd, trying to get people to turn back, to get away from the evacuation site. As they got closer, they could see they were fighting a losing battle; hundreds of people from NCIS and the buildings nearby were milling around the designated evacuation area. They redoubled their efforts, Gibbs pulling the Director aside as they reached him. Tony couldn't hear what was said over the noise of so many frightened people, but it was effective; Vance joined them in urging people back towards the buildings. With a sinking feeling of running out of time, Tony did his best to get people to listen, to head back towards relative safety.

They were too late; with only roughly a third of the evacuees sent back, there was a flash of light and an ear shattering roar from the middle of the assembly area.