4 days earlier…
"Morning Probie, Zee-vah, Boss," Tony grinned as he entered the squad room at 7:30 the following morning and slumped into the seat behind his desk with a smile, starting up his computer as he did so.
"Morning Tony," McGee and Ziva chorused without looking up from old case reports that they were filing.
"Grab your gear," Gibbs demanded without giving his agent a proper welcome. He looked incredibly serious, more so than usual, and mad- his expression threatening and stony. "There's been a security breach and a blood bath."
"Where?" Ziva enquired curiously, noticing that Gibbs was more agitated than usual.
"The Pentagon."
Tony, Tim and Ziva gawped at each other. The Pentagon? That was one of the most secure buildings in possibly the world- it must have taken someone extremely experienced and dangerous to breach it. This situation wasn't to be taken lightly.
"DiNozzo, David, McGee," Gibbs shouted from where he was waiting for the elevator, "stop hanging around! This case isn't going to solve itself!"
20 minutes later, the team found themselves stalking down the endless hallways of the Pentagon, investigation gear in hand, Gibbs leading the way behind a guide with a steely glare on his face. Many furious and curious Pentagon personnel stared them down as they walked, but they took no notice. The team were used to watchers.
Another 2 minutes passed before the team arrived outside of a small-ish office. Gibbs, Tony and McGee came to an abrupt stop as the door was opened and they observed the space; the room looked strangely familiar to them, as if they'd been there before.
"I feel like I've been here before," McGee muttered.
"That's because you have, years ago," Gibbs replied, taking a picture of the original entrance to the room.
"This used to be the office of Captain Mike Watson," their guide stated, "who was brought down by NCIS for stealing government funds and other charges."
"Captain Watson," Tony mused, "the man who had his own wife and blind daughter kidnapped just so he could get the money."
Gibbs ignored his agents practically useless input and stepped inside the office. It looked mostly identical to the last time he'd set foot in it, even though it had changed ownership. Well, identical except for the fact that there were various body parts, destructed limbs and blood lining the walls, covering the desk and scattered on the floor.
"Get to work," Gibbs began, "you know the drill and times short, so make it quick."
The team spread out around the scene, disgustedly dodging around bloody tissue and organs so that they could do their jobs. Ducky and Jimmy knelt down beside these various parts, packing them up individually after examining them thoroughly and having Ziva take a picture. Once they were done on one part, they moved swiftly onto the next to start the whole process again. They were working well until Ziva took a step back, staring at something on the wall.
"Gibbs," she called gesturing up at it, and the boss immediately made his way towards her, watching where she was pointing. It was a long combination of letters and numbers, written in blood on the top of the wall. "It looks like a case number."
"Get a picture," Gibbs instructed, "it'll come in useful for later."
Ziva did so, and Gibbs moved on to where McGee was standing- over the desk. "Found anything interesting, McGee?"
"Yeah," McGee pointed to a small golden pin fashioned to look like the NCIS badge, "it looks like one of the ones that you give the children of case victims."
"Bag it." Gibbs responded.
An hour or so later, the team were back at the NCIS headquarters, going over evidence down in Abby's lab. Tony, Gibbs and McGee had already explained the basics of the Watson case from back a few years ago to Ziva so that she was all caught up. They all stood around Abby's plasma screen, watching as she pulled up crime scene photos and case documents.
"The case number that was written on the wall belonged to the Watson case, most of the body parts belonged to the commander who somewhat inherited the office after the case was closed, but some were of others that helped put the commander away in prison." Abby explained, grinning sullenly at her co-workers.
"I managed to lift loads of prints of the pin, and they all belonged to Sandy Watson, Mike Watson's now 15 year old daughter- it's definitely the one that you gave her way back when," she added, turning to Gibbs.
"Also, I looked through the security footage from outside the office, and I caught something a little suspicious." She pulled up some footage on the screen. The team watched as a feminine figure in a standard marine core uniform made their way down the corridor, keeping their face hidden at all times, and disappeared into the scene of the crime without even bothering to knock on the door. Around 45 minutes later, the same figure exited, still hiding their face. "Before any of you ask, there's no point in trying to ID this person- I have nothing to identify them by."
"So…?" Ziva pondered.
"Your best bet is probably finding Captain Watson's daughter," Abby continued, pulling up an ID on the screen.
"Sandra Watson, age 15," Tony read aloud, staring at the girl in the photo. She had long dirty blonde hair, and that rebellious look about her- the one that a lot of teenagers appeared to have.
"There is a slight problem with finding her though," the forensic specialist sighed, "she's practically off the grid- she doesn't go to school, doesn't have a phone number, and her parents are both dead."
"How?" McGee questioned.
"It doesn't say anywhere- I checked." Abby answered.
"What do you mean by 'practically'?" Gibbs enquired.
"There's still a listed address for her family, so you may find her there." Abby held up a post-it with the address written on it in black marker, she handed it to the boss.
Gibbs nodded at Abby and turned to face his agents. "DiNozzo, David," he directed, handing Tony the note, "go and pick up Miss Watson and bring her back here for questioning. Tell her she's not in trouble- that we just want to talk to her."
"Sure thing Gibbs," Tony and Ziva chorused, before heading in the direction of the elevator.
Tony and Ziva walked up the path of the Watson family home, guns holstered at their belts, gold badges shining in the sunlight, steps in sync. The house looked run down and deserted, probably according to the fact that it hadn't been cleaned properly for some time, with paint peeling off the walls and ivy growing on the roof and windows (which were grimy).
"Do you remember this case very well?" Ziva asked, looking up at her partner quizzically.
"Yeah, mostly," Tony answered, "at the time, it was a tough case because it involved an 8 year old girl being taken hostage. I can still remember the state that she was in when me and K," he flinched slightly at Kate's name before changing it, "when me and my partner picked her up." He could still hear Kate's soft voice, attempting to console little Sandy Watson in a motherly tone, the sound of the girl sobbing because she was frightened for her parents and for her life.
Ziva noticed Tony correcting Kate's name and placed a comforting hand on his arm. She knew how much his former teammate's death had affected him. He smiled at her before raising a hand to knock on the door.
"Sandy Watson?" He yelled, "NCIS Federal Agents DiNozzo and David. We need to speak with you!"
Upon waiting a few minutes and not getting a reply, the two agents drew their sigs and made their way around the back of the house in hope of getting a better response. They definitely got a response from that, but not the one that they were hoping for.
They got as far as beyond the back gate before 5 large, burly men in black jumpsuits and ski masks jumped out of nowhere so suddenly that the two agents had no time to fire their guns, which were quickly cast aside by the force of the attack.
No amount of wrestling, boxing or close combat training could've prepared Tony for the extreme manpower behind this ambush. These men weren't here to kill- they had no guns to kill with, they were here to fight. The obviously hired crew moved so quickly and with so much skill that even the former Mossad ninja was struggling with them. Ziva had one man in a heap at her feet, and was fending off another two. She seemed to be doing OK, until one of the two men managed to pin her arms behind her back. Ziva kicked her legs angrily, but it was useless; she slumped to the floor as the other man delivered a knock-out blow to her temple.
"Ziva!" Tony cried, helplessly trying to fight off four men now.
It was only a couple of seconds before the back of his head was hit by the barrel of his own sig, and he fell into the darkness as well.
A/N: Hello, sorry that it's been so long! I'm going to try and upload every day until the end of the Easter holidays, so you'll be getting a lot of updates!
Louise :)
