The sound of Gibbs' voice seemed to awaken the injured man and his eyes struggled to open.
"B..ss" came the almost inaudible whisper.
"I'm right here, Tim." Gibbs said relief floating on every word.
Kort walked up behind the relieved man, entering into Tim's line of vision, "Hey kid."
"Tr...ent sorry... wasn't has carefully... as I thought."
"Your safe now and we're going to keep you that way." , the Englishman consoled the young man.
"Care...ful short jump me to you." the short sentence seemed to take all the strength he had left.
Vance was getting angry with the CIA Agent who seemed to even now be keeping secrets from them that had led to the near murder of a very talented agent, under his watch.
"Kort what the hell is going on?"Vance growled.
Hearing Vance's voice seemed to strengthen McGee, "Dir...tor. Not his fault."
Gibbs glared at the two men in the room, "I'll sort everything out Tim you just remember you don't have permission to not be alright."
Kort leaned in closer to the injured man, "Are the journals safe?"
Tim tried to smile but it came out as a grimace, "Yes" then he looked his Boss in the eyes, "Rule four."
Just then the EMT's arrived and while they were caring for the young man, Kort let the next bombshell drop, "I'm going to ghost him."
"Give me one good reason why?" Vance's glare and growl would have given Gibbs a run for his money.
Kort held up the pointer finger on his right hand, "Whoever did this to him didn't find what they were looking for." His middle finger joined the pointer, "Tim is the only one who knows where he hid the journals." His ring finger joined the other two, "If we say he died, the vermin that did this will simply crawl back into their holes."
Vance finished Kort's train of thought, "So we report that he is missing, assumed kidnapped during the attack and the criminals behind the attack continue to look for him and give us the time to find them." Vance rubbed his chin with his hand, "I don't like it and I want a full briefing on everything you know."
Kort nodded his agreement to Vance's stipulation.
Vance got on his phone while Gibbs simply looked at the two men in disbelief, "NO! Tim is my agent we put him in a safe house and we protect our own."
"DiNozzo" Vance spoke into the phone "Return to the yard and get the van. I'm declaring McGee's apartment a crime scene."
"I will fill you in once you get here." Vance closed his phone.
The overwhelmed Director turned to Gibbs, "Do you trust McGee?"
"Hell yeah." was the immediate response.
"Well for whatever reason he had, McGee trusted Kort with this problem. So by extension and very questionably we are going to have to trust McGee's judgment and work with him on this."
The Director turned a hard glare on the CIA Agent, "But I won't be doing this blindly."
Gibbs add his own stipulation to the agreement, "I want Ducky overseeing McGee's medical care, I want to make sure he is unghosted when all this is over."
Kort once again agreed, "Fair enough."
Vance once again pulled out his cell, "Dr. Mallard, don't say anything just listen. I want you to tell Mr. Palmer that you've had a personal emergency and will be taking an immediate personal leave. Come to McGee's apartment I will fill you in once you get here. Say yes if you understand."
"Okay, it takes twenty minutes to get here from the yard. I'll expect you to walk through the door here in twenty-one."
The three men then turned to the EMT's working on the young agent who had not regained consciousness during the conversation.
Suddenly Gibbs reached for his phone, "Need you at McGee's apartment ASAP."
When he closed the phone the other two men looked at him for an explanation, " A kidnapped federal agent is FBI jurisdiction, Fornell can get himself assigned to the case and run that end of the investigation."
Kort clearly was unhappy with the addition of another person in on the secret but he understood the reason, "All right, but we keep the truth about McGee's condition between us. I will tell you everything I know but I will not allow anyone else to be in on the ghosting."
He turned a cold hard look at the former Marine, "Especially not your team."
Ducky walked into the apartment at that moment and caused the distraction needed to avoid a major confrontation between the two men, "Dear heaven, what is going on?" the Scot exclaimed upon seeing the young man receiving medical attention on the floor of the bedroom.
"McGee was attacked, we don't have much time but the short version: for his safety and to give us the best opportunity to catch the people who did this we are going to ghost him temporarily. You are going to be responsible for overseeing his medical care."Vance quickly explained to the older man.
The EMT's had finally stabilized the young man enough to transport him and were getting ready to leave, when Kort stopped them and gave them his card and the address to a small medical facility near CIA headquarters, "Just tell them he is a confidential informant that needs medical attention on my authority."
Vance had Ducky pulled over to a corner and was giving him last minute instructions and a burn phone for if he needed to make contact.
The medical personal were leaving with McGee just as Fornell entered the apartment, the three men quickly got him up to speed on the situation and what would be expected of him. Then they waited for the arrival of DiNozzo and Bishop to tell them of the apparent attack and kidnapping of their friend, brother and fellow agent.
Much to everyone's surprise it was Kort that grabbed a sheet out of McGee's linen closet and covered the fallen canine, "You died defending your home and master. You are a hero." He softly whispered.
AN: Had to show that Kort was a little bit human right there at the end and also acknowledge Jethro's sacrifice. Please review with your thoughts and comments. :) stray