Franks and Jenny arrived at the abandoned diner in the middle of nowhere in the Mojave Desert.
"My kinda place," Franks spoke as he got out of the sedan.
Jenny surveyed the area and listened to Franks talk. She was trying to calm herself. She didn't know how this would play out. In the field, one never knew how something would go. She hadn't been in the field in years and was feeling rather unsettled.
"I'm not much of a people person."
"I noticed."
"Not that I don't like 'em. They never seem to like me."
Jenny turned and looked at him. "Decker didn't have that problem." She dropped the key to the diner into his hand.
"Then why is he dead?" Franks asked.
Jenny didn't answer. It was her fault. Franks continued to the door, telling her they'd be found if the Russians had learned of Decker's insurance policy.
She turned and looked over the desert in front of her. A million thoughts raced through her mind. She didn't know if she'd leave the diner or die here. She wanted to call Gibbs and her girls, but she couldn't. Her family still needed her, and she needed them. If she died today, she hoped her family especially Jethro would understand her reasons. She was protecting him.
Inside the diner, Jenny looked for the insurance policy. She had gone through several boxes while Mike walked around and complained. She didn't understand how Jethro got along with him. There had been several times she wanted to shoot the man, but she needed him.
"Thought you knew where this insurance policy was."
"I never said I knew," she answered him, annoyed. "Decker said I did."
He came to stand behind her. His eyes couldn't help but drift to her rear. Jethro did have good taste.
"And stop looking at my ass," she said.
Franks rolled his eyes. He'd been caught. He turned his head away. "Not much else to look at. Of course, it might help if you were to tell me what I was lookin' for."
Jenny sighed, giving up on the box she was looking in and standing up. "Decker knew someone was after him. And he knew why," she finished, facing Mike.
"Your mystery op."
She nodded. "Any useful insurance policy would contain names."
"Viggo."
"Real names…targets, dates, plus operational blue prints, photos," she told him.
"We got plenty of those," Franks responded, motioning to the framed photos on the wall of the diner.
Jenny looked to the wall, zeroing in on each of the pictures. Her mind flashed back to the mission with Jethro. Of course, the answers were in the photos. She walked to them. She took a photo from the wall.
"These dates are wrong." She took more off the wall and asked Franks for a pen. They took to the table. She explained the wrong dates and started writing them down. "This is some kind of code."
"Bank routing number?" Franks asked. "Too long for a cash account."
"Safe deposit box," Jenny wondered aloud. Her cell began ringing. She sighed as she looked at it. "Ziva again." She had been ignoring the calls from both agents.
"You don't answer it…they're gonna call in the SWAT team."
She hit the answer button. "This better be World War III, Officer David."
"Sasha Gordon is dead."
Jenny's eyes widened and her eyebrows rose in shock. She didn't want an innocent life to be taken today. "What happened?"
"LAPD's still investigating," DiNozzo told her. They were on speakerphone with the Director.
Ziva continued. "It appears that she broke her neck in a fall. Director, she was found less than a 100 meters away from your vehicle. Where are you?"
"When?" Jenny asked.
"Three hours ago," Tony answered.
"Director, we were assigned to protect you. This is not just a coincidence. Where are you?" Ziva asked the last question with her voice changing in pitch with determination to get an answer. She needed to know. Director Shepard was in danger.
"I don't appreciate your tone, Officer David. And despite what Special Agent Gibbs may have told you, coincidences do exist. And that is what we have here."
"Okay, but," Ziva began.
Jenny cut her off sharply. "I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about. I'll meet you later to take the red eye flight home." She ended the call and looked at Franks.
He stepped closer to her and learned Sasha had been killed. Ziva believed Jenny was lying. She knew she was lying. Her instincts were telling her so. It angered her that Tony did not want to get involved.
"What is wrong with you? She's our Director! She's the mother of your fiancée and Gibbs' wife! We have to find out, Tony!"
Tony had learned it was best to let Jenny be. "She's a big girl. She can take care of herself. Besides, probably is a coincidence anyway." He got into the car.
In the abandoned diner, Jenny paced. She felt guilty for Sasha's death. The Director and retired Special Agent surmised Sasha had most likely talked. The Russians would be on their way. Franks wanted to leave, but Jenny stood firm in her decision to stay. He had no choice. He would stay. Gibbs would never forgive him if anything happened to Jenny on his watch. Franks pulled a gun from his ankle. It was clean. No serial number.
In Santa Monica, Ziva and Tony argued over telling Gibbs. Both didn't want to tell the Boss that they'd let the Director out of their sights. They compromised by calling McGee. He tracked the Director's cell phone. Both were shocked to discover she was over 50 miles away from her car. Ziva cranked the car. They would be en route to save her. While they drove, Jenny prepared herself for a gunfight. She cleaned the gun Franks had given her.
The retired agent had his feet propped up on a table and smoked a cigarette, watching her intently. "You always clean your gun before a fight?"
"It's not my gun," she answered, putting the clip back in. "You always sit on your ass before one?"
He laughed. She had fire. He'd love to see her put Jethro in his place. "What should I be doing?"
"Assessing our situation."
He took a drag from his cigarette. "You read that in the manual?"
She rolled her eyes and listened to him tell her of the building specifications. She needed to move around. She got up and walked over to a booth. "I never said thanks."
"Thank me later."
Jenny turned her head and looked at him. She felt the knot in her throat. She hoped she would be able to thank him later. The thought of death was weighing heavily on her. She didn't want to die. She wasn't ready. There were so many things she hadn't done with Jethro. They wanted to go back to Paris. She needed to see her girls graduate from Georgetown. She was supposed to be helping Lizzie plan a wedding and needed to see her youngest daughter get married. She wanted to die of old age. Now, she wasn't sure if she'd have that luxury. After all, they didn't know how many would be coming to the diner. They could both die today. She climbed into the booth and sat on the back.
"When I first heard that Decker died of a heart attack, I was relieved," she admitted.
"Gibbs did say you were complicated."
"Relieved because I always knew that there was a chance this could come back to haunt us, and it's my fault."
Mike looked at her with a raised eyebrow. He understood why she was the way she'd been about this.
She continued. "I couldn't kill my mark. I was assigned to kill the fiancée. A few days before, I'd found out I was pregnant."
"With the girls?"
Jenny nodded her head. "Svetlana begged me not to kill her. She told me she was pregnant. I couldn't pull the trigger. I didn't tell Jethro. He's thought I made the kill all these years. Decker was the only one who knew I hadn't neutralized the target."
"We all make mistakes." He wouldn't have made a mistake like that, but he understood her choice. He hoped he made her feel better. "You got plenty of time to make right."
Jenny nodded her head, gazing out the window and thinking of Gibbs, Lizzie, and Katie. She wondered what Gibbs was doing. If he was in her shoes, would he have navigated this day as she had? If she didn't come out alive, she prayed Lizzie and Katie would know how much she loved them. She thought of Jasper, her sweet little boy that had been taken from her too soon. There was comfort in knowing she may be reunited with him once more. She closed her eyes, listening to the silence. Jenny wondered if Tony and Ziva would ever forgive her for ditching them. This was not their battle. It was hers. She didn't know Tony and Ziva were on the way. McGee had given them the address of the diner.
The pair continued to trade stories. Jenny's sides hurt from laughing as Mike relayed a story of Jethro being drunk and deciding to take the unfinished boat on a midnight ride. Mike had to jump into the freezing water and get the inebriated son of a gun out. Mike shook his head, laughing. "After that, I realized your husband didn't need to mix tequila and bourbon. Speaking of refreshment, think there's anything in this dump?"
Jenny shrugged her shoulders. "Might be." She began to look around, finding a worse for wear box of Earl Gray tea. "Found some tea!"
"What kind?" he asked from his lookout spot.
"Does it matter?"
"I only drink lemongrass."
He was full of surprises. If he liked lemongrass, maybe she could get Jethro to drink tea. She had been wanting him to cut back on caffeine. "You just don't strike me as a tea drinking kinda guy," she told him with sarcasm.
"And people say I don't open up." He grinned. She wasn't so bad. She was sort of growing on him.
"Well, no water. So much for the tea." Jenny threw the box onto the table.
"I spotted a water tank out back."
"I'll go," Jenny offered.
He put his hand up. "Let me. I've gotta hit the head again anyway." He walked to the side door. "You're up."
She let out a deep breath and folded her arms across her chest, looking out the window. Was she ready? She saw the black Lincoln Navigator pull into the lot. Hurriedly, she took her position to face the gunmen.
Franks heard the gunshots as he filled a pitcher with water. "Ah hell," he muttered. He dropped the pitcher and ran towards the diner. He fired two shots, killing the injured two Jenny had left. He swallowed hard when he saw her. She had held her own, but not without getting shot several times. The puddle of blood was forming quickly. He kneeled down and checked her pulse. It was faint, but still there.
He was about to call Gibbs with Jenny's phone when he heard a car pull up. Franks quickly darted out the back of the diner, staying a distance away. He watched Tony and Ziva quickly get out of the car. Upon seeing the bullet holes, they drew their guns and ran to the diner. They entered cautiously. Ziva entered first. Tony followed, checking a door and clearing it. They scanned the dead bodies. What the hell happened?
Ziva froze when she noticed a body. "Tony."
He walked towards her. He followed her eyes. His heart stopped. He felt like his throat was in his chest as he saw Director Shepard's body in a pool of her own blood. He walked to her, kneeling down and checking for a pulse. She had a pulse, faint at best. This was his fault. He should have known better. He looked back to Ziva. He snapped his head back to Jenny when her phone started ringing. It said, "Gibbs." He stood up and showed Ziva. He hit the answer key and put the phone to his ear.
"Jenny," Gibbs said. He felt as if something was very wrong. "Jenny," he repeated. "You there?"
DiNozzo cleared his throat. "Boss."
Gibbs could tell by DiNozzo's voice something was wrong. He steadied himself for it.
"Gibbs, she's…"
"DiNozzo, what's wrong?"
"She's…" Tony swallowed hard and felt tears forming. He had failed miserably. "You need to get out here."