MTF 11
Kelly and Tim had spent a lazy afternoon in front of the fire. Kelly had made a makeshift bed and her and Tim had sprawled themselves out in front of it. Sharing lazy kisses, that had turned sensual and heated, and they had made love to one another. Much like the first time they made love. Afterwards, they had cuddled with one another, shared some deep conversation and laughter. Kelly had decided that it was too warm to move from their spot by the fire, so she gathered some of their food that they had brought from their apartment and heated up the risotto she had made last night and ate by the fire.
Darkness had taken hold, the sun setting rather quickly, as a winter storm set in. While that was happening, Kelly was preparing dinner, Tim moved his SUV from the carport where they had unloaded, over to the garage on the opposite side of the house. Kelly reminded him to reverse in, just in case they had to leave in a hurry. Once the car was moved, Tim brought in some more firewood from the storage basket in the mud room and made sure all the electric roller shutters were down and the doors were locked.
Kelly finished heating up a light dinner of risotto, a glass of wine each and pulled out a piece of the cheesecake she had purchased from the diner that morning. She turned the central heating on low to take the chill out of the house, as she passed the switch and brought their food, glasses and the remaining wine on the serving tray with her as she met Tim back by their makeshift bed by the fireplace.
Together, they ate their dinner as they spoke and planned out their short-term future. Kelly telling Tim she'd love to replace the barstools in the kitchen for a more sleek and modern style that more suited the rest of the décor in the home, while Tim suggested they pack up the spare room that they had used as the media room for their new year's party and turn it into a home office for Kelly.
As the fire began to die out, Tim took the dishes to the sink while Kelly straightened up the living room. Returning the sofa cushions to the sofa, the blankets back where she had taken them from and tidied up. As Tim joined her in the living room after the dishes, Tim kissed her head in thanks. "You can't even tell we were in here." He murmured, as he banked what was left of the small burning embers in the fireplace.
Upstairs, Kelly zoned the heating system. She set the downstairs zone to turn back on at 0700 and upstairs to sit on a medium, but toasty temperature to last the night. Her last act, before she headed to the bedroom was to turn the house alarm on. She wasn't stupid they were here by themselves in a remote and isolated part of the woods. The cabin wasn't the small one level, two-bedroom cabin it had been when she was a kid, it was a split level, four-bedroom house with much more modern conveniences. Much more attractive to unwanted guests. Especially with the beginnings of a winter storm beginning to rage outside.
"Listen to that wind, it's really raging." Kelly told Tim as he changed into some sweatpants and a long sleeve tee for bed. Kelly was digging around in her own bag for her sweatpants too. "What was it like when you went out there to move the car?"
"Windy, icy, cold." Tim retorted, as he pulled back the covers and found that the bed was warm. Kelly must have been up here earlier and switched the electric blanket on. "Got the car put away though."
Kelly climbed into bed in her sweats and cuddled up next to Tim, her sock-clad feet finding his sock-clad feet, as she leaned over and kissed her boyfriend good night. Tim switched off the lamp with a yawn and settled in to sleep, making sure to keep Kelly close to him.
"How much further is this place?" Tobias grumbled, half-heartedly to Gibbs. He couldn't complain too much, they were driving Leon Vance's personal SUV with all the bells and whistles including heated seats and a snow mode for the transmission. It had started snowing two hours ago and had been increasing in intensity for some time now.
"About another hour away, Tobias." Gibbs answered, enjoying the feel of driving the new SUV. If his beloved blue, twin cab truck didn't hold such fond memories for him, he might have been tempted to trade it in. But that was the truck he was given by his father when he graduated high school. That was the truck that he and Shannon had when they wed. They brought Kelly home from the hospital in that truck. It was one of the only parts of Shannon he had left. It almost the only thing that had survived three divorces. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to it.
"Remind me again, what made them think going this far away from home in the freezing cold was a good idea?" Tobias asked, wondering just how holidaying at Gibbs mysterious family cabin a good idea to his son and Gibbs' daughter had been.
"It's remote and it's isolated." Gibbs sighed out loud, letting the frustration that he was feeling shine through in his voice. Honestly, he didn't think his friend Tobias was that dense. "Why do you think, Tobias?"
"Oh!" He exclaimed, finally realising what the two kids were thinking. "Better knock before we walk in there."
"Ya think?!" Gibbs retorted, using his infamous catchphrase. "Are you still trying that sat number I gave you?"
"Not even connecting, now." Fornell groaned out loud. "I don't know if it's us. Or them."
"Keep tryin'" Gibbs urged as he pressed down on the accelerator a little bit harder. Gibbs didn't want to admit to Tobias that he felt guilty, he was feeling like this could have been prevented if he had of reined Abby in tighter. He knew that was his failing and he would own it, eventually. But right now, he needed to make sure that Kelly and Tim knew they were in danger and get them safely back to DC.
Tobias could see the stress in his friend's eyes, the worry-lines that always appeared when one of his agents were in trouble. Of course, they were a lot more prominent when it was Kelly in danger. "I have sent a message, hopefully a message can make it through. We'll get there, Jethro." Tobias attempted to soothe his friend. He felt anxious to get there too, but he really didn't want to be in an accident before he got there. "I know it's urgent and we're in a hurry, but maybe slow down a little bit. The snow is really coming down. Ever heard of black ice?"
"I know these roads like the back of my hand, Tobias!" Gibbs growled, as he merged right to overtake a slow Honda struggling in the storm.
Startled awake, both by a noise and Kelly grabbing his arm in alarm, Tim listened for a second, something or someone was outside the house. He put his fingers to his lips, silently telling her to not make a sound. He silently reached into the top drawer of the nightstand and retrieved his 9mm Glock. Before passing his beloved knife over to Kelly. She shook her head and pointed to the Glock and then to the hallway, hoping Tim would get the message. But he shook his head fiercely in return. He didn't want to arm her with a gun, even though he knew that her father had taught her to shoot. He really didn't want to get shot by accident. Tim reached over and pocketed the sat phone, it was in a dead spot. Inside the house, he wasn't able to make a call. A brief check to his cell was the same.
He silently told Kelly to stay put, while he went to investigate. Creeping down the half flight of stairs, Tim stuck his back to the wall, remembering all of his training. The feeling of iron lead in his gut, knowing that there was no back up and local LEO's were at least an hour away. Making his way further down the stairs, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Tim slowly and tentatively made his way through the house. Checking each window and door. The roller shutters were down on the windows and all external doors, with the exception of the front door and the stacking doors that lead on to the back deck and alfresco area overlooking the lake. He checked the front door and couldn't see outside; the security lights were still off. So whatever was out there, either didn't trigger them or they had already switched off before he had made his way down there. Tim's view out of the door was mostly obscured by the lead light glass paneling, that framed the front entrance to the house.
Tim made his way through the living, dining and kitchen, in hope to catch whatever it was that made that noise on the back deck. Reaching the closed blinds on the stacking doors, Tim shivered a bit as he felt the coolness as he moved passed the doors. It was still snowing lightly, small flurries. But the wind was blowing a gale, the trees harshly swaying in the wind. The full moon was reflecting onto the choppy tide of the lake across from the deck, but he couldn't see anything.
Heading back upstairs, he continued to check the locks and the doors, as he went. "I couldn't see anything." Tim whispered, as he re-entered the bedroom, startling Kelly. She was already on edge from being frightened awake. All the doors and windows are locked, and the alarm panel shows that they are all armed.
"Something is going on out there, Tim." Kelly insisted and Tim didn't want to admit to Kelly, but he was almost certain she was right. "Can we please go up to the sunroom in the attic? It's all glass and we would have a 365-degree view of our surrounds. I am going to be able to go back to sleep until I know I am safe."
"Come on, then." Tim urged her, keeping her tucked behind followed Kelly's direction to find the door that opened up to the staircase to taken them to the top level. "We keep low, until we can see for sure." Tim reminded her. He remembered an operation from many years ago. One where Kate posed as the target of a crazy ex-husband, hell bent on murdering his ex-wife. She had been in the bedroom the two had once shared. The bedroom was like a glass room similar to this. The blinds had been drawn and they used the silhouette to hide the slight difference in body shapes. The crazy, stalking ex-husband had taken a shot at Kate and the bullet had grazed her thigh, thinking it was his ex-wife.
Kelly was terrified, but she couldn't believe how brave Tim was. She wondered if anything ever scared her lover. She couldn't believe he faced danger like this, head on every day and it never phased him. This was the exact reason why Kelly could never have followed in her father's footsteps and become a federal agent.
Tim had Kelly hang back in the safety of the stairwell, while Tim took his first tentative look around. In addition to the light of the silvery moon shimmering off the lake. Tim could see headlights coming from the southeast corner of the property, down the dry weather only private road they had used to enter the property earlier that day. He took a step back down and relayed the message to Kelly to stay put.
Taking a second cursory look to see if he could identify the vehicle that was approaching, Tim took advantage of the top floor to see if he had any reception on the sat phone. Seeing the one bar flickering on and off, Tim tried to make a call, but the call kept dropping out. He managed to hold the one bar in place long enough to receive a missed SMS message from Gibbs telling him, that they were in danger. That help was on the way. There was no way that Tim could know what time Gibbs had tried to make contact with him. He could only surmise that it had to be between the time they arrived and that moment, which was anywhere within an eleven-hour time frame.
It had taken them a bit over six hours to drive here and they had stopped twice. Tim moved back down the staircase and took a seat, as he calculated. Kelly recognised the look on her boyfriend's face, that look of calculation. Gibbs could probably make the trip in four hours, but factor in the snow and the wind, it would probably take him more like seven or eight in his truck or challenger. There was no way either car would make it up that windy road in this weather.
Tim was also debating whether or not to tell Kelly about the brief message he had received from her father. He decided against it, just yet. He would go back up, take another look and then take her back to the bedroom and tell her in there. Then they could decide how to proceed. He knew Kelly was scared, the problem was, he was scared too.
Tim made his way back up the staircase and poked his head a step higher than before. He could clearly see that the vehicle had now entered the property on the southeast corner and was slowly making its way down the long driveway to the house.
He dropped back down the stairs and took Kelly by the hand, to the Armory on the second floor. He handed Kelly a 9mm Glock, making sure to load it and he put a silencer on it. He had no idea what the threat entailed. There had been no details in the succinct message from Gibbs. He took the sniper rifle out of the case, checked it and loaded it with the bullets. Slinging it over his shoulder, like he had seen Gibbs do a million times before. Tim made sure his own weapon was loaded and he took another Glock, loading it and slipping to ammo cartridges into his pockets, before tucked it into the small of his back.
Locking up the Armory, Kelly threw Tim a questioning look. She knew he would tell her as soon as he could. But she also knew that if they were arming themselves, then he saw someone or something.
Back in her bedroom, sitting on her bed, she could see the worry and emotions cross her lover's face. "Tim?" she asked, in a whisper. "What's going on? You're scaring me."
Tim took Kelly's hand, bringing it to her lips and kissing it gently. "Kell, I want you to know that I will do everything I possibly can to keep you safe." Tim reminded her. In this instance, he felt that a little reiteration was a good thing. "I received a warning from Gibbs. We're in danger. He didn't say what the danger was. Just that, and he said he was on his way. I have no idea what time he sent it. Best I can theorize is that he sent it somewhere around when we got here and when I received it."
"Dad's warning isn't the only thing that set your alarm bells off." Kelly observed stiffly. She knew Tim too well. "What else did you see that got you spooked?"
"Car, entering the private dirt road on the southeast corner of the property. Didn't recognise the make and model." Tim admitted, as he checked the sniper rifle over again. Looking through the scope to ensure that he had it covered. "Car came through the gate and we're now prepared. The local LEO's are over an hour away and I don't know what time we should expect Gibbs. That even if he makes it in all that snow."
"Dad will make it, Babe!" Kelly said, positively. She was trying to put on a brave face, but Tim knew her too well. He could read her like a book. She was scared.
"If we raise the roller shutters, they will know we're awake. We need to get back to the attic sunroom. We need to move fast and keep low. Come on." Tim told her as he kissed her chastely. Tim took Kelly by the hand and lead her back up the stairs, halting her a step higher than he had before. "Stay here, I am going to reassess before we set up."
"Be careful, babe." Kelly whispered in a hush, as Tim took the final five steps up and took a secondary look. Tim still didn't recognise the vehicle, but he could distinguish that there were two occupants in the black BMW SUV. Tim thought for a fleeting moment that the vehicle resembled a similar make and model of Vance's SUV, but he couldn't be sure the darkness.
A feeling of being nudged had him taking his eyes off the car for a split second as Kelly handed him the binoculars that he had hung around her neck back at the armory cupboard. Taking the offered binoculars, Tim retook his position in the sunroom attic and scanned the area again.
He couldn't see much, just the salt and pepper hair of the one occupant and a reflective head of the other occupant of the vehicle. He recognised the plates as MILT. issue. Plates like what Director Leon Vance had on his car, as the head of the agency. Special plates that said he was someone important within a military branch or organization, which allowed him to park in a lot of restricted parking places in and around Washington DC. That still wasn't good enough for Tim, he needed to be sure. After all, he had been trained by Gibbs. Gibbs wouldn't expect anything less.
"Kell!" Tim whispered harshly, ordering her to crawl up beside him, being extra careful of the Glock that he had armed her with. "Is that ...?" He asked her, asking her to verify the identity of one of the unexpected guests.
"That's Dad, Tim!" Kelly exclaimed excitedly. The car had now come to a stop at the front door and each of them watched as both Tobias and Gibbs left the warmth and safety of the Director's SUV that they had borrowed and headed for the front porch.
Tim and Kelly moved from their vantage spot in the sunroom attic, to greet Gibbs and Tobias by the front door. "You're here!" Tim exclaimed, tugging each man by the sleeve of their jackets into the house and out of the awful weather outside. "What the hell is going on? Why the hell were you so cryptic?"
"You didn't tell them what the threat was, Tobias?!" Gibbs accused, angrily. He did reluctantly admit that he was relieved to see that Kelly and Tim were on guard, that Kelly had shown Tim his armory.
"I thought it would be better coming from you, Jethro!" Tobias rapidly fired in return. Jethro never told him to explicitly tell Tim and Kelly of the threat and he usually operated in a shroud of secrecy too. Plus, he was cold, wet and irritable, he was tired, and he really didn't want to leave Sarah with a teen-aged, hormone raging psychotic like Emily had been all week.
"Abby escaped from jail, with the help of Edwardo Allouez. Remember him?" Gibbs asked, seeing if the name of Abby's accomplice would trigger a reaction from his senior field agent and techs guru. Judging by the look in Tim's face, he definitely remembered Edwardo.
"Why would she team up with a guy like him? She knows exactly what he is capable of?" Tim asked, frustrated. He didn't want to scare Kelly and this would terrify her.
"Wait!" Tobias interrupted the NCIS agents. "The same Edwardo Allouez that-"
"Shut up, Tobias." Gibbs seethed, cutting him off.
"Dad! Shh!" Tim exclaimed, simultaneously with Gibbs, as they both verbally implored Tobias to shut the hell up. A lot of that case and op was classified and the rest of it, was too terrifying for most seasoned investigators, let alone a civilian like Kelly.
Both men wanted to protect Kelly and not make her afraid or scared. Edwardo Allouez was the scum of the scum. It was a joint case, with FBI and NCIS. FBI had originally been in control of the case. But when a Warrant Officer had been found, brutally raped and murdered, Gibbs had fought hard for and gained control of the case.
It had been marked as top priority for the case and Gibbs had wasted no time in getting a plan to catch him in place. Gibbs had been in a war one and had seen all types of mutilation over the years. But he knew it was bad when Ducky was physically sick to his stomach and demanding that Gibbs catch the SOB.
They quickly managed to find DNA under the fingernails of their Warrant Officer and running it through every database Abby could think of. Finally getting a hit on Interpol. Edwardo Allouez. A British citizen who has more money than sense and a sadist streak as big as Texas. He was also on the FBI watch list for sex trafficking and human rights abuse.
The Director of NCIS, the MCRT and Fornell quickly, effectively and meticulously put together an operation to catch him. It involved Ziva, Tony and Gibbs. Abby had assumed that she would be running point on the tech. She had been so vehement in her refusal to accept the Director's orders that Tim would be on point. She had even tried to manipulate Gibbs into getting Director Vance to change his mind. It hadn't worked.
The operation had ultimately been a success. But only after Tony had failed in his mission and ended up captured by Edwardo Allouez too. It had only been Tim's premier tracking and tracing skills that had saved them both, as well as the small, microchip tag that Ducky had injected into them which allowed Tim to trace them so efficiently.
Edwardo Allouez didn't learn anything about Tim's involvement in the operation until Abby broke rule 22. She burst into the interrogation room and claimed that Tim had found something on his computer in relation to the case. Only when she broke into interrogation, she used his full name "Special Agent Timothy McGee."
That was her revenge for not getting control of the technical side of operation. Tim got reamed out by Gibbs. Both for Abby's rule breaking and for wasting his time when Tim told him that he didn't know what Abby was talking about.
That was the first time, Tim ever felt really saw Abby's true colours for himself and he began keeping track of her deviant shenanigans. It was in the same epiphany that he realised that if Abby went down, she would not hesitate to try and take him down too.
"So, what's the plan?" Kelly asked with as much bravado as she could muster. Whoever this Edwardo is, he was enough of a threat to have her dad and Tim spooked. Plus, she hadn't missed Tobias' shudder at the mere mention of his name. Whatever was going on, Kelly's dad and Tim were keeping hush and Tobias knew too much. It was times like these, she really regretted not going into law enforcement too.
"We rest in pairs. Two to sleep, two to keep guard on rotation until morning." Gibbs declared, taking his beloved sniper rifle from Tim, while Tobias disarmed Kelly from the Glock Tim had given her from the Armory. "First light, we're out of here. We need to travel light and may need to travel on foot. Tim, tell me you have protein bars here."
"In the pantry." Tim replied, grabbing his empty discarded backpack by the door to the internal garage. He had packed in the fire starter bricks that he had brought with him from their apartment and left it by the door to take back out to his SUV when they went exploring in the morning.
"Good idea, Timmo." His father praised him, as he watched his son prepare a simple, skimmed down version of a survival pack. He packed a bottle of water that they could fill with snow to create more water, two alpine lightweight blankets, the spare battery to his sat phone and his electronic handheld GPS - both of which were fully charged, a torch, matches, a disposable night time flare, hypothermic foils, protein bars, a couple of combo tools, a small first aid kit and Tim took the offered moist wipes that Kelly handed him. Before finally tucking a half charged sat phone into the side pocket of his bag.
"You'll need these too." Gibbs said, handing him a paper map, of the local area. "Just in case your tech gets water damaged or we lose batteries. Kelly, go get your tampons. They need to go into the first aid kit."
"Ah Dad? I don't get my period, since I have the IUD inserted." Kelly delicately reminded her father. She tried not to blush or get embarrassed about having this discussion in front of Tobias.
"Sweetheart." Tim placated her. "Tampons are great for other uses too, so can you go get them? Oh and a couple of sanitary pads if you have some stashed here."
Gibbs, Tobias and Tim exchanged smirks while Kelly headed to the bathroom down the hall. They didn't tell her that the tampons were for bullet wounds and the sanitary pads were for covering the tampons. That would just freak her out. Luckily for them, she had always kept a big stash here, never wanting to get caught out here, without them. While Kelly was retrieving the requested items, Tobias pulled out the sofa bed in the living room.
When Kelly returned, she handed them to Tim and he didn't provide her with an explanation as he tucked them in his backpack. "Good thinkin' Tobias. You two run upstairs and grab your shoes and some clothes. Kelly, warm clothes, neutral colours and hiking boots. Tim."
"I know, Gibbs." Tim reminded Gibbs and he gave Tim a nod. He knew that Tim knew what he needed. Gibbs had known that the young couple had been preparing to do some hiking when they were here, so they both had good, solid hiking boots here. Once they returned, Gibbs pointed them to the pull-out sofa bed. "Get some sleep you two. Tim, in two hours you can relieve Tobias. Tobias can relieve me in two hours after that. Kelly, we move out at first light."