MTF 12
"Wake up Tobias and Kelly," Gibbs ordered Tim, barely three hours later. Not that Tim had slept; he had just kind of dozed. He had been on edge ever since he had heard the name Edwardo Allouez. Tim couldn't hear anything, but he quickly went to task, knowing better than to question Gibbs. Especially at a time like this.
"Wha-" Kelly began to ask and Tim silenced her with a quiet shush, urging her to get dressed. Tim grabbed the backpack, as the three men armed themselves and Kelly shoved a protein bar in the pocket of each of their pockets.
Tobias took up position beside Gibbs and signaled to Tim to take the front of the house. Their attack was coming from water, from the lake. Assault crafts, at least five that Gibbs could see. Tim signaled to Tobias that he could see a convoy of vehicles, at least four. All were turning onto the property.
Gibbs pulled Tobias back and Tobias grabbed Tim. Tim made sure Kelly went with them. Towards the side of the house. "Okay, we didn't anticipate an army," Gibbs whispered in a low voice. "We can't stay and fight, and given the sheer number of assailants, we can't use our vehicles. Anyone have any ideas?"
"We're sitting ducks, Jethro. What if we load up with ammo and gun the hell out of Tim's SUV and pray like hell, we make it." Tobias offered, even though he knew that it wouldn't work.
"It's a one-road-in-and-out property," Tim sighed aloud. "They could have more men waiting for us; it could be a trap. We need to hit the bush. Gibbs, you know the area. We'll follow your lead. Hopefully, they're not familiar with the area."
"Dad?" Kelly asked, giving her father a look. Gibbs bit his lip and swore out loud. He knew what Kelly was hinting at. It was risky and could potentially kill them. No one had been down there for almost twenty years, perhaps even longer. And not to mention the detrimental, psychological effect that it would have on Tim.
"Shit, we don't have time. But there's a tunnel. It was used during Prohibition for smuggling moonshine, and Jack has a whole story to tell about it when we aren't being hunted. The tunnel leads out to Hanging Rock, which is two clicks from the main road. It's dark and dangerous. We could potentially get ourselves killed."
"I vote for the tunnel, as opposed to being a sitting duck, Jethro." Tobias reminded his friend. "We have maybe two minutes until they make the house. We need to move now!"
Gibbs grabbed Kelly's hand, who took Tim's hand as they rushed down into the storm cellar. Tobias followed up the rear, on watch, his weapon loaded and ready to fire. In the cellar, there was a small hatch in the wall, behind a chair. Gibbs promptly entered a code and opened it up. Kelly went in first, taking the offered flashlight from her father. Tim followed, with his weapon drawn. Tobias climbed in next, and Gibbs climbed in last, pulling the armchair back against the wall, hiding the hatch. Then, Gibbs and Tobias closed and locked the heavy door behind them.
"Tobias?" Gibbs hissed, nodding to him in the dark. As their eyesight adjusted to the muted light of the torch, Gibbs made his way to in front of Kelly. "You've got the tail, Tobias, I am on point. Let's go."
The tunnel was dark and narrow, the walls of dirt, as were the floor and ceiling, as if the tunnel had been dug by hand. Old wooden planks formed a rough framework around the tunnel to prevent cave-ins, but it still looked precarious. It was barely two feet wide and just under six feet tall, so the men were crouching, and Kelly was slouching slightly. The group moved in silence; it was dark, confined, and damp. No words were spoken between them.
Gibbs made sure that Kelly was holding onto him and that Tim had Kelly from behind, while Tobias came up the rear. The good news so far was that they hadn't heard any noise from the house down the tunnel. However, that didn't mean they weren't being followed. After all, they had no idea who the mercenaries Abby and Edwardo had hired were. For all they knew, they could be professional hitmen. Edwardo had the cash and Abby had an encyclopedic knowledge of every bad guy she had helped catch with NCIS and any joint cases with any other agency in the alphabet soup.
An echo pulsated through the tunnel and each of them grabbed the wall for support. The noise was over in two seconds and vibrating lasted for several seconds longer. Each of their ears were ringing and Gibbs silently asked each of them, if they were ok. As soon as he had a nod from each of them, they continued on in their journey.
Gibbs kept persevering; he knew from past experience that he could do the trek solo in forty minutes. He knew that at age eight, Kelly and Jackson had done it in just over ninety minutes to escape the Reynosa Cartel, who were out for blood and trying to kill them. Gibbs had gone to avenge Shannon's untimely death and had hidden Jackson and Kelly there, but the cartel had come anyway. He figured that the four of them were fit and healthy and they could make the five-kilometer trek to the exit in just under fifty minutes.
Kelly stumbled slightly on the loose rock, but luckily Tim had a good grip on her and didn't let her hit the ground. "You okay?" he asked in a barely audible voice. She nodded at him, and they continued on. Tim wasn't crazy about the confined space, but as his father had pointed out, it was better than being a sitting duck.
Gibbs turned to look behind him and noticed that the gap between himself and Kelly was widening, and she was limping slightly. He also noticed that Tobias didn't have to duck too much and he seemed to just clear the tunnel's ceiling without hitting the dirt above. Stopping, he turned and noticed that Tim seemed to be hunched over the most, which was natural considering he was the tallest and they really couldn't afford to slow down. They really needed to put some more distance between them and the house full of bad guys.
"Tobias, I'll take the rear. Tim, you're on point. Tobias, carry Kell, she's hurt her foot." Gibbs ordered, as he gently made his way to the back and Tim took his weapons out and the torch from Gibbs. "The tunnel doesn't deviate; you can't get lost. Give me the backpack, Tim." Gibbs reminded him, as he took the bag from Tim.
With the order reshuffled and Tobias taking Kelly's weight awkwardly as she hobbled, with Gibbs pulling up the rear. Tim took the point and set a brisk pace. But as soon as he noticed the gap widening again, he slowed and allowed them to bunch back up. "Tim?" His father hissed, urging Tim to stop. "I'm going to have to carry you, Kelly," he said. "Keep your head down, or it will hit the roof." He warned, as Tobias bent down and picked Kelly up in a fireman carry. She definitely weighed a bit more than the last time he had carried her, which had been at least fifteen years ago. When Gibbs had been undercover, and an underage Kelly had been picked up by the local LEO's for underage drinking and she had called Tobias to come and get her out of trouble. He had carried her down the hall and slipped her into their guest bed.
They continued on for another twenty minutes, until Tim abruptly came to a stop. "Gibbs?" Tim had called out and Gibbs had immediately gone on guard, as he made his way to the front and Tobias lowered Kelly to the ground and continued to unholster his weapon and once again, take up the rear position.
Tobias watched as his son, as he immediately went to help his girlfriend. They hadn't been able to look at her foot yet, but she was struggling to weight-bear on it. He wasn't an avid outdoorsman like the three of them, but he knew enough to get by, and he was fairly certain that Kelly had broken a bone in her foot when she had stumbled. At the very least, some kind of muscle or tendon damage. They needed help and soon.
Gibbs swore when he saw what had halted Tim, a partial cave in. mostly of dirt and rocks, at least four feet high. Meaning from her on out, they were going to have to crawl. Gibbs smirked to himself. This was a blessing in disguise, Kelly couldn't weigh bear, and this put her back on an even keel with them. They bunched in close to listen in as Gibbs whispered. "From her on out, we crawl. Kell, you're the smallest, take the bag."
Gibbs handed his daughter the bag as he climbed up first and took the top of the debris. It was rough and rocky, but they would just have to be careful. Tim helped boost Kelly up on to the rock and she temporarily moved into the front of the pack and took control of the torch while Gibbs helped Tobias from above and Tim helped from below. As soon as Tobias was up, Gibbs ushered him tot he front to take the lead for a bit. Gibbs helped Tim, which was easy, as Tim was like him, an avid climber and he knew Tim had strength in his upper body. He had been conducting Tim's fitness evals for more than twelve years already.
Once they were all up on the debris, Tobias had the lead, followed by Kelly and Tim and Gibbs was once again in the rear position. Gibbs knew that the debris would add further time on to his estimate and he didn't even know if they could get out at the other end, but it was a risk they had all decided to take. He knew that Tim hated small spaces, that sometimes he flashed back to the night of the explosion. He had been keeping a careful eye on Tim and he seemed to be holding it together fairly well. However, Gibbs knew from personal experience that if they didn't make it to the end of the tunnel soon, it could be a different story.
Tobias too was concerned for his son, when he had hastily agreed to the tunnel, he admittedly hadn't thought about what it would do to his son. He knew that Tim suffered from PTSD and sometimes had flashbacks, but they had been out of time and choices. He was sure it was in the back of each of their minds and he was proud of his boy for holding it together. Now they were crawling, he had lost track of how far they had walked. Tobias had been keeping a rough mental count in his head.
Kelly grabbed Tobias tightly causing him to stop. He turned around and saw the Gibbs had Tim seated on a rock. His head between his knees and he was soothing Tim's back, quietly reminding Tim to breathe. No one moved and everyone kept a close, but not crowding distance from him as Tim breathed his way through his trauma.
"I'm ok." He hissed after a few more minutes. "The sooner we can get moving, the sooner we can get the hell out of here." He murmured, trying not to bring anyone else's spirits down, namely Kelly or his father. He knew Gibbs could hold his own. He had seen the man do it, time and time again.
They got moving again and the crawling was slow and tedious. It was rocky and dirty; it was dusty, and Kelly was struggling not to sneeze. Tobias stopped. Up ahead the cave in dropped off and it looked like the path resumed again. Tim took the rear and Gibbs wedged his way through to the front again. As soon as Gibbs saw why Tobias had halted, he shared a grin with his friend. "Around that bend is the exit." Gibbs whispered. "It's not as simple as walking through, we will need to commando crawl between two boulders."
"You conveniently left that part out, Jethro." Tobias chastised his friend. He knew he was dirty and grimey. But they all were. They probably smelt damp and sweaty. They had been making a brisk pace. Not to mention that it was cold, but it would be a hell of a lot colder outside than in the tunnel.
"I'll go on ahead, wait here." Gibbs said. "I'll check for unfriendlies and scope the exit out. Give me ten, if I'm not back, backtrack to the house."
"Be safe, Jethro. Watch your six." Tobias urged his friend, as Gibbs gently and gingerly climbed down the debris pile and back onto the firm ground below. They continued to watch as Gibbs went around the curve of the tunnel and out of sight.
Kelly had Tim sitting on a rock, his head between his knees and visualizing the exit the exit, as she urged him to breathe deeply. Tobias took his son's hand and quietly verbalised to him, that everything was ok. That he was ok and that they would be ok.
Gibbs returned with eleven seconds to spare. It had been tight, but he made it. He knew that Tobias would be meticulously timing him. "Ok, it looks clear, but bad news. The sun isn't up yet, and we need to look at our next move." Tobias handed Gibbs the torch, while Tim handed over the topographical map. At present, the GPS would be useless; it required access to satellites, and they were underground.
Tim suggested, as he breathed through his trauma. "We're here. Out of the elements, kind of safe. But we can't stay here. Let's decide our next move and make it. We need to keep going. As soon as we're free, I will attempt to contact Leon on the sat phone, send our co-ordinates and request backup. When you two left DC, I don't think you were expecting to be outnumbered."
"Good idea. Can you tell if someone locks onto your sat phone signal?" Tobias asked. He remembered that during the whole Tony taking Tali and going into hiding that Tim had removed the GPS chip from his sat phone to avoid being traced.
"This one has a chip, but I have an alarm. It will notify me of both a GPS lock and of a cell jammer," Tim answered with a grin. Tobias praised his son with a slap on the back. He was proud of his son, even if he did wonder just whose side of the family his McGuyver-like skills had come from.
"Attaboy, Tim," Gibbs vocalized, as he located their position on the map. Gibbs approved of the youngest agent's plans. He too had noticed how Tim and Kelly were helping each other through the ordeal and it warmed his heart. But he had to squelch those thoughts and focus on the task at hand. They were in a precarious predicament, and it required his full attention. "So, it looks like we can take this path here, hopefully the creek is frozen, and we'll be back on the main road. Tim, did you get a good look at the make and model of the cars?"
"They were driving F350s with crew cabs and extended rear bumpers," Tim informed him. "The license plates were from various states. Probably all fake."
Tobias interrupted them. He had a bad feeling about heading straight for the main road, and he wasn't sure that calling Leon Vance for help was right either. "They could be waiting for us, like Tim said," Tobias added. "We didn't have time to ID every single bad guy. We really don't even know how many people Edwardo and Abby have."
"Good points." Gibbs added, tapping his fingers on map. "We fire a flare or contact Vance, we could give our position away or flag down one of their men, unknowingly. Leading them straight to us."
Tim suddenly asked, "What time is it?" His voice a little shaky. When Gibbs shone the torch on his watch for Tim to see, he sighed out loud. "What if we backtracked towards the house? Waited inside the tunnel. Listened to the movements and waited them out. We know there was an explosion earlier and the door opens inwards. Would your neighbors have alerted the local LEOs?"
"Tim, you did the urban search and rescue, cat one training package before the attack on the gala. I haven't done it, nor has Tobias? It would be up to you to climb through the rubble. Think you could handle that?" Gibbs proposed, knowing this needed to thoroughly be discussed. They could not afford to have Tim freeze up or have a flashback at a critical stage of the rescue. What if the mercenaries were still there? What if they were going into an ambush? "We can always get out of the cave, hot wire an assault craft and hightail it into bushland and wait them out."
"First, I think we need to check Kelly out." Tobias reminded the two NCIS agents.
"No, leave my boot on." Kelly warned him and he saw the NCIS agents nodding along with her. "I can feel my foot swelling. If that boot comes off, it's not going back on."
"Look we all have to agree. We are a team." Tobias said, succinctly. "We have two options. Go back or go forward. What's it going to be?"
"I edited a technical manual on structural collapse last month. I'm with Tim. They aren't going to hang around a burned-out house, are they? Jerry and Veronica would have called 911 when the explosion happened." Kelly explained, making her thoughts known. However, she didn't know how criminals thought and acted; she could be totally wrong.
"You're actually not wrong, Kell." Gibbs mumbled in agreement. "An assault craft would never have worked. With as many men as we saw, they'd have sentries, and we could never disable them all and then hot wire one. Tobias?"
"Once we get that hatch open, Tim's going to have to sort the debris inward, instead of like the category two course." Tobias suggested. He hadn't had a chance to mention yet, that he had just started the category two urban search and rescue course. "Meaning, we are all going to have to help him, form a human chain inside the cave until we have an exit route."
"I know we need to get moving, but can I suggest we take a rest at the halfway point back? None of us have had any solid sleep." Kelly suggested, wondering if Tim would be able to truly relax in the cave. "The debris removal sounds strenuous, but resting first would buy us some time. Jerry and Veronica would have called 911. They would have seen Leon's car. He would have to come to the scene, I'm sure. If we time it right, we wouldn't have to wait for Jerry to return for help. Leon would be there."
"Sorry Kelly, best I can offer is some water and a protein bar. We need to keep moving." Tim hated to burst his girlfriend's bubble, but he knew he was right. Seeing his father, and hers nodding along with him confirmed it for him. "Especially if we're going to rely on help from the 911 responders or Leon."
"Tim's right, honey." Gibbs reassured her. "Sarah would hear about Leon's car through diplomatic channels. She'd have him choppered out her asap, possibly tagging along too. She knows you guys were coming here, so does Leon. We need to keep moving."
The shrill ring of Leon Vance's cell phone woke him at 0503 in the morning. It was the Beaufort's county police captain, calling to let him know that they found his car burnt out on the Gibbs family estate just outside some small town in West Virginia.
He denied any knowledge of the incident and surmised that he was sorry for the trouble he had surmised that it must have been stolen. He could not risk letting them know that Gibbs was there. He reassured the captain that he would come down and see the scene for himself.
He knew he needed to wake Sarah and update her. Not only was she the Secretary of the US Navy and Marine Corp, but that was also his work car and he answered to her. That didn't even take into account that Tim and Kelly were there. That Tobias had been with Gibbs and the four of them could possibly be dead.
"One more thing, we will be requesting some back-up from the Feds. We have twenty-two dead bodies to process." The police Captain informed Leon.
"Don't bother with the FBI and don't touch the scene." Leon ordered in a snappish tone. "I'm dispatching three halos with my best people on them. I have a suspicion who stole my car and with that many dead bodies, we are looking at a case sensitive to the security of the nation. The USMC will work with NCIS and we will take over jurisdiction."
"What makes you think we will just willingly hand it over?" the local LEO captain argued. "It's our jurisdiction and we don't have a sailor for miles."
"Simple, we will just have to petition the president to intervene on our behalf. You do listen to the President, don't you?" Leon muttered, getting pissed off at some little pissant police captain from the middle of nowhere.
"Until I see an order, in writing, it's my scene. You can sightsee when we're done." The cop told Leon with a snarky, elitist attitude. But Leon was about to take the wind out of the man's sails.
"Or I'll call just call in our IA department. That land belongs to our agent and we can take control of the investigation under Article twelve, section nineteen, paragraph four; an Attack against a federal agent."
"I guess that we will maintain the security of the scene until you arrive." the cocky cop conceded, feeling defeated.
Disconnecting the call, Leon immediately sent word for all available personnel to report in and the USMC were mobilized on Sarah's command, as his cellphone rang. It was Sarah Porter. She was worrying... Both Tobias and Tim were missing. She was coming in, too.
By the time he had dressed made it to the front gate, he had a whole contingency of agents, as well as a mobile forensics team. Two ME's and a whole platoon of Marie's on route. There was a C130 fueled and loaded with supplies, ready to depart. Nearly everyone on board, the C130 departed within two hours of receiving the call. Whereas Balboa, Vance and Sarah took a USMC helo and were there in an hour.
As soon as their feet were back on the ground, they swiftly and efficiently took control of the scene.
The house was in ruins. Anything that wasn't burnt to a crisp or charred, was waterlogged from the fire department.
The four of them were back at the midway point, when they heard a noise. This time, they were moving at a slower pace. Gibbs and Tobias were alternating between carrying Kelly and assisting her. The three agents looked at one another. They didn't recognise the noise. It was a dull thud and a slight ticking noise that echoed off the walls, rather than through the tunnel.
When the vibration finally stopped, they surveyed the damage. "Tim!" Gibbs verbalised his warning, stopping him from slipping on the small rock in front of him. But unfortunately, Gibbs was the one who had slipped. His back felt like it had gone sideways. He was aching all over.
"I got Kelly, you grab Gibbs," Tim instructed his father. "Because I can't stand still. I need to get out of the tunnel. I'm not sure how much longer I can take this."
"You'll be OK, son." Tobias grinned at him, encouraging him. "You're doing great. Your mom and sisters will be so proud of you. Just like Kelly and Gibbs are, right?"
Both Gibbses chimed in on cue, reassuring him that they were proud of him. That he was doing well.
They reached the halfway point of the tunnel, climbing back down from the partial collapse, Gibbs sat back against the wall of the tunnel and sighed. "I think we should have a water break and eat something. It could potentially be a very long day."
Wordlessly, Tim handed out water bottles and everyone started on the protein bars that Kelly had put in their jacket pockets. "Small bites." Gibbs advised them gently, mostly to Kelly. Tim and Tobias were agents, so they had some survival training, but Kelly was a civilian. "It tricks your body into thinking you ate more than you did."
"I should use that tactic to lose some weight." Kelly murmured as she too, took a seat on the floor of the tunnel. Tim lightly admonished her as he too took a seat, not to close to Kelly, but close enough that she felt comforted by his presence. Tim had urged Kelly to take some Tylenol when he had handed her the water.
Fifteen minutes had passed, since they had eaten the protein bar and had a few sips of water. Stowing everything back in the pack, Tobias hoisted the bag onto his shoulder. "I hate to say it, but we need to get moving."
"Come on Kell, I'll carry you." Tim urged, as he helped Kelly up off the floor, putting all her weight on her good foot. Gibbs tried to wordlessly argue with Tim, but he backed down when Tim pointed out that his back hurt.
Carrying Kelly for another ten minutes, Kelly told Tim to put her down. "You need to be ready, Tim. You're the key here." She told him in a whisper, as he reluctantly lowered her to the ground. he wasn't in the mood to fight it out with her. He could feel his mind beginning to shut down and he just hoped that it didn't happen until they were out of the tunnel. To Tim, he felt like he was trapped in the debris from the Conrad Gala attack, all over again.
Three hundred feet up ahead, Tobias shone the torch brightly, happily jostling it around. The metal hatch door was now within their line of vision. They just prayed that the house wasn't too destroyed in the explosion.