Chapter 5

McGee sat typing away angrily at his computer. Leave it to Gibbs to stick him with the hard job. Tony go to go flirt with some nurse and all Ziva had to do was sit around and wait for a phone call.

"You could help me you know," he called over to her, where she was cleaning her gun.

"No that's alright," answered Ziva casually.

"What's alright?" asked Gibbs entering the bullpen.

"Nothing, Boss," muttered Tim quickly.

"Nothings alright McGee? I've got a problem with that," challenged Gibbs.

"No, I just, uh, meant that umm" stammered Tim.

"Please tell me you're done stuttering and let me know what you've got," said Gibbs impatiently.

"Right Boss, I managed to track down the 'anonymous' tip and just like you guessed it was made by Colonel Jackson," he recovered.

"Good now what do you know about Alan Smithers?" Gibbs asked.

"Who's Alan Smit-" started McGee.

"Find out McGee. I want everything on this man, phone records, credit card use, everything." ordered Gibbs.

"Right away, Boss," replied Tim.

"Gibbs," called Ziva urgently, "They've found the car, near a warehouse about a half hour away."

"Another warehouse," mumbled Tim, "what is it with these people and warehouses?"

"Grab your gear, Ziva- call Tony, have him drop of Claudia with Duck and Abby, and meet us there," ordered Gibbs.

"I'll drive," offered Tim.

"No, I will," stated Gibbs. McGee and Ziva exchanged a look, before following Gibbs into the elevator. They had never seen him this angry before.

Ten minutes later, Gibbs, Tim, and Ziva stepped out of the car, each drawing their guns.

"Shouldn't we wait for To-" started Tim, but stopped after a glance at Gibbs.

"We go in now," he said, "Ziva, go around back, McGee around the side. You each have one minute to get in to position, we go in on in 80 seconds." Both agents nodded and headed off around the building.

Ziva was taking deep breathes, she had done this hundreds of time, why was she so nervous. She guessed it was her gut, as Gibbs would say. She counted the seconds carefully.

45…46…47… She spotted the back entrance. 54…55…60… She was in position. 78…79…80… She kicked through the door, gun raised. The warehouse was empty except for a few boxes and a table in the middle of the room. She spotted McGee coming from the side, and Gibbs from the front. Gibbs signaled all clear. Putting away their weapons they congregated in the middle of the room.

"Just a coincidence I guess," McGee was saying, "Someone must have stolen the car and dumped it here."

"I don't believe in coincidences," said Gibbs spitting the words out like venom.

Suddenly from behind a crate, rose a man, aiming a sniper rifle at their foreheads.

"Nobody move," the man said, "Just drop your weapons and nobody gets shot. Better yet just leave the guns where they are and put your hands in the air."

Knowing that one wrong move would spell the end for at least one of them the team did as they were told. Gibbs was mentally kicking himself; of course it was a trap. There was no way they would all make it out alive.

"Very good," started the man, "now jus-" but before he could finish, Tony burst through the door.

"Sorry I'm late Bo-" he stopped in his tracks. This had caused the sniper to turn in surprise. Two shots rang through the warehouse in quick succession. Taking advantage of the distraction Gibbs had nailed the sniper in the back, but not before he had fired a shot at Tony.

"Tony," yelled Gibbs as he watched his senior field agent fall to the ground. All three agents rushed to their fallen teammate.

" 'S all right," Tony whispered, " 'S just a scratch," and promptly fainted.

"It's his leg," said McGee worriedly, "We need an ambulance."

An hour later Tony was sitting in a hospital bed flirting with a cute nurse. As soon as the team had found out the extent of the injury they had returned to the office, leaving Tony to the nurses.

Back at the office, McGee had gotten a positive id on the sniper. He was, as they had suspected, Alan Smithers. The shot to his back had been fatal, but no one was complaining.

When Gibbs arrived he had found Claudia, along with Abby, being entertained by one of Ducky's astonishing stories. Gibbs asked to speak to her alone.

"Agent Gibbs, did you get him? The man who killed my dad?" she questioned.

"Of course we did," he said putting a hand on her shoulder, "he can't hurt you any more. You're going to stay at your grandparents, alright?"

"Will you visit me?" she asked, "You did so much for me, I'll miss you." Gibbs had promised that he would.

"Hey," Abby asked an hour later "where's Tony."

"Oh yeah, he got shot," said Tim, his eyes still glued to the computer screen, "I forgot to tell you."

"What? When! Is he alright? Can we go see him? He is alive, right? You didn't 'forget" to tell me he died, right?" she exclaimed.

"He's fine; it was just in the leg," said McGee calmly, "he'll be back tomorrow."

"Why didn't you tell me!" she asked again, turning to Gibbs.

"You didn't ask," he replied.

The next day around noon, Tony came limping into the office, supported by a sympathetic Abby. Grabbing a sandwich off of Ziva's desk as he limped by he unwrapped it and took a bite.

"Hey," she exclaimed, "what was that for?"

"Payback," explained Tony, "for telling Gibbs about my girlfriend on Monday," he finished, not knowing that Gibbs was behind him. Smack! Tony winced as Gibbs' hand came in contact with the back of his head.

"Thanks for the sandwich, Dinozzo," said Gibbs, grabbing it out of his hand and taking a bite.

"No problem, Boss," replied Tony grimacing.