Melinda

Chapter 1

She ran….She had been running for years but now she was nearing the end of her goal.

She had been staking out the chateau in Switzerland for months she had seen him coming and going, the old fool had been right when he had told her on his deathbed that he had seen her father not less than a week before his death.

She tossed her black hair back into a ponytail and discarded the hat she had used as a disguise.

She hadn't wanted to as she hadn't been able to dye her hair for two weeks and the red of her natural color was starting to show through.

She walked up to the Café where Trent Kort was waiting for her.

"You're late." He snapped.

"I was nearly spotted. He's meeting with Banks this week, we can take him there." She said breathlessly.

Kort raised an eyebrow at the woman. "Where?" He asked.

"Washington. D.C," She said.

"You sure you can go through with this?" He asked.

She looked at him with barely disguised contempt. "I gave up the man I loved, my job, my home and my child to bring him to justice and you're asking me if I can go through with it."

She picked up her glass of scotch, after so many years she had lost her taste of bourbon; it reminded her too much of him and what she had lost.

Kort smiled.

She sighed and looked over at him, "Do you have any pictures of him?" she asked.

Kort fished out pictures of a seven year old boy. His red hair and green eyes made him stand out amongst the crowd of children in the schoolyard.

"How is he?" she asked.

Kort smiled, "He's very bright like his mother, and his foster carer is looking after him well, she is still loyal to you, he has his father's sense of humor and is in trouble a lot at school, but like his father he is loyal to his friends. I have his school report for you as well." He handed it over and she read it soaking up every piece of information she could on her son.

"What's his name now?" She asked.

"Is it really safe for you to know, I thought the reason you gave him up was that he wouldn't know who he was."

"Please, I can't keep calling him AJ when that's not who he is?" She begged.

"His name is Max…Max Watson." Kort said.

She laughed "His father would love that."

Kort nodded, "Probably come out with some silly quote," he agreed.

The late, Jenny Shepard now Melinda Gordon looked down at the photograph again, "I love you AJ," she said quietly as she sipped the rest of her drink.

Tony DiNozzo sank into his chair after another getting in at 3am and catching up on all his paperwork.

He opened up his email and there it was again, another Email from the enigmatic Melinda who never left any details just another picture of a boy, no name, or any ages over the years Tony had watched this boy grow up and figured that whoever it was was sending it to the wrong email address. He had tried to reply but they were always returned as non-delivered.

This time there was a line of text with the picture; Tony looked at the line and then looked at the boy, "His name is Max…now." It said then a gap and 'Melinda'.

Tony shrugged and filed the picture away. He knew it couldn't be for him, he had never dated a girl called Melinda, he would have remembered that. However he had grown attached to this mysterious kid he had watched grown up through photographs.

He watched as the team walked in getting ready for the day and closed the open email.

"Did you have a good night Tony, you look tired?" Ziva teased.

"I'm fine Ziva," Tony replied putting on his best smile.

He got up and headed to the coffee shop near to the navy yard to pick up Gibbs' coffee with McGee.

"Why am I coming, I have to defrag the computers." Tim complained.

"Because McTardy you were late twice this week, you're buying Gibbs a coffee." Tony grinned as McGee's frown got bigger.

With handfuls of Coffee the two walked back to Tony's car, Tim held the coffee as Tony opened the door.

"Tony, looks like you got a ticket." Tim smiled as he saw the envelope on the windshield.

Tony grabbed it and put it in his pocket and the two returned to the Naval yard.

Entering the bullpen they were surprised to find Vance standing in the bullpen.

"Sorry director. I didn't get you a coffee." Tony grinned handing Gibbs what was probably his third cup already even though it was only 9am.

"We have a situation that I need you to handle." Vance said to the team.

Gibbs looked up and sent a nod DiNozzo's way for the coffee.

"What's the problem Leon?" Gibbs asked.

"Jenny Shepard." Leon said, "Or more accurately her father Jasper Shepard."

"She died seven years ago and he died more than ten years ago." Gibbs said.

"We have information that may case doubt on those statements." Leon said.

The others all looked at him.

"What do you mean?" Gibbs growled.

"Jenny's old housekeeper, Noemi she married a Tom Watson five years ago, they have a seven year old foster son, she was found murdered this morning with her husband, the boy is missing." Leon said, "Watson is an active Marine. So with that and the fact that Noemi was Jenny's housekeeper the case has come to us."

"What does this have to do with Jen…Director Shepard?" Tony asked.

"Her fingerprints were found on pictures of the boy and so were her father's,"

"Could it be a set up?" Gibbs asked remembering when Jenny thought she was being set up before.

"Both sets of prints were run privately by the FBI there was a ten point match; we have a BOLO out on the son right now." Leon said "There's no telling what information they gave their killers before they died." Leon turned and pressed the button on the plasma.

They turned and looked at the picture of the boy on the plasma.

"Max!" Tony said and turned pale on instinct he reached into the pocket and pulled out the envelope that had been on his windscreen.

The envelope was plain and brown, he opened it and a picture of Max was inside with two words written in red across the picture.

SAVE HIM.