𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄 ━━ 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐳𝐳𝐨

THIRTY | just a nightmare

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?" I slowly enter the bullpen, plopping down in my chair after the long walk up from Abby's. "Kate, I thought you were going to stop by at five to wake me."

Kate passes me a pair of chopsticks and a takeout box from the local Chinese restaurant."Strict orders from DiNozzo not to."

"Tony, I told you not to make a big deal about this. You should be resting, too." I try to open up the box, but I barely have enough energy to eat.

"Hey." Gibbs snaps his fingers to get our attention. "I want to know what Westfall was doing at Aberdeen by the time I get back."

"Where are you going?"

"Out."

Leave it to Gibbs to give the vaguest answers.

"McGee. . ." He grabs his gun and magazine from the top desk drawer. "I want other reasons why someone would chop off his hands. Tony, go down to Abby's and sleep." On his way out, he stops at my desk to open up my takeout box. "Eva. . .eat something."

Less than twenty minutes later, McGee is pacing up and down the aisle. "Why take someone's hands?"

"Trophies?" Tony picks through some bits of broccoli.

"Okay," He finally stops, "but why leave the other lieutenant's?"

"If he's chopping hands off, I don't think we can expect him to be rational, McGee."

My stomach churns at the thought of cutting someone's hands off after killing them. It's enough to make me close up the takeout container.

"We've got trouble." McGee stares at the elevator. "FBI trouble."

I roll my eyes, recognizing the agent. "The worst kind of trouble we can get into."

"Fornell?" Kate stands up behind her desk.

"We must be in worse shape than we thought."

"Where's Gibbs?" Fornell stops near the entrance. "Where is he?"

"He's out. Try him on his cell."

"I did, but he's not answering."

I grab my bottle of Advil, take one for the pounding headache consuming my energy. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"What's going on?"

"Ari Haswari is back in the country."

"You let that psycho back into the States without telling us?" Kate spits out at him.

Fornell lets out a sigh. "He was supposed to help us uncover an Al Qaeda cell in the D.C. area."

"What do you mean supposed to, Fornell?"

"We now think he's here for more personal reasons." The FBI agent reveals Ari's true plans. "He's planning on killing Gibbs."

"You guys just never learn, do you?"

Within an hour, after forty messages from me and Tony, Gibbs returns to the building unscathed. He lets us know that he and Ari had a cup of coffee before almost being bombed.

"Is it me, or did he take the whole Ari situation really well?" McGee turns to the two of us.

"It's only because Gibbs has been looking forward to this for more than a year."

"Looking forward to what?"

"Finally getting to kill him."

The director of NCIS assigns me, Kate, Tony, and McGee to protect Gibbs, including staking out in front of his own home.