"Come on, McGee! We need to get in here!" Tony said.
Tim muttered under his breath, "You want to do this, Tony? Fine. Do it."
"Enough talk! We only have two hours to find where Gibbs and Ziva are being held," Vance said. "Need I remind you that their oxygen runs out after that?"
"No, sir," Tim said.
"Then, stop bickering and find them!"
Tim suppressed a retort. He was stressed. This stupid website was the only link they had to where Gibbs and Ziva were. ...and he was the only one who could break into it and find its source. ...and he didn't need the backseat hackers to tell him how to do his job. That included Vance.
All those thoughts ran through his head, but he didn't say anything. He just focused his anger on the computer, focused on getting through to them, on finding where they were. He would do it. He would do it! He could...and he would.
One hour later, he was through.
"There they are!" he shouted. He got the address and sent it to his phone. Then, he and Tony and Vance ran out of the building.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Quietly, they approached the house.
"You in position?" Vance whispered.
"I'm ready at the back," Tim said.
"Ready on the side."
"On my count. One. Two. Three!"
Abruptly the quiet house erupted into chaos. Shouts of "NCIS!" and "Freeze!" were nearly drowned out under the shouts of their targets. In seconds, the only noise in the house was coming from the kitchen.
The man in the kitchen must have had some sort of clairvoyance because he was ready right when Tim came in, ramming Tim in the shoulder and taking him to the floor. Tim wrestled with the man and finally got him under control, putting the cuffs on him while he could hear Tony and Vance breaking open the box where the drug dealers had stashed Gibbs and Ziva. He was breathing heavily as he read the man his rights.
"Drew Arnold...you're under arrest for possession and distribution and for kidnapping and attempted murder. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford an attorney..." He hitched his shoulder painfully. The guy had hit him really hard.
"You okay in there, McGee?" Tony's voice came.
"Yeah, fine. Gibbs? Ziva?"
Tim heard movement behind him and turned around. Ziva, looking wan and tired, was leaning against the wall. "We will be fine, McGee."
"Good." He looked at the man on the floor. "Lucky for you." He pulled him to his feet, accidentally kicking what looked like a futuristic syringe in the process. He paid it little mind, assuming that it had been knocked to the floor in the struggle and dragged Arnold to the front to join the other two men Tony and Vance had arrested. Tony was covering them while Vance helped Gibbs out of the room. Ziva sank down onto a couch, clearly exhausted.
Vance took control, letting Gibbs sit next to Ziva and calling for backup and for an ambulance. Tim couldn't get his shoulder to stop hurting and massaged it.
"What's up, McGee?" Tony asked.
"Arnold," Tim said. "He hit me. I'm okay. Just bruised. Knocked the wind out of me."
"That's because you're too scrawny, McSkinny. You don't have any padding anymore."
Tim rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the compliment, Tony."
