I have finished Honours. I plan to update quicker (a lot quicker) and actually plan to have it finished within a few months. This is the last slower chapter, we're coming up to the climax.

Harrison was, for the first time in hours, alone minding the hostages. The third man who they hadn't seen since the first phone call walked out and collected Otto and the man with the German accent. Harrison looked over but a deadly glare from Otto had the man halting and turning back to observe the hostages with a fierce scowl. For the first time during the whole hostage situation, he'd looked scared.

Harry glanced over to Anthony only to see him passed out on his brother's lap. It wasn't the best sign but at least the boy wasn't in any pain anymore. The security guard was still out cold, and Harry's shoulders ached when he looked at the man's. He would not be surprised if the man had some serious complications with his arms once this was all over. If he manages to survive.

"What do you think they're discussing?" Tony asked, turning to look at Ziva.

Glancing over to look at the pair of agents, he saw them both looking towards the back of the bank and away from the camera and Harry himself. A quick glance towards Harrison saw the man looking at the two bank tellers, also away from Harry and the camera.

Blocking out the conversation behind him, Harry took his chance to slip his wand out of his sleeve. He'd been close to bringing it out many times before this moment, but he wasn't a rash teenager anymore. He knew to wait for the right moment now. In a normal situation, he'd be able to cast the spell he wanted without his wand, but he wasn't willing to risk it while injured and surrounded by muggles.

The Notice-Me-Not spell was an effective one but wasn't usually cast in public. It relied on the underlying human behaviour of ignoring things which are unimportant in everyday life. To be successful, the spell needed to be cast while no one was watching the area. If even one person was paying attention the spell would fail.

The spell wasn't completely foolproof. There are people out there who do notice every detail of everyday life. Those people are unaffected by the spell, but Harry was almost positive there wasn't anyone in the bank who possessed that skill.

Harry took another cautious look around the bank, making sure everyone's attention was directed elsewhere. He lay his wand beside his leg and aimed towards the camera, or more accurately, the area surrounding the camera. He couldn't risk casting the spell verbally, but the spell wasn't a powerful one. His intent should contain enough power for the spell to work. Focusing on the area and what he wanted, Harry cast.

He felt his own eyes drift away from the camera and smiled. It worked, and no one had noticed. The spell would stay now until someone removed it.

"Did you say something?"

Harry cursed, fumbling a little with his wand, though he was careful to keep it out of her sight. He must have muttered something to arouse her suspicion. "No?" he said, tilting his head to the side like a confused dog. Sirius always managed to pull off the 'I'm-not-innocent-and-we-both-know-it-but-you're-going-to-let-me-go-anyway' look when he tilted his head like Harry was now. He hoped it worked similarly for him.

Ziva's eyes narrowed but she just huffed and dismissed him. "Whatever," she said, turning to look at where the three men left again.

Tony snorted to the side of Harry and he glanced over to see him shaking his head. "That look always work for you?" he asked with a smirk.

Harry returned it. "Wouldn't you like to know."

When Tony also turned away Harry glanced to the bank entrance and sighed. He'd need to wait to pull off the covering now. He wouldn't risk using magic and arousing anyone's suspicions. The men were back. All three of them.

McGee continued to search through databases to try and figure out who else was in the bank. He'd managed to identify the mother and daughter pair from the mother's hospital ID. Dr Lisa Turnbull was a surgeon and was just commended for a research paper into a theory that may improve the stability of organ transplant surgeries. She was married with two children, her eldest being Kayla who was in the bank with Dr Turnbull.

He sent her information along to Ducky as well as everything he could find on the girl (which wasn't much, only some school records and a slightly neglected Facebook page).

Sacks arrived barely half an hour ago. He'd been at the FBI building with the director. Their last case had been connected to a terrorist group but was now being shifted to another team to deal with. Sacks had to hand the information over and answer any questions the new team had before he arrived. The terrorist cell was a huge one, white supremacy and deadly in their attacks, though so far the FBI had managed to stop them. The only reason Fornell's team was able to be pulled was because there was no evidence of attacks happening any time soon.

Sacks was now calling all the identified hostages' families and asking them any information that might help with the investigation. No one was hopeful the families would have any helpful information for them.

"McGee."

Turning, McGee saw Fornell approaching him, Gibbs not far behind. "Are there other entrances to the bank?" Sacks looked over from where he was making phone calls, though he didn't move over.

Nodding, McGee turned to the screen and pulled up a blueprint. "There's a back door, in a sense. It's an emergency exit. It was designed as an escape in case, well, something like this happens. The problem with that is—"

"Harrison knows about it."

"Yeah. If he was smart, and everything that's happened so far suggests he is, then he would have somehow barred that back door."

"Are there cameras around the area?"

McGee was already shaking his head. "The door opens up into an alleyway, one that has only a Chinese restaurant that also backs on it. They don't bother with cameras, and the only cameras the bank has are inside."

There was silence in the van. McGee took a moment to glance over at Ginny, only to see her staring at the window outside for once instead of the camera.

"Is it weird that we can't see anyone through the window anymore?" McGee mused, not realising at first that he'd spoken aloud.

"Yes. No one saw your agents, or the other hostages being moved, and we could see them when the bank was first sieged.

McGee, still staring at Ginny, saw her twitch at Fornell's words. She was listening and being very careful about making sure no one noticed she was listening. He wondered how much of their other conversations she'd listened into.

"I don't care about that," Gibbs said. "I want my agents and those hostages out and I want them out now."

Gibbs turned to look at McGee, who finally pulled his eyes away from Ginny. The look he was receiving at the moment wasn't a pleasant one.

"How close are you to identifying the other hostages?"

"I've only identified Dr Lisa Turnbull and her daughter Kayla." McGee knew Gibbs wouldn't want any more details about the hostages at this point. "I sent the young boy's photos to Abby as she couldn't do any more on her other task" Just in case Ginny hadn't heard their previous conversation about her husband, he thought to keep that bit of information under wraps. "She might have something. The other two, the elderly woman and the scrappy man are both practically non-existent online. I can't find anything."

"Send it all to Abby and let her search."

"Boss?" McGee couldn't help the brief flash of fear that he hadn't worked hard enough, and Gibbs thought Abby could do it better before he shook it off. Gibbs wasn't like that.

"I need you to try and figure out what Harrison was using that money for if anything. Something isn't adding up with all this."

That was genius. They'd traced the money all over the world until it landed back in DC into an account under an alias which they quickly discovered was Harrison, but they'd stopped there. They were trying to solve the murder first and foremost and the money trail had given them the suspect they needed, McGee had planned to continue following the trail when they had Harrison in custody just for the sake of the case, but if there was more going on then what they first thought, the money was key. That's what got McCray and his family killed and Harrison discovered.

"Yes Boss," McGee said, turning to the computer and starting to dig. He hoped he found something, they really needed a break.

Ziva, by nature, was a suspicious person. She does not trust anyone until she knew their every secret. She had not trusted Gibbs for a long time because his secrets were well hidden, but McGee was easy to trust. Everything from his childhood bullying, his teenage experiences, both good and bad, up until now was easy to find. He was far too trusting of the world.

It was easy to be suspicious of Mr Harry Potter. She liked him, and there was no doubt that the man was furious at the men and Harrison, but he was hiding something. He kept fiddling with his sleeve, a move he probably did not even realise he was making, and he looked around the bank like, well, like she was. She would not be surprised to find out he was military or part of the police force in Britain, though she suspected Tony would be shocked. He did not act like he was trained, but he was too calm. Harry was young, early twenties at best, and he looked younger. The fact that he was so calm and collected through this process was a puzzle, one she indented to figure out.

"They're back," Harry said.

Ziva glanced at him and saw a hint of disappointment, but she dismissed her thoughts on Harry at the moment and turned to look at the men. All three, plus Harrison, were standing together talking. Otto, the one who hit the security guard over the head, was holding a small box, it looked like a safety deposit box.

"What are they doing with that?" Tony was leaning forward, almost straining to see what number the box had on it. Unfortunately, the number was tucked against Otto's side. There was no way they'd be able to see it.

"I do not know, Tony. Why don't you ask them?" Ziva said as she rolled her eyes. She did not see the purpose of asking pointless questions.

"Hey, Harrison!"

Ziva whipped around to stare at Tony, almost in sync with Harry and Harrison. "What are you doing?" Ziva hissed, her hands clenched by her side to prevent them from grabbing at her necklace. She didn't need any more of that type of attention.

"Asking him," Tony said as if it was obvious. "You told me to."

Ziva glared at him. Unbelievable. "I was joking."

Tony just grinned and turned back as Harrison stood in front of them.

"Did I say you could speak?" Harrison snapped, glancing back at his companions for a second before glaring at Tony some more.

"You didn't say I couldn't," Tony replied with an easy smirk.

Harrison's attention was not completely focused on Tony. He kept glancing back, obviously wanting to be part of the conversation.

"I'm saying it now. Shut it or the next bullet goes through his head." Harrison flicked his hand towards Harry, and Ziva shifted to hopefully block Harrison's view, even a little, although she knew it was pointless.

"No need for that," Tony said, much more relaxed than he should be, though she did see him shift to move in front of Harry. "I just want to know what you're doing with that box."

"None of your damned business," a new voice said.

Moving to look up, Ziva saw the third man, the one they'd yet to see since the first phone call, standing behind Harrison. Ziva peered at him, remembering Tony's words about recognising him, but she couldn't see anything familiar about the man. She wasn't someone who would forget a face.

"Gabriel," Harrison muttered, his voice shaking a little as he stepped back and to the side so he was slightly behind the new man, Gabriel.

Ziva stiffened her pose and she saw Tony sit up a little straighter as well, even Harry's eyes sharpened, though his body did not move a muscle. This man was the leader, there was no doubt about it.

The new man's eyes roamed over Ziva and Tony, though he barely looked at Harry, clearly deeming him unimportant as he was a 'civilian' and injured. "Keep your mouths shut. All of you," Gabriel said, his French accent muted but still distinguishable. Gabriel moved away after his words, Harrison following meekly behind.

Ziva watched the man walk away, noticing the way he favoured his right side, though the walk looked natural, almost like it was an old injury. She watched as they approached the other two and continued their discussion. Otto and the other man seemed to lower themselves around the man as well. He was clearly in charge of whatever was going on.

"What was that?" Harry asked after a moment, eyes glancing between Ziva and Tony.

Ziva didn't answer, not sure what to say. She was starting to get a clearer picture though. The men's movements and actions were starting to remind her of men from Israel. Men she was ordered to kill in protection to her country.

(w.c 2,298)

WolfWinks -xx-