Tony DiNozzo removed his NCIS cap and scratched his head as he looked over the grassy, 50-foot, near-vertical drop to the bottom of a forested ravine where the body of Captain Xavier LaRoque had been found only three hours prior.

"Boss, I don't get it." He said.

"You don't get what, DiNozzo?" Gibbs stood next to his senior field agent and surveyed the tree-tops while taking a deep breath of the fresh Cascade mountain air.

"How do we get down there?" DiNozzo replaced his cap.

"I dunno. Figure it out. Our Captain did." Gibbs clapped him on the shoulder nearly knocking him down the hill and left him there. Tony looked down into the ravine and sighed.

He had not signed up to process yet another murder when Gibbs had decided to take him and Ziva to a criminalistics convention in Seattle, Washington. They had left McGee and Abby alone with Ducky and Jimmy Palmer to hold down the fort back in D.C.

The local authorities had thought it appropriate to send the D.C. crew in to investigate the murder of the Naval Captain.

"Need help, Tony?" Ziva snuck up behind him and whispered in his ear causing him to jump, which nearly sent him toppling over the edge again.

"Why? Think you could figure this out any faster than I can, Zee-vah?" Tony said eyeing his partner suspiciously whilst attempting to salvage some dignity.

"Yes, I do." She said. She planted her right foot over the edge and crouched on her left. She inched slowly over the edge keeping a fistful of grass in her left hand. She suddenly released the grass and, keeping her left hand on the grass to slow her descent, began to slide down the hill rapidly. Tony watched anxiously until she reached the bottom. Once she stopped she stood, straightened her windbreaker and bowed sarcastically up to Tony.

"Here, DiNozzo, do something useful." Gibbs handed him his and Ziva's kits. "Slide these down."

"Yes, boss." Tony cautiously slid the boxes down lengthwise to avoid them tipping over. Ziva collected them at the bottom.

Gibbs took up Ziva's starting position and motioned for Tony to follow. The two men began their descent. Halfway down Tony's muscles tensed and he lost control. His extended leg caught a rock, but his body kept going which caused him to roll ass over teakettle the rest of the way down. He landed spread-eagled on the ground, groaning dramatically. Gibbs and Ziva looked down at him.

"Having fun, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"No, sir."

"Then get up."

"Yes, boss."

Tony stood and brushed off his slacks and windbreaker. Ziva handed him his hat and winked at him.

"Sarcasm doesn't become you Agent David."

"Nor does cowardice become you, Tony." She laughed and ducked under the crime scene tape. Tony followed and the pair walked several feet behind their boss through the thick woods.

They came upon the body of Captain Xavier LaRoque. His eyes were half-closed exposing green irises which reminded Tony of McGee's eyes. His hair was sheared short. He wore a navy coloured windbreaker, similar to the ones the team wore, and dark blue jeans with hiking boots.

His body was in a sitting position against a tree. He would have looked like a normal dead body had there not been a foot-and-a-half long wooden arrow shaft impaling his chest.

The blood pool soaking his shirt and the ground around him suggested he had been shot there and had not moved much.

Tony flinched as his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He opened it to see that Abby had initiated a video call.

"Tony!" Abby exclaimed happily. "I found you! Where have you been? I've been trying you for an hour…"

"Crime scene."

"Oh wow! All the way out in Seattle? What happened?"

"Captain was shot. You know anything about arrows?"

"Not much but I know someone who does."

"Get them ready for a video conference at 1700 your time Abbs." Gibbs said over Tony's shoulder.

"Actually, she's here right now if you want to talk to her…"

Gibbs looked at the body. "Might as well."

Abby smiled and looked out the left side of Tony's phone. "Melissa! Your expertise is needed!"

A teenage girl popped onto the screen. Tony recoiled slightly. "Who's that?" he asked

"This is Melissa; she's my friend's daughter. Well, adopted daughter. Carrie's way too young to have a sixteen-year-old daughter…"

"Thanks, Abbs." Tony looked at Gibbs. "You think she can help?"

"We'll see." Gibbs took the phone. "Melissa, can you handle a dead body?" he asked bluntly.

"Yeah, sure."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow as if to say you asked for it.

He turned the phone so that the arrow was in complete view of the camera. "Dictate, Melissa."

"Hmmm." She said thoughtfully. "The arrow was made for a long bow. You don't use wooden shafts for recurve or compound. Looks homemade, too, the fletching is badly applied." She referred to the bright red fletches, or feathers, on the end of the arrow which had been messily glue on. "It's all made from store-bought materials, you can't get those synthetic fletches just anywhere. If you want to find out who made the arrow, you'll want to check with the local archery centre or supply store. They might be able to help you find a list of people who bought that particular kind of fletching. May I see his hands for a moment?"

Gibbs complied and moved the camera to see the victim's blood-stained hands.

"Ten bucks says it's a broad-head tip. Those tips are specifically designed for hunting. They do not come out. The blood on his hands and the bloody finger prints on the bottom of the shaft are consistent with the theory that he didn't know it was a broad-head and was trying to pull it out himself. The agitation would have caused more damage and made him bleed out faster.

"He was most likely shot by a hunter. No target shooter uses broad-heads."

"Why not?" Tony inquired.

"They're discouraged for indoor use because they're designed not to come out, right. They'd tear up the butts if you used them indoors."

"They'd tear up the what?" Tony did a double take.

"The thing they put the targets on."

"Oh."

"Thanks, Melissa, can you put Abby back on?" Gibbs turned the phone back around so he was facing the camera.

Abby reappeared. "Isn't she awesome?"

"Yep. I want you and McGee on the next flight out of D.C. I don't want to work with someone else's team. You and McGee get out here now."

"Yes, boss."

Gibbs hung up and gave Tony his phone back. Ziva approached the two men.

"What'd the guy who found him have to say?" Gibbs asked.

"His name is Lieutenant Robert Rimm. He went out looking for the Captain three hours when he didn't come back from a run. He said the Captain liked to come out here alone when he was off duty. Both men are stationed at the Everett Naval Station." Ziva read from her notes. "Captain LaRoque had a wife and a daughter. Oddly enough, the Captain's daughter and the Lieutenant's son practice archery together."

Gibbs looked up at her from where he was crouched on the ground next to the body. "You're kidding?"

"No. Would you like me to…" she stopped when she saw the look on his face. "I'll… bring her in." She took out her phone and dialed.

A Seattle Medical Examiner, Doctor Steve Lloyd, and his assistant, James Smith, slid down the hill to meet Gibbs and his two present agents.

Tony shook the two men's hands but Gibbs did not; he simply stared at the ME's outstretched hand with raised eyebrows until he put it down and muttered an "excuse me". Dr Lloyd crouched by the body to begin his work.

"Tony, I want you and Ziva to fan out. Find me something I can work with." Gibbs instructed.

"Yes, boss. What are you expecting us to find? A murder weapon?" Tony asked.

"Just find me something to go on, DiNozzo." Gibbs repeated with an irritated tone.

Ziva had just returned from making her call to the police to bring in the family of Captain LaRoque. Tony turned her around to go find evidence.

"When'd he die?" Gibbs asked as they walked away.

"I'd say four to five hours ago. From the looks of things I'd say he bled out from this wound to the chest." The ME reported, the voices fading into the background.

"You think?" Gibbs gave him the no shit voice as they wandered out of earshot.

"Ziva, what would you do if we ran into a bear out here?" Tony asked as he scanned the ground and the shrubbery.

"Unlikely. But if it threatened us I would shoot it for you." She said as she struggled over a huge root.

"For me?" Tony called back as they wandered further apart.

"Yes. I suppose you're asking out of fear of being attacked, yes?"

"No! No! I was just wondering what you would do in the presence of an animal with six times the temper and aggression of Gibbs." Tony gasped. "Bear!" He pointed. Ziva whipped out her weapon and looked around wildly. Tony laughed. "Gotcha."

Ziva walked over to him, backed him into a tree and put the barrel of her gun under his chin.

"Never do that to me again." She whispered.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry." He replied worriedly.

She smiled, smacked him and left to keep searching. After several minutes she could no longer see Tony.

"Tony?" she called. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she'd seen him.

"Yeah?" came his far off reply.

"Find anything?"

"Not yet."

Several minutes later Ziva thought she heard a thunk. She put her hand on her gun. A bird burst from a tree and she started, then laughed at herself.

A bright flash of red caught her eye. It danced in and out between the thick trees. Ziva was sure it was a bird and went back to work. Another dull thunk reached her ears and she glanced around. Nothing.

She crouched down to see a piece of ripped fabric hanging at waist height on a bush. It was maybe three square inches of white cotton material. The hem on one edge suggested that it had come from the bottom of a shirt. Ziva pulled an evidence bag from her windbreaker pocket and bagged the fabric patch.

"Tony!" she called when she stood up. Nothing.

"Tony!" she called again, deciding she'd gone out of earshot. She walked almost fifty feet back the way she had come before she yelled again.

"Tony!"

A distant, agonized groan came in response.

"Tony!" Ziva called again, drawing her weapon praying that he was joking again. "Tony!" she followed the agonized groans.

"Tony!"

"Gaahhhhh!" the groan was suddenly quite close.

Ziva saw his leg twitching behind a tree. She had her gun at the ready as she moved in a wide circle around him.

She dropped her gun when she saw him and ran to his prone body. He was lying on his side, a wooden arrow shaft protruding from his right shoulder. His hat lay on the ground above his head and his windbreaker was soaked in quickly drying blood.

"Tony… hang on… I'm calling Gibbs…" Ziva felt unnaturally frazzled as she scrambled for her phone. Her knees ground into the dirt, leaves and blood on the ground.

Tony suddenly reached up, breathing heavily, and grabbed both her fumbling hands with one of his.

A small trail of blood leaked out of his mouth when he spoke.

"No reception. Tried." He convulsed and grimaced in pain.

Ziva held his hand with one of hers and touched his face with the other. Her fingertips never left his cooling skin as she traced his jaw, down his throat, along his quivering collarbone and closed around the arrow shaft, poised to pull.

"No!" Tony cried.

"I have to… it is hurting you… yes?"

"Ziva," he wheezed sternly. "It is hurting me but it's possibly keeping me alive as well. You know, stopping blood flow?" Ziva nodded releasing the arrow shaft. "Besides, the tip's designed not to come out."

"How do you..?"

"We called Abbs and he niece told us." He groaned again. "You need to go to Gibbs…"

"Not without you."

"We have no choice, Ziva. Go. I'll be…" a scream of pain erupted from his stubbled throat and more blood trickled out of his mouth. She wiped it away, tears forming in her eyes. His chest rose and fell heavily. "I'll be here when you get back." He grinned weakly.

Ziva sighed and laid the back of her hand over her lips. "If you are not alive when I get back I will revive you and shoot you." She warned. "You will stay alive, yes?"

Tony grimaced but nodded. His breathing was heavier now, as though he had just run a marathon.

She touched his face one last time before running off to find Gibbs.