High and Low

Rated T

Summary: An unexpected disaster takes place. An agent is missing, presumed dead. The remaining team won't rest until they have the answer.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or its characters.

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs looked down from the helicopter window, at the forest of trees consumed with rolling black smoke and flames. Small planes swooped around the area, dumping fire-retardant as they passed. The senior agent had yet to spot any debris they'd come in search for, and more importantly, no sign of survivors. But from what he could see, he had little hope that anyone could have survived it, anyway.

Gibbs swiped a weary hand down his face. Losing a team member this way, was never in the list of possibilities, in his mind. This was unexpected. They'd been unprepared. And now, he feared that coming out here to try and hang on to some false hope, would only end up being the downfall for the remaining members of the team...

6 hours earlier...

"I cannot believe Tony gets to go to Vegas for the weekend, with his frat buddies, while we are stuck here going through cold cases," Ziva said as she slapped down the file in the pile on her desk.

"He put in for the time, almost six months ago," McGee defended, flipping a page in his folder as he glanced over at her from his desk. "Since we didn't get an emergency case, he finally lucked out and got to go."

"Had to skip out on the last three trips," Gibbs said, as he rounded into the bullpen.

"That's right," McGee agreed. "He was pretty sure he'd not get to go this time either. I'm glad, actually. He needed some time off."

"Alright, fine," Ziva resigned. "I suppose I should not complain. At least it will be a quiet work day, yes?"

Gibbs didn't try to hide the grin, as he took a seat at his desk and flipped open a file.

Moments later, a tearful Abby Sciuto scurried into the bullpen, light whimpering her only form of communication.

"Abs?" Gibbs stood, attempting to approach her panicked stature. "What's wrong?" The others stood now, as well, realizing something was very wrong.

Abby couldn't bring herself to speak, as she grabbed the TV remote from McGee's desk and turned on the big screen. She typed in the station for ZNN, and the screen filled with helicopter footage of trees, smoke and fire, and flashes of words on the screen. Abby pointed at them, looking from Gibbs to McGee to Ziva, begging them to understand what she was trying to tell them.

McGee was the first to put the pieces together, eyes widening as he read the words on the screen. "Flight 112...That's not Tony's flight, is it? Kaibab National Forest...that's in Arizona. His flight left almost five hours ago. That'd...that'd put him..."

Gibbs yanked the remote from Abby and turned the volume up on the TV, his body flaring with an intense level of apprehension.

*...authorities say the crash occurred just twenty minutes ago, heading from Washington, D.C toward Las Vegas. It's unknown at this time, whether there are any survivors. Though experts say the severity of the explosion on impact makes it highly unlikely they'll find anyone that was on board.* The reporter's voice suddenly muted in Gibbs' ears, as a sense of dread overwhelmed him.

"No..." McGee shook his head, unable to accept what she'd said. He glanced from a hypnotized Abby, to his shocked and stunned Israeli partner, as tears began to form in her eyes, unable to move from their place on the screen. "No," he shook his head again, trying to clear his thoughts. "Maybe h-he wasn't on it. Maybe he took a different flight," he hurried to his computer, hunching over it as he began typing at a furious pace.

"What's goin' on?" Director Vance made his way into the bullpen, having come down the staircase after hearing the commotion. Gibbs could only glance blankly at him, unable to articulate the words to explain. Or rather, unable to accept them enough to say anything, just yet. Instead, he looked to McGee, who stared bleakly at his screen as he began to straighten back up.

"McGee..." Gibbs called to him, wanting an answer.

Tim slowly looked up to meet his eyes. "Tony made his flight," he replied, voice cracking as he gave the news.

"No no no!" Abby broke down, Ziva catching and holding onto her, before she could collapse. Tim sank down into his chair. Gibbs turned, blankly, back to Vance, who was putting the pieces together in his own head, glancing from the screen, back to the senior agent.

"DiNozzo was on that?" he asked, his stance stiffening. Gibbs felt himself nod, then turned his gaze back to the screen.

*...so far, there's no report as to why the plane came down. But authorities and airline experts predict that an investigation might find mechanical systems failure. We'll be sure to keep you updated, as this news is uncovered. Before releasing names of the victims, police want to contact families of the passengers...*

"What do you need, Gibbs," Vance asked, after pulling himself from his trance.

Gibbs swallowed down any feeling that quenched his hope, and straightened himself. "Time," he told him. "I need a flight to Arizona. Gonna do a search of my own."

"We are going with you, Gibbs," Ziva said.

"No," he shook his head.

"The hell we're not!" McGee shouted, then slightly ducked his head. "Sorry, Boss... But, we're going with you. We'll be no good to you anywhere else, until we can figure this out. And we can't do that from here."

Gibbs couldn't fault McGee for his outburst. He was terrified. He was in denial. He was everything Gibbs was, right now. The senior agent turned back to Vance. "Looks like the rest of my team will be going with me," he told the director.

"I'll get your flight taken care of, and let the LEOs know you're coming, and that they need to give you their full cooperation," he replied, with a nod. "I trust you'll keep Ms. Sciuto and me informed."

Gibbs nodded, then turned to Abby, who was looking at him with sad but hopeful eyes. He put a hand on the back of her neck and kissed her temple. "You do whatever voodoo magic or prayers it is that you do, Abs. I'm not coming back without him..."

TBC...

A/N: Okay so...I'm going to update as often as possible. But know that I'm also in the process of planning and preparing ANCON2012 for you all! (If you don't know what that is, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! Hehehe- check out my webpage for deets. Authorsnote dot org.) In addition to that, a lot of personal-life stuff is going on.

My hope is to get AT LEAST one chapter up per week. I'd like to be a lot more frequent than that, but I'm not going to make a goal I can't possibly meet at this time. But know THIS: I will NOT abandon the story. Anyone who knows me, knows I finish everything I put up here. In fact, I usually won't start anything else until I've got current stories completed. Even should I meet an untimely demise, there are failsafes in place for the stories to get finished without me! ;)

Next chapter is finished! If I get enough feedback on this opener, it'll be up very quickly ;) (Yeah I just went there. hehehehe)