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Checkmate

Chapter 1

"Checkmate," Gibbs growled as he wrapped his hands around Sergei Mishnev's throat and squeezed as hard as he could. Blood was seeping out of Sergei's mouth from the merciless pistol whipping that Gibbs delivered before he began to strangle him. At that moment, when Sergei's eyes became wide with fear and his face turned bright red from the lack of circulation, Gibbs could not see or hear anything else but the man dying by his hands. This is what Sergei deserved after what he'd done. Gibbs was going to look this bastard right in the eyes as he killed him, and he knew he'd sleep soundly that night as a result.

Gibbs suddenly opened his eyes, and found himself lying on the floor with a screaming headache. He heard Tony calling to him gently, "Boss? Boss, can you hear me?"

"Ow," Gibbs rasped as he sat up and rested his forearms on his knees. He felt the blood drying on the back of his neck, and knew now that someone had struck him from behind as he strangled Mishnev. Tony was kneeling in front of him and McGee was standing a few feet behind him.

"Sergei?" Gibbs asked, leaning forward some more and trying to stop the room from spinning.

"He got away. Thanks for waiting for us." Tony replied, a mixture of annoyance and relief in his voice. Gibbs sighed and his head fell forward.

"Boss, you ok?" Tim asked. He hated seeing Gibbs like this.

"No," Gibbs replied curtly. He sure as hell wasn't ok. Diane's blood was still splattered all over the side of his face, and Mishnev was gone again.

"Neither are we," Bishop said as she walked back into the room, "They've got blueprints for dozens of US military installations all over the place in there. It looks like they tried to take 'em, but they left most of them behind."

"Well that's good," Tim spoke up, "That means whatever they were planning, we stopped it."

Gibbs briefly looked up at his agents before his eyes dropped and began wildly scanning the floor in front of him. His brain tried and failed to understand how everything got shot to hell so quickly. Tony continued to kneel in front of him, a mixture of tenderness, compassion and concern on his face. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen Gibbs in this kind of state, and each time was more difficult to deal with than the last. Tony loved Gibbs as much as, if not more, than his own father. He silently vowed to stick to Gibbs like glue for at least the rest of the afternoon. Every man had a breaking point, and Gibbs was no exception to this rule. The room became quiet as everyone looked at Gibbs, concerned. The silence was quickly broken, however, by the sound of a phone ringing.

Gibbs fished his phone out of his pocket, and flipped it open to check the caller ID. It was Fornell. He sighed deeply and reluctantly pushed the button to answer the call.

"Tobias," Gibbs said gruffly.

"Jethro, what's up? Heard you called for me?"

"Meet me at your place in fifteen minutes."

"Why? Gibbs, what's going on?"

"Don't argue with me and just do it." Gibbs replied before snapping his phone shut. He dropped it on the floor in front of him and buried his face in his hands. A minute later he lifted his head again to see that McGee and Bishop had left the room, and Tony was now standing in front of him with his hand extended. Gibbs accepted the offer for help, and Tony pulled him to his feet and steadied him until he knew that he wasn't going to fall over.

"We'll get this bastard, Gibbs." Tony vowed quietly. He picked up Gibbs' phone off of the floor, handed it back to him and walked him out of the apartment. They passed McGee and Bishop on the way out. "Finish up here," Tony said to them quietly, knowing that Gibbs' head was pounding, "And call me when you get back to headquarters."

"You got it, Tony." McGee said, knowing exactly what he was doing.

"Give me your keys." Tony said to Gibbs once they got out to the car.

"What? No."

Tony shot him a look. "Gibbs. You were just knocked unconscious. You've had one small cup of coffee in two days, and have been dealing with two ex wives... one of whom is now lying in autopsy and whose blood is still splattered all over the side of your face. You're in no condition to drive anywhere, so just give me the damn keys."

"I said no, DiNozzo," Gibbs said firmly. "I have to go see Fornell and tell him that the mother of his 13 year old daughter was just murdered. Don't think he'll appreciate an audience."

"Then I'll wait in the car," Tony replied in a hard voice.

Gibbs glared at his Senior Field Agent a moment before finally relenting and handing the keys over. Tony could be just as stubborn as him, and Gibbs knew this was one of those times that he would not take no for an answer. He opened the passenger side door and got in, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Boss," Tony said quietly as he drove.

"Yeah. Me too."

They got to house before Fornell got there. Tony parked across the street and stayed in the car, while Gibbs sat on the front porch and waited for him to arrive. After a few minutes his car pulled up and Fornell got out, looking frazzled. He brushed past Gibbs to unlock the door and let him in, chattering about the latest threat assessment meeting.

Gibbs stood silently in the living room, and Tobias finally turned and saw the look on his face. "Gibbs? What is it?"

"Tobias..." Gibbs began, but Fornell cut him off quickly after seeing the side of his face.

"Jesus, Jethro, you're covered in blood! What the hell happened?! Whose blood is that?!" He asked, and Gibbs could hear the panic rising in his voice.

"Tobias... It's Diane's," Gibbs said with a sigh, and the color drained from Fornell's face.

"Diane's? What? No..."

"I'm sorry, Tobias," Gibbs said quietly.

"No, no, no..." He replied, shaking his head, "You're joking. Please, tell me you're joking."

"You know I would never joke about anything like this."

"My God..." Fornell said before falling into the closest chair. "What... Why... Gibbs, how the fuck did this happen?!"

"Sergei Mishnev. I did something to piss him off, and now he's looking for payback. Diane was helping us with a case, pulling some tax records. Sergei found out that she was helping and sent her a bogus text message from me saying to meet me on top of a parking garage. I got a bogus phone call from her saying to meet in the same place. I tried to get her out of there, Tobias," Gibbs said, shaking his head, struggling to find the right words, "I tried to protect her... He sniped her from the building across the street."

"But why... Gibbs, I don't understand, why her?!"

Gibbs sighed again and continued speaking quietly. "Because he wants me to suffer. He's recreating deaths from my past... the painful ones. First he recreated Jenny's death. Then Mike Frank's. Then Kate's with Diane."

"Wanted YOU to suffer?! We have a 13 year old daughter, for Christ's sake! Emily is going to be the one who suffers from this!" Just as two tears slid down Fornell's cheeks, the front door opened.

"Dad! I'm home!" Emily called from the hallway. Tobias jumped out of his chair and walked over to meet her as she walked into the living room. He immediately wrapped her up in his arms. "Oh, Emily... my baby... My sweet little angel..."

"Dad, what is it? Why are you crying?" Tobias took a deep breath but didn't answer and continued to hug her tightly. She looked up and saw Gibbs with tears in his eyes and blood all over his face. "Uncle Gibbs? Why do you have blood all over you? What happened? Daddy?..."

Tobias cleared his throat and pulled away enough to look into her eyes. "Emily... sweetheart... It's mom."

"Mom? What? No..."

"I'm so sorry, baby."

She pulled away from him roughly and started screaming. "No! That's a lie! Liar! Why would you lie about that?! Uncle Gibbs, why is he lying like that?"

"I wish he was lying, Em. I'm sorry, sweetie. Mom's gone."

Emily collapsed into a heap on the floor and started to sob. Tobias knelt down and held his daughter while she cried. "Who did this?" She asked angrily, her tears flowing freely. "It was a bad guy, wasn't it? It was a bad guy and he's still out there."

"Yeah," Gibbs confirmed quietly as he knelt down next to them, "It was a bad guy."

She looked down at the floor and cried with her father a few more minutes, before looking back up at Gibbs. When she looked up, Gibbs noticed that the sadness in her eyes had been replaced by rage. "Uncle Gibbs... Daddy..."

"Yes, angel?" Fornell answered quietly.

"You find him! Find whoever did this!... I need you both to promise me something."

"Anything, sweetie."

"Promise me that you'll find this asshole... and when you do find him... Promise me that you'll kill him."

"He's already dead," Gibbs answered, "he just doesn't know it yet."

"No! Promise me! Both of you!"

"I promise, Em. He will die for this." Gibbs answered without hesitation.

"And I promise, too. I will not rest until this man is six feet under. I swear to God, Emily. I will make him pay for this."

Tony waited patiently in the car, knowing that after today, life in the Fornell household would never be the same. After about an hour, Gibbs finally came out of the house and got back into the car.

"How did it go?" Tony asked after he started driving again.

"How do ya think it went, DiNozzo?" Tony did not reply. "Take me home. Go back to the office, brief Vance when he gets back, then you, McGee and Bishop leave together, pack a bag and some pillows and go back to the office. No one goes off on their own. No one returns home until this psycho is in autopsy. I'll meet you back at headquarters in the morning."

"Do you think that's wise, Boss? Staying by yourself?"

"He doesn't want to kill me. If he did, I would be dead on that roof instead of Diane. He wants me to suffer, so he's going after my people. I'll be fine. Watch each other's backs and I'll see you guys in the morning."

Tony nodded and before long was pulling up to Gibbs house. "Call if you need anything, Boss." He said as Gibbs got out of the car.

Gibbs went inside, locked all of the doors, made sure the house was clear and then went right down to the basement. He emptied a mason jar and poured himself a generous amount of bourbon before sitting down at his workbench. He let his mind wander, and suddenly found himself thinking of Ziva. His little lost sheep. He picked up his phone and flipped the cover open and closed a few times before dialing a number and holding it to his ear. After a few rings, the call was answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ziver."

"Gibbs! What's wrong?" Ziva asked, her instinct immediately telling her that something was not right.

"Had better days, kid. How are you?" Gibbs asked, trying to keep the conversation light. He didn't call her to worry or burden her; he just needed to hear her voice, to know that she was ok.

"I am fine, Abba, but I can tell from your voice that you are not. What happened?"

Gibbs sighed and began quietly speaking into the phone. "Diane was murdered today."

"Your ex wife, Diane?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah. It was a set up." Gibbs then told her everything that happened, and by the time he finished he could hear her pacing back and forth.

"Who did this, Abba? Who is trying to make you suffer?" She asked in a deadly, quiet tone.

"His name is Sergei Mishnev. He's..." Gibbs did not get a chance to finish his thought.

"Did you say Sergei Mishnev?"

"Yeah, you heard of him?"

"Yes... Gibbs... Sergei was Ari's best friend. They were like brothers. That's why he is doing this. He thinks you killed Ari, so now he is trying to make you suffer as much as he suffered when Ari died."

Gibbs took a deep breath and ran a hand over his face. Things were making a lot more sense, now.

"I am coming, Abba," Ziva said.

"Ziver... No."

"Yes," Ziva replied stubbornly. "I killed Ari! Me! Not you! I should be the one who suffers for this."

"No, Ziva. No one should suffer for this. Ari was a bad guy. He needed to die, you know that."

"I am coming, Abba," Ziva said again. "We will stop this man. I will stop him."

TBC...