Contingency 2: Gideon's Rising

Rated: T

A/N: Shameless plug: Please go check out my first published novella, Version 2.0 (under the pen name C.M. Adams) on Amazon. You can get it for kindle or get a paperback. It's the first in a series.

A/N2: I'll be a little slow on updates. My father passed this week, and things are chaotic in my brain, so slow thought process when it comes to writing. Bear with me.

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The case had led them to a house that sat in the middle of two acres of empty land. Their suspect was presumed to be inside alone, and the team was approaching stealthily, weapons readied, so as to avoid his taking off. Gibbs turned to his team as they got closer.

"Ziva, McGee, cover the exits. DiNozzo, you're with me," he ordered, and they filed into position as Gibbs stepped up to the front door. He knocked twice. "Jon Griffon, this is NCIS. Open up," he called through the door. He gave a good ten seconds before nodding to Tony, who then kicked the door in. The two agents filed into the house, searching around every corner, in every room. No one seemed to be inside, but there was a lower level they still needed to check.

"Basement, Boss," Tony cocked his head toward the door that led down. Gibbs acknowledged him, and they headed down together, Gibbs following behind him...

..

Ziva had taken position at the back door, while McGee was in front. With no word on any activity, Ziva was growing impatient. She crept up onto the back porch and began peeking into the window. Something caught her eye, then. It was a red light, small and unnoticeable unless you'd have been looking for it. It was under the corner of the refrigerator in the kitchen, and it only took a moment for her to realize what it was.

Her eyes widened with panic as she fumbled for her phone and quickly hit the speed-dial for her boss. She heard the click that indicated he'd picked up, and didn't bother to wait for a greeting.

"Gibbs! You and Tony need to get out of there, now!" she shouted. "There is a-" her sentence was abruptly cut short when she was thrown from the porch in tandem with the sudden explosion. She hit the ground rolling, and coughed as she quickly pushed herself up and looked back to the house. Her knees nearly gave out as she saw the middle of the house had collapsed in on itself.

She found herself searching the earth in front of her for her misplaced phone. Ziva skidded to her knees to retrieve it from where it had dropped somewhere mid-flight. "Gibbs!" she yelled into it. "Gibbs, can you hear me?" she tried again. There was no answer, and neither agent could be seen in the structure. There was very little fire left behind from the explosion. It was almost as if someone had reached down from the sky and punched a giant hole into it. And as she made her way toward the remnants of the building, she realized she hadn't heard from Tim. Her path changed, and she was running around to the other side of the house. "McGee!" she screamed out.

A groan sounded from somewhere, and her eyes caught sight of the fallen agent as he began to push himself up off the ground. "Ziva?" he called and then coughed.

"McGee..." she reached his side in time to help him to stand. "Are you alright?"

"I think so," he rubbed the side of his head as he turned to face her. "What happened?"

"There was a bomb inside the house," she told him.

McGee spun to look at the structure, eyes widening in panic. "Where are Gibbs and Tony?" he asked, voice raised in fear.

"They were inside. I don't know, McGee... I did not see them."

"We've gotta look!" he shouted and started toward the house. "Call 911...get an ambulance and the fire department here!" McGee stepped onto what had been the porch, carefully approaching the ruins of the house, as Ziva put her phone to her ear. "Gibbs!" Tim called out. "Tony!" he listened for a response as he inched further in, trying to see through the rubble and smoke.

Once he reached the threshold, it was as if a gust of wind suddenly pushed away all the smoke filter that had been hindering his vision, and he could see everything. The debris had piled inward, and he could see now that everything was at an angle that shifted toward the middle of what was left of the structure. There was no sign of the rest of their team, and everything had caved in right to the basement.

McGee swallowed against the rapidly growing lump in his throat. "Oh god..."

Tbc...