They all looked in shock and horror at the scene below them. The black NCIS sedan had burst into flame. Gibbs, Tim and Ziva had stepped away from the end of the cliff, and they could still feel the heat.

Tears came to Gibbs’ eyes. A combination of the smoke and the realization of what had just happened revealed on his face. Tony had been in the car. Along with two federal witnesses, the most likely targets, for whatever happened. An MP was driving and helping Tony to provide security. And now…they were all dead.

They would never know what had happened. The evidence was now, literally, up in flames. Gibbs, Tim and Ziva had been following behind the car Tony was in. They all were on the way to install the witnesses, Gerald and Barbara Harland, into a safe house until they could testify. They had been accidental witnesses to an assassination attempt on the Secretary of the Navy. The immediate concern of all involved was to get these two people as far away from Washington D.C. as possible. But, still have them close enough to ‘commute’ in a relatively short time. An old farmhouse in the middle of rural southwest Virginia had been chosen. But, unfortunately, the witness never made their location. Now there appeared to be 4 casualties of the failed assassination plot.

TBC