Jace and the platoon were on their way back from a six-month deployment in Iraq. Jace had the NCIS team on and off since they apprehended Bashiir in Sudan. Ever since then he and the others had been conducting surveillance operations in Somalia, he worked with them for basic intel operations but mainly stayed in Africa. The task force disbanded once the DOD and DOJ intelligence community started becoming more accustomed to working together. During the operation, Blackwell informed him that he had the chance to move up the food chain but it meant leaving the team. He discussed it with the guys and found out that Reese was given the same chance, he thought that Wesson was ready to take charge as a Chief. It was time for him to take his CPO 365 anyway. The destroyer they had been attached to was about to make port at Norfolk.

"I don't know how you managed to spend the first few years of your career on a ship," said Xavier. "I still can't get my bearings and two of the others are still in the head puking their guts out."

"It was interesting for a while, was part of the SCAT and VBSS teams," responded Jace. "Before I was attached to the 26th I was a part of the Riverine Forces too."

The two went back to join the others, everyone had packed their gear already. Once they reached the docks they were part of the first groups to depart. Jace saw Kathleen with the other families, he and the other SEALs loaded their gear onto a truck before making his way to his wife. He was halfway to her when he was thrown into a humvee by the concussive force of a bomb blast. He heard people screaming and saw base security rushing to the scene, and his friends rushing to their loved ones. The last thing he saw was Kathleen trying to make her way to him but another blast cut her off.

He crawled towards her, she had multiple lacerations across her abdomen and she had profuse bleeding from the side of her head. He stripped off the blouse of his uniform, tearing it into strips, trying to stop the bleeding. He was interrupted by another blast, knocking him unconscious.

. . .

Gibbs was sitting by his son's side, Kathleen was still in surgery, and Zoey had taken the girls to his own house. Kathleen's father, Walt, and sister Lucy were with them. The team was working with Fornell at the bombing scene, and NCIS and the FBI were looking into how the bombs were planted and who had done it. The older man couldn't help but look at his son with worry, he was reminded of when he was comatose from the car crash that killed the rest of his family. It had been such a year, first, they lose Jenny, the team was still getting used to Vance's style of leadership, and so much had changed in so little time.

Gibbs got a text from Ziva to turn on the news. It was a propaganda video from an Islamic cell, aside from the typical terrorist rants the only thing that struck out was the talk about completely uniting the Middle East, not just Iraq and Afghanistan but the entire region. The voice mentioned Sudan, Somalia, and anywhere where the U.S. was fighting The War on Terror.

Jethro turned around and saw that his son was awake, staring at the TV. His disposition was both seething and stone cold.

. . .

Ziva was constantly checking out her phone, Gibbs told her that Jace was awake but he was in no condition to leave. He saw the news about the group claiming responsibility for the bombing. Kathleen was still in surgery, no news about whether or not she had improved. Ziva had just finished processing the crime scene, she made some calls to her contact; they were called 'The Guild of the New Era'.

She had called Jace's landline, Lucy picked up, the girls were oblivious to what happened. She and her parents wanted answers but Ziva didn't know what to tell them. The bombs were hidden within crates unloaded onto the piers, ironically labeled as munitions, but there were no actual military ordinances inside, only disguised as the real deal. They disbursed ceramic ball bearings upon detonation, the forensics showed that the bombs used industrial C4.

Tony and McGee were at Norfolk working with base security, and Fornell was talking to the Bureau and Homeland Security. Ziva got a call, from The Pentagon, she froze; there were similar attacks on other military installations, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Army. There was a storm coming and it knew no mercy.

. . .

Jace used the hospital line to call his C.O. the entire platoon survived, however, multiple base personnel was dead. According to Blackwell, similar attacks occurred at other military bases across the country. 'A new 9/11', the intelligence community kept calling it, Jace couldn't stand the lack of action. Norfolk was the only domestic attack, the others were abroad, mainly in the Middle East. How could this have happened in the first place?

Jace wanted answers, he wanted to take action. Most of all, he wanted to see his wife and daughters.

Just then he heard a knock on the door.

. . .

The team was in the bullpen, they had figured out how the bombs entered the base. They had been smuggled in through a shipment of medical supplies and switched into munitions crates. The Norfolk logistics department looked into it and found that they had been delivered more medical supplies than their typical order. It had been labeled as a clerical error, after sifting through logs they found that the equipment was ordered by the Interim Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Doctor Ezra Kyle. A civilian doctor filling in at one of the base hospitals until a new department head was selected, he had been passed over for a permanent position and did not take it with grace. His colleagues found him to be vain, and disrespectful and had many sexual harassment charges filed against him from the women he worked with. What caught their eye was that Kathleen happened to be one of them.

"Jace and Kathleen mentioned him before," said Ziva. "They mentioned that Kyle often said 'that the Navy would regret rejecting him.'"

"Boss, one of the Corpsmen injured in the blast worked at the same hospital as Kyle," added McGee.

"Bring him in," said Gibbs, who came back once they found a personal connection between Jace and the suspect.

As the rest of the team geared up Gibbs got a call from Jace. He wanted to talk in person, but Ziva stood there looking at him. Her eyes did the talking for her, she was coming with him.

Once they got there they found Julian in his bed clutching something in his hand. Kathleen's favorite necklace, He had gotten it for her as a wedding anniversary present.

He looked up and saw Gibbs and Ziva.

"She's gone, they couldn't save her."

Gibbs and Ziva sat beside him on both sides and held him close as he slouched back into the bed as if he were trying to fall back off of a ledge.