"You're not gonna shoot up the lake again are you Mike?"

"Nah! That'd be just a waste of ammo."

"And it'd scare off all the birds too."

"Now we wouldn't want that now would we, Probie?"

The dream was just the same as before. There was the boat, Mike Franks sat in the back, and the placid lake full of bodies. All floating face down. All save one. This one floating near enough to the boat for Gibbs to see her open her eyes, momentarily, and hear her whisper, "I'm sorry."

"Richard Parsons. Dodged a bullet there Mike." said Gibbs,his eyes still fixed on the body.

"Parsons? That asshole! You never had anything to worry about from him. Nothing to feel guilty about. See all those bodies floating? They all got what was coming to 'em. That includes that girl there you keep staring at."

Gibbs looked up, shook his head doubtfully.

"Oh, I don't know Mike. She wasn't a killer, not by nature like the rest. Just scared. She let her heart rule her head like we've both done in the past for our families."

"Are you using the unspoken rule to justify what she did?"

Mike was incensed. He jabbed his finger at two of the other bodies floating in the lake.

"Are you gonna do the same for Reynosa or Harper Dearing over there!"

"No. But it was the only one of ours she ever followed." he paused then sighed the words, "Just the wrong way."

"Are you going soft Probie?

"Maybe. But you're not the one who pulled the trigger Mike. Or have to explain to a little eight year old girl why you killed her sister."

"Huh!" Mike grunted, lowering his head.

"The World plays by a different set of rules to ours." said Gibbs. "Always has. There's no getting away from that. We just got lucky."

"Well maybe the World should start playing by ours. Then maybe it wouldn't be all so messed up." Mike growled. "Though it'd be a lot louder with all of the gunfire."

Gibbs stared across at the tree lined shore.

"Only time will tell who's right, I guess."


The End