“A…a what?”
Gibbs spun on McGee, with a look on his face that hadn’t been seen since his days of chasing Ari Haswari. “A missing kid McGee. Do you need me to spell it our for you.?”
Turning slightly red, McGee stuttered his reply, “N…no boss. I just wanted to m…make sure I h…heard you right. I…I guess I did.”
The others looked at each other. They all knew what could happen when Gibbs got into this kind of mind set. They almost felt sorry for whoever had taken Colleen Finnegan. Almost.
Gathering his kit together, Tony muttered to McGee and Ziva, “If there’s one thing that Gibbs hates more than anything else, it’s someone who hurts kids.”
Helping to grab the last few pieces of evidence, and looking more serious than they had ever seen her, Ziva replied, “I think that we all hate them Tony, but you are right, I can tell that Gibbs is in for blood.”
Out of habit more than anything else, McGee corrected her, “The saying is out for blood, Ziva.”
Snapping his case closed, Tony turned to Gibbs, “What’s our next move boss?”
Storming out of the house, the others in close pursuit, Gibbs hollered over his shoulder, “We find her DiNozzo!”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was cold and dark. She had lost track of how long she had been there months ago. Others had come and gone, men and women both. Some had been tortured, some killed, and some just disappeared. She was never asked any questions, in fact it seemed as though she was around to be a punching bag when her captors got bored. She knew it could be worse, oh, it could be much worse. No one had even attempted to make a move on her, though she knew that it was only a matter of time. They had been bored a lot lately it seemed, and the looks that some of them had been giving her made her skin crawl.
To tell the truth, she had no idea why she was there. It almost seemed as though her captors were holding her for someone else. They would hit her, but they were reluctant to cause any real damage. Not that she was complaining about that, but it scared her, because if her captors were afraid of the person they were working for, and they were on the same side, then it didn’t bode well for her.
They had treated her fairly well considering that she was a captive. She had enough food, and access to a full bathroom. She had all of the basic comforts, except of course her freedom, a nice bed, good blankets and pillows, she was even kept supplied with plenty of good reading material.
She was sitting on her bed, mid-way through Pride and Prejudice, when her door was thrown open. Her captors carried a little girl in, and laid her on the end of the bed; more gentle than she had ever seen them, and left, locking the door behind them.
Moving to the end of the bed, she studied the small form. The girl was small, red-headed, with pale skin and a generous smattering of freckles, obviously of Irish decent. The peaceful look on the small face tore at her heart. If this was anything like before, it would not stay that way for long.
She reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of the girl’s face. The girl stirred, and slowly, frightened green eyes focused. The girl sat up, and scooted up to the head of the bed, curling into a ball. Tears threatened to fall, but she could tell the girl was trying to be brave. “Where’s my mommy and Daddy? What did they do to themr? Where am I?”
Moving to sit on the edge of the bed a foot from the girl, she considered carefully before answering. “I really don’t know how to answer any of those. I haven’t seen your mom or dad, and I’m not even sure where I am. I can promise you though, I’m on your side.”
The girl looked at her, not sure whether to trust her or not. “You promise you won’t hurt me?”
Her heart broke at the question. “I promise. I would never hurt you. I will do my best to keep you safe. I will try to help you find out about your mom and dad. What’s your name?”
The girl seemed to trust her, and slowly uncurled, scooting closer to her. “I’m Colleen Finnegan. I’m four. You promise you’ll help? I think the bad men hurt my mommy real bad.” With these words, the tears that had been threatening to fall broke through, and the girl buried her face in her small hands.
Her suspicions about the girl’s decent confirmed with the name, she paused a minute to decide on her next move. Gently scooting to the head of the bed, she took the small form in her arms, and hugged her close, letting Colleen cry on her shoulder. Slender arms wrapped around her neck, and Colleen cried herself to sleep.
Feeling the sobs wrack the small warm body in her arms, her own tears for the girl began to silently fall.
Wrapped in the only safe arms for miles, the last words Colleen Finnegan heard before she drifted off were comforting ones. “I promise I’ll help, and I’ll keep you safe. By the way… my name’s Kate.”
Eyes by Willow_Eris