Gibbs picked up his cell once more. One down one to go. He had allowed himself a breath of relief when Tony had been, but only for a second. He couldn't relax, not yet. As had been stated. One down, but still one to go. He wouldn't let Madisyn go, not yet, not ever if he could. He wasn't one to give up and he wasn't going to start now.
Kate had gone to the hospital with Tony and Tim was still trying to map the area thoroughly. Abby had sent the blue-prints to his lap-top and he was trying to fix each building to the ones on the blueprint. He frowned slightly.
"Boss, I think I found something." Gibbs turned
"You think, McGee." He fixed the young agent with a steady glare, pushing him to talk.
"Um...there is a building not on-." He was cut off by the crack of a gun shot. Both agents instinctively dropped to the ground, getting under cover.
When nothing else happened, Gibbs crawled over to Tim, his gun out.
"Continue, McGee." Gibbs demanded to the younger agent who swallowed and continued his sentence.
"There a building not on the blue-print." Tim finished, pointing to the one off to their right, standing on its own. It looked slightly newer than the others but nothing else was odd. It was just another stable block. Gibbs gestured with his head and moved off under the cover of the other buildings. Both agents spread out around the edge of the building, looking for a doorway.
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Madisyn watched the gun butt as it toppled from the dead fingers. The masked man behind the door collapsed sideways. Madisyn didn't moved from the spot she was crouched on the bed. She swallowed as the bottom of the door swung back to reveal Ivydown crouching over the body of the gunman. There was a pistol in his hand. An old one, very old. He turned his manic eyes towards her. She clenched her jaw, pushing down the fear and replacing it with hatred. Hatred of the man who had driven her mother to suicide, hatred of the man who had made her life just too complicated, hatred of her father. Staying away, never visiting, he might have been an insane phycopath, but that wasn't an excuse in her books.
It helped.
He approched, the pistol held tightly in his hand.
"See? Daddy is protecting you. Daddy's always here to protect you." He caressed her cheek again, looking into her dark eyes but only seeing what he wanted. He saw love and longing rather than burning hatred. He looked down at his daughter.
"Sleep, my Madisyn, sleep so we can go home." Home, yeah right. But she'd had a plan formulated in her head from the moment he'd entered the room. She wasn't one to just tell, but whatever happened, it would work. At least she hoped it would. It wouldn't hurt, well, it wouldn't hurt her at least.
Ivydown let her lie her head down on the mattress. He turned and picked up a horse rug that was hung over the door. He draped it over her as she closed her eyes. He left soon after letting her 'sleep'. He didn't even bother to lock the top door.
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Tim found the door and motioned to his boss. Gibbs crept over, gun help up. The door was open, but there was no sound some inside. Gibbs looked down the length of an aisle of stables, most with thier doors open. Some had the bottoms closed but the tops opened. This, unlike some of the other buildings may have looked newer, but still hadn't been used for a while, longer than the others. The smell of mouldy straw was strong.
Gibbs pulled the door open and stepped in, followed by Tim, both agents had the issue guns ready.
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Madisyn didn't react as the tell tale creak of the barn door echoed down the aisle. She heard hurried footsteps and a yelp from Ivydown. She heard him fumbling with the lock on the bottom door and a shout from one of the agents. Hands grabbed her by the shoulders, but still she remained still. Ivydown pulled her out, dragging her to the end of the barn aisle, brandishing his old service pistol.
"Simon Ivydown." Special Agent Gibbs voice cut through the silence.
"I won't give her up! My daughter, I love her." His voice trailed off as he looked down at Madisyn.
"Then why have you got a gun held at her." Ivydown looked up.
"No-one can have her if I can't. She has no-one else and she would be miserable. My Madisyn! My little girl! Leave us alone!" He backed away more, his back pressing up against the wall. He hugged Madisyn tighter to his chest.
"We're not trying to take her away from you. We just want to check." Gibbs said calmly, edging slightly closer.
"Why wouldn't she be fine. She's with daddy. Daddy will always keep her safe!" He was rambling, letting Madisyn slip from his grasp.
From Gibbs point in front of Ivydown, he was her dark eyes open and give him a sly wink. As Ivydown scrabbled to take a better hold of Madisyn she straightened and brought a knee into his groin. Her spare hand which wasn't on his shoulders, grasped the gun as his fingers let go. He curled into a ball and got a well deserved, in Madisyn's opinion, kick in the midriff. He groaned just as Gibbs and Tim arrived beside her. Tim leaned down and cuffed him.
"Read him his rights." Gibbs instructed as Tim pulled Ivydown off the floor.
"He doesn't deserve any." Madisyn muttered, brushing down her dirty jeans. Gibbs glanced at her with a rare smile. Tim led Ivydown out towards the light and Madisyn followed after Gibbs, stretching the tired and stiff muscles in her lower limbs.
Author's Chapter Notes:
"I guess that drink is off then."