The three consecutive bleeps on the computers, made each of the agents look up. The wake up calls they'd recieved from Gibbs and Madisyn the previous evening had had the same effect on them all. That was why three out of the four agents were sitting at their desks at 0700 the next morning. None of them really suspected that Kate would be in for a while, she'd probably been able to get some sleep and meant that she'd recieve some dark looks when she wished them all a good morning. Or so they all thought.
The e-mail was odd. It simply read a load of gobbledigook with four words in capital letters: SPECIAL, AGENTS, ALEXANDREA and MCKAIN. It had taken a while before the elevator had opened and the angel of the moment had walked into the bull pen just as Tony had read aloud one of the lines of text.
"Romeo and Juliet." Ducky replied.
"Huh?" Tony asked, looking up.
"You have just read out a line from Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Act four, scene three."
"Really?" Tony considered this. Just as Ducky was about to start off on a story he interupted. "What about these." He asked, reading out the other lines of text.
"Act 3, scene five, act one, scene five, act three, scene two, act two, scene 4, act four, scene three and act three scene four." Ducky considered each one before replying.
"They're co-ordinates." Tim muttered.
351532244334." Tony translated as Tim started typing into the co-ordinates.
"Thanks, Duck." Gibbs replied, strapping his weapon on and picking up the keys to the sedan. Tony followed suit.
"McGee, send the co-ordinates to the car, DiNozzo with me."
----------------------------------------------------------------
Kate reluctantly opened her eyes.
"Morning." A familiar English voice said with relief. "How you feeling?"
"As if I've just done three days straight with DiNozzo." She muttered, sitting up.
"That bad, eh?" Madisyn answered, looking around the pale room they were both in.
"Any idea where we are?" Kate asked, following Madisyn's eyes.
"Nope, no idea." Madisyn sighed. "But we've only been here for four hours maximum."
"How did you work that out?"
"Any longer and we'd still be in a car. And I woke up here. So we've only been here for four hours or so."
"Great." Kate brought her knees up to her chest. "Its freezing in here." She muttered, trying to keep warm.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The co-ordinates, fed into a Global Positioning System, led the sedan to a small copse of trees about thirty miles away. The black car fishtailed around a corner before stopping and both front doors opened. Gibbs and Tony brought out their weapons, Gibbs signalling for them to surround the copse. It was probably the best place for an ambush, but Tony and Gibbs kept out of range of anyone who might be hiding around a tree.
"The signal's just to your left." Abby's voice came over the ear-piece. Gibbs had a clear space where a building blocked him from view of any shooters. He moved around to see a body lying face down on the grass. He edged nearer, gun drawn. He could see Tony doing the same over the other side of the building, covering him. Gibbs knelt down and checked the pulse in McKain's neck. It was non-existant. Her eyes were closed and there was a clean bullet hole through the back of her skull.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The small copse of trees was soon surrounded by the local LEOs and the NCIS ME's van.
"Can I touch, Duck?" Gibbs asked, kneeling down beside Ducky.
"Of course, Jethro. There's isn't much I can do here." Tim walked up just as Ducky stood and walked back to the truck. He moved around Gibbs to get a better view of the body for the pictures.
"McGee, where is Kate?" Gibbs asked without looking up.
"Um...I don't...know. She didn't pick up her cell." Tim stuttered. Tony walked over at that point.
"No-one seems to have heard or seen anything, boss." He replied, kneeling down. Gibbs nodded.
Searching through McKain's pockets, Gibbs found a carelessly folded piece of paper. He handed it to Tony who was holding an evidence bag. Tony looked at the paper.
"Looks like a pay-check."
"You think, DiNozzo." Tony ignored the sarcasm.
"From Mario's Italian." Tony finished.
"Find it and send the GPS co-ordinates, McGee. C'mon, DiNozzo." For the second time that day, Tony and Gibbs left Tim to find somewhere whilst they took the sedan to find an Italian cafe.
Author's Chapter Notes:
"You think they might put a radiator in a here, its freezing in here. Where are we again?"
"A fridge."
"A fridge."