The F.B.I. agents heard the shot fired. Amanda immediately pulled her weapon and went to run to the building, but Tom grabbed her arm. "Stand down!" he ordered S.W.A.T. through his radio.
"What are you doing?" Amanda questioned. "We have to get in there!"
Tom nodded and let go of her arm. "One shot, two girls. If one of them was shot, us going in could get the other girl shot. We don't even know if anyone was shot."
"Exactly, my point, Tom. If someone was shot we need to go in and get her out. If no one was shot, then we still need to get in there before someone does get shot!" she argued.
"Amanda, listen, stand down, that's an order!" Tom ordered.
Amanda sighed and put her gun back in the holster. "You better be right." She said as he walked back to the command center.
Everyone was off to their tasks. Abby's fingerprint and siliva DNA tests were still testing. Tony was still on his coffee run. No one had heard from Ducky since he disappeared into autopsy. Gibbs taking it on picture at a time, looking for anything they might have missed at the crime scene. Kate was sitting alone in the next room at Abby's desk, alone with her fears and her work. Kate and Layla's parents and two of their three older brothers were all killed in a car accident when Layla was ten. Kate promised them at their funeral that she would take care of Layla and not let anything happen to her. She failed. She failed to keep her baby sister safe. Abby walked in the room and tore Kate away from her thoughts. "How you holding up?" she asked.
Stupid question. "Fine, I guess. I'm not letting anything happen to Layla or Laina." Kate answered.
Abby smiled. "Wow, Layla and Laina. Ever realize how similar they sound?"
Kate giggled. Leave it to Abby to lighten up the mood. "I wonder if Leslie did that on purpose."
"So, how's it going with the background checks." Abby asked, getting down to business.
Kate looked back to the computer. "Petty Officer White has no criminal history. Her parents are dead. Her brother, Paul White, is twenty-five, lives in Ohio, and has a criminal record….."
"What kind of criminal record?" Gibbs asked, cutting her off as he walked over to them.
Kate frowned. "I was getting there." She answered, glaring at Gibbs. He returned the glare, so she continued. "He's been arrested five times since he turned eighteen: Assault, joyriding, robbery, and twice for possession. Petty Officer White bailed him out each time." As she finished Tony walked in and handed Gibbs and Kate their coffees and Abby her Caf Pow!.
"When was the last time he was arrested? " Gibbs asked.
"Last year, he was drunk and beat up a man for looking at him funny." She replied.
"So, the guy's got a short fuse." Tony joked, earning himself a slap to the back of his head from Gibbs and a glare from Kate. "Sorry, Boss. Continue, Kate."
"Their juvenile records are sealed. We're going to need judge to let us open them." Kate looked at her watch. "Damn it, which we don't have time for."
Gibbs looked to Abby. "Abs, hack into the records."
Abby jumped and saluted. "Yes, Sir." She smiled and walked away.
"Anything on Petty Officer Collins or Blankenship?" Tony asked.
"I'm starting on Petty Officer Collins, now. I'll let you…." Her cell phone ringing cut her off. She didn't need to look at the caller Id to know who it was. They walked over to Abby and Kate put the phone on speaker. "Agent Todd."
"You made to biggest mistake of you life, Agent Todd!" she heard Ringleader yell. Other than Ringleader, they could hear Marlaina crying and Stooge yelling something.
"W-what are you talking about? What's going on over there?" she asked.
"Don't play dumb. The F.B.I. is here aren't they?" he demanded.
"Yes." She, solemnly, answered.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill them, now." He hissed.
Kate took a deep breath. "Be-e-ec-cause, if you d-do, we'll stop out investigation. You'll never get what you want." She stuttered, but kept strong. (Barely!)
"Stand your ground, Kate." Gibbs whispered too low for Ringleader to hear.
"I wonder if your parent would mind seeing their youngest child so soon." Ringleader taunted.
"Leave our parents out of this." She, calmly, replied, trying to mask her rage.
He laughed. "Very well."
"Let me talk to Layla." She demanded.
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Ringleader looked over at Layla. She hadn't moved a muscle since he shot at her. The bullet just barely missed her head and lodged into the wall behind her. The sound of the gun was enough to wake Marlaina up. The five-month-old was screaming and crying. Stooge was getting annoyed. "Talk to your sister." Ringleader held the phone out to her, but it didn't register. "Now!" he yelled, snapping her out of her shock.
"K-kate?" she stuttered.
"Heyy, Laylee, are you hurt?" Kate asked, obviously overjoyed to hear her sister's voice.
"No." she sobbed.
"Is Laina?"
"No."
"Listen, Layla, we will get you out of this, got me?" Kate vowed.
Layla sighed. "Katie, they aren't going to….." she was cut off by Ringleader snatching the phone.
"You got lucky, Agent Todd. Next time, Layla gets a bullet in between the eyes. Remember, ten hours." He taunted as he hung up. He looked to Layla. "You going to shut that kid up?" he demanded, referring to Marlaina.
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Kate slammed the phone down. "Damn it!" she yelled.
"Relax, Kate." Gibbs, calmly, urged.
Kate glared at him. "How the hell am I supposed to relax?"
Gibbs sighed. "It's simple, Kate. Flipping out won't help Layla or Marlaina. Keep calm, Kate."
Kate nodded and walked away. Abby looked to Tony. "Do you think Kate'll keep it together?" she asked, nervously.
"Abs, it's Kate. She can do this." He replied.
"I hope you're right." She sighed and walked away.
Tony turned to Gibbs. "She can do this, right, Boss?" he asked. Gibbs glared. "Yea, Boss, me too." He backed away.
Kate was continuing her background checks when her cell phone rang. She looked at her caller Id. It wasn't Layla's cell number or their home number. "Agent Todd." She answered.
"Agent Todd, I'm Agent Amanda Sloan with the F.B.I.'s Hostage Rescue team. We set up a command center in front of your building." Amanda informed her.
Kate smiled. "Thank you, Agent Sloan."
"There's something you should know though." Amanda started.
Oh God. "What's wrong?"
"There was a shot fired from inside your apartment." She replied.
Kate's heart dropped. "When?!" she asked, panicking.
"About fifteen minutes ago."
She sighed in relief. "I talked to Layla since then, she and Laina are okay."
"You did?" Amanda questioned.
"They called from Layla's cell phone. Don't cut the line or it'll get them killed."
"Okay, I'll keep in touch." With that, she hung up.
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Amanda walked out of the command center, over to Tom. "We lucked out. Nobody got hurt." She snapped at him. Before he could reply, she walked away.
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