The cop led Leslie to Amanda, who was sitting inside to command center. "You're Marlaina's mother?" she asked.
Leslie nodded. "Yes, What's happening. I left her with my best friend, Kate Todd and her sister, Layla." She, frantically, asked.
"Miss. Jackson, have a seat." Amanda pointed to the chair behind her.
Leslie nodded and sat, putting her purse on the floor by her feet. "Leslie." She introduced.
"Leslie," Amanda started, calmly. "There is a situation upstairs. Marlaina and Layla are up there along with a gunman or two."
Amanda saw Leslie's eyes widen. "Gunman or two?!" she, frantically, repeated. "Where's Kate?" she asked, trying to calm herself.
"She's trying to help at NCIS." Amanda answered. Leslie picked up her purse and started going through it. She pulled her cell phone out of it. "Who are you calling?"
"Kate." She answered.
Kate was on the phone with the warden at Leavenworth Prison. "Agent Todd, I need to check through my records for that information. I'll call you back." The warden told her.
Kate sighed. "Do it now. If I don't hear from you in ten minutes, I'm calling you back every five." She warned him. She heard him hang up. After she hung up her desk phone, her cell phone started ringing. She picked it up and looked at it. It was Leslie. "Damn it." She didn't call her. "Hi, Leslie." She, cautiously, greeted.
"Why didn't you call me?" the other woman asked.
"You're back early?" She wasn't expecting Leslie back until that evening.
"Yes, I'm home or at least I'm almost there. Why didn't you call me?" she asked, again.
Kate closed her eyes and rested her head on her free hand. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking that far ahead."
"You have a plan, right?"
"I'm trying, Leslie, I really am." She assured her.
"Get my baby out of this." Leslie sobbed.
"I will, but you have to trust me."
Leslie tried to calm herself, again. "Always have, Katie."
Leslie and Layla were the only ones Kate ever let get away with calling her Katie. "Leslie, I need to go now. Stay with Agent Sloan." With that she hung up. It took everything in her not to breakdown and cry.
Gibbs walked up to her. "I kept Blankenship in interrogation. How are you making out here?" he asked.
Kate picked her head up. "They warden has…" she paused and looked at her cell phone. "Three more minutes, before I start calling him basically non stop." She informed him.
Gibbs smirked. "Good girl." He commended, patting her on the shoulder.
Kate smiled, faintly, and then frowned. "Leslie came home early. Boy, did she come home to a surprise." She sighed.
"You were wrapped up in other things, Kate." He assured her.
Kate looked at her cell phone. "Ten minutes is up." She picked up her desk phone and started dialing.
Layla was back on her spot on the couch. Marlaina was back in her playpen. Ringleader was sitting on the other end of the couch, while Stooge paced the living room. He had been doing that for the last ten minutes. Layla stopped watching him after five minutes, because he made her dizzy. Layla was bored. Ringleader wouldn't let her do anything to occupy herself. She was going to draw, but Ringleader objected by throwing the pencil and notebook â€"which Layla left on the coffee table the night before- across the room. "Very suttle." She said, sarcastically. He didn't respond to that. Now, they sat in silence. Even Marlaina stayed quiet.
"How hard is it to pull records?" Kate asked, frustrated. Once again, she rested her head on her hand. She was tired; they all were. Gibbs stood in front of her desk and watched as she argued with the warden. "I'm calling you back." She paused. "Bye." She slammed the phone down and groaned.
"Stone walling?" Gibbs asked.
She nodded. "Seems like it."
"I need coffee." He growled and walked away.
Layla wanted to get away from these nuts for a few minutes. "Are you planning on letting me eat?"
Ringleader nodded to Stooge. "Watch her." he ordered. Layla was about to pick up Marlaina. "The baby stays here." She turned to him and glared. "You going to eat or not." She sighed and followed Stooge out.
"Thank you, Warden." Kate praised as she enter the information to her PDA. "What was that?" she paused to listen. "Can you fax me a copy?" she asked. "Thank you, I need that ASAP. My fax number is the same as my phone number." She hung up.
Gibbs walked over with his coffee in hand. "Talk to me, Kate."
"Blankenship was telling the truth: no visitors, no phone calls, not even a letter." She informed him.
Gibbs sighed. "So, he doesn't know who is doing this."
"He may have an idea, whether he knows it or not." She suggested. "He has a picture from his childhood in his cell. Leavenworth is faxing over a copy." On cue, she heard the beeping of her fax machine. She grabbed the paper. Gibbs noticed her eyes widened upon looking at it. She looked back at Gibbs. "I think I know who did this."
She handed him the paper. He looked at it. "Well, didn't see that one coming, now did we? Go get DiNozzo."
Layla grabbed an apple from the fridge and grabbed a cup from the cabinet. She walked over to the sink to fill the cup up with water. Stooge was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. Layla kept her back towards him. She knew that wasn't the smartest move, but she was tired of looking at him. Half way through her apple, she heard Stooge walking towards her. She didn't know why, but she reached for a knife in the sink. She kept her hand and the knife in the sink. Once Stooge had a firm grip on her shoulder, reflex kicked in. She quickly turned around and stabbed him through the side of his neck with the big butcher knife. Stooge gasped in pain. Layla couldn't believe what she just did, as she slowly pulled the knife out of him and dropped it. The knife hit the floor at the same time Stooge's body did. Layla sank to the ground, staring at him. I can't believe I did that! Why did I do that?! Her mind screamed.
Ringleader calmly entered the kitchen to see his companion lying dead on the floor in a pool of his own blood and Layla sitting by him. She had Stooge's blood on her. "Come back in the living room." He, quietly, ordered.
Even though her body felt heavy, Layla stood up and followed Ringleader out.
Team Gibbs showed up at Kate's apartment building. They were lead to the command center, where they were greeted by Amanda, Tom, and Leslie. Leslie, immediately, wrapped her arms around Kate. "Get my baby out of this, Katie."
"I will, I promise." She whispered.
They broke apart and turned to Gibbs. "I'm going up there."
"The hell you are!" he growled.
"Gibbs, I have to do this. How much you wanna bet that that's the way he's going to want it?" Gibbs glared. Kate matched his glare for the first time since Air Force One. "You can stand outside the apartment door, but I go in alone." Gibbs kept his glare and didn't say anything. "Gibbs, I need to do this for Layla and Marlaina." Her voice was almost a whisper at this point.
Gibbs sighed. "Get her a vest." He said to Tom. He turned his attention back to Kate. "I'll be right outside the door."
"You can't be serious!" Tom didn't like this very much. Amanda went for the vests. "You'll get yourselves killed."
They ignored him. "I'm coming, too." Tony said. "No way, I'm letting you two get yourselves killed without me."
Kate took out her cell phone. "You think he'll answer?" Tom asked, as Amanda handed them each a vest.
"Yeah, he'll answer." Gibbs answered for her.
Kate dialed Layla's cell phone number.
Ringleader looked down at Layla's ringing cell phone. "Kate" it said. He smirked. "Big sister to the rescue." He said to himself. Layla said nothing. She was still in shock from what she had just done. She held Marlaina close. Ringleader answered the phone. "Hello Agent Todd."
Kate glanced around. "I'm coming up." She told him.
"Come alone or they die." She heard him hang up.
She, Gibbs, and Tony put on their navy blue flack vests. "Be careful!" Abby and Leslie said at the same time.
Layla was shaking. She knew Kate was coming and she was afraid that he'd kill all three of them. Ringleader paced with his gun in hand. They heard a knock at the door and Kate entered, armed. Her gun was directed at Ringleader. Ringleader had his gun trained on her. "Put the gun away. Agent Todd."
"Let the girls go." she demanded. Ringleader didn't budge. "Fine." Kate said putting her gun back in the holster. She looked to Layla. "Layla, come here." She heard Ringleader take the safety off his gun. Kate looked back at him. Shoot any of us and Blankenship is going down for the murder of those Petty Officers. Let them go or you won't get to hear anything of what we found." She warned.
"NCIS would fabricate evidence?" he asked.
"What's to fabricate? We have DNA evidence." She pointed out. Ringleader nodded letting Layla, with Marlaina in her arms, rush over to Kate. Kate kissed the side of her sister's head. The first thing she noticed was the bruise on her cheek and the blood. "Go, Layla. My team is out there waiting." She whispered.
"No, Kate, come with us." Layla sobbed. She didn't want to leave her big sister behind. What if he killed her?
"I'll be out soon." She assured her.
"Promise?"
Kate gave her a reassuring smile. "Promise."
With that, Layla walked out the door. Kate turned to Ringleader. He lowered his weapon as well. "So, you know that Kevin is innocent."
Kate nodded. "We also have a suspect."
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