Chapter 1 â€" An Unfolding Nightmare
Not since losing Shannon and Kelly had Gibbs felt so helpless...
His gut, that infamous barometer of all things hinky, had been uneasy all week.
While DiNozzo may have been convinced that The Gut was supposedly infallible, Gibbs knew that whilst it didn't often let him down, he had been wrong in the past. This time when his gut radar went off while Abby was away in LA giving her forensic input to Callen's team, he'd put it down to simply missing her bright presence around the lab, to not being able to hear her voice and her laughter every day.
He'd missed her company but tried to tell himself that he was merely being selfish.
He didn't want to stand in the way of Abby's career, of her brilliant mind and he knew she'd be annoyed with him for being so over-protective. She'd laugh at this urge he always had to wrap her in cotton wool, wind his arms around her and not let her out of his sight.
If he was honest with himself, there was also a part of him that worried what impact Callen would have on her. His friend's charm with women was well known and Gibbs couldn't help wondering whether she'd find the agent attractive â€" Callen was nearer Abby's own age after all and had little of the baggage that Gibbs was carrying.
He could imagine all too well Callen's reaction to the arrival of such an emerald-eyed beauty with a sexy smile, and a fascinating mind to go along with an equally incredible body. His gut clenched at the thought that Abby might respond to any overtures from the handsome LA agent.
Gibbs knew he had no right to be jealous.
He'd wanted her for years but had not acted on that attraction. It was only in recent years that he realized that it was more than mere lust he felt towards Abby â€" that he'd fallen in love with his forensic scientist. That thought terrified him, making him hesitate in case he screwed up their friendship as well as any relationship they might try. While he suspected that Abby at least found him attractive, even if she didn't share the same depth and force of his feelings, he didn't know if she'd be willing to take the next step. He wouldn't blame her if she'd grown tired of waiting for him to make a move.
If he'd left it too late, it would be his own fault.
On a professional note, Abby was the best forensic scientist NCIS had... hell, the best any federal agency on the eastern seaboard could boast, and her talents and experience would be an asset to any case. If she'd found evidence of a serial killer that had so far slipped under the radar of every law enforcement agency in the country, then she was doing the right thing going to LA.
He remembered how hard she'd worked gathering evidence on what had started off as nothing more than a hunch…
She was 'following her gut,' as she'd told him one day with her usual cheeky grin.
She'd worked in between cases, and often on her own time, assembling a convincing argument for the existence of a killer she dubbed the Phantom. Gibbs was sure she didn't need his help, but he was touched nevertheless that she'd used him as a sounding board for her ideas and theories. He'd encouraged and supported her, pleased to see her take the lead on it…
Rule 38, her case, her lead.
He'd watched her as she paced the catwalk while waiting to see Vance, her shoulders squared and a determined look on her face. He'd never seen her look more confident and knew she was eager for this opportunity to convince the Director of her theory, and to use this latest case as an opportunity to go to LA to work 'live' on the case rather than retrospectively with evidence from other cases that were already months old. Only his knowledge of her body language enabled him to see the nervousness underlying it, her fingers fidgeting at her side giving her away to his eyes.
She'd looked down on him sitting at his desk as she walked towards the Director's office and returned his gaze with a smile, her eyes lighting up. She always seemed to know when his eyes were on her, wherever they happened to be.
He raised his hands and signed Good luck, causing her smile to widen as she inclined her head in acknowledgement of his unspoken support.
Gibbs knew she hadn't entirely persuaded Vance of the Phantom's existence but the Director at least had enough respect for her abilities to give credence to her theories. Combined with Abby's persistence, and Hetty backing her up once news of this latest victim came to light in LA, Vance had had no choice but to let her go.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She was fine… of course she was. There was nothing to worry about.
He was just missing her. That's all it was.
She'd be back as soon as she could.
That's what he kept telling himself, even as his gut churned and unease rolled through him in waves that no amount of caffeine, bourbon and boat time could ease.
It wasn't helped by the fact that they'd had a slow week at the Navy Yard, with no new cases to occupy the mind, so the long days were spent working cold cases or catching up on paperwork, or intervening when the bickering between his three agents reached High School levels in their attempt to stave off boredom. But at least it meant that he didn't need to go and terrorize whoever the lab stand-in happened to be while Abby was away. He always hated visiting the lab when she wasn't there â€" it was an empty shell without her.
He'd spoken to Abby twice since she left at the beginning of the week. Once when she'd arrived to say she was safely at the hotel â€" she'd sounded amused, rolling her eyes at him and calling him a fusspot as she'd hugged him goodbye at the airport when he insisted she ring him to let him know she'd arrived.
Tonight he'd spoken to her as she was on her way out of the LA office, full of enthusiasm for the team there, mentioning Callen more than once. He chided himself that it was childish but Gibbs couldn't stop a stab of jealousy going through him when she spoke about his friend. She'd then cheerfully informed him that she was going out to a club that evening with Eric, the LA team's young tech operator, as they couldn't make any more progress on the case till morning.
He told himself to stop acting like a jealous boyfriend. He had no claim on her.
But just hearing her voice had cheered him up. That husky Southern drawl always had more of an effect on him than he cared to admit, the effect enhanced almost by rolling down a phone line directly into his ear.
As she outlined the progress they'd made in LA in such a short space of time, he wasn't surprised that she'd made such a difference. That's what she did â€" made connections on the flimsiest of forensic material, helped agents approach cases from different angles, and see evidence in a new light. He was proud of her that, not only had she convinced the LA team of the existence of the Phantom, but that it was down to her that they'd made such fast progress in identifying a workable lead.
Her reputation throughout NCIS was formidable and he knew what an impression she usually made once she got the bit between her teeth. Her grasp of the case and conviction in her theory would add up to a persuasive argument, and he was only sorry that he hadn't been there to see her present her findings to the LA team.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When the phone call from Vance came through in the early hours with news of Abby's kidnapping by someone they assumed to be the Phantom, he knew he should have trusted his gut, even as his blood froze and heart hammered in his chest.
"Gibbs, I just got a call from Hetty," Vance's words jerking him to instant wakefulness after he'd grabbed his cell off the bedside table.
"What's happened to Abby?" was his first thought, instinct telling him that it would hardly be a social call at this hour.
"She's gone missing, Gibbs. She was at a club last night with Eric, went outside to the parking lot â€" I'm not sure why â€" and vanished. They think the Phantom took her."
"Why was she on her own?" disbelief mingling with anger in his voice.
"I don't know. Callen and his team are doing all they can to find her, Gibbs." Vance sounded annoyed but wasn't about to engage in a blame game with his senior agent. He'd deal with the LA team and their failure to protect NCIS's foremost forensic scientist in his own way.
"Not good enough, Leon," Gibbs was already out of bed and reaching for his clothes.
"There's nothing you can do from here, Gibbs. Leave it to the LA office," Vance was firm, even if he suspected it would fall on deaf ears.
"As they're the ones who put her in jeopardy, that doesn't fill me with confidence," came the harsh reply.
Vance sounded weary. "There was no indication that Abby was being targeted by the killer. When Callen and his team made the connection and realized that Abby could be in danger, they were only minutes behind him but by then it was too late. She'd already been abducted from the parking lot."
Worse was to come when Vance told him that the LA team believed that she'd been deliberately lured to LA; that the murder of Chief Petty Officer Frank McEllon was nothing but an elaborate bait to bring Abby within his reach. The forensic scientist now posed a danger to the previously invisible serial killer. He'd gone to considerable trouble to construct a complex trap to tempt her closer. He could have been watching her… stalking her for months, even if only virtually via cyberspace.
Vance tried to offer one crumb of comfort, conscious it didn't amount to much. "Nate did have one positive thing to say, for what it's worth. If the Phantom intended to kill her, she'd be dead in that parking lot already. Nate thinks he's taken her to gloat."
"Even if that's true, he's hardly going to let her go though, is he, Leon?" Gibbs was unable to keep the despair out of his voice but didn't care at that moment what he was revealing to his boss.
"No, it goes without saying that her life is in danger. There's no telling how long she's got."
"I'm not gonna to wait around here to see if Callen and his team can find her. I'm flying out there and taking my team with me." Gibbs was adamant.
"I had a feeling you'd say that." Vance's tone was resigned. "I had someone check and there are no tickets available on the first two commercial flights in the morning. The next flight with seats is not until midday."
"It could be too late by then. I'll find a plane â€" the FBI's got to be good for something." Gibbs' tone brooked no argument. "Their G5 flies out of Manassas airport. My team can meet me there. I'll take personal time if I have to, Leon, but I'm going."
"Yeah, I know, Gibbs." He heard Leon sigh. "I'll inform Hetty you're on your way and to keep you in the loop if there are any developments in the meantime."
Gibbs had had heard the displeasure in Vance's voice when he told him that he was going and was surprised that the Director didn't order him to stay in DC. If he had, Gibbs was fully prepared to disobey that order. He wondered if Vance suspected the lengths he would go to in order to get to LA, whether his boss had somehow sensed or worked out that Abby was his breaking point.
In truth, Vance had bowed to the inevitable. Whatever the relationship between NCIS's forensic scientist and his senior agent, something he wondered if they'd even worked out for themselves yet, he was adept by now at recognizing Gibbs' stubborn streak when it surfaced. Whatever he'd ordered him to do, Gibbs was going to LA, with or without the agency's help.
Word had spread like wildfire on the NCIS grapevine about Abby's abduction. If the Director was in any doubt over her place as the heart and soul of the agency, this removed it. He wouldn't have been surprised if the entire building had attempted to mutiny and tried to decamp to LA to help with the search.
Leon was also conscious of feeling a sense of responsibility for the night's events. He'd not been entirely convinced by Abby's arguments in the first place. Were it not for Hetty backing her up and insisting that the Director let her 'borrow' his forensic specialist to work on their case in LA, he might well have dismissed the trip as a waste of resources and insisted that Abby make her initial contribution to the case via MTAC.
Now that she'd been snatched, he was beginning to wish that he had.
As the true nature of the trap emerged, Vance felt guilty that he'd perhaps missed something in the evidence she'd presented to him, something he should have seen if he'd been more willing to believe Abby about this putative serial killer in the first place. He was also furious with Hetty's team for allowing Abby to be placed in a vulnerable enough position to be kidnapped so easily.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gibbs had promised to keep her safe.
Keep Abby out of danger…
Keep her from harm…
Variations of that mantra were running through his head on an endless loop as he hurriedly dressed.
His gut's internal 'I told you so' didn't help the fact that his worst nightmare was coming to life...
Abby was in jeopardy and he was too far away to help. In the past whenever her life had been threatened in any way, at least he'd been nearby. It hadn't lessened the danger she was in at the time but at least he'd been able to do something. Inactivity didn't sit very well with him, even at the best of times.
There were terrible parallels to a tragedy that had almost destroyed him.
When Shannon and Kelly were killed, he was similarly thousands of miles away but then it had been too late anyway… they were already dead. This time, as far as he knew â€" and hoped â€" Abby was still alive. But the distance between DC and LA might as well have been the same as Iraq to the States… he was still too far away to be of immediate help. Abby was in peril and he was hours away. He found himself fighting back an almost a choking sense of dread at the thought he was going to be too late.
Calling his team and dealing with their initial reactions hadn't been easy, but their training soon kicked in when his tone of voice told them in no uncertain terms that they didn't have time to fall apart and that he needed them... now.
McGee's stuttering disbelief and shock was the hardest to hear without letting his impatience get the better of him. He could hear the fear underlying Tony's voice even as his senior agent cut to the heart of the matter and anticipated their next move, as Gibbs knew he would. He was thankful for Ziva's expected reaction â€" understandable but contained anger mixed with her usual practical, direct approach.
The call to Ducky was possibly the hardest of all â€" the ME viewed Abby as the daughter he'd never had.
His "Bring her home safely, Jethro" as they ended the call almost didn't need voicing but he couldn't be annoyed at his friend for needing to vocalize his worry.
Ducky was also able to read the worry and strain in Gibbs' voice more clearly than anyone, and Gibbs was grateful to hear his friend's warm voice offering what little support he could. He was sure Ducky felt as helpless as he did.
His next call was made as he hurried to his car.
"Tobias, I need a favor…"
TBC…
Author's Chapter Notes:
When Abby is kidnapped by the Phantom in LA, Gibbs' nightmare of losing her comes close to reality. Will this near miss push them both to take the next step?