Darkness... it destroys the human being's sense of time, their orientation in space and – eventually, if kept there long enough – it will destroy their spirit. Nothing is as frightening as darkness to us. Children fear the darkness, having nightmares of terrible monsters which crawl out in the shelter of the night. Even adults try to avoid darkness. The whole life has been organized around it, so that human beings have as little contact as possible with the threat of the night.
Kate had never cared whether it was day or night. Her job forced her to spend as much time in the daylight as at night at some crime scenes or in front of her personal computer, finished some report for her boss. She had never found anything particularly threatening in a dark room.
When she awoke now, that was totally different at once. She was lying on what felt like a cold stony floor. Somewhere in the complete darkness she could hear what seemed to be water dripping to the ground. Her mind was spinning and she had trouble to remember how she had gotten there – or who she was in the first place.
Carefully supporting herself on her hands, she tried to get up, her mind focused on not giving in to the dizziness in her head. Her lips tasted like dried blood and she carefully felt for injuries of her head. Fortunately, she found that her cheek was the only part of her body injured – set aside a few spots on her hip and her ribs that felt like bruises.
A little unsteady, she managed to carefully walk a few steps, her hands stretched out in front of her while she tried to feel for an exit or a door. All the while she still couldn't remember what had actually happened? How had she gotten there? Had she been on an investigation? If so, where?
She decided to use a technique which she had once learned when she had been with the secret service. Try to focus on the last memory you have, she told herself, suppressing the upcoming feeling of panic complete desertion in her stomach. Her last memory... yes, there it was...
~~~ Around 18 hours earlier ~~~
„80 percent of American women do deep inside wish for a male partner that is more dominant than they are and goes to earn money while they stay home and take care of the house and the family.“ Tony couldn't help but grinning widely when he read out those lines from the report of the latest issue of the FHM magazine.
Kate rolled her eyes, not looking away from her computer screen, where she was reviewing the report on the serial double murder cases they had been investigating the week before. „Tony, I don't think your porn magazines qualify as competent guides concerning women's wishes and thoughts,“ she dryly replied.
Tony held up the magazine, his look almost offended. „FHM does hardly qualify as porn magazine!“
„Oh please...“ Kate said, her eyes now turning from the screen to the man on the desk opposite to her. „Lots of barely dressed women and reports about how to improve you sexual techniques? What exactly is not porn magazine-ish about that?“
„It's not like it's just about that? They have interesting reports in here about... um... cars... politics. Katie-girl, you should really have a look before you judge it.“ He smiled at her in this typical Tony way where you could never know what to expect next.
„Not interested...“ she replied, smiling back provocatively, „and instead of reading... whatever... you should probably start working on your report. If Gibbs arrives and finds out that you're not even half-finished he's going to kill you.“
He chuckled and leaned back in his chair relaxed. It was his way to provoke her and entice her into this kind of playful banter they always shared. He held the magazine up in front of his eyes, giving Kate a full view of the half-naked woman who was presenting herself in a very lascivious pose on the cover. „And a good amount of sixty percent of American women want their men to make important decisions. Interesting... Do you want to know about favorite sexual positions?“
„Please, spare me!“ she said with mock desperation, then louder, „Tony! The report!“
He sat up in a sudden move, throwing the magazine over onto her table. „You're right... maybe I should hand the magazine over to your trustworthy hands while I finish my report. You can read the interesting parts outloud for me, will you?“
Laughing ironically she grabbed for the magazine and turned it around. „Oh, Tony... Tony...“ she remarked compassionately, while she looked at the sexy model that was stretching herself lewdly in front of the photographer. „You obviously have a pitiful private life if you need to look at this every week.“
„Not as pitiful as you think...“ he leaned back again, his eyes resting on her, „...or as other members of this team. At least I do not spend my free time building on a boat which I won't even get out of my garage.“
„Yes, but I have never seen Gibbs reading one of these... I don't even know what to call them!“ she murmured, shaking her head while she read quickly over some of the so-called truths that were written there about members of her gender.
„Inspirations? Literary masterpieces? And Kate, I hate to disappoint you, but every man reads them – the more they deny, the more they have hidden under their bed.“ he smirked and folded his hands behind his head, his legs sitting on the surface of his desk.
Kate raised both her eyebrows, when she flipped through the next pages. „'Women tend to say no to whatever a man proposes when he addresses her for the first time'“, she recited, „'but what they actually mean is that they want the man to work harder to seduce them. Most women long for the sexual intercourse after their first date, so if they kiss you goodnight in front of their house, they actually want to you fight for them.' That's crap, Tony! I don't know any woman who says no when she means yes – at least not where dates are concerned! This...“ she held up the magazine, „is what trains stalkers!“
Tony laughed. „Oh come on Katie! Don't tell me you never had a date and wished for sex afterwards, but kissed your flirt good-night because you thought it was inappropriate to sleep with him after just one date.“
„Well...“ Kate started, recalling one or two incidents where exactly that had been the case. „But that's a totally different...“
„Ha...“ Tony laughed triumphantly and jumped up on his feet. „That's exactly what they say. I bet, after a date with me you wouldn't deny...“
„Don't...“ Kate interrupted him with a warning glance, „...even finish that sentence! It won't ever happen!“ She shook her head in disbelief when she read over the more precarious facts about women's sexual wishes. „Every American woman has had fantasies about sleeping with a complete stranger and nearly half of them are willing to try out that fantasy, so all you need to do is go out to the streets and use that knowledge.“ She went on reciting the part about the most preferred sexual position and how fast a woman could reach an orgasm, a certain amusement mirroring in her voice.
Tony was half sitting on his desk, arms folded, listening to her recitations and amused comments, when suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, he saw the elevator door open. The figure of their boss with the obligatory cup of fresh coffee in his hand could not be overseen.
Tony stood up slowly and straightened out, hissing „Kate“ over to the woman, who was still performing a lecture on successfully bringing a woman to orgasm. She shushed him with a sign of her hand, believing that he wanted to make another provocative remark.
Agent Jethro Gibbs walked through the large room, greeting one of the agents that passed him by and took a sip of his coffee. It was already his second cup today, but somehow the caffeine didn't seem to take the desired effect.
When he approached the desks of his team, he heard Kate's voice and slowed down. His eyes went from the highly illustrated magazine she was reading to Tony's face, that had lost two shades of color.
The younger agent cleared his throat significantly, then shrugged at his boss, sitting down on his desk again and pretending to work intensely on the still unfinished report.
Kate was oblivious to her boss who was standing right behind her, and looked at Tony. „The 30-seconds-way to bring a woman to climax? I must have been sleeping with the wrong men...“ Then she noticed the way Tony amused himself, intensely staring at his computer screen, and the realization dawned on her.
She paled. „Good morning, Gibbs?“
„Agent Todd, I hope those kind of magazines are not the only literature you occupy yourself with in your spare time! I am still awaiting your report.“ Gibbs remarked sharply.
Kate shut the magazine and put it on her desk. „It's Tony's... he was just... and then I...“ she started, feeling a blush starting to cover her cheeks. She couldn't believe that she had read out the best ways to bring a woman to climax while her boss and mentor was standing behind her.
„I swear, I have never seen that magazine before, boss!“ Tony held up his hands defensively. Slapping him on the back of his head while passing, Gibbs went to his own desk. „Well, at least not that issue...“ Tony added, smiling apologetically at Kate, who had narrowed her eyes in a threatening gesture and was shaking her head in disbelief over his betrayal.
„I want to have those reports lying on my desk in an hour, Dinozzo.“ Gibbs reminded, the warning in his voice being more than obvious.
„Yes boss... of course...“
Kate observed as Tony focused his eyes back to his computer and started working on his report as if he was the most hard-working employee in the whole building. She threw the magazine back over onto his desk with an innocent smile, ignoring Tony's revengeful expression.
The object of discussion vanished under the table in one of his drawers and Gibbs had to force back an amused smile. When Kate had joined the team, he had feared that she, being the lady she was, would not stand a chance against Tony, but he couldn't have been more wrong. She always found her ways to deal with his little jokes and games without really going down to his level.
She was a woman were intelligence and wittiness were paired with beauty and elegance, a combination very rarely found in women her age. She was attractive without even consciously wanting it. Yes, she was definitely different from all the other women he knew. It was a shame that she spent her evenings alone at home, just like he did.
But he was different. He had his experience – three ex-wives were more than enough. Besides his manner to be in control and his way to put his job over anything private would drive every close friend or possible flirt away.
But she was still young, she should be spending her spare time out in the company of a man who knew her worth and appreciated her humor and intelligence.
In many ways Kate and he seemed to think alike – to feel alike.
Gibbs looked up at the brunette woman, who had resumed reviewing her part of the report. Sometimes he tried to convince himself, that every man in his age felt attracted to younger women. His eyes quickly grazed her slender figure, before he turned them back to the form he was filling out.
One of these days he should read over his own rules again. His scan of Kate was definitely a violation of rule number 12 – or in direction thereof. He needed to get these thoughts out of his head, but how could he when she was sitting right in front of him, practically having read him sex tips a few moments ago?
„Kate!“ he barked, not looking up. „Go down to Abby and bring me the results of the DNA test she performed last week on the victims of our psychopath. I need them for the archive.“
“But Gibbs, the report...” the woman started.
“That was not a request, Kate! Now!” His tone didn’t leave open any doubts that a discussion was absolutely out of the question. She got up, suppressing a sigh and ignoring the mocking faces Tony made.
“On my way...” With these words she hurried towards the doors of the elevator which would take her a few floors down to the laboratory of Abby, their punk analyst and computer expert.
~~~ Around 18 hours later ~~~
Abby... yes, Kate remembered now. After the stupid discussion with Tony and the embarrassing situation when Gibbs had walked in on them exchanged sexual advises, she had went down into Abby’s laboratory to get the report for his archive. Back then she had not been able to fight the feeling that for some reason Gibbs treated her harder than Tony.
He had been the one responsible for the situation and Gibbs knew. Being the clever man he was, Kate was sure of that, he had immediately seen through the facade of Tony’s faked innocence. Still, he had sent her to go down, not Tony.
She moaned when a wave of pain floated through her body, ending in her head. If she didn’t know better she would say that she had been under the influence of some drug. But how could that be?
She leaned against the cold wall she was standing at and tried to listen into the silence. Every now and then she believed to hear some kinds of vehicles passing by somewhere in the distance, but she wasn’t sure where she actually heard them or just imagined it in her still cloudy mind.
Aside from that she was surrounded by complete silence – and slowly becoming desperate. She had no idea where she was, nor how she had gotten there. Or if there were any other people around for that matter. Had she been investigating a case on her own? Was she a prisoner or had she fallen down somewhere and was lying somewhere under the earth?
That last option made her panic for a moment, for it might mean that no person on earth would ever find her. On the other hand, she didn’t know whether the former option was any better.
She sank down to the ground against the wall, deciding to stay rested until the terrible headache vanished. Her mind got lost in the memories she was still able to recall.
Abby...
She had handed her the report of the DNA analysis and Kate had taken the document to Gibbs and continued to finish her report. The report...
There was some memory connected to it. A phone call... yes, there had been an important phone call connected with the case she was reporting about! She held on to that thought, focusing on putting her mind back into the situation in the MTAC...
~~~ Around 15 hours earlier ~~~
RIIING.... RIIING...
Kate sighed and looked over to Gibb’s desk with a slightly annoyed expression in her face.
“Where is he? This constant ringing of his phone drives me nuts!” she eventually exclaimed, when the phone started to ring anew.
“I don’t know... a chat with the director maybe.” Tony replied and waved with his pen towards the phone. “Maybe you should answer it...”
Kate gave an ironic snort and shook her head. “No way, Dinozzo... you know what he will do if either of us dares to even touch his phone.” They both looked at the black machine that disturbed the silence with another sound of its ringing. “You do it!” Kate decided and looked at Tony.
“Oh.. nonono... absolutely no!”
“Come on, you owe me anyway! And besides, Gibbs is mad at you all the time, so...” Kate reasoned and got up, slowly walking towards Tony’s desk.
“And why would I owe you?” Tony asked, shooting her his casanova smile.
“Does FHM ring any bell?”
“Oh... that!” Dinozzo answered.
“Yes... THAT!”
“Come on, answering Gibb’s phone is on a completely other level. He will kill me if I do that!” Tony simply stated and bend over the sheet he was scribbling on.
In a fast move, Kate took the pen out of his hand and Tony looked up with a threatening glare.
“Either Gibbs kills you... or I will!” she simply stated, giving him the choice between a rock and a hard place.
“Good point... and since Gibbs obviously is not here...” Tony nodded and got up in a smooth move, grinning at her smugly. “But just so that we’re clear, this time you will owe me!”
Kate raised her eyebrows ironically, and Tony turned and quickly walked over to Gibb’s desk. At that moment, the ringing stopped. Relieved, Tony gave a sigh and turned around to Kate.
“Thank God, it stopped all by itself!”
He had just crossed the distance back to his desk, when the phone started a whole new circle of rings. A loudly exclaimed “Damn it!” could be heard by the young agent. Kate crossed her arms and strolled over to Gibbs desk.
“Aren’t you curious at the least? Could be his girlfriend...” she mentioned in passing, casually trying to catch a glimpse at the display to identify the caller’s ID.
“And you’re going to answer it?” Tony asked almost panicked.
“I’m not stupid,” Kate smiled at him. “I just want to have a look at the caller ID.”
In the blink of an eye, Tony had jumped to her side, almost tripping over the cable of Gibb’s computer. “Why didn’t I think of that?” he murmured in some kind of joyful enthusiasm.
Expectantly, both agents bent over the phone, both eager to be the first to identify the caller – and both their faces reflected their disappointment when they saw the ID of the person calling.
“It’s Abby...” Tony stated, his voice clearly displaying his disappointment. “What a pity... well, I guess we can answer that one!” He grabbed for the receiver, but before he had even touched it, a voice thundered through the large room, coming from above.
“Touch it, Dinozzo, and you will have to live without your hands for the rest of your life!”
Tony jumped, realizing that Kate was already sitting back at her desk as if she was as innocent as an angel. Damned, payback was hell, he thought, when he saw the triumphant smile that she tried to hide while pretending to be busy writing something. He grinned apologetically at Gibbs, who stepped down the stairs slowly.
“Boss... it’s good you’re here... the phone didn’t stop ringing and... we figured... it might be something important and you would want us to...”
“Did I ask you to?” Gibb’s asked dangerously calm, not letting the younger agent finish his sentence, and Tony looked from him to Kate, who shook her head with a smile.
“No, he didn’t!” she lectured Tony, her sparkling eyes giving away her amusement.
“No, of course you didn’t. Sorry... boss...” Tony murmured, hurrying back to his desk humbly while Gibbs picked up the receiver.
“Special Agent Gibbs.”
“Gibbs, thank God you’re there! Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you for ten minutes...”
“Then you shouldn’t waste time and tell me what it is!” Gibbs stopped the babbling of his analyst and sat down, leaning back in his chair.
“You remember the case from last week? The one you sent Kate to get the form of earlier?” Abby started babbling excitedly. “Well, I was bored, and so, just for fun I made some random tests – you know, nothing weird... just some casual...”
“Abbs!” Gibbs rushed her, absolutely not in the mood right now for those kind of guessing games about what her techno language meant.
“Well, I was curious, so I tested every single piece that Ducky sent me... and while comparing the different blood samples, I found one that didn’t match either of the victim’s! It was hard to find, because it was all mixed up with the blood of the woman – you know, he practically cut her into pieces – but there was definitely a second type of blood mixed with hers. It was only very little, maybe from a finger cut. You know, those usual accident that happen in the household – you could say that it was pure chance that I found it at all...”
“Abby, what does it mean? English, please!” Gibbs snapped sharply.
“Well...” Abby babbled on hastily. “It took a while for me to extract the DNA of the unknown sample, but I did it. The interesting part is, that this second blood sample did not match the DNA of the sperm sample on the woman’s body! I ran it through our database, but no match...” She stopped talking to allow him to fully understand the meaning of the information she had just given him. “Do you understand, Gibbs? Either we arrested the wrong guy or...”
“He has an accomplice...” Gibbs concluded. “Either way is bad! Thanks Abbs!” He place the receiver back on the phone and jumped up. “Kate, Dinozzo, we have a problem! Dinozzo, get me the director on the phone! Kate, go to the archive and bring me the file from the murder case last week!”
Kate looked at him desperately. “But Gibbs, you told me to archive it down there just an hour ago!”
“And now I am telling you to get it back!” he replied impatiently, but then decided to give his agents a short summary of what he had learned from Abby. “We have a situation here – the man that we arrested as our serial murderer might not be guilty, or we are dealing with a team of two killers here. Abby found a second DNA which doesn’t match any of the victim’s.”
Kate hurried towards the elevator and Dinozzo dialed the number of the director. With a deep sigh, Gibbs took a huge sip of his coffee, then realized that it was cold by now. This seemed to be one of these days where just everything had to go wrong.
~~~ Around 15 hours later ~~~
Kate rolled to her side on the cold stone floor, feeling the need to vomit in her stomach. The case of the serial double murders... yes, they had reopened it after Abby had found hints for a second psychopath.
The young woman moaned lifting herself up to her feet again. When she had steadied herself so that she could walk straightly, she stretched out her hands to feel her way along the wall, again starting to search for an exit. She had a bad feeling in her gut that she had not just had an accident.
Suddenly she could hear a sound... it was like the scratching sound of shoes on sand and stone. She turned her head towards the direction she thought the sound came from and tumbled towards it, bumping hardly against the opposite wall. She moaned in pain, but at the same time felt for something her arm had grazed while she had tried to protect herself from the impact with the wall.
It felt round and cold... like a doorknob. She moved her hands further over the material. Wood! It felt like damp wood. She laid one ear to what she concluded had to be a wooden door and listened into the silence.
No doubt... the sound she had heard earlier were steps... and as far as she interpreted, they seemed to come closer. A knot started to form in her stomach, and she moved backwards away from the door when all her memories of the past few hours flashed on her. Everything... the area around Washington they had decided to investigate... and the old house, the last one on their list...
~~~ Around 8 hours earlier ~~~
Special Agent Jethro Gibbs hadn’t said a word during the whole drive. He had focused his eyes on the street in front of them, although here, outside of Washington on the small street of the countryside, there were barely any other cars. Kate flashed him a look from time to time, recognizing that look on his face. If there was anything that could enrage him, it was if he wasn’t able to solve a case – or if a criminal managed to escape and he had no chance to prevent it.
She knew from experience, that those kind of incidents could turn his determination into something close to obsession. Sometimes she wondered if his three marriages had made him such a bitter man or if it was all the injustice and violence that he had witnessed over the years. He took his failures in his job way too personal. Maybe he should be getting a personal life, she thought – which reminded her of her own personal life, or rather, the absence of it.
Kate looked decently at the digital screen that displayed the time and sighed inwardly. Her shift was supposed to end in exactly five minutes. She could see another double shift coming, when she interpreted the determination to not give up until the case was solved in Gibb’s eyes correctly.
“Need to be anywere, Agent Todd?” Gibb’s asked in his usual tone where you didn’t exactly know whether he was annoyed or not.
Of course, Kate thought. She should have known. Gibbs seemed to have eyes everywhere – even in the minds of his agents.
“No, not at all...” she said, looking out of the window and sighing. The sun had already set a few minutes ago and the darkness was starting to fall. “It would just be nice to... you know... have a normal evening every now and then.”
“By normal you mean boring?” Gibbs asked, the bitter expression for a moment giving way to an amused smile. Kate leaned her head back and looked at him. Did he know that he should smile more often? It made his hard expression softer and more attractive.
Well, not that he wasn’t attractive if he was not smiling, of course he was. Not that she in particular found him attractive, he was her boss after all – not to mention a considerably number of years older than she was. But for a man of his age...
She stopped thinking, wondering why she was justifying her opinion of him to herself. This was ridiculous. She returned his smile softly.
“Yes... boring. Watching TV-shows and lying on my sofa... boring would be a nice distraction every now and then though. With the schedule we have it’s almost impossible to have something that comes close to a private life.”
“Relationships are way overrated.” Gibbs stated. “Take from the man with three ex-wives.”
“Who says I was talking about relationships?” Kate asked. “I was just saying...”
“There it is!” Gibbs interrupted her, when the spotlight of his car hit the metal gate that surrounded the huge old manor.
“Spooky...” Kate murmured. “Reminds me of that Shirley Jackson novel ‘Haunting of Hill House’.”
Gibbs shot her a grin. “Well, then lets hope that the ghosts of this one will be more peaceful.”
“Are you not afraid of anything?” Kate asked while they were getting out of the car. “I mean, this is exactly what people in horror movies do! It’s dark and they hear a sound and instead of running, or calling for backup, they go in there and you know how they end up?”
“No,” Gibbs answered while searching for a way to unlock the old gate.
“Dead! They all end up dead!” The woman shivered and looked around. The house itself was in a good condition, but if she considered the ivy that was ranking through the gate and along the house, she assumed that this house had been deserted for a long time. A few of the windows in the upper floors were broken and the garden looked like a jungle of trees and bushes.
“See, that’s why I never watch movies,” Gibbs stated, trying hard to loosen the rusty lever of the gate in order to open it. “Too pessimistic. Would you help me here?”
Kate sighed and walked over to him, giving him a hand with the lever. “Seriously, Gibbs! This house looks as if nobody has been here for ages. If we can not open this gate, it mean nobody has in a long time. Why don’t we return here in the daylight?”
Gibbs looked at her. “Afraid of the dark, agent Todd?”
“Not of the dark, just of deserted houses in the darkness.” She countered.
It gave a loud metal squeak when the gate finally opened. “Well, I promise you we will be out of here before it gets dark. We will just have a short look and afterwards return to the MTAC and see if Tony and Abby have had any luck.”
Considering that the night was approaching noticeably quickly, Kate doubted that they would be leaving before it was completely dark, but she decided to pull herself together. She was special agent, and she didn’t want to make a fool out of herself in front of her boss – especially not because of some childish fear that had been branded into her brain by the consummation of too many horror movies in her youth.
There was nothing special about this house, it was just like the others they had investigated earlier. Since they had been missing any new hint on who the second killer was, they had decided on closely investigating the area around Washington. One of the victims had had a special kind of sand under her toenails – most likely from an attempt to escape – that could only be found in this area around Washington. And since the victims had been held prisoner for some days, the place where the murders had been committed had to be a house that provided the necessary circumstances: a room to imprison people for several days, and isolation.
Nowadays, there were not many of those houses left, but especially at the East Coast, there were considerably many, originating from Colonial and Early Republic times.
The young woman examined the house again, from the beautiful colored windows under the roof to the beautiful wooden doors with the old doorknobs and figures on it and a shiver ran over her back. How anybody would voluntarily decide to live in a place like that was far beyond her understanding.
“Kate!” Gibbs had turned around and only now did Kate realize that he was waiting for her. “Do you want to spend the night standing there?”
She breathed in deeply and then hurried to follow the older agent through the high grass towards the old house, for a moment wishing she could be as rational as he was.
The wooden entrance door of the house opened unexpectedly easily, as if it had only recently been oiled. Signaling over at Kate to draw her weapon, Gibbs slowly entered the dark entrance hall, carefully releasing the safety catch of the weapon in his hands.
The last beams of daylight bathed the corridor in a dim, shadowy light. The house was decorated in an old fashioned Victorian style. Dozens of portraits of people who had been dead for a long time covered the walls, and on the ground was lying a heavy, dusty dark red carpet. It did indeed look as if this house was taken directly from a Hollywood horror movie.
Gibbs entered and Kate followed closely, focusing her mind on being absolutely professional. One little mistake or distraction could cost her partner’s or her own life in a situation like this.
“Is anyone here?” Gibbs yelled clearly into the silence, and the echo of his voice in the deserted halls sent goosebumps over Kate’s back. “We are federal agents!”
They listened for another two minutes into the darkness, slowly walking along the corridor and checking on the first rooms to both sides of the long hallway. But when there was neither a sign, nor a sound that indicated that anyone was here or had been here during the last months, Gibbs finally lowered his weapon. The furniture and windows were dust covered and he could even see his own footsteps on the ground through the dust.
“I think this is pointless. Obviously, this house has been empty for quite some time. We shouldn’t waste our time. Let’s go...”
“Thank God,” Kate exhaled, securing her weapon back in its holster. “Next time I get to pick the place for the evening walk.”
“Come on Katie, this place has its charms! Furniture from colonial times, ancient clocks and paintings. It must have been a nice place to live in, once.”
“Only if you like to live in a museum, Gibbs. These sculptures, for starters, scare the hell out of me!” She walked closer to the two small wooden faces that were carved into the pillars in the middle of the room.
Gibbs laughed and then turned. “Come on let’s go.” He left the room and looked at the portraits that he passed by while walking back to the exit door. Kate was right, he wouldn’t want to live here either. Walk through and look at, yes, but permanently see those paintings. Definitely not. Too pompous for his taste.
Kate, who had had a closer look at the angel’s faces, finally turned and found Gibbs gone.
“Hey, Gibbs, would you wait for me?” she exclaimed loudly and looked back one more time shivering, then hurrying to leave the room and follow her partner.
Suddenly, when she passed by the opened door of another room they had examined earlier, she felt herself grabbed and pulled into the dark shelter of the chamber, a wet cloth pressing to her mouth. Her shocked scream was muffled by the strong hand that was pressing the heavily scented material against her nose – a sickly sweet scent that turned her mind into a fuzzy cloud. She tried to fight, but felt her bones become weak and her head dizzy.
“Kate, are you coming?” she could hear Gibbs yell – it seemed to come from far away to her clouded mind. She tried to yell, to answer or stomp her foot – anything that would have made him aware of her situation, but she didn’t have the power nor could she feel her legs or arms anymore. And then she faded away.
~~~ Around 8 hours later ~~~
The steps became louder and louder, and Kate could tell that somebody was clearly coming in the direction of the room she was in. Think, she ordered herself hurriedly, going down on her knees and feeling for anything she could use as weapon.
She didn’t know what had happened after she had faded away, but she had to assume that she was still in the old house, and that the person who came closer and closer, was her attacker.
Gibbs, she thought briefly. Where was he? He had been right before her, he must have realized that something was wrong. But if he had been there, how could she have gotten in this room? Why hadn’t he prevented it? Unless...
No. She forced herself to calm down. There was no indication, that anything had happened to Gibbs. Any assumption of that kind would not only be irrational, but also only serve to increase the feeling of panic in her stomach. He was probably already searching for her and would certainly find her. Maybe it was Gibbs who was coming towards the room...
Kate concentrated on the steps that approached. She could now see that there was a small space under the door, maybe one inch of height, through which an approaching light sent its weak beams. Then she could glimpse the shadows of two feet that were standing in front of the door. The sound of steps stopped.
Kate’s heart skipped a beat. There was no was that this was Gibbs, since he hadn’t called for her. How would Gibbs know that she was behind this door without calling to see from where her reaction was coming?
Hastily she looked around. The dim light that shone into the room allowed her to see a little bit of her surroundings, but to her utter desperation, the room was completely empty. There was nothing she could have used as a weapon.
She heard the metallic sound of a key being turned in the lock of her door and stood up on her feet, bracing herself to a possible attacker.
When the door opened, she had to close her eyes to the bright light that was shining directly into her eyes, blinding her.
“Look at that... the little lady is awake...” The male voice said, followed by an evil laughter. “Perfectly in time.”
Kate couldn’t see the man, nor his silhouette or anything else of him, but his voice mirrored everything that she needed to know. It was the mean voice of a psychopath with whom all reasonable talking was superfluous. The giggle that could be heard from him reflected his evil character and left no doubt, that he was a human being who didn’t react to pleas of mercy or cries of pain. Attack was the only choice she had.
And so she blindly stormed forward in direction of the light, intending to punch the man out with the weight of her body. She had had a few lessons in hand to hand combat when she had still been at the secret service, she reminded herself.
But she had not taken into consideration the still considerably high amount of sedative that was running through her bloodstream, and not only slowed her down, but also made her loose her balance and rather tumble against the man instead of knocking him down.
“Well, well...” he murmured, laughing madly, “my little girl still seems to be a little tired, isn’t she?”
He stroked her cheek and Kate blindly slapped for his arm, knocking the lamp out of his hand to the ground. That did at least serve to give her the possibility to see the face of her attacker, since the light of the lamp was not directed into her face anymore.
The man grabbed her hair and painfully pulled her head back. “Let me explain the rules to you, little bitch. You belong to me! And you will do what I want you to do! And what you did just now was a violation of those rules!”
“I don’t care for your rules,” Kate winced as he pulled harsher at her hair and forced her to her knees.
“Give me the lamp!” he ordered, and when she didn’t react instantly, he slapped her so hard that she fell to the ground. She whimpered in shock, holding her hurting cheek – but the shock of the physical violence she was confronted with also counteracted the remaining aftereffects of the drug she had been on.
“Get up,” the man yelled at her and Kate fought to regain her balance. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. What had happened? Why hadn’t Gibbs come to search for her? Focus, she told herself. She had been trained to control her emotions in situations like this. Focus on the reactions of the criminal, try to find out his weaknesses. What could she learn from his reactions? So far she could only tell that a slight misbehavior on her part enraged him to a violent amount, a fact that made him extremely dangerous.
When she couldn’t get up right away, the man pulled her forcefully up to her feet, looking at her, his face only inches from hers. “If this relationship is supposed to work, you will have to follow the rules. Tell me your name!”
Kate closed her eyes, breathing heavily in pain and disgust. She didn’t want this pig to speak out her name. “Janice...” she whispered. The next moment she could see the rage in the man’s eyes again and his hand lifting to beat her.
“Liar! I found your badge, Caitlin! This was a test and you are obviously not willing to stick to the rules.”
“No... don’t...” she whimpered, holding her arm up in front of her face to shield her still hurting cheek. Surrender seemed to be the wisest choice at the moment – at least until she had found out what he was up to or had a chance to attempt to escape. Her whole body was trembling. She had never felt so helpless and degraded in her whole life. “I... I will stick to your rules...”
“Good girl...” The man said, stroking her hair. “You will call me master... now come with me!”
He pushed her out of the room into a small dark corridor. “To the left!” Kate did as he said and they walked the long corridor for about two minutes before they came to a crossing where they could either turn left or right.
Kate waited for his direction, a plan forming in her head. The opposite direction of that which he ordered her to turn to would possibly lead her out of this darkness. Of course she was still unsteady on her legs and trembling, let alone the fact that she didn’t have light and didn’t know these corridors – whereas he obviously did well. But she had to take that chance. It was possible that this was the only chance of escape she would ever get.
“Right!” the man bellowed and that was Kate’s signal. Faster than she herself would have expected, she turned to the left and started to run, blinded with fear. She heard the man curse behind her and start to run after her. She felt herself tumble and the corridor cloudy and dark in front of her eyes, but she didn’t want to give up.
“Help me! Somebody please help me! Gibbs!” she started to yell desperately, unable to keep the panic from her voice. She was a federal agent, trained to defend herself, having received mental training to deal with dangerous psychopaths – but all that knowledge was useless once she had become a drugged victim of such a psychopath.
Victim – the thought of that made her run even faster. There was no way that she would give in to him.
Then a wave of pain rushed through her body. She had run directly against the wall in front of her at full speed at the next ninety degree turn of the corridor – which she was unable to see in the darkness. With a painful scream, she fell back and landed hard on the ground, dazed, holding her hurting and stitching head. The pain paralyzed her for a moment – just the time the psychopath needed to catch up with her.
Furiously, he stormed towards her motionless figure and held her down to the ground.
“Oh, Caitlin, you shouldn’t have done that...” he whispered into her hair. “We could have been real friends, but now I will have to make you suffer like the others... They all didn’t know what was good for them. All I wanted was to protect you...”
He pulled a syringe out of his pocket. When Kate felt the stitching pain of the needle, she protested and tried to pull her arm away from him, but he held her with a steel grip. And then she slowly stopped fighting him, her mind drifting of to other places.
Indifferently, she looked at his face and saw him smile at her.
“This is better,” he murmured. “Come on, get up!”
She tried to follow his orders, but her legs gave way under her. He lifted her over his shoulders and carried her the way back, all the while talking to her. She could hear his voice like a melody without words, without meaning. And she didn’t even care to try to listen. She didn’t want anything at all... the drug had taken its full effect.
Somewhere behind her cloudy mind and muddled thoughts, she heard an old metal door open, then she was put down on her feet and steadied against a wall. Cold metal cuffs clicked around her wrists and then she couldn’t move anymore, just stay there, standing against the wall with her hands chained to the wall next to her body.
She felt the callous hand of her abductor ran over her cheek, then her neck and cleavage. “My beautiful Caitlin... I will be back soon, don’t worry...”
And then the light disappeared and she was surrounded by darkness again.
“No...” she murmured, in a weak attempt trying to loosen her hands from the metal cuffs that were set in the stone wall. “No... I’m a federal agent-- you can’t--!”
Tears of rage were streaming down her face and her plea turned into helpless sobs. “Damn it... somebody help me.”
“Kate!”
At first the young woman didn’t react, believing that the voice came from the depths of her drugged mind, a shield reaction of her brain to keep her from going crazy from the constant darkness she was in. A darkness which didn't allow her to see where she was, nor what time of the day it was. For all she knew, she could be his prisoner for days...
“Agent Todd, are you hurt?”
Then she realized that it was not coming out of her mind. It was Gibb’s voice. Gibbs... her spirits seemed to waken up. She had never been more glad to hear the bossy voice of her grumpy boss.
“Gibbs...” she murmured. “I’m here... where are you?”
“I am here, Katie. Are you hurt? What did he do to you?” She could hear the darkness in his voice, the threatening tone that he always had if somebody dared to hurt one of his agents.
“I don’t know... I am drugged... I can barely keep my eyes open... and my cheek hurts, he slapped me pretty hard—and my head...” she moaned. “I want to sleep for a moment.”
“Todd, keep talking to me, ” Gibbs ordered sharply.
“I’m sorry... Gibbs...” The rest of her sentence turned into incoherent murmurs.
“Damned,” Gibbs cursed, pulling at his own chains, not caring for the red marks they left on his wrists. It was his fault. He should have never been so careless to not check the whole house. And he should have never left Kate alone behind – even if it was only a distance of twenty meters they were talking about. With his experience he should have known better – but the playful banter with her about the furnishings of the house had distracted him.
He listened into the silence, angry at himself more than anybody else – well except for the psychopath maybe.
He had been in this room for several hours and still didn’t have any idea where he or who the abductor was.
The last thing he remembered was searching for Kate in the house...
~~~ Around 8 hours earlier ~~~
“Kate, are you coming?” Gibbs was standing in the entrance hall, turning around impatiently. If he hated one thing, it was if he had to wait for somebody – even if it was Caitlin Todd.
He opened his mouth to bark her name again, when all of a sudden his eyes fell on the ground and he froze. A third pair of footsteps - which he was sure hadn’t been there ten minutes ago – could be clearly seen in the dust on the wooden part of the floor. Somebody had entered the house behind them.
“Agent Todd!” Gibbs asked clearly into the silence of the corridor, but didn’t get any reaction. Slowly, he pulled out his weapon, walking back the way he had come while he scanned his surroundings carefully.
He checked the first room, but it was still empty, then the second and third. And then, in the fourth room he found his partner, lying unconsciously on the ground in the middle of the room.
“Damned,” he murmured, checking behind the door for the attacker, then scanning the room. Kate had been right, they should have waited for the daylight, since he could barely see in the dark room. Slowly approaching the woman in the middle, he scanned the room with narrowed eyes.
“I am a federal agent and I arrest you for attacking one of my team members!” His voice didn’t lose its dominant tone, even in a situation of danger like this one.
Gibbs bent down next to Kate, without letting the entrance of the room out of his eyes. Carefully he checked for her pulse and was relieved to find that she was only unconscious.
“Show yourself, and I promise we will talk!” Gibbs continued to reason with the unknown attacker. “You have nothing to fear if you cooperate!”
No reaction. Gibbs looked down at Kate, his weapon still cocked in his hand. Softly, he slapped her cheeks. “Agent Todd!”
When she didn’t wake up, he assumed, that she had not just been knocked unconscious, but that she had been put into this condition by the use of some kind of sedative – maybe chloroform. That meant he would have to carry her out of here – which again meant that he had to put his weapon back into its holster. There was no way that he would present Kate and himself that defenseless to whoever attacked them.
Still looking around, he pulled out his cell-phone from his jacket and hit speed dial number one. He hoped that the back-up would arrive quickly, since every minute they lost gave the unknown criminal a greater chance to escape. Maybe he was long gone, but Gibbs wasn’t willing to take that chance and leave Kate alone.
He listened to the ringing sound on the other end and waited impatiently. “Come on Dinozzo... hurry up just this one time...” he growled impatiently, softly stroking a strand of hair out of Kate’s face.
He didn’t see the blow coming – there had been no sign of it. No sound of breathing or squeaking of wood that would have betrayed another presence in the room. But still, suddenly he was there, behind him. And that was all Gibbs realized, before he felt the knock on his head and darkness took possession of his consciousness.
~~~ Around 10 hours later ~~~
Kate had completely lost track of time when she awoke. The first thing she felt was the pain in her arms and her shoulders from the uncomfortable position she was standing in, her head and upper body having fallen slightly forward when she had been unconscious. She wanted to stretch herself, but then realized that she couldn’t move her arms. With a soft moan, she lifted her head.
A lamp was hanging at the wall next to the heavy metal door, lighting the room in a soft, warm way. It was not enough to see every detail, but at least she could have a look at her surroundings.
Her eyes wandered around until they were caught by the person who was shackled to the wall opposite to her. Gibbs was leaning his head against the stonewall behind him.
Kate wanted to address him, but her throat felt dry and so all she produced was a husky moan. The man opened his eyes instantly, when he heard the sound from her.
“Kate, are you alright?”
The woman looked down at her own wrists which were shackled to the wall. She tried to get her hands loose, but those attempts only served to increase the pain and rub her wrists raw.
“Depends...” she murmured throatily, “I am shackled to a wall and I need water.”
Eventually she leaned back, looking at the dim light of the lamp. “At least it’s not dark anymore.”
“How are you feeling? That bruise on your forehead looks pretty bad,” he asked concerned and only now became Kate aware of the dull pounding in her head.
“I can stand it,” she announced and a faint smile crossed his face.
“Spoken like a marine,” he tried to cheer her up, but failed to make her even smile at him.
“Where is he?” Kate asked lowly, a hint of fear reflected openly in her voice.
“Gone. He came in about half an hour ago and brought the light, but then he disappeared again and has not shown up ever since. Do you still have your cell phone?” Gibbs asked.
Kate looked down at her and thought loudly, “It was in the inner pocket of my coat, but my coat has been gone ever since I awoke. So has my weapon... Although I can still feel the knife at my ankle; it seems he didn’t find that.”
“You are wearing a knife at your ankle?” Gibbs asked in a tone that showed his disbelief as well as a certain amount of amusement.
“Rule number nine...” Kate murmured. “I figured it stupid to wear the knife with my other weapons, because then people who want to disarm me would see it instantly.” She tried to lift her leg to her hand so that she could somehow reach the knife, but failed to do so. That didn’t stop her from trying again, until she finally cried out in frustration.
“Kate, stop it,” Gibbs ordered softly. “There’s no way you can reach it in that position.”
When she looked up at him, he saw the tears glistening in her eyes and felt like a knife was pushed into his heart.
“This is not supposed to happen, Gibbs. I am a federal agent, I have learned to defend myself. I’ve been trained to remain in control over my emotions and to overpower bad guys in hand to hand combat. Well, I am not a an expert, but my skills were enough to send a NAVY commander to the ground and here...” She stopped talking, afraid that her voice would break and that was the last thing she wanted: giving Gibbs the impression that she couldn’t handle a situation like this.
“It is not your fault. There was nothing you could have done. He overpowered me as well. You can not measure your skills with those of a psychopath. Look at me.” When she didn’t react instantly, he spoke more forcefully. “Kate, look into my eyes.”
She did as he requested.
“I will get us out of here...”
“Gibbs,” Kate started, “we are shackled to a wall! What if he is the killer we have been looking for?”
“He most certainly is,” The man growled back. “We may be shackled, but we still have our brains. And the advantage we have over him is the ability to see things rationally, and to analyze him. Therefore it is absolutely imperative that we remain calm, do you understand?”
“Yes,” Kate nodded and inhaled deeply. Gibbs was right. It didn’t help either of them to assume the worst, she should rather use her brains to think of a way to free herself from her shackles.
They both stilled when they heard steps on the outside, and then the lock of the metal door being turned. With a deafening squeak, the door opened and inside came the psychopath, his eyes wandering from Gibbs to Kate before he closed the door.
“I can see that my little angel is awake again,” he touched Kate’s cheek and then brushed his thumb over the bruise on her forehead. “I hope the experience of your last attempt to escape will be enough of a lesson for you.”
She tried to avoid him when he lowered his lips to her face but her restraining shackles limited the range in which she could move and so all she could do when his lips laid down on the soft skin of her cheek was closing her eyes in revulsion. She felt disgusted by his presence, by his touch and his caresses. And she felt a fear inside, that had been unknown to her up to now. There was something incredibly threatening about being at the mercy of a man who was not quite right in the head, especially if you were a woman.
The man looked at her softly and then turned around.
“I can see that you are still nervous, my dear. Well, considering that we just met that is absolutely understandable. Here, I brought you food.” He held a grape to her lips, silently demanding for her to eat it.
Kate’s whole body was tensed and she pressed closer to the wall behind her, refusing to eat the grape out of the man’s hand.
“I’m not hungry,” she whispered and winced when, out of the blue, his mood changed and he furiously threw the glass plate with the fruits to the ground, where it shattered into pieces.
“What did I tell you?” he asked dangerously calm, emphasizing every word. “Who do you belong to?”
Kate took a shaking breath, pressing her lips together. She couldn’t degrade herself that much, despite all reason she was supposed to use. Her pride didn’t allow her to say it again. She had always been strong-willed, even when dealing with dangerous criminals. Not even Ari had managed to blackmail her into what he wanted.
“WHO?” The psychopath yelled into her face, turning her head violently and forcing her to look at him. “SAY IT NOW!”
When she didn’t react instantly, he drew back his hand and slapped her into her face. She shrieked in pain, tasting blood on her lip and fisted her hands to keep herself from crying out in rage.
“HEY!” Gibbs yelled from the opposite site, drawing his attention away from the woman in front of him. “Why don’t you leave her alone and tell me what you expect from us?”
“You...” The mad psychopath let go of Kate and walked slowly towards Gibbs. “I don’t want anything from you...” he spit out disgustedly, then silenced for a moment. “Well, if I think about it, I want you to tell me exactly what you know about me. And don’t play games, I know you are NCIS, I found your badges, Jethro!”
Interesting, Gibbs thought, that he knows what kind of institution the NCIS is.
So he was either a federal agent or a member of the army or marine corps, since no usual citizen of the United States would have ever heard of the NCIS.
“Why don’t we start this conversation then with you telling me your name, so I can address you properly?” Gibbs asked and Kate felt deep respect for the calmness his whole attitude reflected. It had to be a marine thing, that they never panicked, no matter how desperate the situation seemed. Gibbs’ voice didn’t mirror any kind of emotion.
“Caitlin knows how to address me, doesn’t she?” The psycho turned around to Kate again. “Tell him, dear...”
“I was asking you, not her,” Gibbs addressed him firmly, wanting to draw the whole attention of the obviously totally crazy man to himself rather than Kate. The man didn’t react to his words, but approached Kate again.
“Tell him, or do I need to refresh your mind?” he threatened lowly, and Kate cleared her throat, deciding that it was wiser to fulfill his wish than to be beaten down while shackled.
“Master...” she murmured and gasped in shock when he grabbed her sleeves, harshly pulling her close to his face.
“Louder, I don’t think he quite heard what you said!”
“Master,” Kate said, louder now and Gibbs nodded.
“Alright, but do you have a real name? Every master has a name to address him with, because just calling him master sounds disrespectful, don’t you think?” he noted thoughtfully and observed with satisfaction how the man froze for a moment.
“Of course, we do not want to be disrespectful, which is why I am asking you how to address you properly.” Addressing the psychopaths vanity would maybe help him to gain insight into his background.
Kate looked at the face of the man and saw rage, insecurity and thoughtfulness mixed there. One thing was for sure, Kate thought, Gibbs would have made a great profiler. The mind games that he was not only playing now, but also when he conducted an interrogation with a suspect, were brilliant. He had what seemed to be a naturally given aura of authority and respect around him.
“I... I...” the psychopath stuttered and turned around. “Harris... Master Harris.” His eyes scanned Gibbs for a short time, before the realization dawned on him that the older man had tricked him into giving away his name. He cried out in rage, pounding on the shackled agent and punching him into his face.
Gibbs, who had underestimated the man’s strength and overestimated the range in which he was free to move, was fully hit by the man’s fist. He tried to duck away when he saw another blow coming and managed to at least avoid the hardest part of it by moving within the limited range his shackles confined him to.
“STOP!” Kate yelled almost panicked, afraid that the enraged criminal was going to kill her boss. “Please stop! STOP IT!” Tears of rage and frustration about her own helplessness were streaming down her face, and, when hearing her plea, the man stopped his assault and turned around. Very slowly, a wicked smile started to cross his face when he approached the young woman.
“Go on...” he whispered. “Keep on begging me for his life.” His hand stroked along the lines of her chin and then he brushed her lips with his thumb. “I like it when you plead... isn’t a lovers plea the most beautiful sound in the world?” He giggled madly.
“He is not my lover...” Kate hissed furiously, looking him in the eye. “He is my boss.”
“I have seen them all plead for their partner’s life, little Kate. All of them. It was always the same. But I showed them the truth. I awakened them from their stupid illusions.” He explained in a soft and caring tone.
“What kind of illusions?” Kate asked, forcing herself to focus on what Gibbs had told her. Analyze his behavior, his thoughts, his reactions. If they found out what drove him forward, they might be able to find a way to communicate with him.
“Their stupid little illusions of love...” he hissed against her skin, then starting a mad giggle. “And in the end they all found that their love was worth nothing... nothing at all! It didn’t save them – it only made them suffer. Do you want to suffer, Caitlin?”
“No,” Kate replied, shaking her head with a knot in her stomach. “No I don’t, - Harris.”
“Yeah...” he nodded thoughtfully, his face darkening when she made use of his name, “none of them wanted.” Then he suddenly let go of her and went to the door. “But there is no other way... the discovery of the truth always has to be painful... You will soon learn, but afterwards you will be free. Free from lies... free like a bird.”
He shut the door behind him which a loud crash that resounded in the dim chamber.
Kate exhaled, relieved that he was gone, even if it was only for now, and then focused her attention to the man opposite to her.
“Are you alright? Gibbs, say something!”
“That bastard has a strong punch – he is lucky I wasn’t able to show him mine...” A low growl could be heard and the woman was relieved. As long as Gibbs was still in the mood to threaten people, he was alright – or at least not in serious danger.
“You look like you need a doctor,” she murmured and Gibbs nodded ironically.
“If you can, feel free to call one.”
Kate sighed. For a man like him, who was always in control of everything and everyone around him, a situation like this had to be especially enraging. Therefore she decided to leave him alone for some time and rather spend her time reviewing in her mind the information she had just gathered about the man who held them prisoner.
He was obviously some kind of spiritual fanatic who believed that, by killing his victims, he cleansed their souls from lies and freed them. How could you argue with a person like that?
“Hey Gibbs...” she suddenly remembered, looking up at him softly.
“What?” he replied grumpily.
“Thank you... for pulling his attention towards you.”
He looked at her, their eyes meeting for a moment in an intense glance. The hint of a smile crossed his face, before he shut the walls around his heart down again.
“Don’t thank me yet, we are not out of here. Let’s hope Dinozzo spends his time with something different than playing shooting games on a federal computer. Oh, and Kate! Next time just do what he wants for God’s sake. I don’t want to loose one of my agents just because of pride!” He didn’t know why he had to do it. Every time she touched his heart, he had to treat her a little harsher than usual. It was like an automatic defense reaction against any warm feelings in his heart, aiming on pushing her away before she could get too close. And it worked – too well.
“Are you telling me it was my fault that he attacked me?” Kate asked back sharply.
“Just don’t argue with him again! Leave that to me,” he repeated insistently.
They both remained silent, the pressure they were under taking its effect now in aggression towards each other. Kate couldn’t believe that he had just practically made her responsible for what had happened. She tried to calm herself, reminding herself that he was under a lot of pressure and probably feeling responsible for her safety, but still, his hidden accusation had hurt her.
Even if Gibbs would have never admitted it outloud, he had no idea how to get out of their situation. He wasn’t an expert in profiling, but he was convinced that Harris would not let them go again. All this time, he had not even bothered to hide his face from them – a dangerous sign, that showed that he trusted that they would not be able to tell anyone about his face.
He hoped that Dinozzo had been wise enough to answer the phone while it had still been ringing, that way Abby might have a chance to track the last call – but he doubted it. But then, Dinozzo, although being as childish as he could sometimes be, never failed to surprise him with his cleverness in situations where it really mattered.
He just hoped that his team would be fast... before it was too late.
~~~ Same Time at Abby’s laboratory ~~~
“Abbs... any word on them yet?” Tony Dinozzo stormed into the room and the black haired analyst jumped - again. She turned around growling, dark threats reflected in her eyes.
“Damn it, Tony, I would be a lot faster if you didn’t startle me every five minutes with the same set of questions!” Abby replied nervously, refocusing her attention back to screen and the keyboard she was tapping on. “Without an active connection it is not easy to trace a GPS chip in a cell phone!”
“But you can do it, right? You said it’s not easy, but it’s not impossible is it?!” Tony grabbed for her drink and took a sip before Abby snatched it out of his hand.
“Hey! Hands of my drink, Tony, before I have to smack you!”
“Sorry, just nervous! Why would Gibbs call me and then not say a word when I answer? Yell at me, yes! Bellow orders, yes! But not answer at all is just so un-Gibbs, that something terrible must have happened.” He babbled and Abby raised her eyes to the ceiling.
“Tony! Something terrible will happen to you if you keep on pacing around my desk like that! I can not concentrate!”
At that moment, another one of her many screens in the corner of the room beeped and Abby looked over to it, then at Tony.
“Hey, chicken-boy, I need you to do something! Hold Strg and H, will you do this? I need to look what’s happening over there.”
Abby pressed his fingers to the prevailing keys and looked into his eyes. “Don’t move, or I will spank you!”
“Normally I would reply with some kind of dirty joke... but...” Tony said, the concern for his two colleagues standing clearly written in his eyes.
Abby went over to the smaller table and looked at the screen. “Impossible!” she murmured and pressed some key, then she slowly turned around. “Oh damned, I know how it happened!”
“What Abbs?” Tony asked impatiently.
“Remember how the DNA didn’t match? I mean the one from the sperm and the one from the...”
“Bottom line, Abby!” Dinozzo snapped impatiently.
The you woman raised her eyebrows. “You sound more like Gibbs every day... however, it didn’t match, because it was placed! I ran the newly found DNA through the criminal and Navy and Marine database, but no match, and then, for fun I ran it through the database of every federal secret service of this country and I have a match!”
“What?” Tony jumped up from the chair and ran to her workstation.
“It is an NCIS agent, Tony! One of ours!” Abby continued excitedly. “He is the serial murderer! He must have manipulated the data. This says that he is one of the assistants to the laboratories. He had the possibility and the inside knowledge about the investigation! We have an ID!” She turned and looked at Tony proudly, then realized that he was standing next to her. Standing up, she folded her arms in front of her breast. “What did I tell you about pressing the keys?”
Tony shrugged and hugged her enthusiastically. “Abbs, when we have found them, you can spank me all you want! Call me immediately if you find hints on his whereabouts, I am going to inform a search team!” With these words he ran out of the room, leaving back a puzzled Abby.
...
Story Notes:
If you find any mistakes, situations that are out of character or grammatical mistakes, feel free to email me.
Author's Chapter Notes:
After having arrested a wrong person for a series of double murders, Kate and Gibbs become victims of the real serial killer. Will the team be fast enough to save them from a terrible death?
Chapter End Notes:
If you find any mistakes, situations that are out of character or grammatical mistakes, feel free to email me.