Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, or any plot ideas borrowed to make the story flow.
Spoilers: 7x22 aka Borderland with mentions from all that follows though AU from it.
Summary: What if Paloma made her need for vengeance known sooner? One of the team may pay the ultimate price for Gibbs actions so many years ago.
I'm not sure where this came from but it got stuck in my head and refuses to leave and I don't think I've seen anyone go this route. I know where I'd like it to end up going, not sure how I'm going to get there though. This is a work in progress, I already have more written up but I want to stay ahead so I don't end up stuck. This will be my first WIP too; all my other fics have been standalones. While the story basically revolves a lot on McGee and Gibbs, it is definitely a team-like story as well. Italicized writing is McGee's thoughts.
Feel free to review, give thoughts, criticism, though be useful, and don't just say you suck, it's not helpful to the creative process.
The Plight of Vengeance
"My name is Timothy McGee, I'm a United States federal agent, and I'm worth a lot to them. Just let them go and you can keep me." To himself though he was wondering, how in the world did I end up in this situation?
"You're a brave man Timothy McGee; do you know who I am?" The dark haired woman asked.
"No." A psycho woman who's going to be the death of me probably.
"Paloma Reynosa." Oh crap.
"Reynosa, as in the-?" He started.
"The drug cartel as you would call it. Yes. Though I like to think of it as the family business." She stated with a smirk. Great family business, really, bet your parents are proud.
"We're screwed." Tim muttered to Abby who he was pretty sure had yet to realize how much.
"And what's an NCIS agent doing so far from home?" She inquired.
"He's my escort. I'm teaching a class on forensics using a cold case." Abby offered up.
"And this abandoned truck is your classroom?" Paloma questioned.
"Well no, not exactly, were using a man named Pedro Hernandez as a case study and this is where he died." Abby explained feeling increasingly uncomfortable. Oh shut up Abby, stop telling her everything, she's fishing for a reason. He really wished he could say that aloud.
Paloma chuckled, "Ah, Pedro that was a long time ago, what could you possibly learn now?"
"Well, for instance, the report is wrong; he wasn't shot at point blank range." Abby started off with but Paloma cut her off. Tim suddenly felt very uneasy; the look on Paloma's face was telling him nothing good. He was seriously considering smacking Abby just to shut her up.
"I know, he got shot by a sniper hiding on a ridge." Oh, and there's that other shoe dropping, we're done for.
"How did you?" Abby asked in shaky voice. Cause this was all a setup Abs, isn't it obvious?
"He left behind a message." Paloma answered.
"And what message was that?" Tim asked. And in that very next moment he wished he'd never asked and more so that he never agreed to this trip. Paloma's arm shot out and grabbed Tim's.
"I think I'm going to be taking you up on your very brave offer Timothy McGee, because it's about time I send a message too." What? What the hell does that mean? She shoved him towards her men who immediately bound his arms behind his back and shoved him into the back of the truck. Well this is it; I'm going to die in Mexico in a desert with some wild animal eating my corpse before anyone finds me. He's went to put himself in more comfortable position and one of the clearly overzealous men struck him in the head rendering him unconscious.
"Tim!" Abby yelped. Paloma laughed and grabbed a chain she wore around her neck pulling it apart and then handing Abby a sniper round.
"I'm sure you will have more use for this. Tell Gibbs I'll be waiting for him." And with that she got into the truck and they were off as quickly as they had stopped. Abby gulped, absolutely terrified from what just happened. How exactly was she supposed to tell Gibbs that she made them go out there and Tim got kidnapped by a psycho drug lord and that she apparently had a personal beef with him related to this case.
AAA
Abby kept pacing back and forth, she was pretty sure she would end up boring a hole in the floor within the next couple minutes when finally the door open. All she wanted to do was go home, while waiting she'd been going over the case; it turned out Hernandez had been the man responsible for killing Gibbs family.
"Ah, Miss Scuito, what seems to be the problem?" Alejandro Rivera asked with a smile.
"What's… what's the matter? You're kidding me right? Does nobody around here speak at all? I've been waiting in here twenty minutes and-"
"Whoa, whoa, Abby what's wrong?"
"Some crazy drug bitch took McGee hostage!" Abby yelled, tears already coming back to her eyes.
"What? Wait. Start at the beginning, what happened?" Alejandro questioned.
"We were out where Pedro was originally shot and-" She began but Alejandro cut her off.
"Wait! What are earth were you doing out there?"
"The class, I thought it would be a-" He cut her off again.
"You took the whole class out there? Abby, it's very dangerous out there; it can be dangerous around here, that's why you had an escort." Alejandro finished while rubbing a hand down his face. "Alright, alright, what else can you tell me? How many were there, did anyone say any names?"
"Yeah, she did. As a matter a fact she had no problem telling us who she was." Abby responded. Alejandro raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh?"
"She said her name was Paloma Reynosa. Do you know who she is?"
"She's a very big drug name here; she usually doesn't bother with the tourists though." He responded while turning away. "She say anything else?"
"It seemed as if she knew who Pedro was." Abby responded while walking around to see Alejandro's face. Something was telling her he wasn't telling the truth fully.
"Oh. Well I suppose it's possible. She's been a local for quite some time. I personally don't know though." He continued to avoid looking at Abby. "Anything else she offer up?" Abby thought for a moment, but something told her not to mention the Gibbs connection.
"Nothing, just that she was taking Tim as a message."
"A message to what?"
"I don't know." Abby bit her lip and turned away.
"Alright. Alright. I start looking into this; see what I can find out. But Abby?"
"Yes?"
"If Paloma knew Pedro, it might not be coincidence that she showed up there. You're going to have to keep working the cold case and see where it leads you." Abby gulped and took a deep breath before responding.
"Whose idea was it for me to come down here?"
"Well mine, your director approved it."
"And why this case? Who choose that?"
"Well I don't know, someone on staff, is there a problem?"
"No, but if I'm going to solve this I need Pedro's body."
"That shouldn't be a problem."
"And I need it sent to DC; they're the only people I trust."
"Not a problem." Alejandro nodded at her and exited the office.
"Something is definitely hinky here." Abby said aloud to herself. She sighed and pulled out her cell, it was time to make the call she was not looking forward to. She started to dial but then stopped, "No, I'm going to take the chicken way with this." She then began to dial again. "Can I speak to director Vance please?" She asked as calmly as possible. "It's Abby Scuito."
AAA
It took a lot to disturb Leon Vance, and the phone call he was having with Abby Scuito, was definitely disturbing him. "Miss Scuito, if you really think the Mexican government is helping with McGee's abduction then I can't in good conscience leave you down there by yourself, I'm sending Dinozzo."
He could hear Abby smack her hand on something before she responded. "No! We don't need anyone else at risk she didn't seem the least bit interested with me anyway. She wanted me free, besides I don't need to remain down here anyway, my part is done here and I have them sending Hernandez's body to Ducky. The way Rivera was responding to this, it bothered me. It bothered me a lot. There's something hinky about this whole thing, I mean is it really coincidence that we were working on this cold case that everyone seems to be connected to in some way? I don't like it. And Tim… Tim… he's out there… and he's hurt… and… and I I…" Abby had lost her composure as she trailed off. Leon gulped, it wasn't often any of Gibbs people were so open and honest with him, it was unnerving, very.
"Abby. You need to calm down. While yes Tim was hurt, he is trained for this, he knows how to handle himself until we can get help to him. We're going to do everything we can to find and get him home safe, and you know that. You also know we need your help to do this, so take a minute and gather your thoughts, I don't like this either. As you have been saying, yeah, something's hinky." Leon shook his head; he actually said that weird word the goth woman is always saying, truth was though, it fit, something was definitely wrong with this picture.
"Your right, your right, I need to get it together. I have to do this. Tim needs me." She took a deep breath. "Oh and sorry I'm making you give Gibbs the news. This is just too much, I didn't need to hear him freak out, and he would of, I know it and I didn't need that right now." Leon let out a small laugh.
"No worries, it's probably better he hear it from me anyway. I'm going to get the team in here to brief them. I'll see you when you get back."
"Yes Vance." She said quietly. He sighed.
"We'll get him back." He tried to reassure her. He heard a low sniffle come through the phone.
"I know. I'm just worried he won't still be alive when we do." She sniffled again before hanging up the phone. He got up from his car and when over to a cabinet, pausing for a moment he pulled it open and the grabbed a bottle and a glass. It was going to be a long day. Walking back over to his desk his pushed the button the intercom. "Get Gibbs and his team in my office now, doctor Mallard and Palmer too."