Chapter Two: All Accounted For

The crumbling world of steel and concrete became more organized, in focus. Panting echoed in and out of consciousness, grunts of pain, soft crashes muffled by metal as the vibrations from clambering debris radiated upward enough to reverberate through the floor of the elevator. The florescent light swayed still, and Abby had to choke back bile as the dizziness from shadows and shapes coming in and out of sight in blurring hazes cast her into a fit of vertigo so badly upon waking that she didn't even notice...

McGee leaned back against the elevator doors and took a pained breath, closing his eyes a moment to catch his breath. He'd been trying to clean out their small space as best he could without jeopardizing the stability of their situation. So far he'd made a good deal of headway, there were only a few large chunks of concrete that were still cluttering the floor and for the life of him he prayed that somewhere in what remained his cell phone would be found, and found to be working. McGee slid a hand up his side with a tight swallow and a grimace as he pushed off the doors and looked to the large hole adorning the right metallic wall of the elevator in twisted explosion ravaged juts of reflective silver. He'd been using the hole to deposit the large chunks of concrete and had finally managed to get Abby wholly uncovered.

He heard her shift and forgot for a moment about the sticky warmth that had oozed into his palm from where he was holding his side as he knelt down beside her, relief coursing through his very core that she was awake again. He quickly drew his jacket around the wound, concealing it from Abby as he drew closer, making sure she was fully conscious and not about to slip out again. "Abby..."

"I don't suppose you could make the light stop swaying." She asked, her voice a ghost of a whisper. McGee frowned further and looked over his shoulder to the calm light that hadn't moved an inch since the last time he'd bumped it. She was still heavily disorientated which was adding credence to the whole severe concussion angle. Instead of worrying her further he met her eyes with a gentle reassuring smile. "I'll see what I can do." He promised her.

"Are you ok?" She asked worriedly, blinking a few times as if trying to clear her vision, but it was obvious from the way she was squinting at him that it hadn't helped all that much. McGee had a feeling that he might never have gotten away with the lie that slipped out, had she not been in her current condition. "I'm fine, Abby. Just worried about you." He took a breath and nodded to the doors. "I don't think we actually crashed to the bottom. I think we're on a pile of debris that used to be Ducky's lab." McGee explained with a tight swallow.

Abby's eyes widened and McGee realized his mistake immediately as he moved to keep her still. "No...I don't...Ducky was out. We passed him remember? On our way back into work from lunch?" McGee reminded her, and breathed out in relief when she calmed her eyes still glassed over, blinking back tears. "So no one was..." McGee shook his head. "Not that I know of. I think it was empty." He prayed it was. That everyone else got out. "We might be able to get to your lab, Abby."

"If it's still there." Abby interjected remembering that they had already hypothesized that the explosion could have been from a bomb and even if it wasn't a bomb, it was strong enough to collapse the central elevator shaft. Even as out of it as she was, Abby could put two and two together on this one. Sure there were chemicals in both and her and Ducky's lab, but they were both meticulous in their handling of them. Something this potent was not likely an accident. "It's still there." McGee surprised her with his insight and for a moment she forgot that she had been in and out of it for God only knew how long. "I started to pry the door open earlier but there was too much in the way. I could see it, though." McGee assured her. "Maybe I can get the doors the rest of the way open and I can find a way to get you out of here. The shaft can't take much more collapse I think we'd be safer..."

"You don't know that...this might be the only way they can get us back out." Abby played devils advocate though McGee knew when he met her eyes that she was just as unsure about either choice. One thing neither one of them enjoyed was making a guess without more of the facts to go on. "We can always get back in." McGee licked at his lips as he suddenly spotted his cell under the last pile of rubble he hadn't quite had a chance to get to yet. "And maybe we can find out more." He regained a shaky smile as he reached over her gingerly, their body's nudging against one another as he retrieved the phone. His smile grew he flipped it over so that she could see that it was working and actually had a signal...


Tony was half listening to a high pitched female receptionist from Bethesda with one ear while his finger was pressed into the other to muffle the blaring noise all around him, he guessed he was trained to pick out Gibb's voice no matter what, because he could still hear him laying into the first response coordinator for a time frame on the team joining search and rescue. "David...D.A.V.I.D. First name Ziva. Z.I.V.A. She was on her way in."

"Emphasis on the Was." Tony whirled when he heard her commanding lightly accented voice from behind him and widened eyes lit over her form as he gave a quick. "Never mind..." and slammed the phone shut. He reached towards the bandage wrapped around her head, covering her left ear. "I watched you leave." He hushed the concern in his voice as he questioned her with his eyes. She gave a slight nod, hiding the grimace rather well. "That you did." She agreed, without giving up more as she looked past him to Gibb's not so subtle negotiation. Tony gave a grunt of frustration but knew not to push it and if worse came to worse then Gibbs would send her on her way back to the hospital in a heart beat. "And now I am back." She smirked, but it dwindled quickly as her eyes lit on the smoke past Gibbs and the first responder.

"Caught that." Tony nodded as he noticed Ducky and Palmer pulling in and then heading in their direction. He turned back to motion to Gibbs, should the tirade be over, that Ducky was here, but saw that the Boss was pulling out his phone. Tony narrowed his eyes, following Ziva towards Gibbs. Suddenly Gibbs was placing his own finger into his free ear to muffle the noise of the emergency crews. "McGee!" Tony and Ziva picked up the pace and paused making a half circle on either side of Gibbs, leaving room for Ducky and Palmer to join them. "Where are you? Are you alright? Abby?"

"I'm fine, a little banged up but I'll live." McGee hoped that Gibbs wasn't as good as seeing through a lie over the phone, because truthfully, he didn't know how he was. He hadn't had a chance to really look and he didn't want to freak Abby out any more then they both already were. "Abby's not. She's been in and out and she's showing signs of a head injury, maybe some shock...I think we can get to her lab, but it's going to take some time. How's it look from your end? Is everyone..."

Gibbs swallowed meeting everyone's eyes as Ducky and Palmer joined the group and then his eyes lit on the asphalt beneath his feet. "Everyone's fine. Mild injuries." He narrowed his eyes at Ziva knowing she was supposed to be at the hospital, but seeing that she seemed steady enough for now. "The rescue teams are moving slow, but it's precautionary." Gibbs explained just waiting for McGee to get the rest. "I understand." Gibbs nodded slowly. The precaution was not bringing the rest of the building down on the both of them. Even though the majority of the damage seemed confined to basement two and the elevator shaft, the stability of basement one and the ground floor were still an iffy thing at best and if they went...well then level 2 and 3 were right behind them. "They're saying the central shaft took the most damage, right now sub level one looks more stable. Do what you can to get into the lab, and keep me posted." Gibbs ordered, cinching up the decision for them.

"On it, Boss." McGee replied and was about to let him go when Gibbs spoke once more. "How bad are you hurt?" He asked him quietly as though he realized why he hadn't said anything. "I honestly don't know yet." McGee replied. "Find out, McGee, and call me back." Gibbs told him softly so that Abby didn't overhear. McGee was shocked at the concern in Gibbs voice but he nodded at first, having to shake himself to remember that Gibbs couldn't see the nod. "Right, will do, Boss."

"Everything's going to be alright." Gibbs promised him finally. "We'll be there to get you soon." Gibbs pocketed the phone as the group stood around him silently and he shifted on his feet before he looked up to meet their eyes once more. "They're alive, but both injured and both in the central elevator shaft. They're trying to relocate to Abby's lab." There was barely a chance for sighs of concern and relief, barely a moment that everyone could even guess at what the rest of their friends and co workers were thinking.

There was barely a moment at all...

A tremor reverberated through the asphalt as a growing roar that built into a thunderous crescendo of smoke and screams sounded over the sirens. Gibbs looked to the skyline, past the low lying building's and the fences in between to the towering FBI precinct that lay beyond. In the dimming afternoon light the FBI building's infrastructure danced with a shiver of razor sharp spray from the windows that blew out. The entire team watched in horror as smoke billowed from the floors above, much like it had done in their own building as the evacuation began.

It was becoming very apparent that there was no accident involved as the team seemed to move in slow motion to help those that they could of their neighbors, being as they couldn't currently help their own. What they didn't know was that while everyone's minds played over the glaring possibilities, while they all danced around the terrorist threats, while they pondered who would take credit for it all...What they didn't know...was that it was far from what anyone though, and someone had already taken credit for all of this and more to come.