CHAPTER II
Gibbs stands in the doorway of a bedroom, lost in thought as he stares at the bed Sam sleeps in at home. He feels guilty being here, uninvited, because they're relationship had yet to extend to her personal sanctum. Because of Parker, Sam was always careful to keep their romantic involvement to a minimum while they were here with her son. However, his own home, the bedroom, the living room, the basement... they'd all been witness to Dr. Ryan's romantic creativity. A slight smile tugs at the corner of his mouth as he recalls their last evening together... last night. God, it seemed so long ago. Only hours, but in reality a life time when he thinks that he may never see her again.
He suddenly shakes his head and gives himself a hard head slap as he growls, "Where the hell is your head at, Marine?!" He spins around to go see what his team has accomplished when he almost runs into Ziva. She is standing directly behind him, smirking and trying very hard not to make eye contact with him right now. Gibbs realizes she saw his self-discipline and heard his comment and there is no way to explain it away, but he tries. "I know what you're thinking, but I have never been in that room before." He jabs his thumb backwards over his shoulder, indicating Dr. Ryan's bedroom.
Ziva clears her throat and tries very hard to keep a straight face as she nods to indicate she understands, but can't help adding her own commentary, "Of course... but I am sure you will have many opportunities in the future to... shall we say, remedy that problem?" Gibbs glares at her for a moment, debating whether to give her a head slap of her own. Then Ziva winks at him and a small smile peaks out from her normally controlled features and he can't help but return the smile. He even blushes a little bit as he looks down, then meets her eyes and admits, "I hope so, Agent David... I hope so."
Gibbs leads the way back to the balcony which overlooks the entrance hall downstairs. He leans on the railing and watches as McGee dusts an overturned hall table for prints and silently wonders if his prints will be cataloged among those found there. He scans Dr. Ryan's briefcase, which has been dumped out on the floor, her keys still in the door lock, and Parker's backpack in similar disarray. Ziva stands beside him and gives him a quick update on their investigation so far. "We are still dusting, but as you saw there appears to have been a struggle in the hallway. I also found some signs in the kitchen that Colson, and perhaps an accomplice or two, spent some time in the house waiting for Dr. Ryan to return. They appear to have had a snack and a soda, which leads me to believe there were three intruders."
"Or they already had Parker and were keeping him quiet until Sam returned. That would mean two intruders. From what I know of Colson, he's a hands on kind of a guy and this is personal for him. I have no doubt he wanted to be the first face Sam saw when she got home last night."
"Using her son, would ensure that Dr. Ryan was more compliant with his demands. If she thought her son was in danger..." Ziva doesn't have to finish, but Gibbs does it for her.
"Yeah, she'd do anything Colson asked to protect him. Which means this disturbance in the hallway wasn't a blitz attack to subdue her; it was punishment." His eyes are dark and stormy as he envisions Sam being beaten by Colson... most likely in front of her son. He just hopes she hasn't been hurt too badly before he can get to them.
Just then, Tony lets out a shout from another room in the house, "Boss, I got something!" Gibbs and Ziva hurry downstairs to find Tony in the office. He is seated at a laptop computer that Gibbs recognizes as Sam's personal computer. As he comes around to see what Tony is looking at, his senior agent gives him an explanation. "I know you're probably in awe that I was able to get into Dr. Ryan's computer so easily, but in all honestly... it was already on when I came in here. I just moved the mouse and this came up. What do you think, boss? Looks like Colson isn't headed for the comfort of the rolling green hills of Northern Ireland, huh?"
Gibbs scans the webpage and sees that someone has been checking the airports for connections in Barcelona, Spain. He feels a chill run down his spine and knows this is not good. Depending on how much of a lead Colson has on them, he could be arriving in Barcelona anywhere in the next nine hours. And from there, it was a short hop into Libya and certain death for Samantha Ryan and her son. With this information, Gibbs now has a plan and pats Tony on the shoulder, "Good work, DiNozzo! McGee!" A moment later McGee appears in the doorway, holding his print powder and brush. "McGee, get ahold of MTAC, stat! Tell them we're on our way to Dulles and we need the fastest plane they got gassed up and ready for an emergency flight to Barcelona, Spain." As he is talking, he is heading for the door and McGee steps back quickly to get out of his way.
Gibbs stops suddenly to look back into the office at the stunned faces of Tony and Ziva. His frustration is showing as he gives them an exasperated sigh and orders, "What?! I said 'WE'. Are you two waiting for an invitation?! Come on!" They both jump up and hurry after their boss, grinning at the opportunity to accompany him on the overseas mission. Tony dumps some papers into McGee's arms as he hurries past, ignoring the look of disappointment on McGee's face. McGee sighs his own frustration at being left behind to process the house as he repeats his orders, "Right, fast plane to Barcelona Spain out of Dulles... for three. And I'll just... I'll just stay here and finish processing this whole house... by myself."
On the way to Dulles the car is silent as Gibbs formulates a plan of attack in his head. They don't have time to pack anything other than the weapons they are carrying, but he has his 'emergency bag' in the trunk. He knows Tony and Ziva have their gear bags as well and if he taught them anything at all, it was always to be prepared. He hoped that meant they had a change of clothes and some other necessary items in their bags like he did.
His thoughts once again drift to Samantha Ryan and he mentally speaks to her, 'You should have let me handle him for you, Doc.' Gibbs then sighs and curses under his breath as he gives himself another mental head slap for breaking rule 47. Never play the 'I told you so game'.