A/N: Thank you to those who commented and put this story on alert.

Chapter 2

18 Hours Missing

"Watching that video over and over isn't helping Brody," Pride commented as he walked over to his senior agent.

LaSalle turned off the monitor. King was right. It wasn't doing him any good to just sit there and watch his partner be tortured. He needed to do something. Rising to his feet, LaSalle grabbed his jacket.

"I'm going out," he told Pride.

"I need you here," Pride returned in a commanding fashion.

LaSalle felt emotion start to boil up in his chest. Every moment he sat there waiting was like a new kind of torture. "Damn it, King! Didn't you see what they did to her?"

Pride placed a mollifying hand on the younger man's shoulder, "I saw it, Christopher."

"I just feel like we need to be out there doing something," LaSalle returned quietly.

"I know," Pride returned, "But we have our orders. Director Vance wants us to wait for Gibbs."

Gibbs wasn't due in for another three hours LaSalle fumed silently. He'd been an agent long enough to know that three hours could mean the difference between life and death. Statistically, most kidnapping victims were killed shortly after proof life had been given.

"These things take time, Christopher. You know that." Though his personality would never allow him to show his true emotions, he was just as torn up inside about Brody, if not moreso, unlike LaSalle, Brody was his responsibility.

LaSalle nodded his head. He knew Pride was calling the lab every half hour for updates and riding Agent Plame.

Plame was processing the video as fast as humanly possible to check for possible clues that might lead them to Brody.

Hell, LaSalle watched the video at least a thousand times, so much that he had every sound and scene memorized. He just hoped to God that Plame would find something that he had missed.

"I'm just going back over to Brody's and see if we missed anything." LaSalle commented.

Pride nodded in approval. "Let me know if you find anything."

For several moments, Chris stood outside the doorway of Brody's apartment staring at the yellow police tape trying not to picture the mess that was inside. Over the years, he had seen hundreds of crime scenes but nothing disturbed him more than this apartment.

Ducking over the tape, LaSalle stepped into the living room and began re-evaluating the mess. Maybe they'd missed something the first time around? A sample of dirt? A stray fiber? A hair?

Kneeling, Chris spotted a picture frame that had been broken in the scuffle. The picture was from Halloween. He was dressed as the Baconator and Brody was the Freudian Slip. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me," he said, looking at the picture.

"Don't blame yourself, Christopher," Loretta's voice boomed from the doorway.

Rising to his feet, LaSalle set the picture on the end table next to the couch. Ironically, it was the only piece of furniture that hadn't been destroyed.

Pivoting he met Loretta as she stepped inside. The ever growing knot in his stomach was getting tighter. Seeing Loretta in Brody's apartment made him think that they had found a body.

"What are you doing here, Loretta?"

"Pride called me," she smiled. "He thought this place might need a fresh set of eyes."

Chris gave her a slight smile of relief. If one was certain, Loretta was an expert at observation.

Brody couldn't help but gasp for air as her captors tossed her onto the hard concrete floor. The fluid in her lungs burned with every breath making her feel as though she were drowning. Unconsciously, she shivered as her wet clothing stuck to her flesh. The ice water along with the wintery air had caused her body temperature to drop which in turn was doing a number on her system. She would be going into shock soon and if that happened she wouldn't be able to guarantee that wouldn't give up the location of the woman they were seeking. Although she didn't know the woman's exact location, she did know which agents on security detail held the information.

If her captors were smart, they would know that Gibbs was never going to show up with the mark. They would be better off trying to get the information from her. Unless…

They wanted something else.

Her thoughts were suddenly broken by the sound of a heavy metal door opening. Against her will she stiffened. Were her captors just now leaving or were they coming back? The sheer thought made her stomach muscles quiver.

A human form kneels beside her and her fear intensifies. Her first thought was to pretend to be unconscious but she knew the sound of her heavy wheezing would give her away. She begins to tremble as a human finger begins to trace her jawline.

"I'm very sorry about earlier," a man whispers. "We had to put on a good show for your colleagues. They're probably wondering if you're still alive."

A pregnant pause lapsed as Brody continued to tremble. Why was he telling her this?

The male form rises to his feet. "What if, we give them something to ease their conscious? Perhaps you would like to call them?"

A somber looking Pride greeted Gibbs as he entered the usually upbeat office.

No surprise, the famous NCIS agent had come alone. Pride never believed for a moment, that the Agency would make an actual trade for Brody's life. He was a little taken by the fact that hadn't sent in another female agent to play the part.

Gibbs took his friends hand and the two men exchanged pleasantries.

"How's Linda?" Gibbs asked trying to lighten the mood.

"We're separated," Pride returned watching his old friend's face fall.

"Sorry to hear that. If you need a good divorce lawyer, let me know," Gibbs said not missing a beat.

Pride gave his friend a crooked smile. "It hasn't quite come to that. We're just taking some time."

"That's the first step," Gibbs quipped under his breath before getting down to business.

"Where's LaSalle?"

"He's running down some leads with Loretta." As it turned out, Loretta had been able to find some additional hair samples which being tested at the lab.

"Is he going to be able to handle this?" Gibbs asked. He could only imagine what the younger man was going through. It was always hard when the life of one of your own was the line but Brody was his partner and she was new to the team. She was also female which always made these situations hard. It was bad enough knowing that one of your "guys" was being tortured, but when it came to a woman, the personal angst was always tenfold.

Pride opened his mouth to speak, but his thought was interrupted by agent Plame's voice. "Pride, we just picked up a ping from Agent Brody's cell phone! "

Both Pride and Gibbs scrambled up the stairs to Plame's cubical.

"It came online about 10 seconds ago," Plame told them. "Signal's coming from a tower in the Lower 9th Ward. According to this a call is being placed to one of the cell phones registered to this office."

"Which one?" Pride asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

"LaSalle's"