Chapter Two- Troubles Escalate

Vance had barely sat down at his desk when his phone beeped, alerting him that Pamela had a call for him. "Send it through," he told her over the phone, leaning back into his chair with a sigh. He had an Agent missing, Gibbs was ready to go off grid again if his agent was in any sort of trouble…that would mean the SecNav was on the phone, threatening funding again. Maybe it was the CIA or the FBI, calling to complain about Gibbs- he got those calls about three times a week, even when Gibbs wasn't actively destroying one of their investigations.

"Hello, Leon Vance speaking." He said, when the call beeped through.

"Hey, Leon." He shot up, eyes widening as he realized that Ms. Sciuto was on the line. He was confused, as he'd been expecting a complaint about Gibbs, which about half of his calls accounted for, and why on earth would Abby Sciuto complain about Gibbs (unless it was about the lack of two Caf-Pows, in which case the girl was fired)? Then he realized she'd used his first name.

"Ms. Sciuto," he started ominously, but she didn't even give him chance to finish.

"You know," she interrupted. "If you're nice enough to let me use your first name, you really should use mine. Abby. Please. Anyways, Leon," she went on quickly before he could recover. "I just called to tell you that Fornell is here- you know, the FBI guy. He's looking for Gibbs." Her voice continued speaking, slightly muffled, "I told you, he's not here!" There was a pause and then Abby returned to Vance. "And he's not very nice, either. I'm telling Gibbs. Of course, he is nicer than Kort, the CIA guy. He's really, really not nice. I don't like him very much and-"

"Ms. Sciuto-"

"Abby." She interrupted. "I'll have to sit down and seriously think about which one of them I like least. On the plus side, you're not on the list anymore, Leon. I took you off when you brought back Timmy and Tony and Ziva. But as for them, I-"

Rolling his eyes, Vance hung up the phone, hurrying out of his office. He reached the stairs at a near run and heard Abby's voice, "He hung up. He must be on his way," right before Tobias Fornell came into view.

"Director Vance." The bald FBI agent nodded cordially at Vance as he came into the bullpen. "Perhaps you could direct me towards Gibbs. It's important that I talk to him."

"As you can see," Vance gestured at the empty bullpen. "They're busy right now. Does this have to do with a case?"

"Actually, not directly. I don't even need Gibbs, truth be told, not if you're here." Vance was amused to see that even the FBI looked for ways to get around talking to Gibbs. Although, if the rumors were true, these two had quite the adversarial relationship, so maybe why that's why he was avoiding Gibbs.

"What do you need?" Vance asked curiously. There weren't, after all, many things that both he and Gibbs had power over. Off-the-book, he wasn't actually sure he had power over anything, or more specifically anyone, Gibbs had power over.

Fornell's finger swung towards Abby. "I need him."

Vance followed the finger just to make sure, but it was still pointing at Abby, who'd yet to move from McGee's desk. "Ms. Scuito?" He asked doubtfully.

"No!" Fornell looked slightly embarrassed, dropping his hand. "McGee. Sorry, Abs."

"As you should be." She narrowed her eyes menacingly at him. "Timmy's not here. And you had better bring a Caf-Pow next time you try to get into my lab." She threatened, wagging a finger at him.

"Agent McGee is not here at the moment." Vance said, puling Fornell's attention away before any death threats could be made.

Fornell rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I heard the party line. It's important."

The elevator dinged and all three turned to see DiNozzo and David walk out with a petite brunette.

"McGee's not with them?" Fornell asked, confused.

"McGee's there." Abby stood with a grin. "Sarah!" She hurried over to the girl, pulling her into a tight hug.

The younger girl floundered for a second, before gamely returning the hug. "Hey, Abby. Where's Tim?" She asked.

Abby ignored her question, turning to Tony, who was holding her Caf-Pow and Gibbs' coffee. "Gimme!" She ordered.

"Uh-uh." Tony easily maneuvered away from her. "Where's Gibbs?"

"He's in Autopsy." Vance said.

"Nu-uh." Abby's eyes hadn't left the Caf-Pow. "I called him right before I called you. He's-"

The elevator dinged again, revealing the man they were all searching for. "Tobias, what are you doing here?" Gibbs demanded, stepping into the overcrowded bullpen.

"I suggest we all take this up to my office." Vance was not only uncomfortable being so close to so many people, but he could see their group was beginning to attract the attention of other teams.

He was pleased to see he still had some authority, as DiNozzo and David turned, along with Ms. McGee, but Abby interrupted before anyone left. "Gibbs!" She whined. "Tony won't give me my Caf-Pow!"

"Oh." Gibbs took the drinks from his agent, taking a long drink of coffee before distributing the Caf-Pow to the caffeine-deprived woman. "Thanks, Abs." He said, kissing her cheek as she sipped her drink up.

It took several long seconds before she finished. "Of course, my Silver-haired Fox." She said, beaming up at him. All was forgiven, for now. "I'm coming with you, I don't wanna be left again. C'mon, Sarah." She grabbed the girl and headed towards the Director's office. "D'you want some Caf-Pow? Timmy likes it."

"Where's McGee?" Fornell demanded as Gibbs' team started following Abby. "You said he was here."

Gibbs gave his usual half-smile. "Actually, a McGee is here. Tim's little sister, Sarah." He nodded to the girl with Abby. "Tim isn't."

"I need him." Fornell said, ignoring the girl. She was of no use to him- unless! "Is she a computer geek too?"

"Sarah?" Gibbs's grin grew. "Not quite. She's a writer." He added helpfully.

"I need Tim." Fornell said firmly. "Where is he?"

"Why do you need Agent McGee?" Vance demanded, annoyed that the conversation was being held without him. "You can't requisition my agents and certainly not without my authorization."

Fornell turned to him. "We've been investigating the CEO of a large shipping company, who we suspect has been embezzling from the government. We were close to a break through yesterday and we were supposed to get warrants today to go make the arrests, but my three top computer geeks failed to show up today. One is out sick- has the flu, looks dreadful- but the other two are the best I've got and neither one called in. I need McGee- if we don't get that evidence, that damn embezzler's gonna walk!"

Gibbs' smile faded. "Your best hackers are missing? That's funny- so is mine." He glanced at Tim's desk and then grabbed Fornell's arm. "C'mon, you'd better come with us." He said, heading towards Vance's office. "Let's go, Leon!" He added, making the Director hurry towards them.

They made it upstairs and Vance was just cringing at the thought of what Gibbs' crew might have done while left unattended in his office when they realized that no one was in Vance's office. The whole group was standing before Pamela Cook's desk. His young secretary had her arms crossed and was standing in front of his door. Abby and Sarah were off to the side, passing the Caf-Pow back and forth, while DiNozzo and David tried to stare down his secretary. As Leon knew from long experience, such a feat was damn near impossible.

"If you do not move at once, I will-"

"Ziva." Gibbs interrupted his agent, headslapping the both of them. "You do not threaten civilians." He chastised them. "Ms. Cook?"

"Hello, Agent Gibbs." The petite woman offered him a smile. "As I was just explaining to your Agents, no one goes into the Director's office when he isn't there."

Vance stepped forward, as neither DiNozzo nor David looked placated. "And here I am. Thank you, Ms. Cook. Please hold my calls."

"Of course, sir." Ignoring the eyes burning holes through her skull, Pamela calmly headed back to her desk.

"Inside, all of you." Vance opened his door, gesturing them through.

"Um, what's going on?" Sarah McGee didn't know who to look to in all of this confusion. She followed Abby, who had yet to steer her wrong and was offering pure caffeine for a poor sleep-deprived college student, who took a seat at the conference table in the office.

When everyone had sat down, Gibbs spoke up. "Sarah, you sent your brother an email last night."

"I know." Sarah suddenly realized why Tim wasn't here. "And I'm so sorry! I wasn't thinking- I knew Tim would get a kick out of it, but of course jokes shouldn't be sent to his work email. I didn't mean to do it- he's told me not to before. You didn't fire him, did you?" She turned to glare at the Director. "Jeez, Tim has the worst luck with you Directors!"

Abby, who couldn't exactly disagree with Sarah's statement, took over the explanation. "Sarah, your brother got that email about ten minutes before he called me. He told me he had to disappear for awhile and didn't show up for work. He left me orders to wipe his computers- he thinks he's in danger."

"That's quite a short period of time." Tony went on. "Quite a coincidence that he got an email and disappeared."

"And we as investigators have long since known: there is no such thing as a coincidence." Ziva finished up. "You must know why your brother was so worried by your email."

"What did this email say?" Fornell hated coming to NCIS because, as usual, he had no idea what the hell they were talking about.

Without a word, Gibbs searched his pockets for the printout Abby had given him earlier. Ducky hadn't been able to make much sense of it, other than to tell him the complete story behind Sir Doyle's adventure. He handed it over for Fornell to read.

"What I don't understand," Vance took his turn as the FBI agent read over the email, "are McGee's orders. He didn't want Ms. Sciuto to tell Ms. McGee anything. Why would he do that if his sister sent the email?"

"Tim loves Sir Arthur Conan Doyle." Sarah took a chance and spoke up. "I'm sure he's heard this story before- he might even have told it to me. We were all talking about it last night and I had to laugh. I told them all, my brother wouldn't flee. Tim doesn't have secrets."

Ziva smiled, remembering Gibbs' words from so long ago. "McGee does not lie."

"But," Tony's mind could be lightning fast at times and he was better than most at bending words. "That doesn't mean he doesn't have secrets. He kept his book a secret. Maybe you found out what your brother would do if his secret were found out- if he thought his secret was found out. He'd run too."

"This is bigger than him though." Fornell looked up, frowning. "Two of our best hackers are gone too. As I think about it, Byers liked Sherlock Holmes a lot- quoted it all the time. He probably knew about the quote from Doyle. But I know Munez wouldn't have known it. She is literally on her computer all the time."

Abby perked up, something Tim had said long ago clicking in her mind. "Lexy Munez? I mean, Alexandria Munez?" She asked, eyes wide.

"How did you know that?" He turned suspicious eyes on her.

Abby was too happy to notice however. "Gibbs! Timmy went to school with Lexy Munez. She was his partner in most of their classes." She frowned, huffing. "He talked about her all the time when he first got here. Lexy this and Lexy that and Lexy could do that in her sleep."

"Aw, you know Tim likes you best." Tony couldn't resist throwing his arm around her and hugging her tight. "He always has."

"What about Byers?" Ziva asked, eyes focused on Fornell. "Did he attend MIT as well?"

Fornell shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. We keep our computer geeks out of harm's way. We don't give them guns and send them out to get shot at. But probably- we only take the best, after all." He said smugly.

"Oh yeah?" Gibbs smirked at him. "Then why do we have McGee?"

That earned him a glare, which only increased his smirk.

"Alright." Tony spoke up again. "We have three computer geniuses who probably went to geek-school together and two Doyle buffs. That quote must mean something to them."

"The quote came first." Ziva followed her partner's thinking easily after so many years. "Maybe Tim did not read the rest of the email? He saw the quote and panicked."

"The three of them must have gotten up to something- guilty conscience and all that." Tony said. "It most likely has to do with computers, as he wanted his wiped. But why didn't he come to us for help?"

The room fell silent, having no answer for that.

"Maybe, it was because of the others." Ziva finally offered. "We know the extent he will go to for family and he now knows he is able to trust us in those matters, but, with friends, he would be flying alone, yes?"

"Flying solo." Tony corrected automatically. "I guess so. Maybe it's just cuz they're Feebies." He teased, grinning at Fornell. "He didn't think we'd help their kind. And he's right- if it was just them in trouble, we'd let them rot."

"So now, we just have to find them." Gibbs frowned, unable to even guess where his geek might have disappeared to.

"Um…guys." Sarah McGee pulled out her cell phone, looking around the room in confusion. "Tim's calling me."