A/N: I hope this story still holds your attention. It won't be long. Two more chapters and we're done. Let me know what you think and have a happy Labor Day holiday. Esperanza will return as soon as I figure out the final battle. Sheila

The Film

Chapter 2

Gibbs jogged through the pouring rain without even pulling up his hood. He hadn't stopped for coffee because there wasn't time and because his hands were shaking too much to hold it. After many years of solitude, he'd finally allowed himself a family, and a monster had just stolen his youngest. Fornell had told him over the phone and his chest seized with rage. For minutes after the call, he stood in his bedroom with the phone in his hand, unable to call anyone.

He was in his car on his way to the FBI building when Fornell called him and told him to meet him at NCIS. Gibbs was grateful for the courtesy. Fornell could've claimed jurisdiction, and he would've had to live out this nightmare in an unfamiliar space.

He shook his wet head in the elevator, and took off his jacket. He took a couple of deep breaths in an effort to try and regain some control. He needed to be a soulless son of a bitch to get through this. The door dinged and he strode toward the bullpen, wincing as he saw the team already standing around in a daze. Going to the FBI building first had killed his advantage. Getting to NCIS late left him no time to compose himself.

The stood there aimlessly as if unfamiliar with chairs; Ducky and Ziva stood next to each other while Tony paced. He spotted Gibbs and went striding toward him. "What's the emergency? It's gotta' be the filmmaker 'cause Fornell is up with the director. He wouldn't tell us a damn thing."

Gibbs looked up the stairs and spotted Fornell and Vance on the railing. "MTAC?"

Vance nodded.

"I need to speak to my team."

Both men nodded and retreated to Vance's office.

Ziva lifted her phone. "McGee isn't responding to calls or texts. I called his landlord to go knock on his door, but he hasn't called me back."

Tony shook his head. "Probie's really having an off week. Don't worry. I'll get him back on track, Boss."

Gibbs sighed. "You're not going to find McGee at his apartment."

Ducky cocked his head, watching Gibbs closely. "Jethro?"

Gibbs worked his mouth before speaking. "Best I can figure is that he did a little volunteer work yesterday after he left here. He was feeling bad about what happened."

"He should. He filed a complaint against you and screwed you out of a month's pay," DiNozzo growled.

"You don't know anything, Tony. So just shut up and listen. Tim had a theory about the filmmaker, and I'm betting he went to check it out."

Ziva shook her head. "You're guessing? What's going on?"

"The filmmaker sent out a new movie with a new victim. Movie's called McGee."

Ziva drew in breath and covered her mouth. Tony froze. "What are you saying, Boss?"

"He found the filmmaker although it's probably more accurate to say the filmmaker found him. I haven't seen it. I'm going up to MTAC now. Tobias says it's bad. You all need to know, but you don't all need to see it. In fact, I'd prefer you didn't… though I could use your help, Duck."

"Of course."

"What did he do to Probie?" Tony whispered.

Gibbs scrubbed the rain off his head. "I'm gonna' go find out. Stay here. Please don't call Abby."

"We're not calling Abby, but we're going up there with you." Ziva's eyes were hard as she stiffly walked past all of them and headed up the stairs. Ducky sighed and followed her.

Gibbs looked at Tony and said softly. "I know how much you loved him."

Tony shook his head slowly. "Not again. It's a bad dream, right?"

Gibbs shook his head and patted Tony's cheek gently before heading for the stairs. Tony rubbed at his eyes, swallowed hard, and went after him.

…..

No one in MTAC spoke after the film was shown. Ziva sat with her knees pulled her to chest, tightly hugging herself. Tony stood off to the side, his shaky fingers stroking his mouth, and Gibbs stood like a statue staring at the screen. Fornell stood up. "There isn't going to be a good time for this, but I've seen it three times and I have notes. We need to analyze what's on this frickin' snuff film. McGee found this bastard and we have to figure out how he did it."

"Did you find a botanist? I told you yesterday that McGee said we needed a botanist."

"I got an egghead from Georgetown on his way down here now. What did you see, Ducky? Was he dead at the end?"

Ducky was polishing his glasses, hands trembling. "I need to study it more closely. I didn't see an extreme change in pallor. He was clearly in agony…it's hard to know more just yet."

"But the filmmaker was more gentle with him than he'd been with his women victims."

"That looked gentle to you, Tobias?"

Fornell met his eyes. "Sorry Jethro, but you know I'm right."

Ducky nodded. "He wasn't as brutal as he was with his female victims. He wasn't acting out of pure rage. He seemed much more concerned about the film than the act of violence this time."

"I noticed that. I also think I overestimated his interest in my daughter."

Gibbs looked up. "He didn't push very hard to get McGee to turn on her."

"He filmed Emily as a distraction for me. He had no real interest in her as a victim."

"I agree," said Ducky. "He's a manipulator."

Ziva stood. "There's a moment…Tim is drifting off, and the filmmaker says that he can't post the movie without a final act. Tim offers him an ending."

Tony nodded. "Probie knew that the film would have clues. He knew it was important to help the bastard finish it so it would be posted."

"It makes me sick that he was forced to participate in this."

Tony worried his lip. "Me too."

"That's good," Gibbs nodded. "Tim was playing his own game. Let's remember that as we look over the images. He was trying to send us information."

"What's the deal with the botany?"

"Before he went home yesterday, he said that we needed a botanist. It was about the moss. He thought that moss would be found at elevations higher than those at Sky Meadows. He said he'd seen moss like that closer to the Alleghanies."

"He thinks that the filmmaker is killing elsewhere and dropping the bodies at Sky Meadows."

Fornell nodded. "It makes sense. We've speculated the same because we've never found his killing grounds at Sky Meadows."

Tony nodded slowly. "Probie would notice the moss."

Gibbs smiled softly. "He said he plays a survival game when he hikes."

"I know all about it. I went hiking with him once and his little library of reference materials. I had to take pictures of the plants he identified. Geekiest thing I've ever done. I told him that was last time I was ever going on a Geek adventure…" His voice caught and he looked away as he whispered, "I'd do it again in a minute."

Fornell's phone rang and he planted it on his ear. Everything stopped as they waited for him to finish. Finally, he turned to them. "They found his car at Sky Meadow."

"That's not where he went yesterday. I can feel it," Gibbs said.

"Yeah, but he drops all his bodies at Sky Meadows."

"They haven't found him?"

"It's 3:30 a.m. and still raining like cats and dogs. They couldn't find a beached whale under these conditions until light comes. When is that rain going to stop?" Fornell grabbed his phone and started telling someone to get him a weather report.

Vance stood. "I'm sorry, Jethro. Makes no sense to have you on this case. You're as dangerous as the filmmaker right now, but I'm not going to wrestle with you about it. This is yours but you gotta' be smart. This is a bad business and I want this son of a bitch as bad as I've ever wanted anyone. The agency's resources belong to you. Balboa and his team will be in your bullpen in 30 minutes. Hell, I'd grab a slicker and walk the forest myself if I thought it would do any good. I want you checking in with me every few hours. Understood?"

"Leon, can we keep a lid on this for the time being? There are certain people…"

"I'll try. I assume we're talking about Ms. Scuito."

Gibbs nodded.

Vance turned to leave, squeezing DiNozzo's shoulder as he passed him on the stairs. At the top, an analyst appeared. "Got a Dr. Goodnature downstairs. Says he studies plants."

"We'll be with him in a moment."

Gibbs turned to the room. "Tony, I need you and Ziva to work with him, and see if we can't pinpoint where this happened. Let's see if McGee was right. I are going to go with Fornell to Sky Meadows."

Tony shook his head. "We should be there too, Boss. If you find McGee…"

Gibbs put up a hand. "Listen to me. We're going to Sky Meadows because this bastard's pattern is to drop his victims there, but understand this, McGee was not kil-attacked there. McGee was right about the filmmaker killing his victims elsewhere, and he was not at Sky Meadows when this happened. I can feel it in my gut. I need you to work with this guy and figure out where Tim went yesterday. That's where we're going to find this animal. He sacrificed everything to give us these clues, and we're not going to waste them."

Ziva nodded. "We'll figure it out, Gibbs."

…..

The rain pounded on the windshield of the SUV as the headlights illuminated men and women in rain gear working the forest with flashlights.

"They'll stomp all over the forensics evidence."

Fornell looked at him. "The rain already killed the forensics."

"What time is it?"

Fornell looked at his dash. "5:15 a.m."

"Should be dawn in an hour. When is the rain going to stop?"

"Supposed to rain all day. Remnants of tropical storm Ernest."

"Damn!" Gibbs slapped the dashboard.

The two men lapsed back into silence. Finally, Tobias picked up the coffee Gibbs refused to drink. "Two days after the Emily video, I had a behavior analyst come to me with a profile. He said the filmmaker was playing a game with me. Said he wasn't treating Emily as a serious target. I didn't believe him. The rage in my gut was too toxic. I wasted valuable time thinking this asshole wanted my kid."

"He got close enough to film her bathing. Pretty damn powerful distraction, if you ask me. I couldn't see it any clearer than you could. He played us all."

"Why am I drinking your coffee? You usually mainline this stuff."

He winced. "I let all of us get too tired. Threw a cup of coffee at McGee yesterday morning when I found him asleep."

"Damn! I thought the kid looked shell shocked when I came in, but I had no idea."

Gibbs sighed. "He didn't even get mad. Apologized to me with coffee dripping off his chin. I couldn't stomach myself so I had to report me to Vance. Had to show him that bad behavior has to have consequences…even when it's the boss. Kid was mortified. I think he would've preferred I threw another hot beverage at him. I can't believe I lost control like that."

"You once told me that McGee's dad was an admiral. You ever met an admiral who wasn't a mean son of a bitch? My guess is McGee has been in boot camp since the day he could walk."

"He never talked about his dad much, but he's always been able to endure whatever I or DiNozzo threw at him, and I know he had to have gotten that kind of courage from personal experience. He looks soft but he's…as tough as they come. God, I just realized I'm going to have to call the admiral."

"This is going to be hard, Jethro."

He shook his head. "You have no idea. We all relied on him, and it had nothing to do with his computer skills. How many people in law enforcement can genuinely be described as sweet? …I just don't have words for this."

Someone banged on Fornell's window and he opened it. The rain ran off the brim the man's rain hat as he talked. "We're finished with this sector. Going to start again 200 meters up the road. You said he always drops within a 100 meters of the road?"

"Yup. How the cadets holding up out there?" Fornell asked as rain pelted his face.

The man gave him a craggy smile. "They ain't in the classroom, and that's all they care about."

Fornell gestured up at the sky. "We aren't going to get much help from the sun today."

"I know. Park service is sending a group in about 30 minutes. That should help."

"Alright now, I'm going to say good-bye now. I'm getting all wet here."

The man laughed. "I knew there was going to be an upside to this assignment."

Fornell closed the window. "This could take the whole day."

"I'm not doing anything here. Ducky and Jimmy can wait here with the bus. I want to find his killing grounds."

"Alright, let's go."

….

The botanist wasn't used to images of violence especially when viewed on a screen the size of the one in MTAC. He threw up three times in the first hour. MTAC personnel watched him nervously as the equipment was delicate, but Tony, despite his frustration, stayed next to him the whole time with a wastebasket gently urging him on.

Finally Dr. Goodnature found his legs, and started working the video. Ziva sat nearby with his laptop, and took notes for him. He took his time, and asked to see the videos of the women as well. For almost four hours he studied video, consulted databases, and took notes. Finally, he got up from where he was crouching in front of the big screen. "I have some thoughts for you."

Ziva and Tony sat down.

The lanky professor sighed. "I don't think these murders happened at Sky Meadows."

Tony nodded. "Say more."

"The audio is really clear. You don't hearing droning in the background."

"I don't understand."

"Sky Meadows is less than forty miles from Reagan National Airport, and lies directly beneath the route they use for runway approach. Whenever I'm at Sky Meadows, I can hear the jets as they drop to a lower altitude. It's not loud, but there's a faint buzzing in the air every 10 to 15 minutes. Bugs the hell out of me. There's an environmental group working on this issue. They're claiming that the noise pollution interrupts the intention of a wilderness area. I've been working with them on a possible lawsuit."

Ziva stared at Tony, mouth open. "Why didn't we know this?"

Tony shook his head sharply. "Because we needed a botanist or someone else who would notice city noises in a state park. Probie knew what we needed."

Goodnature hesitated. "Probie is the man in the first video?"

"Yeah, he's the one who thought the moss wasn't from Sky Meadows."

"About that. There is that kind of moss at Sky Meadows, but it is rare. He's right about it being much more prevalent at higher elevations, and it is pretty endemic in all of the videos you showed, but there is something more. In your…friend's video, the leaves are especially dry and colorful. Fall is approaching. At higher elevations, the leaves turn faster. The evolution of the leaves in the video suggests a park about a week ahead of Sky Meadows' autumnal progression. I think you are looking at a park closer to the Alleghany Mountains."

Ziva nodded to a tech. "Put up the state parks map."

Goodnature turned to them. "There are 5 parks fitting those altitude expectations within a four hour radius of Sky Meadows."

Tony nodded. "What about a two hour radius? Our timelines suggest that he films, kills, and dumps in a four-hour time frame. We're looking for something only two hours away from Sky Meadows."

"That would leave Shenandoah River state park."

Tony nodded. "That's gotta' be it."

Goodnature made a face. "I don't know."

"Why?"

"Shenandoah is about a fourth of the size of Sky Meadows, and it's always crowded. I don't see where he could've tortured and killed anyone without being noticed. Besides, this week was Alleghany Days. Place was overrun with tourists."

"That doesn't help. Are you sure, Dr. Goodnature?" Ziva asked.

He made a face. "Does it have to be a state park?"

"All the women were wearing hiking gear. Where else is there?"

"There's an old state park named Wolf Ridge that was closed down about five years ago. It sits right outside your 2-hour radius. They closed it down because it had some safety issues with steep drops and mudslides, and the DNR was low on funds. Every year, there are questions about what they are going to do with it, but after five years, the trails have become pretty eroded and such."

"So, it's closed. Why would people go there?"

"It has some great hiking. There's a nice ten-mile hike along the side of the mountain that looks out on the valley and it is just breathtaking. It's closed, but I go at least three times every summer. Always park my car at the gate and hike in. Lots of people do it. It's even recommended on at least two of the local hiking websites."

Ziva flashed eyes at Tony. "The filmmaker would have had the privacy to torture as long as he needed."

Tony slapped the man on the back. "Thanks Dr. Goodnature. You've been a tremendous help."

The man nodded as he gathered up his laptop. "I'm sorry about your friend. I think I would've really liked him. He could've joined our botany club. Could've gone hiking with us."

Tony nodded. "Everybody liked McGee."

He waited until the man was gone, and then he reached for Ziva, folding her into a hug as he whispered into her ear. "Gotta' keep reminding myself to breathe.

…..

Gibbs stood in her basement lab and watched the rain splash against the windows. He'd seen her black steel-toed boots run by, and he steeled himself for her entry. He closed his eyes as he heard her stomp the water off her boots as she entered her lab.

"Gibbs!"

He turned as she pulled off a clear plastic rain slicker decorated with black cats. She rushed into the next room and hung it up. "The radio said it's going to rain all day."

He stood silently while she turned on lights and machines. "I'm so glad you did what you did yesterday. I know it was hard and everything but it was the right thing, and I'm going to make you lunches all month because you lost your salary. Today is tuna salad on whole wheat. And you don't have to buy me any Caf-Pows either. More than anything else, I'm glad you made up with McGee. He thinks so much of you. He hates it when you're mad at him."

"Abs."

She stopped to look at him. "I tried calling him a million times last night and this morning. It's weird. You know how seriously he takes rule #3, but he's totally unreachable right now. I have a weird feeling about it in my tummy."

He stared at her, his blue eyes showing the weariness of a thousand years.

She grasped the steel counter with one hand. "The guy downstairs says McGee hasn't been here since yesterday, but you, Tony, Ziva, and Ducky showed up in the middle of the night. The only time Timmy is ever unreachable is when he's doing something for you. Is he doing something for you? Tell me he's doing something for you."

"Listen to me, Abs. It's going to be hard to take it all in, but McGee went out on his own yesterday, and…he found the filmmaker. Things went badly. The bastard posted a video about McGee last night and now we have to find him."

She stared at him for a long moment. Then her knees buckled and he got there before she hit the floor. He pulled her up and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry, Abs. The filmmaker…it was bad. We've got dozens of people searching Sky Meadows for his bod- for him."

"No!" She howled into his neck.

"I'm so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am. I want to tell you to have hope, but I don't think it's realistic. It doesn't look good."

She was rocked with sobs, and he held on to her tightly. "I promise you we're going to find him and take good care of him, and we're going to catch the animal who did this and I'm going to…stop him."

For minutes, she clung to him, and then the sobs turned to hiccups and she pulled away. "You have work. You…have to go out and find him. Please Gibbs, bring him home."

"I need you to be okay, Abby."

Tony and Ziva appeared in the doorway. "Boss, I think we know where he kills."

Gibbs looked at Abby once more and she nodded at him. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "We're going to bring him home. I promise."

She pushed him away. "Go! Just go!"

…

He opened his mouth and welcomed the raindrops that hit his parched tongue. He stayed like this for a few moments as he tried to process his numb, almost dreamlike state. None of the previous pain was present nor did he feel panicked. It was like he was a rather disinterested observer on his own life.

His eyes fluttered open, and he winced as raindrops randomly hit his corneas. It was dark and cloudy, but it wasn't night. He turned his head slowly side to side but didn't see the filmmaker. Then he listened, and all he heard was the patter of rain on leaves. He lifted his head and saw the knife still buried in his gut. Some of the earlier fear started to filter through. He lay back again and his breath quickened as he considered his circumstances.

He swallowed hard and tried to yell, but the only thing that came out was a strange, croaking sound. He tried again but the croaking only progressed to a squealing noise. He stopped. His mouth was dry and his vocal cords swollen from the filmmaker's torture. He lifted his head again to try and survey his surroundings, and something surprising happened. He felt movement in his arms. The rain had soaked the ground, and the knife pinning his arms couldn't hold. He tugged, groaning as his stiff limbs protested, and then all of sudden, his arms pulled free, dislodging the knife and flipping it onto the ground beside his face.

His cuffed hands settled on his torso, and he considered the situation with the knife in his gut. On the one hand, he couldn't move with it stuck in his gut, but pulling it could put him into shock and kill him. It would also reopen the bleed. In his current circumstances, the knife was essentially keeping him from bleeding out.

He closed his eyes and tried to reason it through. Gibbs would know what to do. Nobody was built to survive a situation like this better than he was. Gibbs would make the choice that would give him the best fighting chance. McGee closed his eyes as he came to the realization of what that choice had to be. He was fuzzy and weak, but he had enough cognition left to plan, and planning was something that McGee did better than anyone else.

When he was ready, he swung his cuffed hands above his head again, and started digging in the mud. Then he pulled his hands back onto his torso depositing the mud. He did it over and over until he had a mound of it in front of the knife. The next part of his plan scared him, but he had no choice if he wanted mobility.

Taking a deep breath, he settled his cuffed hands around the hilt of the buried knife. Touching it sent bolts of pain everywhere, and he moaned deeply. Then he closed his eyes, concentrated, and pulled up in one sharp movement.

He had no idea how long he was out, but the rain was still falling, and the pain was like a fire in his gut. He'd lost most of his earlier strength, and it took him minutes to remember the details of his plan. He remembered the mud on his torso, and he began pushing it over his abdomen. The pain was horrible, and he grayed out several times, but finally he was able to smooth his hands over the mud on his wound. He let his hands rest there as a means of holding the mud in place. He knew that sepsis was a certainty, but he would undoubtedly die faster if he left the wound open and bled to death.

He tried to contemplate another move, but the exertion of his actions drained all of his energy. The knife was out of his gut, but he barely had the strength to keep his mouth open to collect the rain. His head rolled to the side, and he watched leaves flinch as raindrops hit them. Rabbits could attack him now, and he could do little to stop them.

There was so sense wondering how Gibbs would handle this situation because Gibbs would never have been in this situation. He would've seen the filmmaker and his knife, and the bastard would be dead now. McGee realized that he was dying because he'd been foolish, and because he had few of the defensive skills the rest of his team had. It felt, in some ways, like his death was inevitable. Maybe it had been since the day he chose to play with the big boys without the same skills they had. Maybe he'd just been cheating death all these years. These were serious thoughts; thoughts he wished he'd fully considered years ago. Now it was too late, and he only hoped that his boss understood that what was happening to him now was his own fault and his fault alone.

…..

TBC

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