Chapter 3

11:00 Hours:

"Here they come, Angel." Cordelia warned. She watched as Gibbs and his agents closed the distance between them.

Angel looked up. He was standing against the side of his car, waiting patiently. He could see the look of distain on Gibbs face. He couldn't blame him for not trusting him. If he were in Gibbs shoes, he probably wouldn't trust him either.

Wesley moved slightly closer to the opposite side of the car, hiding the weapons that were always there. Angel never removed them unless they were in need of cleaning. He was always prepared for anything. Cordelia watched from the front seat. Special Agent Gibbs was good, she knew. She had done the background check on him and his coworkers. He was an ex-marine sniper. He was skilled and talented at hunting down a potential enemy. He was farsighted, but that didn't stop him from noticing just about everything happening around him. She wasn't sure how long Angel would be able to keep all the facts a secret. She thought it would only be a matter of time before Agent Gibbs found out the truth.

"So, where is it that our suspect is hiding out?" Gibbs asked as soon as he was within earshot.

"He's not there. That's not where we're going." Angel said simply.

"You know something that I don't?" Gibbs asked furiously.

"I told you already. He won't stop, Agent Gibbs. He is going to find another victim tonight. And every night after that until he is caught."

"Really?" Gibbs said, raising an eyebrow. He didn't think that Angel was lying to him, he just wondered how he seemed to know that.

Cordelia and Wesley were worried about this whole thing. They would more then likely find the vampire responsible for the Navy Lt.'s death, but it was how they were going to deal with it when they found him that was the problem. These people were obviously closed minded. They wouldn't understand the truth even if they tried to explain it to them.

"Angel, we're wasting time. We really should be going." Wesley said from the back seat.

Angel stared at Gibbs, demanding his attention without using words, "You can believe me or not. I don't care what you think or what you do. We're going out to look for him. I did a little recon a few hours ago and I think I know where he'll hit next."

Angel hopped over the side of his car and landed perfectly in the driver seat. He turned the ignition and the car hummed to life. Angel drove off, leaving the Navy Yard and Gibbs behind.

"Boss, Abby and I have been monitoring the video feed. We never saw him leave the building since his arrival."

Gibbs nodded his head, showing he understood. That was going to be his next question. He was glad McGee was learning to anticipate Gibbs thoughts. Tony and Ziva watched Gibbs. They knew he was suspicious of the other team, and wondered how bad things were going to get before he exploded. McGee and Ziva climbed in the back of the blue sedan and Tony sat in the front passenger seat next to Gibbs.

"We going to follow them, Boss?"

"What do you think, DiNozzo? I wanna know how he knows so much about our killer."

At that, Gibbs pulled off, the tires squealing on the pavement. He caught a glimpse of Angel's tail lights and pursued them. Angel led them to a quiet suburban housing development six miles from the Quantico Naval Base. He pulled up along the sidewalk and parked his massive black convertible. He hopped out of the car, his friends following suit.

He was already armed and made sure that he stayed far enough ahead of the NCIS agents for the other two to arm themselves as well. Gibbs and his team exited the car and followed after the others. Tony sidled up next to his boss and leaned in to him.

"Boss, notice anything missing?"

"Yeah, his bodyguard and the bookworm."

"Just checking, Boss."

"So where are they, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, looking at him.

"Don't know, Boss."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. Tony cringed knowing that he would probably pay for that later. They started to approach the opposite team, but then stopped. Angel, Wesley, and Cordelia started to split up. They weren't staying together. Angel was barking out orders.

"Wesley." Angel said, and pointed to his right.

"Cordy." He pointed wordlessly to his left.

Cordelia and Wesley moved in those directions without questioning it. Angel walked with purpose toward an old warehouse down the street. It sat off the opposite street, two blocks down the road.

"Ziva, McGee. Follow them."

With a nod, they ran off. Tony remained with Gibbs, following closely behind him, his sig in hand, ready to fire. He would cover Gibbs if things got out of hand.

Gibbs and Tony caught up to Angel.

"Mind telling me what you're doing?"

"He's in there." Angel said, pointing to the warehouse.

"And you know this…how?" Tony asked.

"I just do. Does it matter?"

"Yeah, it kinda does." Tony said, his voice raising a bit.

Angel and Gibbs both looked over their shoulders at him and each gave him an intimidating stare.

"Sorry, Boss." He whispered.

They crept closer. When they were next to the building, they paused. Wesley and Cordelia, followed closely by McGee and Ziva, came to give their report.

"Angel. He's not alone." Wesley informed.

"Damnit. How many?" Angel asked. That was merely for Gibbs benefit. He already knew how many vampires were holed up within. He could smell them. They weren't the only things he smelled. He could smell the fresh scent of human blood. He could tell the woman inside was already dead.

"At least four that we can see. What's the plan, Angel?" Cordelia asked.

"You and Wes take the front. I'm going up."

"Four?" Gibbs asked, "I thought we were only dealing with one killer."

"She's right, Gibbs. There are five total. I am assuming that one of them is our suspect."

Gibbs turned to give out instructions when he noticed that Angel had completely disappeared and the other two were headed for the door. Before he could stop them, Cordelia and Wesley entered, quite nosily at that. They slammed the door to the warehouse open. Afraid that the two youngsters might get shot, Gibbs followed. Upon entering, he saw five men. When four of them moved to look at their uninvited guests, he could see a blonde woman hanging limply in the fifth's arms.

Moments later, he saw Ziva and McGee enter on either side and gave them a signal to hold their position. Tony covered his six, making sure that no one would come in behind them.

Gibbs had only expected one killer, not four. He took a look at the men that were now facing them. The first thing he noticed was they were weaponless. They didn't look exceptionally strong accept the one, and their faces were disfigured. They were pale and seemed extremely angry for being interrupted. He was astonished to see Cordelia and Wesley walking right for them without any kind of weapon of their own.

"Are we interrupting?" Cordelia said sarcastically.

Gibbs barely had anytime to react. He started to draw his sig when the young girl grabbed a rusted pipe off the floor of the warehouse and swung it at the man attacking her. It hit him in the face. Gibbs was too stunned to fire his weapon and so he just watched. He had originally thought she was nothing but a valley girl, but he had been wrong. She wasn't particularly talented in combat, but she got the job done.

Cordelia beat the man over the head with the pipe, dropping him to the ground. Annoyed, it kicked its leg out, knocking her down. She landed on her back. As the man rolled on top of her, she brought her knee up and suddenly the man was howling. She punched it in the throat and it dove off of her. She stood, brushing her clothes off.

Gibbs heard a gunshot and turned to see one of the bodies on the floor. McGee had taken one of them down. Gibbs smiled, proud of his junior agent. He watched as Ziva threw her knife that she always hid in the small of her back at one of them, hitting it in the chest. That probably severed his spine. Two down, Three to go.

Wesley didn't intend to let them get away. He lured the one chasing him and the one that Cordelia had dealt with into a dark corner behind a large stack of palates. He staked the injured one immediately, and was thrown aside by the second. Cordelia came to help, only to be kicked in the stomach so hard it sent her flying backward over the stack of palates.

Gibbs watched as the young girl came sailing at him from over twenty feet away. She crash landed in another stack of palates. He went to her side, Tony right beside him. They helped her up only to find that she barely had a scratch on her. The only thing she complained about was the bruise on her temple.

The man standing in the center of the commotion began laughing. McGee and Ziva came to join Gibbs and Tony.

"Are you ok?" Gibbs asked the brunette.

"Fine."

"Good. Tony, you make your way around to the other side. We take him down here."

"That's not going to be necessary." She said calmly. She placed her hands on her hips.

Tony looked at her and then at Gibbs, "Go." He ordered and Tony obeyed.

"NCIS, you're under arrest!" Gibbs yelled at the man.

Suddenly, they all heard a crash and watched in amazement as Angel came crashing down from the roof, landing easily on his booted feet.

Gibbs and his team didn't know what to say or even think. What Angel had just done wasn't humanly possible. Gibbs wondered what kind of training he had to have gone through to be able to achieve that kind of stunt. Angel didn't look hurt or even concerned about what he had just done. He stood quite still, and glared at the man before him. The man dropped the woman he had been holding on to and started to circle Angel. Angel didn't move, he just followed the man with his eyes.

Gibbs repeated, "NCIS, put your hands up and turn around!"

"NCIS huh? You really have sunk so low, Angel. Can't catch me on your own, so you recruited the help of the Navy Police? Pathetic." He said, mocking Angel.

"It's over, Shane."

Tony looked at his boss, knowing that he had heard him too. Angel had known the name of the suspect they were searching for. No doubt that when they returned to the Navy Yard, Angel would get an earful of Gibbs. They just waited and listened.

"Over? It's not over till I grow tired of watching you struggle for control."

Gibbs didn't understand. He had no idea what was going on. He kept his sig up and pointed at the suspect, "I said freeze, dirt bag! Don't make me have to shoot you!"

"Ha! Shoot me, then. I could care less. Nothing you can do to me will ever make it stop. Isn't that right, Angel? It's a vicious, vicious cycle. I'm not the only one and there will always be more. It's a game. It's the only way to live. Every kill deserves another. You would know all about that, wouldn't you, Angel? I don't need to explain to you what it feels like."

"It ends here, Shane. I will stop you this time." Angel said, turning to face him.

"It will never stop, Angel. I will never stop. I had a feeling I would be seeing you tonight, so I brought you a little present."

Shane turned and bolted so fast, Gibbs almost missed it. Shane made it to the large crate a few feet behind him and hooked a cable to it. He climbed into a large machine and pressed one of the buttons, causing the crate to rise in the air. Once it was more than a dozen feet off the ground, he stopped it with a quick jerk. The front of the crate suddenly fell from the side of it, revealing a young teenage girl inside.

Angel furrowed his brow. The girl was sitting on her knees inside the crate, her hands and feet tied. If only that had been all it was. She was crying. She was trying so very hard not to move. There was a trip wire that was attached to her. He followed the wire and discovered two crossbows on the opposite wall. If she moved, she would trigger the crossbows and she would die. Angel was surprised that lifting her with that machine hadn't activated the trap already.

"Up to you, hero. Which is more important. Catching me…or saving the girl?"

That said, Shane jump from the machine and bolted for the door. He was out of it and gone before Tony and Ziva made it to the door. They split up and looked around, trying to track him in the dark. McGee started trying to figure out how to get her down, when Angel made the first move. He climbed up on the machine and shimmed up the arm of the crane. The girl screamed. Since her mouth was gagged, all you could hear was a muffled moan.

"Angel! Get down, you'll get her killed!" Gibbs yelled.

Tony and Ziva ran inside, "Sorry, Boss. We lost him. Bastard's fast."

"It's not your fault. We'll get him. Right now we gotta get her down. Ziva, see if she is still alive." Gibbs pointed to the woman laying motionless on the floor.

Angel swung his legs up and just as he landed in the crate, the wire was tripped.

"NO!" Gibbs yelled.

Much to their surprise, the young girl was saved. The crossbow fired both arrows and would have killed the girl if Angel hadn't stepped in the way. The arrows entered his body, one in his right shoulder and one very close to his spine. What surprised them more, was that he was able to untie her, lift her and get her to the ground safely. He looked like he was in pain, but ignored it till they both reached the ground.

Gibbs gave Tony a look. Immediately Tony was on his cell calling for a medic and Dr. Mallard.

"That was amazing…very Indiana Jones." Tony said to Angel.

"Yeah…thanks."

Wesley and Cordelia came to his side, "Well done, Angel."

"Thanks, Wes."

Cordelia pulled a few rags out of her bag. She waited while Wesley snapped off the blade end, and then pushed the arrow shaft the rest of the way through Angels body. Angel cried out in pain and then told him to do the other one. When each arrow was removed, Cordelia covered each wound with the rags and applied pressure. The two of them helped Angel to stand and were about to walk out the door to the car when Gibbs stopped them.

"Where do you think you're going? The medic will be here shortly." Gibbs put a hand on his chest, forcing him to sit again.

"I'm going back. We'll have to try again tomorrow."

The three of them stood once more. Again Gibbs blocked their way.

"Sit. You're seriously injured and I want them to have a look at you."

"No. Wesley and Gunn take care of my injuries. They always have and always will. Now move." Angel informed and then harshly ordered.

Gibbs and he stared at each other for several moments. Both of them angry, but for very different reasons. Gibbs pissed that Angel didn't follow his lead and that there was more to this case that didn't fit. Angel pissed cause he lost Shane again.

Tony, Ziva and McGee watched as Gibbs mulled the situation over in his head. They were surprised when he seemed to cave and let Angel go.

"Have it your way, Angel. But when I get back, I want answers."

Angel didn't say anything. He left with Wesley and Cordelia supporting his weight.

Gibbs watched from the door as they got in Angels car and drove away, Wesley in the driver's seat. Tomorrow, he would get answers. Angel was hiding something and he knew it. He turned around just in time to see Ducky and Palmer enter. He pulled out his pencil and pad, preparing to do his job.