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UNDER PRESSURE

Chapter Three

Halfway through the sunset and a pot of coffee later, Carlos took a deep breath and pushed himself up and off of the sofa in the loft of Thunder Investigations. Katheryn watched him as he paced in front of her, sipping the last remnants inside the mug he held before he turned to Kath and sighed. They read each other's expressions well. They were more than just a little concerned for their two best friends now. In fact, they were just about certain that something had happened to them that was far from alright.

Carlos turned away and walked over to the railing, restlessly setting both hands on it and leaning onto the steel bars. Katheryn stood and joined him, setting one hand near his left hand on the railing while she turned and put her arm around him. They had just exchanged smiles, their eyes meeting, before they heard the door open suddenly. It startled them both, a stunned expression falling over both of their faces as they turned abruptly to see Butch in the doorway.

"Oh, I'm sorry for busting in on the two of you like this." He hid a smile, lowered his head to clear his throat nervously, and then continued. "I just thought you two might like to check out the news broadcast downstairs. It's should be on in five. Maybe they have more information that would help you both out."

"Thanks, Butch," Carlos grinned and cast a glance over at Katheryn. "But I was just about to recommend calling the department. I'm sure with the few connections I have we could get some better answers than what the media is offering us."

"That's a great idea," Kath chimed in. She then smiled mischievously, throwing her head back. "Are you going to call your good friend Ryan?"

Carlos scoffed. "No. I said connections, Kath. That usually refers to people you are on at least somewhat friendly terms with. Or at least can speak with in a civilized manner." He gave Kath a glare as she suppressed an oncoming chuckle but then surrendered as she saw his eyes on her.

"Well, I'll see you two later," Butch waved and shut the door behind him.

Silently, Katheryn stared at the closing door and wondered if she would even get any sleep that night. She had hoped this was all a bad dream and Trent and Molly would stride through that door together at any second. But that had not happened. So many scenarios ran through her mind. Most of which indicated that Trent and Molly were still alive and simply couldn't make contact with them. With each thought she would remind herself that they had to be alive. Even so, she could still hear that gut-wrenching news report echo in her mind saying that there had been no survivors.

After Carlos made a quick call to one of his old friends in the department, they both walked out into the night and down the steel-framed steps to their separate vehicles to say their goodbyes. Neither of them wanted to say goodbye. But they both agreed to be on high alert and call the other in the middle of the night if something came up. Meanwhile, they'd be no good to anyone without the rest their bodies were craving. So with that in mind, Carlos placed a brief kiss on Kath's lips, and they both left Uppercuts for their apartments and hopefully a bit of rest.

"Oh, for the love of God!" Ziva David shouted just seconds before she felt a hand on her back causing her to raise herself up and slam her head on the underside of her desk in NCIS headquarters. She crawled backwards on her hands and knees, slowing turning around as she climbed to her feet to see Tony grinning from ear to ear. She stared at him headlong, her eyes piercing his soul and her arms crossed firmly until he extended his arm to hand her a cup of coffee. She chuckled dryly and snagged the coffee, spinning around to take her seat. "I gather you've done something wrong, Agent Dinozzo." Ziva sipped her coffee and set it down to focus her attention on the computer screen as she typed away on her latest report.

Tony scoffed and took his seat at his own desk. "No! Of course not. What makes you say that?"

Ziva shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's that chess hat grin of yours or the way you handed me the coffee. Either way, someone sabotaged this office this morning and I am going to find out who. And just because I'm new around here doesn't mean I'm not in tune with your antics, Tony."

"It's Cheshire cat grin," Tony corrected as he suppressed a snort-filled laugh. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."

Ziva only laughed as she continued to type. "I will find out," she whispered under her breath while Tony creased his eyebrows from the confusion. For once he knew he wasn't to blame. At least he didn't think he was to blame.

"Have any of you seen my cell phone?" McGee inquired inquisitively as he sauntered into their work area, looking under every available stack of papers along the way.

Tony slapped his hand down over his stack of papers as Tim approached and made eye contact with him to convey a broadening grin. "I didn't do it, probie. So move right along."

Ziva laughed again.

"What?" McGee spun around towards her.

"Oh," she chuckled. "He's just feeling guilty."

"About what?" He darted his eyes back to Tony.

"About something I didn't do!" Tony insisted with a raised voice. "What does it take to get some respect around here and not get blamed for everything bad that happens?"

"I don't know," Gibbs quipped quietly as he strode through the middle of the conversation on his way to his desk. "But you'll get to have a long talk with yourself about it on your way to Texas."

"Wait. What?!" Tony blurted out. "Texas?" He laughed heartily, trailing Gibbs from behind to his desk. "I don't do Texas, boss. I don't do rodeos and cow manure and country music."

Ziva tried to ignore Tony's breakdown as she walked alongside him, her arms crossed at her chest. "Gibbs, why exactly are we needed in Texas anyways? Don't they have their own NCIS down there?"

Gibbs made himself comfortable at his desk and handed Ziva a file as she walked over to him. "NCIS in Corpus Christi has requested our help in an ongoing investigation of several sailors with questionable rap sheets. They've recently had a series of crimes taking place in several cities across Texas that seem to point to the same suspect each time. But they haven't been able to track the guy down."

"So they called on the experts?" Tony grinned from behind Ziva, clearly hearing that he was exactly the man for this vitally important job.

Gibbs rolled his eyes to himself. "Something like that. Your flight leaves in two hours. I suggest you get home and pack a bag if you don't want to miss your chance at showing off."

"Right away boss." Tony saluted and scurried away before he had a chance to hear Gibbs' next crucial words.

With a deep squint, Ziva seemed to read his pressed expression. "So who exactly is going with him?"

A sly grin slipped onto Gibbs' face as he looked Ziva square in the eyes and whispered, "You are, Officer David."

Wisps of sunlight danced on the carpet, sounds of a waking downtown Dallas rising in the distance while Katheryn busied herself in her bathroom, putting the finishing touches on her rather simple hairstyle. Considering she wasn't exactly sure what this day would bring, she decided a plain ponytail would suffice and spritzed a small shower of hairspray on top of her head to calm a few wild strands before heading out. She grabbed her cross-body purse on her way out of her bedroom and nearly left had she not suddenly remembered what Carlos had suggested the night before. The idea of it still bothered her some. But she knew it had to be done.

Crossing to her nightstand, Kath reached for the third picture frame in a series of three that made up the cozy little area. One was of herself and her parents from last year before she moved to Dallas. Another was of herself and Carlos, taken just before they went undercover as a married couple among many others in order to make their setup home look more accurate. Walker had been kind enough to let her take one home as a souvenir. Even he detected their undercover roles weren't all that hard to fake. The final photo on her nightstand was of herself, Carlos, Trent, and Molly. Mrs. Malloy had snapped the picture at Tandy's last birthday party and promised them each a copy. Kath smiled as she held the frame in hand, studying each one of their faces. They were laughing and having a good time. If she remembered correctly, one of them had said something that made the rest of them laugh, making the moment Katie captured the scene even more memorable. Realizing how hard she was gripping the photo frame, Katheryn willed away her moment of tearful reverie and took the back cover off of the frame to remove the actual photo. This way, she had a photo of Trent and Molly in hand to show authorities or anyone either of them thought might have seen them in the past twenty-four hours. Katheryn had been around the Rangers and law enforcement long enough to know how these missing persons cases usually faired. None of them seemed to ever turn out with good results after two days had passed. Still, every situation was different. And Trent and Molly were no ordinary people. They were her family. And she knew they had to be alive.

With a deep breath, Katheryn shoved the photo in her cross-body before starting for her door again. And again she was stopped. This time, the telephone rang. She let out a raspy sigh, aggravated that anyone would dare interrupt her pressed schedule but quickly chided herself at the sound of Carlos' voice. "Oh, what's up?" she cleared her throat and listened in closely.

"My old friend from the department just got back with me."

"And? What did he have to say?"

"Well, like I figured he couldn't go into details of course. But he did say the news report was right. Only one train car derailed. The dining car. He also said that four bodies were recovered."

Katheryn felt a sinking feeling in her stomach and tried not to let herself think the worst. "Do they know…?" Her words faltered.

"No," Carlos assured. "Or at least he wasn't able to tell me. They won't know anything until after the autopsies are done and next of kin are informed. You know, I think we should pay a visit to the train station where they left out at. See if we can't find some sort of passenger list."

"Good idea. Although any four passengers from the entire train could have been on the dining car at that time."

"Yeah, I know," Carlos confessed, realizing his idea was a rather long shot. "Still, maybe we'll learn something."

"You're right," Kath replied with renewed confidence in his idea. "Should I meet you at Butch's?"

"No, I'll pick you up at your place."

"Are you sure? I was just about to leave anyway."

"Yeah. It's all good. I mean I'm sitting here right outside your apartment."

Katheryn hurried to the bedroom window, the phone cord becoming taught as she stretched to see Carlos' brand new Durango sitting there just like he said. Her twisted smile faded into a chuckle. "Okay. Well, I'll be right down then."

Special Agent Tony Dinozzo snapped his overhead bin shut, the clicking of the bin chiming in with the seemingly hundreds of other closing bins surrounding him before he gave his ticket another glance over. He had the window seat. He shrugged off the notion as he scooted passed the two other empty seats on the row and settled into his assigned seat. He then wiggled out of his jacket and set it in the empty seat next to him. He would gladly move it if someone else arrived, he concluded, showering the already sunbathed window with his smiles as he watched the plane next to them arrive and begin unloading passengers.

Despite his efforts to tune out the world, the captain had soon made his greeting know and all passengers began to settle down and in their seats for departure. He had just returned to gazing out of his little window when a familiar voice stole his attention.

"I'm sorry, Agent Dinozzo. Did I scare you?"

Tony shook it off with a laugh, scanning Ziva up and down. "No. Not at all. Just enjoying the view." He cleared his throat. "I didn't know you'd be joining me, Officer David."

Ziva chuckled. "Well, if you'd have stayed for three more seconds, Gibbs would have filled you in on that little detail." She eyed Tony's jacket strewn over the two empty seats and then eyed him again. "I do believe our seats are next to each other. Are they not?"

"Yeah. Of course." Tony couldn't wipe that grin of shame off his face as he quickly removed the item and tossed on the floor in front of him, turning up a wink at Ziva. "It's all yours."

"Thank you," Ziva replied evenly and then slipped her luggage into the overhead bin above them, giving it a firm, aggressive push next to Tony's. She then took her seat next to Tony and handed him a file while looking straight ahead. "Our suspects."

Tony took the file daintily. "This isn't a trick is it? Some booby trap revenge about this morning?!"

Ziva stifled a laugh. "So you are guilty." She cleared her throat. "No. No revenge. Gibbs gave me those before I left."

"So, why exactly are you late getting on the plane?" Tony changed subjects, his brow raised and lips pursed into a growing grin as he waited eagerly for Ziva's reply. "I mean, you are known for your punctuality."

"Well, I could ask you the same thing." Tony deadpanned, drawing Ziva's ever-scrutinizing gaze. "Why were you so early? I thought you hated Texas. And what's with all that smiling?"

"I want to make a good impression on those people down there," Tony explained in minute detail. "You see, they could learn a few things from…"

"…from a guy who knows it all."

"Hardly!" Tony defended, his voice raised and drawing others' attention. He cleared his throat, smiled to the strangers nervously, and returned a quiet tone to Ziva. "I just think I can be a good influence."

Ziva couldn't hold in her laugh this time and covered her mouth to minimize the embarrassing sound that forced its way out.

Tony glared. "Go ahead. Laugh. But you'll see."

"Yeah," Ziva took a deep breath. "We shall surely see."