I meant to update this sooner but I had a case of writer's block! Hope you enjoy the chapter, and please review!

She had him punished in front of another slave. The other man was older, with sandy hair, and looked absolutely terrified. She was using a trick that he had seen with so many others, including himself. He knelt in front of her, and She asked him to stand up. He did so and just as he straightened his legs, She punched him so hard he went down again. As he looked up at Her, She asked him to stand again. He did so, and was knocked down with another punch. He knew what would happen next. She'd continue to make him stand, and punch him every single time. The lesson was to obey, no matter what She asked, even knowing you'd get a painful reminder of that fact. The other slave finally couldn't take it in silence anymore. He started to scream at Her to stop. She merely threatened him with a gag, which made the slave shut up. She turned back to him, and once more asked him to stand. He sighed, then struggled to stand, and braced for another punch, which didn't come. She released him from punishment, and took the other slave away. He went back to his duties, and it was only then he realized that the other slave wasn't even wearing a collar...

Gibbs walked down to where his team were standing, all ready to share with him what they had found so far. Bishop clicked the remote to show Lance Corporal Randall's photo, and started things off by saying, "LCp Randall is 37 year old, clean record, served time in Afghanistan, and was currently on leave. He had no problems with his unit, and was well liked." McGee added, "Phone records don't show anything unusual at the moment. We have a BOLO out for his car, a grey Honda Accord, as it hasn't been found yet." Tony chimed in with, "Doesn't seem to have a family; his dad died when he was a kid of a heart attack and his mother of cancer a few years ago. No other siblings that I can find." Gibbs looked at them, "So in other words, no connections with Phoenix." Ellie shook her head, "There must be a connection somewhere that we're missing that isn't in his military jacket. If she just grabbed him off the street, don't you think he'd be bungled off somewhere?" Tony finished the thought, "And not whipped in the Park and left for dead? Yeah, there's something that's fishy about this. Gibbs?"

Gibbs sat down heavily. He paused, then said, "I agree. Meeting in Abby's lab in 5." He then stood and made his way to the elevator, leaving everyone standing there in confusion.

A few minutes later, the team was gathered in the lab. Abby was surprised that everyone was there especially as she hadn't finished running her tests yet. Tim, being the first one there, had filled her in quickly on the current happenings. Gibbs finally walked in, and his team looked at him expectantly. He looked at each person in turn, then explained, "I didn't want someone overhearing what I have to say. Only you guys know something of what I went through." He looked at Ellie and Tony, "You're right, she wouldn't have killed him if she wanted him for herself. When I was captured...I was….sold...to her. I also saw others being bought and sold. It's not pretty...but in general each man…or slave...is well treated at the auction block. You're in chains, yes, but they try not to damage you, because that brings down your price." He watched his team mates trying not to wince at his words, and continued, "Randall obviously wasn't meant to be sold. She had a reason for doing what she did. Up to us to figure out why." Abby walked over to Gibbs and gave him a big hug. "That was probably hard to share, but thank you." Gibbs gave her a pat, then was all business again, "You got Randall's address? Then…." *BEEP* He was interrupted by McGee's phone. Tim looked at it, then up at his boss, "Got something from that BOLO. Car matching the description of Randall's car was found." Gibbs nodded, "Fine, you and I will check that out. Bishop and Dinozzo, Randall's apartment." A "sure Boss" was heard as the team scattered to their respective duties. Abby turned back to her pending report and started talking to the machine to hurry it along.

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Tony and Ellie were at LCp Randall's apartment, having gotten the landlord to open it up for them. "Thanks," said Bishop to the worried looking landlord, who nodded and hurried off. The two walked in and looked about. It was a mess. Tables and chairs were overturned, and there was broken glass in a corner. "Looks like there was a fight." Tony surmised. "Think they grabbed him here, or were they just looking for something?" He went into the bedroom while she went into the kitchen. Both were surprisingly tidy. Both agents circled back around to the overthrown living room. After rummaging around and collecting evidence, they stopped to ponder the situation. Tony cocked his head and said, "Looks like he was captured here. The lock on the door is fine, so he must have opened the door and gotten surprised." Ellie agreed, "There is a bit of blood over here but not enough for the chest wound. He did have a split lip though, so it's probably from that. Otherwise, I would say from looking at the body, he was taken down and fast with not much chance of retaliation." Tony had been fishing around the broken glass and taken some samples. "Found a hair here...I don't think it's Randall's...it's too long. Well, we'll see what Abby makes of this."

Ellie checked the fridge, and noticed that things didn't look very fresh in there. "I wonder how long he's been missing? I realize that he was on leave for a few months, but it does seem strange that no one's reported him missing. Didn't he have any friends?" Tony facepalmed himself, "That's what's been missing! Did you notice that there aren't any pictures around anywhere except for that one with his parents? I hate that feeling that I'm missing something, but it's right in front of my face! You're right, there's nothing around. Wait...I think I saw a photo album in the bedroom. Let me grab that."

Later, Abby and Ellie poured through the photo album while they waited on the results of the hair. They were mostly pictures of Randall as a child with his parents, although there a few of him with his division and on some of his vessels. As Abby was identifying the people in the photos, Ellie started to put the album on the desk. It slipped, and landed on the floor with a THUD! "Oops, sorry about that, Abby!" she exclaimed and hurriedly stooped to pick it up. She paused, with the book open on the floor in front of her. The back of the album had an extra compartment that they had missed, and there was a corner of a photo peeking out. She pointed this out to Abby, and they carefully pulled the picture out. There was a smiling Randall as a very young child, next to another boy, who looked a bit younger than him. "I wonder who this is? Doesn't this child look a bit like Randall?" Ellie queried. Abby peered at the children, and agreed, "Yeah he does, actually. But wasn't Randall an only child? So it could have been a childhood friend. Wait, let me check something out." She turned to her computer and punched a lot of buttons. Presently she found what she was looking for. "See, look!" Ellie gasped at what she saw, thanked Abby, and ran to tell Gibbs and the rest of the team.

Gibbs had just sat down and sipped at his coffee when Bishop came running in. He looked at her expectantly as she caught her breath. "You'll never guess what Abby and I uncovered!" She now had everyone's full attention. "Remember that photo album that Tony found? There was an extra picture of it...here, I'll show you." She clicked the remote which brought up the picture on screen for the team to see. "This child is Riley Randall...and *this* child...is his brother. Randall was adopted."

Da da dum! Not where I was thinking I was heading but the story wanted to write itself this way!