A/N: im sooooooooooo so so sorry it took so long. i meant to erase this story mainly because i got writers block. i THOUGHT i DID but then when i saw it was still up i was like "holy crap." i was thinking of erasing it this time but then i saw all the reviews. the chapters i have up now are the original ones i was planning to use but it just wasnt good enough for me and i couldnt think of more, so i gave up on it. but now after seeing my mistake i decided i should make it up to all my readers and post up all the chapters i have so far and if u still like it then ill continue working on it. so R&R.
"It's a shame I haven't had the chance to even know your name," the killer said smiling as he held up a lit lighter, ready to throw it onto a gasoline drenched McGee, "but maybe I'll find out later."
McGee laid on his back covered with gasoline, his lips and nose bleeding, and his eyes red, teary and closed shut. As it got more difficult for him to breath, he started to wheeze and gasp for air.
Just as the lighter was about to leave his hand, a brown blur appeared from the kitchen, jumped off McGee and attach to the attacker's face. Before he could react, the cat started to scratch and bite his face and made him throw aside the lighter and onto the couch that slowly caught fire and quickly started to spread.
This gave Ziva some time to pull out her lock pick and start on the handcuff's lock. With her experience she was able to unlock it in a matter of seconds. She quickly got to her feet, picked up her gun from the floor and rushed out the bathroom and into the living room just as the killer threw the cat off his face. But before he can take a breath, Ziva held up her gun to the man and ordered him to freeze.
The man looked at Ziva then a wide grinned formed on his face.
"You'll never catch me" the killer said to Ziva, "if I don't kill him now I will later."
Ziva glared at the man, not daring to lower her gun. The man started to laugh as he slowly inched toward the front door.
"Don't move," Ziva demanded.
The killer ignored her and continued to slowly walk to the front door. Still keeping her gun aimed at him, Ziva noticed the man reaching behind his back as if he had a weapon.
"Keep your hands where I can see them" she ordered.
But again the man ignored her as he kept his hand behind his back and out of view. Then suddenly with a quick snap, the killer threw something at Ziva. Ziva just managed to duck as a knife flew past her head. This gave the killer enough time to run. Ziva raised her gun again and fired but missed as the man dove at the window and crashed through it.
Ziva was about to give chase when she looked over at the fire on the couch, which now spread and engulfed the side table, a lamp and other items on it. She knew if she did not get McGee out before the fire reached the gasoline soaked carpet, she and McGee would be burned alive.
She ran over to McGee, who was still on the ground gasping for air and blinded and tried to help him up.
"Come on McGee we have to get out of here," she said to him worryingly.
Even though the strong odor of the gasoline made her dizzy, she was determined to get McGee out. When McGee got to his feet, Ziva got under his arm but right way she felt his weight fall on him. She knew he had to have little energy after being kicked and peppered sprayed. Slowly the two agents made their way to the front door. Halfway there though, the lamp behind them fell and rapidly set the gas soaked area of the carpet on fire. McGee and Ziva were in the area where the gas hasn't reached but they could feel the intense heat on there bodies.
Once outside the two agents collapsed onto the grass and lay next to each other. Ziva was suddenly feeling exhausted. Even though the strong smell of the gasoline on McGee burned her nose, she was too tired to move away. She looked up at the street to see the white van and a police car behind it. The door of the police car was wide open, which told her that the officer was chasing their attacker.
But she knew that even though she is safe, McGee wasn't entirely out of the clear. She could feel that his breathing was really shallow. Lying on her stomach, she turned her head to McGee who was on his back. His eyes and nose were really red and his face was drenched in sweat. His nose had some dry blood on it but his lips were still bleeding. She crawled her way to him and held his hand in hers.
"Don't worry McGee, you're going to be ok. We're safe," she said softly to him as she heard the sirens of paramedics arriving.
But she paid no attention to them as she held McGee's hand and closed her eyes. She felt a tear fall down her face. Even though she knew they were safe, she still felt uncertain and was scared for McGee. She didn't know why but she never wanted to let go of his hand. Even when paramedics got to them and tried to get them both on stretchers, she didn't want to let go. Finally when the paramedics managed to get their hands free, she laid back on the stretcher and instantly fell asleep.
xxx
The first thing he noticed before opening his eyes was the strong smell of alcohol. He knew right away he must be in a hospital. Slowly McGee opened his eyes and allowed the white lights to flow in. he didn't remember much about how he got here. The last thing he remembered seeing was the pepper spray hitting his face. After that he remembered not being able to breath, his face stinging and having gasoline poured on him. Everything else was only the sound of him trying to breath. But he could swear that someone was holding his hand.
McGee sniffed the air and smelled the usual smell of a hospital. He was glad to be able to use his nose again. He was even happier to be able to see again. He checked his surroundings to see he was by himself in the room and lying on the bed. He also noticed that his clothes had been replaced with hospital gowns. He brought is hands up to his face and felt some stitches on his lips and quickly pulled away as a sharp pain shot through them.
As he continued to touch them, he just then noticed that someone has entered the room.
"How you feeling," Ziva asked him walking up to his bed.
"My lips hurt but I'm glad I can see again," McGee told her as he sat up in the bed.
Ziva smiled as he watched him continue to examine his stitches. She still felt a little embarrassed for her actions when they got out of the house and when paramedics arrived. She didn't know why she did it but she was somewhat happy she did.
"How long was I out," McGee asked.
It felt a little weird talking with the stitches on but McGee was sure he'd get use to it soon. But he knew it would before he stop touching it or feeling it with his upper lip.
"Not long," Ziva informed him, "maybe half hour to an hour."
"What happened? Last thing I remember was seeing this guy hiding in the bathroom you were in then I got pepper sprayed."
"You were lucky. We just managed to get out in time."
"He was gonna set me on fire wasn't he?"
Right away McGee wished he hadn't asked that because now images of the burnt remains of the Sergeant ran through his head then an image of himself being on fire made him close his eyes and gulp. As he tried to get rid of the images in his mind, he didn't notice Ziva had her eyes closed as well. She was trying to push the image of seeing McGee kicked and having gasoline poured on him. Again she could feel a tear forming in her eyes. She quickly wiped it away and looked back at McGee who was now staring straight ahead.
"At least you stayed in the pan," Ziva said.
"What," McGee asked confused.
"You know, stayed in the pan. Out of the frying pan and into the fire?"
"Uh ok."
Ziva was spared more embarrassment by the arrival of Tony and Gibbs. Just as they stepped into the room, Abby squeezed between them and ran over to McGee and gave him in a crushing hug.
"You're ok," she said to him happily as she examined the stitches on his lip, "I was so worried when I heard you were in the ER. What happened?"
"Just had a run in with a crazy guy," McGee told her, "speaking of which, did they catch him? Abby, I can't breathe."
"Sorry," Abby apologized as she released him and held his hand.
"No, he gave them the slip," Tony answered.
"But we did manage to get some good evidence from his van," Abby stated, "We'll probably be able to link him to other unsolved murders including our Sergeants."
"That's good, now all we got to do is catch him," McGee said.
"Easier said than done," Tony replied.
"What do you mean," McGee asked him.
"John Forest has been wanted for five years by the F.B.I.," Gibbs finally spoke up, "He's been in and out of prisons and mental institutions. He's very dangerous and probably killed more people than what's been reported."
"But we're not the F.B.I," Tony interjected, "we'll catch him and lock him up for good."
"How are we going to be able to link him to other murders," Ziva asked.
"We found his diary in his van," Tony told her as he handed her a notebook that he carried into the room.
Ziva looked at the cover of the notebook and saw a "13" written in black ink on it.
"Look at the entries of the last two dates, their creepy," Abby told her, "then again the whole notebook must be creepy even though we didn't get a chance to read the whole thing. Maybe more than creepy. It's like dark maybe disturbing."
Ziva scooted her chair next to McGee's bed so he could read it too, opened the notebook to the final pages and started to read…
TBC in the next chapter…