Abby watched as one of the men gave Todd a cell phone. He punched in a few numbers and ran a hand across his face as he spoke to the person at the other end of the line.
After a few moments he handed the phone back and nodded.
"I hope you have good news for me" the head honcho said as he sauntered over to Abby.
"I have good news" she replied, knowing instinctively that she needed to tell the truth. "No modifications were made. To any of the pathogens."
The man's eyes cut to the table and a smile spread out over his face.
"Then we can proceed" he said. He sought Todd out with his eyes. "Tell her" he said as he walked away, already in the process of placing a call on his cell phone.
"Abby" Todd said, crouching next to her. "They've agreed to let Jenny go to a hospital and get another set of MRIs. I've called in a favour from a colleague. I need you to go with her as soon as she comes round."
"But ... what about you?" she asked. "Aren't you coming with us?"
Todd looked round.
"I can't go with you" he said. "They're thinking of it as ... insurance. And I'm on leave. I can't show up without running the risk of drawing attention to us."
Abby felt fear rise in her throat. She didn't know how to tell him that she knew Gibbs was out there waiting to pounce. That one way or the other she probably wouldn't be coming back.
Todd squeezed her hand – almost as though he could tell what was on her mind.
"Don't worry about me" he said. "You need to look out for Jenny. Stay with her. Do what they tell you. Keep her warm. And above all - don't antagonise them. Please."
He pressed a packet into her hand when she nodded.
"The first set of MRIs, and her medication. You'll be meeting a Doctor Walcomb. You may have to wait once you get there. Until they run the tests, and until he looks at the results and decides whether her medication needs to be upped. Or changed. You should be back in a few hours, but if it runs into something longer than expected you need to make sure she takes her meds. She's due for her next ones in ..." he checked his watch "seven hours."
"I wish you were coming with us" Abby said as she pulled him into a hug and held onto him tightly.
"I do too" he said, his free hand dropping to Jenny's head, "but we have to think of Jenny first."
A slight moan from the ground alerted them that she was coming round.
"Hey sleeping beauty" Todd said as he touched her face as discreetly as he could.
The pain in his voice made tears spring to Abby's eyes.
"You're going for a ride with Abby."
Abby huddled close to him and pulled the oversize envelope to her body as Todd tended to Jen. She was awake but very obviously groggy.
"She'll probably be in and out for a while" Todd explained. "Don't be alarmed if she goes back to sleep in the car. It's perfectly normal. She will probably sleep through most of the testing too."
A third man entered the room.
"Hassim. The driver" Todd explained. "They call him in whenever any one of them needs to go somewhere."
Abby nodded and watched him walk up to the other two and engage them in conversation. She wished she could speak Arabic.
"Yusīr 'ala ̕annahā tajib ̕an tu'khath ̕ila mustashfan" one of the men said to Hassim.
(He is insisting that she needs to be taken to a hospital)
"Hiya al-fursa al-kāmila. Khuthhā wal-fatā wa la ̕ubālī bikaifa taf'aluhā fa'uqtiluhumā" the other one added.
(It is the perfect opportunity. Take both her and the girl. I don't care how you do it. Kill them both. And do not come back here till I send for you.)
"Hal wa huwa?" Hassim asked.
(And him?)
"Utrukhu lī" the second man answered.
(Leave him to me.)
She hovered as Hassim lifted Jenny into his arms, and felt tears threatening again as Todd propelled her gently after him.
"Go" he said.
_______________________________________________
"What've you got?" Gibbs asked as Tony walked away from a group of people huddled round an oil drum.
"Not a lot" Tony replied. "One of them thinks he may have seen the same car drive by a few times. Dark skinned man, possibly middle eastern. Redhaired woman."
"Plate?"
"Partial. Not so sure it wasn't the money talking though. McGee .. you there?"
"Here Tony."
"Put out a BOLO on a dark green Mercury Sable. Last two -"
"Boss" McGee called out suddenly. "Abby's GPS just activated. She's on the move."
"Ziva!" Gibbs called.
"On my way" she called, grabbing a set of keys from the table and running for the door.
"Location McGee ..." Tony called as he broke into a run back towards the apartment.
"Corner of 8th and Q Street NW. Ziva ... you got that?"
His answer was Ziva revving the engine before she shot out of the parking place in a dark van. She paused only long enough so that Tony could throw himself into the front seat.
She tossed him headgear to match her own.
"Step on it" he said as he pulled the balaclava on. "McGee?"
"I see you" their colleague said, following the progress of both vehicles simultaneously. "You're driving parallel to them now. Keep driving on P, past 7th Street. The FBI's got them covered from the rear on Q. They're turning onto Marion Street NW. Now ..."
Ziva swerved into the street, almost hitting a car parked at the end of it.
"It's a one way street Ziva" Tony said, shutting his his eyes tight for a brief second.
But there was no reply because the van, the car, and the car behind it screeched to a halt simultaneously. Agents swarmed the middle vehicle – weapons held high.
The driver made one move towards his weapon and Ziva dispatched him with a single shot.
Tony wrenched open the back door and grabbed Abby.
"Get your hands off me" she screamed, kicking him in the groin with her heavy shoes.
"Abby it's me!" he yelled, pulling off his hood.
"Tony!" she called - just before movement on the other side of Jen caught her eye.
She saw one of the FBI agents train his weapon on her companion through the window.
"Get that off her" she yelled, wrapping her arms around Jen. "Tony tell them to back off. Now!"
"Talk to me, Di Nozzo" Gibbs yelled in his ear.
"We got her boss."
"Good work" he said – and Tony could hear the relief in his voice.
Ziva pulled off her mask and opened the door on the other side.
"Abby we have to go" she said. "We have to go now."
"I'm not leaving her" the Goth replied. "They're waiting for us at the hospital. And get that gun out of her face" she snapped.
"Boss ... we have a problem" Tony said. "There's a third party in the car. She seems to be unconscious - and Abby's refusing to get out."
Gibbs paced in MTAC.
"It isn't a request" he bellowed.
"I"ll tell her" Tony said, swallowing hard.
Abby prodded Tony's shoulder as he reached for Jen a few moments later.
"Be gentle" she said, trying to look round him and see how he was picking her up off the seat. "I said gentle. That's not gentle. That's like ... like hauling a fishing net full of tunafish onto a trawler."
Tony exchanged a concerned look with Ziva.
"And watch her head!" Abby screeched as he just narrowly missed hitting Jen's temple against the door.
"I've got her" Tony said, trying to keep the irritation from his voice.
"You almost dropped her twice."
"I did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Gibbs wouldn't have almost dropped her."
"Get in the van" Tony all but yelled.
"And don't shout. You'll wake her up, and she needs to rest."
Ziva pulled her into the van before Tony could reply.
They had barely closed the doors when the car in the middle was blown to pieces.
"Where did you say you were going again?" she asked as Abby cradled Jen's listless form to her.
_________________________________________________________________________
Tony ignored the looks that people gave him as he entered the building with Jen's limp body in his arms, and followed Abby down to her lab.
"Put her here" Abby said as she swept everything off the table in the back room.
Tony laid his charge down.
"Think we should have Ducky take a look at her?" he asked – knowing that Gibbs was already on his way down.
"Yes. Now get outta here. Not you" she said, grabbing McGee by the arm as was about to tollow Tony out.
"Give me your jacket."
"What? Why?" he asked as she pulled it off him.
He stared in horror as she turned it inside out, scrunched it up, and put it under Jen's head.
"Well I would have asked Gibbs for his but it's your Hugo Boss. It's more comfy, it's fleece-backed, less scratchy. You know mo-"
"You're ... you're giving her a $500 pillow?" McGee sputtered.
"She deserves it" Abby snapped, looking tenderly at Jen as she stroked her hair.
"Abby!"
"Gibbs!"
She flew out of the back room and catapulted herself into his arms.
"Oh Gibbs ..."
She squeezed him tight, and then looked up and took him by the hand.
"Come meet Jenny" she said with an eager smile. "She's sleeping but you ca-"
She looked at him questioningly when she encountered resistance.
"Gibbs?"
"She's a terrorist Abs" he said slowly.
Abby drew herself up to her full height.
"She's on our side" she said, her eyes widening.
"And you know this how? Because she told you?"
"No ..." she said haltingly. "I just know."
"Abby .. these people pulled you from your bed in the dead of night! They held you against your will. They've killed four people."
"She's not a terrorist Gibbs" she said, her voice rising slightly in pitch.
She looked over his shoulder and pulled him into the lab so that they wouldn't wake Jenny. And then she looked back at him.
"I don't have anything for you yet ... but I will. And .."
"Abs ..." Gibbs said - his tone a clear warning.
"I understand you're here to tell me Abby, don't get too attached to this woman because she could be a terrorist and we don't know where the evidence is going to lead us yet."
"Okay then good ... I won't have to tell ya."
"No. You won't" she said defiantly.
"Abs ... she belongs in lock up till she's ready to be interrogated."
"No she doesn't Gibbs" she said, her voice cracking slightly.
When he didn't reply she locked eyes with him.
"I'm going to prove it to you" she said as she took off her necklace.
Gibbs looked on as she pulled a pair of pliers from her desk and took it apart. A few moments later she held up a small memory card to his nose before placing it in a card reader. Images flashed across the plasma.
"McGee and I put cameras as well as a GPS in every one of my babies" she explained over her shoulder. "I have photos of every single person I interacted with in the past few hours."
She pulled up a photo of Jenny and started to run photo identification matches.
"I'm running the image through the FBI terrorist database" she said.
Gibbs watched and waited, knowing that it would be better to let her come to her own conclusions.
"There's nothing here" she said.
"Doesn't mean a damn thing, Abs. She could be using a Bourne alias. If she's as good as I think she is you'll never find her."
"I ran her image through the bureau and I got nada" she insisted, desperately clutching at straws.
"You don't have access to the full database."
They both turned at the sound of the new voice.
"You're holding out on us" Abby said to Fornell. "That is not nice."
"Tobias ..." Gibbs greeted him.
"Jethro ..." the other man said in return.
"I'm going to prove it to you" Abby said.
"We'll see" Gibbs said as indicated to Fornell that they should exit. "Send those images to MTAC now. We'll take it from here. McGee" he called as he left. "She doesn't leave that room. If she tries anything ... shoot her."
McGee's eyes cut to Abby's for a second, but then he nodded at Gibbs.
As soon as he was gone Abby made a move towards the back room.
"And keep Abby away from her!" Gibbs shouted from the corridor.
"I need to check that she's okay" she said as she stood toe to toe with the younger agent.
McGee shook his head.
"I can't let you do that, Abby. You heard Gibbs."
"Someone has to look after her, McGee" she said. Her voice cracked again slightly and McGee looked over his shoulder. "McGee please ..."
He peered through the glass into the back room, and then looked at the door to the lab.
"If Gibbs catches us ..."
"He won't" she said, giving him a quick hug. "Go send him the pictures to MTAC. That way he won't come back down here."
McGee shook his head and pulled out his weapon as he preceded her into the small room.
"What are you doing?" she asked, horrified. "Put that away."
"If she pulls something .."
"What .. out of her underwear?"
She stood by the older woman's side and took her hand in hers. Jenny's eyes fluttered open at the contact. They were unfocused for a long time, and Abby looked at McGee.
"Do those look like the eyes of a terrorist to you?" she asked.
"You're only making this harder on yourself" he said sympathetically as he reholstered his weapon.
"Hi ..." Abby said softly to Jen, still holding on to her hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Where am I?"
"Welcome to NCIS" Abby said proudly.
Jenny struggled against the goth and pushed herself up into sitting position.
"I need to speak to to your boss."
"After Ducky takes a look at you" Abby insisted.
"Who's Ducky?"
"Our medical examiner" McGee supplied.
Jenny looked up at him in feigned shock.
"A medical examiner? I'm not dead yet. I hope."
McGee smiled in spite of himself, and Abby picked up on it immediately.
"You feel it too, don't you?" she threw at him.
"Abby .." he cautioned.
"Feel what?" Jen asked.
"Gibbs thinks you're a terrorist" Abby said before he could stop her.
"Abby, I need to talk to your Boss now" Jenny said.
Abby's face darkened.
"When you're feeling better" she said. "You're not ready to take him on right now."
"Be that as it may" Jen said, swinging her feet slowly over the edge of the table "I need to talk to him before he starts digging."
__________________________________________
Author's Note:
I know I said Gibbs would be meeting Jen in this one – but it was turning out to be too much for one chapter. So they will meet face to face in the next chapter.
Also, thanks to Enthusiastic Fish for helping out with the Arabic.