Chapter 4 - Day Two

In the early morning hours, a man clearly fatigued and very troubled walked into the hospital. With sad eyes, he quietly asked the receptionist for a patient's room number. Walking determinedly towards the elevators, it wasn't until the doors slid shut that he let his shoulders sag with the weight of his worries. Only by himself did he show weakness. He was a Marine and he was stronger than that - most times. He stepped off the elevator once again fully upright. No dents in his armor were visible other than the fatigue and lines of worry he couldn't hide around his eyes. Ignoring the nurse, he stepped into the hospital room and stared at his beautiful wife, bruises covering her face.

Lanie turned to look at him and whispered, "John."

That was all he needed. Quickly moving to the bed, he sat and hugged her tightly to her chest. When he heard her intake of breath he eased his hold on her. She traced his face with her hands and fell apart. Sobbing into his shoulder, he held her until her shaking stopped.

"Let's get you out of here and go see what the detectives and agents have found so far," John said, helping her to stand.

Lanie nodded and with his help she dressed. They informed the nurse of what they were doing and she delayed them only long enough to get them to sign paperwork saying she was leaving against medical advice.

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Ziva stepped over to Gibbs. "Mr. Ness has been to the hospital. It is too early in the morning for the doctors to make rounds, so the on-duty nurse says that they are releasing Mrs. Ness against medical advice. I think we should be expecting them soon."

Looking in the direction of the bank of elevators, Gibbs tilted his head in their direction. "More like now." Gibbs walked over to the couple and shook John's hand and helped him get Lanie settled in a chair.

"What have you got Agent Gibbs?" John asked.

Quietly, Gibbs went over the evidence with John Ness. Turning to Lanie, he told her, "We're going to find Lael and bring her back to you. I promise you that."

Tony and Ziva shared a look with the New York detectives wondering how Gibbs knew for certain they'd find her in time.

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"Boss, I've mapped the sites where the other girls have been found." McGee ran in with his laptop. The Ness's were in an interrogation room so they'd be close if any news came in.

"We've done that," Munch told him and pointed at the map.

"Yes, but I've calculated the distances between the points. Based on the teddy bear thefts, if he plans on twenty four victims, this is a layout of his potential area. If he follows his pattern and since it's been found that the first seven girls were killed in the location he kept them in, he's somewhere in this five mile radius." McGee showed them all the screen and Gibbs' and Munch's eyes narrowed.

"No way to narrow it down, Probie?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"Of course there is," Abby said from behind them. Moving to the laptop, her fingers flew over the keyboard. "Taking into account the types of places the other girls were found, we eliminate all the places that don't fit. Lucky for us, he's particular and he likes smaller locations that are a little bit away from everything else around it, we now have only fifteen possible locations instead of hundreds." Turning around, she beamed at McGee then gave the addresses out.

Teams were assembled between the NCIS agents and the detectives and extra officers were called in. Munch and Fin, Benson and Ziva, Tony and Tim, Gibbs and Stabler each took 3 locations. Captain Cragen was strapping on a vest and commanding the extra officers. "We'll take the last three locations."

Gibbs stared at the Captain then nodded his agreement. "We keep our communications quiet. We don't want to spook Moore if he's monitoring police radio. All locations that have been cleared will be called back to Abby by phone. Abby will keep me informed of what's going on. Let's go."

The five teams moved out as one and Abby stood watching them leave, worrying for the little girl they were searching for as well as the men and women heading out the building. Narrowing her eyes at the picture of the killer, she muttered, "Watch out. We're coming for you."

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Munch and Fin reached their first location and searched it quickly and quietly. Calling Abby, they reported that it was all clear. She made sure they had checked the crawl space then marked it off, waiting for the next team to call in. Tim was next, telling her their first location, making sure there wasn't any surprises with the floor plans and he and Tony cleared it. Marking it off the list, Abby took a call from Ziva.

"Our first location is clear Abby. Nothing has been here in a while." Ziva told her.

"Ok, gotta go. Got Munch on the other line."

Taking their call, she marked off yet another location. Staring at the map, she was wondering why Cragen or Gibbs hadn't called in, when they both called at the same time. Picking up the calls at the same time, she had a three way discussion marking off their first locations and filling Gibbs in on the ones that had been cleared. She knew he was upset when he said "thanks" before hanging up on her.

Within hours they had only three buildings left to search. Abby had run Tim's calculations three times while waiting and checked her data twice as much. From his pattern and the psych profile provided by Dr. Huang and Ducky, this had to be right. Pacing in front of the board, she jumped when the phone chirped from the desk. Grabbing it quickly, she put it to her ear and listened. "Get DiNozzo and McGee down here now. They've finished searching."

Abby circled the location on the map and asked, "What about Ziva and Olivia? They just cleared their third building."

"Do it Abby."

This time Gibbs hung up without a word. Calling the two teams, she crossed her fingers that they would find Lael Ness in time.