Wow! I am stunned at the response to this story. Thanks so much!

Also, I realized I made a big boo-boo in the first few chapters. I spelled Sam's last name wrong. That was my 'duh' moment for this story. I have fixed all the other chapters I have typed up. Sorry!

_NCIS_NCIS_NCIS

Tuesday- 10:25 am

Kensi sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that morning. Dom looked up from the witness statements he was re-reading for what he felt was the hundredth time.

It was no surprise that everyone was getting frustrated by all the dead ends they were hitting.

"This is so useless," Kensi growled in frustration as she slammed the police report down on her desk. "What good does it do to dust a U-Haul truck for prints? That thing has been rented dozens of times and has literally been from here to Oklahoma! The only hits we got off any of them were from a school teacher in Arizona, a college student with an arrest for public indecency and a guy in Detroit who is currently in jail for domestic abuse."

"I know, the witness statements aren't much better," Dom said. "Three people in black ski masks driving a white van with no tags. That's so helpful," he said sarcastically.

Kensi took a deep breath and stood up to stretch. She glanced over to where Nate was napping on the couch. After being up all night, he finally crashed about forty-five minutes before. Hetty had gone to the hospital to pick Sam up after he called and told her the doctor had released him. Eric was still upstairs reviewing the footage he had from the scene over and over again. He was now in the process of trying to back track the van and the U-Haul to see where they came from before the crash.

She looked at Callen's empty desk then looked at her watch. He had been gone for eighteen hours and fifty minutes. Time was definitely not on their side for this one.

**NCIS**

Tuesday- 11:30 am

Callen cursed when he woke up again. The pain was almost unbearable. His body burned like he was on fire, his ribs ached and his arms hurt terribly. He was sticky with the now drying blood on his body and was lying in a small pool of the same. His face hurt, his right eye nearly swollen shut between the gash he got during his initial attack and the new one he was just given. He thought his head was going to explode from throbbing so hard. At least he was lying on the floor again and not hanging from the chain. His wrist was killing him. It had swollen from being broken and the cuffs were now so tight he couldn't feel his fingers.

His arms were stretched above him, the chain now being used to secure him to a pipe running up the wall. He didn't think it was possible to hurt so badly. He tried to listen, to hear if anyone was in the house. It was hard to hear over the harsh sound of his own breathing and the pounding in his ears, but he didn't hear any movement. Callen tried to stay focused, but his mind wandered. So many thoughts ran through his head. He tried to determine how long he had been missing. He remembered being taken sometime yesterday afternoon. Was it yesterday? He had faded in and out so much he wasn't even sure what day it was. It was completely light out now, late morning maybe? Early afternoon?

He could see the team in his mind, searching, frantic, and determined to find him. They would never give up, he knew them too well.

He tried to ignore how thirsty he was and the rumbling of his stomach.

What else was going to happen to him? Would his team find him in time? He lay in silence consumed by his thoughts.