CHAPTER IV

Apparently Ziva was skilled at diplomatic negotiations because within a few minutes they were in a military truck, racing to the Harbor where one of the Spanish coast guard ships was standing by for them. El Capitan Juarez de Marco had been briefed by the Commandante and had already instructed his men to start sweeping the Mediterranean Sea for a possible match to the forty-two foot yacht, La Manana. Taking into account the size, rigging and sea conditions the men of the coast guard cutter were able to estimate the yacht's approximate course and location as it made a beeline due east towards the point of Tunisia and beyond to Libyan waters.

Gibbs had his face set in a mask of stern concentration as the coast guard cutter cut loose with the third blast of its air horn, warning all water traffic to heave to and let them pass as they made their way quickly out of the protection of Barcelona's main harbor. Once out on the open water, Gibbs took up a post on the bow, hands clutching the railing as his eyes scanned the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea. It had been over twenty hours since he'd had any sleep, and only four hours prior to that, having just caught a few hours after Sam left him early yesterday morning. The information that she'd disappeared and the rush to catch up with her abductors had taken he and his crew half way around the world, but he couldn't give in to the jetlag or the fatigue. Not until they caught up with Colson's yacht and got Sam and Parker back before that Irish militant bastard had a chance to make it into Libyan waters and safety.

It certainly wasn't going to mean safety to Dr. Samantha Ryan or her son, Parker. They were nothing more than pawns in an international terrorist's game plan. Liam Colson would seek his personal revenge while regaining some crucial credibility with the Libyan rebels he had hooked up with. Having his own wife turn on him and expose his terrorist network had damaged his standing with the international terrorist groups and he desperately needed to gain that respect back or he might as well just go back to prison. He needed their support, especially now that he'd burned any chance of operating out of his home base in Northern Ireland. It was a sacrifice, but one worth taking in order to get back at his bitch of an ex-wife who always thought she was smarter than everyone. Well he'd shown her who was smarter. The look on her face when she came in last night, to see him standing there with an arm around their son. Shock, disbelief, fear and confusion because she just couldn't figure out how he had managed to get out of prison and find her.

He had been looking forward to that moment for seven long years and the more she tried to hide her fear behind a mask of superiority, the more he wanted to beat her into submission. He'd thrust Parker at his associate, a long time loyal soldier in their war. Then he stepped up to her, ripping her briefcase from her hands in case she had taken to carrying a weapon. She'd cringed then, knowing what was coming and he hadn't disappointed her. Seven years of anger came to the surface as he backhanded her across the face, sending her reeling against the hall table. A few more well place strikes across her face and she no longer looked superior as she cringed on the floor beside the overturned table. It had hurt him momentarily when he turned back to his son and saw the tears and the hatred in his eyes.

The son he'd named Patrick, after his own father. The son who had been stolen from him at such a young age and now didn't even know him. The son who's whole identity had been changed; what kind of a name was Parker? What other crap had she put into his head? Filling him with lies about his father and making him afraid to even look him in the eye. He had hoped to bring his son back into the fold, mold him into one of his own freedom fighters, but after only a short time with him, Colson knew this would never happen. Jamie... or Samantha as she called herself now, had poisoned his young mind against everything Colson stood for. His son was dead to him, just like his mother was... and soon they would both be dead for good at the hands of his Libyan associates.

He looks down at the pair, lying trussed up like a couple of parcels, hands, feet and mouths taped up to keep them from causing any trouble. He had enjoyed putting his wife in her place and now, looking at her bruised and swollen eye, he felt intense satisfaction. He just wished he had more time to indulge in the one activity he's dreamed about for the past seven years... torturing this bitch until she begged him to end her life. As soon as they made it to the safety of Ghudamas, the remote desert city and training camp near the Algerian border, he could take his time and indulge in that desire.

An evil sneer curls his lip up and Samantha dares to glance quickly up at him through her lashes. She knew that look and was filled with dread at what she knows is going through is mind. The past twenty-four hours have been a nightmare come true for her; knowing how evil her ex-husband can be. She had been stunned to see him there last night, standing in her front hallway with his arm around their son like the past seven years had never passed. Then when he approached her, she saw the rage glinting in his eyes just before he struck her; and she'd known this was not going to end well. She said a quick prayer that perhaps he would take his rage out on her and leave their son alone, but that had been a futile thought with Liam's first words to her, "Hello Dear... what have you done to my son?! You bitch! You turned him against me!"

After his initial rage had been vented on her, Sam's main concern had been for Parker. He had been crying and struck out in anger at the man who had inflicted pain on her. Without a moment's hesitation, Liam had backhanded his own son, sending Parker crumbling to the floor beside her. Fighting through her own pain, she had quickly pulled him to her, putting her body between Parker and the vengeful father standing over them. Liam had glared down at them, obviously intent on inflicting more punishment, but a softly spoken warning from Donel Riley, his trusted second in command had stopped him. He had looked back to his friend and nodded, then turned back to give Sam one last vicious kick to her abdomen, just to let her know what was to come. Liam and Donel had quickly bound and gagged them before making their exit from her house... the home she had foolishly begun to think would be a permanent home for them.

Quickly diverting her gaze from Colson, Samantha was careful not to incite his anger and initiate another beating. She'd already done that once when she glared angrily at him for something cruel he'd said to Parker. She glances at her son now, the shattered, terrified look in his eyes breaks her heart and she tries to convey with her eyes that she was there for him... that she would protect him with her life. She hopes he understood, but the tears that well up in his eyes left her with no doubt he understood their fate as well as she did.