Juanita's father and some of his friends searched the entire area around the crash site and Mike Frank's beach house. There was no sign of Gibbs, no foot prints, no blood trail, nothing. It was like he had vanished into thin air. He reported this to Juanita by phone and she relayed it to Mike. They had searched until sun down. They promised her that they would resume in the morning. Mike didn't like this one bit. Something was very wrong. He needed to do something but physically wasn't in any shape to leave the hospital. The doctors had treated his injuries but were carrying out some tests on his heart. He was going to need some help. He asked Juanita to get in touch with NCIS in Washington and try and speak to Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. Juanita promised to do so and told Mike to get some rest. Although he agreed he knew that sleep wouldn't come easily that night.
After some difficulty Juanita was finally able to get a telephone number for NCIS headquarters. She was put through to the main switch board and asked to speak to Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. She was informed that Agent DiNozzo was not in the office that weekend. She pleaded with the operator for Agent DiNozzo's home number but the operator flatly refused.
"Is there anyone else who can help you Miss?" she asked.
"I don't know. It's really important. It's about your Agent Gibbs. He's in trouble. I really need Agent DiNozzo's help," she explained.
"Well okay Miss. How about you give me your phone number and I'll contact Agent DiNozzo and ask him to call you?" the operator suggested. Juanita knew that was the best she could do and agreed. She gave her the number of the payphone in the hospital and then hung up and waited. After a long twenty minutes, the phone finally rang. She answered it immediately.
"Agent DiNozzo?" she asked urgently.
"Yes, Ms. Munoz. What can I do for you?" he asked curiously.
"I'm a friend of Mike Franks. He asked me to call you. He's been in an accident," she informed him.
"Oh right, is he okay?" Tony asked sounding concerned.
"He will be. It's Agent Gibbs," she said mournfully.
"Gibbs? What happened to Gibbs?" Tony asked fearfully. He didn't even know Gibbs was going to Mexico.
"We don't know," Juanita replied.
"What do you mean you don't know?" he asked.
"I mean…he's been missing ever since the accident. People are searching for him but so far he hasn't been located," she told him.
"I don't understand," Tony said. "He was involved in the accident but hasn't been seen since?"
"Yes," she replied. Straight away, it didn't sit properly in Tony's mind. The Boss was in trouble.
"Okay, I'll get our team down there to look for him. Leave it with me," Tony said hanging up. He sat down on his sofa and rubbed his brow. What the hell was going on? The Boss was missing. He knew he needed to let the others know. He also needed to inform Vance. Whether or not Vance authorised them to operate south of the border, Tony was going to Mexico to find his Boss. He didn't doubt for one second that he would have company on the journey south.
He made several calls alerting McGee, Ziva, Abby and finally Ducky. Ducky was extremely alarmed upon hearing the news.
"Good Lord Anthony. My fear is that Jethro is injured and wandering around not knowing who or where he is. Especially with his history of head trauma, Anthony, this could be very serious," Ducky explained anxiously.
"I know Duck. McGee is working on getting us on the first available flight. Our best bet is a Navy transport flight to San Diego and we can get to Baja easily enough from there," Tony replied.
"I'm coming with you Anthony," Ducky said forcefully. It would be unusual for the M.E. to travel such a distance on a case but this was different. This wasn't a case, it was more personal than that. Tony didn't object to him tagging along, in fact they might need him.
"I'll call you as soon as McGee gets back to me with travel arrangements," Tony said.
"What about the Director?" Ducky asked. "Does he know yet?"
"Not yet. I was thinking of informing him from the plane, if you know what I mean," Tony said slightly ashamed of his deviousness.
"That's probably a good idea," Ducky replied. "Let me know as soon as you can."
"Will do," Tony said before hanging up the phone.
By 5am the next morning DiNozzo, McGee, Ziva and Ducky were boarding a C130 Hercules bound for San Diego. Despite her protestations, Abby was convinced to stay in the Navy Yard as Tony explained that she was more valuable to them there than in Mexico. At least she had a multitude of technology at her disposal which might help them locate the Boss. Despite her heart felt need to be with them and actively searching for her silver haired fox, she knew that Tony was right. Her talents would be more productive in her own familiar surroundings.
----------------
While his team was in the air, Gibbs was shivering violently having been exposed to the cold night air for the duration of the night. He was feeling decidedly weaker and in a lot more discomfort after having spent over 24 hours tied to the chair. He was dehydrated and hungry. His stomach growled he was so hungry but he knew that if he didn't get water soon he'd die from dehydration. Another few hours passed. Gibbs buttocks and legs were numb. He wished he could move them in order to get the blood re-circulating. At least the pain had diminished from his arm. It was mid morning when his Estella chose to pay him another visit. This time he barely had the strength to raise his head to look at her.
"Good morning," she said sounding quite chipper. "It's such a beautiful day outside. It's going to be a scorcher. I brought you this," she said holding up a bottle. "I thought you might like a drink."
Gibbs licked his cracked lips in anticipation of quenching his thirst.
"Please," he croaked.
She strolled calmly over to him and put the bottle to his lips. At first he drank greedily until he felt the burn down the back of his throat and recognised the taste. It was Tequila. He turned his head away and spat out what was still in his mouth. He knew alcohol would only speed up his dehydration. Estella was unimpressed by his actions and smacked him across the face. Then she grabbed his chin and forced his mouth open.
"This might loosen your lips and make you a bit more sociable," she scowled.
She emptied the Tequila into his mouth. He tried not to swallow but she pinched his nose cutting off his air supply and leaving him no choice but to choke or swallow. He gagged and choked as she poured almost the full bottle of Tequila into him. As she stepped away from him, laughing, he spit at her defiantly.
She didn't take kindly to his disrespect. Still holding the practically empty bottle in her hand she swung it at him and hit him with it across the side of the head, her ferocity smashing it into pieces. Needless to say the severity of the blow rendered Gibbs unconscious immediately. Seeing the glass shatter over him and the blood pouring from his scalp shocked her more than she could have imagined. She was convinced that she had killed him. She dropped the remnants of the broken bottle on the floor of the shed and leaned in to see if Gibbs was still breathing. She couldn't see if his chest was rising or not. She touched his neck to feel for a pulse. She was relieved to find that he was still alive. It wasn't that she would mind killing her father's murderer but her brother was travelling all the way from Chihuahua to meet him. He would be very angry if she had taken all the pleasure for herself.
She decided that her actions had ensured that Gibbs would be incapacitated for several hours at least and thought that if she laid him on the ground that he might not choke and die before her brother arrived. She took her knife and cut the ropes from his legs and then from his arms. He toppled off the chair onto the ground and lay there motionless. She didn't want him bleeding to death so she ran back to her house and brought out a towel to try and stop the profuse bleeding from the ugly laceration to his scalp. Raul, her brother, would be so angry with her. As she knelt beside him, she almost collapsed with shock as a cell phone rang. She searched Gibbs pockets and pulled out his phone. 'Abby calling' came up on the phone screen. She threw the phone on the ground and stamped on it, smashing it. She knew that cell phones could be traced so she had to destroy it. Satisfied that she had dealt with that threat she proceeded to drag Gibbs over to one wall where a chain was attached to the wall. She attached one bracelet of a pair of rusty handcuffs to one of Gibbs wrists and the other to the chain. She left him lying on his side on the floor, the blood from his scalp wound soaking into the sand. She left the boat house extremely annoyed with herself for losing her temper and beating him like she did. She tried to absolve herself by telling herself that he was going to die one way or the other. If it was sooner, what difference would it make?
------------------
Gibbs team had landed in San Diego and were trying to secure the quickest route to Baja. They hired an SUV and the four of them, including Ducky drove to the border. They crossed the border without incident and were soon heading in the direction of Ensenada. By the time they reached the Hospital Bajanor the sun was going down.
They found Mike Franks in a hospital ward with five other patients. His face was bruised and cut and his leg in plaster. He was dozing when they arrived. Ducky approached the sleeping former agent and gently woke him.
"What?" he said waking with a start. Then he realised who it was. "Have you found him yet?" he asked straight away.
"No, Michael, we've just arrived," Ducky told him. "We're going to drive on to your beach house tonight and start the search from there in the morning. Agent McGee has agreed to stay here. You need to tell him everything you and Gibbs did, said and where you went for the last few days. Tell him everything you can remember."
"I'll try," Mike replied. "It's still a bit hazy," he said rubbing his head. "You can stay at the beach house. Juanita is gone back to town. She'll show you how to find it." DiNozzo nodded.
"And DiNozzo," Mike called as he started to leave. "If you need a weapon, there's an old trunk under my bed. You'll find what you need," he informed hm knowing that they wouldn't have risked taking a gun across the border.
"Thanks," Tony said. "McGee, we'll get going. As soon as you've anything, call me."
"No problem," McGee replied. "Good luck."
Tony knew that they were going to need more than luck. A miracle would go down a treat right about now.
By the time they got to the sea side town, it was dark. Juanita joined them and showed them the road to Mike's house. She asked them to slow down as they neared a bend in the road and showed the agents where the truck had overturned. They stopped and with flashlights had a quick look around. They agreed to return first thing the next morning. They found the beach house and Juanita showed them where Mike kept the spare key. They let themselves in. Nothing had been disturbed and there didn't appear to be any signs of trouble. There were several empty beer bottles lying around but other than that the place was quite tidy. Tony found Gibbs travel bag in the spare room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Ziva drove Juanita back to the town and Ducky and Tony made coffee and rustled up dinner from what they found in the cupboard. Tony seemed miles away as the two men stood in the kitchen.
"What are you thinking, Anthony?" Ducky asked, feeling the anxiety emanating from the young agent.
"What if he's dead, Duck?" Tony said turning towards Ducky, tears welling in his eyes.
"You can't think like that, Tony. I would never write off Leroy Jethro Gibbs. We're here to find him, Tony, and we will," Ducky insisted, slapping DiNozzo on the back. He couldn't have the strong one of the group getting melancholy and losing focus. Ducky knew he had to stay strong although his medical training was telling him that if Jethro was injured and collapsed somewhere in the open, the combination of heat exposure and dehydration could kill him very quickly.
When Ziva got back they ate an early supper and went to bed. They were up and out at the crash scene immediately after sun up the next morning. Ziva photographed the scene. There were two distinct blood stains visible. One on the roof of the vehicle above the steering wheel, the other inside and outside the passenger side door. Knowing that Franks was the passenger, they deduced that the other blood stain was from Gibbs. They took samples just to confirm later if need be. Then Ziva noticed something odd about the scene. The driver side door was opened and there were footprints leading away from it. There also appeared to be two deeper parallel troughs leading away from the truck.
"Tony!" she called sharply.
"What is it?" he asked coming around to her.
"What does that look like to you?" she asked pointing to the marks on the ground.
"Drag marks," he said slowly processing the implications. "It looks like Gibbs was dragged from the truck," he said following the tracks.
"By whom? And where did they take him?" Ziva wondered as she followed him.
"Tracks stop here," Tony pointed out as he climbed back up onto the dirt road. "Someone put him in a vehicle."
"Somebody took Jethro?" Ducky asked very much surprised when he followed the two agents back to the road.
"So it appears, Ducky. Why would someone take him?" Tony asked.
"I don't know, but I don't like it," Ziva said anxiously.
"Okay, Ziva call McGee. Tell him what we know. Get hold of Abby. See if she has any ideas. We need to trace Gibbs and Franks last movements. Someone might have seen something in town," Tony said with authority.
They packed up their gear, jumped back in their rental and headed into town. Things had taken a sinister turn. They knew they had no time to waste.
To be continued......
