"He asked for my help. He asked for it."
Nick looks over with anger and maybe even frustration shining in his eyes for a split second. When Ken looks up to see his reaction a smile is all that's left. As her head sags back down into the now-comfortable position, he walks behind her. Ken isn't as aware of her surroundings as she was before; she knows what's wrong and knows there's nothing she can do about it.
"You've done well, Ken." He pauses and places a hand on Ken's bound hands. "I couldn't ask for more... at least, not yet."
He walks back in front of her and kneels in front of her. Nick looks up at her and smiles, then pulls a knife switchblade out of his pocket and places it on Ken's leg.
"You look like an angel, Ken."
She opens her eyes at this, glaring at him, but not even this made his smile fade. Even through the glare there is pain in her eyes. He cuts through the rope that binds her legs and throws it into a corner.
"Now I must go; people to see, places to be. Keep knocking down that wall that you so easily put up and I'll be back." His voice isn't as hard as before; something is getting to him. Nick walks to the door and turns back to Ken, a confident smile on his face. "Don't go anywhere." And then he walks out the door, leaving Ken alone in the almost empty room.
"Gibbs."
Gibbs stops typing and looks up at Abby as she stands in front of his desk, a paper in hand.
"One set of prints, neither yours or Tony's." Abby pauses and throws the paper on Gibbs' desk. "It might be nice to have any other prints that can be eliminated."
Gibbs picks up the paper and studies it. Tony is watching this exchange, all the time wondering if Jethro has Ken's prints.
"Just one more, see if they match a Kenda Weatherly, West Virginia."
Abby stands there for a second with a smile on her face—now she knows the woman's name—before turning around and going back down to her lab.
"You sure she's on file, Gibbs?"
"Of course she is, job requirement."
Gibbs looks back down at his computer as if nothing needs to be explained. Tony is dumbfounded; Gibbs is still hiding something from him and he wants to know what.
Ken is pacing; although not literally; she is still tied to her chair. She's trying to 'break down the wall' as Nick had told her to do.
"He asked for it!"
Ken yells to the empty room; she remembers that clearly, he had asked. Flashes are all she gets, flashes of a pleading kid. As she tries to remember, Nick is just outside the door, talking to his ever-present superiors.
"Boss... I got the phone."
Gibbs stands up and throws a glance at Tony that makes him get up and follow him. McGee is on the other end of Gibbs' cell phone, rapidly talking about some mumbo jumbo that Gibbs doesn't care about.
"McGee!" Gibbs yells impatiently as he backs his car up with Tony in the passenger seat. "Where?"
"I'll send it to your car."
Tony automatically reaches over and turns on the screen they had rigged up in Gibbs car. A second later a small circle is flashing on the screen, leading the agents to the signal. When Gibbs sees the flashing he heads in that direction, full speed ahead.
"It's not moving, so slow down. You're gonna run someone over."
Gibbs' cell has long ago been thrown to the car floor and Tony has his seatbelt on.
"Nope. If she's there I needed to be there an hour ago."
"Turn right here."
Gibbs complies, throwing Tony to one side of the car and then back the other way. He doesn't realize how much he is hurting the other agent; he just wants to get to Ken.
"Maybe he did. I don't care."
Ken looks up. A man has just walked into the room, unnoticed by Ken as she spoke to herself. A gun is securely in his hand. There is no smile on this man's face; he's nothing like Nick. He has on tight clothes, clingy. He wears almost all white, causing him to shine brightly in the dark room rather than blending in.
"What?"
"I don't care if he asked you or not, you should have known better."
The new man takes a few steps closer to her and places his hand firmly on the top of Ken's head.
"You should have known better."
He is angry and he pulls back Ken's head so she would look up at him. He lets go when she opens her eyes and he grins.
"How the hell was I supposed to know?"
"We told you, told you to stay away from my pride." He turns around and throws the gun on the table, watching it stop before turning back to face Ken. "You saw it and you still continued to destroy my family!" This time when he steps closer to Ken he lifts his hand and she winces. He drops it slowly to her arm and up to her chin. "You had no right."
Ken is getting hot. Sweat is slowly drenching her shirt, and she can feel it trickling down her back. The new man keeps his tight grip on Ken's chin as he leans in to whisper in her ear.
"He even warned you himself. But no, you didn't listen."
"I wanted to help him."
Ken can feel the pain rising now; each passing moment is making it worse, and being stuck in a cold room isn't helping.
"Of course you did."
With that the man in white leaves, the door staying open behind him. Ken drops her head back down and closes her eyes; she couldn't sleep and she knew that it was most important, but her body refused to ignore the warning signs. Nick walks into her room after a moment; a glass of water and two pills in his hand.
"Here, take this."
Ken lifts her head and looks at him questioningly.
"I found them on the counter. The bottle had your name on it."
She looks down at the pills. They were hers, and she nods and opens her mouth for them. He places them on her tongue and helps her with the water. There is something about Nick that Ken can't put her finger on; he reminds her of someone.
"Here."
Gibbs slams on the brakes and jumps out of the car, only stopping when he is at the building's door to wait for his partner, his love.
"Ready?" Gibbs whispers, and Tony nods in response. "One, two, three." He nods and Tony flings open the door and Gibbs turns to point his gun inside.
The building is a storage facility, an empty storage facility. Still both agents cover the room as if it held all the answers. When they are finally done, Gibbs walks up to Tony where he stands in the middle of the first room.
"Phone."
Tony points to a desk; more specifically, to the phone on the desk. Gibbs walks up to it and picks it up. It is Ken's—Gibbs would know it anywhere—and he closes the lid and looks over at Tony.
"What time is it?"
Tony quickly looks at his watch.
"Almost 6."
"Damn."
Gibbs turns on his heel and pats his pockets for his cell. Tony walks up to him and places his own in Gibbs' hand. As he dials for someone to check the area, both agents walk back to the car.
"No, now!" Gibbs flips the cell shut and tosses it back to Tony. "We have to wait here."
"What's wrong?"
"Tony..." Gibbs faces Tony, actually looking at him, unlike what he's been doing since Ken was captured. "She needs her meds. If she doesn't get them she'll go into shock. She needed them about an hour ago."
Tony walks up next to Gibbs and places a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"We'll find her, Jethro."
"What did you give her?"
The door is closed on her room but the yells still come through. She could tell that it's the man in white yelling. She has always been good at telling the difference between voices; well, most of the time.
"Her pills, sir, just pills."
"Why?"
There is silence and then a slap, a very loud slap, before a mutter.
"She would've what?"
"Died, sir!"
She can see the man get pushed again her door, and she hears his cry of pain. Ken strains to hear more but all she hears is silence; she hates silence. Finally her door opens again and Nick comes in, bleeding but smiling all the same.
"Tell me what you remember."
Ken looks at Nick as if he just said something in the strangest dialect she has ever heard. He takes another step closer to her and takes her chin in his hand, not tightly like the man in white, but gently.
"Come on... tell me."
TBC
