Tuesday Evening
Jackson screwed another shelf up, which his son and grandson had so generously took time of working on their boat to build shelves and a counter for his soon to be shop. He had been working on it for well over an hour now, still thinking about what he was going to do with his three eldest grandchildren.
He thought about why he was the angriest with Zach in the first place, and figured it was because he had managed to get himself suspended, and over the course of the past few days had managed to rack up quite a tally chart of lies.
He had been annoyed that he had the audacity to think he could get away with everything just because his dad wasn't here, but that had turned out to be more Sarah and Jayden than him. But Zach had happily gone along, and to some extent thought that they could get away with it all. So in that respect, each of them were just as bad as the other.
They had all lied to him, something which hurt Jack the most. He had been nothing but good to them since he met them, and they threw it back in his face the first chance they got. It especially hurt when Zach had promised him that it was him that had done the hacking. He couldn't even tell he was lying, maybe he wasn't looking for the signs of a liar, or maybe he was just too old for this.
"Grandpa Jack…" Kate popped her head through the door, being careful to not step a foot inside because she knew she wasn't allowed in there because it was still like a work shop "I'm hungry, can we have dinner now please?"
He looked at his watch, noting it was quite late in the evening now and Kate should be in bed in under half an hour. He should have made her tea for her hours ago. "Sorry sweetie, I'll make it now. You like spaghetti on toast don't you?"
"Yep" She nodded.
"Good. Go get Zach, Sarah and Jayden from upstairs, and clean up for dinner while you are there" He told her, leaving his tools on the makeshift workbench to go and cook the food.
He set the table while waiting for the simple meal to cook, and cut the toast into little triangles, just exactly as Jethro's mother always did. He shared out the spaghetti between five plates, and had all plates sat at the kitchen table just as three of the four children walked in.
"Uhh…" Sarah bit her lip, and Jayden was looking nervously at his grandfather. Something had happened, and considering Zach wasn't there, it must have been something to do with him.
"What is it?" He asked, keeping as calm as he possibly could. He could tell by their faces that whatever they had to say, he wouldn't like.
"Um… well… Zach… he's kind of…."
"Zach's gone. He sneaked out of the house before grandpa" Kate happily supplied, tucking into her food.
"What? When did he leave?" The elderly man raised his eyebrows in shock. He didn't think the blond was this stupid, but evidently he was. He would throttle that boy when he got his hands on him.
Kate pursed her lips, her eyes looking upwards as she thought "When you were upstairs spanking Jayden"
"That was hours ago. Do any of you know where he went?" Jack was in the hallway, pulling his coat on and jamming his feet into his boots, planning to find the boy and drag him home.
"Nope. He never said nothing" The six-year-old shook her head.
Sarah and Jayden exchanged glances, wondering if they should tell the possible locations of their cousin and boyfriend. But in the end they decided they should, both of them had caused enough trouble for the day and they didn't want to make it worse.
"He could be at his house. Uncle Gibbs leaves his front door unlocked, so he could easily get in"
"Or at Tom or Jared's." Jayden added "He left his phone, so you can't find him that way"
Jack nodded, grabbing his car keys off the side "Right. I'll be back in a bit. Sarah, you are in charge."
"What are you staring at?" A man in a dark suit sitting on the plane seat besides Zach glared at him.
Don't know, but its look back. He retorted lamely in his head, but replied "Looking out the window, got a problem with that?"
There was something about this man that had his gut churning, and set him on edge. He had sun glasses on, despite it being dark and winter weather in DC. He was pale with dark hair, and clearly foreign from his thick accent that Zach knew was Russian, or from the Soviet Union.
"Its dark outside, you cannot be looking at much." The man said coldly "You'd do well to keep your nose in your own business"
Zach frowned, thinking the man was a freak. He had only glanced at him once and the man was accusing him of staring, and butting into his business. It wasn't like he was even talking, how could he possibly be putting his nose in his business?
"Why don't you keep your nose out?" He retorted.
"You should watch yourself kid. In a place like LA, it's awfully easy for one brat to go missing" The man dark eyes bored into him.
That statement shook Zach to his core, and he had the same feeling he used to get anytime he was with the old school principle or his step-father. This man was bad news, he could feel it. He knew his dad would tell him to trust his instincts, and avoid this man as soon as it became possible to do so.
Tuesday Night
"Gibbs" He picked up the phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID. He assumed it would be his agent, calling back to give him information on the case they were working.
"Jethro, the boy's gone missing" His dad's voice sounded worried, and Gibbs now knew why his gut had been churning.
"What's happened dad?" He paid for his coffee, taking a sip of the boiling coffee and making his way back out onto the streets of LA.
"Zach ran off about seven hours ago now. It's midnight here; I thought he would find his way back by now at least. Something doesn't feel right" The Gibbs gut was a hereditary thing.
"I can feel it too" Gibbs admitted, more worried at the time being rather than angry at his son's stupidity. "Have you looked for him?"
"What do you think I've been doing!" Jack snapped. "I've got Sarah to phone up his friends from school, he's not in anyone's house. I checked your house, and I checked the basketball courts thinking he might just be getting his head together. Ducky, Jimmy and Ashlee are helping the search, but we can't find him anywhere."
"Have you looked in Dinozzo's flat? I've got a key in my house and he always goes to Tony if he's got a problem he can't talk to me about. I know Tony's not there, but it's worth a shot" Gibbs tried to rack his brains, thinking of anywhere else the teen might go.
"Checked it already, no sign he has even been there." He could here the tiredness in the older man's voice, and felt sorry that his son had done that to him.
"He'll turn up dad, I'm sure he will. Go home to bed, it's late there. Ring me when he gets in, I want a few words with that boy" Gibbs knew there was nothing else Jack could do but wait for Zach to come home. He vowed he would make his son sorry for his behaviour this week the second he got home.
"I will. I'll call everyone off, I'm sure Ducky will be wanting a few words with the lad too. Good night son" Annoying Doctor Mallard was one sure-fire way to land your self a major scolding from the Scottish man.
"Night dad" He hung up, and walked back to headquarters.
Something didn't sit quite right in his gut, and he knew it had to do with his son. He trusted his dad to find the teenager though, and it wasn't like he could get to DC quickly to find him himself. He would just have to wait as patiently as he could for news, which wasn't very patient, and would involve a number of cups of coffee and head slaps for McGee since Tony wasn't there.
Zach landed in LAX, extremely grateful to be getting away the creepy Russian man. He stopped on his way through the airport; purchasing him self a pair of designer sunglasses that he thought looked cool. If he was going to get in trouble for using his card, he might as well make it worth while.
He was walking through the exit doors, planning to get a taxi to take him to a nice hotel that he could spend the night in. Then the next day he could go shopping for clothes, maybe go to the beach, and after that he would find his ad, uncle and aunt. He deserved to have a little fun before he had to face his, no doubt, furious father.
But he didn't quite make it far enough to a taxi. He saw the Russian guy again, and this time he was talking to another man, a dark blond man with a near shaven head. He looked American, but he was talking Russian so Zach wasn't so sure.
"You, brat, get here" The dark-haired man spotted him in the corner of his eyes.
Zach looked around quickly, seeing no one else around but these two men. He wanted to run, but for some reason his legs wouldn't take him and his gut, oddly enough, was telling him to do what the man said. It could have also been the fact the man let him see a glint of metal tucked in the waist band of his suit, letting him know it was either listen, or die.
"What do you want?" Zach glared up at him. He knew it was stupid being cocky to a man with a gun, but that was just his style. He was a Gibbs; he never backed down in the face of danger.
"How would you like a job? A runt like you could do with the money. And I pay extremely well"
The teenager noted that the blond man had looked a bit surprised to see him at first, and now was looked extremely uncomfortable, but trying to hide that fact from the Russian. Zach had gotten a lot better at reading people in recent months, he guessed it was just something you picked up on when your family was full of special agents.
The blond man argued with the Russian for a minute in the foreign tongue, he didn't look happy with the darker haired man. But then the Russian smirked a cold and heartless smirk and said something back, before turning on Zach.
"So, what is it brat? Do you want a job?" It was obvious that he wasn't going to accept no as an offer, but it didn't mean Zach wasn't going to try.
He looked around once, hoping there was someone else around that he could call for help, but there was no one. "As tempting as that offer sounds, I'm going to have to say no."
The man used his right hand to sweep his jacket out of the way, letting his hand rest on the butt of his gun. "Are you sure about that? Like I said before, you are given the ultimate pay. You get to live"
Zach bite back his fear. He had no other choice but to agree to whatever this man said. He was slightly disappointed that he wasn't going to be spending a night in a posh hotel, but he suspected that living was a better option right now.
"Okay. What is it?"
"Ah, that was easier than I suspected." The man waved a dark car over that had been waiting a down the street. "My associate will fill you in, and I'll see you in a day." He put one foot in the black car and kept his gaze on Zach "Do not try to run or you will be shot."
The blond teen shuddered at that, watching as he drove off out of sight and he was left with the other man. There was something about this man that he trusted though, he didn't seem cold and callous like the Russian had, and his gut wasn't even twitching when he looked at him.
"So…" The man grinned, holding out his hand to shake as a huge dark man came up next to him "I'm your Uncle G, this is Sam. Welcome to Los Angeles, Zach"