Chapter 7
Darkness. A pitch-blackness that stole her sight and made the dizziness and disorientation even more prevalent in the small space she occupied. They were moving, she knew that much and there was a warm body with a familiar scent next to her. Penny! It was Penny. That meant they were together but waking up in such a cramped space unnerved her.
Sarah whimpered through the gag and felt Penny move slightly. It was barely enough to give her more contact, but it was there. It was all her grandmother could do to comfort her. She took a moment to take in the sounds that she heard and beyond the low hum of voices, the sound of a car engine running and the fact that she could feel that they were moving, gave away the fact that they had been taken and were on the way to God knows where.
In short, they were in trouble.
***NCIS***
"Here you go, Probie." Tony handed over a cup of tea and sat down heavily next to his friend. "How're you holding up?"
Tim shook his head and sat looking at the drink he'd been given. Strange how a situation born of revenge could turn into something so horrendous that it tore at every fibre of his being.
"Tim, you gotta talk to us, man. We can't help if you don't."
"Nothing can help but getting them back now. They don't deserve this, Tony. I should have just handed myself over to the Fai in the first place. That way you'd all be safe…Penny and Sarah would be safe."
His head jerked forward and he turned in his seat to face two steely blue eyes glaring at him. "I better not hear ya say that again, McGee. You got that!"
"Or what, Gibbs? It's true! I could have stopped this…" Tim's face got wistful. "I could have kept them safe."
"Probie, you did what you could. Nothing more could be done to help any of us. I mean, sure, they've got the upper hand right now, but it doesn't end here."
With a sigh, Tim stood up with his tea and walked out of the room. Gibbs sat down heavily next to Tony. "How're you doing?"
"Better than McGoo." Tony replied dryly. "I'm alright. We just need to get the kid's family back."
"We do." Gibbs stated and handed over the canister that had been launched through the window. "This was filled with some kind of incapacitating agent. They didn't wanna kill ya, so I'm guessing this is another warning."
"Well they got their message across nice and clear this time. What do we do now?"
"Ducky's checking everyone out and once he's cleared you, we're gonna work this case."
"I'm fi…"
Gibbs held up his hand. "DiNozzo, if you say you're fine, I'm gonna head slap you."
Tony backed down and stood up. "I'll go find Ducky then."
"You do that, Tony." Gibbs replied and watched as his senior agent left the room. He looked at the canister in his hand and frowned. What exactly was the gang trying to prove here? They had two opportunities to take out what they perceived as a threat, and both times, they aimed to disarm rather than kill. This did not bode well and he started to wonder exactly what this all meant for Tim.
***NCIS***
Penny was angry beyond measure and despite the situation she was in she wanted nothing more than to find out who had taken the two of them. Oh, she knew the other occupant was her granddaughter, she couldn't explain it, she just knew. She felt the car skid to a halt and waited with bated breath for what would happen next. Would they be killed? Would they be used as bait? What? What was the purpose of them being kidnapped? She listened carefully to the dialogue going on between the men who had just exited the car and someone else, but couldn't make out what was being said. She was not a linguist and sure as hell didn't speak Thai despite going there a couple of times with her husband. She jumped slightly when she heard a 'click' and felt a cool breeze feather across her skin. She could recognise the salty air and the sound of gulls overhead let her know they were near water. Whoever had taken them had opened the door and was taking them elsewhere. The question was…where?
***NCIS***
Abby carefully dissected the device in her lab. There was no music today because the events leading up to this point didn't merit any. Right now, her focus was on trying to figure out exactly what had been used to knock them out; truthfully, it was better that way because the one thing she did not want to think about was where her friends were and what was being done to them. She moved to her computer and sat down heavily while the Major Mass spec did his thing. It was taking a little bit longer that Abby would have liked and she was getting antsy. With a scowl, she stood up suddenly and moved so that she was standing directly in front of her beloved machine. With a glare and hands on her hips, she started to berate it in a way that only Abby could.
"Major, we are going to have a problem if you don't hurry up and identify this compound. You know how important this is, so come on! I need those results and if you can't provide me with them, then I WILL Trade you in for a newer model!"
As if by some weird coincidence, Abby's computer dinged and she couldn't help the small smile of triumph that crossed her face. "I knew you'd understand!" she said and with a flourish, bounced back to her computer and frowned at the results she was reading.
"Kolokol-1?" Abby whispered to herself and opened up her browser. Just as she started the search, Abby punched the dial button of the video calling system. It wasn't long before Ducky's tired face appeared.
"Duckman! I have it! It's Kolokol-1." As she was talking, she found exactly what she needed.
"What is Abigail?" Ducky asked quietly. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid the effects of the gas are lingering on a wee bit."
"The gas. It is Kolokol-1 and was developed by the Russians as an incapacitating agent. From what I can see it's a synthetic opioid developed in the 1970s at a secret military research facility that was known then as Leningrad."
"Leningrad? Then why on earth do our Thai friends…and I use that term very loosely…have it? Unless…"
"I'm thinking they've got some kind of trade deal going on with the Russians." Abby cut in. "It makes sense."
Ducky sighed. "Alright. Abigail, can you tell me what the potential effects of this gas are please. I need to know if there will be any symptoms arising from us all breathing this in."
Abby scrolled down. "Okay, Kolokol-1 was developed specifically to be delivered via aerosol. It says the gas takes effect within one to three seconds and KO's people for two to six hours. Apart from stating it produces hypoventilation that could progress to apnoea depending on the level of exposure and the recipients' tolerance level of opioids. There's nothing else about the lingering effects. I know exhaustion is one of them because we're all feeling it."
"I see." Ducky said sadly. "In that case, I think I'll go and pay young Anthony a visit because we don't know how this has affected his scarred lungs."
"You think it might cause him more trouble?" Abby's voice took on a note of panic.
"I'm sure he will be fine, but it won't do any harm and I can use the time to check up on Timothy as well. In fact, Abigail, would you be able to come down to see me in an hour?"
"Sure thing, Ducky." Abby tore herself away from the screen and sat in front of the camera. "Oh hey! Where's Jimmy?"
"Right here, Abby." Jimmy's voice was distant, as if he was across the other side of the room. "Jimmy, you have told Bree what's going on right?"
"She knows but she's currently on holiday with her parents. They're due back next week." Ducky disappeared and Jimmy appeared in her view screen.
"Good, that's very good. Now, I am tasking you with looking after the Duckman! You got that Palmer? He's looking tired, so make sure he's taking care of himself."
Jimmy saluted Abby and grinned before cutting the connection. That done, all Abby had to do now was report back to Gibbs on what she'd found.
***NCIS***
An hour. That's how long they'd been sitting there in the hard, unforgiving chairs. Whoever had taken them still hadn't taken off the blindfolds though they had at least given them some water. Sarah sighed around the material in her mouth and hoped that someone would find them soon because truthfully, after hearing about the murder from her brother, she was terrified of what would happen to both her and Penny. She could probably deal with taking the punishment herself, but to hear Penny being hurt; the thought was just too much.
Just as Sarah was starting to really panic, her blindfold was yanked off her face and she was looking into the eyes of a tall man, with long hair. She didn't recognise him, but she wouldn't anyway because she'd never been privy to what Gan Boontham looked like, let alone the rest of his gang. She let her eyes trail to the side and saw Penny getting the same treatment. For whatever reason, they could see, though the gags still stayed in place.
***NCIS***
"I got nothing, Boss. There's no emails, no notes, no wooden suns…nothing." Tim sighed and leaned back in his chair with defeat. He'd been trying to track back but the trail was stone cold. "The financials have frozen and it's all gone quiet. It's almost as if ai has gone off grid to antagonise us."
"They're just tryin' to scare us." Gibbs walked over and placed his hand on Tim's shoulder. "We will find Penny and Sarah, McGee."
"Will we? Dead or alive, Boss because I can't lose them. I just ca…" Tim's computer dinged and he trailed off so he could open the email that came through. Gibbs had moved away to his own desk now and he opened the email with trepidation once he saw the email address and recognised the name straight away. He paused just long enough to read the address that was typed under the same image of the sun he now recognised as belonging to the Fai. He was about to tell Gibbs when a warning caught his eye.
Come alone. If you tell anyone, we will kill your family.
Tim frowned heavily and sighed. This was not an ideal situation and he knew deep down he should be telling the team but he couldn't do it. He couldn't risk it. He found his mind warring with itself. Does he tell the Boss and let things get dealt with that way, or does he go it alone to save the people he loved.
"McGee, you alright?" Gibbs called from his desk.
"Huh?...oh yeah, I'm okay. It's just a report from Baltimore PD I asked for. They said they'd sent over what they have on the Fai. I'm just going to look through now." Tim waited with bated breath and sighed with relief when Gibbs nodded.
"Good work, McGee. Let me know what you find."
"Yes, Boss." Tim replied and worried at his bottom lip briefly. He turned back to his machine and started to type away. In that brief moment of the Boss' concern, he formulated a plan in a flash of inspiration. Maybe, he could have the best of both worlds and get to Penny and Sarah alone, all the while letting the team know where he was going. He typed out an email and set it to send two hours from now. That would give him time to get to the docks in Baltimore and do what he had to. If they saw it as martyrdom, then fine, but at least he was giving himself some chance of survival by telling them where they all were.
"I'm gonna go to the break room for a snack. I'll be right back." Tim was rummaging in his drawer and managed to pull out his car keys without anyone noticing. Luckily, since being on high alert, none of the team had taken off their weapons.
"Nutter butters?" Tony asked with a smirk. "Probie loves his nutters."
"McGee, please would you bring me back a soda?" Ziva asked with a soft smile and grabbed her back pack to get her money.
"Sure thing, Zee and don't worry about the money. Anyone else want anything?" He felt a pang of shame at having to deceive everyone, but it had to be authentic, otherwise they wouldn't let him go.
"I'll have a soda too, McGoo. Oh and some of those delicious peanut butter treats you love so much."
"You sure, Tony?" Tony nodded and grinned. "Okay, Boss?"
"Nope. All I want is coffee and I'm not drinking that swill."
Tim huffed out a small laugh and headed out. It was a relief when no one actually paid any attention to him leaving and he was soon making his way out of the building to rescue his family with the hope, that the delayed emails he had sent would reach his team in time.
