"So Katie, can you tell me again where you got this DVD?" Jo asked as she walked down the street with Katie Lakehill. The young girl looked to the ground hugging herself at the thought of it all.
"I found it in my room. It had been left in my doorway I'm guessing sometime while I was out last night..." Katie replied obviously upset.
"Did you open the package at all?"
"Yeah.. I mean it has my name on it so..."
"Ok.. Did you watch the DVD?"
"I did... I didn't get it at first, but when I saw my uncle in the hotel I..." Katie's voice trailed off at the thought of the gruesome scene. Jo on the other hand was more concerned with WHAT Kaite had just said rather than HOW she said.
"Did you just say your uncle?" Katie looked up at Jo a little confused before replying.
"Y-yes, James was my uncle..."
"OK... Sweetie, would you mind coming with me to the lab? There's just one more thing I need your help with..."
12:34pm – New York City Crime Lab
"Are you serious? A witness for N.C.I.S?" Sheldon asked rather shocked. "What was he doing here in New York?"
"Apparently he was here to see a friend. Still no sign of the agent he was with." Danny replied.
"Do we know who the agent was?"
"Nah not yet. Mac's still on the phone with N.C.I.S gettin the details of it all."
"Do you think they'll be coming to New York?" Lindsay asked knowing full well that the agents from N.C.I.S would more than likely show up.
"It's possible, I mean this was their only witness. He's not really any use to them sitting on a cold slab in autopsy." Sheldon commented, turning his head slightly to Mac's office. "I don't think I've seen Mac looking that serious in a long time."
"Yeah.." Danny concurred glancing over at his boss. "This must be deeper than Mr. DiNozzo first let on..."
"And you're absolutely sure that the last know location was the Helmsley?" Mac inquired.
"I'm pretty confident yeah." Gibbs replied. "My agents traced his last call to that very hotel in Midtown."
"Can you give me the name of the agent he was supposed to be with?"
"He wasn't there?"
"No, we only found James's body in the suite."
"So he's still missing." Gibbs paused in thought.
"Agent Gibbs. It would benefit you and your team in the long if you gave us a bit more information to work with. I understand he was in witness protection but there's no sense in protecting a dead man." Mac paused briefly before continuing. "I'm not questioning your judgement Agent Gibbs, but if you could at LEAST tell me the name of the agent with him it might help me find the man that killed your witness..." Finally Gibbs spoke up.
"The agent that was with him was Agent Ty Kimble. He's a 36 year old male, Caucasian, he's about 5'9", weight about 153lbs. He too was last seen at the Helmsley where James was staying."
"Alright." Mac quickly jotted down the information on a piece of paper and held it up so Danny and Sheldon could see it from the next room. 'If they have time to sit there staring at me from the other room they have time to start looking for this agent...' He thought to himself as both men in the other room got up to get back to work, Danny quickly running into Mac's office to snatch up the paper he had. "I appreciate your help Agent Gibbs."
"I should be thanking you Detective."
"What for?"
"Catching our killer." Before Mac could reply Gibbs continued. "How big is your lab Detective?"
"It's a fair size. Why do you ask?"
"My team and I are coming to New York and we'll need the use of your lab while we're there."
"Ok... Well, I'll let my team know. When are you leaving?"
"Now."
"Alright, we'll see you in about 4 hours then."
"See you in 4 hours Detective." With their plans finalized, Agent Gibbs and Detective Taylor hung up.
"Mac." Mac turned his head as Jo and Katie Lakehill walked into his office. "Do you have the first two DVDs our killer left here? I want to see if Katie recognizes anything from them."
"So you're Katie Lakehill...?" Mac more stated then asked as he leaned forward and pulled the DVDs from his desk drawer.
"Yes sir..." Katie replied shyly.
"Detective Taylor is fine..." Mac replied a little irritated. He hated being called sir more then he cared to describe.
"Sorry Detective..."
"It's fine... This way." Mac got up and led Katie and Jo to Adam's workstation. "Adam." Again Adam jumped at the sound of Mac's voice.
"Yeah boss?" He asked as he spun his chair around.
"I want you to show Katie what's on these discs."
"O...K..? How much should I be showing her?"
"As much as it takes."
"Mac, can I have a word with you in the hall?" Jo asked as she stepped aside with him.
"Something wrong?"
"Katie told me something while we were walking that concerned me a lot." Jo looked Mac in the eyes before continuing. "Mac, she's James Schweppers niece."
"So she's related to the third victim."
"Not just that, she accused her older brother of being the killer." Mac looked back into the room at the young girl standing next to Adam quite deep in thought.
"Did she say why she thought it was him?"
"Not yet, I wanted to see if she recognized either of the first two victims before I questioned her any more about her brother."
"Alright... Leave that to me, I want you to go see how Danny and Hawkes are doing with our search for the missing N.C.I.S agent." Mac turned back to the room. "And if you happen to see Lindsay on your way there tell her that Agent Gibbs and his team are coming to New York."
"Alright I'll let her know." Jo walked off to find Danny and Sheldon while Mac walked back into the room with his arms crossed.
"Can you stop it right there?" Katie asked as she pointed to the screen.
"Sure." Adam paused the video and looked between the screen and Katie.
"See something you recognize Katie?" Mac asked.
"Yeah... Can you zoom in on those two at the table there?" She pointed to a man and a girl sitting at a round white table on the patio of a restaurant. Adam carefully zoomed in on the two and cleaned up the image so Katie could take a better look. "That's me and my Dad... That's the day he disappeared."
"Did you report your father missing?" Mac stepped closer to the screen realizing now that Katie had just identified the first victim as her father.
"I did, but nothing ever really came of it. The officer I spoke to didn't seem to believe me. Guess I'm just at that age where people automatically assume you're just pulling some stupid prank..." The young girl hung her head a little. "Detective Taylor... Is my Dad dead?" She looked up at him when he didn't reply. "I want the truth so I don't go out there looking for something I'll never find..." Mac sighed heavily before answering her.
"I'm afraid so. You're father's name is Mathew Lakehill?" Katie nodded.
"So he is dead...?"
"Yes. Your father was the first victim to be targeted by our suspect." Mac put his hand on Katie's arm in an effort to comfort her as she looked to the floor quite upset. "Detective Danville tells me you think the killer is your brother. Why is that?" Katie looked back up at Mac, swallowing hard past the lump in her throat.
"I just have that feeling... Are any of the bones from the people that were killed missing?"
"Yes... How did you know that?"
"When Kevin..."
"Kevin's your brother?"
"Yes.. When my brother was younger, he used to kill animals and take one the bones from the bodies and bring them home. He'd clean them up and make really awful things out of them, one time he even made a small mask out of different parts of a bunch of coyote skulls but my Dad made him throw them out... He was real mad, kept saying that all of his friends were doing it to..." Mac looked back to the screen trying to piece everything together.
"Katie, do you think if you heard your brothers voice that you'd be able to point him out?"
"Yeah, his voice isn't something you easily forget..."
"Alright. Adam, playback the first few minutes of Mark Quinlan's hotel scene on the DVD."
"On it." Adam quickly popped in the disc and scanned ahead to the scene where the killer had Mark cornered in the Ramada Bronx Hotel suite he was murdered in.
"Oh my God... Oh my God..." Mark stumbled off the bed and crawled backwards across the floor shaking as the man behind the camera slowly walked into the room, pushing the house keeper out and locking the door. "Please, please no. Please don't do this!" The man behind the camera paused as Mark pleaded with him for his life. "Please, I'll give you whatever you want!"
"Whatever I want?" The camera man replied in a hoarse voice. Mac turned his head to Katie momentarily to see how she was reacting to the sound of the killers voice before turning back to Adam and giving him the nod to keep going.
"Yes whatever you want! Money, my watch, my credit cards. ANYTHING! Just please, don't kill me!"
"Whatever I want." The man repeated as he strolled closer to Mark, backing him right into the wall.
"Yes, just tell me what it is and you can have it!" The man was silent for a moment as he leaned down once again bringing Mark's face right into the eyes of the camera.
"I want..." He paused giving the room an eerie chill with his words. "Your skull..." Just as the camera lunged forward Adam paused the playback and looked back to Mac and Katie.
"Katie?" Mac asked.
"Can you play back the part where he said 'Whatever I want' the first time?" She asked motioning with her hand. Mac nodded and Adam rewound the video to the first instant the killer spoke.
"Whatever I want?" The camera man's voice boomed through the speakers. Mac and Adam both looked to Katie again as she crossed her arms with a terrified look in her eyes.
"In the disc that was in the envelope in my room he never spoke but..." She paused and nodded her head, biting her lip as she glance at the floor. "That's him... That's my older brother's voice..."
"This guy is like a ghost. Whatever he's up to, the NYPD is not privy to anymore information then what Agent Gibbs gave Mac over the phone..." Danny growled frustrated with his dead ends.
"Well he DOES work for the Navy." Sheldon added.
"Still doesn't make this any less frustrating then it already is..." Danny looked to Jo sitting at the other computer in the room. "And you say that Gibbs and his team are comin to New York?"
"Yep, that's what Mac said. They should be here soon." Jo replied looking over an email from a friend in the FBI.
"So uh, any luck with your FBI buddies?"
"Not really. He says he's never heard of this Agent Ty Kimble and we should probably wait for Gibbs and his team to get here before we dig any further."
"Great, another dead end." Danny huffed. "Well I'm out of ideas." Jo leaned back in her chair with a sigh.
"Maybe your friend is right Jo. Maybe it WOULD be better to just wait for Agent Gibbs and his team to get here. It would be a lot easier to ask them questions when we can look them right in the eye." Sheldon commented.
"Let's just hope they're more willing to share in person then they are over the phone." Jo replied.
"Any luck with our agent?" Mac questioned as he walked into the room.
"No, nothing more then what you didn't already know." Jo responded.
"Alright. Well in the mean I need you and Hawkes to wait here for Gibbs and his team in case they show up here instead of the precinct. Danny I need you to come with me."
"Sure, where we goin boss?" Danny asked as he sprung up from his chair obviously happy to be doing something that might get the investigation somewhere.
"Katie gave us a lead." Mac replied.
"To our killer?"
"No, but it might lead us to one of his followers." Mac and Danny quickly boarded the elevator as the doors pulled open.
"One of his followers?"
5:36pm – NYPD Precinct 13, Three N.C.I.S Agents Arrive
"Wow, some place we've got here..." DiNozzo commented looking around the precinct. "Being here kinda reminds me of Assault On Precinct 13." DiNozzo turned to Ziva standing beside him with her usual look of confusion and disapproval. "You know, the one with Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Gabriel Byrne... The 2005 remake directed by Jean-Francois Rechiet?"
"No Tony I do not know the 2005 remake of Assault On Precinct 13. That is not the thing to be talking about while standing IN a police precinct anyway, we are here on business." She spat.
"Look sharp you two." Gibbs ordered as he walked towards an officer.
"Can I help you?" The officer asked as Gibbs and his team approached the desk. Gibbs held up his badge before even beginning his sentence.
"I'm Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, N.C.I.S. I believe one of my agents spoke to a Detective Flack over the phone and I'd like to speak with him." Gibbs demanded.
"Sure thing Agent Gibbs." The officer got up from his chair and walked back to Don's desk.
"Tell me again why we came to the precinct first?" DiNozzo questioned no one in particular.
"Because Detective Taylor is out, remember DiNozzo?" Gibbs replied without ever taking his eyes off Don as he walked up to the head of the precinct. "Detective Flack I presume?" Don nodded his head and put his hands together.
"At your service. You're Agent Gibbs from N.C.I.S I take it?" Don replied.
"I am. You wouldn't happen to know the whereabouts of Detective Taylor would you Detective?"
"I do, in fact I'll take you there myself. I was just on my way out the door."
"Where is he exactly Detective?"
"He's apprehending a suspect as we speak."
5:52pm – Hunters Point, Queens
"NYPD, stop!" Mac yelled as he raced down the street with Danny after their suspect. Almost the moment they had approached the door to the building Katie had directed them to Mac knew this man wasn't going to come quietly. He'd barely opened the door a crack when the man pushed it open knocking both him and Danny to the ground before bolting off down the hall and out the front door. "Danny keep going I'm going to try and cut him off!" Mac quickly dashed down an alley in an attempt to cut off their suspect.
"You go it boss!" Danny on the other hand kept up his pursuit of the man. "Gah, where the hell's Don when you need him!" He huffed jumping over a pile of garbage cans the suspect tipped in an effort to stop Danny from pursuing. "NYPD, stop!" He yelled even though he knew it wouldn't stop him. Danny was almost sure he was going to lose him in traffic until Mac came flying out of the alley ahead knocking the suspect to the ground. "Haha, Boom!" Danny skidded to a halt a few feet from where Mac was handcuffing the man. "Way to go boss!"
"Heh..." Mac chuckled a bit at Danny's enthusiasm. "Next time you plan on running from the law you should try doing it before you decide to assault two officers with a door." Mac was just about to stand him up when a shadow blocked out the sun.
"Detective Taylor I presume?" A familiar man's voice carried over the street noise. Mac looked up to four figures standing before him, one he knew automatically to be Don but he didn't recognize the other three.
"Yes, who's asking?" He replied squinting from the light. Before speaking again the man pulled out a badge and held it up for Mac to see.
"I'm Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, this is Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo and Special Agent Ziva David we're with N.C.I.S." Gibbs paused as Mac gave him an odd look from his spot on the ground. "We spoke on the phone earlier."
Now Mac understood what was going on and why this mans voice sounded so familiar. He looked down at his suspect before looking back to the men and woman standing in front of him. The N.C.I.S agents had arrived in New York City.
