Here is chapter six! I tried to make it a little long because I don't know when I'll be updating next. Probably not until summer so sorry. But please enjoy this chapter!
~NZA
A white hot pain shot up McGee's arm when he tried to move it. Where was he? It felt as though an elephant had been tap dancing on his face. There was definitely going to be a bruise. Probably a black eye. He remembered the lights going out in MTAC and then being hit with something, so he must have been knocked unconscious. Then he woke up here. But where was here?
He slowly glanced around, careful not to jostle his arm. The lighting wasn't very good but from what he could tell, he was handcuffed to a desk in the Cyber Crimes Unit. So he was still alive, which meant Vance, Ducky, and Ziva probably were as well. He gave a small sigh of relief.
They were alive now, he reminded himself. But what happened at the end of this terrible game? Eventually, everyone would be separated and what then? Would Creepy Voice and his men simply kill them all? Or would they leave and let people find them chained up in various rooms?
Tim tried to focus on the big picture but it was hard to ignore the throbbing in his arm. He attempted to get a better look at it in the dim light and found that there was a three inch long gash running along his forearm. His skin and shirt were crusted with dry blood but the cut didn't seem very deep and no longer appeared to be bleeding. That was good at least, McGee told himself. He shifted his feet under him, trying to stand, but collapsed as another pain shot up his leg and he groaned.
"Must have sprained my ankle somehow," he whispered. Suddenly, he heard a footstep and then there was a pricking sensation in his neck. His world went black.
"Oh my God! They took McGee!" Abby cried.
"It'll be alright, Abby," Palmer tried.
"No! No, it won't, this is terrible. How could anyone do this? Ziva, she's strong and she's a fighter and Vance, he strikes me as the kind of guy to fight too. But Ducky! He's just a friendly old man, he can't fight for himself! Remember that time he was kidnapped by that crazy mortician? And McGee, oh McGee. Timmy's just… Timmy. He works with computers and he writes books about his coworkers, though he won't admit it, and he's just a softie. He won't-"
"Abs," Gibbs interrupted, "McGee's a good agent. He'll be okay."
"Yeah. He's a fighter, just like the rest of us," Tony reassured.
"You really think they're all okay?" Abby sniffed and tried to wipe her tears on her shoulder.
"Of course they'll be okay. Because they aren't allowed to be anything but," Palmer, surprisingly, stated with certainty.
"And as soon as this bastard makes one mistake, he's gonna wish he was never born," said Pete Gosweiler.
Abby sniffed again. "Thanks guys."
"No problem," Gosweiler replied. "This guy bruised my beautiful face and for that, he's going to pay."
"Oh, shut up, Pete." Albritton laughed.
Vance was starting to lose feeling in his arms. He shifted positions but it did no good. He'd always liked his office, with its nice view of the harbor and his own private liquor cabinet. Except for when Gibbs or one of his agents burst in, it was somewhat of a quiet sanctuary for him.
He glanced over at the photograph of his son and daughter, Jared and Kayla, with his wife Jackie. He missed them already. They would know soon about what was happening here, if they hadn't found out already. He hoped they hadn't, and that Jared and Kayla were enjoying their day at school and that his wife was enjoying her day at work. He didn't want them to be worried about him. He had argued with Jared that morning about getting a skateboard. Would they ever get to make up? he wondered. He didn't want to die without apologizing to his boy. And he especially didn't want to die without getting the chance to say goodbye.
Whoever these kidnappers were, their prison sentences- if they even made it out alive- were going to be very long.
Ducky wished he could get up and stretch. Unfortunately, it appeared that that was not going to be happening anytime soon. He was thankful that his mother was no longer in need of care. How long they would be held here, he didn't know, and she would have been terribly upset if he hadn't shown up on time.
If only Mr. Palmer were here, he mused. Then at least he would have someone to tell one of his drawn-out stories too. And he had a feeling that in this case, anyone listening would have done so attentively for a change.
"Uh oh." Tony groaned as the lights went out again. This couldn't be anything good. His face hurt, his wrists hurt, some of his friends were missing, and he was just not in a good mood. And he had a feeling that none of the others were either.
But this time was different. No distraction, no knock to the face with the butt of a gun, no drugs injected into their bloodstream, no knockout gas. Just three men in dark clothing that burst through the doors of MTAC. One moved toward the dolls and removed one, exiting just as quickly as he had appeared. The other two moved to Abby's hunched over figure and began untying her bindings.
"Gibbs!" she screamed. "Help me! Gibbs!"
"Abby!" Gibbs struggled against his bindings but it was no use. He hadn't gotten them loose enough yet.
Abby screamed again as the two men struggled to drag her out of the room. Finally, getting fed up, one of them pulled an object from their waste and clubbed her with it. She went limp and silent instantly.
Gibbs was pissed. He struggled more but succeeded only in badly chafing his wrists. Behind him, he heard the doors slam shut. "Damn it!" he yelled, ramming his arm down on the chair's armrest.
The speakers crackled. The sound of the electronic chuckle bounced around the room. "Calm down now, Agent Gibbs."
"You bastard!" Gibbs shouted. He banged on the armrest again.
"Shhhhh." It sounded more like static coming over the speaker. "Cheer up everyone. I have more of the poem for you to enjoy…
Six NCIS agents still well and alive,
We snagged one more and then there were five."
They heard rustling, as though Creepy Voice was moving around wherever he was. "If you'll excuse me now, I must go," he said. "It seems there was a problem with your Agent David. Tenacious little thing. Tried to escape. Now she must be punished. Goodbye."
Tony emitted an angry grunt. Hopefully Ziva would be okay.
Gibbs's gut churned. These guys were going to die.
Click. Ziva grinned. She did it. She reveled momentarily in the silence following the click as the handcuffs chaining her to the shelf came unlocked. Now to just get out of here and help the others.
Preparing herself for the inevitable pain, Ziva gripped the edge of the shelf and slowly pulled herself to standing. She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, breathing through the intense burning sensation in her leg. After a minute, she tested her weight on the injured leg. It didn't feel broken but the gunshot wound hurt like hell. But it wasn't anything she hadn't had before and so she set all thoughts of pain aside.
Slowly and silently, Ziva limped to the door of the maintenance closet. As gently as she could, she began to turn the knob and pull open the door a crack. She peeked through the slit but could barely see anything. The hall outside the closet was barely lit. Opening the door just wide enough for her body to slip through, Ziva made her way out into the dark hallway.
Big mistake. Just as she came out, one of Creepy Voice's men rounded the corner, spotting her.
"Hey!" he yelled. He ran towards her and Ziva tried to run as well but her leg made that nearly impossible. She had to fight him. As soon as he grabbed her, she twisted his arm away and flipped him over her shoulder. The effort made her leg give out and she toppled onto him with a grunt. This gave the man the opportunity to overpower her and he took it with gusto, pulling a nightstick from his waist and bringing it down on the back of her head with all of the force he could muster.
All Ziva heard before blacking out was a quiet tsk tsking sound and heavy footsteps moving slowly towards her.
