"Do you know anything about her?" Tony asked dryly.
"About who? Lieutenant Markham?" McGee looked confused.
Tony fought the urge to give some sharp answer. "Her sister." He said icily, his eyes boring into McGee's skull.
McGee gulped. "Uh, yes, her. We just know that her name is Elina and I have a picture of her, but it's kinda old, like I don't know, 10 years old. It wasn't in her file but I managed to find it." he said as he grabbed the remote control and turned the big screen on to show the picture of Elina Markham.
Or Juliet Ricks.
.
Tony's face turned pale as he saw the picture on the screen. It might be too young to be Juliet, but it was her nevertheless. Ten years hadn't changed her that much. Tony could never forget those eyes. How could he when he had been seeing them almost every night, for the past few weeks?
He felt lightheaded, and before he could embarrass himself by breaking down in front of everyone, he stormed out of the bullpen, with Gibbs a few seconds behind him.
"What just happened?" Ziva looked at their backs with confusion.
"I don't know." McGee replied slowly. "It seemed like Tony knew the girl."
"Maybe he had slept with her, No?"
"I don't know. Why would he react like that if that was the reason?"
"I guess we'll just have to wait and ask him later." Ziva shrugged and sat on her chair, continuing her search for finding Elina's number.
...
Gibbs found Tony in the gym. Tony was punching the bag furiously. All his emotions had turned to white hot rage and he needed to hit something or someone. So here he was, beating the crap out of the poor punching bag. Gibbs stood aside and let him unload his rage.
After a few long minutes, finally Tony stopped. He still was irritated, but he was out of breath and suddenly he felt that - What had Ducky called it? Sudden fatigue? Yeah- sudden fatigue overcame him. He sagged to the floor and closed his eyes. Gibbs was by his side in an instant.
"You alright?"
"Give me a minute." Tony murmured as he rubbed his chest spontaneously.
Gibbs sat there silently, thinking about calling Ducky. But he knew that the old ME couldn't do anything to help Tony. So he let him just rest to get his strength back.
Finally, Tony's hand fell from his chest and he took a deep breath. "I'm alright."
"OK. Let's move you to one of those chairs." Gibbs helped him up. "You wanna talk about it?" He asked as they sat on the chairs.
"Not really. I mean there's nothing to talk about. I don't even know why I reacted like that. It's just... Well, for a second I couldn't see anything but red. And I still don't know the reason. It's not like I didn't know that Juliet, or Elina? Or whatever, was involved, already."
"Maybe her picture was the trigger; or finding out that she's the sister of our missing lieutenant." Gibbs helped.
"I don't know. I just know that -"
"Boss." McGee rushed in. "I think we found the sister. Elina, I mean." He panted. "I mean, well, we didn't find her exactly. Lieutenant Markham's friend found her. She gave us a call just a few minutes ago."
Tony and Gibbs were out of the door before he could finish.
"Where?" Gibbs shouted over his shoulder.
"Uh, right. I'll just tell you." He entered the elevator. He couldn't say why he was feeling so bad, Tony's pale visage could be a reason. Being in the elevator with both Gibbs and Tony could be an even better one.
"Hurry up, McGee. Spit it. We can't lose her again." Gibbs barked.
"Again?" McGee couldn't get what Gibbs was talking about; he couldn't understand why it was so important or why they were acting like she was a fugitive.
"McGee." Gibbs shouted.
"Sorry. Sorry. Um, Miss Park, Lieutenant Markham's friend called and said that she is at her place with her. She said that Elina claimed that she needed a place for tonight."
"Has she told her that we're looking for her?"
"I do not think so." Ziva stepped in the conversation. "She does not know that. Here," She handed Tony a piece of paper with a number on it. "This is her number. You can call her and talk to her, yourself. Why is Elina so important? We are a team, yes? It seems like we two do not know everything."
"The address." Tony ignored her and asked McGee.
McGee silently gave him the address to her place.
"At least tell us what we should do." Ziva called out. But Gibbs and Tony were gone.
She cursed in Hebrew under her breath. "First they let us in. Then they do not tell us a damn thing. We have worked hard to find that information. Is it that hard to tell us what is going on?"
"I think this Elina is more important than we think. When I found them in the gym, Tony was so pale. He looked really spent." McGee stared at Elina's picture on the screen. "Maybe Abby can tell us something."
"Abby does not talk to us."
"She will if we tell her we're worried for Tony. They might need backup. Come on. Let's go to Abby."
...
"Abby?"
"What do you want?" She answered coldly.
"We have a question. It's about the case." McGee added quickly before Abby could throw them out.
"I don't have all day. Hurry up." Abby said when they didn't say anything.
"Ah, right. I thought I should wait for your permission."
"Permission granted." She said sarcastically.
"Do you know anything about Elina Markham? She's Lieutenant Markham's sister. Here is her picture. It's old, though." McGee showed her Elina's picture on his cellphone.
Abby's face dropped.
"Abby? You know her?"
"You said this person is Lisa's sister. You sure about it?"
"Positive. Why?"
"Because McGee, she is not Elina Markham; or at least not anymore. She's Juliet Ricks."
"And who is Juliet Ricks? How is that we do not know anything about her and why is she so important?" Ziva asked.
"Because you weren't there when you should have been. Because you are the reason she's out there, raping people and killing them. Because she's the girl that raped Tony while you two jackasses where enjoying your time out there. That's why, Ziva David." She shouted angrily at them.
Ziva and McGee were more than just shocked. They felt like their lungs were on fire and they were having a hard time breathing.
"Where are they? Where are Tony and Gibbs? Do they know about her?" She asked without any sympathy for their paled faces.
"They left." McGee whispered. "They didn't say a word; they just grabbed their gears and left us behind."
"Oh, now you wanna help? Of course they would leave you behind. They don't trust you, you dumbass. You're the reason for all the mess."
"McGee, come on, we need to go after them. They might need backup." Ziva turned around and ran out of the lab.
Abby grabbed Bert and sat on her chair, anxiously staring at her lab door.
...
"You ready for this?" Gibbs asked as they reached their destination.
Tony hesitated, but nodded finally.
"DiNozzo, look at me. Look at me." Gibbs repeated firmly when Tony refused to look him in the eyes. "All you need to do is stop doubting yourself and everything will be fine. You're great at this, Tony. Have some faith."
"You know, you'd make a good priest, too." Tony grinned.
Gibbs grunted.
They checked their weapons before putting them back in their holsters and then they left the car. They didn't expect any kind of commotion, but one can never be too careful.
...
They didn't really expect things to go sour and yes they were still pretty much ready. But they expected to at least knock at the door, confront Juliet, and then see some reaction. They sure weren't ready for being attacked from a window before they even reached the door.
Miss Park had told them that Juliet, or Elina as it was the name she was using again, wasn't aware of the fact that NCIS was looking for her. She hadn't even mentioned anything about them working on her sister's case. She was sure that Juliet didn't know that they wanted to question her. But apparently Juliet was cautious enough to check everyone who approached the house.
.
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... TBC ...
A/N: Umm, this one was a little smaller than usual, but I hope you still like it and tell me what you think. :D
Thank you so much for all the comments and reviews. :) .. And once again a huge thanks to XX-Samantha-XX, for her help. :)
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