Hellooo people! I said I would update this week! Again, I am sorry for the atrocious updating schedule, but I think I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'll do my best to update as quickly as possible!

Thank you to all the lovely reviews. I loved every single one, and I thank you for your kind words and advice. I hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 7: The Unanswered Question

Both teams spent the next two hours hard at work. Abby and Eric successfully went through all the evidence, finding nothing. There was a not a single fingerprint or hair left behind by the kidnappers. They were pros.

Or so the teams thought. That was until McGee and Sam called everyone over to their computers.

As soon as everyone was settled, McGee began his usual tech-harangue. After several minutes of blank stares and wandering minds as McGee babbled on, Gibbs finally said.

"Would you just get on with it, McGee?"

"Right, Boss…uh sorry. Okay, so Sam and I were looking through the security tapes of Dom's apartment building, just to discover that, naturally, they were all erased during the time of the kidnapping."

"So, how exactly does that help us?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, after unsuccessfully trying to find anything useful on the apartment footage, I tried looking around to see if any cameras from any surrounding buildings caught anything."

"And did they?" Callen asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, they did. An office supply shop in the complex next to the apartments likes to keep a security camera in the alley between it and the apartments ever since a break-in they had two years ago. For being pros, they weren't very professional. They didn't even think of checking for other local cameras. Now, the resolution is kind of blurry but we found this."

McGee clicked a couple of keys on his keyboard and a video popped up. After pressing play, both teams could see a hazy image of three black SUVs sauntering into the alley. They came to a stop and the back doors opened, releasing many a man from each vehicle. Gibbs was able to count twenty-eight men, including the three men driving the cars.

The other twenty-five men are seen silently sneaking up the fire escape to the fifth floor, one by one slipping into Dom's bedroom window.

Here, McGee paused it and Sam spoke.

"We think that half the men stayed in the bedroom while the other half went through the apartment and into the hallway where they took out Agents Sweeney and Wilson. Once they were out, they probably turned the corner in the hall and hid the bodies and waited."

Everyone silently absorbed this new information before Callen thought of something.

"Wait, why were they back at his apartment anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they have Dom. Why go to his apartment? What were they doing there?"

Everyone sat stunned, never haven thought of why they were there. Were they hiding evidence? Creating false evidence? Did they leave something behind? Or were they trying to find something?

Nobody knew the answers to these questions. Gibbs looked to McGee and told him to continue the tape.

It started up again, but nothing was happening on the screen. The cars were parked in the alley, and you could see birds flying in the sky, but the men never made another appearance.

McGee started fast-forwarding the tape, and it wasn't for another ten minutes until you could see one of the men. Not one, but three. They climbed back out the window, one holding a black sack in their arms. The three men carried it down the fire escape and into one of the SUVs, before climbing back up the escape and into the apartment.

Nothing happened again, until McGee fast-forwarded the tape. Fifteen minutes after the men had disappeared back in the window, more men started climbing back out.

About ten climbed out the window empty-handed, until you could see a body being passed through the window to the waiting men. McGee pressed a few keys, and the camera zoomed in on their face. Through the muggy clarity of the cheap security camera, both teams could still easily identify Ziva. She had blood in her hair and it was visible on her shirt as well. She was obviously out cold, being passed lifelessly from person to person, down the fire escape and into one of the SUVs.

As Ziva's body reached the SUV, another body was seen being passed through the window. This time, it was obviously Kensi's. She too was passed like a ragdoll down the escape and to the SUV, the unit of men in her wake. As soon as everyone was in a car, they slowly crept out of the alley, turning left into the busy streets of Los Angeles.

It was silent for a minute before Tony asked, "Can you see the license plates on the cars, Probie?"

McGee sadly shook his head. "No, the image is way too fuzzy, even with clearing it up with the best software we have, it's still too blurry."

"How about following the cars through the streets using street security cameras like you did with me when my car blew up?" Tony tried, desperate to find his partner.

Eric, Sam, and Callen looked baffled at the memory, but let it pass.

McGee sighed and shook his head again.

"There were too many cars. Without knowing the license plates, it's very hard to follow a plain, black SUV in all the city traffic. You had a vintage blue Mustang, very easy to track. Not so much with average black SUVs, there's just too many of them."

The room was silent once more, both teams knowing they had reached somewhat of a dead-end.

At last Tony clasped a hand on McGee's shoulder and said. "It was a nice try, Probie, even if we didn't get anything out of it."

"Oh, we got something out of it." Gibbs contradicted.

"What?"

"The sack. The men carried out a sack. They weren't there to take Ziva and Kensi; they had no way of knowing you would be there. They were there to find something, and they obviously found it. You just got there before they could make an escape."

Sam squinted at the screen, thinking a thousand thoughts a second.

"What were they looking for?"

Nobody answered. Nobody knew.

Fin. For now. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Please review if you can! :)