Chapter 8
Gibbs, Ziva and Abby are in the car driving toward Atlanta, Georgia, hoping they'll soon get fix on Brain's cell-phone or come across Danielle or at least be closer then there were if they stayed in Danville, Virginia. They're driving down interstate 85 in North Carolina. Abby sees something pop onto the computer.
"Gibbs! We got a location!"
"Where?"
"He's in Lexington, North Carolina…"
"That's just 20 minutes away."
Gibbs steps on the gas pedal as hard as he could. They sped the rest of the way to get to Lexington, North Carolina. They stop at where Brain's car is. The driver's and passenger door were open. Gibbs sees an arm hanging out of the driver's side door.
"Abs, stay in the car."
Abby gets back into the car. Gibbs and Ziva cautiously approach the car with their guns drawn. Gibbs approaches the driver's side and sees blood starting to drip from the car. He then sees Brian's body. He puts his gun away as he sees there's no danger and that Brian is still alive.
"Ziva, call 911!"
Ziva gets on her phone to make the call.
"Brian, my name is Special Agent Gibbs. I'm with NCIS. I'm here to help. Where's Danielle?"
"She… Ran off."
"In what direction?"
Brian points in the direction Danielle ran off in then Brian's arm drops. Gibbs feels Brain's wrist for a pulse but it was too late. Gibbs and Ziva run to the car and sped off in the direction Danielle went. They drove around for a bit. After a couple minutes, Abby notices a girl.
"There she is!"
Gibbs turns the car onto the street Abby saw her on. Danielle sees the car coming toward her and runs. She then turns and runs into a building. Gibbs stops the car next to the building.
"Abs, come with me." Gibbs gets out of the car. "Ziva, take the car and go around back."
Abby gets out of the car. Ziva moves over into the driver's seat. She then speeds toward the other side of the building. Gibbs and Abby run into the building. Danielle is hiding in a closest with the door opened a crack. When she saw Gibbs run passed, she runs out of the closet in the opposite direction. Gibbs and Abby get outside the building where Ziva is.
"Did she come out?" Gibbs asked.
"No." Ziva answered.
"Ziva drive around the area, she couldn't have gotten far."
Ziva drives off while Gibbs and Abby run back through the building to the other side. When they get to the other side, they don't see Danielle anywhere. They each run in a different direction.
After 25 minutes of searching, Gibbs sees Danielle, in the distance, walking down an empty street. She's walking along the curb with her back toward Gibbs so she doesn't see him. He looks up the street and sees a car at the top of the hill. He notices the front end is all banged up and realizes that's the car that tried to run Danielle off the road. The car begins moving forward and eventually speeds up. Gibbs pulls out his gun and fires a couple shots. The car swerves to the right to go down a side street. Gibbs runs in the direction Danielle is in. Danielle walks passed one of the side streets and continues down the street. Suddenly, the car came out from that side street. Gibbs fired a couple shots again as the car sped towards Danielle. The NCIS car with Ziva is driving comes speeding out of nowhere and rams into the car James is in. Both cars spin out of control. Once gaining control, James drives off down another side street. Gibbs comes to see if Ziva is alright.
"You alright?"
"My shoulder kinda hurts, but I'm fine." Ziva stated. "Go get Danielle."
Gibbs continues down the street in order to get to Danielle. She turns around to see if anybody is following her. She sees Gibbs and runs. She runs down a side street and Gibbs follows. Gibbs chases Danielle for a little while up and down a bunch of streets.
While chasing Danielle down a street, Gibbs notices a James' car is on the side street heading in toward the street they're on. The car screeches as it turns the corner to get onto the street and not too far away from where Danielle is. Danielle stops in her tracks and is frozen in fear as the car is racing toward her. While still running toward Danielle, Gibbs pulls out his gun again but since he's somewhat behind Danielle he has no clear shot.
Abby comes running from the side and jumps at Danielle, she grabs her while in the air and the both of them go rolling off to the side as the car passes them. With having a clear shot and the car speeding toward him, Gibbs fires a couple shots at the wind-shield of the car on the driver's side. One of the bullets hits James in the head making the car swerve to the left and hitting a telephone pole. Gibbs runs to the car only to see James is dead. He puts his gun away when he realizes he is dead.
As Gibbs begins to walk over to Abby and Danielle, he sees that Danielle is getting really anxious. Gibbs thought she would try to run, so he stops and backs up a bit. While sitting on the ground, Abby gently places her hand on Danielle's cheek and gently moves her head to face her. Abby begins sign language to Danielle and she responds.
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The sign language conversation
"We're here to help. My name is Abby."
"Who is he?"
"That's Special Agent Gibbs."
Danielle looks at Gibbs.
"Hi." Gibbs signs.
"Hello." Danielle signs back.
Danielle looks back at Abby.
"He works for NCIS."
"What's NCIS?"
"Naval Criminal Investigative Service."
"Navy cops?"
"Yes."
"I didn't do anything wrong!"
"We know."
"Then why chase me?"
"We know what happened at home and why he was after you. We've been looking for you in order to protect you from him."
"But you don't look like a cop."
"I work in the Forensics lab. I'm the Forensic Specialist for NCIS."
"They don't have a dress code?"
"They do. But Gibbs makes sure that dress code doesn't apply to me since I work better when I feel comfortable. And this is the way I feel most comfortable."
"That's nice of him."
"Yes it is. He's not such a bad guy."
"I'm afraid of cops." Danielle sighs.
"I know what happened to you and I'm sorry."
"My sister? She was supposed to come home this morning. Is she ok?"
Abby looks to Gibbs and so does Danielle.
"I'm sorry." Gibbs signs.
Abby and Danielle look at each other again. Danielle has an expression of sadness upon her face.
"I'm so sorry for your lost Danielle."
"What will happen to me? Where will I go?"
"Probably go live with other family members."
"The only other family members I have are my Grandparents. I love them."
"Is it alright if we bring you there?"
"Yes."
"Want to go now?"
"Can we eat something first? I'm really hungry."
"Of course we can."
End sign language conversation
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Abby and Danielle stand up just as Ziva finally drives into the area after trying to find where everybody is. Gibbs calls the local police about the second car with a dead body inside. After making the phone-call, all four of them get into the car and go off to find someplace to get a bite to eat.
