Enjoy!!!


CHAPTER 8

"Uhmm… boss, we have a problem" McGee announced staring at his screen

"What is it, McGee?" Gibbs asked rushing to his agent's desk

Ziva, Tony, Sam and Christianne were all there and stopped talking waiting for McGee to give them the bad news and all Tony could think about was some gruesome tabloid picture of Liz's dead body found in Pakistan.

"We've lost the signal from Liz's device" He finally said

"What?! What do you mean?" Tony exclaimed outraged

Gibbs didn't waste time and called Callen immediately "Callen, what happened? We lost Liz's signal"

"I know, Gibbs, so did I" Callen said

"Ask them to connect you to MTAC" Gibbs said and hung up the phone "Sam, DiNozzo, Ziva, come with me"

He walked past Christianne and she looked at him confused.

"Excuse me, agent Gibbs" She said as he had started to climb the stairs "Shouldn't I go too? I mean, I'm part of this mission after all, aren't I?"

Gibbs said nothing and kept walking followed by the 3 agents. Sam shrugged at Christianne who looked at Gibbs as if he had just insulted her.

"McGee, do you know why I can't go?" She asked

"Nope… not a clue…" McGee lied. Of course he knew. They were going to talk to Callen about Sinclair's possible involvement in Liz's disappearance

Christianne, not fully convinced sat on Tony's desk and called her office in Alliance Base.

"Bonne journée, vous appelez le bureau de l'agent Dubois (Good day, you're calling to agent Dubois' office)" Christianne's assistant greeted

"Marie, c'est moi. Qu'est-ce que tu as sur l'assignation je t'ai donné? (Marie, it's me. What have you got on the assigment I gave you?)" Christianne asked feeling safe of talking through her secure private line

"Rien de plus. Bien que, je dois dire, agent Callen semble très intéressé par des activités de directeur Sinclair. Il m'a même demandé de lui (Nothing much. Although, I must say, agent Callen seems very interested in director Sinclair's activities. He even questioned me about him)" Marie explained

"Il soupçonne sans doute de lui... tout comme je ne... c'est pourquoi ils ne veulent pas de moi là-dedans... (He probably suspects of him... just as I do... that's why they don't want me in there...)" She said more to herself than to her assistant

"Voulez-vous que je continue avec la mission? (Do you want me to continue with the assignment?)"

"Oui, je sais de toute percée (Yes, let me know of any breakthrough)" Chris finished and hung up looking up at the upper floor

McGee watched Christianne as she spoke and secretively recorded her conversation. Gibbs has instructed him to report on any anomaly he noticed on Christianne.


In the meantime, upstairs, Gibbs had commanded a connection with Alliance Base MTAC.

Callen had asked everyone to leave him alone and they had obliged.

"Callen, what happened?" Gibbs asked

"I don't know, Gibbs. We checked if it worked correctly before she left and we were getting her signal until moments ago" Callen explained

"You should've gone with her, Callen" Tony exclaimed

"I couldn't"

"You couldn't or you didn't want to?" Tony snapped back infuriated

"Stop it, DiNozzo" Gibbs commanded and Tony shut up

"G, where is the last place you got her signal at?" Sam asked

"Exactly 15 miles north outside a city called Kel" Callen said and a map appeared on their screen

"Where was she hiding the device?" Ziva asked

"Behind her ear" Callen replied

"If they already have her…" Christianne intervened walking into the room "You have 2 options"

"Agent Dubois, I thought it was clear that you were not supposed to come up here" Gibbs said

"You didn't say anything so, no, it wasn't clear enough…" Christianne challenged Gibbs and then looked at the screen. Callen was looking right at her

"What are the options?" Sam asked noticing the tension

"Either Katani's men found the device…"

"Duh…" Tony mumbled

"Or they hit her in the head, near the device, damaging it"

"What? Damaging it? Don't you mean: damaging her?" Tony exclaimed

"Silence, DiNozzo. What do you suggest, Callen?" Gibbs asked

"We can't send a team to look for her. At least not yet"

"Not yet? Then when? When they've found her dead body somewhere near Pakistan?" Tony almost shouted, Liz's image coming to his head

"We have no idea where she is, Tony. Maybe we should wait until the next oil order is made" Ziva suggested

"A month? Do you know what can happen to her in a whole month?" Tony continued

"We know, DiNozzo but it's the best we've got" Gibbs said and Tony stormed out of the communications room "Callen, keep investigating our man, I'm sure he has something to do with it"

"You're talking about director Sinclair, aren't you?" Christianne asked

Everyone looked at each other uncomfortably but Gibbs nodded "Yes, agent Dubois, we are"

"You believe he is the mole that has been tipping Katani?" She continued

"We do"

"So do I" She said

"What?" Everyone chorused surprised

"Yes… I've been suspecting he is for quite sometime… that's why I recommended agent Callen for the mission. If there's someone who can make another person talk…" Christianne stopped and looked at Callen for a moment before continuing "That's agent Callen…"

Callen felt the sadness in her look and he wished to see her soon and ask for forgiveness.

"Do you have anything on him?" Ziva asked

"No, not yet. I've been investigating him for a couple of months now but I haven't been able to find anything" She replied

"We'll keep working on that, then and wait for the next oil order to make our move" Sam said

And that was all they could do.


For the next month they heard nothing of Liz or her whereabouts. She had vanished from the face of the Earth and every night, Tony made the greatest effort not to lose his mind and let it deceive him with images of Liz being tortured or killed.

In Lyon, Callen continued the inside investigation on Alliance Base being as careful as possible to hide his true purpose: reveal director Sinclair's real moves.

Christianne helped the NCIS team to track all the steps Katani's men gave outside their 'zone'.

One of her expertises was on the Middle East and thanks to that, she knew some people who she thought could help them find Katani's lair and, of course, Liz. But all failed. Katani was a ghost.

Even Ziva contacted a few of her Mossad connections with no avail.

Director Vance informed the SAS of the problem and they were added to Liz's search.

And so, the holidays came and went and one normal Tuesday noon during the second week of January, Tony, who had turned much more quiet and serious since Liz's disappearance, suddenly slammed his fist against his desk and stood up.

"That's it!" He exclaimed as everyone around them turned to look at him

"Tony…" McGee started

"No, Tim, I'm sorry, I can't take it anymore. I've had it. I've waited a whole month, just like you asked me to do and now, it's time for us to do something. I don't care if Bernard Sinclair had something to do with it, I don't care if neither of you want to come with me or not but I am going to Kashmir to find Liz"

Everyone remained silent as Tony finished his speech.

Gibbs stood up and walked up to his senior agent and then slapped him in the back of the head.

"What took you so long, DiNozzo?" The functional mute, as Tony had once described Gibbs, scolded "What's the plan?"

"I've been working on it, boss" Tony proudly said taking out of his drawer a file full of details in the 'mission' he had been planning since the day Liz had disappeared and Gibbs smiled "The next oil order is due on Friday. I was thinking of hiding in the truck, wearing a tracking device, such as Liz's and once they've found me, I'll lead you to them"

"Sounds good, Tony but they will probably kill you when they find you. They only take agents as hostages" Sam pointed out

"I never said I would hide my identity. I'm gonna carry my badge if necessary"

"And what about the rescue mission?" Christianne asked

"A small rescue team followed by a bigger one to attack the place and give us safe passage out of it" Ziva proposed

"You're coming?" Tony asked surprised

"Of course. I am not going to let you have all the fun without me" Ziva replied smiling and Tony nodded

"I'm going too" Tim said "Liz is my friend as well…"

"We'll have to divide ourselves in strong teams" Christianne added

"Callen should come" Sam commented and received a deadly look from Christianne but she knew he was right

"What do you say, boss?" Tony asked

"I say…" Gibbs started but then looked up and saw Vance watching them from the upper level banister "I say do it"

It was then when Vance motioned him to follow him into his office. With an irritated sigh, Gibbs did so.

"Do you have anything to say, Leon?" He asked closing the door as irritated as before

"Your team is planning a rescue mission" Vance pointed out the obvious

"So?"

"So, you need Alliance Base's and SAS' clearance, Gibbs"

"I don't need that to function; you do"

"That is precisely the problem, Gibbs. Maybe you should convince yourself and your team, especially agent DiNozzo that agent Hadley is probably dead by now"

"Ziva survived for 4 months in a prisoner camp, what makes you think Liz can't make it?" Gibbs asked and then narrowed his eyes "Unless there's something you know that I don't and I should…"

Vance didn't answer. He continued to chew his toothpick and, enraged, Gibbs strode around the desk and grabbed his so-called boss by the collar of his shirt menacingly.

"What do you know?" He asked

"Bernard Sinclair" Vance calmly replied

"What about him?"

"Your team has been secretly investigating him and that includes Callen"

"And…?"

Vance looked at Gibbs as if he was demanding the agent to release him. Gibbs did so but his temper didn't cool off.

"I talked to the DGSE's chairman, to see if they knew anything about agent Hadley. They didn't but they mentioned their suspicions about Sinclair. I told them agent Callen was already working on that and…"

"And…"

"And they said Sinclair and Katani have a connection"

"What kind of connection?"

"Katani was raised in Paris, as was Sinclair and they happened to attend the same university"

"They know each other… that's why Katani trusts him" Gibbs deduced more calm

"Yes" Gibbs said no more and walked to the door "Gibbs" Vance called and he stopped "I'll get you the clearance you need for the rescue"

"Thank you" Gibbs said and exited the office and rushed back downstairs "Sinclair is making sure every agent he sends doesn't come back" He announced to his team

"What do you mean?" Christianne asked

"He and Katani met in college. That's their connection"

"Katani's probably paying Sinclair for his service" Sam said

"That's the anomaly Liz meant" McGee commented gaining everyone's attention "She insisted on us checking Sinclair's bank accounts, remember, boss?" He asked and Gibbs nodded "She might've thought he was getting paid for his treason. I did happen to find that his accounts were always full, up to this day"

Gibbs wasted no time and called Callen to inform him on this.

They both agreed that he would do nothing until the team arrived to France.

"We're going to France?" McGee asked excited

"Yes, McGee. We leave tonight" Gibbs replied conclusively


Thank you so much to all of you who have continued reading and to all of those newies reading this for the first time MWAH!!!

Koo Koo Kah Choo! xoxo