Chapter 8

Tim felt himself wake up, but he wasn't happy about it. His head was throbbing unpleasantly and his brain was swimming through soup. His stomach was roiling and he noticed that he couldn't move his arms. All in all, this wasn't a promising start to consciousness.

Still, he tried not to move and reveal his current state. Whoever had done this to him had kept him alive and he was sure he wasn't on the beach anymore. So he had taken him somewhere. Taken him for a purpose.

Why?

Why would this man, whoever he was, do that? Tim hadn't got a good look at him before getting whomped on. He seemed to remember the man saying something to him about not getting away.

...but who could think that about him? Tim hadn't run away from anyone that he knew of. The only person who had ever done anything to him was dead and she hadn't even had any family...besides a selkie.

He heard movement and remained still, trying to think through the pea soup of his brain and figure out what had happened and why.

There hadn't been any seals around. He was just a guy swimming in the ocean. He'd gone a little too far, but he'd got back fine, and that meant that there was no reason to have anyone watching him and wondering.

What is going on?

One thing was for sure. He was in trouble, and no one knew it. At least, he was going to work on that assumption. If no one knew he was in trouble, that meant it would be more than a day before anyone would even know he was missing.

Gibbs will never let me go anywhere again, Tim thought to himself. He hadn't been doing anything dangerous and he still got into trouble.

I'm turning into Tony.

But wait. There might be a way of getting help.

...but could he do it?

Right now, while he was still supposedly unconscious, he might be able to reach out and find his father. He'd never done it away from the ocean, never even tried it away from the ocean. Still, if he was going to succeed with anyone, his father was his best bet.

With his eyes still closed, he tried to shift into that other state, the one that allowed him to sense the people around him, the minds, the souls. It was hard to do, but he kept trying, even through his throbbing headache. He felt the strange, twisted mind of the man close to him and he pushed away from that. He started spiraling outward from where he was. He didn't know where he was, although he guessed he wasn't too far from the beach where he'd been swimming.

Out and out. He started to tremble, hoping that it wasn't visible to his captor. It was so hard to find the selkies, but he knew they were out there. He knew his father's mind would be receptive. He pressed on until he thought his brain might start oozing out his ears.

Then, finally, he found it. His father was asleep. He pushed on that familiar selkie mind as much as he could, called for help and then had to retreat in complete exhaustion.

Everything started to go fuzzy again, only this time from the mental exertion instead of the blunt force trauma. He thought he heard a voice, but then, he was gone in the blackness, hoping that he'd succeeded.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The next time he awakened, he was still tired, but he felt less sick.

Unfortunately, he opened his eyes without thinking.

"You're awake. Good."

Tim turned his head and winced at the pain. He couldn't quite see who was there.

"I don't know what you want," he said, "but you've made a big mistake in assaulting me."

"I don't think I have," the man said.

He was standing just out of sight. Tim couldn't get a good look at him no matter how he craned his neck.

"You're the man who swims with the seals."

Tim's heart sank. How had he known? Tim hadn't ever seen anyone close enough to identify him when he'd gone swimming. He didn't have to agree, though. Why confirm something like that? There was no point.

"Am I?" he asked.

"You swim with the seals and you know who the selkies are."

"What?"

Suddenly, there was a movement and Tim was lifted off the ground where he lay and shaken.

"You know where the selkies are. You know who they are and you will tell me what I want to know!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tim said, hoping that he could keep the truth away from this man.

"Yes, you do!" the man shouted.

He threw Tim back to the ground and finally gave Tim a good look at his captor.

His heart sank all the way to his shoes. He saw the two patches of discolored skin by the man's ear. He had dark hair, a goatee and light blue eyes that seemed at odds with his dark coloring.

This was the man that the selkies had noticed watching them.

I wasn't even looking for him! How in the world can I be that unlucky?

"I don't understand what you mean. I was swimming. People do that all the time," he said, keeping his voice calm. After all, there hadn't been any seals around last night. "Look, if you just let me go, I won't tell anyone."

The man seemed infuriated by Tim's reply.

"You won't blow me off so easily," he said. "If you tell me what I want to know, I'll let you go. If you don't, I'll keep you and I'll make you tell me."

"I can't tell you what I don't know," Tim said.

"But you can tell me what you do know. And you know where the selkies are."

"I don't even know what a selkie is," Tim said, lying through his teeth. He'd been told he was a terrible liar before, but more lives than his own depended on it. He could see it. This man had bad intentions if he found what he was looking for. "What are you talking about?"

The man kicked his leg. Hard. Tim winced.

"I will not take no for an answer. I will not stand for you protecting them. They're more insidious than aliens would be. They can look just like us!"

Even though the situation was bad, Tim almost smiled. Yes, selkies could look just like humans. What would this man do if he knew he was talking to a selkie right now?

"Aliens?" Tim asked, infusing some skepticism into his voice.

"You think you can get away with that?" the man asked. "I will not let you keep these bizarre freaks of nature a secret! No one believes me! I tell them that they're out there, just waiting, biding their time, but no one believes me. They write me off as a lunatic. When I get a real selkie and I show it to the world, then, we'll know what to do to keep them in their place. Then, we'll know. And everyone will help me. They'll be beating down my door, looking to me to lead them."

"Okay...if you say so," Tim said.

The man kicked him again.

"Tell me where they are!" he shouted.

"I can't tell you what I don't know!" Tim said again.

The man let out a frustrated shout and kicked Tim once more. Then, he stormed away from where Tim was lying on the ground. How long would he keep this up? Tim didn't know, but he did know one thing.

This was not looking good. He could try to contact the selkies again, but if this was the man looking for them, there was no way that he'd try to lead them to him.

No, he would just have to wait and hope that he could either get out on his own or that his team would find him...once they realized he was missing.

That was the problem. How long would it take?

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Monday afternoon...

Tim wasn't in yet, and Gibbs wanted to see how his weekend had gone. If he had driven a long way, he could believe that Tim might be late, however out of character that might seem. He hadn't mentioned it yet, hoping that Tim would show up in moments.

His phone rang while Gibbs was staring at Tim's empty desk.

"Gibbs."

"Hey, Agent Gibbs, there's a man down here I think is looking for you."

"You think?"

"He doesn't know any names, but his description sounded like you, and he insists that his son works here, although he didn't have a name for him, either." Henry's voice lowered. "He's kind of a weird guy. If you want me to tell him to get lost, I'm more than happy to do it."

"What does he look like?"

"Tall, dark hair. It's pretty long hair, but he's clean shaven. He has dark eyes, too."

Could it be–?

"I'll be right down."

"Okay."

Gibbs hung up and hurried down to the main entrance. Henry was standing at his usual post, but he definitely didn't seem too happy about it. The man he'd described was standing patiently without moving. All he had with him was a small pack slung over his shoulder.

Gibbs recognized him. It was Tim's father...his selkie father.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. They didn't have names that he knew of.

"I need to speak with you," the selkie said. "It is very important."

"You all right with coming inside?"

He looked around the space, evaluating. Gibbs couldn't help wondering just how often the selkies were ever indoors.

"Yes. I will come with you."

Gibbs looked at the old security guard. "Thanks, Henry. It's fine. I know him."

"All right, Agent Gibbs." He handed the selkie a visitor pass.

The selkie looked at it and then simply held it in his hand without any comprehension as to its purpose. Gibbs gestured for the selkie to follow him to the elevator. They got on and the selkie had to balance himself when it started to move.

"What is this?"

"It's an elevator."

"We are moving?"

"Yes. It's a way of getting up to different parts of the building."

"Interesting."

Gibbs reached over and flipped off the elevator. The jolt made the selkie have to balance himself again.

"And it's also a place that I use when I need to have private conversations. Why are you here?"

"As I said, it is very important."

"What is it?"

"Has the one called my son been here today?"

"No." This didn't sound good.

"I thought that would be the case."

"What?"

"I felt him call for help in the night. When I tried to contact him again, I could not. In the day, I searched again, but even though I know his mind, it was not where I could find it."

"And you came here? Why?"

"You humans are friends to him. I do not know where he is for certain, but he is much closer to this place than to where the seals are."

"And you could just come here? No problems?"

The selkie smiled slightly. "I may have had to convince them to let me go and come back later."

"Why did you? If it's against the rules..."

"I made a promise. I cannot be a true selkie if I am willing to break my word. It is all we have. I promised that I would care for him. He needs help. He asked for it. I will give it."

"Do you know what happened?"

"No. I was sleeping when he touched my mind. The contact was not long enough for anything more than to tell me it was him. I have not spoken to him since I asked for his help."

"You did? What for?" Gibbs asked, surprised that there had been any contact between the two.

"There was a man watching the seals. It seemed to be a man who was looking for us and we asked the skinless one to help us find out who he is, what his reasons may be. He agreed to do that."

"I didn't know anything about that."

"I cannot say what he was going to do, but he got a description of him from the other and promised to try."

A description. That meant he had likely gone to Abby. Why hadn't he mentioned it to anyone else? Had he lied about what he was doing on the weekend? If so, and Tim had gone looking for this guy on his own, Gibbs was going to ream him when they found him.

When.

"I think this might have something to do with Tim being missing. Can you come with me or will that be a problem?"

"I cannot return to my herd until we have found him. I will go where you would like to lead me, although I will warn you that if your intention is to trick me, I will not submit easily."

That was a genuine warning, and while Gibbs considered himself more than equal to any intimidation, he could admit that he would hate to have to fight against the selkie. He could see how strong he was.

"No tricks."

"Then, I will not have to kill you."

Gibbs smiled, but he knew that was no idle threat. He started up the elevator and led the selkie to the bullpen.

Tony and Ziva were at their desks. They both glanced up and then looked back down...and then, looked up again. They both recognized the selkie.

"You! What–?" Tony started to sputter in surprise.

"Not here," Gibbs muttered. "We're going down to see Abby."

"What's going on, Boss?" Tony asked in a low voice.

"McGee is missing."

That was all it took. Tony and Ziva followed and they went down to Abby's lab.

Abby turned around and smiled at them all. She clearly didn't expect anything.

"What's up, Gibbs? I hadn't heard there was a new case."

"What were you doing for McGee?"

Abby started to hedge, but not in a way that made her seem worried.

"Did Vance find out? Tim wasn't sure about that, and I know he really doesn't want to get in trouble again. He's afraid he'll get fired this time."

"What were you doing, Abbs?"

"He gave me a really weird description of some guy and he wanted me to see if he would show up in any records. It's been running for more than week."

"Why?"

Now, she was really hedging.

"Well...I...Gibbs, it's just that..."

"Abby, we know about who asked him to do this."

"You do? How?"

Gibbs gestured to the selkie.

"This is Tim's father."

Abby's mouth dropped open and stayed that way for a few seconds. Then, she started talking.

"Wow...his...real father. Wow! That is so cool! I never thought that I'd have you...here...in my lab! Wow! I can't believe it! And you look so normal. I mean, I'd never guess that you were..." She tripped over saying it aloud. "And I can see it in you! I mean, you don't look a whole lot like him, but you really do have some of the same...looks. This is so totally amazing. I wish I could just take a DNA sample right now and..."

"Abby!" Gibbs said loudly.

"What? Why were you asking me about this, if you already knew? Was it some kind of test, Gibbs? I'm hurt."

"Abby, do you know where McGee is?"

Finally, it hit her, and she realized that something was wrong.

"No. Why? What happened?"

"We don't know," Gibbs said. "He called his father for help, but that's all we know. Was he planning on searching for this guy himself?"

"No!" Abby said, instantly. "No, not at all. He promised me that he had no plans for that. He wasn't going to tell anyone unless we found out anything about him. I still have it running and there have been no hits yet. He didn't want to remind you guys about...that. If we found something and it looked dangerous, he was going to tell you, Gibbs. I promise. That's what he said and he meant it!"

"Do you know where he was going this weekend?"

"Along the coast, north of here. That's all. He was looking for his mom, he said."

"He was?" Tony asked. "Really?"

"He's been doing that for a few weeks, now," Gibbs said.

"Really?" Ziva asked. "That is not something he has even mentioned to us."

"I think he doesn't like to remind people about everything," Abby said. "With how much people still don't like him here, he's really self-conscious."

"Why?" the selkie asked. It was the first time he'd spoken in front of them. "What has he done?"

"Well, back when that happened, Tim threatened Jimmy and me so that he'd get the others to follow him. The gun was empty, but we didn't know that at the time. People heard about it, here, and they don't trust him."

"Why not? He did not shoot anyone. He had no intention to cause any harm at all. He did all that he did so that he could stay here and to help the other. Is this what humans are like? Intentions do not matter, only what things appear to be?"

"We don't feel that way," Abby said. "It's the others who don't know what really happened."

"Why not?" the selkie asked. "Of course, he cannot tell all of it, but why have none of you told them what happened? Why have you let others think he is in the wrong when he is not?"

"It's not that simple."

"It should be, but that is not why I am here. He is in danger somewhere, and you are the ones who have the ability to search for him. I will help where I can, but I need your help to do so. Will you do this?"

"Of course!" Ziva said. "If Tim needs help, we could not do anything else."

"Good. How will you start?"

Gibbs looked at Tony and raised an eyebrow.

"BOLO on McGee's car. On it, Boss."

"Check out his apartment and see if there are any clues there," Ziva said.

They both turned and left the lab.

"You also communicate without words?" the selkie asked.

Abby laughed.

"It's training," Gibbs said.

"I see. What is this bolo?"

"It's a notice for police to look for his car and if they see it, to call us."

"This works?"

"A lot of the time, it does."

"How long does it take?"

"That depends. We'll send it all over the coast, not knowing exactly where he was going."

The selkie nodded and looked around the lab, with some curiosity.

"I have never seen a place like this."

"I'll tell you about it, if you want," Abby said. "While we wait."

Gibbs phone started to ring. He saw that it was Vance and grimaced. He was going to have to share this, and how to do it without getting into dicey territory was going to be a struggle. He nodded to the selkie and left him with Abby, hoping that this would work out.