Chapter 10
Locked in.
Thanks for your reviews people. The end is in sight now and my aim is to have the entire story posted by Halloween.
If you do enjoy the story please review. It only takes a moment and is appreciated more than you can know.
I must also warn that this chapter deals with the death of a child. It is not graphic but may be extremely upsetting to certain people. So I am warning you in advance.
Tim felt it slowly creep up his back like a set of fingers dancing towards the nape of his neck. There was a far off buzzing in his ears and he could feel the hairs on his body stand to attention.
His throat became dry before he could even attempt to vocalize his discomfort.
Before he fully realized what was happening it was already too late. He was no longer in control of his body or his mind. Inside his head he screamed over and over again, but it was utterly pointless.
He was trapped now to be nothing more than a mere spectator and an unwilling tool of evil.
For a second he came too and managed to turn his body towards the occupants of the room. He wasn't sure what the motivation was for allowing him this tiny sliver of control.
He eyed Gibbs gun wondering if he could get to it in time. He had hurt the people in this room enough for one day and him blowing his brains out all over the kitchen table might end his suffering quickly and efficiently. But would only devastate them.
It seemed to sense what he was thinking and what he was trying to do. Instead it propelled him to the door to force him out. With every bit of strength that now remained in Tim McGee he turned to them and put all the emotion he could into two words. "I'm sorry". It was all he could give them.
It was goodbye, I'm sorry, I love you and please forgive me all rolled into one desperate utterance. He prayed that they would understand.
-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-
"What the hell was that?" roared Gibbs.
"That Agent Gibbs was something that I thought I had sent back to the bowels of hell" Frankie said in a stunned whisper.
Gibbs made to run for the door and follow Tim but both Fr Dyer and Corbin put a hand on each shoulder stopping him in his tracks. Gibbs shrugged them off and turned angrily towards them.
"Do not try to stop me, I have to go after him".
"And then what Agent Gibbs? What are you going to do? You can't just go up to that thing and threaten it with a gun. Tim's not in control anymore and all your going to accomplish by running out there waving your gun around is to get Fr McGee killed".
Gibbs would never say it out loud but right now he was terrified. He was in a situation where his instincts were letting him down badly.
He desperately wanted to go after Tim but he had to pull himself back if his actions as Fr Dyer suggested would get Tim killed.
He was well and truly lost.
Ellen arrived back to a group in crisis. Voices were raised and expressions were furious.
They gave her the synopsis of what had happened and she listened intently and stoically. She had felt that when Tim had come back to this place that with him he had brought a heavy presence.
She had put it down to guilt and self-flagellation.
Guilt and barely suppressed anger was a coat he never allowed himself to take off. Little did she realize that the evil she had witnessed ten years before was sleeping barely beneath the surface and had apparently woken up after a long slumber.
Ellen looked helplessly at Frank. They silently communicated, exchanging worried glances until Ellen spoke aloud.
"Frank it's gonna torture him until he can't stand it anymore. This time he won't hesitate. The second he gets a chance he'll finish it" she said with a terrified edge to her voice.
"Won't hesitate to do what? I want answers now" screamed Gibbs.
"When Charlie died all those years Tim shut down completely. He didn't eat or sleep for what seemed like months. The only thing he did do was drink himself into oblivion and disappear for hours sometimes days at a time. When I confronted him and demanded to know what was going on he finally caved and told me. It was the only time that he could address directly what was going on.
I know now that he wasn't in control. He told me that 'Jane' had never left and never would. He had tried desperately to end his life many times to spare us from harm but 'Jane' had stopped every attempt.
He had drunk constantly hoping to poison himself. He had stopped eating hoping to starve to death.
Every attempt he had made to end his life had been thwarted. Jane had let him get to the brink but she would always pull him back; but not out of mercy. She refused to let him have the one thing that he wanted so desperately; to die".
"I never knew that Tim had a son. He never once mentioned that part of his past not even after he found out about my family. He could have come to me. I would have understood. I could have helped.
What happened to Charlie? There is no way that Tim murdered his own son" Gibbs voice was softer now.
He didn't have the strength to shout anymore.
Ellen let out a short and hollow laugh. "I think we both know that Tim lives in world of blame and guilt whether he is in DC or here. That little boy was his reason for breathing and that's why he wasn't allowed to live. That day I only left for a couple of hours. When I came back to this place the girl was dead and Tim was sitting on the shore holding Charlie. At first I thought my little boy was asleep in his daddy's arms.
Tim had often brought him down to the lake when he was restless and couldn't get him to sleep. He was so still. He was sitting cross-legged with him in the crook of his arm and I was sure that Tim had dropped off too. When he looked at me there was nothing. It was like staring into an abyss.
She drowned our son and made Tim watch.
She wanted to make sure he was completely broken and that he would offer no resistance when she finally took over. He told me later that she lead him to the water and made Tim watch as he disappeared beneath the surface. He couldn't move. He had screamed and pleaded and begged but that only spurred her on.
To make sure that he was beyond all hope of repair she handed him back to Tim. When he was finally able to ask her why she only laughed and replied "because I can".
Charlie died that day but he took Tim with him.
Gibbs did not reply deciding instead to make a hole in the kitchen wall. His fist was already swelling and bleeding only moments later. Ziva did not cry but her eyes were suspiciously cloudy and both her hands were closed into tight fists.
"The case that we are working on. The three dead soldiers. I can't protect Tim from that. There's no one who is going to believe this. Demonic possession is not a defence against murder Ellen.
I don't know if I can get him out of this". Gibbs was at a loss.
"Agent Gibbs Tim is not a murderer" screamed Ellen
" I know that Ellen" Gibbs replied just as forcefully. "But that thing wants us and everyone else to think that he is. It went to the trouble of making sure that everything points to Tim and it sure as hell wants him to think he is too. It wants him thrown in a cell with no hopes of escape so it can torture him uninterrupted until the end of his days".
Ziva had remained quiet throughout. She had listened intently and while shocked and saddened by what she had heard she had also done her best to try to assimilate
the information into some sort of plan of action.
"This thing has one end. If I am correct it will be to inflict suffering for its own pleasure. The only thing that I can think is that we give it what it wants" Ziva spoke carefully bracing herself for the inevitable backlash.
They all spoke at once. Their voices were indistinguishable before she slammed her fist down on the table to continue.
"It is playing a game and if we are to help Tim we must also play. It wants suffering and so it will have it in spades. We will make this thing believe it is in control and we will do so by redirecting it's attentions towards us. If we can divide it then maybe it will slip up and Fr's Dyer and Corbin can step in and send it back to where it came from; once and for all".
"The one thing that Tim will not be able to survive in this mess is if one of you get hurt or killed because you are trying to help him. If that happens and we manage to rid him of that thing finally, then it will have been for nothing. He will be as good as dead". What Ellen said had hurt but they could not deny that she was right.
"And if Tim is left to suffer to that thing because we didn't try hard enough; I am as good as dead".
Gibbs always let his actions speak for themselves. He was protective of his team but for him to outright declare that if he couldn't save Tim it would kill him scared Ziva.
She had always wondered at the lengths he would go to for any one of them. She had caught glimpses now and again. She was however taken aback to hear it spoken aloud by him but not shocked that he felt that way. Ziva knew that she would do the same.
They were her family.
They would draw this thing to them now in the hopes that they could free Tim. They just hoped that the damage that was being inflicted now and would be inflicted in the future would not be so great that he couldn't be saved. One thing they all knew without having to say it was that they had to act fast.
They were up against something that they knew practically nothing about. There was little to be sure about in this situation but what each and every one of them did know what that they would give their own lives if needs be to free him.
They hoped with all their hearts that Tim knew this too.
-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-
Tim knew that he was heading back to DC. What he did not know was why and this did nothing to quell the ball of dread steadily building in his stomach. He could feel his body go cold from fear and the beads of sweat beginning to make their way down the sides of his face and down his back.
The panic only increased as he made his way back into the city and turned on to a road that he knew quite well. He tried to stop himself from moving forward.
He screamed silently at his body exited the car, betraying him and making its way to the elevator. He could hear it laughing at his discomfort and the more he tried to resist the faster he seemed to be reaching his destination.
It was inside his head and rifling through his most private thoughts and feelings. There was only one reason why he was here. It wanted him see the look of fear and disbelief when Tim turned on them.
He desperately looked around for something anything to halt his progress but there was nothing and before he knew it he was knocking on the door.
He could feel his face contort into an uneven sneer as his knuckles rapped on the wood. He was hoping for the possibility that they were not here but that thought was dashed when he heard movement and muffled cursing as the occupant shuffled towards the door and their head appeared.
"Hey" Tim's voice didn't sound any different he was disappointed to note.
"Probie what the hell are you doing here?"
"Hey Tony! Can't a friend just drop by to say hello?"
Next chapter will have a nice little confrontation between 'Tim' and Tony and the fight for Tim's soul will begin.
Didn't want to forget about Tony and I thought it would be fun to explore this and see if he can sense anything is up.
TBC…