CHAPTER 10
Gibbs fought for control over his emotions, painfully slowly the blood stopped rushing in his head. With 13 seconds left on the clocks he whispered "Abby" then again more loudly.
On the screen the clocks stopped their terrible silent countdown. Abby's head dropped to her chest, Kathy almost simultaneously lifted her head for the first time and seemed to look directly at Gibbs, she nodded once and gave a wry sad smile. The screen went black.
The digitised voice sound unnaturally loud in the silence that followed "well done Agent Gibbs. I will leave this phone connected and allow you to complete your trace, you will need it to collect your chosen one"
No further sounds came through the speaker phone, as soon as Tony shouted that the trace was complete, Gibbs gave vent to his anger, lifted the speaker phone and launched it with all his strength across the office.
The team jumped into a waiting car and with Gibbs driving they made their way to the location where they hoped they would find Abby, but none of them trusted the kidnapper would keep his word.
45 mins later they entered a densely wooded area "McGee, Monongahela National Forest?"
"uh, yeah boss"
"Dammit, he could be anywhere" Gibbs slammed the steering wheel in frustration.
It took another 30 ins of careful driving to reach the location.
Gibbs slammed the brakes on and leapt out of the car. "ABBY!" he bellowed
Silence.
He tried again, shouting over and over, turning in circles.
The other spread out, guns drawn.
Gibbs stopped shouting and stood perfectly still, he caught a movement out the corner of his eye, he waited a split second to be sure, then turned sharply, Abby!
He sprinted over to where she was lying, gagged and bound, trying unsuccessfully to move towards him.
Her eyes held a mixture of fear and exhaustion as she watched Gibbs call the other members of the team over, watched them check the area for booby traps before untying her. Gibbs gathered her up and held her tightly. Carrying her back to the car he made sure she was comfortable before turning to the others. "McGee, with me, DiNozzo, David, stay here and search. I'll send a car and back up"
They nodded their assent. Gibbs threw McGee the keys "you drive" then he got in the back beside Abby and held her tightly without saying a word the whole way back.
Back in the office Gibbs sat her down in his chair, wheeling another over so he could sit as close to her as possible.
"Abs? I need you to tell me everything you can remember? Can you do that?" Gibbs voice was soft and tender.
Abby didn't respond.
"McGee, get Ducky"
"on it boss"
Gibbs held Abby's hand in his saying nothing till Ducky arrived. He moved to give Ducky his seat.
Several minutes later Ducky left Abby and said to Gibbs "Shock and distress, no physical injuries that I can detect"
"I need her talking Ducky"
"That, Jethro, is entirely in your hands"
Gibbs stood, the tension in him evident, his jaw worked but no sounds came out. He turned and went back to Abby, he hated himself for what he was about to do.
"ABBY!" he yelled "snap out of it! You want to help your friend, you gotta talk to me" he deliberately used a tone of voice he generally reserved for when Tony was getting out of hand.
Abby raised her head and looked at him, he felt a tightening of the pressure in his chest, her eyes were glassy, her pallor grey.
"MCGEE!, Caf Pow, NOW" Gibbs shouted without taking his eyes off Abby.
"Wanna go home Gibbs"
"You have to talk to me first, Abs"
McGee came back with the Caf Pow and a coffee for Gibbs.
Gibbs took them, without comment and handed the Caf Pow to Abby who drank almost half of it immediately.
The drink seemed to revive her, she looked at Gibbs again, she seemed a little more there.
"Abby, what happened?" Gibbs tried again
"The doorbell rang, this guy was standing there, white, blond hair, crew cut, 5'9", blue eyes, nice smile, good teeth, he didn't say anything, he just smiled, then he sprayed something, I don't know what, smelled sweet, like perfume"
Abby was speaking so quickly all her words were running into each other, Gibbs said nothing and let her talk, he sat still, holding her hands, trusting that McGee was writing down everything.
"I woke up, we were in this cabin thing in the woods"
"we?"
"me, Kathy and the guy. I tried to move but I was handcuffed to something, I couldn't move to see what. I could see Kathy, she was handcuffed across the room, the guy was talking to her but I was all fuzzy and couldn't hear properly"
Abby's voice tailed off and tears filled her eyes. "Is she dead?" she asked in a whisper
"No" Gibbs was adamant in his refusal. "Abs we will find her, I promise"
Abby gave him an unreadable look and went on with her story.
"He kept giving me water but it was drugged, every time I drank it I went all fuzzy. He kept shouting at Kathy"
"Think Abs, what was he saying?"
"I don't KNOW Gibbs!"
"Ok, ok, what else?"
"just the same over and over till he put those explosives on us and took us out to where you found me"
"how long did take to get there?"
"An hour maybe, walking, no paths, no roads"
"The cabin Abby, what can you tell me about the cabin?"
"ah, one room, no electricity or water, windows in front and back, not the sides"
"was it wooden? Brick? "
"wooden, inside just an old bed and 2 chairs. Please Gibbs, can I go home now"
"sure, but you're coming with me, no way I'm letting you out of my sight for a minute, 10 mins ok, I need to talk to McGee"
"Tim, wait here for Tony and Ziva, work up what Abby told us, see if you can get anything that'll help us, call me with ANYTHING, you got that, ANYTHING"
"yes boss"