Saturday March 17: 07.03
Gibbs walked slowly to the table and fought to keep his emotions in check. Seeing Mawher's face up there on the plasma, after so many years had been a shock; seeing him in the flesh, smiling like nothing had happened had Gibbs itching to punch him in the mouth. He could tell by the deep breathing either side of him that Ziva and Tony were feeling the same way; he pulled out the chair and sat down, muscles tense, ready to pounce if necessary.
"Leave Abby out of this Mawher, what do you know about Agent McGee?"
Something in Gibbs' tone took away Mawher's smile, but he gave it another try. "I know plenty, and I'll tell you...just let me talk with Abby."
Gibbs had no intention of letting Abby anywhere near this psycho; but if Mawher truly did have information about Tim, they couldn't afford to antagonise him. Gibbs clenched his fists tight and fought to maintain some self-control.
"Maybe later, first off tell me about McGee."
"You have to believe me Gibbs; I didn't know what they were going to do. They said all they wanted was for me to hack into NCIS, find out where you were keeping him...I never thought they were...he's hurt bad Gibbs."
Ziva and Tony took a step closer to him and Mawher cowered back in his chair when Gibbs leapt out of his seat and leaned over the table, there was real menace in his eyes.
"Where is he? Tell me!"
"He...there's a recording studio out near Rockville."
"You said 'they', how many?"
"Two...Lee Warren and Nick Costero...this will count for me later, won't it?"
Ziva leaned down to whisper in his ear. "If my friend is dead, it will count for nothing."
07.35
They were in the sedan racing through the thankfully light Saturday morning traffic. Rowan and Agyeman were following behind; they'd pleaded with Gibbs to be allowed to assist, and knowing how he would have felt in their shoes, Gibbs didn't have the heart to refuse.
By the time they arrived at the commercial park that housed BetaMats Recording Studio, the nerves of the three occupants of the lead sedan were stretched tight. If Mawher was telling the truth, Tim was in there and he was hurt...maybe worse.
They had left Mawher back at NCIS giving a full statement; they'd find out later the details of how he came to be involved in all this. Right now the priority was getting to Tim, nothing and no one else mattered.
Gibbs parked the car well away from the studio, and from the potential prying eyes of surveillance cameras. An ambulance was waiting one block away, ready to roll as soon as they found Tim. The agents put on their Kevlar vests, inserted the comms ear-wigs and drew their weapons.
"Agyeman, Rowan, you take the rear. Do not move until you get my word, clear?"
They both nodded and ran round the back of the block of units. Gibbs knew he didn't need to give his own team any instructions; they had been through this type of manoeuvre so many times, it was almost second nature. But this morning, the stakes were higher than they had been for a very long time.
"Stay focussed, you hear me?"
Ziva was already working on the lock, in the silence they all heard the click that signified the lock opening. "We are in."
Knowing Agyeman and Rowan would be in place, Gibbs whispered into the microphone at his wrist. "On my mark…Go, go…"
They rushed through the main door and Gibbs put his hand to his lips as they reached the internal door that would give them access to the studio where Mawher had told them Tim was being held. Gibbs pushed open the internal door quietly; he gave a quick gasp as the smell of human waste and burnt flesh assailed his nostrils, and as he heard the tail-end of a barely audible scream. Tim's back arched as the electricity flooded through his body, and Gibbs felt rage, white hot, burning rage.
"Federal Agents! Step back!"
The man leaning over Tim hesitated, just for a second; Gibbs waited for him to drop the electric prods. Warren breathed in nice and slow, his back was to Gibbs and he hadn't noticed the other agents coming in through the back door. He glanced at Costero, smiled and held tight to the metal probes. Chloe saw him, she knew what he was about to do, and she knew what she had to do…she didn't hesitate and fired two shots into his heart, as Warren staggered back, dead before he hit the ground, Costero jumped away from the power unit and put his hands in the air.
"Don't shoot! Please…don't hurt me."
Gibbs was already moving toward the metal frame in the centre of the room. "Rowan, cuff him." He re-holstered his Sig and fell to his knees beside Tim. For a few seconds everything stopped as they watched the last of the tremors subside. Tim's eyes were open, but he was looking up at the ceiling, seemingly focussed on some spot only he could see; slowly he turned his head and there was a physical jolt when he saw Gibbs.
"B…Boss? Get…back…I…stink…"
They could barely believe what they were hearing. In a voice so low and hoarse they had to strain to hear what he was saying Tim was worrying about that…for what seemed to Tim like an eternity no one spoke. This was too much, he'd waited so long for them to come, prayed for the strength to survive, and they had come, yet even now he was faced with silence.
A single tear escaped from the corner of his eye. "P…please…talk to…me…they…never talked…"
His words finally broke the spell of stillness. Ziva knelt by the frame and started to unlock the shackles holding him tight; Tony raced from the room to bring in the medics. It fell to Gibbs, the team's 'functional mute' to fill the void. He laid his hand on Tim's forehead; his face was the only part of his body that wasn't covered in cuts and burns.
"Tim, look at me, and listen. We have worked and prayed for this moment since the minute we knew you were gone. Do you think we care that you don't smell like you just stepped out of the shower? We just wanted you back Tim, do you understand that? We'd have swum through raw sewage if it meant getting you home, this…this is nothing. Won't be long now, the medics are close, they'll give you something for the pain."
Tim almost smiled, but his dry, cracked lips wouldn't co-operate and his eyelids felt so heavy. "No pain...just...tired..."
"No Tim! Not now..." Gibbs was frantically searching for a pulse when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Boss, the Paramedics are here, they'll take over."
Gibbs gave a brief prayer of thanks that the medics had been so close and stepped aside to let them work on Tim. Ziva had unlocked the shackles that had secured his wrists and ankles to the frame. She was trembling as she watched Tim being given oxygen and life-saving fluids.
"Oh my gentle McGee, what have they done to you?"
"Ziva? You say something?"
"Why would they do this Tony? He said they never spoke...I have seen men tortured like this for information, but to inflict such suffering...to what end?"
"Let's ask the snivelling son of a bitch." Tony's mouth twisted in a snarl as he took a step toward Costero.
"Stand down Tony! We do this by the book."
"But Boss…you see what they did…"
"And he'll pay Tony; you think I don't want to beat him to a pulp? For Tim's sake, we do this by the book. Rowan, Agyeman, you two wait here. I'll call Vance, have him give Tim's grandmother the news, and send a team to process the scene, then you can take that poor excuse for a man back to NCIS."
Ziva almost smiled for the first time since Tim disappeared, she had been sure they would be staying to collect evidence; her question held a note of hope. "We are going with him to the hospital?"
"Not leaving him alone Ziva; I don't see these two sadistic bastards as snipers, the way I figure it, Tim's still a target, and until I know for certain that's not so, we have eyes on him every minute."
With haste, but with no sense of panic, the two paramedics applied pressure dressings to the deepest cuts, one on Tim's thigh, and the other on his chest. It seemed to those watching powerless from the sidelines that there was barely an inch of Tim's body that hadn't been sliced open or burned.
He didn't stir or make a sound as they cut off his soiled and bloodstained boxers and covered him with a thermal blanket to help him retain what little body heat he had left.
The paramedics worked quietly and with great professionalism, but Gibbs had seen them both cast a look of contempt at the dead man on the ground. He didn't blame them, dealing with the aftermath of the actions of a man like Warren wouldn't be easy, even for people who dealt with pain and suffering every day.
As they lifted him onto the gurney a faint groan escaped Tim's lips, and Gibbs again laid a calming hand on Tim's forehead.
"You're doing great Tim, the medics are going to get you to the hospital right now, and your grandmother's on her way."
"D…don't…she…not like…this…"
Gibbs could barely hear Tim's words, his voice was so hoarse and muffled by the oxygen mask, but he could see that Tim was genuinely distressed that people were seeing him in his current state.
"Tim, they're going to clean you up at the hospital, but I know if your grandmother could see you right now she would take you in her arms and hold you, she wants you home Tim, that's all any of us wanted."
Tim's eyes didn't open, but his battered right hand reached out to Gibbs. "Thank…you…"
"Agent Gibbs, we have to get going." One of the paramedics was at Gibbs' shoulder.
"Yeah I know. Tony, you go with him, you're good at talking, we'll follow in the sedan."
Gibbs noted Tony's slight hesitation. "Can you do it Tony, or should I send Ziva?"
"I'm on it." Tony took Gibbs' place beside the gurney as it was wheeled toward the exit. "So Tim, we've been pretty busy lately and I don't think I told you about my latest DVD purchase. A Fiftieth Anniversary box set of every Bond movie ever made. It's beyond cool…"
Ziva shook her head and gave a wry smile. "McGee will not have to worry about silence for some time. When Tony starts talking about James Bond there is no stopping him."
"Kind of what I had planned Ziva. Let's move; I don't want the ambulance out of our sight."