Disclaimer: Still not mine...
A/N: We're getting toward the end...more stuff happens here. Hope you enjoy it!
The next several hours after Tony's latest outgoing phone call were spent by Tony and Ziva alternating staring at and pouring through the Garrett/Monaghan file, groaning in frustration, and kicking anything in sight. Tony seemed to be taking things rather hard, and it concerned Ziva. Tony had worked with Abby and McGee much longer than Ziva had, and had developed a tighter bond than anything Ziva had even witnessed...even working in Mossad. She wished she was able to do more to reassure him, but coupled with the fact that she didn't have the proper communication skills...she wasn't fully certain herself that things were going to end okay.
"Is he here yet?" Ziva asked, flipping through more case file pictures.
Tony pulled up some information on his computer and answered, "Not yet. He grabbed the first flight out, and it doesn't land for another 15 minutes. There's an agent waiting for him at the gate."
"Okay, hopefully we can get somewhere with this case file," Ziva replied.
"I'm just stumped," Tony groaned, taking a seat and pulling Kara Monaghan's picture toward him. "The bastard told us to 'dig deeper' but we basically have this entire file memorized. We can't go any deeper than we already have."
Ziva thought for a second, scanning over the pages in front of her. An idea suddenly struck her and she rummaged through the paper and pulled out Howard Garrett's mug shot, brandishing it in front of Tony's face.
"Gibbs would kill us," Ziva said simply.
Tony furrowed his eyebrows, not understanding what she was talking about. His mind raced through all the information that had been crammed into it the past 48 hours. They had gone over every square inch of the Garrett case...even going back into Petter Officer Monaghan's personal history dating back until she was 14. That's when it hit him.
"Oh, God, he would. Ziva, go pull up everything you can possibly find in Howard Garrett's background that we didnt pull up in the original investigation. Anything and everything--hell, get his eight grade report card...we've got more studying to do."
Mentally kicking themselves, both Tony and Ziva were glued to their computer screens, researching and reading everything possible about the past and present life of the jailed Garrett.
"He was born on February 25th, 1971 in Wythville, Virginia...small town," Ziva recited off her computer screen. "He's the only child of Samuel and Amanda Garrett."
Tony took over. "Parents divorced when Garrett was five and Dad skipped town...died four years later, hit by a car. Momma and baby Garrett left Virginia and moved into an apartment in Baltimore after the divorce."
"Just after that, Amanda Garrett met and remarried a successful local businessman named Eric Masterson," Ziva continued.
Tony's head snapped up. "Masterson? Why does that sound familiar?" Tony started rifling through the pages of the Garrett file. "There!" he cried out, pointing at the page and showing Ziva. "That house near where the Petty Officer found was owned by two brothers named Masterson."
"Coincidence?" Ziva asked, though something in the back of her mind told her that it wasn't.
"Dunno..." Tony trailed off, going back to his computer and clicking the keys wildly. Hadn't the kidnapper said he had a brother? Ziva joined in the furious typing and soon she sat back suddenly, swearing aloud in Hebrew.
"What is it?" Tony asked, rushing over to Ziva's desk and stood over her shoulder.
"After Amanda Garrett became Amanda Masterson, she gave birth to a son then another 3 years later. Look at their names..." She pointed at her screen.
Tony leaned over and read aloud, "Jonathan and Benjamin Masterson." His stomach dropped. "They're Garrett's half brothers. Son of a bitch!"
He ran back over to his desk, pulling out his desk drawer and holstering his weapon, Ziva doing the same. Tony was just about to reach for his cell phone, when it rang. He flipped it open hurriedly and answered shortly.
"Johnson, that you? Okay, so the plane's landed and he's with you?" Tony said. "We've hit a break on Abby and McGee's kidnappers, and we're about to make the bust. I'm sending you the map and directions, drive him to meet us there. And call a team to back you up, and do it all in five minutes!" Tony slapped the phone shut and he and Ziva made a mad dash to the elevator.
"I called Ducky and Jimmy," Ziva said as the doors opened for them. "They'll following behind us."
"God, I just hope we need them to stick up wounds, not zip up body bags."
Abby and McGee lay cuddled together on the hardwood floor of their cell. Abby was finally--both medically and emotionally--able to fall asleep, and she laid closest to the wall with McGee next to her, painfully awake. His self-diagnosed concussion was keeping him so, not to mention that he was the only thing that stood between the door and his sleeping, defenseless Abby, and he wasn't about to be napping when Jonathan came busting through the door.
The room was quiet...bordering on silent. The kind of silence that pressed hard around causing McGee's hearing to detect any sort of movement or noise without any problem. Even Abby's soft, steady breathing couldn't break it. McGee's ears pricked slightly and he slowly sat up, leaning his head toward the wall behind him. He heard something moving outside of the house. Cars...he was hearing cars. But, this time, they were pulling up to the house, not drving by as he had heard so many times before.
Before McGee had time to think whether this could be a good or bad sign, he heard their captors yelling and swearing from down the hall, startling Abby awake. She began to whimper slightly as they heard two pairs of legs thundering down to hall toward their door. Abby pulled her legs as tight as she could towards her and McGee positioned himself in front of her for protection.
Just in time too. The door was kicked open once more and both Jonathan and Ben raced in with Ben yelling, "Damn Jon, what do we do now?"
"We improvise," Jonathan cried back, clearly shaken over the turn of events.
Jonathan reached the corner and McGee stood and stiffened, ready to fight. Jonathan, however, was in no mood to fight and pulled out his pistol and poised it three inches from McGee's face. Abby whimpered loudly and began to cry.
"Move," he hissed.
McGee growled menacingly, "If you touch her, I swear to God I'll tear you apart limb from--"
Jonathan had enough. He was pressed for time. In one fast motion, Jonathan raised the pistol as a club, solidly cracking the side of McGee's skull, which sent him staggering and collapsing to the floor at the opposite wall.
"TIM!" Abby screamed, rushing over on all fours towards her fallen boyfriend, but Jonathan kicked her away, connecting squarely in her gut.
"Get her!!" Jonathan screamed to his brother and Ben rushed the coughing Abby. He grabbed her from around the waist, hoisted her up, and began dragging her from the room
"Abby, no! Let her go!" McGee cried, pulling himself to his feet and shakily advancing toward Ben. He didn't get three steps forward before Jonthan clubbed him again, and McGee fell hard once more to the floor.
Abby struggled and writhed to get free but screamed when she saw Jonathan land a hard kick into McGee's chest, hearing bone break on impact. Jonathan slammed the door shut once his brother and Abby were out, and Abby kept on screaming.
"Tim!! God, please! Leave him alone!! Ti--" Ben's hand pressed against her open mouth, smothering her screams.
He dragged her to the front foyer area where she had been taken before, but this time, Ben threw her down to the floor in the hall just shy of the front door. She lay kneeling on the floor, her upper body folded over itself, her face pressed against the hardwood, and she was sobbing harder than ever. She could see the blood red door to their cell, shut firm, but she could hear the blows from inside. Abby's breath caught in her throat when she heard the distinctive click of a pistol above her head. Ben had one too, and it was aimed directly at the back of Abby's skull.
The sounds of the fight stopped suddenly and Abby froze when she watched Jonathan storm from the room. She saw the blood on his hands knuckles and she nearly cried out when she saw McGee in the room just before the door shut. He was laying awkwardly against the far wall, his back to hers, and his clearly limp body was motionless. Abby began to shiver violently as she feared the worst.
"I bet you want to know the whole story by now," Jonathan said quietly yet dangerously. Abby was too frightened to reply so Jonathan continued, "Our last names are actually Masterson, and we're Howard's half brothers. You know the drug trafficking charge you helped put him away for? It wasn't just him involved, it was all three of us. You see...we had a sweet deal. Howard procured and cut the cocaine, while the little bro and I made deals with our clients. It was only when the two of us were in North Carolina, planning a deal with some potential customers, when that bitch girlfriend of his Kara, decided to drop in unannounced. Next thing we know, she's dead, and Howard's arrested. And like a good older brother he didn't rat us out."
Abby's stomach tightened more and more as he spoke. Why would he be telling her all this if he wasn't planning on killing her? If he hadn't already killed Tim?
It was then when Abby was finally able to hear what was going on. There were cars out front, and men outside...she could hear them. And judging by her captors' reactions within the past five minutes, these men outside were not on their side.
Abby's eyes widened and her heart leapt into her throat when she heard a voice from outside call out, "NCIS! Jonathan and Benjamin Masterson, you are to stand down immediately!"
Jonathan poked his head ever so slightly around the hall's corner to look out the front screen door. Three agents--two male, one female-- were standing, Sigs drawn, with a dark sedan parked behind them. He looked at the agent who just called out and he yelled back,
"Who do you think you are?"
"I am Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo...I believe we've spoken on the phone several times," Tony called back, his usual authoritative sarcasm coming through.
Abby gasped happily and whispered down into the floor, "Tony!"
She felt a foot press down on her back and she heard Ben's harsh whisper in her ear, "Shut up or this bullet's in your brain three inches deep."
Abby wasn't out of this yet, but this was the brightest glimmer of hope she'd had in two and a half days.
"We've got someone here who wants to talk. See if there's anything he can do to make sure things go smoothly today and that no one gets hurt. A negotiator of sorts," Tony called motioning to the man standing to his right.
Jonathan's eyes followed and rested upon the referenced man. "So who the hell are you?"
Abby's heart nearly exploded with joy when she heard a familiar, gruff voice cut through the air.
"I'm Leroy Jethro Gibbs."