Chapter Ten
Gibbs' foot pressed harder on the accelerator as he drove furiously towards the east dockyards. He felt slightly bad about abandoning his team, but Gibbs quickly pushed those thoughts aside as he concentrated on the task at hand, rescuing Kelly. In this moment, nothing else mattered.
He weaved in and out of the traffic, finding the quickest path towards the dockyards. He consciously knew that he was breaking the speed limit, but Gibbs did not care. As a dark car hooted its horn angrily at Gibbs, he swore and responded by speeding up.
Finally, Gibbs roared into the east dockyards and came to a screeching halt. He exited the car and immediately two oversized, burly men were pointing their weapons in his face. Gibbs sighed.
"I see that he sent the welcoming party," Gibbs remarked dryly.
"You will toss us any weapons," the man on the left commanded, sounding like a clichéd movie bodyguard.
When Gibbs didn't respond within a second, the other man caught him off guard and shoved him against the car, patting him down and whipping out the gun that was in Gibbs' holster before pulling out the one from his ankle.
The man then turned to this partner and said, "He's clear."
Gibbs rolled his eyes. "I would have given you the weapons if you had given me a chance," he responded lightly.
The men ignored him and instead grabbed him by the arms and pulled him towards a darkened building.
"You will be silent," the robo-bodyguard ordered. Gibbs did not even dignify the statement with a response.
Once they reached the door of the building, robo-bodyguard's partner rapped on it, hammering out the 'Mission Impossible' theme tune. Gibbs rolled his eyes again and would had head-slapped the idiot if he had not been restrained. They really must have picked up their moves from sensationalised cop-movies.
The building door slid open and the men roughly pushed Gibbs inside. Once inside, they directed him behind some containers marked "dangerous" and as he rounded the final crate, Ivan Lazar stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing an expensive tailored suit and had a homely smile on his face.
"Welcome, Agent Gibbs," Lazar said grandly, spreading his arms and gesturing as if he was showing off a prized mansion. "How nice of you to join us," he said pleasantly.
"Where's my daughter, you bastard," Gibbs spat. Lazar's men still had him by the shoulders.
Lazar shook his head and tut-tutted. "Didn't your mother teach you any manners, Jethro? Can I call you Jethro?" he asked with a smile.
"Where is my . . ." Gibbs started to repeat, but Lazar cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"Your daughter, I know," Lazar replied, as if he was conversing about the weather. "She is fine." He paused. "I think young Kelly would get along nicely with my own girls. They're her age, seven and nine, Georgia and Danielle. Little sweethearts, they are. Friends with anyone they meet."
"Which is more than I can say for their father," Gibbs muttered to himself, feeling pity for the poor girls who were stuck with Lazar as a father. He raised his voice and said, "If you have so much as . . ."
"Relax, Jethro," Lazar said calmly, walking closer to Gibbs. "Kelly is fine. I've had her stashed in my little retreat in the wilderness. Lovely place. Private lake. Jet-skiing, boat charters, that sort of thing. I believe that Kelly had everything her little heart could have wanted. I had my girls' nanny with her most of the time. If I am not mistaken, the last time I left them, they were baking cookies and going to make Christmas decorations."
His face darkened. "I am not in the habit of harming little girls, Agent Gibbs," he said. "I have morals."
Gibbs snorted. "Morals? Morals? You think kidnapping little girls and assaulting women shows that you have a moral character?"
"I told the idiots not to hurt your wife," he replied, shaking his head. "Idiots. Rest assured I had them dealt with. Your wife is much like my own, very family orientated and slightly resentful that my business constantly keeps me away from her and my girls. She's a lovely red-head as well, but I am betting you already know that, Jethro."
Lazar grinned. "We are very much alike, Jethro, which is why I think we can do business."
"We are nothing alike," Gibbs growled. "Nothing at all."
"I disagree," Lazar replied. "We are both family men, yes. And our jobs demand that we work at maximum capacity to achieve desired goals, and sometimes, rules have to be broken to achieve that, isn't that so? Can't you see the parallels?"
"Nope, I see no parallels," Gibbs replied flippantly. "All I see is a coward hiding behind a fancy suit and a couple of men who seem to spend more time watching 'Mission Impossible' than actually being frightening." Gibbs smiled.
Lazar grinned again. "Mick, Danny, let Jethro go." He pointed to the side. "And why don't you get our little guest."
Mick and Danny, or the robo-bodyguards, dropped their grip from Gibbs' shoulders and glared at him before stalking out of sight.
Once they had left, Lazar offered, "Coffee, Jethro?"
When Gibbs shook his head, Lazar called out, "Katherine dear, could you bring me a coffee?"
A young blonde stepped out and smiled gently at Lazar. "Of course, Mr. Lazar." She turned to Gibbs.
"And anything for you, sir?" she asked politely.
"I'm good," Gibbs snapped so Lazar waved Katherine away.
"Make it . . ." Lazar started to call out, but Katherine finished by saying,
"Strong and hot, I know, Mr. Lazar," Katherine replied with a wink.
"You're a darling, Katherine," Lazar cooed. "I wouldn't know how I'd cope without you."
"You wouldn't," Katherine replied cheekily and scurried away into what Gibbs perceived as a small office.
Lazar turned back to Gibbs and smiled. "Katherine, my personal assistant. Wonderful girl."
"You sleeping with her?" Gibbs asked casually.
Lazar, for the first time, looked slightly angry. "I will not dignify that question with a response," he snorted irritably.
"Just wondering," Gibbs shrugged.
Gibbs and Lazar were interrupted by the return of Mick and Danny, with Danny pulling a familiar brown-haired girl behind him.
Kelly.
"DADDY!" Kelly screeched, kicking Danny in the shins, which prompted Danny to let go. The girl ran full force towards her father, latching onto his waist and crying, "Daddy!"
Immediately, Gibbs dropped to his knees and embraced his crying daughter. He pulled her to his chest and gripped her tightly, burying his face in her hair and thanking every God under the sun that Kelly was okay and safe in his arms.
He tried not to cry.
"Aw, how sweet," Lazar cooed, breaking up the reunion between father and child. "Picture perfect Hallmark moment."
Gibbs stood up, keeping a protective embrace around Kelly and shielding her as best he could. "What do you want, Ivan?"
Lazar shook his head. "That was a bad move on your behalf, with the FBI idiots," he replied darkly. "I asked for a simple task, yet you could not manage that. I admit your Agent McGee was good, but my boys are better. And I thought I could trust you." He shook his head sadly.
"What do you want?" Gibbs repeated.
Lazar sighed. "You betrayed my good faith, Jethro, and I do not take that lightly." He reached behind his back and pulled out a gun.
Immediately, Gibbs pulled Kelly behind him, putting himself between Kelly and Lazar with his gun. If anyone was going to be shot, it was not going to be his eight-year-old daughter.
"Lazar, put down the gun," Gibbs started calmly. "Tell me what you want and I can see if I can get it done."
"Oh, I will, Jethro," Lazar said pleasantly, with a sinister smile. "But first . . ."
In the split second before Lazar aimed and fired, Gibbs forced Kelly to the ground. She cried out. And then, something slammed into Gibbs shoulder.
At first, there was a peaceful silence, then it was broken by searing pain and the scream of a little girl. Gasping, Gibbs dropped to his knees, his hand instinctively pressed against the wound in his shoulder. He moaned as Kelly screamed, "DADDYYYYYYYYYY!"
The final thing Gibbs heard as he collapsed forward was Kelly shrieking and fighting against Danny and Mick.
"What did you do to my daddy!?" she shrieked, her words mixing with her tears. "Daddy! DADDYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
---
Gibbs groaned as his vision cleared and swarmed in front of him. He blinked rapidly, trying to get his bearings. A sharp stab of pain rocketed through his shoulder and he moaned.
Then a little voice cooed, "It's okay, daddy. It's okay."
Kelly.
Gibbs groaned again and forced his eyes open. They focused on the first thing his eyes saw, the worried face of his daughter leaning over him.
"Daddy?"
"I'm okay, Kelly-Belle," Gibbs croaked, trying to reassure his young daughter.
"No you're not," Kelly retorted shrilly. "You've been shot! You have blood loss and went into shock!"
Even though it hurt, Gibbs grinned. "And where did you learn about blood loss and shock, young miss?" he coughed.
"School," Kelly replied plainly. "Health week last month. It was fun." Then she grinned cheekily. "And Maddie's mum lets us watch ER sometimes."
"I might have to have a word with Maddie's mum, then," Gibbs replied, wincing in pain.
Kelly looked worried. "Are you in pain, dad?"
Gibbs shook his head and to prove his point, sat up. He resisted the urge to cry out as his injured side jarred the floor. "I'm fine, Kel. Don't worry."
"Stubborn," Kelly said hotly. "You are in pain."
"Stubborn like someone else I know," Gibbs retorted, a small smile gracing his lips.
"I'm not stubborn," she pouted, placing her hands on her hips. She passed Gibbs some towelling. "Ivan left these for you," she said.
"Ivan?" Gibbs repeated, worried about the fact that his daughter was referring to her kidnapper in such a friendly manner. He stilled and went pale. "Kelly, did Lazar-Ivan," he asked slowly. "Did Ivan do anything . . .?"
"Do what?" Kelly asked innocently and shook her head. "He was nice. So was Maria. She makes yummy cookies. Did you know that they have a boat and jet skis?" she said, almost excitedly.
She frowned. "It's cold, so Maria said I couldn't use them, but if I visited in summer, Georgia or Danielle would show me."
Gibbs was unnerved and vowed to find a psychiatrist for Kelly once they were out of this place. It clearly sounded as though Kelly had developed a small case of the Stockholm Syndrome.
"It was like being on holiday, daddy," Kelly finished, but then her smiled faded. "But I missed you and mummy. It was scary, 'specially at night. I wished you would come and get me, daddy, every night. I wanted to go home."
"Oh, Kel," Gibbs sighed, sounding tired. The pain in his shoulder, while still sharp, was now only registering as a dull throb in Gibbs' mind. "I am so, so sorry, baby. So sorry." He looked pathetic and worn out on the concrete floor.
"It's not your fault, daddy." Kelly bent over and kissed Gibbs on the nose. "But I want mummy. When can we go home?"
"I want your mummy, too," Gibbs murmured, remembering that their last conversation had turned into a screaming match. Then he said louder and stronger, "Don't worry, Kelly-Belle, we'll get out of this. I promise. Tony, Tim and Ziva will come and get us. I promise."