A/N: Yay, two chapters in one day!
Thanks, as always, to my lovely beta Trina109. You rock Trina!
A young, weedy looking man arrived in the squad room a few minutes later, approaching Gibbs' desk hesitantly. Gibbs looked up, noting the pallor of the kid's face and the wide eyes, and smirked inwardly. His reputation had apparently spread as far as Cybercrimes, a section he barely even thought about.
"Agent- Agent Gibbs?" the young man stuttered.
"That's me" he confirmed.
"I-I was sent up here and-"
"You from Cybercrimes?"
"Ye-yes sir. I'm Brian Cooper, sir. My supervisor sent me up here. What do you need, sir?"
Gibbs gave the kid a measuring look. He seemed young, and green, but then so had McGee when he joined the team. And with Abby and McGee both missing, they definitely needed Cybercrime's help with this one.
"Ok, Cooper, we need your help. Someone is transmitting video onto our plasma screen, and we need to know where it's coming from. Can you trace that or something?"
Copper bobbed his head nervously. "I can try, sir. I need to see the video, and I need a computer that has access to the plasma screen."
Gibbs pointed over the kid's shoulder. "There's your video."
Copper turned to look at the screen and gasped audibly.
"That-that's Agent McGee, isn't it sir?"
Gibbs nodded.
"I'd heard he was missing." There was sadness in the young man's voice. "Is-is he alive?"
"At the moment." Gibbs paused. There was something about the sadness in the young man's tone. "Do you know Agent McGee?"
"Yes sir. He joined Cybercrimes not long before I started, sir. He was different, sir. Most field agents pretty much ignore us. But Agent McGee... he treated us like equals."
Gibbs gave a half smile. That sounded like McGee, all right.
"You need to know where this is coming from, sir?"
Gibbs nodded. "You can use that computer" he added, pointing to McGee's desk.
Cooper settled himself at the desk and started the computer.
"Sir? You're going to get him back, right?" he asked.
"We'll get him back."
"Good, sir." Relief filled the young man's face before he bent his head back to the screen in front of him.
"And Cooper?"
"Yes sir?"
"Don't call me sir."
...
It felt like he hadn't slept in a week.
Tony hated being under protection; he much preferred being on the detail, rather than the subject of it. All aspects of life were so restricted when you had to take two agents around with you. He didn't even get to drive; his prized Mustang was stuck in the NCIS parking lot, and he was forced to ride in the back of one of the many black sedans the Agency owned.
Gibbs had allowed them to go home for the night, instead of insisting that they stay at Headquarters; his reasoning being that they needed a good night's sleep to be able to function clearly tomorrow, when he hoped they'd have a location for where the rest of the team was being held.
The car slowed and pulled into the kerb in front of his apartment building. He wasn't paying much attention to what his detail was doing; he was too tired. Until he heard the unmistakeable 'phut' of a silenced pistol. His head snapped around. Surely they weren't coming after him in the middle of a crowded street? Except, he modified, at this time of night his usually crowded street was a deserted street.
He found himself looking straight into the barrel of the pistol. It took him a moment to register that it was being held by one of the agents tasked to protect him.
"Get out of the car."
"They got to you, huh?"
"Get out of the car." Agent Shapko cocked the pistol he had pointed right between Tony's eyes. Tony swallowed. In the close confines of the car, he had no chance of being able to defend himself. Reluctantly, he clambered out of the car. As he turned to face the traitor agent, he felt something catch him across the back of the head. He slumped to the ground.
...
Gibbs rubbed at his face wearily as he looked across the bullpen. The kid hadn't moved- other than his hands, which were typing at a speed close to that of McGee's- in hours. There was something almost unnerving in his intensity. Idly he wondered if it was a computer geek thing. He'd seen McGee go into a similar, almost trance-like state many times.
He'd sent Tony and Ziva home hours ago; when they got the information he was hoping Cooper and Palmer could provide, he needed them sharp and on the ball, ready to get back the rest of his team. Palmer was downstairs in Abby's lab, attempting to figure out what sort of a room the captives were being held in from the footage on the plasma.
He glanced over at McGee's desk again. He got the feeling that the kid would work right through the night if he let him. Dedication was a trait he admired. He decided against going home himself; he'd stay here, just in case Cooper and Palmer came through with a location.
His cell rang. He flipped it open, noting Ziva's name on the caller ID with surprise.
"Yeah, Gibbs."
"Gibbs. I cannot get in contact with Tony."
"Have you tried his detail?"
"Yes; Tony's phone is switched off, and his details' phones are not being answered."
Cursing, Gibbs hung up, grabbing up his desk phone. He called all three cell numbers without success, knowing what that meant.
Tony was missing.
