Chapter Twelve:
Just Watch
"He's gone!" Ziva called into her ear bud after making a full sweep of the outside of the NCIS building.
"The fire alarm was set on purpose!" Tony shouted, out of breath after completing his search of the inside.
Gibbs cursed and swiped the coffee cup off the table in the conference room where he'd first met Max. He was waiting in the conference room for news. Good or bad any news would be welcome. But preferably good new. Gibbs didn't want to have to shoot the messenger.
"Boss? You're going to want to come see this." McGee spoke timidly and disappeared out the door before Gibbs could turn around and shoot him.
Gibbs cursed again but followed McGee down to the bullpen where a video was paused and ready to play on the large screen.
"What is this, Probie?" Tony asked as he just barely beat Gibbs to McGee's side.
"Security camera footage." McGee said in a voice that made everyone pause and pay closer attention.
"What about it, McGee?" Gibbs asked, starting to get annoyed at someone other than himself.
"Just watch." McGee said and hit play as soon a Ziva arrived, mere seconds later.
Max sprinted out of the gym door and headed straight for the lower parking lot. A black van swung around and the door opened, a masked man reached out of the side meaning to grab ahold of the boy and drag him into the moving vehicle.
The masked man wouldn't get the chance though because just as closed in on Max, another van, this one white, screeched around the corner and tried to drag Max inside the slow moving vehicle. The men in the black van began shooting at the white van as Max tried to fight off the hands of the masked man who'd grabbed him from behind.
Max failed because just as he managed to break the hold of the first man, another masked figure reached out and clobbered him over the head with the butt of his gun. Max fell, nearly to the ground. The only thing stopping his fall was the original white-van man's hands clasping his shirt and dragging him into the vehicle.
Unconscious, Max could no longer fight off his assailants.
The white van's doors swung shut and the vehicle high-tailed it out of the parking lot followed closely by the black van that now had a man seated shot-gun shooting out the window being careful not to hit anything but the white van with his hail of bullets.
After a few more seconds of shooting occurred before both vans disappeared from the sight of the camera.
There was silence as the cars both drove out of view of the camera until the screen went black.
"What does this mean?" Tony asked after another moment.
"I think Max got kidnapped in the middle of trying to escape from us." McGee supplied helpfully yet still unsure if this was the true outcome.
Ziva stared with her mouth open for another second before proceeding to swear in so many languages Tony lost count.
Gibbs stared at the screen before starting to bark out orders, breaking through Ziva's cursing.
"Boss? We're going after him?" McGee asked while trying to following the orders he'd just been given.
"Yes. Even though we hate him, he's still-" Gibbs started and was unable to finish.
So Tony ended the sentence for him. "Just a kid." His voice was calm despite the problems he knew they'd face during the upcoming task.
"You are correct. We have to go after him." Ziva agreed solemnly, and she was the one who hated Max with an undeniable passion.
Tony gazed at Ziva, trying to decide if her stone set decision was real, or if it was just an act to ease her guilty conscious.
Whatever he decided, he grabbed his gear and followed Gibbs out of the bullpen. McGee hot on his heels. Ziva spent another moment staring up at the face of a scared teenage boy on the screen.
Meanwhile a man stared down at the unconscious form of Alex Rider; he looked at the boy with no emotion what so ever. The man eventually got bored with staring at Alex and his eyes flickered around the back of the van to roam over the mass of loaded weapons.
"I really love this country. America." The man mumbled through a thick beard as he tugged on his shirt. It was rather stuffy and hot inside the van loaded with his partner and the boy stuffed in the back out of sight. "Lucky," he grumbled as he glared at the back of the driver's close shaven head. "Next time I get to drive." He continued to grumble as he shoved a pile of garbage away from his seat with a large boot covered foot.
