Another short chapter, but the next one should be much longer. As always, feedback is much appreciated, and if you're interested in updates in-between chapters, feel free to check out my Tumblr page. The information is on my profile.
Callen awoke with a start a little after 1 a.m. Blinking his eyes tiredly, he listened to the silence that reigned in the house. Everything was still. However, Callen had a feeling he couldn't describe. Something in his gut was telling him that something wasn't right.
That feeling was heightened when he glanced in Evie's room to check on her and found her bed empty. Callen instantly checked the bathroom, but it was empty. Striding into the living area, he spotted the two NCIS agents asleep and cursed. The agent sprinted into Jenna's room, his eyes darting around for any sign of Evie.
Unconcerned with keeping quiet, Callen's movements woke Jenna, who sat up, startled. "Callen?" she asked, her voice thick from sleep. "What's going on?"
"Evie's gone," Callen said as he fought the panic that threatened to rise in his chest.
"What?!" shrieked Jenna, who burst out of bed at once, following Callen out into the living area.
"Jeffries! Lynch!" Callen shouted, rousing the two agents from their drug-induced sleep.
The agents began to stir, though Callen could see they were groggy. Something wasn't right.
"What – what happened?" Lynch questioned, rubbing his face as he lifted his head from the kitchen table.
One look at Lynch's eyes confirmed Callen's suspicions. He'd been drugged – they both probably had – though he didn't know how or with what. "Evie's gone," he told the agent. "Get Gibbs on the phone, now."
Nodding, Lynch reached for his cell phone. Callen grabbed his own phone, dialing Sam. If it had been anyone other than Evie missing, Callen might've felt bad about disrupting his friend sleep, but he'd do anything for his daughter and he didn't have time to feel bad. The agent's groggy voice came through the line. "Sam, Evie's gone. I need you and the others here ASAP."
Responding that they'd be at the safe house in fifteen minutes, Sam hung up. Callen tucked his phone in his pocket (he'd slept in his clothes) and turned to Jenna, who was clearly on the verge of tears. "Both my team and Gibbs' team are on their way, Jenna. While we're waiting, I need you to do something for me. Go check Evie's bedroom. Look for anything that might be out of place, but don't touch anything. Can you do that?"
Jenna nodded, wiping the moisture from her eyes. She headed for Evie's room, working to keep her own panic at bay. How had this happened? There had been three agents – three agents – in that safe house. How could anyone have grabbed Evie without anyone the wiser?
Entering the bedroom, Jenna looked around for anything out of place. The bed was unmade, which she'd expected – she'd tucked Evie in herself only hours earlier. There wasn't much in the way of furniture or decorations, and what was there looked just as it had the last time she'd been in the room. Eyes roaming to the floor, Jenna froze. Everything wasn't as it had been earlier. Evie's pajamas were in a small pile on the floor, and her sneakers weren't where Evie had left them. It didn't look like the shoes could be under the pajamas, either, though Jenna avoiding touching the clothes as Callen had instructed. Glancing around the room, Jenna also realized that Evie's backpack was nowhere to be found.
She went to find Callen, who was checking walking through the house looking for any signs of a struggle or forced entry. "Her pajamas are on the floor, and her shoes and backpack are gone," she told him quickly.
If Callen didn't know any better, he might think that Evie had left of her own will. Sprinting past Jenna, he hurried to the front door to check the security system. Disarmed. Damnit, he thought. All signs were pointing to Evie having snuck out. Gibbs had been right. Callen could hardly believe that a ten-year-old could have pulled off such a feat, but then he remembered that she'd remained hidden for over 24 hours after her mother's death. She was clever and resourceful, and apparently much sneakier than Callen ever gave her credit for. All of that didn't explain why she'd run off, though.
He thought back over the past few days. Had Evie said or done anything that might provide a clue? Callen recalled the car ride from Jenna's apartment to NCIS earlier that day – how Evie had been texting some friend of hers, though Callen couldn't recall the kid's name other than that it began with a K. She'd needed to stop because she urgently needed to use the restroom.
When he put the two together, however, Callen began to paint a different picture. Why would Evie have gasped over a friend finding out that some boy liked her? And, although it was certainly plausible that Evie needed to use the restroom, her voice had been panicked.
How had he not seen it earlier?
Mentally kicking himself wasn't going to get Evie back. He turned to Lynch and Jeffries, who were finally beginning to appear more alert. "I want a trace on Evie's phone." He grabbed the nearest scrap of paper and scribbled the number on it, handing it off to Jeffries. "I also want her cell records for the last seven days."
Lynch shook his head. "It will take a while to get that information from the carrier."
Callen's first instinct was to call Eric and Nell, but a glance at the digital clock on the microwave told him it was after 10 p.m. in Los Angeles. Without a pressing case, the wonder twins weren't likely to be at the office. Switching gears to Gibbs' team, it clicked. "Get McGee on the phone," Callen said briskly. "He'll be able to cut through any red tape." By 'cut through any red tape,' Callen meant McGee would be able to hack into the company's records.
So focused on making sure they were covering all their bases, he didn't hear Jenna approach. "Do you think she's okay?" she asked in a small voice, causing Callen to jump slightly. "Who took her? You don't think it was…" Jenna trailed off, unable to finish voicing her fears.
"I don't think anyone took her," Callen said, his exhaustion apparent. "She isn't in her pajamas, her shoes and backpack are gone, there's no sign of forced entry, and the security system was disarmed from the inside. I think Evie left on her own."
Jenna blinked, unable to process what Callen had just said. "Wait… you think she chose to leave? Why would she do that?"
A knock on the front door interrupted Callen's attempt to explain. Striding over, he opened it to reveal the rest of his team. Circles under their eyes revealed their exhaustion, but they were alert as could be. Callen stepped aside, granting them entry.
"What do we know? Kensi asked as she stepped into the house.
Callen repeated what he'd just told Jenna. "Jeffries is putting a trace on her phone now, and Lynch is getting in touch with McGee to see if we can get phone records," he added, nodding to the two other agents.
"How did she get past Jeffries and Lynch?" wondered Deeks.
He lifted the coffee mug from the table. "I think she put something in their coffee. When I awoke, they were both passed out. Even after I woke them up, they were a little disoriented."
Kensi shook her head. "This wasn't a last minute thing. If she took off on her own, she planned this out carefully."
Guilt weighed down on Callen like a boulder. "I should've realized something was up. She was acting strange ever since we found that someone had broken into Jenna's apartment. Gibbs even said he thought she was holding something back, but I couldn't detect any dishonesty when I tried to talk to her about it earlier. I should've pressed harder…"
"Any kid would be spooked finding out that someone had broken into their home," Deeks pointed out. "This isn't your fault."
"Clever, secretive, and prone to running headlong into situations on her own instead of letting others help her," Sam mused, the smallest twinge of sarcasm in his tone. "Who else do we know like that?"
Callen attempted to level a glare at Sam, but it didn't have its usual punch.
The former Navy SEAL clapped his hand down on his friend and partner's shoulder. "We're going to find her, G."
Fifteen minutes later, the living area and kitchen were flooded with NCIS agents. Jeffries had a trace on Evie's phone, and McGee was working on obtaining phone records. Callen was pacing back and forth, trying not to worry (but failing miserably). He was just about ready to punch a wall in frustration when McGee's voice stopped him in his tracks. "We're in!"
Callen made a beeline for the sofa, peering over the back as McGee worked on the laptop in his lap from his position on the sofa. A list was loading with phone numbers and times. "Is this the log of who she's texted and when?"
McGee clicked on the first number. "Better," he said as a text conversation appeared. "We're lucky. This cell company keeps all text transcripts for five days. This is the last number Evie has texted on her phone, and the last text came in this afternoon."
Callen felt sick as he read the brief texts and viewed the pictures. He heard Jenna gasp behind him, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. They were behind this. They had been texting his daughter, sending her frightening images, threatening her… His mouth went dry. "There's an address," he choked out.
"We need to get to her before they do," Sam said to the room, taking charge of the situation. "Kensi, pull up Evie's current location on your phone. We'll head out in two cars – our team in one and Gibbs' team in the other. Whoever gets to Evie first gets her to safety. The rest of us will go after the people behind this."
"Alec Nassar and Billy Ashburn," Gibbs supplied. "We matched them to partial prints that were found at a related crime scene."
Sam nodded and continued. "They will be armed, so be prepared. Jeffries, Lynch, you two stay here with Jenna, just in case. We'll call once Evie is safe." Jeffries and Lynch nodded in agreement. "All right people. Let's go."
Evie's feet hurt as she trudged along the road, keeping in the shadows as much as possible to avoid drawing attention. She knew she wasn't in the best part of town, and her eyes darted from one side of the road to another in an attempt to assess her surroundings. Across the street, she saw several people huddled in the shadows, one person handing something to the other, who promptly stuffed it in their pocket. Likely a drug deal, she suspected. Women were standing on corners, dressed in tight clothes and killer heels, occasionally leaning through the window of a car to talk to the driver. She wasn't so naïve that she didn't realize what they were doing, too. It occurred to Evie that Callen would have a fit if he knew where she was just then. In her rush to find the people who had sent her the texts, Evie hadn't stopped to think about how Callen or Jenna would react. It was the middle of the night, so they were likely asleep, and with any luck… well, she hadn't really thought about how she'd get back home, or even what she'd do with the men once she got there. One of the 'tools' she'd packed in her backpack was a handgun. She wasn't about to walk into a situation where she couldn't protect herself, and Agent Lynch didn't really need his firearm while he was sleeping.
Checking her phone, Evie realized she had less than half of a mile to go. Almost there. She took a deep breath and picked up the pace, trying to push out feelings of exhaustion and worry. She'd give them what they wanted and Jenna and Callen would be safe. Everything would be fine then.
A quarter mile out, she realized she was approaching several warehouses. A voice in her head screamed that this was a horrible idea and to turn around immediately, but Evie couldn't stop now. She had to do what she could to protect her family. The shadows she clung to seemed more exaggerated, but she just kept reminding herself that she was doing this for them.
She paused a few hundred feet away from the warehouses, checking her phone once more to make sure she had the right warehouse. It wouldn't do to walk into the wrong one.
Evie was about to put her phone away when it vibrated, a name and phone number appearing on the screen. She froze, staring at the name. Callen. Oh my god, he was calling her. What was he doing awake? He had to know she wasn't at the safe house. Oh, this wasn't good. Part of her wanted to answer, but the other part didn't want to attract any attention, and talking on her phone in the middle of a bunch of warehouses in the middle of the night would attract the attention of anyone around, especially considering her age and size. That second part was louder, and swallowing a lump in her throat, Evie declined the call. It occurred to her just then that with NCIS' resources at his disposal, Callen could probably track her using her phone. In a split second decision, she powered off the phone and stuck it in her pocket.
From the outside, the building seemed dark. Broken panels of glass in the giant windows made the building seem even darker. Glancing around, Evie searched for an entrance. On the far side of the building, she saw what looked like a doorway, only the door was missing. That would have to be it.
She crept into the warehouse, shivering immediately. It wasn't so much that she was cold, but the dark, musty air raised the hairs on the back of her neck. Her feet moved slowly, tentatively, and quietly through towering shelves stacked with boxes. She listened for any sounds and looked for any sign of light that might tell her where to go.
Just then, at the end of the aisle, she noticed a faint strip of light along the ground. Her eyes, adjusting somewhat to the dark, could just make out the faint outline of a door. That must be it, she thought. She continued to creep along, making as little sound as possible. As the door drew closer, she paused, shifting so that she might be able to take off her backpack and retrieve the gun.
Just then, an arm wrapped around her chest as a hand clamped down over her mouth.