Author's note:- your feedback is always so appreciated, it makes me want to write even when RL gets crazy- many thanks for your support. We are nearing the end now. Hope you enjoy. (PS have I ever pointed out that, as an author at least, I am in fact evil?)

Chapter 25: From Madness to Malevolence.

Abby stood as the hybrid map and satellite image appeared on the screen. She pointed at the features on the image as she spoke about them. "Ok I've highlighted the area covered by the tower. As you can see there are only a few roads that lead in. It's mainly woodland, so if he's. . ." She paused as she noticed McGee on his feet staring, his head tilted to one side as he concentrated on one of the highlighted lines.

"Green Canyon Road," McGee read from the screen. He turned to Abby and asked almost accusingly. "Why didn't you show me this before?. . . I know . . ." The thought completed, but only in his head.

He wasn't aware that he hadn't finished the sentence, that he had momentarily severed all contacts between his brain and the outside world. He was entirely absorbed in searching for confirmation of the memory that the image had triggered. Dropping back into his seat, he rapidly began tapping keys.

Gibbs and Abby exchanged curious glances, clearly he had something; they moved to stand either side of him.

"McGee?" Gibbs asked, when the younger agent made no move to explain himself.

The tone was cutting, and uttered by Gibbs it was enough to pull McGee's focus back, make him aware that there were actually other people in the room and maybe he needed to share what he was doing. He looked up at Gibbs, his fingers still tapping the keys. "You remember you sent me to interview Tiffany?"

Gibbs brow gave a slight crease, questioning.

"Tony's hot and very limber date for the weekend," Abby supplied helpfully with her usual bouncy tone. They were close to finding Tony; she could sense it.

McGee nodded, glancing back at the screen as he checked the scrolling information. "Well the cabin they were due to spend the weekend in was. . ."

Gibbs eyes followed his to the screen. "1289 Green Canyon Road."

Both agents turned; their eyes meeting briefly as they shared the elation of success. They had found Tony, or at least the place he had gone to ground, they were sure of it. The emotion held only for a moment, they still had to get there. There was still the chance that they might be too late. . . .

As one they began to move. "Abby find Kate, tell her. . ."Gibbs was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Abby picked up.

"Abby it's Kate, I need to find Gibbs."

"Hold on," Abby said into the receiver. "Gibbs," she called him back, he and McGee were already halfway to the door. "It's Kate," she stated as he turned, pressing the speaker button.

Gibbs moved back, tossing the keys to McGee with the instruction to "Go, I'll catch you up."

Kate's slightly tinny voice drifted up from the speaker. "Gibbs?"

"I'm here."

"I've been trying to call you, the nurse at the hospital gave me a number that Tony called, I think I know where he is. . ."

"1289 Green Canyon Road." Gibbs supplied.

There was a momentary pause, followed by a flustered reply. "Yes, but how. . ."

"Tony called Gibbs," Abby began in her ever helpful rush of information, "and we got a fix on the cell phone tower, but his cell didn't have a GPS chip and then McGee. . ."

"Abby!" Gibbs cut the explanation short. He was pretty sure Kate's question had been rhetorical anyway. "It's not important, what is important is that we get there." Gibbs managed to break off there, managed to stop before his voice broke with emotion, before he admitted his concerns, before he exposed feelings that he didn't normally express, and scared his team more than he was himself. It was his strength that held them together. Trouble was it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold himself together.

Hard enough before he'd heard Tony's voice, near to impossible since, because Tony had sounded like Hell, weak and scared, breathless and confused, and then he was cut off, which meant he'd passed out or worse, and she could be back, and now he wouldn't help her because he knew what she was, not a damsel in distress but a cold blooded killer, and that meant she would have no use for him and she'd. . .

He dug his nails into the palm of his hand; it helped. It took a moment to process the fact that Kate was speaking again, that his spiral of thoughts had taken him out of the room. Damn, he couldn't afford the introspection, they didn't have the time; he concentrated back on Kate's voice.

Abby's distraction had given Kate enough time to pull her own thoughts together, to get back to the point of her call. "Well, like I say I've been trying to contact you, I'm already over halfway there, I'm just heading out of the city now."

Part of Gibbs was elated at the news; Tony would have help sooner. Part of him was concerned at the idea of Kate going in alone. "OK we're on our way, approach with caution and wait for us when you get there." He stated firmly, although he knew that it was an instruction that was unlikely to be obeyed. If Julie was there, if Tony was in danger, Kate would go in regardless. "Remember she's already killed two men."

As if she could forget.

"I'll be careful," Kate stated, not acknowledging the command.

"Er, Gibbs has gone Kate," Abby said as she watched the door swing shut, he had already been moving when he spoke his last words. Normally he would have hung up, ended the call abruptly with a click when he'd said his piece, but it wasn't his phone.

Kate was used to the abruptness. "OK, I'll report back when I get to the cabin."

"I'll be here," Abby said, with a slight melancholy to her tone, she was always there, waiting. She loved her job, but just occasionally, when the team went into a dangerous situation, when there was no evidence for her to examine, nothing left for her to confirm, just occasionally, she hated the loneliness of anxious waiting. "And Kate. . ."

"Yes Abby."

"Bring him back to us."

Kate's "I will," was so soft that Abby barely caught it. It lacked the strength and conviction that she needed, there was no reassurance in it. She stared at the phone, listening to the buzz of the dead line for a full minute before she thoughtfully clicked the button to silence it, and moved in search of a test that she could pretend to occupy her mind with.

NCISNCIS

Tony had never known true terror before. He had been afraid, as a rookie cop in his first fire fight, undercover on dangerous assignments, chased by killers across open terrain and through sewers, drugged, shot at, punched, knifed; he thought he had seen it all. He had been close to explosions, and unexploded bombs, and fires, and had seen a million ways that a person could die, facing his own mortality more than once, but until this point he had never been truly, literally, terrified. His mind just froze, his body paralysed in the moment of his death, and all he could think was that the knife was going to hit his face, and he didn't want to die ugly, and he almost gave a bitter little laugh, would have done if there had been time, if he'd had the breath for it. At what point had he allowed the surface shallowness to penetrate so deep into his psyche that his last thought in this life would be one of vanity? His act now so good that it subsumed the real him beneath

It was his last coherent thought as his senses shut down, from screaming banshee to silence. The edges of his world turned to gray, his vision tunnelling until all he could see was the knife. Pain faded, drowned out by fear, and then there was nothing.

Glimpses

Like a TV with someone flicking the remote on and off, disjointed glimpses of the world returned, gaps of an empty gray nothingness sat in between. His mind tried to process it, to piece it together like a giant puzzle.

The knife, it hadn't hit him, it had slammed into the ground beside his head. More than once. . . maybe. . . definitely. . . more than once.

Pain, he'd curled into a ball because something heavy had dug into his abused abdomen, the pain had taken his breath. He'd rolled into a ball, protective, safe.

Screams, there had been more screaming, a flurry of movement that had gone on for minutes? Hours? It had gone on, it had a frightening intensity. It scared him; he curled tighter.

Sunlight, silence, stillness, his own slightly ragged breathing; that was now.

It took a full minute for the thought to register that he was still alive, that he was lying curled in a foetal position on the grass, that he could feel the warmth of the sunlight on his face as the world around him regained some cohesion. He was still alive.

A shadow fell across his face and he looked up blinking. Julie had made some attempt to straighten her hair, her clothing. She knelt next to him, and he stared at her. She looked normal, almost beautiful again, a different species from the screaming monster that had attacked him, that had hurt him. She gently rolled him onto his back, brushing the hair off his forehead with concern.

"Please don't try that again," she said, her tone soft and even. "I won't be able to control it again." She had barely managed it this time. Wasn't quite sure how she had. She hadn't been able to stop herself from killing Mike, from killing Jason. Hadn't really wanted to, hadn't really tried. Rationally she told herself that it was because Tony was her last link to the package, that she had learnt her lesson. She ran her hand down his cheek again, her finger trailing, or maybe it was because he was so beautiful, had there been a spark of love once? She dismissed the question as irrelevant. They had to get moving, get back to the cabin. Then Tony would tell her where her package was and she would finally get it, and with it the wealth that she deserved. The thought gave her a renewed boost of energy. She needed it.

She was exhausted, drained, the rage had been more difficult to quell with its blood lust unsatisfied. She had managed to divert the knife, to stab into the ground only inches from his head, over and over, but it wasn't enough, and with each strike the knife got closer, and she knew she had to move, so she had crawled off him, oblivious to the pain she caused as her knee took her full weight on his abdomen, and then she had scrambled to the nearest tree, had vented her fury on the bark, over and over, stripping it with vicious strikes and screams to vent her rage. Until eventually the mists had cleared and a deep bone weary exhaustion had set in, the knife had fallen from bleeding knuckles and she had sunk to the ground.

It had taken all of her reserves of energy just to get up, to retrieve her knife, to find her gun, and now she needed to get Tony moving again.

She sat back on her heels and levelled the gun at him. It was the first time Tony had noticed it, though she'd held it in her hand all the time, even as her other hand caressed his face with barely concealed concern, the dichotomy only serving to emphasise her madness, even in this quiet, calm incarnation.

"We have to move now," she said sharply, leaning back further as she brought her heels under her and pushed herself to standing

Tony shifted his weight onto his elbows. "I don't think. . ."

"Get to your feet or I shoot you here." The tone was cold, the gun shifted dangerously.

Tony stared for a moment, met her gaze. The shifts in personality were lightning fast and disorientating. His ability to concentrate was already impaired by fever, by the emotional blows to his psyche, by the guilt and the anger and the frustration and the grief, by the sorrow and the exhaustion and the pain, by the myriad of responses that he wanted, and needed to make to the physical and emotional punishment he'd suffered. It wouldn't process, couldn't process. He was perilously close to shutting down from the overload.

His body made another attempt to push out adrenaline, to respond to the fear, as the remnants of terror tugged at the edge of his thoughts. In the end all he could do was respond to the here, the now. He had an instruction, backed by a very real threat. Slowly he pushed himself up, rolled on to his knees. Managed somehow to stand, shakily. A weak cough sent spasms of pain rippling across his body; bright lights danced through his field of vision and he almost went down again. He closed his eyes against the tilting movement of the earth and swallowed back the nausea, and then the arm was back around his waist, a shoulder tucked under his and he was moving again, placing one foot in front of the other in a controlled stumble forwards.

NCISNCIS

"Abby," McGee spoke into his cell as he tried to brace himself with his other hand against the jolting, bone shaking movement of the car. "Gibbs wants to know if you've heard from Kate again?"

"No, she hasn't called yet, but she did say she'd check in when she reached the cabin."

She waited as she heard McGee relay the information to Gibbs, almost caught the muffled question, which McGee helpfully repeated.

"Gibbs says call us as soon as you hear from," there was a chocked off grunt, "her. Although with Gibbs driving I don't think we'll be that far behind," McGee stated ruefully.

"I would pray for you but I'm saving all my good Karma for Tony," Abby replied with only the slightest of catches in her tone to betray the emotion.

"Don't worry Abby we'll get to him," McGee stated, trying his best to sound reassuring. He wasn't much more successful than Kate.

NCISNCIS

Tony caught his foot for the fifth time. It was inevitable on the uneven ground. He didn't have the strength to properly pick his feet up. He almost dragged both of them down as the trip caught him off balance. He barely managed to keep to his feet, increasing the pace as he literally controlled the fall into a staggering run until he was able to slow and balance again. It hurt like hell, pain was his constant companion, but the sharp shafting knives that radiated upwards with each new 'almost' fall brought their own agonies. His breathing came in audible pants. "Please," he muttered weakly, "I need to rest."

"No," Julie stated sharply. "We must keep moving. You can rest at the cabin." She urged him forward and they began moving again.

The stop was so abrupt it took a moment for Tony to register that they weren't going forwards any more. His eyes had been focused on the ground a few feet in front of him. Now he looked up hopefully, if they were at the cabin then this agony would end soon. He was disappointed to see more trees surrounding him. So why had they stopped? Was Julie going to let him rest? And then he heard it, the engine, dieing. The unmistakeable click and clunk of a car door opening and closing. Someone was here.

NCISNCIS

McGee answered on the first ring. "It's Abby, Boss," he stated for Gibbs' benefit. "She says Kate's arrived at the cabin. She stopped back in the woods about a hundred yards from where the road opens out into a clearing around it and she's gone to scout around. There's a truck there that matches the one Tony left the hospital with Julie in."

Gibbs barely resisted the temptation to swear. With evidence that Tony was actually there, Kate would take risks. He gave a sound that was closer to a growl instead, and pressed his foot even harder on the accelerator. The car bounced even more violently on the uneven road surface.

McGee gave a small yelp as he narrowly avoided biting through his tongue.

"Tell her we'll be there in ten minutes," Gibbs stated, "And if she hears from Kate again, tell her to hang back until we get there." He was going as fast as he dared. He couldn't afford to lose it, an accident at this point, however minor, could cost lives. He wanted to go faster though, so he vented the frustration the only way he could. His jaw set in a tight line, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the steering wheel so tightly it was painful.

NCISNCIS

Tony slid slowly down the tree to the ground, landing with his shoulder resting into it as he stopped seated upright, waiting. The position was uncomfortable, his knees tucked at a funny angle but initially he didn't have the will or the energy to do anything but ignore it. Finally he shifted, twisting round to rest his back against the trunk, his legs stretched out but slightly bent so that his feet rested flat on the ground improving his balance.

He blinked, one moment there was only woodland, in the next Julie was there standing staring at the trees, her head moving around scanning. It looked to him like she was planning something. He blinked again and she was beside him kneeling, gently brushing the hair from his forehead, making soothing noises as you would with a sick child.

"One of your friends is here," she stated softly. "Come to find you." Her finger trailed again down his cheek.

"Friend?" he managed to ask.

"Yes, she's looking for you, the one you work with."

"Kate?" he whispered softly, questioningly, his eyes dancing with momentary hope. Kate was here. The comfort of having her so close gave a brief elation. He could rely on Kate. In his shifting world she was one of the rocks he could hold on to, and she was here, close by.

"Yes that's her," Julie confirmed. "Now, I need you to make some noise. Attract her attention so that I can deal with her."

Tony stared as a huge pit opened in his stomach and swallowed all positive emotion down. Kate being here was not a good thing, not a good thing at all. Julie would try to stop her, would try to hurt her, would try to kill her, and that would be his fault. Anyway you looked at it he would be responsible. He was why Kate was here, and he couldn't let anything happen to her. Couldn't let this monster he was with near her. "No," he stated defiantly with as much strength in his tone as he could muster. "I won't help you."

"Oh," Julie stated, "I'm sure that you will."

That was when he saw the blade again, watched it as it descended. There was no reprieve this time as it plunged into the muscle and soft flesh of his upper arm. He bit down on his lip as he used every last drop of the self-control he possessed to keep from crying out. The bitter coppery tang of blood flooded into his mouth as his teeth cut into his lip, but he held it in, against the agonising burn he held it in.

His gaze met hers defiantly and he stared into the depths of her eyes and caught a look that chilled his soul. This was not an act in the frenzy of madness as the earlier one had been. This was cold, hard, malevolence, a manifestation of evil as she took pleasure in the game, oblivious of the pain she was inflicting, this was a means to an end.

"Very good Tony," she whispered softly, "Just not good enough."

Violently she twisted the knife and Tony screamed.

TO BE CONTINUED. . .