A/N: Many thanks to all of my faithful reviewers! I appreciate all your comments, immensely. :)
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3 hours ago; outside the bank...
"Sir, we can't allow you in there," a police officer stopped Gibbs, in his attempt to approach the bank.
Gibbs pulled out his badge, "I've got two agents in there!"
"There's no telling if they're even alive, Agent...Gibbs," he read. "They've got semi-automatic weapons. We've got back-up on the way with some of our own. Until then-"
"Have you had any communication with the suspects?" he interrupted.
"They cut the phone lines at some point before we got here," he told him.
"My agents have cell phones on them. We can try and contact them, that way. Where's the officer in charge?" Gibbs began to get impatient.
"That'd be me," a voice came from the left of Gibbs, and he turned to see an older man in street clothes approach. "Who's this, Parker?" he asked his officer.
"This is Agent Gibbs, with NCIS, Sir. He says he's got two agents inside."
"What're your agents doing in that bank?" he asked, looking back to Gibbs.
"They were sent to collect information on a missing person's case. My guess is, since it seems the suspects aren't here to rob the bank, that they came to intercept the footage my agents were sent to retrieve. They knew they were comin', and they were waiting on them to get here. In which case, this is NCIS's show."
"With all due respect, Agent Gibbs," the officer in charge said, "We don't know that that's the case."
"What, exactly, are your plans at this point," Gibbs glared.
"For all we know, they could've killed everyone in there. There's been no sign that they want to communicate with us; no demands. I think they're simply stalling until they can figure out how to get out of there, even if it means shooting their way out. So we're waiting on fire-power."
"You're gonna raid the building," Gibbs surmised. "You don't know if there are innocent people still alive in there. You could end up killing them!"
"So what do you suggest we do?" the officer got in his face.
"I call my agent's phone, and hope they answer," he told him. "And when they do, I get them to let me in there."
"And then what?" he exclaimed.
"When I'm in, I'll figure that out..."
Inside the bank...
"What's that ringing coming from?" one of the suspects yelled from across the room. The unmasked suspect searched through the duffel bag containing the items they'd confiscated from the agents, and found the phone.
"One of the agent's phones," he called back. "Caller ID says 'Gibbs'."
The masked suspect walked into the manager's office. "Who the fuck is Gibbs?" he asked Ziva.
"He is our boss," she told him, simply. "Perhaps it would be a good idea to speak with someone outside of here; figure out a way to leave this place," she suggested.
Another of the suspects appeared with the two, "Seriously, man. Whatever we're gonna do, we can't stay here forever. Just answer the damn phone."
The unmasked man looked at, whom Ziva concluded, was their leader. The leader seemed annoyed, but eventually gave in. "Fine. Answer it. But you can deal with them."
The unmasked man looked relieved, and answered the call. "Hello?" Ziva watched as the man listened to the voice on the other end. "My name isn't important. What do you want?" he asked. His eyes flitted to meet Ziva's. "They're alive," he told him. "Everyone is alive." Ziva knew what would come next. Gibbs would want proof of what he'd been told. "You can talk to the girl. You've got thirty seconds," he said into the phone, then walked up to Ziva and held it to her ear.
"Gibbs," she said into the phone.
"You alright?" he asked.
"I am unharmed. McGee is...unconscious, but alive."
"They after the footage?"
"Yes."
"What happened? Why are they still inside?"
"I believe their intentions were to leave, once they had what they'd come for. Something changed...frightened them into staying."
"That's enough," the man pulled the phone away and put it to his ear. "Gibbs, if you want your agents back alive, I suggest you find a way to get us outta here," he told him.
"Let me in," Gibbs told him. "You let the civilians out, in trade for me. You'll have yourselves three federal agents for hostages. We can go from there."
The suspect seemed to ponder the thought for a moment before replying. "It's not up to me. You'll have to call back. Give me ten minutes..."
Present...
"Did they make the trade?" Mags asked.
Gibbs cocked his head, "Partially. Traded half the civilians. The point was for me to get inside. Had to prove to them that we could protect them. But they'd need to help us, first..."
2 hours ago; inside the bank...
"You don't get it, do you?" the leader shouted at Gibbs. "We don't know where he is! We were supposed to destroy the footage in the system, then call him. He was gonna tell us where to bring the flash drive after we got out."
"You realize that was because he knew that if you were caught," Gibbs told him, "That you wouldn't be able to lead us to him? He told you to destroy the drive if you couldn't get out, didn't he?"
"Yeah," the unmasked man told him. "So, what do we do? We can't lead you to him? Now what? You won't protect us if we can't help you..."
"You might be able to help, still," Gibbs retorted. "You got his number?" The man nodded. "You let me call my office; we set up a trace on the bank phone line. You call him from here, tell him you're gonna give yourselves up. But tell him you've still got the drive, and if he wants you to destroy it, he needs to promise to leave you alone."
"He'll say anything to get us to destroy it," the masked man interjected. "Doesn't mean he won't have us killed."
"Don't need him to mean what he says," Gibbs told him. "Just need to keep him on the line long enough to get a trace. Once we get it, we can get people there fast. We find our missing person, put this guy away, you'll have our protection, and me standing in court for you, telling the judge how you helped saved a man's life, and put away a kidnapper."
The room grew quiet for a good several minutes, each of the men looking at each other for answers. The leader of the group, after a moment, removed his mask. "I lead these guys into this," he told Gibbs. "My job to get them out. If this is how it's gotta be done...guess I have no choice..."
Present...
"It worked," Gibbs told Mags. "Abby got a trace on the call. We found him in less than seven minutes. The lieutenant was rushed to the hospital, and the kidnapper...well, he decided to go down fighting. Tried to run; took a few shots off at the FBI. They gunned him down."
"Looks like the bank robbers...er...the henchmen, rather, won't need protecting, now," Mags added. She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Wow, Gibbs. You do this all the time? It's a wonder you didn't get hurt in there...And it's a wonder not all your agents are as gray as you," she smirked and arched a brow. Gibbs let out a soft chuckle. "How's Tim?" she asked, smile falling from her face.
"He's fine," Gibbs replied. "Mild concussion. Abby's lookin' after him, for now."
"Guess I won't be meeting any of the rest of your team today."
"Probably not."
"I should check on Tony. You want me to make you somethin' to eat?" she asked as she got up from the table.
"You're a cook now, too?" he raised a brow.
"I don't wanna brag," she quirked a smile as she headed out of the room, towards Tony's.
Gibbs just smiled to himself. Mags was quickly growing on him; something that was pretty rare to happen with him. He stood and went to the fridge. There wasn't much, in terms of making a meal. With Mags there, he thought he might be able to run out and pick a few things up...
"Gibbs?" Mags returned to the room with a look of concern on her face. "Has Tony been experiencing any fever, that you've noticed?"
"No," he straightened and closed the fridge door. "Why?"
"Well, he's running one, now," she told him. "It's not very high, but I'd keep an eye on it. Any of your team sick?"
"Don't think so. They all seem to be fine," he furrowed his brows and headed past her and into Tony's room. The younger man was still asleep, looking pretty comfortable. "How long has he been asleep?"
"Couple of hours, now," she told him.
"Doesn't usually sleep this long," he said, concerned, as he laid a gentle hand on Tony's forehead. "Did he seem like he might be getting sick?"
"Seemed perfectly fine, to me," Mags told him. "And he might be, Gibbs. He had a big day, you know. New nurse; appointment with a shrink. He's probably just tired. And he might need some more pain medication, when he wakes up. He could be on the warm side due to discomfort."
"Then we should wake him up and give him something," he turned to her.
"I'll give him something in his IV port," she told him. "No need to wake him up, especially if he's in pain."
Gibbs watched her move around the room, preparing to give him the medication. The port had been kept in, in case he needed to be put back on fluids. So far, they hadn't had to use it. Something twisted in his gut, that Tony had been sleeping for so long. But he trusted Mags' input.
Still, he resigned himself to stay at Tony's bedside. At least until whatever this was, was gone...
Tbc...