Here's your next chapter, readers! I hope you enjoy it!
Tony pulled up in front of the house which he had lived in for the past five years of his life. Just seeing the police tape in front of it made him cringe. It didn't look right to him. It was meant to look safe – the one place he could escape from all of the criminals and just be himself, with his children, his wife and (as much as he hated to admit it) his sister-in-law. And now that one safe place was ruined.
Eglé realized why he was staring at the house and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "So, this is where you live?"
Tony sighed. "Yup."
Eglé smiled. "Who do you live with?"
Tony smiled slightly. "My wife, and my three-soon-to-be-four kids, as well as my sister-in-law."
"That is very sweet," Eglé commented.
Tony looked over at Eglé. "Do you have a family?" he asked.
Eglé nodded. "I have two daughters who live with my husband in England."
Tony's eyes widened in shock. "England? Isn't that far?"
Eglé shrugged. "I got a job offer at NCIS whilst I was working in liason with NYPD two years ago. My husband couldn't leave his teaching job in the UK, and I really wanted this job here in the US. So we decided that he would take care of the children and I would come home on the holidays. It's quite hard sometimes, but it works out."
"Do you keep in contact with the kids?" Tony asked curiously.
Eglé nodded. "I Skype and Facebook my family every night."
"Wow…" Tony looked over at Eglé once more. "Do you miss them?"
Eglé smiled sadly. "Yes, I really do." She fingered something around her neck, and Tony noticed that it was a necklace made of beads. He smiled.
"That's sweet." He pointed at the necklace on her neck.
Eglé nodded and took a deep breath. "Well, that's enough about my hectic life." She opened the car door. "Come on – we have a case to solve before the FBI can get their hands on it."
Tony nodded and opened his door as well, following her cue as she walked up to one of the neighbours' houses. She knocked on the door.
Not long afterwards, the door was opened to reveal an elderly woman, probably in her late fifties or early sixties Eglé guessed, standing at the door in an apron, her curly grey hair up in a tight bun and her hands inside a pair of rubber gloves. She smiled sweetly at Eglé.
"Hello, my dear." She pulled the gloves off her hands. "How can I help you?"
Eglé pulled out her badge and showed it to the woman. "Hello, I'm Special Agent Eglé McCoy, and this is Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo." She paused when she noticed recognition flash in the woman's eyes at Tony's name. "We realize that there has been a recent kidnapping in the neighbourhood, and we would like to ask you some questions about it."
The old woman's eyes widened. "I… I heard about what happened when the police told me…" She hesitated when her eyes landed on Tony and moved aside. "Come in, please."
Maria sighed as she scrolled through her contacts again. There was no one she could call that was on her list, apart from her parents, but they had adamantly decided not to pick up when she needed them the most. She sighed. She hoped she could find someone to call, and soon. Suddenly, she had an idea. She scrolled for a number, and quickly punched it in, holding the phone to her ear as she waited.
"Hello?"
"Katie? Thank god!"
Katie may not have been the brightest out of the group, but she was good with computers. And a really good hacker. If she had just that little bit more experience, she could rival McGee…
"What is it, Maria? You haven't spoken to me for, like, two days! What's wrong?" Katie's voice came down the line like a hurricane.
Maria held the phone away from her ears until she stopped ranting before bringing it back. "Yeah, yeah, we'll speak later. Look, I need a favour from you."
"A favour?" Maria could literally hear Katie frowning at the other end. "What's going on, Maria? First you call me after two days of no contact, and now you're asking for favours?"
"I said I'd tell you later, Katie," Maria sighed.
"… Fine. What do you need?"
"I need all the records you can find of the name David from within the last two months."
"What? Why?"
"Just do it, Katie."
She could hear Katie turning on her laptop in the background and keys being typed. "Okay, so what exactly am I looking for?"
Maria shrugged. "Just anything. Credit card details, phone calls, airport flights – anything!"
"Got it." There was a tapping in the background. "Okay, there's the airport flight the week before your nephew's birthday… some account withdrawals… hey, hold on…" There was some more tapping in the background. "I found some phone call recordings and transcripts made within the last three weeks. They all seem to be from your mom or dad."
Maria smiled. She had something. "Send them to me."
"Sure." There was some more clicking and tapping in the background, and Maria waited patiently for Katie to finish. "All done."
Maria smiled and grabbed her laptop, opening it up and turning it on before opening up her emails. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Katie' email and opened it up. "Thanks, Katie."
"No problem, Ria."
Maria hung up with a smile as she read the email. She opened up the attachment with curiousity and read it, soaking in every line. She froze halfway through the second conversation. Why was someone recording her parents' conversations? No, she needed a more important answer:
Why were her parents having these conversations?
McGee picked up his desk phone. "Special Agent McGee's desk, how can I help you?"
"McGee? It's Maria."
McGee frowned. "Maria? What's going on?"
"Check your mail. It contains some important information that is gonna be important to your case. Read it."
McGee tapped a few keys and opened up his emails, clicking on the one that Maria had sent him. "Are you sure this'll help us?" he asked as he opened up the email's attachment.
"Yup."
McGee sighed as he scanned through the document, slowly taking everything in. By the time he had finished, his eyes were wide with shock.
This was important to the case, alright. If they were to get Ziva back, that is.
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