Chapter 7

Gibbs got out of the car in front of an empty storefront. Tony and Ziva followed suit, looking around. The police pulled in behind them and two officers got out, looking a little tense as they scanned the area.

"This is the address for the phone, and here it is," Tony said. "I don't see any sign of McGee, though."

"He was scared," Ziva said. "He would not stay out here on the street to be found if he was worried about being discovered. He would hide."

"Yeah. Well, where would he go?"

Gibbs looked around. There weren't many hiding places out here. Many of the houses looked empty, but not all. There were very few people out on the street. Many of the street lamps were broken. All in all, this was a terrible place for Tim to be trying to hide out and escape someone who wanted him dead.

The officers walked over to the storefront and checked the door.

"Doesn't look like anyone tried to get in here. He must have gone somewhere else."

There was a pause as they all looked around at their options. Quite frankly, there were too many. There was an alley directly across from the payphone that went back toward where they had been. There were streets going both directions from here to other intersections. There were other alleys. And there were all the empty buildings around. All in all, this was far from ideal.

"Okay, Officer David, you and Detective Dorn start that way. Officers Cranston and Hill, you go through that alley to see if he started retracing his steps. Agent DiNozzo and I will head in this direction. If you find any sign of him, call and we meet back here in no more than 30 minutes. Clear?"

Everyone nodded and headed off in the indicated directions. Gibbs really didn't like splitting up, but if Tim was that worried about someone finding him, then, they needed to figure out where he was sooner rather than later. Hopefully, it would pan out without anyone else being in danger.

As they walked along the sidewalk, it was dim lighting at best.

"I don't like this, Boss," Tony muttered.

"Just look, DiNozzo," Gibbs said tersely.

As they headed down the sidewalk, there was an alley down the road a ways that appeared to cut between two rows of mostly-empty homes. All in a state of disrepair, occupied or not. If Tim was trying to hide, he might have run that way from the phone.

"Want to check that out?" Tony asked.

Gibbs nodded.

They increased their pace toward the alley.

That was when they heard the first gunshot.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

At the last second, Tim decided not to shoot (and make a lot of noise) but instead to hit the man as hard as he could. Then, he grabbed the man as he fell and pulled him into the shed and dumped him onto the ground. Then, he crouched down and waited. There was another person out there and he couldn't depend on his giving up since he seemed really irritated.

"Jerry!"

Tim looked down at the unconscious (or dead) man on the ground. That must be Jerry. He took a breath. What now?

"Jerry!"

Then, Tim was startled by a gunshot. He hunched down lower.

"I have plenty of ammunition. I can keep shooting and I know I'll hit you sooner or later!"

Another shot pierced the side of the shed, still way above his head, but that didn't make Tim feel any safer. If he wasn't lying, then, it could definitely end with a lucky shot.

A third shot and he flinched again.

"Are you ready to risk it?"

Tim decided to throw caution to the winds.

"What about your friend? You might hit him, too!" Tim called back.

"He's an idiot. You want to put a bullet through his head for me, you'll be doing me a favor."

Tim had been afraid of that. There hadn't seemed to be much respect between the two of them.

No honor among thieves, he thought to himself ruefully.

"If you come out, we can at least discuss whether or not I'm going to kill you."

"Doesn't sound like a good idea," Tim said.

Another gunshot. Lower this time. Tim ducked down even further.

"You like this option better?"

"You haven't hit me yet."

A fifth shot.

"I'm getting closer though, aren't I. All I want is the pictures."

"And me dead," Tim said.

Suddenly, the man stepped into view, gun in hand, aiming right at Tim. Tim raised his weapon and aimed at the man as well. He was still crouched on the ground, looking up at his captor while his captor was staring down at him, gun pointed right at Tim's head.

"The pictures are more important," he said. "They're evidence. You are just words. And if those pictures aren't where I can get them, I need to do what I can to fix that."

"And if I help you, I'm dead afterwards," Tim said, feeling his heart pounding in his chest, even as he tried to stay calm... and think of a way out of this.

He was failing to come up with any realistic scenario.

"If I kill you now, you'll be just as dead," the man said.

"If you kill him now, you'll be just as dead."

The new voice startled them both. Tim was shocked because he recognized the voice. The man was obviously shocked that someone had managed to sneak up on him. He didn't move for a moment.

"I mean it. Is killing him more important than staying alive yourself? Because you can't do both."

"And he really does mean it. You're dead if you pull the trigger."

Tim knew that voice, too. He didn't dare put down the gun though. Not yet.

"Who do you think you are?" the man demanded.

"Federal agents. Drop your weapon."

Tim was surprised when the man rolled his eyes in frustration and swore very creatively.

And then dropped the weapon.

And just like that, it was over.

"Hands in the air."

He was still staring hard at Tim as he raised his hands in the air as instructed, looking as if he blamed Tim for this situation. Tim was still holding the gun up. He almost didn't feel like he could move. He was just watching, but all he could see was the man himself. He could hear the other voices, but his captor was all he could see.

"You're under arrest for assault on a federal agent."

Other hands came into view as the man was cuffed and the voice read off his Miranda rights. Tim just sat there, staring as the man kept staring at him, looking extremely annoyed.

Then, suddenly, the man was pulled out of his view and Tim was left staring at nothing.

But just for a moment.

"McGee!"

A new face showed up in front of him.

"Hey, McGee. You planning on shooting me?"

Tim felt very strange at the moment, kind of fuzzy and weird.

"Huh?"

"You're pointing a gun at me. I hope you're not planning on pulling the trigger. And who's that guy?"

"I don't know," Tim said.

"Which?"

"Huh?"

The face in front of him scrunched up.

"You feeling all right, Tim?"

He could answer that one. "No."

"You want to stay in there?"

Tim looked around the shed.

"No."

"Okay. Why don't you put down the gun, then, and I'll help you out."

"Huh?"

"You're pointing a gun at me, McGee. Put it down."

Tim looked at his hands and he realized that, yes, he was currently pointing a gun at that new face. Well, he knew it wasn't necessary, but for some reason, he couldn't quite convince himself to drop his arms. He wasn't sure why. It was like his mind had jammed and nothing was functioning correctly anymore.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Don't know."

"Do you mind if I climb in there and help you out?"

"No."

"Okay."

The face disappeared from the opening and Tim was again left staring at nothing.

But again, not for long. There was a loud sound to the side of him and Tim jumped and that finally made him able to look to the side. There was another opening in the shed. Huh. That was interesting. And the face was back, accompanied by a whole body.

"Okay, Probie, let's just get you out of here, all right?"

"Okay."

The person stepped into the shed and became just a shadow with no detail. Then, a gentle hand was on his hands.

"Can you let go of the gun, Tim?"

Tim tried to get his hands to loosen their grip, but he wasn't sure they would.

"I'm trying," he said.

"Just don't pull the trigger, okay? I'm going to make sure the safety is on and then I'm going to take it from you."

"Okay."

In a moment, the gun was pulled from his hands and his arms suddenly felt very, very heavy. They dropped to his lap and all the energy that had sustained him through the last day was gone. He slumped back against the wall of the shed.

"Don't worry, I've got you."

An arm slipped around him and began to lift him to his feet. Tim tried to help out.

"I feel boneless," he said vaguely.

"Yeah, I agree. Let's just get you out of here."

"Okay. Where's here?"

There was a laugh.

"Baltimore, remember?"

"Yeah, but where am I?"

"About the worst place you could be."

"Why am I weird like this?"

"Based on your face, you must have got hit pretty hard."

"My face hurts."

"It looks like it does. Come on."

Tim found himself being hauled out of the dark shed and into the alley again. He started to look around for the man who had been after him and then remembered that he had been arrested.

It was getting pretty dark. That needed mentioning.

"It's dark," he said.

"Yeah, it is. That's what happens when the sun goes down."

"Oh."

Another chuckle. Then, he was out of the alley and everything was getting more fuzzy. He was giving less and less help to the person carrying him along. Besides being a source of pain, his head was starting to feel really heavy and he let it flop down so all he could see was the sidewalk.

"Hey, Boss. A little help here?"

Another hand and another arm was lifting him and removing any need to move on his own. That much decided, Tim stopped trying at all and he sagged between those two sets of arms, letting his body do what he had wanted to let it do ages before.

Completely shut down.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Whoa, Boss. He's out," Tony said as Tim sagged between them. "Man, he smells bad. This is gag-worthy stink. Was he playing around in trash?"

"We've already called for an ambulance for the other guy," Officer Dorn said. "You want one for him, too? Looks like he could use it."

Gibbs wanted to just take Tim over to the hospital himself, but at the same time, this was a crime scene and he didn't want to leave it all to the BPD to take care of.

"Yeah," he said.

"Will do."

"Get him to the car," Gibbs said.

Tony nodded and they moved him over and then lay him down on the seat.

"He was really out of it before he passed out, Boss. I hope he's okay," Tony said.

Gibbs nodded. Tim looked far from his best. The whole left side of Tim's face was swollen. Carefully, he prodded at Tim's face and grimaced. There was definitely a chance of broken bones. Whoever had hit him had used something other than just a fist. This kind of damage definitely came from a weapon. A gun, brass knuckles, something. That could also explain some of his mental confusion, although Gibbs wouldn't be surprised if some of it was simply shock and the adrenaline crash. Even so, this could be worse than it looked.

They'd just have to wait and see.

The ambulances arrived quickly and got Tim and the other man loaded up just as quickly. The EMTs clearly didn't want to stick around the area any longer than was necessary. None of them did, albeit for different reasons.

Still, there was work to do. The sooner they got it done, the sooner they could leave.

And check on Tim.

So for now, it was back to work.