Title: Shaitan

Author: CSIphile/Redwing

AN1: Wow you guys….the number of reviews is truly overwhelming. I'm so appreciative, you have no idea. Please keep it up…..much love.

Sorry I'm not more wordy today, I'm already late on my post and don't want to hold it up by trying to be witty or something…;-)

Chapter 7: A Break

SVU Squad Room

Elliot put out an APB on the sketch of their suspect and Gibbs called his Washington office. Apparently they were running the sketch through the military database, but with the added information of a New York resident it might shorten the search. Of course, they didn't know if he was a current resident, or had been in the past, but it was the only lead they had.

Gibbs was sitting not so patiently up in the crib as he'd done all he could for the moment. The APB was out, and he had Abby working on the facial recognition software. Major Strands' family was not located in the New York area and he had elected to forgo an interview for now. Gibbs finally had the feeling that they were close to this guy.

Methodically he started going through the evidence in his head, but didn't get far before Kate's voice rang out from down below. "No, next time I'm driving, no discussions."

"Aww, come on, Kate!" Tony's voice followed hers.

"Forget it, DiNozzo, because if you drive again, I will have to shoot you and leave your corpse on the freeway."

"You wouldn't do that," he paused. "Would you? Kate?"

Her exasperated sigh preceded footsteps on the stairs heading to his location. For once Gibbs was glad to hear the two of them arguing, it meant that the Kate he remembered was starting to come back. She stopped suddenly at the top of the stairs, looking surprised to see Gibbs sitting there.

"We have a lead," he said with a ghost of a smile.

"You're kidding!" Tony exclaimed from behind her.

He gave Tony a look and quickly relayed the conversation from the Air Bar and what they had concluded from it. "The detectives have an APB out on him based on your sketch, and all of New York's finest are looking. I have Abby running the sketch through the database. We limited the search to those with New York City and Long Island addresses for now, including only those who were dishonorably discharged and in our suspected age range. Abby's using 90% markers on the sketch to allow for witness mistakes."

"That could still be a lot of people boss," Tony said, tapping a pencil softly on the table in front of him.

"It's a start."

The other two nodded at him. "Why would he change MO though?" Tony asked, putting the pencil down at Gibbs' annoyed expression.

Gibbs thought about that for a minute, he had been contemplating that very thing since that morning. "That I don't know, then again he didn't come here to kill. Maybe he saw her and couldn't stop himself, and since this is his hometown he felt…safe."

They all were silent for a minute.

Gibbs broke the silence by looking at his watch and sighing, "You're off the clock for a couple hours."

"What?" they asked simultaneously.

"There isn't anything else we can do until Abby gets us some names, which could be a couple hours. It's 4:30 now, I want you're asses back in here by 6:30. We need to go over everything with this new information." He waved his hand at them and Tony was up in a second and heading down the stairs, a belated "Thanks, boss" wafting up after him.

"Leave your phone on, DiNozzo! And don't wander too far!" Gibbs hollered and was met with an affirmative response.

Kate started to head down herself before Gibbs' hand wrapped around her upper arm, pausing her movements. "Kate, wanna grab something to eat?"

"I'm fine, Gibbs, thanks." She started to pull away, but his grip didn't give.

"Come on, even if it's just a hot dog on the corner." He gave her that just barely there smile, "Please."

She pursed her lips at him and narrowed her eyes, "What's going on?"

He took that as a yes. "Nothing, I'm hungry, let's go." He released her arm and gently prodded her down the stairs.

Reluctantly she agreed and they told Olivia and Elliot what was going on as they walked out. Apparently Tony had disappeared with Munch and Fin who had been heading out for food. The detectives nodded as they passed.

Elliot looked at the backs of the NCIS agents and then looked at Olivia, "Something is going on there."

"Agreed," she said and hung up the phone with the 2-2. They thought they had someone matching the description, but the guy was lacking a tattoo. She scratched her forehead with the tip of one thumb, and looked at Elliot who had a weird expression on his face.

"What?" she asked.

"They have the right idea, let's get out of here for a couple hours."

"Chinese?" she asked.

He nodded and the two clocked out, heading for their favorite restaurant.

MANN'S CHINESE RESTAURANT

MIDTOWN

Olivia watched in amusement as Elliot struggled with the chopsticks. It didn't seem to matter how many times they ate Chinese, the man could not master the art of eating with the wooden instruments. He typically tried for about five minutes before giving up and using the provided fork. But today his patience seemed to last slightly longer.

"Elliot," she said between bites, using her chop sticks with ease, "give it up and use a fork."

"I will win, Liv."

She raised one eyebrow at him as a shrimp slid down the sticks and back onto his plate. "Uh huh…"

He looked at her exasperated and picked up the fork, "Perhaps not today."

"Good call, we only have an hour to eat."

"You're hilarious, Benson."

She smiled mischievously at him, "That's why you love me." As soon as the words left her mouth she stopped eating and looked at him like a deer in headlights. It wasn't what she meant. Exactly.

"I….that's not what I meant. I don't…," she sighed and gave him a helpless expression. "Damn it."

He just smiled at her as she fumbled. "Liv, it's ok, relax. I don't think we have to step on eggshells."

"It's just…."

"It's too soon, I know. We agreed we didn't want this going to fast…well faster than it already has," he grinned at her and took another bite of shrimp.

She nodded. "I know, its just hard to express what you mean to me without…going fast."

He nodded in understanding, "We love each other, Liv, let's just admit that now and work on being in love later."

She gave him a lopsided grin, "You may not be able to use chopsticks, but you're a smart man, Stabler."

"I know…," he said, winking at her.

She merely groaned and they continued eating in silence.

CENTRAL PARK

Gibbs watched as Kate ate her hot dog like it was the last time she would ever see one.

"Hungry?" he asked with a smile.

They were sitting on one of the benches in Central Park, eating and thinking about the case. Even away from the station it was never far from their minds.

"More than I thought," she said and finished it off, wiping her hands on a napkin.

There was silence between them for a few minutes before Gibbs spoke, his voice actually tentative, "I want you to be careful, Kate."

She turned to look at him, "Huh?"

"This guy, he's seen you before, knows you're after him. I don't want him getting a glimpse and trying again," his tone was serious.

She scoffed at him, "Gibbs, the only reason he went after me was because he thought I was a Marine."

"Yeah, well. He seems to be throwing out his motive, and you never know." He grabbed her trash and put it in the can next to him. "Humor me."

She smiled at him, "Is that concern I sense Gibbs?"

He just looked at her before reaching out and just barely touching her hand, "Just because I'm a bastard doesn't mean I don't care."

She smiled, "I know, and thank you."

"For what?" he asked, increasing the grip on her hand slightly.

"The other night. I'm sorry I unloaded all that on you, but I finally got some sleep."

"Good," his voice was soft and they didn't speak for several minutes. Finally he looked at his watch, "Come on, let's head back."

They walked back into the station and found everyone else had returned as well. Elliot and Olivia were leaning against her desk standing very close, Gibbs noted, watching in amusement as Tony spoke.

Gibbs leaned into Kate, "I don't think that's a good sign, they're listening to Tony."

She stifled a smile and they approached the group. When Elliot noticed their arrival, he smiled slightly. "We apologize in advance."

Gibbs looked at him confused. "Why? What did he do?" indicating Tony with his hand.

"Ohh, it's not what he did, it's what was done to him. A couple hours alone with Munch and he's been converted."

"Converted?" Gibbs asked and turned to Tony.

"Boss! Did you know there was no moon landing? It was all done on a soundstage, and in the desert…"

Gibbs put up one hand, stopping the younger agent, "I don't want to hear it DiNozzo. Let's go." Gibbs indicated the crib with his hand and started up the stairs, with Kate, Tony and the SVU crew behind him.

SVU CRIB

10 PM

Several hours later they were no closer to an answer when the ME arrived, a fresh DNA report in her hands. "The skin under Major Strands' fingernails weren't your perp's. It was Allison Williams," she stated, handing the file to Elliot.

Each person took a minute to process this before Olivia spoke, "Any chance it's a transfer from the killer?"

The ME shook her head, "Not likely, transfer under fingernails is rare. There wasn't a lot of tissue, it looks like Carmen just scraped Allison, not gouged her."

"Okay, thanks Melinda," Olivia said and the ME left them with a new piece of information to consider.

"He held them together at some point," Elliot remarked, handing the file to Gibbs.

"Couldn't have been long, there would have only been about a five hour overlap between the time of each abduction and murder," Gibbs said, looking briefly at the report. "He might have another girl already."

Gibbs looked at Kate, who had the expression of someone who had been recently kicked in the stomach. "He's escalating," she stated simply. Gibbs nodded and she ran her fingers through her hair.

The silence was broken by the shrill ring of Gibbs' cell phone. Quickly he snapped it open and stood, walking away from the group. "Nice job, Abby. Yeah, you have the number right? Good, good," he paused and smiled. "Sure, Abs, go ahead, you deserve it."

He turned back to the group. "Abby found nine former Marines that fit our criteria and matched Kate's sketch. She's faxing the list of addresses."

Ten minutes later they had the fax in hand.

"If we break into three groups we can go faster," Elliot said, eying Fin, who was still at his desk completing paperwork.

"Agreed," Gibbs said. "One NCIS officer and one NYPD per. Kate, you're with Elliot, Tony with," he looked at Tony's hopeful face and made a quick decision, "…Fin and Olivia, I'll come with you. Sound good?"

All the members nodded and quickly split the list by location, each heading in different directions in the city.

THE BRONX

163RD ST

Tony got into the passenger seat and sighed. Two addresses, and nothing, both times the men bore a strong resemblance, but one had been out of town on business which had been verified with a boarding pass, the other didn't have a tattoo.

"One left," Tony said and Fin started the engine.

"Hopefully someone else is having better luck than we are," Fin replied.

Tony nodded and made a note on his sheet. "So, what's it like working with Munch? I heard rumors about his theories, but never heard 'em in person until today. He's got such great ideas…"

"None of which I need repeated," the other man commented, staring at Tony with an expression that said in no uncertain terms that Tony shouldn't open his mouth.

"Understood," Tony said and read off the last address.

BROOKLYN

EAST 28TH STREET

Gibbs pulled his jacket tighter around his body and shivered lightly in the cool air. He and Olivia had just left their second stop, with no luck. It had been the man's parents' house, and his residence until three months ago when he was transferred to Hawaii by his employer.

He made a note in his notebook. "We'll have to check that he actually has been in Hawaii, but I think it's a safe bet he's not the guy since his parents insist that he held no grudge against the Marines."

Olivia nodded and they got in the car, "Who's next?"

"Jason Wiser," he said and rattled off the address.

Soon they were on the road, heading toward the last address. Gibbs decided to break the silence with small talk. His version anyway.

"Must be hard, working for SVU," he remarked.

"It's not easy, but I wouldn't want to do anything else."

"I heard the shelf life of an SVU detective is two years, how long have you and Elliot been there?"

She made a right turn then answered him, "I've been with the unit for six and a half years, Elliot a little longer than that."

Gibbs whistled, "That's a long time to look at what you do."

She shrugged.

"It's also a long time to have the same partner, that's got to be a record almost."

A pained expression crossed her face before being replaced with a smile, "Almost…but I don't think anyone else would put up with us."

He nodded again, "I understand that."

Now she really laughed, "Ahhh, DiNozzo. He's quite the character."

"That's one way of saying it."

"If he drives you crazy, why does he still work for you?"

"Tony may be a pain in my ass, but he's still a good detective. And besides, now he has someone to put him in line a little."

"Kate."

"Yeah, Kate."

Olivia turned to him at his tone and wondered, not for the first time since she'd met the NCIS agents, if something was going on between them. Then again, she had a feeling that Gibbs didn't break the rules, and that would most assuredly be breaking several of them.

The third and final house on the list came into view and Olivia stopped the car.

"Here's to hoping," she said and opened her door.

COLLEGE POINT, QUEENS

7TH AVE

Elliot knocked on the door for the second time, annoyed. This was the last address on their list and he was determined to come away with something useful. When no one answered, he and Kate walked to the side door and peered in. The house looked abandoned, almost no furniture adorned the rooms. They returned to the front where Elliot pounded one more time.

"Excuse me!" a high voice called out. Apparently his pounding had gotten the neighbor's attention. Elliot and Kate spun around to see a woman in her late 40s hanging out the window of the house next door. "What are you doing?"

Elliot took a few steps forward and pulled out his badge, "NYPD, ma'am."

The woman nodded and looked at Kate suspiciously, "And you?"

She copied Elliot's movement, also pulling out her badge, "NCIS."

The woman frowned and tilted her head, "That like CSI?"

"Not exactly, ma'am. I'm a federal agent."

That seemed to placate her and Elliot took a few more steps toward her, "Does Richard Hamilton still live here, ma'am?"

"Last I knew, and stop calling me ma'am. My name is Karen."

"Okay, Karen. When was the last time you saw him?"

"He was just here the other day, but not for very long, he went in the house for about 30 minutes and left. He was carrying a large bag with him."

"Really?" Kate asked. "About how big?"

"Good sized, looked like a really big duffle bag like you see those military guys walking around with."

Kate and Elliot looked at each other. He held out the sketch with a drivers license photo attached, "This the man you saw?"

The woman grabbed the papers and pulled them inside where the light allowed her to see better. "Yeah, like I said, Richard was here."

"Excellent, thank you, Karen."

"You're welcome," she said and closed the window.

"You think he's been holding women in there?" Kate asked.

"I think it's a distinct possibility. And if so, there might be someone here." He walked back to the door and opened the screen, then slowly turned the handle on the main door, surprised when it opened.

"Elliot…"

"The door was unlocked, Kate. That makes it fair game."

She nodded and pulled her sidearm, holding it tightly against her side as she followed Elliot into the darkened house. He tried the first light switch he saw, with no luck. Both of them pulled flashlights from their pockets and Elliot continued to lead the way. The door had opened into a vestibule of sorts, and through that was a hallway leading to the living room and kitchen, and to the right were stairs. Elliot went left and they swept the living and dining rooms quickly, heading back through the kitchen. They found nothing. Most surfaces where covered with a light film of dust, except a path from the front door to the stairs going to the second level.

Once they were sure the first floor was clear, they started up the stairs, with Elliot still in the lead and Kate watching their backs. She was starting to get a weird feeling when three quarters of the way up, Elliot suddenly stopped.

Kate was about to ask what was going on, when his voice beat her to it. "Kate…," he said slowly.

"Yeah."

"Run."

Without hesitation, she started down the stairs and could hear Elliot right behind her. Kate ran as fast as she could, just reaching outside front door when an explosion propelled her body the rest of the way. She hit something hard, causing a whoosh of air to expel from her lungs before slumping to the ground in pain. She could hear Elliot somewhere to her right, calling her name, then Olivia's before he was silent.

"Elliot...," she managed to croak out. She opened her eyes slightly and gasped when in her line of sight was the man they had been looking for hunched above her, staring at her with interest.

The last thing Kate heard before falling into unconsciousness was hearing their quarry's voice, "Well, hello, Agent."

tbc……………………