A Trap Sprung For Two

A NCIS Special Ops Story-Written in response to Challenge #14

Thanks for the support, fellow Agents

(The characters are the property of Bellasarius Productions and DPB-and I promise to put them back as soon as I'm done with them!)

The car swerved dangerously close to the edge of the cliff.

Behind the wheel, a wounded Agent Catlin Todd fought to stay conscious despite the blood seeping from her shoulder. She had to get to Gibbs before it was too late. If she had been the victim of a set-up, so might he.

Suddenly her cell phone went off, and seeing the name on the id-she could have wept for joy.

Gibbs.

She slowed and found a turnabout with sightlines for both directions. Stopping for a moment, she took a deep breath, then answered.

"Gibbs, thank God, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm all right, I take it you didn't send a message to meet me in back of the Military Monument." Kate found herself relieved at his snippy tone.

"No, it was a trap. I got a message to meet someone, metallic voice, in back of the Tunnel on Rte 9, or else you and Tony were dead. I got a little greeting when I showed up. I'm hit in the shoulder, but I'm going to try to get to Basin Hospital." All at once she started to feel light-headed, then Gibbs' voice started to fade in and out.

"Kate, Kate! Stay where you are, we're coming for you. Lock yourself in."

Was that concern in his tone? Kate grinned sloppily at the thought of a worried Gibbs.

Abruptly she heard the sounds of a car, high powered and foreign. At once she realized her predicament; wounded, alone, her weapon near to useless as her shooting arm was bleeding out.

Voices sounded, then a pounding on her window.

"Go away, I'll call the police." she yelled, then nearly choked as a familiar voice sounded in her ears.

"Kate, open up, it's Gibbs."

Fumbling with the door lock, she nearly slid out the door on to the pavement when the door was jerked open.

"I've got you Kate, it's okay." The smell of sawdust in her nose, she blinked and saw those steely blue eyes, so often angry, now, whoa, concerned?

Just then Gibbs sat her up so Tony could put a compress on her shoulder.

"Just a flesh wound, Gibbs, ouch, not so hard, Tony!" Kate suddenly decided a worried Gibbs was very nice to be around, as he insisted on carrying her to his car, then settled her into the back seat next to Tony.

"All right, Kate, just hold on to me, I don't want you banging around the car when Gibbs does a ..whoooo!" Tony didn't get a chance to finish before the senior agent put his car through a 360 and doubled back to D.C.

"Okay, Kate, start at the beginning, now who called you, and why didn't you check with us and get some back up before you nearly got yourself killed." Gibbs fixed her with an angry glance; obviously he figured she was going to be all right and was taking off the gloves, Kate realized.

Opening her mouth, she hesitated, wincing as they took a curve at high speed, then Gibbs met her eyes in the mirror, and she didn't waste any words on excuses.

"I was on my way to work when I got a text message, that I was to come alone to the old Tunnel on Rte 9, to be there by 9 am or you and Tony were dead. I tried to reach the both of you, but neither of you picked up your phone, and the line at NCIS wasn't answering." Kate gave a little moan as Tony put fresh pressure on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Kate, take it slow." Gibbs eyes suddenly softened.

"I parked on the edge of the road, then I saw Tony's jacket, at least a good imitation of it." She continued, seeing him wearing his usual leather coat.

"Suddenly I caught fire, the only reason they didn't nail me immediately was the wind picked up and gave me a moment to dive out of the way." Kate took a deep breath. "Unfortunately I was hit when I tried to see if either of you were being held hostage."

Gibbs sucked in his breath, okay, she'd taken precautions, couldn't get ahold of them because he and Tony were in the field in a no-signal zone. He was going to have to do something about that.

"Go on, Kate." He urged.

"I managed to dive back into my car, then started it back up and peeled out of there, that's when I noticed the blood from my shoulder. I thought I was going to go over the cliff a couple of times before you called.

What bothers me is the speed with which this attack came on, as if…" Kate's words trailed off as the same idea struck all three of them.

"As if someone was watching us, and planned to have Tony and I as bait." Gibbs finished.

The agent was silent as he wheeled into the hospital emergency zone, then barely let the motor stop before he was out and opening the door to take Kate inside.

Within minutes he'd made a call to Ducky, then left Tony to have McGee run the phone records off of Kate's cell phone.

"Not again, not ever." Gibbs swore as he marched into the treatment room where Kate was. He saw the doctor stitching her arm, then frowned at the sight her biting her lip to keep from crying out.

"Doctor, how is she?" he asked with thinly veiled anger.

"She'll be in some pain, unfortunately Agent Todd is allergic to the topical painkiller I would have given her to alievate her discomfort. Her blood loss was not as bad as it looked, however, so I think she can be released tomorrow. I just want to keep her under observation until all her tests come back." The baby-faced doctor replied, fixing Gibbs with an annoyed stare.

"Thank you, Doctor. I'm going to need any bullet fragments you may have removed, so we can track down the person who shot her." The senior agent told him, then Kate raised her head, realizing for the first time how furious Gibbs was that she was a victim.

"Gibbs, I'm all right, don't worry. I told Dr. Harmon here that when he took a piece of bullet out." She tried to placate him.

"Good thinking, Kate. I already called Duck, I'll send it over to him as soon as I have it." Gibbs answered, then turned as a nurse came in with an evidence bag holding bloodied metal bits.

"Doctor, I have the blood test results."