A/N: Sorry it took me so long, but real life's pretty busy right now. But I'll try to post again soon.
Reviews are always welcomed:)
Chapter 6
Gibbs shook his head, frustrated. "There's nothing." The worry for his agent was wearing at him. "Has Abby called yet?"
Kate didn't bother to answer; instead she scanned the floor for the tenth time, hoping to find something, anything.
"We're running out of time." Gibbs cursed when a knock on the door caught their attention. Looking at each other and reaching for their guns in silent understanding they sneaked over. Gibbs slowly opened the door, looking at an old woman with white hair. She was understandably shocked by the gun. "Sorry. Can we help you ma'am?"
"I…I was just wondering what was going on here." Her voice shook.
Then Kate stepped into her view and she visibly relaxed. "What do you mean?"
"So many people have been here today. First this group of guys… I thought that maybe they were Alec's basketball team as they all came in the same van, they didn't look friendly though. Then there were this nice girl and the handsome guy, and…"
"What do you remember about that van?" Gibbs pressed.
"Oh, I don't know much about cars, when I was young, you know, we didn't really…" She noticed that the two people apparently were not interested in her story and she stopped herself. "Anyway, I do know this type of car because my son used to have one like those, and he loved it- you know, I never understood how he could care as much about the car, he should rather have found himself a nice girl…"
Kate shot Gibbs a look, she was on edge and didn't have the patience to deal with this right now.
"Miss…?"
"Flemming," She smiled sweetly.
"Miss Flemming, could you just let us know what kind of car it was, we're kind o in a hurry here." He presents his badge. "NCIS."
"Oh, that police? Like FBI?"
"Pretty much." Gibbs agreed.
"Oh, did something happen to Alec? He is such a nice guy you must know. He always helps me when I need to buy heavy things."
"Miss Flemming…" Kate reminded her.
"Right. A black Chrysler van. There are not many of those around, according to my son. Too expensive, especially in the city. I mean, I never got a driver's license myself, but I can imagine how hard it is to find a parking space for a car like that."
Kate smiled again. "Anything else?"
"Hmm, well, I might be wrong, but I think the plate said S1222. Washington."
Kate's eyes grew and Gibbs grin spread across his face. Wordlessly he switched his phone opened and speed dialled Abby's number. "Abs? Check a license plate for me. Washington State, S1222…Good."
"Did I help?" Mrs Flemming straightened in excitement. "You know, I don't even know why I paid attention to the plate. Usually I never do, but this time…" She shook her head, apparently at awe with herself.
"You did help a lot. Thank you so much." Kate shook her hand. "And now, would you please excuse us?"
"Of course, of course. Good luck finding that guy. What did he do? Drive too fast?"
"Something like that," Kate smiled. "Good bye, Mrs Flemming."
She hurried after Gibbs who had already walked towards the staircase. "Wow, that I call luck."
"We don't know if it helps." Gibbs warned her.
xx
Max kept pacing in the small dark room as far was the chain around her wrist allowed while Tony sat at the wall, still feeling vaguely dizzy and nauseated, probably from whatever substance he had been knocked out with.
Suddenly a key rattled in the lock and Max stopped her pacing to stand on alert, her whole body tense. "Sit down!" A guy with a black mask and a gun in his hands entered their prison.
"What do you want?" Max asked.
"What do you think?"
"Kill me because you're a sick bastard?"
The man let out a laugh. "Clever girl. That was exactly how I had planned it, but now, that I caught you with some cop, I think I'm going to heighten my fun."
"What makes you think he's a cop?" Max asked, her voice slightly more insecure though Tony was pretty sure only he could hear the difference. His heart beat faster. That didn't sound good for him.
"Doesn't really matter what, I just do. And I also think that you won't be too happy about watching him die."
"Let him go, he has nothing to do with this."
"Oh yeah?" The guy stepped closer to Tony and watched him for a second. "What do you have to say about that?"
Tony only stared back at the intense grey eyes he could see through the mask.
"She's hot, isn't she? You did her last night?"
"None of your damn business," Tony spat out.
"Too bad then. Would have been your last chance." Without warning he kicked Tony in his abdomen. Tony groaned, gritting his teeth. The moment he opened his eyes again he could see the foot shoot out again, this time right in his face.
"Stop it! What the hell do you think you're doing!" Max shouted, drawing the attention away from Tony. "You're gonna pay for that."
The guy stared back. "I'll be back. Want to give you some time to say good bye." With that he turned on his heels and left the room, banging the door shut behind him, but leaving it unlocked.
"Tony?" Max swallowed. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he winced. His lip was bleeding and his rib cage hurt like hell. Maybe that guy had broken or at least bruised some badly.
"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have brought you here."
"It's okay," Tony fought out between gritted teeth. "Gibbs will find us."
xx
"Gibbs?"
"Hey, boss. The car belongs to one Ken Lang, the DNA you gave me matches. I traced his cell phone and he is in the woods somewhere outside Seattle. He doesn't move so there probably is some kind of cabin out there, but I can't really tell. I'm sending the coordinates to your computer right now."
"How far?"
"About an hour and a half from your current position."
"Damn." Gibbs closed his phone before Abby had a chance to reply and then swivelled the car around at full speed.
Kate looked at him with big, worried eyes. He didn't have to say out loud that one hour might be too long for Tony and Max.
xx
TBC