Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own NCIS (no!) Oh and the bad guy in this is very similar to the Digger in Jeffery Deaver's "The Devil's Teardrop" (My guys name is really lame but what can you do?) so I don't own that either. Let's face it… I don't own anything except for five dollars which I got babysitting and even that was a rip off because I had to sit through three straight hours of "Kill Amanda".
A/N: ha you really thought that I was done rambling didn't you? Hello my dear readers! (Or people who are reading this but don't feel like reviewing.) Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews Cara (indeed that was an exciting episode but sad), Shirik (can you read minds?), TATE foreva! (Gracias!), pealee (I told you that I was evil…), kasidy2000 (thanks), MacCarteny (I'm sorry that I scare you), sanTa (you will always be my bitch), Navygirl4 (uh… here you go!), E (That's hot… sorry. Yes TATE killers are evil), and cherub's halo (once again… that's hot!) I love you guys. Welcome to the second and final piece of my story! Please review and… uh… have… fun!
Part two: Race Against Time
The Shadow was tired. There was nothing that he'd rather do then… click… do then go home and have a cup of tea but the man… click… the man who told him things had given an order. He had dropped the Shadow off in front of an apartment building and told The Shadow which room o go in. "Take Caitlin and bring her to our meeting place. If she puts up a fight, threaten her with the gun but under no circumstances are you to hurt her. This drug will render her unconscious." Then the man… click… the man who tells him things handed him the gun… click… the gun and chloroform while he started the car's engine and drove away.
The Shadow killed the neighbor, holding the corpse in front of the peephole, and was let in by a man. Reacting quickly, The Shadow fired his weapon once and took the chloroform out of his pocket.
Kate woke up sometime later tied to a chair in some kind of old apartment building. Her mind was cloudy and she had a pounding headache. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the events that had led to this. Her morning flashed through her mind; the burning waffles, a doorbell ringing, a sickly sweet smell, a gunshot, and Tony. Oh god, where was Tony?
This recollection made Kate rip open her eyelids and search he room. There, laying about two feet from her chair was Tony motionless and lying in a pool of blood. Kate's first reaction was to scream but she realized that there could be someone near by so she whispered, "Tony? Can you hear me?"
Getting no response, Kate tried furiously to get her bonds off. To her surprise, the bonds were relatively loose so she was able to get them off with ease. She quickly untied the ropes at her feet and kneeled on the floor beside Tony, franticly searching for a pulse. Finding a very faint one, Kate was relieved and she calmed down a little as she searched for his wound. She ran her hands over his upper body and found the bullet wound in his arm, mere centimeters away from the artery.
Kate realized that she would have to stop the bleeding before he went into shock so, without thinking; she pulled Tony into her lap and took off her shirt and started to rip the material. After the fabric was torn into strips, she wrapped it around Tony's arm momentarily stopping the bleeding.
Ten minutes later, Tony was at least semi-conscious and more than mildly confused. There was a horrible pain in his arm and Kate was staring at him with concern in her eyes. When his vision fully came back, he also realized that she wasn't wearing a shirt. "What the hell is going on? Was I drinking last night?" Kate looked at him and did her best trying to explain. "Umm… remember that stalker? Well I guess he saw me walk into your apartment and decided that he was tired of just watching." Tony understood and was about to say something, probably profane, but he was interrupted by the door opening.
A creepy man about forty years old entered and said, "Hello at last Caitlin! I see that the chloroform has worn off and your friend is still alive. I'm sorry that he was shot but the Shadow didn't know what else to do." Tony glared at the man and asked, "Who is the shadow?" The stranger tore his gaze away from Kate for a moment to glare back at Tony and say, "I think you two have already met. The Shadow used to be one of my co-workers until he killed his wife. Before she died, she took out a pistol and shot him in the head so now he is like a robot. I tell him to do things and he doesn't know any better so he always listens to me. No one ever notices him because he blends in perfectly with the rest of the human race. That is how he came to own my name for him. Hmm… speaking of which, I have a job for him right now."
Less then two minutes later, the strange man was calmly talking to Kate as The Shadow was kicking Tony in the ribs. "Oh Caitlin, I've been watching you for a very long time; this is so exciting! We are destined to be together my dear." Kate however, was not concentrating on this conversation at all. She was bust watching The Shadow pummel her partner.
The strange man realized this after awhile and so he said, "My name is Alfred by the way. Is there anything that I can do for you?" Sure, you can have a stroke or maybe you can just spontaneously combust. That would be fun to watch. "Let me make a call. My mother was expecting me for dinner tonight and I don't want her to worry."
Alfred considered this request for a moment and finally said, "Alright but how can I know that I can trust you?" Kate thought for a minute and decided to do the thing that always made men short circuit. She wrapped her arms around Alfred's neck and kissed him.
Ok. Now I definitely need some mouthwash. Hmm… the bastard can't even think straight, I should use this method more often. I wonder if Tony is going to be ok. Oh god, he passed out again. Kate thought as she lowered her voice to a whisper and said, "So, can I make that phone call now?" Alfred dumbly nodded and led her to a pay phone, giving her change. After he walked away, Kate dialed the number which was number one on her speed dial as well as Tony's.
"Gibbs." A familiar voice soon answered. Kate tried to retain her usual calmness as she said, "Hey Gibbs its Kate. Ok. There's this guy, Alfred, who has been stalking me and now he has Tony and me hostage at some sort of old apartment. By the way, Tony was shot and now some guy is beating the daylights out of him."
Gibbs was right outside the door of Abby's lab so he walked in and said, "Abbs, I need you to trace this call. It's Kate and she needs help." Then he said into his phone, "Abby's going to talk to you for awhile Kate." as he handed the phone to Abby. Abby took the phone and said as brightly as she could, "Hey Kate! Don't worry, I can pin point your exact location and then Gibbs will find you using his mad driving skills. Look on the bright side, when you two get out of this, you can have Tony as your own personal bodyguard or man slave… whatever works." This made Kate smile as she said, "Thanks Abbs but I really have to go. That creep is walking towards me again. Bye."
Alfred came up to Kate and said, "Finished? Good, come with me." He led her back to the room where Tony was being held and started to tie her to the chair again. "What are you doing?" Kate asked as he started to pour something onto a handkerchief. "I'm sorry my dear but I really don't want you to be awake for this. Kate started to scream but Alfred put the handkerchief to her mouth and then there was the same sweet smell followed by an immense darkness.
Gibbs was never a slow driver and today was definitely no exception. The speedometer never went below eighty as he drove to where Abby had directed him. It was supposed to be a twenty minute drive but he cut it down to twelve driving with his 'mad skills' down to the old abandoned apartment complex.
"Your next task is to kill this idiot. A gunshot will attract too much attention so use this knife." Alfred gave his slave a sharp knife and stepped back to watch the job. The Shadow took the knife and aimed the knife above Tony's chest, preparing to plunge it deep into Tony's heart. The knife swooped in a downward motion just as two gunshots filled the air.
Gibbs walked around the two dead men to get to his motionless agent. He kneeled beside Tony and slapped him on the back of the head. Fully conscious once again Tony said, "You know boss, you really have to stop doing that." Gibbs laughed and said, "Come on Tony, let's get Kate out of this hell hole."
Two hours later, Kate and Tony were lying in hospital beds talking about their whole ordeal. "You know, that would have made a great horror movie. Not as good as The Silence of the Lambs but pretty damn close. We just need to make the poems more stalkery like, you're so beautiful I want you I watch you through your window. Ooh…I know! For the music we could add that fall out Boy song that goes, I used to obsess over living, Now I only obsess over you Tell me you'd like boys like me better In the dark lying on top of you." This, of course, was Tony rambling. Kate rolled her eyes and said; "Yeah you didn't have to kiss the stupid guy!" she thought about it for a moment and said, "Well actually it wasn't too bad. I just pretended that he was someone else." This got Tony's full attention as he asked, "Who? Ohh… do you still have a thing for my frat brother? I knew it!" Kate didn't say anything as she got up from her bed, walked over to Tony's and kissed him passionately. Of course, at that exact moment, Gibbs walked in.
"Oh for god's sake! I can't believe you two! One more week. If you two had waited one more week, I would have won!" Kate and Tony just stared at their boss, dumbfounded so Gibbs elaborated. "Abby and I have a bet on when you two would get together and in one more week, I would have won. By the way, you both have three weeks off for sick leave but if you bring your personal lives into work it will be permanent! And with that, he left the room. Kate and Tony stared in silence at the door for awhile but Tony finally said, "Well, I know where we can go." Kate looked at him and said, "Where?" Tony kissed her and said, "Well, you have always wanted to go to the tropics haven't you?" Both of them laughed, knowing how much they would enjoy their sick leave. The End
A/N: so… whadya think? It's fluffy I know but whatever…. Hahahahaha… you guys really thought that I would kill Tony didn't you? (I'm not that evil) Nope I'm a die hard TATE fan so I would never kill either one (even though Kate is kinda dead) pip pip cheerio review and AMANAD OUT!