Chapter 12

Abby turned to Gibbs and shook her head sadly; Ari hadn't stayed on long enough for her to get a lock on his position, Abby typed something and the plasma screen on the far wall burst to life with a map of the downtown DC area, a four block area lit up on it.

"I'm sorry Gibbs, it's the best I could do" Abby almost whispered, wishing she could have given him more, knowing how badly Kate's death had effected him and how much he wanted to catch Ari. Abby watched Gibbs with worry, having expected him to take off running when he saw the map, wanting to at least head into he area and do a visual, try to find something out but instead Gibbs stood there staring at the map, completely silent and still.

"Gibbs?" Abby asked tentatively, not sure what was going on in his mind "Boss man? Want me to …" Abby started to say only to stop when Gibbs turned to look at her, his eyes furious and something else that was indefinable.

"Come with me Abby" Gibbs ground out, heading quickly out of the room, Abby stared after him for a moment, shrugged her shoulders to herself and headed for the CD player to turn it off

"Leave it" Gibbs shouted from the hallway "With me now Abs" he called, waiting for her impatiently in the hall by the doorway to the stairs. As Abby approached him he grabbed her hand and pulled her after him up the stairs to the bullpen. Abby was totally confused at what was happening and Gibbs was determined that Ari wouldn't get another one of his team.

"Sit" Gibbs ordered Abby when they reached the bullpen and his desk, Liz and McGee both looked up at Abby and Gibbs, and then quickly crossed over to Gibbs's desk, knowing that something had happened

"What's with the marine macho act Gibbs?" Abby demanded having finally caught her breath after the run up the stairs "I'm sorry but he just didn't stay on long enough" She added, worried that he was angry with her for not having located Ari. Gibbs looked down at Abby and smiled slightly before flicking the chair that Abby sat on around to face the desk

"Pull up what you had" he told her, his hand flicking her hair briefly as he turned to look at the others, pleased to see that Tony had materialised from somewhere and was standing quietly next to Liz

"What's up Boss?" Tony asked, recognising the look on Gibbs's face

"Ari just called me" Gibbs said calmly, all traces of the anger buried behind his usual mask, the fear that Gibbs had felt at Ari's comment about meeting Abby soon, buried deeply in his heart. He watched as mixed emotions flashed across the three agent's faces, emotions that ranged from hate to determination to shock.

"Bastard wanted to offer his condolences" he continued, watching Tony carefully without seeming to. His eyes then turned downwards to look at Abby who had stopped typing and was sitting watching Gibbs; he placed his hand on her shoulder as he spoke, squeezing it gently in reassurance.

"And he looks forward to meeting Abby soon" he finished quietly, his eyes intense as he watched Abby.

Abby felt her heart stop at Gibbs's words but she felt his hand on her shoulder and knew that he would never let anything happen to her, her mind flashed briefly to Kate, but she knew that in giving Gibbs a warning it was as good as guaranteeing you failed. Abby smiled slightly at Gibbs

"Yeah me to" Abby said with a grin "on Ducky's table" she added nodding at Gibbs, her hands signing briefly at him, Gibbs watched her and then smiled back nodding once as he made the sign for Always

"I wish you two wouldn't do that" Tony grouched knowing that it would be expected of him, knowing that Abby could be in very real danger but wanting it all to seems as normal as possible for her. "It's rude to sign when others can't understand" he bitched, his voice peeved. Abby grinned at him, and signed again, Gibbs laughed and nodded, pleased that the fear had left Abby's eyes, glad that Tony had stepped in.

"She just said you were jealous" McGee piped up, grinning at the shock on everyone's face "I'm taking classes" he said defensively when Gibbs turned and stared at him

"Good for you McGee, good for you" Abby said applauding him in sign by waving her hands.

Tony turned and glared at McGee before turning back to Gibbs

"Think he was serious boss?" Tony asked, his eyes darting to Abby. Gibbs just nodded

"Haswari is always serious" Liz said quietly, having spoken for the first time "I would hazard a guess that he's looking to hurt you Gibbs, and taking down your team one by one is the best way to do that" she continued, her eyes taking in everyone, pausing longest on Abby.

"Yes" agreed Gibbs "But he won't succeed" he said, his voice filled with steel and determination, his eyes deadly.

………………………………………

Ari Haswari sat back in his chair in the little sidewalk café and smiled to himself. He really had liked Kate, she had had courage as well as beauty and it had been a pity to waste it but he would do it again in a heart beat, in fact was planning very carefully to do it again and it was going to be just as well planned as Kate's had been, it had been no coincidence that he just happened to have a sniper riffle up on the roof with him. Ari picked up the photo from the table and stared at it thoughtfully, such an interesting young woman he thought looking at Abby's smiling face as she had left Gibbs's house the other day, and if his source was correct her death would hurt Gibbs far more than Kate's had. Ari looked at his watch, tucked the photo into his jacket and strode over to his motorbike parked on the road. He grinned to himself as he roared away, sometimes he liked a good game of cat and mouse the question was who was the cat, and who was the mouse?