Chapter 15

Gibbs sat in the car the radio turned down low and turned to stare at Abby's window again. He sat up straighter in his seat not sure what was wrong but something in his gut telling him there was a problem, his eyes scanned the road but nothing had changed. He had been here all evening and other than confirmed residents no one had entered or even left the building. Abby lived on a quiet road with little through traffic and what there had been hadn't stopped, slowed or in anyway acted suspiciously but something told him there was a problem.

Gibbs opened the car door and scanned the area, his hand automatically pulling out his weapon. He crossed the grassy verge to Abby's building and checked the door, satisfied that it was still locked he paused, steeping back and looking at Abby's window again. Gibbs looked around and decided to do a perimeter check before heading up to Abby's floor. Crouching low and listening to the night sounds carefully, he slowly made his way around the side of the building, he stopped at one point to listen to the cadence of a dog barking but satisfied that it wasn't barking in alarm he carried on. As he neared the back of the building he noticed one of the ground floor apartment windows was wide open. Gibbs scanned the surrounding area but saw nothing out of the ordinary and so he crossed over to the window, standing and peering in. As he did so he noticed a glistening wet patch on the sill and felt his blood chill. He stepped closer and pulled out his pen light, and shone it on the wet patch that glowed sickly red in the light cast by his torch, the night surrounding it somehow seeming to make it all the more ghastly and ghoulish.

"Shit" Gibbs ground out running to the front of the building, Gibbs grabbed the key he had for the building and ran inside, he threw a look at the apartment door but continued onwards, he checked the elevator and saw that it was registering Abby's floor, with a curse he took to the stairs and flew up them two at a time. Gibbs slammed open the stairwell door to Abby's floor and skidded to a halt at the sight of Abby's rucksack on the floor, coffee streaming from its inside pocket. Gibbs grabbed for his phone as he opened Abby's door standing inside the empty apartment, knowing she had gone.

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Liz arrived at Abby's apartment to find Gibbs barking orders into his phone. Tony and McGee were already there and were working the apartment and hallway for any clues.

"I don't give a damn, you get it in place and you get it now" Gibbs yelled down the phone, before slamming it closed with a sickening thud, Tony looked over from the hallway and grimaced at the phone in Gibbs's hand surprised to see it still in one piece.

"Gibbs" Liz said called as she walked into the apartment, stopping in front of him, not waiting for a response "Haswari wont kill her" She said calmly.

"Ari, not Haswari" Gibbs ground out, his jaw clenched tightly, knowing that in his personal life the bastard hated to be called Ari, and so Gibbs refused to let anyone refer to him as Haswari or anything else.

"Ari won't kill her, he needs her for some reason" she continued with a slight inclination of her head in response to the name comment. Liz held her ground as Gibbs came toe to toe with her

"What makes you so damn sure" he asked coldly "He could be playing with me, toying with us all"

Liz looked him squarely in the eyes

"Because that's not his style" she responded "If he wanted her dead she would be, he only toys with people if it gains him something, not for sport" she answered watching as Gibbs digested what she had said and worked it through his system, Liz had sense enough to recognise that when he turned away from her he had accepted what she said as being a possibility. Liz watched as Gibbs stalked over to Tony

"What have you got DiNozzo?" she heard him growl at the younger man.

"She was bringing you coffee and dinner by the looks of it boss" Tony said, compassion and pain in his voice. Gibbs rocked back onto his heels at the words, his hand raking shakily through his hair, the only physical display at how hard this was hitting him

"Damn it" Gibbs whispered turning away and striding to the stairwell and out of sight.

Liz crossed over to Tony and crouched next to him

"Is there more to them than just colleagues?" she asked him quietly, needing to know so that she could understand all possible situations

Tony looked at her coldly for a moment then sighed, his hand running through his own hair in an unconscious imitation of Gibbs

"Not like that… at least I don't think so" Tony finally said standing up and placing Abby's rucksack in a large evidence bag. "But there is something between them" he added on quietly "just don't think they know it" he continued more to himself that to Liz. "Kate always said …" he started to say then stopped, staring at Liz with a mixture of hatred and grief before he turned away and headed down the stairwell after Gibbs. Liz watched him go before turning her attention to McGee who had been standing watching her and Tony concern evident in his eyes.

"Abby loves him" McGee said quietly "she's just never admitted it to herself" he said coming to stand before Liz his eyes unbearably sad, he smiled slightly to himself, "come on or the boss will kill us" he said after a moments pause, Liz nodded and the two of them followed after Tony and Gibbs.

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Abby awoke slowly, the pain in her head making her groan and retch, what ever she was lying on suddenly jolted and pain flashed vividly through her mind, a blinding white light that caused her to loose consciousness again briefly. Slowly though full awareness returned, her head pounding with the movement of her surroundings. Abby opened bleary eyes to find herself in what looked like the back of a truck, a mattress on the bed of it to her only comfort. Abby lay quietly as her eyes became accustomed to the darkness and she was relieved to realise that she was alone. She gingerly pulled herself to a sitting position, the pain in her head causing her to feel sick and close her eyes tightly again but she breathed through the pain and once more opened her eyes, her hand reaching up to feel her head, then wishing she hadn't as the action triggered more pain, and caused the gash in her hairline to start to bleed once more, adding to the already congealed mess in her hair.

Abby sat as still as possible for a few moments, taking stock of her situation and surroundings, trying hard not to cry as fear coursed through her veins, wishing she had stayed in her apartment.

Suddenly the motion of the truck changed, becoming jumpier and making a strange clunking sound, then just as quickly returning to normal, Abby screwed up her eyes in confusion and then opened them again realising that they had just crossed a bridge of some kind.

"What would Gibbs do?" Abby whispered to herself, thensmiled "What would MacGyver do?" she finished with a grin and a slight nod of her head in determination, slowly creeping forward towards the door of the truck "He would break out of the truck and leap for it" she whispered, finding that talking to herself kept the fear at bay. She looked at the truck door for a moment, reaching out and feeling around it for a moment before she grinned to herself "cool" she said as she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out her folding metal comb and using it to try and jimmy the old lock on the roll top door.