Chapter 18

Ari sat beside Abby's bed and watched the young woman tossing on the small camp bed, her face flushed under all of the bruises and cuts. He leant over and brushed the damp cloth over her brow, the coldness of it on her fevered skin causing her to whimper in pain and try to move away from the torture, but her weakened body refused to co operate. Ari sighed and rose over to the small kitchen area to pour himself a glass of water.

He had set her arm and tended her injuries but the shock and pain had taken its toll on her body and had produced a raging fever. Ari had truly come to admire this brave young woman, when he had found her by the road she had dragged her battered body away from him, refusing to give in until her own body betrayed her. But when finally she had regained consciousness she had spit and clawed at him like a cornered kitten, Ari fingered the marks on his face that she had inflicted on him absently and grinned. Yes he thought, kitten was apt for this creature; a sleek black kitten all cuddly and warm under the right conditions, conditions he suspected Gibbs had seen on occasion, but then she turned into a feral fighting animal when threatened or corned and as with all cats she fought with passion and intelligence but also with a degree of recklessness, and for that he had to admire her, indeed even respect her.

Ari crossed back to stare down at her before he turned and left the room. Leaving Abby to her fever induced nightmares.

……………………………………

Liz came off the telephone and leant back in her chair for a brief moment, her hand running through her already tousled hair before she reached for the bottle of water on her desk, taking a healthy swig to quench her parched throat before rising and crossing to Gibbs's desk

"I might have a lead as to where Ari is" She said without waiting for Gibbs to look up

"Either you do or you don't" Gibbs growled at her, as he had been growling all morning. No one had gone home last night; they had all literally fallen asleep at their desks but Liz doubted that Gibbs had slept, she had a feeling he had stayed up all night going over the information they had on Ari and still finding nothing.

"I have a lead, but I don't know where it will lead" Liz corrected calmly, understanding his frustration and anger and willing to accept it for now.

"Well are you going to share it, or shall we play 20 questions?" Gibbs ground out, Liz sighed shifting her feet slightly, feeling Tony come to stand beside her to listen to whatever she had to say. She watched silently as he reached over and took her bottle of water unscrewing the top before he took a swig then handing it back to her without the lid, Liz just stared at it before taking a sip and then holding her hand out for the lid, pleased at the look of shock on Tony's face as he slowly handed her the lid back.

"The terrorist we found was named Hassan Al-Nasser; we finally tracked him down through the cancer treatment that Abby flagged. Local Leo's went over to his address and found a couple of maps of the little creek area. They also found a real estate agents telephone number, based in Kempsville Gardens. I just got off the phone with her and she confirms that she rented out a small secluded home to a 'middle eastern looking gentleman'" Liz smiled slightly as she said it "her words" she added on "she remembered him very well, as he was very well spoken and rode a very powerful motorbike" she added on with a grin passing over a piece of paper with an address on it to Gibbs, he paused for a moment, staring at it then shook his head carefully

"Too easy, Ari is smarter than this" he said looking at Liz,

"What if he doesn't know Hassan is dead?" Tony asked looking between Gibbs and Liz, absently taking Liz's drink again and taking a drink before passing it back so that Liz could do the same, neither realising that they were sharing the drink without conscious thought.

"So who killed him?" Liz demanded facing Tony

"Robbery, we found no ID on him; no wallet, money or jewellery, no car, no nothing, we just assumed that he was killed by one of his own, what if he was just a robbery and nothing more" Tony continued with his idea

"Just a coincidence?" Liz threw back doubtfully

"Yeah" Tony said nodding his head "shit happens" he added on grinning "Even to the worst of people" Gibbs watched the by play between them silently, not lost so far in his own misery that he couldn't see that Tony was finally accepting Liz and working through his grief.

"only one way to find out" Gibbs said rising from his chair and reaching into his drawer for his gun "McGee" he called out as he rose, tossing the car keys at the same time as he called out, pleased when McGee caught them as he headed past Gibbs

"Got it Boss" McGee said as he headed for the elevators to get the car.

Gibbs stood for a moment watching as Tony and Liz fetched their stuff and then he headed out of the bullpen with the two of them following in silence, all of them hoping that this was the lead they needed to get Abby back and stop Ari once and for all.