………A while later……

The backup came quite quickly but they were long gone. Abby and Gibbs were among them.

When Abby and Gibbs found Kate she was standing and just staring out at the parking lot.

"Are you alright?" Gibbs asked her.

"I'm fine. They turned to the right. I don't know where they are." Kate told them.

"Let's get you back to the car." Abby said to her.

"What happened? You weren't supposed to be separate!" Gibbs asked Kate.

"We didn't want them to be suspicious so I went in and bought some food for us so it looked like we were customers. I guess they saw right through it and saw their chance when I went in. When I came out they were at the car and it was too late. They shot at me and missed. When I looked up they had shoved Tony to the passenger side and then they drove away. I couldn't stop them. I couldn't…" Kate explained to Gibbs before everyone started to examine the crime scene. Gibbs didn't want to put the blame on either Kate or Tony. He was just mad at the situation. Mad at the world. Too mad to say anything encouraging to Kate.

Abby and Kate slowly went to the car.

"Abby…You heard everything didn't you?" Kate asked her.

"Every single word…He's been through this before and he has experienced. He isn't a NCIS for nothing." Abby reassured her.

"If he dies I will never forgive myself. I was so mad at him for leaving that…" Kate said before stopping. It was like in the movies. Couples arguing before something really bad happens but they weren't together only just like partners.

"That you weren't thinking clear. What happened isn't your fault. He knows that." Abby continued trying to make her feel better. They were all trained for this and knew how to handle situations like this but for some reason Abby knew Kate thought this was different.

"Feel the urge to say everything you didn't get the chance to. I heard everything you said to each other. There was no ounce of hate in your voices. Tony knows that." Abby continued.

"We need to find him. There must be other locations they most likely would go to." Kate then said.

Abby and Kate never reached the car. Instead they turned around and started to help Gibbs.

A lot was going on in her head. Nothing what Abby ever said could get the guilt out of her.

…………..Back at NCIS……..

"I think everyone knows what to do. We'll find them." Gibbs told them after assigning tasks to everybody including Kate who refused to go home.

After Gibbs speech Kate looked at Tony's desk. She remembered what he told her a few days ago when he as usual threw a paper ball at her.

"I'll watch your back if you watch mine."

Kate couldn't imagine that would cause her to be so emotional. She just wanted to run away and never come back. Tony had realised something she hadn't. NCIS wasn't the right place for him and now she knew it wasn't the right place for her either. Tears started to run down her face and she didn't want the others to see so she quickly went to the bathroom. Abby saw her and went after her. Kate heard someone walking behind her when she entered the bathroom.

"Are you alright?" Abby asked her.

"I can't take this one more time. It's too hard. Too physical and emotional demanding. No work should be this way. I'm resigning too." Kate told her while drying of her tears.

"Then why are you crying?" Abby asked her.

"I don't know. I don't want to cry. I got a headache. I just want to find Tony and then go home."

………………….Back at the car 10 minutes later…………..

Tony was now in the trunk. They had taken away his weapons, watch and everything else which was sharp. He had watched closely were they were going before they put him in the trunk. Now he only wished that Abby was clever enough to place microphones in the trunk too but who would have thought a person would be put in a NCIS car's trunk. Trying wasn't going to hurt but he had to talk quite quiet since he didn't know if the kidnappers would hear him too.

Just as he was going to start to talk he heard the car doors slam.

"I suggest we just drive the car in the lake. A dead body can't speak."

Tony could only think about what Ducky would say to them at the moment. Too bad no one could hear them. Then he started to think about what happened when Kate and he spoke earlier in the day. It was now over never.

"I'm in the trunk. They put some duct tape around my hands and feet. We drove quite far on a small road with very few houses before they put me in the trunk. The road was very bumpy so I don't think we're on a road with asphalt surface."

"I don't want to get the death penalty." The other kidnapper said.

"You won't if they don't find him. Let's get out of here."

Tony wondered what was going to happen now. He knew he should have stayed put and not go after them. He made the wrong decision and now he could die. Tony thought it was ironic that he would die the same day he told Abby and Kate about his decision to leave. He had so much to tell them especially Kate. Tony didn't want to die with Kate feeling she could have done something to prevent this.

"I'm alright. It's nobody's fault." Tony said not knowing if anyone could hear him.

………..At NCIS………

Everyone was listening closely to what was said but they didn't hear anything else than the trunk opening. Neither Tony nor the kidnappers said another word. They feared that they had heard Tony's last words. Abby looked at Kate who tried to act as normal as possible but she could tell she was trembling inside. Abby thought that Kate wasn't alone in feeling this way.

The car had a tracking advice but it couldn't get tracked until someone either in the car or at NCIS turned it on. It could only be monitored back at NCIS so a lot of time got wasted until someone remembered about the tracking advice.

Then the monitor started to beep indicating the car was once more moving. Then they heard the trunk closing. A few seconds later the tracking advice and microphones weren't working anymore.

With every beep Kate's heart skipped. It was hard thinking that he may be drowning as they speak but no one spoke. They were all quiet.

"How far are they from where he is?" Gibbs then yelled.

"Maybe 20 minutes." McGee answered.

"Get everyone there." Gibbs demanded.

...Two hours later…………

The car had been dragged up from the lake. If Tony was dead then it would be the first time Gibbs had lost someone while on duty. He felt responsible. He should have known they were potential cold hearted murderers. He wouldn't have sent Kate and Tony on such a dangerous mission if he knew that.

The police had forensic people there so they could examine the car. Gibbs didn't want his team to do it since it was personal. Still everyone in the team was there. Gibbs went closer but he had to back since the water had to run out of the car before they could examine it. The doors were opened and Tony's things except his guns all came out of the car. A policeman then told everybody the guns weren't there. Kate thought it was such a wrong thing to say but she knew murderers with guns are a bad combination. Kate picked up his watch. The watch he just hours ago had constantly watched to see if the time would go faster. Tony's watch was still going but time was now going slower. Then she looked up as the police headed to the trunk.

"Another car drove away from here. He can be in it. We heard one of them didn't want to hurt Tony." Abby had told her a few minutes before. Those words kept going around in her head as the trunk was slowly opened. The sad part was that even Abby didn't believe it. Why would they have gone to all this trouble to let the car drive over the little cliff to make sure the car would never be found since NCIS already knew who they were?

……………………..

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