Calm Intervenes

They still didn't know where they were, but they knew they were still moving.

JT had managed finally to wriggle his hands free of his bindings, and up towards Caitlin's pigtails, and in turn, had also dislodged the blindfold keeping him in the dark. He looked down when he noticed daylight coming from a hole in the floor. The carpet was partially covering it, but it was big enough to see the road below them rushing by, and that was all he needed.

He reached out, and released Caitlin's hands.

"Caitlin," he whispered, "I need one of your hair thingies." Caitlin didn't question why, she just nodded. Carefully, he worked one of her barrettes free, and dropped it down the hole. He waited a while longer, then dropped her other one down.

In the meantime, Caitlin freed herself of the blindfold. She looked around, trying to figure out where they were, when she remembered her cell phone.

……………………………………………………………

Tim and Tony were trying very hard not to panic, not to run screaming from the building in blind rage, not to grab their weapons and rush out in search of the son of a bitch who had abducted their children.

Gibbs could see nothing but red.

He snapped on gloves as he entered the office, and quickly looked around. He surveyed the scene with a practiced eye, and quickly but meticulously searched every nook and cranny. His two agents stood at the doorway, not sure what to do. They were trained for this, but these were their kids that had just been taken. They didn't want to compromise anything, but at the same time, it was taking the greatest effort of will to keep themselves from dashing in and getting in Gibbs' way.

Tim scrutinized the room from where he stood. His eyes fell on something by the pile of file folders on the floor. "Tony, do you see that?" he asked, crouching down. DiNozzo looked at him, not sure what he was talking about. He crouched down next to him, then his eyes followed Tim's pointing hand. His eyes grew wide, and he looked back at Tim.

"Boss," Tony said suddenly, "over there, by the files. What is that?"

Gibbs carefully walked over to the pile of folders, and looked underneath.

He smiled slightly as his gloved fingers picked up a small button, embossed with the name "I.C. A/C."

"That, boys, is our first clue." He dropped the button into a small brown envelope. "Get this to the lab. McGee, try to find a print on this. I have a feeling it'll be either JT or Katie. You have their prints, don't you?" Tim nodded. "Yeah, from a Stay Safe program at their school. Prints, DNA sample, current photo, everything we'd need, in case…" he trailed off, swallowing hard. Gibbs walked over to them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "We'll find them. They're gonna be just fine." Tony blinked, his eyes reflecting fear. He looked at Tim, who reached up and rested a hand on his other shoulder. Gibbs spoke again, "Tony, trace that business name. Find out who's working for I.C. A/C. Get a complete employee list." He refrained from telling them what they already knew - that time was of the essence. "I'll be upstairs looking for witnesses. This is a federal office building. Someone HAD to have seen something, or the security cameras must have picked something up."