Dangerous Measures
AN: Thankyou all for your reviews!
Also, a gigantic thankyou to Kate for all her help and support!
Abby took a sip of her caf-Pow! and slid it to McGee. Abby had arrived in the morning to found a laptop in an evidence bag on her desk, as well as a few other bags of evidence. There was also a note left by 'The birdie' wishing them good luck. McGee and Abby had been working hard ever since to try and track the emails Wicks had been receiving.
The ringing of the phone interrupted them from their work, momentarily distracting them.
"Yo," Abby answered.
"Abs, what have I told you about answering the phone. It's either 'Starbucks, Abby speaking,' or 'Good evening, Starbucks,'" a voice on the other end replied
"Well, I can see two problems with that. Firstly, it's not evening, it's the afternoon. Secondly, this isn't Starbucks," Abby replied, hanging up
"Who was that?" McGee asked
"Gibbs," Abby responded, "He wants us to make his phone call untraceable,"
"Right," McGee replied, raising his eyebrow, "He said that?"
"Nope. Firstly, he told me off for how I answered the phone. Secondly he knew my name. Thirdly, he said it was Starbucks, I mean, come on." Abby explained, tapping at keys on her keyboard
"Right," McGee responded
A few minutes later, the phone rang again. Abby picked it up after the second ring, "The lab,"
"That's a very formal greeting, Abby," Tony said on the other end of the phone
"Tony, what's up?" Abby asked
"Just wanted to see if you've got anything for me," Tony replied
"Yep, come down and I'll show you," Abby responded, hanging up
As soon as Abby hung up, the phone rang again.
"The lab," she answered
"Abs, is this line safe?" Gibbs asked
"As safe as a baby sleeping in its crib," Abby replied
Gibbs sighed, "Good,"
"So, what've you been up to?" Abby asked
"Learning how to use computers," Gibbs grumbled, "You're looking at a serial killer. I followed a lead…"
"From the birdie?" Abby interrupted
"Um, possibly. Anyway, turns out there were two murders three years ago in Baltimore, same MO. Jim Robbins, 30 years old, died in the same way as Wicks. Also a 32 year old, Bruce Collins," Gibbs replied
"But you haven't been to Baltimore since…Oh…" Abby said as realization dawned on her
"Yeah, since the case I worked with Tony," Gibbs responded
"What about me?" Tony asked, walking into the lab
"We were talking about you, Tony, not to you," Abby teased
"I thought you had something for me?" Tony asked
"DiNozzo! It's more of a question of what you have for me," Gibbs called through the speaker
"Boss?" Tony asked
"Look, I don't wanna stay on the phone any longer than necessary," Gibbs responded, "I couldn't find much on Wicks, apart that he was a doctor,"
"Yeah, well we found two promising leads," Tony replied, "Dr. Turner, the FBI's prime suspect before you. He's a shrink and seems a bit strange; I can't place my finger on it yet. The other suspect was somebody Wicks met over the net,"
"Jones, Toby Jones," McGee piped up, "We've just tracked him down, boss,"
"Doesn't ring a bell. I talked with both Robbins' and Collins' families. Haven't had the chance to talk with their work friends yet," Gibbs replied
"Who?" Kate asked, not recognizing the names
"We might be looking at a serial killer," Abby replied
"Anything else?" Tony asked, "How are you going with the lists of names, Abs?"
"Gibbs, do you remember Trance Passer or Justin Martin?" Abby asked
"Yeah, I do. Trance was one of the first guys I helped NCIS track down. He was a serial killer, raped and killed both men and women. As the killings progressed, so did the intensity of the killings. Shortly before we caught him, he began maiming the victims. I was the arresting officer; he developed an intense dislike of me because I caught him, and because he thought I was like him," Gibbs replied
McGee brought of the file on the plasma for Kate and Tony.
"It says that he physically attacked you," Kate commented
There was no reply for a while, "I…when I was interrogating him, he jumped me, it just took me by surprise,"
"He put you in hospital?" Tony asked
They heard a sigh, "Yeah, he did. The other agents weren't quick enough to get him off me,"
"Gibbs, you have to tell us everything if you want us to help you," Abby told him
"He tried to attack me again when we were at court. I had to give evidence against him. He jumped over the desk and managed to punch me before security got him. For a few months after he was imprisoned, I received threats…no, actually, I still do. But they mean nothing. We all receive threats," Gibbs eventually answered
"Yeah, but we don't receive them for twenty years," Tony answered
"What about Martin?" McGee asked
"A few years before you joined, Abby, we had a case involving missing children, very wealthy children. We suspected a few of marines, but didn't have enough evidence to bring them in, so, I had to go in undercover. I befriended one of the players, Martin, and eventually found the evidence we needed and put them away. The kidnapping would have made Martin and his collegues very wealthy men, and he wasn't too happy about it," Gibbs replied
"Hardly seems much of a threat," Tony commented
"Yeah, but it destroyed his reputation and everything he knew. He was some rich kid who always got what he wanted and I took away everything he knew. Apparently he tried to commit suicide a few times in the first few months, then I started getting abusive mail. It seems he turned his depression and everything on to me. And he has a lot of contacts, powerful contacts. Abs, do you remember when I had to take a few days off, about six months before I hired Tony?" Gibbs asked
"Of course, you've never taken of a day in your life" Abby replied
"Yeah, well, some of Martin's friends paid me a visit. Thankfully I heard them before they found me and I managed to apprehend them with little resistance. Took them to the local cop shop and booked them," Gibbs replied
"That would make more sense," Tony responded
"Yeah," Gibbs agreed
"Does he still send threats to you?" Kate asked
"Yeah, and don't say that the threats didn't bother you. Did you ever tell anybody about the attack?" Tony asked
They heard an intake of breath, "I gotta go, talk later," Gibbs whispered, before hanging up
The engaged signal sounded throughout the lab as the team tried to figure out what had just happened.
Gibbs stepped out of the telephone booth and watched as a police car stopped. One of the officers got out and began walking towards him. Gibbs continued walking away, not wanting to run and give himself away. Eventually he pulled into a bakery store, looking back to see the cop walk into the coffee shop beside the bakery.
"Hi, what can I get for you?" the lady behind the counter asked him
"Ah, nothing, thanks," he called over his shoulder, walking out of the store
As he walked down the street, he kept an eye on the cop car, making sure they hadn't noticed him. Finally he rounded a corner and pulled a note out of his pocket. It was time to see where Robbins had died. He followed the small map he'd printed off, stopping in front of an abandoned apartment building.
As he approached the door to the apartment on the second floor, he frowned; nobody had lived here or been in here since the murder. The door was boarded up, big pieces of wood blocking the door. If it hadn't been for the rot going through the planks of wood, it would be impossible to get in. Gibbs kicked at the plank a few times before it splinted and broke apart. He proceeded to open the door and walk in. Digging around his backpack, he retrieved a torch, shining it around the dark and dank room. The windows had also been boarded up, blocking out the majority of the light.
Gibbs walked around the perimeter of the room, sticking close to the walls, incase the floor wasn't as sturdy as it should be. He sighed as he walked around the room, finding nothing, not that he would've been able to use it as evidence anyway - this place was probably used as a place to sleep for somebody on a regular basis.
"But we're not gonna find anything!" he heard somebody shout
"Shut-up! The Feds said they want us to reopen the case, they think they found the murderer. They want us to go over everything," another voice responded
"But why…?" the other voice argued
"They said everything!"
Gibbs cursed, looking around the room for a place to hide. Running to the far side of the room, he found a hole in the wall.
"Hey! Who are you?" he heard the second voice ask
Gibbs turned around, "I, ah, I live here,"
"Oh, ok, what's your name?" the man asked. Gibbs didn't miss the look of recognition on the man's face.
Quickly turning around again, he climbed through the hole into the next room
"Go that way!" he heard the man order
"Shit," Gibbs cursed, running through a maze of rooms, trying to find the way out
"Police! Freeze!" the man behind him yelled
Gibbs ran into the next room, hearing the man fire at him, bullets hitting the doorframe moments after he'd passed through it. He ran through the room, looking for an exit, and found it in the way of a window that hadn't been boarded up yet.
"Freeze!" the man yelled
Gibbs heard the gunshots moments before he felt the searing pain in his shoulder and chest. With the last of his momentum, he fell through the window into the dumpster below. Seconds after he landed, he rolled and got up and out of the dumpster. He ran down the street, trying to ignore the pain in his chest and how hard it was to lift his legs. He looked behind him, expecting to see the two cops chasing him, but was surprised to see that neither was following him. Turning back around, he continued running regardless.
That's it for chapter 6!...Hope you liked it! Please review! Tell me what you think!
