sorry it's been so long since the last post - i was on my hols in sunny Scotland! Hope this chapter makes upfor the delay.
"Gibbs." Gibbs answered his phone with his usual brusque greeting. He'd just finished talking with Dr Philips and was on his way to find Tony to tell him what he had found out.
"Boss, it's me," McGee replied.
"What do you have for me?"
"Tony was right, Lucy West was here four years ago."
"And?" Gibbs asked impatiently.
"She admitted herself under the name Jessica Guest. She was having problems with depression and, by the looks of it, had suicidal thoughts."
"How long between the time she arrived and the time she went missing?" McGee checked the file in his hand. "Well?" Gibbs asked impatiently.
"Around two weeks."
"Okay, show the file to the staff that were here four years ago, see if they remember anything."
"Sure, Boss." Gibbs hung up and slipped the cell phone back into his pocket. He turned the corner and went down a flight of stairs. He was let into the secure ward and instantly scanned the main room for Tony. He then checked Tony's bedroom with no luck. Finally he tried the nurse's station where one young nurse sat.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for my agent, Tony DiNozzo."
The nurse looked up and smiled sweetly. "I saw him head to the music room about half an hour ago."
"Thanks." Gibbs turned on the spot and left the ward the way he came. Down at the other end of the hall was the music room. He opened the door slowly, his gut screaming at him to be careful. He frowned at the emptiness of the room. There was nowhere else that Tony could be. Gibbs walked further into the room and observed his surroundings with his trained investigator eyes. Over by the window, two chairs had been pushed closer together. He walked over to them and crouched down. His eyes immediately caught sight of a square of white laying under a table. He reached for it and turned it over, recognising it as the photo that had sat inside Lucy's diary. It wasn't the photo that had caught his attention, it was the drops of blood that smeared the photo.
Tony woke to the maddening drip drip drip of a loose pipe hanging over him. He scrunched up his eyes and shook his head as he tried to clear the cobwebs. His head hurt like hell and he could feel blood on his forehead. He opened his eyes slowly and took in his surroundings. The small dark room was unfamiliar. Rusty pipes and slick damp walls suggested some kind of basement room. He looked down and squinted in the darkness; he could just about make out the rope binding his ankles together and he could feel the same rope against his wrists.
He leant against his elbows and pushed himself up awkwardly into a sitting position, leaning heavily against one wall. He shivered. Freezing water had begun seeping into his clothes and what dry clothes he still had didn't protect him from the room's cool draught. He pulled at the rope around his wrists but it only tightened the bindings. He winced as the taut rope burnt his skin.
"Hello?" he croaked out. He coughed, cleared his throat and tried again. "Hello?" Only the dripping sound and a slight ominous creak answered him. "Hello?" he shouted louder, his voice echoing in the small room. "Is anyone there?" The door to the room swung open and crashed against the wall.
"Don't bother screaming for help," the silhouette spoke calmly. "No-one can hear you down here."
"Who are you?" Tony asked, still unable to see who had knocked him out and tied him up.
"You don't remember me?" the figure asked, as if hurt by the question.
"If I did would I be asking?"
The figure laughed. "It doesn't matter who I am, it has always mattered who you are."
Tony smirked. "Well, I know who I am."
"And so do I, which is why I have to do this."
"Do what?"
"You got too close, Tony, you know too much."
"Trust me when I tell you I don't know anything."
"That's far from true, Tony." The way the figure said his name sent a shiver down Tony's spine.
"I thought I was in the clear, everything went according to plan and I was free. But then you arrived, ruining everything."
"Well I do have a habit of shaking things up a little bit."
"So I have noticed."
"So what? You bring me down here and threaten me into staying quiet?"
"Don't be silly, Tony, I don't plan to do anything like that." The figure stepped into the room, the light from the corridor outside illuminating their face. Tony's eyes widened as he saw the person face to face. "I plan to kill you."