Chapter 7

Gibbs glanced at the clock. 0214 hours. More than twenty-eight hours had passed since the last possible sighting of Tony. The bullpen was tense. Fornell had his people working elsewhere at the moment, Joyce DiNozzo had gone to the head, but Tony's father was jittering around nervously. Gibbs was just thankful he was being quiet.

A cell phone began to ring, and everyone turned to look at Mr. DiNozzo, who drew his phone out of his holster at his hip. Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "I'm too sexy?" he repeated after the song.

"Anthony did it," DiNozzo said irritably. "And I don't know how to change it."

"Who is it?"

"I don't recognize the number."

"Put it on speaker," Gibbs said. He noticed that Joyce had come back into the bullpen, but she remained silent as the call began.

DiNozzo Senior opened the phone and pressed a button. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. DiNozzo," said a male voice.

DiNozzo senior's expression darkened. "Tom, how are you?" he asked with false bonhomie.

"I'm okay. Tony's not doing so great, though."

"You son of a bitch, helping kidnap my son! I ought to –"

"Leonard?" Joyce said in an undertone, and he broke off, face red with anger.

"So, you got the video? You don't think this is a joke anymore?"

"Yes, I got the video, and no, I don't think it's a joke."

"Tony will be glad to hear that, Mr. DiNozzo."

"I want to talk to my son."

"I'm afraid he's a little indisposed at the moment. I'll tell you where he is if you meet me in Dupont Circle in two hours, with the fifteen million dollars."

Gibbs blinked. This fell outside the script. McGee was tracing the call, was making gestures for DiNozzo senior to draw it out, but Gibbs wasn't sure Tony's father was even seeing McGee.

"I can't have that much ready in two hours," DiNozzo said.

"Ten million."

DiNozzo nodded. "Okay, okay, where on Dupont Circle? How will I know you?"

"I'm sure your FBI friends can find a current photo of me," Alkire said.

"Um . . ." DiNozzo looked up at Gibbs who nodded. "Okay. Where did you say?"

There was silence, then a clatter, and they could hear the voice in the distance. "No . . . don't . . ." Then a gunshot rang out, and even McGee looked up from his computer. They heard footsteps, and then another voice spoke directly into the phone.

"Mr. DiNozzo?" This was a lighter tenor voice.

"What's going on?" DiNozzo senior asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

"I have just dealt with a problem within my organization. You don't want to cause me problems, Mr. DiNozzo, and so far, you've done nothing but."

"No," DiNozzo said. His eyes were wide.

"I will be in touch."

"Anthony . . . I want to speak to my son."

"Tony is well, but he's sleeping. Perhaps the next time I call." There was a click and then the phone went dead.

DiNozzo looked up, his face drained of color. He sought Gibbs' eyes. "He killed him, didn't he? He killed Tom?"

"Yeah," Gibbs said. "Yeah, I think he did."

"He's going to kill Anthony," DiNozzo said in a dead voice.

"Leonard, these people know their jobs," Joyce said.

"He's going to kill my son." For the first time, he actually sounded like he cared about more than his money or his own consequence.

Gibbs pursed his lips. They had a job to do. "McGee?"

Tim didn't even have to check what he was asking. "Got the location, Boss."

"Gas the car up and tell me on the way. Ziva, Fornell?"

Gibbs paused as he passed the senior DiNozzo. "We are going to find him, before they kill him."

"What if you don't?" DiNozzo demanded.

Gibbs gave him a shrug. "Not an option."

McGee hated it when Gibbs drove at the best of times. At moments like this, it was even worse. Gibbs might not let his emotions show outwardly much, but they sure got involved in his driving.

They reached the warehouse the call had been made from and spread out. McGee didn't much like infiltrations after dark, but they didn't have a lot of choice. He took a side door into the building and sidled down a darkened hallway, his flashlight held parallel to his gun barrel. Naturally, he'd selected a path that had lots of doors. He turned into the first one, and then the next. Both empty, of furniture and of people. The next was a bathroom, also empty. His heart was beating fast. The next door led into an office and there was a coppery smell overlaying the scent of gunpowder. He could see blowback on the back wall. There was a gun on the desk and spent casings on the floor. He edged further into the room and activated his radio. "Boss, I've got something."

"What is it, McGee?"

While he'd spoken, he'd moved far enough to see the body on the floor behind the desk. "I think it's Thomas Alkire."

"You're not sure?"

"His face is . . ." McGee gulped. "Gone."

The others got to him quickly, and before long Ducky and Palmer had arrived. Ducky got one look at the body and said, "Well, I guess there's not much question how he died."

"Not really, Duck," Gibbs said.

"This reminds me of an occasion many years ago. The body in that case was a young man who walked in on a robbery, and he –"

McGee looked up nervously. He didn't think Gibbs was in the mood to tolerate Dr. Mallard's ramblings.

"Duck, we're on a tight schedule here," Gibbs said impatiently. "I just need to know if this is Thomas Alkire, and anything else you can tell me about him."

"Of course, Jethro, I'm sorry," Ducky replied.

"The shooter did not police his brass," Ziva said.

"That's because he left the gun behind," Gibbs replied, looking around. "Ziva, take pictures. McGee, bag and tag."

At the same moment, Fornell was ordering Sacks to bag and tag. McGee met Sacks' eyes as their bosses went out of the room, leaving it to them to decide how to manage the collision of their duties.

Fornell followed Gibbs out of the office and on his search of the rest of the warehouse. Neither spoke, but they searched the place top to bottom. There was no sign that DiNozzo had ever been there. "He probably wouldn't have called from their hideout, Gibbs," Fornell said finally. "It wouldn't have been smart."

"Well, he got shot, Tobias," Gibbs replied. "He did something not smart."

Fornell nodded. "True enough. Maybe they're nearby."

"We'll need to check that out, but I imagine that if they were nearby, they aren't anymore."

"Anything we find is more than we had before." Fornell paused. "You know, Gibbs, with this latest development, the chances are your man is –" Gibbs turned towards him and Fornell broke off at the sheer level of anger in his eyes. He wished he could radiate that air of concentrated menace.

"DiNozzo is still alive," Gibbs said curtly.

Fornell understood the emotion, but he really felt they needed to have a realistic take on the situation. He cleared his throat uneasily and tried again. "We all hope that, Jethro, but if they had to move, chances are . . ."

"DiNozzo is alive," Gibbs said, and he stalked off before Fornell could speak again.

"He must be," Officer David said, and Fornell gave her a startled look. He hadn't heard her approach.

"And why's that?" Fornell asked.

She smiled. "He would not dare disobey." With that, she sauntered after her boss, and Fornell was left with the thought that Gibbs' people were just as crazy as he was.

Once the scene was taken care of and Mallard had left with the body and the evidence that was going back to NCIS, Sacks and McGee got together on the process of checking the security cameras outside all the warehouses, tracing Alkire's movements, assuming the dead guy was Alkire.

"We've got him, Boss, and he's wearing the same clothes as our stiff, so that's a tentative ID," McGee said.

Gibbs sure had a stick up his butt. Most people would have called finding the body with the relevant cell phone in hand close enough for a positive ID, but not Gibbs. Gibbs had special rules, and his people followed them to the letter.

"Where did he come from, McGee?"

"Following him back, Boss. It's a little challenging, because we have to catch each camera's transmission separately, since not all of these warehouses belong to the same people."

"And?" Gibbs asked in a deceptively mild tone.

"And I'm going as fast as I can, Boss." Gradually, McGee and Sacks – more McGee than Sacks, Fornell thought privately – led them through the maze of warehouses to another building. Fornell glanced at his watch. His wife would already have been asleep for hours now. McGee paused for a long moment, then said, "I think he came out this door."

"You think?" Gibbs repeated.

McGee looked up from his computer. "I know. I know he came out this door, Boss."

Officer David tried the knob, but it didn't open. "We're going to need a warrant," Fornell said.

"Exigent circumstances," Gibbs replied calmly before rearing back and kicking the door open. When he saw Fornell gazing at him in alarm, he shrugged. "One of my men could be in there. I'm not waiting for a judge to wake up and understand the issue."

David was already inside, and Gibbs followed her without further comment. McGee had disappeared inside before Fornell had decided what to do. Sacks shrugged. "I see two possibilities, sir, either he's right or there's a felony in progress," he said.

"And either way, we should go along to keep an eye on things." He followed McGee.

The first floor of this building was a huge open space, and it was echoingly empty. There was an elevator big enough to park a Buick in on one side. Sacks caught sight of something and moved away to Fornell's left, and Fornell followed. There wasn't much chance of anyone sneaking up on them in this space, but it was well to be prepared. Sacks walked over and knelt down, flashing his light on a shiny black smear on the floor. "Fresh engine oil," he said.

"Get a photo, then bag it!" Gibbs ordered over his shoulder. Officer David was already on her way back.

Fornell left her with Sacks and hurried after Gibbs. "We don't know if this place is occupied, Gibbs. We could run into legal occupants around any corner."

"Like hell," Gibbs growled. He walked right into the corner of the elevator where shadows had hidden a lump of fabric. He grabbed it and a belt fell to the floor, the shiny silver buckle clattering against the wood slats. Gibbs picked it up and looked at Fornell. "This is DiNozzo's," he said.

"It's a belt, Jethro," Fornell replied. It looked pretty generic to him.

With two fingers through the buckle and the other hand gripping the belt just behind the buckle, Gibbs gave a solid yank. For a millisecond, Fornell wondered what the hell he thought he was doing, but then a small, glittering blade emerged from the end of the belt. Fornell blinked at it, a little startled. "It's DiNozzo's," Gibbs repeated, and sheathed the knife again. Fornell didn't argue further. Gibbs coiled the belt and stowed it in an evidence bag. He shook out the fabric the belt had been wrapped in and it turned into a shirt and boxers. McGee bagged them as well.

"Up or down, Boss?" McGee asked.

"We'll take down." Gibbs turned to David and Sacks, who had just arrived outside the elevator. "Ziva? You and Sacks go up."

She nodded, and Sacks caught Fornell's eye. Fornell nodded. He was content to let Jethro take the lead on this. For one thing, he was doing most of the same things Fornell would do. For another, it greatly increased his life expectancy. McGee hit the down button on the elevator and the huge thing jolted into motion. When they came to a stop, it was on a broad hallway. Large doors let out on either side. They moved carefully along the hall. Most of the doorways were open.

They were almost all the way to the other end of the hall when Gibbs stopped, staring at a blank wall. "There should be a door here," he said. McGee leaned close to the wall, examining it carefully while Fornell went to the previous storage room and scoped it out.

"I'd say you're right, Jethro, but I don't see how we can get into it from here."

Gibbs was already moving back towards the elevator. McGee and Fornell caught up just as he hit the button. They followed as Gibbs strode across to the other side of the warehouse to a pair of double doors. These were not locked, and Gibbs rolled one of them to the side, revealing an office area. Like the rest of the building they'd seen, it appeared deserted. They started checking rooms, McGee and Gibbs split off on the first two doors, and Fornell pressed further in. He reached a room that had blankets and other bedding. "Hey, Gibbs, you need to take a look here."

While the others were still on the way, Fornell crossed to the door on the other side of the room. He waited until Gibbs and McGee reached him, then raised an eyebrow. Gibbs positioned himself to cover the door and nodded. Fornell flung it open and Gibbs stepped through the opening. Immediately, Fornell could hear him going down a flight of steps, and he followed hastily. There was a narrow room at the base of the stairs and a door at the other side that Gibbs was heading for urgently. The room was empty except for one of those room service carts they used in hotels. A tablecloth lay crumpled on the floor behind it.

"This is it," McGee said when he reached the door. Fornell glanced up at him and saw that he was looking down at the flight of stairs. "This is where they took the video."

Gibbs reached the door on the lower level and flung it open. Fornell saw tension leave his shoulders. "I'm betting this was where they kept him," he said neutrally, but Fornell knew from that release of tension that Gibbs had been afraid of what he hadn't let Fornell say earlier. This didn't invalidate the point, they wouldn't leave the body where it could be found if they still expected the ransom, but it meant they still couldn't be sure.

"Get Ziva down here to take photographs," Gibbs ordered as he went into the room. Fornell followed. There was a radiator and one of those inflatable mattresses people keep for guests, and nothing else. Fornell tried to imagine his reaction if one of his guys was in this situation, and he shuddered. These bastards were going to pay dearly if Gibbs found them himself.