Gibbs was gently sipping on the refill that McGee got for him. This was exactly what he needed.
Fornell started.
"Special Agent Peter Volkov went undercover with a Russian Cell based in London and in some parts of Washington DC" A picture popped up on the plasma as he said this. "He has been there for over 5 years now, discreetly feeding us Intel on the size of the cell and their intelligence and more importantly, any agency bribes. Russians can be very persuasive. He is also a valued member of the team and one of the most trusted".
"Does this connect with yours Ziva" Gibbs asked as he took another sip.
"Yes it does actually". On the other plasma a picture popped up of another man in a mugshot, "this is Alexander Green, his birth name is Alexander Petrov, he legally changed his name when he became a British Citizen in 1991." His birth certificate then appeared. Recognize the father's name Fornell?"
"Alexei Petrov? Yes he runs this cell, my undercover agent works very closely with him"
"Sorry Zee-vah but what does this have to do with Zachary Phillips?", Tony interrupted.
"Well Ton-ee, if you look at the mugshot you will see the words 'Strangeways Prison'"
"So?"
"Strangeways Prison officially changed it's name to Her Majesty's Manchester Prison somewhere in the mid-90s"
"So Green and Phillips knew each other?"
"More than that, they were cell mates. In 1998 Green was convicted to 12 years for armed robbery. Now, as you can imagine, he led a very sheltered life, and he, well, found prison rather unsettling. The only person who he connected with was Phillips. He was there to help him when he got into trouble. Green must have put in a good word with the parents".
Fornell then stepped in, "Sending the e-mail from Peter's computer was his way of telling us that he is involved with this one, but to get her back would mean to blow his cover".
"Don't be so dramatic Tobias, maybe there's a way of bringing down the cell and getting the girl back at the same time", Gibbs suggested.
"Her name is Amy, Boss, I am sick of her being referred to as a victim, the girl, the hostage, the list just goes on and on…"
"Sorry Tony, we're just treating it as if it was another case…"
"But it isn't Gibbs"
"Hey! What did I tell you about losing control?" Gibbs yelled followed by a sharp head slap. Typical, more head slaps in a personal case than a normal, absolutely bloody typical...
"well…" Ziva interrupted, "what do we know about her?"
"I put a profile together while Tony was speaking to Jen", said Gibbs. Tony was rather taken aback by this. Gibbs hardly ever did that. That was the job of Ziva and himself. This meant a lot to him.
"Amy, 20 years old. She requested when she was 18 that she attended University of Lincoln, UK to study…" Gibbs chuckled
"What Gibbs?"
"Film and Television Production. She has A-Levels in English Literature, Film Studies and Media Studies. She lived a happy childhood, after the trauma of her younger childhood , of course,but didn't show any interest into tracking down her father until 2 years ago, when her mother finally told her his name".
"Well what happened?" asked an inpatient Tony.
"Well, come one DiNozzo, what the hell do you do when you track down a guy you believe is your father? You can't just walk up to them and say hey, I'm your long-lost daughter from a fling 20-odd years ago"
Tony got the message. Just then, Tony's phone rang interrupting the conversation.
"Yeah, DiNozzo!"; he practically yelled down the phone out of sheer frustration.
A familiar distorted voice came from the earpiece. "I called to see if you were making progress, but by the tone of your voice I say you aren't".
Tony quickly mimed to the rest of the team and McGee immediately got to work on tracing the call. McGee had already placed a tab on the mobile, to record, everyone could hear it…
"Don't bother tracing, it is a satellite phone, not traceable"
But McGee continued anyway, which Tony appreciated.
"I want to speak to her, make sure you are holding up your end of the bargain. You know, just because the files are deleted doesn't mean that we can't hunt you down for abduction and the murder/attempted murder of several people"
"Better than a child rape/abduction in your record. Murder sounds less sickening than child abuse…"
"You sick bastard, I want to speak to her...NOW!"
"Fine…" Tony could hear noise in the background, "come on sweetie, Daddy wants to talk to you…"
He heard her voice for the first time. "Daddy?"; Tony froze, he didn't know what to say. Silent tears ran down his cheeks. The first time he is talking to his little girl, and he is letting her down… big time. He then made eye contact with Gibbs, who told him to keep going.
"Amy, has he hurt you?", he muttered
"Remember that film we watched that time? The one with Mel Gibson and Renee Russo"; Well this is weird, she, most likely, has the barrel of a gun pressed against her temple and all she can do is talk about movies…
"I'll get you outta there I promise…"
"Just remember the m…", and then she was gone.
"Less than 30 hours, you'd better get moving…" then the line went dead.
Ah! There will be more... watch this space...