Love to Powerof3 for the beta'ing. Thanks to everyone for the reviews, and your patience. I leave for vacation tomorrow night, but I'm going to try to post chapter 4 before I go.
II
Gibbs was going to be i pissed /i . Not that that was unusual, but normally his ire was directed at someone else. This time, it would be focused squarely on her. She had made the worst mistake possible: she had gotten herself kidnapped.
Abby had been getting ready for work when someone had knocked on her door. The woman claimed that she had a flat tire and wanted to know if she could use her phone to call Triple A. Abby should have known then that something was wrong. Who in this day and age doesn't have a cell phone? In a hurry to return to her morning routine because she had once again missed the sound of her alarm clock going off, and feeling the sympathy that anyone who has dealt with constant car trouble would feel, she had let the woman into her home. Gesturing to the phone, Abby didn't notice that her company wasn't alone. Not until she felt the sharp pain at the back of her head. By then it was too late.
She didn't regain consciousness until a car door slammed and she was roughly picked up. She was blindfolded and the only sounds she could hear was the slight scrape of hard soled shoes against pavement and someone's heavy breathing.
"You've made a mistake," she yelled. The person carrying her made no attempt to quiet her, only chuckled. Abby knew then that where ever they were, it was in a location that was remote enough that no one else was around. She was on her own.
"I don't know why you're doing this, but you have the wrong person. I'm not rich, and neither is my family. If this is some pathetic get rich quick scheme, you've screwed up. I'm not your girl." A door opened and closed, and Abby found herself being tossed onto a padded surface. A couch, she decided.
"Oh, you're exactly the right person, Ms. Scutio." His voice was calm; almost reassuring in a creepy sort of way. And she'd heard it before.
II
"Tell me you have something, McGee." Gibbs barked as he stormed into the lab and passed the substitute lab tech without so much as a nod.
"I don't... that is... I..." He hated to admit that he had no leads.
"Yes or no, McGee."
"Nothing yet," McGee admitted in defeat. "There were three messages on Abby's answering machine. One was from a tele-marketer and one was from a bookstore letting her know that the book she had ordered was in."
"And the third message?" Gibbs swallowed the last of his coffee and threw the cup into the trash can.
"A dead end," McGee attempted to evade.
"I'll be the judge of that. Who was the message from?" He fixed McGee with a withering stare.
"It was from you, Boss." The first message was one that Abby had held onto from the previous spring, and it made McGee feel like an interloper, listening to his boss call Abby from the airport to say goodbye.
"Anything pertinent?" Gibbs demanded. He knew without asking what message McGee was talking about, but the only person he would discuss it with wasn't here.
"I printed out the address book on Abby's PDA. Tony's running the names. The last appointment she scheduled was more then a week ago."
"What about you. Have you found anything?" Gibbs turned to the lab tech.
"Me, sir?" the man questioned.
"Ya' think?" Gibbs remarked sarcastically.
"I dusted the envelope and the video tape for prints and didn't find anything. I have a sample of the envelope in the machine to test for DNA, but that will take hours," he said hesitantly.
"You have one," Gibbs informed the tech.
"One what, sir?" the lab tech asked hesitantly.
"One hour to get me results. And if you call me sir again you will regret it."
"There's no way I an run my tests in that amount of time, si... Agent Gibbs."
"Then work faster." Gibbs mentally dismissed the tech and headed for the glass doors. McGee was watching him expectantly.
"We will find her," Gibbs said gruffly. It was a statement, a question, a hope and a prayer.
II
"Out of my way, DiNozzo." Gibbs strode out of the elevator, almost causing Tony to fall backwards as he was forced to move out of Gibbs' path.
"I was just coming to look for you." Tony held a large cardboard envelope which he passed to Gibbs. "This was delivered registered mail ten minutes ago. It's addressed to you."
i Special Agent L.J. Gibbs /i , the label read. Gibbs donned a pair of latex gloves and removed his folding knife from his back pocket. Carefully cutting along the top of the envelope he opened the letter. The first item he pulled out was a familiar leather studded ring. Next came a curl of black hair. Last was white piece of paper with a pair of typewritten sentences. There was nothing special about the font, the ink, or the paper. He would send it down to the lab, but he had little confidence that it would help them.
"What does it say?" Tony asked when Gibbs didn't immediately read the note. Instead of answering, Gibbs handed his the paper; he had already memorized it.
i I had everything, and you took it all away. Now it's my turn. /i