So sorry for the long wait! I just haven't been able to get past my writers block. Here's chpater 3. Hopefully I can have 4 up on Monday afternoon
Chapter 3
Back in his motel room Tim was looking through security footage from the last three weeks from his favorite coffee shop (which he had changed since the whole Landon incident), his dry cleaners, the gas station close to the Navy Yard and NCIS HQ. The first three had only required a flash of his badge to get copies of. But since he wasn't sure who was the kidnappers inside helper at NCIS he'd had the director email him a copy of the gate footage. He'd noticed that a tall dark haired male had been haunting his steps for the past few weeks. He took a screen capture and emailed it to Ziva…they could run facial recognition and find out who he was.
He would run the facial himself but it was one of the few programs that needed access to an inter-agency mainframe. Next he pulled up the footage from the gate. He'd noticed a Black Chevy SUV at the gas station the week prior and he'd actually seen the dark-haired man getting into the car. As he watched the footage from the gate he watched as the SUV entered the gates the day Abby and Sarah had been kidnapped. He continued watching the footage and watched as Abby's hearse entered the Yard at 5 and the SUV left at 5:15. He did get a good shot of the license plate and decided to call Gibbs to tell him to run the facial and give him the license plate number.
"Gibbs."
"Boss. I have something for you."
"What is it Tim?"
"Someone was following me. I emailed Ziva a picture I got from some security footage. I also got the license plate number of the SUV that I think was the kidnapper's vehicle."
"What is it?"
"Tango Romeo Bravo Zero One Niner. Dark colored Chevy Suburban."
"All right, Tim. I'll give you a call once he have some information."
"Thanks Boss."
"Stay safe, McGee."
"Will do Boss." He said hanging up.
Gibbs turned to Ziva.
"Get Keating up here. Have him run facial recognition on the picture McGee sent you. DiNozzo, you track down a dark Chevy Suburban. License plate tango romeo bravo zero one niner." He said reading the number off the paper he had written it down on.
"On it Boss!" Tony exclaimed.
Gibbs headed to the elevator. It was going to be a long day and they'd need a lot of coffee. He headed to his favorite shop and on the walk there called Fornell and told him about what McGee had found. Fornell agreed to let Gibbs know the moment he had any information for Gibbs. When he returned he was pleased to find that both Ziva (by way of Keating) had had success.
"The man who was following McGee is Maximillian Powell. He was arrested for assault and battery. He was involved in a bar fight and nearly killed a man. Yet, somehow he was never charged." She said pulling up a picture of the dark haired man on the plasma.
Gibbs stared at the picture McGee captured off of the security footage. Why is this man after McGee? He wondered. Is he another Landon? But as far as Gibbs could remember McGregor didn't have a sister in either Deep Six or Rock Hollow. So how would Powell have known about Sarah?
"Boss! I found the SUV and the owner. A black Chevy Suburban with the license plate TRB-019 belongs to a woman named Leah Greene. And I've already found her boss. She was Powell's inside person. She's an intel analyst who concentrates on Japan and South Korea."
Tony pulled up a picture of the woman. She was pale skinned with brown hair and brown eyes. She was exactly the type of person that no one would notice or even if they did they'd barely remember her.
"Call security and have her escorted down to interrogation. We're gonna find out exactly what the hell this she was thinking when she agreed to help this guy." Gibbs snarled.
Thirty minutes later Gibbs found himself pacing behind a very nervous Leah Greene. He couldn't see them but he knew that DiNozzo, Ziva, and Vance were all behind the glass watching the interrogation.
"Do you know why you're here, Agent Greene?" he asked coming around to sit in front of her.
"N-no." she squeaked.
" You own a black Chevy SUV, is that correct?"
"Yes. Why?"
Gibbs watched her hand flex as if she wanted to raise it so that she could continue biting at the nails that barely existed.
"And according to Agent Hanover you rarely if ever work on Sundays. And when you do work on Sunday's you stay until 3PM at the latest. Yet not only did you work this past Sunday but you stayed until after 5PM."
"I'm working on a very important project." She replied not meeting Gibbs' eyes.
"What project?" he asked.
"It has to do with…troop movements…North Korean troop movements!" she said after a moment's pause.
Tony smirked behind the glass as he watched the interrogation.
"Rule number seven."He said. Vance gave him a look.
"Always be specific when you lie." Ziva clarified.
They could hear him talking to her and asking question after question trying to get her to break. Nothing happened until Gibbs slid across a picture of Powell and told her that if they didn't find him and Abby and/or Sarah died she'd be the one they sent to jail.
"Alright! Alright!" she exclaimed, "I got a call a few weeks ago from this guy who says he's knows my secret and that he'll tell my husband unless I help him. I didn't want to do anything but I can't let my husband find out."
"Find out what?" Gibbs growled.
She hesitated.
"What are you hiding?" he yelled slamming his hand down on the table.
"Kara! Kara Welford. She-She's my girlfriend." Leah muttered. "I love my husband but I met Kara and something just clicked between us. I've been hiding my affair from him for nearly a year. I don't know how this guy found out but he did."
"What did he want you to do?"
"He needed me to find out everything I could about Agent McGee. Who he cared for, if he had any siblings, that kind of information. Once I got him that information I had to find out where Agent McGee's sister lived and when the best time would be to take Miss Sciuto. I knew that I had to wait until your whole team was out of the building and the entire building heard about how you had to go and rescue your father. I happened to be walking by when I heard Agent David tell the Director that you, Doctor Mallard, and Agent McGee would be returning on Sunday."
"Then what?"
"I told him and he made me smuggle him onto the Yard. Once Miss Sciuto arrived I helped him into the building. I don't know what happened after that I swear. He took my keys and I can only assume he went to Agent McGee's sister's apartment."
Gibbs glared at her.
"I swear! I swear! I don't know where he was going to take them or where he is or why he's doing this!" she exclaimed. "Wait…he did mumble something once…I don't think he'd realized I'd overheard him. It was something about getting back at the little shit who'd figured out his brother's plan. I had disregarded it since it didn't make any sense."
Gibbs spared her a look before leaving the room. Tony and Ziva met him out in the hall.
"Tony look—" he started
"Look into recent cases where McGee supplied most of the information. On it, Boss!" Tony interrupted heading for the elevator.
"Ziver—"
"Coffee and lunch. Anything else, Gibbs?" she asked.
Gibbs shook his head and as she headed off he caught Vance's questioning gaze.
"It's good to be the boss*." he said paraphrasing one of his favorite movie lines.
Gibbs headed back upstairs to see if any new information had been found. Tony hadn't found anything yet in their most recent cases so Gibbs told him to check the last six months of case files for the name Powell or anyone with a brother with the last name of Powell. It was just as Ziva was walking into the bull pen that Tony found the related case.
"Boss, I found the case." he said calling out to his superior.
Gibbs turned to Tony with the "well…go ahead" look on his face.
"Are you waiting for an invitation?" he asked
"Lieutenant Brad Sayers. He was killed by his commanding officer Captain James Powell in January."
"I remember that case. It was the one with the jet packs!" Ziva said.
"Rocket Belts…yes…the Thom E. Gemcity production." Tony murmured, "And former Captain Powell has a brother… one Maximillian Powell."
Tony pulled the picture they had of him up on the plasma.
"Now we know why he went after McGee." said Ziva as Gibbs' phone started to ring. "He obviously didn't like having his brother get caught…red-fingered—"
"Handed…red handed." Tony supplied as Gibbs answered his phone.
"Gibbs."
"Where is McGee?"
"Mr. Powell, I assume." Gibbs said pressing the speaker button.
"Where is McGee?"
"Tim isn't here."
"Then you tell him…only one of the girls can be saved. I'll call soon."
The only sound after that was the dial tone which sounded strangely ominous after hearing what they had just heard. Gibbs looked up from the phone to see both Vance and Fornell standing behind Tony and Ziva.
"Have you come to stare or do you actually have something for me, Tobias?" Gibbs asked.
"I have something for you Jethro. The SUV you told me about? It was caught on tape at a toll heading into Virginia. It isn't much but it is something."
Gibbs looked a Fornell for a moment longer before springing into action.
"Ziver get the number of Greene's toll pass and find out if it went through any other tolls. Tony, find out how Powell knew it was McGee who had the most involvement in his brothers arrest. And will someone get Keating back up here? I want this bastard's next call traced!" he exclaimed.
Abby had lost track of the amount of time they had been in the back of the SUV when it suddenly stopped. The door opened and she was blinded by the bright light of what she would later realize was a flashlight. She and Sarah were roughly pulled from the SUV and strapped down to a couple of chairs.
"Abby? What's going on? What's going to happen?" Sarah whispered.
"I don't know, Sarah. But I know that Tim and Gibbs will rescue us. They'll figure everything out." She replied softly.
Abby didn't add the qualifier to that statement. They have to figure it out she said to herself. They have to.
Tim was just starting to fall asleep when his cell phone rang. He sprang up off the bed and grabbed the phone off the table.
"What is it, Boss?" he asked.
"The guy who was following you. His name is Maximillian Powell. He's the brother of the man we arrested for the murder of-"
"Lieutenant Sayers."Tim interrupted, "It was the case with the rocket belts. I remember."
"He's apparently upset that you got his little brother arrested. He wants to make your life hell."
"What else do we know, Boss?" Tim asked.
"Not much to be honest. Tony and Ziva are trying to find out information and I've got Keating up here for when the bastard calls back—"
"He called! What did he say? Did he say why he took Abs and Sarah? Did he say where he took them? Or how I can get them?"
"Tim, calm down!"
"How can I calm down? He's got my sister! My sister, Boss! And he…he's…he's got Abby, Boss. He's got the two of the most important women in my life."
"I know, Tim, I know. He didn't say much. Only two important things. That he'll call back soon. And that…"
"And what, Boss?"
"You can only save one of them."
Tim stood frozen with the phone next to his ear. The buzzing noise in his ear was so loud he could barely hear Gibbs telling him that they would rescue both girls. He ended the call and backed up to sit on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. How could he choose? How could he choose between his sister, his flesh and blood, and the woman he still loved? How could he choose one to live and sacrifice the other to a maniac?