Chapter Three
Search
When the three cars reach a point in the bare woods at the edge of the hillside, Gibbs gets out of his car, withholding his reaction at the size of the team that chose to follow his lead. He'd expected his team to follow as a matter of course but Ducky, Jimmy Palmer and Mother O'Mallory have also joined the search here.
"Ducky?"
"When we find the girl here" the venerable man replies, looking at the opening in the side of the Maryland hill, "she will certainly be cold and hungry. You may need a medical man." There's nothing at all of doubt in that declaration, he firmly believes Gibbs has made the right choice.
Gibbs checks his watch, the girl has been missing for nearly four hours, this spot is a little less than a half hour's walk, assuming the girl knows the way and came directly here. He has to admit that's a big assumption, but his gut tells him it's the right one.
And if he should be wrong, he hasn't interrupted the progress of the search and he can still make it to their assigned sector in plenty of time.
The cave is little more than a seven foot hole in the hill, having nothing particular to distinguish it. Grown over and ignored, it's unlikely to attract attention with Luray and Mammoth caves being national attractions. They average a constant 54 degrees year round – he'd checked with McGee on this on the way out – but those are deeper than this one and can take advantage of the insulating earth. It won't be 54 inside here.
Even the position of this unused and seemingly largely forgotten cave in a National Park nets it no notoriety. It is what it appears to be, a dull hole. There are several boards blocking easy entrance - if one were an adult walking upright - and these contain such directives as 'No Trespassing', 'Keep Out' and 'Danger'. There is also an official warning posted on one board detailing what penalties would accrue if one is caught violating the intent of the other warnings and orders. It's not an impressive barricade and to the perpetually inquisitive mind of a small child it's an announcement of a treasure trove of exciting exploration.
"McGee?"
"I've downloaded a map of the caves; they were last done twenty seven years ago by the USGS," the computer expert replies succinctly, holding up his blackberry and then transmitting the images to each of the others' units, not looking up as he works. "There are four distinct branches of what's basically worthless rock; never mined, no ores, nothing valuable to speak of. Even before this area became a National Park this hole was pretty much ignored. There's nothing of interest inside - except if you're a five year old child that is." He too has no doubt his boss' gut has led him truly.
"All right, break out the gear. Flashlights, ALS' as backups if needed. Distribute radios; we'll have lousy cell phones reception but use them as well - keep in constant touch. McGee and O'Mallory, left branch. DiNozzo and David, right of them; Palmers, you've got the third; Ducky, you're with me."
"Always have been, Jethro."
x
Before they can move to gather equipment from the MCR Van a vehicle skids to a stop behind them. They turn to find Abby Sciuto's black convertible – the 'Batmobile' – being covered by a fine layer of road dust from its wake. She's out of the car in a moment. "Wait for me," she exclaims, unwilling to be left out of this recovery. "They told me where you were starting out."
"We have a full team plus," Gibbs tells her. "You should help one of the other teams." No matter how many people they have on this search, they will never have enough.
"Why go with them, when you're the ones who're going to find her?"
Against that expression of total faith, he has no argument. "All right, you're with Ducky and I in the far right tunnel."
x
While the teams prepare, Michelle Palmer remains still, eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to everyone around her. She hasn't moved since stepping out of the car and only opens her eyes again when the noises about her fade down to nothing. When she does she finds herself looking into the chest of the towering Senior Agent.
"You with us, Palmer?" he demands, having neither time nor patience for anything but the hunt.
"Sir, she's here." She declares it so definitely that DiNozzo turns on her, deeply aggravated.
"Probette, we have no time for your psycho-mumbo-jumbo."
Jimmy comes nose-to-nose with the agent - no one will speak to his wife in that manner. "It is not mumbo-jumbo!"
"HEY!" Gibbs barks sharply to the two men, "do I have to build a fence around you two?" He turns back to Michelle. "What?"
"Sir, there is someone alive in there. I have a very strong sense of it," she points to the far right of the hill, well away from the mouth of the cave, "in that direction."
Gibbs doesn't fully understand her talent or her certainty, but though he doesn't believe it's never stopped him from making use of it. It is, to him, no different than his own gut feeling and one of his jobs is to train her to learn, by experience, when she's following something correctly and when she isn't. That knowledge can't come from the classroom, only from action. "Then that's where you make your search, we'll take tunnel three." He turns back to his extended team. "Move out."
xx
The ground at the entrance to the cave displays far too much activity for Gibbs' taste. As soon as they're beyond the useless barriers he crouches down, examining the ground, DiNozzo beside him. "Sure has a lot of traffic," he mutters disgustedly, shining his flashlight along the ground as far as the intense beam can reliably penetrate to track the various footpaths into the blackness.
Footprints show heavy traffic, all sizes of shoes and sneakers, the scuffs and marks and disturbances of dirt, dust and leaves telling a story going back years.
The group moves slowly, carefully tracking the multitude of footprints which gradually thin out as dirt, dust and leaves are replaced by harder rock. When they reach the first left branch, to which he'd assigned McGee and O'Mallory, some of the remaining visible tracks turn onto it, most do not. Too many still do.
The man and woman start down this dark path, wishing that in all the traces they had found, some of them could have been distinguished as a small child of perhaps fifty pounds.
x
The cave is black as pitch save for the intense lights that spear through it, lighting walls of stone that could have gone for centuries between illuminations, barring the USGS team's explorations nearly 30 years ago. The interior of the hill is colder than the outside, having never seen the sun. There's no path of any kind; the natural trails were made by bubbles of expanding gas when the Earth was in its infancy. They slope, they dip, they meander in meaningless directions and in all there is utter silence. The walls are smooth in some places, rough in others, all following the dictates of blind chance.
Each team has split off in turn according to the maps on the illuminated screens in their hands, following the paths in silence, listening carefully for anything they might be able to discern.
Michelle, following a path of sensation which broke off to the right thirty feet into the main tunnel, has no doubt she is leading the man beside her straight to Natalie Salamanca. She's impressed by how far the child has penetrated and finds herself admiring the tenacity of the young explorer, but she has no doubt she can feel the life ahead of her. It's large, it's intelligent, and she's certain it's human.
They've adjusted the beams of their maglights so Jimmy's is a wide field covering walls, floor and ceiling before them while hers cuts through the tunnel like a laser.
x
"I don't know how you can stand to work with that man." Jimmy mutters, finally putting the resentment she can feel like a torch beside her into words.
"You get used to it," she replies softly. Something about being this deep in unbridled nature seems to forbid speaking aloud, at least by her. "He doesn't understand, so he confuses Wicca with natural talent."
She'd told him that anyone who listens with the soul as well as the ears can do some of the things she can, but teaching it is another matter; one must begin with listening. DiNozzo is an experienced Agent and tracking malefactors is a definite skill, but if he would just open himself up to the– "We're close!" she whispers sharply.
She sees Jimmy's about to call out and quickly clamps her hand over his mouth, the beam of her flashlight whipping about wildly. "Do you want to bring the whole mountain down on us or scare the life out of her?" Shushing him, she pulls her hand away and turns back to the source of the sensations; "This way."
Jimmy doesn't mention that, for an unexcavated cave like this, noise isn't a problem to fear in causing a cave in. He knows it's fear that made her reprimand him; fear he's not going to call her on. He doesn't like a billion tons of rock over his head either.
x
A hundred feet further, Jimmy stops. "Turn off your flash," he commands softly, switching off the powerful though scattered field. She doesn't argue. When her light is doused they are left standing in blackness.
Michelle waits ten seconds, then: "Yes, this is very sexy and has possibilities if we weren't looking for a child and it weren't so cold, but–"
"Don't you see it?"
She turns, staring intently ahead and gradually she does; the path ahead isn't totally black. Switching on her flashlight again, she finds that the light she'd seen is coming very faintly from a turn to the right. She hurries forward, using the beam only to avoid tripping over loose debris. They make the turn together, his diffuse beam lighting the chamber, hers a spear of light stabbing into the dead end.
The shrill shriek that splits the air does indeed come from a girl, but she is easily sixteen years old and the boy cuddled in her arms isn't much older. The light comes from a half burned candle stuck upon a rock. They're still fully clothed in the cold, but both of them are frozen in the beams that lance their bodies.
Michelle stands equally frozen at this tableau, surprise crumbling under shock and disappointment at the failure of the search battering against frustration and finally searing anger wins over all. Her certain trail led to this … this … "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" her furious screech echoes off the walls and reverberates down the tunnel behind them - she doesn't care now if she causes a cave in! "GET THE F*CK OUT OF HERE BEFORE I DRAG YOU BACK TO YOUR HOMES BY YOUR LILY WHITE ASSES!"
Such is her fury and their fear that they're gone on the beams of wildly jerking flashlights long before the echo of her threat fades from the air.
x
Michelle stands trembling in rage, unable to believe the intensity of her own fury. Panting heavily, she casts the beam of her flashlight here and there about the dead end of the tunnel, picking out a box of candles and everywhere used condom sheaths. She spies a broken pair of thong panties and, in a far end of the cave is an abandoned bra….
She turns back to Jimmy; they face one another in the spears of their light beams. "I felt – life! I felt–" she tries to bring her emotions down but the mix of anger and embarrassment roils through her and the steam of her breath is heavy in the air. "I couldn't tell how many - I can't know what they were doing–"
"Don't worry about it."
"Don't -," she wants to shriek her outrage.
"'Chelle, you had the trace, find another one."
"'Find another one', he says." But when he doesn't answer, she closes her eyes, working to calm her emotions, working to control her anger, to relax her body and gradually clear her mind. She tries to reach out with her feelings, to follow her training; reaching further - further - further still.
She shakes her head, giving up.
"You can do it."
"I found a whole load of them!" she waves her hand in the direction of the main body of the hill. "The other search teams, maybe more." She shakes her head, dejected. "I hope they have better luck.
Jimmy raises his radio to report their finding nothing - not their failure. He isn't interested in what will happen when two frightened teenagers run head-on into the search parties sweeping the area.