"Nigel Moore," Gibbs burst into Jenny's office.
"Excuse me?" Jenny inquired, looking up from her paperwork.
"It's Nigel Moore. Case 30658."
Jenny thought for a moment before answering, "Wasn't he the one that walked due to lack of evidence?"
"Circumstantial."
"I thought he was killed during a drug war?"
"Presumed. The remains were never positively identified."
"I don't know, Jethro," Jenny let her skepticism show in her voice.
"Never assume, Jenny! It is Nigel Moore. Listen, I chased that man all over Europe. It was his idea of a game; of 'hide and seek'. Sound familiar? You know what he said on his way out of the courthouse?"
Jenny shook her head.
"Olly olly oxen free," he paused a moment. "It's happening all over again."
"Think about this, Jethro."
"He's got Abby, Jenny! I know it's Moore and I'm not going to let him get away this time." Gibbs' face was flushed with anger.
Jenny sat and watched him pace for a moment. "Okay. I'll look into it."
Gibbs gave her a curt nod and left the office.
------
"Boss," Tony said as Gibbs walked into the team's area.
"What do you have for me, McGee?" Gibbs said, cutting Tony off.
"Nothing, Boss. Either the shadows are too deep for me to see anything or the room is empty except for…"
Gibbs didn't acknowledge the end of McGee's sentence but turned to Tony and Ziva instead. He raised an eyebrow and they relayed their information.
They had interviewed what neighbors were home but no one had seen or heard anything.
"Abby's door was locked," Tony started.
"There was no evidence of tampering," Ziva interjected.
"We went in and looked around. Everything appeared normal," Tony finished.
Gibbs nodded and turned to encompass everyone, "We're looking for a Nigel Moore. Records will indicate death occurred on 21 June 2000. It didn't. He's still alive and he has Abby. He is excellent at deception.
"It took me two years to find him last time," he added quietly.
"And now we only have 18 hours left," Ziva added solemnly.
------
The hours ticked by with no progress. The vehicle registration database was of no value. Evening interviews also offered no new leads. The trail was very quickly becoming cold, to everyone's dismay. All trails of Nigel Moore ended with his death years earlier.
Around 1930 hours, Tony stood up and stretched. "I'm going for a coffee run. Any takers?"
Everyone nodded their concurrence.
"Take someone with you, DiNozzo. No one travels alone until we get this guy," Gibbs ordered.
"I'll go," McGee offered.
Twenty minutes later, Tony and McGee stepped out of the elevator carrying a tray of coffee and an unmarked manila envelope.
"Hey Boss! This was left at the security desk downstairs." Tony hollered across the room and waved the envelope in the air.
Gibbs hurried away from his desk and met them half way. He snatched the envelope from Tony and ripped it open. He slid the photo out. It took all of his will power to control himself when he looked upon the picture of Abby collapsed on the floor. There was a small puddle of blood under her head, a number of scratches on her face along with a raw gash spilling blood on her forehead and a large amount of bruising along her jaw.
He flipped it over to see if there was an inscription.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
He handed the picture over to his team and went to his desk to call Ducky upstairs.
"Did you receive another one?" Ducky asked as he stepped out of the elevator. He had his answer when he rounded the corner and saw the hardened expressions on his colleagues' faces.
Tony handed the picture to Ducky who looked at it with professional detachment.
"May I see the previous one, Jethro?" Ducky asked.
Gibbs picked up the other photo from his desk and handed it to Ducky who was taping the current photo to the plasma. He then proceeded to tape the previous photo to the left of the current.
"Hand me the first one too. Might as well put it up with these."
When all three photos were lined up in order, the team crowded around and waited for Ducky to analyze them.
Ducky stood quietly for several moments while he looked at each photo individually and then compared them to each other.
"This first photo," Ducky pointed to Abby. "Abigail appears to be unharmed. Most likely, she was drugged. Though it would be impossible for me to see a needle prick from the photo, my guess is that it was an oral or inhalant. Inhalant is my first choice.
"Now, this second photo shows signs of a struggle. Mr. Moore struck Abby which caused her nose to bleed and split her lip. The light reflects off of the blood, so it's fresh. The confrontation happened just before the picture was taken. Also, look at her eyes. See how large her pupils are? They are far too large for the amount of light currently in the room."
"Then the room must be kept dark," Ziva jumped in.
"Precisely. It is most likely a basement. Though it could be a root or storm cellar also.
"Now, this final photo. There are the obvious fresh injuries. Head trauma, cuts, abrasions, etc., however, this bruising," he pointed to her left cheek and jaw. "This is conducive to where she was struck in the previous photo. Based on the amount and color of bruising, I'd say that this picture was taken approximately 3-4 hours after this last photo."
"That would have been around noon," McGee chimed in.
"So the question is, why wait? Why wait so long before sending this photo?" Tony asked.
"Did the guard downstairs say when it arrived?" Gibbs queried Tony and McGee.
"He said it was there when he came on duty at 1900. He figured we'd already been contacted about it." McGee answered.
"Tell him to contact us immediately if another one arrives," Gibbs instructed.
"Already done, Boss," Tony replied.
"Get me all of the building's and compound's security tapes. I want to find this bastard," Gibbs' mind was racing. Moore may have slipped up.
It didn't take long before McGee spoke up, "I've got him, Boss!" The plasma came to life and Gibbs pulled the photos from the screen. "This is the video of the lobby. This man," McGee pointed to someone walking into the lobby with a briefcase, "goes up to the security desk, removes a large envelope and hands it to the security guard, then leaves.
"Then the outside vid shows him getting into the same vehicle he used this morning. Only this time," the screen zoomed in on the license plate, "we got a plate number."
"Run it," Gibbs ordered.
"Already on it, Boss," Tony was on the telephone.
"Find me the traffic cameras."
"Working on it," McGee said behind the glow of his computer screen.
Fifteen minutes later, Tony came back with the results of the license plate check. Stolen.
It was some time before McGee was able to compile the traffic camera logs and sort through them. The team sat impatiently waiting, knowing that this was their only lead.
Finally, McGee spoke up, "I have it, Boss. I've traced him from here to Alexandria."
"Address," Gibbs barked, standing.
"The block of 21500 - 22300 Lexington St."
"Grab your gear. McGee, Duck, follow in the truck. DiNozzo, Ziva, you're with me."
Everyone rode the elevator to the garage and split to their respective vehicles from there.
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