A/N: Again, a big THANK YOU! to everyone who is reading and reviewing and making me feel so very happy about the success of my little story!
Now, are you ready for some McGee?
Tony's cell started ringing just before the elevator doors opened into the squad room. A quick glance told him that the call was from Agent Sanders, so, stepping out of the elevator slightly ahead of Gibbs, he silenced the phone and tucked it back into its holster.
"What've you got, Sanders?" he called, striding towards her desk. His voice drew the startled looks of his entire team, but Tony noted that both Rob and Heather dove back into their work at once. Yes, they had something - something better than an endless list of possible suspects. Rounding the corner, Tony was surprised to see Abby sitting at his own desk, typing away rapidly at his keyboard and not even pausing as she glanced up to beam at him.
"IDs on the dead bodies," Lena answered, hanging up her own phone quickly. "Abby just got them. Bowman and Canton are bringing up their information now, and Abby's looking up known associates." Abby waved happily at Tony and Gibbs.
"Show me what we've got so far," Tony said. Lena got to her feet, the remote for the plasma in hand, and stepped out from behind her desk. She glanced over her shoulder at Gibbs, who was leaning against the partition behind her, but the retired agent was as silent as a shadow so she turned her attention quickly back to Tony. A click and a gesture of her hand brought the driver's licenses of the dead men onto the screen.
"Gregory Hunt, resident of Virginia," she said, gesturing to the photo on the left, "and Jason Morrow, Maryland. Hunt was dishonorably discharged from the Navy for drug-dealing, and Morrow has a record of petty theft. That's about all we know so far."
"Good work, Abby," DiNozzo said, turning to catch the grin Abby offered in return. Then he stepped up to the plasma, examining the information that was displayed on the screen.
"Did you find anything at your...at the crime scene?" Lena asked hesitantly, still standing in the middle of the bullpen.
After a half-second's delay in which he finished his perusal of the plasma, Tony turned back to her. "No," he said. "There's nothing left to find, Lena. You did good." Lena couldn't quite hide the smile that flashed across her face, but before she could acknowledge Tony's comment, his desk phone started ringing and he stepped across the bullpen rapidly to pick it up.
"Agent DiNozzo," Tony answered briskly. Taking the opportunity to return to her desk, Lena caught a quick wink from Rob, and she sat down before her computer and attacked her keyboard with renewed eagerness. Her focus, however, was quickly disrupted when she overheard Tony's next comment.
"I'm fine," Tony said. "I'm in the office, surrounded by my team." The words drew the attention of all three junior agents, Abby and Gibbs, who unconsciously took two steps closer to his former Senior Field Agent.
"What? When?" The shock in DiNozzo's voice caused worried glances to be exchanged all around the bullpen; only Gibbs kept his eyes focused solely on Tony's expression.
"Call in," Tony said, after another moment passed. "I'll be there in 60 seconds." Tony slammed the phone down quickly, and pulled Gibbs with him as he started for the stairs. "MTAC, Gibbs, we've got a problem." Turning back to his team before he left the bullpen, Tony added, "Keep working. I'll be back down in five and I want information - get me addresses!"
"On it, boss!" came the reply from all three Field Agents and Abby. Lena wasn't the only one, however, that glanced up to watch the figures of Gibbs and Tony ascending the stairs rapidly and then disappearing into MTAC.
"What do you think it was?" Heather asked, when Lena's eyes returned to their level, indicating that the Boss and Gibbs had entered the secure room.
"Not good," Rob speculated, tapping at his keyboard as he spoke.
"Has to be something related to our case," Lena murmured. "He wouldn't have walked out on this for anything else."
"Maybe it is good," Heather said.
"Or both," Lena offered, turning to her computer screen. For a moment, they worked in silence, but Lena couldn't quite get past the question that was spinning in her mind.
"What was with Gibbs just...hovering there?" she finally asked aloud. "It kind of wierded me out."
Bowman smirked. "Good to know I'm not the only one who gets 'spooked.'"
"Seriously, though," Lena pressed, "He didn't say a word."
"He didn't need to," Abby interrupted, pausing from her typing for a moment to catch the three Agents with a stare that was as clear as the spoken word. Get back to work.
* * *
"What's happening, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as soon as they were safely inside the dimly-lit interior of MTAC.
"McGee is missing," Tony replied, grabbing a pair of headsets from the MTAC tech as he passed and handing one to Gibbs. Special Agent Hennig of the Los Angeles Office of Special Projects was already on the big screen. Yanking his headset over his head in a manner that made the technician cringe, Tony crossed his arms and faced his distant fellow Agent. Gibbs followed suit.
"Alright, Hennig," Tony said, "Fill us in."
"Agent Gibbs?" Hennig inquired, her face growing on the screen as she peered at the retired agent, "I heard you retired. May I ask what you're doing here?"
"No," Gibbs scowled. "McGee!"
Leaning away, Hennig spared an instant to look put out by Gibbs' abruptness before she obeyed his request. "We weren't expecting McGee until 1000 this morning, so we didn't start to worry about him until 1030 or so. We called him - got no answer, so around 1130 Agents Connelly and Weston stopped by his place. They found his cell phone, badge and weapon on the floor, and a note. There were no signs of a struggle or forced entry." Gibbs started pacing, but Tony remained still and intent on Hennig's face.
"What did the note say?" Tony inquired.
Hennig hesitated slightly before answering. "It said, 'DiNozzo next.' That's why we called." That news brought Gibbs' pacing up short, and he exchanged a mutually apprehensive glance with Tony.
"Do we know when McGee was taken?" Tony asked, pulling his eyes away from the storm that was brewing in Gibbs' expression.
"Yesterday evening," Hennig replied, "He left here at 1800, neighbors reported that they saw him on their way out around 1830. His home computer had last been active at 1847, and there was food in the microwave."
DiNozzo bowed his head for a moment, running a hand through his hair and blowing out a huge breath.
"Is there something else going on here that I should know about?" Agent Hennig questioned, her voice betraying a touch of lingering irritation.
"We have an agent missing as well," Tony said. "Ziva."
"Do you think the note was referring to your wife?" Hennig inquired, crossing her arms.
"No," Tony said, "I don't."
"But you do think the cases are connected," Hennig commented.
"I don't believe in coincidences," Tony replied.
Hennig nodded. "How long has Ziva been missing?"
"Almost 20 hours now."
Now it was the LA agent's turn to sigh and wipe a hand across her face. "How's your investigation going?" she asked.
"Like shit until about five minutes ago, when we finally IDed the two dead bodies Ziva left for us," Tony answered.
"Then I suppose I should let you get to that, Agent DiNozzo," Hennig said. "We'll keep you informed on anything we find over here."
"Ditto," Tony replied, already beginning to pull his headset off.
"Agent DiNozzo," Hennig said, drawing Tony's attention back to the screen. "Watch your six." With a quick gesture to someone off-screen, she vanished into black.
"This isn't just about someone after me or Ziva," Tony muttered, tossing his headset back to the MTAC tech carelessly. Gibbs peeled his own headset off and returned it with even less caution.
"No, DiNozzo," he growled. "Someone's after my whole damn team."
"But why do it this way?" Tony wondered. "Why not strike when Zi and I were both home? I mean, taking us both would have been a whole lot less complicated than ransom, if that's what they have in mind." Tony's green eyes flickered to Gibbs questioningly, and just before Gibbs said it, Tony understood.
"Because, DiNozzo, they needed you to call me."
* * *
The first thing he became aware of was pain - the stabbing ache behind his eyes, then the uncomfortable pull in his twisted shoulders, the cutting sting of something binding his wrists together, and the numbness of a butt too long pressed against a hard floor. He let himself groan, because he remembered how he'd ended up here, and he really needed to work on his instincts.
"McGee!"
The half-hissed voice cut into the fog he had been pushing his way through slowly. He blinked a few times, but that didn't really help him make sense of this unexpected development.
"McGee," the voice repeated impatiently. "Are you waking up or not?"
"Ziva?" he said, the disbelief transparent in his words.
"Yes," Ziva hissed back. McGee struggled momentarily against his binds, stopping after a moment when the plastic ties on his wrists cut into his skin. Quickly taking stock of his positon, he turned his head in the direction of Ziva's voice and found that she was bound in a similar fashion, on her feet and leaning against the opposite side of the same pole that his arms were tied around.
"What are you doing here?" McGee asked, still struggling against the blurry, shifting edges in his brain.
Ziva scoffed at him. "You should not be asking that question," she said. "I am not the one 2,000 miles away from where I'm supposed to be."
"We're in D.C.?" McGee asked.
"No further than 60 miles from my house in Silver Spring," she said.
"Tony?" McGee questioned, after a moment's hesitation to collect his thoughts.
"Not here," Ziva said. "Just me and Adi...and you."
"Where's Adi?" McGee asked, immediately searching the room they were in for the young girl. Ziva's heart twisted at the surge of protective anger in McGee's voice.
"In a room behind the door to your left," Ziva answered.
A moment passed before McGee continued the conversation. "Do you know what they want with us?"
"They want money," Ziva replied with a sigh. "The men who are holding us are just hired muscle. The question is: who hired them?"
McGee frowned, but, sensing the fatigue and frustration of the woman behind him, he replied with all the optimism and faith he could gather. "Tony will find out," he said, "and then he'll find us."
"I know," Ziva replied wearily, allowing herself to slide down the poll, bending her knees until she was sitting almost back to back with McGee. A long moment's silence passed between them before the Israeli woman again broke the silence. "It's good to see you, McGee. It's been too long."
A/N: See, I told you McGee was coming! What did you think of his grand entrance? Reviews are like magic treasure, only cooler!
Lots of action coming up in the next chapter!