Author's Note: Sheesh. I think I made Ziva and Gibbs snappier than what I wanted them to be last chapter. Any who. I really loved your feedbacks! They helped me in considering some stuff in this fic. =) Thanks!

(I reread my last chapter. I didn't like it, because I think there was too much 'inward thinking' in it. It made the chapter a little…eh… So please. If you guys spotted something that might be a problem for me for the future chapters, I welcome you to point it out to me. I'd be happy to read and apply them! Well, as long as it's not harsh… =D )

*Ooh! Who else here is excited for September 22? Season 7 premier of NCIS??*

Disclaimer: NCIS does not belong to me. It belongs to its rightful producers.

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Landon clenched a folded paper in his right hand while he walked along a narrow corridor. He would always remember those words: "I hope you understood why we had to turn you in…", "The two books had been doing great, and we're hoping that the third volume would do the same…", "I can't help you anymore…I cannot risk anything right now…I'm sorry."

McGreggor had been sending him letters for the past two years, and all of them have served as an encouragement for him to live through every day in that prison. "Me and Amy are happy now, and it's all thanks to you"; "if you didn't save me, then I wouldn't be where I am now"; "one day, when opportunity comes, it will be my turn to help you…I won't let you down." He held onto those thanks and promises dearly. He believed them; one day, the agent he defended before would get him out of that horrible place.

However, the most recent letter that Landon held in his hand angered him. She was right. McGreggor lied. He saw it with his own eyes earlier. McGreggor was helping his team find anything to hold against him; anything that could send him back to the place where he was beaten up with no one hearing his pleads and cries.

He's not going back. Even if it meant disabling Tibbs' team, he would not come back.

………………………………....

"What do we have, Abs?" Gibbs asked as he entered Abby's lab, armed as usual with a Caff-Pow in his right hand.

"A sick baby and a sad mommy," Abby replied distressfully, her arms crossed tightly on her chest. She was facing the mass spectrometer, regarding it with what seemed to be a combination of anxiety and disappointment. She turned around abruptly to take her drink, then looked at Gibbs with her green and almost-teary eyes. "Something's wrong with my mass spec, Gibbs."

"What's the matter with it?"

"See. I tested it this morning to make sure that it's still working good. You know, so nothing hinky will come out of it," Abby explained, then proceeded towards her computer. As she started typing on the keyboard, she continued, "And I used a simple salt solution, since the components are very basic. And look…what it gave…me." After hitting the enter button, the widescreen at the wall in front of Abby displayed the results. "See! The basics are here. Sodium…Chloride…Hydrogen and Oxygen. But why in the world does it have a high concentration of Gold in it?!"

"Maybe there was some in the salt or in the water," Gibbs offered.

Abby turned around sharply, narrowed her eyes, then started waving a finger in the air. "Don't you tell me that. No. I always check everything before testing it. If I didn't do that, then I would be defying a forensic science law," she stated matter-of-factly. "Plus, if there had been a real gold in it…Never mind."

"So you mean to say that you called me down here for nothing," Gibbs stated rather than asked.

Abby feigned a gasp. "Gibbs! Why would you say that? Of course I have something," she said. She spun around to face the computer once more to resume her earlier work. "Even if my baby can't give us anything--yet--I did watch the video clips from the prison. There were two people who visited Landon longer than anyone else in the staff," she explained, then pulled up the two particular video clips to the widescreen. "Commander Jared Lake and Mara Isaacs. You know who Commander Lake is and what he does. I did find out, though, that he takes out Landon for a 'meeting' every three months, and these lasted for a good hour or so. Mara Isaacs, however, is the head nurse in the administrative facility. She have spent at least forty minutes on average in the psycho's 'cell' for the past three months. Creepy people, huh?"

Gibbs memorized the two faces on the screen, trying to discern whether or not one of them could be Landon's accomplice. "So what you're saying is…"

"That the helper could be either Commander Lake or Nurse Isaacs. They had enough time with Landon to set up a plan," Abby finished Gibbs' sentence. Afterwards, she smiled sadly, while her eyes were filling up with terror. "Gibbs, do you think--"

"We'll catch him before he gets to you, Abby," Gibbs reassured. As if on cue, Tony, Ziva, McGee, Palmer, and Ducky piled inside Abby's lab, most of them with curious expressions embedded on their faces.

"Whoa. Are we having a party or something?" Abby asked, creasing her eyebrows.

"Boss told us to come down here," Tony answered.

"Listen to me, all of you. We don't know why this man escaped, but we do know that he doesn't have any good intentions with it. I'll double up all of your security details, and you'll have to guard one another until he's caught. Do all of you understand that?" He was answered by both solemn and terse nods by his team. "Tony."

"Yes, boss."

"Take Abby with you," Gibbs commanded.

"Yes!" Tony triumphantly exclaimed. "Look. Abby. We're going to have fun."

"I think you're supposed to protect Abby, Tony, not harass her," Ziva stated.

Abby giggled, making Tony's smile slip off his face yet again. "What are you smiling about?" Tony asked Jimmy as he saw the young man smile widely.

"Palmer, Ducky, you're with me," Gibbs said. "Ziva, you're with McGee."

Both Ziva and McGee bolted up, their eyes widened, and their mouths agape. "Gibbs!" Ziva protested. "I can't stay with McGee!"

Glances darted across the rest of the team, while Gibbs took a moment to consider. "Why not?"

"It would be better if I have Ducky or Palmer with me. They could use the help. McGee, I'm sure, is certainly not in danger."

Gibbs looked alternately from Ziva to McGee. Ziva appeared very determined not to be with McGee. McGee, however, remained quiet but bothered. Not because of Ziva's outburst, Gibbs guessed, but because of something else that bothered his mind. "Landon might go to his house. You should be there in case he," Gibbs then pointed to McGee, "decides to catch him."

Ziva remained silent but incensed.

"All of you stay with your partners tonight. Stick with each other. Are we clear?" Gibbs asked. Mumbled yeses and nodding abound the lab. "Alright. Get to work," he dismissed. All of them, except Abby, piled out of the lab and scattered, all heading to their designated workplace. Gibbs walked towards the elevator, deciding which of the suspects should be brought first for interrogation: Commander Lake or Mara Jennings?

"Boss," McGee said as he stepped inside the elevator before the doors closed, "can I talk to you?"

McGee was silent as he waited for Gibbs to answer. Gibbs also waited and when McGee didn't speak, he irritably said, "Talk."

"I need a favor to ask you. I know you might get mad at me, but--"

"Get to the point, McGee."

McGee sighed, looking more flustered and stressed than ever. "My publisher keeps calling me about these fan letters since last week. She told me that they were very obsessive--scary even. And all of them are addressed to Tim McGreggor. Boss, she said she just wants to talk to you to make sure everything's okay."

Gibbs stared at McGee. "That's not going to happen," he replied. As the elevator's doors slid open, he walked out.

"Wait, boss! I know that Lyndi might have written those letters again--"

"Then why are you asking me to meet with her?" Gibbs asked, stopping dead in his tracks.

"I…I don't know what she wants this time, but she really wants to talk to you about it," McGee replied.

"So you want me to do what she wants? Just to get her off your back?" Gibbs voice was rising, and it made McGee flinch a little. He knew this was going to happen, but he still hoped that Gibbs would agree. "You created this problem, McGee! You have to know how to fix it!"

With that, Gibbs stormed away towards his desk.

………………………………....

Landon looked around as he entered. The apartment was simple. As oppose to what he expected, it was not extravagant at all. The walls were whitewashed and wasn't decorated with anything else. The living room, which he concluded was the room he stood in, only consisted of a plain blue couch, a small coffee table, a TV right across, and a tall lamp. Separating that room and the work desk was a long, wooden bookshelf. It was riddled with reference books, novels, and other reading materials.

"Landon," she called out for him from another room.

Immediately, he responded. He found her sitting beside a dog, caressing its head with a smile. "I need to finish something up," she said, then led the dog towards Landon. Next, she handed him an injection. "I have to make sure that everything's set up before we leave."

"What do you want me to do?" Landon asked.

"Take care of Jethro. I think Timothy would appreciate it if his pet go a gentler way," she said with a warm smile, then gestured towards the injection. "You can use that."

Landon just nodded, then walked out of the apartment with Jethro. With his conscience clamoring inside his head, he looked at McGreggor's pet. Jethro was just silent and relaxed. Perhaps she gave him something to make him quiet. Still, he looked harmless.

After reaching the other end of the corridor, Landon halted. He squatted down, then looked Jethro straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry. I have to do this," he whispered apologetically to the dog.

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I don't know if y'all are tired of cliffhangers. If you don't like it, just tell me in your reviews and I'll try to avoid it as much as I can.

So whatcha think? Very long and raggedy, right? I did try what I can…

And you guys might also be tired of waiting for the 'Tim in Peril' of this story. Well, you'll get it next chapter!

Please leave a review! I'd be happy to read them! =)