Driving down the highway felt longer than it should have. Although I was going faster than the law permitted, nothing would stop me from fulfilling my mission. I continuously looked through the rearview mirror to keep an eye on Edward in the back. He held a blank expression on his face, but his eyes showed a spark of hope. It seemed that every time I would look at him, he would offer a small smile, but it would disappear as quickly as it appeared.

After finally arriving in Seattle, I felt like a weight had been put on my shoulders, and it would not go away until I found my niece. I sort of remembered the Abandoned Railroad from when I was just a teen. Since we were in a pretty populated city, speeding was not an option. That would get the local police involved with their sirens, giving up our advantage point, the element of surprise. As anxious as we all were, we could not compromise the position that we were in. It would take up to two hours, depending on traffic, to get there. Still, Bella's safety was more important than anything else.

As we closed the distance between us and our destination, our adrenaline was running high. We had been in situations like this before, but this time it was different. This time, it was one of our own and had an outsider along for the ride. Anything could happen at this point.

I parked three blocks down from completing our mission. Staying in the car for about ten minutes, we ensured no one was in the area. I turned around to face Edward to tell him what would happen even though he probably already knew.

"I'm going to need you to stay with the car in case someone happens to come by," I started and continued as the boy looked me directly in my eyes. I could finally see how anxious he was to have Bella back. "I'm pretty sure you know what's going to happen, but just to clear any confusion, we are going to get her out as safely as we can, but if we have to..."

"You'll kill him," he finished for me.

"So, you understand?" I asked.

He nodded, showing full understanding. I looked at my team, signaling that it was time to go, and we got out of the car. We jogged down the block to the old warehouse. When we got to the door that was rusted over with age and water, we opened the door as quickly as possible without making much sound. We walked in swiftly and made sure to close the door after ourselves to block the light that would come in. The place looked exactly as I had remembered. The stairs were to the left, leading to the upper and open spaces that showed the entire main level. I signaled Ziva to take the upper level, Tony to the left, and Tim to the right. I went down the middle with my gun cocked and safety off, slowly walking while surveying the area, looking specifically for places where someone could hide.

Walking further toward the warehouse's back, there was a doorway with a light coming from under the door. Before I could get within a few feet of the door, it busted open. Ari was standing in the doorway with Bella leaning against his chest, holding a knife toward her neck. She looked at me with absolute fear in her eyes,

"Well, Gibbs," Ari started, "I finally got you where I wanted. Who knew all I had to do was find your daughter? It's funny, really."

"What I find funny is that she isn't my daughter."

"What do you mean? Her pictures were all over your house. She even has your nose."

"My daughter died years ago. You were too late in your decision to kill her. Who you have there is my niece. But, I bet I can pull this trigger faster than you can move that hand with the knife."

"Who said I was going to use a knife, Gibbs," Ari asked.

He dropped the knife and quickly pulled a gun out of seemingly nowhere. He showed it off a bit with the barrel directly toward Bella's head before readying his finger to pull the trigger.

"Now Gibbs, who do you think is going to win that bet of yours," Ari said while starting to laugh maniacally.

I saw him slowly start to squeeze on the trigger. Before I could pull the trigger, a gunshot rang out through the building.