Worst Nightmare

Chapter 6

"What happened?"

Tony pulled his gaze from the activity in Tim's room and turned to see Ducky and Penny approaching, worried expressions on their faces.

"I don't know, Ducky. Tim, he… We thought he was waking up, so we kept talking to him. He opened his eyes and then he just...freaked out. I don't even think he knew we were there."

Before Ducky could respond the door to Tim's room opened and a group of nurses pushed his bed through the door. Tim was limp and still, and his skin had a greyish tinge to it beneath the still fading bruises. Tony only got a brief look at his partner before the group hurried down the hall towards the elevator.

"What happened?" Penny repeated, this time addressing the doctor.

"We're taking him for some tests. He was extremely agitated and his heart rate was dangerously high so we had to sedate him." He turned to Tony. "What initiated this?"

"I don't know," Tony repeated. "He woke up and...he panicked. What's wrong with him?"

The doctor, whose ID card gave his name as Dr. Alden, considered his question and gave Tony a sympathetic smile. "Try to see things from Agent McGee's perspective: he's been in a coma for more than a week. No doubt when he did regain consciousness he was confused and disoriented. His broken jaw is wired shut and he has a tracheotomy tube, so he can't talk. His left arm is immobilized and his right is in a heavy cast, and it's almost certain he's too weak to move it. That, and the pain from his broken ribs and resulting collapsed lung…"

"It's no wonder he was upset," Ducky finished for him. He studied the other doctor's expression. "But there's something else."

"Hence the need for tests, Dr. Mallard. I'll let you know as soon as we know." Dr. Alden hurried off, leaving the stunned group behind.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait, then," Penny remarked as she put on a brave face. She turned to Ellie, who was standing against the wall with one arm crossed over her stomach and the other over her mouth. "Are you alright, Eleanor?" She shook her head, turned and ran towards the nearest restroom. Penny just shook her own head and after a look and a nod to Ducky she followed.

"What could be wrong with him, Ducky?"

"I think it's best to wait for the results, Anthony. Let's not borrow trouble."

"Fine." He found a chair and sat down, his elbows on his knees. After a few minutes he breathed out a confession. "I just want him to get better, Ducky. We need him. He…" Tony chuckled. "He keeps me from going crazier than usual."

Ducky patted his shoulder. "I understand. Timothy is a stable presence in your life. You need that, especially since this past summer."

"I think I've needed it longer than that."

Ducky smiled. "I don't doubt it."

At the sound of footsteps they looked up to see that Penny had returned with Ellie in tow. Tim's grandmother had her arm over the younger woman's shoulders as she guided her to a chair and sat down next to her. Finally Ellie raised her head and looked at Tony.

"I'm sorry."

After a brief nod from Ducky, Tony rose and walked over to sit in the chair on her other side. "I know, Ellie."

She started to get up, only to be held in place by Penny. "I should be back at the Yard. I need-"

"You need to let it go. We talked about this."

She nodded and settled back in her chair to wait. After an hour the elevator doors opened to reveal Gibbs and Abby, who paled when she saw the group in the waiting area.

"What happened? Is Tim okay?"

"They've taken him down to the diagnostics section for some tests."

"That doesn't sound good, Duck."

"He woke up and was quite distressed. It's merely a precaution."

"He's awake?" Abby grinned. "That's good, right?"

"It's a positive sign."

Abby studied their expressions. "So why aren't you happy about it?"

"Because, unfortunately, it wasn't a pleasant experience for him," Penny replied.

"Poor Timmy. I guess I can understand that though, considering…"

"How long are these tests gonna take?"

"I don't know, Jethro, since they did not tell me what tests they needed to perform. My guess would be a CT scan and an EEG, or perhaps an MRI. We will just have to wait for the results, I'm afraid."

"I hate waiting."

"Yes, we know."

Gibbs paced. Abby tried to talk to both Tony and Ellie but neither gave more than single word responses to her questions. Ducky and Penny quietly sat in the corner of the waiting area, holding each other's hands. The minutes, then hours passed until finally Dr. Alden returned. His eyebrows rose in surprise at the additions to the group.

"Is Tim OK?" Tony and Abby asked in unison.

"We're keeping watch on him in Recovery for the time being, but we should be able to return him to his room in the morning."

"Recovery? What happened?"

"We detected a minor hemorrhage in his frontal lobe. It has stopped bleeding on its own but the resultant swelling was putting pressure on his optic nerves. We've given him medication to counteract the swelling and if that works as expected the pressure will be reduced and function should return."

Tony noticed the alarmed look on Penny's face and it took him a moment to realize what the doctor had implied.

"Wait. His optic nerves aren't functioning? Are you tell us he's blind?" Ellie gasped and a soft sob escaped Abby's throat.

"We believe it will be temporary. The scans showed no other damage or atrophy. We won't know for certain until he's awake and coherent, but the signs are promising."

"Thank you, Dr. Alden." He nodded and headed back down the hallway as Ducky addressed the rest of the group. "I suggest we all go home and get some sleep. We won't be able to sit with Timothy for the rest of the night."

"Boss?"

"Duck's right, Tony. Go home, get some sleep. You, too, Ellie. I don't want to see either of you at the Yard until after 0800. Clear?"

Ellie nodded without looking up and Tony stared at Gibbs for several moments before nodding as well. "Yes, Boss."

"We can take Eleanor home," Penny offered as she guided Ellie to her feet and the two of them headed for the elevator with Ducky following behind.

"I'll go with Tony," Abby declared. She took his hand and guided him towards the elevator as well.

"You coming, Boss?"

Gibbs stared at Tim's empty room for a few moments before he answered.

"Yeah, Tony. Let's go."

XXX

Gibbs walked into the bullpen, fresh cup of coffee in hand, and checked his watch. He had fifteen minutes before Tony and Ellie would show up, which gave him just enough time to head down to Abby's lab and get the results of the tests she had started last night before they had gone to the hospital. He had called to check on Tim before he had left for work and the doctors told him that Tim was back in his room but they were keeping him sedated to give the medicine time to work. The Admiral was already with him, so at least he wouldn't be completely alone.

"What do ya got for me, Abbs?" he asked as he walked into the lab. She was standing in front of her computer, Caf-Pow! Within easy reach as her fingers flew across the keyboard. She paused and turned to him with a determined look on her face.

"We're going to find this guy, Gibbs. We have to." She took of sip of her drink to recharge before continuing. "I got the results back on the toxicology samples from five of the victims. I found traces of triazolam in their systems. It's a tranquilizer sold under them name Halcion."

"Anna Hayes said she didn't leave her drink unattended. The others said the same thing. How did it get into their system?"

"I also found minor traces DMSO, dimethylsulfoxide."

"Needleless injection."

"Very good, Gibbs. You've been paying attention. DMSO will carry anything dissolved in it through the skin and into the bloodstream. Nasty stuff."

"So he put it on something they touched."

"Most likely. I've been trying to track triazolam prescriptions and cross-referencing them with the name 'Patrick' but so far no luck. It's a relatively popular drug for treating insomnia." She tapped a few more keys and turned to her lab table, stacked with sealed Sexual Assault Exam kits. "Ellie put out a notice that were were looking for similar cases. Metro, Maryland State Police and Virginia State Police sent us the untested kits from the cases they found."

"That's a lot of kits."

"I know, and probably...well, hopefully...I mean...I don't think all of these are from the same perp, but...it's kind of depressing that there are so many." Gibbs nodded. "But at least these will all go in the database and hopefully we'll catch them, too. Or somebody will. I have them sorted from most likely to least likely, and I'm going to start on the 'most likely' pile right now." She pulled out a clipboard and started making notations. Gibbs watched her work for a moment before he headed back to the bullpen. He was not surprised to find it no-longer empty.

"What do we got?"

Ellie brought up a series of pictures on the plasma. "We identified six victims and two more popped up in the latest search. He definitely has a type: long brown hair and brown eyes. He also likes them young. The oldest was 20."

"He's picking underage girls at nightclubs where they have some sort of marker. He's targeting the ones who shouldn't be drinking," Tony added as his eyes flashed in anger.

"He's been slipping them a tranquilizer. Guess it doesn't mix too well with booze," Gibb replied.

"But how? The girls all said they didn't leave their drinks unattended."

"It was absorbed through the skin. He mixed it with DMSO."

"So something they touched," Ellie mused. "Did any of them mention what that could have been?"

"No, but we can ask."

"OK. I did find one thing in common with the attacks. They all happened on the night of the new moon."

"He made sure it would be as dark as possible."

"Either that or he's the anti-werewolf...thanks, Boss."

"Anything else?"

"He's never hit a club more than once, but all of the nightclubs were within two blocks of a Metro station. All of the attacks occurred before the last train of the night."

"Any common destinations?"

"No. Different lines, but usually where two or more were running together. Two on the Red, three on the Blue and Orange, three on the Green and Yellow."

"Any more recent cases?"

"No. The last new moon was three days ago. I checked to see if any rapes with the same M.O. were reported, but there weren't."

"That's because he escalated," a familiar voice interrupted and they turned to see Fornell and Vance descending the stairs to the bullpen. "He killed his latest victim. Just confirmed it this morning."

"How did he kill her?"

"She was strangled, Gibbs. There were signs that she fought back but it doesn't look like she got a piece of him."

"Damn it."

"I agree. My director has decided this is too big to let NCIS handle it-"

"It's my case, Tobias."

Vance gave Fornell a look that clearly said See? What did I tell you?

Fornell huffed in annoyance. "To handle alone. We've been looking into it ever since the assault on McGee. Seems like a waste to have two agencies working on it independently."

"He has a point, Gibbs," Vance added. "If Ms. Sciuto identifies more victims, and she probably will, then we'll need all the help we can get...especially since you're down a team member."

"The more victims we can get identified, the more information we can get and I can start…" Ellie caught the looks Gibbs and Tony were giving her. "I mean, we can start putting it together and catch this guy."

"The problem is, I remember a bunch of other times we had to deal with the FBI, and it didn't end all that well," Tony snapped.

"Would you rather waste time with a pissing contest while another girl gets raped and possibly killed?"

"No."

"Good, that's settled. Gibbs?"

"Working together, Tobias. That means you share information."

"And that goes for you as well."

"Fine. What we know, you'll know. When we know it."

"Works for me. What do you have?"

Ellie and Tony repeated what they had told Gibbs and Fornell listened with a thoughtful look on his face. "Sounds like what we have as well. What are you thinking, Gibbs?"

"I'm thinking we have less than a month to catch this bastard."

"Agreed. I'll have our files sent over ASAP."

"Bishop?"

"I… I'll send out files to them as well."

"Get to work."

"Yes, Gibbs." She went to her desk and started typing. They watched her for a few moments but she didn't look up from her computer screen.

"DiNozzo, escort Agent Fornell to the lab so he can get an update from Abby."

"Make sure I get those updates as well, Gibbs." Gibbs sent Vance a glare.

"You heard him, DiNozzo."

"Yes, Boss."

Soon Gibbs and Ellie were alone in the bullpen and Gibbs walked over to her desk.

"Something on your mind, Bishop?"

She stopped typing for a moment before meeting Gibbs' gaze. "I think I can help...like I did at the NSA."

"What do you mean?"

"I find patterns and I make predictions based on data and logic. If I'm right, and we get enough data...I might be able to figure out where his next attack is going to be."

"'Might' be able to?"

"Yes...within a certain set of probabilities. I was right about Parsa. I was good at what I did. Please let me try."

Gibbs studied her for several moments before he replied. "And you want the chance to take him down."

"I can do it, Gibbs. I won't let you, or anyone else on your team down again."

"It would be better if we could catch him before he attacks someone else."

"I realize that, but if we can't…"

Gibbs walked back to his desk and sat down, silently considering her request. He weighed the options and explored the scenarios for several minutes while Ellie quietly resumed typing, a nervous look on her face. Finally he sighed and returned his attention to the only other person in the bullpen.

"Tell me your plan."

TBC…