A/N: hello everyone. Sorry for the long update. I have been so busy lately and had such a writer's block. I kept coming to this and writing a bit, then stopping, then coming back to it a day later or something and end up adding a bit more or editing what I had already written. But as an apology, I will post two, I repeat TWO chapters just for you. So here we go.


Chapter 9: Finding a Lead

The next day found Tony, Ziva and Gibbs working furiously at their desks, Tony's wheelchair taking place of his desk chair. He had had to beg Gibbs for quite a while to let him continue with the investigation, as Gibbs had wanted him to stay home while he healed. Tony flat out refused, telling him that even if Gibbs forced him to stay home, it wouldn't stop him from going behind Gibbs' back and working on his own anyways. So in the end, Gibbs agreed to let Tony work, as long as he agreed to stay behind his desk until the next day, when Dr. Hitsugaya gave him the all clear and he could get rid of the wheelchair.

Gibbs glanced up for the third time that morning, glancing at Ziva typing away at her keyboard, then at Tony rapidly scanning his computer screen, and then finally at Tim's empty desk. He had failed him. He felt that he had failed Tim, who had gone to him for help, had depended on him to protect him, to keep him safe. He trusted Gibbs to protect him and now where was he? He was in the hospital, fighting for his life, fighting against a fever that could possibly kill him, against wounds that almost did kill him, not to mention the emotional scars that he is going to be living with for the rest of his life.

The wounds Tim suffered, both physically and mentally, were beyond anything any of them could imagine. He knew they would eat at Tim for a long while, especially since he had tried so hard to keep a specific wound from the rest of them, and Gibbs knew that if Tim found out that the doctor told them the truth, he would no doubt be mortified beyond belief. They had to do something to let him know it would be okay, that he could talk to them whenever he wanted, whenever he was ready and they would listen. But for now they just had to focus on finding the bastards who had done this in the first place, and taking them down.

Sighing, Gibbs looked back down at the files on his desk, all of the evidence reports, all of the photos of the crime scenes, including Tim's apartment, scanning through them as thoroughly as he could, trying to find anything he could use to find these guys. So wrapped up in his scanning that he was that he didn't notice a man walk out of the elevator and across the room towards him until he was directly in front of his desk.

"Fornell." Gibbs said when he glanced up.

The man named Fornell nodded his head in greeting to Gibbs and stuck his hand into his coat. "I'm afraid I have bad news on your boy, Gibbs."

Tony and Ziva glanced up at him suspiciously. Gibbs's eyes narrowed as Fornell pulled out an envelope and handed it to him. Gibbs took it and flipped up the tap and yanked out the letter. Silently he read it before clenching his fist and slamming it down on the desk.

"What the hell is this?" he demanded, glaring up at Fornell.

"Just as it looks." Fornell answered grimly. "Whoever is after your boy has decided to involve us too. They sent me that letter this morning, paying a little kid to deliver it to us. They're saying that your boy wasn't supposed to live, that they had beaten him nearly to death in the hopes that he would be dead before he was found, and that they hadn't expected him to have the strength to crawl all the way back up to his apartment –"

"Hold on." Tony interrupted, a frown on his face. "How did they know where we found him? How did they know he made it back to his apartment? No one was given that kind of information."

Fornell shrugged. "I don't know but this was also with the envelope." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a baggie with a name tag in it. He handed it to Gibbs, who read it out loud. "T. Malloy."

"Malloy?!" Tony exclaimed in shock. "How's that possible? I took that from one of the dead guys who had been pretending to be a cop. I gave it back to metro, boss, you saw me."

"Yeah, Tony, I did." Gibbs said darkly.

Tony swore when he realized what Gibbs was getting at. That man, the officer who had vowed to do whatever he could to help them, the one who had seemed so caring, so sympathetic. He was one of them, the entire time, he was one of them and no one even noticed. He knew all about them, knew that Tim had made it all the way to his apartment, knew that he was alive, and knew that he was currently in the hospital. Suddenly his head shot up. "McGee."

"He's fine." Fornell assured. "I've got two of my best men stationed outside his room and two more guarding the entrance to his ward. No one is allowed into his room except his doctor and his nurse. And the two men outside the ward are to keep an eye out for any suspicious 'patients' until every single one of these guys are found. And since I am now working with you guys, I think it would be fair if someone filled me in on the whole story."

Gibbs glared at him for a moment before giving him a rough explanation of the situation, giving him only the necessary information needed for the case. When he had finished, Fornell nodded. "So these guys cornered him, beat him, then followed him for the next few days as a game, to see how long he would go before he cracked and told someone. And once he did, they went after him, intent on finishing the job, except that he survived the second time, which wasn't part of the plan. So when the police were called, one of them posed as an officer, snuck into the crime scene where he was, and found out that he was indeed still alive before sending me the letter this morning. Is that about right? So what do we do to find them?"

"Just a moment." Ziva said. "Tony said that two of them had attacked him that same night, as a diversion to get McGee alone, yes?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah, and I killed them both."

"And McGee said there were eight of them." Ziva continued. "If there were eight of them, and Tony killed two, that would leave six left to find. And Tony and Gibbs know what the man who posed as a cop looks like. We can easily sketch him and that will help us find him. Perhaps we could look at the two dead men and, using their personal information, find any people that they associated with, as well as the fake police man, and bring them in for questioning."

"That's not a bad idea." Gibbs said, getting to his feet. "Tony, Ziva, start searching and bring up their files. Search for anything that would be considered useful and let me know when you've found anyone. Tobias, you're with me."

Fornell looked like he wanted to argue about being commanded like one Gibbs' agents, but bit his tongue and followed him to one of the elevators that would, if he guessed correctly, lead them down to autopsy or the forensics lab.

"Abby." Gibbs called out in the silent and deserted lab. "Abby!"

Abby came out of her office, clutching her stuffed, farting hippo, Burt. Her eyes were smudged with mascara and her face blotchy. "Hey Gibbs." She greeted quietly.

Gibbs walked up to her and placed his arms around her comfortingly. "He's going to be fine." He assured her. "Tim is stronger than he looks. He's made it this far. If I didn't think he was strong enough, I wouldn't have asked for his transfer to my team."

"I know." Abby sobbed into his front, trying to get control of her emotions. "But the doctor said he was already sick for a while. I was with him the other day. Why didn't I see? Why didn't I notice? And when I saw the bruise; I should have said something but I was too shocked. If I had noticed, if I had said something sooner, then maybe…"

"No, Abby. This isn't your fault anymore than it is Tony's or Tim's or Ziva's." Gibbs said. "It's those bastards who put him through this in the first place. Which is why I need you to pull yourself together and help us find them."

"You're right, Gibbs." Abby said, pulling away and wiping her eyes on the sleeves of her lab coat. "Timmy needs me. I have to do something useful to help him. So what can I do for you?"

Gibbs nodded in approval before continuing. "I need you to find me a print on these." Fornell handed him the baggie with the name tag in it. He handed it, along with the letter and envelope, to Abby. "They were given to Fornell this morning by a child who said he was paid to deliver it. Find any prints you can, any DNA, whatever you can find. We need an idea who these guys are and how to find them."

Abby took the items and placed them on the desk next to her computer. "You got it." She said.

Gibbs nodded and headed back out the door, Fornell behind him. "Gibbs." Abby called. Gibbs turned around to face her. "It's not your fault either." She said. Gibbs nodded silently and exited the lab.

"I got him." Tony called to Ziva from up the stairs. Quickly he wheeled his chair to the elevator and emerged moments later, rolling out of the elevator and up to Ziva's desk. "I just finished up with the sketch artist. This is the guy who was with Gibbs and me in McGee's apartment. The one who was pretending to be a cop."

"Who is he?" Ziva asked.

"I don't know yet. I'm going to scan it right now." Tony wheeled up to his desk and began scanning the picture. "I think I'm starting to get used to this chair." He said as he waited. "It makes my arms tired and I bump into things occasionally but at least I get to sit down more often. It just sucks that I can't go with you guys to catch these guys when… oh, I got something."

Ziva stood up and walked to stand behind him. "Aaron Stolson, age 35." She read. "High school dropout at age 17. Don't the schools here go to age 18?"

"Usually." Tony answered as he continued to scan the screen. "It's more of a grade. Ninth grade, tenth grade, eleventh and twelfth. Most twelfth graders are 17 or 18, depending on how late or early they started school and if they got held back or not. It says here that his mother is deceased and his father is an ex marine. Wow, his dad got a dishonorable discharge for beating and molesting his kid after his wife died by suicide and is now doing time in prison. No wonder the guy's so messed up. But what's his deal with cops? Marines aren't exactly cops are they?"

"No, but there is a link to a news article about it. Go to it." Ziva said, pointing to the screen. Tony clicked on the link and they silently read it. After a few moments, Ziva spoke. "So his mother dies in the bathtub by slicing her wrists and the police drop the case. A year later, the dad abuses his son and authorities are called. Upon further investigation, the police find that the mother hadn't committed suicide, but had been murdered by her husband and made to look like suicide. The boy had been claiming to his neighbors that his father was abusing his mother but no one believed him. That would explain why he hates cops; cops ignored him when he told them his mother was being abused. They also dropped the case when his mother was found in the bathtub, dusting it off as suicide."

"Brushing it off." Tony corrected. "I bet the way he sees it is that if the cops had listened to him in the first place, his mom would still be alive, and since his dad was a marine and he killed his wife, that makes him look bad too. That's why he says he hates all cops."

"But it doesn't justify the killing of innocent people." Ziva said. "He is using everything that his father did to him and his mother on McGee. He did nothing except be a cop and this is what he gets."

"And now he's not the only one on their list." Tony reminded her. "We're cops too, and we interfered with their plans. That makes us more of targets than before."

"And you were already targeted once." Ziva added. "I say let them come. If they try anything with me, I will rip their heads off and shove them so far up their-"

"Okay, anyways." Tony hastily interrupted. "I get what you're saying but we need to find them first."

Ziva nodded. "Yes, starting with this Aaron Stolson guy. Are you going to call Gibbs or shall I?"

Gibbs and Fornell headed down the hall from autopsy when Gibbs' phone range. "Gibbs." He answered.

"Boss, we found the guy who was with us in McGee's apartment." Came Tony's voice. "His name is Aaron Stolson. This guy's pretty messed up, Boss. He's the son of an ex marine who was arrested for beating and murdering his wife and beating and molesting his seventeen year old son a year later. That was eighteen years ago, but apparently he still holds a grudge because when he first told the police that his mother was being abused by his father, no one believed him and she died. And then the issue with him and his father, being a marine and all, has given him an anti-cop thing. After his father was arrested, he was sent to live with his aunt until he turned eighteen but his aunt was found dead months later. And you won't believe how she died."

"Raped and beaten." Gibbs guessed, entering the elevator and pushing for the main floor.

"Yeah. Most of her bones were broken from the beating and Stolson was no where to be found. He's been missing ever since."

"Until now." Gibbs growled. "I take it there is no address."

"No, no one knows where he lives. But the guys I killed do. I'm sending their addresses to you now."

"Good work, Dinozzo." Gibbs said before snapping off the phone. He turned to Fornell. "You get all of that, Tobias?"

Fornell nodded. "Yep. Shall we?" he said and the two of them stepped out of the elevator and headed out of the building and into the parking lot.

A/N: So what did you think? I know it went kind of slow but it will pick up. And like I said, there will be two chapter posts so don't worry.

Now, before I forget, I have an announcement. I have finished one of my stories that I have been working on since I first started here at about a year ago and have found that it was excruciatingly difficult keeping up with it all and pleasing all of you faithful yet impatient readers. Now that it is finished, I am down to just this story and my other one called Dolly Hiei, which is a fic about an anime called Yu Yu Hakusho. I have also been writing that one since I first started and it is still going really good. I just haven't had time to update it or this one because of time and the dreaded writer's block. So, I have decided to write one chapter for this one, except right now it will be two. Then I will write one chapter for the other one. Then one chapter for this one, and so on and so on. So after these chapters, you will have to wait a while until I finish with Dolly Hiei's chapter before I continue with the next one of this. And I ask that you PLEASE be patient and bear with me. This is almost done.

Okay so now I will ask that you review and let me know how I did with this. Or if you want, you can skip and review both chapters in the next one. Thanks! ~MoonGCyn