Chapter 5

"I was too hasty before," Ziva said. "This man knows what torture is. He's taking it at the pace necessary to keep McGee from passing out. He's using sensory and sleep deprivation to lessen McGee's resistance to whatever he's going to do next. The torture is enough to keep McGee in pain, but not enough to give him the release of unconsciousness. He doesn't just want information. He needs McGee to do something for him. Something that requires McGee's mental capacities intact."

"Abby? Anything?" Gibbs asked.

"This voice manipulator is good, but I'm getting rid of some of the distortions. There's no discernable accent that I can see. He's probably from the U.S. or has lived here most of his life." There was only a trace of a tremor in Abby's voice. So far, she'd managed to hold it together pretty well, but her control was fading. As she continued giving the litany, her voice got higher and more emotional. "But even when I sharpened the background, it doesn't look like anything important. It could be a shed, a warehouse, a basement, anything. They covered all the details. There's a cement floor and the room is pretty big, judging by the echoes. I can't get any details off the man himself because of the mask and the fact that he's all in black. There's nothing to enhance. I can't help him, Gibbs! I'm stuck! Maybe if McGee were here–" she stopped, her voice choked with tears. Gibbs walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. She held onto him fiercely while Ziva watched impassively. She knew better than to interrupt this, but she couldn't help feeling both a little annoyed at the delay and a little jealous at Gibbs' response to Abby's breakdown. He treated Abby like the daughter he'd lost.

Then, Abby stepped back. "I'm okay. I'm okay."

"Good. I need you to look through McGee's files and see if there's anything he'd found in his files that someone might kidnap him for."

"Aye, aye, sir!" She managed a smile. Gibbs smiled back and walked out, Ziva in tow.

"Anything, Tony?"

"Possibly, boss. You know that this is McGee's area of expertise–" he paused. "But I found only three people besides the team that frequented our area of the office more than usual. Jack, the mail guy, Agent Lee, she was usually talking to McGee, and Director Shephard."

"Show me Jack."

Where McGee would have had it there in seconds, Tony took a minute or two to connect his computer to the larger screen and then isolate the times when Jack was around. They all felt his absence more strongly even during that short time. What it revealed was that Jack often lingered, just out of sight, after delivering all the mail. He was not obviously listening in, but he was always there, every day for the last three weeks. He'd make himself ostensibly busy by organizing his mail. When someone talked to him, he'd chat, but he would then stay longer. In fact, the times he hadn't been there were when the team was gone during mail delivery. Gibbs looked grim.

"Get Jack in here."

"Gladly, boss," Tony said as he and Ziva headed out.

Gibbs picked up his phone. "I need to speak with Agent Lee, please. She's where?"

As he spoke, the elevators opened and Agent Lee stepped out. She headed over to McGee's desk and only stopped when she saw Gibbs.

"Agent Gibbs! I didn't see you there."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for Agent McGee. Is he around?"

"Why?"

Agent Lee sounded a little confused at the questions, but she answered, "McGee and I have been trying to get a break on the embezzling case. I was looking through the bank records we've found while he was trying to crack the Dobson files. He asked me for any information about the bank files we'd found."

"Any luck?"

"Not so far. He was getting really frustrated with it. Last time I talked to him–"

"When was that?" Gibbs interrupted.

"Friday night, late. He said that he felt like the answer was right in front of him but that he was too stupid to figure it out."

"How late?"

"Probably around 10:30 or so. He was still here." She paused. "Is something wrong, Agent Gibbs? Where's McGee?"

"He's been kidnaped. We think it had something to do with one of his cases. How serious was the embezzling case on your end?"

"It was pretty minor. I'm the only one working on it at the moment. McGee offered to help. He said that two heads were always better than one. He said that since we were both working on the same thing it made sense to collaborate. We weren't successful, but we tried. As far as I've found, whoever was in charge of it would have had a short sentence. The physical evidence doesn't show a large operation. It seems pretty amateur, actually."

"Thanks. If you think of anything or find anything else, give me a call."

"I will. Is there anything else, Agent Gibbs?"

"No. Not right now."

Agent Lee left the files she had for Tim with Gibbs although he had no idea what was in them. He took them down to Abby so she could decipher them; then, he went up to the interrogation room where Jack was waiting. He walked in and sat down across from the innocuous-looking young man. He didn't say a word for a few minutes. Jack looked more and more uncomfortable, but he was silent as well. Finally, Jack asked, "What's going on, Agent Gibbs? Why am I here?"

"How long have you worked at NCIS, Jack?"

"Uh, going on two years now."

"You're going to school?"

"Yes, sir. I'm trying to get into law school."

"Is it expensive?"

Jack hesitated.

"Is it expensive?" Gibbs repeated.

"Of course. College is always expensive. I have student loans like you wouldn't believe."

"Is that why you committed treason?"

Jack looked shocked. "Whoa. Treason? How did I commit treason?"

"You aided and abetted the kidnaping of a federal employee. You gave information that has been used in his interrogation. That's treason. Do you know what the penalty is for treason?"

"Hey! I'm no traitor. I didn't do any of those things. I just work in the mail room."

"You work in the mail room and eavesdrop on the private conversations of NCIS agents."

Jack was silent.

"Well?"

"Okay, I eavesdrop, but it's not that hard. You guys aren't that quiet. It's not like they're big secrets. Everyone knows how you guys treat each other. I haven't done anything wrong."

"Really?"

"Really. I find the stories interesting is all."

"And you never tell anyone about them?"

Again, Jack was silent.

"I don't like being lied to, Jack. Who did you tell?"

"It's not a big deal!"

Gibbs voice was soft, but all the more menacing for it. "Who did you tell, Jack?"

Jack caught the edge in Gibbs' voice. He swallowed. "It-it was just this guy."

"What guy?"

"He-he heard me talking to one of the mail guys at lunch. He said he was working on a story about employee interactions in federal offices. He wanted stories about teasing and joking that went on. I told him I heard all sorts of things when I was delivering the mail. He said he would pay me for the stories. He never asked for anything else. He just wanted to know about how NCIS was. I gave him stories from all sorts of people, but he liked the stories I told about your team the best. He would always ask for more from Agent DiNozzo and Agent McGee. He paid more for those stories."

"Didn't you ever ask why?"

"Yeah. He said it was because they would sell better. They were more convincing because of all the things Agent DiNozzo did to Agent McGee. Honest, Agent Gibbs, there was nothing else."

Gibbs stood up and walked to the monitor in the corner. He pushed play and the distorted voice of McGee's torturer filled the room. Jack looked away when he started hitting McGee.

"Does this look like nothing, Jack? Does this look convincing to you?"

Looking sick and pale, Jack said, "I didn't–I didn't know, Agent Gibbs. I swear I didn't know. He just said it was for a story. All he was doing was writing an article. Please, turn it off!"

Gibbs obliged. "How often did you meet him?"

"Once a week, maybe. He just wanted a few details. He said I'd be credited as an anonymous source since Agent DiNozzo might not like how the story made him look."

"What did he look like?"

"Um... he was maybe in his 40s. He had blond hair and brown eyes."

"Tall?"

"Not really. He wasn't short, but he was taller than you. He looked pretty built, too."

"How did he contact you?"

"He'd call me when he wanted more info. I just jotted down notes from the things I heard."

"Does he call you regularly?"

"I was only expecting him at the end of the week. He usually didn't call until then. Do you believe me, Agent Gibbs?"

"I believe you, Jack. You're going to give a complete description of that man to a sketch artist. If it's useful, maybe you'll get to go to law school after all."

"If not?"

Gibbs didn't answer. He simply held his gaze for a few seconds and then left the room. Behind him, Jack dropped his head to the table.