Chapter 7

Gibbs watched with relief as the video started up again. Tim was whimpering and crying on the floor. The man came by briefly and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to retch again. This was so painful to watch. "How long was the feed out, Abby?"

"About 10 minutes."

"Is it still live?"

"Yes."

"Why would he turn off the feed when he's been showing us everything he did?" Gibbs asked. Then, before Tony could answer, he said, "Because he was asking him questions he didn't want us to know. He's getting started then. Has there been any word from Jack's contact?"

"Not yet, boss. He said that he expected a call today or tomorrow."

"I've narrowed down the cases that McGee was working on to two. One is the Dobson case. So far, it doesn't seem too promising, but it does have one thing in its favor."

"What's that?"

"The encrypted files. People don't usually just encrypt files for fun. There has to be a reason for it. And these encryptions were really good. McGee doesn't get stumped easily, and these had him stumped."

"What's the other case?"

"That murder-suicide down at the docks a month ago? There was a possible connection to arms smuggling that McGee was tracking for the Navy. It had stalled because of lack of evidence, and Director Shephard pulled him off it when Lieutenant Dobson was killed. Those are the only two where McGee had a major part of it that might be cause for kidnaping." Abby didn't mention that she had seen how frustrated he had been with the Dobson case and how badly he felt that he wasn't able to do more. He'd always felt more confident with the technological aspects of his job and now he was letting NCIS down by not making progress.

The phone rang. It was Ziva. "Jack just signaled that his contact called him. He wants to know what to do."

"Keep him on the phone as long as possible, but make sure he sets up a meeting," Gibbs said.

"Right."

"Abbs, see if you can make any progress on those files."

"Which case?"

"Both."

"Gibbs!"

"Just do your best, Abby." He was gone. Abby turned back to her computer. She glanced up at the monitor with McGee's video.

"Hold on, McGee," she whispered.

Gibbs walked into the office. Jack was talking on the phone. He sounded a little nervous now that he knew the man he'd been dealing with was a kidnaper.

"That sounds great, Shawn. How about I get a little extra? Come on, you said I've been helpful. Doesn't your budget cover that?"

"Jack, you know I have limited funds until I get the article published. Do you have anything good?"

"I have lots of good stuff. There've been a few tiffs lately, and I was able to hear some juicy details." He looked at Ziva, a little panicked. She nodded to encourage him.

"My schedule has become a little tighter than I had expected. Could we meet to discuss this tomorrow?"

Jack looked at Ziva and then at Gibbs and Tony as they came in. She nodded.

"Great. Will you give me my money from last week?"

"Of course. Meet me at the café down the street from NCIS at 1:30."

"Will do. See you tomorrow, Shawn."

"Bye."

Jack hung up and sighed with relief. "Did I do okay?" he asked.

"You did fine, Jack," Ziva said. "That's just what we need."

"Did we track the call?"

"We got it down to a neighborhood, but nothing solid. It's either a pay phone or a cell."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't think of anything else to say. Our calls were usually short, just long enough to set up a time and place to meet. He likes doing these things in person."

"It's alright, Jack." Gibbs turned to Tony. "I want you to go over every aspect of the Dobson case. See if you can find anything, and Ziva, take our friend here to the interrogation room, then go over that murder-suicide from about a month ago. I want to know if there's anything we missed in either case."

"Why do I have to go back to that room? I'm not going to sneak out."

"This way, you don't have to make a choice. You'll be here to help us." Gibbs headed down to the morgue.

"Ducky!"

"Jethro, any news yet on McGee?"

"Nothing good. Was there anything strange about the Dobson case that you recall?"

"Dobson... that was that lieutenant wasn't it?"

"Yes. Murdered three weeks ago."

"Right, yes. Well, as far as I recall, his death was pretty straightforward. Gunshot to head. However, there were some extra bruises. Not defensive wounds, but possibly done just before his death. There was significant bruising on the abdomen, consistent with repeated blows with a blunt instrument of some sort. Possibly kicking."

"What about the murder-suicide?"

"Well, that one posed some problems, and the agents in charge of the case thought there might be more to it. The two men died so close to the same time that it is impossible to tell which one died first. We assumed murder-suicide because of the type of wounds, but it is possible that both were murdered. It's difficult to tell at this stage." Suddenly, Ducky looked up from his report. "Interesting."

"What?"

"Well, I said that there was abdominal bruising on Lieutenant Dobson, but here's something that I hadn't noticed before."

When he didn't go on, Gibbs sighed. "What, Ducky?"

"Sorry. It looks as though one of the men had the same abdominal bruising."

"What about the other?"

"No. His body was relatively unmarred... beyond the mess he made of his head when he stuck the gun in his mouth. Sorry, I can't give you more than that."

"Any possibility that those bruises came from the same person?"

"There's a possibility, of course. The patterning is similar. Why?"

"Maybe these two cases are linked to McGee's kidnaping."

"Hmm... Let me look over these reports again. I'll compare the results and let you know about any other similarities."

"Thanks, Ducky."

"Don't mention it, Jethro. I just hope it helps find McGee."