Disclaimer on chapter one.

AN: Another chapter. This one wrote itself. Hope its not too choppy or anything I wrote it as it came out. Anyway, leave your comments on your way out. dark rolling sea.

Chapter Sixteen

By the time Gibbs had gotten to the car Levi was behind the wheel and Kate was in the front passenger seat. He bit back a growl as he was forced to sit in the back seat. Sitting back there to get Grayson to talk was one thing, sitting back there on the way to a "scene" was another. He sat quietly watching Kate and Levi's interactions wondering why it burned him so much.

They were talking lightly mostly about Grayson and how Levi had come to have him in his life. But it wasn't the words that were capturing Gibbs attention, it was the light flirtation. He felt jealously and mentally slapped himself. He did NOT do jealously he told himself. Besides, he had no reason, or right for that matter, to feel jealous. Did he?

He had been alternating his gaze from person to person as each spoke, but he found himself settling on Kate more and more. Her laugh and smile pointed at Levi made him grit his teeth. Stop it he told himself and forced his gaze out the window, but from time to time he found it coming back to Kate.

It was one of these times that he saw her glance back at him. He was momentarily caught off guard, holding her gaze for a long second before looking out the window. As he looked away he missed the quizzical contortion of Kate's face. She was wondering what had gotten into him, but he seemed adamant to ignore her.

The car finally stopped at a run down, but not completely unusable, cabin a little higher up the mountain than Grayson's. Gibbs was the first out of the car, even before it had completely stopped, his weapon drawn. Kate was next, coming up beside Gibbs as Levi soon joined them.

"Stay here, Brown, we don't need you getting shot," Gibbs barked harshly before heading to the house. Kate looked at Levi with a small smile before following Gibbs with her weapon drawn.

They each took a side of the door and Gibbs kicked it off the hinges before they charged in the house announcing the arrival of federal agents. But the house was quiet. They quickly cleared each room of the small cabin and Kate shook her head. Gibbs looked around.

"No one's here, Gibbs," Kate stated the obvious. Gibbs looked at her with a slight glare before continuing to look around.

"Not anymore, but someone was."

Kate came up besides him and brushed past him. Gibbs felt his concentration break for a moment at the contact, before he mentally shook himself back to the task at hand. He came to the chair in the middle of the kitchen area and kneeled down in front of it. He examined it. He turned his head slightly when he heard someone stepping over the fallen door, seeing Levi come into the house.

Gibbs' attention went back to the chair as he studied the remnants of residue. He eyed the floor and watched as the subtle disturbances in the dust emerged into a pattern. His gaze carried him to the sink and he saw the drying dish towel. He frowned.

"Someone was taped to this chair," Gibbs said mostly to himself as he rose to his feet.

Kate came over and looked at the chair he was talking about, but Gibbs mind was already onto the next thing. He walked to the sink and felt the moist towel, another frown crossing his face. He moved on, inspecting the rest of the house. Once he was satisfied there were no clues left to where they had gone, he walked out into the fading light of evening.

Kate and Levi were still in the house when he found tracks in the dirt. Two sets were heading up mountain, one a heavy steady imprint, the other light and almost undetectable. Gibbs squatted down and followed the trail with his eyes until it was out of sight. He sighed; they were going to have to go into the wilderness. He looked back at the house and saw Kate and Levi coming out.

"Give me the two-way," Gibbs said with a sigh as he came up to the porch. Levi handed the small electronic device over and Gibbs thumbed the button. "DiNozzo."

They waited a few moments before Tony came back to them. "Yeah, Boss."

"Forget that side, get back over here. He's been here and looks like he went up mountain further. We're going after him."

"Wait for us, Boss," Tony said with slight alarm. Gibbs glowered at the radio as if Tony could see him.

"Just get here," Gibbs barked then threw the two-way to Levi. "Let's go."

Kate looked at the back of Gibbs' head for a moment before turning to Levi and motioning that they should follow. Gibbs led the way, following the prints in the dirt as best he could. At some points he had lost the lighter set of prints but luckily the person with the heavier step was always visible.

He looked up at the sky and saw the sun sinking behind the mountain top. It would be full on dark soon. He looked around and thought about calling it off, but then remembered Grayson's aunt was most likely somewhere in the wilderness right now. He turned around to see Kate and Levi coming up behind him.

"It's going to get pretty dark here real quick, Agent Gibbs," Levi said looking to the sky.

"Flashlights will work," Gibbs replied. He then pushed further up the hill. He caught the conversation between Kate and Levi and his anger boil slightly.

"He always like that?" Levi asked.

"Yes, he is."

"Ah, the moments of bastardness you spoke of before?" Levi asked.

"Yeah," Kate said softly, ducking her head down to hid the soft smile that crossed her lips.

"Sure would like to see the other moments you said make up for it," Levi replied quietly. Kate looked at him, before quickly glancing at Gibbs. She then dropped her eyes and continued on next to Levi quietly.

It was almost dark when they came upon some caves in the wilderness Gibbs gut told him something was wrong. He was having trouble tracking in the dark, not being able to readily see the next print made it hard to follow the trail.

He stopped, flashing the light around at the openness. It was quiet here, almost too quiet his mind told him. Kate came up beside him, her hand reaching out and gently touching his elbow to garner his attention. He looked down at her briefly before his eyes continued their search of the area surrounding them. Levi was behind them, feeling the same eeriness that Gibbs had experienced.

"Something ain't right," Levi said lowly as his skin started to crawl. Gibbs only nodded in response, his attention continually searching for the impending danger. Kate moved away from him and he walked out closer to the steep edge they had been walking up. He looked down and winced. It was a long slide.

Levi walked up behind Kate as they moved further up the path. Gibbs felt the hair on his neck rise and turned to scan the area on top of the caves. His flashlight caught movement just as he heard the report. Levi let out a startled cry as his body tumbled back and towards the edge. Gibbs' weapon was up and aimed at where he had seen the movement and was firing as soon as his mind connected the dots to his trigger finger.

Levi stumbled and then yelped again as another round found purchase. He collapsed on the edge of the drop off. Gibbs jogged to him still firing, but wasn't able to get to him, before he had to seek shelter from the bullets raining down around them. He looked around and panicked. Kate was nowhere to be seen.

From behind the boulder he was using as a shield he fired towards the top of the cave, unsure if he was even firing in the right area. His weapon emptied and he reloaded it as quickly as he could. The rock he was behind sang as bullets danced off of it in the absence of his return fire. He ducked. His mind screamed that he needed to find Kate.

"Kate!" he shouted as he returned fire. He mentally calmed himself and started to listen to the sounds around him. Aside from his own weapon he only heard one other weapon discharging and it was not Kate's. His gut started to churn harder as he fired rapidly at the top of the cave. Sure he was in the right spot this time.

He peeked out and scanned the area quickly before ducking from the next borage of bullets that splayed across the rocks in front of him. Gibbs struggled with his mind to keep it functioning on the task at hand. He could not let himself get consumed in the fear and panic of not being able to see or find Kate. He gave himself a physical slap on the back of the head, making himself focus.

The sound of gunfire stopped and Gibbs shifted slightly to see out from behind his rock. He wasn't sure why the other man had stopped firing but he wasn't about to walk into a trap. He scanned the ground and only saw Levi slumped on the edge of the drop off. He watched him a moment but couldn't tell if the he was breathing or not.

Gibbs still couldn't find Kate and no matter how hard he tried to focus, his mind was quickly sliding down the path of panic. His stomach was tightening and his head was pounding. He fought the urge to charge out and look for her; sure it would mean certain death for him.

"KATE!" he yelled again as loud as he could. He hated the weakness and fear that had crept into his voice. He had to hold it together to get them out of this. He popped his head up quickly to scan and had to drop back to the ground instantly. Bullets were flying everywhere. He reached up and touched the side of his face and felt the blood trickling from the stinging wound. He had he heard the whizzing sound before he felt the bullet as it nicked him.

Things were quickly spinning out of control. He reached around for the two-way and suddenly realized he had given it back to Levi. It was useless over there. He mumbled under his breath as he fished out his cell phone and looked at the display. He threw the object at the rock, shattering it, as it told him there was no signal.

Tony looked at the radio after Gibbs had told him to abandon the search on his side of the mountain. McGee and Dusty were watching him and he motioned that they should return to the vehicle. Dusty drove them back to his cabin, as Tony wanted to check on the two still there before heading to the other side of the mountain.

"Grayson!" Tony shouted as he bounded up the steps.

"What's the matter?" Grayson asked as he hobbled towards the door. Tony saw the fear etched subtly in the younger man's face.

"Gibbs found something on the other side of the mountain. I just wanted to make sure you guys were ok."

"Did he find them?"

"He found evidence of them. He's looking now. We're headed over there but I wanted to make sure he wasn't here."

"Nobody's been here," Zack said from the couch. Tony nodded and then headed for the door.

"Keep a watch," Tony said as he left.

Dusty drove them towards the cabin watching the sky. He frowned behind his sunglasses as night quickly approached. Tony seemed to sense the change in atmosphere and turned to look at Dusty. He had yet to read the man and wasn't sure how far he could be trusted. Levi and Grayson had seemed to trust him with their lives; maybe he could do the same. Right now, Tony could see something was on the other man's mind.

"Problem?" Tony asked. Dusty continued to study the fading light before turning his head ever so slightly.

"Fading light," he said in a low flat voice. Tony looked at him to elaborate but Dusty said nothing more.

"Ok, what about fading light?" McGee asked from the backseat. Tony glanced at McGee then back at Dusty.

Dusty seemed to think over the question, but Tony couldn't really tell what the man was thinking. Dusty's eyes were hidden behind the mirror sunglasses. Tony waited another moment but the man didn't reply.

"You saying it's getting dark?" Tony fished. Dusty turned more towards Tony and stared at him for a brief moment before turning his head straight on again. Nothing was said for a long moment and Tony and McGee thought the conversation was over, until Dusty answered them.

"Mountain doesn't forgive after dark," Dusty said low and soft. Tony looked at him and nodded his understanding. He felt the car speed up.

TBC…

AN: Oh look the evil me showed up again...yes I don't mind if you hate me from time to time...but admit it...makes for a much cooler story in the end right? evil laugh