Chapter 6

Tony and Gibbs quickly passed through security at the hospital and hurried to the elevator that would take them to the fourth floor. Tony struggled to hide the anxiety that had arisen on the way to the hospital and had increased as he got closer to seeing McGee. He knew that personally he was not culpable in Tim's attack but he still felt responsible. After all, it was his family that had caused the problem. Tony only hoped it was something they could deal with. He really didn't want to be watching over his shoulder for any more of Senior's enemies.

When they reached Tim's floor Tony followed Gibbs out of the elevator and the two men made their way to the DOU where Tim had been transferred that morning. As they rounded the corner of the unit, Tony noticed Gibbs stiffen and then start to move quickly towards the end of the hall. Tony soon saw what had caused the reaction: a man, presumably an agent and Tim's guard, was slumped in a chair further down the hallway, apparently asleep.

"Hey!" Gibbs barked as he approached, but the agent didn't even flinch. The cup he had been holding fell from his hand and he started to slide out of the chair. Gibbs swore and yelled at the nurses to call security as he rushed past their station.

Tony didn't even stop to check on the agent as he ran ahead of Gibbs and burst into Tim's dark room. He flipped on the light and froze at the sight that met his eyes. A woman dressed in hospital scrubs was leaning over Tim, a pillow in her hands pressed against his face. She turned and immediately tossed the pillow away, her wide, terrified eyes fixed on Tony as she backed away from Tim's bed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

Tony barely heard her as his gaze moved between the pale, lifeless form on the bed, and the flat green line tracing across the screen of the heart monitor.

"No…"

In a flash, he was back in Tim's apartment, staring at the limp, blood-stained body of his partner. His illusion was broken when he was shoved aside by a group of medical personnel as they swarmed into the room and began to work on McGee, blocking him from Tony's view. He fixed his gaze on the still visible monitor and the flat signal, barely aware that two security guards had seized the woman, who continued to sob "I'm sorry", and that Gibbs was trying to guide him into the hallway.

"What on Earth is going on?"

Tony registered Ducky's question but didn't answer, still focusing his attention on the scene in Tim's room.

"Come on, Tim. Come on…"

Finally, after feeling like his own heart would burst in his chest, Tony saw a blip on the monitor. He held his breath until the next appeared, and the next…

Tony slumped in relief, finally registering what was going on around him. Gibbs had a grip on his arm and had managed to get him out into the hallway where a couple of staff members were checking the supine form of the fallen agent and the guards still held the woman. Her litany changed when she, too, realized that the doctors had revived their patient.

"No. No no no no no no…" Her breathing increased dramatically, and before they realized what was happening she slumped in the guard's arms, unconscious.

"She's fainted," Ducky reported after he checked her. "What happened?"

"She tried to kill Tim," Tony croaked, and Ducky's eyes widened in shock.

"Why?"

"We're going to find out," Gibbs declared as he instructed the guards to take her somewhere secure. Several nurses had brought a gurney for the agent but instead lifted the woman onto it, where the guards handcuffed her to both railings before pushing the gurney down the hall.

"Wait," Gibbs instructed. "Tony, go with them."

"No, Boss, I have to make sure—" The door to Tim's room opened and Tony caught a glimpse of him, still way too pale and with an oxygen mask over his face, before the medical stuff pushed his bed through the door and rushed it down the hall towards the elevator. Gibbs sent Ducky a look and he immediately followed as Tim's doctor emerged from the room. He was livid.

"What in the hell did you people do to my patient?"

"One of your nurses tried to kill him," Gibbs snapped as he stepped into the man's personal space.

"That's impossible." He caught sight of the inert form handcuffed to the gurney. "Lenora? What…are your trying to tell me that she…that's impossible!"

"She had a pillow over his face when we got here," Tony replied, his mind finally kicking back into gear. "I saw her."

"But…What in the hell is going on?"

"We'll know more when she wakes up. How's McGee?"

The doctor stared at Gibbs for a few seconds before he could reply. "He…he's developed a slight arrhythmia, and his blood pressure is not rebounding as it should. We're taking him downstairs for testing and I expect to keep him in recovery for the rest of the night."

"Is he going to be OK?"

The doctor glanced at Tony and sighed. "I hope so. He definitely didn't need another crisis. We'll be keeping a close eye on him, though, I assure you."

"Dr. Mallard's going to stay with him. Clear?"

"Your M.E.? Why?" Gibbs just started at the man and finally he nodded as his gaze shifted to where it caught sight of the other agent. "What happened to Agent Fisher?"

"Drugged," One of the doctors checking Fisher replied as two nurses arrived with another gurney. "He's stable, though. Probably will wake up in a couple of hours."

"I need to know—"

"What he was drugged with. Of course." She went to pick up the fallen cup and Gibbs stopped her. She nodded and followed the rest of the group as they pushed Fisher's gurney down the hall in the opposite direction. Gibbs turned back to Tim's doctor, who looked anxious to leave.

"I need to go take care of my patient, Agent Gibbs."

"You do that. Keep me updated."

The doctor just nodded before glancing at the woman who had caused his patient harm. "I still can't believe…do you have any idea?"

"Not yet." The doctor recognized the dismissal and left. Gibbs pulled out his phone and called for a team to handle the scene before he turned to elder of the two guards. "Stay until NCIS gets here, and—"

"Not my first rodeo, Agent Gibbs. There's an empty exam room at the end of the hall. You can take her there until she wakes up." He shook his head. "Still can't figure out why she'd do something like this, but that's your job."

"What can you tell me about her?"

"Lenora Williams. She's been working here for about five years. Always chats with me a bit when she checks in. Nice, friendly lady. Widowed, two kids. Her husband was killed during over in Afghanistan two years ago. Hit her hard, but I think she kept going for the kids' sakes more than anything."

"Any issues with the staff?"

"Not that I know of. Far as I know everyone liked her. You know, if there's a problem, someone will eventually complain, and I hear stuff people don't know I hear, but I've never heard any complaints about her. She's…pretty ordinary."

"Sounds familiar," Tony muttered darkly. Gibbs shot him a look and he shut up, even though his gut was screaming at him.

"Financial problems?"

The guard shook his head. "Not that she mentioned, but the again I doubt that's something most people would discuss."

Gibbs gave a brief nod before turning to Tony. "Let's go."

"Boss, what about Tim?"

"Nothing you can do to help him right now. Let the docs do their job."

Tony opened his mouth to protest further but one glance at Gibbs silenced him. They had a job to do, as well.

The younger guard pushed the gurney down the hall to an open exam room as Gibbs and Tony followed. One he had the gurney inside the room and the wheels locked, the guard retreated, leaving Tony and Gibbs alone with the unconscious woman. Tony considered calling for one of the nurses to ask for something to wake her up faster, but before he could carry through with that task, the woman started to stir. Gibbs sent him a look that clearly said Let me handle this and Tony took a step back, waiting to see what Gibbs would do.

Lenora Williams groaned softly as her face registered confusion for a brief moment. Suddenly her eyes snapped open, panic clear in her expression and she looked around wildly. She tried to sit up but the cuffs around her wrists drew her attention and she pulled at them, her panic exploding.

"No! No no no no no!"

"Hey!" Gibbs loomed over her and she immediately quieted, shrinking back against the gurney, her wide brown eyed now fixed on the lead agent.

"You tried to kill my agent. Why?"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please, I didn't have a choice! They're going to kill them!"

"Who?"

"My babies, my little girls. They took them! They said if Agent McGee wasn't dead by dawn, they'd kill them!"

"Who said?"

"I don't know!" She tried to get up again but Gibbs stopped her. "It's…my phone, they sent a picture and message. Get my phone, you'll see!"

"Where is it?"

"In my purse, in my locker. D30."

'Combination or key?"

"C-combination. 7 – 23 – 16."

Gibbs nodded at Tony and he left, stopping to question the guard in the hall.

"Where are the nurses' lockers?"

"End of the hall, second door on the left."

"Thanks." He dashed down the hall to the locker room, receiving several startled looks from the occupants when he burst through the door.

"NCIS. Where's D30?"

One of the women pointed to the last row of lockers and he quickly headed in that direction. It didn't take him long to find the locker, open it, extract the purse, and return to the room where Gibbs and Lenora waited. He dropped the purse on the foot of her bed, found a box of gloves and quickly slipped on a pair before searching the bag for the cell phone.

"Where is the message?"

"In my inbox. Let me—"

"No. Tony?"

"On it, Boss."

Tony managed to find the message, which had come from a blocked number. In it was a picture of two young girls, blindfolded and holding a newspaper with the day's date. Even though he couldn't see the girls' eyes he could tell they were terrified. The message simply said 'Dead by dawn, Agent McGee or them. Call police and they die.'

"Bastards," Tony muttered as he showed the picture to Gibbs, who growled a similar response. "What do we do, Boss?" Gibbs ignored him and focused his attention on the woman.

"Do you have any idea who could have taken them? Noticed anyone watching you or the girls?"

"No. No one I've seen, I swear! Please, I can't lose them. Please…" She started sobbing and Gibbs motioned to Tony as he moved to the far corner of the room.

"What do we do, Boss? Get Abby to try and trace the call?"

Gibbs rubbed a hand over his face as he glanced over at the distraught mother. "Maybe." After a few moments of silence he returned to the gurney.

"How would they know if you succeeded?"

Lenora choked back a sob as she tried to think.

"I…I don't know. If they had access to the records…a patient's status is regularly updated in the computer…every time something is done…we scan the bar code on their ID bracelet…"

"You think they'd have that kind of access, Boss?" Gibbs just sent him a look. "Right…damn it."

Gibbs signaled Tony to stay put and he stepped out into the hallway. Tony turned his attention to the woman on the gurney, who was still crying as if her heart was breaking. The anger he had felt towards her had faded but his gut churned with fury at the still-unnamed people who had started this whole disaster, and at his father. Tony still couldn't fathom who would could bear such animosity towards his family, or why, but with each passing moment he grew even more determined to find out. Unfortunately all he could do at the present time was wait and worry.

A few minutes passed before Gibbs stuck his head in the room and motioned to Tony to follow him. They moved to another empty room where Gibbs instructed Tony to wait, ignoring his protests that he needed to do something to help.

"Boss, I—"

"You'll get your chance, Tony, but right now I need you to stay here. Clear?"

"Yes, Boss."

Gibbs left and Tony paced for what seemed like hours. Finally Gibbs and Tim's doctor entered the room, and Tony felt the tightness in his chest loosen slightly when he saw the doctor's expression.

"How's Tim. Is he going to be OK?"

"No signs of internal bleeding and his blood pressure and heartbeat have returned to normal. He awoke in recovery, and all of his cognitive functions are intact. However, he was understandably upset, and I decided to sedate him to help reduce the stress on his system. We'll keep him under and monitor him closely for at least 48 hours, probably more, to give his body a chance to recover from this latest crisis." The doctor turned to Gibbs. "You said you have a plan to keep him safe, and I'm willing to help as much as I can, but if that involves moving him…"

"It does, but that's not the first step."

"Well, what is?"

"He needs to die."

TBC…