I have to tell you guys this right now, this chapter turned out a lot shorter than I thought it'd be. As far as I can tell the next chapter is longer, and I'll try to get it out on Sunday, Monday at the latest. But tomorrow I'm gonna be insanely busy (best friend's getting married... again), so you won't hear from me tomorrow.

Good news though, the hard drive on my laptop is fixed! I just have to wait for the hinge/body thing to be replaced. Soon! I hope.

Eighteen

Jethro and Burley went back to the Navy Yard together, but in the parking lot, Jethro went inside while Burley went to see the police in Dale City, where the prostitute was killed.

The first thing Jethro did when he sat down at his desk was check the BOLO on the fake Gloria Smith. They still had nothing on her. Not even a name. Jethro wasn't sure if she was another victim or another perp. Where did she fit in all of this?

No hits yet. Nobody had seen her. He figured she hadn't bothered to move Jamie since the night she nabbed him. It would be the smarter choice. Nobody can be on the lookout for somebody if they weren't out.

He rubbed his tired eyes. A part of him felt like giving up. He wouldn't. Never in a million years. But the more this went on, the more convinced Jethro was that Jamie was dead. It made him seriously hate his job.

He needed coffee.

"I heard your comatose Sergeant is awake." Jethro looked up at his friend's words. He hadn't even heard Ducky approach. Just more proof of how drained he was feeling. Ducky placed the large cup of coffee on his desk. "I figured you could use a pick me up."

Jethro nodded as he reached for the cup. The burn felt good on his throat. "Yeah."

"Did you tell him about his family?"

"I did."

Ducky sighed heavily. "How did he take it?"

Jethro shrugged. "As well as could be expected."

Ducky nodded. "In other words, not well at all."

Jethro took another swig but didn't say anything else. Ducky was a good man and a great friend, but he couldn't' understand what Sergeant Taylor was feeling.

"Did he remember anything about the night he was attacked?" Ducky sat down on the corner of Jethro's desk.

The agent leaned back in his seat and plopped his hands on top of his head. "Yeah, he said that Jamie hit him."

He didn't miss the note of surprise on his friend's face. "Oh my."

"DiNozzo said it was an accident."

"DiNozzo? Detective DiNozzo? He spoke to Taylor?" Ducky sounded incredibly surprised. It was understandable, Jethro wasn't known for his trust with local cops.

He just shrugged. "He was the only one I figured could get Taylor to remember everything."

Ducky nodded. "He does seem to be a remarkable young man."

Jethro chuckled. "He's a cop with a good memory, Ducky." And true, he could make a really damn good investigator, but at the moment he was mostly just raw potential.

Ducky looked him directly in the eye. "He saved your life."

Jethro tensed. He almost forgot that Ducky read that file.

When they were kidnapped back in February, Jethro was savagely beaten with a block of wood till half of his bones were broken. DiNozzo was repeatedly stabbed and sliced. Neither of them could walk on their own. And when Lance tried to kill Jethro with a cleaver, Jethro couldn't fight back, he was too wounded. But DiNozzo killed him by throwing a knife into his back.

He sighed heavily. "You were right, Duck. I did omit something from the file."

Ducky sighed heavily. "What did they do to you, Jethro?"

He sat forward again, a small, sad smile playing across his lips. "They didn't do it to me, they did it to Tony." He hesitated again. "Kitty raped him." He heard Ducky gasp, but he refused to look up and see the shocked look he knew was there. "And I didn't stop her."

"You couldn't stop her," Ducky said indignantly. He didn't believe that Jethro was to blame.

Jethro shook his head. His friend didn't understand. "I could have tried harder." He kept trying to keep DiNozzo's mind off the woman grinding her pelvis into his lap, but in the end it wasn't good enough. He wasn't good enough.

Ducky made a noise in the back of his throat. "The point is that you did try." He paused. "Jethro. As much as I'm sure it hurts you, you were not victimless in that butcher shop."

That was not what Jethro expected to hear. "I wasn't the one raped. I've been in worse licks that that." He was a Marine. He'd been in combat.

"That I don't doubt. But Lance and Kitty made you defenseless." The more Ducky spoke, the more Jethro wanted to get away. He didn't want Ducky's lecture. Damn it, why did he tell him? "Jethro," Ducky continued, completely oblivious to Jethro's mental tirade, "you are one of the strongest, bravest men I have ever known. But you are still just a man. And no man reacts well when faced with their own limitations."

"I was scared, Duck." He didn't know why he admitted that, either. But he always felt more comfortable talking to Ducky. That's why they were such good friends.

Damn it, Ducky was right. So was DiNozzo. He needed to talk about this. He hated it when other people were right.

"As you should have been," the older man said matter-of-factly. "They would have had no problem killing you." He tilted his head in thought. "I suppose you should be grateful that you had someone else as stubborn as you are with you." With one last smile, Ducky took his leave.

As soon as the doctor was gone, Jethro broke out into a smile. Leave it to Ducky to drag the real problem out of him. The old man knew Jethro far too well.

His cell phone rang, pulling him out of his reverie. "Yeah, Gibbs," he said into the receiver.

"Boss!" Burley yelled into his ear.

Jethro pulled the phone away until his ear stopped ringing. Now he was angry again. "Stan you better have found something, or so help me—"

Burley cut him off. "I did. I really did. Something big."

Jethro waited all of five seconds before he snapped, "What?"

"Miranda Hack wasn't the only prostitute killed like that. Bound and laid out. There were eight of them so far. Jamie Taylor didn't just witness a murder, he witnessed a serial murder."

Jethro's jaw fell open. That was definitely big.

"There's more," Burley started. He was on a roll now. "Every one of the girls have been arrested together at some point in time."

"They all work for the same pimp?"

"More like Madame. I checked with all the cops around I could find. The Madame, Angela Samson has never been arrested, only one guy here's ever spoken to her face-to-face. Says she's a heavy-set black woman with a cocky attitude."

Jethro closed his eyes and breathed out an air of annoyance. "That matches our fake Gloria Smith's description."

"Yeah, I showed him the BOLO. He IDed her as our Angela Samson." He paused for a few seconds to let Jethro seethe. "He's currently being reamed out by his captain."

"He should lose his damn job." A boy was missing and some idiot couldn't be bothered to check a damn BOLO? "Stan, you get your ass back up here. Now!" He slammed the phone shut till it broke in his hands. Then he stood up and headed for interrogation room two.

He strode through the door and sat down across from Corporal Darklin. She fidgeted under his intense stare. He smiled a little on the inside. "You've been holding back from me, Corporal."

She shook her head. "I told you everything I know."

Jethro loved catching people in lies. "Your best friend was a prostitute." She choked out a sob. Jethro ignored it. "All of her friends were murdered by a serial killer and her Madame is the one who kidnapped Jamie Taylor from Baltimore. And I don't believe in coincidences."

Tears were flowing freely down her face now. Her lip quivered and her head shook. "I can't. I can't."

Jethro leaned further over the table. "I need to know how to find Jamie. And I think you know how to find him." He tried to keep his voice as calm and soothing as possible. On the inside he wanted to get up and shake this woman. He felt no sympathy for her. He was just annoyed with her.

"You can't protect me. They'll kill me. Nobody can help me."

Jethro decided he was sick of playing good cop. He slammed his fist down onto the table, causing Darklin to jump. "Hey!" he shouted. "Your friend is dead because of you. Innocent people who never hurt a damn thing in their lives are dead because of you. Now I don't care if they kill you but you are not taking that boy with you!"

"I don't know anything!" Jethro did notice the tears were drying up.

"You know something!"

"I heard Karen scream for Jamie. So I got dressed and went over there. But when I got there, Karen was dead, Phil was unconscious and two men were telling me they'd kill me if I said anything!" She was screaming to defend herself. Get Jethro to pity her again.

But all she did was fuel his anger. She was a damn coward and because of her, three people were dead. She didn't deserve to be a Marine. "What did they look like?"

"They were wearing masks!"

"What did they sound like?"

"Like two men!"

He hit the table again. "Give me something!"

"I don't know anything!"

Jethro was about to start screaming again, but his thoughts stopped him.

Damn it, he got played again.

Yes, Gibbs has finally figured out the puzzle. And you will all find out next chapter. And again, I'm sorry about how short this chapter was. But I got to this point and I decided that this was the place to leave off. Sorry, again.

Bob