Chapter 10: Don't mess with Team Gibbs.

A/N It's 23.33 but I just got a great idea. I realized I said much about Tony, Ziva and McGee yet, so I decided to show their side of the story. I particularly like this scene because while writing it I suddenly found that I actually do know English.

The sleeping lullaby I mention; It's a poor translation of very very famous Dutch lullaby. If you're Dutch, please don't laugh at me. -blushes- Tino, don't "Fail" me. Please.

No Beta today, so there will be a few … weird mistakes.
Spoilers: none.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. Just a laptop and an obsession. ^^

Preview
Different time zones.
A difference with one hour.
Sombrero.

Mexico.

…..

Finally, it was dark. There had been a few times when they were almost caught, during the day.
Luca had been trying to look out of the window while balancing on Abby's shoulders. He warmed up to her, she could almost feel it. In a way, it gave her hope. And maybe, maybe there was a chance they could all escape before the sun would rise. Her arms were still aching on the places the man had hit her. Dark bruises were everywhere; she never got this many before. The forensic scientist thought about that morning, when she had heard Gibbs voice. Had he gotten the message? If he had, all the pain had been for a good cause. But maybe… maybe he hadn't. No, no, Abby Sciuto, you are nót thinking about that, she told herself firmly, blinking away the upcoming tears. His voice had been so soothing… She finally felt a little… okay again. But then that mean guard had ordered her not to tell him anything… But she just had to! God knew she had to! Of course, he let her pay for it, she thought sourly, rubbing softly over her arms.
Pale light shone in through the dirty glass of the window. Moonlight. Time for her plan to be executed. During the day Luca had been looking out of the window, observing. They were in a brownish house, on the side of it. More, similar houses were standing across a small alley. The eight-year-old told them how many people kept walking by. Mostly, it was tanned people wearing large sunhats selling stuff. Sometimes, tourists, taking pictures. The children immediately wanted to knock on the window, creating some noise to attract their attention, but Abby stopped them. What good could they do? Yes, they could call the police, but the kidnappers would probably hear them first and place them in a room with no window. Aside from the tourist, the sellers and a few locals, they didn't see any of the broad-shouldered, armed guards or the expensively dressed Italian man with the golden crowns in his teeth.
That was good. It meant the kidnappers didn't have a look-out on the side of the house. It could mean they underestimated them. But Abby didn't trust anything unless she saw the evidence for herself so they waited until twilight set in. One guard had come in three times, two times for food, one time for a "pee break", as the children called it. Horrified, Abby stared at the iron bucket. Her senses screamed not to touch the non-hygienic thing, but what else was she supposed to do?
After the guard left she had to admit she felt more relieved, in a way. The black-haired girl had noticed that the guard was almost constantly guarding the door. It was the same guard every time and considering the noises she sometimes heard coming from outside of the door; he sat on a chair there or something. Aside from it making her nervous, it also had to mean that he had to sleep sometimes. Maybe someone took over when the sun set? They had all listened very carefully when it slowly got dark, but they didn't hear anything but the soft breathing of the guard. No one took over his shift.
Her plan had all chance of succeeding.
They had all discussed it into detail, so that everything would go as smooth as possible. Everyone took their positions. Danai and Luca were sitting next to the door.
Victor was standing up, wobbly but up. Jasmin was balancing on his shoulders, one of the dirty blankets in her hands that no one used because of the fungus growing on it. She made sure the filthy spot wasn't touching her body when she pressed it against the window, blocking out the light.
That was the sign for Danai, who softly started to sing a lullaby.
Sleep, little child, sleep
Outside walks a sheep
A sheep with little white feet
He drinks his milk, so sweet
they could hear the guard yawn. It was working! Abby had explained how the human sub-conscience was very sensitive to a singing voice. When someone was already feeling tired, a sleeping lullaby, even I it was barely hearable, would make that person fall asleep sooner. They had all been skeptical but to see that it was actually working…! They let a few minutes pass because it was all in the timing. Jasmin sighed to Abby that the coast was clear. What to do now?
Wait… Abby signed back. Just a bit… Right. I need you to follow my instructions, like we discussed. Are you ready? The 12-year-old nodded positively and pressed with all of her body strength against the blanket that was covering the window glass, on the place that Abby indicated. With a crash, the window broke. Large shards fell outside, but none of it came in, because of the blanket. All of the hostages froze, praying that the guard hadn't wakened. Expecting the worst. Now someone would start yelling and people would come rushing in… But none of it happened.
After a few seconds, they concluded they were safe for now. Jasmin kicked the remaining pieces that were still stuck in the frame away and folded the blanket around the underside of the window, so no glass was sticking out. Outside, all was quiet. The alley was deserted. In a swift move, Jasmin climbed out, carefully making sure she didn't touch the frame to be sure. Then came Luca, swiftly climbing up to Victor's shoulders. He disappeared through the window. Next was Danai, who didn't want to let go of Abby at first. She didn't want let go of her sleeve, so the forensic scientist told her that she would go first so that she could catch the six-year-old girl. It wasn't really easy, because she was a lot bigger than the children were, but she managed to creep through the window. Danai was the smallest of them all, and with a little help from Victor, she got out as well.
Last was Victor, who had no one to help him. But he was really tall. He wrung himself through the window, dragging the blanket with him in the progress. He made a hard fall, but in the end he also got out of that room. Abby couldn't conceal her happiness, even though they were still miles away from safety. They did it. They escaped!
Swiftly, she let the wounded man support on her when she disappeared in the shadows, trying to find a place where they could be safe. The forensic scientist had a whole list of things she should do now running through her mind.
Make sure no one sees us, get away from here as soon as possible, find a phone, call 911, make sure the children are safe.
But one thought dominated all the other.
I have to get to Gibbs.

…..

6 am.
Gibbs had left about an hour ago. They had gotten another call from Abby's kidnappers. But this time it was a different man than the one the silver haired special agent spoke to last time. He claimed that he wanted to clean his hands of every kidnapping business and insisted on meeting Gibbs. He wanted to share information about the hostages if NCIS payed him for it: he demanded the price of five thousand dollars. Their boss hadn't waste much time on verifying anything; he just made a few calls and arranged to meet the guy in a bar not far from the HQ. His team had already gotten used to him being like that when it was about Abby. But now they were left behind: stuck with the task of finding everything that they could. Except that there wasn't a lot that could be found. That left them with a new case that had come up, but none of them was very motivated.

"You know it's too early when there's no one even here to make coffee," Dinozzo wined while burying his face in his hands. Ziva looked up eagerly.
"Does that mean you made some?"
"NO, Ziva. It does NOT," Tony said in a muffled voice, peeking through his fingers. "Though Nanny McPheeble could-"
"You can just make your own coffee, Tony." McGee angrily turned his back to the two other agents. "It looks like I'm the only one working here, as usual, and this time…" He took a gulp of air. "This time it's not supposed to be as usual! It's Abby that's missing!" Tony froze half-way making a weird face and Ziva fell silent. They both looked guilty.
"Yeah," Tony said, breaking the silence. "We know." He sighed, smiling sadly. "But what good is it to cry about it? Gibbs is out there to arrange the deal; we can't do anything to help him. Let alone work on some stupid," He flipped open a case file. "dead marine case." Ziva still hadn't said anything. She had occasionally thrown looks at the clock on the wall and watched time pass, but now she couldn't stand it anymore. Her knife bore itself into her desk when she suddenly jumped up.
"No. This is making me mad. I have to at least do something!" She rushed around her desk, grapping the knife with her as she passed, with a stubborn look on her face. She planted both of her hands on Tony's desk and leaned forwards so that her face was only inches away from Tony's. He tried to back away, startled, but her intense glare stopped him.
"Why are you sitting here, doing NOTHING?" Anger mixed with sadness was displaced on her face when she continued. "This is not what the Tony that I know would do. The Tony that I know," she sighed, "would give his everything to save a friend." Dinozzo saw misunderstanding and pain reflected in her eyes and knew what it meant. It meant he had to do something. Meanwhile, McGee had gotten up, too, and was conspiringly listening in on their conversation.
"Ziva is right, Tony. I can't just stay here and do nothing either, no matter what Gibbs says. And now that he's not here, you're in charge."
He quickly checked if their boss wasn't standing behind them, just in case. Now was not a good time to be head-slapped. But Gibbs still was gone, like he would be for a few hours.
"We're all in this together," he lamely stated.
"I say we go after him. Right Mcgee?" Ziva immediately added. Tony, who felt like he hadn't said anything for an abnormally long time, scraped his throat in dismay.
"Listen guys, I knów how you're feeling, but don't go all high school musical on me! There's no way we could just go after the boss without his permission and try to help with the operation, while he strict ordered to stay here! Look: just because we can't go after him doesn't mean we can't do anything useful here!
I mean," he explained hesitantly to their raised eyebrows. "We could even jeopardize the entire deal by interfering and… and…"
Exactly 5 minutes later they were in Tony's car, speeding over the highway. Dinozzo had taken precautions and made sure he was the one driving. He was just hoping that they would be there on time.

(A/N No Gibbs action this time. I thought it was time for his team to get a little space. :)
I will be away for a few days; I'm taking a (very well deserved) small trip to Paris. –Broad smile- So I probably won't update until next week.