Chapter 18: bulletproof

A/N Hi guys, bet no one expected this update, since I'm always this busy/lazy/both. Yeah, I know I've been a terrible updater. So I hope everyone's still reading :)

Disclaimer: If I owned NCIS, Gabby wouldn't only exist in the minds of the fans.
Beta: Tino-chan. Like I always say, she's the Lisbon to my Jane XD
B/N don't mind her, she means my cas to your kett (caskett) I always laugh out loud when I proof-read it and I see some Dutch sentence, I actually didn't see one once so if you think 'WTF' it's probably Dutch xD


Xxxx

Preview: Gibbs breathed in deeply and decided this was it. All or nothing. If someone touched his people, he would do everything to get them safe again. But if someone touched Abby…
He didn't think anyone could foresee the consequences.

Xxxx

After a short while everyone in the van was getting frustrated. How in earth was it possible that they hadn't heard something from McGee yet? Did the kidnappers find out about their plan? As Tony was very busy with biting his nails and Ziva was talking softly to Danai, Gibbs just stared in the distance. It was working. It had to work. They were supposed to go to Puebla and leave the hostages behind with some guards. The silver haired agent knew that they weren't planning on just giving Abby back to him, even when he would have brought the prisoner with him. He probably had a bigger chance on getting himself killed by walking into an ambush. So that's why it was so strange that they hadn't heard from McGee yet. Because if they had, that would mean that the kidnappers would have left and that the way to Abby was free.
He had to lure them out, no matter what. Shooting everyone that would come into view wasn't the best solution either way.
So now all they could do was wait.

…

Gibbs carefully looked around the corner. McGee had called them ten minutes ago, informing them that a white van just had disappeared in the direction of Puebla. Their plan was working, finally, and it had to work. It was their last chance. Getting in the building hadn't been hard, the door was easy to break and there hadn't been someone waiting in the hallway. Apparently, they weren't expecting for someone to be foolish enough to try to break in in the hideout of the mafia. A stupid mistake. Gibbs was willing to go to hell and back if he would be able to get Abby back. He had ordered his team to wait outside, wait for his sign. And he had gone in alone.
The front door had opened up in some small corridor with a large number of doors on both sides. Above every door there was a small light that lit up the corridor in some kind of yellowish glow. When he silently closed the door behind him, it made him feel like the outer world was suddenly very far away. He had followed the corridor until it suddenly made a sharp turn to the left.
So here he was, glancing around the corner. A strong, muscular man was pacing back and forth in a second corridor, a large gun and a walky-talky visible on his hip.
Gibbs estimated his chances. Was he able to get rid of the Mexican man without him alerting the whole building? Probably. He didn't have another choice.
Quietly, he slipped around the corner, his gun at the ready. The guard didn't see him in first instance, but when he did spot the silver haired agent, it was already too late; the sound of a gunshot resonated through the small corridor and the man slumped down. Gibbs hated that he had to shoot the man, but he didn't have a choice if he wanted to save his girl. The shot, however, had apparently alerted another guard, who came running down the corridor. Gibbs could barely dive away as a bullet planted itself in the wall where he'd just stood. Gibbs fired back amazingly fast and saw the second man grasp his shoulder, screaming. With his other hand, though, he tried to get his gun back into his grasp. The weapon had fallen out of his hold when he fell down. The NCIS special agent was faster though. He kicked the gun away, out of the reach from the Mexican man. His still seeking hand snapped when Gibbs pressed his foot on it. Hard.
"Where is she?" he demanded forcefully. The man groaned as an answer. That made Gibbs' foot come down even harder. "You gonna tell me where you keep your hostages or not?"
"H-hosta…?" The man stammered.
"NOW!" He yelled, losing his temper altogether. "Where is Abby?" The man's eyes lightened as he recognized the name. That was all Gibbs needed to know. "WHERE?" he barked, grinding his foot. The man screamed and used his not-injured hand to point at the left side if the corridor.
"Third door," he groaned in broken English. Gibbs scoffed and lifted his foot. Within seconds he was on his way, halting before the third door on the right. It was made of a dark, strong kind of wood, with iron clasps. There was no way he'd been able to kick that door open. He'd gave to get ahold of the keys somehow. One look over his shoulder informed him that the injured man was still lying on the sandy floor. He stalked back and crouched down next to the terrified Mexican guard.
"Keys," he ordered. The poor man didn't know what he meant, judging by the shrugs and gasps of pain. So Gibbs made a turning movement with his hand, implying to open a lock. With shaking hands, the guard handed him a rusty keychain. Unfortunately, at exactly that moment, a clacking noise reached their ears. The sound of high heels on stone.
"Ariro," the man cursed and finally fainted. Gibbs hesitated –Should he await the woman that was clearly approaching or should he get to the third room, now that he had the keys? His marine senses told him that there was not enough time. So he took place around the corner, invisible from the corridor where the woman was coming from. Ready to give anyone who would come around the corner a hell of a surprise. There she was…
"Don't move an inch," he told her grimly, in a low voice. A woman on very high heels with long, brown hair, froze midway her step. She was holding a large weapon, her hand frozen around the trigger. She didn't seem at all surprised to spot him there, with a gun pressed to the side of her head. She didn't move. Instead, a smile started to creep over her face. It was a cruel smile and Gibbs immediately didn't trust the situation. However, there was nobody else coming their way and the corridor was empty.
"Well, well," she said, almost cheerful. "Special agent Gibbs. You visit at last." There was something about her voice… He recognized it from the phone call earlier, but there was something else… He knew this woman from something. "What happened? You don't remember me anymore?"
Bam. It hit him. This is what he'd been missing, what his gut had been trying to tell him. The connection they couldn't find. How could they've known that Abby was this important to him? Except… if it was someone who knew them. If someone knew him personally.
And he knew who this was.
"Sarah.. Sarah Candale." Her smile broadened.
"So you do remember me. Good. You should. I mean, you didn't just kill someone that day. You killed my mom. My mother!" Her expression became painfully serious. She turned her face to him, disgust plainly visible.
"I had no choice," Gibbs simply said. He remembered the case. The mother killed her daughters husband, because he was hitting her. She also had a terminal decease, but that didn't stop them for bringing her to justice. She was put away for murder and had apparently died in prison. "She killed a man."
"Yes. For me! You had no right!" She spat furiously. The woman was seriously losing it, and Gibbs knew he had the upper hand. Despite that, he wanted to know why. Why Abby, why here. But for that, he knew he had to push her buttons a bit more.
"I did. She killed someone. That was her own fault. Or maybe it was yours, 'cause if you didn't hook up with the guy in the first place, she wouldn't have had to kill him for you…"
"Don't you blame this on me!" She interrupted him, tightening her grip on the gun. "This is your fault. All of this is YOUR fault! And when that stupid girl that you like so much won't survive this too, you'll feel how I felt for all those years!" Gibbs mouth tightened. No. He had to stay calm. Calm.
"That's not gonna happen, Sarah." He pressed the head of the barrel against the back of her head, forceful. "I don't wanna shoot ya, Sarah."
She didn't move, just looked at him with burning eyes.
"I even contacted the Mafia for them to kill you. But when that girl showed up in the middle of our plan, it struck. Why just kill you? Why not let you suffer a bit?" She breathed out heavily, manically. "Because I, I've suffered!" She started to sob.
"Abby won't be the victim of your misplaced anger," he told her, still trying to regain his calm. "I'll let you live. Just drop the gun." Suddenly, the brown haired woman moved, freed herself and pointed her gun at Gibbs.

BAM.

Next was complete silence.