Dear readers, I'm sorry that I didn't upload the new chapter yesterday, but I had a small operation yesterday and I was really tired afterward. But now you get the new one.
How did you like the first riddle? Did anyone try it?
Enjoy the new chapter :)
I don't own anything. The characters belong to CBS.
Chapter 8
Gibbs watched the dark display of the cell phone and waited for a sign of the kidnapper. He was awake since 5 am, the moment when his nightmare had ended. The countdown went down on the plasma screen. From 110 hours were only 102 hours left.
"Since when are you awake?"
Tired Gibbs turned towards the team leader of the LA-team.
"Since an hour."
"Since when are you staring at the phone?"
"Why are you awake?"
"I'm always up early. I don't think that he will call you on the phone."
"Me neither, but it is the only connection I have to him. And I need to do something if I don't want to get crazy."
"And starring on this thing counts as doing something?"
Gibbs thought about it, then he put a case file over the stupid device. Callen was right. He did nothing, and the call wouldn't come quicker if he kept starring.
"I feel like I'm doing nothing to help them."
"That's not true, and you know it. You called us for help. And I don't know your team very well, but I'm pretty sure they know that you'll try everything you can think of to save them."
"I want them back. They are my family, and I need them."
"You will. I promise that you will see them again."
"Alright, I need a coffee. I can't see this countdown anymore."
"I'll come with you," Callen sighed and followed the special agent to the elevator.
Gibbs needed three coffees until they got another call in MTAC. The live videos from his team were still visible, but they were sleeping for the moment. The LA and NOLA-team hid in the dark, while Eric pressed a button to accept the call.
"Good morning, Agent Gibbs. Did you sleep very well?"
"I solved your riddle. Where is my team?"
"Didn't I tell you not to take them too easily? You solved ONE riddle. But there are more."
"Then give me the second one."
"Drive to Pizzeria Paradise and order a Quattro Formaggi pizza. They will give you your second riddle. Enjoy the pizza."
The screen went dark before Gibbs could say anything. What was this all about? Why should he buy a pizza? Slowly, the agents came out of the dark.
"He wants you to eat a pizza?" asked Deeks suspicious "I would say he is stalling."
"He wants to keep Agent Gibbs occupied, so he will feel the time pressure," Kensi explained.
Gibbs' look turned to one of the four live videos. His favorite lab rat lied in an embryonal position on an old mattress and was sleeping peacefully. Why did the bastard take her? She was not an agent. Why her?
"Sam and I drive to the pizzeria and…"
"No, I'll go. This bastard probably told the customer about me. He won't hand you the riddle."
"Good point, but you shouldn't go alone."
"I'll go with him," Pride said "I don't think that the guy will be stupid enough to wait for in the pizzeria. It would be a waste of energy to take all of us. Take a break, while we are gone."
"Call if you need our help," Callen replied.
Gibbs took a deep breath before he found the strength to turn away from Abby's video. He would rescue her. No matter how. The ex-marine left MTAC followed by his 'brother'. The rest of the teams stayed and looked at the four videos of the sleeping agents.
"It is really hard for him to see them like that, right?" asked Deeks.
"It would be hard for everyone, Deeks," Sam said "They are his family. We have to find them soon."
Half an hour later, Gibbs parked the car on the opposite side of the pizzeria.
"Are you sure that you don't want me to come with you?" asked Pride.
"I don't want to give this bastard any hints that I have help. And as long as I don't know his face, he could be anyone. So, I won't risk it."
"Fine, I'll give you five minutes then I…"
"No, you wait here. You can come if I start to shoot someone, but otherwise, you stay here."
"I don't like this plan."
"Pride, I'm losing time."
"Alright, go, I'll wait here."
Gibbs opened his door before his friend could argue again. It was early, so the pizzeria was almost empty. A young man with an apron worked behind the counter and smiled at the team leader when he entered the room.
"Good morning, Sir. What can I do for you? We make the best pizzas in Washington and…"
"I take a Quattro Formaggi."
"Are you sure? We have so much more offers. I could…."
"I'm sure."
"Okay, a Quattro Formaggi, just a moment please."
The young man turned around and started with Gibbs' pizza, while the nervous ex-marine looked around. He saw nothing dangerous. A middle-aged man sat on a table with a piece of a pizza, and the newspaper in his hand. He didn't seem like a guy, who planned the kidnapping of federal agents.
The pizza needed ten minutes, and no one was giving Gibbs the next riddle. What if the kidnapper had lied to him? What if there was no second riddle and the guy was mocking him? What if he never intended to release the agents?
Being lost in his thoughts, Gibbs paid the pizza and walked to the door, when the young man called his name.
"Excuse me, but is your name 'Gibbs'?"
"Who wants to know that?"
"A boy gave me something for you."
Relieved Gibbs turned around and took the envelope with his name on it from the customer.
"A boy, hm?"
"Yeah, he said a man gave him ten bugs for giving me this and to tell me that an older guy named Gibbs would come and order a Quattro Formaggi and that I should hand this over."
"Thank you."
Quickly, Gibbs left the pizzeria and went back to his car. He threw the pizza box in the back and got into the car himself. Pride looked as if he was ready to kill Gibbs, but when he saw the envelope, he forgot about his anger.
"You got it?"
Instead of an answer, Gibbs opened his reward and pulled out a white card. On it was written a long line of numbers.
"What the hell is that?"
"Maybe some kind of code."
"Anything else?"
Gibbs handed his brother the card, then he ripped the envelope open. Maybe there was a hidden message.
"Gibbs, look."
The team leader from New Orleans showed his 'brother' the backside of the card.
'Well done, Agent Gibbs. You find the next riddle in the pizzeria named District of Theo. This time you take a Delmar.'
"He wants to drive me crazy."
"I think Detective Deeks is right. This guy is stalling. Well, we don't have a chance. Drive, we can't waste any more time."
Sighing Gibbs handed over the envelope, while Pride wrote the name of the pizzeria and the number 'one' on it. They would try to solve the riddle when they were back at the Navy Yard.
The second card looked identically. A long line of numbers and on the backside the address of a third pizzeria called `Angelina Pizzeria´. Gibbs was glad that Pride took care of the riddles because he would have ripped them into tiny little pieces. This hunt would go on forever.
They reached the third pizzeria, and Gibbs bought his third pizza, a Vegetariano. She landed in the back of the car with the other two pizza boxes. Annoyed, Gibbs opened the envelope and pulled out a new white card.
"I don't know if I can continue this bullshit. I'm buying pizzas, I'm driving through the whole city, and all he gives me are stupid numbers. What is his plan?"
"Read the note."
'Congratulations, Agent Gibbs. You've got all three parts of the second riddle. Send me a message when you have found the answer, then I can tell you about the third riddle.'
"Finally, let's go back to the Navy Yard. We need to solve these riddles, and I'm getting really hungry with these pizzas in the back," Pride said and took a glance at the closed boxes.
"You can eat them when we are back."
Gibbs threw one box on Dinozzo's desk and the other one on Bishop's desk. Pride had the last one in his hands and was already eating. Gibbs couldn't eat, not even the tiniest piece. He ignored the cheers of the agents when they saw the food. Instead, he moved to the plasma screen and looked at the live videos. His people were all awake now, but this time they seemed calmer. Apparently, they started to use their heads by observing their prison. He could only hope that they would find a way to escape.
"What took you so long? Did you guys get stuck in the traffic?" asked Deeks, then he pushed a big part of his piece in his mouth "Or couwn't yow deshide on sthe pisha?"
"He split the riddle into three parts and those were spread over the town," Gibbs answered and ignored the last question "We had to visit three different pizzerias, and I had to buy three different pizzas. How long are they awake?"
"I would say for an hour. Show us the riddles," Callen said.
The team leader from LA didn't want to give Gibbs the time to think too much about his team. It would only depress him. Sadly, Callen's plan didn't work that well. The ex-marine pulled out the envelopes and handed them over to the younger agent, but his eyes never left the screen. Callen opened the first riddle and gave the other ones to Kensi and Brody.
"Numbers? That's all?" asked Kensi surprised.
"You have pizza and you don't call us?"
Nell and Eric appeared in the squad room and they seemed very hungry. Callen closed the pizza box quickly before Eric could grab a piece.
"Hey! Why are you guys allowed to eat, and we have to buy something ourselves?"
"You can have a piece when you give us an answer to those numbers."
Eric thought about it, then he accepted the challenge.
"Let's see. We have a lot of numbers, multiplication, division, subtraction, and addition. That's easy. What are we in kindergarten?"
"Good, you have three of them."
Kensi and Brody handed him their cards with big smiles on their face. Maybe he shouldn't have said this too early.
"Come on, I'll help you," Nell suggested and took one of the cards.
1.
83 x 9 – 43 + 58 : 2 – 17 x 5 – 186 : 2 + 34 x 4 : 8 – 361,5 : 8 + 86 x 6 – 45 : 3 + 11 : 4 x 2 – 34 x 3 + 24 : 6 – 13 x 5 + 52 : 2 – 71 + 11 : 4
2.
92 – 43 : 7 x 15 + 54 – 13 x 4 : 2 + 71 : 3 x 7 – 69 + 24 : 8 – 5,25 x 3 – 38 x 5 : 2 + 58 – 17,5 : 4 x 2 + 91 – 34 : 4 x 3 – 29,5 : 5 + 12 : 8
3.
6 x 34 + 360 – 173 : 4 + 36 x 7 – 281,25 : 5 + 327 – 68 x 3 – 406 : 8 + 714 – 82,75 x 2 – 537,5 + 61 : 4 + 629,75 : 2 x 6 – 753 + 21 : 12 – 57,5 : 4 – 20 – 4
The two geeks needed five minutes to solve the riddles with the help of the computers.
"This guy is a bastard. Normally you would have to do the…"
"Eric, we don't want a lecture, we need the solution," Sam interrupted.
"And you shall have it. The first number is a 4, the second one an 8, and the third one is a 1. Can I now have the pizza?"
"Knock yourself out. Kensi, write the kidnapper our answer."
"So now, we have the word 'AUSTRALIA' and three numbers. What do they have in common?" asked Chris.
"That's a good question, Chris. Let's just hope that the kidnapper will tell us about it soon."
An hour passed until they got a new call from MTAC. Gibbs was the first one, who entered the room. Impatiently he waited until the teams hid in the dark, and Eric pressed the button. The shadow man appeared and Gibbs cut him off before he could say anything.
"The second riddle is solved. Now what?"
"Well done, Agent Gibbs. Now you only need to solve the third riddle and then you have everything to find your first team member."
"Give me all the riddles at once. This whole writing-then-calling stuff is useless."
"Sorry, I can't do this. You have to solve one riddle at the time."
"Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? I don't want this game to be over so soon. Three solved riddles, then you get the location from one of your team members."
"You're a bastard."
"Be careful, Agent Gibbs. You don't want to anger me. You won't find them without me. And you will lose time if I decide that you need a longer break between my calls."
"Fine, tell me the next riddle."
"You should get it very soon. Good luck, finding the first one, Agent Gibbs."
The screen went dark.
"Damn it!"
The special agent left MTAC before anyone could stop him. He needed this last riddle! This little thing was the last step between and rescuing one of his people! But there was nothing on his desk. Gibbs turned every paper he saw, but nothing looked like a riddle.
"Gibbs, you need to calm down," Callen said.
"Calm down?! You want me to calm down?! How am I supposed to do that?! My team, my family, is missing! They're locked in air-tight rooms – at least it looks that way – and I only have 90 hours left to find them! But to do this I need that last stupid riddle, which I can't find! So don't tell me to calm down, because this is the last thing I….!"
"Agent Gibbs?"
All heads turned to the mailman, who had appeared with his cart. He was holding a letter in his shaking hand.
"I have a letter for you."
The poor guy shrugged when the furious old man took the letter out of his hands and ripped it open.
"What the hell is that?"
The LA and NOLA-team came closer to get a better look.
"This is Sudoku," Brody explained.
"What?" Pride and Gibbs asked unison.
"It's a riddle, which became at the end of 2005 very popular."
Gibbs looked at the riddle again. How should he solve this one?
/a/WVHJn4C Sudoku 1
This riddle is from „Rätselblock Sudoku Nr. 117", the riddle on page 63.
Level of difficulty: moderate
Again you will have to enter imgur .com before the link.