Chapter 5
Tim hung up his phone and walked back into the room where his friends were working on various projects. He headed to Lex and Black. They were sitting at a terminal.
"What's up, Mac?" Lex asked.
"Is there any way we can get this done faster?"
"What's the rush?" Black asked.
"That was one of my coworkers. My boss just got a call from the murderers. They've kidnapped his wife. We need to find out what we're up against before we have to start worrying about her being killed."
Black muttered something under his breath. Tim didn't ask. Black had some very...colorful terms he was fond of using at regular intervals and Tim didn't mind when he missed them. Lex, however, turned around to the rest of the room.
"We need to focus on what Mac brought us," she said. "It's got personal."
The others moved over to the terminal.
"What's the problem?" Spring asked.
"Kidnapping," Tim said.
"Where are we at?"
"It's all the corruption in the data that's the problem," Lex explained. "It's hard to get a sense of the encryption when we can't get a good running start on it."
"Okay, so who's going to take point on this?" Jart asked.
"Mac is, of course. It's his thing," Black said.
Tim smiled. There were no real names used here. Everyone picked their own nickname and for some reason, one syllable was the rule. He had chosen Mac because he couldn't think of anything else.
"I can do it. Who's my backseat driver?"
"I'll take that role," Jart said with a grin. He generally liked that part. He liked being front and center less.
Lex sat beside Tim to be the passenger, Jart hovering right behind, and then the others were arrayed around. Only one person could really work on a project like this at a time, but having lots of eyes and minds bent to it helped move along faster.
In this case, Tim just really hoped it was fast enough. More was on the line than just solving a case.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tony didn't feel like he could make any of the usual jokes he would make to relieve the tension. When they got to Jethro's house, it was work and nothing else. Jethro said almost nothing, and the house was just way too empty.
His worry didn't stop him from being surprised anew at how much the Gibbs house had changed since Hollis had moved in. It wasn't girly by any means, but there were family photos on the mantle, pictures on the wall...and the decor wasn't bland because Hollis cared about it. It was...inviting and it looked like people actually lived here.
Ziva gestured at the place where the side table had been knocked over.
"Hollis put up a fight, Boss," Tony said. "Must have been more than one. No way would she get taken out by one guy."
Jethro nodded mutely. He had a note that had been stuck to his door. From FedEx saying that the delivery had been missed and he'd have to reschedule.
"There are some fingerprints here," Ziva said. "We will have to see if they belong only to you and Hollis or if they belong to the others."
Jethro was just standing there for a few seconds and then he seemed to get back in control of himself. He walked to the door and began dusting both sides of it for prints. Tony continued to document the scene. They worked quickly and efficiently as always...but almost silently. No banter, no chatting. Just working.
Tony wished that there was something to say to ease the tension, but they had no idea how long it would take that guy to call again. They wanted to get as much stuff as they could before heading back to NCIS to get the evidence in Abby's capable hands.
"How long do you think we'll have, Boss?" Tony asked as they were finishing up.
"Maybe two days at most," Jethro said. "Probably more like twenty-four hours."
Tony nodded. That was kind of what he'd been thinking.
"Well, then...I guess we need to get back."
Jethro only nodded. He was really upset, Tony decided, but he wasn't going to act like he was. Okay, then. Tony could handle that.
"Ziva? You ready?"
"Yes," she said and nodded. "I think we have what we are going to get from this location."
Jethro strode out of the house without another word and they were right behind him.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Hollis tried to be as still as possible. She was looking for weaknesses in where she was being held without actually moving. The situation wasn't completely hopeless. Her hands were cuffed to the bed, but only her hands. Not her feet. Her hands were far enough apart that she couldn't get herself free that way and she wasn't flexible enough to use her feet to pick the cuffs although the image made her smile.
She looked up at the headboard. It was wood...not that it mattered. Hollis cursed the fact that she didn't wear bobbypins. One of those in her hair and she could have picked the lock on the cuffs. No such luck. Well, then, next time, she'd know better.
Then, her attention was taken by the man who sat watching her. She didn't like how he had stared at her almost constantly since she'd awakened. There was a disturbing look in his eye, and when he stood up and walked to her, she tensed.
"So...do you want to have some fun?" he asked.
Hollis scoffed. "Not even if you were the last man on earth," she said.
He started to lean in closer.
"You don't have a choice."
"I said, no," Hollis said.
He leaned in still closer. ...and it was close enough. Hollis brought up her knee as hard as she could and her aim was very good. She got him right where it hurt and then she pushed him away with her feet. He was on the floor in more than a little misery. Hollis prepared herself for punishment. Someone like him wouldn't take that kind of treatment well.
She was right. After a few seconds, he got up and backhanded Hollis across the face. It hurt. A lot. Her head was ringing a little bit. She saw him raising his hand again and prepared to take it.
"Manny! What are you doing?"
"Teaching her a lesson," Manny muttered.
"No."
"She kicked me!"
"Stay away from her, then," he said. "Take a break. I'll watch her."
Manny stalked out of the room.
"He doesn't like you," the man said.
"The feeling is mutual," Hollis said. "We'd get along fine if he'd learn one thing."
"What's that?"
"No means no. That goes for you, too," Hollis said.
The man seemed unfazed by what she said and Hollis felt the worry building up in her chest. The fact that these men weren't bothering to disguise themselves told her that she was probably going to be collateral damage. She'd have to hope for something to give, but she would not let them get the better of her.
"I'm going to talk to your loving husband. You ready?"
"For what?"
"To prove your continued state of existence."
"Yes."
"Good."
He pulled out his phone and dialed.
"Hello, Agent Gibbs. Have you had enough time to contemplate life without your wife?"
He listened and then laughed.
"You misunderstand me. I'm not negotiating. The flash drive for your wife. Nothing else. I'll call you tomorrow to set up the exchange. If you don't satisfy me, I won't leave anything but the pieces."
Again, he listened.
"Yes, I can let you talk to your wife."
He walked over and put the phone to Hollis' ear.
"Are you restrained, Holly?"
"Yes."
"Anything you can tell me?"
"No good deed goes unpunished," she said...paused and then added, "I love you."
"I'm going to get you out of there, Holly. That's a promise."
Hollis smiled but didn't get to say anything else. The man pulled the phone away.
"She's alive...but if you don't give me that drive in twenty-four hours, she won't be any longer."
He hung up and looked at her.
"That's a promise. I always keep my promises," he said.
Hollis smiled.
"So does my husband."
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
The doors to the lab opened and Abby spun around. She ran to Jethro and hugged him tightly.
"We're going to find her, Gibbs! I promise! I don't have any results from the fingerprints yet, but there are some aren't yours or Hollis' or anyone else that we know! I'm running them, but they're not turning up yet. We'll find something! I know we will!"
Jethro accepted her effusive reaction but he wanted something else.
"Abby, I need you to do something."
"What?"
"Tony and Ziva are going to talk to people, but Holly talked to two guys on the street this morning, gave them directions. She told me that they're the ones who have her. There's a camera at the intersection. About six-thirty this morning."
"You want me to see if I can get a picture of them! If we have a picture, we can try to see if other people are looking for them! I know I can do that! Go away and come back later!"
Jethro smiled and kissed Abby on the head...and then, obeyed her orders. Sometimes, Abby worked better without an audience to impress.
He was waiting for Tim to get back and Tony and Ziva were doing their part. What he had to do right now was wait...and he hated waiting, especially when he knew that Hollis would be killed if he couldn't figure out something. Needing something to occupy his time while he was waiting, he went down to Autopsy.
Ducky looked up from her examination of Bass' body.
"Jethro, I heard. You've spoken to Hollis?"
Jethro nodded.
"And?"
"She's alive, but these guys aren't kidding."
"How is she?"
Jethro smiled. "She threatened to kill me if I used this as a reason to divorce her."
Ducky chuckled. "Sounds like her. She wouldn't have said for better or for worse if she didn't mean it."
"This is a little worse than I'd planned."
"Well, that goes without saying, doesn't it?"
Jethro nodded.
"You're afraid for her, aren't you."
"I don't want to lose someone else, Duck," Jethro confessed. "Done that already."
Ducky nodded sympathetically. "I understand, Jethro. I do...but all is not lost yet."
Jethro nodded again, but he was starting to get a sick feeling in his stomach. Now that he'd made the comparison with Shannon in his head, he was afraid of losing another person he loved.
Before he could confess any of that aloud, his phone started to ring. He looked at it, but it was Tim, not Hollis' captor.
"What is it, McGee?" he asked, walking briskly out of Autopsy.
"Boss, we haven't been able to decrypt the flash drive."
"Then, why did you call?" he snapped.
"But we've been able to figure out who was probably encrypting the data. Probably. The patterns are consistent as far as we can tell."
"Who?"
"The CIA."
Jethro came to a stop. Of all the people he didn't want to get involved with in this case...
"You sure about this?" he asked as he got on the elevator.
"As sure as we can be without getting at the information itself."
"How sure is that?"
"Approximately 96.7 percent sure."
Jethro smiled. That sounded like a bunch of geeks.
"Okay. We don't need to know exactly what's on it. Get the copy and come back."
"Right, Boss."
"Get the copy, McGee."
"I will, Boss. Promise."
Jethro just hung up and headed up to Vance's office. Getting the CIA involved in this probably wasn't Vance's idea of a good time, either. He bypassed Vance's assistant who saw him and just rolled her eyes.
"Agent Gibbs, what is it?" Vance asked.
Any other time, Jethro would have enjoyed needling Vance just a bit and Vance would have enjoyed needling him back...but not right now.
"I need to get someone from the CIA to admit that they were running some kind of operation in Rota. That they screwed up and got a Marine killed."
"Would you care to unpack that?"
"Hollis got kidnapped by whoever killed Lance Corporal Bass and they're demanding that we exchange the flash drive for her."
Vance sobered instantly.
"I'm sorry, Gibbs. How is the CIA involved?"
"It's their flash drive. I'm guessing that their operative handed it off to Bass and asked him to take it to the drop. Whoever killed him found out and tried to get it back. I need to know who it was and where they might be. I have until tomorrow."
"I'll get someone in MTAC right now," Vance said.
"There's no time for evasion, Leon," Jethro said. "I don't care what their restrictions are. I need to know who it is and I need them to help us catch them before they kill my wife."
"Catch?"
"Unless they resist," Jethro said. He wouldn't feel a shred of guilt or shed a single tear if killing was required. He knew that Vance could see that.
"Understood, but nothing illegal, Jethro. No matter what the cost, you don't go in there breaking the law."
Jethro said nothing. He didn't take kindly to people attacking those he loved. Vance didn't push the issue. He got up, walked by Jethro and out of his office.
"You might as well be there with me, Gibbs," he said over his shoulder.
"I'd planned on it."
"I figured. Come on."
Jethro followed Vance to MTAC. He'd rather have the CIA representative here in person so that he could make sure the man knew just how dangerous it was to claim ignorance right now.
He wouldn't take no for an answer.