Drowning

Chapter 29

Abby sprang up from Gibbs desk chair as she saw McGee, Ziva and Gibbs walk quickly out of the elevator.

'Did you find him?' she asked, her voice high and anxious. Gibbs gave a slight shake of his head and patted her on the arm before taking his seat.

'But he has to be there!' protested Abby. 'The sandalwood and the veg food were like total giveaways! What did Miranda say?'

'Miranda said nothing, Abby,' Ziva told her. 'She is not at her business. There is a sign on her door saying she is taking holidays for two weeks.'

'But that's like so not true!' exclaimed Abby. 'Miranda was telling me about some spiritual convention thing that's happening in this city in the next couple of days. There's no way she'd go on holidays and miss it!'

'Perhaps she was a part of Partington's kidnapping and is now involved in Tony's disappearance,' said Ziva.

'But that doesn't make any sense,' said Abby as she began to pace up and down the office. 'She tried to help us find Dianne, and she's just too nice a person to be a kidnapper.'

'Even the most hardened criminals can appear to be charming and nice,' countered Ziva, earning herself a look of disapproval from Abby. She looked across at Gibbs who was talking uncharacteristically softly on the telephone. He looked pale and drawn. It was hard to know whether it was the result of worry about Tony, pain from his wound, or a combination of both. Ziva wondered with whom he was speaking. It had to have something to do with Tony's disappearance. One of the things she had come to know about Gibbs was that he was particularly single-minded when it came to cases that affected him personally. Her boss ended the call and turned his attention to McGee.

'What have you got McGee?' he asked the younger agent who looked up from his computer with a surprised look on his face.

'How did you know I have something?' he asked, wondering if Gibbs indeed had some psychic abilities of his own.

'Because you started tapping away the moment we got in here, and you look like you've found something,' said Gibbs. 'Now give it up.'

'I ran a search on the building that Fortune's Fool is in,' explained McGee. 'It looked kind of old, so it was likely that they'd be something on it. It is, in fact, a building of significant historical value. It's mentioned as a site of considerable criminal activity in 1925.'

'Prohibition,' said Gibbs. McGee nodded his head.

'What is that?' asked Ziva.

'Otherwise known as the Noble Experiment,' said McGee. 'From 1919 to 1933, the sale, manufacture and consumption of alcohol were banned. As a result, Mafia activity exploded, largely running on the profits of selling alcohol on the black market. Gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran made millions of dollars through illegal alcohol sales.'

'Bugs Moran,' said Ziva, 'sounds like a character in a movie.'

'Bugsy Malone was a film about Fat Sam who ran an illegal bar hidden behind a bookstore,' said McGee, his eyes excited. 'Boss, the building Vay runs her business from was a speakeasy disguised as a grocery store.'

'But what has this got to do with finding Tony?' exclaimed Abby. She really loved McGee but if he embarked on any more spouting forth of historical information without Tony there to ridicule him, she was going to have to slap him.

'The business was run from the cellar,' McGee told her. 'Boss, the entrance was via a concealed trapdoor in the garden. There's hardly any garden now. It looked as if the building has been extended. The trapdoor would have been incorporated.'

'Let's go,' said Gibbs as he began to stride towards the elevator.

'Gibbs,' said Ziva as they waited for the doors to open, 'perhaps it would be better if you stayed here. If we find Tony, his kidnapper is likely to be armed. There may be some conflict and you are not yet fully recovered.'

Gibbs fixed her with a hard stare.

'Perhaps you would like to wait here,' he suggested, his voice dangerously calm.

Ziva thought briefly about how frustrating it would be to sit at her desk and do nothing while the others attempted to find and rescue Tony. It would be very difficult for her, and she had only known Tony for a fraction of the time Gibbs had known him.

'You have made your point,' she said quietly before following him into the elevator.

………………………………………………………………

Miranda had never felt more helpless. When her nephew was holding Dianne Partington captive in her cellar, at least Miranda had been able to help the situation by convincing NCIS to back off, thereby hastening the ransom exchange and Dianne's release. She had also been able to provide the young woman with good quality food. It had always been her intention to inform the authorities about who was responsible, one the danger to the young officer was gone. She had felt somewhat empowered despite the difficult situation. But now she could do precious little to help either herself or the ailing man sharing her prison. She had already done what she could. She had thrown her thick cardigan across Tony's legs and engaged him in conversation during his increasingly infrequent periods of consciousness.

A sudden change in Tony's breathing alerted her that he had woken up again. She felt another pang of guilt as he coughed painfully.

'I'm so sorry,' she said.

'Not your fault,' managed Tony, regarding her through half-closed eyes.

'But it's my nephew who's doing this,' protested Miranda. 'He was after money to begin with, but now it's like he's more interested in hurting you. I should have told you about him from the start.'

'You couldn't risk her life,' Tony told her, shifting uncomfortably against the wall and floor. 'As for Brogan being your nephew, that's not your fault. Believe me, it's a bummer that you can't choose your relatives.' The combination of moving and the effort of conversation provoked another coughing fit that left Tony spent and light-headed.

'Tony,' ventured Vay after a few moments of silence.

'Mmm?' was his response.

'Help is coming.,' she tried to assure him. 'I know it is. Abby is going to love the cards and the beautiful cloth. You're going to recover from this and have many more happy times with her and the rest of your friends.'

Tony heard her and vaguely wondered how the hell she knew the present had been intended for Abby, but then he remembered that she was the psychic after all and you couldn't possibly expect to keep any secrets from her. You couldn't keep secrets from Gibbs either, but for different reasons. Vay might really be a real deal of a psychic (Tony hadn't decided that yet), but Gibbs was in a league of his own. His mind wandered happily for a while before he felt a familiar tightening in his heart. It had nothing to do with restricted blood flow or the urge to cough. It was an old, familiar companion – anxiety.

'Not going to bring the money,' Tony mumbled, his eyelids heavy and his eyes glassy.

'What did you say?' asked Vay, unsure whether Tony was fully conscious or not, but worried even more than she was before. It seemed her attempts to reassure him had failed. But it was true that help was near. She could feel it.

'I heard him say it,' continued Tony in a whisper. 'He said he would never waste it on me.'

Miranda felt a shiver run through her and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She had met Jethro Gibbs, Tony's Boss. She had gauged his integrity and his protective attitude towards Tony. Tony's ramblings may well be a suppressed truth, but she was confident that Tony was not referring to Gibbs.