Cars pulled in from every direction right behind Gibbs. Every NCIS agent in DC had been told to drop what they were working on. The rescue of Timothy McGee was the agency's only priority at the moment. Gibbs ignored the other agents as he rushed straight for DiNozzo and David.
He may have wanted to yell at them for being so careless with their partner, but one glance told him what they were telling themselves was far worse. "What have you got?"
"This." Ziva stood up with an evidence bag in her hand. An empty syringe was inside. "We found this next to the bench he was sitting on."
DiNozzo shook his head in frustration. "Five minutes – he was only out of our sight for five lousy minutes."
Gibbs snagged one of the agents and handed him the bag out of Ziva's hand. "Take this straight back to Abby." Bracing himself, he called the direct line to her lab.
"Gibbs, tell me he's okay."
Apparently somebody had gotten to her first. "Working on it Abs. We're sending a syringe back to the lab. I need fingerprints and I need to know what was in it. I need it now, Abby. "
Abby babbled when she was scared. Her silence meant she was terrified. As soon as he disconnected the call, his phone rang again.
"Gibbs."
"Harrison. I just heard. We've got over a hundred volunteers ready for you. Helicopters search dogs, infrared, the works – whatever you need, if it's on this base, it's yours."
"As soon as we have a direction, I'll let you know… and thanks." He again disconnected his phone and turned back to the remaining members of his team. "Major Harrison has placed all their resources at our disposal." He looked at Ziva. "You studied the file on Maycap more than anyone. Where would he go?"
"I'm not sure." She reviewed the file notes in her head as she spoke. The psychologist had had a field day after his arrest. "He thought of what he did to those children as some sort of art. He thought their mangled bodies were beautiful. McGee's survival made him the unfinished art piece."
DiNozzo angrily ran his hands through his hair. "He needs to kill Tim, but where?"
The answer was so obvious it was painful. Gibbs yelled at the other agents to clear the park as he called Harrison back and dispatched two helicopters to their location. "He's going to throw Tim off that God damned mountain!"
__________
Abby stared at the results in horror. She'd had a sick feeling the moment the syringe came into her lab and used every shortcut she knew to confirm what was in it. She called the dispatcher and got patched through to Gibbs in the helicopter. He didn't waste any time. 'What'ya find, Abby?"
It's the same exact drug cocktail that Wilson was on."
"What will one dose of that do to McGee?"
"It won't turn him into a mind-controlled zombie, but it will weaken him and make him more susceptible." She paused, chewing on the end of her pigtail. "Find him, Gibbs. You've got to find him."
"I'm not coming home until I do."
____________
Tim fell to the ground, exhausted and dizzy. Whatever had been in the needle that plunged into his neck made him cold in a way he never thought possible. His left arm was tied down, tucked under the rope Maycap was using as a leash to drag him up the steep terrain. He knew once they got to the top of the mountain he was a dead man unless he found a way to fight back. He hunched over, trying to look helpless as he loosened the brace supporting his broken shoulder and arm. The bandages on his left hand were becoming bloodstained as a result, but he hoped Maycap wouldn't notice or understand the significance if he did. Maycap didn't look too closely at him as he yanked the injured man back to his feet and Tim was grateful. The air was getting thinner and McGee knew his time to prepare was almost up. When Maycap began laughing, he recognized the sound from when he had been kidnapped as a child. Not willing to wait for his insane assailant, Tim dove at the man, intent on ending it now, one way or another. They rolled around on the ground, neither man getting an immediate upper hand.
_____________
Two helicopters crossed paths repeatedly as they searched their way up the mountain. In one, Gibbs and Harrison quietly searched, looking through high powered infrared binoculars. Harrison tapped Gibbs on the shoulder to get his attention. Searchers had found a stolen car stuck in a culvert part way up the mountain. As soon as Gibbs heard about the car, his gut knew they were further behind McGee and his tormentor than they should be. He called out to the pilot to restart their search from the top of the mountain.
_____________
Abby sat alone in her darkened lab, even her music turned off. The evidence from the last week spread out on the table in front of her. All of it spoke of a terrifying ordeal, but none more vividly than the crushed Sig Sauer in the middle of the table. She sighed and wrapped her lab coat tightly around her. "Bring him home, Gibbs. Bring him home."
__________
Up in her office, Jenny Shepard stared out the window toward the mountain their search teams were converging on. She couldn't see any of it from this distance, but she could visualize it. She shivered and wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "Bring our boy home, Jethro. Bring him home."
__________
A clearing caught the attention of Gibbs as they searched. Needing to be ready to help McGee when the time came, he motioned for the pilot to lower the chopper over it. When Harrison moved to join him, he shook his head. "Keep looking, I need you to be my eyes up here." Reluctantly, the major nodded and resumed his watch. Gibbs jumped, rolling when he hit the ground as years of training took over.
___________
Tony and Ziva continued to search, never letting their guard down, hating to even blink for fear they might miss something. Finally Ziva noticed movement and called in a course correction to the pilot. Watching, Tony spotted it also and called it in to the other helicopter. Two figures were struggling on the ground, neither could be seen clearly. They both slid about thirty feet down the shale surface and then, with a shove, one figure fell the rest of the way. Tony sagged against the glass. "God no, not Tim, please not Tim."
Ziva and Tony stared in horror where the body had landed as the pilot kept the bird hovering in the same spot. Tony fumbled with the radio, finally reaching Major Harrison.
"Somebody fell, who fell?" Tell me who fell, damn it."
Eventually Harrison radioed back. "I don't know. I don't know."