Chapter 11

As Gibbs and Ziva left to talk to the new CEO of Lowell Pharmaceuticals, Tim's mind continued to turn over these latest revelations. "Abs, if this is related to the FDA hearing, someone took a huge risk in kidnapping a naval doctor. Check with your sources and learn everything you can about this new treatment. See if anything pops out at you. Meanwhile, I'll hack into Lowell's servers and see what I can find out from that end."

"Agent Sciuto reporting for duty, sir." She saluted him, then grabbed Tim in a hug. "Don't worry, Timmy, we'll find him. But you'd better let Tony know what's going on. If this ties back to the plague — he's out there without anyone on his six." She let him go.

"Calling him on my way to the bullpen," he said, as she went to her desk to start checking in with her sources. "Come up if you find anything."

Tim headed upstairs, pressing Tony's speed dial number.

"DiNozzo."

"Abby found something. Lowell Pharmaceuticals has a motive to stop the report Brad's been working on. Gibbs and Ziva are headed there now."

"Lowell? Didn't she do enough harm?"

"Hannah Lowell isn't responsible this time. She's been dead for five years," Tim said. "Died the day you left Bethesda."

"So they have another nut case over there?"

"Tony, just get your interviews done, watch your six, and make it back here in one piece. If this goes all the way back to the plague, you could be a target."

"Well, that's a cheerful thought." Tony sighed. "I should be back within the hour. Call me if anything else hinky happens, McDowner."

Tony hung up before Tim could reply, leaving Tim to mutter about annoying senior field agents as he sat down at his desk and started hacking into Lowell. He knew Tony used the smart-ass comments as a shield when things hit too close to home, but that didn't make them any easier to take.

By the time Tim had made it through Lowell's security, Abby had migrated to Gibbs' desk to make her phone calls, even though she hadn't found anything useful to the investigation yet. Tim smiled, knowing she was just worried and trying to stay close. Before he could say anything about it, Tony returned.

"Sitrep, Tim," the senior agent said.

"I'm into Lowell's servers but still sifting through all their databases to find out anything," Tim replied. "Each project has a codename, and without knowing that, I have to check each one."

"Codename?"

Tim looked up to see Vance standing next to Tony in front of his desk. "Director?"

"Somebody want to fill me in, Agent McGee?"

Before he could reply, Abby hung up the phone and jumped up to join the others. "I found a connection!"

"What ya got, Abs?" Tony asked.

Abby slugged him in the arm. "Tony, you're not Gibbs. Timmy, give me the remote."

Tim handed her the plasma controller and moved around his desk to sit on the edge facing the big screen.

"Lowell started working on this drug as an offshoot of their bioweapons vaccine program," she said. "That's the same program Hannah Lowell got the plague from."

"Yeah, we know this, Abby," Tony said. "We were there."

"I wasn't," Vance said. "Continue, Miss Sciuto."

"The bitch stole the bug from her researchers. They had it because they were working on a vaccine to the plague in case it was ever used as a bioweapon, but a Navy-funded R&D outfit beat them to it and got the military contract. So the Lowell started looking into other ways they could use the research to recoup their costs and discovered some promising treatments for lung infections and respiratory ailments." She pulled up the same report she'd shown Tim, Gibbs, and Ziva earlier when they were down in her lab. "They marketed a couple of asthma drugs, but nothing that's any better than others already on the market, and definitely none good enough to bring in the big-time bucks Lowell needs to recoup its costs. But the one they have up before the FDA next week could be. It's designed to treat chronic bronchitis and COPD, and their trials show it's much more effective than current drug therapy."

"Current drug therapy isn't very good," Tony said, pausing as his mind worked through the information Abby had given them. "It has a lot of side effects, especially long-term, because it's basically steroids boosting lung function."

"Exactly," Abby said. "That's why Brad's project is so important to NIH. It's a lot more effective and, because the steroid doses are lower and done in cycles, they don't wreck as much havoc on the rest of the body."

"The side effects are definitely killer," Tim replied. "Tony was worse than a decaffeinated Gibbs when Brad put him on the steroids, and that was his lower-dose treatment." He ignored Tony's wordless cry of objection. "Abs, what are the side effects from the Lowell drug?"

"Not good," Abby said. "They're different ones from the steroid approach, but they're still going to rip up your body."

"So what's the connection, Miss Sciuto?" Vance crossed his arms and worked his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.

"If the drug comes out of the bioweapons research, the same researcher who created the plague bug Hannah Lowell used to infect Tony is probably on this project, too," Abby said.

"Dr. Ridesh Pandi," Vance said.

Tim jerked his head in surprise at the director and saw Abby and Tony do the same. "Director?"

"Pandi sued NCIS, arguing he sustained post-traumatic stress disorder from Gibbs' behavior during the investigation into Hannah Lowell," Vance said. "A federal magistrate just ruled on the case before the holidays, and she determined that given the circumstances of the case, neither NCIS nor Agent Gibbs was responsible."

"Wait, what do you mean 'just ruled'?" Tony asked. "That was almost five years ago."

"Civil cases take a long time to resolve, Agent DiNozzo," Vance said. "Agent Lee had done a lot of the legwork on the case, and after her death, we successfully petitioned for additional time to check her work and make sure it hadn't been compromised. The magistrate was very accommodating. Since Pandi was still able to work in his chosen field and at the workplace where the trauma occurred, it cast a rather large shadow over his claim of PTSD."

"So Pandi has a grudge against NCIS and a reason to stop Brad's report," Tim said as he returned to his seat and focused once more on his computer.

"Not just NCIS," Abby said. "He's got a grudge against Gibbs."

Vance turned to Tim. "McGee, what do you have?"

"I'm just checking all the projects Pandi is working on," he said, fingers tapping. "There are only two." A few more clicks, and Tim sent a screenshot to the plasma. "Here are the names of everybody involved in those projects."

"McGee, track them down," Vance said.

"Yes, sir. Abby, I'm going to send phone numbers and car VIN numbers to you as I get them."

"I'll run them to see if anybody was in the vicinity of Brad's house this morning," she said, taking a seat at Gibbs' desk again. "It could be Pandi, but he could just be a smokescreen."

"Probably is," Tony said. "He's more likely to go after Gibbs than after Brad. Preventing Brad from finishing his report before Lowell's hearing in front of the FDA would be a financial motive. But if Pandi was angry over the PTSD ruling, he'd be after revenge, not cash."

"I'll check financial records on these employees while I'm at it," Tim said. "See who needs the kind of money that FDA approval would provide."

"You do that, and I'll check for SEC filings," Tony said. "Some companies issue stock options as part of compensation. If this drug gets approved, the Lowell's stock price will shoot up, and somebody with options could cash in and make a killing. If anybody's got major financial problems, they might be counting on the success of this drug to bail them out." He headed to his desk.

Vance just looked around. "Good work, people. Keep me in the loop and tell Agent Gibbs I need to see him when he returns. Oh, and I came down to tell you that we have cots set up in the lounge since you'll likely be here for the duration when this storm comes in. No need to sleep on the floor behind your desks for the next few nights."

"Timmy, you and Tony can take my futon down in the lab. I'll take one of the cots. The futon's big enough for two."

Tim raised one eyebrow as Tony snorted.

"You've got cameras set up down there, don't you, Abs?" Tony said.

"Of course she does," Tim replied, biting back a chuckle at the expression on Abby's face.

"I don't think I want to hear any more," Vance said. "Miss Scuito, no using NCIS resources for personal reasons."

"Yes, sir," she said.

Once Vance walked away, she stuck her tongue out at Tim and Tony. "Just for that, you can sleep on separate cots instead of cuddling together on my futon with nobody around." She smirked. "After all, 'no using NCIS resources for personal reasons', like snuggling."

"Abs, if we don't find Brad, we're not going to be sleeping tonight," Tony pointed out.

Just like that, the mood in the room deflated, and the three turned back to their work, anxious to find the clue that would lead them to their friend.

Tony picked up his phone and dialed Gibbs' number.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Boss, we might have a problem."

"Well, yeah, DiNozzo, ya think? What now?"

"Vance said a judge threw out Dr. Pandi's civil suit against NCIS for damages from PTSD just last month." Tony massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Last month? They took my deposition on that years ago, back when Jenny was still alive." Gibbs growled. "The case made it to court right after Vance broke up the team. I testified while you were on the Seahawk. Why is this only now coming up?"

Tony briefly filled him in on what they had learned and Vance's request to see him, ending with, "So it might be Pandi, or he might be a decoy for somebody else. But if it's Pandi, you're his next logical target."

"Not just me, DiNozzo. The judge was the one who ruled against him."

"So see if she's gotten any threats or had any unexplained incidents. On it, Boss."

"Tell Vance we'll be back once we're done at Lowell, and file for a search warrant. We're going to need one to get a look at information on anybody working on that research."

"I'll get Vance to file it," Tony replied. "I'm Brad's patient, and Tim's dad is in the trial. If they try and argue proprietary data, having either of us on there will just slow things down."

"Good thinking, DiNozzo."

"Thanks, Boss. We'll call once we come up with more information. Tim and Abby are tracking everybody on the research team. I'll tell Vance you're not due back for a while."

At the silence on the other end, he knew Gibbs had hung up.

"What am I going to do, Agent DiNozzo?" Vance stood by his desk, face impassive.

"File for a search warrant for Lowell Pharmaceuticals, Director," Tony replied.

Vance nodded. "Good thinking," he said. "Pandi's past involvement in your case plus the upcoming FDA hearing should be enough for probable cause, so we won't need to use anything McGee's obtained under the table. Let me know if you need additional agents for legwork." He checked his watch. "We only have about eight hours before the snow is predicted to start falling."

Tony nodded and reached for his phone to call the office of the magistrate who had ruled on Pandi's PTSD suit, only to find nobody there to answer. "Great."

He started pulling SEC filings to see who at Lowell had stock options and within 20 minutes had a list of employees to compare to Tim's list of project participants.

"How quickly can you cross-reference these, Tim?" he asked as he e-mailed the list to his partner.

"Cross-reference wh-?" Tim paused as his e-mail dinged. "Oh, those. Give me a minute."

By the time Tony walked over and crouched next to Tim to look at his monitor, the computer had spit out five names, in addition to Pandi, that appeared on both lists.

"Margaret Saks, Jenelle McLachlan, Richard Carlisle, David Zorn, and Paige Rose," Tim read off. "Abby, focus your searches on those six."

She nodded without looking up from the monitor in front of her.

"Tim, you research their financials while I run background checks on them," Tony said, returning to his own desk. "I'll call Ziva and give her the names, since Gibbs is probably scaring the hell out of whoever is dumb enough to try and keep him out of the CEO's office. If he scares them into cooperating, they might be able to question them."

That phone call took just a few minutes, and soon he joined Tim and Abby in frantic silence, broken only by rapid typing and Tony's phone calls to potential sources on the six suspects.

They were so engrossed in their work that when Vance said "What do we know?" Tony jerked his head up in surprise, having missed the director's entrance.

He started off. "We know that six of the people working on the COPD project have stock options in Lowell." He went down the list of names as he walked over to stand next to Vance in front of the plasma. "Pandi was already on the suspect list, and so far nothing I've found takes him off of it. He was shattered by Gibbs' interrogation during the plague investigation, and friends and family say he hasn't been the same since."

"It also drained his wallet," Tim said, sending documents to the big screen. "He was making a good living before Hannah Lowell stole the plague bug from him, but his finances took a hit during his pursuit of NCIS in court. He took several weeks off after the case, but Lowell didn't pay him short-term disability. So either he didn't file for medical leave or they refused to grant it. Those documents aren't on the Lowell servers, so I can't tell."

"But if Lowell refused to grant disability, wouldn't he be after them?" Abby asked. "Why go after Brad? If the FDA rejects Lowell's drug in favor of Brad's treatment, it would help him get revenge on Lowell."

"If he's broke, he'd probably rather get the stock options," Tony said. "If he really hated Lowell that much, why not go work for another company? There are lots of biotech and pharmaceutical firms out there."

Tim stood to point to details on the screen. "Pandi's not the only one in a financial hole. Saks, Carlisle, and Zorn all could use the money." He used the remote to send more documents to the plasma. "Their salaries are lower than the industry standard. Lowell lured them onto the project with stock options instead."

Tony frowned. "That's a big gamble. Lots of R&D doesn't go anywhere. They could end up working for years without getting that big payout. That definitely gives them the incentive to do whatever it takes to make sure the drug succeeds." He turned to look at Abby, still working at Gibbs' desk. "Abs, have you found anything on these three?"

She tipped her head from side to side, pigtails bobbing. "Yes and no. Carlisle has the most holes. He's been turning his cell phone off at night for the past few weeks, and it hadn't been turned back on during the time Brad went missing. Nothing to track there. His car has been sitting in the lot at Lowell since last night, but he might have stayed to watch over an experiment run. I do it all the time."

"What about the others?" Tim asked.

"Saks lives about two blocks from where Brad disappeared," Abby said. "Her car didn't move, but she might have been able to move him on foot to her house, then take him out later in her car. She made a couple of stops before going to Lowell this morning, including one at a self-storage place in Bethesda." She twisted one pigtail around her finger. "If she left Brad there, at least he'd be out of the weather."

"And probably snowed in until Tuesday or Wednesday," Tony said. "He can't last that long without water. We've got to figure this out soon."

Tim rubbed his shoulder. "We will. Abs, what about Zorn?"

"Nothing hinky," she said. "He went home last night and stayed there until he left for work this morning based on both his cell and car GPS."

He turned to Vance. "Director, did you get a search warrant?"

Vance nodded, but before he could say anything, Gibbs and Ziva walked out of the elevator.

"Lowell's CEO refused to talk, and security threw us out," Ziva said.

"I couldn't get a search warrant for the company," Vance said, "but the judge agreed we have probable cause to search Pandi's house."

Gibbs nodded. "Tim, you and Ziva go."

Vance frowned. "But isn't McGee more valuable here working the computer trail?"

"I'm doing that," Abby said. "Tim, can I use your desk?" She smiled at Gibbs, who was waiting for her to move from behind his desk.

"Help yourself, Abs," he said. "Just transfer the financial searches to Tony's computer so he can keep investigating those."

She nodded and switched desks. "Tony and I can handle it, Leon," she said. Tim and Ziva took that as their cue and left.

"I'm not letting Tony near that man's house," Gibbs said. "He might be after him."

"Thanks, Boss," Tony said. "Not to mention, if you send me, it contaminates the case. I don't hold a grudge against Pandi — he wasn't the nut who tried to kill me — but a defense attorney would argue that way in court. If he really kidnapped Brad, I don't want him to walk. Save me for interrogation, where everything is recorded to refute any claims of funny business."

"Gibbs, with me." As the team leader followed Vance upstairs, Tony wondered what it was about, but pushed that aside. If it was about Brad, Gibbs would tell them, and if it wasn't, it could wait until they found him. He returned to his desk and started reviewing the search results for the financials Tim had started. These went way beyond the standard background checks he knew how to pull. Sure, he could decipher the information in the documents, but he had no idea how to locate them. Not for the first time, he marveled at Tim's skills at extracting information from computers.

Between the financial records and Abby's searches, they soon eliminated McLachlan and Rose from the suspect list, and Saks was looking unlikely. That left Zorn, Carlisle, and Pandi.

"Should we go question them, Boss?" Tony asked.

Before Gibbs could reply, his cell rang. The team leader listened for a second, then said "Go pick him up. I'll get Legal to meet you there with a warrant."

"Pandi?" Tony said.

"They found a map marked with Brad's running route in the pocket of his overcoat," Gibbs said. "Ziva bagged the map and coat, but I'm going to get Vance to send another team over there to process the house for additional evidence."

Tony nodded and sat back in his chair. He hadn't believed in prayer since his mother died and his father shipped him off to boarding school, but he was beginning to wish he did. With less than seven hours remaining until the snow was supposed to start falling, Brad was running out of time.