The basement looked too big now the boat was gone, and Gibbs had decided it was time to start a new project. He'd been out shopping that morning for wood working magazines, and had been spending his afternoon working his way through them, looking for inspiration. He was about to go upstairs for a fresh cup of coffee when his phone rang.
"Gibbs."
"Special Agent Gibbs, I'm Theresa McGee, Tim's mom, have you heard from Tim today?"
Gibbs could hear the barely suppressed tension in her voice.
"No, we're not on duty."
"I hope you don't mind me calling, Tim gave us your number in case of...emergencies; this could be nothing, but...he left a message last night, said he was on the way to Luray for the weekend, but his car broke down. He was going to call us when he got to his hotel, but we haven't heard from him...we've called his cell, but it goes to voice-mail..."
The coffee was already forgotten and Gibbs was heading up the stairs as Theresa continued.
"Drew…Tim's dad, he called the hotel…Tim never checked in...I could be over reacting, but with everything that's happened…I'm worried Agent Gibbs."
"He'll be okay Mrs McGee, maybe they couldn't get his car started and he checked in to another hotel, the battery could be dead on his cell…"
There was a very faint, nervous laugh from the other end of the line.
"Oh...of course! I didn't think of that...thank you Agent Gibbs."
"No need for thanks, I'll make some calls, get out a BOLO if I have to…that's…"
"I know what it is, Tim's mentioned them."
"I have your number, I'll call you soon."
Gibbs switched off his phone, tried Tim's number, no answer, he picked up his car keys; it would be quicker getting everything organised if he was at NCIS...He drove to Headquarters with a nagging feeling in his gut...something was wrong, he knew Tim well enough to know that if he promised to call his parents, that's exactly what he would do, unless...
Gibbs sat at his desk staring unseeing at the computer screen, the BOLO had gone out an hour ago; he hadn't issued it right away. He'd called round the team, in case Tim had contacted them, nothing. Ziva had gone to Tim's apartment, he wasn't there. During the course of the late afternoon they had all made their way in to NCIS, last time Tim had been out of contact they had all been terrified that he would take his own life…could they have missed something? He seemed to be getting along okay at work, a little quieter than he had been before his arrest, but he'd done really well in that hostage situation at the prison…come out of it stronger than ever…and they had all been convinced that they were working things out together, as a team. Surely they couldn't have misread how Tim was dealing with everything?
Gibbs glanced around the squad room. He hadn't asked any of them to come, but as soon as he had started asking about Tim he knew they'd be here. If this had happened a few months ago, would he have got the same reaction? He didn't know, but it wasn't a few months ago, this was now, and they were all worried that Tim was still vulnerable. Tony, Ziva and Jimmy were contacting everyone in Tim's email address book; Abby was down in the lab trying to get a trace on Tim's phone, and his car. Ducky was 'helping' her; Gibbs knew that his old friend would want to be involved in the search, and he needed someone to keep an eye on Abby, she had a tendency to go off the rails when Tim was in trouble…He shook his head, no need to go down that road, they didn't know he was in trouble, there could be a simple explanation…but Gibbs knew, deep down in his gut he knew, something was wrong. He needed coffee, but he didn't want to leave, he wanted to be here if they got a hit on the BOLO, he glanced at his watch, almost two and a half hours since he'd arrived, and they still had nothing.
His phone rang, and three pairs of eyes turned expectantly at the sound, he hit speaker so that they could all hear.
"Gibbs."
"Agent Gibbs; my name is Trooper Scalia, Virginia State Police. I'm calling in regard to a BOLO you issued."
"Ti…Agent McGee is with you?"
"Well, that's just it, we're not sure…there's a John Doe at Rockingham Memorial Hospital, Harrisonburg; answers the general description, height, weight, hair colour, he's unconscious, hurt pretty bad."
"Car accident?"
"No sir, this was no accident, but…I don't think this can be your man, he was found out in Shenandoah with a sign round his neck saying he's a sexual predator…doesn't sound like he could be an NCIS agent…"
He could see the expressions change on the faces around him…this couldn't be Tim…the Trooper had to be right, but they all knew Tim had been charged with…no, that couldn't be coming back to haunt them...to hurt Tim, it couldn't be...
"Are you still there Sir?"
Gibbs snapped back into the here and now.
"Trooper, I'm going to come and take a look at this John Doe."
"I'll meet you at the hospital."
"Thanks."
For a moment no one moved, no one spoke; then Tony voiced the hopes of all of them.
"It's not McGee. Why would he be in Shenandoah in the middle of winter?"
Gibbs was on his feet.
"I have to go...I'll take Ducky; if it's him..."
He headed down to Abby's lab, she looked up immediately.
"You shouldn't be here, I don't have anything for you...oh wait, have you heard from Tim? Is he okay?"
Ducky took her hand, he knew something was wrong.
"Let Jethro speak Abigail."
"Nothing definite Abs...We've had a possible hit on our BOLO...have you got anything on his car?"
"Wait Gibbs...the BOLO...where is Tim?"
"Abs, it may not be Tim, and until I'm certain...we have to keep searching. Did you trace his car?"
"What do you mean, it may not be Tim? Why don't you know?"
Her eyes grew wide with fear.
"Is...are you looking at a bo...I can't say it..."
Gibbs rushed to her side and held her tight.
"No Abs! There's someone...he's been hurt...makes it hard to recognise him...I'm going to check, Ducky will come with me...if it's Tim, Ducky will make sure he's being looked after, okay?"
"No...I won't be okay 'til he's home Gibbs...and his car...There's nothing Gibbs, and that's...hinky...I mean, his phone could be switched off, but the car...I should be able to get something on the car..."
Gibbs swiftly kissed the top of her head.
"Keep at it Abs...I'll call as soon as I have news. Duck?"
"Of course Jethro; Abigail would you like Jimmy to come and help?"
She gave him a brief hug.
"I can do this...I have to, but Jimmy could bring me a Caf-Pow...I need to be sharp."
During the seemingly endless drive to Harrisonburg Gibbs kept in touch with the team. They had orders to continue their calls and emails until they heard from him.
Abby had rung him three times already, and each time he had to tell her that they weren't even at the hospital yet, that he would call her when he had something to tell her.
It was raining hard when they reached their destination, freezing rain that stung their faces as Gibbs and Ducky ran from the car to the warmth of the hospital. A uniformed State Trooper walked briskly toward them.
"Agent Gibbs?"
"Yes, and this is Doctor Mallard."
"Welcome, I'm Ray Scalia...would you like a coffee after your drive?"
Gibbs shook his head.
"We'd like to see...John Doe."
"No problem; he's in the ICU, follow me."
They followed Trooper Scalia, and waited as he got permission from the nurse in charge for them to enter the room. Now that he was so close, the reality of what he might find in there threatened to overwhelm Gibbs, if it was Tim...and he was in the ICU...
"Jethro, we can go in now."
Ducky gently ushered Gibbs into the room, and they got their first glimpse of the man they had driven over one hundred miles to see. But what he saw made Gibbs pray that this wasn't Tim; he saw a swollen, bruised face, dark stitches criss-crossing the forehead and cheeks. He saw the mass of tubes, heard the gentle beeping of the monitors, the soft whispering of the ventilator, he saw more cuts and bruises on the arms, fingernails torn off, Gibbs didn't want to think about what was hidden by the sheet…what he could see was bad enough…this wasn't Tim; it couldn't be, not like this...
Gibbs felt as if his feet were embedded in cement, he simply couldn't move. Ducky edged closer to the bed and leaned in to get a better look at the man's face.
"Merciful heavens Timothy...what have they done to you?"