Sitting on the couch in Gibbs' house Maggie leaned against Gibbs with her back to him, his arms wrapped around her and a bowl of popcorn in her lap. 'Pride of the Yankees' starring Gary Cooper was playing on the television, Freckles was curled up sleeping in front of the fireplace.
"You know the only reason I'm watching this is because it's about Lou Gehrig right?" Maggie told Gibbs.
"You hate the Yankees that much?" Gibbs teased her.
"Honey, I'm a Boston Red Sox fan through and through."
"And if I said I was a Yankee fan?"
Maggie turned to look at Gibbs and with the straightest face she could manage.
"Then I'd say no more popcorn for you mister."
Maggie moved the bowl of popcorn away from Gibbs as he tried to reach for it. Maggie moved far enough away until she was stretched out across the couch. Gibbs grabbed the popcorn bowl with one hand and pinned her to the couch with the other. His hand hit the right place on her side and she started laughing.
"You're ticklish?" Gibbs was surprised. How had he not known this?
"Nope, I'm not." Maggie tried to squirm out of his reach, but now that Gibbs knew her weak spot, he went after it full force.
"Stop…" Maggie laughed as she tried to get away from him. But what started as simple tickling had moved onto something a little more. Gibbs' hands moved under her sweatshirt and they started kissing.
"And this is why you need to lock your door."
Gibbs moved up and pulled Maggie with him while Freckles started barking at the person who just woke her from her car chasing dream.
"You could have called Tobias." Gibbs told his friend.
"I didn't think you'd have company. And can you call the dog off."
Gibbs whistled and Freckles walked over and sat down in front of him. She was rewarded with a scratch behind the ears.
Fornell walked over and reached his hand out to shake Maggie's.
"Your boyfriend lacks manners."
"No I don't." Gibbs countered.
"I'm Tobias Fornell. You have to be Maggie. I've heard a lot about you."
"Nice to finally meet you too Tobias."
"So he does talk about me." Fornell said to Maggie.
"Help yourself." Gibbs commented as Fornell scooped up some popcorn from the bowl.
"I will. Do you have any more beers?"
Gibbs gave Fornell a 'hello, you were interrupting here' look, but Tobias either didn't see it or was enjoying annoying Gibbs.
"You can have a beer on one condition." Maggie told Fornell. "Are you a Yankee fan?"
Fornell smiled at her over his shoulder as he walked to the kitchen. "Cubbies all the way."
Maggie closed her eyes and shook her head. Gibbs pulled her close and kissed her on the side of the head. "He's not all bad, took one alimony away from me."
Gibbs could have kicked Fornell out, he was intruding, but it was nice to see how well Maggie and Fornell got along. They watched the rest of the movie together and discussed baseball, no shop talk at all. Maggie got up to take Freckles out to the back yard; Gibbs caught Fornell checking Maggie out.
"Hey." Gibbs snapped.
Fornell smiled. "I'm human Gibbs and she's attractive. She a runner?"
Gibbs stood and took Fornell's beer from him.
"Time for you to go."
Fornell knew he'd pushed the jealousy button on Gibbs and liked the reaction.
"Worried I'm going to steal wife number 5?"
"Nope." Gibbs smirked. "I gave you number 2 you can't have number 5."
The statement was out before he'd realized it. Fornell caught it and just smiled knowingly at his friend before walking out the door. This time Gibbs locked the door. He knew what he'd said, the fact that he'd said it out loud surprised him.
"Tobias gone?" Maggie asked when she came back into the living room.
Gibbs nodded and pulled her into his embrace.
"Dog have water?" he asked her.
Gibbs had bought small bowls for the dog to have at his place for the nights that Maggie stayed there. He'd even gone as far as buying a smaller bag of Freckles food and some treats to keep in his kitchen. Gibbs liked having the dog there. Freckles favorite resting space besides in front of the fireplace was the landing in the basement. If Gibbs was down in the basement working, Freckles would be down on the landing watching what he was doing. Maggie liked kidding Gibbs that he'd stolen Freckles affections with his belly rubs.
Maggie stood on her tip toes and slid her arms around Gibbs' neck.
"Bed time?" she smiled at him.
"Thought you'd never ask." He grinned back.
If Tony had gotten used to the fact Gibbs was dating his sister, neither Gibbs or Maggie truly knew. Tony and Gibbs never discussed Gibbs' personal life at work, and Tony managed to see Maggie when Gibbs wasn't with her. Tony hated thinking of them doing things that a normal couple would do, even though he couldn't imagine Gibbs doing normal couple things like movies and romantic dinners. But that changed one night around midnight while he was at his desk working. The rest of the team had gone home hours ago but Tony worked best at night, when there were no other distractions; so he was surprised when the elevator chime went off and Gibbs and Maggie stepped off the elevator. Gibbs was in a nice suit and tie while Maggie had on a black dress that hugged a little too well and was cut in the front a little too low for the brother in him to like on his sister.
"Boss? Mags?" Tony asked surprised. "Something wrong?" Tony stood up and looked at them. "Please tell me you don't come in here late at night to …" Tony didn't get to finish the sentence; Gibbs smacked him in the back of the head while Maggie slapped his shoulder.
"Hey, that's double teaming and it's not fair." Tony rubbed his shoulder and looked at Maggie. "Nice dress sis, what's the occasion?"
"I can't take your sister out to dinner?" Gibbs asked from his desk where he was checking something on the computer.
"Well sure you can Boss, but you usually go for places that let you wear jeans and work boots." Tony commented.
Gibbs just looked up from his computer at Tony.
"Tony be nice." Maggie told her brother.
"I'm just confused Mags, why are you two here?"
"Got a call that a satellite feed finally cleared to talk to Dunham. He's up in 5 minutes."
"I could have handled it Boss, you didn't have to come in."
"Got the call on the way home Tony, it was on the way." Gibbs stood up and nodded for Maggie to come over and sit down at his desk.
"Why are you here anyways Tony?" Maggie asked as she sat down at Gibbs' desk.
"Does his best work at night." Gibbs told her as he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.
Tony made a face as he saw that and watched his sister blush as Gibbs whispered something in his sister's ear. The elevator sounded again and this time McGee stepped off the elevator. Tony watched the confusion play across McGee's face as he saw Maggie sitting at Gibbs' desk.
"Come on DiNozzo." Gibbs walked around his desk and towards the stairs.
McGee stood between Tony and Ziva's desk, his backpack still slung on his shoulder, a look of confusion on his face. Maggie hid a smile.
"Hi Tim."
"Maggie." McGee finally walked over to his desk and put his bag on the floor behind his desk. "Were you and Tony out to dinner?"
Maggie smiled and shook her head. "No."
"Okay." McGee said trying to put the pieces together. Maggie was sitting at Gibbs' desk. Maggie was dressed nicely and so was Gibbs. The reality played across McGee's face from "aha" to "wow". "So you and Gibbs were…"
"Out to dinner when he got the call to come in." Maggie finished the sentence.
"And is this the first time you've been out to dinner?"
"No Tim." Maggie smiled. "It's not."
McGee knew enough to not continue; this was none of his business. He tapped his keyboard and accessed the information that had been sent to him. Maggie sat at Gibbs desk and looked around. There were several pictures on his wall, pictures of men in uniform and a picture on his desk that looked like him and his father fishing.
"Maggie; can I get you anything?" McGee asked.
"No, I'm good Tim. But thank you for asking."
McGee nodded and went back to work.
"I read your book." Maggie said.
McGee looked up.
"Really?"
"You seem surprised."
"Well I am. How did you know about it?"
"Tony told me about it a few years ago. I really liked it. Are you going to write another one?"
"I'd like to but I think I hit too close to home with the last one."
"Well if you change your mind, let me know. I'd love to read it."
McGee looked at Maggie for a minute and then looked back down at his keyboard.
"Something wrong Tim?"
"Does Tony know?"
"About?" Maggie wanted to see if he'd actually ask her.
"About…" McGee nodded at Gibbs desk.
"He does McGee." Gibbs answered as he came down the stairs with Tony.
"Sorry Boss. I wasn't trying to pry."
"I know McGee." Gibbs walked over to his desk and put out his hand to Maggie who took it and stood up. "I'll be back within an hour, call Ziva in."
"Night Tony…Tim." Maggie said as she walked by them with Gibbs.
Tony and McGee watched silently as Gibbs and Maggie walked hand in hand to the elevator and stepped inside. They watched as the arrow lit up for down and then a few seconds later both lights lit up to say the elevator had been stopped.
"You don't think they are…" Tony watched as both lights stayed lit for a few minutes and then resumed to go back down. "No, not even I am that fast."
"Are you okay with them?" McGee asked Tony.
"Okay with my sister and my boss dating? Doing the horizontal mambo? Is that what you want to know McNosey-pants?"
"Yes Tony that is what I'm asking."
Tony voice became serious. "I'm still not sure. This is the first time I've seen them together since the night I found out."
"When was that?"
"A couple of weeks ago."
"Anyone else know?"
Tony looked at Ziva's desk and thought. "We'd better call Ziva in. If she's not here before Gibbs gets back my sister may be making my funeral arrangements."
"Whaddya got for me Abs?" Gibbs asked Abby as he walked into her lab just after 7 the next morning. Gibbs took Maggie home and told her that he had every intention of doing exactly what he told her he wanted to do to her the next time she wore that dress. He'd stopped the elevator before they left the office to make sure she knew just how he felt about the dress she'd been wearing and how all night long he'd thought of nothing but taking it off her.
After a quick cold shower at home, a change of clothes and a coffee stop, Gibbs was back at the office where the three other members of his team were working hard on the information Agent Dunham had given them.
"Mass Spec just the substance found is indigenous to the area Dunham gave us."
"Thanks Abs." Gibbs gave Abby his usual kiss on the cheek for good work.
"Oh and Gibbs." Abby called to him before he walked out of the lab.
"Yeah Abs." Gibbs stopped at the door.
Abby smiled at him. "I approve."
Gibbs gave her a confused look.
"Approve of what?" he asked.
"Of you and Maggie. I like her a lot."
"Didn't know I needed approval." Gibbs responded. He should be dismayed at how fast it took for the news to get around, but
"Well you have mine." Abby made a shooing gesture with her hands. "Now go, I have work to do."
Gibbs shook his head as he stepped into the elevator. As the doors shut, he took a sip of his coffee and smiled.
Joe sat in his rented SVU across the street from Maggie's school. He'd told the old man he wanted to drive down ahead of him and have some time with Maggie. Stupid fool bought it, even gave up Maggie's address. Joe followed Maggie from a distance and found out where she worked. He parked down the street from her house and watched as a grey pickup pulled into the driveway and a guy got out. Whoever it was, Maggie was obviously sleeping with. The guy went in around 7pm and stayed until 6 in the morning. Joe wanted to see what kind of guy he was so he snuck down the street and tried to get into the house.
Gibbs spent a few nights a week at Maggie's now. Like tonight, he'd managed to clear out of the office by 6. Maggie had called him earlier to tell him she was making grilled lobster tails and Gibbs wasn't about to turn that offer down. When he parked the truck in the driveway he felt the hair stand up on his neck. He thought someone was watching him. After dinner, they took the dog for a walk. The only thing that looked out of place was a white panel truck with a painter's logo on the side.
"The Dole's must have hired a painter." Maggie commented when she saw the van down the street. Gibbs asked how Maggie knew that. "I saw Mr. Dole at Lowe's. He was trying to picking up paint samples for his wife to look at."
Somewhere around one in the morning, Gibbs woke to Freckles growling from her bed in the corner of the corner of the bedroom. Maggie heard it too and leaned up on her arm.
"Gibbs?"
"I'll go take a look." Gibbs climbed out of bed and pulled his jeans on. "Stay here." He told Maggie as he picked up his gun and walked quietly out of the room and down the stairs. Freckles was now at the kitchen door, the fur on her back raised as her low growl continued. Gibbs checked the door, it was still locked. The sound of a garbage can rattling made Freckles growl louder.
"Quiet girl." Gibbs told the dog and flipped the switch for the flood lights for the back yard. He opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, his gun down at his side. Freckles stayed next to Gibbs, waiting for the command to run off the porch. Gibbs peered into darkness next to the garage and the sound of the trash can came again. Before Freckles could start barking, a large raccoon stepped into the edge of the light.
"Just a raccoon girl." Gibbs patted Freckles head. "Thanks for the alarm though." Gibbs stepped back into the house, have Freckles a treat, locked the back door and then checked the front door before going back upstairs.
"Anything?" Maggie asked as she sat up in bed waiting for Gibbs to come back.
"Raccoon." Gibbs put his gun back in the nightstand drawer and took his jeans off.
"She never growled at a raccoon before." Maggie commented as Gibbs got back into bed and she settled into his side again.
Gibbs didn't say anything. He saw the raccoon with his own eyes, but his gut was unsettled.
Joe saw the man when he came out of the house. When did Maggie get into older guys was the first thing he thought. He also knew the guy had to be a cop, he had a gun. The next night he followed her to what had to be the guy's house. He fought the urge to go into that house and drag her cheating lying ass out of the house after he beat the shit out of the guy she was fooling around with. But he calmed himself. He'd been planning this for over a month, he wasn't going to screw things up now. He waited all night and watched the house. He followed her back to her house where she dropped off the mutt and then went to work. He checked his watch and knew she had an hour before she'd be leaving for home. Putting the car into gear, he left the school and went to make sure everything was ready.
McGee paced outside of MTAC, waiting patiently for Gibbs and Tony to come out. He looked back down into the bullpen where Ziva was buying McGee some time. This was not good. His gut was screaming something was wrong and when Gibbs and Tony found out, all hell was going to break loose.
"McGee." Gibbs stated when he came out of the steel door.
"Boss," McGee began. "We have a problem."
Gibbs stopped and turned to face McGee and waited for him to continue. McGee just tipped his head in the direction of the bullpen. Gibbs leaned over to see what McGee was gesturing at. He closed his eyes and cursed quietly.
"What's going on Probie?" Tony asked as he joined McGee and Gibbs at the railing. "Oh crap, this can't be good."
"Junior!"
Tony looked over at Gibbs who was staring down at Anthony Sr. who was talking to Ziva.
"What is my father doing here?" Tony asked no one in particular.
"My thoughts exactly." Gibbs walked behind his two agents and down the stairs.
"Gibbs, how are you?" Senior asked happily. "McGee, I wondered where you ran off to in such a hurry. Ah, and Junior. Perfect. Where is she?"
"Where is who?" Tony asked his father.
"Maggie?"
Gibbs head shot up from the paper he was pretending to read at his desk.
"Why would Maggie be here?" Tony wanted to know.
"They were supposed to meet me here."
"Dad, what are you talking about? Who is 'they'?" Tony's gut was starting to panic.
"Maggie and her boyfriend."
"Dad, who are you talking about?" Tony said cautiously. There was no way his father knew about Gibbs and Maggie.
"I met Maggie's boyfriend up in Boston. Joe Antonelli, nice guy by the way. He said he and Maggie had an argument before she left Boston and she wouldn't tell him where she was moving too. We were supposed to take the train down together, but he came down a few days early. He wanted to make up with her first. He called me to say that he was going to pick her up and we were all going to go out to dinner. We were going to meet up here." Senior said in a voice that showed he was so pleased with himself.
Gibbs was already dialing Maggie's cell phone. She had mentioned this guy Joe to him. He knew that whatever Joe was now he was not her boyfriend and if he was in town, Maggie was in trouble.
"Boss?" Tony called from his desk.
"No answer." He handed McGee his cell phone. "McGee, see if you can find where she is."
"On it boss." McGee answered even though he was confused.
"Tony, take Senior to the conference room." Gibbs looked at his watch. "Call Maggie's school and see if she's still there."
Gibbs followed Tony and his father to the conference room.
"Tell me everything from the beginning Dad." Tony was saying as Gibbs came into the room.
Senior sat down in one of the chairs and looked from his son to Gibbs.
"Something is wrong. I can tell by the looks on your faces." Senior stammered.
"Dad, Maggie does have a boyfriend, but it's not Joe Antonelli."
"Joe's not her boyfriend?"
Gibbs stood by the door, his hands clenching into fists. He was trying to keep his calm, but it was quickly sliding away.
"Dad, focus." Tony handed his father a cup of water. "How do you know Joe Antonelli?"
Senior sipped his water before he answered.
"I ran into him at a hotel in Boston. He came up to me and introduced himself as Maggie's former boyfriend. Told me they'd had a falling out and he wanted to find her and repair things between them. He seemed like such a nice guy. Really in love with her."
"Dad, Maggie had a restraining order against the guy. He was part of the reason she left Boston, to get away from him."
"You haven't had anything to do with your daughter in years and suddenly you're playing matchmaker and bringing this guy to D.C.?" Gibbs fumed from the door.
"How do you know how long it's been since I've seen Maggie?" Senior demanded.
Gibbs closed the distance from the door to the table in two steps and slammed his hands down on the table. "Because I'm Maggie's the one Maggie is involved with and I know exactly how she feels about you."
Ziva hung up the phone. "Gibbs is not going to like this."
"Like what Ziva." Gibbs responded as he came back from the conference room.
"I spoke to the school. Maggie left over two hours ago and there is no answer on her house phone." Ziva looked up to see Tony and an obviously worried Senior walking from the conference room.
"Maybe she went running?" Ziva offered. "I did not see her this morning running and she told me if she does not run in the morning then she runs after school."
"Her cell phone says she is at home." McGee turned the map on the plasma screen showing Maggie's cellphone gps location.
Gibbs grabbed his gun and badge from his desk as well as his jacket and keys and took off for the elevator. The rest of the team stood up as well and grabbed their stuff. Gibbs stopped and looked at them.
"We are coming with you. If something has happened to Maggie you will need us." Ziva walked past Gibbs into the elevator followed by McGee, Tony and Senior.
Gibbs pressed the button to close the doors and hoped that the worst he would find is that Maggie was in the garage working on something.
Gibbs' car screeched to a halt in front of Maggie's house. His gut was screaming now. Something was most definitely wrong. McGee and Ziva followed Gibbs up to Maggie's front door. It was locked. Tony and Senior arrived in a second car.
"Dad, stay here. DO NOT move." Tony warned him.
Moving cautiously around the side of the house, they walked by Maggie's car. Gibbs felt the hood and it was cold.
"Boss." McGee said quietly and pointed toward the steps leading up to the back porch.
A pink nylon leash was hanging from the post, the end clearly chewed off. Gibbs picked up the edge and examined it. Freckles had chewed herself free from the leash so frantically that there were traces of blood on it.
A noise came from the side of the garage. All four agents drew their weapons. Gibbs and McGee went in one direction, Ziva and Tony in the other. They slowly moved around the garage. The sound came again closer to Gibbs and McGee. Gibbs pointed to the garbage cans located on their side of the garage.
"Federal officers, show yourself." Gibbs yelled.
Slowly Freckles front paws moved out from behind the garbage cans. Gibbs holstered his gun and moved over to the dog who was now whining.
"Who did this to her?" McGee said as he put his weapon away and moved the garbage cans for Gibbs to get closer to the dog.
The right rear leg of the dog was covered in blood. Gibbs touched it gingerly making the dog cry out. Someone had shot the dog.
"Call the local LEOs and get Ducky. Palmer worked as a vet, he'll know where to take the dog." Gibbs picked the dog up carefully and carried her out to the back yard and placed her down.
"Gibbs. Over here." The sun had begun to go down so Ziva used her flash light to shine into the bushes on the side of the garage. Gibbs saw Maggie's cell phone and there was blood on it.
Maggie didn't know how long she had been in the vehicle. Whoever had taken her was being very quiet. She couldn't hear a radio or even the sound of blinkers when a corner was taken. She wiggled her hands and tried to free them. But whoever took her used police type zip ties on her hands and feet. She moved her body back and forth to see if her phone was still in her pocket, but she couldn't feel it. She was scared and all she could think of was would Gibbs find out she was gone. Would he find her?
"Gibbs." Vance tried to get through to his agent. "Gibbs, look at me."
Gibbs was looking down at Maggie's phone which was now in an evidence bag. Because Maggie was the family member of an agent, Director Vance had used his pull and taken over the case from the LEOs. But there had to be a condition. Neither Gibbs nor Tony could be involved. They had to step back.
"I'm not going to recuse myself." Gibbs snapped.
"Not asking you to do that Gibbs." Vance informed him. "But you are going to let someone else take lead."
Gibbs put the phone back on the table and squared his shoulders while looking Vance straight in the eyes. Tony couldn't take lead and McGee and Ziva were too close to Maggie as well.
"Who." Gibbs demanded.
"Me."
Gibbs and Vance turned to see Fornell coming around Ziva's desk.
"Not an FBI case." Gibbs stated.
"It's a kidnapping that may or may not go over state lines." Fornell began. "And she is family of a federal agent. Tony's not Navy."
"He's NCIS." Gibbs reminded him.
"Which makes him a federal agent and I'm taking lead." Fornell knew it wasn't going to be easy. "Meeting." He ordered Gibbs to follow him to their regular meeting place.
Gibbs followed Fornell to the elevator in the back. When they stepped in and pressed the basement level to go see Abby, Fornell flipped the stop switch and the elevator stopped. Fornell turned to face Gibbs who was staring straight ahead.
"Jethro, let me do my job. I won't leave you out, but you have to let me take the lead on this."
Fornell looked at his friend for a long moment. Gibbs looked tired. Tired and scared. Gibbs would never say it out loud, but he was scared for Maggie. Taking a deep breath, Gibbs finally turned to face Fornell.
"Completely in the loop." Gibbs stated. "Nothing kept from me."
Fornell nodded and turned the elevator switch back on.
"Where's DiNozzo?" Fornell inquired.
"Keeping his father as far away from me as possible." Gibbs grunted.
"What the hell made him tell this guy where Maggie lived?"
"I have no idea." Gibbs answered as they stepped out of the elevator in front of Abby's lab.
"Gibbs." Abby called out as she ran over and hugged her boss tight. "It'll be all right. We'll find her."
Gibbs didn't respond as he untangled himself from Abby.
"What do we have?" Gibbs asked.
Fornell cleared his throat to remind Gibbs who was in charge. Abby looked at Gibbs questioningly and then turned to Fornell.
"The blood on the phone is Maggie's." Abby began telling Fornell as she watched Gibbs out of the corner of her eye. "McGee…"
"Is right here." McGee answered as he walked into the lab carrying Maggie's cell phone.
"McGee and I are going to try something with Maggie's phone."
"What." Fornell asked.
"Maggie wore a special running watch." McGee began. "She showed it to me the night we went out. It's like a mini-iPod that plays music and tracks where she runs and how far and …"
"McGee." Gibbs stopped the young agent from rambling on.
"And Boss, if she was out running tonight, then she'll have the watch on."
"And." Fornell added.
"Well if she has the watch on there is a gps in it and hopefully it will tell us where she is."
"Gibbs, did you check her house to see if she had it on?"
"I know what it looks like Boss, I can go check." McGee offered.
"Hell Tobias, we don't even know if she was out running. She could have just been walking the dog."
Abby mumbled something under her breath.
"Did you have something to add Miss Sciuto?" Fornell asked.
"I can't believe the dirt bag shot the dog." She answered.
"How is the dog?" Gibbs had put the dog in the back of his mind. Once Palmer came to the house he took the dog to autopsy to dig the bullet out. Gibbs hoped that was the only bullet that this guy had shot.
"Dog is fine." Jimmy Palmer said as he came into the lab carrying the specimen jar with the bullet he removed from the dog. "Bullet did minimal damage, but she's still sedated."
"Don't worry Gibbs, I'll stay with Freckles." Abby told him.
Gibbs walked over to Palmer and took the bullet from him. He held it up to look at it. Fornell took it away from him and handed it to Abby.
"Gibbs, take Ziva, go over to Maggie's and see if the watch thingy McGee needs is at her place. It wouldn't be at yours would it?"
"No. I know the watch you're talking about, but she didn't have it on the last time she was at my place, so it wouldn't be there."
"Go. Get Ziva and see if you can find out if she was out running." Fornell gave Gibbs a gentle nudge to the door. "We've got things covered here. There's a BOLO out on Antonelli and my agents are questioning the neighbors."
Reluctantly Gibbs left to get Ziva.
McGee waited until he heard the elevator bells ding.
"You know we really don't need Gibbs and Ziva to look for the watch." McGee asked Fornell.
"We know where she runs, we can check the traffic cams in the area." Abby added.
"And you will. I needed Gibbs to do something and he needed to do something. And Ziva can keep an eye on him and stop him from heading off on his own."
McGee nodded and brought up the traffic cams around the route where Maggie ran.
Maggie struggled to open her eyes. When the truck finally stopped, her silent captor opened the back door and lifted the corner of the tarp covering her. She tried to kick out at him but he was strong and pinned her feet back down and she felt the sharp prick of a needle and the world faded to black again. She knew she was no longer in the truck. The surface she was lying on was softer and she sensed she was inside now. Where ever she was, there was heat on and she could hear the sound of rain hitting a metal roof. Her hands and feet were still bound and her mouth still covered with duct tape. Whatever her captor had used to knock her out was making her have a hard time focusing. Slowly the world around her came into focus.
She could tell she was in a room of some kind of basement room. The windows were high in the wall and covered with dirt and grime. Very little outside light made it through the window. The only other light in the room was a bare bulb hanging from a cord in the ceiling. The only other furnishings in the room were a chair in the far corner and up in the corner of a room, a video camera with a red light blinking on it telling her someone was watching her.
The door suddenly opened up and Maggie blinked at the bright light shining into the room, keeping her captors identity hidden.
"Hello Princess." The voice hissed.
Maggie realized that Joe Antonelli was her captor.
Maggie felt like she was trapped in a nightmare. She opened her eyes and tried to focus. Her hands and feet were bound and there was duct tape across her mouth. She tried to figure out where she was. The sudden lurching movement told her she was in a truck of some kind with a tarp over her. How did she get there? Slowly it came back to her. She was just getting back to her house from her run, she was pacing the length of her driveway to bring her heart rate down. Freckles kept trying to pull away from her. A sound by the garage caught her attention. She looped Freckles leash to the porch railing and went to investigate.
"Hello Bitch." Was all she heard before something hard came down on her head.
When they got to Maggie's house, an FBI agent was standing on the front porch waiting for them.
"Special Agent Gibbs, Agent Fornell said you would be searching the house."
Gibbs took Maggie's keys from his pocket and looked down at them in his hand. The was two house keys, one for the front and one for the back, a key to the garage door, her car key and a bunch of those little cards that stores used to get your business. He teased her when he saw how many she had already accumulated since she'd moved down here.
"Do you need anything else sir?" the agent asked.
"We are fine. Thank you." Ziva began as Gibbs moved past the agent and unlocked the door. "Have you finished talking to the neighbors yet?"
"Yes ma'am. We have a description and partial plate on the vehicle and we called it in to Agent McGee."
Gibbs didn't comment so Ziva thanked the agent and followed Gibbs into Maggie's home.
"I will go look for the sneakers. I believe I know what they look like." Ziva informed Gibbs. Before they left the office, Vance told Ziva to keep an eye on Gibbs, he was being too quiet and Vance worried Gibbs would go off on his own.
"So you took his word at face value?" Fornell rubbed his forehead as he sat with Tony and Senior in the conference room going over every detail from the first conversation to the last that Senior had with Joe.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because Dad, you and Maggie haven't had any contact in years." Tony snapped. He wanted to be out in the bullpen running down leads, but Vance told him he had to stay with his father.
"Why haven't you and your daughter spoken in so long?" Fornell asked.
"Is that really important? Is that going to help you find Maggie?" Senior questioned.
"It may explain how Antonelli used you to find her." Fornell urged.
"My daughter doesn't think very highly of me." Senior began. "And our relationship has been strained through the years."
"To say the least." Tony said under his breath as he paced by the windows.
"Junior." Senior warned.
"Dad, a total stranger comes up to you in a fancy hotel bathroom and knows who you are. That doesn't sound funny to you."
"I've met lots of people I can't remember. He knew I was Maggie's father so I just assumed…"
"And what do you always say about assuming. It makes an ass out of you and me."
Fornell slammed his hand on the table to get their attention.
"So Antonelli knew you were at this hotel and he approached you in the bathroom. What happened next."
"As you can imagine, I haven't heard much from Maggie since her husband died and Joe filled me in on how they had dated and had a falling out and he wanted to set things straight between them and offered to help bring us together."
Tony snorted. "And that's something I couldn't have done."
"Would you? Would you have tried to bring Maggie and me back together? At least get her to talk to me?"
"Dad, after everything you've done, do you really think it would be that easy to solve."
"DiNozzos focus please." Fornell was getting impatient. "What happened after that?"
"Well I knew that Maggie was in the DC area because of Junior."
"Don't you dare try to turn this on me." Tony warned his father.
"I'm not. But if you hadn't mentioned it I wouldn't have known would I?" Senior told him. "I gave Joe the number of the hotel I was staying at and he said he'd be in contact with me. I didn't hear from him for about a week or so and then he called and said he'd arranged transportation down to DC me and that he was coming down a few days early to take care of some business."
"Did he say what that business was?" Fornell questioned.
"No. I didn't hear from him again until earlier today and he told me to meet him here."
"I never gave you Maggie's address Dad. I only told you she lived in the DC area." Tony reminded his father.
"Wouldn't have been hard to find after that DiNozzo." Fornell told Tony. "Maggie wasn't trying to hide."
Gibbs stood in the doorway of Maggie's bedroom. His mind flooded with images of Maggie in this room. Together they had managed to paint her room and he had helped her gut out the small closet and make it bigger. He walked over to the bed and picked up a scarf she had left on the bottom of it. He brought it to his nose and inhaled her perfume. On the nightstand next to the side of the bed she slept on was her Kindle thingy that she used to read. He had teased her about using a mini computer to read a book when there was nothing better than a real book that you turned the pages and could dog ear the corners.
He walked over to her bureau. On its top was a framed picture of her son as a baby and one of her and Tony when they were little. There was a small silver bowl where she put her jewelry that she wore every day. The only things in it were her regular watch and a pair of simple silver earrings. The watch she wore to run wasn't here. Nothing in the house looked disrupted as if someone had broken into the house and she'd surprised them.
Ziva looked in the kitchen, foyer and back porch and could not find Maggie's running sneakers. She knew they would not be there. McGee had texted her to say they had seen images of her running her normal route when they searched the traffic cams. So if Maggie had been running she had her watch on and maybe they could track her.
She decided to double check the downstairs to see if the FBI agents had missed anything. The kitchen seemed undisturbed. There was a coffee mug in the sink from this morning and Maggie's purse and school bag were on the island. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary there. Ziva was just about to go into the living room when the front door burst open making Ziva draw her weapon.
"Mom!"
Gibbs heard the yell coming from down stairs and ran down from the bedroom.
"Stop. Federal agents." Ziva advanced from the kitchen, her weapon drawn. "Who are you?"
"Lance Corporal Jamie Sullivan. This is my mother's house. Who are you?"
Gibbs came down the stairs and told Ziva to stand down.
"Lance Corporal Sullivan, I'm Special Agent Jethro Gibbs and this is Agent Ziva David."
"Sir." Jamie looked at Gibbs. "You're the man my mother is dating?" Maggie and Gibbs had just decided it was time for Gibbs and Jamie to meet. This was not the way either of them had imagined it.
"Yeah, I am." Gibbs shook the young man's hand. Gibbs could see so much of his mother in Jamie and Tony too in the way he carried himself.
"Agent Gibbs," Jamie began.
"Please, just Gibbs."
"Gibbs, what is going on? The FBI showed up on base and my CO told me that my mother had been kidnapped."
"Come in the kitchen and sit down." Gibbs caught himself before he said 'son'. "Want something to drink? I know your mother keeps the soda hidden in the back of the fridge."
"Her secret stash." Jamie smiled wanly at his mother's not so secret stash. "Gibbs, the FBI didn't say much beyond she was kidnapped. Please tell me what is going on."
"Gibbs, I'm going to talk to the agents about the interviews." Ziva said placing two Cokes on the table and leaving to give Gibbs and Jamie a few moments.
"Your mother was kidnapped earlier tonight by a man named Joe Antonelli. Have you heard of him?"
"Heard of him? Hell yes." Jamie stopped himself. "Sorry sir…Gibbs. Antonelli dated my mother and when she ended it with him he began stalking her."
"She told me that she had a restraining order out on him and that he would open her mail and accuses her of cheating on him."
"That man was…I can't even think of a word to call him." Jamie admitted.
"Oh I can." Gibbs smirked. "Tell me about him."
"I don't know how they met, but they went out a few times and when I met him I didn't like him automatically. Something in my gut told me he was no good."
"Trust your gut huh?"
"Yes sir. Hasn't done me wrong yet."
"What did Antonelli do for a living?" Gibbs asked.
"Not sure, I think he was in construction. He didn't have a lot of money but he liked to brag about his connections."
"Mob?"
Jamie shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure. But the guy had a temper and if he was drinking it was even worse."
Gibbs gritted his teeth. "Did he ever get violent with your mother?"
"She never said outright, but one night, the last night she went out with him she came home and I could tell something was wrong. She was favoring her neck and kept it covered up like she was trying to hide something from me. It was after that she dumped him. Then the stalking started."
"That when she got the restraining order?"
"Yeah. Joe started following her everywhere she went. He'd be outside the house at night, calling from his cell at all hours. If Mom talked to a guy, even if it was the just the UPS guy, he'd say she was being a slut and cheating on him."
Gibbs nodded.
"The restraining order didn't work, if it said he had to stay 300 yards away, he'd follow her at 301 yards. My dad's old cop buddies did what they could. If Mom started dating someone else, Joe would start harassing the guy until he chased him off."
"So when you got transferred down here…" Gibbs started.
"I told her to move down too. Uncle Tony is here and her friends all hated Joe so no one would tell her where she went. She even sold the house with most of the furnishings in it so she wouldn't have to hire a moving company that he could bribe."
Gibbs smirked; Maggie was smart.
"Gibbs, are we going to find her?"
"Yeah. We'll find her." He only hoped that this nutjob Antonelli wouldn't do anything to hurt her.
"Joe." Maggie croaked out after he ripped the duct tape off her mouth "Why? What do you want from me?"
Joe ran his fingers down the side of Maggie's face, down her neck and down the front of her chest making her nauseous. His fingers stopped on the zipper of her running jacket and he tugged it down until it was completely unzipped. Underneath her running jacket all she had on was a tank top and sports bra.
"Your new boyfriend let you go out running dressed like this? He knows you only wear things like this to make other men crazy? Just like you did when we were together?"
When Maggie didn't answer, Joe reached up quickly and squeezed her neck with his hand.
"Answer me bitch. Does he know what you're really like?"
Maggie couldn't breathe, his fingers were squeezing her as she fought to get air into her lungs. He suddenly let go and slapped her hard across the face. Maggie started coughing as she tried to breathe again. Before she could say anything else, Joe got up and left the room slamming the door behind him and Maggie heard him lock the other side.
"Anything new?" Gibbs asked as he walked back into the bullpen with Jamie following him.
"Jamie?" Tony was startled to see his nephew walking behind Gibbs. He got up and hugged Jamie then put his hands on Jamie's shoulders. "We'll find this bastard, don't worry."
"I'm not Uncle Tony."
"Uncle Tony?" Fornell repeated from Gibbs' desk which Gibbs was gesturing that he had to get up from.
"Tobias Fornell, this is Lance Corporal Jamie Sullivan, my nephew." Tony said proudly.
"Lance Corporal Sullivan." Fornell shook the young marine's hand. Standing next to Tony, Fornell could see the DiNozzo family resemblance.
"Do you have anything Agent Fornell?" Jamie wanted to know.
"Agent David?" Fornell asked Ziva who had returned with Gibbs and Jamie.
"Maggie's neighbor, Mr. Oliver Martech said he had noticed a strange car outside of your mother's house earlier in the day. It was gone by the time your mother got home, but when he was out on his nightly 'constitution' he saw the truck on the next street. He got the make, model and color and wrote down the plates."
"Did he say it was a white panel truck with a painter's name on the side?" Gibbs commented. Ziva nodded. She had not given him that information.
"No. It was not." Ziva told him. "Did you see one?"
"Yeah. A few nights ago. Saw it while we were out walking the dog." Gibbs answered. "Same night we heard something in the back yard."
"Did you see anyone Boss?" Tony asked. Gibbs didn't answer.
"I ran the plates Boss." McGee looked at Gibbs over his computer. Fornell stepped into McGee's line of vision to remind him who he was reporting too.
"Sorry." McGee corrected himself before continuing. "The plates are stolen as is the truck, a Chevy Suburban that was stolen in Maryland and the plates came from Virginia. Local LEOs found the truck abandoned about an hour out of DC here." McGee clicked on the plasma screen and showed the truck sitting abandoned in a truck stop.
"He must have moved her into another truck. Earlier tapes show a white panel van leaving the truck stop about 15 minutes after the suburban was left there." McGee looked up "Like the one you saw."
"Do we have any footage?" Gibbs walked over to the plasma and looked at it.
McGee looked at Fornell and when he didn't put the images up right away, Gibbs got impatient.
"Well? Do we?" Gibbs barked.
Fornell nodded at McGee.
"We do Boss."
Gibbs watched as the tape rolled and Antonelli took an unconscious Maggie out of the rear of the Suburban and tossed her over his shoulder. He walked with her to the white panel van which was just under the video camera.
"Do we have a better angle?" Gibbs asked. The only part of the van showing was the tail end so that you could see the doors open and see Maggie thrown into the van and it looked like she was being covered with something, then the doors were shut and the van disappeared from view.
"That's it?" Gibbs asked.
"So far." McGee told him. "The footage was taken just outside of Frederick, MD."
"Any info on the white van?" Fornell added.
"I'm running recognition software for white vans on the highway cameras now."
"There are a lot of white vans." Jamie commented from where he was watching the plasma screen.
Gibbs, Fornell, McGee and Tony turned to look at Jamie. For all the young man's Marine discipline, the fear for his mother was beginning to show.
"Jamie, come with me, I'll get you something to drink." Tony steered Jamie away from the screen.
"I'm fine Uncle Tony."
"That wasn't a choice Jamie." Tony leaned in and whispered in his ear. Too many men in one room worrying about Maggie was going to get ugly soon.
Tony brought Jamie to the vending machines and made him sit down. He poured a cup of black coffee for Jamie and a cup of ½ decaf ½ regular for himself and brought them both to the table.
"How did you know how I like my coffee?" Jamie asked as he looked down into the cup.
"You're your parent's child and you're a Marine. Most of the Marines I know drink their coffee black."
"Like Gibbs?"
Tony smiled, he realized that this was the first time Jamie had met Gibbs.
"Yeah, like Gibbs." He told his nephew.
"Gibbs a good guy?" Jamie wanted to know.
"The best." Tony answered honestly.
"Is he good for my mother?"
Tony read a lot into that question. Jamie would never think anyone was as good as his father had been; even Tony would have to agree there.
"Yeah, Gibbs is good for your mother and she's good for him." Tony began. "Look Jamie, no one will ever replace your father. He was as good as they get, but Gibbs. Gibbs is a great guy too. They don't come like Gibbs anymore. He's old school, hell he doesn't even have cable television or the Internet at home. He may be hard to get to know and he doesn't let many people inside that tough Gary Cooper outside, but he'll go above and beyond for those people he cares about. Don't tell anyone but if they hadn't met on their own, I would have tried to fix them up. They are good for each other."
Gibbs stood around the corner from where Tony and Jamie sat. He heard what Tony said about his relationship with Maggie and that he'd wanted them together before he knew they were together. He turned around and went back to his desk. He didn't want to interrupt the moment between the two.
"Good. Now we just need to get her back." Jamie said and took a sip of his coffee.
"Junior? Is this who I think it is?"
Tony and Jamie looked up as Senior walked over to the table.
"Oh my God, it has to be." Senior looked down at the young man with the Marine haircut and uniform. "You look just like Junior did at that age."
"Dad, not now." Tony stood up.
Jamie looked at his Uncle and the man who had just walked over. He'd never met his maternal grandfather. The only one he'd known was the man who raised his mother, her step-father. Jamie knew there was history between his mother and her biological father, but he'd always had a curiosity about the man.
"Lance Corporal Jamie Sullivan." Jamie said as he stood and offered his hand to Senior. "Nice to finally meet you sir."
"You know who I am?" Senior said as he shook his grandson's hand.
"Yes sir. I've seen pictures of you."
Senior and Tony gave Jamie surprised looks.
"Your mother has pictures of me?" Senior asked.
Jamie smiled. "No sir, I looked you up on the Internet."
"Tony, we need you for a second." McGee came over and told Tony.
Tony was hesitant to leave Senior and Jamie alone, but he wanted to find out what McGee had found. He walked over to the agent who was escorting Senior in the building.
"Keep an eye on them."
"Junior stop worrying." Senior smiled as he sat down at the table with Jamie. "I would like a chance to get to know my grandson."
How long had she been gone now Maggie wondered? It was just getting dark when she'd come back from her run and when she'd taken Freckles out around the block, it was even darker. The first time she woke up in this room, there was some light coming from the window and now it was dark again. She figured she'd been gone over 24 hours. She thought about the dog. She thought about Jamie. She thought about Gibbs. Would he know she was gone? They had gone more than 24 hours without talking when he was stuck on a case, but he'd text. Even if it was just a word or two just to keep contact. Maybe when she didn't text back he'd worry and come by the house.
A key turned in the lock on the door and it swung open. Joe walked in with a bottle of water and a sandwich. He sat down on the chair and began to unwrap the sandwich. He said nothing, he just looked at her. Maggie just stared back. She was repulsed when his eyes moved slowly down her body and the way he'd lick his lips. Her stomach turned from thirst, hunger and disgust.
"You know they'll find you." Maggie spat out.
"Who? Your boyfriend? Your brother? Oh how about your rich daddy?"
"My rich daddy?"
Joe moved the chair closer to the cot and ran his fingers up and down her leg.
"Your rich daddy DiNozzo. Did you know I found him?"
Maggie's face showed surprise.
"Another secret you kept from me. You had a rich daddy." His palm came down sharply on her thigh causing Maggie to cry out in pain.
"Scream out all you want you little whore. No one can here you out here. You'll pay for lying to me and hiding what belongs to me." Joe screamed at her.
"What are you talking about?" Maggie asked.
He responded by slapping her across the face hard.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Tony joined the rest of the team in the bullpen. Up on the screen was Joe Antonelli's mug shot and rap sheet.
"Joseph Antonelli;" McGee began. "Arrested several times in his early 20's for breaking and entering and drunk driving. In 1995 got arrested for assault with a deadly weapon; in 1996 for attempted murder spent 8 years in jail after pleading out on a lesser charge; got out on a technicality. Started working for local Boston Mob in drug running."
"Sounds like a lovely guy." Ziva deadpanned. "How did Maggie get involved with him?"
"Beats me." Gibbs said quietly, he was thinking the same thing.
"And this is what I wanted to point out." McGee changed the screen. "Two years ago his name came up when Johnny Pavlek, a small time drug dealer who got caught made a deal with the Boston PD to name names. Especially about the drug sting that James Sullivan was working on when he died." McGee explained.
"James Sullivan and three other undercover detectives were trying to find out who was running drugs in and out of Boston's projects. They were getting close to finding out, apparently too close. The night the sting was supposed to go down, the money man, a Damien Ortiz got caught. The drugs were there but the money was never found. Pavlek said that Antonelli showed up to get the money wherever Ortiz had stashed it but it was gone."
"He thought James and the other cops had stolen it?" Tony was shocked.
"Don't know. What we do know if the three other officers who were part of the sting have all died suspiciously over the past few years. One in a car accident, one in a fire said to be caused by a house candle and one during a shootout."
"How was the last one considered suspicious?" Fornell questioned McGee.
"Because he was shot from a different direction than the actual shooting. The guns and bullets at the scene didn't match the bullet pulled from the body."
"Let me get this straight. James and three other Boston cops who were all in on the drug sting have died by unnatural causes." Tony began and McGee nodded. "Ortiz is in prison so he is off the list. This Johnny Pavlek turns evidence for the state and names Antonelli as the person who they were looking for."
"He also said that it was Antonelli who was the one who killed the cops."
"Can you get me in to see Pavlek?" Gibbs demanded of Fornell.
"No, but I can." Fornell flipped open his phone and began making calls for him and McGee to fly up to Boston and interview Pavlek.
"Boss…"
Gibbs knew how loaded that one word out of Tony's mouth was. If Antonelli had killed three men already thinking they had the money, then Maggie would be next.