Hey readers - Here we are with another new chapter : )

I've got to admit, I've been super excited about posting this particular chapter for quite a long time now. Fun fact, bits of it were actually the very first scenes I wrote to test the waters before I committed to coming back to the story all those months ago. So if the writing style seems to change midway through the chapter, that's why.

Now originally, this chapter was going to be the final part of Mind Games, but then I had an idea about quite a drastic change from canon, and when I had that thought, I simply couldn't not go ahead with it. It did make this chapter significantly longer however, which is why I ultimately decided to split it into two : )

But enough about that for now. Instead, let's get down to business. I would like to say a GIGANTIC thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favourited and followed this story. The support you guys have shown to it continuously blows me away, and I really appreciate it, so please keep it up : )

Please remember that NCIS does not belong to me : )

I hope you enjoy this chapter : )

Mind Games - Part 7

Their timing was somewhat ironic.

Less than five minutes had passed since the attack which had rendered Kate unconscious, when Tony and McGee both came trudging out of the forest. Both the men looked tired and dirty as they brushed some leaves from their heads and shoulders. Approaching the NCIS truck, the two of them glanced around for their fellow teammate, but neither of them could see her anywhere.

It was like she had just vanished off the face of the Earth.

"Kate! KATE!" Tony bellowed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the entire forest and causing some nesting birds to squawk in alarm before they took flight, "Great! She's lost! Why didn't you give her your GPS thingy, Probie?"

Hearing Tony's complaining, McGee turned around to respond to him. As he did so however, something stuck to the windscreen of the truck caught his eye. Puzzled, McGee took a closer look, and saw that it was a polaroid photo taken on an old-school camera. Frowning in utter bewilderment, McGee plucked it off the windscreen in order take a better look.

What he saw almost made his heart give out.

As clear as day, there she was. Kate - bound and out cold, had clearly stuffed into the trunk of a car. Blood was pooling down her face from a wound to the side of her head, and she was a ghostly pale white. McGee instantly prayed that his teammate was merely unconscious, and not something unthinkably worse.

"Oh my god!" he cried in unadulterated horror.

Tony whirled on the spot at McGee's frantic exclamation, and the senior agent's eyes widened in surprise when he saw McGee drawing his weapon, hurriedly stepping around the truck and looking up and down the long winding lane they were on.

"What's going on?" Tony demanded to know, his hand flying to rest upon his own weapon.

"Kate isn't lost Tony" McGee's voice was flooded with utter panic and worry, "She's been kidnapped!"

Tony just gaped at him in sheer confusion.

Thrusting the polaroid at him, McGee watched as the emotions flickered across Tony's face one by one in quick succession. First confusion, then horror, before finally settling on anger. McGee swallowed hard and nervously took a few steps away from the other man. Tony's eyes were practically burning with outrage. For a split second, he was quite frankly terrifying. Because that look in his eyes was a look that clearly promised one thing.

Revenge on whoever had done this.

Needless to say, once Gibbs got word from Tony about the quite frankly terrifying turn of events, he had almost thrown his badge away in favour of shooting Kyle Boone in the head and having done with it. The only thing that stopped him was that losing it now wouldn't help bring Kate back safely. God he was worried about her. After everything she had already suffered through because of him, why did this have to happen to her too? Why did his past have to rear its ugly head in a way that caused Kate to pay the price of it?

If anything happened to that woman, Gibbs would never forgive himself.

And so the silver haired agent was forcing himself to push through the scorching anger that was boiling through him, trying to push all of raging emotions aside in order to focus better. Around him, he sensed Tony and McGee attempting to do the same. It was just so hard though. They were a team, more than friends, practically family.

Losing Kate wouldn't be something they could survive.

Gibbs swore in that moment that he wasn't going to let this happen. He couldn't let Kyle Boone be the cause of Kate's demise. She was going to survive this. Gibbs would make damn sure of it.

It was with that same determination coursing through him that Gibbs turned to McGee.

"McGee, where is my list of every visitor and phone call Boone's had since being in prison?" he demanded, having tasked the junior agent with obtaining that information the moment he and Tony had returned to base.

"I'm working on it, Boss" came McGee's nervous reply.

Barely resisting the urge to scowl at him, Gibbs took pity on the younger man. He knew that McGee hadn't ever lost anyone to the job, and right now he was probably bricking it, fearing that Kate would be lost to them forever. Gibbs decided to take a sliver of pity on him.

"Tony?" he instead turned to the other male agent, "Tony! Back up teams in place?"

Tony, who had been completely distracted over his worries and concerns for his partner, jumped at the question. He was finding it extremely difficult to concentrate, which was understandable of course. Kate wasn't just his partner after all. She was one of his closest friends, no matter how much they got on each others' nerves.
If anything happened to her... well, Tony didn't know what he'd do.

"Y-yeah" he stammered out once he actually registered the question after a few moments, "I never should have let her take off like that alone, Boss. I'm so sorry".

Gibbs looked at his senior field agent sharply.

"You had no reason to suspect anything was wrong at that point DiNozzo" Gibbs assured him. He wanted the man focused on the job at hand, not blaming himself for events beyond his control, "Kate is a highly trained federal agent. You had no reason to doubt she'd be perfectly safe. It isn't your fault".

Tony swallowed hard and looked down at his shoes. Whilst he didn't necessarily agree with the man he respected more than his own father, Tony was relieved to know that Gibbs wasn't holding him responsible for this mess. He already felt terrible enough already. God, he just prayed that Kate was alright, and that they'd get her back unharmed.

He doubted he'd be able to cope with any other outcome.

At that moment, Abby came rushing into the bullpen. Gibbs had informed her of the situation, yet it was still a shock to the forensic scientist when she saw Kate's picture on the plasma screen. Tears sprung to her eyes, but Abby quickly forced them away.

Tears wouldn't help Kate right now. Action would.

"The Polaroid of Kate is clean" she announced to Gibbs, who looked up as she approached his desk, "There's no prints, no DNA. I'm sorry, Gibbs. I screwed this whole thing up".

"You screwed it up?" Gibbs repeated in sheer confusion. Abby swallowed hard, nodding her head.

"We should have known there was more than one killer" she frowned, praying to god that Kate wouldn't be the one to pay the price for her own short-sightedness, "I only ran the Jane Does up until the time Boone was captured. All four have gone missing in the last three years".

Gibbs latched on to those last few words, snapping his fingers in McGee's general direction.

"Concentrate on Boone's contacts over the past three years" he ordered his junior field agent.

"Yeah" McGee worked even faster at his computer.

Abby's eyes were once again fixated on the photograph of Kate, bound and unconscious in the trunk of a car. Abby's breathing became laboured as the fight against her unshed tears became harder and harder the longer she looked. She just couldn't help it though. Kate was one of the very best friends that Abby had ever been blessed with. She loved that woman like family. She wouldn't be able to cope if anything ever happened to her.

"We can't lose Kate now, Gibbs" she whispered, terror in her face and tone, "Not after everything she's managed to overcome. We can't lost her like this".

Gibbs opened his mouth to give the forensic scientist a few soothing words of comfort. He knew how close Abby and Kate were after all. They were the very best of friends, practically family. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if Abby regarded the other woman as a sister. Naturally she was the most worried out of them all.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately given your point of view, Gibbs never got the chance to offer up any comfort. For at that moment, the elevator doors dinged loudly behind them all. Momentarily distracted, Gibbs turned to look, and saw none other than Special Agent Paula Cassidy rushing out. He raised a curious eyebrow when the blonde agent came hurrying into the bullpen to join him and the others.

"Special Agent Cassidy" he greeted her with a polite coolness, "I'm sorry, but if you need something, I'm afraid you've come at a really bad time".

He wasn't about to take his focus off Kate in favour of whatever the other agent wanted at the moment. No way in hell. She would just have to wait. Kate couldn't.

Paula took a second to get her breath back, before she looked up at the silver haired agent.

"I know" she managed to gasp out as she tried to get her breathing back under control, "That's why I'm here. I heard about Kate being abducted, and since it's been a really quiet day on the team I've been assigned too, I figured I'd come up and offer you my support".

"Your support?" Gibbs questioned, his tone almost scathing.

"Yeah" Paula nodded, sensing his tone but ignoring it in favour of continuing with her suggestion, "I'm an extra pair of hands if you need them".

Gibbs bit back the smart remark that was on the tip of his tongue. It wouldn't be fair to take his worries and frustrations over Kate's current predicament out of Paula. Whilst he wasn't overly fond of the woman, and she definitely wasn't the type of agent he would ever have on his own team, she wasn't so bad. It was just her methods and approach to the job that Gibbs disagreed with. He didn't have a problem with the woman herself.

And the situation had never been more desperate.

Kate was out there, all on her own, with a deranged killer and they had absolutely no idea where to find her. They truly needed all the help they could get right now, and beggars couldn't be choosers. So with all of that in mind, Gibbs swallowed his pride and inclined his head towards the blonde female agent.

"I'd really appreciate that" he admitted quietly.

Around him; Tony, McGee and Abby all exchanged stunned looks of astonishment. They could hardly believe what had just happened, that Gibbs had actually just accepted outside help. But then they were able to quickly make sense of it.

They all knew that Gibbs still had lingering feelings of guilt since the whole Ari Haswari thing had happened, a situation Kate had been lucky to escape with her life. With this happening so soon afterwards... well, it was understandable why Gibbs was willing to relent this time around and just accept the help being offered to him.

"Think nothing of it" Paula offered him a strained smile, "So tell me, what can I do?"

"Right now, we really just need an extra gun out in the field once we have a location to hit" Gibbs admitted, and Paula nodded her understanding.

"Good thing I brought mine with me then" she smirked, petting the firearm strapped to her waist.

Tony, humbled and genuinely touched that Paula was willing to offer her assistant despite the turbulent history between the two of them, stood up from behind his desk and slowly walked up next to her.

"Thank you for this Paula" he said, his tone displaying nothing but sincere gratitude, "It really means a lot to all of us that you're willing to help us".

Paula, sensing the sincerity with which her old flame spoke, offered him a tiny smile.

"I know how important Kate is to you... to all of you" she nodded in acknowledgement, "Just thank me after we've found her and brought her home, safe and sound".

Tony smiled and nodded gratefully at her.

"Speaking of which, any luck McGee?" Gibbs said pointedly to his probationary agent.

McGee's fingers finally came to a halt on his keyboard. The young man jumped to his feet and hurried over to join Gibbs and the others by the plasma closest to the desk. Snatching up the remote, he pointed it at the screen and clicked. Immediately, the polaroid image of the unconscious and bound Kate was replaced.

"Okay, our best bet is a guy named John Frederick Briggs" McGee announced, gesturing at the image of the man he'd brought up on the screen, "In the last three years he's logged two hundred and twenty nine phone calls and visited Boone ninety six times".

Gibbs immediately recognised him, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"He's writing Boone's biography" he spat in disgust.

The silver haired agent had thought that the simpering man he'd met earlier had been a snivelling worm. He'd have to be, to want to write a book about Kyle Boone of all people. But if he had starting killing for that lunatic... if he had abducted Kate for that psycho... oh... Gibbs was going to rip him limb from limb.

"Maybe he's living it" Tony mused aloud, drawing Gibbs' thoughts back to the present situation.

"Well he's off to a good start" McGee replied, pressing another button on the remote and bringing up some more information about the wannabe author, "Dishonourable Discharge from the Army in ninety one. Arrested for Domestic Disturbance in two thousand for beating his girlfriend".

"Sounds like quite the charmer" Paula remarked sarcastically, "And if his record's anything to go off, we know that he had no problem with hitting a woman once before. What's the betting he's not above knocking them out and abducting them either?"

"Oh god, Kate" Abby whimpered fearfully, wringing her hands.

"We'll find her Abby, I promise" Gibbs assured the gothic woman he cared for like a daughter, before he turned to McGee and snapped, "Find him!"

Thankfully for McGee, who really didn't want to be caught on Gibbs' bad side on today of all days, he had already located the necessary information that the other man had demanded.

"Home address" he announced, holding up a purple sticky note which Gibbs snatched from his hand, "And cell phone number".

"Find out if his cell has a GPS locator" Tony suggested to the younger agent.

"Good idea" Paula nodded in agreement at his side, "If it does, we can trace him. He'll lead us straight to him, and with any luck, straight to Kate as well".

"God I hope so" Abby fretted for the welfare of her best friend.

McGee hurried over to his desk, taking a seat before his fingers became nought but a blur as they whizzed over his keyboard. A few moments later, a smile lit up his entire face.

"I've checked the carrier and the cell phone does" he grinned, and there was collective sigh of relief from the others, even Gibbs, "And it can be remotely activated by the company if it's reported stolen".

Both Gibbs and Tony flashed McGee a rare smile of praise.

"Good job, McGee!" they said in unison.

"Nice work" Paula added, and McGee gave her a strained smile back.

"Thank you, Special Agent Cassidy" he replied.

Gibbs, who had been behind his own desk and strapping on his gun, turned to face the others before making to exit the bullpen.

"Let's roll!" he ordered gruffly.

Tony hastened to follow after him, whilst McGee remained behind at his desk, a bitter expression lining his face. He wanted to go with Gibbs and Tony, he truly did, but he knew that his particular skill-set would be most useful in helping to pinpoint the location of John Briggs' cellphone, and for that he needed his computer, so he had to stay behind. That didn't mean he had to like it though. Fortunately, the spearhead to rescue Kate wasn't going to be shorthanded, for Paula quickly made to follow after Gibbs and Tony, but before she had the chance to, Abby reached out and grabbed her arm, making the blonde woman pause and glance about at the dark haired scientist.

"Bring her home" Abby pleaded desperately.

And despite never having met face-to-face before this horrible moment, the gothic forensic scientist's words were enough to forge a connection between the two women. Before she was even aware of her own actions, Paula found herself nodding, a silent promise that she'd do her best to bring Kate home safely, before she hurried out of the bullpen after the men. Running to the elevator, Paula just barely made it in time before the doors slammed shut.

Abby just watched them go, her face the very picture of misery.

"They're coming Kate" she whispered under her breath to herself, "Just hold on. They'll be there soon".

She prayed with every fibre of her being that she was right and that the others would make it to Kate in time.

The alternative just wasn't an option.

Searing pain was the first thing that Kate was aware of as consciousness slowly returned to her.

A low groan slipped past the female federal agent's lips as she moved to put a hand against her throbbing head, only to find the movement was restricted by something, much to the pretty young woman's bewilderment. She struggled for a couple of moments, but it was not use. She couldn't move either of her hands from their spot behind her back.

"Wha...?" Kate muttered, a little surprised when her voice came out as barely more than an almost drunken slur.

Dazed and confused, and not liking this situation one little bit, Kate began trying to put the pieces together as to how she had come to be in this unfamiliar place, which was small, confined and rather dark too. She remembered... she remembered that she'd been out in the woods with Tony and McGee, following a lead on their latest case, and they had found a fresh dead body. She had separated from the two men to... to make a cellphone call to Gibbs. She'd heard... something... made to draw her weapon, then... nothing.

Nothing but the pain now burning through her head.

Kate swallowed hard. Everything about this situation was screaming bad news to her. As her brain started to wake up, and her thoughts became more and more coherent, the female federal agent was able to pull herself together enough to realise that she was in the trunk of somebody's car. The vibration all around her was confirmation of that, and that they were also moving at quite a speed too. That alarming realisation was enough to jolt Kate back to full alertness. Time to leave, she thought idly to herself.

She quickly set about turning that notion into a reality.

Using her restricted movement to feel about for anything in the trunk of the car that she could use to aid in her escape, Kate was both surprised and relieved when she noticed that her wrists were bound together by a thin piece of rope. That was good. If whoever had abducted her had thought to use her own handcuffs or a zip tie to bind her hands, it would have made this whole endeavour a lot more difficult. Her hands were still stuck behind her back though, and so for the time being, Kate focused her attention on changing that.

It was a painstaking task, but also one that was vitally important she accomplished, if she hoped to survive... whatever this was.

Knowing that time was also a factor in all this, Kate quickly sprung into action. Curling her legs up as tightly as she could so that her knees were pressed against her chest, and thanking all the gods she'd ever heard of that she was flexible enough to pull off such a feat in such a confined area, the female federal agent carefully bent her tied arms down as far as they could go until she was able to loop her legs under them. Then, in one swift manoeuvre, Kate managed to force her legs down through her arms, making it so that they were now tied in front of her.

The female federal agent couldn't help but smile in relief. The first part of her escape had gone off without a hitch. Now it was time to start on phase two. With that thought spurring her on, and also horribly aware of the fact that her abductor could arrive at their destination at any moment, Kate frantically began pulling at the ropes with her teeth. If she had any hell of hope in escaping this situation with her life, she had to get these ropes off her wrists before the trunk was opened.

And she would escape from this. She had overcome and survived far too much in the past few months for it all to end like this. Kate had to live through this horrible ordeal as well.

She just had to.

Barely five minutes after leaving the squad room in the NCIS headquarters building; Gibbs, Tony and Paula had all scrambled into one of the simple black agency cars with a frantic sense of urgency. The silver haired federal agent claimed the driver's seat, whilst his senior field agent took the front passenger's, and the blonde female agent who had so kindly offered her assistance in resolving this most distressing situation had taken up residence in the back. Thankfully the trio of concerned and anxious federal agents were spared the menial task of setting off driving without a direction, for barely even a split-second after fastening their seat belts did the three of them hear the sound of a cellphone ringing. It was Tony's, and so the handsome man hastened to answer it, putting it on speaker so that Gibbs and Paula could both hear what was being said as well.

"Go McGee" Gibbs instructed into Tony's cellphone, without any kind of preamble whatsoever.

"Okay..." McGee's voice drifted down the connection, and thankfully the junior field agent was not wasting any time on the usual social niceties, "Brigg's cell provider is relaying us his location. He's in movement".

Gibbs opened his mouth impatiently, about to demand to know where, but before he could utter so much as a single syllable, his unasked question was already being answered for him.

"He's headed out of D.C. on the One Ninety One" it was Abby's voice that was filtering out of the cellphone's speaker now. Clearly the gothic forensic scientist was assisting McGee in speeding up the trace.

Upon processing the young woman's words, Gibbs all-but slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, and poor Tony and Paula were left with nothing to do but cling on for dear life as the NCIS agency car went tearing off through the streets. Even by Gibbs' usual driving standards however, the journey was rough, but that was only to be expected. One of his team... no, one of his friends, had been abducted by a copycat killer and was in danger of the utmost severity. Gibbs didn't have time for such trivial inconveniences such as pedestrians or traffic lights. Kate's life was riding on the outcome of this after all.

He wouldn't let her down.

Within roughly fifteen minutes of the cellphone call first being established, Gibbs had gotten them to the general area of where they needed to be, a trip which if he had followed the legal speed limits of the city, would probably have taken them three times as long at least. As such, he looked remarkably unfazed by the almost death-defying car journey here, but Tony and Paula were both an unpleasant shade of green by this point. Neither of the less senior federal agents voiced any protests they might have had about Gibbs' reckless driving style however, and instead all three of the car's occupants remained in relative silence as McGee and Abbey continued relaying the location of their suspect's cellphone to them.

"He's getting off the One Ninety at Oakley" McGee's voice suddenly announced through the speaker of Tony's cellphone, "If you get off at MacArthur you might make it before him".

Neither Tony nor Paula would have believed it possible, yet somehow Gibbs actually managed to make the car go even faster. At the rate the silver head federal agent was going, soon they'd be giving a honest-to-God jumbo jet a run for its money.

"Careful Gibbs" Abby's voice suddenly urged down the phone connection, making it fairly obvious that she and McGee were monitoring their position as well as Briggs', "Remember, we have no idea if Kate is still in the trunk of his car, so for god's sake don't ram the back of it! If you need to forcibly make him stop, try to aim for one of the sides".

"I know Abs!" Gibbs replied evenly, trying to keep any harshness from his tone. He knew that the gothic forensic scientist was only worried about her best friend after all, and that she wasn't trying to patronise him. it wouldn't be fair to take any of his angry frustrations out on her for that.

"And Gibbs..." the gothic forensic scientist's voice continued, suddenly taking on a certain steely quality that was extremely unusual to hear there, "If this bastard does have our Kate... if he's hurt her... Make. Him. Pay".

The dark vengeance in the young woman's tone was practically palpable, so much so that Tony actually glanced at Gibbs in concern. The silver head federal agent that knew Abby better than anyone didn't look overly worried about her particularly vindictive state of mind in this case however. If anything, the man almost seemed rather amused by it.

"You got it" Gibbs responded in a manner which could almost be mistaken for casual, knowing that it was a promise he would only be too happy to keep, "But first we've gotta catch up to him".

Knowing that he was right, and wanting more than anything to just get out of this car now that she had experienced Gibbs' driving first hand, Paula leaned forwards in her seat slightly in order to speak into the phone.

"How far is he ahead of us, McGee?" the blonde haired woman inquired.

"Less than a mile, Special Agent Cassidy" McGee's voice replied through the cellphone's speaker after a few moments of silence, in which he was no doubt doing some calculations.

Upon hearing just how short the distance was between themselves and their target, Gibbs somehow managed to pull off the impossible; he managed to get the car to go even faster. At this rate it would be something of a miracle if the entire engine didn't burn out, but alas, the internal mechanics of the NCIS agency car held, and soon enough they were rocketing down it rural then which only had one other car in motion on it; a dark and dirty beaten-up old banger.

"That's got to be him!" Tony exclaimed, pointing the car out to the others. Then, just like Gibbs had before, the Italian man dispensed with any of the normal social niceties and abruptly hung up his cellphone, severing the connection back to McGee and Abby. He returned the device to his pocket, before quickly drawing his gun.

In the backseat behind him, Paula was doing much the same. The blonde haired female federal agent carried an air of distinct relief about her, not only because they were hopefully a step closer to finding and rescuing Kate, but also because she'd had just about enough of Gibbs' driving as she could stomach. And speaking of Gibbs, it wasn't long before the fearless silver haired federal agent had not only managed to catch up with the other moving vehicle, but actually overtake it. In one sharp swift manoeuvre that once again saw Tony and Paula clinging onto their seats for dear life, Gibbs swerved their car to the right, ensuring that the entire road was blocked and forcing their target vehicle to skid to an abrupt stop to avoid a collision.

The three federal agents wasted no time in scrambling into action, and before the occupant of the car they had just chased down knew what was happening, Gibbs, Tony and Paula had the target vehicle surrounded, all three of their guns trained firmly upon the long-haired man in the driver's seat.

"KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL!" Gibbs roared, so loudly in fact it was hardly surprising when a flock of birds in a nearby tree took to the air in fright, "KEEP THEM UP!"

But John Frederick Briggs didn't just obey the federal agent's command, putting his hands up in surrender. He saw fit to carry out the next one, before Gibbs even had a chance to issue it. The slightly grubby, long-haired wannabe author climbed out of his car and slammed the door shut after him. He glared at Gibbs in obvious anger.

"Okay, what the hell is going on here?!" the man demanded to know, annoyance, and above all else, genuine confusion, heavy in his tone.

Gibbs made no effort to answer the little runt's question. Instead, the silver haired federal agent simply holstered his gun, trusting that it was not necessary for him to keep it trained on their target since Tony and Paula already had that covered. He then marched over to where Briggs was standing, roughly grabbed him by the shoulders, and ignoring any protests, Gibbs then spun him around and restrained him so that his face was pressed against the hood of his own car.

"Where is she, Briggs?" the silver haired federal agent demanded to know, barely just able to keep his tone at an even level as he quickly patted the man down. Satisfied that the little runt wasn't carrying anything dangerous on him, Gibbs turned him back around so that they were standing face to face. Hs icy blue eyes were narrowed in a show of intimidation, silently demanding that Briggs answer his earlier question.

Unfortunately for the aggravated federal agent however, Briggs was still too preoccupied in voicing his feeble protests.

"Okay. Okay, I have every right to be here!" the man that was ghoulish enough to willing write Kyle Boone's biography shouted loudly, "I heard from a guard you found the bodies. I want to see them".

Gibbs opened his mouth to respond, to tell him that in no way, shape or form was that ever going to happen, but unfortunately for the silver haired federal agent he didn't get the chance to utter so much as a single syllable. Before anybody knew what was going on, Tony apparently lost all patience with the man's blustering, and without giving his boss the chance to stop him, the Italian agent shoved Gibbs aside, and got right on up in Briggs' face. In the time it took the long-haired wannabe author to blink, Tony had his gun pointed straight between his eyes.

"WHOA!" Briggs finally seemed to be getting the message, his eyes growing wide with fear, "I... I'm not... not resisting! You... you can't... can't do this!"

"Tony! What are you doing?!" Paula couldn't quite hold back a small gasp of alarm. The blonde haired woman didn't falter in keeping her own weapon trained upon Briggs however.

"DiNozzo..." Gibbs said slowly, not too concerned, but still with a hint of mild warning in his tone.

"This... this is... outrageous!" Briggs managed to stammer out, clearly terrified out of his wits, "I... I de-demand you put that... that down now! I... I haven't done... done anything wrong!"

A trace of a smirk slowly etched itself into Tony's face as he held the gun firm in his grasp. It wasn't one of his cocky but also slightly charming smirks either. No. This smirk was dark and cold. It was a look that promised stone-hard vengeance. Vengeance upon the bastard who had dared to take his partner away from him.

"You're clearly not understanding just who it is that is, quite literally, calling the shots around here" the handsome man sneered down his nose at Briggs, moving the gun slightly closer to his head, and eliciting another small whimper from his captive, "So I'm gonna say this really slowly so your little mind has time to process it. Where. Is. My. Partner?"

Briggs stared up at him in obvious confusion.

"Your... your partner?" he stammered out weakly, trembling with nerves where he stood, "I... I have no idea".

Tony was not satisfied with the response.

"Where is she?" he repeated, his voice barely more than a low hiss, and yet far more menacing than any cobra or python could ever hope to be.

"I swear!" Briggs pleaded, clearly having no idea what this was all about, but knowing enough to feel scared for his life, "I don't know where your partner is! I don't even know who she is!"

"Tony... don't..." Paula cautioned from off to the side, looking helplessly over towards Gibbs. Tony point-blank ignored her, instead focusing on what Briggs had just told them.

"Her name is Special Agent Caitlin Todd, and she is not only an outstanding federal agent and partner, but she's also my friend" Tony snarled at the man who's life he held in his hands, "And right now, we all believe that you're the person that's abducted her!"

Briggs' eyes grew almost comically wide at that rather blunt declaration, but Tony continued speaking before he had a chance to protest his innocence.

"So I'm gonna ask you nicely just one more time, but if you mess me about... well..." Tony sneered coldly at the quivering man, cocking the gun in his hand for emphasis, "Then I'll mess you around. Permanently. So... Where. Is. Caitlin. Todd?"

The long-haired wannabe author actually looked on the verge of wetting his pants, he was so consumed with terror.

"I... I don't know!" Briggs trembled, but when Tony showed no signs that he believed him, he began begging for his life, "I... I swear, I don't know anything about any abduction!"

But unfortunately for Briggs, Tony didn't believe him.

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS, DAMN IT!" the handsome Italian agent roared, and Briggs jumped and cried out in fear, "I SWEAR TO GOD BRIGGS! IF YOU'VE HURT HER, YOU'RE A DEAD MAN! WHERE IS SHE?! I KNOW YOU KNOW! TELL ME!"

Briggs practically starting to hyperventilate, Tony had induced such a pure and unadulterated sense of terror in him.

"NO! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" the man started sobbing, tears streaming down his face, his shoulders shaking almost uncontrollably as he pleaded for mercy, "I swear I don't know what you're talking about..."

Any further words the man might have spoken were lost to his tears.

"Tony! For God's sake, stop it! Look at him!" Paula finally intervened before Tony crossed a line which there would be no coming back from, something which he seriously looked on the verge of doing, "He hasn't got a clue what you're talking about!"

"HE'S LYING!" Tony bellowed furiously. It was more than a little obvious that the handsome federal agent was almost as distraught as the man he was holding at gunpoint. That this was the effect that Kate's abduction... that her - dare any of them think it - her potential murder, was having on him.

It was almost heartbreaking to behold.

"DiNozzo".

The use of that one word in such a surprisingly soft tone of voice was enough to break through the red mist currently shrouding Tony's mind. To a miniscule degree at any rate. The Italian agent kept his glared trained firmly upon the quivering Briggs, much like a hawk would a cornered field mouse, but the ever-so-slight inclination of his head was enough of a signal to Gibbs to let him know that he had his senior field agent's attention.

"This isn't the way" the silver haired man said gently, genuinely understandingly, as he tried to talk Tony down, "You know that Paula's right. Briggs... he doesn't know anything about Kate..."

Tony swallowed hard. The gun in his hand wavered ever so slightly. Seeing that the young man that he secretly thought of as a son to him was close to snapping out of it, Gibbs coaxed him with something he knew Tony would never be able to ignore.

"She wouldn't want this..." Gibbs whispered.

That was enough.

Practically in tears himself by this point, Tony finally lowered his weapon, and let it hang limp by his side. Then, without so much as a single word to any of them, the handsome federal agent turned on his heel and simply marched away, discreetly wiping at his eyes as he went. Briggs, who practically wilted with palpable relief where he stood, just gaped after him incredulously. Just knowing that the annoying little man was about to start yelling and whining about what had just occurred, Gibbs turned to Paula with a look that almost bordered on pleading.

"Special Agent Cassidy... would you mind?" the silver haired seasoned federal agent jerked his head in the direction of the still blubbering Briggs, "Please?"

Astonished though she was that Gibbs had actually used the word 'please', Paula was thankfully quick to catch his meaning. The blonde haired agent swiftly nodded, her expression full of both sympathy and understanding.

"Sure thing Gibbs" she flashed him a strained smile, before the look hardened into a stoic stare as she turned her attention back to John Briggs, "Okay Mr Briggs, I want you to open the trunk of your car, slowly and with no sudden movements. Whilst I believe that you are telling the truth, I want to be absolutely sure that Special Agent Todd has been nowhere near this car before you're in the clear, you understand?"

Briggs nodded meekly, and for the first time since this entire incident had begun, he followed an instruction without saying so much as a word.

Satisfied that Paula would keep the man occupied, and more importantly, that she would curb any potential ideas that the wannabe author might have about launching a complaint against DiNozzo for the stunt he had just pulled, Gibbs quickly turned his focus to the handsome agent in question. Spotting the younger man standing a few meters away, his shoulders hunched in an almost defeated posture, the silver haired federal agent briskly made his way over to him. Tony clearly heard his approaching footsteps for he looked up at the other man's approach, and his face, which was already pinched with the utmost misery, fell even further.

"If you wanna fire me for that, fine, but can you at least hold off until we know for sure what's happened to Kate, one way or the other? For old time's sake?" Tony practically begged him.

Gibbs just gave the younger man one of his rare kind smiles.

"I'm not gonna fire you Tony" the silver haired federal agent assured him, again in a tone of voice which was very gentle and calming. It seemed quite out of place given the man's usual gruff manner, "And Cassidy will make sure that this idiot loses any ideas he might have about making a complaint".

Tony just sighed in response to Gibbs' words, though whether from relief or sheer frustration, the older man couldn't be sure.

"Look... I know I went too far back there Gibbs..." Tony admitted as he squirmed uncomfortably, suddenly feeling the need to explain himself, what with how nice Gibbs was being to him in these horrible circumstances, "It's just... this guy was the one lead we had, the only lead, and now we're right back at square one!"

"I know..." Gibbs whispered soothingly, "I know. It's frustrating".

Tony threw him a sharp look.

"It's a bit more than frustrating Gibbs" the handsome Italian agent retorted bluntly, his tone incredibly bitter, "Kate is out there on her own with a psychotic lunatic who clearly idolises a serial killer, and we honestly have no idea where they are. For all know, this might have been our only chance to save her. Hell, for all we know, she might already be..."

He cut himself off before he could finish that sentence, the thought enough to shatter his heart into little pieces.

"She isn't dead, Tony" Gibbs cut off the other man's despairing train of thought before it could progress any further, "Until we know for sure, we have to believe that".

The words were enough to draw a begrudgingly sigh of agreement from Tony's lips.

"I know, I know. But..." Tony swallowed hard, trying to grapple with emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him, "But where do we go from here? Like I said, Briggs was our best bet!"

It was Gibbs that allowed a soft frustrated sigh to escape him this time around. That certainly was a loaded question, and one that he wasn't sure he had the answer to.

"I don't know..." the seasoned silver haired federal agent admitted, starting to look just as worried as Tony felt, "But there's no way that Kate being taken was random".

"Rule 39" Tony whispered thoughtfully, nodding his head. There was no such thing as a coincidence. And the idea that this, that Kate being abducted right in the middle of investigating a case about women being abducted and killed, the idea of that being a coincidence - it was almost laughable.

"Exactly" Gibbs nodded his head, his expression intense as he tried to figure this all out, "Which means that it's got to be someone with not only knowledge of Boone's past crimes, but also of the fact that Kate is part of my team and that we were investigating this case. Someone who's been under our noses the entire time..."

Tony chew his lip anxiously, his eyes pensive, as he wracked his brains, trying to think of somebody they had encountered throughout the course of this investigation that met those requirements. He was just about to give up and ask Gibbs for his opinion when quite suddenly, like a lightning bolt, the answer hit him. The handsome federal agent's eyes grew very wide, and for a moment he could have sworn that he heard Kate's voice in his ear, almost as if his partner was calling out across the barriers of time and space in order to give him the answer needed to save her.

'There's just... there's something about that man which just makes my skin crawl whenever I see him, but I'm not entirely sure why".

Tony jolted in horror, but also with grim realisation, as the words his partner had so off-handedly spoken just a few scant hours prior filtered through his mind. His eyes widened in sheer disbelief as he struggled to wrap his head around the awful but undeniable truth, and he couldn't help but internally berate himself for not seeing it sooner. Because now... now it seemed obvious.

"Oh... Shit!" the handsome federal agent exclaimed, drawing his boss' attention back over to himself, while he scrambled to begin rummaging around in his pockets in search of his cellphone.

"Tony?" Gibbs prompted an explanation.

"Kate spotted it right away, of course she did" Tony babbled on distractedly, still searching his person for his cellphone, "She's brilliant like that. She must have picked up on something subconsciously and not realised it. He must have given himself away to her somehow!"

"Who did? Who are you talking about?" Gibbs demanded to know, starting to lose his patience.

Tony finally managed to locate his phone, and pulling it out of his jacket pocket with an air of triumph, he looked up at Gibbs and smiled grimly.

"It's O'Neill, Boss" he said with such a strong sense of certainty that Gibbs simply couldn't find it within himself to logically argue against the words, "Adam O'Neill is our copycat killer".

Gibbs just stared at him for a moment.

"Ah, hell!" the silver haired federal agent growled under his breath, mentally chastening himself for being so stupid to not have realised it sooner. He, much like Tony had just moments before, began rooting through his pockets, though he was searching for his car keys. Once he had found them, he and Tony both began running towards the black NCIS agency car, the silver haired man calling out to the other federal agent present as they went, "Cassidy! Come on! We're leaving!"

Paula, after searching Briggs' car and determining once and for all that there was nothing to indicate he'd had anything to do with Kate's abduction, looked up. She had done a fairly good job of calming the man down after Tony had put the fear of God into him, so she was a little confused as to why they needed to leave so urgently. Nevertheless, the blonde haired agent wasted no time in asking any questions, and instead just bolted over towards the car as well.

"Hey!" Briggs protested after them, but he was entirely ignored in their frantic scramble.

The three federal agents all hurriedly got back into their car and fastened their seatbelts, taking up the same positions as before, and whilst Tony was frantically dialing McGee's cellphone number in order to get the man to perform another GPS trace for them, this time on Boone's slimeball of an attorney, Gibbs put the key in the ignition and started up the vehicle. In a matter of seconds, the car was off, tearing down the dirt trail at a breakneck pace. Unbeknownst to the car's three occupants however, they were all thinking, all hoping, desperately for the same thing.

Hoping that they still had enough time to put all of this right.

And that's the end of another chapter: )

So yeah, that was kinda intense, with lots of little twists and turns that hopefully not many of you saw coming. Firstly, the inclusion of Paula in this part of the episode is something I've been planning since before I even returned to this story. You guys have no idea how excited I was to be finally posting it : ) Other then being an exciting way of including her character, I also thought it would be a good way of showing that it's not only the main team at NCIS who are affected by Kate's presence, but also many of the background characters : ) I also thought it would be a really great way for a genuine friendship between the two women to be born, so I hope you guys liked that particular little deviation from the canon timeline : )

And can I just say... Aww! Isn't it sweet just how much Tony cares about Kate in this story : D I know that scaring the living daylights out of a suspect is more of a Gibbs tactic than a Tony one, but when the idea of it came to me I just couldn't resist running with it. I figured we needed to really see just how much Kate being abducted would have an impact on the characters around her, so to see the usually humorous and playful Tony turn into such a hard man was a great way of doing that. I hope you guys think so too : )

And ooh, Kate is awake before she reaches the final showdown with O'Neill : D I figured that just because Paula didn't wake up in the canon episode until after O'Neill stopped driving, didn't mean I had to go down that route with Kate. They are after all completely different people so it isn't so farfetched that they would regain consciousness at different speeds. Plus Kate has had different training, which hopefully will show in the next chapter. She'll also get a lot more screen time than she did in this one, I promise : )

And I think that's just about it from me for this week, so thank you for reading this chapter and my story in general, and I really hope you're enjoying it. Please also consider leaving a review as I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on how I'm doing so far, and like I said before, please also keep those suggestions coming in as well, because some of them have been extremely helpful : )

Until the next time, keep on reading : )