Revenge Is Sweet
- Chapter 5: Revelations -
Tony trudges across the bullpen and leans against the desk taking deep breaths, 'Tony, Ziva, with me,' Gibbs calls grabbing his badge and gun, Tony leaps up and grabs his cap, 'where're we going?' 'You'll find out,' Tony furrows his brow as he runs into the elevator after Gibbs, 'How will I know where to drive if I don't know where I'm going?' Ziva slips between the closing doors as Gibbs throws the keys into the air, 'I'm driving.'
Tony grips the edge of his seat, his eyes wide with horror as Gibbs sped between the traffic at a ridiculous speed, and he gulps and looks over at Gibbs. 'Boss, any chance we could slow down?' 'Nope,' Gibbs replies concentrating on the road ahead, he turns onto the highway, 'Boss, where're we going,' Tony whines earning a glare from Gibbs, 'Boss, could you please tell us where we are going so that we may prepare properly,' Ziva asks politely from the backseat, Tony turns around and glares at her. Gibbs thinks for a few seconds, 'Elementary boarding school in
They pull up outside the gates to the school, Gibbs winds down his window and presses the button for security, 'Name, and reason for visit,' 'NCIS, Special Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo and Officer David,' the buzzer sounds as the gates open. Gibbs drives slowly through the gates and parks outside the main doors. 'We need to talk to the headmaster,' he tells an approaching security guard showing him his badge. The security guard leads them through the main school building to an office on the third floor, 'Samuel Jameson, Headmaster, how can I help you Special Agent Gibbs?'
A man in his fifties wearing a grey suit asks, standing behind his desk, 'We need to know why Sean Taylor is paying 35,000 every summer to this school,' the man nods and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he types at his computer and looks up, 'Sean Taylor is the mother of one of our students, a Leanna Jenny Gibbs, 3rd grader, boarding student, very bright,' Gibbs nods, exactly as he had suspected. 'Where is Leanna now?' 'According to her timetable, Math,' 'we need to take her with us,' 'what's going on, I can't let you take the child without her mother's permission,' Gibbs stares at the headmaster, 'her mother has been abducted, it is for her own safety that we need to take Leanna with us.' Samuel Jameson nods quickly, 'I'll show you to the room myself.'
Gibbs looks around at the stone walls and floor of the corridors, he'd seen a film where school looked this, a few years ago, something about wizards and a stone, he made a mental note to ask Tony what it was once this was all over. Ziva walks beside him also looking at the building, 'I feel like I'm in Hogwarts,' she mutters as several older students hurry past dressed in identical black blazers and pants with white shirts and red ties. Was that the name of the school Gibbs wonders before diverting his attention to the class now watching him eagerly.
He looks at the students and immediately knows which one is Leanna, long red hair pulled back into a pony, a smooth fringe sitting above her large blue eyes and a cheeky smile as she eagerly waited to hear what was happening, something all her class mates seemed desperate to hear too. He looks at her and speaks softly, 'Leanna?' She nods, her eyes narrowing, she tilts her head to one side and purses her lips, almost as if she recognises him, he recognised her expression, it was the one Jenny used to pull when she was studying evidence, when something was jumping out at her but she wasn't sure why.
'Leanna my name is Jethro and I work with your mom,' Leanna nods and sighs, she packs up her books and picks up her coat as Gibbs and her classmates look on confused, 'well I gotta go with you don't I?' Gibbs nods, slightly surprised by the eight-year-olds' deduction skills, she slips between the desks and bounces towards him, 'mom said,' she answers the question in his face. 'Let's go get your stuff,' she nods happily a grin spreading across her face. 'I'll show you.'
Tony and Ziva follow behind Gibbs as the little girl leads him down a corridor, 'She looks so much like Je…' The little girl stops and glares at him, her eyes wide 'like, her mother?' he finishes unsure, the little girl nods subtly and turns back around smiling knowingly, Gibbs raises an eyebrow as he looks down at her, she grins and winks, They arrive at the dorms and Gibbs turns to Ziva, 'Ziva, help her pack up her things,' Ziva opens her mouth about to protest but purses her lips and sighs, following the child into her shared bedroom.
Leanna closes the door behind them and walks slowly to the bed by the window, she is no longer smiling, Ziva follows her and helps her lift her case onto her bed. The child quietly places her cuddly toys in the suitcase, she opens a drawer and pulls out some clothes, her bottom lip trembles, 'hey, what is wrong?' She shakes her head as he looks up into the brown eyes. She starts stuffing her clothes into her case and empties the drawer quickly; she grabs clothes from the end of the wardrobe and a pair of sneakers. 'Can I change outta my uniform?' Ziva nods; still not quite sure how she was supposed to communicate with an eight year old.
Leanna grins and grabs a pair of jeans and one of her tops and runs into another room, 'I'll be two minutes,' Ziva nods and calls after her, 'What else is yours? I'll start packing,' 'the stuff in the drawers under the bed,' Ziva nods to herself and bends down to open the drawers, inside she finds books and notebooks, a drawing pad and drawing materials, a door opens behind her and she looks up, 'you like to draw?' The girl nods grinning, 'I love drawing,' she runs over and helps put her books into her case, 'we don't know when you're coming back so make sure you have all the things you might want.'
They finish packing and Leanna squeezes a stuffed white rabbit to her chest, 'shall we go?' Ziva asks her guiding her towards the door, Leanna nods biting her bottom lip. She walks miserably out of the room and looks up at Gibbs her eyes wide with fear, suddenly she jumps up and a huge grin spreads across her face.
As Gibbs guides her down the corridor and out to the car he realises she is pretending to be happy, he sees the fear in her eyes behind the shining surface. He smiles weakly at her and helps her into the car, she smiles back and settles into the seat beside Ziva. As they drive towards NCIS she looks out of the window, her smile fading and her rabbit squeezed ever more tightly to her chest. She doesn't speak at all during the journey and only nods in assent when Ziva asks her if she is okay.
Leanna stands holding her rabbit tightly in front of Gibbs desk, she looks up at him with frightened eyes and finds herself unable to hold back the tears any longer, her chin falls to her teddy as she cries and she begins to shake. Gibbs kneels down beside her and wraps his arms around her, 'Hey, it's going to be okay, don't worry,' 'no, it won't' she sobs. Tony, Ziva and McGee all look on helpless as Gibbs tries to comfort the frightened girl, 'something real bads happened hasn't it?' she chokes sliding her arms around Gibbs neck. 'What makes you think that?' 'Mom said if anything really bad happened to her Jethro would come take care of me,' she holds onto Gibbs tightly as he rubs her back gently, 'she told me to smile and play dumb till I got to NCIS,' she sniffed, 'everyone at school thinks she's called Sean, but she's not, she's the director of NCIS and that means bad men might want to hurt her, and me, I want my mommy,' she bawls into Gibbs neck, 'I won't let anyone hurt you,' Gibbs whispers into her ear, 'and I'm gonna find your mom and bring her back to you, I promise.'
Jenny pulls the knotted cotton tight with her teeth around her arm, it stings but it is better than bleeding everywhere. She licks her lips, they feel slimy and horrible in the heat, her mouth and throat are dry and her eyes are sore from the dust. She hears voices and sits silently, desperately trying to hear what they are saying. She hears a man talking, laughing, with a second, a third is trying to reason with them, 'come on, let her go, there was no need to abduct her and keep her here, and the blood and the knife, what was that all about ?' 'Punishment,' a cold voice split the air sending a tingle down Jenny's spine, 'punishment? For who?' 'Special Agent Gibbs, his team, NCIS in general, you don't screw with me and get away with it,' the room outside was silent.
Jenny listens carefully, all she can hear is heavy breathing for a while, 'what do we do with her?' 'keep her here a few more days, let her sweat, maybe even bring her daughter, Leanna,' she raised her voice, 'such a beautiful child, such a shame what has to happen when the cavalry come running to save you mommy,' Jenny slumped to the floor, her blood like ice, they cackled with laughter outside banging on the door, mocking her. Not Leanna, not her Leanna, they couldn't hurt her little girl, they could do what they wanted to her, anything as long as her little girl was safe. 'Hey Jenny, just think, bang and they're dead.'
She drops her head onto her knees, praying Jethro had gotten to her already, begging whoever might hear her silent prayers that Jethro had her daughter safe where she couldn't be hurt. 'No one said anything about killing them! What the hell is wrong with you people? What did she ever do to you?' She lifts her head and stares at the door in disbelief, it couldn't be, she knew that voice, she knew him, why was he doing this? He did ask a good question though, what the hell was going on out there and what had she done that was so bad?