𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄 ━━ 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐳𝐳𝐨

ELEVEN | honey

"Ducky? Gerald? You guys here yet?" I enter the dark Autopsy room, fiddling through my purse for my NCIS badge. "I know I was supposed to come earlier, but parking was a bitch."

Suddenly, someone presses a cold metal against my forehead.

The muzzle of a gun.

"And who are you?" The person's raspy voice tells me he's male, but it doesn't belong to the doctor or his assistant.

Cowering behind a dim-lit autopsy table, Ducky just barely shakes his head.

"Meredith Montgomery." I pretend to shake in fear. "I-I'm a medical student from the University of Virginia."

"And what are you doing here?" The muzzle digs further into my skin, close to leaving a ring in its place.

Keep it going, Evaline. You're doing great. "Dr. Mallard invited me to observe an autopsy. But I see that won't be happening today."

"Beautiful and wise." He steps closer, his face now visible from the small light. "Such a shame that I will have to kill you."

I hear a bullet click into place. With a pull of the trigger, I'll be dead.

"Wait!" Ducky shouts frantically. "If she does not return to campus in precisely one hour, the university will be forced to contact law enforcement, and they will kill you." Since when has Ducky been one to lie?

Guess desperate times call for desperate measures.

The man finally moves away the gun, waves of relief rushing through my body.

"Get her a set of greens and breathing gear." He nudges me forward.

Ducky's hand grazes the middle of my back, leading me into the supply closet. "I apologize for not notifying you sooner, but —"

"It's alright, Dr. Mallard." I keep up the act, even though he's far enough to not hear us. "But I do have my gun with me." Discreetly, I show him the contents of my purse.

Sitting right on top is the SIG-Sauer.

Once I am settled into the gear, Gerald, Ducky, and our captor wheel out Qassam's body.

"Right ventricle, left atria." His fingers touch the two bullet holes. "You haven't done an autopsy."

"It was late. I was due to autopsy today."

"Then you best place him on the table."

I kind of just follow whatever Ducky does seeing as I don't have any experience in medicine.

"Did you draw blood last night?" He paces along the side of the table.

"Yes." Ducky starts to uncover the body

"Is it refrigerated here?"

"No."

"You sent it with his clothing to Forensics?"

"Yes."

My head starts to ache from the adrenaline pumping through my bloodstream consistently.

"Are you a pathologist?" Not now, Ducky.

Ignoring the M.E.'s question, he asks, "Where is the lab?

"One floor up. Directly above us." Gerald opens his mouth to talk for the first time.

Ducky tries to trick the man into taking the stairwell with a surveillance camera monitoring it, but the lie fuels his anger even more.

To the point where his hand is wrapped around my neck, cutting off my oxygen.