A/N: Just a little insomnia induced fic, this one is unbeta'd so apologies in advance for any typos or mistakes you may find. Please point them out and I'll happily fix them. Hope you enjoy it. Reviews greatly welcomed :)
The sound of his phone ringing pulled him reluctantly out of his sleep, he groaned as he fumbled for his phone trying not to reach too far out with the warmth of his bed.
"DiNozzo" he answered as he snapped it open and brought it to his ear whilst simultaneously flicking the bedside lamp on.
He was met with an eerie silence
"Boss that you?" he asked uncertainly into the phone.
He pulled it away on receiving no reply and looked at the screen. Withheld. He frowned down at the tiny display before hanging up in frustration.
He glanced at his clock. 0400. He sighed and rubbed his temples trying to figure out if the phone call he'd just had or rather lack of it was anything to worry about. But he was tired. He'd stayed up late to watch a Magnum marathon on TV. It had been worth it though. There was nobody quite like Magnum. He smiled. His eyes dropping heavily and a wave or tiredness overcame him. He yawned and curled up in bed the mysterious phone call already quickly vanishing from his mind. He snuggled his face into his pillow a slight smile still playing on his lips as he gladly welcomed sleep back.
Ziva rolled her eyes as Tony waltzed out of the elevator ten minutes late. He is lucky Gibbs is not around.
He sent her a dazzling smile as he passed her and made his way to his desk.
"Ziva. Probie." He greeted them.
McGee who was already conscientiously at work just waved his hand in acknowledgement.
"Good morning Tony." She smiled as she tried to keep the smirk from her face as she watched Gibbs walk up behind Tony and smack him hard on the back of the head.
"Mornin' Boss" he cringed through the pain.
"What I'd tell you about being late DiNozzo?"
"Better late than never?" Tony guessed although immediately regretted his attempt at humouring his boss at the glare he received.
"I mean...uh"
"If you want to have a lie in just ask"
Tony did a double take at his boss's unexpected statement.
"Really?" Tony asked still taken aback.
"Yeah" Gibbs smirked "and I'll fire your ass. Then you can lie in all you want."
"Right Boss" Tony replied meekly as he took a seat, watching Ziva stifle her laughter out of the corner of his eye.
Tony didn't risk speaking again until Gibbs was safely out of the bullpen and even then he didn't dare utter a word until he was absolutely sure the Boss and his bat ears were completely out of hearing distance.
He got up and sauntered over to Ziva's desk.
"I am trying to work Tony" she shooed him away from her desk.
"We don't have a case."
"I am doing paperwork. Something you would be unfamiliar with."
"Hey that's a bit harsh. I understand the concept of paperwork... just not how it applies to me" he grinned at her.
She gave out an exasperated sigh.
"Hey Tony watch out Gibbs is coming" McGee called from his desk.
Tony let out a strangled cry as he darted back into his chair, knocking a pile of papers from his desk in his haste. He slammed down into his chair and it rolled backwards colliding against the wall jerking him forward.
He shook his head and blinked his eyes a few times before rounding on McGee who along with Ziva was in fits of hysterics.
"Ha Ha McJoker" he sneered as he stood up and brushed himself down before bending down to pick up the files that had spilled out all over the floor.
He shuffled the papers into a neat pile and placed them onto his desk before stalking over to Tim, a dangerous glint in his eye.
"Don't even think about it DiNozzo" came the voice from behind as Gibbs's hand came into contact with the back of his head once again.
"Never even crossed my mind Boss"
"Uh huh"
Tony skulked back over to his desk and had just sat down when his phone rang.
He pulled it out and looked at it. A frown crossing his face as he saw the number was withheld and the memory of the phone call last night resurfaced.
"Everything alright Tony?" Ziva asked noticing his face screw up in annoyance.
Gibbs gave him a curious glance and Tony opened the cell.
"Agent DiNozzo"
Again he was meant with that same silence. Eerie in a way he couldn't describe. His hand on the phone tightened as he suddenly heard rattling breathing over the line. Then the connection went dead.
"DiNozzo?" Gibbs walked towards his senior field agent.
"Just a wrong number Boss"
Gibbs quirked an eyebrow and placed his hand out. Tony obeyed by handing the cell over.
Gibbs took one look at it before chucking the phone over to McGee.
"Do something about this"
Tim looked shocked at the command.
"Uh... Err...What do you want me to do Boss?
Gibbs made a series of hand gestures as he searched for the correct terminology, eventually with a huff he gave in.
"Just do what you do McGee" he said gruffly.
Tim threw a questioning glance over at his partner but Tony did nothing but shrug, turning round just in time to catch the glimpse of concern in Ziva's eyes.
Gibbs head snapped up as the cell phone in McGee's hand began to ring again an hour later.
McGee gave a brief nod of the head at the unspoken question Gibbs asked.
Tony looked over to Gibbs for direction and he nodded to the phone. Tony swiftly walked over plucked the phone from McGee's hand and answered it.
"Ok who the hell is this?" He yelled into the phone his anger now beginning to surface. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and spun around to come face to face with Ziva. Their noses almost touching. She backed away immediately and the moment was lost and he focused his anger on the phone.
"Who ar--"
He was cut short and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat as he heard a piercing scream erupt through the phone and into his ears.
And then once again the connection was cut.
"McGee?" Gibbs was standing up ignoring the slightly dazed look that spread Tony's face.
"Boss it's just so weird I can't--"
Before he could continue any further Gibbs had barked at him to go down to Abby and get her help on it before he quickly marched toward to elevator signalling that Tony should go with him.
Abby had hers arms wrapped tightly around Tony and she refused to let go. A of number hours had passed since his private conference with Gibbs.
He had reassured his Boss that this was nothing personal as far as he could tell. That he could only assume someone that they'd pissed off on the job had targeted him. Gibbs had glared at him until he promised that this was definitely not some girl who's heart he'd broken seeking revenge, he'd said it jokingly but had been brought swiftly back down to Earth with yet another patented glare.
From there things had gone from bad to worse. There had been three more phone calls. A couple of hours apart. Each one a little more violent that the last.
The first had contained the unmistakable sounds of someone gaining a beating, the harsh whip of a rope, the pounding of fist on flesh and the muffled cries of pain. The line went dead after thirty seconds.
Then had come the same rattling breathing, broken my some incoherent mumbling that sounded a lot like someone was pleading for their life, then the resounding echo of a gunshot. The noise ringing in Tony's ears long after the caller had hung up.
The last had been just moments earlier and was the reason he was currently locked in a death grip hug by the forensic scientist.
Abby and McGee had just met another unexplainable dead end, McGee had been ranting about the impossibility of the whole scenario whilst Abby had taken her frustration out by draining a whole cup of Caf-Pow. Gibbs and Ziva had been standing by both acutely aware that there lack of knowhow with technology essentially meant they were sitting this case out until one of the others came up with a lead.
Abby had just slam dunked her cup into the trash can when the cell phone had rung again.
He'd answered sounding confident but when he was met with the now familiar rattling breath he'd become enraged and yelling into the phone had asked the caller what he wanted before shouting a large number of furious insults down the line. Gibbs had placed a firm hand on his agents back to stop the torrent of abusive language emitting from Tony's mouth.
Tony had taken in a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak again when a voice came over the line. It was computerized. Cold and robotic.
"You may want to rethink the way you want to speak to me Agent DiNozzo"
"And why pray tell is that?" Tony was breathing deeply calming himself down, embarrassed at his outburst. So unprofessional.
"Because it's not too late" came the monotonous reply.
"For what?" Tony asked, he'd felt Abby shuffle closer to him and he felt comforted by the gesture.
"To ask for forgiveness" Came the simple reply.
Tony was confused and a quick glance around his team members showed him that they had no more idea about the whole situation than he did.
"Why would I do that?" he asked, aware that he could hear the first touches of worry creep into his voice.
He heard a click and thought the caller had hung up but the return of the rattling breathing told him otherwise.
"Because Agent DiNozzo. Today is the day you are going to die" came the final chilling response before the line went dead.