Summary: Tony's life comes crashing down around him when he's abandoned in a foreign country after his extraction from a complete undercover operation goes horribly wrong. There's nowhere to run, no one to turn too and Tony begins to slowly loose his faith in his team and himself.
Notes: I've always wanted to explore where things could go if Tony was forced to deal with being 'abandoned' by his team, what with his issues with his father and all. I have been playing way too much Far Cry 2... This takes place in Africa but no place names as such are directly mentioned, I sort of leave that to you own respective imaginations. I don't want to offend anyone so if anything I write is wrong or inaccurate and needs to be fixed please promptly tell me, other that than please enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, if I did we'd know a lot more about Tony, hell we'd know a lot more about the whole team in general. This is my first time playing on their swing set, in other words my first fan-fiction. Please let me know if you like the story and if I should continue with it or not, comments, ideas, theories and everything else are all very welcome. Spoilers through to season Six, this could possibly take place sometime during the latest season, perhaps after Nine Lives. -Enys
"How long!?" Gibbs shouted across MTAC at McGee who flinched and began typing feverishly at his console.
"We have satellite for another five minutes Boss." McGee shook his head. Tony wasn't going to make it. Gibbs swore under his breath and suddenly looked as if he was going to kill the nearest living object, McGee was thankful he was on the other side of the room.
"Haul ass to that airport DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted down his ear-mike so loud Tony winced half a world away. Gibbs could hear Tony breathing heavily as he ran, heads would roll if his senior field agent didn't come home safe, he hadn't stepped foot on American soil in a long time. Leroy Jethro Gibbs had never left a man behind before and he wasn't about to start now.
"Hauling ass Boss." Tony replied with a smile as he ran for all he was worth. The undercover operation had gone off without much of a hitch. His undercover skills had brought down a terrorist cell operating within Africa that had been planning on sabotaging some Navy equipment on the way to America. Had they succeeded, there would have been a huge loss of life. It had been a long and grueling operation. Tony was tired- exhausted even, physically and mentally, it had been a long undercover operation, almost five months. Five months in a foreign country and he had succeeded. The only thing that had gone wrong with the plan thus far was the fact that they were banking on a car being there for Tony when the time came for him to pull out and there hadn't been one, someone somewhere had screwed up and for once it wasn't him. As per their plan his death had been faked perfectly, just in case he needed to operate within Africa again for some reason.
With the operation completed, his death faked and the apparent lack of a getaway car… Tony found himself sprinting through jungle and across bush lands in order to reach the region's only airport that was launching its last plane. The airport was closing for many reasons, some to do with the case Tony had been on, and this was his only chance at getting out. If he missed that plane… well he didn't want to think about it.
"Boss…" Tony huffed as his arm got caught on a branch and was cut open. "Boss…do you think you could, you know, maybe hold that plane?" He breathed as he vaulted over a rotted log and kept running. He had run what felt like miles and hadn't seen so much of another person let alone some sort of mode of transportation.
"I'm damn well gonna try DiNozzo." Gibbs sighed. He watched with anticipation as the satellite tracked Tony from above. Covering his mic Gibbs looked over to the Director who was sitting in the chairs behind him.
"Don't let me down." Tony breathed as he ran, wincing as he willed himself to keep sprinting.
"We have to hold that plane." Gibbs glared at Vance; if looks could kill he would be dismembered and decapitated.
"Gibbs… you know the answer." The director replied solemnly. Gibbs tilted his head to the side and jutted it forwards a-ways as if to emphasize his point and intensified his glare. "I'm sorry Leroy I can't. It's leaving at 1200 and there's nothing you or I can do about it. My hands are completely tied." The director really didn't dislike Tony enough to abandon him in a foreign country… but if that boy didn't make it to the plane there was nothing anyone could do for him, mostly due to the political ramifications. He'd have to work his own way out and then get in contact with NCIS again so they could extract him.
McGee sat nervously in his chair, sweat dripping off his forehead as he watched Tony sprint like a madman, he didn't want to interrupt Gibbs and the Director but they were running out of time.
"Two minutes of feed left." McGee announced.
"God damn it!" Gibbs bellowed at the screen, the plane was going to take off any minute.
"I'm sorry Jethro." The director stated, no emotion evident in his voice.
"The hell you are!" Gibbs spun and shouted back, pointing a finger at the man opposite him. Gibbs knew damn well Vance held some sort of grudge and a general dislike towards Tony. The Director made to stand up and open his mouth to reprimand his Agent but Tony saved Jethro at the last second.
"Boss?" Tony questioned, his voice strained from all the running. He was slowing and he knew it, he wasn't going to make it unless they held that damn plane. 'Don't let me down Gibbs, I know you won't let me down, come on boss…' He thought over and over.
"Tony…" Gibbs's tone was one of defeat, Tony could hear it, he'd never heard Gibbs speak like that before, the senior field agent's heart sank and a frown creased his brow as he kept running but slowed considerably.
"Gibbs? Gibbs tell me your holding that plane" DiNozzo pleaded, he was near desperate at this point. He was almost there; he could see the gleaming white aircraft on the runway. McGee in MTAC on the other side of the world didn't want to announce that they were out of time, he almost couldn't say it but they were about to loose the satellite feed, and Tony.
"Boss… minute and a half of feed left." McGee reluctantly spoke up as he stared at the screen. Tony was still running for all he was worth, the plane had started its engines and was beginning to coast on the runway.
"Then get me more time McGee!" Gibbs bellowed back.
"I can't! Boss there are no other satellites in range." Tim wished he could do something, anything, but there was nothing else in array for at least another six hours and Tony couldn't stay in the area. Meanwhile Tony stopped running as he saw the plane start to move and pull out onto the runway, he couldn't make the distance in time no matter how fast he wished he were.
"Tony!" Gibbs shouted at the screen as he watched DiNozzo cease sprinting from the above angle view the satellite gave.
"I'm not getting out of this one am I Boss?" Tony squinted through the mid day sun at the plane as it began to take off and hung his head. His tone was dejected, his luck had finally run out, well and truly.
"DiNozzo… listen to me, I will find you! No one gets left behind. Semper Fi." Gibbs tried to reassure Tony but they were out of time. This wasn't happening; he was not about to lose his senior field agent!
"There's a first for everything…" Tony replied beaten, he watched as the plane's wheels lifted off from the dirt air-strip and it pulled high into the sky, he tracked it until it crossed paths with the sun and he winced, looking away as spots dotted his eyes. "Tell everyone I'm sorr-"
"Tony? … DiNozzo?! Damn it…Tony?!!" Gibbs bellowed. He was staring at the screen as it began to cut into static, the image of Tony distorting and eventually it faded out altogether. McGee frantically typed, he tried to get a visual on Tony any damn way he could but that was it, he was gone. Gibbs hung his head as a silence filled MTAC. A man had been left behind, left for dead; they had just lost Tony, a senior field agent, a friend and a son.
Gibbs threw his microphone with rage at the screen and stormed out of MTAC. He sidestepped the small group huddled around Tony's desk as they moved towards him with questioning looks and muttered something about coffee before he was gone. Abbey stated under her breath in passing that she had never seen Gibbs so angry. McGee appeared from MTAC moments later, a look of shock plastered on his face. Abbey hugged him and led him to his desk.
"What happened McGee!? Is Tony coming home?" The Goth questioned, her eyes were more than worried and pleading for an answer. McGee didn't respond for some time and shook his head sadly.
"He didn't make it to the plane."