A/N: finished up another unfinished fic so here it is! Amazing the things one internet outage can accomplish!

Chapter 1

Tony yawned. Five days, one hour of sleep for each, three serial killers, one group, all in jail. It had been a win for the team but boy was he dead on his feet. Thai food and a long nap. They called his name like a seductive whisper. Gibbs had mercifully given him permission to leave. The man wasn't a growling bear tonight. Tonight he was a happy bear. Tomorrow would be another story. It always was because there was always some criminal on his bad side. He grabbed his wallet and fished through it pleased to see he had fifty bucks in there. Plenty for Thai food, and maybe a movie too if he just had the energy to get there. He yawned grabbing his jacket, visiting the head, taking a moment to scowl at the dark circles under his eyes and overall worn out appearance and then he was out and headed to freedom.

Or so he thought.

It was cold outside, 20 degrees F. to be exact, and he was shivering immediately. He hated the cold. His feet were dragging he was so tired, which was the only thing preventing him from sprinting to the soon to be warmth of his car. The drive to the Thai restaurant was quick and the food was brought to him, promptly given the late hour, just before closing time and that he was the only customer. In exhaustion he never felt the eyes on him or heard the approach of danger. He had just put his several heavy bags of food in the passenger seat and buckled them in for safety, the loss of Thai food to a quick brake or swerve was the worst tragedy, when pain exploded through his lower back.

DiNozzo crumpled to the pavement instantly with a cry of pain his head bouncing off the hard surface stars dancing before his eyes. Through the buzz in his head he heard what sounded like distant laughing. He tried to right himself feebly his back spasming from the effort making him gasp. The laughter stopped and without any more warning a hail storm of hard blows crashed down on him, mostly his back. He struggled to move out of their path but he was too slow. Everything was rushing around him, his body on fire with pain. He moved to crawl to the protection of under his car when a final blow landed against the back of his head smashing his forehead down to the pavement and everything went black.

His attacker stood over his unconscious battered victim for a moment longer admiring his work before he set down the bat and pulled out a roll of duct tape and a handkerchief. He stuffed the square of cloth in DiNozzo's mouth then put a double layer of duct tape over his lips. The first layer short the second almost the length of his jaw. Then he rolled him onto his back and cuffed his arms behind him making sure the cuffs were as tight as they could be, ensuring they would be painful but not enough to kill the limbs from lack of circulation…..that would be for later, maybe. He did the same to Tony's ankles snapped a few photos and then relieved the fallen agent of his gun, it's holster, his belt, wallet, keys, and shiny badge identifying him as a Federal Agent. He arranged all the objects into a sick taunting little smiley face on the hood of Tony's car. He couldn't help but laugh before he threw the agent into the trunk of his own car.

This was going to be splendid.

NCIS…THE NEXT MORNING….

Gibbs was irritated. He downed a large gulp of his coffee, fresh from his very own coffee dealer, and scowled as he looked at DiNozzo's empty desk. He was an hour late. Even for Tony that was unusually late. He'd never gone beyond half an hour….till now. He'd contemplated leniency given how exhausted and worn down his senior agent had been when he was about twenty minutes late but then the case had come in and Tony hadn't. Kate had been on time. Ducky had been on time. Abby he didn't know because she was the favored child. He never checked. He never needed to check. Tony was the 'problem child' and was late again. He called DiNozzo's cell phone. It went to voicemail.

"DiNozzo! If you're sleeping or chasing some hot body I swear I'll work you so hard you won't have time to piss for the next MONTH!" he hung up and dropped his phone to the desk aggravated. Kate gave him a wary glance then hurried back to her work before he could comment on her pause.

An hour later Kate had retreated to the protective custody of Ducky's autopsy with her laptop and DiNozzo was still unseen or heard from leaving Gibbs in a deadly mood. He had called the home phone the cell phone and every other phone connected to DiNozzo in even the slightest way too many times to count. He came to Abby bearing a Caff Pow and a demand to track Tony's cell phone. It hardly took her a moment before she had him.

"He's in the parking lot of Jasmin's Thai Food. Must be on his way. I know you want to kill him Gibbs but I like him so just severely maim him ok?" Abby pleaded for Tony with a silly grin. Gibbs would have smirked if his mood were not so sour as he stormed to the parking lot. The drive to the restaurant was faster than the speed of light.

His gut wrenched painfully when he found it, blood on the ground by the passenger door, wallet, gun, holster, belt, badge and car keys arranged in a smiley face as some form of demented taunt. Fury flashed through him brighter and more powerful than lightning. He was about to call Kate and pull her off the other case when he remembered the details. The children of marine's being kidnapped and murdered. Four so far. He couldn't let that go. He called Patchi and put him in on it with Kate instead.

He would find DiNozzo personally.

UNKNOWN PLACE. UNKNOWN TIME…

The world started out fuzzy, blurred and incoherent. He couldn't bring thought into focus. His head pounded and felt like it was cracking in half. He was confused. Where was he now? The last thing he'd remembered was his stomach gurgling in anticipation of hot tasty Thai food and then nothing. He blinked sluggishly trying to clear his vision but the lines remained blurred in the dim light. He tried to swallow his throat parched but there was something soft stuffed into his mouth filling it to the brim. He couldn't even move his tongue. Something pulled at his skin around his mouth and face. His brow furrowed trying to bring the cause into clarity. It took him far longer than it should have to deduce there was tape over his mouth; A lot of tape. He didn't know how much time passed as he laid there groggily waiting for the fog to lift before he tried to sit up only to cry out in pain as his forehead struck something above him, hard, and his back locked up in a fierce spasm that took his breath away.

He faded out again. Not quite unconscious but very oblivious of the world around him as pain washed over him and the air in the trunk he was thrown into became dangerously thin. He eyes were closed nearly unconscious when the car stopped and the trunk was popped open. His captor grinned maliciously down at him for a moment before hauling him out of the car and dragged him across the ground by his shirt collar, and up a few steps towards a cabin in the middle of nowhere. The moans Tony elicited as rocks and step edges raked across his battered back pulling him a little closer to consciousness gave him a temporary high. They entered a room that was bare except for a chair in the center. He pulled the cuffs of his victim's wrists and ankles getting another small high at the sight of the red marks and small bruises they had left. After a small effort he had DiNozzo in the chair and cuffed to it making the restraints tighter than before. Tony moaned from the discomfort.

He felt stiff and his back was hurting like hell. He felt lightheaded yet his head was too heavy to lift at the same time. He couldn't connect the pieces of his memory. It went from Thai food straight to waking up to this pain and disorientation. He breathed slow and shallow through his nose afraid to ignite the fire in his back again. He peeled his eyes open sluggishly then snapped them shut with a groan as the room spun around him. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he heard someone chuckle. He tried to swallow but there was still something in his mouth, sapping away all his saliva so that his throat burned for moisture.

"So, you're finally awake" a strange male voice sneered at him. Tony forced himself to open his eyes again, relieved that the room wasn't spinning anymore and though it took him a moment, focused on the man leaning against a wall in front of him. He squirmed a little and hissed as his wrists lanced with pain from the far too tight cuffs. The man laughed again. Tony looked at his surrounding now trying to get oriented unsure how long he'd been like this. He didn't like the wood bat that was sitting ominously in the corner, or the brass knuckles lying innocently next to it, and he definitely didn't like the shotgun among the collection of weapons.

"Well I see my toys have caught your attention. Any preference what we start with first Agent DiNozzo?" the man taunted again. Tony's jaw worked as if he were trying to answer but the cloth stuffed in his mouth and the duct tape prevented any form of communication.

"Well I suppose your preference doesn't really matter. I think we'll start simple," he chirped cheerily and picked up the knuckles slipping them over his fingers, "I take great pleasure in the art of escalation" Tony had no chance to brace himself as the knuckles slammed into him over and over. His chest, stomach, face, shoulders, there was no restraint as the man released his full fury.

Tony gritted his teeth hard on the cotton in his mouth and try to bear the beating silently. He kept telling himself to be like Gibbs. Don't show the pain. Don't give them the satisfaction. Sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he didn't. The brass knuckles racked up the pain every fierce blow caused by a hundred fold compared to bare knuckles. Time stretched, bent, and finally broke. He couldn't sense any form of time. There was only pain and the passage of cruel strikes against his body. By the time it was over he was gasping for air desperately, not getting enough, unable to even hold his head up as he curled in on himself as far as the restraints would allow. He was solely focused on the sensation of pain overwhelming him and the feel of blood that trickled from his wrists to drip off his fingertips.

He never saw the camera flashes as he fell into sweet oblivion.

NCIS….A FEW HOURS AFTER FINIDNG TONY'S CAR…

McGee followed Gibbs intimidated and worried at the same time. Tony missing. Blood by his car. Whoever did this was bold. There was Tony's stuff arranged on the hood of his car to start with as an indication. He wanted to taunt them and he was doing a good job. McGee had never been more scared of Agent Gibbs then he was now. He was sure the man was going to pull out his gun and shoot everyone, regardless of reason. Everyone worked quickly and efficiently. They had to or Gibbs would absolutely shoot them.

One of his own was missing and he was going to get him back, alive. There was no question in his mind. He wasn't going to lose Tony. He strutted around barking orders and finding evidence having McGee bag everything. In other circumstances he would have been proud of the new agent's endurance and calm under such a high stress situation but he was too focused on being the main cause of stress and hunting down his senior agent. The scene was bagged, tagged, sketched and photographed in under an hour. They were interviewing local business owners but nobody saw or heard anything. There were a good deal of prints and Gibbs silently hoped that some of them weren't Tony's.

When they got back to the office everyone was tense. Ducky inquired twice about their progress or if there was word on DiNozzo's condition/whereabouts but Gibbs didn't have anything for him. Abby was working in overdrive. Kate had made progress on the other case but clearly wasn't working the case she wanted anymore. He wanted her working to find DiNozzo too but someone had to find the child killer and he didn't think McGee was near ready to handle a case like that on his own. Kate could for the most part, and Patchi was working with her. They'd do fine.

Two hours after they got back to NCIS the letter came. It was simple and to the point. A Polaroid with DiNozzo unconscious tied up like an animal and blood on his neck originating from somewhere on the back of his head but otherwise he appeared to be ok. There was a single inscription.

Are you worried yet?