Truth, Pain, and Lies
Hello All, and T here! Ok, ok, I know that I have another great story I am writing, but I really wanted something different and a bit more dark, and with lots more whumpage. Not to mention, well….nope, I can't tell you that or it wouldn't be as much fun to not give some of it away. Let's just say I am going to try my hand at crossovers and have fun with it. So far I have NCIS and NCIS LA. I may throw in…nope, not going to tell you that either, just to keep your imaginations wondering. Oop, ok, disclaimer….nope, nothing belongs to me…I've checked twice. Nothing, zilch, nada. Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter One – When Crap hits the fan….
Six weeks of undercover work, and it was blown all to hell. He was kicked and hollered questions at, and all he could do was curl up as best he could. He tried to breathe even as he struggled to curl up to protect his head and chest from the booted feet of the two men, tied up as he was.
Two others just watched as they held guns pointed at him in case he fought back again. Heavy boots that had steel toes, he knew, and they hit hard, powerful and all he could do was hope his 'partner' would get here soon. They had not kicked his head yet as they still wanted information, but sooner or later….yep, there was the misplaced kick.
He vaguely saw it coming amidst the pain of bruises he already felt forming - not to mention the cracked and broken ribs. The boot grazed his head despite the quick movement to try to stop from hitting him there as the man was shouted at by one of the others, "No, damn you don't hit him in the head!" Pain shot through his temple, and he knew no more.
He woke he knew not how many hours later floating facing up and yet still tied to…wait, floating? What was he doing in the water? As he thought that he sunk, coughing and choking in the water, and fought to relax despite the pain he felt all over. He was finally able to float again.
He could tell it was late, and barely a half moon, but at least it was not winter. Mid to late summer, evening, and apparently tied to a docking area that was barely used as he saw not one boat; oh yeah, his day was getting even better. Well, at least he remembered that, so knew he would be all right; too bad he had not woken with amnesia, though.
He knew that the Op had been bad from the start. Unfortunately when jobs were threatened by the boss of your boss of your boss…well, you really had no choice but to go. Especially when your main boss was not even in the state, much less on land, and would not be back for three days at the time; what else was he to do? Well, really, he wasn't even in the same state either now.
Sure, he had been given backup, and he once again snorted at who it had been. Yeah, that had been a joke. He was not laughing. He sputtered again as water found his way in his mouth.
Finding some sharp barnacles, he worked the ropes painfully over them. It was not a great knife but enough to work with, so he used it. Sadly, they had taken his belt and boots. Really, he was thankful they had taken his boots, or he would not have floated so easily.
On the other hand, had they hoped he woke up soon, so as to continue their questioning? He really needed to get out and….the rope around his wrists snapped wetly, and he sighed quietly yet painfully as his lungs fought him. He now had to hang on and fought to loosen the ropes around his ankles, and he scraped his feet enough on the barnacles to know he needed to get out soon; more blood in the water was very bad.
Forever and a few minutes later, they came apart. At a slow barely swimmers crawl, really, he mused, more of a doggie paddle, he worked his way carefully and as quietly as he could to find a way out of the steadily growing colder water. The shirt and pants he wore were twisting tighter with each movement, creating friction with his bruised bloodied skin, but the cold felt good and soothed the pain.
He just hoped he found a way out before he got too comfortable with the chill. Hypothermia he did not want.
He lost track of time as he worked his way around barnacled piers, keeping as far away as possible even as the movement of the water desperately tried to push him into them, and got many a painful scrape when he couldn't stop the shove against them. When he finally found a metal ladder, he was hesitant to use it, wondering what he would find at the top.
Shivering violently now, he knew he had no choice. Climbing up he fought to breath quietly, as well as wished his clothes didn't drip so loudly. It was too quiet. Peering over the edge as he neared the top, he saw nothing but warehouses; still he hesitated to climb over the edge. Instead, he scanned for a place to hide behind so as to make his next move. He didn't recognize the buildings.
He needed a place to get warm, and place to check his injuries; his top need was to contact someone he trusted for help, and right now he did not know who that was. His head began throbbing again, and he grimaced in pain. Against his better judgment, he climbed up and over, darting as quickly as he could toward some large containers he saw near some of the buildings.
He still saw no one, but didn't let his wariness abate. He knew it was only a matter of time before they found him gone and would start searching.
He moved as carefully and as quietly as he could from building to building, from dark shadow to dark shadow. He watched for cameras, keeping out of sight of them in case the ones who would be looking for him would use them to their advantage. He knew now who had betrayed him. He just didn't know why, but he would figure it out.
When he finally got to a quiet apartment building that was quiet and still, he checked it for people who were awake first. Those would be either wide awake or maybe even dangerous to him right now. Finding the front door with no cameras and an unlocked door, he warily entered.
Instead of heading up he headed down. Finding a barely used utility room with old rags and cleaning products that looked old, he searched and found some things he could use to help clean his injuries safely. It was painful, but he did the best he could. The ribs would have to wait. Now, he just needed to find a phone and make a call.
It was the fourth door in the basement that he found a small unused old apartment that had once been a handyman's apartment. He saw an old rotary phone plugged in, and checked the line. Grinning when he heard a dial tone, he dialed 411 first to make sure it worked. When it did, he immediately dialed a number he hadn't thought of in a long time. He hated using it, but knew it was someone who would move heaven and earth to figure it out as well get him away safely.
When a sleepy slurred voice answered, he sighed in relief even as he fought back a cough. "Deeks? It's Dinozzo….I need help…"
"He said what?" G had picked up Deeks as soon as he had called him. Deeks was still injured from his last stint undercover for the LAPD, a gunshot wound and a dislocated shoulder, and the rest of the team hated that every time he came back he was injured. Deeks had called him as he never slept much anyway. G had honestly been bored this evening; he didn't like this kind of excitement, though.
Deeks sighed as G rocketed toward the docking area toward the coast, near where many questionable warehouses they knew were either abandoned or being used by the homeless. "Not sure, really, mainly it was about a bad Op, partner not first-class and something about daisies. I'm not sure if I got that last part right; he was mainly muttering by that time."
Deeks grimaced as G took a sharper turn than usual and had to brace his feet so his shoulder didn't ram into the passenger side door. G muttered, "Sorry," but didn't slow down.
Both knew how bad an undercover operation could be when it went sour, and both knew well Tony's skills. Neither had known he was out here, and were very confused about why he was, but had called no one but Hetty, who ordered them to hurry. They knew she would tell no one until they all knew more of what was going on.
Why wasn't he on the East coast where he worked with Gibbs and the team? For that matter, G thought, why hadn't they heard through the NCIS grapevine that Dinozzo was not working with the top MTAC team at all?
He knew Gibbs would go ballistic, and wondered why no one had. For that matter, did Hetty really not even know Dinozzo was out here? G had recognized the fury of her voice when she realized an agent was injured and alone; to her that was unacceptable. He was sure she had not known.
Either way, they would get to Tony first, make sure his injuries were taken care of, and then get him to a safe house. Hetty would help with that, and probably was already dealing with somewhere safe; the less who knew right now the better.
She had wanted Tony out here for years, and had admitted to G once that Tony had been one child that had successfully hidden from her to help, with how good he had hidden all he had gone through as a kid. When she had finally gotten near enough, with all the undercover work he did, Gibbs had beaten her to it. G knew Gibbs still rubbed it in at Hetty, but neither really meant it in a rude way.
When they got close enough, G slowed down so as to not direct too much attention. Leave it to Hetty to get the directions to find Tony fast, and no one else knew but the three of them. Sam would be incensed to have been left out, but as it was his daughter's birthday weekend, he would forgive them this once. He would still pout, but work all the harder when he was pulled in to help…at whatever this was.
The two agents quietly left the vehicle and entered the silent building. Meeting no one, G entered the stairs to the basement first, his gun trained and ready in case others had found Tony first.
Deeks held his gun steadily yet painfully; he had taken off his shoulder brace before they came in. Hetty would ream him out later for that, but not heatedly as she would have done the same, and Deeks smirked, she most likely had for all her years as an agent.
Quietly they checked each room they came by until they came upon a door partially ajar; Deeks nodded to G as he readied to slowly push the door open. They didn't want to startle Tony if he was badly hurt, as they heard nothing from within. The door opened with a subtle squeak and G and Deeks both entered, and Deeks cursed quietly as G did the same in another language.
Tony sat against the far wall, blood seeping from the top of his feet, and Deeks could see the painful scrapes on his forearms where he scraped something to get the ropes off of his wrists. Deep bruising was evident across the torso as the shirt that had been ripped to check other injuries. He saw the chemical containers on the floor nearby, and both surged forward, still carefully so as to not startle him. G bent down to check Tony's pulse even though they could see him breathing laboriously, and Tony's hand shot out, gripping his throat.
G croaked out, "Tony, it's us…" and Deeks added, "Hey, Dinozzo, hey bro, we got your six." With that, Tony's eyes finally focused blearily and painfully on the two of them.
"Bout time, Deeks. Hey, G," Tony whispered hoarsely, letting go of G.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Tony added, "I take it Hetty knows," and then fought back a cough as it hurt.
"Yeah, she is finding you a safe house to hide in until you can tell us what's going on," Deeks commented.
Tony nodded at that painfully, "Yeah, less who know the better. Still not sure what's all going on, but I know enough to know it's bad. Soon as I can think straight, pretty sure I will be able to put more together," he sighed as he said this as he shifted agonizingly.
Quickly G got him up as carefully as he could, Deeks now taking the front as they crept out the way they had come, even more slowly and even more in danger now as two of them would not be able to fight much. Still, the stealth the three of them used was not in vain, as they were triple checking wherever their eyes moved. Deeks knew he would be fine for now, but wasn't sure about Dinozzo.
It took them fifteen minutes to make the block and a half back to the car, but they made it. Cautiously the doors were opened; thankfully the dome lights were already turned off as per the norm with their cars, so the lights did not give them away. As soon as Deeks had Tony in the back with him, G was in and the motor running and they were off. They took a circuitous route now, making sure no one was following them.
As Tony's head was lying on Deeks lap, the LAPD liaison noted the normally neat hair longer and rough stubble across his friend's face that showed a paleness that showed the stress his friend was under. He wondered if it was just from the pain, but wondered if it was more than just that. G glanced back as he dialed his cell, hitting speaker, "Hetty? We got him; where do you want to keep him safe?" They all heard Hetty hum in worry, "Address sent to your phone. How bad is he?"
Deeks broke in before G could, letting him concentrating on driving and checking on the address, "Bad, Hetty, he is having trouble breathing as well, so make sure we get a trustworthy doc to check his lungs. Broken ribs, gonna need stitching on arms and feet. He has bruising badly across the torso and most likely his back, bleeding there as well, not to mention a concussion. Not sure how bad the concussion is yet."
Tony broke in as he muttered, "Let's just say there's three of you, bro." G chuckled as he stated, "Oh, so not good, bro. I feel sorry for you," and Deeks mock glared at the two of them. "Hey!" Tony would have laughed, but continued, "Hetty, don't tell anyone I contacted you guys. If I could have earlier, I would have. I wasn't exactly in the right position to do so until now, though."
"Understood, and no, I will not, until you can tell me more, and more importantly, who sent you here." She waited to hear, and Tony, knowing what she wanted, sighed. "Not sure if you will believe me, Hetty."
"Try me," she said, and he groaned as he shifted accidentally as they turned a corner. Deeks tried to keep him still, but the hills and curves to were not helping. Tony sighed once again, and he stated, "Hetty, you know my past, as well as Deeks...who do you think sent me, and I didn't give it a thought except not like it?"
"No…" she breathed, infuriated all the more.
"Yep," he stated.
"Crap…I hated that guy…" Deeks groaned, now knowing who Tony meant.
G demanded, "What exactly am I missing from this conversation?"
"Lots, G. A whole damn lifetime," Tony replied.
"Tony, over half of your life is blackened out," complained G, then frowned as he looked at Deeks, "Not to mention yours, Deeks."
G heard a chuckle over the phone, "Oh, the stories the two of them could tell you are just as black op as most of mine, and not to mention yours, my boy. We will tell you what we can when you all get here." Hetty hung up and G continued to work his way across the city, toward the safe house.
"I'm not going to like it, am I?" G asked as he narrowed his gaze at the two behind him.
Tony chuckled thinly, "Oh, you'll like this one. You may not believe us, though."
G smirked, "Oh, with you two, I will believe just about anything with the crazy stunts you two have pulled under cover."
Two faces looked at him with almost identical innocent faces. Then the three smirked at each other.
Author's Note: I am sure you have questions now, and go ahead, review and question away! You never know, they may work the story to even better, and I may or may not tell you if you are on the right track! Either way, I can safely say I am not an expert at all things covert. Just in my own imagination! Again, Reviews are mightily appreciated! That button there? T