Disclaimer- I DO NOT OWN NCIS (though who wouldn't like to) THIS IS ONLY FOR FUN. HOPE YOU ENJOY
CHAPTER 1 - OH DEER!
Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs rode the elevator, coffee in hand, back up to the bullpen from being down in Ducky's "office".
"Hey Boss" Tony greeted Gibbs as he exited off the elevator. "the director wants to see you up in MTAC"
Gibbs silently acknowledged and headed straight for the stairs. Once in MTAC he was waved over to come and take a seat next to director Vance.
"Gibbs, I don't think I need to tell you this, but that body Ducky has downstairs is of high importance. We've got to transfer it for burial to a little town west of DC out in the country near the West Virginia state line. And we need a senior agent to take it" Vance looked over at Gibbs as he chewed away on his toothpick.
"Oh come on Leon, me?.... don't you have another agent that can take it?" Gibbs protested the request from his boss.
"I do, but you were on special request from SEC-NAV. You'll leave here in an hour and ride with the body, and sign it over to the proper authorities once you arrive. You should be able to get a rental car to come and pick you up to bring you back here, call if you have any problems." Vance gave Gibbs a half hearted salute letting him know that the conversation was over and he was to go and carry out the orders.
Less than thrilled, Gibbs left MTAC to return to his desk and gather some items for his trip.
"What's on the plate for today boss?" Tony asked as Gibbs entered back onto the main floor.
"You guys need to finish looking through the rest of the computer files on the hacking case that occurred the beginning of last week.. and I.. I am taking a day trip to deliver our special guest downstairs. If you guys need me, call me. Otherwise I'll see you all tomorrow most likely." With that Gibbs grabbed his phone and SIG from his desk and left the office.
Gibbs sat on the cold metal bench in the back of the transport van. His eyes scanned the road behind them through the rear window, noticing the snow that had started to fall and was accumulating on the ground. He shook his head to himself, regretting ever even have walked into MTAC this morning.
"How much longer?" Gibbs leaned forward and asked the driver
"About thirty to forty minutes more sir." The young man answered.
Gibbs leaned back in his seat and shut his eyes, having nothing else to do.
Tony looked out of the office window of the NCIS building, smiling at the white snow just beginning to fall and coat the streets and give a new pure coat of white to the already piled snow from the previous week.
"I just love winter, don't you?" the senior agent flashed his white smile and took a seat on the edge of agent Ziva David's desk.
"I do not like the cold. And the snow, at times, is not very nice to drive in" Ziva complained and continued typing on her computer.
"What about you probie?" Tony turned his attention to Mcgee.
Tim looked up from his relentless typing and searching of files, "I like it. And I don't mind driving in the snow."
"I'm glad to hear you say that." Director Vance's voice interrupted from behind, "Because you're about to venture out into it. Gibbs has delivered the body but the rental companies aren't sending any cars out because of the snow. Looks like you'll have to go and pick him up. Get directions from Ducky for the morgue where we sent him." With that Vance turned and left.
"Well, since I'm senior field agent, I think you and Ziva should stay here and continue to search through the files while I go and get Gibbs." Tony smiled.
"I do not think that is fair. I think I should go and get him because…"Ziva was cut of by Mcgee
"If I just heard correctly I believe Vance just told me to go and get him, and Ziva, you just said you hated driving in the snow!" Mcgee fought back.
Ziva had a smirk look on her face "I take it back."
"Settle down, settle down children." Dr. Mallard walked into the bullpen. "I've got the address here, and my suggestion to you all is that you are a team so you should go and get him as a team." Ducky smiled at his words of wisdom
"Sounds good to me" DiNozzo quipped as he snatched the address out of Ducky's hand. "Mcgeek, you're driving, Ziva… you get the back seat." Tony smiled as he grabbed his bag and headed for the elevators followed by his fellow agents.
The snow continued to fall, slow, but steady.
(cell phone rings)
"Gibbs" the silver haired man answered
"Hey Boss, just calling to let you know we are about thirty minutes from your location… and Mcgee sucks at driving in the snow" Tony smiled as he looked over at his probie partner who was protesting the statement with a clenched jaw and angered eye brows.
"Tony, I don't really care what cha think of Mcgee's driving, just get your butt's here and pick me up. I'm starving and its boring as hell. There is nothing around here. It's the middle of nowhere!"
"Right Boss, on it." Tony shut his phone "You heard the man Probie, step on the gas."
Just as Tim was rounding a sharp corner going up the side of a mountain, a deer leapt from the embankment and into the middle of the road.
"MCGEE LOOK OUT!!" Ziva screamed from the back seat.
Mcgee slammed the brake down hard, not even taking a moment to think about the snow that had coated the windy back roads. The halting tires sent the car into a spin going 60 miles per hour. The heavy steal met with the guard rail, but was too much for the barrier to handle.
The car went smashing through and sliding at a considerable rate down the side of the mountain. Screams and hands holding onto whatever they could grab inside of the car for a feeling of safety was the only picture present in the moment.
Mcgee, Tony, and Ziva looked ahead of them to see a large embankment of snow and a tree that they weren't sure they would miss or hit at the moment. The car slammed to a halt. The front passenger side of the car hit the tree and the rest was stopped by the mound of snow that was piled.
'What the hell is taking them so long?' Gibbs silently wondered to himself, after several failed attempts to call them on their cells he then decided to pick up the phone and give someone who he knew could help out a call.
"Hello!" The ecstatic voice of the always happy Abby answered the phone.
"Abbs its Gibbs… I need you to look up where Mcgee's car is right now, they're late and I haven't been able to get them on their cells. Probably no signal" Gibbs waited impatiently for a reply.
"Oh no Gibbs! You don't think they're hurt or..or are in trouble or anything do you?"
"I don't know Abbs, could you just locate the car" Gibbs re-asked.
"Sure, I'm on it."
He could hear her fingers frantically hitting each stroke of the keyboard and the quick clicking of the mouse, and in a matter of seconds heard her reaching to pick back up the phone.
"Okay Gibbs, its showing they are about 30 minutes east of you off of 'Twisted Creek Ridge'.." Abby bit her bottom lip waiting for Gibbs response.
"Did you say off of Abb's?" Gibbs asked to make sure
"Yea…" Abby's voice seemed to be heavy with concern now. "According to the GPS map it looks like they've veered off the road and the car is resting somewhere over the side of the mountain."
Abby could hear the silent cursing on the other line coming from Gibbs.
"Abbs…"Gibbs was still thinking about how he wanted to handle this "Get Ducky and take one of the trucks out.. send their location to my phone, and I'll meet you guys there."
"You got it Gibbs." Abby hung up and ran to get Dr. Mallard.
Ziva was the first to open her eyes back up. She could tell she had only had the wind knocked out of her and nothing was wrong. She leaned forward in between the front seats.
"Mcgee…Mcgee…. Can you hear me Mcgee?" she gently shook her co-workers shoulder.
Tim Mcgee gently stirred. He sat up from his leaning position and gently wiped away the small trickle of blood coming from his left nostril.
"Yea.. I'm okay, just a little bit of a bloody nose from the airbag" He continued to wince a little in pain as he touched his bruised face.
Ziva was getting ready to turn her attention to Tony, when she saw something out of the windshield.
"Mcgee..do you see that? Or did I hit my head after all?" Ziva questioned.
Tim looked out of the windshield and down to the bottom of the hill that they were currently resting on midway. He blinked a couple of times and even squinted, but there was no doubt in his mind, Ziva had not hit her head, and he could see it too.
There standing at the bottom of the hill were three rugged looking men, donned in hunting gear and pointing rifles in execution style at a fourth man who was down on his knee's, hands raised in the air and wearing what appeared to be a park rangers uniform.
"What is going o…" Before Ziva could finish her question a shot rang out and the body of the fourth man fell to the snowy ground.
Ziva gasped as so did Tim.
"Ziva, we've gotta get out of here…. they can't know we just saw them. I don't think they see us yet." Tim looked back for some sort of agreement.
"I agree…. TIM!" Ziva finally looked over at their other comrade, Anthony DiNozzo, who at the present moment was still unconscious.
It seemed Tony had gotten the worst of it all seeing as how his front of the car had met with the tree. Mcgee unbuckled himself quickly and leaned over to asses Tony.
"He's got a gash in his head, and one on his thigh as well. Ziva give me something to tie around his leg."
She frantically searched for something and came up with her scarf.
Tim tied it around his leg in hopes of controlling the bleeding. Then he tried to wake Tony up.
"Tony…. Tony…. Can you hear me?" DiNozzo stirred slightly but no verbal response was made and his eyes stayed shut.
"I don't know how badly he's hurt, but we're going to have to get him out and carry him." Mcgee sighed as he looked at Ziva. "I saw some smoke, which I presume is from a chimney, about a mile back. I say we try to make it there for some help."
"What if that is where those three hunters live?" Ziva questioned, eye brow raised.
"That could be a possibility" Mcgee stated "But its looking like our only option at the moment. If it is where they live, maybe we can at least make it back before they do and barricade ourselves inside until we can get some help."
Ziva climbed out of the car and helped Tim ease his door open. They were trying to make minimal sound and movement as to not be detected by the three men who were still standing at the bottom of the hill, rifles in hand.
Mcgee reached across and unbuckled Tony's belt. Then grabbed him underneath his arms and pulled with much effort, barely dragging the bigger agents body across both seats. With the help of Ziva they pulled his body the rest of the way out of the door and out onto the snow. Tim was only praying in his mind that Tony had no broken bones that would be made worse by all of the movement.
"Tim, pop the trunk and I'll get our first aid kit and blanket out of the back to take with us." Ziva rounded to the back of the car.
Mcgee reached in and hit the trunk button on the side of the door. Something, however, must have been jumbled around in the accident, when Mcgee hit the button the cars horn began to blare with no cease.
Crap! Was the only thought that came to Mcgee as the blasting cars horn immediately alerted the men at the bottom of the field.
Ziva quickly ran around the side of the car back to Tony and Mcgee.
"Lets get out of here"
In one swift movement Mcgee and Ziva lifted Tony up and began to move as quickly as possible across the snowy mountain.
They looked down further to the bottom of the hill at the men who had taken prone positions on the ground and looked like they were ready to aim and fire. Ziva was greatful for the heavily wooded area in front of them though and felt they were safe once they made it inside the tree's.
(down at the bottom of the hill)
"I can't get a shot off from here" Mark Hibble stated to his two younger brothers. "Too many tree's"
The other two stood up and nodded in agreement with their older brother.
"They must've seen us though. We've gotta find them and take care of them." Todd Hibble stated.
"Well, there's only one place in the direction they're headed, and that's old Lady Crawford's place. So lets go boys. Looked like they were carrying a body; we should be able to make it there before they do." Mark ordered to the other two and took off through the snow.
"Mcgee…. how long…. did you say… the house was…. from here?" Ziva questioned in between panting breathes while trying to hold on steady to DiNozzo's deadweight.
Tim stopped moving for a second to catch his own breath. "I thought only about a mile back in this direction… look.." He pointed up to the sky above the tree's ahead of them. "Smoke… we're close."
Tony could feel but couldn't open his eyes. It was so cold. He felt like he was being dragged, or was he being carried? What happened? Was he kidnapped? Where was he? He tried again to pry open his eyes. His left one cracked open slightly. His right one felt sealed by a gooey, warm, and wet substance. He could tell that his head was drooped forward and facing the ground. All he could see was snow and a pair of struggling feet on either side of him.
Everything was blurry. He noticed the snow underneath him turn pinkish red as he was pulled overtop of it. I'm bleeding, he thought to himself. Then the awareness of everything else wrong in his body became more apparent to him as his consciousness began to return.
He pulled his arms into his side and down to his leg. Making his helpers drop him to the ground.
"Tony!" Ziva quickly knelt beside him. "Tony, we're almost there, come on"
He didn't have time to reply almost where? He questioned himself. Then the pain slowly overtook him and he fell back into a lapse of unconsciousness.
Mcgee looked over at Ziva as they quickly returned Tony to their shoulders.
"We've gotta hurry." With that they took off towards the small cabin which was now visible as the patch of tree's cleared into an opening.
They managed to pull Tony's body up the three steps to the front porch, and eased him slowly down. Ziva knelt beside him and gave his body support as Mcgee drew his badge out and knocked on the front door, praying for an answer, a phone, and a friendly face.