For the first time in a very long time, Gibbs had to take a moment to steady himself before he could walk into autopsy. His mind was full of questions but the grave expression on the MD's face as he comforted Abby suggested the only answer he didn't want to hear right now.
"Gibbs," As soon as she saw him Abby extricated herself from the MD and flung herself into his arms. "Thank goodness you're here. You can prove that it's not Tony. It's a trick or a plot or something. Anything, just so long as Tony's not actually dead."
"That's what I intend to find out, Abs."
At first, Gibbs had been furious to discover that the Director had delayed telling him about Tony's accident until CSI had finished their preliminary investigations. But now he was almost grateful if he meant he would get some answers sooner.
"Is it him, Duck?"
"I just finished talking to my counterpart in Las Vegas," Ducky advised him. "Thus far they've actually only definitively identified the car, which was rented in Washington DC to Anthony three days ago. They did find a sole occupant at the scene. I'm afraid the remains have been rather ravaged by the fire but their preliminary tests suggest that sex and height are a match."
"To DiNozzo and a good portion of the rest of the population," Gibbs wasn't ready to give up hope. "Did anybody actually try calling his cell?"
"First thing I did," Abby nodded. "No signal, which could just mean he's out of range. Or it could mean it's all fried up at the bottom of a canyon."
"What about DNA?"
"His recent surgery or rather a lack thereof might tell us something more quickly," Mallard allowed. "They are working as fast as they can, Jethro."
"I should have gone with him."
"You couldn't have prevented it, Jethro," Mallard counselled. "Apparently there was something wrong with the car. If you had been with Anthony you might both have both died."
Gibbs head came up sharply at that, his eyes narrowing. His first instinct on hearing the news had been to catch the next flight to Las Vegas to oversee the crime scene for himself. Only his gut feeling that the body might turn out not to be DiNozzo after all had kept him in Washington. Now at least, he had something to do.
"The car was tampered with?"
"No," Abby shook her head. "The car died of natural causes. Well, a lack of proper maintenance."
"Tony knows cars," Gibbs frowned. "Wouldn't he have spotted something like that?"
"It wasn't Tony's fault. You could never known the car was hinky just by looking at it but, it should have shown up in Rental company's checks. Unless, of course, they didn't do any."
"Yup?" Gibbs' face was expressionless. "That's criminal negligence, Abs."
He was already moving, covering the ground in long strides, his mind focused on the task ahead. He refused to think about DiNozzo. About what it might have been like in those last few seconds as he realised the car was out of control, the moment of horror as it launched itself over the edge and those last few seconds of eerie calm as it floated to its evitable destruction.
He would have been alone. And scared.
"Duck, call me if there is any news."
He took Chris Pacchi and Cassie Yates with him to take down the rental company. He didn't even have to draw his Sig to have the owner and mechanic falling over themselves to give him want he wanted. The look in his eyes was enough to convince them that it was in their interest to offer up their paperwork and service records without a warrant.
Looking at DiNozzo's carefree, loping, signature, at the bottom of the rental form was surprisingly painful. Looking at the other forms, Gibbs was aware that he was willing grief and pain on one of those families but, he still clung to the hope that it wasn't DiNozzo.
"How did these death traps get on the road, Chris?" He wanted to know.
"Mostly, it's a legitimate business," Pacchi shrugged. "When things got busy over the holiday they thought they would make a little extra money and pulled out a couple from the back lot that weren't exactly ready to roll. Weasel face over there confirmed that they rented those cars to three drivers. All male. A detective with Washington PD, a fitness instructor and DiNozzo. "
"They rented dodgy cars to a Federal Agent and a cop?" Gibbs shook his head.
"I've got Cassie tracking down the families of the other two drivers. See if either of them were planning on heading to Vegas. You have any idea where DiNozzo was planning on going?"
"Not a clue," Gibbs sighed. "Can I leave this with you? I'll head over to DiNozzo's place, see if I can find a paper trail."
Normally, he'd prefer to hang the bastards who were responsible for this out to dry personally. But right now, all he could focus on was finding DiNozzo. He knew if Tony died during this window because he hadn't been able to warn him in time, he would never be able to live with himself. He was half way to to Tony's apartment, thinking about the Mustang, sitting forlornly in its usual spot, when his phone rang, flashing Ducky's ID.
He had to pull over before he could bring himself to answer.
"Gibbs."
"It's not Anthony, Jethro."
It took a moment before he could find his voice. Not ashamed of the tears of relief that stung his eyes.
"Then who the hell is it, Duck?"
"Our poor unfortunate is a gentleman called Thomas Winter. He was of a similar age and stature to Anthony. A Detective with Washington PD as it happens."
"The rental company must have messed up the paperwork," Abby guessed. "But Gibbs, if that car was hinky, then maybe the one Tony is driving is too."
"Tell me something I don't know. Tony say anything to you about where he was going, Abs?"
"Not a thing."
"It was all rather unexpected," Ducky put in. "He wouldn't have had much time to make plans."
"Ask around see if he said anything to anyone. Check his emails, see if he brought any plane tickets, or booked a Hotel. Chase down his latest girlfriend, call his frat brothers, get in touch with his partner at Baltimore PD. Get legal to put out a BOLO, alert the Police and Hospitals. Let's find him, Abs."
"What are you going to do, Jethro?" Ducky asked.
"I'm on my way to Tony's apartment to see if I can find anything there."
Gibbs used his key to let himself into Tony's apartment. He rarely came here, except to swing by and pick DiNozzo up, or collect some things when he was in the Hospital. Occasionally, Tony would play host, coaxing Gibbs into watching some DVD or other, while he made dinner. The kid was a pretty good cook when he had someone to cook for.
He knew Tony liked his place better. The younger man always seemed more settled and relaxed, as he helped with the boat, or carried on a running conversation as he washed up their few dishes after dinner. Padding around in jeans and barefeet he was remarkably inobtrusive and almost painfully grateful for Gibbs simple hospitality. Too damm grateful, Gibbs winced, as he remembered the last time Tony had stayed with him.
The apartment looked pretty much like it usually did. There was a pile of actions DVDs stacked on the coffee table, alongside a pile of magazines, criminal and navy titles mixed in among the predicable men's glossies. The fridge had been cleared out, the plants stood in water in the shower, and the bins emptied.
"Not just a weekend away." Gibbs surmised.
As far as Gibbs could tell DiNozzo had packed jeans and casual gear from his wardrobe. Two pairs of trainers were missing and Gibbs seemed to remember a pair of brown leather loafers or such like that weren't here but, all his expensive designer shoes were present and correct. In the bathroom, he'd taken the basics but his expensive colognes and even his razor were still there.
"Going stag, DiNozzo?" Gibbs murmured.
Nothing else was out of place. There was no phone messages, tickets, maps, notes, anything that might give some clue as to where Tony was going. All of which suggested to Gibbs that his destination was no more than a day's drive and that he was staying with good friends he didn't feel the need to impress.
Finally, he looked in the gun safe. DiNozzo had left his Sig and backup at home. Gibbs would decide whether or not to chew him out about that later. Obviously, wherever he was going on vacation he wasn't expecting trouble.
"Where the heck are you, DiNozzo?"
In normal circumstances he trusted Tony to look out for himself but, the idea that the kid was playing russian roulette with a car he didn't know was a possible death trap made him sick to his stomach. Having had a taste of what losing Tony might be like, he was dammed if he was going through that again. He broke his own record getting back to the office, hoping that the others had had better luck.
He had barely stepped out of the elevator into the bullpen, when Abby greeted him, almost bouncing up and down in her excitement. "Gibbs, I'm so glad you're here. I was just about to call you."
"Tell me you found, Tony."
"We found, Tony."
"He okay, Abs?"
Even as he asked, Gibbs knew he couldn't be. If there was nothing wrong with his senior field agent, DiNozzo would have called him on his cell as soon as Abby made contact. The forensic expert's next words only confirmed his suspicions.
"He's alive," Abby assured him. "According to the Police report, his car went off the road last night and hit a tree. Tony was taken to the local Hospital."
"Last night?" Gibbs stopped dead. "Why am I just hearing about this now?"
"It was an isolated road, Gibbs. I guess no-one passed by until this morning."
"How badly was he hurt?"
It wasn't like his senior field agent to sit around and wait for rescue. If he was mobile he would have tried to hike out, and even if he was injured he would have at least tried to make contact with somebody.
"That's the weird thing. His Doctor told Ducky that Tony's injuries were superficial but he won't give any more details until he's spoken to his next of kin. That would be you, Gibbs."
"Patch it through to MTAC. Have Ducky meet me there."
It only took a few moments for the MD to join him. As soon as he arrived, Gibbs nodded at the technician and a middle aged man dressed in a white coat, filled the screen. To Gibbs annoyance there was no sign of DiNozzo.
"I'm Special Agent Gibbs. Tony's Boss. This is Dr Mallard, his personal physician. Why am I not looking at my Agent, Doctor?"
"Special Agent Gibbs, Dr Mallard, I'm Dr Stuart Michaels, I've been seeing to Agent DiNozzo's care. I'm afraid the situation is rather complicated."
"Define, complicated."
"Well, physically, Agent DiNozzo is fine. His broken arm wasn't further damaged by the crash. In fact, Tony was extremely fortunate he managed to escape with nothing more than a cut on the head. According to the police at the scene, he must be one heck of driver to have kept control of the car when it malfunctioned like that."
"Oh, indeed," Ducky nodded enthusiastically. "Anthony is a most accomplished driver. In fact, cars are something of a passion of his. He usually drives a particularly nice Mustang .."
"You said, physically he was fine, Doc." Gibbs cut in.
"Yes," Michaels frowned. "Has he had a particularly stressful time of things lately?"
Gibbs thought back to their recent work load. As a two man team they'd worked longer hours, took shorter breaks, sometimes trying to juggle several things at once, if he was honest the kid had been running on Pizza and fumes for weeks now.
"Maybe."
"I need you to understand, we can find no medical reason for this. The wound to his head was not serious, he was conscious when the EMTs reached the scene. All the scans have come back clear. I really don't know what's causing this."
"Causing what, exactly?" Gibbs snapped.
"Special Agent DiNozzo thinks he's ten years old. He's asking for his Dad."