A/N: I am really sorry about the slow updates... I've slightly lost my muse for this story, and I've also been super busy. Check the first chapter for the disclaimer. I hope you guys continue to enjoy this story, and please know that reviews inspire me, so if you want more, leave me some reviews. :)


Chapter 2: Discovering

"Well, I have to admit, I'm surprised," Fornell said, sitting on the bench next to Gibbs. "It's not like you to want to meet with me."

"We have a problem, Tobias," Gibbs said solemnly.

"What is it, Jethro?"

"One of my agents was kidnapped from a crime scene. I need you to do some digging."

"Into DiNozzo's past?" Gibbs looked sharply at Fornell, who shrugged. "You wouldn't be acting like this if it was David or McGee." Gibbs didn't say anything, shaking his head.

"Not his past. My team has that covered, especially since the last time. I want you to look at the past of anyone and everyone on my team. Anyone who has a grudge against me or my team."

"That could take a while. You've certainly pissed off a lot of people."

"Yeah, I know."

"Why do you think this is more about your team than it is DiNozzo?"

"The scene we got called out to was a fake," Gibbs said, looking around the park. "There's no way the dirt bags who faked it could've known that Tony was going to follow the footprints they left."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Fornell said. Gibbs looked at him. "You train your team to know what they're doing, and they do the same thing at almost every crime scene you work. All someone had to do was follow DiNozzo enough to know that he usually shoots the scene and the perimeter. Hell, I already know that's what DiNozzo does at a crime scene, and I've only been there a few times."

"I still want to know…"

"Who would go after your team. I got that, and I'll put it at the top of my list."

"Thank you, Tobias."

"No problem, Jethro. Best of luck." Gibbs nodded as Fornell stood up, walking away without another word. None was needed- they'd be in touch soon enough. Gibbs sighed, leaning back on the bench.

"Where are you, Tony?" he whispered to himself as he stared out into the park and contemplated the answer himself.


Tony didn't know where he was, either. Just that he was trapped in a dungeon room that was growing in warmth as the fire flickered in the fireplace under the watchful eyes of his captors.

"So, a question," one of them, a tall, skinny man said. "Anthony. How does it feel?"

"What feel?" Tony asked.

"To be helpless. Trapped like an animal. At the mercy of someone else. How does that make you feel?"

"Why?"

"Do you feel hopeless? Broken? Scared, maybe? Does it bother you to know you may never make it out of this room alive?" Tony didn't answer, which seemed to please the skinny man. "Good. Welcome to the hell you put me through, Anthony."

"Why?"

"Why what? Why are you here? Why you? Why now? Which of these is your question?" Again, no response from Tony, and the skinny man chortled. "Why not? Why not you? Why not now?"

"What do you want from me?"

"Everything in due time, Anthony. Everything in due time. Now, it's time for us to show you some of our hospitality."


Gibbs walked into the bullpen, and Ziva and McGee snapped their heads up to look at him. "Do we have anything?" he grumbled.

"We cross referenced Tony's enemies with people who own or have rented black Chevy vans within the past day," McGee said. "Came up with a few names."

"One of them is Charles Starling," Ziva said.

"The guy that framed Tony for murder?" Gibbs said.

"The very same."

"But, he's still in prison," McGee said.

"As are a lot of Tony's enemies," Ziva said.

"So, we have nothing," Gibbs said.

"We're still looking," McGee told him.

"You better be, McGee." McGee's phone rang, and he glanced at Ziva before picking it up.

"McGee," he said into it.

"McGee, it's Abby. I think I found something."

"We'll be right down." He hung up, looking at Gibbs and Ziva. "Abby thinks she found something," he told them.

"Let's go," Gibbs said, walking to the elevator.


"I managed to pull a print off the pipe that was used to 'kill' our 'victim,'" Abby said, typing as she spoke. "It came back to a Charles Sterling, aka Chip."

"So, our print comes back to a guy in prison," Ziva said.

"If his print's on it, he's got to be involved."

"Let's go talk to him," Gibbs said, walking out.

"Find him, you guys," Abby said, and McGee hugged her gently.

"We will," he said.

"Let's go!" Gibbs called from outside the lab. McGee and Ziva followed quickly, and Abby turned back to the evidence before her, trying to find any other link to Tony.