"NCIS Freeze"
Gibbs barked stepping out from the safety of the treeline. However the Lieutenant seemed unfazed by the command, showing no sign of backing down as he fired a round at Dinozzo…the senior field agent went down and didn't move.
Without hesitating, Gibbs double tapped the marine in the chest, killing him instantly, before racing over to his prone senior field agent.
As he did so, someone brushed against Gibbs' arm and he looked over to find McGee looking dazed and shocked at the scene before him. Catching Tim by the sleeve, Gibbs pulled the younger agent back calling out, "McGee, check on Ziva."
Seeing McGee race to Ziva's side, Gibbs continued forward and skidded to a stop at Tony's side, sinking to his knees. The man was unmoving and for a moment, he feared the worst.
Gibbs pressed his fingers shakily against the pulse point on Tony's neck. For a moment he couldn't feel anything, but then the position of his fingers shifted, and it was there. A steady strum against his fingers, a sign that Tony still remained in the land of the living.
Reluctant to jostle Dinozzo when he was clueless of the man's injuries, but needing further proof that Tony was alright, Gibbs turned his agent over slowly. He breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted no blood on the agent's body but grimaced almost immediately after, as he made out the grotesque shape of Tony's shoulder partially hidden beneath his ripped and bloody shirt.
In reaction to Gibbs lightly probing his shoulder, Tony groaned and attempted to move away from the source of the pain. Gibbs gently held him still, trying to make sure he didn't injure himself further.
"Easy, Tony. Relax, it's just me," Gibbs spoke calmly, not wanting to startle him.
Tony blinked his eyes several times before he focused on Gibbs. "Boss?"
"You really need to take better care of yourself, Dinozzo," Gibbs said casually.
"Huh?" Tony blinked several more times and it was clear that he had no idea what Gibbs was talking about.
Gibbs opened his mouth to reply, but was stopped as Tony coughed suddenly, a wet rasping cough that told the ex-marine that this was going to merit a call to Dr. Brad Pitt, at the very least.
"Ziva?" Tony manages to get out, his voice raw from the recent coughing fit.
Of course Tony's first priority would be his teammate.
"She was shot – but she's going to be fine" Gibbs didn't know that for sure, but he needed to keep Tony land-locked long enough to assess his agent's health; and reassuring him was the best way to achieve that.
"Everybody else" asked Tony wearily.
"Fine, Tony. They're going to be fine." Gibbs said, recognizing the use of his agent's first name as an indicator of how concerned he was for the man he considered to be a son, "Everyone's alright. Are you?"
"Yeah," Tony replied off the bat, refusing to give in to his first instinct to say that he was 'fine', he'd been running on instincts alone for enough hours now. He hesitated a second before clarifying, "something like that".
Out of habit, Tony moved to raise his left arm to pinch the bridge of his nose in a subconscious gesture to still his throbbing headache only to encounter an explosion of pain emanating from his injured shoulder.
Letting loose a shout of pain, Tony breathed through his nose in an attempt to lessen the agony in his battered body. Gibbs simply squeezed Tony's hand, offering support for the young agent and looked around to see how his other agent, Ziva, was doing.
He spotted McGee crouched next to Ziva on the opposite side of the clearing. From where he was situated, Gibbs could see that his youngest agent had managed to stop the worst of the blood flow and that Ziva was up and alert.
Suddenly, Gibbs felt a hand on his shoulder and turned quickly, his hand reaching for his Sig.
"Sorry Sir, I didn't mean to startle you, but it really is advised that we leave now before it gets dark. The Khmer Rouge soldiers are still out there, and there is a strong possibility that they have picked up our presence." Gibbs sighed as he realized that it was simply a young marine.
Nodding his head, Gibbs replied, "Certainly marine, if I could just get a sling and some bandages for my agents, then we can get going."
By the time Gibbs had finished with the first aid kit, Tony had his injured shoulder taped and his arm was braced against his chest in a sling while Ziva wore a bandage around her upper arm stemming the bleeding wound.
The Mossad Officer, although having been shot, had enough strength in her body to stand and walk the rest of the way to the chopper. Tony, on the other hand, was still weak and was having trouble sitting up, let alone standing.
"Tony, do you think you can walk, if we help you?" questioned Gibbs.
"I don't know," replied Tony weakly, "I'll try…I'm not feeling too good though…"
"It's all right Dinozzo, we'll help you. We'll carry you, if need be."
"We have to keep moving sir," one of the marines said, speaking up, "The Khmer Rouge could be upon us at any minute and we won't be able to hold them off for long if a battle occurs."
"Come on then," urged Gibbs, as he pulled Tony to his feet. He slid the Italians arm over his shoulders, taking on some of his weight while McGee moved forward to Ziva to do the same. The four of them began to head through the jungle, just as the dim sounds of gunfire and the Cambodian language could be heard from the clearing they had, moment before, occupied.
The Khmer Rouge was now upon them.
"Cover our backs" said McGee to the two marines behind them, and they dropped away, clutching their automatic rifles.
"Geez Dinozzo," grinned Gibbs, "you sure do get in a lot of trouble."
"Sorry Boss." Tony couldn't keep the grin off his face.
"Come on," Gibbs pulled him along, "You can tell me what the hell happened here later."
The small group moved as quickly as possible, trying to reach the clearing where the chopper was waiting, before the Khmer Rouge soldiers caught up to them. Both Tony and Ziva were breathing hard and becoming more and more dependent on their support, Gibbs and McGee; when suddenly Tony dropped unconscious, his unexpected dead weight more than Gibbs could hold, and fell to the ground.
McGee lowered Ziva to the ground before he joined Gibbs in kneeling next to the fallen agent. Tony's face was deep red and he was gasping for air, no doubt as a result from the cold air and water clogged lungs he had as a consequence of his ride down the water rapids.
"Help him McGee, and Ziva," seeing the Israeli open her mouth to argue, Gibbs continued, "Don't think that I haven't noticed that wound David." He said, before grabbing a rifle and running back in the direction that they had just come from.
"What are you doing?" Shouted McGee.
"Buying us some time.'"
Crouching down by a nearby boulder, Gibbs layed down the barrel of his rifle against the rock, he looked through the sight, waiting until he saw his target, the leader of the group, the kolonel. Carefully taking aim, Gibbs pulled the trigger, hitting the Cambodian in the middle of the forehead as he was yelling orders to his men. Stunned, the Khmer Rouge looked around. Carefully, Gibbs took aim again, taking another man down…and another…and one more with deadly precision before the Khmer Rouge acted. Panicked the remaining Khmer Rouge soldiers turned and ran away.
Gibbs rejoined his team along with the accompanying marines, "How is he?" he asked anxiously, "and Ziva?"
"Ziva is fine," said the Mossad Officer, "However, Tony, on the other hand…" she trailed off, looking down at her partner.
"I've managed to calm him down and his breathing is better than before," continued McGee, "We've got to get him to the chopper though so that the medic can work on him and start an IV and give him some oxygen. I think what he really needs though is a hospital Boss, and fast."
"Where's that god dammed stretcher?" Gibbs barked at the marines.
"Here" Ziva had assembled the device.
Once Tony was safely nestled on the portable stretcher, the small group broke cover from the cover of the trees and made their way across the clearing to the chopper waiting for them. Moving quickly, the NCIS agents jumped onto the helicopter, aided by the marines.
There was a collective sigh of relief once everyone had boarded the helicopter, however the mood was still tense as doctors made their way forward to the still unconscious Dinozzo and ailing David.
The medics, who introduced themselves as Mark and Scott, wasted no time in examining the two agents. Both men quickly assessed that Ziva's wound was merely a scratch and that only a few stitches would be required. Tony, however, was suffering from three cracked ribs, a broken collar bone and severe concussion along with the beginnings of a chest infection brought on by his trip down the river and exposure to the cold. The men moved swiftly as fears of a coma became present as Tony had yet to regain consciousness.
Soon enough, the medics had stabilized the agent as best they could, and moved away so Tony's teammates could take a look at the injured man. Ziva, too, stood shakily and went over to stand beside McGee as Gibbs adjusted the oxygen mask over Tony's face. The young agent's face was flushed and his breathing was labored.
"Will he make it boss?" McGee asked nervously.
"Yeah McGee," Gibbs replied, pausing before saying, "He hasn't got permission to die yet."
Please note that I updated this chapter, i added the last little bit in about the helicopter....i was gonna leave that for the next chapter but decided against it
hope you enjoyed it:) i love the reviews so keep doing...im open for suggestions and trust me, reviews really make me write faster:) thanks to everyone who does review, i love you all!!!
