"I'll have a hostage rescue team there as soon as I can. Is Ducky still there?" Gibbs asked, the agent in him shoving aside the concern he felt for his friends.
"Yes," Tony answered, his eyes on the gun in the boy's hands. It was steady with no hint of a wobble. This kid had held a weapon before. Shit.
"Hang up the phone," Ryan ordered, all traces of the scared-little-boy act gone.
Tony did as he was told, desperately hoping Ducky had heard him when he told Gibbs about the gun purposely loudly and would stay in the bathroom. He thought about his guns in the bedroom and wondered why he didn't have a bunch of them stashed around his house, movie-style.
"Are you alone?" Ryan asked, walking toward Tony and kicking the door shut behind him.
"Yes, I'm the only one here," Tony said, loudly again, in case Ducky hadn't heard his first warning. He fought the urge to look and see if the bathroom light was still on, but didn't dare risking Ryan seeing his glance and following it. This kid was scary calm, reminding Tony of Amie's demeanor on the rooftop. What the hell had these kids gone through?
Tony mentally headslapped himself for feeling sorry for the murderer in front of him. He reminded himself that this kid had killed multiple times now, and by the way he held the gun on Tony with no shake in his hands and no emotion in his eyes, Tony was sure it wouldn't take much for him to kill again.
"Lock the door," Ryan ordered. Tony moved to do so, looking for an opening to tackle the kid. "And don't even think about that. I will shoot you."
Tony locked the door with a sigh. Thanks a lot, McGee, he thought wearily. This is what I get for you not knowing your own cell number. Or maybe it was your damn chicken-scratch handwriting. Either way, I'm screwed. At least maybe I can get Ducky out of this unscathed.
"Come on, now, Agent DiNozzo," Ryan said, his voice reverting to his scared-child act. "You wouldn't hurt me, would you?" He laughed, dropping the wounded tone. "We're kindred spirits, after all. Our mean fathers taking out their anger on us… Poor us!"
Tony took a deep breath to try to quell his building rage. He would have tackled the little bastard if Ryan hadn't held the gun that still pointed squarely at his chest.
"Go close the blinds," Ryan said, pushing Tony's patience to the limit.
The agent crossed his arms over his chest and simply said, "No."
Ryan gaped at him for a second before recovering his composure. "This is a loaded gun, and I'm not afraid to use it." He paused, taking in Tony's steely determination. "I killed my mother. Wrapped my hands around her neck and squeezed while she struggled to breathe… until she didn't. I have no problem with killing a virtual stranger."
Tony saw his own mother as Ryan spoke in that eerie calm, lifelessly cold voice. He imagined her frantically kicking at the air and finding no relief, no way to bring in precious air. Tony wondered, as he often did, if she had thought of him during those final moments.
He shoved the thoughts aside, knowing he had to keep it together if he was going to get him and Ducky out of this. Apparently the doctor had heard his warnings: He was still in the bathroom, and when Tony sneaked a glance as he crossed to the window, he saw the lights were now off. He scanned the rooftops across the street and wondered which one Gibbs would pick to set up base.
Better hurry, Tony thought, feeling a little relief at imagining Gibbs in full-on authoritative mode. As he closed the blinds, he made a "V" in the grime on the window, blocking the motion with his body. He was suddenly glad for his lax cleaning habits, but he shook off the absurd thought as he turned back to the teenager holding the gun on him.
He looked at Ryan as if through new eyes, but he still couldn't see past the bruises on his face. Had he known? Tony thought. Did he pick me because he knew? Tony couldn't get himself to believe that. No one knew, let alone a kid he had never met. But he couldn't get Gibbs' earlier theory out of his head: Was someone out to get him? Too weird. He pictured this kid slamming himself face-first into a wall and remembered Ryan's panic at his suggestion of a hospital. He guessed the kid thought a doctor might know he'd faked the beating. Ducky had picked up on it, but Tony suspected the doctor was too caught up in his concern for Tony for the thought to have crossed his mind. And if it had, he'd surely dismissed it because of the circumstances. I left Ducky alone with a killer, Tony suddenly thought. I called him here and he could have died because of me.
Tony realized Ryan hadn't spoken in a while. The kid was just looking at him with something like excitement in his eyes.
"You're wondering how I did it," Ryan said gleefully, like a kid on Christmas morning.
"I don't care," Tony said, causing Ryan to howl in rage and hurl the nearest object—a coffee cup from a bookshelf—at Tony's head. Tony easily ducked the cup, which shattered against the wall behind him, but didn't miss the double significance of the gesture. First, the kid had come here to gloat, and Tony knew he could stall him by letting him talk. Second, the kid was quick. By the time Tony had seen the boy grab the cup and was about to charge him, Tony was already ducking out of its well-aimed path and staring at the gun pointed at him.
Shit, Tony thought, watching the kid fume and praying Ducky would stay hidden despite the commotion.
"Tell me where we're at?" Gibbs barked from his position on the rooftop across from Tony's apartment.
"Blinds are shut, but I'm setting up heat-sensing equipment so we can see where they are," McGee said.
"Tony has a webcam," Ziva said, suddenly remembering a conversation they'd had a while ago. Oh, how she missed the banter that had been missing from their workdays lately. "If he can turn it on, we may be able to see what is happening."
"Good thinking, Ziva," McGee said. "I'll get everything ready on my end, but I don't know how we're going to tell Tony to turn it on… if he even can."
"Tony's smart," Gibbs said. "He may think of it."
"Recording system is set, boss," McGee said from in front of the laptop. "You can make that call now."
"Gibbs," Ziva said urgently. "Let me put a bug under the door. We both know I can get in and out undetected."
"I told you before, Ziva, it's too risky," Gibbs answered with only half his usual bark. They were all clearly worried about Tony and Ducky. "If he hears you, he'll have another hostage, and if he sees it, he might go crazy. This kid is highly unstable, in case you haven't noticed."
Ziva huffed out a breath in frustration as Gibbs picked up the phone to dial Tony's home number. Just as he was about to enter the digits from memory, the phone in his hand rang.
He gestured to McGee to start the recording. "It's Tony's home phone. Let's do this."
A/N: I just want to take a moment to remember those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, and to thank those who willingly put themselves in danger every day so the rest of us can be free to live our lives in places made safer because of their courage. I sit here indulging my creativity freely and safely because of the armed forces from around the globe, and I am humbled in that knowledge. Thank you to all of the men and women in uniform.