Author's Note: In this chapter Abby had already been informed that Tony was missing when McGee and Ziva brought her the evidence they had collected – including the initial blood samples. I hope you like this one, I tried to put a lot of details in this chapter - especially with Tony and the dentist in the basement. ~ Enjoy ~
~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~
Previously on A Deadly Phobia:
"Yes?" Kincaid finally prodded him to continue after Tony had paused for a few seconds too long,"Were you going to ask me for a favor?"
"Uh . . . yeah." Tony had to think of something fast or risk letting the man sense his sudden doubts It's nothing really - I uh, was just gonna ask . . . well, when you straighten out my leg . . . uh well just do it quickly."
"Oh sure, of course." Kincaid promised.
~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~
A Deadly Phobia
Scene Ten
NCIS Headquarters ~ Abby's Lab . . .
Ducky and Gibbs walked into Abby's lab to the sound of quiet symphonic orchestra type of music that bordered on depressing in it's melodies. Very unlike the usual blast of rock music the Gothic scientist usually favored.
Abby's back was to the door but she immediately turned around and sprinted towards Gibbs having spotted the two men from their reflection on the shiny stainless steel surface of one of her beloved machines – the one that was used for testing blood, toxins and other chemical components. She threw herself at her boss with the force of a small tornado leaving Gibbs stunned but not at all surprised by her actions. He had become accustomed to Abby's need for comfort when any team member was in danger though she had a unique and special bond with Tony since they were Gibbs only team for quite a while along with Ducky.
"Abs I -"
"No! Gibbs no - I don't want to hear anything except that you found him! Please, tell me you found him." she pleaded, her last few words slightly muffled by Gibbs shoulder where her face was now buried. Ducky watched with empathy wondering how Gibbs was going to reply, knowing how devastated Abby would be.
"I wish I could Abs, but look, have I ever failed to find DiNozzo any other time he's gone missing?"
Abby released him, sniffing loudly as she tried to hold back her tears. "Well . . . no." she looked sadly towards the floor.
"That's right. But who's help do I usually need the most in order for me to do that?"
"Um . . . mine?" she answered him in the childlike voice she sometimes resorted to when things started to become overwhelming.
"Abee-gayle." Ducky typically referred to everyone by their full first name, always speaking proper English as a result of his Scottish and English upbringing. "Why dare I ask, do you have this rather depressing music playing? Although I quite enjoy the change from your usual rather vibrating rock music, it could be a little more upbeat in it's rhythm."
"Sorry Duck – I just wasn't in the mood for anything upbeat. I mean how can I be upbeat when Tony's hurt and could be – he . . . could be."
"Abby – he's not. Okay? Got it?" Gibbs seemed to know when to scold Abby, giving her some tough love as best he knew how. "But he will be if we don't get moving! Now, enough mourning - turn off that damn funeral music and tell me whatcha got!"
Abby and Ducky stood wide eyed, but they were more caught off guard by the underlying nervousness that they both detected in Gibbs' voice. He didn't often raise his voice to Ducky and Abby but on the rare times that he did, they both knew him well enough to know that he wasn't directing his anger towards them on purpose or with malice. The tone of his voice combined with the sight of the obviously taught muscles that were clenching frequently in his jaw made it was very clear to both of them that he was clearly just as anxious and worried about Tony as they all were.
That's all Abby needed to snap her out of her funk and get herself back in the game! Turning back into professional work mode she immediately started informing them of her findings.
"Okay I was given a total of four different samples so far of the blood found at the scene. Unfortunately, they are all from the same person . . . th- they all came from – Tony." staying in work mode was difficult when everything she had found so far didn't look very good for Tony. Gibbs eyes closed for barely a second as he shook his head in disappointment over the confirmation. Even though his gut had already told him as much, he still needed to hear the facts.
"Okay Abby as bad as it seems, I don't want you worrying about that right now. Focus on the positive, it was not a large volume of blood that we found and Ducky has already confirmed that whatever injuries Tony does have, they don't appear to be anywhere near life threatening at this point. Okay? Ya got that?"
"Abigail Jethro is correct. You need not worry about that now, I have quite a lot of confidence in Anthony and he always seems to come through these . . . challenges, as right as rain. Now what of the tox screens that you ran? Anything turn up on those?" Ducky asked, purposely trying to get her mind to focus back on what still needed to be done. Time wasn't a luxury that had on their side at the moment.
"Okay Duck. Well I just got the report from my best baby right before you came in here. Sorry guys, you know I love all of you just as much . . . you are all m-." Abby distracted herself by stopping to look around and apologizing to all of her fancy machines for having named the Mas-spectrometer as her favorite.
"Abby!"
"Uh, oh sorry Gibbs! Anyway there were three different drugs that showed up, all at various levels. He was drugged Gibbs - Tony was drugged!" she looked at her boss again with her eyes as wide as ever and shining from the unsheathed tears that were forming again. Gibbs and Ducky glanced over at each other, both thinking the same thing, But it was Ducky who voiced it out loud.
"Abigail, Anthony was at the dentist my dear. It is quite normal for one to be given some low levels of drugs such as Novocaine, Nitric Oxide for instance. - some times at higher doses depending on the patient's tolerance among other things." he explained hoping to ease her mind.
"No Ducky . . . Gibbs – this was more than that! I found traces of Valium as well and I know even the highest dosages that dentists usually gives their patients! We had a whole course on this stuff in college! We were trained that if we had a victim who died of an apparent drug overdose for example, we had to be able to rule out the victim's doctors or dentists – or in some cases prove their involvement in the death. I'm telling you Tony had way more stuff in his system than a dentist would ever give even a patient with the most infected and rotten teeth in the world!" she was talking so fast at this point that both men struggled to keep up.
"Abby take a deep breath. Gibbs ordered, "I think I get the gist of what you're saying but – can you tell if they may have used those to knock him out?"
"No, not at all Gibbs. The levels of drugs I found so far would have been enough to make him drowsy as hell but – definitely not powerful enough to knock him out completely."
"Okay well, I have one more sample for you Abs." He reached into his coat pocket and produced an evidence baggie that contained a clear plastic vial that held the actual swab used to collect the blood sample.
"It's a safe bet that this also came from Tony but this one was found outside the building, obviously when they took Tony out the back door. It's not a lot but just compare it to the other samples and see if any new drugs were given to him or maybe just a higher dose of something to put him out right before leaving. You both know as well as I do that they could never have gotten Tony outta there conscious without a fight. So my bet is - he wasn't conscious."
Abby simply stared at the vial of blood in Gibbs hands as salty teardrops once again started to quickly invade her large jade green eyes until they and finally spilled over leaving a trail of runny black liquid from her disintegrating mascara. Just being reminded of what Tony had gone through was enough of a trigger to set her off. But then almost just as quickly, Abby shook her head as if to physically shake off her own sadness and worry before wiping away the wetness using one of her extra long sleeves that stopped just above her knuckles and quickly turning back into her tough and serious Abby mode.
Having known and worked with Abby for so long that Gibbs and Ducky were no longer shocked by her ability to go from sad and crying, to professional and focused in the flash of an eye. In fact those were some of the traits Gibbs found most admirable about their talented little scientist.
"Okay I'm okay now but don't leave Gibbs, I know you need this fast so let me check this sample now." She grabbed the the evidence bag from his hands pulling out the vial and literally running it over to place in the Mass-Spec. Gibbs was anxious to go check on Ziva and McGee's progress but knew he couldn't leave without knowing exactly what the last blood sample showed. He knew it was Tony's – his gut had already told him that at the scene, but he did need to know if they had given him enough drugs to render him unconscious or not.
In just minutes the printer kicked on as it started to automatically spit out the report telling Abby every toxin, drug or other foreign substance that the latest sample contained. Her face dropped as she looked at the findings.
"What is it Abs. What's wrong?"
"Uhm well it's . . . ohhh - Tony, Tony, Tonyyy."
"Abby WHAT – IS – IT? What did you find?"
"Sorry Gibbs. But this sample shows the exact same levels of the same drugs as all of the other samples. Do you know what I'm saying Gibbs? Do you know what that means? Th-that . . . that would m-mean . . . he -" her words slowed as the full gravity of Tony's situation struck her once again.
"I got it Abs. I know."
Gibbs purposely cut her off, saving her from having to say it out loud. He knew she was going to say that if the levels of drugs had definitely not been enough to knock Tony out, that for Tony to be taken without a fight it could only mean one thing - he would have had to have been knocked unconscious, the hard way.
"Okay Gibbs - please go – just find him and bring him back. I'll finish processing the rest of the evidence and the tire tracks and stuff. I got this Gibbs. You and Tony can count on me! I'll do my best work."
Leaning over Gibbs placed a light kiss where Abby's forehead met her hairline before he took his leave to go see how far McGee and Ziva had gotten with their interrogations of the potential witnesses.
Kitchen of the house where Tony's being held . . .
"We need to figure out the rest of this crazy plan'a yers Cal. When we gonna call this NCIS place and demand some money in return for their agent?" Jesse was getting agitated and anxious – feelings that were further aggravated by the sizable amount of cocaine he had just finished snorting. Drugs were his thing more so than Cal's but when it came to alcohol – Cal was definitely the heavy drinker of the two. It was one of the perks of working for one of the biggest crime bosses in DC, they were able to score whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
"Settle down Jesse! Dammit, lay off the coke for a while would ya? Geez you're annoying enough as it is! Now go use that computer in the living room and look up that NCIS office so I can place the call an' give me some damn space! I gotta think for a minute – alone!" he barked as he grabbed the nearby whiskey bottle he always seemed to have on hand and gulped down a third of the brand new bottle, sucking air in through clenched teeth after he swallowed the burning firewater.
"Fine! But we still gonna ask for more like we talked about?" Jesse was referring to the ransom. He and Cal had discussed asking for a lot more than they initially planned since a lot of the money would go to their boss in payment for Kincaid's gambling debt. The new plan would also leave Cal and Jesse with a nice nest egg as well.
After only receiving a glare from Cal Jesse finally did as he was told and once he was online he started looking up not only the NCIS office but a few other things he decided would be worth looking into.
Down in the basement . . .
"Mmnnohh – aahh."
Kincaid had barely started to turn away from Tony to go look for any supplies he could find down there to use to help fix up the agent as best he could when he heard the painful moan and turned back towards Tony. What is it? Is it your leg? Does it hurt worse?"
"Mmnnno-oo ss'my tooth. Sstill huurts like helll . . .thought'ya fixed it." Tony stated feebly, reaching his duct tape tied hands up to hold his jaw. The painful pressure from his abscess tooth had been somewhat alleviated by the dentist's pinhole sized incisions earlier, but since the dentist never got to finish treating the tooth infection completely – or get him started on the lengthy course of heavy duty antibiotics he needed, the part of the infection that had already encompassed his jaw and cheekbone were still throbbing like crazy.
And even though his tooth had still been lazily draining somewhat now and then - and now with no gauze in his mouth to absorb the drainage Tony had no choice but to just swallow whatever still seeped out which only added to the nausea he was feeling from that combined with the overload of various drugs in his system.
"I'm sorry, I really did try to get as much done as I could before – well, you know. Listen, let me finish looking around and see what kind of supplies I can find down here. Maybe we'll luck out and find a first aid kit or something. Then I will see if there's any more I can do for your tooth. I still say the priority is to take care of that leg before you get any stiffer. Your pain may not seem as bad right now due to the drugs still in your system – but trust me when those wear off you-"
"Yeah yeah Doc – then I'll reaally be hurting – I get it. Th-thanks for lettin' me knnow what I have t' look forward tooo – now just get movin' would'ya? We don'hav much time."
Michael started moving again but slowly due to the darkness. Tony called out to him in a louder whisper than before and suggested he check at the top of the stairs for a light switch. He had a feeling that the power wasn't shut off so there should be a way to turn the basement lights on. Kincaid followed the instruction and was happy to find that the agent instincts had been right. The light was not glaring in it's brightest being that there was but one small, single bulb-ed light fixture hanging from the unfinished ceiling, but it was more than enough to allow him to look around and hopefully find what he needed. Working quickly he was back at Tony's side within minutes. Tony looked up at him once he felt Kincaid's presence beside him.
"Ya get whatcha need?"
"Yeah, somewhat I guess. I got something you can bite down on when I give you the go ahead." he proudly announced. "I know that's gonna hurt that sore jaw you have but I have a feeling that pain will pale in comparison to the pai-."
"Hey! Listen doc, no offense but can we skip the narration?" Tony interrupted him knowing full well what the rest of the sentence would be. The last thing he needed was this guy reminding him of just how much this was going to hurt!
"Oh sorry. Jus' thought I'd give you a head's up." Kincaid tried to explain. Tony reached out with his non-injured hand and took the short, slim piece of unfinished plywood that the dentist handed to him. Upon closer inspection Tony realized it appeared to be unpainted baseboard trim that he knew was used to add a clean and neatly finished look on the bottom of a wall. It wasn't going to taste pleasant by any means but in Tony's opinion it was a helluva lot better than a lot of other nasty and possibly dirty things that the man could have found for him to bite down on.
Looking across the basement space Tony could now see where Michael had found the 'supplies'. There was a pile of fairly new lumber remnants that included wooden baseboard trim in various lengths and widths that must have been left over when the walls of the small basement space has been somewhat finished. He had grabbed a couple of longer pieces of the thin but very sturdy trim to use to splint the agent's broken leg and keep the newly realigned bones in place. Finding a couple of rolls of duct tape with a lot of the other remodeling supplies he decided that would do just the trick. He would simply wrap some strips around Tony's leg to hold the wooden trim in place effectively splinting the man's leg.
To Be Continued . . .
A/N – Sorry, I kind of hate cliffies like that when I am reading other stories because I don't want to wait to find out what happened. But it just feels even more wrong not to take advantage of a great stopping place when I find one so perfect. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as it did move the story further along to the point where it will just get more intense and dangerous in the next few chapters. I won't make this story too long though.
Please keep the awesome reviews coming! :-) THANK YOU!