Chapter 11
"So Susan Andersson is responsible for all this," McGee said. "Why would she do something like that? Just come to NCIS and place the bottle there herself. Do you think she thought we wouldn't figure it out?"
"I do not know, McGee. Maybe she did not think of that at all. Perhaps she just wanted Tony to suffer, and did not think longer than placing the poison for him."
McGee and Ziva were in the car a few minutes away from Susan Andersson's home. They had been at the house only a few days earlier when they had brought the husband, Peter Andersson, in for questioning. Tony had gotten the man to confess to killing naval officer Martin Asp, just because he had said something derogatory about Susan at a party. The Andersson family was a dangerous family.
When they pulled up at the Andersson house, they saw that the family car was in the driveway. Susan was apparently home. Ziva parked behind the Volvo in order to hinder its path. They got out and approached the house. McGee rang the doorbell. They waited for a while without any signs of the residents of the house. But after McGee rang the bell a second time, they heard someone approaching from inside. The door opened slowly and a teenage girl stood in the doorway. She looked at them with an expression of disgust.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Hello, we are from NCIS. Is your mother home?" Ziva said as she and McGee held up their badges. She tried to look past the girl into the house. The teenager turned around and called out for her mother. A few moments later Susan Andersson appeared in front of them. She looked at them for a second and then grabbed the door and tried to close it. Both McGee and Ziva reacted at once and stopped her from doing so.
They weren't able to arrest Susan easily. She fought them, yelled at them, and refused to walk when they wanted to bring her to the car. Her teenage daughter stood silently and watched her mom, tears running down her cheeks. Ziva called an aunt to come and take care of the girl. They had to drag her screaming mother to the car.
When they arrived at NCIS headquarters, they lead Susan into interrogation and then left and closed the door behind them. Ziva stood leaning against the door for a few moments with her eyes closed. McGee watched her for a while in silence. They could hear Susan banging on the door, screaming for them to open it again. They left.
"Tony, I need you to take a deep breath, okay?" Gibbs stood by Tony's bed, leaning close to him as he tried to calm him down. "Just breathe, focus on the breathing." He didn't know what else to say at the moment. He didn't know if the pain would pass; he didn't know anything. All he could do now was to try to keep Tony focused on something else besides the pain. It didn't seem to be working that well. He could tell that DiNozzo was trying his best, but he was trembling and his breaths came out quick and hard. His eyes were closed and he had stopped talking a few minutes ago. No matter what Gibbs asked him, he didn't get a response. And that scared Gibbs. He decided to press the call-button again. There had been a nurse there recently, but all she had done was to fluff Tony's pillows a bit.
When the nurse arrived, she stopped next to Gibbs and asked if there had been any changes in Tony's condition.
"He stopped talking. Where the hell is the doctor with the test results?"
"I'll go and see," she said and left the room. Two minutes later she was back with the doctor.
"I'm sorry for the delay." He said as he walked in and stopped in front of Gibbs, on the other side of Tony's bed.
"Is he awake? Mr. DiNozzo, can you hear me?" Tony didn't show that he had heard. The doctor turned his attention to Gibbs. "We had some trouble with determining the drug. But it's done now. We know what it is."
"Well, what is it? Get it out of him!"
"I wish it was that easy, Agent Gibbs." The doctor sighed. "It is a substance called Alvedon. It's very dangerous to take in. We're going to give Mr. DiNozzo something of an antidote you could say. It will prevent the Alvedon from doing more damage. We'll also give Tony something to help with his pain. There's not much else we can actually do, I'm afraid," Dr. Philipsson said. "Alvedon is some scary stuff." He added with a blink to Gibbs. "I'll be back soon." He then left the room.
Gibbs sat down on the chair again. He carefully took Tony's hand in his.
"Did you hear that, DiNozzo? They know what it is now, and they're going to help you. You'll be fine soon." He felt the relief flowing through him. Tony was going to be fine!
Five minutes later the doctor and a nurse were back and gave the antidote to Tony as well as something else for the pain. They explained everything to Gibbs, but he didn't really care what the antidote and pain medication were called, as long as the drugs did what they were supposed to do; help his agent get better. Tony didn't move or say a word during the doctor's visit, but finally Gibbs detected some changes in him. His breathing was not as labored and he seemed to lay a bit more relaxed on the hospital bed.
"You feeling better, DiNozzo?"
"Mmm… I think… so." came DiNozzo's whispered reply.
"Try to sleep a bit."
"Okay…Boss."
After only five minutes, Gibbs was pretty certain that DiNozzo was sleeping, and then his cellphone started to ring. Tony woke and let out a moan. Gibbs cursed, and then patted Tony's arm and got up from the chair and answered. It was McGee, telling him Susan Andersson was in interrogation.
Gibbs looked back at Tony. His eyes were open, and he was staring at the ceiling. "McGee, you leave her there to wait for me. I can't leave right now. I'll be there as soon as I can." He ended the call and turned to Tony again.