A/N – THANK YOU FOR YOUR AMAZING PATIENCE! I am so sorry but my new job is sucking my time and energy up to the pt that I just want to go to bed when I get home leaving me only a few hrs on the weekend to write. I hope you enjoy this long chapter and I am close to posting updates on both my "Long Flight" and "Consequences" stories! ~ Enjoy! ~
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Previously ON A Deadly Phobia:
End of Ch. 12 – NCIS Headquarters: Gibbs cell phone rang loudly from its place on his hip where it was always clipped to his belt . . . Nearly every person in the room jumped, startled by the sudden interruption of the ringing cell – all of them already on edge having unsuccessfully repressed their deepest fears that the potential end result of the case - would be worse than anything they could imagine. Gibbs was the only one of course who didn't jump, no one could figure out how he could remain unshakable even in the worst of situations – not realizing he was just better at hiding his worry.
He answered far more gruffly than he had intended to, finally realizing that his unspoken worry had turned into anger at some point along the way. "Gibbs" . . .
End of Ch. 13 – House Where Tony Is Being Held: It was him! Tony now put two and two together and recalled where he had seen those eyes this close up before. It took every ounce of energy he had left not to say anything or show any obvious signs of recognition on his face since for now it was safer for everyone if the asshole thought Tony hadn't remembered him. Suddenly and with nearly perfect timing Cal's booming voice could be heard as the man made his way down the stairwell.
Jesse immediately dropped his hold of Tony's hair as he then practically leaped back up to a standing position. He obviously didn't want his partner to know he had been threatening their 'prize cow' since Tony knew it was money they were after, and with him dead - that wouldn't happen. But Tony also knew enough about NCIS to know that it wouldn't happen period – regardless of his condition . . .
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A Deadly Phobia
Scene Fourteen
NCIS Headquarters . . .
"Gibbs"
"Is this NCIS Lead Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" Cal asked in a very cocky and almost sarcastic tone of voice.
"Depends on who wants to know. You seem to know me so it's only fair I get your name." Gibbs forced himself to sound calm and detached. All business. Abby, Tim and Ziva all stared at him in anticipation until Tim snapped out of his fog and noticing his boss giving him a signal to trace the call on his cell. Tim ran over to one of the nearby computers to pull up the program he needed to access.
"Look, the only name I will give you is the name Anth-ony DiN-ozzo. I'm sure that name rings a bell am I right?'
"Listen, I'm not in the mood for your games. Now I suggest you tell me what you have done with my agent!"
"Ohh welll, nothing really. Aaactually, now that you mention it he might have tripped and hurt himself a bit but I assure you that is nothing compared to what he will go through if you don't do exactly what I tell you!" His cocky, sarcastic tone instantly changed to the complete opposite as Gibbs detected a sinister and almost psychopathic edge to the caller's voice as if he enjoyed torturing and hurting people. It made Gibbs shiver slightly at the sheer coldness of the man's words.
"I am sure Ton- Agent DiNozzo has told you already, we don't take requests from terrorists so I hope you have a plan B."
At this point Cal was the one losing his patience. He knew they'd be tracing the call but he made sure to call from the IP soft phone they had connected to their computer. VoIP calls were untraceable so that was the only phone they used whenever they were making an illegal transaction or discussing details of a contract hit or any of the other mob related jobs they were assigned. Their boss had made sure they knew the repercussions of using any other phone and risk being tapped or traced. But even knowing that NCIS would get nowhere tracing this call, he still didn't want to stay on too long and risk accidentally slipping and giving away more details than was deemed necessary.
"I know that's the canned response you are trained to give Agent Gibbs but – if you value your long time agent's life then I'm sure you'll see that you may have to go against policy on this one and give us what we want."
"Rii-ght. Are you really that stupid or do you just think I am?" Gibbs boldly pushed back, he had to regain control of the call and situation in general. "You know damn well even if I did give into your pathetic demands that you still plan to kill him anyway. You won't just let him walk off into the sunset and trust me – I don't plan to let you do that either!"
With that Gibbs disconnected the call. He knew it was a risky move and he silently prayed the man wouldn't take out that anger on Tony. But in his experience, he found nine out of ten times it didn't backfire and they usually called back. It was typically during that 2nd call that they would fumble the ball at some point as their anger got the best of them. Gibbs turned back around to face his team only to find all of them still as statues, staring at him in wide eyed horror at what he had just done.
Ignoring the stares Gibbs turned to Tim, "McGee!"
Blinking quickly to regain his composure Tim made a few last clicks on the keyboard. "Sorry boss. The call was made from an IP phone . . . VoiP. Remember those are the kind that bounce all over the place and are impossible to trace to any one location." he then took in a deep breath as he nervously waited to see how his boss responded to the bad news.
"Alright well, he'll be calling back so I have another plan on how to get a location out of him."
Ziva and Abby had stepped closer to Gibbs both of them started to speak at the same time until Ziva conceded and let Abby go first. "Gibbs! What the hell? You practically TOLD him to just kill Tony and that you weren't gonna do anything about it! Why would y-"
"Abby!"
Once she stopped her angry rambling and took in a deep breath in an effort to calm her rising blood pressure, Abby and team waited for any explanation their boss was willing to give them as to why he would threaten Tony's kidnapper like he did.
"All of you listen to me, I will only say this once. I have 20 years of experience dealing with this type of criminal – the man we're dealing with has a psychopathic personality; he's arrogant . . . enough to think his plan is going to work. He has no remorse over any of his own actions, he possesses a volatile anger when provoked but he will not take it out on Tony. His anger is easily redirected and hopefully that will be towards me now."
With that Gibbs turned and walked out of the lab heading towards the elevator. Though he would never admit this to his team, the irritating phone call that left him no closer to finding his senior agent – combined with the thoughts of Tony still out there somewhere captured and injured – was starting to take its toll on him, making him almost shake from the anger he felt as well as the lack of control he had over the entire situation.
As the elevator doors slid closed to take him up to the bull pen, Gibbs stared at the cell phone in his hand hoping he was correct in his assumptions about the kidnapper he had provoked.
Back down in Abby's lab the three team members exchanged a few glances towards one another, all of them understanding what their boss had just explained – but none of them any less frightened and worried about their missing friend since they were nowhere closer to finding him and bringing him home.
Inside The House Where Tony Is Being Held Captive . . .
Upstairs in the kitchen Cal had to use all of his willpower not to throw his wireless IP phone towards to wall to shatter it into tiny pieces. He had just been hung up on by the asshole that was Special Agent Jethro Gibbs – and supposedly the boss of the man down in the basement.
"How dare you hang up on me!" Cal yelled to no one. "You'll pay for that one way or another if it's the last thing I do! NO ONE hangs up on me and gets away with it! NO ONE!"
Taking the phone with him, he headed towards the door to the basement. He had to find out more about the bastard he was dealing with before they spoke again - especially if they were going to get anything out of this whole kidnapping debacle.
Downstairs In The Basement . . .
"Time to get down to business!" Cal announced as he started down the stairwell. Once he was less than half way down he had plenty of time to notice the way Jesse was bending down close to the NCIS agent – it looked like he was threatening their victim. He became even more suspicious when Jesse immediately jumped up to a standing position at the sound of Cal's voice. Upon further observation he couldn't help but notice how nervous and angry his partner was acting as well which made him wonder what was behind the man's unusual behavior.
Walking to another area of the tiny basement, Cal found some folding chairs and table they sometimes used to play poker. Grabbing one chair he carried it closer to Tony and proceeded to unfold it and set it back down.
"Jesse, help me get our guest up off that cold floor will you?"
The two men grabbed Tony roughly under each of his armpits, Tony sucked in a deep breath and held it in his lungs in anticipation of the intense pain that he knew the forthcoming movement would provoke in his leg and head, not to mention his hand was throbbing like crazy and his abscess tooth had already filled back up with infected fluid. That was no surprise since the dentist hadn't been given enough time to do anything more than temporarily drain it. Kincaid found himself also holding his breath since he not only also knew the agent would be in tremendous pain when they jarred his broken leg, but he was also overcome by more guilt as he realized again that he was to blame for what now happening to the nice Italian agent. He had no way of knowing that there was more to it than just his debts. He had no idea of the man's history with Jesse – or of Jesse's need for revenge.
"Mmmnn-ahhhh!" Tony tried hard to keep quiet, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of knowing they were causing him pain. But when they shoved him harshly down into the hard aluminum seat jarring his head and leg which had resulted in unthinkable pain, the grunt came out before he could rein it in.
"Jess, go find some more rope or something. I want to make sure our visitor doesn't fall off his chair and hurt himself again like he did when he fell down the stairs." Cal was staring right into Tony's eyes while speaking in a condescending tone of voice as he feigned innocence acting as though it were Tony's fault his leg was broken.
Tony just glared right back at him deciding at the last second not to correct the man and remind him of the small fact that they had pushed him down the stairwell. Instead he just kept still while he waited for his newly awakened pain to go back down a few notches, he also forced his face to remain completely void of expression so there would be no way the man could tell what he was really thinking. He just had to stay alive long enough to stall until Gibbs found a way to get him out of here.
"This should work!" Jesse's voice interrupted the stare down between Cal and Tony as he came from across the room with a long orange extension cord he found hanging in a locked tool cabinet of which he and Jesse both had a key. This wasn't the first time they had used this basement for one of their business "dealings".
Within just under 10 minutes Jesse had wrapped coil after coil of the tough power cord around Tony's torso, it seriously aggravated the rib that had been cracked after they had pulled him out of their SUV earlier, not to mention pressing on the multiple bruises he had received during his 'fall' down the stairs. He could barely take more than shallow breaths because anything deeper only forced his ribcage to expand further and press against the tightly wrapped cord. He noticed that Jesse had thankfully only strapped his uninjured leg to the chair but then realized the man had no choice. The way the dentist had splinted Tony's lower leg it jutted out slightly because it was hard to bend his knee all the way.
"Okay, here's what's gonna happen! I am going to call that stubborn bastard you call a boss again, and this time I will allow you one minute to speak to him so he can hear for himself that we haven't killed you. If you even think about giving him our names or any other clues I can assure you – you physically won't be able to speak to him again later even if we let you! Capiche?"
Tony noted the man's use of the popular Italian word which meant 'understand?' - or - 'understood.'' in English. Combining his use of Italian language with his dark hair, buff physique and strong features Tony was pretty sure the man's nationality was at least 50% Italian.
"Capiche." Tony replied in kind.
"What the hell happened the first time you called him from upstairs?" Jesse demanded.
"Just you never mind that Jesse!" Call dismissed him and hit redial to contact the NCIS team leader again.
As soon as Tony heard they were going to let him speak to Gibbs his mind kicked into overdrive as he thought of how he could somehow get a message to his boss that might aid them in finding and hence rescuing him. He started trying to recall the various sounds he had heard during the drive to this very house. His memory started to try remembering the order of the sounds so he could try to determine what direction they were heading . . . he remembered a church bell first . . . followed by . . . a . . . school bell of some kind . . . and then . . . there was a football game or something. He became a little excited as he recalled everything very easily, his excitement and hope grew stronger as he recalled more and more details. 'Okay Anthony, what came after the game?' he silently asked himself.
He was rewarded with the recollection of the sound of rumbling sound that only a train could produce. But they hadn't crossed over any tracks so that meant they were driving parallel to the tracks. He knew where the main railroad tracks came through DC so that narrowed down what direction they had been heading by ruling out an East to West or vice verse option. That meant they would have been heading either North, or South. Thinking a little harder he started putting some of the other sounds together until he determined there was a large Catholic church that had their own private high school nearby . . . Saint uh . . . Saint . . . Saint Christopher's!
Tony nearly yelled it out loud once he finally remembered the name - it was their football team and band that he heard playing. The sound had been heavier in his right ear than it had been on his left. The train tracks and train whistle he had heard had been more prevalent on his left side – that could only mean they had been heading North! His joy over figuring out that much was cut short after his focus was disrupted by the sound of Kincaid's voice.
"Stop! This has gone too far! I never agreed to all of this, you never told me he would be hurt . . . he - it . . . that wasn't part of the deal!" Kincaid has nervously risen from his own seat on the floor in his attempt to diffuse the situation before the agent was roughed up any further or worse yet – before they could turn their fists in his direction which he knew was bound to happen. He was now starting to realize the agent was right – they had no intention of letting either of them walk out of there alive.
Within seconds Jesse was on him like a flash pinning the dentist up against the wall. "Listen here Kincaid! You need to shut your mouth or you'll be the next one in pain from a broken bone! You make one peep during this phone call I'll cut out your damn tongue myself!"
Tony watched in empathy, he thought Kincaid looked as though he were going to pee his pants in fear. He found himself feeling guilty for some reason he couldn't explain. Hell the damn dentist was responsible for what Tony was now going through and yet he had somehow grown to not only like the man, but also wanting to protect him. He started struggling against his bonds only to find it causing his pain to spike to such an indescribable level that it stopped him in his tracks. Cal looked down at the floor near where the dentist had been sitting, spotting what was left of the roll of duct tape but since he only needed a little he knew it would suffice. Grabbing the roll he ripped off a 5 inch strip and placed it in his partner's free hand, his other hand and arm were keeping Kincaid pinned to the wall by the throat. A few seconds later Kincaid's mouth was sealed shut by the sticky tape – simply an extra precaution to ensure he didn't speak up at all during the upcoming call.
NCIS Bull Pen . . .
Gibbs had no sooner arrived at his desk in the bull pen that his phone started to ring again. He let out a breath of relief since he knew he had taken quite a gamble when he hung up on the kidnapper 10 minutes prior. Just as he was answering he heard the elevator ding again and spotted Tim and Ziva heading over. Signaling to McGee Gibbs waited until his youngest agent was at his computer starting to again trace Gibbs call just in case the man screwed up and used a different phone. Finally after the 4th ring he answered.
"Don't waste my time, I want to talk to Agent DiNozzo!" he answered rather abruptly, his gut sensing it was the same man calling him back.
"If you ever hang up on me like that again Agent Gibbs, I will break your prized senior agent's gun hand so bad he will never shoot straight again!" Cal fired back with a threat of his own.
"I want to talk to him - NOW!"
"Hey boss, how's it goin'?"
Gibbs smirked as he recognized Tony's all too calm and very distinct voice. He knew him well enough to know that he always sounded overly calm during the worst of situations. It was obvious to Gibbs that Tony was overcompensating as usual in his efforts to appear unscathed, mainly just to keep his favorite boss from worrying about him.
"Tony - talk to me – and drop the act! How you holdin' up?"
Gibbs sensed someone behind him, looking over his shoulder he found himself nose to nose with a worried Ziva as she was trying to listen in and hear her partner's voice. Her eyes grew wide as she found herself staring straight into Gibbs' icy blue stare.
"I'm good, really. I don't feel any worse than when Brad Pit injured me during that football game at St. Christopher's if that makes you feel any better. In fact this whole thing reminds me of the movie 'North by Northwest' when Cary Grant was on the trai- . . ."
Whack!
Out of all the things Cal expected the two agents to talk about on their one call – a rambling monologue about a high school and a movie was NOT one of them, thankfully he had been too shocked to suspect any hidden agenda or clues. He found his anger raging at the waste of time so he reached out and punched Tony square in the mouth with a closed fist shutting him up fast! Grabbing the phone that Tony had dropped during the painful punch, he expressed his fury to Gibbs.
"Enough games! I'll say one thing Agent Gibbs - your agent here must be more nervous than he's letting on. Just what the hell are you two trying to pull here?"
"Take it easy!" Gibbs hollered back, "I wanted to know that he was still alive and I got that so move on and tell me what the hell you're after!" he wanted to rush the man to get to the point, not wanting him to have any time to think more about what Tony had said. Gibbs knew his senior agent well enough by now, to know that in typical DiNozzo fashion he had just supplied them with some pretty significant clues as to where they had taken him, all the while managing to cleverly avoid addressing his current condition as usual.
McGee and Ziva looked at each in shock. Gibbs rarely gave into demands of terrorists, kidnappers, killers and the like. They had no choice but to assume he had another plan in mind.
"Now that's more like it Agent Gibbs. I will call you back in half an hour with further instructions. That will give you some time to come up with the $250,000 ransom."
This time it was Cal who ended the call abruptly leaving Gibbs to seethe over the ridiculous amount of money the man was demanding. But there was no time for that, he shook it off and turned towards the team.
"Campfire"
This time Tim and Ziva both smiled upon hearing that formerly dreaded command that Tony had started after Gibbs left for his . . . 'Mexican field trip'. They all wanted to embrace it this time as a silent nod to their missing friend. Secretly both Ziva and McGee of them felt that those little 'campfire' sessions had actually been extremely helpful in regrouping and making progress on cases - but they would never tell Tony that. Gibbs on the other hand, he had witnessed some of the campfire's and even had tried doing a few of them mainly because he too found it both clever, and useful. Someday he would have to tell Tony that, he thought to himself.
To Be Continued . . .
A/N – For some reason I am nervous about this chapter. I like it a lot but just hope I stayed true to characters and to the story itself. Please review and be kind. Hee PS- Please send me a private message if you find any major errors .THANK YOU ALL! Coming Up On Phobia: Gibbs and team decipher Tony's cryptic clues, the 2 kidnappers start bickering w/ each other more and more, Gibbs prepares to meet one of Tony's kidnappers but has a hidden agenda of his own! Stay Tuned!