He had dragged Tony from the floor to the piano bench. Tony seemed dazed, still not right...
Gibbs watched quietly, praying they were found soon.
Tommy stood behind Tony, and began to stroke Tony's hair. Gibbs cringed. But Tony had little reaction.
"I had all the keys replaced, but this is your old piano. I kept all the original keys Tony. Imagine my surprise when I found they were all marked with that little secret code you and my father shared...Oh, I figured most of them out, it was not much effort to look through my fathers things and find the hotel receipts. Which by the way, he kept also, in a little secret book with your performance photos..."
Gibbs noticed the little movement...Tony closing his eyes, tremors running through him. Maybe there was hope...
"I did wonder though, about the stars. I counted them. Over and over. There were fourteen. Maybe you could tell me what they meant?" he asked softly, in Tony's ear.
Tony still made no sound.
Tommy shrugged and walked away, once again behind Gibbs, taking something out of a bag. "Suit yourself."
Things got silent for another minute, when from behind Gibbs, he said, "Look at me Tony."
Tony didn't move.
"I said look at me." And Gibbs heard the sound of a gun being cocked behind him.
Tony heard it too. It seemed to bring him out of his fugue somewhat. He looked up at Tommy and Gibbs. He began to look angry...and frightened.
"Play."
Tony's brow creased in confusion, and he looked back at the piano in front of him, as if just realizing where he was. He shuddered.
Tommy took a few steps around Gibbs, to stand between them.
"Play."
Tony looked down at the keyboard, and his breath became more rapid...he placed shaking hands on the keys...and froze.
He was shocked by the sound of a shot going off, and a howl of pain, and leapt up from his seat, almost falling down, " No!" he yelled, turning quickly to look at Gibbs.
"Sit down!" Tommy growled.
The shot was into Gibbs' leg. He was gasping and writhing in pain, crimson spreading at the outside of his right upper thigh.
" Sonofabitch !" Gibbs cried out angrily.
"The next one's in his head." Tommy said plainly. "Play."
Tony eyed him warily, pulling himself together. He sat back down on the bench, and lifted his hands.
He began to play. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. He didn't think at all at first of anything but keeping Gibbs from a bullet in his skull. His hands were shaking badly, but playing helped to steady him a bit. He needed to think. He wondered if he could play long enough, could he stall long enough for them to be found? Was the team even on the right trail to find them ? He hurt, badly, inside and out...and he was so tired...
He realized he had slowed then, a little, but fear for Gibbs' life brought him back to focus.
Gibbs was trying to get his own pulse rate to calm, and get a grasp on the pain emanating from his thigh. Tony was playing...Tommy seemed momentarily spellbound, moving slowly toward Tony. He stood, right behind Tony, as the music went on, and Tony almost faltered as the crazy man's hand stroked his hair...his shoulder...
This was Tony's nightmare. It was his nightmare come to life.