SEPTEMBER 25, 2005
7 MONTHS IN CAPTIVITY
VENZUELA
"Kate, are you still searching for me?" Tony prayed as he nursed his nose in front of his cell mirror. It didn't hurt as much as it did last month, but it was still sore as hell. "God, tell me.. can they guess that I'm fading? Kate, I'm hurting. Will you lend me your wings? Without your wings, I will fall. I feel myself slipping away. Got me praying for the end sometimes. Mom. Do you copy? Am I acquitted? Was I righteous and just? Good enough to witness the awe of Heaven?"
"Kate... 'fore I go upstairs. Please watch over our people while I get this done. These people deserve freedom more than I do."
"Italiano," Jose called from his bed from the stall across from him. "You talking to yourself again?"
"Mayb..." Tony tried. "I don't know. Just praying mostly."
"This Kate you speak of?" Jose said. "She your coworker?"
"Yeah..."
"You got a soft spot for her, don't you?"
"I... I don't know," Tony stuttered. His mind was racing. "I mean... I'll admit I feel something. Maybe she feels the same way. But at the moment I'm just trying to stay sane."
"I understand," Jose said, crossing his arms through the bars and intently starring at Tony. "This prison... It does more than just lock away the undesirables from 'Comrade' Chavez's 'socialist utopia'... It..."
"It takes everything from you," Tony finished as washed his face from his cell sink.
"Yeah..."
"You really think this plan will work? We'll be taking an awful big risk. People could die. Hell, who are we kidding? Some of our friends are gonna die in order for even a fraction of us to get the hell outta here. Will it all be worth it? All the blood and death and pain?"
"Tony, you're not the first American I've met," Jose said. "The first American I met, back when I was a free man, he was a WWII veteran on vacation back in 96 back when I was 16. He told me it was better for a man to die on his feet a free man than to live on his knees as a slave. Freedom is worth fighting for. You taught me."
"But do you think it's worth others dying for?" Tony genuinely asked, finally turning to face his comrade. "Risking your life is one thing. But risking the lives of others. It's a serious game."
"The men involved know what they're signing up for," Jose said. "They know the risks."
"I hope so," Tony said. "No offense, but if I never see Venezuela again, it'll be too soon."
Jose chuckled. "No offense taken, Italiano. I love my country, but I can't stay here. So, gracias Dios you've won those last two fights. Gomez has taken a keen interest in you again."
"By the way, you never told me why these matches would get me close to Gomez," Tony inquired. "Or how it's a good thing. Last time I saw 'comrade' Gomez, he was attaching electrodes to my nipples and torturing me out of spite."
"Okay, mira. Gomez maybe a psicópata," Jose explained. "But he's a man who respects strength. And what he respects more than strength is a man who can make him money. That's why he collects American coins. Greed never fails to motivate men like Gomez."
"So that's why he had that Kennedy coin..."
"And if he thinks you're a prized fighter, he'll invite you into his private quarters. THAT'S how you get the key to our cells, which you will switch out with that fake one."
"That makes sense..." Tony pondered. "But one question... why me? Of all people?"
"Because he personally interrogated you," Jose explained. "He'll personally want to see if his torture of you paid off for something. He's a man with a... how do you say in English... blown up ego?"
"Inflated ego."
"Yes! Si. Inflated ego. He will want to know that his torture of you wasn't a complete waste of time. It'll soothe his ego if he discovers you've accepted your place here. Once you defeat his champion, El Greco, he'll jump at the chance to confirm you've been tamed. He'll invite you into his office. Step Two: Infiltrate. He'll pour you some wine..." He twirled his fingers, indicating for Tony to finish for him.
"Then Step Three: Secure the Key. I switch the key with the replica," Tony theorized. "We wait for the opportune moment, break out. Start a prison uprising. Step Four: Ascend From Darkness."
Jose nodded. "Then we hijack the planes in the prison airfield..."
"Step Five: Grow Wings."
"Then finally, we fly to the final Step Six..."
"Freedom..."
"But we can't do this without you, Tony," Jose pleaded. "Every man who wants out of here are depending on you. If you want to see this Caitlin of yours, you must help us."
"I made a deal with you, Jose," Tony reassured Jose. "My freedom along with you and your men's freedom. And I am a man of my word. We'll get the flying fuck out of here or die trying. Come fuck or high water, that's what we're gonna do."
Jose nodded. "That's what I like to hear."
"Before I go to bed, I gotta ask two questions..." Tony queried. "Do we have any pilots here?"
"Oh hell yeah," Jose answered, disengaging from the bars to go sit on his bed. He was getting tired too. "You're looking at one. I was in the great Aviación Militar Nacional Bolivariana before I got locked up for daring to disagree with Comrade Chavez. What's the second question?"
Tony sighed as he sat in his bed. "Even if you think it's worth it..."
Jose knew. "...will it work?"
Tony nodded as he laid down. "Precisely."
"Well, Italiano... there's only one way to find out."
Tony chuckled. "That's a hell of way to put it."
"Goodnight, Italiano. The big match is tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Jose."
A few minutes after Jose fell asleep, Tony let out one final prayer before sleep overtook him.
"Kate... I don't think I'm gonna make it here if we don't get out. Few more weeks, maybe. With your grace. God, let them find me. Let all of us know freedom."
NCIS
WASHINGTON DC
SAME TIME
11:30 PM EST
Acting Senior Field Agent Caitlin Todd finished up her paper work on the latest case, a sergeant major who murdered a corporal to cover up for his Aryan Brotherhood allegiances. She sighed as she signed the last paper. McGee came up from Abby's lab, yawning.
"Well, Ducky clocked out an hour ago. Abby is just finishing up with some DNA tests... Kate, are you okay?"
Kate didn't answer. She didn't even hear him.
"Kate?"
This time she heard him. She looked up at him with a startle. "Oh, god... I'm sorry, McGee... I was just in my own world..."
"Thinking about Tony, weren't you?" McGee inquired.
"That obvious, huh?" Kate asked.
McGee nodded. "More like we all are."
Kate sighed, looking at the empty seat sitting across from her. She was Acting Senior field agent but she didn't feel it was appropriate to move into Tony's desk. So it remained empty. She would gladly go back to being a regular field agent just to have him back.
"Is there a reason you're bugging me, McGee?" she said jestingly. "Are you trying to take over his job of annoying me until we find him and bring him home?"
"Well, you know, I thought I'd check to make sure everything was alright... Because you know, you almost died. And he could be..."
"McGee, if you finish that sentence, I will end you, you hear me?" Kate said. McGee hadn't seen this level in anger in Kate in a while. He held up his hands in surrender and began to walk off. Then Tony's desk phone rang. McGee looked over at the caller ID. It was Tony's father. Probably wanting an update on where Tony was. McGee looked at Kate. She shook at her head. They'd call him tomorrow.
"You miss him just a much as I do, don't ya?" McGee asked.
"More," Kate sighed as she packed her bag. "A lot more. It's part of his charm. He's liked an X-Rated Peter Pan."
"I'd kill to have him back making fun of me again."
"Same. I miss him as much as I miss my parents."
"Do you need me to walk you out?"
"No thanks, McGee. I'll be fine. I'll go home in a minute," Kate said. McGee started to walk away but Kate had one last thing to say. "McGee. I'm sorry for snapping at you. It's just... I don't want to jinx anything."
"It's alright, Kate. I understand."
"But let it be written," she declared. "I know Tony's alive. I know it. I feel it sometimes. I can feel him praying for me sometimes."
"Tony never struck me as the religious type?"
"He's Italian, McGee," Kate explained as she rose from her desk. "Catholicism is in his ancestry. Plus, I invited him to a few Mass services."
"You and Tony..." McGee stuttered. "Go to church together?"
"A few times," Kate sighed. "He doesn't go as much as I do. Pretty much when I ask him to."
McGee pressed the elevator button. Kate continued.
"But I can feel Tony reaching out to us. He's alive." Her voice started to tremble. She never realized what Tony meant to her until he was gone. McGee placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I know he is. He has to be. He's out there somewhere. Waiting. He is waiting on us. For me. To find him. To rescue him. To bring him home. And I swear to you, McGee, I will bring him home."
McGee nodded as the elevator door opened. "And I'll be right there with ya."
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