Chapter Eight
Yes! His mind cried out jubilantly when the rope finally broke, setting his hands free. Dropping the sliver of glass gratefully, he turned slowly onto his back, with his arms at his sides. Tony squeezed his eyes shut against the pain as feeling began to come back to his numb digits. It took a lot longer than he liked, but gradually, the excruciating tingling abated, and he flexed his fingers experimentally, wincing when the numerous abrasions and cuts on his hands and wrists made themselves known. Some of the deeper cuts were still bleeding and Tony studied them with absent fascination for a moment before wiping the blood away with the hem of his shirt.
Sitting up with a stifled groan, he picked up the piece of glass once more, his hand shaking ever so slightly from the fatigue. Bringing his knees up, Tony started on the cord still binding his thighs together. He'd barely started when the sliver suddenly broke into two, cutting his fingers badly in the process, and Tony drew a sharp breath against the pain as he examined the additional damage to his hand.
With the glass rendered useless, the only other way to get free would be to get the knots untied. Fighting off another wave of dizziness, Tony cursed Gatley's rope tying abilities as his bloodied fingers fumbled clumsily at the securely fastened double knot. Why couldn't the bad guys be lousy at this sort of thing for once?
He tugged in frustrated anger at the knot. If only he had something else to cut the rope with – he'd be looking for a way out of this damned hovel at this very moment – instead of still struggling ineffectually with the bindings. Although Tony shot the smaller pieces of glass a longing look, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get a firm grip on any of them to get the job done – they were now too small, and too slick with both blood and sweat.
It took him longer than he'd expected, but he eventually managed to get the first rope untied. Looking up, he saw with a sinking heart that the cabin was suddenly a lot dimmer than before – night was already falling and he hadn't managed to get free just yet. With renewed determination, Tony leaned over once more and continued working on untying the final rope, so intent on his task that he didn't realise that he was no longer alone until the cold, hard voice called out to him, startling him badly.
"Leavin' so soon, are we now?" Gatley said with a sardonic grin as the other man froze ever so briefly before turning wide, uneasy eyes towards him, his long fingers still on the last knot at his ankles. He'd been watching the police station, hidden safely out of sight and trying his best to figure out a way of getting her out of there, when the cause of all this whole mess had shown up. Alone. Gatley grinned. He couldn't have planned it any better himself.
Tapping the buck knife that he was holding on the open palm of his left hand, Gatley eyeballed the young agent's dishevelled and notably bloody appearance. "Hate to break it to you, boy, but you ain't going nowhere, not until I get my Margie back."
O
Gibbs answered on the very first ring, his voice terse. "Abbs? Talk to me."
"Colson was telling the truth about Ella Hamilton," Abby's voice came clearly over the speakerphone. "There is a cabin registered under her name, located a number of miles outside the suburbs of Shady Grove. I'm e-mailing the map of the place and the address right now to Kate's mailbox…"
Gibbs looked over at Kate, who was seated at the borrowed computer. She clicked on the mouse once and nodded. "Got it. Printing now."
While Kate waited for the printout, Gibbs turned his attention back to the telephone. "Good work, Abbs."
"Wait, Gibbs…"
"Yeah?" he asked with a frown, hearing the anxiety in the young forensic expert's voice, his finger hovering over the disconnect button. Though Chen's men had promptly gone into action following Margie Colson's reluctant co-operation and were doing their all to find the mysterious cabin that she spoke of, Gibbs had other plans of his own. The moment that they'd walked out of the police station, he'd immediately contacted Abby with that scant information while the two of them had made a beeline for the nearest Internet café, knowing that she would be able to work a lot faster than anyone involved in this case.
He was right.
Scarcely five minutes had passed before Abby had called back with the crucial information that they needed and Gibbs was once more exceedingly grateful that he only worked with the finest. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Kate thanking the owner of the Internet café for the use of his office and computer.
"Abbs?" he prompted softly when she didn't immediately continue.
"Bring him home safe?" For a split second, Abby's voice wavered at the end of her sentence and Gibbs felt his chest constrict slightly. He met Kate's worried gaze for a split second before looking away, acutely aware that it was not a promise that they would be able to keep, given the circumstances.
The last time they went through something like this, they'd been lucky, extremely so – for, after going missing, Tony had been found safe and unhurt. In fact, he'd been doing his best to get the Marine Gunnery Sergeant that they'd been looking for safely away from the person who'd taken and imprisoned them down in the sewer system in the first place.
And although he never said so, not to Tony anyway, Gibbs was really proud of the way the younger man had handled himself, right to the very end, despite the fact that it took all that he had not to smack the guy in the head afterwards for placing himself so nonchalantly between the woman and the Gunnery Sergeant when she finally caught up with the both of them. Without even first considering the consequences, Tony had turned himself into a human shield, while simultaneously trying his best to talk the woman out of killing the injured marine. He was calm and steady the entire time, refusing to move even when she'd waved the gun at him, but it was Tony's unwavering faith in his friends, that Kate and himself would be there to back him up, that had impressed Gibbs the most.
In the end, through impeccable teamwork, they managed to stop the woman, who had been systematically killing off marines for the past eight years, and save the Gunnery Sergeant. Better still, they got Tony back in one healthy, albeit rather filthy, piece.
But now, there were many indeterminate variables to account for in this situation, the foremost one being Gatley, a man with a volatile temper, and the fact that Gatley and his men had basically beaten Tony senseless barely a month ago. And although Chen didn't exactly voiced it aloud, there was a look on his face that clearly said, for all they knew, Tony could dead already, although Gibbs had steadfastly refused to even consider that a remote possibility. He knew that Gatley saw Tony as his only ticket to getting his girlfriend back, and would keep the young agent alive until then – it was what Gatley was capable of doing when he realised that the deal was never going to happen that worried Gibbs more. They needed to get to Tony before that happened.
Now, with Abby waiting anxiously for his answer on the other side of the phone, Gibbs knew that he should tell her that while they would try their very best, it was out their hands – out of his hands – and that, until they found Gatley, Tony would be entirely at the man's mercy. And he should also tell her that there was nothing any of them could do about that.
But, somehow, even with that rational reply hovering ever so readily at the tip of his tongue, Gibbs found that he was unable to say it aloud to her, knowing instinctively what Abby needed to hear at the moment. It was not so much the exact words but the reassurance that came with them.
He closed his eyes briefly and then whispered, "We will, Abby. We will."
O
"But you don't understand–"
"And which part of 'shut your trap' do you not understand, boy?" Carl Gatley warned in a low, dangerous tone as he drew nearer, once more cutting off Tony's attempt to reason with him.
Despite his frustration at his failure to communicate the futility of this exercise to his captor, in the hopes of talking Gatley into letting him go, unharmed – neither NCIS nor the police department would ever make such an exchange – Tony willed his expression to remain impassive as the man waved the knife just inches from his face. Hardly breathing, the younger man kept totally still, but couldn't help flinching slightly when Gatley imbedded the tip of the blade into the wooden floor beside his numb legs before picking up the rope that had once bound his thighs together.
This was the first time he had a good look at his captor and, despite his apprehension and fatigue, Tony studied him with a cautiously masked interest. A tall, powerfully built man appearing to be in his middle to late forties, Carl Gatley sported a buzz cut above a heavy jowled face, with a wide generous mouth and a nose that had been broken at least once before. The pleasing ruggedness of Gatley's looks was, however, spoilt by the malicious gleam of ruthlessness that shone out from his light blue eyes.
"And here I thought I've done removed everything useful from the place. Musta missed that bit," Gatley remarked, his tone soft and almost thoughtful as he gazed at the bloodied slivers of glass beside Tony. He then turned those cold, hostile eyes towards Tony, who returned his stare unblinkingly. "Well, ain't you a resourceful one…"
Without warning, the hefty man struck out with one large hand, catching the NCIS agent completely off guard. For a man his size, Gatley was extremely quick in his movements and Tony didn't even see the blow coming until it was too late. The vicious backhand split Tony's bottom lip, and knocked him flat onto his back. His head connected hard with the floor, his vision went grey for a moment, and it took a while for the dazed agent to realise that Gatley was once again binding his thighs together.
"Gotta give you points for that though," the infuriated man all but snarled as he roughly turned Tony over and tied his hands tightly together, relishing the soft grunts of pain emitting from the young agent. Standing up, he gave the hapless man several brutal kicks to his side, a cruel smile lighting up his face when Tony gasped in pain and drew his knees up to his chest, coughing, looking for all the world like he was trying to curl into himself. "Not many people get free after I'm done tying them up. Have to admit, boy, that was pretty smart of you..."
Spitting out blood-tinted saliva, Tony drew another ragged breath past the pain in his chest and tried again. "You know there's no way… they're ever going to agree to your terms…"
"What I know, boy, is that you talk way too damn much," Gatley interrupted, effectively shutting the younger man up with another hard kick. Pulling out a dirty rag from the back pocket of his jeans, he bent over and tied it over Tony's mouth, gagging him tight. He then grabbed a handful of sweaty hair and jerked the head backwards, whispering menacingly into the semi-conscious man's ear, "And if you try that escape stunt one more time, DiNozzo, you'll find out that I won't be as forgiving."
Curled up on his side, breathing hard, Tony tried his hardest to concentrate on his captor's words but the man's face kept washing in and out of focus. Nausea returned, in full force this time, and it was all he could do to keep from being violently sick. With the gag on so firmly, however, he knew it would be an incredibly bad idea to give in to the impulse – he wasn't looking forward to choking to death on his own vomit.
"…in case, though…" Gatley was saying and Tony's breath hitched in his throat as he watched the man pull the hunting knife free from the wooden floor, his thick fingers caressing the razor-sharp edge lovingly. His panic-stricken eyes flew to Gatley's face, and they widened in alarm at the intent that was written clearly all over the man's grinning visage.
He yelled weakly, frantically, into his gag, kicking out in panicked desperation at Gatley, but the older man easily avoided his clumsy attempt, inching closer all the while, the knife held steadily in one hand.
No! Tony's mind gave voice to his horrified protest while he pushed wildly but ineffectually at the ground with his bound legs. He shook his head, pleading with the man with wide green eyes. No! Please! Please! Don't do this!
"Don't worry," Gatley grinned, enjoying the terror of his helpless victim immensely. He waved the knife in a graceful arc above Tony's stomach, a gleam of ruthless malice in his eyes. "I'll try not to make you bleed … too much…"
In one last, desperate attempt, Tony turned onto his stomach and tried to roll away but the big man caught him by the hem of his shirt and easily pulled him back, turning him almost effortlessly onto his back.
"Now, boy, what did I tell you about trying to escape, hmmm?" Gatley tsked, murmuring in an almost paternal voice before he held down the thrashing legs with one hand and buried more than half of the six-inch stainless steel blade into Tony's right thigh with the other.
A ragged scream erupted from Tony's throat, the sound muffled only by the gag, and his body bucked violently at the white-hot pain that shot directly to his head, sucking all of his breath and the rest of his remaining energy away. And if he thought the pain of the knife going into him was excruciating, it was nothing compared to it coming out. Despite his best intentions to not give Gatley any more satisfaction of a reaction, Tony couldn't stop the low groan of pain from escaping when the blade was viciously yanked free of his leg.
Dimly, through the roaring in his ears and the red haze of pure agony that surrounded him, Tony heard the man whisper lightly into his ear before he succumbed willingly into the swirling darkness, "That wasn't such a hard lesson to learn, was it now?"
O
"Arrrghhhh!" Anthony DiNozzo screamed in sheer agony, eyes squeezed tightly shut as he pushed blindly and desperately at whatever that was pressing down on the lower part of his body, the cause of a pain so intense that he could hardly breathe, let alone coordinate his movements. His arms flailed wildly around for a moment and a soft cry of despair escaped him when they were caught and held down to his sides.
Struggling feebly against the hold, Tony was totally oblivious to the gentleness of the grip upon his arms – his entire world consisted of only one sensation at the moment. Pain. Sharp, deep and white hot, it consumed him whole, to the point that he could no longer tell exactly which part of his body had been injured, and which weren't. Moaning through dry, split lips, he blinked hard, starring blurrily at the oddly familiar face that was wavering nauseatingly in front of him. The man's mouth was moving but Tony couldn't make out anything past the deafening roar in his ears.
"Stay with me, DiNozzo…"
Squeezing his eyes shut once more, he twisted his body weakly, trying to get free, but whoever it was that was holding him down was apparently against the idea because the grip on his forearms only tightened in reaction. Then, the pain from his leg abruptly flared up once more and Tony was helpless to stop the inevitable veil from falling. With a soft, grateful sigh, he embraced the welcomed reprieve as he slipped back into the deep dark abyss.
"DiNozzo!"
"There's a truck," Kate pointed out as they finally spotted the dimly lit cabin nestled at the edge of a thick forest. Shepeered through the binoculars at the licence plate. "It's Gatley's," she confirmed softly.
"Looks like he's in," Gibbs muttered as a shadowy figure crossed the open window briefly. "Unless someone else is house-sitting."
"Gibbs? Shouldn't we wait for Chen and his men?" The question was barely audible, almost lost among the sound of the trees rustling in the night breeze. "They should be here pretty soon."
"No time," the senior agent replied, equally sotto voce. He'd deal with whatever fallout they might have later on. Right now, each minute they wasted could just cause Tony his life. Drawing his weapon, Gibbs flicked the safety off. "Let's go."
"NO, Kate!" Gibbs said forcefully. He loosened his grip on Tony's forearms the moment he felt Tony go limp under his hands, knowing that he'd passed out once more, despite him urging the man to stay conscious. Ever mindful of the raw, bloody chafes on the young agent's wrists, Gibbs had been very careful to avoid causing any more hurt to the injured man while he'd held him down. He'd also caught the miserable uncertainty on Kate's ashen face when Tony had cried out in distress at their attempts to stop the bleeding.
Again, anger blazed within him, hard and fast, and Gibbs was hard-pressed not to turn around and empty his gun into the bastard that did this to his agent. His face betrayed none of his emotions or thoughts, however, when he said firmly to Kate, "No matter what happens, keep that pressure on the wound until Ducky or the EMT guys get here. You hear me?"
Kate bit into her bottom lip but nodded without any hesitation, never once letting up on the pressure she was exerting on the scrape of cloth she had pressed over the ugly knife wound. She knew it was a necessary step to stop the bleeding, but Kate nonetheless hated being the one to cause the additional pain to her fallen partner. Though still unconscious, Tony moaned low in his throat in reaction and she wished with all her heart that there was another, less painful, way to accomplish what she was trying to do. Looking up to stare anxiously past the broken door into the darkness outside, Kate wondered how much longer they would have to wait before backup arrived.
"NCIS! Drop the knife! NOW!"
The apparent surprise on Gatley's face at their sudden appearance and Gibbs' bellowed command would've been comical if it wasn't for the crumpled body lying in a small pool of blood on the ground beside his feet. For a brief moment, Kate was sure that they were already too late and her heart twisted agonisingly at the thought. Her finger tightening ever so slightly on the trigger of her weapon, she ran a quick sweep of the one-room cabin, just in case their initial reconnaissance had been wrong and the man wasn't working alone. Satisfied that there was no one else, Kate then turned her weapon back towards Gatley, expression grim.
"Drop the knife and step slowly away from Agent DiNozzo…" Gibbs growled dangerously, his gun aimed steadily at Gatley's chest. The icy blue eyes narrowed. "Don't make me ask again."
Paling noticeably at the quiet rage in Gibbs' voice, Gatley quickly did as he was told and, following Gibbs' terse instruction, carefully took out the gun that he had tucked inside his waistband. Placing it on the ground, he kicked the weapon towards Gibbs before proceeding to lay face down with both arms clasped behind his head.
While Gibbs secured Carl Gatley's hands behind his back with a pair of handcuffs and read him his rights, Kate was already at Tony's side. Removing the gag first, she proceeded to check the unconscious man over, her hands swift but gentle.
"Kate?"
"He's breathing but he's losing blood fast," Kate reported, her voice tense. The unconscious agent's cool, clammy skin, shallow breathing and thready pulse increased her worry as she recognised the familiar symptoms. "Gibbs, I think Tony's going into shock."
"Get those ropes off him. Here," Gibbs pulled out a penknife from his back pocket and tossed it over to Kate. He then turned and addressed the handcuffed figure on the floor. "As for you, keep your face down on the floor and eyes closed, is that understood?" At Gatley's nod, Gibbs continued, his voice low and dangerous, "Just give me a reason, Gatley, any reason at all, and I will show you what a knife can really do…"
Leaving the threat hanging ominously in the air, the NCIS team leader then joined Kate at Tony's side. She had already freed Tony's hands and was in the middle of cutting off the last rope binding his legs together. Gibbs clenched his jaw in anger as he took in Tony's battered appearance. Even in the gloom of the cabin, he could see the younger man wasn't doing well at all.
While Kate continued to apply direct pressure onto the wound, Gibbs picked up the rope that he'd dropped in order to hold Tony down only moments ago, and with a piece of wood from the floor, fashioned a tourniquet above the injury on Tony's leg. Though his jaw tightened at the low moan of pain caused by his actions, Gibbs was nevertheless glad that Tony had remained unconscious during the rest of their ministrations.
When he'd finished bandaging the wound the best he could, Gibbs stood up and, moving quickly across the room, grabbed hold of the solitary chair. Dragging it back to where Tony was, he positioned it down on its side and proceeded to place both of Tony's ankles upon it, elevating his legs slightly. After turning Tony's head to one side to prevent him from choking upon his own vomit should he throw up, Gibbs then shrugged out of his jacket and covered the injured man with it.
"Loosen the pressure on the tourniquet every ten minutes," he instructed tersely. At her nod, Gibbs gave Kate a reassuring pat on the shoulder before returning to watch over their prisoner, taking the buck knife and the gun that he'd bagged with him.
Distant sirens caught Kate's attention and she let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding, watching mutely as Gibbs hauled Gatley up by the scruff of his shirt and pushed him out the door. Turning back to her fallen teammate, her slight elation dimmed considerably when she noticed that the cloth bandaging his wound was already soaked through, despite the pressure she was putting on it and the added tourniquet. Checking her watch for the umpteenth time, Kate was surprised to see that no more than fifteen minutes had passed since Gibbs had kicked open the wooden door – it'd felt more like hours to her, instead of the several tense, nerve-wrecking minutes that she'd rather not go through ever again.
"Tony? Don't you dare die – you hear me? Not like this…" she whispered, swallowing hard, wishing once again that she had her hands free so that she could smooth away his sweaty hair from his all-too-pale face. Right now, she would welcome whatever flirty or even snarky comments he was capable of making if only he would just open those green eyes of his and look at her. "Hold on, okay? You're going to be all right. Just hold on…"
A/N: Sorry for the minor delay. Took a while to liberate this chapter… :)
In response to some of your feedback: SKRoberts – Thanks for the review and the encouraging pat on the back. :D Aenea – Heh. Sorry about your nerves. Glad that you're enjoying the story so far. warrior of the shadow – Good guess. You were close. Charmed-angel4 – Love your enthusiasm. :D Chianna – It's almost over. Thanks for the review!