A Son for a Son

Chapter ten

"Your son raped and killed a nurse, then he turned a gun on an agent! I had no choice! Tony had nothing to do with it!"

"Doesn't matter. My son's dead, now your surrogate son will be dead. A son for a son., it has a poetic ring."

"If Tony dies, you'll never make it to court." Gibbs whispered through clenched teeth. "Now tell me where he is!" Gibbs put his hand around Dawson's throat.

Just then McGee burst into the room.

"Sorry Gibbs, but I thought you'd want to know right away. We know where Tony is."

Gibbs released Dawson who slumped against the wall.

"You're a dead man if we don't get Tony back alive."

Dawson managed to smile as he rubbed his neck.

"Even if you do manage to get him back, I broke his spirit Gibbs; he'll never be the same."

Gibbs ignored him as he hurried out of the room.

Warehouse

Gibbs and Kate sped to the location that McGee had given them. They radioed for a bomb squad to meet them there as soon as possible. Not wanting to wait for back up, they cautiously entered the building and searched floor to floor until they finally located Tony. Gibbs swallowed the lump in his throat when he saw his teammate hanging in the cold warehouse, the strong smell of gasoline permeated the air.Kate put her hand up to her mouth and blinked back tears, horrified by Tony's condition. His body was covered in blood, bruises, and what looked like small burns from where the wires had been attached to him. His head hung down on his chest and at first they thought they were too late, but they could tell he was alive when they saw his chest rise and fall in short little breaths. It looked like he was having difficulty breathing. Kate started to head for him but Gibbs grabbed her arm and nodded toward the bomb attached to Tony's waist. She understood, the bomb could be motioned sensitive and could go off with the slightest touch.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs said softly not wanting to startle him.

Tony weakly lifted his head. Was this some kind of trick?

"Boss?"

"Yeah Tony, it's me. Kate's here too."

"Hey." Tony flashed a quick smile through bloody teeth. "You gonna dock my pay boss?"

Gibbs smiled, glad that Tony could still joke even though he could tell he had to be in a lot of pain.

"We'll talk about that later, once we get you out of here."

"Kate, how was your weekend?" Tony asked, his smiled faded as he started to cough.

"Not as exciting as yours it seems." She gave a quivering smile. Her heart broke as she looked at him. A blindfold still covered his eyes but she could see the large purple bruise on the side of his face where he had first been hit in the alleyway.

Gibbs motioned Kate to stay where she was as he walked over to Tony.

"Tony, I need you to stay as still as possible. We have help on the way." Gibbs checked the bomb out the best he could without touching it or Tony. According to the timer it had forty five minutes to go before detonating. He carefully reached up and removed Tony's blindfold. He blinked hard a few times while his eyes adjusted to the light. When he finally looked at Gibbs, Gibbs was taken back by the pure exhaustion and pain in Tony's eyes. He winced in sympathy and cursed Dawson under his breath. He wanted nothing more then to cut Tony down and get him to a hospital but he knew they had to be careful, anything could set the bomb off.

Tony glanced over at Kate and could see the tears in her eyes.

"Tears Kate?" He gave her a small smile. "I didn't know you cared."

"Allergies Tony." She said simply, not wanting him to know her true feelings.

He smiled then looked back at Gibbs.

"Is there any water boss?…I'm so thirsty."

Gibbs looked down at the water containers on the floor. As much as he wanted to give Tony a drink he knew he couldn't, he had no way of knowing if the water was drinkable or if Dawson had poisoned it.

"Sorry Tony, but after we get you out of here, you can have all the water you want."

Tony nodded and licked his dry cracked lips trying to moisten them, but he had no moisture left in his mouth. He looked down toward his stomach and got his first look at the bomb, then he looked back up at Gibbs.

"Don't worry DiNozzo, the bomb squad will be here any minute."

"You two better get out of here." Tony tried to move a little to take some of his weight off of his sore shoulder, and then grimaced in pain as his shoulder protested. Gibbs looked over at Kate.

"Kate, go out and wait for the bomb squad … then stay out of the building."

"What about you?"

"I'm staying."

"No!" Tony looked at Gibbs. "If this goes …well there's no sense in both of us being here."

"I'm staying Tony, end of story." Gibbs stated, there was no way he was leaving him. He then looked at Kate. "Go on Kate, get out of here."

She knew better then to argue with him.

"I'll see you both on the outside." She prayed that was true. She then looked at Tony.

"Hey, I'll buy you dinner when this is all over."

"Anything I want?"

"Anything." She smiled then glanced at Gibbs with a worried look before she left.

Once Kate had left the room Tony squeezed his eyes shut and turned his face slightly away as he tried to hide how much pain he was in from Gibbs. But Gibbs could see through the charade.

"Tony, Kate is gone, you don't have to put on an act any longer." He could tell Tony was trying to be brave in front of her.

Tony kept his eyes shut for a few more seconds but when he opened them Gibbs could see the pain in them as one lone tear ran down Tony's face.

"I'm sorry Gibbs." Tony apologized, he hated appearing weak in front of his boss.

"Don't you apologize…You've been through hell Tony. You just let it out."

Tony tried once more to fight the pain but finally he couldn't any longer.

"Oh God Gibbs, I feel lousy." He moaned, his face etched with pain.

"I know son … I'm just sorry we couldn't have found you sooner."

It was then that Tony spotted the camera.

"He filmed this?"

"Yeah, he sent e mails to me with a video attachment. Tony, we watched everything he did to you." Gibbs's voice cracked a little with emotion.

"Then you heard me call for you?"

Gibbs nodded.

"He told me to yell for you … I tried not to but…" He looked away, he felt ashamed that Gibbs had seen the man break him. What else had he seen or heard he wondered?

Gibbs could see Tony's discomfort.

"Tony, you did nothing wrong." He said softly.

"I should have been able to hold on…not call for my boss and cry like a baby." Tony swallowed hard and shook his head, disappointed in himself.

"Tony…hey, listen to me." Gibbs reached up and turned Tony's head gently toward him. "There is nothing for you to be ashamed about…Do you hear me? Nothing."

Tony nodded slightly, then changed the subject.

"How did you find me?"

"We got the guy who did this to you."

"Who was it and why?"

"Dawson …I killed his son about three years ago and he was getting back at me through you."

"Dawson? Milton Dawson the janitor?" He looked at Gibbs in disbelief. Milton and he had always gotten along, he couldn't believe Dawson would want to hurt him.

"Yeah."

Tony shut his eyes remembering the cologne and now realized where he had smelled it before and on whom. When he reopened his eyes he tried to take a deep breath but couldn't seem to get enough air. It felt like someone was standing on his chest.

"Oh God Gibbs where are they?" He groaned as another round of coughing hit him.

His arms were killing him, his whole body screamed in pain. Right now all he wanted was to be cut down and to lay on a soft bed and sleep for days.

"They'll be here soon. Just a few more minutes and this will be over."

Gibbs's heart ached for Tony. He looked so cold and miserable and there was nothing he could do for him, not with a bomb attached to him. He remembered hearing Tony on the video telling Dawson that he thought maybe Gibbs didn't even like him. Well you were wrong Tony. If I could change places with you I would in a second. Dawson was right, Tony was like the son he never had.

TBC