The bad guys in the back seat gave Magnum directions from time to time as they drove, but the air in the car was mainly quiet. Tony sat silently, staring out the window at the Hawaiian landscape that streamed past his window. In the entire week that he'd been on the island of Maui, this was the most he'd seen of it.
The road they were on afforded an excellent view of the ocean. It was the bluest water he had ever seen. There were boats on the water, families out enjoying the beautiful day. Tony longed to be swimming in the ocean, exploring. He'd wanted to take scuba lessons and go snorkeling.
He'd been so excited when his father told him he was bringing Tony with him to Maui. He visited the library and read everything he could find about the island. He even called a travel agency and requested brochures, many of which he left in strategic places around their house hoping his father would see them. Now he wasn't sure why he'd bothered. Not only had the trip not turned out as he wanted, it was worse than he expected.
His family was never going to be what he needed them to be. His father and mother weren't interested in Tony Dinozzo. They didn't care that he was good at math or liked to read mysteries. All they wanted was for him to become what they wanted – Anthony Dinozzo, Jr., a mirror to reflect his father's brilliance. He might even have tried to please them, if he just knew who that person was.
Leaning against the cool glass, he closed his eyes, shutting out the bright sunny day that seemed to mock his dark mood. If he died, would they ever know what happened to him? A small bitter part of him thought they probably wouldn't even care.
The slowing of the car caught his attention and Tony opened his eyes to find they were pulling off the paved road onto a gravel road that disappeared into tall trees and lush vegetation. Magnum's hands were clenched on the steering wheel. He slid a glance to Tony and caught his eye, he seemed to say silently 'be ready for anything.' Where ever they were going, they were getting close.
They drove down the road for what felt like forever, Tony had long since lost all sense of time. He didn't know if it was an hour since they'd been taken or just minutes had passed. He'd tried to keep track of their route, to give himself something to occupy his mind rather than the morbid thoughts of death that kept circling there, but it was too complicated and he had no clear idea of the island in his head, so he finally gave that up.
Tony saw Magnum's eyes narrow as they cleared the line of trees and a house appeared. It was a huge house, maybe it had been a plantation once, Tony had read about them in his research. Magnum pulled the car up in front of the house and parked it. He sat with his hands on the wheel, waiting for instructions from their captors. For a moment there was silence in the car, then the man behind him poked Tony through the seat.
"Alright, get out, nice and easy," he instructed.
Tony did as he was told, slamming the door behind him. Before he had a chance to think or act, he was grabbed, his arm jerked up painfully and marched around to where Magnum and his captor stood waiting.
"Hey, you don't have to hurt him," Magnum spat, "we're doing what you want."
"Don't tell us what to do," the man at Magnum's side growled before punching Magnum in the stomach again.
This time Magnum stayed down for a moment, one arm wrapped protectively around his middle, and the two men exchanged satisfied glances.
"Knew he wasn't as tough as the boss said," one of them commented with a satisfied smirk.
Neither one of the men were prepared when Magnum whirled. He hit the man holding Tony's arm. For a brief second the man loosened his grasp and Tony jerked himself free.
"Run, Tony," Magnum shouted as the man behind him brought both hands crashing down on top of his head.
Tony wasted no time, he sprinted off into the trees. Realizing his mistake, the first man reached out to catch him. Instead of Tony, he got a handful of the jacket that was still tied around Tony's waist. It came away in his hand as the boy disappeared into the thick foliage around the house.
"Shit!" Tony heard explosively from behind him. "You come back here, you damn little brat."
Ignoring the shouts, Tony crashed further into the foliage desperately looking for somewhere he could hide. As he ran all he could remember was the image of Magnum as he lay unconscious on the ground, a thin trickle of blood running down his face where the other man had hit him.
He paused briefly as he heard the other man call his comrade back, "Help me with Magnum, we'll get the kid later. Where's he going to go?" The man must have thought that was funny because he laughed, a cold booming sound that caused Tony to run faster.
Tony ran as fast as he could, pushing through the trees and foliage that grew tall around him. He tripped and fell, the ground seeming to reach out and grab at his arms and legs until his arms and face were covered in a myriad of small scratches, but he didn't stop, he couldn't. He picked himself up, and kept moving. He didn't stop when he could no longer see the house behind him. Even though he knew he had to stop and figure where he was and what he was going to do, he was afraid that the minute he stopped the men were going to find him and drag him back.
He found a hollow where a tree had fallen; there was a shallow space under it, just the size for a small boy to hide in and catch his breath. Pressing himself into the hollow, he sucked in great gasps of breath, hoping it would quiet the loud thrumming of his heart. He had no idea when the men would come looking for him. They could be out even now, searching for him. He imagined the men could find him just from his heart's frenzied rhythm, it sounded loud in his ears drowning out the sounds of nature around him.
At last his breathing began to slow and his pulse returned to something resembling a normal pace.Still there was no sign of anyone looking for him. Frantically he tried to think what he was supposed to do. He knew that if he was going to escape, get back to the road and find help for Magnum, he had to do it now before a search was mounted for him. He wouldn't be able to evade a search party for long, he was certain of that.
Tony wasn't dumb, he knew that the men and their boss were going to hurt him to get Magnum to do what they wanted, and that what they wanted was bad. But he couldn't bring himself to abandon an injured Magnum, even when he knew that was what Magnum himself wanted, he'd been injured to insure Tony's escape.
Resolutely, Tony crawled out of his hiding place trying to be as quiet as possible. He could see the path where he had crashed through the undergrowth. It was a clear path to him. Even a kid would be able to find him using the path he'd made.
He looked into the forest of trees ahead of him. He could make it through them he knew, get back to the road and maybe find help for himself and Magnum. Maybe Magnum's friends were already out looking for them. For just a moment Tony imagined himself showing up back at the house to rescue Magnum with TC, Rick and the police at his back. But it was a brief fantasy. He was good at math, he could figure the odds of that particular fantasy actually coming true. No, he needed a better plan.
He needed to do something that the bad guys wouldn't expect him to do. He was just a little kid. No one would expect him to go back to the house and try to rescue Magnum himself. Sure Magnum had told him to run, but Magnum wasn't here now and Tony had to make his own decisions.
In the end Tony knew he had to go back. It just struck him as wrong to leave Magnum behind. He somehow knew that the man wouldn't leave him, no matter the circumstances. It didn't matter to Tony that he was a kid and Magnum was a grown man committed to his safety. He had to go back and find some way to help Magnum.
He stood a moment longer knowing that his time was running out to do anything. Soon the bad men would be out looking for him. They'd probably have dogs or heat sensors or something like that, bad guys always did, and Tony would never be able to evade them then. He had to make his decision.
He glanced back once into the trees, he couldquite clearly see the path to his freedom. Then, without another thought, he turned his back on it.Carefully he made his way back towards the house and Magnum. He had to find out what had happened to Magnum and rescue him if he could.
It was what Magnum would do for him.
To be continued...
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