Bishop and McGee had fallen asleep at their desks around midnight. Gibbs had followed them shortly after. Everyone was exhausted, but no-one wanted to stop searching for their missing teammate. They had all insisted on staying at work and searching. McGee had called in Delilah, who was helping search for Tony from her office at the DOD. NSA were also searching on request from Bishop. Gibbs had asked Fornell for help, and he had put together a team to search for Tony. Everyone wanted Tony found, but nothing was happening yet, and it was frustrating.


Tony woke up before the sun on Tuesday. Fear was running through him already. The night before, he had gone to sleep thinking about what was in store for him when he woke up again. One kidnapper had stayed the night with him to make sure he couldn't try to get away, but they were both there now.

"Sleeping beauty awakens," said the older looking one.

"Who are you?" Tony asked again.

The men turned to each other with identical sighs. "I suppose we can tell him. He'll figure it out eventually anyway. And it's not like he can do anything to help himself."

The younger man looked at Tony. "I'm Jamie Barn. Does that ring a bell?"

Tony frowned, but then recognition took over. "I thought you were in prison?"

"Not anymore. My brother here got me out."

"My name is Thomas, just so you know," said the brother.

"Why are you kidnapping me? I'm a federal agent, you won't get away with this."

"We're only half an hour from your work, and it's been nearly twenty-four hours since we took you. They haven't found you yet. Doesn't that seem odd?" taunted Jamie.

Tony chose not to answer that. Instead, he sat up. "You told me last night that I had work to do today. What were you meaning by that?"

"I meant that you have work to do. And we're going to start now. Stand up and come here."

Tony did as he was told, hoping that he wasn't about to be touched again.

"Good. Now, take off your shirt."

Again, Tony did as he was told. He pulled his shirt down his left arm, sliding the sleeve under the leather around his wrist.

"Great job," said Thomas. "Now you can stay there while we do our part."

Before Tony could move, Thomas was hitting him with a belt. He could feel his back stinging where he was struck. After ten minutes, he felt the sting stop as the belt was dropped and Thomas stopped his attack.

"How did that feel? Good, I hope." Thomas grinned. He headed into the kitchenette and grabbed a bag. "Stay still," he said to Tony as he wrapped another leather cuff around Tony's right wrist this time. A chain was attached to that strap too.

"Okay. I think we've done enough for this morning, Tommy. Let's make tracks," said Jamie.

The two men walked out, laughing. When they were gone, Tony went to the bathroom, the second chain just as slack as the first, and checked out his back in the mirror. It was red from the beatings, but not cut open, thankfully.


Gibbs picked up his phone as soon as it started ringing.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Agent Gibbs. My brother and I have your agent with us. Don't worry, he's fine. For now. He's doing what we've told him so far, and as long as he does that, we won't kill him. Yet. We're having some fun with him right now."

"Leave him alone! In fact, let him go right now."

"Thomas and I are not done. We'll let him go eventually. Whether he's alive at that point or not- that's a different story."

Gibbs shouted down the line a few choice words, but the only thing he could hear was air. Jamie had hung up. "Damn it!"

"Which one was it?" asked Fornell.

"Jamie. He implied that Tony is going to be hurt at some point, if he isn't already. When we arrested him last year, he had raped and sexually assaulted a male co-worker. Who's to say he won't do that to Tony as well?"

"Don't think that way."

"Too late, Tobias."

"DiNutso is tough. He'll fight tooth and nail to stop them doing that."

"What if that's not enough?"

"Then we'll help him through it. There's no shame in what happens regarding that."

"Good luck convincing DiNozzo of that." Gibbs sighed as he thought about Tony and what he could possibly be going through.


Gibbs pulled into the school parking lot and got out. The sun was shining, but the air was crisp. He hurried into the building, wanting to get the interviews over with. He had already gotten transcripts of the witness statements, but nobody had spoken to the children yet.

"Agent Gibbs," said a man as Gibbs walked in. "I'm Principal Thompson. The two boys are waiting in my office for you, with their parents. I hope that is alright?"

"Of course it is. I just need to ask them a couple of questions, then I'll be out of here."

The principal nodded and led Gibbs down a corridor to his office. "This is Joseph Whaller, and this is Matthew Idles. These are their mothers, Sasha and Clara."

"Thank you for agreeing to this," said Gibbs. "I'm Agent Gibbs with NCIS. I just have a couple of questions, then I'll leave you alone."

"It's alright. The boys want to tell you what they saw," said Clara. "They've been really upset about it all. They also want to thank that man for saving them."

"As soon as we find him, I'll let you both know. For now, boys, I need you to tell me what happened yesterday. Can you do that?"

The two boys nodded eagerly.

"Mum dropped us off yesterday morning before she went off to work," said Joseph. "She always drops us off together because we live next to each other. And then Mrs Idles picks us up in the afternoon."

"We were walking into the school when this van skidded to a stop. Joey and I tried to get away from the men, but they were really strong," added Matthew. "We couldn't run away, so we screamed, like our parents have always told us to."

"Yeah. Then that man came running over. He was shouting at the two men, and they dropped us. But they hurt him."

"Did you see what happened after that?" Gibbs asked.

Joseph nodded. "They pulled him into the van and drove away. He didn't move."

Gibbs held back his sigh. "Thank you both. You are very brave."

"Not like that man. Where is he?" asked Matthew.

"I don't know, but we will find him. And I promise to let you know when we do find him."


Tony wasn't alone for long. By the time the sun was up properly, Jamie and Thomas were back.

"Oh, hey, we just spoke to your boss. He's searching for you. I can't understand why he hasn't found you yet, but he will. And before that, we want to have more fun with you," said Thomas. He went over to the bed where Tony was sitting. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Tony ignored Thomas and Jamie for the next hour. It wasn't easy, but he managed it. At least until he could smell their lunch, anyway. His stomach was growling loudly, protesting the lack of food in the last twenty-four hours.

"Are you hungry, cop?" Jamie asked. "Too bad there's only enough for two people."

Tony closed his eyes and fought back the nausea he had been feeling all day. He stayed like that until the two men had finished their lunch.

"Time for your next job," said Thomas as he dragged Tony off the bed and into a chair that Jamie had placed in the middle of the room. "How do you like electricity?"