Chapter 5

Gone

A/n here is the next chapter. I know it took a while to get it up. But here it is . As always please read and review.

Gibbs, McGee, and Ziva arrived in Iraq after a twelve hour flight. They were all exhausted after the events of the last couple of days. But their determination to find Tony was the only thing that was keeping them going. So when they saw Agent Jensen waiting for them, Gibbs was not surprised. Agent Jensen immediately approached Gibbs and shook his hand.

"Hello" He said as a way of greeting "My name is Agent Jensen with the FBI. I am one of Agent DiNozzo's contacts here in Iraq. I want to apologize for not getting there in time."

"I understand" Gibbs replied "Can you tell exactly what was going on? We were never given much information about exactly what was going on and what he was doing."

"I can tell you that everything was pretty much classified" Agent Jensen replied "I've been ordered to not say anything to you. But with the recent events, I don't think that it really matters anymore. What I can tell you is that we are investigating Captain Reynolds for selling weapons to Al-Qaeda. We also think that he had recruited others in his unit along with members of the local militia to sell the weapons. We also think that he was leaking valuable Intel to Al-Qaeda members there in Iraq. This is where your agent came in to play. We set him up as Sergeant Cooper, who had been recently transferred in from the States. We had him assigned as a platoon leader. We hope that this would put him in direct contact Captain Reynolds. We were lucky because the Captain approached Agent DiNozzo on his own. Things seemed to be going well. Tony was able to provide Intel back to us in a regular basis. Then two nights before he went missing, he called me and said that the meet was finally happening the day after. I told Tony that he could finally be home within the week. The next time I saw him was when we rescued him. Then when he didn't arrive at the airfield on time, I went to the apartment. I found blood everywhere and evidence of a struggle and a fire fight. I do have to tell you that I was told that Agent DiNozzo did a fantastic job. He saved more than a few lives and was very well liked. He was very believable. I wish I had more for you Agent Gibbs."

"Thanks so much for the information" Gibbs replied "What about Agent Carlson? Did Agent DiNozzo have much contact with him?"

"Yes he did" Agent Jensen mentioned "Then it seemed like after about a month they stopped. Tony started to come to me with all of the Intel and information."

"Did Agent DiNozzo have Agent Carlson's cell number or did he contact him some other way?" Gibbs asked.

"He did have Carlson's phone." Jensen answered.

"So when was the last time you spoke with him?" Gibbs asked again.

"Now that I think about it I'm honestly not sure." Jensen answered "It may have been a few days before Tony disappeared."

"Is there was any possibility that Agent Carlson had any contact with Captain Reynolds?" Gibbs asked.

"Not that I am aware of" Jensen answered "I just remembered that Carlson said that he would be gone for a couple of days. He said something about following up on some leads. You know what, I just remembered something. I just remembered reading something about Carlson. I think I remember. He was recruited by the FBI after serving in the Marines for seven years. I'm so stupid."

"Don't worry about it" Gibbs said "There was no way you could have known about it? I probably wouldn't have made the connection either."

The younger man shook his head. He missed something really big and it probably cost him and NCIS one of the best undercover agents he had ever worked with. He walked over to one of his file cabinets and pulled out a file. He walked back over to Gibbs and handed it to him.

"This is Agent Carlson's file" Jensen said "Maybe there is something in there that will help make a connection."

"McGee" Gibbs barked "I want you to call Abby. Have her pull up the service records for both Captain Reynolds and Agent Carlson. Ask her to check and see if they have ever served together. If they have, I need to know when and where it was. In the meantime, Agent Jensen, Ziva, and I are heading over to the base where Tony was at. Also, ask if she's got anything off of the facial recognition software from the apartment."

McGee went and called Abby to give her the instructions from Gibbs. He asked her to check the service records to see if she could find any connection between the two. He then asked her to get back with him if she found anything useful. She asked about Tony and McGee said no. Abby said that she had to get busy then quickly hung up.

Gibbs and Ziva were gearing up so that they could leave to go to the base. Gibbs turned to McGee.

"I need you to stay here and help Abby with the search."

Agent Jensen showed McGee to one of the desks so he could set up shop.

"The base" Jensen asked "The base is over an hour away, so we should get going before it's too late. It's not safe to be out at night. Snipers and ambushes seem to happen at night more and more lately."

Gibbs and Ziva grabbed their gear and started to follow Jensen outside. As they started out the door Gibbs turned back around to say something McGee.

"I need you to call us when you get any information."

"Will do Boss." McGee said.

McGee watched as they walked outside. He sighed and started back to his work.

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Marine base in Iraq

Gibbs, Ziva and Agent Jensen arrived at the base where Tony was stationed at. Ziva looked around and was amazed at the fact that Tony had lived here for so long. She had learned from Abby that he had actually started to fit in quite well. Abby also said that he enjoyed the challenge and liked what he was doing. Gibbs voice broke through Ziva's thoughts.

"Agent Jensen is going to take us to meet Tony's bunkmates" Gibbs announced "We'll have a chance to question them about Tony if we hurry."

Jensen led them to Tony's bunk where he had been staying. They walked inside to see two of them waiting for them.

"This is Agent Jensen. I am Special Agent Gibbs, and Officer David. We're here to ask you some questions about Sergeant Cooper. How well did you know him? And how well did he get along with the others?"

One of the men spoke up first.

"The Sergeant was very friendly. Though, he usually kept to himself. They said that he kept some photos on the other side of his bed. I didn't want to talk about them. But they were obviously very special to him. We assumed that they were of friends of maybe family. But like I said, he refused to talk about them. He made an excellent platoon leader. He was a natural at it. We also noticed that before he went on a mission or out on patrol, he would wear this one certain watch. He said that it was a good luck charm because he was wearing it when we were hit by a large mortar attack. Somehow we all survived it. So after that he always wore it."

"So how did the Sergeant get along with the others?" Gibbs asked

"He was friendly with everyone" One of the soldiers replied "He was one of the best basketball players in our unit. Everyone wanted to play with him and he always did. He said that it created good rapport."

"So what was his relationship like with the captain Gibbs asked "Did they get along okay??"

"They said that the Sergeant stayed away from the Captain at first. But they eventually seemed to have become friends. One of the men had noticed that the Sergeant had started to become a little uneasy around him. And at times they were a little bit hostile. The Sergeant seemed to be able to handle things with him though."

"Thanks for all the information and your time." Gibbs said "If I need anything else I'll let you know."

The men grabbed their gear and left to go outside. Ziva took the opportunity to do a once over of Tony's bunk. The first thing that she noticed was the collection of photographs on the wall next to Tony's bed. She saw a lot of pictures of the whole team. Some were recent ones that Abby must have sent to him. Others were older ones that he had brought with him. She rolled her eyes when she saw the pictures of herself. She pulled one off and confirmed that it had come from McGee. She would threaten harm to McGee for sending it to Tony after he was safe and at home. Ziva quickly turned around when she heard Gibbs calling her name.

"Yes Gibbs" Ziva answered

"I need you to finish searching Tony's bunk" Gibbs replied "I need to take a call from McGee. Let me know if you find anything important."

Gibbs stepped outside so he could talk to McGee.

"What have you got for me?"" Gibbs barked out.

"Uh, well" McGee stammered out "Abby is still running to photos of Tony's attackers at the apartment. She hasn't got any matches yet. But she is still working on it. He did find a connection between Agent Keller and the Captain. He said that they served two years before he was honorably discharged."

"McGee" Gibbs asked "I need you to keep looking around. I need to know what happened in their two years together."

"I'm going to call Abby and have her pull up their service records." McGee announced.

"Good job McGee" Gibbs answered "Tomorrow we are going to check out the apartment first thing in the morning. We'll see you in an hour."

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Unknown location

Tony felt a sharp pain in his head as he tried to sit up. He had no clue as to where he was and how he had gotten there. He remembered talking to Abby then everything went blank. He tried to check to see if he had any other injuries. He was sure that he had a concussion, but everything else was from earlier. Tony tried to stand up ,but his leg gave out. Tony slid down the wall again. Frustrated, Tony looked to see if there was anything that he could use to pull himself up on. He saw a window right above him. He was able to get up onto his knees. Thankfully he was tall enough to be able to pull himself up. When he started to stand up, the shooting pain in his leg almost knocked him down again. He stifled a cry has he finally managed to stay up. He pounded the wall when he realized that it was pitch black outside. The pain was getting unbearable, so he slowly slid back down the wall.

In a flash of memory, Tony remembered the cell phone in his pocket. He prayed that it was still on. Tony felt in his pockets and finally found it. He flipped the phone open and saw that he still had some battery left in it. He remembered that Abby had once told him that if the phone is on that he can be tracked by the GPS in his phone. He hoped that Gibbs was on his way to rescue him. All of a sudden, he thought that he heard footsteps coming toward him. Tony was silent in hopes that he wouldn't be noticed. Tony thought that he heard footsteps going away from him when he felt something whack him on the back of his head. Then everything went black again.

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Near the airfield

Agent Jensen, Gibbs, and Ziva walked inside with their gear. They noticed that McGee had fallen asleep at the desk that he had been working at. Gibbs decided to let him sleep a little bit longer before waking him up. In fact, they all needed to get some rest. Gibbs was about to ask where they could go to get some rest when Agent Jensen spoke up.

"I'll show you where you guys will be staying at while you are here. Then tomorrow I'll take you to the apartment. There might be come evidence that we missed. Knowing DiNozzo, he left some clue to his whereabouts."

Gibbs walked over to McGee and tapped him on the shoulder to wake him up. McGee jumped at first. He didn't realize that they were back yet.

"Sorry Boss." McGee said.

"Don't worry about it" Gibbs said consolingly "It's time to hit the rack. Come on and grab your gear."

McGee turned around and saw that Ziva was about to fall asleep. Ziva awoke to see that everyone was leaving. They all grabbed their gear and followed Agent Jensen to their quarters. When they got there, Gibbs thanked Jensen for all of his help. The two younger agents were asleep before their heads hit their pillows. It was Gibbs who was still awake. He hoped that Tony was still alive. And also that they weren't too late to catch whoever was after Tony. He wasn't about to let anything happen to him. He hope that tomorrow would provide the clues they needed to find him and bring him back alive.

A/n Thanks so much for all of the alerts and reviews. I plan on another next week if time allows it.

Sarah