Chapter 8

Gone

NNNCCCIIISS

Iraq One half hour later

Tony had been sitting quietly for about an hour trying not to attract any attention. He couldn't see the two men that held him captive. Instead he used another sense, his hearing. By listening to their voices, he was surprised that he knew who these men were. After he'd figured out who the men were, the next step was to get his hands free and to also get the blindfold off. By then he would be able to get his cell phone and contact the one person that would rescue him.

After Tony heard the sound of footsteps leave, he knew it was time to put his plan in motion. The problem was how to break free of the ropes. After trying to loosen them, he realized that they needed to be cut off and he couldn't get to his knife. He was going to have to find some other way. After feeling around for a while, he felt something sharp coming out of the wall. He listened for a few seconds to make sure that his captors were gone. He then started to rub the thick ropes. Sweat ran down his face, but he didn't give up. The ropes were finally cut after what felt like forever. Tony rubbed his wrists without letting the robes fall off. He needed to get some circulation going to rid him of the numbness.

Tony thought that he had heard the now familiar footsteps coming back toward him. Not realizing that he was so close to the razor sharp edge of the wall, he accidentally sliced the side of his arm. He started to yelp, but bit his lip to keep from making any noise. Despite the throbbing pain and the fact that he could feel the blood flowing freely from his arm, he was able to remain silent. He could hear the voices of his captors even though he couldn't see them. He discretely pulled at his hands to see if they were loose enough to slip out of the ropes. If he could, then he may have a chance to pull the blindfold off and cut the ropes holding his feet together. Unfortunately, he realized that the ropes needed just a little more work in order to free himself. Tony wouldn't let that stop him; he was to close to being free.

Tony had cut most of the ropes free. He fell to the ground in his attempt to get the last of the ropes and his hands totally free, that's when strong hands pull him up and shoved him up against the wall. He yelled out when he felt the sharp edge he was using slice into his back.

Agent DiNozzo" the man said "Glad to see that you are finally awake."

"Yeah, I was kinda tired of sleeping so you can just shut up with the obvious." Tony told the man, not able to keep the sarcasm that always got him in trouble from slipping out of his mouth. He braced himself from the anticipated blow to his body. Instead the man threw him against the wall again. The hard concrete that smacked against his head sent white light and exploding pain through out it. Tony quickly recovered from the hard blow not wanting them to see how badly it affected him. 'Great, by the way I feel, I lost more blood than I thought and with the pain and nausea I once again have a concussion.' He angrily thought. Tony wanted to take down the two men and tell them he knew who they were. The weakness and symptoms he was experiencing made him close his eyes.

"DiNozzo" Captain Reynolds yelled while grabbing hold of Tony's injured arm "You're certainly not in a place to be making any smartass comments right now. Are you?"

Tony gritted his teeth to keep from yelling out again. "Captain Reynolds." He growled as the other man squeezed the injured arm even harder. Tony did his best to hide the pain, they didn't need to see it or the slight weakness the engulfed him.

"Well I see that you've finally recognized my voice, Agent DiNozzo." Reynolds growled.

"I do" Tony snidely told him with a smile "And you do realize that the FBI and NCIS are going to hunt the two of you down, right? Oh and you can tell Agent Carlson that I know he's the one who gave me up to you. Are you a betting man, Reynolds? 'Cause I'll bet you that Agent Jensen will want to personally hunt him down. I sure hope that I can be around to see that happen."

Tony was rewarded with a hard kick to his side. He was absolutely furious at the moment. There was nothing he would like more than to take them both down. He was absolutely pissed off and wanted answers. He'd do whatever it took to get those answers. The adrenaline that was coursing through his veins allowed him to ignore the throbbing pain in his arm, back, and head.

"So how did you find me out Reynolds?" Tony asked the question he already knew the answer to. "My cover was airtight. There were only two people besides me who knew about my cover, Agent Jensen and you, Agent Carlson." Tony gave them a sardonic smile. "Well, since you are here and Jensen isn't, I'd say it was you. But why on earth would you ruin your life." DiNozzo stated scornfully, "Oh why not let Reynolds answer that one."

"We actually served together in the first Gulf War" Captain Reynolds answered "We became close friends during the two tours together. After that we were never together in the same place. I had been finally promoted to First Lieutenant when I learned Agent Carlson had joined the FBI. By that time I had made friends with the local El Qaeda forces here in Iraq. Since I was careful and very good at covering my tracks, no one suspected. Well I finally came home and started to look into Carlson's background. I learned that he had been taking kick backs from a local drug dealer that he had taken down. When I came home last year I approached him and threatened to go to the FBI with the information that I had learned. I knew that money must have been what he was getting. As a matter of fact I had some nice little videos of all of this. Having the connections that I do can be nice. Like a baby, Agent Carlson begged me not to run to the FBI. I told him I wouldn't, under one condition. He would be working for me now."

Tony couldn't believe his ears. How could the person who he considered a close friend be another person he would have to arrest? He thought for a moment and then knew he'd seen it so many times before, when he was in the police force and with since he'd been with NCIS.

"Tony" a voice said from behind him "I am so sorry. I tried to stop him. I swear I did."

"Shut up Carlson, I've heard it all before." Tony spat out "You're a damn traitor. I should have you thrown away for life right now. But I want Jensen to be the lucky one to do it while I get a ring side seat and watch."

"Tony, I swear that I tried to keep you from getting involved." Carlson pleaded "Captain Reynolds heard me mention your name on a phone call. I don't know how he found out who you really were. I thought this was one thing he wouldn't try and mess up."

"I don't give a damn" Tony said while he worked to control his breathing. His arm was throbbing, his head ached and he felt some dizziness. "I just want you to be quiet. You disgust me."

He heard the footsteps he knew to be Agent Carlson's leave the room. The door banged loudly and made his head ache worse. He waited a few seconds to regain his composure before he spoke again. "So tell me Captain. Or should I say ex Captain Reynolds. Tell me how you found me out, or actually when you did." Tony wanted the answers to all his questions but even more he wanted to stall for time in hope that someone would find him. Tony knew if he wasn't found now, he'd be found dead.

Tony braced himself for another blow of some kind. It didn't come which he was so grateful for. "I think you need to shut up now" Reynolds spat out "You are asking way too many questions….."

Tony quickly interrupted him. "If you don't tell me I am going to call Agents Gibbs and Jensen and let them know where we are. Then the two of you will be immediately arrested and I'll be free. And I am sure that you don't want that to happen." The punch to Tony's stomach finally came. This time it knocked the wind out of him. Tony fought to catch his breath as Reynolds started to speak again.

"I'll give you what you want then I'll kill you" Reynolds sneered "I didn't like you from the start. You were new and everyone liked you. I was furious since I had been fighting to gain the respect of my men. How you had gained it was beyond me. So I decided to have a little bit of fun with you. You do remember that first mortar attack on your first patrol. Don't you?"

Tony thought back to the incident which caused him to wear Abby's gift like a good luck charm. Also, Tony realized that his blindfold had fallen down his face due to the force of the blows he took. He then pulled it down to lay around his neck.

"Yeah I do. The attack nearly killed me and all of my men. It was a miracle that we made it out alive. I bet you had something to do with it." Tony leered at the captain.

"I did" Captain Reynolds answered the agent. He fought the urge to beat the man to a pulp and kill him, right there and right now. Nothing would please him more at this moment. Only he knew he had to hold off for the time being. "But you and your men made it out alive. I got into trouble and you received the first of many commendations. Then you started to try and get close to me. At first I thought it was a subordinate trying to get to know their superior. But you were asking too many questions. That was when I overheard the conversation between Agent Carlson and whoever he was talking to. I should have suspected something. But you were way too good. You know what? If I wouldn't have been spying on Carlson, I would have believed you were a true marine. I would have set you up to die and no one would have been the wiser."

"But why would you want to get rid of me?" Tony asked "I was nothing to you." He continued to egg the captain on to give him more time and get his answers.

"You were at first" Reynolds answered "But when I heard Carlson slip and mention your name I knew that you needed to be taken care of too. You were the one person who could have ruined everything for me. I wasn't about to take that chance. So the little excursion you went on to rescue those people was created by me. You were supposed to have died. I told my El Qaeda friends to eliminate you. Instead, you again saved lives and received more commendations. I took the blame and had yet another mark on my record. And it was all because of you, Agent DiNizzo. So I arranged the little meeting with those gun buyers in hopes of taking care of things there. Well it sort of worked. You were found and taken back to the apartment to get rescued. I suspected that Carlson was the one who informed the FBI of your location. I found out that they had taken you back there with instructions to move you out and away safely. So I set up for my men to eliminate you there. But somehow you managed to take all of them out. But with a stroke of luck you didn't make it to the airfield." Reynolds shook his head incredulously and let out a loud sigh at all the foiled attempts and how they had backfired on him. Now, with this stroke of luck he'd be able to take care of Tony himself.

"I know the rest" Tony said wearily. He wasn't doing so well. He saw the narrowing of his vision and recognized how much weaker he felt along with the still present nausea. He knew if this kept up it would only be a matter of time before he passed out. Being so stubborn he kept going on with his game plan and again hoped that someone would find him before it was too late.

"I made it halfway to the airfield when you and your men started shooting at me. My tire was shot out causing me to wreck. The next thing I remember was being locked up in a room sort of like this one. You do know that no one likes you. Your men have no respect what so ever for you. But at least they had one person to look up to. It was me and I wasn't even an actual marine." Tony goaded. Maybe this isn't the smartest thing I've ever done. I just can't help the need to get this out, to be a smart ass. I know it gets me in trouble, but I need this bastard to know.

"I only did what I had to do, Agent DiNozzo" Reynolds answered as he walked over to give him another kick to the side "You need to shut up that smart ass mouth of yours and learn to show me some respect here. I am your superior right now. I can truly say that you are definitely not in a place to be making any demands at this point." The captain stated curtly.

"You think you are the one in charge here?" Tony asked with a gasp. He had to hold on, but the pain, blood loss and concussion had started to push him towards the loss of consciousness.

Tony quickly pushed on. He needed the advantage and fought hard not to pass out "Well you are wrong. I am. If I die, I guarantee you that Agent Carlson will immediately rat you out. After how he tried to help me before you think at this point he's worried about his career. And you know they might give him a lighter sentence if he does. They'll find you so quickly that you won't know what hit you. You have to keep me alive in order to keep control of the situation."

Tony hoped he'd get out of this and that the words he said would buy him more time. He had been working to free his hands once again. His injuries were slowing him down physically as well as mentally. He knew that he would have to push his body and mind to work more quickly or he'd die in this prison hole that he was trapped in. He'd about wiggled his arms around enough to try and slip them through when a final blow to the head caused the darkness to drag him away to nothingness.

"Shut the hell up, DiNozzo." Reynolds spat out with a laugh as he kicked him in the head.

Tony didn't hear the laughter coming from Captain Reynolds as he left the cold dark room.

He also didn't hear the door opening about ten minutes later. The man hoped that the young agent was still alive. The first thing he did was check for a pulse. He noticed that he had one. The pulse was weak, but it was there. He'd have to get the man help in order to survive.

"Damn it DiNozzo" the man whispered "I don't know how you do it. No one I know could have survived a beating like the one you just took. But I can't just let you die here. I remember you telling me the only way you could die was if Agent Gibbs gave you permission to. So you can't Tony. Maybe later you will understand why I did what I did. Please forgive me and make sure Jensen knows too. The man thought and wished he could tell these words to the agent. Tony was stubborn and maybe that's why he had survived, he only hoped that the stubbornness would hold until Tony got the help he desperately needed.

He quickly cut the rest of the ropes that bonded his arms and legs. He then untied the blindfold from the agent's neck. He turned the agent over and cringed. Tony's very bruised and bloodied face was revealed. He pulled out the first aid kit and cleaned the younger man's face off. He then worked on cleaning the nasty wound to the arm and hoped infection wouldn't set in. He then put a temporary bandage on that arm. After checking for Tony's cell phone he realized that it wasn't there. He quickly pulled his out and slipped it in the back pocket of the badly injured man. He hoped it would help Tony call for help from Agent Gibbs. With everything packed up he quietly slipped out the door.

If Reynolds ever found out what he had just done, he'd be dead within the hour. Being careful not to make noise he unlocked all of the doors that led to the outside world. He could at least make it easy for his friend to escape. He stepped out into the blinding sunlight and cautiously checked to make sure he wasn't being watched. He reached into the back of the jeep and pulled out a cell phone from his bag. DiNozzo had always told him to be prepared. It was something about these rules that Agent Gibbs had taught him. After that he was usually always prepared. He pulled out a number and quickly dialed it.

NNNCCCIIISSS

Marine base in Iraq

Everyone had been working frantically after the conference call with Vance and Abby had ended. Ziva and McGee were busy tracking down Agent Reynolds last known whereabouts. McGee had finally got a hit on Reynolds bank records. The Captain had been receiving over a hundred thousand dollars every month for over eight years. The young agent had put a trace on the account in order to track the origin of the money. But even he couldn't find the source. The money had been purposely funneled through many accounts and through many different countries so that the source would not be found. He finally had written a program that had started to make some headway. It was going to take at least a day, but they were closer than they were before.

All of a sudden a cell rang that caused everyone to stop in their tracks. Gibbs turned around when he realized it was his cell that caused the noise. He hoped it was from DiNozzo. Gibbs barked out his usual greeting. When the voice on the other end announced himself Gibbs almost dropped his phone and coffee on the ground.

"I'll be back soon." Gibbs hollered as he ran from the building. Damn it, I had a gut feeling I knew where Tony was. I was going to leave in a few minutes. Why didn't I just leave when Vance and Abby signed off? He chastised himself and let his legs move him quickly to the jeep.