Thank you for the reviews, alerts, and favs, everyone! There is some computer-babble in this chapter. I'm not a techie, but I did what research I could and tried to get it mostly believable. Enjoy!
3.5 hours earlier…
Abby Scuito placed her empty coffee mug on her nightstand and stared intently at the glowing laptop screen on her knees. Her and Ducky and Gibbs had been trying to track Tony for months and months, and it looked like they might be finally getting close.
She adjusted the lime green skull pillow behind her back and kicked a black and red fleece blanket over her bare feet. She slid the laptop onto the bed and rubbed her eyes. It was hard to look at that thing all the time. Letting her hands fall back to the mattress, she surveyed her messy bedroom. Well, technically it was Gibbs' room, since it was his house. But he was sweet enough to let her have it after he bought her at a public auction two years prior. She was his slave, so said the papers Gibbs had signed, though he treated her exactly the same as he always had at the office.
She smiled at the familiar mess. Some of her clothes were on the floor—her plaid skirt, a few pairs of knee-high socks. Bert the hippo rested at the foot of her bed, right next to the voodoo baby with the orange paint ball splatter on its forehead. She didn't wear belts anymore. No more decorative chains either. They reminded her of…well, they reminded her of bad things now. Things she tried to forget, things that often showed up in nightmares, even two years after Gibbs had brought her to his home to this life of peace and happiness so unlike what she and countless other slaves experienced. China had conquered the world five years ago looking for their stupid fuel, and Abby was perfectly content to forget the first three years of her unpleasant slavery under hands that were often cruel. Abby took a deep breath. She would never have a bad master again. Not if Gibbs could help it. And now it was Tony's turn.
She flicked her eyes back to the laptop's screensaver and bit her lip. The usual questions sprang into her mind as they had been doing everyday since Gibbs brought her home. Where was Tony? Was he okay? Was he being treated alright? Would they ever, she gulped, see him again? He might not have even survived the awful riots that took place after…Abby's eyes moistened. So many had died in those first few weeks after China took over everything for their stupid mines for their stupid element.
"Positive thoughts, Abby." She told herself firmly. "He's alive. We'd know it if he wasn't."
She pulled the warm computer onto her lap again and her fingers flew over the keys.
Hacking into China's slave database was tricky work—and she wasn't much of a hacker. Plus, if she—a slave—got caught hacking into China's database, things could get really ugly. No doubt she'd be taken away from Gibbs and sold back into the public market. She shuddered. Nothing but horrors waited for her there. It was foolhardy and idiotic for anyone to try getting into the system. Abby cracked her knuckles and set to work.
She nudged through some firewalls and made it onto a different server, just to cover her tracks. She typed Tony's serial number into the database and waited. It had been surprisingly easy to get his number. All slaves had a serial number for tracking purposes, and she had simply Googled his name and found the ten-digit code after a short search. Finding a slave's number was easy, but finding out who actually owned them…that was the impossible part. Some people paid lots of money to stay out of the system.
She had already cobbled together a rudimentary virus that would ideally find Tony's number and tell her where he was and who owned him. One problem was that there were very few open ports on the Chinese systems. One had opened some six months ago, but it had disappeared before she could do anything with it. She checked every single day, but there was nothing. Also, that everything was in Chinese and she barely spoke two words didn't help.
The computer emitted a ping and Abby blinked at the screen and the little flashing window. She gasped. A port was actually open. Quickly, she pulled up her virus program and sent it through the port, then chewed her purple-lacquered fingernails.
She twirled a pigtail as the machine scanned through hundreds of names. She really hoped she wasn't being tracked. Her heart pounded as a blur of slave photos flew across the screen. When the computer pinged again, she gasped. There it was. There was a picture of Tony and a ton of info written in Chinese. She stared at her friend and grinned. It looked like his driver's license photo. Something taken before being a slave.
"Oh Tony, I really hope you're okay…"She downloaded the file and got the hell outta the system. Typing again, she brought up a translation program and ran Tony's Chinese file. The translation was shoddy, but she found what she needed.
"Nikola Bronislav." She mumbled. Tony had been living there as recently as this past year. That meant there was an excellent chance he was still alive. Tears dripped down her face as she flipped open her cell and speed dialed Gibbs with shaking fingers.
Gibbs had never liked waiting.
Waiting for a suspect to break in interrogation. Waiting for Abby's lab results. Waiting in line at the hardware shop with an armful of two by fours. Gibbs sighed and adjusted the lumber under his arm. There was an argument at the register. Apparently this guy was trying to return a length of rope that he had bought for his slave that he now decided was too long. Said slave was kneeling on the floor by his master's feet, hands clasped behind his back. He couldn't have been older than thirty. His greenish eyes were cast down at the floor and Gibbs felt a little pang in his chest. He was about Tony's age. The spiky hair and gold-flecked emerald eyes. Gibbs looked away, feeling a deep guilty ache in his gut. They should have found him by now. Abby was searching for him like it was her job and still they were making almost no headway. He couldn't help but feel that they weren't searching hard enough or deep enough. If they were they would have him by now. Or at least have heard of his death.
The irate slave owner had one end of a heavy, chain leash attached to his own belt loop as he yelled at the cashier and yelled at his slave.
Gibbs rolled his eyes. God he hated slavery. Hated everything about the idea of owning another human and buying one the same way he was buying this lumber (which he'd love to do if the line ever decided to move). He was ready to give the man the argument-causing two dollars out of his own pocket if meant he would leave.
Finally a manager was called over and the guy ended up getting store credit or something. With a huff, he yanked the leash, making the slave stumble to his feet and trot after his fuming master. No one gave them a second glance. Three other people in the five-person line had slaves kneeling, collared and leashed, at their feet. The sight was as common these days as clouds in the sky. Gibbs put his wood down on the counter and the cashier rang it up. He saw the bright purple collar and green tag at her throat. The collar meant she was a slave, and the green chip on her collar meant she could have this job. No wonder the customer had gotten so annoyed with her—no one cared if slaves were yelled at and called names. Gibbs paid and gave her a smile before walking back to his car.
It was a warm June evening, with the sun just starting to set, turning the sky orange and lavender. Gibbs popped the back door of his truck and dropped the wood inside. His phone rang the moment he slammed the thing closed.
"Yeah. Gibbs."
"Gibbs!Gibbs!Gibbs!OhmyGod…OhmyGod—."
"Abby." Gibbs said slowly. "Breathe."
He heard her take a deep breath.
"Okay, what's going on? Are you hurt? Is Ducky hurt?"
"No! Gibbs—we found him! I think."
All the blood in Gibbs' body seemed to freeze and slowly shift in the opposite direction.
"Gibbs?" Abby's voice was concerned and amused.
"Yeah." His voice cracked just a bit. "Abbs, is it really him?"
"I'm like eighty-nine percent sure."
"Is he…?" Gibbs wanted to say hurt, healthy, fine, normal, injured. Hell, alive even.
"Well, we don't actually have him quite yet."
"Where is he?" Gibbs threw open the truck's door and slid into the driver's seat, cranking the engine.
"Gibbs, don't do anything stupid—."
"Abby, I've been looking for him for five years. We've come this closeI don't know how many times! I am not going to let him slip through our fingers again."
Abby quickly gave him an address and sent the GPS coordinates to his phone. Just like old times. Gibbs looked at the display and rolled his eyes. Of course, one of Ching-Lan's men.
There was a beat.
"Seriously, Abs?"
"Yup." Abby said. "Like I said—don't do anything stupid."
Gibbs gunned it to the address. This particular henchman's coordinates were almost near the West Virginia border. Gibbs didn't even feel the four hour drive as he flew along the highway towards his target. He was focused, and when Gibbs focused on getting something, absolutely nothing would get in his way. The tires skidded in the gravel of the three story bungalow at 2300 and he pounded on the keypad outside the gated house. A clear female voice asked who it was.
"I've come to get what's mine." Gibbs hissed.
"Sir?"
"Tell Nikola that Ching-Lan sent me."
In hindsight, that wasn't the smartest thing to say, but Gibbs was way beyond that point by now.
There was a long pause, and then the gate slowly creaked open. Gibbs floored it up the driveway and jumped out of the car. He peered up the concrete staircase leading up to front door. The house was more like a huge cabin. Some windows were illuminated with warm cheery light. Gibbs growled. Tony was in there somewhere. He stomped up to the front door and pounded his fist into it. He almost yelled 'Federal Agent,' before he remembered that those words had no power anymore. He suspected he'd be making that mental correction until the day he died. Which very well could be tonight. A topless slave girl slowly pulled open the door.
"Your master in?" Gibbs growled.
"Um, please come in sir."
Gibbs stormed into the round foyer, glancing around everywhere for Tony as if the man would be expecting his arrival. There was no one but the frightened girl and a stuffed bear head over the door that was snarling silently at them both.
"Tony!" Gibbs bellowed. There were some sounds of bewilderment coming from deeper in the house, but Gibbs ignored them. "DiNozzo!"
Tony's back was to the roaring fire, his knees bent and his hands up in a defensive position. His face was throbbing from where the old drunk had already landed an alcohol-induced punch. Bronislav was stalking around the room, hollering in Slovak. Tony had no idea what he was saying, but he sounded mad. The man turned and blinked at Tony through eyes filled with red. He roared and lunged towards his slave. Tony skittered to the side, safely away from the fire. If he left the room, the man would come after him and possibly his slave companions tucked away in the basement—luckily forgotten for the moment.
Bronislav twisted and grabbed Tony by the hair. Tony yelped and kicked the man in the shin. A furious roar escaped Bronislav's mouth and he released Tony's hair.
"Slave scum!" He managed, rubbing his leg. He barreled after Tony and the younger man easily stepped aside. "I'm gonna whip you stupid—"
"DiNozzo!"
They both froze at the new voice in the foyer.
"Boss?" Tony turned towards the door, blinking. Had he imagined that, or did someone who sounded just like Gibbs—
"Ow!" Bronislav wrapped a hand around his steel collar and wrenched him around, lashing his bare back with a cane. "Master!" He yelled. He writhed as another lash cracked across his skin. "Lemme go!" Tony turned around and threw himself behind Bronislav, forcing the man's arm into an awkward angle. The big man let go, cursing again at Tony.
The door flew open with a loud bang and when Tony looked up, a very pissed off Gibbs was advancing on Bronislav.
"Who are you?" The man slurred.
"Don't you ever touch him again." Gibbs growled, looking angrier than Tony had ever seen. "He's mine." His face was craggy and fierce in the flickering firelight, the orange warmth making his blue eyes icy and focused.
"Get out of my house!" Bronislav came towards Gibbs, cane raised. Gibbs calmly stepped forward, kneed him hard in the gut and tore the cane from his hand. Bronislav howled and fell to the floor clutching his belly. Gibbs flung the weapon in to the fire and turned to see Tony staring down at the big man, breathing hard. Gibbs blinked, barely recognizing his former senior agent. His brunette hair was longer than he'd ever seen, swept back off his face to hang behind his ears. His right eye was shiny with bruises and his jaw was turning a dull shade of purple under the few day's worth of stubble. His body was leaner and thinner than it had been when he worked at NCIS and Gibbs could see ribs. His eyes were wild and focused on Bronislav, moaning on the floor.
"Hey DiNozzo." Gibbs said in a neutral tone.
Tony turned to him, eyes wide.
"Remember me?" Gibbs ventured when Tony didn't speak.
"S-sure, boss." He stared at Gibbs with absolutely no recognition and Gibbs was suddenly worried that Tony might have had some sort of memory lapse or brain trauma. Who knew what could have happened in five years? Bronislav groaned again.
"Wanna go home?" Gibbs said.
"Home?" Tony's voice thickened a little and Gibbs stepped towards him. Tony instantly stepped back and Gibbs froze, not expecting that reaction. He frowned at the pair of ratty shorts Tony was wearing, and the crappy sandals. He growled at the tarnished metal collar ringing his friend's neck, hating the sight of it.
"Yeah. Home, DiNozzo. We've got a room for you. Abby's got some of your stuff."
"A-Abby? She's a slave too?" Tony blurted, his eyes wide and scared.
"She lives with me and Duck." Gibbs answered. "C'mon." Gibbs said to Tony's slightly dazed look. "We gotta go—."
"Who are you!" Another man—a bodyguard—appeared in the doorway. "Nikola?" The guy ran towards his fallen boss. He surveyed the groaning man with the bloody nose and aching gut and when he turned around, he was alone in the room.
Reviews are appreciated :)