What had been excruciating waves of fiery pain was gradually decreasing to a dull ache from ankle to waist. McGee looked up at the trees directly above him and tried to think about how pretty they were, how nice the fall weather was, why the suspect might have fired at them… anything besides the fact that an animal trap had nearly taken his foot off. And that they were stranded, for the moment.

At least, I'm stranded. Tony could leave if he wanted to. In fact, DiNozzo was rising to his feet right then and looking around.

"What are you doing?" McGee asked. The shakiness was gone from his voice, but he was aware that his voice was much softer than usual. Speaking at a normal level required too much precious energy.

"Trying to figure out which direction we came from, and where the truck is."

"Why?"

Tony looked down at him curiously. "So I can get back and call for help. Unless you want to go."

McGee shook his head. "Don't leave, Tony."

Tony came and stood next to McGee's head, then knelt down until he was closer to eye level. "You're hurt, Probie. Really, really bad. You're still bleeding a little, and you're probably going into shock. I can't call for help from here. No bars, remember?"

McGee felt fear rising inside him. "Don't leave me alone here, Tony. Not here…not…like this."

"McGee, I'll be back as quick as I can. Just lay still. You'll be fine."

"No!" he said with as much force as he could muster. "That guy, with the gun, he's still out there."

"You have a gun."

"But I'm in no position to use it." Visions of the armed man coming back to shoot him while he lay helplessly on the ground swirled around inside his head. Or a pack of wolves, or a bear, feasting on him when he couldn't get away. McGee could feel panic like a knot in his chest. The blood was pounding in his ears.

"Tony…" He was gasping again. "Don't leave. Stay with me. Please."

Tony hesitated. Logically, he knew he had to get help. And yet, he had never seen anyone look so helpless and terrified as McGee looked right now.

"I don't want to…die alone."

Tony stiffened. "I don't want to hear you say that again, Probie. You're not going to die."

McGee looked doubtful.

Gotta get his mind on something else. Keep him talking.

"OK, McGee. I'll stay, for now. But you have to talk to me."

"Ab-bout what?"

"Anything."

McGee looked thoughtful. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"I…can't think of anything. Give me a topic."

"OK. Um…seen any good movies lately?"

McGee shook his head. "Watched on on Sci-Fi channel last night. It wasn't any good."

"They usually aren't." Tony desperately scanned a list of topics in his mind. Sports? Politics? Recent cases? Nothing seemed very important, in light of the grave situation they were in.

"How's your next book coming?"

"Writer's block," McGee mumbled.

"I thought you said you don't get writer's block."

"Well…I lied."

Another pause. Tony had never felt so tounge-tied.

"Why are you still working at NCIS?"

McGee looked confused. "Wh-what?"

The question had been on his mind for some time, but he hadn't wanted to pry. He definately hadn't meant to blurt it out like that. Still, it was out there now, in the open.

"Your book did so well. You're loaded now, McGee. Why are you still working a government job for fifty grand a year?"

McGee looked thoughtful. "Well…because I like this job. Love it. Want to help people. The writing was…" he trailed off.

"The writing was what?"

McGee sighed. "The writing thing was kind of a fluke. I wrote a book… to see if I could do it, basically. Then I thought…see if I could get it published. I didn't expect it to be a best-seller. And honestly…" McGee swallowed nervously.

"I don't know if I can do it again."

Tony patted him gently on the shoulder. "Sure you can, Probie. You've got some great material right here."

McGee chuckled a bit. "Not sure I…want to relive this. Even in print."

They trailed off into another awkward silence. McGee seemed slightly better, but he still spoke with breathy hesitations, as if he was trying to find the strength to form sentences.

"So… are you still seeing Katherine?"

"No," McGee sighed. "It didn't work out."

"Oh. Why not?"

"None of your business."

"OK then, I guess I'll head for the car."

McGee's eyes flew open. "No!"

"Then talk to me, Probie. What happened? I thought you two were doing well."

"We only went out a few times…it didn't work out."

"Why not?"

"Because…" McGee paused, then sighed. "Her dog didn't like me." He waited for the inevitable teasing.

"Her dog didn't like you?! That's why she broke up with you?!"

McGee nodded.

"McGee, I hate to tell you this, but that sounds like a really lame excuse."

"No," McGee insisted, "he really didn't like me. I met him twice. Tried to bite me."

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing! I swear! She said dogs are good judges of character. Said she trusted him, and she was sorry, but she couldn't see me anymore."

Tony frowned. "She sounds like a nutcase."

McGee shrugged. "Not really…she's one of those animal-lover types. To the extreme."

Tony's brow furrowed. "What kind of dog was it?"

"Pekingese."

"Ugh." Tony wrinkled his nose. "Those things scare me."

McGee nodded. "Looked like a dust-mop."

"With a gremlin's face," Tony agreed. "You're better off, Probie."

McGee shrugged again. "I guess so."

"So…can I have her number?"

McGee's eyes widened. "Tony…"

"Kidding!" Tony held up his hands. "I'm kidding."

McGee looked at him suspiciously. Then, his face softened into a smile.

Tony had never been so relieved to see anyone relax a bit. McGee's voice was no longer shaky, and his color looked better. He rose to a standing position.

"I'm going to walk around and see if I can get cell phone reception anywhere. I won't let you out of my sight," he added quickly, seeing McGee's expression change.

Tony walked slowly in an ever-widening circle around the place where McGee lay. Leaves shuffled and crunched beneath his feet. He kept his eyes on his cell phone's screen. The bars never changed, but something on the ground caught his eye. A plastic zippered bag, full of white powder. Tony picked it up carefully, with his sleeve down over his had so as not to smudge any prints. He carried it in his free hand as he continued his journey, but no matter where he went, the display never changed. No bars appeared.

He even tried holding the cell phone high over his head, as if he could reach up towards the satellite and pull the signal down. It was a futile gesture, and he knew it. Frustrated, Tony threw the phone down. It bounced off of a tree root and split in two, the back cover flying off from the body of the phone.

Tony stared at the pieces for a moment. Slowly, he picked them up, then sprinted back to where his teammate lay.

"McGee!" Tony exclaimed breathlessly. "I have an idea."

McGee looked up and noticed the bag of powder in Tony's hand.

"Pain reliever?"

"Funny," Tony said, secretly relieved that McGee was still coherent enough to make a joke. "That's not what I had in mind, but it may be the reason that Taylor was way out here in the woods."

He knelt down to again examine McGee's leg. It was still bleeding, slowly but steadily. The flesh around the wound was torn and bruised. Tony mentally cursed himself for wasting so much time. They needed help, and fast.

The thought brought him back to his original idea. "McGee," he said, kneeling down by his friend's head and holding up the broken cell phone. "Is there any way we could pull the antenna out of this phone and put it in your phone to boost the signal?"

McGee's eyes flicked over the broken phone. Tony could see a spark of interest, even through the haze of pain. "Maybe. Or if we have a big piece of metal, we could use it for an antenna."

"You'll have to do it," Tony continued. "I don't know a circuit from an antenna, or anything else in that phone."

"You'll have to help me."

"Deal," Tony agreed. "So where do we start?"

McGee grunted and tried to rise up on his elbows. "You can start by helping me sit up."

Tony reached under McGee's armpits and hauled him into a sitting position. Although this was accomplished easily enough, they quickly realized that staying up would be much more difficult. McGee was in no position hold himself up. Even the effort of raising up had left his face white and sweaty with fresh pain.

"Help me…pull me over to that tree. I'll lean against it."

Tony hesitated. "McGee…"

"Just do it."

Fifteen feet felt like fifteen miles as they traversed the distance a few inches at a time. Tony pulled and McGee pushed as much as he could. His injured leg dragged behind him like a lead weight. When they finally reached the tree, he sagged with exhaustion.

Tony examined his leg. The movement had set off a fresh round of bleeding. Tony re-tightened the tourniquet as McGee rested, catching his breath.

"OK," he finally said, tired but determined. "I'm ready." He handed his phone to Tony. "Take the back off of this."

Tony complied and handed the phone back to McGee. "I'm going to find something to prop your leg up with, Probie."

McGee nodded, eyes intent on the circuitry inside his phone.

Tony didn't have to go far to find a piece of wood that looked big enough and sturdy enough to hold up McGee's leg. As he bent down to pick it up, something caught his eye, a few yards away. He approached it cautiously, then excitedly as the object came clearly into view.

Yes! This may be the first lucky thing that's happened all day.

McGee stared at the inside of his phone for a long time. Circuits and wires and chips made sense to him. Usually. Computers and technology were things he felt comfortable dealing with. And cell phones were fairly simple machines, really, compared to the computers he was used to working with. Even so, he found that he had to concentrate harder than usual to make sense of what he was seeing. Moving over to the tree seemed to have awakened his injury. His leg was screaming at him, trying to distract him from the task at hand. And blood loss was making him feel weak and light-headed.

So intent was he that he didn't notice Tony's approach until he was standing next to him. "I found it, Probie!"

McGee jumped at the unexpected voice. "Found what?"

Tony grinned and held up his right hand. In it was the unmistakable black case that held one of their evidence kits.

"Found it back there. I know I dropped it when we were running. Thank God it landed close-by." Tony opened the familiar case. "There's got to be stuff we can use in here."

McGee nodded. "Get out the tweezers, and that small screwdriver, and anything metal you can find."

Tony pulled out the requested items and laid them next to McGee. "I'm going to prop your leg up. And try to bandage it."

The kit contained a few shop cloths that the investigators used to clean their hands, among other things. Tony propped up the injured leg, then bundled a few cloths together. He pressed them carefully against the wound, trying to slow the bleeding.

McGee groaned and nearly dropped the phone.

"Sorry, Probie," Tony apologized again.

"H-how does it look? No…never mind. Don't answer that."

Tony nodded. "Just focus on the task at hand, McGee. We're going to get out of here."

McGee tried to pull small wires of the antenna from the broken phone, but his hands were shaking too much. The phone and the tweezers fell to the ground. He sighed.

"I…I can't do it, Tony."

Tony moved up to sit beside him. "Yes you can, Tim. You can do it."

McGee shook his head and swallowed the lump rising in his throat. "My hands are shaking…and I can't…concentrate. Can't think."

Tony carefully picked up the phone. He looked McGee in the eye and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"We can do it, McGee. You be the brain, and I'll be the hands. Just tell me what to do."

END CHAPTER THREE