"You have to give me more time!" Gibbs shouted in his phone. McGee and Abby were in the bullpen with him; McGee frantically trying to trace the call...figure out who this was.
"I told you...every hour I wait, they are punished. I will call you in another hour." The call ended.
"Godamnit!" Gibbs yelled. "McGee!" he looked over at him.
"Didn't get a trace, Boss. Working on it."
"He wants the evidence from the Langly case. Go over what information we have and see if you can find out who this could be!"
"On it, Boss," McGee shot up from his desk and to the elevator and Abby followed him. Gibbs' hands went to his hair in frustration. Right now...something bad was happening to his agents...and there was nothing he could do to stop it...
*~.~*
Ziva lay on the ground surrounded by shadows of her captor's henchmen. For Tony's sake, she had tried desperately not to scream when they'd tasered her a second time. She hadn't expected herself to scream. She'd been trained to withstand pain in silence. But this type of pain was one that also took away her control. And she'd been drinking. And when she heard Tony frantic on the other side of the door, it somehow hit her even harder. She had never heard that kind of fear in Tony's voice.
But now she was simply weak from the electricity they'd run through her body. She didn't have the energy to lift her head. She saw someone coming toward her and leaning over her.
"I'm sorry we were forced to do that," the creepy voice told her. She cringed as he continued to speak to her, getting closer to her face. "Your boss failed the first hour I gave him."
She grew nauseous when she felt his hand on her face and she flinched. "My you are a pretty one," he said. His hand slid down the front of her. "I'll have to...come up with something special for later." She spat at his face. His eyes closed in frustration as he wiped the spittle from his cheek. Then he back-handed her, leaving a cut across her cheek from his ring. She'd expected it. She made no sound.
He stood and walked away. Then the shadows closed in around her again...
*~.~*
Tony was on his knees behind the door, his head resting against the cool metal as he caught his breath. Sweat dripped from his forehead and tears stung his eyes. He hadn't heard Ziva in over five minutes now and it was killing him to wonder what could have happened beyond that door.
Then he heard footsteps coming close and he stood, backing away from the door as the dim light turned back on in the room. Even in its low-intensity, the light made him flinch. Then the door opened and they flung Ziva inside, slamming the door behind her.
Her body fell into his and it knocked him off balance. He caught her, but fell back to the floor with her in his arms, cushioning her fall. Then he turned and set her gently down beside him. "Ziva?" he brushed stray hairs from her face.
"I am okay," she replied too quickly.
"What'd they do to you?" he said as his fingers gently held her face for him to see the cut on her cheek. "I heard you screaming..."
She summoned all her strength and sat herself up, pushing her back against the wall. "They tasered me," she explained. "It was painful, but not damaging. Their form of torture is psychological terror. I will be fine."
He breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't shake her screams from his mind. "Did they say anything? Tell you what the hell they want from us?"
"Gibbs knows we are here," she said. "We are some kind of playing card in this man's scheme."
"You're bleeding," he said, concern washing his face as he moved toward her.
She looked down at her shirt where he'd been looking. "It is just the taser hook wounds, Tony. Unless you have a first aid kit in your pocket, there is nothing to do about it. They are simple flesh wounds...nothing more."
He settled next to her and his heart sank a little when her head rested on his shoulder. He slid his arm around her shoulder and held her gently to him. "You sure you're okay?" he barely whispered.
He felt her breathe deeply. "I do not like the way he touched me," she whispered, her voice shaky. His hand at his other side balled into a fist; anger flowing fresh through his veins.
"I have to get you out of here..."
*~.~*
"We have twenty minutes before he calls again," Gibbs told Director Vance who came in as soon as Gibbs called him. "There's gotta be a way to get that evidence back here."
"It's in transit to Manhattan, Agent Gibbs. I can try to call the company that's transporting it, but even if we contacted them, it'd be hours before it could get back here."
"That's not acceptable," he said, "My agents' lives could be at stake. There's gotta be something..."
"Boss," McGee interrupted. They both turned to him. "There's an audio file being received on your cell."
"From who?" he asked.
"Ziva's number," he replied, hesitation and worry in his eyes.
Gibbs took the phone from McGee and waited for the upload to complete, then pressed the play button.
"This is to show you that I am holding up my side of the arrangement," said the cryptic voice he'd spoken with earlier. And suddenly the room was filled with screams...Ziva's screams. Gibbs' face became pale as the audio file continued to play. And then it came to a sudden end...
"Was that…?" McGee's unusually shaky voice wouldn't allow him to complete the thought. Gibbs looked over at him, the look in his eyes was all he needed for his answer.
"I'll see what I can do," Vance said as he headed upstairs.
*~.~*
Ziva had drifted to sleep on Tony's shoulder. It seemed as though another hour had crept by. His eyes were growing heavy, and all had been quiet. But just as he began to drift asleep, the door was suddenly swung open again. Determined to keep Ziva safe, he shielded her with his body. She woke with a start at his movement. But it wasn't her they'd come to get this time.
"No!" she yelled as they dragged Tony out and slammed the door behind them. "Tony!" she slammed her palms against the cool metal in vain. Then the room was washed in darkness...
*~.~*
Gibbs was staring at his cell when it began to ring in the bullpen. He answered it immediately. "We have the evidence in transit here now," he said.
"In transit? That wasn't the deal. When you have what I'm asking you for, the punishments will stop."
"What deal? No one shook on a deal! I said I've got the evidence. It's on its way here!"
"I'm sorry, Agent Gibbs, that you don't understand the game...You'll receive another audio file shortly..." the call ended.
"Damnit!" his fist hit the top of his desk.
"Boss..."
"What, McGee?" he asked, frustration still thick in his voice.
"If he sends the audio file from Ziva's line again, I might be able to narrow down the proximity of where they're being held," he looked at him for approval.
"Do it," he said flatly. And he stood to head upstairs to Vance's office.
*~.~*
"It's one in the morning," Vance said as Gibbs entered his office. "I take it you got another call."
"How long before the truck gets back here?" he asked.
"Earliest it'll get here is six."
"That's too long. Too much time."
"What would you have me do, Gibbs? Call in the National Guard to chopper it in here?"
"Why the hell not?!"
"Getting that evidence to them faster isn't guaranteeing we'll get those agents back alive," he said. Gibbs glared at him. "You know as well as I how these things end. If you wanna get them outta there, you're gonna have to find them. So I suggest instead of whining to me about how fast the box gets here, you get the hell on the trail to track them down." Gibbs' phone made a sound and he was forced away from his glare-war with Vance. He looked down at the audio file uploading and glanced up at Vance before storming out of the office.
"Upload is coming from DiNozzo's line, McGee," he shouted as he descended the staircase. The audio began to play automatically after it was finished uploading, and it stopped him in the middle of the last set of stairs.
It sounded like a whip...like lashings...four cracks, each followed by struggled grunting screams from Tony. Then the voice.
"Half a punishment...a sign of good faith that you're coming through..." and the audio ended.
Gibbs sunk down onto the step behind him. "Did you track it?" he called to McGee without looking away from the dark sky out the window before him.
"Wasn't long enough, Boss... I'm sorry..." McGee closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. It was difficult to hear his team suffering, and he felt helpless. He wanted to find them, but he didn't know what to do. "Boss, I'm gonna go see if Abby's found anything..."
*~.~*
Ziva was curled up in the corner of the room. She'd been there since she started hearing Tony's cries; the sound of the bullwhip cracking against his flesh. She'd hugged her knees tight against her chest as she waited there for it to stop. Helpless tears streaked her face.
But then there was nothing. No sound at all coming from the other side of the door. She held her breath. And suddenly the lights came on and she shot to her feet, ready to fight her captors. The door flew open and Tony was hurled into the room, and it shut just as quickly. "Tony..." she went to his limp form on the floor. His bloody back facing her. His breath was labored...his skin dampened with sweat.
She moved around to the front of him and his eyes focused on hers. "I'm okay," his words came out as more of a breathy grunt as he tried to ease the look of fear on her face. "Johnny Rico in Starship Troopers...he got ten. I only got four. I can handle it," he gave her a small smile, but it didn't stop the stinging in her eyes.
"Can you sit up?" she asked him.
"Just give me a minute..." he said, his gaze drifting to the floor in front of him. She breathed calming breaths as if she could somehow will him to do the same. He was so motionless and she realized he might not be capable of moving any time soon. So, instead, she decided to lay down beside him, facing him. She put a gentle hand on the side of his face as his eyes met hers again.
"They only come every hour," she whispered. "Sleep..." she stroked his face. His eyes grew tired again, and his hand reached for the one folded in front of her and grasped it, as if it meant they couldn't take her away again...
*~.~*
"It's not my fault, McGee!" Abby said as she paced the floor in the lab. "Something really screwed up with the program and I had to reload! It's gonna take at least a few more minutes till it's finished..."
"We don't have a few minutes to spare, Abby!" he said frustratedly. "You-" he hesitated, "You didn't hear them...screaming..." he was looking off in the distance then. Abby stopped and looked at him as he swallowed. She took the few steps needed to stand right before him. "They're gonna do it again," he looked at her, "If we don't find them soon. They're gonna do something horrible to them every hour."
"Tim..." she looked at him with glassy eyes. Then the computer started making beeping noises and they both looked over. "It's finished," she said, relieved, and started bringing up the program. "Now I just need to gain access to the surveillance camera outside of the bar where the cab picked up Tony and Ziva." Tim pulled a chair closer to where she was working at looked at the screen at she worked.
*~.~*
"Gibbs," the said lead agent answered his desk phone.
"Just got a call back from the cab company that picked up your agents," Vance said on the other line. "Said they got a call from the local PD saying they found one of their cars in an alley two blocks from where they got picked up. Driver's dead."
He hung up and opened his desk drawer to retrieve his gun and badge, then stood and made his way to the elevator...
*~.~*
"I've got the cab, Timmy," Abby said as she paused the surveillance feed.
"Can you get a shot of the license plate?"
"Zooming in now," she highlighted the plate number and enhanced.
"I'll call Gibbs," he said as he pulled out his cell and dialed. After the first ring, Gibbs picked up on the other line. "Boss, we've got the plate numbers for the cab that picked up Tony and Ziva. I can text it to you-"
"Don't bother, McGee. Already found it..."
*~.~*
Gibbs stood at the back of the cab in the alleyway as local PD swarmed the scene. "I need you to see if you can access any surveillance feed on the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Langdon," he told McGee over the phone. "And tell Abby to prepare to meet me in the garage when we get this cab over there."
He hung up the phone as he was approached by an officer. "Sir, we've got a tow on the way. Soon as they get here, we'll tell them to get it to NCIS. We haven't been able to reach our M.E though."
"Don't worry about that," Gibbs said as he saw Ducky pull up. "I've got it taken care of."
"Sorry, Jethro," Ducky said as he made his way toward him. "I got here as fast as I could. You sounded urgent on the phone," he stopped in front of him. "What about this cab driver warrants an NCIS investigation?"
"This could be the cab that Tony and Ziva were kidnapped from two and a half hours ago."
Ducky furrowed his brow. "Kidnapped? By whom?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out, Duck. I need to know if this driver had anything to do with it."
Ducky moved to the driver door and opened it. "This man was shot in the head. Probably within a few feet of the windshield," he looked over at the hole in the glass. "Jethro, this is a bit odd."
"What's that?" he asked, crouching down next to the door.
"From what I saw of the outside of the cab, it didn't look as though they'd been forced off the road by another vehicle," he looked through the divider at the back seat. "I wonder...why didn't they fight back?"
"Still not completely sure this is the cab we're lookin' for," Gibbs stood and opened the back door, examining the panel on the inside of it. "Inside handles and locks were removed," he said.
"Seems as though the driver would have known about such a customization."
Gibbs spotted something that caught the light from the streetlamp, sticking out from the crack in the bottom of the seat. He reached over and picked it up, holding it in the light better.
"According to the liver temperature, this man has been dead for over four hours. Which means you are probably right, Jethro. This must not be the right cab."
"No, this is it, Duck," he said, holding up what he'd found. Ducky looked, and immediately understood. He had found Ziva's Star of David necklace...
tbc...