I truly apologise for the mega long wait for this chapter especially, it seems my other fics became important and this got forgotten about. But without further ado, here is the next chapter.

Chapter 4- Circular Confusion

As the last hope of him being found slithered away with the last remains of the light faded, he tried to remember the layout of the circular cell like room that he had been moved to.

He remembered a dark oak chair covered in red velvet, almost luxurious if it weren't for the soft restraints on the legs and arm rests. He'd be kidding himself if the restraints were soft for his benefit, no, that, was purely so the wood didn't get damaged if he tried to escape. He also remembered looming dusty bookcases set into the half of the surrounding wall, shackles clattering softly with the wind which had been whistling through the same barred window as the light had gone out of, on the opposite one.

He knew that these were the type to keep moving their prisoners, what he wouldn't give for simple criminals for a change. The more intelligent ones were always the most dangerous; they knew what they wanted and didn't stop until they got it.

You really are stuck now. You're probably not even in the same state as you were the last time you were conscious. They won't find you, you know that. Don't you?

Tony fought the urge to shout out aloud to the voice, telling it to be quiet. While there was no longer any more dripping water drops there was the clattering of metal against stone. It was just as unnerving.

Clammy sweat clung to his skin and his insides seemed to burn slightly. Pain also raced through his leg each time he moved it, infection had really set in now from the feel of it. He tested the restraints but they weren't budging, not one little bit.

A heavy door being slammed open close by shook him out of his thoughts. The man that had entered seemed fuzzy as his vision swirled a little. While being here he had really started to feel like crap and he knew they'd let it go on as long as they wanted.

"Where ar.." Tony had started to ask but the man clamped his hand over Tony's mouth. A vile smell of blood and smoke filled his nostrils and he wished that he could breathe even the stuffy, humid air of the dungeon like room he was trapped in.

Hot, sweaty breath next to his ear caused his blood to run cold, "You will only answer questions here, or you will suffer the consequences." As if to prove that fact, an agonising pain shot through his wounded leg as a hand rubbed something that felt like sandpaper into it.

He refused to scream though. Even the questions he'd been asked were being ignored. He couldn't help these people, just like the others. You won't find a use for this agent! His inner voice screamed childishly through the fog that has engulfed the agent's mind.

Maybe, the next time he was moved through not being useful was his time to escape he thought as his mind faded to grey, then black and the man's deep voice disappeared into the darkness he fell into.

x-X-x

It had now been two weeks since Tony had disappeared on the undercover mission that had gone to hell and there seemed to be less and less evidence to find each time they looked, even if that wasn't strictly possible. Abby had gone through every thing more times than they cared to count, they all had. And still they had nothing.

Gibbs' mood was getting increasingly worse, not even double the number of coffees he would usually have calmed him any. McGee and Ziva had tried all they could to find them. They all knew the deadline for calling it a cold case was getting close but they didn't want to stop.

They had tried tracking down Mark's contacts but to no avail, they had all clammed up or disappeared, unfortunately for the team it was mostly the latter. With no one to talk to and no more evidence to find, the case was going colder quicker than liquid nitrogen could freeze one of Abby's tissue samples.

Heads snapped around when the ringing of Ziva's phone screamed through the silence of the bull-pen. Maybe one of her contact had something tangible, rather than just a suspicion like the last time.

"Officer David!" She answered formally.

The others could only watch as she answered the call. Nothing showed on her face throughout the whole call. Even when she put the phone down nothing broke through the mask she had put in place at work. The rest of the team did not need to see how much this was bugging her.

Gibbs' anger bubbled within, he couldn't see how Ziva seemed to be holding it all together but then had noticed that she seemed only to talk in one tone recently. Maybe she was just shutting herself off from it all. Being distracted by his thoughts he almost missed the slight smile that graced her lips for the first time in two weeks.

"One of my contacts has co-ordinates of where they are holding what they believe to be a federal Agent."

That was all they needed to move. They thundered out like a storm towards what was hopefully where their friend was.

x-X-x

At the co-ordinates, somewhere outside of D.C.

The sun was setting gloomily as the NCIS issue car screeched to a halt outside of what looked like an old abandoned warehouse. The team jumped out quickly and quietly, hoping that they hadn't made too much noise while arriving.

Gravel crunched under their feet as they made their way to the dilapidated building. Windows were either cracked or shattered completely .Upon entering all that could be seen was the shine of a metal table in the centre of the room which seemed clean? A stark contrast to the outside. And what was that they could smell?

Bleach

"Damn it!" Gibbs cursed.

They'd hoped that Ziva's contact had been right. Gibbs glared at Ziva; she looked dangerously back at him. It wasn't her fault that they seemed to be gone now.

"I thought you said your contacts could be trusted, Ziva."

"They can." She stated simply back.

"Then where the hell is my Agent!" Gibbs shouted, getting into her face. Tempers were frayed and had only been made worse at this latest what seemed to be a dead end.

Before she could respond she was interrupted by McGee.

"Gibbs, I've found something." He spoke up, diffusing the tension that had been created in such a short amount of time, as he pointed to what looked like a smudge of red on the edge of the table. Hopefully if that had been missed that, then other evidence would have been missed to. They could only hope that this place held some evidence to do with Tony and wasn't a waste of time that they could have been using more constructively.

"Good Job, McGee." Gibbs responded in a slightly happier tone than had been previously heard.

If Tony had been here, they would have new evidence and could continue with the case. Also, it could bring them one step closer to actually finding him. With that in mind they set about looking for more evidence…

TBC…

Will they find enough evidence? Will they find Tony? Stay tuned. Sorry about the wait.