Oh my goodess! We are so sorry for our absence and lack of posting. But no worries! We are back once again with another big chapter to make up for the lack of chapter last chapter (i hope you were able to follow that haha) We kept our promise :) We hope that you enjoy this next installment because we sure did have fun writing it :)
So please sit back, relax and enjoy Brick By Boring Brick! Please review!
So one day he found her crying, coiled up on the dirty ground...
"Come on." He whispered the words without realizing it, teeth gritted together. His bones were jarred from driving over the desert scrub and rock, and his skin had finally moved past its usual tan to an unhealthy sun poisoned bronze, coated with a layer of dust and sand. Three damn days getting here. And for what?
"Who knew it was this hard to get yourself captured?" McGee said, and Tony could hear him level the tone and inflection of his voice to hide his fear. Good job, McProbie, he thought, somewhere in the back of his mind. God knew the junior agent had to be scared out of his mind. What kind of idiocy was this, anyway? But the DiNozzo in him rose up just in time to stop whatever campy war movie line was bubbling up, and he said, "Obviously you struggle in every area, Probie."
For once, McGee didn't care about the open mockery. "Come on," he said, unconsciously mimicking his partner.
It took a while, but their target did comply with the junior agent's wish. The encounter rolled into one jumbled mess in Tony's mind. He had a vague memory of McGee shouting in Arabic. "Say the other thing, McGee!" Someone shoving him back against the Jeep by his flak jacket, questioning him in another language and by that time he was seeing red because were these harsh words the last thing that Ziva David had ever heard? And he struggled as the jacket and the BDU's were stripped away from him and then everything blurred, red and then black at the heavy-handed caress of the end of a rifle.
...
Tony woke with a gasp as the hot desert air burned his lungs. Sand dusted his mouth and coated his throat. He tried to cough, but nothing would move. The air was dry and stale and only after much licking of his lips was he able to move them around without pain. Only then did he notice that his breathing was rapid and shallow. He tried to move his hand, just to realize that it was tied down to the chair he was sitting in. He blinked and twisted his head around to get a glimpse of the room. Light streamed in behind him - A window, good. - but the chair prevented him from seeing anything else. A muffled sound reached Tony's ears and he swung his head back around, straining his eyes against the stark contrast of the light behind him to find the source of the moan.
A man was tied up on the floor. "McGee." The man didn't move and Tony knew it would be death to both of them if Tony got anywhere close to his partner. Rather it would be death to Probie... They kept Tony awake and tied up for a reason and for once, Tony was glad. This was where his journey had taken him. This was where the red path finally ended. For the past two months he'd been researching Ziva's ill-fated trip on the Damocles, and it brought him here. To this terrorist infested hideout in the Saharan Desert where this red-tinted mindset would finally have its revenge.
Tony's breathing evened out and soon he heard footsteps approaching the door before him. And then it opened.
It was him.
"You will tell me all that you know." It was not a question. "Who you are, how you ended up here..." The man pulled a syringe out a pouch in his hand. Tony watched with muted curiosity and suppressed rage. "What you are doing..." He tested the needle, suddenly turning to the captive agent and looking him straight in the eyes. "And you will talk."
A bitter smile came across Tony's face. The was a slight swagger to the tone in the agent's voice, but there was more to it than that. He was taunting the man. So with that bitter smile, and daring eyes, he turned to the man with the needle. "I'm not gonna tell you anything."
...
The man gave a small smile. "We'll see." He lifted the syringe to the light and Tony watched with hungry eyes as it was filled with a clear liquid. "The Soviets had some success with pure ethanol..." He walked over to the agent. Tony couldn't help but wince as the needle sunk deep into his arm. The man smiled as he looked into the agent's eyes. "But this is of my own design." He sat down in a chair across from Tony and settled into it. "A mixture of Sodium Pentothal, and several other agents effective in extracting the truth. It will not take long for it to start working."
Tony winced. His mind reeled as he tried to concentrate. He could feel his tongue start to loosen. He rolled his head back and blinked, trying to gain control of his quickly slipping mind. He opened his eyes and shot another bitter smile at the man sitting across from him. "You're going to be dead soon. Truth or not? I tell you, I think this stuff's working already."
The man kept his hidden smile on his lips and an interested look came over his eyes. "You know, I've ah, I've studied America... carefully." He rested his foot on the chair between Tony's legs. The red tint in the agent's eyes smoldered. "I believe in... knowing my enemy."
"I believe a man is as big as what he's seeking." Tony's eyes narrowed and a small smile became fixed on his lips as he leaned towards the man. "I think you're a big man, Mr. McCreedy."
The man brushed off the movie quip as if it had never been spoken. "My name is Saleem Ulman. Now tell me who you are."
Tony suddenly swallowed as the urge to speak suddenly overwhelmed him and quickly looked away, fighting the man's - Saleem's - poison. He blinked and pursed his lips as he tried to control his tongue from speaking, but the drug pulsing through his veins overcame his defenses. "I'm very Special Agent... Anthony DiNozzo of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service." At the end, he couldn't help but nearly chuckle as the drug placed an eternal half smile on his face and his persona.
"Well, a few months ago, I had not even heard of NCIS..." The man pulled out a badge. Tony's muscles in his arms flexed as instinct told him to grab his badge from the man's hands. "And... that may have cost the lives of several of my people." The man - Saleem - tossed the badge to the ground, where it hit the wall and lay in the dirt. "It will not happen again." The man repositioned himself and once again looked the agent in the eyes. "Now tell me. What is your mission?"
Once again Tony was stricken with the onslaught of the drug. His lips twitched as he fought to keep from speaking. His eyes caught the light of a lamp overhead and he tried to focus on that, to distract himself from the pull of the truth, but even then, the drug's effect overcame him. "We're... we're tasked with pursuing... crimes that involve the United States Navy or Marine Corps and their families. And our duties are... expansive..." He looked up at the light once more, but was immediately pulled back to the waiting man. He tried to resist a drug induced chuckle, yet partly failed. "International terrorism... espionage. Even an eight foot ball of meth amphetamine..."
...
Tony wanted to slap himself as Saleem's poison pulled out the information of his team. Within two minutes Saleem had gotten Tony to reveal nearly everything about McGee, Gibbs, their daily work at NCIS, not to mention the case of the giant Naval Officer who OD'd while on a carrier - never his favorite type of case, nor was it his most glorifying.
Then came the question: Who was the fourth member of the team? A twinge of guilt plagued Tony as the sudden realization that they had no formal fourth member since Kate died. Lost her, was his response. And the knowledge that the fourth member was a woman seemed to be of significance to Saleem.
For once Tony decided to let the truth flow from his lips. The red tint in his eyes flared as the reason he came suddenly came into focus. "For the last... four years that slot has been... filled by Mossad Liason Officer Ziva David."
Curiosity filled Saleem's eyes at the word Mossad. "Mossad... and NCIS?"
Tony just stared but involuntarily confirmed. "Mossad and NCIS."
Saleem's countenance wavered. He looked to the ground and then back up into the agent's eyes. "Those organizations were responsible for the deaths of my men..."
Tony allowed the drug to pour the truth of him and he couldn't help but smile. "Oh. Jeez... Well, all I can say is if we killed them, they must have been bad guys."
The force of Saleem's blow nearly knocked Tony and the chair to the ground. "They were martyrs to the cause!" Tony's breathing grew somewhat labored as he recovered from the hit. He moved his mouth a bit before looking the terrorist in the eyes. "So your team is here to what? Finish the job? To shut down my organization?"
A part of Tony smiled at the hidden panic beneath the man's voice. He had no idea. "Listen, can I get a glass of chardonnay or something..." Tony covered a smile with a wince as Saleem's hands dug into his hair and violently pulled his head back.
"Is Your Team Here To Finish The Job?"
Tony gave a light laugh. For once he wasn't fighting the truth serum. With taunting eyes he looked into Saleem's face. "Not only are you wrong, but you're wrong at the top of your voice."
"What does that mean?"
"Can you imagine Nicholson in "Bad Day at Black Rock"? Oh I would have loved to see that..."
Saleem grabbed the agent's mouth, effectively shutting it, and sending a blast of pain through Tony's head. "Listen to me. Where is the rest of your team?" he asked, using the drug's effectiveness.
Tony smiled. "I don't know. I don't care about your team... and I don't care about my team..." He laughed slightly, embracing the drug's elating side effect.
"Okay, you are driving in the desert - without back up... So what are you doing her?"
"Well Saleem, there's only one force on earth that can... short circuit a man's better instincts, put fire in his veins, makes him dive headlong into danger with no regard for his own wellbeing." The agent dared to look the terrorist in the eyes and the two men just looked at each other, looking for some way to gain the upper ground. And so for the first time, Tony fully embraced the drug and let the truth flow out of him. The red tint in his eyes grew and Tony knew he had found what he was looking for. "Vengeance, Saleem. I'm here to kill ya."
Memory after memory, question after question, Saleem probed Tony's mind, leeching the truth out of him until Tony eventually gave into the drug and let the truth flow. Vance and Abby came into the picture, as did their search for Ziva and the Damocles. The Damocles... Only the thought of the ill-fated ship brought a pain to his heart and made the red in his eyes flare.
And then he found it out.
The poison leeched it out of him: the truth for his visit, the reason behind his vengeance - "Ziva David is dead."
All sense for self-preservation was now lost. McGee was lying on the floor next to him, but even the safety of his friend lost all meaning. The truth spilled out of him like an overflowing cup, and the red glaze in his eyes grew more intense with each realization of how close this man was, yet how far away the agent was from touching him.
Finally the red tint clouded his vision to the point where Tony couldn't see what stood before him. And so he released the sucker punch on the bastard, as he would have said if his veins weren't clogged with truth serum. "That's how we found ya. We found a needle in the haystack per say. A single anomaly in your shipments to this humble little hideout you got here. Something not easily attained east of the Atlantic." A part of Tony smiled as Saleem looked to the canteen he was holding. "That's right, buddy. You just had to have your Caf Pow..."
With a roar of rage, Saleem threw the canteen hard against the wall where the fruity red, caffeinated beverage spilled out. With anger and fire in his eyes, the terrorist left the room, raging down the hall.
"Don't worry its just a little chemical addiction!" Tony chastising the man didn't help much either. "Probably picked that up at your American college, didn't ya? Come on we're not so bad! Maybe you should rethink your master plan!" The door locked with a thud. "You okay McGee?" he asked out softly.
The younger agent didn't move an inch. "Yep, when do we move?" His voice was low and still.
"Not yet..."
"This may be our best shot..."
"Not yet." Shouts in Arabic came from outside the door. "Wait for my cue."
With a bang, the wooden door rocked open, Saleem and a hooded figure walking in before them. "Questions are being asked in town about missing NCIS agents." Saleem forced the hooded figure into the chair across from Tony. "They are concerned that US forces might mobilize." Tony could hear the frantic fear in the terrorist's voice. The man was genuinely afraid. "One of you will tell me the identities and locations of all US operatives in the area, and the other, will die." Tony swallowed. There was no lie in Saleem's voice. Only truth.
The person across from him was frail, thinly built - a woman? A sudden question rocked his mind. Who would be he leverage? Who would be his one weakness to break him? Break him past the point that even the truth serum couldn't go? God, please no...
The hood was removed and Tony felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He didn't blink. He didn't move. He didn't breathe. He only looked at the scarred, battered, and bruised person sitting across from him.
"I will give you a moment to decide." The door locked as Saleem left them alone.
Tony couldn't keep his eyes away from the person across from him. Her eyes never left his. And so after two months of seeing only red, NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo smiled for Ziva David and embraced the truth serum for all its worth.
"So. How was your summer?"
Her prince finally came to save her, and the rest you can figure out.
A/N:
We apologize for our lack of posting, but sadly with school starting soon and family vacations, our posts are going to become less and less frequent. We will do our best to make sure you do not have to wait more than a month for a new chapter, but if we can't do that, we are so sorry! Please have faith that we will continue to post and thank you so much for sticking with us this far! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!