DISCLAIMER: I do not own NCIS.
***
Strangely, Ziva found herself being pulled into a nightmare. The distorted outer edges sharpening at the center of her vision frustrated her. Seeing the nightmare enhanced resemblance between the father and son angered her, because she just wanted to think only of Tony when she saw his face. Tony was tied to a chair, a man with a knife over him, as she left him there.
She walked out of the room and came face to face with Angelo DiNozzo, who smiled at her and beguiled her. The edges of his face were smeared, but his eyes pierced right into her and deceived her. Willingly, she followed him back into the room and now saw that Tony was not sitting over the man kicking him.
Screaming, crying, the body was the clearest her nightmare had been. Switching to a darker room, Ziva saw from far away that Ducky was talking to a body he was autopsying. A blink and she was looking into Tony's chest cavity, Ducky holding the heart out to her saying,
"You can have it, Ziva dear. I'm sure he would have wanted that, but just in case we just won't tell him, will we?"
Horrified, Ziva backed away. She turned around and started.
"You alright?"
Blinking the blurriness away Ziva sat up and checked her surroundings. The strange apartment she had come slightly accustomed to over the hours toiling over DiNozzo case files. The final image of a probie in Tony's desk was still vivid.
"I am fine," she told McGee.
"Nightmare," he nodded knowingly. When she didn't answer, he continued undeterred, "Me too. Gibbs went for coffee. He'll be back soon."
McGee turned away from her, giving her time to collect herself. Thankful, though not about to admit it, she needed time to wipe the moisture from her face. True to McGee's prediction, Gibbs came back bearing coffee for all of them.
"We'll head over to the first place," Gibbs said as his phone rang. "Gibbs. Yes, director. We will try. Nice of you to understand, Leon."
Ziva looked at him, expecting an explanation.
"Vance says to not piss off the NYPD, we're already on bad terms," Gibbs snorted. Then flipping his phone open, he dialed, "Tobias."
As they made their way to the car, Gibbs talked quickly with Agent Fornell. Pulling out of the parking lot, Gibbs followed McGee's directions to Long Island.
***
Grunting, Tony pulled his arms upwards hard. Succeeding in nothing, he used his entire upper body to pull at the tape over his arms. He knew his father would only come to him when he wasn't at work, mornings or evenings. And he also knew his father would take every opportunity to torture him, so if he remembered correctly, Angelo DiNozzo came in five times, meaning it had to be the morning of the third day.
"No," Tony whispered, remembering.
It would be the fourth day. Carlo had brought him to this nightmare a day before his father came. He stopped pulling, it was no use. He wasn't going to escape and even if he did he didn't know where he would go.
What else was there for him to do? Tony let his muscles fall limp. Not to conserve energy, but instead in defeat. His father hurt him; the words he spoke did more than the once-a-day tango with Vince and Rocco. They were good too, Tony thought. They must have learned from the mafia how to really beat people, enough to hurt them but not to make them defiant.
The door opened, whisking in Angelo DiNozzo.
Not speaking, Tony kept his face angled away from his father, a habit he fell back to promptly. Sneering, always sneering, Angelo DiNozzo cut the tape around Tony's wrists and ankles. A triumphant smile appeared in his eyes when Anthony stayed still in his seat.
"Finally, you have learned to behave."
***
"Well, he is not there," Ziva paced. "We have wasted time!"
Gibbs turned to Fornell, "What do you think Tobias? Got enough to search the premises?"
Tobias Fornell looked thoughtfully at the NCIS team and then back at his own. Sacks was standing arms crossed, impatient. They had been searching for two more days but still came up with nothing.
"Unfortunately, no," Fornell said lowly. "My team doesn't think he is being held at the warehouses either."
Ava walked up to the group who were all gathered at a hot dog stand near the FBI building. She shook her head,
"My team has been staking out the office buildings. We need to start looking at the summer home near the Hamptons. I got a friend to check out the place in Napa…"
Fornell raised an eyebrow and gave her a cursory glance, which she returned. Sacks huffed behind them, causing Gibbs, Ziva, McGee, Ava, and Fornell to glare at him.
"Not helping there Slack," Ava pulled out a ten dollar bill. "One with mustard, ketchup, onions, and a water. Thanks."
McGee smirked at Sacks who was about to protest the nick name. He pulled out his phone and answered,
"Hey Abs. No we haven't found him yet."
"Timmy, what are we going to do? If we don't find him, I don't know if we'll be able to handle it. He's so important and-"
McGee suppressed an impatient urge to stop her; rather he let her prattle on. He knew that Abby needed to talk herself through the fear and back into the hope she so wonderfully had an endless supply of. Gibbs was frowning, looking at a piece of paper.
"-he could be seriously hurt!"
"We'll get him before that," McGee interjected, hoping what he said was the truth.
"What if we don't and I do mean we because I'm-"
McGee watched Ziva finger the edge of her holster. Fornell's team all were waiting for the next move to be planned, antsy with standing out by the steaming hot dog vendor instead of in the AC.
"He's not in Napa," Ava slid her phone into her pocket and grabbed her water. "Just got a call, said no one is in the Napa house. Not even a maid."
Gibbs nodded, "Let's check out the place in the Hamptons."
Ava shook her head, "Gotta go. Scar says we've got a bank robbery by the Empire State Building."
McGee waved goodbye to her as she hopped into a car and took off. Fornell spoke quietly to his team before speaking to Gibbs,
"Listen Jethro, I can't send my team to the Hamptons right now," he sent a withering glare to the building behind McGee, "my boss isn't too happy with us right now."
Gibbs nodded and pointed at the building, "Go ahead then. I understand."
Fornell grimaced before saying uncharacteristically nice, "We'll find him Jethro. He's a good agent."
"And a good man," Gibbs agreed.
Ziva glared menacingly at Sacks before opening the door to the car, McGee copying the actions. Chuckling, Gibbs pushed himself into the driver's seat and pulled out into oncoming traffic.
After pulling up to the gate at the DiNozzo Hampton mansion, Ziva momentarily was awed by the enormity and beauty of the place.
"Tony grew up with this," she heard McGee ask incredulous.
"Nope," Gibbs said. "He just came here. Nothing special for a frightened little boy."
Ziva heard the resentment in Gibbs' voice and wondered what would have come of Tony if his father treated him anything like Gibbs treated his daughter. Almost unhappily, she realized none of them would have ever crossed paths with Tony if he had grown up in a home that didn't terrorize him and scare him in their direction. Perhaps he may have been a cop, but perhaps not.
They scoped the place and decided that the best way to figure out if Tony was here was to make their way to a vantage point of the main delivery doors of the house, which faced the ocean.
"Ziva, make sure he isn't in the boat house," Gibbs whispered.
Nodding, Ziva quietly slipped past the security and into the foliage inside the grounds. Keeping her eyes constantly moving Ziva picked her way around the wall moving towards the boat house. Crouching behind a bush, she calculated the distance of open space between her and the side door. Just as she was about to make a dash for it, the burly man she encountered at Tony's and in DiNozzo Enterprises came out of the boat house.
A scowl marred her features, but inside she felt elation. If the men that most likely were beating Tony up were here then he had to be. Resisting the urge to shoot him, Ziva stayed a moment longer ensuring no one was following. Deftly, she crossed the space and picked her way into the boat house. Scanning the room, she saw a yacht and a motorboat. However, Tony was nowhere to be seen.
Checking out the yacht, Ziva concluded Tony was not here. Hearing the lock unbolt, Ziva hid.
"Hey Rocco, hurry up," the burly man said as he waited at the door.
The other man from Tony's apartment came in, "Calm down Vince. I'm right here- don't get your tighty-whities in a twist."
They sat at a table in the corner and picked up the guns, cleaning them. Ziva was impressed that they were that perceptive. Unsure what they were doing here, Ziva hoped they would either talk or leave.
"Carlo says that we may haf'ta take DiNozzo back," Rocco grunted.
Sighing, "Drop him off in the city, he's a fed, he'll figure a way home from there. Why should we help him anyway?"
Silence for a couple moments until, "Well, Tony isn't so bad. It's just bad luck that his pop don't like him so much."
Vince hummed in agreement as a ringtone shrilled.
"Damn! Carlo's calling," Vince cursed again. "And he wonders why we stay here instead of with him."
"It's kinda early to go see Tony," Rocco said skeptically.
"Not our call," Vince spoke exasperatedly. "Let's get going. It takes awhile to get to the basement."
She listened to their chairs scrape against the ground as the stood and left. When satisfied they weren't doubling back, she made her way back to Gibbs and McGee.
"Well," Gibbs said as she came within hearing distance.
Shaking her head, she spoke quietly, "Not there. But Rocco and Vince were. I think that Tony is being kept in the basement. That is where Carlo is."
"Okay," Gibbs began before McGee interrupted him.
"Calling Ava boss!"
"I will call Director Vance," Ziva quickly interjected. They needed to keep this all recorded as best as possible.
A/N: That's it for tonight, more to come I promise.