Disclaimer: I own nothing of NCIS.

A/N: Ok, more action in this chapter. Lots of hurt Tony for you bloodthirsty types. Please read, and please review. Reviews are the fuel that fires my muse.

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Twisted Brother

Chapter Five

"Where the Hell Is My Agent?"

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Very Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was annoyed. No, annoyed wasn't quite the right word; after all, he was usually annoyed with someone. He wanted to be annoyed, that was it. He wanted to be annoyed with DiNozzo just for for being late. And he was definitely late. Gibbs' eyes traveled to the clocks on the wall for about the 100th time in the past 10 minutes. Tony should have checked in at least 2 hours ago. And in spite of all the ribbing he took about being late, and being irresponsible, in all honesty, Tony was rarely late to the office, and almost never without calling first.

Gibbs had just sent McGee and Agent Mallory out to Tony's apartment to check things out and was waiting on their report. Sarah McGee remained safely in an interrogation room, studying for her finals, and so far unaware that Tony had apparently gone missing. Ziva was pacing back and forth, calling DiNozzo's phone every few minutes and leaving him increasingly angry messages.

Abby had planted herself in Tony's chair and was glaring at his phone. Periodically she could be heard ordering it to ring, then sitting with her hand hovering over the receiver. After about 10 minutes of that, to her own astonishment, the phone's shrill tone rang out. Without thinking, Abby grabbed the phone and shouted into it: "Where are you Tony! How dare you worry us like this?"

All eyes in the bullpen turned toward her. Gibbs jumped up and in two long steps was at the desk. He was set to join her in her admonishment of Tony, when suddenly her eyes went wide and she started shaking her head. Holding the phone out to Gibbs, she moaned, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not Tony. Not again!"

Gibbs grabbed the received and barked into it. "Gibbs. Who is this? Where the hell is my agent?"

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Tony DiNozzo woke when the door to his closed-in room opened. He squinted, trying to orient himself; surprised at how much the small amount of light coming from the 60-watt bulb hurt his eyes. He could tell in just a few seconds that he'd developed a fever while he was sleeping.

"On your feet, DiNozzo. Someone wants to talk to you." Motioning to Adam, who was standing in the doorway, to help him, Blake Mehi grabbed Tony by an arm and hauled him to his feet. Tony's face went white when he put even the smallest amount of weight on his bad leg.

Blake's earlier concern for Tony's wound seemed to have disappeared. "Hurts, huh? Well, too bad." And he and Adam each took one of Tony's arms over their shoulder and began pulling him up the stairs. When they reached the kitchen at the top, they dumped him in a chair; then Blake produced the cuffs they had removed when they had first gotten to the house several hours earlier, and secured his wrists behind his back again. "Don't want you trying any funny stuff Agent DiNozzo. I've heard all about how you've escaped difficult situations before; and let me tell you, that ain't going to happen this time. You won't leave here unless I say you do. And I wouldn't count on it if I were you."

(A/N: Thanks to Dark Rose for pointing out I never dealt with the handcuffs being taken off Tony before.)

By this time, Tony's leg was throbbing in time with his accelerated heart rate, and he could feel the blood begin to soak through the ace bandage that had been placed there previously. Before he could really collect his thoughts, his head was yanked back by his hair. Adam held him in an iron grip, while Blake squatted down in front of him.

"You wanted to know what's going on, didn't you, DiNozzo. Well, I'm about to tell you. But first, you gotta convince that stubborn boss of yours that you're still alive. He's on the phone and won't negotiate with me until he knows you're not dead."

Tony managed a grin. "You're as stupid as you are ugly, Blake." Tony had a feeling the man was very proud of his good looks, so he took the opportunity to insult him. "Gibbs won't negotiate with you whether I'm breathing or not."

Blake just took his cell phone, punched the hold button, and disguising his voice, spoke to the very pissed of agent on the other end of the line. "Gibbs. Your boy is here. He's a smart ass and about to find out it isn't a good idea to mess with me, but he's alive. Here, you talk to him."

Blake placed the phone alongside Tony's face, indicating he should confirm his statement. Tony just grinned again and shook his head. "That's not particularly funny, DiNozzo," Blake's handsome features were beginning to contort into a sneer.

It was at the moment Tony realized something. It took everything he had not to blurt out what he was thinking. When Blake screwed his face up like that, he suddenly had an uncanny resemblance to Bryce Mallory. Tony gulped, realizing that if what he thought was true, his entire team could be in more danger than any of them could possibly realize.

Adam yanked Tony's head back harder, and slapped him viciously across the face. Tony managed to keep himself from responding, even as his mind was racing. Would he do more good by keeping silent, or should he try to warn Gibbs. He really didn't have anything to base his suspicious on, except for the similarity in the two men's sneers. That—and his gut. Though he didn't trust his as much as he trusted Gibbs', he had learned not to ignore it.

But before he could make a decision, Blake took matters into his own hands. "You don't feel like talking? No problem, screaming works too." And Blake looked around for something; spotted a metal mallet used to tenderize meat, and without pausing, grabbed it, and slammed it directly onto the wound in Tony's thigh.

Though Tony told himself not to react, his body betrayed him. Before he could stop himself, a sound somewhere between a strangled gasp and a high pitched scream escaped his lips. He saw a red cloud before his eyes and knew his consciousness was fading. Since he'd already alerted Gibbs that he was there, and alive (Tony had no doubt his boss and mentor would recognize his voice, no matter how it sounded, and know it was him), he decided to go for it all.

"Boss…" what Tony meant to be a clear and concise report came out in a quiet and agonized whisper. "Boss, be careful. It's him. It's Ma…" but before he could finish the word, the same mallet that had brought such agony to his leg smashed into his temple, and he knew no more.

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Gibbs had put the phone on speaker as soon as the call came in and had motioned for Ziva to start the trace. So they all heard the struggle going on; the sound of anguish in the Senior Agent's voice, followed by more whispered words from Tony. Then Gibbs heard a sound that sent dread coursing through his very soul. A horrible sound of something hard smashing into flesh and bone; then nothing.

Gibbs shouted into the receiver, unaware and uncaring of who might be listening. "You bastard! What have you done? What the hell do you want? Tell me now, so I can come and kill you!"

Leon Vance had heard the noise and had entered the bullpen in time to hear Gibbs shouting into the phone. Grabbing it away from his very pissed off team leader; he motioned for one of the other nearby agents to hold Gibbs back. "This is Director Vance. Who am I speaking to? What do you want?"

There were more muffled sounds, followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor. Then a cold voice came over the line. "What I want is my brother back. But since that isn't going to happen; the next best thing is to make his killers pay. And Agent DiNozzo here is going to help with that."

The line clicked and there was no other sound in the room besides the harsh dial tone. Gibbs angrily shrugged off the hold of the man who had been restraining him and looked pointedly at Ziva.

"No Gibbs. I could not trace the call. There was not enough time. I am sorry." Ziva closed her eyes; she too had heard the sounds her partner had made and felt her own gut clench. She knew firsthand what those sounds likely meant, and she hated the thought of her colleague and close friend suffering.

Abby slowly stood, coming over to Gibbs and wrapped her arms around him. She gave a shuddering sigh and hugged him. Gibbs was stiff with fury, but finally relaxed enough to return her hug. "He's gonna be ok, Jethro. Tony will be okay." No one knew for sure if Abby was reassuring herself or the rest of them, but all fervently hoped she was right.

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The blow to Tony's head had not been as hard as it had sounded over the phone. He regained consciousness, his eyes fluttering slightly as pain awakened him. He was being unceremoniously dragged down the stairs, and this time there wasn't even the slightest pretense at helping him. Blake was behind him, and was simply pulling him by his arms, which were still cuffed behind him, letting his legs and feet drop to the next stair as he was pulled downward. Adam followed along, with his gun out and trained on the helpless man.

Tony couldn't help but think that was a bit over dramatic. It wasn't like he was in any way going to be able to get to his feet and suddenly overpower them. While his head now throbbed, his thinking was crystal clear. The pain in his leg seemed to help him focus. But, deciding it would be in his best interest to feign unconsciousness, he bit the inside of his cheeks to keep from giving voice to the increasing pain. Sweat broke out on his forehead before the tortuous descent was finally halted.

Blake kicked the door open behind him; then Adam grabbed his legs and together they heaved Tony onto the bed, rolling him onto his stomach. Blake grabbed him by the hair again and wrenched his head up, but Tony, by sheer force of will, managed to remain limp and unresponsive. With a snarl, Blake let go and Tony heard them leave the room, the sound of the lock being turned being his cue that he was alone.

Waiting until he heard them reach the top of the stairs, Tony managed to maneuver around; dropping his legs over the side of the bed, and then finally, using the last of his strength, he heaved himself into a sitting position, with his back to the wall. As uncomfortable as it was to have his arms still wrenched behind him, the pressure on the bleeding wound in his leg was considerably more severe and he would do anything to relieve it, if even a little while.

Wishing he could wipe the sweat from his eyes, Tony tried to remember which rule said never give in to panic. Laying his aching head against the wall, he recounted what he knew. He knew someone had a vendetta, though he didn't know yet who it was against for sure. Though he was the one being held, Tony knew from past experience that didn't necessarily mean he was the prime target. He knew that Blake Mehi was in charge; he hadn't even heard Adam's last name. Adam struck him as a lackey, only there to do the heavy work. In fact, Tony was fairly sure he'd seen signs of drug use in Adam; which would explain his compliance. He was also sure that John and Ian Patters were somehow involved, though he couldn't work out how yet; since Ian had been under observation at the time of the last murder. That didn't mean Blake wasn't working under orders given by John Patters, however.

But the more Tony mulled it all over, that didn't feel right to him. Blake seemed to be the one in charge; he seemed to be the one wanting revenge. His anger was over the top; even though Blake had tried to appear calm and collected, Tony had seen directly what happened when something didn't go the way he wanted it to.

And then there was Bryce Mallory. Tony fully admitted to himself he didn't really like the guy; but didn't have anything to base it on. Snorting softly to himself, he realized mostly he didn't like him because he'd had to follow his orders. DiNozzos didn't really enjoy following orders from anyone. But as he continued to analyze the situation, he recognized that Mallory appeared to be a good agent; thorough and good at his job. McGee had hit it off with him from the first. Even Ziva had warmed up to him, though at first she had held him at arm's length. But his gut still told him Mallory was somehow involved. He just couldn't make the connection. He was so tired, and it was getting hard to concentrate.

Tony's head jerked, as he pulled himself back to full consciousness. He hadn't realized he'd drifted off. Looking down at his leg, he knew he was in trouble. If the bleeding didn't stop soon, he wouldn't be alive for Gibbs to rescue this time. Tony managed to shift his legs around until he was able to get the pillow pulled over on top of the freely bleeding wound. Crossing his right leg over the injury, he pressed down as hard as he could, biting his lower lip to keep from grunting out loud from the pain. Leaning his head back, he determined to hold on as long as possible.

"Gibbs, where are you?" He knew it was unreasonable to expect rescue anytime soon, but somehow he couldn't help hoping that the door would burst open, and Gibbs would be there, shouting orders and taking over. Right now, Tony wanted nothing more than for someone to take over and get him out of this mess.

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Gibbs patted Abby's back one more time, then straightened up. "All right people, let's run it. We're going to have to figure this one out fast if we're going to get DiNozzo out of this mess."

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A/N: Ok, that's it for this chapter. Sorry for the delay, but it has been an incredibly busy week. But, the good news is, I have a much better idea of where this story is going to end up. I was struggling with the direction I wanted it to go, and it wasn't cooperating. I think the next chapters may come a little easier. I had hoped to post another chapter this weekend, but I'm not very far along on it – and it is such beautiful weather today, that I'll probably work in my garden instead of write. Sunny days here on the coast are rare. But I'll try to do a little this evening if possible.

Comments, suggestions and especially your Reviews are very much appreciated. Thanks to everyone who is reading.