Jarvis was smiling a little at him now. "You could have just taken vacation time. Or sick leave."

Tony shook his head and smiled ruefully, "No. Always be specific when you lie. It would have been harder to keep them away or from asking questions. Well, at least for a little while. At least if I was being an asshole, they wouldn't want to talk to me right away…it bought time. Turns out, I didn't need a lot, did I?"

"I lost four Agents, good ones, when you disappeared. All dead in their vehicles," Jarvis had the sense to sound angry.

"They got me in the parking lot of my apartment building, it was probably about 7 pm. I usually see more people at that hour...I thought your people were still with me. Since I saw one of the cars outside my building before I left...I guess...they could have been dead even before I got back. Two grabbed me. One...shoved a needle in my neck. And it was lights out. Until I was on my way to the ship."

Ziva was boiling, pacing slowly behind Gibbs, just listening to Tony recount what had happened.

Gibbs shook his head, muttering "Latham," angrily.

Vance nodded.

McGee and Ducky were just trying to absorb what they were hearing.

Jarvis asked more softly, "What happened next? What ship were you on?"

He looked at Jarvis sharply. "It was a Ticonderoga Class Cruiser, the U.S.S. Phantom. It was an O.N.I ship."

Jarvis looked shocked.

"It was Latham, behind it all. He and Stratton. They worked together. But the other men on the ship…I don't think most of them know. They just think they're doing their jobs. Protecting the country."

"Latham ? Sean Latham ?" The SecNav was incredulous.

"Yes."

Jarvis was silent. A look came over his face, Tony hadn't seen before.

Regret.

The usually cocky man was putting the pieces together now. Seeing how he'd been manipulated, a dark grimace overcoming his features.

Tony looked down for a while, and seemed to be off somewhere else in his mind.

Gibbs was watching, muttering,"…not right…" Tony looked off, on top of ill.

"Tony." Jarvis brought him back to the room. "Tell me, what happened next."

He shook himself out of it, swallowing hard.

"I was on a chopper with them…but the details are hazy. We got to the ship and several Petty Officers were brought up to escort me to Latham's version of an interrogation room. He told them..." Tony sounded like he was still in disbelief, "that I was a spy, and enemy of the U.S. So they...put me in that room...tied me to a chair. Once those men were gone…it was just Stratton, and Latham, and me." Tony unbuttoned the left cuff of his shirt to show Jarvis the angry looking scar, that had just recently lost it's scabs, running up his wrist. "Stratton cut the chip out. But…I'm sure you already knew the chip was gone when I disappeared. And I'm gathering, Latham was the one who suggested using the real chip, instead of a simulation with less worth."

Jarvis was silent, but sighed and gave a curt nod.

"I thought… " he began in an even tone, but then got softer, "I thought I was pretty much dead after that. But Latham was gloating… about getting the chip. About how stupid you were…" he looked Jarvis in the eye, "for falling for his suggestions. And he...told me E.J. was alive, and that they were gonna bring her in, using me as bait. They wanted to tie up all the loose ends."

"Very popular, that idea. Using me as bait." Tony raised his eyebrows for a moment, tilting his head. He sat back a little.

"I told them both, Stratton and Latham, to go to Hell. And that she would never fall for it... But I was wrong." His jaw muscle twitched, as he looked down at the table again.

"Go on," Jarvis urged quietly.

"Stratton...had a...bit of an… unhealthy obsession with me. Seems he was a little pissed off…he'd tried to kill me a few times, and I wouldn't die." He let out a mirthless laugh.

Behind the glass, Gibbs closed his eyes, knowing with pain in his heart, that something terrible had been done to Tony.

"He..." he began but it got caught in his throat.. He looked down at the table, and took in a shaky breath in.

They all braced themselves in the observation room, as Tony recounted what happened next.

(Flashback)

He was hanging by his arms, almost unconscious from Stratton's latest beating. Stratton liked doing it himself. He had a few men work the room with him, calling Tony a traitor to the country, and asking him questions that made no sense, while he whipped Tony until he bled. And screamed.

In the darkened room, he vaguely heard a door open.

"Tony...Oh God..." she stood next to him, not knowing what to do.

"E.J.," he whispered, weak and in terrible pain. "You shouldn't be here."

"Tony...they told me" her voice had a small tremble in it,"...they were going to kill you, and they had someone send pictures of you…like this, from a cell phone I tracked to L.A.. When I came, just to see if you were really there, I was going to call Gibbs...I just didn't know if they were lying...but …they were waiting for me. " Her hands shook as she gently touched the sticky blood drying on his back. Tears were accumulating in her eyes.

Just then Stratton walked in, with two men and Latham.

"Pull him down." Stratton said it with pleasure in his voice. "Were going for a little walk."

(End Flashback)

Tony was staring at the table again. His brows, knitting together slightly. His breathing had become more shallow. He looked up at the mirror, hating that they would have to hear the next part.

He took a shaky breath and shifted in his seat, hunching forward just a bit. He rubbed his eyes with one hand. They hurt.

Gibbs was pinching the bridge of his nose again. He felt sick. No one else could speak, but Ziva had stopped pacing. She stood now with watery eyes, looking at Tony with one hand resting over her mouth.

Tony now had subtle tremors running through his body. "They took us up on deck. It was the middle of the night, and not many Petty Officers outside aft."

(Flashback)

"What do you want?" EJ asked angrily. She was struggling with Stratton as he drug her with him. Her hands were tied behind her back, as were Tony's. Latham followed , and the other two men pulled Tony along behind him.

They stopped near the railing.

Latham said, staring at her coldly, "Agent Barret, you have been a real thorn in my side. "

She looked suddenly at Tony, panicking.

Latham nodded to Stratton, while Tony was starting to struggle weakly with the two men holding him.

Stratton approached her, a menacing little smile on his lips.

(End Flashback)

Tony had stopped again, he was ashen. His gaze seemed to be losing focus.

"What happened, what did they do?" Jarvis asked with morbid fascination.

He closed his eyes, opening them slowly, and breathed out the words.

"They threw her into the sea."