A/N. Thanks again for all the great reviews for this chapter. I'm also stunned by the number of people who have this story on alert. Eeek! Hope it lives up to expectations. Here's Chapter 7, featuring Gibbs' escape plan, which I confess is probably based on several things I saw on TV in the '80s or '90s. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy. On to the story…
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Tony opened his eyes with a start as the room echoed with a loud clanging noise. He didn't even remember falling asleep, but he must have been out of it for a while. That probably wasn't good, he thought belatedly. In the meantime, Gibbs had apparently been busy. Tony lifted his hand to the side of his head, surprised to find that it had been bandaged while he was unconscious, using what felt like a piece of Gibbs' jacket. Clearly the senior agent had been to marine triage school at some point in his career, but surely he wasn't some kind of stealth bandaging ninja? Tony should have been at least aware of the procedure. He frowned. The problem with having a head injury, he considered, was that he couldn't think straight for long enough to figure out how much his judgement had been affected. Catch 22. If there was one thing Tony hated more than anything else, it was the feeling of complete helplessness and reliance on another human being. He felt a little like that now. If he couldn't even sit on the floor for a few hours without passing out, he wasn't going to be much use in helping Gibbs escape.
Speaking of Gibbs, the older man had appeared in front of him, and was looking at him now, eyeing him with a concern that he hoped wasn't justified.
'How long was I out?' he asked to break the silence.
'Five, maybe six hours,' the senior agent replied.
'Must have fallen asleep.' Gibbs snorted.
'Asleep. Right. How's the head?' He could have sworn Gibbs sounded relieved. Tony thought about it for a moment.
'Head hurts like hell,' he admitted a moment later, 'but at least the room's stopped spinning.' He guessed that his vitamin A levels were finally getting back to normal – it had been over a day since they had arrived at the safehouse and made the mistake of drinking the spiked tea. He was guessing the effects on Gibbs had worn off completely, but the older man still had a gunshot wound to contend with. Examining his team leader closely, he noticed that Gibbs had finally made the attempt to bandage his wound. Even so, his blood was already seeping through the makeshift strapping, and the older man was looking decidedly grey. Despite this, Tony couldn't help but notice a slight flushing in the senior agent's cheeks – a sure sign of fever. He was willing to bet that Gibbs' wound had become infected, and that the older man knew it. Still, it didn't appear that Gibbs had any intention of acknowledging this in conversation.
'Good,' his team leader was saying. 'Do you think you could handle some water before we get out of here?' Tony did a double-take. Water sounded great, but Gibbs had to be sicker than he thought if he imagined they could just walk out of the door. He looked around, but the steel door was still firmly shut, and the window too small to escape through, even if they had mustered the strength to reach it.
'Uh, boss. I don't think…' Gibbs, for once, jumped to the wrong conclusion.
'Look DiNozzo, I know it's a risk moving you without fully evaluating your head injury, but I can't see any other choice. The longer we stay here, the longer our wounds go untreated, and the greater the chance these guys will come in and kill us. I want to face them now, on my terms. Here, drink this. ' Tony accepted the water and sipped slowly, wondering briefly if he had woken up in the twilight zone. Ordinarily he would have great faith in Gibbs' ability to work miracles, but the older man was sick, injured and locked in a room. Tony really didn't see how he could get them out of this one.
'Ok, but how…?' Gibbs grinned.
'Rule number nine, DiNozzo. Never go anywhere without a knife.' He brandished a swiss army knife at the junior agent. Tony didn't even want to think about where the older man had been hiding the object – he was sure they had been thoroughly searched before they had been dumped here. All of his own pockets had been emptied.
'You're going to stab your way out?' Tony asked, intrigued.
'Not exactly,' the senior agent was far from forthcoming. 'Can you stand? It's about to get damp in here.' Tony staggered to his feet. He couldn't help but question the wisdom of whatever Gibbs was about to do. He was pretty sure neither he nor the senior agent were up to whatever it was the older man was planning. Still, he obeyed Gibbs' order to stand in the corner of the room and keep out of the way – there really wasn't a sensible alternative, and Gibbs was right; neither of them would have much chance if they waited any longer. He watched in fascination as the older man loosened one final bolt on the pipe supplying water to the toilet bowl. A few seconds later, a torrent of water began to flood into the room.
'Ok, now I want to know,' Tony complained loudly.
'Watch,' was Gibbs's only response, 'but keep away from the door, and you might want to put your fingers in your ears.'
Tony was even more fascinated now. The water spread across the room, and eventually began seeping under the door. Within minutes there was a shout from outside, followed by the sound of a key being placed in the lock. Gibbs moved to the hinge side of the door and waited. A few seconds later, the door started to open. Instead of swinging open as expected, however, the door fell to the ground with a crash. Now Tony understood. Gibbs had used the swiss army knife to separate the hinges from the wall, and as their guards looked on in shock, the ex-marine floored one unsuspecting man with a single punch. The second took several blows, but nonetheless, the whole thing was over in seconds. Gibbs paused to liberate the men's weapons and cell phones before re-entering the cell, lifting Tony over his shoulder and making a run for it. Arriving outside, he used one of the guns to smash the window of the van parked outside. After depositing DiNozzo in the passenger seat, he again used the knife to hotwire the engine. The time from the door hitting the floor to the van's engine starting was in total less than two minutes. Tony was stunned – he wouldn't have thought it possible outside of a Rambo movie.
'Call Abby,' the older man barked, handing over a cell phone. Tony was only too happy to comply. Within moments Abby's worried voice was transmitting loudly over the speaker.
'Tony? Where are you. I've been so worried. The director's out of his mind with worry. Is Gibbs with you? Are you guys ok?'
'Abby, we can talk about it later,' he promised the frantic scientist. 'Right now I need you to triangulate this cell and get us some backup. Gibbs has been shot and I…' he paused as the van lurched to the left. He turned to see Gibbs slumped over the steering wheel. 'Gibbs?' There was no response from the older man. The escape had clearly taken all the senior agent's remaining strength, and he had finally lost the battle to remain conscious. All things considered, Tony was surprised he had hung on this long, but he had to question the man's timing. Another hour and they would have been back in civilisation, probably. Tony actually had no idea where they were, or even how long it had taken them to get there. They could be hours away from NCIS for all he knew.
'Crap! Abby, just find us,' he yelled, dropping the phone but leaving the line open. 'He grabbed for the wheel. Gibbs' foot was jammed onto the accelerator and it was all Tony could do to keep them on the road. For several long minutes, Tony fought to keep control, but they were approaching a sharp bend, and they were travelling far too fast. The van left the road and hurtled into what looked like some kind of orchard. DiNozzo watched in fascinated horror as the van, in apparent slow motion, slammed into a tree and began to crumple. The violence of the impact was too much for his already-injured skull, and he once again felt himself slipping away.
'Guys? Guys? What happened? Are you ok?' Abby's voice screamed out from the miraculously undamaged cell phone, but there was nobody awake to hear her cries.