A/N. Thanks yet again for all the fantastic comments – I've had more comments for this than any other NCIS story, so thanks. I've managed to get another chapter written, but I'm going away for the weekend, so no updates tomorrow. If you ask really nicely, I might make a start on the next chapter on Sunday night. ;-). Enjoy! (Please don't send the bad guys after me for finishing where I did!)

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Tony was worried. The recent discovery of his blindness had given the shadows around him a new, more ominous feel, but that wasn't what worried him most. Nor was it the twelve heavily-armed men currently converging on their position. Though he had drawn a blank so far, he knew there had to be a way of dealing with them, and he was confident that inspiration would strike when he most needed it; which was about now, he reminded his subconscious. No, what worried him most was Gibbs. Tony had been looking at things, if he'd pardon himself the terrible pun, in completely the wrong way. Not being able to see had deprived him of vital information, and now he had to reconsider the evidence. Gibbs had been unconscious when Tony had awoken after the crash. That in itself had been no great surprise – Gibbs had been unconscious before the crash. Tony had thought that this might be have been a temporary response to the older man's over-exertion during their escape, but now the younger agent had to think again. The pain in his head had been so bad after the crash that he had completely forgotten how badly hurt Gibbs was. The senior agent had already lost enough blood to render the average human too weak to stand, and Tony hadn't forgotten the early indications of fever he had seen in the older man several hours ago. The whole 'Rambo thing' and a high speed crash would have done nothing to improve his team leader's condition. He remembered how Gibbs had favoured his left leg, and avoided any contact in his left shoulder. Gibbs had evidently acquired more injuries in the accident, and Tony hadn't noticed. He mentally kicked himself for his stupidity. Come to think of it, as they'd stumbled towards this place, Gibbs had been radiating heat – a sure sign that his fever had grown. Then there was the stumbling itself. Now that Tony understood that they hadn't been navigating unknown territory in the dark, the falls, not to mention the senior agent's complete failure to notice that his companion had gone blind, told Tony everything he needed to know about Gibbs' state of health. The older man hadn't lied – he hadn't said anything at all, which, as DiNozzo was rapidly learning, was a key Gibbs avoidance technique. He cursed himself again for being such an idiot. He should have picked up on this earlier. Well, there was no point worrying about things that had already happened. What Tony should be worrying about now was how one blind man and one man who barely had the strength to stay conscious were going to hold off twelve fit, armed men for over a quarter of an hour.

'So, twenty minutes, huh? I don't suppose there happen to be thirty more identical sheds around that these guys might feel the need to search instead of ours?' Gibbs chuckled softly.

'Fraid not…'

'No back door out of this place?'

'Nope.'

'At least, not yet…' Tony was sure he had the beginnings of a plan. 'Do you still have that knife?'

'That, another gun, a cell phone and a lighter I found in the van. What are you thinking?' I'm thinking that lighter puts the finishing touches to my plan, DiNozzo thought to himself.

'I'm thinking we use the knife to take out a few nails from the boards in the back wall so that they'll slide open from the bottom,' he replied. Just enough so that we can slide out behind the shed where they won't see us.'

'DiNozzo, I hate to break it to you,' Gibbs began, 'but figuring out that we're not in here, hunting us down and killing us is not going to take them twenty minutes.' Tony grinned.

'Ah, but that's where the most cunning part of the plan kicks in. The diversion. I wouldn't say it's quite up to Hannibal Smith standard, but it'll give us a chance.' Tony could almost hear the thought process as Gibbs considered his plan.

'Ok, I'm listening.'

'You're going to have to do the thing with the boards, because I'd probably manage to slice off my fingers, so I'll have to provide the diversion. Firstly I'm going to pile up all the dry straw from the floor in front of the door, then I'm going to wait until they head this way and lay down covering fire. When they get close, I'm going to set fire to the straw. You keep the back door open, and we'll get as far away as we can. We'll keep the second gun and the cell phone for plan B.'

'Tony, this is nuts! You can't see!'

'Like I said, not a great plan,' he reiterated. 'You got a better one?'

'No,' Gibbs eventually admitted, 'and they're examining the van. It won't take them long to figure out we headed this way. We've got five minutes at best.'

'We only need to hold them off for twenty,' Tony was determined. 'We can do this, Gibbs.' He grabbed an armful of straw, made his way to the wall and felt his way to the doorway. He repeated the action several times until there was a good-sized pile of straw blocking the doorway. He lay down behind it, his gun pointing outwards towards the approaching men. He could hear Gibbs behind him working frantically with the knife, grunting with pain as he did so. Tony was now even more certain that Gibbs was carrying unmentioned injuries.

'Good to go, DiNozzo,' the shout came from behind him. Gibbs was ready. It had been seven minutes since they had last spoken to Abby. Their survival now would be all down to Tony's timing. He felt a warmth beside him and realised that the senior agent had come to join the fight.

'Boss,' he acknowledged. 'I don't think this was part of the plan.'

'Figured you could use a pair of eyes,' the older man explained. 'Besides, you'd forgotten the lighter,' he placed the item in the junior agent's hand.

'Thanks,' Tony accepted. He had to admit, having at least one man who could see the bad guys coming was definitely an advantage.

'Here they come,' Gibbs said a few minutes later. A few moments later, he fired. 'One down,' he commented. 'The rest are backing off.'

'How long?' Tony asked.

'Nine more minutes, if Abby's guess was accurate.'

'How long until they come back?'

'A minute, if we're lucky. They'll be more cautious the second time around. Won't make themselves quite as easy a target.' Tony sighed. These guys weren't going to make it easy.

Thirty seconds later, Tony heard the first shot. He returned fire, and for a few minutes, he and Gibbs took it in turns to fire back. Eventually, the moment came when he was out of bullets. Gibbs had stopped firing a few seconds before.

'I'm out, let's do it,' he called, climbing to his feet. Gibbs hadn't moved.

'I can't get up, Tony. Leave me,' the older man ordered.

'Like hell,' he muttered. Even in the days when Gibbs had been living up to his second b, there was no way Tony would have left him behind. Now that Gibbs had saved his ass, he owed him a debt that he would somehow attempt to repay. Doing his best not to damage the injured man further, he pulled Gibbs to his feet. Stopping only to light the straw in his wake, he ran for the back wall, dragging his team leader along with him. He frantically ran his hand along the boards, attempting to find the ones that Gibbs had loosened. Just as he thought he was about to collapse from smoke inhalation, his hand landed on a moving board. Gasping for breath, he virtually fell out of the apple shed. He still had hold of Gibbs, and the older man landed on top of him. He paused to catch his breath only for a moment, then dragged his boss away from the burning structure.

For a moment he thought that the sirens going off loudly in his ears were the product of his over-tired imagination, but after a few moments, realisation kicked in. They were saved! The rescue team were early! He began to laugh hysterically. Then came the sounds of vans pulling away as their assailants attempted to escape.

'That was a close one, huh boss?' he commented. There was no response. Come to think of it, Gibbs hadn't said anything for some time. He must have passed out again. Tony felt his way across the ground to where he had deposited the team leader, and shook the man gently. 'Hey boss, wake up. Cavalry's here.' Still no response. Tony rested a hand on his shoulder. 'Ambulance will be here in a minute, boss. They'll soon get you patched up.' There was not so much as a movement from the senior agent. It was then that reality finally dawned on DiNozzo. Gibbs wasn't breathing.