AN: As always, thank you all so much for your comments and support. As an aside, there probably isn't any real drug that would give Tony all these symptoms, its all just for storyline purposes. Hopefully, you can just put that aside and go along with it. Thanks so much for reading :)
xxxxx
Belligham lightly fingered the syringe staring at the golden-colored liquid held within. Although the drug he had already injected Agent Dinozzo with would eventually cause his demise, it was working much too slowly for Bellingam's liking. This drug would work immediately, causing Dinozzo's air passages to close. His plaque-scarred lungs would struggle for air, but it would be a futile battle and the young man would quickly and painfully suffocate right before Gibbs' eyes. "You brought this all on yourself, Gibbs," Bellingham whispered. "This is all your fault." He knew that Gibbs would never be able to recover from what he was about to do to his agent.
xxxxx
The first jolt of pain came without warning, sharp and shooting into the middle of his abdomen. Tony gasped softly then moved away from Gibbs and rolled onto his side, facing the wall.
"Tony? What is it?" Gibbs asked as he squatted beside his agent and gently rubbed his hand over the back of his shoulder, trying to bring him some small measure of comfort.
"Stomach, boss," Tony whispered, clenching his fists tightly as another wave of pain came over him. "Definitely not hunger pangs."
"Damn it all to hell!" Gibbs' frustration with the situation had finally come to a head as he slammed his hand into the mattress.
"Sorry, boss." Tony gave Gibbs a startled look, momentarily forgetting his pain.
"What the hell are you sorry about, Dinozzo?" Gibbs' expression was ferocious, his emotions beginning to spiral out of control.
"I..." Tony's green eyes looked stricken, unable to finish the thought as he was assaulted by more pain which he tried to hide, but his effort was less than stellar. He whimpered softly and closed his eyes tightly, ashamed that he couldn't take a little bit of pain.
Tony's slight whimper was all it took for the anger to fly out of Gibbs like the air from a popped balloon. What in God's name was he doing? "I'm sorry, Tony. I am so sorry." Gibbs' eyes were riddled with guilt as he took in the sorry state of his agent. No wonder Dinozzo was having nightmares about him. He wasn't handling this very well at all. "Everything's going to be okay..." Now he was just outright lying. Not that it really mattered snce Tony seemed to be lost in his own little world of hurt at the moment.
Tony moaned and his face seemed to grow even more pale. "Th...think I'm going to be sick, boss," he panted apologetically, Gibbs rushed to grab the bucket then held onto Tony as his stomach went into violent spasms. At this point, Dinozzo was pretty well dehydrated and nothing came up as he just painfully dry heaved. Finally, the spasms diminished and he leaned back limply against Gibbs.
"Better?" Gibbs questioned. His arms were wrapped around his agent the same way he had used to hold his daughter to comfort her when she was ill.
Tony didn't speak, but just gave a slight nod. Truthfully, he was feeling pretty awful, but didn't really see the point in saying it. He was going to die in this room. He was certain of it now. "Hey boss, you ever see that movie D.O.A.? Guy gets poisoned and only has 24 hours to figure out who did it before he dies. This is kinda like that except we know who did it and we don't really know how long exactly its going to take before I'm dead and even if we knew how many hours, we still really wouldn't know because we don't know what time it is since they took our watches," he finished breathlessly.
Gibbs shook his head as he tried to follow Dinozzo's long run-on sentence. He had no idea what he was talking about, but did get that his young agent believed he was dying. "I told you before, Dinozzo...you're not going to die." Gibbs was trying very hard to maintain his composure when, in fact, it was very obvious to him that Tony's condition was going downhill.
Just then, the sound of the door opening was heard before Bellingham, Sheldon, and two other nameless cronies trooped into the room. Without any preliminaries, Bellingham produced another syringe. "I've decided that prolonging your suffering would be an injustice, Agent Dinozzo," Bellingham began. "This drug will cause your air passages to swell and you will be unable to breathe. Admittedly, its not the most pleasant way to go, but it will be over very quickly, especially in your weakened state." Tony's eyes widened in undisquised panic, visions of his bout with the plague and the breathing difficulties that had accompanied it flooding his mind.
Gibbs had reached his limit. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he growled. He released his grip on Dinozzo and got to his feet, standing protectively in front of his agent. "He did NOTHING to you, you crazy bastard, nothing at all. Don't you have a conscience?"
Tony mentally cheered Gibbs on, wishing he was able to help, but feeling dangerously close to passing out.
"I am doing this for my daughter!" Bellingham shouted angrily. "She didn't do anything either, but she's still dead! This is all your doing, Agent Gibbs. Now stand aside!"
"Like hell I will. You're not touching him."
Bellingham smiled maliciously. "You say that like you have a choice. Sheldon...move Agent Gibbs away from our young friend here." Gibbs eyed Sheldon as he readied himself for a fight. He knew he basically had no chance against the armed men, but he'd be damned if he'd just stand here and do nothing. He'd rather he and Dinozzo go out in a blaze of gunfire than Tony have to suffer any more on his account. Bellingham licked his lips in anticipation as he watched Sheldon moving towards Gibbs. He couldn't wait for this moment. He felt like a kid on Christmas morning. It was all too perfect...
Then, in a split second, everything changed. Bellingham's expression changed from one of blissful glee to one of pure horror when Sheldon turned towards him, aimed his gun, and without hesitation proceeded to shoot him in the head.
xxxxx
Tim sighed in frustration as he took a few seconds to massage his throbbing temples. He opened up his top desk drawer, took out a bottle of Tylenol and shook two tablets into his hand which he swallowed down with a couple of gulps from his water bottle.
"Headache McGee?" Ziva asked as she observed the young agent from her own desk.
"Yeah." McGee leaned his head back and allowed his eyes to close for a few moments. "I don't know where to go next, Ziva," he admitted, deep discouragement evident in his voice. They had gone back to Gibbs' house again, had re-dusted his car and house for prints, had re-questioned neighbors, searched and photographed, all to no avail.
"Maybe you should get some rest, McGee," Ziva suggested softly.
McGee immediately shook his head.
"Just for a short while."
"I don't need to rest. I need to find some clue to where the boss and Tony are."
"Ziva's idea is a sound one, Timothy," Ducky said as he suddenly appeared and walked over to McGee's desk. "A little bit of sleep could give you a whole new perspective."
"But..."
"No buts, Timothy. Exhausting yourself is not going to do Jethro or Anthony any good. And Ziva, you need to rest as well, just for a little while. Abigail is napping in the lab as we speak."
Tim and Ziva both nodded. "Alright. Ducky, we'll get some shut eye, but not for long," stated Tim.
Pleased, Ducky nodded. Maybe a bit of rest would freshen their minds and lead them down a new road to find the missing agents.
xxxxx
The oppressive silence proved a sharp contrast to the deafening sound of the gunshot that had just echoed through the room. Bellingham lay on the floor, dead, with half his head blown away. Gibbs felt nothng but relief as he gazed at the lifeless man on the floor. Just like that, it was over. "Thanks," he said to Sheldon, before crouching down next to his senior field agent. "I'm going to get you some help now, Tony. You're going to be okay."
Ignoring Gibbs, Sheldon turned his attention to the other two men. "We leave now!" he ordered. "Hurry, someone could have heard the gunshot."
'Or seen it on the camera,' Gibbs thought to himself.
Sheldon directed his eyes back towards Gibbs. "Get your buddy up. We're getting out of here."
"What? No." Gibbs shook his head, confused. "He needs an ambulance. Just go. I'll take care of him." Justice be damned at this point. His first priority was to get Dinozzo some much needed medical attention.
"He's not getting one right now," Sheldon growled as he made a menacing gesture with his gun. "Get him up, or I'll do it myself and somehow I don't think I'll be quite as gentle as you'll be."
What the hell...His heart beating rapidly, Gibbs wrapped his arms around Dinozzo and managed to get the half conscious man to his feet. "Listen why don't you guys just get out of here?" Gibbs decided to make one more plea for their freedom. "I just want to get him some help."
"Don't make me shoot him."
Gibbs stared back into Sheldon's cold eyes and realized further protests would be futile, that this whole thing was far from over. Damn...they just couldn't catch a break. "Come on, Tony." For his part, slumped against Gibbs with the older man bearing most of his weight, Dinozzo did at least manage somewhat of a shuffling gait to help out a bit as Gibbs guided him out of the room.
They moved down the hallway and Gibbs was a little bit surprised when they made it all the way back to the van without being stopped by any kind of security which was weird since the head of the company had just been murdered right on the premesis. Then again, something fishy had to be up with the security here or he and Dinozzo wouldn't have been able to be imprisoned the way they had. "Hey, how you doing?" Gibbs asked softly as he helped Tony sit on the floor at the back of the van which was opened. Gibbs truly feared for his agent who, in his opinion, looked worse than he had when he was sick with the plague. "Tony? Can you hear me?" he asked again when he failed to respond.
"I'm okay, boss," Tony replied, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Could really use some water..."
At that request, Gibbs sent an imploring look in Sheldon's direction, wondering if he could be so heartless as to withhold water from him.
"Get him inside," Sheldon demanded. "Sam, you get in the back with them. Pete's gonna drive and I have to make a call. They try anything at all...shoot them."
Sam nodded. "Don't think they'll be stupid enough to do that," he said with a cocky grin.
After Gibbs had gotten Tony settled into the van, Sheldon pulled out a set of handcuffs. "Now, I'm not as callous as you might think," he said as he fastened one cuff onto Gibbs' left wrist. "But I'm not stupid either." He secured the other cuff onto Dinozzo's right wrist. "This should allow you enough mobility to take care of him." He left the rest unspoken, that Gibbs would find it extremely difficult to cause much trouble while being held at gunpoint, cuffed to the very sick man beside him.
Sheldon then went to the far inner corner of the van where a few boxes were stacked. He opened one and pulled out two bottles of water which he handed to Gibbs. "Now, settle back and enjoy the ride, gentlemen." He proceeded to turn on a battery-operated lantern, which cast a dim light over the interior of the van, then exited, closing the doors behind him. A few minutes later, the engine started up and they were once again on their way to an unknown destination.