"Jethro couldn't have been alone here. The way these bodies have fallen says that more than just one man is responsible for shooting them." He pointed to the bodies on the ground. "Three are over there. Two here. I'd say DiNotzo had been here with your boss when this has gone down."

McGee winced; that was even worse if both Gibbs and Tony were taken. "We'll have Abby to check the slugs for both Gibbs and Tony's guns."

"Fornell was right." Abby announced as she walked into the bullpen with slumped shoulders. "Tony'd been there with Gibbs and now they're both taken."

"Bullets match his service weapon?" McGee looked up at her.

Abby nodded. "And between Ducky's findings and mine, it's clear that Tony's taken down three guys; two of them with clean shots between the eyes; one with two rounds to the heart. Gibbs has shot two, right between the eyes. What do we do now? Every other time that something happened to one of them, the other one was here to lead the investigation and take care of things and save the day. But now they're both gone. What do we do?"

"Abby, we are capable agents." Ziva said indignantly.

"Yes, you are." Abby nodded her head. "But neither one of you can do this alone. Tony or Gibbs could. You're not them."

McGee looked hurt while Ziva looked angry at hearing those words, but before they could say anything back, Vance came down the stairs. "That's why we have Agent Fornell and his team to help us, Ms. Scuito. What do you have to work on, right now?"

That left both McGee and Ziva utterly deflated; apparently the Director didn't think they could handle that case alone, either. Then again, this was bad, really really bad and they'd never been in charge with something so big in hand; so maybe a fresh set of eyes wasn't such a bad thing; not that they could protest or anything.

"I have many things to work on, but I doubt I can find anything useful soon enough." Abby replied sadly, sounding more than a little scared.

"You might be right, but go through the evidence carefully and inform me directly if you have anything."

"Yes, Sir." Abby said and walked out of the bullpen as the Director took the elevator and went down to the autopsy.

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"Doctor Mallard, how's it going here?" He asked as soon as he walked into the autopsy.

"Ah, Director. It's not every day that we get a visit from you down here."

"It's not every day that both Senior Agents of our MCRT get kidnapped." Vance pointed out.

"Indeed." Ducky sighed. "Mr. Palmer has sent our findings to the bullpen; I believe you know about that."

"Yes; but at the moment all we know is that this is for sure related to the case Gibbs and his team were working on and that these guys," He nodded towards the bodies on the tables, "were the members of two of those gangs they were watching. We know how they were shot and Ms. Scuito confirmed that the bullets were fired from Gibbs and DiNozzo's weapons."

"True. And I'm afraid I know no more."

"Well, in that case, can you accompany me to the University Hospital?"

"The hospital? My! What for? Are your lovely children alright?" Ducky looked even more concerned.

"Yes. Yes." Vance smiled slightly. "Thanks for asking, but they're alright. Some minutes ago I got a call, informing me that apparently one of our agents was sent there."

"Jethro or Anthony?"

"No idea. The only thing on the guy has been an NCIS badge and that's why I was informed directly. Not sure he's really one of our people. We need to go over there to identify him."

"Oh my dear Lord. Did you find out anything about his condition? Whoever he is."

"They didn't say anything over the phone. Also, I didn't want to distract the team until I was sure of the situation; they have a lot to work on; so I didn't tell them anything." Vance said, indicating that Doctor Mallard didn't need to tell anyone either for now.

"You're absolutely right. Let's get to the hospital and learn more about this unfortunate guy, first. Then we can decide about our next step."

...

"Excuse me; I was informed that one of our agents was brought to this hospital." Vance said to the receptionist.

"And you are?"

"Leon Vance. Director of NCIS." The man replied patiently as he showed her his ID card.

"Yes, Sir. We have an NCIS agent admitted here; let me check..." She quickly typed something on her computer and waited. "It says here that he's still in the OR. But there's a cop over there that came here earlier and asked for him. He's the one who told us to wait for you. Before you go, though, can you tell me your man's name and his information?"

"My dear, we have no idea who this guy is; how are we supposed to provide you with his information before identifying him?" Ducky reproached kindly.

"Oh, you're right. Sorry. Go ahead then."

Both Vance and Ducky nodded their thanks and walked to the cop.

"Let me guess, NCIS?" The cop asked as soon as he saw them approaching him.

"Yes, dear lad. I am Doctor Mallard and this gentleman is our Director, Leon Vance."

"Nice to meet you, Sirs." The cop shook hands with them and eyed the two agents who were standing a few feet back, having a careful eye on the Director. "I'm Mark Ryan. My partner and I were at the scene where Richardson found the body of your agent. Well, not the body, he thought it was a body, at first, but he then checked for his pulse and realized that he was still alive and-"

"Where did you find him?" Vance cut him off, not having time for a babbling officer.

"Oh, we didn't find him. James Richardson did. But well, I guess you don't care about that tidbit. Umm, he's a forest ranger; found your man at the border of his area." He said and gave them the exact location. "He'll be here shortly; the man was really concerned about your agent and wanted to check on him personally. He was in a bad shape; your agent, I mean, not James."

"Yes, about that. What can you tell us about his condition?" Ducky asked worriedly.

"Two GSWs to the chest. He was barely alive, I'm telling you. I still can't understand how he was alive at all. It was bad. Really bad. He also had a deep wound on the side of his head. That's all I know."

"Thank you, officer." Vance said. "One of my agents will contact you later."

The man nodded and handed Vance an evidence bag with an NCIS badge in it. They could check the badge number and find who it belonged to, but there was no guarantee that it was left with its owner; so they had to see the man on the table to be sure he is one of them.

"I believe you want to go back to the Navy Yard?" Ducky asked Vance when they were alone.

"Yes. I'll leave agent Martin here with you, though. Please let me know when you identify this man and when he's out of surgery, would you?"

"Certainly. And you please have someone give me a call if there's any news on our missing agents' whereabouts or anything on this case; I'm sure you're going to have Abigail to check the badge for fingerprints, am I correct?"

"Yes, I will. I'll have someone let you know if there's anything new." Vance promised the old ME before walking away with one of his escorting agent.

...

"This could go on forever, you know?" A guy, who earlier had been called Sam, punched Gibbs in the stomach again. He'd been doing that for the past few hours, on and off, and he hadn't even broken a sweat. "I don't get tired easily." Another punch. "But, how long do you think you will last?" Another punch, this time to the cheek.

Gibbs' head was reeling; he was dizzy and pain was radiating from his midsection, but he still hadn't said a word. He absently wondered what those goons were taking him for? An idiot? They'd kill him at the end, whether he talked or not, he knew it and he thought that Sam and the others should know that he knew it, too; but apparently they didn't, because why else would they want him to talk for them to stop hitting him?

It didn't matter to Gibbs that he was being beaten up; it wasn't his first rodeo and he knew that if he talked, which would never happen, it'd only hasten his absolute death. He needed to stay alive long enough for his team to find him, because he'd promised to avenge Tony's death and he still had to find Tony's body to make sure he had a proper funeral. The younger man deserved way more than that, but it was the last and the least that he could do for him.

And then he'd resign. He'd made his mind a while back, that if he got out of there alive, he'd take care of Tony's body and his will and then he'd resign and leave DC for good. He couldn't stay there any longer, knowing his last words to his most loyal agent and friend had been hurtful words of anger.

"Dammit. Give me your cellphone." Sam finally stopped beating him and demanded a cellphone; when he was handed one, he ordered one of his men to grab Gibbs' head and hold it up and then he took some photos.

"Send these photos to whoever is working on our cases." He threw the cellphone back to its owner. "Tell them they have 24 hours to put an end to everything and send us whatever they've found so far or they'll receive his head." He then looked at Gibbs and smirked. "You know we don't do idle threats; you saw what my men did to your Senior Agent. You'd better hope your people take us seriously or tomorrow morning your head will go home. Without your body."

...

Some miles away, in one of the private ICU rooms of University Hospital, Ducky was sitting beside a bed, looking like he'd aged at least ten years overnight.

The man in the bed was nothing like the Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo that he knew; he was pale with his eyes sunken and a ventilator down his throat to help keep him alive. The man wasn't even able to breathe on his own; the machine had to do it for him. And there was a thick bandage around his head and bruises had marred his face and upper body. Well, they were all over his body, but those were the parts that were visible.

Ducky knew that Director Vance had let people at the Navy Yard know that Tony'd been found and was in the hospital, but he also knew that they were ordered to stay away for now since there was nothing they could do for him.

Ducky had been led to the OR by one of the nurses to identify the man on the table and at first, they'd hoped that when Tony was out of surgery he'd be able to help them find Gibbs; but that'd been before they knew the extent of the damage that had been inflicted upon the younger man; that had been before the doctor told them that Anthony DiNozzo was barely alive and the chances of him making it were less than ten percent; that was before they were told that Tony probably wouldn't make it more than 72 hours.

Normally, they'd be advised to say their last words to the patient or to just be there for him, but due to the blow to the head and the substantial blood loss, the agent was in a deep coma and that was something else against him. Besides, the team had to work on finding Gibbs before it was too late.

So, that was why Ducky was in the ICU room alone, holding the ailing man's right hand in his and quietly pleading with him to show some of his exemplary resistance; asking him to pull through this one, too; telling him how much they all needed him, how much Gibbs needed him and how much they all would be devastated by his demise.

One of the bullets had ripped through Tony's left lung and it had taken the team of surgeons a long time to save the organ and that hadn't been even the worst of the damage done to Tony's body. The other bullet had almost ripped his heart. It'd been sheer luck that a rib had taken the brunt of it and had reduced its speed so when the bullet had hit Tony's heart, it hadn't went through; it'd done some damage to the heart muscle, but it'd stayed there and therefore had kept him from bleeding out in a matter of seconds which would mean almost immediate death.

They couldn't say yet whether or not Tony'd make a full recovery; heck, they'd said that Tony wouldn't even make it long enough to see the next week; not that he could see anything if he lasted that long, what with him being in a deep coma and all.

All in all, it was a miracle that the agent had lasted that long, but it seemed luck wasn't on his side anymore as he was lying there motionless and lax, not showing any signs of life, except the weak heartbeat and even that wasn't reassuring as his heart would skip a beat every now and then.

A couple of hours back, the agent standing outside Tony's room had informed Ducky that the ranger who'd found him was there and wanted to see him if that was possible; Ducky'd eagerly accepted it and since everyone there knew of Tony's special condition, no one argued when the agent led the ranger to Tony's room.

James Richardson's visit had given Ducky some hope, because the old fellow was full of hope and positive energy and had assured Ducky that if Agent DiNozzo had fought so hard and so long to stay alive, he'd make a full recovery and that if he were supposed to die, he would've died before James could find him.

Ducky, of course, had every faith in Anthony; he knew if anyone could make it through a situation that grim, it'd be one Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, but that didn't mean every time his eyes landed on the younger man's ashen face, his heart didn't ache for his young friend; deep down, Ducky was a little afraid that the younger man had no fight left in him.

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... TBC ...

A/N: I'm no doctor but I do some research before writing things, although what can be found on the Internet is far from reliable. Still, that's all I've got and I tried to make it sound plausible, especially since I've heard of this kinda stuff, but if it's a bit too much, you should know that I needed things to go this way for the sake of the story. Hope it's not too far-fetched.

Let me know what you think and once again THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your reviews, PMs, alerts and faves. :)

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All mistakes are mine.

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