Gibbs and Tony had been in California for a little over two months now, and Tony's senses were constantly on overdrive ever since he noticed that he was being watched; they still didn't know who was watching him but things on the base were starting to get a little more hectic with units coming back from overseas as well.
Often times when Gibbs or Tony would come home, they would notice small things that were out of place or plain missing from their yard – Mail being lost, their yellow 'support the troops' ribbon gone, even having porch furniture moved or tampered with. Tony didn't usually fear much but what really did him in was the letter he received from an unknown sender – It had been sitting on the table in the foyer for a week now, both Gibbs and Tony were leery to even touch it any further than what they had to when Tony brought it into the house.
Gibbs was monumentally worried about Tony and the way the younger man seemed to never relax until they were both inside of the home and all of the doors were locked – He knew that Tony was being paranoid but also knew that Tony had every reason to be paranoid and wished he could just ease the worry away from Tony or catch their serial killer before he or she even had a chance to touch a single hair on top of Tony's head.
Unfortunately there were times, like now, when Tony was alone and it was late in the evening when his nerves were at their highest. Tony sighed as he stared at the bright sign of the base PX, he only needed a few things from inside – Shampoo, new shirts for Gibbs and laundry detergent – why he decided that after spending the past twelve hours at the clinic going to the PX after Nine PM was a good idea, he didn't know, but he knew that Gibbs needed the shirts by tomorrow, so he had no choice.
Tony inhaled deeply as he got out of the SUV and started towards the front doors of the general store, luckily he knew where everything was in the store, since he'd spent time walking every aisle of the PX the first day he was here, and had probably spent more time in the PX than he did anywhere else on the base so far. Luckily there weren't to many people in the parking lot or even the store so Tony was able to get into the store and get the few things he needed all within thirty minutes – spending a few minutes looking at the new arrivals and the clearance aisles.
After collecting his purchases, Tony headed back out to the parking lot, furrowing his brows as he saw a woman struggling to carry several brown paper sacks that were overflowing with her purchases. Tony caught up to the woman just as one of the bottoms of the bags busted; Milk, Lemons and other purchases scattering or spilling along the parking lot "Oh damn it!" the young lady cursed as she set her other bags down, trying to gather the wayward lemons.
Tony frowned as he also set his bag down, helping to collect the dropped groceries. With Tony's back turned, he hadn't noticed the other person standing over his crouched position, but he did feel the moment that a hard metal object struck the back of his head, and then the feel of gravel scraping across his cheek as he collapsed onto the parking lot, then there was nothing as the darkness consumed him.
When Tony woke up hours later, he tried moving his limbs, but found that his legs and arms were both tied tightly behind his back, causing every muscle in his body to feel as if it were set on fire. Not only were his muscles throbbing painfully, but so was his head, he knew he had a concussion, he'd had many concussions in the past to easily diagnose himself; the nausea, the headache, double vision and the moonlight shining down from above him was blinding, but he was terrified of shutting his eyes, and equally terrified about the fact that he couldn't activate the locator – Thinking that Gibbs would be going out of his mind with worry about the fact that he hadn't made it home yet when he said he'd be there in ten minutes, which was… Tony estimated three hours ago, if he went by the position of the moon.
Tony closed his eyes briefly, clearing the blurry vision that he had and sighing quietly as he tried loosening his bindings, his ears were on hyper-alter as he listened to his surroundings, he could hear a female voice and a male voice speaking quietly from the front seats of the SUV. Tony's heart practically stopped when the two voices from the front seat became recognizable, the female voice belonged to Lexi, the vet technician who he had befriended the first day he started working at the Vet Clinic, and the man's voice belonged to one of the active duty veterinarians – Lt. Col. Terry Anderson.
He hadn't known Terry nearly as long as he'd known Lexi, but just from having worked with Gibbs for as long as he had, he deduced within a matter of minutes that the older gentleman was so deep in the closet. Tony shook his head as he stared up at the opened sky, there were no land marks to go by, and the air around him felt suffocating, so he surmised that they had to be somewhere in the desert, which had Tony's stomach twisting into even further knots than the nausea that was pulling at him. On top of all the fear he felt, he was worried that the GPS transmitter wouldn't reach the locator and Gibbs would never find him, and that thought alone brought hot stinging tears to his eyes.
When the car started going downhill, Tony's entire body shifted in the back of the SUV, his tied fists biting into his spine painfully, and to add to the pain, the road they were on seemed bumpier than before. Rock quarry, was the first thing that Tony thought as he saw a large shadow of a crane-like object go over the top of the SUV. As the car came to a stop, Tony had to force himself to relax as much as possible so he could continue feigning unconsciousness when the two suspects came to collect him.
Terry and Lexi both came to the back of the SUV, staring at Tony while shaking their heads "Be glad when this one is gone – He was always so… annoyingly chipper." Lexi complained as she reached forward, grabbing Tony's bound ankles, and with the help of Terry they pulled Tony out to the edge of the SUV.
"Yeah, I know what you mean – Nobody is chipper at 0600 but this guy… Man he was like a double shot of coffee…" Terry agreed as he hoisted Tony up onto his broad shoulder, "And damn is he heavy…" Terry added as he and Lexi made their way towards a run-down building. Tony cracked his eyes open slowly, glancing around to at least where he could see, noticing that all he could see was darkened sand, biting back a groan of pain as his head grazed the top of the door opening.
"Let's hurry up and get him downstairs, he's starting to wake up." Terry said urgently as he pressed a button, the slow churning of a power-lift echoed in the cavernous workshop. Terry and Lexi quickly got onto the lift once it stopped at their level, and then the descend started a few seconds later, and the quick jump of the machine made Tony's stomach lurch, the nausea he'd been biting back for the last hour quickly coming up and expelling out onto the lift floor.
"Gross!" Lexi shrieked, jumping away from Tony as he threw up on the lift, "Well, I guess he's awake!" Lexi grumbled as she opened the lift door as it stopped on the ground-level.
Terry nodded glumly, feeling the upchuck on his back as he moved down a long, dark hallway towards a steel dead-bolted door, "Yeah, good thing he's got a mild paralytic coursing through his system, he won't be moving too much on us for a few more hours." Terry said darkly as he walked into the small 8x8 room that only had a small roll-out cot on the floor in the corner.
Tony grunted as he was dropped harshly onto the cot, "Don't forget to cuff him up… I need to go make a phone call." Terry said as he turned back out of the room, leaving Lexi to deal with Tony by herself.
Lexi rolled her eyes "Like I don't know what to do…" she grumbled to herself as she grabbed a chain that was connected to a ring on the floor, setting it nearby Tony's body. Lexi undid Tony's wrists from the rope around his wrists, bringing them to the front of his body and locking the shackles around his wrists. Lexi then cut the rope that bound Tony's feet, "Should have never come to Pendleton…" Lexi murmured as she stood up and headed out of the cell, leaving Tony in pitch darkness as she pulled the door shut behind her.
Tony sighed as he laid flat on the cot, whatever paralytic that Terry mentioned must have worn off because he could move every muscle of his body and had been able to long before they arrived at the quarry. He'd been in the cell for a little over an hour now, and having skipped dinner his stomach was rumbling loudly, he didn't know how long he would be trapped in this cell, nor did he know if the activator would work, but he wouldn't activate it until he knew he absolutely had too.
Tony slowly looked around the dark cell, curling his body up and resting his forehead against his bent knees to try and keep what little warmth he could within himself; the cell was damp and abnormally cold. If there was one thing Tony knew, it was that by the end of this, if he was found, he would definitely have pneumonia, wet and cold never did anything good for his lungs, and the moldy smell that was coming off the cot certainly wouldn't help aid in anything except for making the illness worse.
After what felt like hours, which was really only about ten minutes, Tony had finally fallen asleep, even if it were a light sleep, he knew he'd need the energy to survive whatever hell he would have to endure before he was found. Tony let his mind drift while he was in between the sleeping and awake state; the thoughts that constantly circled his brain were that of him and Gibbs in the distant future, and although he was in a semi-conscious state, he could feel the smile spreading across his lips at the thought of him and Gibbs being together and happier than they'd ever been before in their lives, but it also broke his heart as the conscious part of his brain reminded him that this could be the end if he didn't time everything perfectly.
Tony was startled awake hours later, he hadn't meant to fall asleep so deeply, but the peaceful dream of him and Gibbs on the boat – which he still had no idea how he got it out of the basement – took hold of him and lulled him into a sense of false security. The door to the cell opened slowly, creaking loudly and letting light flood into the room, Tony clenched his eyes shut, and he almost hissed at the brightness from the fluorescent lights hanging in the hallway hit him directly.
Terry came into the room and crouched in front of Tony, "Shame really, for such a pretty boy like you to be caught up in such a mess…" Terry chided, moving his hand forward and caressing Tony's cheek with the sharp end of a steel blade, causing a minor flesh wound to split open and leak blood down Tony's jaw and into his mouth.
Tony remained impassively silent as he opened his eyes and stared up at Terry "I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with you." Terry said joyfully as he continued sliding the knife across Tony's cheek and all the way down to his jaw – the wounds were superficial at this point and would heal within a matter of days.
Terry sighed as he sat in front of Tony "You're not talking too much now, are ya? Usually you're so talkative." Terry said sadly, poking at Tony's chest with the sharp end of the knife, small pinprick wounds surfacing and bleeding through Tony's shirt.
Tony forced himself to stay silent and still, only blinking a few times as he continued staring at Terry. Terry shook his head slowly "You're stronger than I thought you'd be, but I'll break you, I always break my targets…" Terry said as he pulled the knife down the center of Tony's chest and stomach, cutting the younger man's shirt wide open and leaving a long gash from between his pectoral muscles to his belly button, this wound was definitely deeper and would more than likely leave a scar behind.
Terry stood up and pocketed the knife in its sheath, kicking Tony harshly in the abdomen before leaving him in the pitch dark of the room once again. Tony gasped out, a shuddering sob escaping him as he curled around his throbbing abdomen, Tony used his shoulder to swipe at the blood drying on his cheek, then shook his head as he laid down "Forgive me Jethro…" Tony whispered into the darkness of the room.
Tony had finally succumbed to the pain and fell asleep again about ten minutes after Terry left him. Now he'd been sleeping for about three hours when he was startled awake by loud screams echoing in his cell, Tony could tell that the screams were recorded as they looped repeatedly, but still they made his entire body shiver as he listened.
Over the next several hours, the screams would come intermittently through the speaker that seemed to be directly above Tony's head. The sounds would stop, but they continued to play on repeat in Tony's head, he tried to not let it affect him but he could tell that it was, listening to the mournful sobs and screams of the previous victims that came before him.
Whenever Tony would almost fall asleep, the screams would start up again, and when he'd just close his eyes his imagination would go insane with images of the victims after they'd been found. It was a constant loop of imagery and screams that were really starting to make Tony feel like he was going to go out of his mind, all he wanted to do was shut everything off. Tony knew he could take the beating, the torture, hell he could probably even handle the rape if it came down to it, but it was the psychological torture that was doing him in, he knew he'd have nightmares about it for a long while yet.
When Terry did return, Tony remained silent and as still as possible, even as the older man drove steel-toed boots into his body or sliced his skin open with the knife. Tony knew he couldn't show his fear or that would only make things worse for him, and he didn't want to become the next recorded voice on that dreaded speaker system and for all his efforts of remaining stoically silent, Terry would often leave him after delivering a final blow to either his already injured knee or his stomach, both of which were tender and possibly broken.
After enduring the screams, beatings and cuts across his entire body, Tony stared at his forearm for the hundredth time since being locked up – He'd estimated that he'd been locked in the cell for a little over a day now, and sighed as he thought about how Gibbs and how the older man was probably going out of his mind with worry and fear, because that's where Tony's own mind was at. Tony finally gave in to the temptation of being found, he couldn't do this anymore and just wanted to go home, he pressed his forehead against the locator, waiting until he heard the subtle click of the activator pressing into place.
Tony let a small sigh of relief out as he collapsed against the cot, now all he had left now was praying that the transmitter would reach Gibbs in Pendleton from wherever the hell he was. Once again, thinking about Gibbs brought stingingly hot tears to his eyes, all he wanted was to be back in Gibbs' arms and back in DC at this point. Tony's lungs were tight as the tears threatened to overwhelm him, and as he tried to suppress them, he started coughing viciously into the cot, which made his entire body feel as if it were on fire.
Knowing his body well was a positive and a negative at the same time, at least in this moment, he could tell that the beginnings of a cold was starting to take hold of him; he could tell that he had at least two cracked ribs that he could feel. Tony's entire body was racked with cold chills, he was shivering viciously and his stomach continued to rumble loudly, he couldn't even remember the last meal he ate now because his mind and thoughts had been consumed by the screams of sheer terror that continued playing both in his head and in the room itself.
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