CHAPTER 4

Gibbs hadn't expected the vehement outburst, but he understood where it was coming from. Being under the control of someone who holds your life in his hands, who isolates and intimidates you – that puts a man in a state of fear and anxiety, and brings on a sense of hopelessness that he's probably never experienced before. He laid a calming hand on the top of Tony's shoulder. "It's all right, Tony. You did good."

"No, it's not all right! That f-fucking b-bastard kept me tied up for days and days, and chained me to the bed when he wasn't there, and when I pleaded with him to let me go, even offered him money, he just laughed at me! He'd leave me there for hours sometimes, and whenever h-he was gone, I pushed the blindfold up and looked around. I couldn't get loose, and even if I could have, I couldn't have walked because of the shit he'd drugged me with…"

"Take a deep breath, Tony. It's all over now," Gibbs said, trying to remain calm while suppressing the intense desire to bash in the kidnapper's brains himself. "You're sure he's dead? If we can figure out where you were being held, I could go and check it out."

Tony stared at him, and the look on his face, of disbelief and horror, convinced Gibbs that Tony's kidnapper and assailant, was indeed dead. Still, Gibbs needed to see the body for himself, although between the storm, his broken truck, and Tony's condition there was no way he could go looking for a body, even if he knew where to go. So far, Tony had been vague about the location where he'd been detained for the past five days.

"It was a trailer," Tony said, all of a sudden. "That's where I was, parked behind an old house that looked like it was about to fall down. See, I paid attention to details."

"That's good, Tony. There was only one man? You sure?"

Tony thought for a minute. "H-he was the only one there. I heard him on the phone…this morning…outside the trailer. I could tell h-he was…I think he was afraid of whoever he was talking to." Tony's tone grew harder. "Might have been his boss? He didn't like whatever the guy had to say." Tony shook his head and said vehemently, "This never should have happened to me."

"Hey, all types of people get snatched, Tony. What matters is how you handle it, and the most important thing is that you survive," said Gibbs firmly. "You survived."

Tony shook his head, apparently not convinced. "You don't get it. I was a detective for six years on the force. I had the best solve rate on the east coast. I've made a career of threat assessment and anti-terrorism. The DOD even used me as a consultant, for God's sake. After I left Baltimore PD, I taught American executives in Italy how to avoid being kidnapped, how to survive, and how you should never antagonize your kidnapper."

"Let me guess. You didn't follow your own rules," Gibbs said, admiring the young man's resourcefulness, even if his actions may have been reckless.

Tony snorted. "Of course not. I wanted out of there, to go home, you know? I thought if I annoyed him enough, he'd be glad to see the back of me, and would arrange for whatever it was h-he w-wanted that much quicker. Like in The Ransom of Red Chief, when these two small-time criminals kidnap a kid, but he's so much trouble they can't wait to unload him. I talked a lot, about what makes one chick hotter than another, and whether German expressionism should even be considered a film genre or not. I even listed all the Magnum episodes, all 162 of them, including The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii. Magnum protects a dog from being kidnapped by gangsters in that episode," he said earnestly.

"I'm guessing he didn't appreciate all this chatter," said Gibbs.

"No, 'fraid not. H-he just kicked the crap out of me a couple of times. Not much I could do when I was hogtied." Tony ran a hand through his hair. "But when I got free…H-he sure as hell didn't expect me to rush him when I came out of the bathroom. You should have seen the look on his face; surprised the shit outta him. I tried one of my best Ohio State tackles, but in that small space…it got ugly, real fast." Tony stared at his bruised knuckles for a while.

The only sound in the room was the occasional pop of a log settling in the fireplace, and the steady beat of rain against the house. Thunder rumbled again, not too close this time.

"You saw his face."

Tony nodded and looked like he was going to throw up.

Gibbs asked, "Did you recognize him?"

Tony shook his head and breathed, "No. Never seen him before."

Tony stared at the floor, silent, so Gibbs prompted, "You fought him."

Tony sighed tiredly. "Yeah. We crashed around and landed on a built-in cabinet, and it broke apart. He started hitting me with a piece of wood, a door or something," Tony said, his voice low. "I don't remember…exactly… The wood…I had it in my hands, and he was just lying there, his head…all bloody." Tony swallowed and held a shaking hand to his mouth. "I just about fell out the door and took off, but then I realized I didn't have any shoes. I had to go back in and…I t-took the b-boots off his feet. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. They were warm." Tony's expression reflected the horror of the situation. His eyes were swimming with unshed tears when he looked at Gibbs. "I ran and ran, like Marathon Man, and when I saw your light, I thought, 'I'm not going to die today, after all.'"

"It's okay. You did a good job. You're safe now." Gibbs wanted to put a comforting arm around Tony's shoulders, but he was unsure if such a gesture would be welcome from a veritable stranger. "I think it's time to call Agent Fornell."

"Who?"

"He's the FBI agent in charge of your case."

"People were looking for me," Tony said, not quite making it a question.

Puzzled, Gibbs assured him, "Of course they were. Your dad made an appeal to the kidnappers on TV." Instead of looking pleased or relieved, Tony's expression suddenly became neutral, and Gibbs, who could easily read most people as a rule, had no clue what was going on in Tony's mind. In an attempt to break through the barrier that Tony had so efficiently erected, Gibbs reminded him, "You've got family, your dad, friends. People you work with…"

Tony's gaze dropped and he slowly nodded his head. "Yeah…I have some really good people on my team, in Baltimore and DC."

"You don't think they've been worried sick about your disappearance?" Gibbs pressed.

"I didn't think…It's just…I felt so isolated. It's hard to shake, even though I'm here, and safe, you know?"

"You are safe, Tony," Gibbs said confidently. "You're married, aren't you?" He recalled seeing a dark-haired wife at the congressman's side in a newspaper photo.

Tony seemed to deflate, his shoulders sagging. "Not exactly." He didn't meet Gibbs' eyes when he said with a hint of bitterness, "Wendy's pursuing her journalism career. She's probably written an exposé on my kidnapping, as we speak."

"Divorced?" Gibbs asked sympathetically.

"It's pending. She filed a few weeks ago. We'll be tied to each other for another eleven months." Tony sighed and ran his hands though his hair. "The thing is…we've got a kid." He looked up at Gibbs, a smile growing as he said, "Zach's ten. He's growing up so fast, it's amazing."

"He'll be happy to get his dad back." Gibbs liked the way Tony appeared when he smiled, relaxed and years younger, but the happiness didn't last long.

Looking worried, Tony asked, "You know this Agent Fornell?"

"Yeah, we worked together. He's a good man. He'll take care of you, Tony."

Tony nodded and after a pause, asked, "Do you know…was there a ransom?" When Gibbs didn't answer immediately, Tony remarked, "Well, I must have been taken for some good reason."

"I don't know what the kidnapper's demands were," Gibbs said apologetically. "You have no idea why?"

Tony shook his head. He looked exhausted. "I don't know. I don't know…H-he ranted about how allowing gays to marry was ruining the American way of life, and he had some theory that Homeland Security was at the bottom of 9/11 – all sorts of batshit crazy stuff. It got to the point that I couldn't stand it any more so I started quoting conspiracy theories from that Mel Gibson movie, just to fuck with his mind. Like how 'all the fathers of Nobel Prize winners were rounded up and were forced at gunpoint to give semen samples,' and how they're now stored underneath the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink." He looked quizzically at Gibbs. "What? At the time it seemed like a good idea."

"Oh yeah?"

"Okay, so I got punched in the ear for that one. It was worth it though." Tony laughed humorlessly. "H-he left me chained to the bed and drove off somewhere. Didn't come back for so long I started to wonder if I was going to die there." Tony covered his face with his hands. "Can we not talk about this any more right now?"

"Sure. Remember, it's all over," Gibbs said, rubbing Tony's back. Only Gibbs knew that it was nowhere near being over. There'd be questions, lots of them, and they'd need to find the location where Tony had been held, as well as the body of the man who'd abducted him. But Tony couldn't handle any of that, not in the state he was in. Between the drugs, the mental stress, and the fight and escape he'd made, Tony was at the end of his tether. "I'll call Agent Fornell, have a word with him first," Gibbs said.

"I don't…want to talk about it to him…oh shit…I'm gonna be…" Tony rose suddenly and Gibbs rushed him over to the kitchen sink, where Tony promptly threw up. Gibbs supported the younger man until he was done, and then he cleaned his face with a wet towel, dried him off, and gave him a glass of water to rinse his mouth.

They slowly made it back to the couch. This time, Tony laid back, his arm hiding his face. "Will you do something for me?" he asked, not lowering his arm.

Gibbs gently pushed Tony's legs aside and sat on the edge of the couch. "Sure."

"Can you stay with me when they come, Jethro?"

"The FBI? Of course I will."

Tony swallowed and said, "He was going to kill me, you know."

Gibbs didn't doubt it, but he asked quietly, "How d'you know?"

With a sigh, Tony lowered his arm. "The last day…today…when he came back, I didn't have the blindfold all the way over my eyes. I heard him coming in and I couldn't get it down in time, so I shut my eyes tight. He just laughed, said it didn't matter, that it would all be over soon. I still didn't look straight at him. That's when I went to the bathroom. One the way, he…he pushed me against the table, threatened me, told me he was going to kill…everyone I ever loved, my family, the people who work for me, and my son. He said…he said I deserved to die because…And he…he…" Tony shut his eyes tightly, and his breathing grew ragged.

"Okay, okay. Just relax. He can't hurt anyone." Gibbs agreed with Tony's conclusion that if the kidnapper planned to kill Tony, he wouldn't care if he saw his face. There was more to the story, but Tony was so distressed, Gibbs couldn't question him any more. It wasn't his place to do so, not any more.

Lightning flashed again, thunder rolling across the sky, so close the windows rattled. There was another flash and a great crack that rattled the windows, too close for comfort. It sounded as though a nearby tree had been struck.

"Jethro?" Tony took a breath. "Will you call for me?"

Gibbs nodded. "I'll do whatever you need, Tony." Just when Gibbs picked up the phone, lightning struck again, this time the bright flash and incredibly loud crash hitting at the same time. The lights flickered and the power went out, plunging the rest of the house into darkness.

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