Chapter 10
After about a half an hour, Gibbs decided it was time to start talking. Knowing how their luck ran, they could be interrupted at any time with a call.
“You mind telling me how you found out? As I recall, you were unconscious at the time, and I know Ducky and Abby didn’t tell you,” Gibbs asked, thinking that this would be the easiest way to get things going.
Tony was silent for a few minutes before answering. “A couple of guys in another department in Baltimore, they heard about what went down at the warehouse. They didn’t like it anymore than you did. I think they were planning on having a ‘chat’ with Starks of their own, but you apparently beat them to it.”
“Starks got what he deserved,” Gibbs stated. “Why he was able to walk around with a badge and a gun I don’t get.”
“He played the ‘who you know’ game,” Tony said with a shrug. Facing Gibbs, he then asked, “So what exactly did Starks get that night?”
Avoiding Tony’s gaze, Gibbs replied, “Thought you already knew.”
Tony shook his head. “People saw Starks after the two of you had your little meeting and speculated on what happened. They told me their theories. I want to hear the truth from you.”
Gibbs sighed to himself as he finally looked up and saw the determination in Tony’s eyes. Tony, like himself, was too stubborn to leave things alone. Nodding his head in agreement, Gibbs began to recount the details of that particular night.
Flashback
Starks had thought that when Gibbs said he wanted to continue their conversation in private, they would simply be stepping outside. Gibbs, however, had other ideas. He hauled Starks across the parking lot and threw him into the car.
As Starks started to protest, Gibbs gave him a glare that changed his mind. Once he was satisfied that Starks wasn’t going anywhere, Gibbs left the hospital at his normal break-neck speed. It took all of Stark’s self restraint not to cry out as they flew past the intersection, narrowly avoiding a collision with another car.
Gibbs had a specific destination in mind for how he was planning on finishing dealing with Starks. He had begun to wonder if this had been the first time that Starks had abandon Tony while in the pursuit of a suspect. The fact that if Gibbs hadn’t made it to the other side of the warehouse in time, Tony would have been killed did not sit well with him at all. Seeing Starks in the hospital brought out the sudden need to protect Tony, a job no one had cared to take in a very long time.
Making a sudden left turn caused Starks to bang his head against the window. Gibbs was pleased to hear the grunt of pain from the man who had been nothing but a nuisance since this case began. He quickly put the car in park and shut off the engine before getting out and walking around to the passenger side. Starks still hadn’t gotten out yet, so Gibbs decided to give him a little help.
Opening the door, Gibbs grabbed Starks by the collar and yanked him from his seat. Fortunately for Starks he had already removed his seatbelt. Breaking free of Gibbs’ grasp, Starks backed away, trying to regain some ground of his own.
“What the hell Gibbs! You bring me out here to teach me a lesson? Because I gotta tell you, I know a lot of people. You’ll be fired before the week is out!” Starks threatened.
Gibbs smirked. “I’ve faced worse than you, and I know plenty of people myself. Somehow I doubt I have anything to worry about.”
Starks looked afraid. He looked around quickly at his surroundings, trying to figure out where they were. “There’s no one around, Starks. No one to back you up if you try to file a complaint against me,” Gibbs told him as he watched Starks begin to panic.
“This is ridiculous; we are supposed to be professionals! What’s bringing me out here going to prove, anyway?” Starks rambled on in an attempt to get Gibbs to see reason.
“I’m not trying to prove anything,” Gibbs said with a shrug. “I just don’t like you and what you did to Tony was unforgivable.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! What is so special about him anyway that’s got you going crazy? And if we aren’t out here to prove anything, what’s the point?” Starks demanded to know.
Taking a step towards Starks, Gibbs answered in a voice made of steal. “Tony is a better cop than you could ever hope to be. That’s all you need to know. As for the point to this little trip?” Gibbs smirked and took another step closer to Starks. “It’s to satisfy my own personal view of justice.”
Moving too quickly for Starks to react, Gibbs reached out and grabbed Starks’ arm, using the momentum to flip him to the ground. The last thing Starks saw was Gibbs leaning over him as he felt pressure on his skull, then darkness.
Gibbs merely smirked and said, “This is too easy.”
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When Starks woke up again only a few minutes had gone by, but he didn’t know that and Gibbs had no intention of telling him either. He stood back and watched as Starks regained consciousness and became aware of his surroundings. That quickly led to outright panic.
“What the hell? Gibbs? Gibbs! You can’t be serious! Hello? Gibbs?!” Starks started to shout.
Although to be fair, any normal person would panic at the realization that they were currently bound to a tree in the middle of who knows where with only your boxer shorts on and your back facing the darkness.
Starks had no way of knowing that Gibbs was still there, watching his oncoming panic attack. After several minutes Gibbs decided that it was time to reveal himself to Starks.
“No fun being left alone, is it?” Gibbs asked in a quiet voice as he approached the tree Starks was currently bound to from behind.
“No shit! Untie me now! I swear I’ll have your badge for this!” Starks screamed at him.
Gibbs pretended to think about it before saying “Nope.”
“Just wait until I get to a phone! Everyone in the Baltimore PD will be out to arrest you for assault!” Starks threatened in an attempt to convince Gibbs to release him.
“Somehow I doubt that, especially after what happened to Tony. If they do come after me it will be to thank me,” Gibbs replied in a casual way that only angered Starks even more.
“So what now? You’re going to have to untie me eventually,” Starks stated.
Gibbs raised his eyebrows and started walking back to the car. “Is that so?”
“Hey! Where are you going? You can’t leave me out here like this!” Starks hollered.
“I’m going for backup,” Gibbs said, quoting on what Starks had told him at the warehouse as to why he had left Tony alone.
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“While you were being loaded onto the ambulance I told him to pray that he didn’t lose more than his badge,” Gibbs said as he took a drink from his mug. “Guess he didn’t pray hard enough, since I got hold of his clothes, shoes, cell phone and keys.”
“Guess not,” Tony agreed. “What did you do with them?”
“I gave the cell phone to Abby and she worked her magic on it and I took his clothes back to his house,” Gibbs replied with a grin. “Left him a fresh bar of soap too.”
Tony laughed at that. “I can’t believe you left him in the middle of a war zone. People are dangerous when their turf is messed with like that.”
Gibbs laughed as well. “It seemed like a suitable punishment to me.”
“Getting hit by paintballs while only wearing boxers?” Tony said. “Sounds more like a prank I would have played in college.”
Gibbs shrugged. “Whatever works.”
Tony just shook his head. “How did he get back to civilization anyway?”
Gibbs grinned. “He called the precinct and asked for them to send someone with a car. Not sure who picked him up, but they brought him to the station instead of his house.”
“So that’s how the guys found out then,” Tony nodded in understanding. “So what made you do all of that?”
Gibbs looked at Tony as though he had lost his mind. “Are you seriously asking me that?”
“Since I’ve worked for you there have been plenty of people who have pissed you off in various degrees and to my knowledge you never served your own form of punishment to them. So why Starks?”
Tony’s curiosity was reasonable when he put it in that perspective, but Gibbs still hated the fact that Tony never saw himself as worthy enough for the distance that he was willing to go for the younger man.
“At that point the decision to hire you was already made. I considered you my agent, therefore, mine to protect,” Gibbs tried to explain. “Leaving a man behind goes against everything I believe in so if you want you can also look at it as a personal offence against me as well.”
Tony nodded, accepting Gibbs’ explanation. “You don’t think the director will have us call him in since we are re-opening the case do you?”
“No,” Gibbs answered without hesitation. “He’s not a cop anymore, not that he ever really was. He’s got no business in this now. Same goes for Taddins. He wasn’t much help the first time around; I doubt this time will be any different.”
Tony let out a sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure how he would handle things if he had to face those two again, especially over this case.
Seeing the look of relief on Tony’s face, Gibbs thought it was time to call it a night. They had been in his basement for the past several hours now, and knowing how this case was eating at Tony, it would be best to get some rest.
“The spare room is all set, Tony. Go on up and get some rest,” Gibbs told Tony as he waved his hand towards the stairs.
Tony rolled his eyes as he said, “You’re sending me to bed? I’m a little old for a bedtime, Boss.”
“You look like you could use the rest, so yes, you have a bedtime,” Gibbs replied.
Tony looked like he was ready to protest, but seeing the look Gibbs was giving him decided against it. “Right, never know when things will get too busy for another chance to sleep. I’m just gonna go upstairs now.”
“That’s what I thought,” Gibbs said as Tony headed upstairs.
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Driving around in a black car, a man was eagerly carrying out another portion of his plan. He had waited a long time for this. He remembers the men who had ruined his reputation, took away his career, his friends. Gibbs and Dinozzo. He would show them that he was still here. They could not take away his desire to continue to deliver punishment to those who deserved it. Yes, very soon they will begin to realize that no matter what they did, he would always be out there.
Parking the car, the man got out and opened the trunk. Inside, wrapped in plastic, lay the body of a young man in a uniform.
Gleefully, the man set to work. The time to bring about punishment for Gibbs and Dinozzo was now.
Chapter End Notes:
Thank you all for the reviews and eager wishes of another chapter. Hope no one is disappointed. Sorry it took so long. School is back in session now, still got my 2 jobs, plus on top of that I’ve been pretty sick here lately. I’ll try not to make it too long of a wait for the next chapter. Thanks again for sticking with this story!