Chapter 11
Gibbs was forced back into awareness when an unconscious move jarred his injured shoulder. Fighting against the blackness blurring his vision, he tried to stand up. The pain his his shoulder increased. He fought hard to stay awake, swallowing a gasp of pain.
He remembered being shot â€" by a desperate house wife no less. He would never live to hear the end of that story. Knocked his head on the wall. small concussion, He guessed by the way things were dancing around his vision. He couldn't have been unconscious for long, since McGee and Ziva hadn't arrived yet.
He needed to get to Tony and take care of Atwood's wife! Sitting on the floor he searched his backup gun and moved to stand up. Gibbs could hear something heavy being dragged upstairs.. He had to move fast. Bracing himself against the pain he reentered the room and found Robert Atwood's body hanging from a rope attached to the ceiling.
His eyes were closed and he had no pulse, but there was no apparent wound. Gibbs guessed his wife didn't approve of his change of heart. He had called Gibbs, but it had probably cost the poor bastard's life. With one less problem to worry about, Gibbs turned back to the corridor and waited.
As in cue, Antonia's head showed up in the top of the stairs, her attention completely focused on the task at hand. For what it seamed like a lifetime, Gibbs, watched her dragging something down the stairs, fearing it was Tony's body. He exaled in relief the minute he spotted the bags on the floor, all of them too small to carry an adult body.
Hidden in the room, he saw her moving to the front door and closing it softly behind her, he guessed she was gathering her belongings to run away before the police could arrive. After all, the garden couldn't stop any neighbor from hearing the shot.
He waited for a few more seconds before taking the opportunity to reach the second floor. He wanted to get Tony into a secure position and barricade both of them in there until the backup arrived. He had lost too much blood to have a clean shot and couldn't loose this chance of getting Tony back. There wouldn’t be a next time, specially now that Robert Atwood was dead.
He found Tony on the last bedroom, completely out of it. He hazarded that no amount of head slaps seamed to bring him back to consciousness. With his shoulder injured, Gibbs couldn't take the younger man anywhere. which left him to come up with something to protect themselves against Tony’s captor and fast!
He would have sworn out loud if he hadn’t heard the front door being closed in that exact moment.
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Antonia took her time to collect herself once she was back in the house. It had taken too long, but now that the bags were in the van, she could worry about how to bring Tony downstairs.
She was pondering her problem while standing at the bottom of the stairs when she looked into her husband's office, only to notice the corridor's floor was empty. Unable to grasp what her eyes showed her, she moved closer, trying and failing to see Gibbs’s body.
Her blood went cold at the realization that the horrible man was alive. Her mind went blank! She couldn't remember where she had left her rifle and looked around frantically, trying to find something to protect herself and Michael. Running to the kitchen, she grabbed the first knife she found and went back to the leaving room.
That man could only be upstairs, and there was absolutely no way she would allow him to take her son away. Not again. Steeling herself, she went back to the second floor, holding the knife in front of her.
Antonia noticed a small trail of blood on the second floor, leading to her son's bedroom. The house was completely quiet except for her footsteps resounding trough the wooden floors. All that silence made her realize how much she had lost already, Robert wasn't there to support and love her. There was no one, no one but Michael. She needed to remain strong for her son!
She opened bedroom’s door afraid of hat she would find inside. The lights had been turned off and she couldn’t see anything, what forced her to enter the room and look for the light switch. She passed the knife to her left hand and pressed her right hand to the wall, trying to find lightswitch.
She was shaking; her heart was beating fast on her chest, her eyes wide with panic. She cried in relieve the minute she turned the lights on and saw Michael sleeping on his bed. Sobbing uncontrollably, she missed Gibbs coming from behind her, by the time she noticed the barrel of a gun close to her head and the safety being turned off, the ex Gunnery Sergeant was calmly ordering “Drop the knife. It's over.”
She turned around and saw the man, bleeding from his left arm and leaning on the bedroom's door for support. The knife waved in her left hand while she weighted her opponent and her options. Staring in those hard blue eyes, so different from her husband’s and son’s, she concluded she had very little to loose.
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Gibbs hid in one the other rooms, hoping to stop the insane woman the minute she showed up to check on Tony. He saw her following his bloody trail and enter the bedroom. Saw her despair and heard her cry.
By the time he went back to the room he was feeling dizzy and nauseated by the blood loss and knew he only had two options: convince her to surrender or shoot her. He wasn't sure which exit Antonia Atwood would choose, but he would be prepared.
When Antonia finally turned around to face him, he saw an array of emotions swimming in her eyes. Tears stroke down her face and her hand shook, making the knife move a few inches at every second. The woman was at the end of her game and he wondered how close he had been , to being on her shoes when Kelly died.
Gibbs vision blurred a little â€" from blood loss or suppressed tears, he would never know â€" and in the next moment Antonia made her decision. She launched herself against him, the knife pointing to his jugular. A shot was fired and the woman flew back. Blood seeping to the floor, the knife slid trough the floor and came to a halting stop at Gibbs feet. He looked it, trying to understand what exactly happened while swaying at the bedroom's door.
Tony moaned and shifted in the bed, gaining Gibbs attention. He came closer to the bed and held the young man's hand. He sat like that waiting for his team to arrive, whispering to Tony that it was over, that everything was going to be alright, trying very hard to convince himself.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
I'd like to thank my wonderful beta reader Selene for her hard work!
I'd like to thank my wonderful beta reader Selene for her hard work!