"Missing In Action, Pt. 6"
In The Skies Of Colombia...
Tony and the man sat in the cockpit of a small airplane.
"So, when do I get my money?" the man asked.
Tony looked out out the cockpit window, and looked around.
"When we get there." Tony said, over the noise of the plane's engine.
"Well my friend, we're getting close." the man said, with a grin.
Tony nodded, and then unbuckled his seat belt, and headed into the back of the plane.
"Where are you going?" the man asked.
Tony turned back, briefly, and leaned close.
"To get ready." he replied.
............
In the back of the small plane Tony pulled a parachute down off of the rack, and set to work strapping himself into it.
A few minutes passed and then the man yelled to Tony from the front of the plane.
"We're her, my friend." the man yelled to Tony.
Tony walked back up to the front of the plane.
"Here." he said, as he handed the man an envelope.
"Don't open it till you get back on the ground, alright?" Tony said, as he turned and headed back for the back of the small plane.
He counted to ten (quickly), and then pulled the release lever and shoved the door of the plane open.
Almost instantly Tony found himself sucked out of the plane, and out into the open air.
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Open Air/Colombian Skies...
Over The Forest/Mountain Area...
Tony found himself in free fall tightly clutching the straps of his parachute.
He hadn't done anything like this since that first official case he worked with Kate.
It took everything he had in him, just about, to keep from passing out.
Once he finally reached a safe distance from the plane he reached over and gave the chute's rip cord a hard yank.
The chute opened immediately, filling with air, and jerking him upwards slowing his descent.
After what felt, to Tony, like forever.
He could finally see the ground rapidly coming up to meet him.
He quickly realized that he was heading into a thick pocket of trees instead of the clearing he'd planned on landing in.
He tried to swerve to miss the trees, but to no avail. He tumbled through the tree tops until his chute finally snagged on a strong tree branch.
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Colombian Forest/Mountain Area...
Tony dangled, almost helplessly, from the tree branch by his chute. By his best estimation he was probably no more than 45-50 feet from the ground.
He had sustained a few minor cuts and bruises to his hands and arms, and maybe also one bruise to his left side, but other than that he was relatively fine.
"Well, at least its got a great view." Tony muttered to himself, as he looked around his surroundings.
He craned his neck upwards trying to see just how badly hung his chute really was.
He pulled with all of his body weight, jerking and twisting from side to side, trying to free the chute from the hold of the tree branch.
"Come on." Tony growled, as he fought against the snagged parachute.
Suddenly he heard a sound. He wasn't sure if it was a sound made by one of the local wildlife or if it was man made.
What he did know, for sure, was that it definitely was not safe for him to keep dangling around the way he was for to much longer.
He took one last look around, carefully judging distances, before he made his next move.
He wiggled his hand around the tight space between the parachute harness and his belt buckle.
"Rule number 9." Tony said, to himself, as he freed the secretly hidden knife from his belt buckle. "Never go anywhere..." he began, as he raised the knife up to the parachute cords above him.
He began to slash at the parachute cables that were keeping him tethered to the tree/limbs.
"...Without a kni-" just before he could finish his sentence, the last of the cables snapped as his knife cut through it, and Tony was sent sprawling downwards towards the ground.
He covered his face to protect it as he tumbled over the first of the branches that were in his way.
He knew the ground would be just a matter of seconds away.
At the last possible moment he through his arms up over his head. His right hand managing to grasp a hold of a passing branch.
It was only for a few seconds though, but it was enough to slow his fall enough to keep him from smashing into the ground beneath him.
He lost his grip on the branch and finished the last 15 feet or so of the fall to the ground, managing to roll (sort of) into a ball to weaken the force of impact on his body.
After a moment or so, he pulled himself up and brushed himself off.
By now he felt like he had made the bruise on his left side worse, and also that he'd added on a few more cuts and bruises. He even felt a slight bruise forming on the side of his head.
"This keeps us, and Vance'll have to send someone to rescue both of us." Tony said, aloud, to himself, as he took a moment to look around.
Uh oh. There was that sound again. He had to get moving, and quickly.
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Colombian Forest/Mountain Area...
After he'd traveled a very good distance Tony stopped to check his bearings/surroundings.
"The shack should be close by...somewhere." He said, as his eyes darted over the thickets of foliage that surrounded him.
Finally his eyes landed on something not too far away from where he was standing.
He cautiously made his way through the foliage until he was close enough to make out the small cabin/hut.
He did a quick recon of the area before he actually made his way over to the cabin/hut.
He opened the small, fragile door of the cabin/hut slowly, and his eyes almost instantly fell upon the deceased and decaying body of the man, Raul, that Gibbs had been staying with.
The odor that followed the sight of the dead man's body was enough, Tony felt, to knock out even the toughest man.
He quickly closed the door back, deciding that there was nothing more he could do here/there at that point.
He gave the area a one last final once over searching for any sign that would point the way that Gibbs had ultimately gone (in).
He took another quick look at the small slip of paper again, and then slid it back into his back pocket.
He used the sun, which was steadily climbing higher and higher into the sky overhead, and his wrist watch to plot the points of a compass relative to his current position.
According to what Intel he had to go on, Gibbs was supposed to have gone South, but Tony's gut said 'go North'. And so he did.
.........
Another couple of hours passed as Tony, soaked in sweat, made his way through the dense foliage.
It wasn't long until something glistening in the sunlight (slightly) caught his eye. He made his way over in the direction of the glare.
He found himself in front of a medium-sized tree/tree trunk. At the base of the tree he discovered a knife.
He raised up to his face, and studied it for a moment.
He recognized it as being Gibbs' favorite knife. He quickly tucked it away into his pocket, and then stood back up...and then thats when he saw it.
The carving in the tree/tree trunk.
Two separate items were carved into the tree/tree trunk.
The word 'Todd', and the letter X--which weirdly enough was drawn in a weird/funny fashion.
At first Tony was thrown for a loop, but then after a few seconds he realized what it meant.
It had been carved into the tree/tree trunk by Gibbs with his own knife.
"He was leaving a message." Tony muttered, to himself.
Tony ran his hand over the carving.
"Todd...Kate." Tony muttered. "He was using Kate's last name as some sort of password." Tony mused, to himself.
"Which means that the 'X', stands for the old extraction point." He added, thinking aloud.
Suddenly a thought occurred to him.
"He remembers." Tony thought, aloud.
Suddenly a sound from behind him, startled Tony.
Tony reached for his holstered weapon, and tried to spin in the direction of the sound.
But before he got too far, he suddenly felt a sharp pain, as if someone had just struck him in the back of the head with something quite hard.
And then all went black.
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.........To Be Continued In "Missing In Action, Pt. 7".........
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony parachutes into the danger zone, and begins to search for Gibbs...but what if Cota's men find HIM first...
Chapter End Notes:
F.Y.I. For those of you who've already read the first four chapters, just to let you guys know--I have made some revisions on the previous four chapters so you may want to quickly review back over them just to make sure you don't get lost in this chapter or any future chapters...Enjoy and God Bless!!!