"Missing In Action, Pt. 7"
A Few Hours Later...
Somewhere In/Near The Forest(s)/Moutains of Colombia...
Inside a Shack/Shed of Some Kind...
Tony finally began to come around.
As he slowly began opened his eyes he felt a throbbing pain shooting through his body from his head down to his toes.
He felt as though he'd just been hit by a run away freight train.
He shook his head once or twice to try to clear the fog from his head.
"Wha-what hit me?" he mumbled.
He shook his head again.
As the fog began to lift from his mind he tried to move his hands, and found that they, as well as his feet, had been bound rather tightly.
He looked around trying to get his bearings and figure out where he was, exactly.
From what he could see of his surroundings his best guess would be that he was in some sort of very dimly-lit shack/shed somewhere.
There wasn't much, really, to look at in this particular shack/shed.
The door of the shack/shed opened up and the early/mid-evening sun light poured in.
It was just enough to cause Tony to squint his eyes.
"Watch it with the light, will ya." Tony remarked, as he squinted his eyes to keep from going blind.
The man closed the door behind him.
"I hope my men weren't too rough when they brought you here, Agent DiNozzo."
Tony opened his eyes, but even before he had opened them he already knew the voice that was speaking to him.
"Now there's a voice I've tried to forget." Tony remarked snidely.
Cota gave a chuckle at Tony's wit/humor.
"Unfortunately, Agent DiNozzo, I haven't been able to forget about you." Cota replied.
"Lucky me, hunh?" Tony asked, rhetorically of course.
Cota took a little bit of time to light up a cigar that he pulled out of his coat pocket along with a lighter.
"Could you please not smoke in here, hmm?" Tony said.
Cota chuckled again.
"I trust your stay in Colombia has been a good one so far." Cota said, smoothly.
Tony grinned that crooked grin of his, and gave a slight chuckle as he looked down at his bound feet and wiggled them slightly--shifting his position a little bit.
"Oh yeah, wonderful--just peachy." Tony replied.
"Good." Cota answered. "Good indeed." he added, taking a puff on his cigar.
"I got hand it to ya, though, you're good...but not quite good enough." Tony snickered.
Cota grinned an amused grin.
"Oh. and why do you say that?" Cota asked.
"I mean most villians do hire random thugs to do their dirty work--but you...hunh, you went and hired United States Federal Agents." Tony explained, in that witty and humurous way of his.
"Not bad." he added. "There's just one thing I've gotta know...how much did it cost to get those DEA boys to betray their own country, hmm?" Tony said.
Cota couldn't help himself--he just had to laugh a bit at Tony for that one.
Cota stooped down so that he would be on Tony's level, and would be able to look him in the eyes.
"A breath mint wouldn't kill you ya know." Tony remarked.
Cota chuckle, once again, at Tony's wit and humor.
"I'm not going to ask you why you are here...or where Agent Gibbs is," Cota began, talking quietly, and smoothly. "Because I know that you will not tell me...not yet anyway."
Tony laughed, almost in Cota's face.
"Hah, how about not ever." Tony said.
Cota grinned.
"I have a feeling, my American friend, that you will soon see things from a very different perspective." Cota said, smoothly.
"I don't think so." Tony replied.
"We shall see." Cota replied, with a grin.
Tony grinned right back at Cota.
"For once...we agree." Tony replied, quietly.
Cota stood back up, and turned and walked to the door.
He opened up the door, and walked outside closing the door behind him.
From inside the shack/sehd Tony could hear voices conversing in their native tongue (which wasn't english by the way).
A minute or two later Cota stepped back inside the shack/shed, but this time he was followed by a heavy-set, kind of burly-looking guy.
The man clenched and unclenched his hands which made his knuckles pop, rather loudly.
The door closed behind the two men.
Cota nodded slightly at the burly man who then crossed the floor over to Tony who sat, propped up, against the wall.
"So what do you call this one...Goliath?" Tony remarked.
The man grabbed the ropes that bound Tony's hands, and picked him up and sat him on his feet.
"Thanks big guy, I owe ya one." Tony said.
The burly pulled a knife out of his pocket and used it too cut the ropes from both Tony's hand and his feet.
Tony rubbed his wrists as the burly man undid the ropes around his feet.
As soon as the deed had been done the man righted himself up and looked at Tony as he tossed the ropes aside.
"Thanks...thanks a lot." Tony said.
Tony swung at the burly man trying to catch him off guard, but the burly man caught his fist in mid-air and, twisted his arm around backwards, and then popped Tony, hard, on the back which sent him sprawling across the floor.
"Ow." Tony muttered, as he tried to pick himself up off of the floor.
He rubbed his now sore arm, as he turned back to face the burly man.
"So this is how its gonna go." he said, quietly. "Alright, I'm game."
Tony steadied himself, and then lunged at the burly man who caught Tony in his 'leap', and hurled him away and into the opposing wall.
The burly man then seized the opportunity and pounced on Tony. The burly man threw two punches, and both caught the stunned Tony straight across the jaw--drawing blood.
Then Cota raised a hand to signal the burly man to stop.
The burly man stopepd, as commanded, and stood up and backed away from Tony.
Tony stood up, slowly, and wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
By now he was panting, and kind of had to brace himself against the wall.
Coat stepped forward a little bit.
"Tell me, Agent DiNozzo, how're you feeling?" Cota asked, with a sly grin.
Tony tried to chuckle/laugh, but it came out kind of hoarse and slightly weak.
"If you think that this overgrown ape, is going to make me talk...then you're sadly mistaken." Tony said, smugly.
"Cute...very cute." Cota remarked, as he stepped aside once again.
Cota nodded.
"Juan, if you please." Cota said, with a sly grin and a nod.
The burly man went back to work.
Tony tried to dodge the burly man as he came at him, but Tony wasn't quite fast enough.
The burly man grabbed Tony around the waist, hoisted him up over his head, and then dropped him back down onto the ground.
"Oooh, Aahhh." Tony moaned, as he tried to roll over/away.
The burly man walked towards Tony once again.
"I must warn you, Agent DiNozzo, Juan can keep this up all day...if he has too." Cota said, with a sly grin, as he took another puff off of his cigar.
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The Next Day...
It was mid-morning when Tony awoke from a night spent in agony.
From the tint window in the shack/shed a little bit of light streamed into the room.
Cota ahd brought in a small cot for Tony to sleep on after the brutal beating he had taken that evening.
Tony was badly beaten and brusied from nearly head to toe.
He had one good eye that wasn't swollen almost all the way shut, that he could actually see out of.
He knew it wouldn't be long until the whole process started all over again.
"OOhhh, Aahh." Tony moaned as he tried to turn over onto his back, on the cot.
The big burly man had been assigned to stand guard inside the shed and keep an eye on Tony.
"I'm sure you probably need to pee by now, hunh big guy." Tony said, hoarsely.
The big burly man only grunted.
"Okay, I'll take that as a no." Tony said.
There was a knock at the door.
"Oh, here we go." Tony said, as he rolled his eyes.
The big burly man opened the door and Cota stepped inside, and then he closed the door.
"I trust you slept peacefully last night." Cota remarked, with a smirk.
"Define peacefully." Tony said, smartly.
Cota gave a chuckle.
"Are we going to have to resort to acts of violence this morning, Agent DiNozzo?" Cota asked.
"I don't know," Tony said, as he turned, painfully, to face Cota from the cot. "You tell me."
Cota gave another chuckle, and then nodded to the big burly man.
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Outside The Shack/Shed...
As the big burly man began his assault on Tony, Cota stepped outside of the shack/shed and headed back for the main building for a spot of tea.
Once he was out of sight, Gibbs appeared from around the backside of the shack/shed.
Gibbs stepped up, gun in hand, and tapped on the door.
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Inside The Shack/Shed...
The big burly man had just thrown Tony into the opposite wall.
He grunted, and then turned and crossed the floor to the door.
When he opened the door he was instantly struck in the head with the butt of a sub-machine gun.
Gibbs then grabbed the unconscious burly man, with somewhat of a struggle, and drug him inside the shack/shed.
Tony rolled over, and could hardly believe his eyes.
"Boss." Tony groaned, blinking his eyes once, twice, and then three times to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.
Gibbs turned around after propping the unconscious man up against the wall.
"DiNozzo!?" Gibbs said, startled.
"Boss, it is you." Tony said, hoarsely, with a grin.
"DiNozzo, what the hell are you doin' here?" Gibbs demanded, as he crossed the floor to the younger man's side.
"Nice to see you too, Boss." Tony said, trying to chuckle as the older man helped him up to his feet with his free hand.
Tony found that laughing of any kind hurt--he grabbed his aching ribs every time he tried--even coughing was torture.
The two stood face to face, silently, for a moment or two.
"Y-you look like hell, DiNozzo." Gibbs remarked, quietly.
"Likewise." Tony replied.
"How're you feeling?" Gibbs asked, quietly.
"Just a few cuts and brusies...here and there, but other than that--couldn't be better." Tony replied.
Gibbs grinned, slightly, at Tony.
"And the answer to your other question...I came to rescue you." Tony explained, while Gibbs looked around the shack/shed.
Gibbs found that the burly man he'd knocked out was, indeed, carrying a weapon on his person--a side-arm.
He pulled out the pistol, checked its magazine, and then tossed it to Tony who just barely caught it.
"Some rescue." Gibbs remarked.
"Thanks DiNozzo, for coming to save my life." Tony said, mimicing his boss as best as he could. "You're welcome boss." Tony finished, in his own voice.
Tony almost laughed at his own humor, but a sharp pain shooting through his mid-section stopped him short.
Gibbs couldn't help but grin that trademark grin of his, through his thick scraggly beard of his (of course).
Tony leaned against the wall for suppopt.
"Cota will be back to check on the bug guy's pogress soon." Tony informed Gibbs.
Gibbs peeked out of the one single, small window in the shack/shed.
"Oh, and I almost forgot...the DEA is on Cota's payroll." Tony added.
"Ya think." Gibbs said, sarcastically.
"And you missed Chloe's fourteenth..." Tony started to say, but stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Gibbs giving him the stare.
"But you already knew that, so I'm just gonna shut up, now."
"We need to get you out of here." Gibbs said.
"No offense Boss, but I'm not leaving here without you." Tony informed Gibbs, straightening up.
"And I'm not leaving until Mr. Cota is dealt with." Gibbs replied, as he reached for the door.
"Then I guess that means I'm stayin'." Tony said, as he hobbled towards Gibbs.
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Outside The Shack/Shed...
Gibbs stepped outside the shack/shed, quietly, and checked his surroundings quickly before motioning for Tony to follow.
They closed up the shack/shed behind them, and then snuck away, towards the main compound--which was less than 1/2 a mile down a single dirt road just off to the left of the shack/shed--they used the foliage and brush and undergrowth as cover as they slowly, carefully, and quietly made their way along.
It was about mid-morning at this point.
"So how far are you willin' to go?" Tony asked, quietly.
"Until Cota is no longer a problem." Gibbs replied, quietly, as they moved through the brush.
"You know it won't be long, til they discover that we're missing?" Tony said.
"I know." Gibbs replied.
.........
Not too much time had passed, and Gibbs and Tony were passing by a medium-sized outer-perimenter security house/shack/shed type of building, when they were alerted to an intense amount of movement going on in the area.
"They know." Tony said, quietly.
"Hmmhm." was all that Gibbs said.
Gibbs' eyes darted all around the area, inside their coverage and outside, before he finally made a decision.
Through the dense cover-foliage that they had been hiding amongst, Gibbs spotted a group of men headed from the direction of the main compound, and they were headed towards the medium-sized building nearby.
"As fast as you can, quietly, start moving that way." Gibbs whispered, as he pointed in the direction of the main compound.
Tony nodded as they began to move through the dense foliage.
As they moved onward towards the compound, the closer they got to it the more guards and heavily armed men they seemed to see.
The two of them stopped momentarily in the thickest part of the foliage that they could find.
"There's too many of them." Tony pointed out, quietly. "We'll never get through without getting shot...or worse." he added.
"Okay, then what do you propose we do?" Gibbs asked.
Tony though about it for a moment, silently, trying to decide what tactic would work best here.
Gibbs could tell once Tony had finally come up with brilliant plan, because of the slight, crooked grin he wore across his face.
"Stay here." Tony whispered.
"DiNozzo, what are you doing?" Gibbs whispered, angrily.
Tony turned back to Gibbs, and flashed him a grin that didn't make Gibbs feel to good about what was too come.
"I'm getting us inside...what else." Tony whispered.
Gibbs watched as Tony exited the dense foliage that they had been hiding in, and made himself visible to the nearby security guards and heavily-armed men.
From that point on everything happened way too fast for Gibbs, and the next thing that he knew Tony was being hauled off towards the main compound.
............To Be Continued In "Missing In Action, Pt. 8"............
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony finds himself landed between a rock and a hard place...now who will come to his rescue...
Chapter End Notes:
Sorry guys, yeah I know, it seems like I scrapped it and re-did it (this chapter) but, not really, thanks to my little brother (and my lack of not paying attention) the chapter (as it was) was erased from the server, and I did not even have it backed up on my computer yet...so bare with me because I am going from memory here...