As he struggled to find his way back to a semi state of awareness, he quickly recognized that fact that he was now bound to a chair instead of lying on the damp ground. Tony slowly opened his eyes, but was greeted by the stale darkness that engulfed the room. He tried to pull against his restraints, but his weakened efforts were met with resistance. A sense of panic was beginning to course through his body as he fought against the desire to cry out in fear. Closing his eyes, he forced his breathing to even out, focusing on the image of Sydney and Sean, taking comfort in the fact that they were watching over him.
“I see you’re finally awake.”
Tony’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Jason Miller’s voice. He muttered a curse at the black void surrounding him that was apparently concealing his captor’s whereabouts. “Show yourself!” he croaked, surprised at the hoarseness of his own voice.
Miller’s laughter began to play in rhythm with the pounding drum circle in his skull. It was then he realized that his enemy wasn’t in the room with him; he was talking to him through an earwig. He was amazed at the resourcefulness of his nemesis; Jason Miller had carefully thought out every detail to his twisted plan. Tony began to rub his ear against his shoulder in an effort to dislodge the device; he had no intention of listening to anything this bastard had to say.
He cried out as the high-pitched sound of feedback sliced through his brain: the pain nearly taking his breath away.
“Not a wise move, Tony,” Miller warned. “I want to make sure you hear every word that I have to say.”
“Kind of hard to hear when you’re busting my frickin’ eardrum.”
“Now, now, Tony; you know that Sydney didn’t approve of that kind of language.”
“I told you not…to even…say her name,” Tony seethed. “You don’t have…the right.”
“Oh but I do, and before long, you will utterly despise the sound of her name.”
“Go to hell.”
Once again, the shrill noise pierced his senses. Tony bit his lip in an effort not to scream; he couldn’t give Miller the satisfaction.
“I never pictured you as the strong, silent type, Tony,” his tormentor mused. “You weren’t that night that you came home and found Sydney’s body; you weren’t so tough when your house was burning to the ground.”
“Shut up,” he growled as continued to ride out the wave of pain that was assaulting his body. His head felt as if it were going to explode; his muscles were protesting the brutal treatment as he was forced to pull against his bindings as he attempted to block out the persistent noise.
“What a snappy comeback.”
The sensation of blood trickling down his chin brought him back to his present reality. Holding his head up, he looked straight ahead as if he were staring into the hate filled eyes of his archenemy. He would not go down without a fight; he would make his family proud.
“Ah, a show of defiance,” Miller observed. “I like it. Too bad I have to break you.”
“Easier said than done.”
“Are you challenging me?”
Tony ignored the attempt at baiting him and closed his eyes. If only he could picture Sydney’s smiling face, he knew that he could live through the torment that Jason Miller could inflict upon him. He had promised her that he would survive and he was not going to break his word to her again.
He heard the sound of footsteps approaching, but his visitor remained silent. “I know you’re there, Miller. I can hear you.”
“Are you so sure it’s me?”
Miller’s voice was still coming through the earwig, but he was convinced that there was someone in the room with him. “Prove to me it’s not.”
“I don’t have to prove anything to you, except that Sydney loved me more that she ever loved you!”
A guttural howl escaped his lips as Tony swore at his rival. His rage was all but consuming him, inhibiting his ability to rationalize and control his actions. He could feel the ropes cutting into his arms and already damaged ankles and feet, but he didn’t care. Hate was driving him over the edge, his injuries no longer a concern to him.
“She never loved you!” Tony roared.
Light shattered the darkness and the sudden brightness nearly blinded him. “Ah, crap,” he muttered.
“Look around you, Tony,” the demented man instructed. “Do you see anybody in the room with you? Do you know that one of the first signs that you’re losing your mind is that you start hearing things?”
Tony slowly looked around the room to discover that it was indeed empty. He knew that Miller would resort to mind tricks and Tony knew that he had to stay on top of his game until Gibbs found him. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the team leader would find him, it was just a matter of when.
“The only thing that I’m hearing is the sound of the bullet that I’m going to put in your brain and the sound of your dead body hitting the ground,” Tony coolly stated.
“Really?” Miller testily inquired. “You must be suffering from a fever, you’re getting delusional.”
“Come down here and face me like a man and you’ll see how delusional I am. Oh wait,” he rasped. “I forgot. You’re not a man. You’re nothing but a coward. Only a coward preys on an innocent woman and child.”
“I am not a coward!” Miller bellowed.
Tony winced as the words reverberated in his mind; he had definitely struck a nerve with his tormentor. He knew that his smart mouthed comebacks would probably end up causing him unbelievable agony, but it felt good to fight back and he was going to hold on to that feeling for as long as possible.
The door to his prison swung open and Miller stormed towards him. He grabbed Tony by the hair and jerked his head back until he was staring into a pair of hate filled eyes. “I am not a coward!” Miller spat. “A coward wouldn’t have the balls to do to you what I’m going to do to you. You will be begging me to kill you.”
“I’ve heard that one before. If losing my family didn’t destroy me, there’s not a whole lot left you can do to me,” Tony informed him.
A feral smile spread across Miller’s face. “We’ll see about that.”
Although his throat and mouth were dry, Tony summoned what little saliva he could and spit in the other man’s face. He knew it wasn’t probably the smartest thing that he had ever done but it certainly made him feel better until Miller backhanded him. Tony slowly raised his head and met Miller’s gaze once again. “That all you got?”
“Not by a long shot.”
Tony watched with interest as Miller began to circle his chair. “Actually Tony, you and I are going to play a little game.”
“Not interested.”
“You don’t have a choice. You see, if you win this game, you’ll get to put that bullet in my brain; if you lose, I get the satisfaction of hearing you curse your beloved’s wife name and begging me to kill you,” Miller glowered.
“You might as well give me the gun now so I can finish you off because this is one game you won’t win.”
Jason Miller’s laughter sent a shiver down his spine. “Such a display of courage for a man who’s about to wish for death.” Miller now stood in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back. “Now that you’re awake, I’ll explain the rules to you.”
Tony refused to avert his gaze; he would not back down from his foe. “I’ve got a few rules of my own you ought to hear. Made them up myself. Well, I didn’t make up all of them; some of them I borrowed.”
Nonplussed by Tony’s outburst, Miller continued with the laws that governed his demented game. “The first rule of my game is that you must stay conscious the entire time; that means no cat naps. With each round, it will become progressively more difficult to do so; if you fall asleep, I automatically win.”
“Did you know that I can sleep with my eyes open?” Tony retorted. “It really came in handy during college, not to mention a few stakeouts.”
The senior agent grunted as Miller rammed an iron fist into his stomach. He clenched his jaw, fighting against the urge not to cry out. When he finally managed to catch his breath; his eyes narrowed as he glared at his tormentor. “Nice one,” he groaned.
“Do I have your attention?” Miller asked, seemingly pleased with himself for inflicting pain on a defenseless man. “I really need you to focus right now, Tony; I want you to know what to expect.”
“I guess I would…have to say…I’m a captive audience.”
Ignoring Tony’s sarcastic remark, Jason continued his soliloquy regarding the agent’s immediate future. “You will be suspended with your arms over your head, your feet on a pressure switch where the slightest movement could possibly detonate an explosion that will send you straight to the pits of hell. If you’re still alive after six hours, we will move on to the next round.”
“If you think that I’m going to…”
“You don’t have a choice.”
With a flick of his wrist, Miller cut the ropes that had bound his hands to the chair. The nerves in his fingers felt as if they were on fire and despite his desire to fight back, he quickly discovered that he couldn’t raise his arms quick enough to fend off the man that he had vowed to kill. Tony grunted when Jason pulled his hands together and cuffed them. His captor then released his feet, obviously not caring that he was reopening some of the wounds Tony had received earlier during his trek through the woods.
Miller shoved him unceremoniously on the floor. “Get up!” he ordered. “Show me how tough you are.”
Tony slowly and painfully got up on his knees; the room was spinning around him forcing him to swallow back the urge to vomit. He couldn’t hold back the cry of pain as Miller pulled him to his feet. Silently cursing his physical weakness, he stumbled behind Jason a few feet until his arms were jerked above his head and the cuffs were attached to a chain.
He felt himself being lifted up towards the ceiling, his arms feeling the unbearable strain. Tony dug his nails into the palm of his hand, fighting against the pain as Miller situated him above a small square platform and then lowered him a few inches until his feet were planted on a cool surface. He heard a click and knew that his weight had managed to arm the explosive device the plate was wired to.
“Are you comfortable?” Miller sneered.
Not trusting his voice to speak, Tony settled for shooting daggers through his opponent as he tried to disguise the agony that was ravaging his body. He was beginning to seriously doubt his ability to stand perfectly still for six hours, especially since he usually couldn’t be still for six seconds. The fact that his feet felt as if they were on fire only served to aggravate his yearning to move about in an effort to stamp out the flames, but he fought the urge with everything within him.
“Now remember,” Jason insisted. “Don’t move and you get to live; I don’t think your Boss will like it if I have to return your body to him in little pieces. Of course, maybe Dr. Mallard would enjoy putting you back together, piece by piece; and your friend, Abby would love to run all those tests to see what kind of explosives were used to blow you apart. Need I go on?”
“I think I get the picture,” Tony replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Good. I’ll be back in a few hours and I do hope that you’ll be here. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to arrange this. For you to die during the first round would be such a let down.”
“Yeah, that would really suck for you.”
Smiling, Miller reached up and lightly patted Tony on the cheek. The agent inhaled sharply, hoping that the action wouldn’t be enough to set off the bomb. He slowly let out his breath as a few seconds passed and he realized that he was still in one piece. The sound of the door closing told him that he was alone and that his survival was in his hands.
He stared straight ahead, knowing that for the next six hours, he was going to have to keep his mind occupied and his body completely still. Six hours seemed like an eternity.
“Can you hear me, Tony?”
Miller’s voice was once again coming through his earwig. He was quickly developing an aversion to the tiny piece of equipment that he had used on more than one occasion; unfortunately, Gibbs wasn’t the on the other end listening and reminding him that the team leader had his six.
“I can hear you,” he answered.
“Good. For the next six hours, you and I are going to get reacquainted; rehash old times and all that stuff that old friends do when they haven’t seen each other in a long time. I might even invite a few friends to watch. I’m looking forward to this.”
“I bet you are.”
Tony attempted to block Miller’s voice and concentrate on the nearly impossible task at hand. The sheer agony that was eating away at him like a cancer was making it difficult for him to focus on anything. His immediate fate involved his being able to stay alive long enough to move to the next level of this sordid game that had been created just for him.
Licking his lips, Tony began to sing the song that he had sung to Sydney on the night he had proposed to her. He certainly hoped that she was looking down on him and smiling; perhaps she was even putting in a good word for him because he truly needed all the help that he could get.
“Someday, when I’m awf’ly low, when the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you and the way you look tonight…”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Gibbs paced like a caged animal as he impatiently waited for Abby to finish running the diagnostics on Tony’s cell phone. His desperation to find DiNozzo was evident in his long, purposeful strides as he silently willed the forensic scientist to work faster. His gut was telling him that time was the one luxury they didn’t have and despite the feverish pace that everyone was working, the team leader feared that he would be too late.
He now stood behind Abby watching her fingers deftly fly across her keyboard. She glanced over her shoulder and sympathetically smiled at him. “Gibbs, I promise I’ll call you when I have something. You wearing a path in my floor is not going to make the results come back any faster,” she reasoned. “I think my babies are immune to your infamous glare.”
“How much longer, Abs?” he wanted to know.
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “But don’t worry, Tony’s tough. He wouldn’t dare die on you. Right?”
“You askin’ or tellin’, Abs?”
Abby shrugged and turned around enveloped Gibbs in a hug. “He’s going to be all right. If he’s not, you…”
The familiar ding indicating that she had found something interrupted their conversation. Gibbs stared at the monitor, waiting for Abby to explain the series of numbers that he was looking at. “Abs?” he prompted.
“There are several calls that came from burn phones, but the calls were placed within a fifteen mile radius of...”
He held up his hand to silence her as he answered his phone. “Gibbs,” he barked.
“Figured it out yet?”
He visibly bristled at the sound of Jason Miller’s voice. Quickly signing to Abby for her to trace the incoming call on his phone, he turned his attention back to Miller. “Figured out what?” the former Marine growled.
A slight pause followed by a fit of maniacal laughter sent a shiver up his spine. Anger ran through Gibbs’ veins like blood. He had no doubt that if Jason Miller was standing in front of him, the team leader wouldn’t think twice about killing him. Gibbs wished he could reach through the phone and snap Miller’s neck; this man didn’t deserve to live and he was determined to make sure that DiNozzo got the justice that he had been denied all those years ago.
“Have you figured out where your agent is?” Miller taunted.
“Do you think I’d honestly tell you how close I am to finding Tony?” the former Marine shot back, knowing he had to keep Miller on the line.
“So, you don’t know where he is. I gave you too much credit, Agent Gibbs.”
“I don’t think you’ve given me enough credit.”
“You’ll just have to prove me wrong,” Miller challenged. “I’m going to patch you in on a live streaming feed so you can see that your boy is still alive. I know what you’re thinking, but you won’t be able to trace it. I’ve learned a few things over the years and I know how to cover my trail. That MIT graduate may eventually figure it out but I don’t think he’s that good.”
“If Tony’s hurt…”
Gibbs was cut off as the line went dead. He looked at Abby in hopes that she was able to trace the call. “Anything?”
“I’m trying, Gibbs. I…”
Their attention was riveted to her plasma screen as Tony’s battered form appeared; he was standing with his arms suspended over his head. Abby and Gibbs exchanged worried glances as they stared in disbelief as Tony stood unmoving. They could hear him singing but could barely make out the words.
“What’s he singing?” Gibbs asked, hoping that Abby could manage to read Tony’s barely moving lips.
“Someday,” she replied. “I love that song! One of my favorite groups remade it and well…”
“Start trying to trace that,” he ordered.
He knew that despite Miller’s claims, that Abby would exhaust every option before admitting defeat. “On it, Bossman!” she exclaimed. “Can I call McGee? He’ll think of it as a challenge, especially when I tell him what Miller said about him.”
“Do it!” he barked. Gibbs took a step closer to the screen, his eyes riveted to Tony’s motionless figure. If it weren’t for the agent’s barely audible singing, the team leader wouldn’t believe him to be alive; he was so…still. “I’m going to find you, DiNozzo,” he whispered. “I swear on Shannon and Kelly’s graves. I’ll find you…”
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. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.