Title: Innocent Blood
Chapter 3/6 - Phone a friend
Genre (general, hetero or slash) Gen/Action
Pairing/Characters: Ensemble
Disclaimer. I don't own the NCIS characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
Many thanks to FatCat for all her Beta'ing work.
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Previously on NCIS
Jimmy Palmer was found shot in the Parking Garage.
Security monitors revealed that Tony had been the last person to leave around the time of the shooting...but also showed that Abby's former assistant Chip had been with him. Jimmy regained consciousness in hospital and told Ducky that Chip had shot him and taken Tony hostage.
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[Part 03]
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Ducky waited until Jimmy had been whisked away to the OR before rushing outside to call Gibbs on his cell phone. "Jethro, Jimmy told me what happened, it was..."
"Chip," interrupted Gibbs, "He shot Jimmy and abducted Tony."
Ducky looked at the phone with distaste. "I really hate when he does that," he muttered to himself as Gibbs continued.
"How's Jimmy doing? Is he gonna make it?"
Ducky sighed, "His doctor was optimistic. The bullet hit his collarbone, got deflected and lodged in his scapula. They're operating on him now to remove the fragments, but he's lost so much blood, Jethro, it's going to be touch and go."
"Was Jimmy able to tell you anything else, Duck? Anything that would help us find Tony?"
"Something about Chip going back to where it all started. I don't know what he meant, poor lad, he wasn't making much sense at that point what with the blood loss and the pain meds they were pumping into him. He started rambling on about his cell phone and how he had to find it, and then they took him up to the O.R..." Ducky's voice trailed off.
"All right Duck," said Gibbs. "The Doc's at Bethesda know what they're doing. He's in good hands."
"I wish I was as confident as you, Jethro," sighed Ducky. "One of the penalties of an extensive medical education. In any case, I'm going to stay here until he's out of surgery."
"Keep me posted Ducky," said Gibbs, before breaking the connection.
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"Ziva," barked Gibbs as soon as he'd finished talking to Ducky. "Get down to Abby's lab and dig out Jimmy's cell phone from that box of evidence you collected. Then get it messengered over to Ducky at Bethesda."
"Isn't there something more constructive I should be doing?" asked Ziva.
Over at his desk, Tim cringed as Gibbs marched over to Ziva, leaned on her desk and looked her in the eye, saying "Jimmy Palmer is undergoing emergency surgery at Bethesda because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and tried to step in and stop Chip abducting Tony. When he came round in the ER, he could have just kept his mouth shut and saved his strength, but the very first thing he did was try to give Ducky as much information about the situation as he could so that he could help Tony. Now if he wants his damned phone then by God he's going to have it for when he wakes up, do I make myself clear?"
Tim could see that Ziva was visibly shaken as she said, "Yes Gibbs," in a very subdued tone of voice.
"Uh Boss," said Tim, as Gibbs turned away from Ziva's desk. He quailed slightly under the expression on Gibbs's face.
"What is it, McGee?" snapped Gibbs.
"Jimmy's phone isn't with the stuff we collected. We only found the one phone and that was Tony's. Ziva and I swept the entire area but it wasn't there."
Gibbs frowned and for a few seconds, Tim thought he was going to be ordered back to check again.
"Maybe one of the others picked it up. I could phone Jimmy's number and see if somebody answers," volunteered Tim. He picked up his handset, only to have Gibbs take it from him. "Boss?"
"Don't dial the cell phone," said Gibbs. "Have Abby run a GPS search on it." He turned and hurried towards the elevator.
Ziva watched him leave before turning back to Tim, "Isn't that an awful lot of trouble to go to, just to locate a cell phone?"
Tim shrugged as he dialed Abby's extension number.
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"Talk to me, Abby," said Gibbs. "Where's that phone?"
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"Okay, okay," Tony held his hands up in capitulation. "I'll co-operate...just let me check on Jimmy first, and then I'll do what you want."
"No, dammit, leave him there," snapped Chip. "I'm taking you back where all this started and you're gonna pay for ruining my life!"
"I'm the one you've got a beef with, Chi...Charles," said Tony, pushing himself to his feet. "I'm the one who messed up your life...Jimmy hasn't done anything to hurt you...just let me try and help him so he doesn't bleed to death...*please*..."
Chip stayed silent for a few seconds before replying. "Okay...but no funny business or I shoot both of you. And...and take out your gun, cell phone and handcuffs and drop them on the ground first...nice and slowly..."
As soon as Tony had moved away from the items, Chip leaned down and without taking his eye off Tony; he retrieved the gun and cuffs before kicking the cell phone under a nearby car.
Tony crouched down, careful to ensure that his body was blocking Chip's view of Jimmy...just in case the little freak changed his mind about shooting him.
"Hey there, Jimmy," said Tony softly. "How you doing?"
"I...I...it *hurts*..." Jimmy was gasping for breath. His face was pale, and Tony knew that he was going into shock.
Tony grabbed the baseball cap that was still clenched in Jimmy's hand and padded it against the bullet wound applying pressure and making Jimmy groan in pain.
"I know kid, I know it hurts, but you've got to keep the pressure on, otherwise you'll bleed out." He grabbed Jimmy's left hand and held it over the cap. "You just keep holding tight, Jimmy, somebody will be along soon and you're gonna be fine. You hear me?"
Jimmy nodded weakly.
"Hurry up," snapped Chip. "I haven't got all day."
Tony glanced quickly over his shoulder at Chip before looking back at Jimmy and mouthing the word 'phone'.
Jimmy looked at him in confusion until Tony hissed, "Your cell phone...where is it?"
"Left...left pocket," whispered Jimmy.
"Okay kid," said Tony, patting Jimmy reassuringly on his uninjured shoulder. "You just hang in there." As unobtrusively as he could, he slid his hand down Jimmy's side until he reached the pocket. A few seconds later the phone was tucked into Tony's pocket.
"Okay, that's enough time, we gotta get out of here, *now*," said Chip.
Tony rose to his feet, and stepped away from Jimmy, praying silently that somebody would come along soon. The weight of the phone in his pocket was the only comfort he had.
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"It's about five miles from here, moving pretty fast," said Abby. She swung round in her chair and glared at Gibbs accusingly, "How did you know?"
"Palmer told me," said Gibbs, "He wasn't looking for his phone, he wanted *us* to look for it!"
"Good work Abs," he added as he hurried out of the forensics lab.
Abby hunched over on her stool, resting her head on her hands as she watched the GPS tracker flash its way along the map. "We'll get you back Tony, don't worry, Gibbs always gets you back."
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To be continued.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Chip has Tony, but how will the team find him?