Chapter 3
The first thing that he was aware of was the fact that he was wet, cold and had a killer hangover. It felt like that one night during Spring Break, only without the fun part. He tried to move and found that he was tried to a chair. Damn. This was not good. He tried to figure out how the hell he had managed to get into this one. Slowly he began to remember leaving work, then driving home and then…. Damn… that was where it went fuzzy. After he pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex. He went back to trying to get his hands free only to discover that his hands were cuffed. And not just his hands. His captor had cuffed his ankles to the chair as well.
Then it occurred to him that his only chance of rescue was McGee and Ziva. Great. Now I just know I'm screwed. They didn't have 4 years of experience to rub together. If Gibbs wasn't in Mexico throwing back Coronas with Mike Franks, he wouldn't be worrying. If Gibbs' were still around, he'd probably be out of here by now. He tugged on the cuffs several times in sheer frustration. Crap, Crap, Crap! This was really bad.
He looked around the room. It was small with no windows and only one, very solid looking, steel door. The chair was facing the door and appeared to be bolted to the ground. Damn, these guys are getting smart. What the hell ever happened to dumb criminals?! Then again, a dumb criminal probably wouldn't have been able to get the drop on him. At least, he hoped a dumb criminal wouldn't be able to.
His head hurt like hell and he was barely managing to stay conscious. After a few more minutes he drifted back into oblivion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~He snapped back to reality when he heard footsteps approaching the door. He waited, fully aware that his options were practically non-existent. He was, after all, cuffed to a chair that was bolted to the floor. He also had no idea how long he had been stuck in the room. The door opened and he found himself staring at the business end of what appeared to be an AK 47. Well, good morning to you, too. His eyes traveled from the gun to the man's face. He had to hold back a gasp. It was the one and only Julian Beck. Guess shooting me once wasn't enough for this guy.
"What do you want?" Tony asked, his voice hoarse.
"Your partner." Beck answered simply. Tony gazed at him. "It's really quite simple Detective DiNozzo." Haven't been called that in a while Tony thought. "I want to trade you for Detective Ford, the bastard that ruined my life."
"Wait. You think that Josh and I are still partners?! Well, I got news for you. We aren't. I don't even work in Baltimore anymore. Neither does Josh." Wow, this guy really needed to keep up. Seriously.
"Nice try. I'm not that dumb," Beck smirked.
Tony rolled his eyes. "I haven't worked with Josh for 5 years. How the hell do you expect this to work?!" It was simply amazing how these guys actually thought these sorts of things worked.
"I've already made it perfectly clear to them that if Detective Ford isn't at the meeting place at 9:30 tomorrow night, you die."
"Ah. So you've already called Baltimore PD. Smart. Really brilliant. Only back to the small problem with your plan. The one that involved me not working there anymore."
"Yeah. You're not a cop anymore. That's why you had 2 guns, handcuffs and a badge on you. Uh-hunh."
"Did you even look at that badge?!" This was just stupid now.
"Why bother. I already know you're a Baltimore PD Homicide Detective."
"Okay, let's try this one more time. I. Am. Not. With. Baltimore. PD," Tony said very slowly.
"Alright. Let's say I believe that. Where do you work now?"
Tony debated for a few seconds before "NCIS." Beck probably wouldn't know what it was, anyway. Nobody ever did.
"NCI What?" Bingo.
"NCIS. Stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service." Beck continued to stare at him in confusion. "We're Feds." Beck's expression turned to horror in a matter of seconds.
"You're a… but… oh god." He stood up quickly and exited the room. Tony watched the door close and wondered if the fact that Beck was in over his head was good or not. On one hand, if Beck panicked, he might just let Tony go in hopes of actually getting away. Or he might just decide that it wasn't worth the trouble and shoot Tony. The second option didn't really bear thinking about. But he could always just continue with the plan. Hope to make the trade and get Josh. Yeah. That was going to work out fantastic.
He heard footsteps in the hall outside the door again before the door was thrown open and Beck reappeared, this time with a needle.
"I really don't need you screaming… or escaping," he told him as he approached with the needle.
Escape? Yeah, just how do you expect me to do that. Who do you think I am? Ziva? Houdini? He winced slightly as the needle was shoved into his neck. He began to drift within seconds. Damn. The man has got some good stuff…The door closed as Tony fell back into darkness.
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Chapter End Notes:
Thie chapter is short, yet informative.
Thanks to my wonderful beta VanishingP2000! Any remaining mistakes are my own.
Thanks to my wonderful beta VanishingP2000! Any remaining mistakes are my own.