Chapter 4
"I got it!" Gibbs stopped his furious tirade that was directed at the Police Chief when he heard Abby's call. He quickly made his way across the room to her.
"Where, Abbs?"
"The call came from a cell phone, belongs to a Julian Beck. The call originated from a cell grid in a Warehouse district in Fairfax, Virginia. That's the best I can do," she told him apologetically.
"Thanks, Abbs," he said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing Ziva's number. "Ziva. We've got a fix on the call. Fairfax. I'll have Abby send you the coordinates." He snapped the phone shut, ending the call in his usual abrupt manner and turned back to Abby. "Stay here."
"Just… find Tony, kay?" She said quietly, looking down, tears in her eyes.
Gibbs kissed her cheek "We will, Abbs. Promise." Gibbs turned and walked out of the Squad room, leaving Abby alone to, once again, sit and wait for news.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tony woke up slowly and it took him a minute to remember where he was. Then he remembered Beck. Damn. He had no idea how long he had been tied to the chair, but it had to be a couple of days, at least. His whole body felt stiff from being in the same position so long and his hands were almost completely numb from the cuffs. His lips were dry and starting to crack. What he wouldn't do for something to drink right now. Hell, he'd even take a drink of Gibbs' coffee. Suddenly the door banged open and Beck entered the room, this time with a baseball bat in his hand. Oh, crap.
"I figured that while I've got you here, I might as well enjoy it." He grinned at Tony before taking a hard swing at Tony's stomach. Tony felt all the air being knocked out of him and he began to cough, trying to draw air. Beck pulled the bat back and swung it again and again until Tony finally lost consciousness.
Sometime later he was woken abruptly when he felt himself being drenched in cold water. "Time to wake up, pretty boy!" Beck said, picking up the bat again. Just as he was about to swing it again, the shrill ringing of a cell phone filled the small room. Beck growled and dropped the bat again and pulled out the phone, glancing at the caller id he turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.
After a minute or so Tony heard the sound of gunfire coming from somewhere in the building. Maybe I didn't give Ziva and McGee enough credit after all. But then Beck burst into the room, gun pointed at Tony. His world exploded in pain as the bullet ripped into his stomach. He cried out in pain, welcoming the darkness.
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Gibbs reached the warehouses just as Ziva pulled up and she and McGee, who looked faintly green, got out. They all pulled out their weapons and separated, Ziva and McGee going to the left and Gibbs to the right. After ten minutes of finding nothing, Gibbs saw a man standing inside one of the warehouses, talking on a cell phone. He quickly moved to the door and kicked it in and entered the room gun first.
"Federal Agent! Put your hands on your head! Now!" he instructed the shell-shocked man, whom he recognized as Beck from the mug shot he had seen. Suddenly he turned and darted out of the room, dodging the bullets that Gibbs sent his way and dropping the cell phone. Gibbs quickly chased after the man, occasionally aiming a round at him as he rounded a corner. Suddenly Gibbs heard a shot coming from up ahead. He rounded the corner, gun raised and saw Beck pointing a gun at an unconscious Tony, who was tied to a chair and bleeding profusely from his abdomen. Gibbs emptied the last two rounds of his clip into Beck's head and rushed to Tony's side and quickly removed the handcuffs. He lowered him to the ground and started applying pressure to the wound. He pulled out his phone and called for an ambulance. He was about to call Ziva and McGee when he heard a low moan.
"Tony? Tony, can you hear me?" he asked gently.
"G-Gibbs?" Tony opened his eyes slightly, and looked up at him in confusion.
"Yeah, Tony, it's me," Gibbs assured him.
"B-Beck?" he asked weakly.
"Dead," Gibbs said simply.
"Josh?"
"What about him? We never found out where he was," Gibbs informed him.
"I kind of… figured you… wouldn't…"
"Why not?" Now Gibbs was curious.
"Long story..." Tony's eyes began to close
"Tony. Stay with me, okay? I need you to stay awake. The paramedics are on their way." The concern in Gibbs' voice made Tony open his eyes again.
"Aw.. Boss, you…do… care," he tried to smile at Gibbs, but it was more of a grimace.
"Ya think, DiNozzo?! Do you really think I came all the way from Mexico because I don't care?" Gibbs rolled his eyes slightly.
"Th-thanks…boss…"
"Anytime, DiNozzo, anytime." Gibbs smiled softly down at him as the paramedics burst into the room.
"What happened?"
"He's been shot and it looks like he was probably beaten with the bat," Gibbs said, jerking his head at the blood-covered Louisville slugger that was lying near the door.
"We need to get him to the hospital ASAP," Gibbs resisted the urge to respond sarcastically to this obvious statement and simply nodded.
Gibbs was pushed aside as the paramedics loaded Tony onto the stretcher. He pulled out his phone again and dialed Ziva.
"Gibbs! Thank god! We heard sirens! What the hell happened?!" She asked the moment the call connected.
"I found Tony and-" but Ziva cut him off.
"Is he okay? Tony I mean."
"Beck shot him and it looks like he might have tortured Tony, too." Gibbs told her.
"That Bastard!" Ziva spat and he could hear McGee questioning her in the background and Ziva shushing him "Did you get him?"
"Yeah. He's dead."
"Good." She paused "Me and McGee will stay here and process the scene. You go with Tony."
"I'll keep you informed." He snapped his phone shut before she could reply.
One of the paramedics approached Gibbs as they prepared to move Tony to the ambulance "Did you want to ride with him?" Gibbs gave a curt nod and followed him out of the warehouse and into the ambulance.
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Chapter End Notes:
Thank you to everyone who for the wonderful reviews. After that last, rather short, chapter I am back with a longer chapter.
I'd just like to say that I haven't been able to update as much as I would like (or, I'm sure, as much as you guys would like me to) because I've been having some major issues with my computer (ie, new hard drive and mother board) and thankfully I had all my story files backed up! But not my most recent versions. So I've been having to go through and change some stuff (not to mention remember where I made the changes.) But I think I've got it sorted out now (mostly). So if there are any contingency issues, it's because I changed something after I sent it to my beta and then I lost the new version because my baby french fried before I had a chance to back up the new versions. Wow. That was a really long explanation. Whoops. Sorry bout that. heh...
Thanks to my wonderful beta VanishingP2000! Any remaining mistakes are mine.
I'd just like to say that I haven't been able to update as much as I would like (or, I'm sure, as much as you guys would like me to) because I've been having some major issues with my computer (ie, new hard drive and mother board) and thankfully I had all my story files backed up! But not my most recent versions. So I've been having to go through and change some stuff (not to mention remember where I made the changes.) But I think I've got it sorted out now (mostly). So if there are any contingency issues, it's because I changed something after I sent it to my beta and then I lost the new version because my baby french fried before I had a chance to back up the new versions. Wow. That was a really long explanation. Whoops. Sorry bout that. heh...
Thanks to my wonderful beta VanishingP2000! Any remaining mistakes are mine.