Disclaimer: NCIS and its characters do not belong to me and I am making no money from this.

Thanks to Mr VP for the Beta, any remaining mistakes are mine.

Missing scene from Hung Out to Dry.


The change was sudden and overwhelming. One moment he was assisting in bringing in a murder suspect, the next he was falling out of a plane flying at 12,000 feet. For a second or two his senses couldn't keep up but, gradually sensations began to sink in. It was cold, the air rushing past damp on his face and hands, he could no longer see the plane but the ground was approaching quickly. Finally his brain realised his situation and he fumbled for the ripcord of the parachute, desperately trying to remember anything from his one brief lesson. This wasn't quite how he'd planned to take his first jump.

Tony would have sighed with relief as the air filled the chute above his head if he hadn't been struggling to breathe at the sudden jerk on his shoulders. Counting slowly he willed himself not to panic, frantically searching the ground below for somewhere safe to land. The jump master had been close to sending the stick off and the pilot would no doubt have contacted the recovery team. All he had to do was land in one piece. Hands on the helmet, feet together and roll, he repeated to himself scanning the ground as best he could in the poor light.

Unfortunately there was no large x to mark the spot, the marines were to have landed in a lighted area but he wasn't actually meant to have jumped in the first place. Being pushed hadn't been part of the plan either come to that. Tony looked down for anything that looked like a well lit landing site but he really had no idea how far away he should be looking or whether the wind was strong enough to blow him off course or not.

He seemed to be over an area of forest, he could see the darker areas covered by trees. This was not good; he didn't fancy getting caught in one of those. Away to his right he could see a series of lights that could be a small settlement. Better than a forest he reasoned and attempted to veer himself in that direction. He had some success, largely, he thought, due to the wind gusting as he got nearer the ground. Either way he thought he might clear the forest and the lights were becoming more intermittent too. So much for trying to steer himself, he'd had no idea how much affect the wind would have.

Looking down again Tony was startled to realise how much closer the ground had become. He quickly ran through the landing procedure again in his mind, not sure whether to let go of the parachute lines to hold his helmet or not, somehow they seemed too much like a lifeline to want to let go. In the end he did neither, unused to judging distances from above he fumbled his landing. The fact that he had come down in the middle of what had to be the rockiest field he had ever seen didn't help either. He was dragged for several bruising yards before he managed to finally reel the chute in and hold it close to his chest.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief Tony lay on the ground catching his breath for several minutes before taking stock. The lights had disappeared and, he suddenly realised, it had started to rain. Sitting up he yelped as a shooting pain went through his right knee forcing him back onto his elbows as he caught his breath. Dammit, just what he needed. The rain was coming down heavily now and he had no real idea how far he was from civilisation. Sure he was wearing a tracker but sitting here getting wet didn't seem the thing to do. Botching the landing was one thing but waiting helplessly wouldn't do NCIS' reputation any good. Sighing he bundled up the chute as he'd been shown and shoved it as best he could into the bag. Losing expensive military equipment wouldn't go down too well either.

When he'd finished Tony felt his knee carefully, it was swelling nicely. Wonderful, he thought sarcastically, at least the rain would help to keep it cool. Gritting his teeth he headed towards where he had seen the lights figuring that if they'd tracked him on his way down they would come fetch him by road. He had no idea how far from the jump site he would have landed given that he'd left the plane after the scheduled jump time. It had been pretty cool though, sprained knee notwithstanding, he wouldn't mind trying it again.

Could do without the rain though, he decided as it became a full blown deluge, forcing cold drops down the back of his neck and leaving him soaking wet and shivering. The cloud cover was all but complete, blocking out the moon and taking away the little light he had. Standing he turned around slowly, making sure to mark the direction he'd been heading with his bag. It was nearly impossible to see now; he was going to end up running around in circles or falling into a ditch. Resignedly Tony sat down on top of the pack, carefully angling his legs in the path of the lights. He was soaked to the skin, beginning to shiver constantly and his knee was distinctly uncomfortable but, all in all, it had been a good day. They had nailed Dafelmair for Sergeant Fuentes' murder. He wouldn't be seeing the outside of Leavenworth again for many years. On a lighter note he had been able to try something he'd wanted to do for a long time and, despite his present circumstances, would love to do again.

Turning his back to the wind as best he could Tony smiled as a pair of lights appeared in the distance, making their way steadily towards him. Pushing himself to his feet he felt for the torch in his pack and began sweeping it in an arc until he was sure he could be seen in the headlights of the truck. Yes, it had been a good day.

Disclaimer: NCIS and its characters do not belong to me and I am making no money from this.

Thanks to Mr VP for the Beta, any remaining mistakes are mine

AN: I had thought that this was completed but thanks to Shirik and Bailey the plot bunnies have been stirring. I hope that you like the result.

Tony swung the torch in a lazy arc, grateful for the slight warmth the movement produced. The rain was sheeting down and he watched the approaching lights with relief. The truck was bouncing over the rocky ground and he could just make out the engine noise over the wind in his ears. Once he was sure they had seen him he lowered the torch until it rested against his chest and waited patiently. Minutes later the vehicle was drawing to a halt in front of him. His view was largely blocked by the lights in his eyes and he held a hand in front of his face to shield them.

"Hey," he began, getting to his feet carefully, his knee was really beginning to stiffen up. "I'm glad to see you."

Silence. Frowning Tony limped forwards, raising his voice to carry over the howling of the wind. "Hey. Hello. I'm sorry I'm," he stopped, a chill that had nothing to do with the weather spreading over him. He was looking into the business end of a sub machine gun which was being held rock steady despite the conditions. Masking his surprise with the practise borne of years of undercover work he raised his eyes from the gun and looked steadily up at its owner. The face was in deep shadow only the machine gun reflecting the light from the headlights. Behind the figure Tony could make out two more people, probably male judging from the height and build. He stood still and waited, reflecting that perhaps it wasn't such a good day after all.

Finally one of the figures behind the gunman came forward, shining a bright light directly into Tony's eyes. Looking down to try and refocus his vision DiNozzo could just make out the pistol in the second man's hand. When he spoke it was with a slight accent.

"On the ground, lie down and put your hands on your head."

The gesture with the pistol was unambiguous and Tony did as he was told, slowly and carefully, listening intently to the whispered voices nearer the truck. He gave no indication that he had heard however, nor that he had understood the softly spoken Spanish. It explained the accent.

He waited as his pack was picked up and the contents quickly examined, left discarded in a heap on the ground. Clearly this was not the ground crew that he was expecting but these goons had been expecting someone and he was beginning to get a pretty good idea who. Unfortunately, if he was right his own prospects didn't look too good.

Tony lay still as the man went back behind the headlights. He could feel eyes on him, making his skin crawl and he strained his ears for any further snippets of information. He caught the name Paul but presumably that referred to Dafelmair. These guys all spoke Spanish like natives but, although he understood every word he was hampered by the noise of the truck, it wasn't running smoothly he noticed, filing the information away for later use.

Minutes passed and he was acutely aware of the rocky ground beneath him, something hard was digging into his cheek and the rain was still pounding mercilessly on his back. Cautiously he tried moving a hand down from his head into the shadow of his body, if he could just crawl away into the darkness perhaps they would leave without him. The voices behind him were becoming heated and more words were audible. Abruptly he stilled his movement, listening intently. This was definitely a drug drop. Dafelmair was part of a much bigger operation than they had realised. The figures he had just heard mentioned were huge but surely he couldn't have been planning on picking up such a large quantity of drugs tonight? He could perhaps have disabled his tracker to give him more time before being found, especially if he had managed to get away from the rest of the stick. He couldn't have done that before leaving the plane though, it would have been noticed. Tony's mind raced as he tried to put the pieces together. The voices had quieted somewhat but not before he heard them talking about him. He could feel their eyes on him again. It was him they were arguing over, what to do with him.

Where the hell were the recovery team? He hadn't disabled his tracker.

He froze as the voices stopped and the light began moving towards him again. He would have to try and bluff his way out he reasoned. He'd always been good at talking after all. They didn't know that he had heard them or if he had that he had understood them. There was the slight problem of being held at gunpoint. Tony shivered as he realised that his survival didn't just depend on his skill with words, his captors had to come up with a plausible reason for holding him captive at gunpoint. Either that or they could just shoot him. He was about to find out which way the argument had gone.

The voice, when it came, was soft and Tony held his breath waiting for the bullet. The vicious kick to his side caught him by surprise and he grunted in pain as he felt a rib give under the impact.

"Hey," he protested, when he could get his breath. "What was that for?"

His answer was another kick to his side followed by one to his knee. He couldn't help it, he yelled with the pain caused to his already damaged limb, rolling over and curling instinctively into himself.

"That was to warn you off," the harsh voice sent chills along Tony's spine. "Strangers aren't welcome here Mister, you keep the hell off our land." The Spaniard landed another brutal kick to Tony's knee, laughing at the pain he caused and marched back to the truck. DiNozzo felt weak with relief, despite the pain, he had survived, they hadn't realised that he knew what they were up to. He waited until his assailant was behind the wheel then he snatched the tracker off the front of his flight suit and, taking a steadying breath, pitched it into the back of the truck, praying that he wouldn't be seen in the shadows.

His luck held and the truck drove steadily away, not hurrying, into the darkness.

Tony sagged back against the ground relief and shock combining to leave him weak and exhausted. He gave himself a couple of minutes and then took stock. He was alone now, completely. Without his tracker he would have to make his own way out of here and soon. He certainly didn't want to chance still being here if the Spaniards came back. They would be searching for Dafelmair and would hopefully soon be finding themselves on the receiving end of a nasty surprise. DiNozzo smiled to himself, he had no doubt that the marines would be more than a match for the drug traffickers prepared or not. He, on the other hand, could not chance another meeting with them.

Sighing, he pushed himself to his feet, grateful that the moon was at last beginning to break through the cloud. He headed in the opposite direction to the drug runners and began to make his way across the rocky field. It was slow going, his knee was all but useless and his ribs hurt like hell. Twice he overbalanced and fell heavily until he came to a small copse of trees and was able to find a sturdy branch to use as a crutch. He willed himself on, praying that he wasn't going round in circles, searching for any sign of life.

After an eternity the rain eased to a slight drizzle but the wind was a constant trial, whipping loose debris into a frenzy to beat against his huddled body. Moving became a torment but not moving was a luxury he couldn't afford. He was dangerously cold, his battered body threatening to go into shock and then there were the drug runners to consider. Looking at the moon Tony estimated the time to be well past midnight, they had been expected to jump at 21.00 so that should mean that he had been on the ground for approximately four hours. Gibbs should have landed long ago and the recovery team ought to have caught up with the Spaniards by now, as long as his tracker had stayed in the truck. Cheered he went on with renewed vigour and was finally rewarded with the sight of a pale light in the distance.

Disclaimer: NCIS and its characters do not belong to me and I am making no money from this.

Thanks to Mr VP for the Beta, any remaining mistakes are mine

Many thanks for the reviews, this chapter is a little shorter than I'd like but is the right place to stop, more soon I promise.


Not wanting to be caught out again Tony approached the light carefully, fully aware that there were unlikely to be many lights around at this hour of the morning. As he drew nearer he slowed his pace and watched carefully, he was still too far away to hear anything over the wind but his patience was rewarded as a shadowy figure crossed in front of the light, moving deliberately. Another light appeared briefly revealing the figure again before both disappeared from sight. Tony breathed a little more easily. A door had just been opened and the figure had gone inside.

Taking a deep breath he eased his aching body down the slight slope towards the light. As he reached the end of the field he realised that he could make out the door outlined by the light inside. He looked away from the sight and tried to make out more details. He had reached a dirt track and the ground beneath his feet was now rutted earth rather than the stubble he had been stumbling over for so long. He could see none of this however; his knowledge came entirely from feel. Looking closely to the right and left of the doorway he could just make out a deeper shadow indicating a large building. Perhaps a barn he surmised. It would make sense that there would be farms around here.

Tony let his eyes travel past the buildings but couldn't make much out, the moon had been obscured again and the air threatened more rain. Involuntarily he shivered, his body reminding him that he needed to make a decision on whether to approach the farm or not. A sudden wind squall made his mind up for him and he made his way as quietly as he could towards the barn, picking his way carefully over the uneven ground.

Halfway there he froze as his sensitive hearing picked up the sound of voices, something about the lilt disturbed him although he couldn't make out any actual words. Cursing as he realised what was bothering him Tony turned and began to make his way back towards the field only to freeze again as a softly accented voice spoke from barely a few feet away.

"Can I help you?"

The words were polite but the menace behind them was clear and DiNozzo froze again in place cursing his bad luck. Where the hell was the recovery team? The tracker must have fallen out of the truck he realised as he turned slowly to once again face the Spaniard who had warned him off earlier.

"Look Mister," he began, preparing to bluff his way out. "I'm just trying to get home, the rest of my stick should be around here and coming for me any time now, we all jumped at the same time."

"You are a long way from where you should have landed."

The Spaniard's voice was cold and Tony felt his heart sink, the man wasn't even trying to pretend any more which meant that his chances of surviving the night had just plummeted. Thinking quickly he said, "Dafelmair's not coming, the cops got him. Some guy called Gibbs, Navy cop."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" the sound of a gun cocking near his ear was unmistakable.

"Look Man, you didn't exactly give me a chance now did you," Tony put just the right amount of desperation into his voice, his years of undercover training giving his words a ring of truth. Not that feeling desperate was far from the truth right now. "I been watching him," he continued. "I figured out what he was up to, thought maybe I'd take his place." He held his breath, hardly daring to breathe. Now it all depended on how integral Dafelmair had been to their plans and whether they could manage short term without him or not.

The silence stretched interminably but Tony fought the urge to fidget, the man behind him had a gun and wasn't afraid to use it. Finally the quiet voice spoke again. "You know too much," he said simply and pushed hard at DiNozzo's back causing him to stumble and fall as his knee gave out. "Get up," the voice came again. "You have bought yourself a few more hours and then, we shall see."

Drawing in a deep breath Tony forced himself up again to his feet and limped slowly towards the barn door. Once inside he squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light. The truck from before was parked in the centre of the space and three other men were loading it up with crates. Again he wondered just what exactly Dafelmair had been intending to do had he made the drop. He certainly couldn't have hidden a fraction of what was here. Surreptitiously he took in the details of the barn with a practised eye. There was another exit to the rear, large double doors that must have been used for the truck. The space above their heads was stacked with hay which smelled fresh, the farm had certainly been used until recently at least. The usual farm implements were neatly hung on the wall to his right making it less than surprising when he was dragged over to the wall on his left. A gesture from his captor had one of the men running over with a coil of rope in his hands.

"Hey," Tony protested, figuring it would be expected of him. "I'm here to help you, there's no need for this."

"Maybe, maybe not," the reply came in the same softly accented voice. "In the meantime, better safe than sorry eh?"

DiNozzo allowed himself to be tied without further complaint, he knew better than to push his luck too far. He let his eyes drift towards the rear of the truck, praying that the tracker was still there, it was small after all and he was sure that he had seen it land towards the back. Maybe it was still there. If so, he thought again, where the hell were the recovery team?

Disclaimer: NCIS and its characters do not belong to me and I am making no money from this.

Thanks to Mr VP for the Beta, any remaining mistakes are mine

This is the end this time! Thank you for reading, I hope that you enjoy this chapter.

Gibbs paced the operations centre, his patience wearing very thin. Still in his combat fatigues he was waiting for a report from the recovery team that had been sent out to find DiNozzo. He had landed back at base over an hour ago with the rest of the squadron. Kate and he had processed the paperwork on Dafelmair and he was currently being held in a holding cell on the base until DiNozzo had been recovered. Gibbs wasn't about to leave one of his own behind.

Defelmair had had to be segregated from his former team mates once they realised that he had killed Fuentes. If he sported a few more bruises than when he had set out Gibbs was not of a mind to care. He pushed away the thought that the man may also have been responsible for the loss of his agent, that was not a path he wanted to follow.

"Have you got a fix on his tracker yet?" Gibbs voice was dangerously quiet to those who knew him, unfortunately for the operator he didn't know Gibbs at all and didn't know to be wary.

"Not yet Sir, the storm is causing interference."

"You do realise that Agent DiNozzo has never jumped before and just may have got into trouble," Gibbs voice remained silky smooth and Kate stepped over before the hapless operator landed himself in trouble.

"Perhaps we could have Abby tracking it as well Gibbs," she suggested. "I'll get on it," she hastily continued at his look, quickly getting the frequencies from the operator and calling the lab tech.

Tense minutes later Gibb's cell rang and he whipped it up to his ear. "Gibbs," he listened intently for a moment before continuing. "Good work Abbs, patch it through here." He closed the cell even as he looked over at the marine operator.

The man nodded silently, wisely refraining from commenting on the success of NCIS over his own work. "Got it Sir," he said moments later and indicated the plasma screen on the wall which was now showing an interactive map of the area.

"How far?" Gibbs asked brusquely.

"A couple of hours by road Sir," the man offered, shrinking back in his seat at being the bearer of bad news.

Gibbs looked at him blankly for a moment before barking out. "Get me Captain Faul."

"Can I help you Agent Gibbs?" the man in question chose that moment to enter the room. "Are we any closer to finding Agent DiNozzo?"

"We have a fix on the tracker, finally." Gibbs' look would have frozen water. "We need a helo to get there quickly."

"Now come on," the Captain began but Gibbs interrupted before he could even get started.

"Captain, my agent has never jumped before and has now been out of contact for nearly four hours. Couple that with the fact that one of your men was fronting a drug running operation and has already been responsible for the death of a fine marine. My gut is telling me that time is running out."

Captain Faul backed up slightly at the tirade; he knew an immovable force when he met one. Deciding that perhaps the man had a valid point he ordered the helicopter to lift off ASAP and silently asked Gibbs if he wanted to accompany the flight. He wasn't remotely surprised when the man practically marched out of the door.

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Gibbs sat back in his seat and collected his thoughts. He had never had any trouble thinking during a flight, despite the noise. It felt better to be doing something; his gut was telling him that DiNozzo was in trouble. He hated that it had taken them so long to pick up a signal. He had an agent down there, one of his team, alone in the dark, possibly injured, way off the expected flight path and to top it all off the weather was filthy. He had no doubts about DiNozzo's ability to look after himself under normal and indeed many abnormal circumstances. The man was an excellent undercover operative; he could assume a new personality at the drop of a hat. Gibbs smiled slightly, who was he kidding, Tony masked his personality every day, gave everyone what they expected to see but behind the mask lay an intelligent, sensitive and insecure personality. One who meant a great deal to him and one he would get back.

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Tony rolled his shoulders trying to ease the sharp ache between his shoulder blades. The ropes binding his hands behind his back were tight and biting into his skin. He tried, surreptitiously to loosen them as he watched the activity in front of him. Three of the men continued to load the truck with boxes that had been concealed in the hayloft while his original captor kept a close watch on him, his gun held loosely in his hand. Outside Tony could hear the rain falling again, drumming on the roof of the barn, the cavernous space making the sounds echo slightly.

Casting his eyes upwards he could make out two more boxes but the rest of the shadowy space seemed to be filled with hay. He shivered, his wet clothes clinging to him in the cold air. Time was running out, he could almost see the cogs turning in the Spaniard's head as he tried to decide whether it was worth the risk to trust his captive or not. It looked as though Dafelmair had been working alone at the base so they would need a contact there to continue the distribution. If they did trust him it could be worth staying undercover for a bit to try and bust more of the chain. That was fraught with problems though as all of Dafelmair's unit and many other marines had seen him during the investigation. DiNozzo looked over at his captor again, knowing, in his heart of hearts, that he was only deluding himself. It was easier to imagine going undercover than to think about what was most likely going to happen to him just as soon as the boxes had all been stowed. This time when he shivered it wasn't from the cold.

Five minutes later the last box was secured in the truck and the door slammed and locked in place. The three men got on board and looked expectantly at their leader. The Spaniard turned towards DiNozzo with a quiet smile and raised his weapon. Tony locked eyes with him, forcing himself to stand upright until the last moment when he figured he would dive to his right towards the pitch fork and at least try to defend himself. He was still watching the Spaniard's eyes for the first hint of movement when the man seemed to wilt in front of him and slip to the ground.

Belatedly he realised that the room was resounding with gunfire and he threw himself down behind the scant protection of a hay bale on the ground. The battle was brief. The drug dealers tried to escape in the truck but quickly found themselves with four flat tyres. With no transport and surrounded by silent marines with semi automatics common sense left them dropping their own weapons and surrendering.

Tony lay quietly letting his heart rate slow down to a breathable level. He tried to roll onto his knees, cursing as first his rib and then his knee protested the move. Strong hands gripped him from behind, freeing the restrictive bonds before helping him gently to his feet.

"You alright DiNozzo?"

Tony turned slowly, smiling at Gibbs, not in the least surprised to see him. "Sure thing Boss," he replied, willing the ex marine to keep a hold of his arm, standing seemed to be taking much more effort than it usually did.

Gibbs obviously realised his problem and silently tightened his grip, sliding his arm beneath the younger man's elbow to offer more support. "You hurt?" he asked quietly.

"Twisted my knee when I landed," DiNozzo risked a half truth. "You should try it Boss," he enthused. "I mean, apart from the getting stranded out in the rain and captured by drug runners bit it was great."

Gibbs smiled, his eyes reflecting his relief. "I look forward to reading your report," he said wryly. "Only you, DiNozzo could land yourself in quite this much trouble in one evening."

"Now, come on Boss that's not fair," Tony protested, wondering just how he was going to explain being captured not once but twice by the same gang. "They were expecting Dafelmair and they mentioned a base in San Fernandez."

"That's good work Tony," Gibbs complemented the younger man, narrowing his eyes as he looked at him more closely. "Where's your tracker?" he asked.

DiNozzo grimaced. "In the back of the truck I think, that's where I threw it."

Shaking his head Gibbs lifted Tony's arm around his shoulders, he could feel the younger man shaking slightly beneath him whether from cold or reaction he wasn't sure. Either way the rest of his story could wait until he was back in the warm. "Come on," he instructed, "there's a helo waiting to take us back to the base. I think we can let Captain Faul look after the details here.

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Tony was quiet during the helicopter ride back to base and Gibbs let him be, he didn't really want a report shouted over headphones anyway. When they arrived he arranged with Captain Faul for a relief team to go out to the farmstead and transport the drug runners back by road. He wanted to get his team back to the Naval Yard and put the case to bed. He also wanted Ducky to take a look at Tony, he hadn't been fooled by the younger man's innocent expression earlier and his continued silence rather than his usual exuberance spoke of exhaustion if nothing else.

By the time they reached the car ready to drive back to headquarters it was nearly 04.00. They had collected Kate and Dafelmair who now both sat quietly in the back and Tony had changed into his own clothes, thankful to be dry for the first time in hours. The young man looked a little grey around the edges and was limping still despite the strapping around his knee. Gibbs had already called Ducky and the ME would be waiting for them when they arrived. Abby, vastly relieved at Tony's safe return, was beginning the work on tracing the roots of the drug running operation. She had sounded her usual breezy self despite the early hour and was starting with the names supplied by Dafelmair and those that DiNozzo had overheard. Gibbs smiled to himself, all in all a good job done, he decided glancing at a subdued Dafelmair in the rear view mirror and across at DiNozzo who appeared to have fallen asleep. Yeah, a good job.


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Tony squirmed under Ducky's gaze, the ME's gently probing fingers had elicited a sharp intake of breath that he had been unable to contain. Mind you, once you got a good look at the bruises covering his chest there really was no way to talk himself out of anything anyway. Not that he wasn't grateful to the elderly physician, he did feel like crap and wanted nothing more than to get to bed and sleep for a week, but Gibbs was standing watching and he hadn't been entirely truthful earlier. He smiled ruefully over at his boss.

"Something you forgot to mention DiNozzo?" the question lacked its usual bite.

Tony tried a smile and his best innocent expression.

This time the "DiNozzo," was more forceful.

"Sorry Boss," he really was too tired and sore to push it. "The guy with the gun thought it would be a good way to warn me off the first time."

"The first time?" Gibbs' voice was taking on a hard edge.

"Um, yeah. They were expecting me; well they were expecting Dafelmair at any rate. I didn't get a chance to say anything; they had me lie on the ground while they had their little chat. Very informative by the way," Tony continued quickly at Gibbs' look. "Anyhow I realised I was going to have to talk my way out but he didn't give me a chance, just kicked me a couple of times and told me to , "Get the hell off my land."

Gibbs shook his head and looked over at Mallard. "Duck?" he asked.

"I'll do an x-ray but I'd say he broke a rib Tony and you have some nasty bruises which will be sore for a while. You were right about your knee though, a sprain which I know you've had before so you know what to do with it. Lie back for a moment while I get the x-ray machine."

DiNozzo did as he was told and waited, he knew what was coming and Gibbs didn't disappoint.

"And the second time DiNozzo?"

Tony smiled over at the older man, he may have sounded like a bear with a sore head but he could see the concern in his eyes. "I waited until they had all got in the truck to go then I threw my tracker into the back and ducked down. I figured they'd get a nasty surprise when you caught up with them." Tony's eyes lit up as he said that and Gibbs smiled with him.

"That left you without any means of contact," he reminded his agent.

"I couldn't just let them get away; I knew you'd find me, even if I had to wait until morning."

Gibbs shook his head, taken aback by the level of trust Tony had shown him. "But you decided to follow them," he began.

"No way Boss," Tony interrupted, "I took off in the other direction, couldn't move that fast the ground was uneven and it was dark so I had to walk for quite a while. Eventually I saw a light, could just see a person open a door. I knew I had to be careful but it was pretty cold by then so I thought I'd just take a look. Guess I got careless," he admitted. "Sorry Boss."

Gibbs shook his head again. "You didn't get careless Tony," he said, "you got unlucky. Thanks to you we have a lead on a much bigger operation than we expected. You did good," he finished simply.

"Thanks Boss." Tony smiled at the rare praise and lay back wearily, content finally, to let his guard down, knowing that Gibbs was there to watch his six.