Tony tried to open his eyes, but without much luck. The anesthesia or what ever he had been given hadn't warren of yet. He managed to open his eyes a little. There was a faint green light around him. Then he closed his eyes again because he thought he was starting to see things because of the drugs. He couldn't be looking at dirt right above him, could he?

Back at the office Kate was going over petty officer Hawks records again. What she was looking for was not clear to her. Anything that could tell her, what happened to her partner. Why Tony went missing from the garage.
Her thought were interrupted by Gibbs entering the bullpen. Kate couldn't tell what it was in Gibbs' eyes, but something was different. Was it anger? Or fear or maybe sadness? Something was definitely wrong.

Kate got up, and walked over to Gibbs' desk, "Nothing in Hawks records indicates any problems. He got along with his shipmates, and the captain even wrote him a really good recommendation. His contract with the navy ends in 3 months". Gibbs didn't once look up from his desk the whole time Kate was talking. Kate was getting frustrated with the whole situation; Gibbs' locked up emotions, her own worries about Tony, and the fact, that they had no idea, why Tony had gone missing. Was he even alive? Or was he hurt badly? The thought of the blood on the pavement send shivers down her spine.

"Why the hell did he take Tony?" Kate blurted out, not being able to hold back her frustration. Gibbs finally look up, and Kate recognized the emotion in his eyes; worry. It was not like the time, Tony went missing with Jeffrey. Back then he knew roughly where Tony was, and why he was missing. But this time they didn't have much to go on. Who had taken Tony, and an even better question, why?

Gibbs stop her thought as he said, "maybe he saw something or someone in the garage. Someone who didn't want to be recognized". It was clear that Gibbs too was puzzled by the situation.
"But why didn't he just kill Tony then? Why take him?" the though of Tony dead made a lump form in Kate's throat.
"That would be my question too. Something about this whole situation seems hinky". Like on cue, the phone rang. It was Abby calling with news from the lab. She and McGee had found something.

This time Tony succeeded in opening his eyes, but the joy didn't last for long. He hadn't been seeing thing the first time around. The faint green light revealed dirt all around him. From what he could tell, he was in some sort of box, make of glass or Plexiglas. His thoughts were still a little slow, and it took him a while to sort things out. Like a chain reaction. Light…dirt…box… and then he realized it; he was under ground in a glass box. He had been buried alive.
All sort of thoughts went thru his mind in a second. How did he get here? And where was here? It took a while, but then he remembered; Oh that car! That beautiful red '84 Camaro Z/28 in perfect condition. But then the rest followed; the pain, the numbness and the feeling of helplessness. Then nothing. His head a little clearer his survival instinct kicked in. How the hell was he going to get out of here? And how long could he keep his growing panic under control?

Abby turned her head as Gibbs and Kate entered the lab. She searched their faces for good news, but found none. She herself had some news, but whether they were good was yet to be decided. McGee sat bended over Hawks' laptop, but stood up, as the others walked in.
"Hey Bossman" Abby greeted his with half a smile.
"What've you got Abs?" Gibbs asked and held out her fourth Caff-pow for the day. The clock was just past 9 p.m. Even with everything that was going on, Gibbs still remembered Abby's addiction to the stuff.
"Well, I tested the blood you found in the garage. I didn't get DNA confirmation yet, but it's AB rhesus negative. And so is Tony, so it's a pretty same bet, that it's Tony's blood. The good news is that there wasn't that much of it. I'm thinking be got whacked on the head, or his head hit the pavement. Head wounds bleed more than others, and whoever took him, would have to have moved him fast". Gibbs didn't like either scenario, but didn't say anything. "What about the syringe we found?" he asked instead. "Well, it's not actually a syringe. It's a bullet from a tranquillizer gun" Abby responded, showing them the object. "A tranquillizer?" Kate asked with a confused look on her face. "Yep, it's work kind of like a syringe. This small container is fired from the gun, and then as it hits the skin this small needle pierces the skin and administers the drugs. It's usually only used on animals". Kate smiled, "then again Tony always saw himself as a stallion, so…" Abby started laughing a little, but Gibbs just gave her a hard stare, "you're using past tense, Kate. Don't". Having realized her mistake, Kate stopped smiling. She couldn't give up hope already. She apologized, and Gibbs turned his attention back to Abby. "What was in it?"
Abby turned back to her old self, and pulled up a piece of paper, "well this is interesting, cause it's really powerful stuff. I found traces of butorphanoltartrat. Yeah try saying three times in a row." Gibbs gave her a hint of a smile, and she continued, "it's a really powerful sedative, primarily used on horses and other large animals." "What would it do to a 180 pound guy?" Gibbs asked. "Depends on the amount contained in the bullet. Enough of this stuff will send you right into cardiac arrest and you're history. But based on the amount in this container, it would have knocked him out for at least a couple of hours." Gibbs nodded. He hated the thought, that they didn't know whether Tony was alive or not. He pushed the thought into the back of his mind, and turned his attention on McGee. "Did you find anything on his computer?" McGee started to get nervous, as he always did, when Gibbs had his eyes on him. "Well, uh Hawks wasn't much of a computer scientist, so it wasn't hard to get into his hard drive". "Get to the point McGee" Gibbs ordered him, his stare ever more piercing, with of course made McGee even more nervous. "Of course, Boss uh Gibbs, sir. I found a lease for a storage facility down town. It was attached to an e-mail he got yesterday from an unknown sender". Gibbs raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, so?" McGee continued, "The massage in the mail says ‘to NCIS'"

Gibbs started pacing the lab, deep in thought. They all waited, none of them dumb enough to disturb him. He started to think out loud, "this doesn't add up! Nobody runs around with a tranquillizer in his back pocket, and then the e-mail. This was planned." Kate looked at him and said, "but why? Why take Tony? There was no connection between him and petty officer Hawks. Tony would have said something, wouldn't he?" Gibbs stopped his walk and looked at her, "unless this isn't about Tony. Could be about NCIS. Or me." Gibbs didn't like that thought. That Tony might be in danger because of him. Gibbs got his thoughts together again, and started planning, "Abby, find out who send that e-mail. Kate, McGee go check out the storageroom. I'm going to talk to Ducky. Call me if you find anything."

Tony started to asses his situation, and his surroundings. As far as he could tell, he wasn't hurt besides the splitting headache and a gash in his temple. A few sore ribs but nothing else. The green light didn't give him much light, so he started to feel his way around the box. The only thing his fingers found was his gun. Tony picked it up brought it up to his face. The last out of this hell. He puched the thought away, and put the gun away. He tried to raise his head but hit his forehead on the glass. He tried to look down to the end of the box, and was choked at what he saw. At the end was a digital clock, and it was counting down. 6:59:36..35..34… Then the first sign of panic set in, and Tony started to frantically beat his fists on the box. "HEEEEELLLP!" but no one seemed to be able to hear him…

"Cause of death: suffocation due to lack of oxygen. How this happened, I'm still not sure. The young sailor has no bruises around the neck or mouth" Ducky explained standing bend over the body. "So nothing new?" Gibbs asked, sounding impatient. "Unfortunately no, his death remains a mystery for the moment. I'm sorry I don't have better news, Jethro. I wish I could give you with something to help you get Anthony back."
Ducky look worried. He'd known Gibbs for years, and knew when something was bothering his old friend. Anthony's disappearance was hard on him. Not only was he his senior field agent and friend (even though Gibbs never said it out loud), but someone had taken him from right under Gibbs' nose. Someone was taunting him. Gibbs gave Ducky a look, Ducky knew to be thank you, and then he turned around to walk out.
"Call me if you solve the mystery" Gibbs said when he almost ran into Palmer. "Oh sorry special agent Gibbs!" Palmer looked up at the man standing in front of him. Gibbs was annoyed, but didn't say anything, and started to walk out again, when Palmer called for him again, "I-I have a package for you uhm agent Gibbs. The mail-guy asked me to give it to you. I think it might be about agent Dinozzo, so I wore gloves." Gibbs held his breath, as he took the package from Palmer, and walked strait to Abby with Ducky on his tail.

Abby carefully took the package Gibbs handed her. "I'll see if I can get some fingerprints of if, but I doubt it. You and Palmer were the only ones who wore gloves, so there's probably a dozen different print here" Gibbs gave her a look, "but I'll try."
Abby started to open the box, and the contents send shivers down their back. The package contained a picture series. It showed Tony lying in the garage in a pool of blood. Gibbs felt his gut tightening up. The next showed Tony, still unconscious in a glass box. But the next picture was the worst. It was the same box, but this time, there was dirt on top. You could still see Tony's face with closed eyes. When Gibbs realized, what was going on in the picture, he slammed his fist in the table and walked away from it.
Ducky closed his eyes for a minute, "My God, Anthony, what have they done to you". Nobody said anything for a minute, until Abby broke the silence. "There's a note on the bottom." She picked it up, and gave it to Gibbs. Gibbs squinted trying to read. Then without a word he gave it back to Abby, who started reading. "It's an obituary" Abby looked up at Gibbs, "For Tony":

Detective Anthony Dinozzo
* July 8th 19734 † March 23rd 2005 at 5:00 a.m.
Died a Coward
Useless
Resting Six Feet Under
May He Rot In Hell!

"We've got 6 hours to find him" Gibbs said grabbing his phone to call Kate.