Chapter Three
Special Agent Gibbs was at his wits end. It had been four days since Tony's cover had been blown. The Mancuso family seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet, along with his missing agent. He knew the odds of finding the younger man alive dropped exponentially with each day, but he refused to give up hope. The Director tried to convince him that Tony was dead, that there was no reason to believe he was still alive, knowing the brutal nature of Gianni 'The Enforcer' Mancuso. The man was a suspect in at least five known homicides, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Gibbs had been called when a John Doe fitting Tony's description had been found. He'd gone alone, over the objections of Ziva and McGee. Heading back to the office, he flipped open his cell phone and hit speed dial.
"It wasn't him," he said tersely, when McGee answered.
"What now, Boss?"
"We keep looking. You and Abby keep searching whatever it is you search when you're on the computer. Get Ziva to see if any of her contacts can help us locate the Mancusos."
"Boss." McGee hesitated.
"He's not dead, McGee. We'll find him." Gibbs cut the connection.
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For the first time in her life, Alexandra Mancuso was afraid. Not for herself, not for her family, but for a stranger. A stranger she found herself drawn to, not physically, although the attraction was there, but emotionally. She liked the brash young man who was going to put her brothers in prison. That traitorous feeling made her stomach roil with competing emotions. Loyalty and love for her family; horror at witnessing the brutality of her brothers, something she had never seen before, but always knew was there; sympathy and pity for the abused agent, and; guilt for not doing something to help him. The sound of the beating filtered through the cellar door, sending chills down her spine. She couldn't ignore it any longer.
"This has to stop, Vinny," she whispered to her older brother. "Gianni's lost it. He has to be reined in."
Vincenzo shrugged. "The guy has to die, Alex. He's a Federal Agent. He knows too much about our family and our operations to be allowed to live."
"Why like this?" begged Alexandra. "Why so slowly and painfully? Why don't you just shoot him? I know you get rid of threats that way, why is Anthony any different?"
"He's not," Vinny replied, "not to me. It's Gianni that's got it into his head that the schmuck has to suffer. He was starting to like the guy, treating him like a best friend or another brother. You know how he is, he feels betrayed. Cross Gianni and you'll regret it for the rest of your short life."
A scream tore through the air, making Alexandra jump. The sound was chilling, full of desperation and pain. It rose in intensity and volume until it was animalistic.
"Vinny!" Alexandra looked at her brother imploringly, who ignored her, continuing to read his book. The screams continued for a few minutes, died down briefly, then resumed, weaker, hoarser, but still heartbreaking.
"This ends now," Alexandra declared, glaring at Vinny. She headed toward the cellar door. "If you won't stop this, I will." Angrily, she jerked the door open. She could hear moaning downstairs, and the sound of flesh slapping flesh. She could hear the agent's voice, breaking, begging, "No more… please, stop… oh god… please…"
As she entered the cellar, Alexandra could feel the bile rise up into her throat. Antonio was on top of the abused agent, pounding into him. Gianni was standing nearby watching, his eyes glittering with excitement. There was a bloody condom lying on the floor.
Fury gave the woman the strength she needed. "Get off him, NOW!" she screamed, as she pulled the larger man off his helpless victim and threw him into the wall.
Antonio, surprised by the attack, quickly covered himself. "Alex! What are you doing down here?"
"Allie!" Gianni yelled, covering himself as well. "Get out!"
"No! I will not allow this to continue, Gianni. Go upstairs. NOW!" She stood facing her two brothers, fists balled up, eyes wild.
"Allie," Gianni implored, "please, don't interfere, this is business, it has nothing to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me," she hissed. "You brought me into this business when you dragged all of us out here. I should have done something sooner, but I'm not going to sit by and let you continue this barbaric behavior. Shame on you, Gianni. Shame!"
"Allie?" he whispered.
His sister went to him and took his face in her hands. "Gianni, I love you. I will always love you. I walked you to school when you were a little boy, read you stories, made you soup and cared for you when you were sick. You're my little brother and will always be my little brother. But right now, Gianni, I'm ashamed to be your sister." The large man looked as if he had been slapped in the face. He seemed to shrink into himself, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Antonio," she looked over at her other brother, "go upstairs and get blankets, clean towels and hot water. Now, Antonio, and get rid of that," she commanded as the young man hesitated, indicating the offensive item lying on the floor. Pulling his pants on, he scurried upstairs to do as she ordered.
Alexandra turned to the dirty mattress and knelt beside DiNozzo, who was curled up in a fetal position, shivering uncontrollably. He pulled away when she reached for his shoulder. "Don't touch me," he said harshly.
Gianni growled and advanced menacingly. "Don't talk to my sister like that!"
"Gianni! Go upstairs!"
"I won't leave you alone with him," Gianni said, continuing to glare at the offending man.
Alexandra sat down next to the mattress. "I don't blame you for hating me," she said softly. "I hate myself for letting this happen to you. I'm sorry, Anthony." She sighed when there was no response. "Please let me help you now."
Antonio returned with the requested items and set them down next to Alexandra.
"Go upstairs," she ordered her brothers.
"No…"
"I said. Go. Upstairs." Both men saw the determined look in her eyes and knew there was nothing they could do but obey. They exited the cellar, leaving the door open.
Alexandra kept her voice soft and soothing. "I'm going to clean you up, Anthony. I'll try not to hurt you any further. You don't have to say anything, just let me help you." Gently, she placed the blankets over his body.
Tony kept his eyes focused on a spot on the wall, refusing to look at the woman as she began gently cleaning his injuries. His handsome features were obscured by swelling and bruises. She kept speaking softly, not expecting, or receiving, a response from the shivering man.
"When Papa was alive, he never brought the business home. After he died and Vincenzo took over, that didn't change. It's easier to turn a blind eye to something when you're not confronted with reality. I've never seen Gianni so enraged and brutal. He was always a sweet and loving brother." Alexandra soaked a clean washcloth in hot water and wrung it out, moving the blanket down to wash Tony's body. She flinched at the sight of the bruising, cuts and burns, but continued to talk.
"I was sixteen when Mamma died. Papa was devastated. Vinny was already in the family business, but Gianni and Antonio were still young. I always helped Mamma in the kitchen, so it was natural for me to take on the cooking and cleaning, and mothering my two little brothers. Gianni was always so sensitive, one big emotion, losing our mother was hard on him. He would follow me around, afraid that I would go away too. No matter how much I tried to reassure him, he couldn't shake that fear. Antonio was afraid of everything. He would turn to Gianni for protection, so I think it was only natural for Gianni to become the protector of the family. I don't know how he turned so vicious. Maybe he was always like that, but I never noticed."
Despite himself, Tony found himself watching the face of the young woman. She appeared not to notice his gaze, buried deep in memories, her face sad, as she gently tended to her injured charge.
"It scares me to think that my brothers are killers. As long as I didn't see anything, I could pretend that they were perfect gentlemen. But now…" She sighed, looked into Tony's eyes briefly, then turned back to her task. "Now, I've seen what they're really like, in glorious Technicolor. My father raised three cold-blooded killers, and I helped raise two of them. That's not the worst part, though."
Alexandra looked straight into Tony's eyes again. "The worst part is I'm not sure what kind of a person I am. I knew how angry Vinny and Gianni were when they found out who you were. I suspected they were going to do something, and deep down, I guess I knew they were going to kill you. But I didn't try to stop them. I didn't try to get Vinny to run off to a country with no extradition. And, if I hadn't been able to hear what they were doing to you, I don't know if I would have stopped this at all. I know I waited too long to do anything about it." Her eyes were filled with tears. "This isn't an excuse, there's no excuse for what I let happen. But I swear to you, I won't let them hurt you any more." She turned away and reached for another clean towel.
Pulling the blanket back over Tony's torso, she started to roll him over, but he stopped her. "No," he whispered, his eyes pleading.
Cupping his face gently, Alexandra smiled softly. "I have to clean you up, Anthony. I promise I'll try not to hurt you any more, but I know you'll feel a little better if you're cleaned up."
"They're only going to kill me, why bother?"
"They won't kill you, Anthony, I won't let them. I'm going to get you help. Please, let me help you." She held Tony's gaze until finally, he nodded, closed his eyes and rolled over, wincing in pain.
After Alexandra finished cleaning Tony's wounds, she tucked the blanket around him tightly and rolled up another blanket to place under his head. "I'll get you some soup," she said, standing to leave.
"Why?" Tony's voice stopped her. "I know you said you felt guilty, but it's not just that, I can tell. Why are you really helping me?" There was no anger or hostility in his weak voice, just confusion.
She looked at him for a moment, then replied softly, "I don't know," turned and left the cellar.
TBC
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony goes undercover for the FBI, but they drop the ball and he pays the price.
Chapter End Notes:
Disclaimer I don't own the characters in this story, except for the original ones. I'm not making any money from this, no copyright infringement is intended.
Huge thanks to my beta, Rinne, for correcting my errant punctuation. She's a peach.
Huge thanks to my beta, Rinne, for correcting my errant punctuation. She's a peach.