Chapter 21:
After Erikson had taunted Gibbs with Tony's watch, Gary and the others had sent sympathetic looks in his direction. Gibbs could tell that they wanted to say something, give him some small measure of comfort, but in doing so would likely only provoke Erikson further, so they had remained silent.
It was a good thing too, because as the minutes continued to tick by with no sign of Myers, Erikson was starting to pace. While Gibbs wasn't exactly eager to have to deal with both men, the idea of handling Erikson alone was even less appealing. He wondered if Myers had told his partners of the current situation. If he had, then there was the chance that his partners had killed him and were headed here to finish the rest of them off. It wouldn't be the first time he had seen drug runners try to remove any trace of their business by getting rid of their partners.
That was the worst case scenario, but Gibbs wasn't letting himself dwell on those kinds of thoughts for too long. Instead he was relying on McGee and Abby to eventually realize that they had stayed at the campsite for too long. All he had to do was make sure that Erikson and Myers didn't get trigger-happy or decide to relocate. Not that it would be a problem to track them, but Gibbs didn't want to be moving too far away from where Tony had been thrown into the water. That would mean more time taken away from getting a search started, and that was unacceptable.
Gibbs watched Erikson as he continued to pace, glancing in the direction Myers had gone and constantly checking the time. He started to get a feeling deep in his gut that something was about to happen. What he wasn't sure and all he could do was sit back and wait, watching for some kind of opportunity to present itself.
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Tony had a hard time keeping his pace at a light jog. He didn't want to exhaust himself, but yet at the same time he felt like he was moving too slowly. Erikson was probably a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, and the longer Myers was gone the shorter his fuse was going to be. He just hoped that Erikson didn't start taking out his frustration on anyone, because if it had to be someone it would likely be Gibbs. He wouldn't let someone else get hurt if he could draw the attention to himself.
Several minutes later, Tony started to recognize the trail that he had taken with Ray and Jason yesterday evening. He was close to camp. Slowing down to a walk, Tony detoured off to the right of the trail so as not to be spotted. Not sure of what to make of the silence, he continued to edge towards the camp. As he got closer and could start to make out the tops of some of the tents, Tony crouched down towards the ground and crawled towards the edge of the camp.
From his position he could clearly see Erikson pacing back and forth, glancing towards the woods, no doubt looking for Myers. He could not however, see anyone else, much less the layout of the camp. Quietly, he moved backwards until he felt he was a safe enough distance to stand. Taking care to make as little noise as possible, Tony moved further around the side of the camp before crawling back to see if he could see where the others were.
Sliding down in between some bushes, Tony cautiously looked out across the camp. This stake out position provided a much better outlook of the area. He immediately noticed that Gary, Ray, Jim and Jason were all tied together on the side he was on. Gibbs was bound to a tree on the other side of the camp. That left Erikson the space in between pacing.
Studying Gibbs closely, Tony could see that he had taken a few punches, but otherwise seemed to be ok. It was too hard to tell from this distance if he had any other injuries. Suddenly, he noticed Gibbs move. If he hadn't been watching so closely he would have missed it. He appeared to be struggling to free himself of the ropes but was having difficulty doing so.
'Those must be some knots,' Tony thought to himself, knowing that otherwise Gibbs would have freed himself a long time ago.
Knowing that he had to act fast, Tony backed away from the camp again, and moved towards the sound of the river. He concluded that behind the tree that Gibbs was bound to had to be some sort of ditch or other access point. Tony just hoped that he would be able to untie Gibbs without Erikson spotting him. No doubt Gibbs would not be expecting Tony to come up behind him and untie the ropes, so Tony hoped that luck would be with him again and he wouldn't end up scaring Gibbs.
'Scare Gibbs,' Tony thought with a smirk. 'That'll be the day.'
Tony quickly approached the shoreline where the rafts had been secured. Glancing up towards the campsite to make sure he was out of sight, Tony sprinted across to the other side. He paused briefly to listen to see if Erikson had spotted him. Once he felt he was in the clear, Tony started moving again towards where Gibbs was.
Unfortunately, luck was not with him as he arrived at the area where Gibbs' tree was. Tony sighed to himself. He just couldn't win. Gibbs just had to be tied to a tree that was right by the water. Which meant that if he was going to untie Gibbs without being seen, Tony was going to have to walk through the water. He had already had one swim too many in the river and he wasn't really looking forward to another one anytime soon.
Glancing up Tony was able to see that not only was Gibbs bound to the tree, but it also appeared that his wrists had been tied together as well.
'No wonder he's having trouble,' Tony thought to himself. Looking back at the water, he figured that it couldn't be too deep, and it wasn't very rough so the chances of him getting stuck in a current were small. Knowing that he didn't have any other options, Tony quickly checked to make sure the gun was secured behind him in the waistband of his jeans and took a cautious step into the water.
Tony moved slowly so as not to make any noise and to avoid slipping on the rocks underneath the water. By the time he situated himself just under Gibbs' tree, the water had gone past his knees. Grabbing onto some rocks and branches, Tony secured his footing. Once he felt confident that he would not fall he looked up and checked the distance between him and Gibbs. He was close enough that he would not have to struggle to reach the ropes or Gibbs' wrists.
Smiling to himself, Tony reached up to grab hold of Gibbs' hands. It was always a good idea to have a plan laid out before taking action against a suspect, especially in this kind of situation. This meant that he was going to have to communicate with Gibbs without drawing attention from Erikson, and he knew exactly how to do just that.
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Over the past several minutes Gibbs had been having the feeling that he was being watched. It wasn't like when a suspect was watching him though, that usually brought an uneasy feeling. Instead, for the first time since this whole nightmare began, he was experiencing a sense of calm. Like someone was watching his six and the possibility of getting out of these unfortunate circumstances safely was highly more likely.
Suddenly, his feelings were confirmed as Gibbs felt someone give his hand a small squeeze. Straining to not show any outward reaction that would draw Erikson's attention, Gibbs returned the gesture. On the inside, he felt a sudden surge of adrenaline. Help had obviously arrived, but who was it?
He got his answer when the hand released his own and fingers started to tap against his palm. 'Morse code,' Gibbs thought. Concentrating, he decoded what turned out to be a one worded message, or name as it turned out.
'Tony,' Gibbs realized with an instantaneous rush of relief. Briefly, he wondered when Tony had learned Morse code, but just as quickly pushed the thought aside. Now was not the time to get distracted.
After Tony had spelled out his name he waited for a sign from Gibbs that he had understood, keeping his hands close to Gibbs' own so that he could respond. It had been a long time since he had used Morse code, so he wasn't all too sure he had done it correctly. His doubts were eased when Gibbs, who was fortunate enough to not have lost circulation in his wrists or fingers, replied with his own series of taps.
'Hate it when you disappear, you ok?' Gibbs told him.
Realizing that he was probably referring to his gunshot wound, Tony responded, 'E has bad aim, just a scratch. Untying wrists now.' After Gibbs acknowledged his intentions, Tony pulled back his hands and unfastened his belt and removed his knife. He made quick work of cutting through the rope and took note of the fact that Gibbs' wrists had been rubbed raw from his own attempts to break free.
As soon as the ropes had loosened around his wrists Gibbs sighed to himself in relief. Careful not to alter his position too much, he rotated his wrists in an attempt to get used to the sudden newfound freedom from the pressure of the ropes. Sitting all night restrained from much movement had made him extremely stiff and Gibbs didn't want that to slow him down when the time came to move against Erikson.
'You ok?' Tony asked once Gibbs had ceased his movements.
'Fine,' Gibbs replied.
Knowing that Gibbs wouldn't be saying much else about his condition, Tony let it go. 'Loosening ropes around tree, don't move.' Last thing they needed was for Erikson to see the ropes securing Gibbs to fall away.
After Gibbs once again acknowledged his intentions, Tony shifted his position slightly in order to have better access to the ropes around the tree. Within a couple of minutes he had cut through the ropes, but made sure that they were still positioned to give the appearance that Gibbs was still secure.
Gibbs had felt the pressure around his ribcage ease and it was taking all of his self-control to not make immediate use of his release. Erikson was still pacing, so he was turning his back on Gibbs every so often. The thought of seeing the look on Erikson's face when he realized Tony was still alive made it easier to remain still for the time being.
Tony moved back to his previous position and started tapping against Gibbs' palm again.
'Need plan,' Tony said.
'M may be back soon, must move fast,' Gibbs told him.
'M out of picture, just E,' Tony informed him. 'Have gun from M.'
Gibbs took a moment to digest that information. If Tony had taken out Myers, then perhaps he was not as badly injured as he had thought. Although, he knew Tony well enough that he would downplay any type of wound while he was still in a dangerous situation. He did the same thing when he was injured.
'I get E here, away from others,' Gibbs said. 'You move behind him.'
'Sure E won't shoot you this time?' questioned Tony, figuring that Gibbs had probably pushed Erikson's buttons at least once before, if the bruises on his face were anything to go by.
'Better idea?' retorted Gibbs. The fact that Tony had come to his own conclusions about where his bruises had come from did not escape Gibbs.
'More surprise if I draw attention, you attack from behind,' Tony suggested.
Gibbs paused at that. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew Tony was right. Erikson was less likely to expect a confrontation from Tony than from Gibbs. The element of surprise was a very useful advantage, one that they had to exploit to its fullest. Still, the idea of making Tony the primary target was not sitting very well with Gibbs.
Gibbs started tapping against Tony's hand again, aware of how much time had already been used and that they could not afford to wait much longer. Even with Myers out of the picture, Erikson did not need to be any more wound up than he already was.
'You keep gun,' Gibbs instructed Tony. 'Position behind green tent.'
'Can you see location well?' asked Tony, wondering if he would be able to signal Gibbs somehow once he was ready.
'Yes. Time to locate?' Gibbs replied.
Tony considered that for a moment. Looking to his right, he was able to see that there was enough of a clear path for him to travel around towards the tent Gibbs had indicated. The water didn't appear to go any deeper, either. He would not have to backtrack all the way around the camp. 'Five minutes,' Tony told Gibbs.
'Be careful,' Gibbs advised him.
'Always,' Tony responded. Moving to leave, he then paused and tapped another message to Gibbs.
'Take knife,' Tony said as he carefully handed Gibbs his knife.
Gibbs felt the cool grip of Tony's knife pressed into his right hand. Using his left hand he gave Tony's hand a brief squeeze of thanks. Returning the gesture, Tony gave one more round of taps to signal that he was going to get into position.
As he left Gibbs felt his energy level spike up at the knowledge that a plan had been laid out and would soon be put into action. He could only hope that their plan didn't get either one of them hurt any more than they already were.
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Making his way through the water back to shore, Tony kept listening to his surroundings. If the situation changed and Erikson suddenly snapped, he wanted to know about it. There was still every possibility that something could go wrong, but there was no other choice. The sooner Erikson was disarmed, the better.
He was running on adrenaline and sooner or later Tony had no doubts that he was going to crash and burn. It was unavoidable, but he would rather have Erikson secured before he did so. Gibbs would no doubt lecture him on ignoring the seriousness of his injuries once he got a good look at Tony. And then later it would be Abby and Ducky's turn, but he took comfort in the fact that they would also be lecturing Gibbs on doing the same thing.
Tony sighed in relief as he stepped out of the water and started moving through the trees towards the tent. He grimaced as water sloshed in his shoes. He couldn't wait for this all to be over so he could go home and take a nice long shower. Briefly Tony wondered how many days off he could get from his injuries to catch up on some sleep before closing that train of thought from his mind. First things first, take care of Erikson.
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Gibbs kept a mental check of the time as he waited for Tony to make his way around. Erikson was starting to get anxious as he began kicking things out of his way and muttering to himself. Things were not looking good.
"To hell with this!" Erikson suddenly shouted as turned to head towards the tent to grab his bag, the same tent that Tony was moving towards.
'Shit,' Gibbs thought. He was far enough away that he might not be able to get to Tony in time to help take Erikson out. That was not a risk he was willing to take.
"Looks like Myers must of cut you out of the deal," Gibbs taunted. He had to keep Erikson from leaving, or going near the tent.
"What?" Erikson growled, changing his direction and heading towards Gibbs.
'Well at least it worked,' Gibbs thought. Out loud, "Maybe he told your other partners about what happened here, and decided to leave you to take the fall for it. More money in it for him that way, probably."
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Erikson shouted. "Or are you just that eager for me to kill you?"
A short distance away, Tony froze as he heard Erikson, and then picked up his pace. Looks like their time was up.
Chapter End Notes:
Sorry this chapter isn't as long as some of the others have been here lately, but this is just how it came out. Hope you all enjoyed it anyway. Thanks as always for continuing to read and review!