The First Collar: 7. Part Seven

 

 

Gibbs felt a sense of satisfaction as he took the letter and opened it. He read it through and then glanced up at Tony. The kid looked pale and shaken, but there was a glimmer of something in his eyes that Gibbs had never seen before. Hope maybe? Or maybe it was just a glint of fledgling trust in those green depths.

 

“Why does Internal Affairs want to talk to you, Tony?”

 

Tony sighed. “It’s a long story.”

 

“I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

 

“Okay, but it’ll take a while. You might want to sit down.”

 

“I don’t think so,” Gibbs growled.

 

“Oh. Right. Yeah.” Tony made a face. “Sorry. Man, thirty with the strap! That has to be hurting.”

 

Gibbs slapped the back of his head. “Ya think, DiNozzo?”

 

Tony grinned and looked happier than he’d done all day. “Okay…so I worked my ass off at Baltimore PD, and one day the chief detective in homicide, Dana Morley, asked me to be on her team. I was flattered.” He paused and glanced at Gibbs. “Dana’s one of those tops any sub would be flattered to be noticed by. She’s beautiful – tall, long dark hair, deep brown eyes, amazing body, and she oozed this dangerous, sensual kind of toppiness. It was like you knew she’d be bad for you, but you couldn’t help wanting to go there anyway.”

 

“Oh yeah.” Gibbs nodded. “I know the kind.”

 

“Well…I’d only been in the department a few days when she made a pass at me. Before long she was topping me on a regular basis.”

 

Gibbs ignored the clenching feeling he got in his gut when he thought of Tony in another top’s bed and made an impatient movement with his head that Tony should continue.

 

“What I didn’t know was that she was also in a serious relationship with my partner, Billy Reid.”

 

“They setting you up for something?” Gibbs asked quietly.

 

Tony’s eyes flashed. “Yes – but obviously I didn’t know that then. Something didn’t feel right though. It turns out they’d targeted me on purpose because of my record for screwing up. The department was investigating a drug cartel – a very wealthy and sophisticated gang who had committed a few murders as object lessons to anyone who crossed them. We managed to get one of our guys into the gang – undercover. His name was Doug Warren.”

 

Tony paused and wrapped his arms around his body. Gibbs knew instinctively that this next bit was going to be tough for him.

 

“I was appointed as Warren’s handler. Warren was a good cop, and he did a good job for us. Too good – it cost him his life.”

 

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. “Someone in the department was dirty.”

 

“Yeah – and they couldn’t afford for Warren to bring the cartel down when they were taking such big payoffs to turn a blind eye. Warren got too close, and one day he called me and said they were onto him. He begged me to pull him out, and I told him we’d send our people over to extract him. I told him to hang on; I said we’d be there soon, and that he’d be safe.” Tony’s voice cracked.

 

Gibbs stayed silent; there was nothing he could say that would make this any easier.

 

“So, I told Dana – I called her and asked her to give the order to extract him, and she told me she’d take care of it. I asked if I could go – I liked Doug, and he knew me. I thought it was my duty to be part of the extraction team, but she wouldn’t let me. She said she’d handle it. She ordered me not to go.”

 

Just like today. He’d ordered Tony to stay behind, but Tony hadn’t trusted him enough to obey the order – and now he knew why.

 

Tony took a deep breath. “She didn’t do it, Gibbs. She didn’t send anyone. They found Doug’s body a few hours later – he’d been beaten so badly I hardly recognized him. It was a horrible death.”

 

“And Dana tried to pin the blame on you,” Gibbs said slowly.

 

“Yeah.” Tony gave a bitter laugh. “Well, everyone knew what a screw-up I was, after all. Wouldn’t be hard to convince them that I’d screwed up handling Doug – that way it just looked like incompetence, no whistles got blown, and Dana and Billy got to keep their little deal with the drug cartel.”

 

“So how come this isn’t in your file?” Gibbs asked. “How come you resigned and weren’t fired?”

 

Tony’s face twisted into a little grin. “Well, I learned at my mom’s knee that you can’t trust a top, Gibbs, no offence.” He made an apologetic movement with his hands. Gibbs grunted. “And there was something about Dana – something that made me uneasy, even while I was under her spell. So I’d been taping some of our conversations, just in case. Something felt…hinky.” He smiled at his use of Abby’s word.

 

Gibbs nodded approvingly. “You should always trust your gut, Tony.”

 

“So, when Dana tried to pin the blame on me, I told her about the tapes I’d made.”

 

Gibbs sighed. “And I guess she wasn’t happy that she’d been played.”

 

“Nope.” Tony shook his head. “I told her I’d resign – no way was I going to let her fire me for something I hadn’t done. I don’t know how she fudged it with her superiors. I just walked out of there and took my tapes with me. I made a back up and stored both in what I thought were safe places, in case she came after me.”

 

“Didn’t you go to her bosses?” Gibbs demanded. “Turn her in? Tell them what you knew?”

 

“Oh, I tried, believe me. I wanted justice for Doug as much as anything else. But Dana has some kind of a hold over the big boss over there – I don’t know what it is, but he shut me out. I couldn’t even get access to him, and it was made very clear to me that I should move on and keep my mouth shut. I think…it’s possible she might even have considered having me killed or killing me herself, but it was too messy and would have drawn too much attention to herself and the department.”

 

Gibbs felt a pang of pity for the man in front of him. He’d been lied to, abused, betrayed, and then slung out with threats resounding in his ears and no place to turn. No wonder he’d turned up at his job interview looking such a mess. The top in him was responding to Tony’s obvious need for protection, but he fought it down. He might have won a little piece of Tony’s trust, but he had a long way to go yet before he could rub this sub’s metaphorical belly without getting his fingers bitten.

 

“I made a backup disk, and I stored the original tapes in a safety deposit box with my bank. I hid the disk in my apartment.”

 

Ah, so now the break-in earlier today made total sense. Gibbs rocked back on his heels and gave a thoughtful nod.

 

“And this morning Dana took out a warrant and cleared out the safety deposit box. When I went out on that unauthorized break earlier today, it was because my neighbour had called to tell me my apartment had been broken into. When I got home, I found it had been trashed and the backup disk was gone too.” Tony leaned back against the wall, looking defeated. “Then when I got back this evening I found that letter.” He nodded to the letter in Gibbs’s hand. “Seemed like the whole world was against me, Gibbs. I actually went back to NCIS to resign.” He gave a bitter little laugh. “Thought I might as well go on the run.”

 

“You’re not doing that,” Gibbs said firmly.

 

Tony gave him a surprised look. “I don’t know what else to do, Boss.” He spread his hands helplessly. “Dana has the only evidence that will save me, and it’s pretty clear she’s not just going to pin Doug’s murder on me, but also the corruption in the department. She wants me to go down for all her dirty work, and I don’t have anything to defend me or anyone on my side.”

 

Gibbs slapped the back of his head, and Tony gave a little squawk of surprise. “Sure you do,” Gibbs growled.

 

Tony’s eyes lit up, and a shy, genuine smile spread across his face. “You’ll help me?” he asked. “You believe me?” he added, sounding more uncertain.

 

“I believe you, Tony, yes,” Gibbs said firmly.

 

“But what can I do? She holds all the cards,” Tony said helplessly.

 

“Hmm. You say she stole this evidence from you?”

 

“Yeah.” Tony shrugged. “It’s gone.”

 

“Nah. It’s just been moved somewhere else.”

 

“What are you thinking?” Tony looked intrigued.

 

“Well, she stole it from you – so I suggest we go steal it back.” Gibbs grinned.

 

“We?” Tony raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t ask you to get involved in this, Boss. I won’t drag you down with me.”

 

Gibbs laughed out loud. “Oh, DiNozzo, it’s far too late for that. You’re one of us now; you’re on my team, and I never leave anyone behind. Semper fi, Tony.”

 

 

~*~

 

 

Gibbs grabbed his jacket which was lying on the workbench. “C’mon, DiNozzo. We have some burglarizing to do,” he said, jogging up the stairs.

 

“Now? We’re going to steal the tapes back now?” Tony asked in surprise, following Gibbs up the stairs all the same. He could hardly believe the man’s stamina – after the whipping he’d endured today, Gibbs should be taking it easy, but instead he looked positively energised.

 

“Well yeah, DiNozzo. Longer she has them, more likely she is to destroy them – if she hasn’t already.”

 

“And if she has?” Tony asked quietly.

 

Gibbs paused at the top of the stairs and glanced down at him. “Then we’ll think of something else. Now c’mon – get your ass in gear. Let’s go to your place first and then decide where to go from there.”

 

Tony’s heart sank as Gibbs parked the car outside his apartment. He hated the thought of going back in there, knowing the mess that awaited him. He sat there, unmoving, gazing up at his dark apartment window. Gibbs glanced at him, one eyebrow raised, and Tony sighed.

 

“Never really had a home until I moved here, Boss. First place I ever really settled. Might not be much, but I love this place. Hate what they did to it.”

 

Gibbs nodded, and Tony thought he saw a glimmer of understanding in his blue eyes. As a Marine, Gibbs must have moved around a lot. Maybe he understood what it felt like to finally settle somewhere. Tony gathered himself together and got out of the car.

 

They went up to his apartment, and Tony unlocked the door and opened it, then flicked on the light. The place was just as he’d left it; in fact it looked even worse at night.

 

Gibbs gave a low whistle. “They really turned you over, DiNozzo.”

 

“Well, I guess they didn’t know how many backup copies I’d made.” Tony shrugged. “So they had to be thorough.” He turned to see Gibbs opening his cell phone. “Who are you calling?”

 

“Abby and Ducky. We need their help.”

 

“No.” Tony put his hand over Gibbs’s and closed the phone. “No, Gibbs. It’s bad enough that I’ve dragged you into this; I don’t want to get them involved too.”

 

“They’ll kick my ass far worse than Morrow did if I hold out on them,” Gibbs told him firmly. “They like you, Tony. They’ll want to help.”

 

“No.” Tony shook his head firmly.

 

“You think I’d ask my collared subs to get into anything they shouldn’t?” Gibbs raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t do that, Tony. You know that about me.”

 

Tony gazed at him uncertainly. “You’re a top…”

 

“Yeah, and I know what a low opinion you have of us, but you need help, Tony, and you have to learn how to accept it when it’s freely given.”

 

“Yeah. Right. You ever learn how to do that?” Tony raised a sceptical eyebrow.

 

Gibbs gave a wry grunt. “Didn’t say it was easy, DiNozzo. Look – I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Ducky or Abby. They’re my collared subs, and I will always protect them.”

 

There was such sincerity in his eyes. Tony *wanted* to believe in a top who wouldn’t ever sell out his subs, but it was hard. Finally, he gave a little nod. “Okay – call them. But they’d better not get hurt in all this, Gibbs.”

 

Gibbs glared at him. “My subs trust me, DiNozzo. I won’t abuse that trust. Ever. Got that?”

 

“If you say so.” Tony shrugged.

 

Gibbs made the calls and then turned back to Tony. “Okay – my guess is that Morley got the warrant and went to the bank, while Reid came here and turned over your place. They had to work simultaneously to avoid alerting you to what was going down.”

 

Tony felt a jolt of sadness at the thought that Billy had done this to his apartment, and yet he couldn’t fault Gibbs’s logic. “Yes,” he agreed quietly. “Sounds about right.”

 

“So they’ve had them all day…”

 

“She’s probably destroyed them already,” Tony said glumly.

 

“Not necessarily. From what you’ve told me about her, she’ll have wanted to listen to them first – to find out precisely what you have on her. She’ll want to know what you might bring up at that inquiry next week. You might not have the evidence anymore, but you still know what went down. Is that likely?”

 

Tony shrugged. “I suppose.”

 

“Don’t suppose; be *sure*,” Gibbs snapped. “You knew the woman – what’s your view on her?”

 

“Yes. That sounds possible.”

 

“Good. Now, where is she most likely to be this evening? At home? With Reid? Out somewhere?”

 

“How should I know?” Tony asked helplessly.

 

“DiNozzo!” Gibbs got in his face, blue eyes blazing. “Get your game face on! We don’t have time for you to go into a funk. Now you know her, and you know Reid – what are they up to right now? Think!”

 

There was something energizing about Gibbs when he was like this – he was a powerful top, and Tony found himself responding to that side of him. He thought back to his time with Dana, remembering her scent and the way she used to stand by his desk and rest her hand on his shoulder, fingers digging in just a little too hard to be comfortable. He clicked his fingers in the air.

 

“Oh, I know where she is tonight!” he said, inspiration coming to him. “She’ll be on a high. She’s had a successful day, she’s outwitted me, she’s made a power play and won – and that’ll have got her excited. There’s this club called Xtreme. Every time she made an arrest, or had a really good day at work that involved her getting one over on someone, or even just when she had an excess of nervous energy making her antsy, she used to go Xtreme and watch the floor shows.”

 

“Floor shows?” Gibbs raised an eyebrow. “What kind of floor shows?” Tony flushed and looked down at his own shoes. “Tony? What kind of floor shows?” Gibbs demanded.

 

“Cruelty,” Tony muttered. He glanced up and met Gibbs’s angry blue eyes. “She was into cruelty, Gibbs. She liked watching extreme cruelty acts. Got her revved up. Afterwards she’d go home and take it out on Billy. He enjoyed it, I think. I don’t know. I do know he used to come to work the next day covered in bruises and cigarette burns.”

 

Gibbs’s mouth was quirked in an expression of disgust. “Does she take a sub with her when she goes to watch these ‘floor shows’?” he asked, every syllable tinged with distaste. “Or is it a solitary pursuit?”

 

“I don’t know. I think it depends on her mood. She took me once.” Tony wrapped his arms around his body and glanced away from Gibbs again, unable to meet his disgusted gaze.

 

“You like that kind of thing?” Gibbs growled, and the anger in his voice was almost tangible. “Extreme cruelty do it for you, DiNozzo?”

 

“No,” Tony replied quietly, looking back again. “I ran out halfway through and puked up into the gutter outside.”

 

“You say she topped you – she ever try any of that shit on you?”

 

Tony shook his head. “No. I think she knew not to push me too far. She was grooming me to be her patsy, remember – she didn’t want to frighten me away. She knew cruelty wasn’t my thing – I wasn’t like Billy. Also…” He flushed again. Gibbs raised an eyebrow. “Also, I have a real thing about safe sex. I don’t like being helpless around tops, Gibbs. I never let myself get into a situation where she could really hurt me – I’ve never let any top do that. She went further than I liked a couple of times, but she backed off when I made it clear I’d walk out rather than take it.”

 

Gibbs gave a grunt, and Tony saw a look of grudging respect in his eyes. “At least you have some good sense,” he muttered.

 

Tony shrugged. “Look, I like a bit of pain play just fine – hell, if it’s done right then I love it!” He saw Gibbs’s eyes flash in response to that admission. “But I’d never been to a cruelty club before, and I had no idea what went on there. I thought it’d be hot, but it went way beyond anything I’ve done, or I’d want to do. There was no sense of…” He struggled for the word. “Connection? Affection? I don’t know. But I do know it scared me. That wasn’t pain play – that was torture, plain and simple, and there’s a big difference.”

 

“I agree.” Gibbs gave a curt nod. “So, did Morley take Billy to these floor shows?”

 

“I don’t know – I didn’t even know they were sleeping together until after it all went down. Then I put two and two together and realized that she was the top who had been putting all those marks on him.”

 

“What time do these floor shows start and how long do they last?” Gibbs demanded.

 

“About eleven – and they go on all night. If she’s working tomorrow she might only go to the first one. Each one lasts about an hour – that’s usually all the sub can stand without needing hospitalization,” Tony said quietly. A vein in Gibbs’s neck pulsed violently, and Tony got the feeling his boss really hated cruel sex.

 

Cruelty clubs were the dark underbelly of their culture. Many people disliked and disapproved of them, and there had been an unsuccessful movement to get them banned a few years ago. In the end, as long as they were licensed and the participants signed to say that all activities were consensual, the law left them alone. Tony didn’t understand the appeal, but he did know that some subs got turned on by that kind of extreme cruelty – it wasn’t just tops who got off on it.

 

Gibbs glanced at his watch. “It’s ten-thirty now, so we don’t have long if we’re going to go to her place looking for the tapes. Do you think she’d keep them at her place? Or should we be looking someplace else?”

 

“Her house. Definitely. She wouldn’t want to risk them falling into the wrong hands. That’s if she hasn’t destroyed them already.” Tony sighed – that seemed the most likely possibility to him.

 

Gibbs slapped the back of his head. “No negative thinking. We’ll deal with that if it happens. In the meantime, we go in there expecting to find them.”

 

“Yes, Boss.” Tony managed a weary smile. He liked the way his head always felt after Gibbs had slapped him; sore but warm. He wondered, almost reflexively, what it would be like to take a spanking from the man. Painful – he had no doubt about that – but also good too, he felt sure. He knew it would make him feel safe and grounded, and he also knew that he’d enjoy it. Well, why not? Gibbs was a good-looking top with a powerful dynamic; what red-blooded sub wouldn’t wonder what it felt like to go over his knee and take some nice hard swats from his hand?

 

“Where is this Xtreme place, and how far is it from Morley’s house?” Gibbs’s asked.

 

“Xtreme’s in DC – Dana lives in Baltimore.”

 

“Any reason you didn’t rent an apartment in Baltimore when you worked there?” Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

 

Tony shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to live in DC. Besides, it has more of my kind of clubs.” Tony gave a grin. “And the commute wasn’t too bad. Much better now I’m at the Navy Yard though!”

 

At that moment he heard footsteps in the hallway, and Abby and Ducky entered his apartment. They paused, looking around in surprise, and then Abby ran up to him and enveloped him in a warm hug. He held on to her tightly, surprised by how good it felt to have people in his life who gave a damn about him.

 

“Tony! I’m so sorry. Gibbs said you’d been burglarized, but I had no idea it was like *this*.” Abby glanced around the wreckage of his apartment.

 

“Thanks, Abs.”

 

“My poor boy. This really is most unfortunate.” Ducky patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.

 

“What do you want us to do, Bossman?” Abby asked, saluting Gibbs enthusiastically. “Sweep the place for prints? Take crime scene photos?”

 

Gibbs gave a little grin. “No need, Abs. We already have a pretty good idea who did this. Me and Tony are going to take care of it. I want you and Ducky to start clearing up.” He glanced around the trashed apartment.

 

Tony winced. “Hey, there’s no need – I mean it’s my place – my responsibility.”

 

“Nonsense.” Ducky blinked at him owlishly from behind his glasses. “We’d be delighted to restore a little order, wouldn’t we, Abby?”

 

“Sure!” Abby gave him a bright grin.

 

Tony gazed at them blindly. First Gibbs took that whipping for him, and now Abby and Ducky were going to spend half the night cleaning his apartment? Why? He didn’t deserve this.

 

“Come on, Tony.” Gibbs slapped a hand on his shoulder. “We need to get moving. We don’t have much time.”

 

 

~*~

 

 

It was nearly eleven when they drove slowly by Xtreme. Tony peered out of the window as they made a tour of the club’s parking lot.

 

“There.” He pointed. “That’s her car.”

 

“Good. That means we have at least an hour before she gets home.”

 

Gibbs watched as a tall, dark, exotically handsome top dressed in a long leather coat got out of his car. His two submissives followed; they were a beautiful matching pair, one male, one female, and both were nude. Their bodies had been waxed, including their scalps, leaving them devoid of all body hair, and they had matching brandings on their bodies as well as a multitude of different piercings. The top attached nipple leashes to them both, and they followed him obediently into the club.

 

“Christ, it’s too damn cold to be out without clothes tonight. Poor bastards,” Gibbs muttered.

 

“Least of their problems if their top gets off on what happens in that club,” Tony replied. “Hopefully it’s their thing too – no reason why they’d be involved with that kind of a top if not, I guess.”

 

“Yeah.” Gibbs bit back his growl of irritation. His understanding of what it was to be a top was all about loving, respecting and protecting his subs. Some people might find that chauvinistic, but he’d take it over these cruelty freaks any day. Then again, some subs seemed to crave the kind of painful degradation that he knew he could never deliver. It tore him up a little even thinking about it.

 

He glanced at the sub sitting beside him, who seemed to have suffered more than most at the hands of tops who didn’t get it right. Tony looked pale but determined, and Gibbs knew he’d kill Dana Morley where she stood rather than let her get her claws into Tony again. He had no doubt that she was planning for Tony to take the rap for her own crimes, but he wouldn’t let that happen. He didn’t know how he’d stop it, but he’d find a way somehow.

 

Gibbs drove them to Morley’s house. It was dark and looked empty. He parked around the back, and then he and Tony got quietly out of the car and climbed over the fence. His sore ass didn’t make breaking into a house his activity of choice this evening, but he sucked it up and got on with it. He was a Marine; he’d had worse.

 

He pulled on a pair of latex gloves, and Tony did the same. The back door was locked, but Gibbs easily picked it.

 

“Alarm?” he mouthed to Tony. Tony shook his head, so Gibbs opened the door, and they went inside.

 

They moved silently through the place, using flashlights rather than turning on the house lights. They went methodically but quickly, taking care not to leave any evidence they’d been there. Gibbs was struck by how easily he and Tony worked together – they seemed to understand each raised eyebrow and nod of the head without the need for words. They worked their way through the downstairs rooms swiftly but efficiently and then walked silently up the stairs.

 

Gibbs paused outside a door at the top and glanced at Tony.

 

“Torture chamber,” Tony said softly.

 

Gibbs had no idea why anyone needed a special room for sex, but plenty of tops liked to have a dungeon, or playroom, or sanctum, or torture chamber – usually you could tell the kind of top they were from the name they gave the room, so he wasn’t surprised to learn what Morley called hers.

 

The door was unlocked; Gibbs stepped quietly inside and shone his flashlight around the dark room. What he saw made his gut churn uneasily. This wasn’t a room that contained an ounce of sensuality; the walls were plain white, and all the equipment in it was black. Everything looked both expensive and painful. There was no sense of joy or mutual pleasure here; this room was about inflicting pain – pure and simple. He already had a healthy hatred of Dana Morley but seeing her torture chamber gave him an unpleasant insight into how her particular dynamic worked – and he didn’t like it.

 

“She bring you in here?” he asked Tony, looking at the exquisitely tooled manacles hanging from one wall.

 

“No.” Tony shook his head. “Always wondered what it was like, but she kept it locked when I was around. She made out that a session in here was this big reward that she’d grant me one day if I impressed her enough, but I can see now that she never intended for me to step foot inside this room. She knew I’d see into her soul too clearly if I ever did.”

 

He looked dejected, and Gibbs realized just how much all this must hurt. Tony, who prided himself on having safe sex, on not trusting tops, and on always protecting himself, had been suckered by one of the worst.

 

“She must be a good actress,” Gibbs grunted.

 

“Oh yeah. She is.”

 

Tony opened a door at the far end of the room, and Gibbs caught a brief glimpse of a bathroom. He went over to a row of cupboards and looked inside to find rows of neatly ordered sex toys, chains, whips and other items. Everything was clean and expensive, but something about just how neatly it was arranged revolted him. Dana Morley had a tidy mind, clearly, but there was something almost fetishistic of and by itself in the way she liked to keep her torture chamber so spotless.

 

He heard Tony behind him.

 

“Bathroom’s clean. At least this place is easy to search – nothing’s out of place,” Tony said.

 

“Yeah. It’s creepy.” Gibbs shut the cupboard and moved along to a door at the other end of the room – one that was slightly ajar. He pushed it open and found himself looking into a dressing room filled with costumes hanging from rails. They were all neatly labelled and there was a mirror at one end of the room. Shoes and accessories were stored in boxes on the floor and on a shelf above.

 

Tony stepped inside and began searching through the clothes and shoes. Gibbs glanced at his watch; damn it, they were running out of time.

 

At that moment he heard a car door slam and the sound of a key turning in the front door. Too late. He saw Tony look up, an expression of panic in his eyes.

 

“Ssh.” Gibbs put his finger over his mouth and pushed the door to.

 

“Close it!” Tony said.

 

Gibbs shook his head. “It wasn’t closed when we arrived – if she comes in here then she’ll notice. This is a top who likes to have total control over both her subs and her environment.”

 

They turned off their flashlights and waited in breathless silence as they heard footsteps on the stairs and the sound of voices.

 

“…that it was good tonight,” a woman’s voice was saying, “The waxed submissives cried very prettily. The female was bleeding quite freely by the end; I liked that.”

 

Gibbs stiffened, and Tony made an agonized face at him. They were face to face in the small dressing room, crushed up against various dresses.

 

“Are we using the torture chamber tonight, Mistress?” a man’s voice asked. Gibbs presumed it was Billy and one glance at Tony confirmed that.

 

“Of course. You did well today, Billy – you deserve a reward.” Gibbs heard a throaty, sexy little laugh. “Would you like me to make you bleed, Billy?”

 

“If you want me to bleed for you then I’m happy to do so, Mistress,” came back the reply. “I’m yours to command.”

 

“Yes, you are, and I do want to see you bleed tonight.”

 

The door to the outer room opened and the light came on suddenly, making Gibbs blink. It was entirely possible that she’d want to dress up for whatever activity she had planned, in which case they’d be discovered. Although Gibbs had no compunction about going head to head with this woman if that happened, it wasn’t ideal. There was a good chance someone might get hurt, and he didn’t think Morley would think twice about killing them both if she got the chance and claiming it was self-defence.

 

On the other hand it was late, and if she was due at work the next day then it was possible she would just do whatever she wanted to her hapless submissive and then they’d both go to bed – giving him and Tony a chance to escape unnoticed.

 

“Remove your clothes. Give me a blank canvas to work on,” Morley said, and she suddenly came into view through the slightly ajar door. Tony was right; she *was* beautiful. Her long dark hair was spread out over her shoulders like a cloak, and her brown eyes were so dark as to be almost black. Her skin was pale as marble, and she was tall, slender and imposing.

 

“Tonight will be good,” she purred, and Gibbs watched her place her purse on the dresser. “Do you have the disk?” she asked.

 

“Yes, Mistress,” came back Billy’s reply – although Gibbs still hadn’t seen Tony’s ex-partner.

 

“Good. Give it to me.” She held out her hand imperiously and a second later twirled the disk on one long, slender, finger. Gibbs had no doubt at all that it was the backup copy Tony had made of the incriminating tapes.

 

She opened a drawer in the dresser, took out a pair of scissors, and cut the disk into several little pieces before dropping them disdainfully into the trash basket beside the dresser.

 

Gibbs was pressed up so close to Tony that he could almost hear his heart thudding as the disk was destroyed. He shook his head warningly, and Tony nodded and visibly tried to control his distressed breathing.

 

“What a fantastic day,” Morley purred, loosening her cardigan and allowing it to drop to the floor; no doubt Billy would pick it up later.

 

She was wearing a sheer, cream-coloured blouse with nothing underneath and her breasts were clearly visible through the fabric. Her thighs were encased in a tight black skirt, and she was wearing shiny black boots with sharp stiletto point heels with a steel tip. Gibbs could totally understand the sexual allure of a top this commanding – but he could also see the hard, brittle edge to her dynamic.

 

“Lie on the floor. I’m going to hurt you,” Morley ordered. “You can beg and scream all you like, but if you move away, or try to resist me, I’ll hurt you more, and you won’t be rewarded later. Understood?”

 

“Yes, Mistress.”

 

Gibbs heard a sound, and then he saw Billy for the first time. He was a very good-looking sub, with thick brown hair and a nicely toned body. He lay down on the floor on his back at her feet, arms and legs stretched out as if he knew how this routine went. His cock was wavering hopefully at half–mast.

 

Morley grinned down at him. “Oh, it’s going to be good hurting you tonight. I feel so alive!”

 

She opened her purse, and Tony gasped as she removed something from it. Gibbs quickly put his hand over Tony’s mouth to silence him, while Tony gazed at him from wide, startled eyes. Gibbs glanced back at the scene in the room – and now he understood Tony’s reaction. Morley was holding two cassette tapes in her hands – presumably the original tapes Tony had made of their conversations. No wonder they hadn’t been able to find them in their search; she’d been carrying them around with her. He had no doubt that she’d also listened to their contents at some point during the day.

 

She placed the tapes on the floor between Billy’s open legs.

 

“Poor dear Tony,” she said, with a little laugh. “He always was such a loser. I can’t believe he thought he could outwit *me*. Me!” She gave a derisive snort. “He’s just a sub – he shouldn’t have tried to play against a top like me. Subs are only good for one thing. You know what? I’m going to imagine you’re him tonight, Billy. I think I’ll enjoy that.”

 

Tony’s eyes were dark and frantic, and Gibbs felt a pang of sympathy for him; this was going to be ugly.

 

“Tony dearest, you defied me, and you’re going to have to pay for your impudence,” Morley purred at Billy. “Listen to this sound, Tony, and hear how much damage one tiny pointed heel can do…then think about how it’ll feel on your bare skin.”

 

Billy moaned and shook on the floor in front of her; Gibbs didn’t know whether the sub was dreading or looking forward to those heels digging into his skin, but he almost hoped it was the former. Billy had sold Tony out, and as far as Gibbs was concerned he didn’t deserve any sympathy.

 

Morley stepped forward and there was a loud cracking sound as she ground the sharp heel of her boot into the tape on the floor – then she took another step and stamped her heel straight into the other tape.

 

Tony made a tiny little sound in the back of his throat, and Gibbs pressed his hand even more firmly over Tony’s mouth, unsure what he’d do if he released him. He pushed himself against Tony, hoping that the feel of his body would reassure and ground him.

 

Tony gazed back at him defiantly, and Gibbs could see that he wanted to shove him aside, stride into that room next door, and kill Dana Morley where she stood.

 

He wrapped his fingers around Tony’s wrist warningly. It was what courting teenagers did when they were trying out their dynamics, seeing if they fitted with that of their date, and Tony glared at him, clearly resenting the move. Gibbs tightened his fingers and got a sudden, vivid sense of Tony’s dynamic; it was all about wanting to submit, but it was hard-edged too. Tony would force a top to take him there and *make* him submit. He wouldn’t give his submission away easily. He’d want to know you were worthy of it first – and that was such an exhilarating thought to a top like Gibbs. Gibbs loved power play – it was a huge part of his own dynamic, and he could sense it was the same for Tony too.

 

Tony was fighting him right now, fighting a silent battle over staying here or storming out there, and Gibbs knew it was a battle he couldn’t allow Tony to win. He pushed in harder, forcing his will on Tony. He didn’t break subs – he had no interest in that – he bent them to his will, taking them slowly down. His grasp on Tony’s wrist was as strong and unyielding as any manacle, and he didn’t let up the pressure for a moment. His body was just as forceful, keeping Tony pinned in place, and his hand was pressed flat over Tony’s mouth, effectively gagging him.

 

It shouldn’t have been a sexual moment and yet it was. It made Gibbs’s blood pound with some toppy instinct he couldn’t suppress. Tony was gazing up at him, his expressive eyes betraying his feelings all too clearly. He didn’t want to surrender, and yet he did too, and he was fighting it. It was the age old dance a top and sub went through before the top finally imposed his will and took his sexual pleasure in his vanquished conquest, as was his right.

 

Tony’s body was firm and ripe beneath his, and Gibbs longed to push him down and make him submit to his dominance. He opened Tony’s legs with his knee and forced their groins together, feeling Tony’s hardness against his own. Tony gave a silent little moan and then Gibbs felt it – that glorious moment of surrender.

 

Tony’s body suddenly went limp and compliant, and he knew that if he wanted to, he could strip Tony bare and drive his hard cock into him right here and now, without meeting any resistance. He could make Tony whimper and shiver with sexual pleasure, completely in his thrall, his willing submissive.

 

He had no intention of doing anything of the kind, but he enjoyed watching Tony welcome him in even closer, their bodies now completely entwined as they stood leaning against the dressing room wall. Tony’s eyes were dark with arousal, and he looked utterly beautiful in his moment of surrender. Gibbs studied Tony’s full lower lip, longing to claim it with his mouth and kiss Tony hard. Tony’s tongue slid out and wetted it enticingly, and it was all Gibbs could do to resist.

 

The moment was interrupted by a loud squeal of pain. Gibbs glanced into the next door room, and saw Morley plant her steel-tipped heel on one of Billy’s nipples and step down hard, driving the whole weight of her body into him. He squealed again, imploring her to stop. She didn’t. In fact his squealing seemed to excite her and she stamped down hard, making him scream in genuine agony.

 

Gibbs felt Tony’s body shaking, and he turned back to look at him. Tony was clearly distressed by the scene, and Gibbs calmed him by stroking his wrist gently with his thumb. He was astonished when it worked instantly, and Tony’s tremors subsided.

 

“That’s it – scream, Tony, you little wimp!” Morley crowed ecstatically in her torture chamber next door. “I love hearing you scream. Does it hurt, Tony? Does it?”

 

“Yes! Yes, it hurts!” Billy gasped.

 

“Good. How about this, Tony? Does this hurt too?” She slowly and deliberately ground her heel in hard, and Billy screamed again.

 

“Yes – that hurts too! Please…please…oh God! Please…!” His screams rose in pitch with each word he uttered.

 

“You lost, Tony, and I won!” she said triumphantly. “I hope you’re learning your lesson. I’ll teach a sub like you to mess with a top like me. How does *this* feel? Hmm? And this?” She twisted the heel of her boot with each question.

 

Tony was completely limp beneath Gibbs, looking wiped out. Gibbs was holding him up as much as holding him still now. He ached for him having to witness the gruesome spectacle being played out in the other room. He couldn’t imagine how Tony must be feeling hearing Morley’s taunting words and her continued use of his name and knowing that she was imagining inflicting this kind of savage torture on him. Gibbs kept stroking Tony’s wrist soothingly, trying to comfort him in some small way.

 

Then, thankfully, it was over, and Morley stepped away the screaming submissive beneath her.

 

“Good. That was good,” she crooned. “You bleed so beautifully. I love watching you suffer.” Her pale skin was flushed with pleasure, so Gibbs could believe that. “I’m very wet now…I’m going to bed. Clean up in here and then you can crawl in under the sheets and finish the job with that talented tongue of yours. If you can make me come more than three times then I’ll let you sleep in the bed tonight. If not, you can sleep on the floor like the dog you are.”

 

“Mistress…will you allow me come tonight?” Billy panted, sliding onto his side and then getting up onto all fours.

 

Morley laughed out loud. “If you want to bring yourself off later I don’t care – I won’t be touching that filthy cock of yours though. It makes me feel ill just looking at it.”

 

She grabbed her purse and swept out of the room, her heels making little clickety sounds on the wooden flooring.

 

Gibbs watched as Billy wiped some blood from his chest and then crawled across the floor to the mangled remains of the tapes. He gathered them up and threw them in the trash, then picked up Morley’s cardigan and finally got to his feet and padded silently out of the room, turning off the light on his way out.

 

Then and only then did Gibbs think it was safe to finally release his grasp on Tony. He went slowly, gradually releasing the pressure, and only when he was sure that Tony was able to stand did he let him go.

 

Tony didn’t move. He just stood there, leaning back against the wall.

 

“And I thought it couldn’t get any worse,” he whispered.

 

Gibbs gave a little grunt. “Don’t give up, DiNozzo. I’m not done with that woman yet.”

 

“She destroyed the disk and the tapes, Gibbs, in case you didn’t notice,” Tony said despondently. “They’re gone. We’ve got nothing.”

 

Gibbs reached out and gave Tony’s head a firm slap. “What did I tell you about negative thinking?”

 

Tony shook his head. “She mashed the tapes to smithereens, Gibbs. Not even you can put them back together.”

 

“Me? No. But Abby is pretty good at this kind of thing.” Gibbs grinned at him and patted his jaw. “C’mon, DiNozzo. You saw what that creature thinks of you. You wanna fight back, don’t you?”

 

“Tired of fighting, Boss,” Tony said, with a ghost of a smile. “Always seem to lose.”

 

“Well that’s ’cause you didn’t have me on your side before,” Gibbs said firmly. “I’m going to get those tapes out of the trash, and then you and I are going to go downstairs very quietly and let ourselves out the same way as we got in. Understand?”

 

“Yes, Boss.” Tony surprised him by suddenly giving him a bright, hopeful smile. “You really think Abby can put that tape back together?”

 

“We’ll see, DiNozzo. Even if she can’t, I’m not done with Dana Morley,” he said grimly. “Not after what I saw tonight.”

 

 

End of Part Seven