WARNING: Contains spanking of an adult.

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. I just borrow them.

Tony sat in the car and watched the building through his night-vision binoculars, thanks to the broken light hanging off the corner of the warehouse. No movement, the van still parked outside. He'd long since made note of the license plate. It had been two hours since he'd seen the van pull up and two men go inside. He was starting to think they were planning to sleep there. But as soon as he began debating whether to leave, the warehouse double doors opened and light spilled out into the dark lot until the lights went off and the door was closed. Three men had exited the building. Two of them struggled with a large crate which was eventually loaded into the back of the van. A minute later, it pulled away with its lights off. Tony watched it pull out into the street at the end of the row of warehouses and then saw the lights turn on.

Again, he debated following the van, but without backup, he knew that was pointless. What would he do if they made him? No, he had another idea. He did another quick check of the perimeter then turned on the car and drove slowly across the lot. He pulled up in front of the building, checked the area again through his binoculars and then, deciding he was alone, he got out of the car.

The door, which he expected to have to pick was, surprisingly, unlocked. He saw a rusty chain and padlock coiled on the ground next to it. After pulling on a pair of gloves, he eased the door open, and did a quick scan of the large room through his binoculars. When he was sure it was empty, he put them down next to the door and pulled his small flashlight off his belt. The beam swept the room revealing a couple of desks, a filing cabinet, a boat and a set of three-tier industrial shelves. With the exception of two crates on the second tier, the shelves were empty.

He crept across the floor, constantly sweeping the room with his flashlight, listening for any sound. Nothing. He walked to the desks and started going through them. A desk calendar on the first one hadn't been changed in three months. He quickly flipped through the pages, but it had never been written in. He held it at an angle and shined his flashlight on it. There weren't even any impressions from having been written on. The drawers were empty.

The second desk held only two pens – one red, one blue – and a legal pad. He checked the pad for impressions too, but like the calendar, it had none. These guys were amazingly careful!

He moved to the third desk. The side drawers were empty, but the center drawer was locked. He deftly picked the lock and eased it open. It was empty except for a single scrap of paper. Tony picked up the paper. "27." That was all it said. Just in case, he pulled an evidence bag out of his pocket and slipped the paper into it.

The filing cabinet stood behind him and it too was locked. A quick pick and he was in. Once again, all he found was empty drawers. Why would they lock an empty filing cabinet?

He walked across the room toward the shelves, still scanning the room at every step, even though he was sure he was alone. The shelves were equipped with hydraulics so that they could be raised and lowered for easy loading and unloading. After a quick look-around at the floor below the second shelf revealed only scrapes, probably from moving pallets in and out, he clenched the flashlight between his teeth and scaled the ladder to the second tier. He moved carefully across the shelf, smiling as he remembered years of climbing around on playground jungle gyms.

The first crate had no lid and was completely empty. He slid his way across the shelf toward the second crate. Suddenly, he heard seven shots right outside the warehouse. His heart stopped as panic set in. With nowhere else to go, he squeezed himself between the bottom of the top shelf and the top of the empty crate and climbed inside just as the door flew open and the lights flickered on.

"Find 'em", a man growled. Tony heard three guns cock and the sound of feet shuffling. He curled up in the corner of the crate, hoping beyond hope that no one came up looking for him. His weapon was out and in position in case someone did, but there were three of them. Even if he got the one who came up, he'd still have two others to deal with. And once he'd shot the one, he'd have given away his position and would be a sitting duck.

Thinking quickly, he grabbed his phone, which he had earlier thought to silence, and pushed the speed dial button for Gibbs. He knew without a doubt that if he made it out of this alive, Gibbs would most certainly kill him and Ducky and Abby would help him get rid of the evidence, but at that very moment, he just didn't care.

* * * * *

Gibbs groaned as he was ripped out of sleep by his ringing phone. "Oh DiNozzo, what could you possibly want right now?" he said as he flipped it open. "What?!?!" Silence. "DiNozzo! You'd better have a damn good rea…Tony! Tony!!"

* * * * *

The bullet soared past Tony, barely an inch from his head and out the crate wall. The shot had come from below and had also just missed his knee. A second shot went through the other crate. He heard that one ricochet off the bottom of the shelf and then the floor below.

"What the hell are you doing?" a man shouted. "Idiot!"

"I was just…"

"Shut up! Come on. We gotta get out of here."

The next sound Tony heard made him panic again. He looked up and saw the shelf above lowering toward him. It stopped, resting on top of the crate, effectively locking him in. He listened as the three men left and heard the door lock. Then he heard the door get chained shut.

He put the phone up to his ear. "Boss?" he whispered into it, but no one was on the other end. He dialed Gibbs again and the phone was answered almost before it started ringing.

"DiNozzo! Are you ok? Where are you?"

"I'm fine, Boss," for now. He swallowed hard before he continued. "I'm trapped in the warehouse. There were three men. They're gone, but I can't get out."

"You're what?!?!?"

"Boss, I'm sorr…I…" he cringed as he imagined the look on his boss' face.

"Stay put. We'll be there in 10," Gibbs growled into the phone and then it went dead.

"Stay put? Like I have a choice," Tony said to no one in particular.

Ten minutes. That was a long time. It was enough time for the men to come back. It was enough time for the stupidity of what he had done to sink in. And it was enough time for him to think about what was going to happen once Gibbs got his hands on him…

* * * * *

Gibbs and Tim pulled up in front of the warehouse behind the government car Tony had driven. A quick look revealed that all four tires and both headlights had been shot. The seventh shot had gone through the engine block. That car wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

He sent Tim to check the back of the building for another door, but he soon returned, reporting that they were standing at the only door. He quickly picked the padlock and the lock on the door. Weapons drawn, he gave Tim a silent count and they burst in the doors.

"McGee, find the lights," Gibbs ordered once they'd cleared the room. "DiNozzo!"

"Up here, Boss," Tony said just loudly enough to be heard. Ten minutes had also been long enough for him to fully grasp how embarrassing it was to be stuck in a box.