Hey! Here's the sequel :) The second of the Hunted series! Sorry for the wait. And I'm sorry for the boringness. I felt like describing. So I did. And I personally think that it takes away from the action scene. Please tell me what you think of it! ;) Buon divertimento!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize
Characters are as always very AU
~Bandit
Hunted
Wherever the Stars Are
Chapter I
Three figures could be seen striding across the wet pavement of the shopping center, if anyone was looking. But no one was. Not since the attack. The three mysterious characters turned out to be three NCIS agents. Ziva shivered as she glanced around the parking lot, abandoned and melancholy. The wind pulled at her hair, whipping it violently around her, the cold nipping at her ears and nose. She sneered at the taunting draft, and met Tony's eyes, and there was concern in them. She sneered at him too. Gibbs made a hissing sound, getting them to pay attention, as they moved forward. She pulled the NCIS jacket tighter around her as she inched forward, keeping her eyes trained on the approaching building.
The three of them looked up at the Macy's building, which loomed over them, as a drizzle started. What Ziva wouldn't give to be at home, watching some odd movie with Tony. Not that she enjoyed those moments or anything. But something had happened, that something had caused her weekend to be ruined. Someone had gotten into the Macy's and shot everyone in their path. Ziva leered at the bloody windows, where mannequins with bullet holes in them, lay in a messy heap, the glass door shattered. They were supposed to go into that?
Ziva met Gibbs and Tony's eyes and she nodded at some unspoken conversation. It was like a well-practices dance after that, all of them dancing with no partner. Ziva and Tony moved silently towards the shattered door, their eyes trained on the room. Gibbs slid towards the back of the building, his gun pulled at the ready. Ziva saw slight movement in the dark shadows of the building. She hissed in a cat-like fashion to get Tony's attention, and nodded towards the door, where Tony spotted the agitation in the darkness. Ziva nodded to him, and prayed that Gibbs would figure it out soon enough. That meant the attacker was still in the building. Ziva pulled out a flashlight, and indicated that Tony should go first. She shined it in the room, and caught sight of piercing green eyes, before the shadow moved. Tony held out his gun and shouted for the person to come out quietly, following the light Ziva was shining into the room. She wished it could cover the whole inside of the discarded building.
The sound of a gun being fired cut the air like a knife, filling Gibbs' ears as he lingered by the back door and it happened so suddenly. The person came whizzing out of the room, and shot by Gibbs, who in a moment of pure confusion, stood struck by confusion before he darted after the person, but he'd never be able to catch up. Ziva came racing from the front of the building her gun poised in position, when a sudden shock of terror washed over her. She watched the person run, her whole body frozen as things processed in her mind. Her eyes widened. It couldn't be possible… She heard Gibbs shoot a few blind shots at the escaping murderer before cursing, and she shook herself from her shock, and turned back, only to see something she'd never dreamed of seeing.
Gibbs stood panting at the edge of the road, watching the person fade from view, when he heard a scream. He spun on his heel, recognizing the scream to be Ziva's. He pointed his gun ahead of him as he raced down the hill, prepared to shoot at no cost. He froze when he saw Ziva hunched over a shaking body, and he sidled forward, as he heard Ziva start to cry.
"No…no," she muttered and flung her gun in anger and frustration across the parking lot, causing it to land and break feet from her. "Gibbs!" she wailed, turning on him, her eyes flecked with distorted rage and puzzlement. She moved back for him to see an injured Tony, laying in the doorway of the Macy's, his face splattered with blood, him whimpering as he attempted to breathe, a bullet planted firmly in his right side. Gibbs tore off his jacket and placed it under Tony's head.
"Ziva!" he turned to her, "Call an ambulance! Now!" she nodded through her bewilderment. "Come on, DiNozzo," Gibbs demanded. Tony opened his eyes with much difficulty, his breathing too shallow to be possible.
"Hey," Tony wheezed, gasping for breath before continuing in a forced voice, "Boss," he ended with a raspy cough. He looked terrified into Gibbs' eyes, "I'm sorry," he grunted as he shifted, his breathing terribly ragged. "For getting shot. He," Tony made an odd choking sound, struggling on the ground. Gibbs helped him sit up, Tony hunched his shoulders in pain, but the sitting position didn't help. "Was going to shoot Ziva."
Ziva turned, tears brimming in her eyes, as she heard her name, and looked at Tony struggling on the pavement with Gibbs, and she turned back around, stifling sobs as she continuing talking with the nurse.
"You did a good thing, DiNozzo," Gibbs admitted, his expression vacant as Tony collapsed back onto the asphalt, struggling to get a single breath again. Ziva snapped her cell phone shut and knelt down by Tony, her face pulled into a grimace, as she looked at his heaving chest.
"I…think I-I'm going to," he started shaking uncontrollably as the wind picked up, his eyes glazed over, "take a nap. Is that… okay, Boss?"
"You can't fall asleep," Gibbs commanded. Ziva looked into his pain-filled eyes. He tried covering his agony by giving her a sheepish smile.
"I-I am r-really tired…boss," he breathed another odd choking sound and curled into a slight ball as he started to wheeze.
"Tony," Ziva said firmly as his wheezes turned into deep coughs. She wiped the blood that had spluttered from his mouth with her sleeve and took his head into her hands, stroking his ice-cold cheek. "I'll kiss you if you stay awake. And I won't ever kiss you again if you fall asleep."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her; she shrugged, indicating she thought it was the only way to keep him awake.
"I-is that a t-threat?" he coughed again, his wheezing jarring the air.
"Yes, Tony," she smiled, and ran her hand against his shaking arm, "And I'll stay true to it."
Tony looked into her eyes, and nodded. She placed her hands by his neck, and leaned closer to his face, her warm breathing causing his trembles to increase. She looked into his eyes, so afraid, so full of despair, and closed her own as she kissed him passionately. She pulled back, and stroked his cheek again, and found tears in her eyes again. She cursed and looked away for a moment, blinking them back. She looked back and saw that Tony's head was rolled to the side, his eyes closed peacefully, she pulled off her jacket and wrapped it around Tony, who was still shaking. Gibbs was kneeling next to him, cursing and trying to wake him up. But he wouldn't.
Ziva heard an intense roaring sound fill the air. She jumped up instantly, looking around, reaching for her gun. She looked to the sky as ran started to cascade down in sheets. Curses flowed from her mouth, and she screamed in rage, trying to let her anger out. "We have to get him out of the rain!" Gibbs barked at Ziva as he looked up from Tony's face.
She looked around the area, only seeing their car in the distance and the buildings that stood on the pavement. Their car was too far, there was no way they could drag him all the way there, and they'd have to cross the parking lot to get to the other buildings. She saw their only option. The Macy's building. She moaned and put her head in her hands.
Ziva looked around the building. Five minutes had passed since Tony had been shot, and the ambulance hadn't arrived yet. She sat with her legs twisted in a difficult position on the blood-stained floor next to a sleeping Tony, who, even in his sleep, was still struggling to breathe. She looked at Gibbs, who was kneeling by Tony's head, looking thoughtfully out the shattered door to the pounding rain.
"Boss?" Ziva whispered, rubbing her arms. He snapped his head towards her, his blue eyes piercing her, "I think… I think I know how shot Tony."
"Well spit it out, David," he snarled.
"Well, the murderer was limping when he was running. Did you notice that?" Gibbs scowled at her. She cleared her throat, "Well, I think it was… well… John," Gibbs raised his eyebrows and chuckled cruelly.
"He's in jail, Ziva."
"Yes, I know, but what if they let him go? Like Ari?" Gibbs froze, and met her eyes.
"Get it out of your head. He's still in jail. That wasn't him."
"Yes, but who else do you know wants to kill me?" Ziva protested fiercely.
"How do you know he wants to kill you?" Gibbs chided.
"Well do you think it was just a coincidence that he only killed two marines? He knew that we'd investigate the scene," she snapped. She opened her mouth to continue, when a sudden blaring sound filled the air and she smiled as an ambulance rolled into view, its large tires splashing against the water-covered ground.
Ziva sat huddled in a plastic chair next to Tony's bed, running the events that had happened that night through her head. Had he really gotten shot? Was he really lying in a hospital bed with what seemed like a million machines breathing for him? Did she really think the attacker was John? Or was this all just a dream and she'd fallen asleep next to Tony while watching a movie again? She sighed and turned her head to Tony, who was still unconscious. She heard Gibbs' voice start to become slightly more raised as he argued with an FBI agent about who should've really taken the case.
"You shouldn't have gone to investigate the case without telling us! It was obviously a case the FBI should have taken," the small FBI agent shook as he met Gibbs' eyes as he argued. He couldn't be older then twenty two. Ziva almost felt pity on him. But she couldn't.
"Wait, we have a very important warning from the FBI," Ziva directed her attention to the news reporter that was speaking on the TV hanging on the hospital wall. She noticed Gibbs had turned towards it too.
"Yes," another news reporter appeared on the screen, "We have been told that abusive criminal Jonathon Belgate has just escaped from prison, and is on the run. If you see him, please contact authorities immediately!"
Ziva's eyes widened as the TV screen showed a picture of John, his bright green eyes looking slightly crazed, a big grin painted on his face. She choked back a sob and turned to Gibbs, his face pulled into a deep look of vexation and outrage. Gibbs turned on the FBI federal agent, anger flashing in his eyes as Ziva let out a miserable cry, "And you didn't think it was important to mention it until now, after one of my agents was injured?" Gibbs gestured at Tony, who was lying, weak and clammy in the stiff hospital bed, as he shouted at the shaking federal agent.
"I can't believe you FBI agents," Ziva moaned from the corner, curled into the ball on the uncomfortable chair. What she wouldn't have given to suddenly be dead right at that moment. If she'd been killed, none of this would've happened. And she hadn't even seen the worst of it.
A/N: I'm sorry for the suddeness. You usually learn the evil person in the second or third chapter. I'm sorry ;) Couldn't help it. As you know, I like to keep my stories short. Please review! It keeps me writing!
Here's a sneak peak for the next chapter:
She could feel herself being pried away from him, "No! No! I won't! Let me go! Leave me alone!" she dropped to her knees, the person still holding firmly onto her arms as she watched Tony being rolled away, tears flooding from her eyes, "No..."
Why am I so evil? Sorry for the weak start on the story. I hope you'll survive...?
