Chapter Two

"A body's been found in an abandoned warehouse in Georgetown."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at Jenny. "And?"

She gave him a look. "Terrorist. Female. Went by Twist. Any of this ringing a bell?"

Gibbs continued to feign ignorance. "Should it?"

"Damnit, Jethro," Jenny cursed. "She was killed by her own technique. This has Mossad written all over it."

Gibbs didn't bat an eyelash. "You think Ziva did it."

She leaned across the desk, narrowing her eyes at him. "I know she did it, Jethro. The question is, what are we going to do about it?"

Gibbs shrugged, still the picture of perfect calmness. "Nothing."

Jen's eyes blazed. "Nothing? That's your solution? The authorities are going to be all over this and Ziva is going to be in a world of hurt."

"It was a sanctioned act," Gibbs said, his voice icy. He paused. "Where is she?"

"Ziva?" Jen asked. Gibbs nodded. "No idea. I thought you would know, since you're apparently in charge of this little side project."

"Listen, Jen," Gibbs said, resting his elbows on her desk and leaning over it, "she was a threat to Americans. I thought you hated terrorists just as much as the rest of us."

Jen's eyes blazed again, then softened. Thoughts of her partnership with Ziva ran through her head. "I do, but we can't just take the law into our own hands like this. We work for the federal government. NCIS runs under different protocols than Mossad."

"Well, Jen," Gibbs said, rising from his seat, "it's done. She's dead. And Ziva killed her. I don't know what you want me to do."

Jen gave him a fierce look. "Find Ziva. Protect her. I won't have her life endangered because you felt some need to be in control."

Gibbs gave her a brief nod and exited the office. It was never his intent to put Ziva in danger; he trusted her skills and knew she could handle the job. He wouldn't have sent her otherwise. Still, now that Jen had mentioned it, Ziva hadn't returned yet, and she hadn't contacted him to let him know she was okay. He would just have to find her himself.

He jogged back down to the squad room, calling out, "McGee! DiNozzo!" The men turned their attention to Gibbs as he strode in front of them. "Either of you heard from Ziva?"

"No, Boss," Tony said, as McGee shook his head.

"She okay, Boss?" McGee asked, exchanging a concerned glance with Tony.

"That's what we're going to find out," Gibbs responded. "McGee, you're with me."

McGee grabbed his gear from his desk, while Tony gave Gibbs a questioning look. "Boss?" he asked.

"You're with Ducky," Gibbs told him.

Tony and McGee shared another look, this one confused. "Ducky?" Tony repeated.

"You're going to pick up a body," Gibbs explained, writing down an address and handing it to Tony. "Protection detail. This is a potentially dangerous scene." Tony nodded and Gibbs turned to McGee. "McGee. Cell phone, e-mail, GPS." He began walking to the elevator. "Let's find her, Tim."

As McGee rushed to join Gibbs in the elevator, Ziva was standing on the balcony of her apartment. She had come directly here rather than returning to NCIS, or even calling Gibbs, for reasons even she didn't know.

She had just killed a woman with her bare hands.

She'd done it before, when fighting for her own life, deep in the line of duty. But this was different. She had intentionally come into the situation without weapons, knowing she was there for one purpose and that was to kill.

She sat down and leaned back against the patio door. Gibbs knew she was capable of killing; that's why he'd sent her to do the job. But was the rest of the team aware of how cold blooded she really was? Would they ever look at her the same way after this? Tony would start being nice to her, Abby probably wouldn't talk to her at all or try to make her all girly and concerned about emotions, and McGee, sweet McGee, he would be terrified of her.

She'd come so far with them all. Peeking over a wall she'd so carefully built around herself, she had allowed her personality to show, and now . . . She wanted to add a layer of steel to that wall, make it completely impenetrable from the outside.

The team was going to see her as nothing more than a cold-blooded killer, so that was what Ziva would let them see.