Tony jerked his head up to find Ziva's eyes on him, beside him lay Lieutenant James still unconscious, Dammit, must of fallen asleep, he thought to himself. Tony found that his hands were tied behind his back, looking around he found that Ziva and James' were in a similar predicament.
Ziva caught onto Tony's thoughts, "They did that while you were sleeping" she said.
Tony nodded, "How long have I been out" he asked Ziva.
"Not long. It is almost dawn; we have been driving for almost two hours now"
Tony sighed, "Cambodia sucks, what happened to all the hot babes you see on Globe Trekker and the great food? I'm starving man; I'm never going on assignment again!" Ziva rolled her eyes, he could be so immature!
"Hey!" Tony yelled out to one of the soldiers seated not too far from him, "do you know where we can get some fried dumpling or maybe some rice because my partner and I are rea - ..."
Tony was cut off by the sight of the barrel of a machine gun in his face, "Shut up you American scum, or your girlfriend here will get it!" seethed the soldier waving his sub-machine gun in Ziva's direction.
Tony gulped in response and was about to lay his head back on the floor of the Jeep once more when the vehicle stopped abruptly throwing him into the seat in front of him. Rubbing his head, Tony sat up.
Looking out at his surroundings, he found that they were currently situated on a bridge that stood high above a roaring river. From this angle, Tony could see the colonel stepping out of the Jeep accompanied by two soldiers. They were all shouting loudly at each other in Cambodian, issuing orders and Tony was sure that he could pick up the words NCIS amongst the soldiers' screams.
Tony looked at Ziva, "The Bridge is broken, there is a gap over the river…we cannot cross it safely…they are wondering what to do with us" she murmured to him quietly, pausing occasionally do decipher what the men were saying as she stared at the shouting soldiers. Sure enough, as Tony peeked out from the side of the Jeep he could see that the old wooden bridge they were settled on and the large gaping hole in the center of it. A surge of water had apparently, sometime in the recent past, come by and removed the centre section of the wooden crossing. In the space, Tony could see a raging river complete with white rapids.
The Italian could see the colonel, accompanied by his soldiers, arguing over what no doubt would be the best way to cross the river safely; their shouts echoing across the valley.
Tony heard a pained groan and looked down to find the Lieutenant stirring in response to the noise around him.
"What…where..?" James ground out as his eyes fluttered open, taking in his surroundings. Then suddenly, awareness washed over the Lieutenant, and he sat up with a start, peering over the side of the jeep to steal a glance at the problem ahead of them.
The Lieutenant swore under his breath, "Shit!"
"What is it? What's wrong?" Ziva asked anxiously, worried by the Lieutenants paling face.
James swallowed before continuing, "This…this river marks the boundary between the territory held by the Government and that of the Khmer Rouge Rebels. Once we pass here, we are screwed."
"But," Tony said, "the marines stationed at base camp, they can storm the Cambodian territory once they get wind of our situation, Ziva and I have tracking devices in our watches surely…"
James interrupted shaking his head, "once we reach Khmer Rouge territory the marines will make no attempt to get us back. The American military will not risk Cambodian alliance for the lives of two NCIS agents and a First Lieutenant. Until we cross the river, however, these soldiers can be attacked by the marines at any moment. That's why they are so nervous; they are going to order - …"
Before the Lieutenant could continue however, more orders were shouted, and two soldiers came forward and grabbed the three Americans. The agents stumbled down from the back of the jeep, one by one, and stood in a little group on the side of the remaining bridge. The soldiers prodded Tony, Ziva and James with rifles to get them into single file and marched them towards the edge of the gap in the bridge where the colonel was standing. Tony could see the gap better as he approached it and gulped as he realized the little dark spots in the river were boulders incompletely submerged by the water.
"As you can see," the colonel started, turning towards the trio, "the bridge to our encampment has been damaged and we are unable to cross the river. It will be difficult, but we need to find a way to…"
As the colonel talked, Tony could see Ziva working at her hands, trying to untie them, out of the corner of his eye. Seeing this, Tony followed, nudging Lieutenant James to do the same.
"…in the hope that you would cooperate on the grounds of military activity. However…"
Tony absent mindedly nodded as the colonel continued his speech, catching only snippets of the conversation before concentrating once more on his bound hands; looking briefly to his left, he found that Ziva was already free and was subtly helping Lieutenant James to untie himself.
"…we stick true to our motto; to keep you is no benefit…to destroy is no loss." The colonel paused slightly as he collected his thoughts.
At that moment, three things happened.
It began to rain. What had before been a light trickle was now torrential, bucketing down on the agents and soldiers.
Second of all, Tony finally managed to get his hands free.
And third; Ziva lashed out at the soldier that was holding the three of them in line, kicking him in the gut. The soldier stumbled and accidently pulled the trigger of his sub-machine gun, letting loose a round into the cold night air.
Amongst the confusion…chaos broke out on the bridge.
Once again thanks to alll the reviews, you guys are awesome and i reallly appreciate the feedback. As for having tiva or not - you will have to wait and see:) hehe
Also, updating may take a little longer due to my yearly exams coming up in a week or two:( which sux.....
but i will try and after that i am a free woman and will try and update as fast as i possibly can!!!
please please please review:) it will make my day brighter and thus encourage me to write faster!!!! thanks xxx