Chapter 7

Ice

Tony and Ziva had driven as far as they could away from the cabin and into the woods. They didn't know if the killer would find them or not, but they wanted to get as far away from the cabin as they could.

Neither one of them knew that they were really close to a lake, a lake that had frozen over and was now all ice. It was a different lake than the one they had found the other bodies in earlier; this one was smaller.

"Do you think he knows we are here?" Ziva asked.

"I don't know." Tony replied. "And I am seriously scared of dying here, but I think we can outsmart him."

"I think your right." Ziva replied, a smile across her face.

They didn't bother trying to get a hold of Gibbs; neither of them had a signal in these woods. "If you want to sleep, I will keep watch for the first few hours, and then you can keep watch for the next few." Tony told her. She nodded and went into the back seat to lie down and rest. There were some blankets in the back and she had kept her gun with her at all times.

Tony was on his guard at all times; he wouldn't let this guy kill Ziva. He wouldn't let this guy kill him either.

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The killer watched them; they were right where he wanted them. The frozen lake would be the perfect resting place for them. No one would find them until spring, when people eventually did fish there. But the lake was so small; there were no houses by it or anything.

How would he get them down there though? What could he do to get them there?

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Tony was feeling tired, but he wanted to let Ziva rest as long as she needed to. His eyes were getting heavy; he was feeling he needed to sleep…

He felt the car get rammed into by something; another car! He turned to see another car coming at them and realized what was going on; the killer had found them and he was pushing them toward something.

Ziva had woken up and was aware of what was going on now too. She looked at him and then at where they were headed. But they stopped before they hit the lake. The killer got out of his car, his ski mask still on him.

"What do you want?" Tony shouted at him, joining the man outside.

Ziva just watched. She didn't try to stop him, she just watched. "I want you dead!" The man shouted at Tony.

"How do you want me dead?" Tony asked.

"In the ice…I want you in the ice!" He shoved Tony toward the ice. Tony stopped and stayed on dry land, but the killer wasn't accepting that. He wanted Tony beneath the ice, dead, no longer breathing. He lived for the kill.

Ziva was getting ready to get out of the car, her gun ready. The killer had pulled out his gun now and was head to head with Tony. They were roughly the same size, with the killer being a little wider than Tony and having more muscle. "Bye bye." He pushed Tony onto the ice and the ice broke, swallowing Tony completely.

Tony felt like a thousand icicles had pierced him, but in reality, he was still alive and breathing. The killer had retreated into the woods, with Ziva shooting after him. She stopped shooting and went to pull Tony out of the freezing water.

"So…col…cold…" He stuttered.

"I've got you…" Ziva assured him. They climbed into the back of their car, and Tony removed all of his soaking wet clothing. Ziva removed hers too and got on top of him. "We have to get your body temperature back to normal." They were both wrapped so tightly in the blankets.

"So cold Ziva…" Tony could barely say that.

"Stay with me!" Ziva ordered him. "Come on!"

She was on the verge of crying, something she never did! She couldn't lose him, but she knew that unless she got him to a hospital quickly, he was going to die.

She left him in the back with blankets wrapped tightly around him and dressed quickly and drove to the hospital. "Stay with me…" She begged. "Please Tony!"

"Staying…" Tony whispered. "Still so cold…"

"We're almost there." She followed the signs with the giant "H" on them and finally arrived at a little hospital. "We were in an accident and he fell into the ice covered lake." Ziva explained to the doctor.

"He will be fine." They were doing everything that they could to get his body temperature back to normal, and it was working. "Your lucky; your boyfriend is very strong." The doctor was an older man with salt and pepper hair and emerald green eyes. In his day, he was probably a real catch. Ziva noticed the silver band on his left hand and nodded.

"Yes, I am lucky." Ziva smiled and watched Tony through the window that looked into his room. "Thank you."

The doctor nodded and Ziva went to call Gibbs. Gibbs came as quickly as he could and told her he would stay with Tony. "Take my car," Gibbs began. "And go back to the man in the woods. I want you to finish this. Finish him. Go buy yourself some more clothes, live in the car as long as you need, and make sure that before you come back, he is either in your custody or dead."

"Yes Gibbs!" Ziva nodded in understanding, took Gibbs's car, went to the army surplus store and purchased some camo pants and shirts. She also purchased more blankets and any other supplies she felt she would need while she was out there. She was going to kill this guy…He had hurt her Tony!