Author's note:
Thank you for all the fabulous reviews, you guys are great.
Here's the next chapter, enjoy….. and Review soon…. Thanks!
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"McGee, wake up! We're here." Tony ordered as the plane landed at Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil. McGee woke with a start. But that was because Tony had pushed him and his head unceremoniously connected with the side of the bench he had been sitting on.
"Ouch. Tony was that necessary." McGee grumbled as he rubbed the side of his head.
"Aamm, yeah McGee. It was necessary after you puked on my shoes and then spent the rest of the flight passed out on my shoulder." Tony replied.
"Oh." McGee said as his face coloured with embarrassment.
Tony was first in line to get of the cargo plan, followed by Ducky, with McGee taking up the rear. As the door opened, a gust of humid air assaulted them. Their first look at Manaus was a surprise. The city was all lit up and it seemed to be bustling with activity.
Parked a few meters away from the plane were 2 white SUV's . Standing in front of the first one was a tall, dark haired woman. She stepped forward as the team disembarked from the plane. As she approached them Tony noted that she was a bit taller then him and he didn't relish the thought of having to look up to her.
"NCIS Special Agents DiNozzo and McGee. And this is Dr Mallard." Tony said as he extended his hand to her and she took it with a rather tight grip.
"NCIS Agent Esmeralda Dominga. I shall take you to your hotel now and we will set out to look for your team members at 05h00." She said as she turned back to the SUV's.
"Hey, we need to start looking for them now." Tony said with annoyance.
"They could be hurt and being exposed to the elements for the night will most certainly aggravate their condition." Ducky said concern lacing his words.
"Gentlemen, we are talking about going into the Amazon in the middle of the night and we haven't yet pinpointed the crash site. Also there is a tropical storm on the way and it will make it impossible to move around or to see anything. We also need to wait for the Manaus Military to give us a location and to provide us with an escort before we leave. As soon as we have this we will move. But to go off into the Amazon blind, without an escort, would be suicide." Esmeralda informed them.
"Damn it!' Tony shouted in frustration.
"Tony let's go to the hotel and set up links with Abby. Maybe using satellite tracking she might be able to pinpoint the crash site sooner." McGee suggested feeling just as frustrated as Tony, but needing to do something.
"Let's go." Tony growled as he helped McGee grab their gear.
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Back at NCIS head quarters, Director Shepherd was in MTAC, speaking to her contact in South America, Mario Rocha.
"Mario, what is the latest?" She asked into her headset.
"Director, there have been rumours of an impending attack on American soil. But as you are aware these rumours are on going and with my limited resources it is not always possible for me to trace every lead." Mario replied. He was a fat, balding man whose clothes were always rumpled and stained with one or other sauce.
"Do you have a passenger list for me yet?" Jenny asked disgusted by the excuses Mario had just put forward.
"I am sending the passenger and crew list to you now. The thing that stood out to me was that two of the crew members, seem to have ties to the insurgence groups in Spain." He said.
"Which two and which group Mario?" Jenny asked as a print out was handed to her.
"Amando Isam Perez and T'ariq Abdulla. Both have ties to Al-Qaeda." Mario said as he picked up a soggy and dripping tortilla and took a bite of it.
"So the crash could be linked to the rumours about an Al-Qaeda attack on American soil." Jenny stated as her eyes, stopped on Gibbs and Ziva's names on the passenger list.
"Your guess is as good as mine, Director. I will dig deeper and sent you whatever I find by morning. Enjoy your evening." Mario said as Jenny ordered the feed to be cut.
When she got back to her office, she called Agent Grisham and his team in. They consisted of Isobel Martins, Sean Cage and Mike Hopkins. They were the second best team she had and they were going to work the case from head quarters, while Tony and McGee worked on finding Gibbs and Ziva. She briefed then on what they needed to be looking for and once they left her office she headed down to Abby's lab.
"Abby do you have anything?" She asked as the lab door whooshed open.
"Director, McGee just called. They landed about 45 minutes ago, but traffic in Manaus is a nightmare. They are still waiting for the Military escort and a location, without which they can't start the search." Abby said her voice subdued.
"Is there anything new on the crash?" Jenny asked.
"I'm linking into all the satellite feeds that were within range at the time of the crash to see if I can triangulate the location from the last communication from the flight. Then I will use a program that takes all factors, such as wind, speed, flight direction, etc into account and that can work out a radius within which we can center our search." Abby said as she turned back to her computer and pulled up a map of the Amazon onto the plasma screen.
Jenny followed her to the front of the screen.
"How long will this take Abby?" Jenny asked as she stared at the screen and thought about all the dangers lurking in Amazon.
"About 2 hours to collect the data and then another hour to run the scenarios that will give us the search perimeter." Abby replied.
It was already 10pm. That meant that Gibbs and Ziva had been missing for more then 8 hours.
"Work faster. I'll be in my office waiting for an update." Jenny said as she left the lab.
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Back at the crash site, 3 fires blazed at varied intervals. They were the only source of light in the forest, which was alive with a host of other sounds. A splash was heard at the waters edge, making everyone nervous that they might have unexpected guests in the form of crocodiles or other animals wanting to have a drink of water. Sergio and Felipe had searched through all the luggage and collected torches, blankets, jerseys and what ever food they could find. Everything was then stored in one of the wrecks.
Maria, with the help of Magelena and Lidia made sure that everyone had blankets and had something to eat, even though it was just peanut snacks. Earlier in the day they had boiled water and were now storing it in kettles which had been found in the kitchenette area of the plane. The injured passengers had been moved to one of the wreckages to keep them warm, and the rest of the uninjured passengers had each been allocated tasks, such as building make shift shelters and gathering wood for the fire.
Eduardo moved between his patients using the light from a hand held torch. As he checked on one of his more seriously injured patients, he shook his head in defeat. The 60 year old man, with suspected multiple internal injuries was no longer with them. He got Sergio and Felipe to help him to remove the old man's body from the plane, before he continued checking on the rest of his patients.
Finally he came to the wreckage at the far side, where Gibbs and Ziva were.
"How is he?" Eduardo asked as he shone the touch towards Gibbs's face and noticed the red tinge to Gibbs' cheeks.
"He's infections getting worse, yes?" Ziva asked and answered her own question.
Eduardo looked at her for a moment before saying, "I will give him another injection of Ibuprofen. Let's see if it makes a difference. How are you feeling?" Eduardo asked as he prepared the injection.
"I'm fine." Ziva said as lightening flashed across the sky followed closely by a clap of thunder.
Physically, yes she was okay but it was clear that she was holding everything together by shere force of will. She was a trained Mossad Officer and she was equipped to deal with any type of situation. At least that's what she kept telling herself. But somehow this was different. This was too close to home. This was not happening to just anybody out there. This was happening to someone she looked up to and respected and someone she felt connected to. Someone she loved but whom she feared that she had fallen in love with.
Felipe stood at the entrance of the plane in the dark as he watched Eduardo administer the injection into Gibbs' hip. Then he examined the cut on Gibbs' forehead as well as the two wounds on his leg. Everything looked okay for the time being. Then he moved to Ziva's side and checked on her wounds. He gave her a pain pill and watched as she swallowed it before leaving her side. Lightening and thunder continued to flash across the sky and within a heart beat it started raining.
"Ziva." Gibbs voice startled her a few moments later. Felipe who had been debating moving off, held his ground trying to hear what they said next.
"T'ariq and Isam, are they dead?" Gibbs asked as he ignored the pain slicing through his leg. He had awakened to when Eduardo had jabbed the needle into his flesh. The thunder had played a roll in keeping him awake.
"I don't know." Ziva replied glad to hear Gibbs' voice.
"Why not? Didn't you check?" Gibbs whispered in exasperation as he forced his heavy eyes open. Darkness met his gaze and he sensed that something wasn't right but he couldn't seem to put his finger on it.
"I was keeping an eye on you." Ziva admitting, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Why? You should have secured the area, Officer David. They could be carrying out their plan right now for all we know." Gibbs reprimanded her.
Everything was very fuzzy all of a sudden and he had difficulty keeping his eyes open. His head was stuffed with what felt like candy floss and his throat was dry.
Why am I lying here and why is Ziva holding my hand?
"That's unlikely since we're all stuck somewhere in the Amazon" Ziva replied, surprised that she had been so focused on Gibbs that she had forgotten to behave like an agent. She was also concerned about Gibbs' questions because he seemed to be confused and disorientated.
"Amazon? What are you talking about and what the hell's wrong with my leg? And who turned the heat up in here?" Gibbs asked as he blinked at the pain slicing through his lower limb and the heat radiating off his body.
"Gibbs calm down. The plane we were on crashed and you were hurt. You have a concussion and a wound on your lower leg and you're running a slight fever?" Ziva stated as she placed her hands on either side of his face. The fever must be making you delirious. She thought noting how warm he was.
"Plane crash?" Gibbs asked as an unexpected wave of weariness washed through his body.
"It's okay Gibbs. You need to rest. When you wake up again everything will make sense." Ziva said, praying that that would be the case.
Gibbs was very tired now and trying to assimilate what Ziva was saying was proving to be too difficult. Also the feel of Ziva's hand on his cheek, stroking and caressing was very soothing. Ziva watched as Gibbs drifted off to sleep while she continued to touch him reassuringly. A few minutes later, she lied down next to him and promptly fell asleep while the tropical storm raged on outside.
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Author's note:
That's it for now.
Stay tuned for the next chapter where the search begins….
And as always let me know your thoughts … Thanks!
