I'm back, with a new chapter. First of all, thank you very much for the lovely reviews. It seems that you guys haven't grown bored with my lack of updates :)) Again I am sorry for making you wait for so long for a new chapter. So, here it is, the new chapter in its full glory. Read, please review but most importantly enjoy :))

xoxo LT

Fireworks

Alison tried to regulate her breathing, but she couldn't manage to get herself under control. The fact that her husband was in that SUV and she had to take care of her daughter as well scared her. Mossad had thought her to take care of herself, but at the moment her training seemed useless. Now she was holding on to a gun, while her daughter was shacking in her arms. In front of them, the legend of Mossad was standing motionless looking at the rolling SUV. No emotion crossed her features; her eyes were steel, making Alison shudder involuntarily.

Agonizing seconds past until the SUV came to a sudden stop. The rear doors popped open and three men stepped out, followed by two others.

The two large men, who Ziva believed to be the Dragon's bodyguards swiftly, grabbed the arms of a bloody man. Ziva assumed that would be Alberto, but did not grant him a second look. Her attention was captured by another man, with Asian features. He was tall, slender, wearing a long coat and his eyes were hidden away by a pair of sunglasses. The Dragon came closer, followed by his companions, hairy brutes that seemed to desire one thing, crush anything that would cross their path. The five men, plus the more dead then alive frame of Alberto stopped in front of Ziva.

"Ah, you must be officer David." The Asian spoke, sliding his sunglasses to the tip of his nose.

"You are correct. Now, I want to get down to business. Give me Alberto, and you may have your money." She hissed, never taking her eyes away from the Asian's face.

"Why, aren't we a little bit hasty? I was told I would have the pleasure of talking to you, not receiving orders from you." He grinned.

She ignored his comment, although she knew exactly what he meant by "talking". He had brought his brutes to fight her, and not take her away. Whoever had instructed this man, wanted her dead, nothing more.

"If you would like to speak to me, then introduce yourself. Are you the same one I have spoken on the phone?" she asked, quickly eyeing the house window. She could see that the three agents were coming closer to meeting place.

"Why, of course. Where are my manners; my name is Sensei, the Dragon's disciple. You have spoken to my master." He smiled, taking Ziva's hand into his.

Alison hissed, Ziva held his breath, while the gorillas grabbed Alberto tighter.

Sensei kissed Ziva's hand and then leaned closer.

"Let's make this quick and painless. My men will attack you, and you will not fight them. If you do, I will kill the marine and then will kill the child." He spoke into her ear.

Ziva felt her heart jump out of her chest; she could feel her mask slipping away. She knew that there was no way she could take down all five men, save Alberto, Dani and make it out alive. Even if Alison would help her, they didn't really stand a chance.

She nodded reluctantly and saw that Sensei pulled away from her.

Another quick glare towards the NCIS car revealed that the three agents were very close. She met Gibb's glare, and he reassured her, giving her the strength to speak.

"You will receive your money, when you free Alberto and let them leave the neighbourhood. If not, we don't have a deal." She spoke, her eyes sparkling with fury.

She was fed up with this game, and she'll be damned if she would go down without a fight.

Sensei let out a groggy laugh and took his sunglasses from his face.

"My dear Ziva, I don't think you are in the position of making any demands here. You want Alberto, bring me the money." He spat out, angry that he couldn't get through to her. To be more convincing he pushed Alberto to his knees, mumbling something to his gorillas. Immediately a gun was pointed to Alberto's head making Alison hiss, Dani cry and Ziva clench her jaw.

The Israeli was displeased with this twist, she knew she was playing with Alberto's life, but she needed to prolong this game a little longer until Gibbs and the others would get to her. It was the only way to save the marines life and her own, so she decided she would play it risky, not give Sensei what he was instructed to take, or kill.

"I am not impressed Sensei. Kill Alberto and you will not see your money; pull the trigger and you would be dead before the smoke could clear from the barrel of your gun."

"Give. Me. My. Money." The Asian hissed, while the brute removed the safety from the gun with a loud click.

"You want your money? Come and get it!" She spoke, while stepping closer to the man.

Instantly two guns were pointed to her head, but she didn't twitch, she just stared at him.

"You do not want this money, we both know it. You were instructed to get me, so lets stop this nonsense and let Lt. Meruni walk away with his family." She murmured still staring into Sensei's eyes.

"I was told to get you Officer David, but no one told me I wasn't allowed to have a little fun while I was here." He smirked.

From then corner of her eye, she saw Gibbs approaching from behind the concentrated group of men. On his right Tony approached the bodyguard who was standing further away from the group and next to the SUV, while McGee crept from the left, gun prepared for an attack.

A smirk escaped her lips and she decided to play her last card.

"Then I'll suggest you say your last prayer Sensei, because you are going straight to hell." She spoke, pointing a gun to his face.

"NCIS! Drop your weapons!" Ziva heard.

Before the Sensei or any of the bodyguards could react a gun shot was fired. Dani screamed, while Alison pushed her into a bush.

The motion distracted Ziva, making her peel her eyes away from the Asian. He grabbed the opportunity and gripped her neck, lifting her off the ground. Another gunshot echoed and another bodyguard fell to the ground.

Ziva struggled to get free from the Asian's iron grip, but he did not let go of her. From the corner of her eye she managed to spot Alison supporting Alberto, while they fled, and McGee picking up Dani from the bushes. Gibbs and Tony were hidden away from her vision, by the Asian's body, but she could hear the struggle and she knew that they were fighting the remaining two bodyguards.

She was running out of air, and her vision was blurring, yet she decided she wouldn't drift into the darkness.

"I will kill you myself. They told me to bring you back alive, but I want you dead, you little Mossad bitch." He snorted out, sending Ziva into frenzy.

With her last strength she reached her belt and pulled out a small knife. The assassin gasped for air, distracting the crazed Sensei and plunged the knife into his side. Baffled by her movement he let go of her and she slumped to the ground coughing.

Yet the wound did not halt him for long; he pulled the weapon out, and then stormed towards her.

Ziva quickly regained her vigour, jumping to her feet, ready to fight him.

Her concentration was broken, by the sound of tyres, approaching them in full speed.

Two identical SUV's were heading right in their direction, and Ziva knew instantly that this could not end well.

The Israeli jumped to the side, meeting Gibbs and Tony, while drawing her gun. The SUV's came to a sudden stop and by the Sensai's grin, they knew they were outnumbered. The doors opened and around a dozen armed men came in sight. They seemed to form a compact circle around an entity. Sensei joined the fast approaching group, a smug grin still present on his features.

The group stopped a few feet away and some of the bodyguards moved away, revealing a tall slender individual. He was wearing an impeccable black suite, dark sun glasses, covering most of his face, while a hat, a la Franc Sinatra covered his head; a cigar was hanging from the corner of his mouth. He stepped out of the circle, and his men backed him up, hands resting on revolvers with silencers.

"You, my dear Ziva, are a very hard to get woman. I thought we had an agreement." He spoke, causing the team to gasp in shock. They did not see his eyes, but his voice betrayed his identity.

Tony and Gibbs were throwing Ziva confused glares, while her face gave nothing away.

"You broke the deal Dragon, when you sent this imbecile to handle the whole deal." She said annoyed pointing towards Sensei, causing him in return to pant.

"My apologies, my dear Ziva. I did not know that he would not treat you like a lady. I will make sure you would be respected next time." He explained, cupping Ziva's cheek.

"Let her go!" Tony hissed, stepping closer to Ziva and the man called the Dragon.

"Ah, we meet again, so soon." The Dragon hissed disgusted, tracing his eyes over Tony's stiff body.

"Enough! What do you want, Dragon?" Gibbs barked.

"Oh, right! I forgot; Ziva wasn't allowed to tell you anything. You see, if she would have said anything, I would have blown up your precious NCIS building.

I want her" He laughed tracing Ziva's lips with his fingers.

Gibbs could feel the Tony's boiling emotions and he knew they had mere seconds before he would snap. Silently he prayed that Tony would be able to restrain himself and spear the slaughter.

"If you want Ziva, you have to go through us." Gibbs sighted. He knew that it was coming down to this, and they were probably going down in a blood bath.

His only concern was that the Meruni's managed to get out of this mess.

"Where the hell is McGee with back up?" he asked himself.

His eyes went wide, when he detected the Dragon curled up on the ground, with Ziva pulling his arm forcefully.

He wasn't surprised to see at least half a dozen guns pointed at them.

"Touch me again, and I will kill you." She spoke, emphasising the last words.

"Heh! Well, a wild one. My boss was right; one shall not mess with you." He spoke, but before the words could sink in, Ziva found herself flat on her back, the Dragon hovering over her.

"But, I told my boss that no one should underestimate my training." He laughed, while Ziva struggled to get free from his grip.

"Now my little kitten, it is time for us to make an exit." He spoke sweetly, stroking her hair, causing her to hiss and shack violently.

He pulled her up from the ground, while she struggled, trying to get free of his grip. The Dragon laughed and pushed her towards the SUV. A piercing cry, made him look towards his men, spotting one of his bodyguards falling to the ground. In a matter of seconds another gunshot echoed, causing him to let go of Ziva. She grabbed the offered opportunity to flee from his sighed and join her team mates, who were now, running towards a high fence.

"Oh dear! Why do they always have to make it so hard?" He sighted turning towards Sensei.

A silent conversation went out between them, while in the background two other bodyguards fell to the ground with agonizing cries.

Sensei extracted from his pocket a small device and presented it to the Dragon.

He took the device, studying it and pressing a small button.

A few fractions of a second later, four houses blew up, causing Gibbs, Tony and Ziva to drop to the ground. Wooden pieces, along with parts of concrete were flying everywhere, and the three were trying to get to a safer area. Another ear shattering sound revealed that at least one more house had been blown to pieces.

The smoke was heavy and they couldn't see too much. Tony grabbed Ziva's hand, while Gibbs spotted his two agents.

They managed to stand up and decided to move to a small gazebo that looked to be intact, but from the flames and the smoke three large figures appeared.

The Dragon had brought back up and from his cold eyes, Gibbs could see that he would get what he wanted this time. Swiftly he pushed Ziva out of the way, standing in front of her, while Tony mimicked his motion. The Dragon gave quick instructions and the two male agents were approached by the large men. A struggle began, both agents trying to keep themselves and a wobbling Ziva alive. She on the other hand was trying to keep herself steady on her feet. Some of the flying concrete pieces had injured her; she was bleeding but not seriously.

Sooner then expected, the Dragon's face appeared in front of her eyes, taking her by surprise.

"You have made this simple task extremely difficult." He spat out, punching her in the abdomen, causing her to gasp out loud.

The pain ripped through her body, causing it to bend, allowing the Dragon to punch her again, this time in the neck.

Ziva struggled for breath, the air refusing to enter her lungs. She saw the fist flying her direction, she knew how much damage he could do, but to her utter surprise she managed to block it, and threw a punch herself. He fell to the ground, so Ziva tried on all fours to escape, but he caught her leg, pulling her towards him. Once closer to him, he hovered over her, restraining her arms, but not her legs. Swiftly she threw him off of her and jumped to her feet. By now she couldn't see neither Gibbs nor Tony, the smoke was rolling in waves, and she had a hard time spotting her opponent. He emerged from the smoke, furious and tried to knock her off her feet once more. Ziva regained her balance and he jumped on her causing both of them to fall to the ground. Once down, she tried to free herself from his grip, but he pressed his whole weight on her.

"Why are you fighting me, my sweet? There is no way you will escape; why make it so painfully for you?" He spoke, kissing her cheek lightly.

Full of rage, Ziva head punched him, causing him to remove himself from her body. He swore clutching his nose, but before Ziva could flee, he slapped her hard. Anger was sipping from his every pore, and he lifted Ziva by her hair from the ground. When she tried to struggle he hit her again, dragging her frame towards the SUV.

"What do we do with these two?" One of the gorillas asked.

"Take them to the SUV. I have what I wanted." He replied, while pulling Ziva off the ground.

Seconds later, he pushed her into the car; one of the bodyguards grabbed her frame, pushing a white cloth over her mouth. She struggled for a few seconds then she felt hereyelids growing heavy. The last thing she saw was the bloody face of the man she loved being shoved into the car.

A/N Make me happy and push the small button on the bottom of the page :))Review and you will get coockies :))