Warnings: Same as usual.

A/N: New chapter! Enjoy!

Tony had to admit that the Russian doctors patched them up quite nicely, however, the unusually long wait to board a flight home was perplexing him. He became very suspicious when they were offered a room in Moscow for the evening. His gut stirred as government agents escorted them to their room and proceeded to guard the entrance. He was told they were there for their safety.

Both their weapons had been confiscated. What had turned out to be friendly cooperation between NCIS and Russia was turning into almost hostile relations. "I don't like this," Tony whispered to his partner once they were alone in the hotel room.

Tim was searching for a bug, but had yet to find any. "Me neither. Should we try and call Vance? After all, he was under the impression that the Russian government was going to let us apprehend Lewis and then take him back to the U.S."

"I would, if I wasn't afraid my phone was being tapped," Tony said. He flopped down onto one of the double beds.

"Maybe they just need to clear some paperwork or something," Tim suggested.

Tony chuckled. "Oh, Timmy, you're always so positive. Do you remember the last time you were in Russia?"

Tim winced. "I don't like to think about it too much."

"Well," Tony said, retrieving his bag, "hopefully this will be all cleared up by morning and we'll be on our way home."

"And if it's not?" Tim asked. "What do we do then?"

"Go all Gibbs on them," Tony said with a grin.

"DiNozzo, that didn't work out too well the last time."

"I know, but do you have any other suggestions as to how to get out of this?"

Tim didn't have any suggestions; not now. He was exhausted, hungry, and just wanted to go home. Sitting down on the bed opposite of Tony, he rubbed his hands over his face.

Tony got up and walked over to his partner and gently lad his hand on his shoulder. "Tim. It's going to be fine. We'll get home before those babies are born, promise."

Someone pounding on their hotel door at four o'clock the following morning woke both NCIS agents.

Tony rolled over onto his side and flipped the light on. Outside the room he could hear voices mumbling in Russian and he cursed that he hadn't asked Gibbs to give him a crash course in the language all those years ago. Climbing out of bed, he went to answer the door, Tim close on his heels.

A tall, pale, and thin man wearing a cheap suit stood on the other side. He glanced Tony up and down, and scowled a little at the two Americans. "You might want to put some clothes on," he said in English with a slight Russian accent.

The NCIS agent looked down at his boxers only clad body and smiled. "You're lucky we're meeting after I got married, otherwise you'd be seeing me in my birthday suit."

"Your birthday suit?" the Russian asked, confused.

Oh, American idioms don't just confuse the Israelis, Tony thought. He shook his head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. Can I ask why you woke us up in the middle of the night."

The Russian pulled out a photo identification and showed it to Tony. "My name is Alexi. We have some questions for you Agent DiNozzo before we can let you return to the United States."

"Listen, I did everything the book to arrest Lewis," Tony said.

"Yes. We agree. This has nothing to do with Alec Lewis," Alexi said. "In fact, Interpol is escorting him back to NCIS as we speak."

Tony was now angry. "Then why are you holding us here?"

Alexi gestured to come into the hotel room. Tony allowed him, slamming the door shut behind the two Russian police officers that followed Alexi in. The Russian reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

Before Tony could answer the man had lit up a cigarette. He bristled; every fiber of his being told him that he was being held here as a prisoner. "Are you going to tell me why I'm being kept here? Or are you going to finish your butt first?"

He smiled, continued smoking. "Like I said, we have a few questions to ask you, Agent DiNozzo. You must understand that we were quite surprised to learn that a CIA agent was living on our soil. NCIS has even had undercover operations to take out KGB agents, have they not?"

"Before my time," Tony answered, honestly. "We were just as surprised to find Lewis in Russia as you were. He wasn't here spying for the CIA. He was here hiding from everyone."

"Maybe he was," Alexi said, "until everything is cleared up—we would just like to hold you here. I do not think it will take more than a few days."

"Now, wait just a second!" Tony shouted, fury taking over. "We played by your rules! You have no reason to hold us here!"

"Lewis warned you to be careful who you aligned yourself with, Agent DiNozzo," Alexi said, calmly. "You should have thought twice about joining forces with Mossad."

Tony's jaw clenched. "How did you know he said that to me? I didn't write that in my report."

Alexi put his cigarette out and stood up. He fixed his cheap blazer and smiled, coldly. "We will be going now. Please, enjoy the meal that will be prepared for you. Feel free to call any loved ones using the hotel phone. We will cover the costs."

All three of the Russians exited the hotel room, the door once again slamming shut behind them. Tony grabbed his clothes and pulled them on, even though it hurt his injured shoulder. "Get dressed, Probie."

"Why? What are you going to do?" Tim asked, nervously.

"How did that man know what Lewis said to me in the forest?" Tony retorted, hotly. "He's in on this. Get dressed!"

"You think we're just going to walk out the front door?" Tim spat, grabbing his clothes and yanking them on. "There are guards right outside our room."

Tony went to the window and pulled the curtain back. He could see the fire escape. "We're going out the fire escape, Timmy."

Tim groaned. "And where are going after that?"

"Russian authorities."

"Alexi was the Russian authorities!"

"Do you want to make it home to those babies or not?" Tony argued, popping open the window.

"Tony, this is insane," Tim countered.

"We stay here, we'll be dead in the hour. Come on!"

"I can't believe I'm following you right now."

Tony grinned as he slipped out the window into the cold. The sun was just starting to come up so they would have the cover of darkness for a while to make it to a safe place before Alexi discovered they had fled the coup. Once on the street below him, Tony looked up and watched as his partner made his way down.

No sooner and Tim's feet hit the pavement when above them their room burst into a fireball. Both agents instinctively ducked for cover before Tony grabbed Tim by the shoulder, yanked him to his feet, and took off running.

"Director Vance, I assure you we are investigating what happened to your agents," the Russian counselor spoke over the video feed in MTAC. "Once it is safe, my people will comb through the debris and search for their remains."

"I want to know why they at that hotel in the first place," Vance snapped. "They were supposed to escort Alec Lewis back to the United States once they arrested him."

"And I was told by a colleague of mine that they were," the counselor said. "This is as much of a mystery for us as it is for you. I was not even aware that your agents were still in Russia."

Vance looked over his left shoulder at Bishop and Torres. "What can we do here to help you?"

The counselor sighed. "I do not know, Director Vance. I assure you that I will report all of our findings to you."

As the screen went black, Vance cursed. He turned towards the two agents standing with them. "When was the last communication you had with DiNozzo?"

"Just before they were going to apprehend Lewis," Bishop replied. "I tried his phone; the number is being blocked."

"Someone didn't want us to know they were being held," Torres said.

"They have ten hours," Vance snapped, "to give me something, or I'm getting the State Department involved."

Bishop took a deep breath. "What do we tell Leah and Delilah?"

Vance's jaw tightened. "Nothing until we know more."

"Director," the technician called. "The Russian counselor is requesting to speak to you—again."

"Put him on," Vance snapped turning towards the screen.

Instead of the Russian counselor appearing on the large screen, it was Tony. "Sorry about the confusion, Director," the lead agent said, "Tim and I left that hotel room in a hurry before it exploded on us."

Vance clenched his fists. "What the hell happened, DiNozzo?"

"When we arrived in Moscow the Russian police took Lewis into custody," Tony reported. "Then they took our weapons and told us that we would be staying in the city for a while. We were visited by a man early this morning claiming we were under investigation for espionage—come to find out, he was working with Lewis. They sprung him, held us, and then attempted to kill us. I don't know where Lewis is now, sir."

"Does Lewis still have the file?" Vance asked, anxiously.

"No sir. Mossad confiscated his computer at his apartment in Tel Aviv."

"Have you informed Mossad that Lewis escaped?"

Tony nodded. "I talked to Orli myself. Warned her that Lewis is a very loose cannon. He told us to be careful who we align ourselves with, Director. He said he can't be responsible for anyone we love getting hurt."

Vance looked at Torres, who nodded silently in understanding that he wanted the agent to check up on their families. "Any idea where Lewis might have gone?"

"No sir," Tony answered. "And with all due respect sir, Tim and I are ready to come home; we've be away long enough."

"Agreed," Vance said. "Don't worry, we're going to run Lewis' picture on every news station. We'll find him, DiNozzo."

Seventy-two hours after narrowly escaping NCIS, Lewis made his way through Heathrow International Airport, keeping his head low and trying not to draw attention to himself. After Alexi had freed him, Lewis had traveled to Poland using an old alias, and from there set out to London.

By now he was sure that Alexi had finished off the NCIS agents, so he believed that he was in the clear. He certainly could not return to Russia, or Israel, and getting back into the United States was probably going to be tricky…

Suddenly, he felt a gun in his back. "Don't move," a familiar voice growled in his ear.

"You're supposed to be dead," Lewis snarled as Tony cuffed.

"Funny you should mention that," Tony snapped, leading the former CIA operative through the airport, "your buddy Alexi goofed up; I knew he wasn't legit and I got out before that hotel room blew up. He sung like a canary when Interpol caught up him to. Said you paid him a lot of money to help you track down Ziva."

Lewis ground his teeth. "You think you've won, don't you?"

Tony chuckled as they stepped outside in the rain. Tim was waiting with a car that was going to take them to the Royal Airforce base where they would hop on a cargo plane back to the U.S. "I did win, Lewis. You didn't manage to off me like you did my former partner and that marine. And you're not getting away this time because we have a nice military escort waiting for us to take us back to D.C."

"Bastard."

"Huh, they used to call my boss that," Tony said, shoving Lewis into the back seat of the car. "Be glad he didn't find you."

Tim slammed the door shut. Tony pat him on the shoulder and got in on the driver's side of the car. Once his partner was settled into the passenger seat, they were good to go. Now, they were finally going home.