Chapter Twenty-Five"Ziva?" She had moved a little closer but it wasn't nearly enough for him.
In no time he was by her side, pushing back greasy hair, as he asked, "Are you alright?"
"Spencer," Her hand went out to ghost across his cheek; fingers nervous that if they actually made contact he might disappear.
Too many times had he been this close, so near, yet oh so far away. "Is this really you?"
"I'm here," He was careful to place his hand over hers and even more so when
he pulled it away so that he could make their fingers intertwine. "I promise, it's me."
"You should not have come." Her heart had long ago gone numb, yet suddenly it began to fill with guilt and sorrow.
"Don't say that." Spencer chastised as he tried to thumb away some dirt on her face to no avail.
"There isn't a single thing in this world that could have kept me away."
"Then I shall go to my death knowing that I brought you to yours." Her head hung in sadness she no longer knew she could feel.
"Hey now" He tried to hide the wince of breathtaking pain as he rearranged himself to be better seated by her side.
"Where there's a will there's a way so do me the favor and start searching for yours."
"The only thing I will is for the end to quicken its pace for I am growing tired."
Her limit had been the only thing left in which she had to judge time and it had long ago passed.
"Fight it Ziva." He lifted her chin; pleading eyes meeting a vacant gaze. "I know it's hard, but do it for me."
"I do not have strength enough to fight and soon enough neither will you."
Perhaps it was cowardly but she hoped she was not around long enough to watch such a thing happen to him.
"Well I don't plan on being here quite that long so let's not even bother to worry about that." He couldn't stand to see such an empty stare on such a beautiful face. It had him swearing that even if it killed him he'd get the fire back in her eyes.
"What do you plan on?" It was absolutely impossible to believe he had an actual plan.
"That information I know you've been collecting." He just knew that by now she had
an encyclopedia on the place: including the people and schedules they followed.
"It is of no use. Their numbers are too great and I am too weak."
She couldn't bare to look in his eyes, not while there was still such foolish hope blazing through them.
"I won't give up now that I've found you." Paranoia was quick to creep up as his ears caught
the slightest creaking and his eyes turned toward the door. "We're going to make it out of here together."
"Without massive numbers and guns on our side that is not a probable outcome." She had long since accepted that escape was not an option.
"Well we'll have to make it become one because it is just me and you."
If Tony actually managed to figure out how far off they had been it would probably still be days too late for he and Ziva.
"We have no weapons Spencer." She was too tired to further stress the point to him; surely he had heard enough the first time.
"But they've left me a belt and I've still got shoes." He'd try anything to put hope back in her heart.
A wry smile passed her lips as she gazed upon the laces still in his boots. "Alright"
How had she let such a pure and innocent mind become corrupted with thoughts of a killer?
"I will try my best to help you out of here but I need you to promise me something in return."
"We're both getting out of here Ziva." He didn't plan on moving even half of an inch without her.
"As much as I would like that to hold true it simply cannot.
Death is coming after me for it already fills my heart and I am alright with that, but promise me you will not let it fill yours.
If you make it out of here alive promise me you won't turn back. Don't seek vengeance for a demise that was justified." Her soul had forever been stained and it was much too late to do anything about it but perhaps she could keep his self destruction from adding an extra bit of tarnish.
"I promise that if something should happen I will not take it upon myself to serve justice."
It took a ridiculous amount of strength to promise such a thing. "But only if you swear that death will be the only reason you've left my side."
If only she had faith enough to wish once more; she'd surely ask for her heart
to once again be numb so she wouldn't have to feel it break. "Till death do we part."
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"What did you do!"
Director Shepherd's head flew up in surprise as her office door banged against the wall. "Special Agent Gibbs! What on earth do you thin-"
"Save it!" He all but ordered as the door was slammed shut. "This is between you and me not some wanna be director."
"Excuse me?" She didn't give two rats if he was prepared for the hell she was about to rain down on him.
"What did you do with Ziva?" A long conversation with his lead agent, not to mention what the fed
had told him the night before, let him know that the director had been pushing a pack of mighty fine lies.
"Well I didn't hide her if that's what you're asking." She stayed seated despite the urge she suddenly had to stand.
"She's gone because of you and Eli! Tony went to Israel based on your word and now another man's life is at risk because you decided to be self serving!"
"You are out of line!" Her voice rose impossibly so with that; she would not allow herself to be saddled with such a load.
"No you are Jenny!" A finger thrust in her direction out of pure and disbelieving anger.
"When did you stop caring about the people around you? When did it become okay to step on someone's back just so you could reach the top?"
"There was no helpless victim in any of this Jethro; it was a favor for a favor, plain and simple." Her affairs with the David's were none of his business.
"There's nothing plain or simple about any of it! Who knows what the hell's wrong with him but you, you let her come here knowing what was going to happen! You could have saved her from having to kill her brother, but instead you worried about your damn career!" That just wasn't acceptable to him.
"Ari needed to be dealt with!" She jammed her pointer finger down on the desk for emphasis.
"But did Ziva really need to be the one to do it?" Whether it had been on orders or in an attempt to save him he wasn't positive, but he was sure that a little piece of herself had died that night. He had listened to the pure pain as she sat on his basement floor holding what was left of her brother.
"It was my only option." She stated, though she didn't expect him to understand.
"So now that weight sits on her shoulders." He didn't recognize this woman; she was nothing like the one he used to know.
"Her hands were far from clean." It was hard to explain, let alone defend, a side he had never been on.
"Because of people like her father who used and abused her! She's a girl that never got a chance at being good because she was molded and manipulated until she didn't know what a sense of self was. And you know what?" He didn't see how she couldn't see the child that Ziva had obviously locked within. "She was starting to find that here Jen… but you didn't even give her a chance. Ya' just sent her right on back to play pawn for the magician."
"She is Mossad Jethro! There is no sense of self only of duty. She went back on her father's terms because she is loyal to him and only him.
Her being here was my debt paid and I know nothing more of it. Wherever she is now was completely of her choosing and has absolutely nothing to do with me."
"Tony is over there because you brought her here.
He was ambushed a couple of hours ago and he's most likely a target now.
Because of what Jenny?" She had yet to say anything past what would cover her ass and it disappointed him.
"He's out for revenge!" She couldn't handle any more of his hounding or accusing. "Eli is out for revenge and that's all I know!"
If looks could kill she'd surely be dead.
With a control he barely managed to muster her office door was pulled open.
He turned back to say one thing more before stepping out and pulling it closed. "If something happens, their blood is going to be on your hands."
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"Why are you here?" With her eyes closed she could almost pretend that it was like old times.
Her curled in his lap for comfort as he leaned against the headboard, him keeping close because they never knew when they'd get to steal another moment quite like the one they were in. The only thing breaking the illusion was the quickly dropping temperatures, bitterly reminding her exactly why she was coiled around his legs.
"Once I learned of Marco's death I caught the first flight over.
There was no way I could've gone on not knowing what became of you." The worrying and wondering would have surely maddened him.
"His life was lost because of me." It wasn't mentioned how her voice caught up on that last word.
"Had I listened to him he'd still be alive today but it seems I am destined to have everyone I love go away in the end.
"What was he trying to tell you?" He was suddenly very glad he didn't believe in destiny; he'd prove to her yet that he was never going away.
"Not to come here with hate in my heart. We came to avenge Tali and now I will die knowing I couldn't even honor him." Like a brother he was; she'd lost the closest thing left to a sibling because of her own stubbornness.
Spencer sighed deeply as he began stroking back her hair, not bothering to look down at her as he offered, "Don't forget that there is honor in sacrifice."
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"How can you possibly think it's okay to sacrifice one daughter for the other?"
Tony's blood was boiling; the lack of searching for the doctor only serving to fuel it.
"Tali's death was only one of many this man has caused. He has been as much a threat to you as he has to me for decades now.
He bombs schoolhouses without care, has watched markets burn down for entertainment." He didn't like anyone, let alone a man he barely knew, mentioning his youngest. "When the opportunity arrived to take him down Ziva and I both agreed we would go for it. The choice was clear."
"To have her fight in a war she'd never win?" This man was a nutcase. "You used her emotions against her for your own personal gain!"
"Everyone stands to gain something; as I take your being here is not solely from the goodness of your heart."
"I'm her friend. And judging by her family she needs as many as she can get." He didn't like the accusation in the director's voice.
"I see now that this is something you Americans will never understand." Eli shook his head as he leaned back in his chair; authority seeping from what seemed like every pore. "Ziva understands as do I that sometimes sacrifice is necessary. If one life lost saves thousands of others was that life not worth losing?"
"If one life saves thousands and not a one of them try to save him were they really worth saving at all?"
Never would he sacrifice a few to save the many; whether Eli agreed or not that just wasn't something he'd ever be capable of.
"What's done is done and there is nothing I can do to change that."
It was clear DiNozzo thought with his heart first, a privilege he had never been granted.
"You can tell me where you sent her!" He was tired of David sitting there all
high and mighty on his thrown; preaching to him as if he'd actually be as gullible as the choir.
"Do you not think I would have searched for her there?" His voice rose just about an octave
more than Tony's; power booming throughout it. "She has long since gone and that is something I must accept."
"She's dead isn't she?" Something in Eli's eyes just seemed to scream it.
"This I do not know." Things would be so much different if only he did.
"You lying bastard!" Something within snapped and he just couldn't seem to hold his tongue any longer.
"She was buried with Marco wasn't she? You found her and instead of telling us this
when we got here you figured you'd just keep quiet and let us finish her job!"
"That is not true." This Agent was on the very edge of crossing over to his bad side.
"The hell it isn't!" Tony saw the agitation in those eyes, it matched his perfectly.
"NO!" His hand slammed down with the force of a hammer as he flung himself forward in his chair. "Had I found the body of my last living child I would not have disgraced it by denying her a proper burial!" His gaze was as icy as his words hard. "I do not know where she lies."
"And you can't look either because you allowed yourself to become so blinded by rage that you backed yourself into a corner." He didn't care how angry Eli got, location be damned, he'd match it. "Now the doc is in the same spot and you're just gonna leave him to face music you're too scared too."
"Fear has nothing to do with this. He is a smart man, he has lived our life and he knows why we choose to die for it.
That comprehension will help him to adapt to this situation as well."
"Well by all means; as long as he knows why he's going to die!" Tony spat sarcastically.
"And that knowledge makes him better suited for my daughter than you would ever be." He didn't care whether they knew it or not, he had eyes everywhere and they were always open.
With distaste bubbling in his throat Tony said, "Call me when you have something of actual use to say." He moved to leave but not before the snide little voice within added, "In the mean time I'll be looking for your daughter."
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"What are you two doing?" Gibbs questioned gruffly as he entered Abby's lab.
He wasn't anywhere close to in the mood for their goofing around.
"Well I've been searching Dr. Reid's history like you asked, but there's not much there boss." Tim was quick to inform; sounding slightly apologetic.
"Not much of what McGee!" When was it okay to exclude something just because there wasn't much of it?
If that was the case they'd have a few dozen more unsolved cases.
"Anything really." Tim shrugged as he prepared himself to share it. "He's a prodigy child originally from Vegas: He was reading before most kids manage to color, He finished high school two and a half years before others his age would have even started it, He's gone to some of the best schools on either coast, He's…"
"McGee!" Gibbs interrupted harshly. "He's smart I got it, now what about his life! Does he have any actual family anywhere?"
"He's got a handful of distant relatives but it doesn't look like he keeps in close contact with any of them. That includes his father who apparently abandoned him and his mother while he was still relatively young, there's nothing to show Reid's had contact with him since."
"So what about his mother?" Anyone that could give him insight on this boys mind, let him know if they were dealing with friend or foe.
"That's where the sad part comes in." Abby, who had been nose deep in her computer screen, interjected. "She was like this renowned professor in Vegas, married to this hot shot lawyer, they were seriously one of them all out power couples until one day it falls at their feet."
"What happened?" That sounded like something that could surely start the growth of a rotten apple.
"She was sick and as time went by it just kept growing worse. Records show prescriptions quit getting
filled which was about the same time that Mr. Reid took off on them." McGee supplied.
"There are a few incident reports and neighbor complaints after that but nothing major until about a decade or so later when Spencer becomes of age." Abby continued where Tim dropped off.
"What happened then?" He didn't understand why these two could never just fill him in quickly.
"He finds a sanitarium that will accept his mother reporting that she has lost all control and is no longer capable of caring for herself." McGee looked to Abby who nodded before adding, "When he turned eighteen he had his schizophrenic mother institutionalized."
"It wasn't too much longer and he was at the academy.
When asked why he wanted to join, he answered; so I can finally help those unable to help themselves." It pulled at Tim's heart.
"His father's a bastard." Gibbs declared.
Any man that would abandon their child in such growing chaos had no right to consider himself a man at all.
"Maybe that's what he has in common with Ziva." McGee hinted at with a shrug.
"Mentioning Director David," Abby wrinkled her nose at the taste his name left on her tongue. "Tony finally got a name from him and apparently Abrahm Voronov is hated by like every major organization out there. I mean LOATHED, if he's out there it's likely they'll have eyes on him." This she spoke with certainty. "I'm trying to borrow some of those eyes now, but so far I've only got one sighting that's nearly four months old."
"Keep on it Abs." Gibbs spoke quickly as he turned to the door.
"Where are you going boss?" McGee questioned; it was like someone had lit a fire under his feet.
"To catch the next available flight out of here!" Gibbs didn't bother in stopping, just shouted over his shoulder as he walked right out the door.
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"Hey," Emily tapped Morgan on the arm in passing. "It's conference room in fifteen."
"Alright" Morgan offered her retreating form just as his phone began to ring.
That gathering would be perfect for renewing the topic of their missing genius.
"Agent Morgan speaking" A newly familiar voice had him asking, "Hey, did you make contact yet?"
The answer he got had him from one to ten in a half second flat. "I'll be over just as soon as I can."
Without waiting for a response he hung up; one thought filling his mind as he headed for the conference room.
As soon as he had the kid in sight and was sure he was safe he was gonna kick his can.
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"And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor- Shall be lifted… nevermore." It had been quiet for too long; so agonizingly so that he began to recite anything that came to mind in an attempt to break it. As for Ziva, she was still tightly curled around his legs and he was beginning to absently wonder if she could really be sleeping. She just seemed so calm compared to the utter panic he had racing within.
"Ziva," The slightest movement of her head let him know that she was awake and could hear him. "When are they coming?"
"The darkness brings peace, the light darkness." She barely whispered as she curled impossibly closer.
"He will come just as soon as the furthest shadow has lifted."
"This will be the last time you see that shadow Ziva." Spencer swore.
Something in the way she spoke of "him" had him too scared to actually ask what usually happened when he arrived.
Instead he promised himself that he'd never let it happen to her again.
"Spence"
His name was so light on her tongue that it added just a little bit of serenity to such a frightful night. "Yes?"
"Will you tell me another?"
The request warmed his heart even more so, adding some calm to balance that overwhelming panic.
With a soothing hand he began carding her hair back once more as he spoke, "It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know, By the name of Annabel Lee."