Disclaimer: I only own the story.
A.N.: I'm working on the next chapters of this story and Life Amongst the Dead. I'm going to try getting this one done first though; I've been torturing you guys for long enough, lol. Thank you to MMWillow13, Tempe4Booth, HuddyJibbsAddict, Kyp, leighanne jenny gibbs, left my heart in Paris, Mrs. Elizabeth Gibbs, hopesmom, itzcheeseball, Tony and Ziva forever, ladybugsmomma, EowynGoldberry, NightingaleTear, Hiphuggers2, Abva and CriminalMindsWhore for reviewing!
McGee walked swiftly, but nonchalantly, carefully watching over his teammates ahead of him and occasionally glancing around to make sure no one was following them. They needed to get out of Somalia; who knew what Eli David would do once he found out Ziva was alive? How were they going to get to the US though? Jenny's unconscious form would raise a few eyebrows and far too many questions for them to comfortably answer, and she would inevitably be recognised once they arrived in Dulles airport. The last thing they needed was for the press to find out, or worse, Vance. No this all needed to be done secretly, but how?
The hallways leading to the back door of the hospital were empty; lucky for them as he wasn't so sure how they could explain away taking two obviously seriously injured women out of their beds without waiting for them to be discharged. McGee sped up a little as Tony and Ziva reached the back door, knowing it would be awkward for them, and painful for Ziva, to try and keep it open for Gibbs to get out with Jenny. Taking a fleeting glance over his shoulder to make sure the coast was clear he reached around his team mates and opened the door, stepping out and holding it open to allow them to stride out.
He again checked the corridor before letting the door close, hanging back to see if the person that had been spying on them would try to follow them. He waited for a count of five and sharply ducked his head around the door frame, catching sight of a startled form disappearing around a corner. This guy was well trained, but now that McGee knew they were being followed he abandoned the door and ran to catch up with Gibbs.
"Boss, just seen a guy tailing us. He managed to duck out of sight despite my catching him by surprise; he's good... and it looked like he was armed." McGee told him, his voice pitched perfectly for normal conversation tones as he walked alongside him.
"Right. I'd say it's a fair bet that Eli David knows about Ziva; that operative wouldn't be risking himself like this if he hadn't already passed on what he knows." Gibbs replied evenly, his eyes scanning the car park for their vehicle; the large conspicuous ex-army truck.
"Boss, what are we going to do? Jenny will cause a media circus the moment we enter Dulles, if we can even get on the plane with an unconscious person without a doctor present." asked McGee, concerned about how they were going to pull this off. Gibbs pulled Jenny closer to his torso and fell into step with Tony and Ziva.
"Ziva, do you know anyone with a private plane?" he asked tersely. She thought for a moment and then reluctantly shook her head.
"None that would be willing to risk my father's displeasure." She replied apologetically. Gibbs nodded, expecting that that would be the case.
"Then let's get to the NCIS outpost. We can figure out what to do when we're in relative safety." He said, cutting across the car park.
"Director David knows the location of the outpost." Tony cautioned him, taking more of Ziva's weight so they could move faster.
"Yeah, but he won't attack it." Gibbs told him confidently. "He seems to favour the covert over brute force."
"He paid a Hamas group to torture me; he may have other cells in his pocket." Ziva theorised angrily. McGee glanced back but couldn't see the man following them. He didn't want to stay out in the open for much longer though, so he ran ahead to the truck and reached for the handle.
"McGee, stop!" Ziva called out, making his hand freeze on the door mechanism. "Our vehicle was unattended for hours, the operative may have rigged it to blow. Get down on the ground and check for any devices that do not belong." She instructed him, and McGee swallowed reflexively. He quickly did as he was told, but there was nothing that he could see that screamed out 'I'm a bomb!' The brakes looked incredibly worn, but he hadn't checked them when he had stolen it so he couldn't say it wasn't fine. He grunted in frustration and got back up.
"McGee, come here." Gibbs ordered, seeing the defeated expression on the young Agents' face. McGee did so and then Gibbs held Jenny out to him. "Take Jen. Quickly." He added, seeing the young man's hesitance. Tim nodded and reached out for her. She was light, scarily light. He settled her awkwardly in his arms as Gibbs looked over the van thoroughly, appearing less than a minute later with a deactivated device. "Driver side explosive; the brakes are filed down too. We're not going anywhere in that."
"I wonder how long they've known we were here." Tony growled, frustrated.
"Probably since we told the hospital staff who Ziva was." McGee answered, wishing that he had thought to give her a pseudo name. "We're going to have to get another ride fast." He added, looking around for a nondescript car they could 'borrow'. Gibbs seemed to spot one and he quickly walked up to it, smashed its window and opened the door.
"Tony, Ziva; get in the back." He directed as he swept the broken glass off the driver's seat. "McGee pass Jen to them when they've buckled up then get in the passenger side." He added ducking in and swiftly hotwiring the car. McGee did as he was told, carefully handing off the unconscious form of his ex-boss to his teammates so they were settled in with Tony on the left, Jenny in the middle and Ziva on the right. The car roared to life and McGee jumped in, buckling up as Gibbs swiftly pulled out of the parking space and set off towards the NCIS outpost at his usual speed.
"McGee? Call Abby. I've got an idea, and we'll need her to do something for us." Gibbs said. Tim closed his eyes in apprehension, this was a call he had put off for far too long, and he wasn't looking forward to it.
Abby sat in her office in front of her computer, staring forlornly at the screen and hugging Bert tightly to her chest. It had been hours since Tim had called her with car trouble, since he had promised that he would 'call her soon', hours! What were they doing? Had they found the person responsible for Ziva's death yet? Surely Tim would call to tell her they were alright, at least? She glanced at her cell phone, which sat on her desk, dark and still. No messages, no calls, no voicemail... nothing. She was going stir crazy waiting for Tim, or any of them, to give her an update.
She had completed all of her work, even going so far as to run some evidence twice despite getting perfect results the first time, just so she had something to do. Ducky had come up to see her a little while ago. It had been nice to talk to someone for a while, someone as concerned about Gibbs, Tony and Timmy as she was. He'd not stayed long after finding out that she didn't know what was going on either, but his visit had made the wait more bearable.
She should probably have called them, but what if they were stalking their prey and she gave their position away? She couldn't live with herself if she was the reason the murderer escaped them. She sighed heavily and gave Bert a quick squeeze, the familiar raspberry sound bringing a temporary smile to her face, but it didn't last long.
What if they couldn't find Ziva's killer right away? Would they stay over there for as long as it took? What if they had found him but he'd killed them? How would she know to send help if they didn't call her? An image rose to her mind's eye unbidden; Timmy lying in the desert bleeding to death, his hand outstretched towards his cell phone which was on the sand next to him, but it was just too far away. His fingers grasped thin air and he closed his eyes in defeat, never to open them again. Abby took a deep breath and shook her head in an attempt to dispel the image.
She rose from her desk and walked out of the glass door partition towards one of the fridges where she kept her spare Caf-Pow. She opened it, reached inside and jumped, startled by the sound of her mobile ringing. Her heart rate sped up in anticipation and she pulled her hand out, turned to leave, stopped, made a split second decision and quickly turned back to the fridge, grabbed her drink and raced back to her desk. She put her drink on the desk and whipped up her cell phone, her hands shaking from nerves.
"Hello?" she said, her voice wavering.
"Abby, it's me." Relief, pure unadulterated relief coursed through her at the sound of Tim's voice. He was safe. This realisation was followed closely by anger. Why hadn't he called her earlier?
"I don't know anyone by that name." She replied stonily, listening carefully to the noise in the background. It sounded like he was in a car, a moving car, so he wasn't alone.
"It's McGee." He clarified gently, probably knowing how angry she was with him right now, but she wasn't going to let him off that easily.
"Oh." She responded with disinterest, taking a long, loud suck on her Caf-Pow straw to illustrate her displeasure. He sighed softly.
"Look, Abby, I didn't mean to leave it this long to call you but something big came up and I've not had a moment to spare." He explained, piquing Abby's curiosity.
"Something big?" she repeated, hopeful that he was referring to Ziva's killer. Had they found him already?
"Yeah. Listen, we need a favour. We're coming home, but we can't take a public airplane." He said, making Abby wrinkle her brow in confusion. That was how they had gotten there wasn't it? Why couldn't they come back that way? Didn't they have any more money?
"Why not? What big thing came up?" she asked, worried now that they had found the killer, but now he was after them.
"I don't have time to explain-" he began, but Abby saw red and went in for the kill.
"I've been waiting for your call for hours, McGee! I've had Vance interrogate me on your whereabouts and I've been going stir crazy worrying that you could be dead somewhere and no one would know! I want answers!" she shouted, stomping over to her glass door and closing it so no one would disturb her.
"I'm not sure how to tell you this-" he broke off and Abby could hear mumbling sounds in the background. "Someone wants to speak to you." He said eventually, and she rolled her eyes, hoping Tony or Gibbs could explain because she wasn't going to go easy on them.
"Hello Abby." Her mind became a complete blank for several seconds. She blinked and fell heavily into her desk chair, tears filling her eyes. She couldn't believe it, it wasn't possible was it?
"Z- Ziva?" she whispered, not really daring to believe her ears.
"Yes Abby." Her Israeli friend confirmed. "I am alive. Tony and the others found me just in time." Ziva sounded tired and upset, yet there was an unmistakable fire in her tone.
"What happened to you?" Abby asked softly, swiping at the tears streaming down her cheeks. This converstaion was quite surreal, she had already said her tearful goodbyes to a picture of Ziva and now here she was talking to her.
"I was captured and held prisoner by a Hamas group. My own father paid them to keep me there. I was not the only one saved, Abby, but the other would be best seen to be believed. It is impossible for us to take a public plane while she is with us, also my father may be watching the airport." Ziva said anxiously but Abby focussed on the 'other person' part of the conversation, hiccupped and laughed, suddenly giddy.
"Who is it? Another Mossad Agent? Oh, or you have another sister!"
"No it is not another Mossad Agent, but she was a sister to me... a lifetime ago. Hopefully she will be again." Ziva's voice was overflowing with emotion and her softly spoken words stirred something in Abby's memory. Abby cleared her throat, dried her eyes and sat up straight, all business once more.
"What do you need me to do?"
"I will pass you to Gibbs." Ziva said, and Abby heard the sounds of the phone changing hands.
"Is the Sec-Nav using his private jet?" Gibbs asked, not bothering with pleasantries, which served to knock Abby off of her happy cloud and back into cold reality. They were in danger.
"Erm... hang on." She quicky typed on her keyboard, accessing the Sec-Nav's plane's itinerary. "No. He last used it a fortnight ago; it isn't scheduled to go out again for another two months." She reported.
"I need you to send it to the NCIS outpost in Somalia ASAP."
"Risky Gibbs, you aren't exactly the Sec-Nav's favourite person." She replied, her eyebrows rising at the audacity of his demand.
"I don't really care right now; I just have to bring my people home."
"Who's paying?" she asked hesitantly, hoping that he wasn't going to make her hack the Sec-Nav's accounts.
"McGee emailed you a copy of the account status of one Abraham Sinai; he's paying." - (Thank you Tempe4Booth)
"Okay... got it. The flight crew have been notified. I'll intercept any communiqués that they send to the Sec-Nav for confirmation." She told him and then spied something noted in the flight information. "Oh, and Gibbs, the next flight it was scheduled for was to bring one of the Agents over in Somalia home. You might be able to get away with this if you bring that person back with you."
"Good work Abs, but I'm not sure if Agent Hilliard is allowed to fly yet, or he'd already be home."
"True. It'll be a few hours flight time Gibbs, and you better make sure there's somewhere for them to land at the outpost." She cautioned.
"It'll be taken care of. Just tell them to contact the base before they get ready to land. Oh and Abs? Get Ducky up there with you, just in case Vance tries to single you out."
"Why would he single us out?" she asked, confused by the implications of what he was saying.
"I don't think he'll be happy with us soon."
"Now that you mention it he did have a minor freak out when he found out you were in Somalia, but then I told him you were avenging Ziva's death and he was suddenly fine with it. It was kind of weird, Gibbs." Abby confided, her eyes straying to the door of her lab, making sure she was alone.
"Smug bastard." Gibbs growled angrily. "Make sure you and Ducky are at the landing strip when we get back to DC, I want you all where I can keep you safe." He said, his voice sounding quite distant.
"Right, I'll get Ducky and see you then. Bye Gibbs!"
"Bye Abs." He said, disconnecting the phone. Abby grinned and gave Bert another squeeze. Gibbs and the team were safe, Ziva was alive and they were all coming home; things were finally looking up.