"That is highly improbable, Tony," Ziva shook her head in disbelief.
"It is not," Tony stated with conviction.
"A zombie apocalypse and an alien invasion coinciding is not improbable?" Ziva glanced at him skeptically before sinking her hand into the popcorn bowl on his lap.
"Not on SyFy," he teased. "You see the zombie plague hit first and then a week later when the world was wrought with new zombies the aliens invaded. What is so improbable about that?"
"Would not the aliens have technology to cure the zombies?" Ziva munched on the kettle corn as one of the aliens onscreen froze as a zombie inched by his hiding place.
"No," Tony said after sipping from Ziva's drink, "'cause all the humans they abducted before the invasions had no signs of zombism. So they were completely unprepared."
"So the zombies are eating the alien brains as the aliens are trying to kill the zombies?" Ziva tilted her head as a rather disgusting zombie ripped the head off an alien spilling black blood.
"Yes, now you get it," Tony nodded enthusiastically, "And then the zombies and aliens will cancel each other out leaving only our intrepid human heroes to pick up the brain bits."
"I see," Ziva snuggled into Tony's side on the floor with the sofa at their backs, "but it is still highly improbable. And why did they not use the vampire blood to cure the zombism like they did with that pretty blonde girl with the crossbow, which was a beautiful crossbow did you see the carving on that thing?"
"Yeah, that was nice," Tony nodded. "But the vampires were in the movie before this one. Aliens and vampires don't mix well. It would be weird, like some Buck Rogers wacky vampire in space thing."
Ziva quirked an eyebrow up at Tony, "Yes, that would be weird."
Tony laughed and kissed her, "wanna play alien abduction?" he asked wolfishly.
Ziva turned and put her drink on the side table then kissed Tony, "Can I be the alien this time?"
"You can be anything you want, Ninja," he laughed, kissed her neck then sighed deeply as the doorbell rang. "Someone really has bad Saturday timing."
Tony handed Ziva the bowl of popcorn then got up off the floor and headed for the front door. When he yanked it open he was very surprised to see the whole gang in the hallway, "Hi guys," he said before stepping aside and allowing Gibbs, McGee, Ducky and Abby entrance.
"Hi," Ziva said from the floor, grateful she'd worn yoga pants and a nice top and that they were still on her body. "What's going on?"
"Something interesting has developed and we wanted to clue you guys in in person," McGee said as he sat on the piano bench.
Ziva handed Tony the popcorn and he placed it on the side table before helping Ziva up into the sofa and sitting next to her.
"This is regarding EJ," started Ducky as Abby took a seat in one of the club chairs and Gibbs peeked out of the blinds. "I've kept her body for the last week and intend to keep it longer because the damage done in the fall made certain determinations difficult. It took a long time to find this because honestly, I was not looking for this. Her skull was caved in from the back and the skin was torn apart."
"What Ducky?" Ziva leaned forward as her hand went to Tony's knee.
"Behind the hairline at the back of EJ's skull is a small angel brand," Ducky stated.
"The same as Hoffman leaves?" Ziva asked in disbelief as she turned to look at Tony.
"Yes," Ducky answered.
"What the hell does that mean?" Tony automatically pulled Ziva closer to him, "Hoffman killed EJ?" He turned to McGee, "Did he know her in some way? And why toss her at the theatre when we were coming out?"
"I don't know, Tony, "McGee answered. "As far as I can tell EJ and Hoffman never crossed professional paths but as you know Hoffman's work record was wiped so there is still a possibility. But according to EJ's record - she never met Hoffman."
"There is something else," Gibbs turned from the window, "Hoffman is responsible for more than six deaths."
"Probably many more," McGee interjected. "Initially we thought that the victims, who all worked for DOD in some capacity, were targets of opportunity or they knew Hoffman in some way and he was covering his tracks. But now we know there is a true pattern here and they were a specific type of victim."
"What's the pattern?" Tony asked.
"Intel and investigative teams," McGee started. "DOD was keeping this quiet; trying to solve it in house. We only started looking into Hoffman when Commander Kent's body was found and as you know we kept hitting brick walls. When Ducky found the angel brand on EJ and we informed Vance; Vance told SecNav and well things got tossed around at the Pentagon until we received the files with the full picture."
"Ok, so what is the full picture?" Tony tightened his hold of Ziva as his eyes rested on McGee.
"Hoffman has targeted five teams," McGee leaned forward, "the six known victims, seven now with EJ, seem to have committed some slight or injured a member of the teams he has targeted. One was a political maneuver, one was a physical altercation, one was a failure to assist, etc. In EJ's case we believe her cornering Ziva in the hospital put her on Hoffman's hit list."
"The hospital?" Ziva was taken aback by that revelation, "but that just happened last week. How could he have known? The kidnapping charge?"
"Possibly the charge or the more likely way is he has a backdoor into the CIA and DOD computers," McGee nodded, "he worked behind the curtain for years. I don't see how he could have known about some of these instances without computer access."
"Wait," Ziva glanced at Gibbs then looked at McGee again, "You said he targeted five teams. Where are the other victims? Or are they alright?"
"We don't know," McGee continued, "they have all gone missing. Each team was taken quickly, within days of each other and they have all vanished. Their disappearances kept quiet by the DOD. The only thing I can tell so far that they have in common is that they have all been responsible for taking down a major criminal. An African warlord or an arms dealer."
"Or a top ten most wanted South American thug?" Tony spat.
"Exactly," McGee responded.
"Is this someone undermining US Intelligence?" Ziva asked.
"We aren't sure," McGee continued. "Elements point to just that - undermining US Intel by taking valuable teams out of play but other aspects point to ritualistic killings. The branded angel, the badly beaten or damaged bodies. However, until EJ, all the victims had the DOD in common. She is the first from the CIA."
"It seems he is expanding outside the DOD and the CIA now," Gibbs added. "One of Fornell's teams seems to fit the pattern. Three members of an FBI taskforce have gone missing as of this morning. This taskforce just neutralized a human trafficking operation and took down the head. There are two members of the team left and Fornell has put them in witness protection."
"If I fit the pattern," Ziva started. "And EJ's death seems to indicate that...am I putting you guys in danger? Shouldn't I head into Langley?"
"No Langley," Gibbs stated. "And we're not sure if we are targets or not. We didn't work with you on the Cortez op."
Ziva glanced at Tony, "What do you want to do?"
"Find him and kill him," Tony fisted his hand.
Ziva turned away, "It is not a fair fight. I cannot walk yet."
Author's note: Hi gang. My original plan was to reveal the information in this chapter in small bites but I've decided I need to start wrapping up this story. The spoilers for the premiere are messing with my Tiva love and I don't want to leave you guys hanging. So I'd like to finish up this story before the airing of episode 2.
I am going to ask you all to leave any requests you might have for the story before it ends in reviews. I won't promise to include everything but I will do my best to include as many requests as I can!