Gibbs House
Living Room
Ziva was going through the video footage from the hospital, videos of possible entrances into Bethesda, looking for any sign of Sasha Phinith. They needed evidence to link her with Raheem, that she had possibly allowed him access to the hospital without the security camera catching them.
She looked around the empty room, Tony was sitting up in a chair finally with their assistance in the bedroom, he seemed quieter than usual, Sallie was sitting with him, keeping him company, Gibbs had left to go to NCIS, he would be back within the hour.
She could hear a comforting voice in the background, had to be Sallie, Tony was receiving his third bolus of fluids, he had complained during the first, but had quietened, she attributed his compliance to the older woman, who had a wonderful bedside manner and a great way of making Tony comply.
She stood to stretch her legs, she felt that the others would be back soon, each had been worried about the effects of the medicines on Tony, Dr Pitt had wanted to place Tony back into ICU, but Gibbs didn't think it wise considering that Sasha hadn't be captured, she was not at her home address or at work, she could show up anywhere, even at Gibbs home, that's why the FBI agents were doubled on his place.
The FBI were on alert for Sasha, her picture that had been on her hospital ID had been distributed amongst the agents and amongst the team. She was a beautiful woman, Ziva found it difficult to understand the mind of a terrorist, she never had, even with her training with Massad.
She sat back down and continued to look at the screen, she needed to find the connection between Raheem and Sasha.
Tony's Room
Sallie looked at the man in the chair, he was handsome, even with his pale complexion , bruised and burned face and sad eyes. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she busied her hands with crocheting.
He looked over at the older woman and smiled, "Better." his voice still weak, his eyes darkened, he felt beaten, defeated, but he would not speak it out loud, it would be something he would push down into his mind and hoped not to ever have to face it again, like so many other things in his life.
"Well, for some reason I just don't believe that, you're too quiet. Anybody else would be talking up a storm, verbalizing their anger at someone who had attempted, not just once but twice to kill them, so I'm not buying it. Save the brave act for the others but I know better." she continued with the needle work, flipping the thread around her finger, unwinding more yarn.
Tony looked over at the window, attempting to avoid the woman in the chair beside him, not really wanting to deal with anything right now.
"You want to try this?" she was offering him the chance to crochet.
"That's for girls, bet Kate would kick by butt for saying something like that though." he was lost in a thought, Kate had laid her life down for Gibbs, she had died for the job, why did it bother him so much that someone had tried to kill him, he always thought of himself as brave but evidently he wasn't as brave as he thought.
"Kate a girlfriend?" she smiled, attempting to get the younger man to talk, still offering the crochet needle.
"No, a fallen agent." he took a deep breath, not really wanting to talk about her, too much emotion there, he would deal with her death someday but not today. He looked over and smiled and shook his head at the offer of crocheting, "What are you making?"
Sallie smiled, she had experienced her share of losing friends in the name of security. "I'm making a baby blanket for my granddaughter." She paused taking in the sad man sitting beside her,"Listen, my husband was a great crocheter, he actually loved it, found it relaxing, he always crocheted with me at night, it was our thing." she leaned back and went to crocheting again, watching her charge out of the corner of her eye.
"Never had a hobby other than sports, never had anybody interested in doing the simple things with me, well that 's not entirely true,I did have but that was a short lived experience." his thoughts were now focused on Jeanne, the only woman he had ever truly loved.
Sallie put down her long needle on the the old oak wooden side table and stood to check on Tony's lines, he seemed oblivious to her actions, still lost in his own world of thought.
"You need to drink, drinking will get this out of your neck quicker than anything else, besides taking it out yourself, which I wouldn't suggest doing." she gave him a warning look, referring to the central line. She reached into the new box from the NCIS lab and pulled out a fresh bag of fluid, she would slow down the rate now, his kidneys seemed to be doing fine.
He just pointed at the IV, thinking that was enough for now, he really didn't want to put anything else on his stomach, afraid of the nausea that was threatening, he had eaten a liquid breakfast and lunch, well actually drank them, but now it seemed to be wanting to making a reappearance.
"Listen, I need to empty your foley again, I'll be back in a few minutes." she informed her patient as she was walking out the room.
Tony watched as she exited,looking down at the full bag of urine, shaking his head. He let out a sigh, his nurse was nice enough, but he needed a break, some time alone. The great view of the lake was relaxing, except for the occasional appearance of the agent who was guarding his window, which felt a little disturbing, and very uncomfortable.
He closed his eyes, attempting to capture the quiet of the moment when he heard something familiar, a snapping sound. He sat up a little bit more in his chair now, his agent senses kicking into gear, he looked to see if he could see the man who had been guarding his window outside, the man whom he had familiarized himself with over the past few hours, he was missing.
He knew not to yell, the window was open, he was at risk at it was, he slipped down out of the chair, crouching as low as he could behind the table, disconnecting the tubes from the lines, finding a syringe and deflating the catheter in his bladder, then removing it," Ewwww!" he moaned as quietly as one can, having such a thing removed from that area. He would need to move quickly if this was who he thought it was, his hand automatically reaching onto the table to get the long crocheting needle, he needed a weapon.
Sallie reentered the room to find her patient hiding, her senses also kicked into gear and she slid down beside him,"What's wrong?" she whispered as she pulled her bag near them, reaching inside and pulling out a Sig and ammo, loading the weapon quickly and pulling back the safety.
Tony was a little amazed that the woman carried a weapon in her bag but he was glad. "Heard a snapping sound and the agent outside is missing." he whispered, the window was still open, the agent still missing.
Ziva suddenly appeared at the door, but she was concealing herself from anybody who might be outside,"I have a bad feeling Tony."Ziva whispered to the two people in the floor. "We have to get him out of here now. I will cover the window, Sallie get Tony into the hallway." Ziva trained her weapon on the window, watching it closely as Tony and Sallie moved towards the door, but suddenly things went from very quiet to very loud.
A hail of bullets was fired, a semi automatic weapon, the room was being torn to shreds, Tony could feel his body being dragged across the wooden floor and down the hallway, shards of glass and wood flying over them, into them but Ziva continued firing back at the unknown target.
"Ziva!" he attempted to call her name, but Sallie quieted him,"Tony, she's fine, I can see her, let her do her job." Sallie warned, she had her weapon directed at the hallway, ready to take deadly aim at anybody entering the home that shouldn't be there.
"She's my partner, I need to make sure she's okay." the sounds of Ziva's sig and the semi-automatic weapon continued in the bedroom, the room now filled with splintered wood, broken machines and glass, Ziva was able to avoid the majority of it though as she made her way towards the offending weapon, her gun and her knife ready. But then suddenly the window was clear, the gunfire stopped, she could see the agent lying dead on the ground,but she knew it wasn't over yet.
She pulled out her cell and dialed the only number, the only person, she could trust to get there in a hurry, as she moved back across the room, never taking her eye off the window.
NCIS
Gibbs was grabbing his weapon and jacket, Tim and he would head back to the house, Ducky and Abby would come later, they needed to grab an overnight bag .
Sasha hadn't been found yet, which wasn't a good thing, and he felt uneasy leaving Ziva and Sallie there to protect Tony by themselves.
"You ready to go boss?" Tim asked as he closed down the computer and grabbed his gun and badge from the drawer.
"Let's go." he was about to the elevator when his phone started to ring, he pulled it out of his jacket pocket, it was Ziva on the caller ID,"Gibbs."
Tim was holding the door to the elevator open, awaiting his boss to enter, watching the the expression of horror cross Gibbs' face.
The line had gone dead but he heard gunfire,"We got to go McGee!" he slammed his fist against the elevator wall as he entered, time was of the essence, his only thought was, not again.
It's my birthday tomorrow....and I could write on my birthday but I will see if you like this chapter first...Thanks guys for reading, I have been very humbled by this experience and the support of so may great reviewers and those who have clicked this story as a favorite, it means a lot!