Chp. 38

For several minutes the only sound was the ticking of a wall clock. "You shouldn't point a gun at me if you're not going to use it. It's insincere."

Another half minute passed before Kensi lowered the hammer on her Sig and lowered the weapon. "What are you doing here, Travis?"

He shrugged. "You're the fed, connect the dots."

"D.C., the attack on Mossad Deputy Director Eli David's motorcade." She said quickly.

"Very good, Ms. Blye."

She scowled. "That's what we're reduced to now."

He shrugged again. "You're a fed, kens, and I'm an outlaw."

"Outlaw?"

"Sounds more noble than mercenary."

"Only slightly. Why are you here?"

"We all have to be somewhere."

She rolled her eyes. "Why are you here?" she asked again.

"I had to go somewhere, Kens."

She sighed. "Then I suppose it's only fair to tell you that my team is investigating the attack."

000

Fornell felt something he hadn't felt in a long time, guilt. Sure, Eli David was the Deputy Director of Mossad, but he was a bastard of the highest order and Jake Gibbs had done the world a favor by killing him. Ziva seemed pretty blasé about the whole thing, which he thought was weird. The man had been her father, after all. But he'd also turned her into a killer against her will. Besides that, Fornell could understand why Jake and his team had taken Eli out, and Jake was his best friend's son. The Senior agent suddenly felt like Judeas. Maybe Brutus is a better fit. He took one last pull on his cigarette before dropping it to the ground, grinding it with his toe, then he went back into the hospital. It was his first smoke in fifteen years, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

From the corner of an adjacent parking garage, Jake watched Fornell finish the cigarette and walk back into the hospital. "Et tu brute? Well, bring it on, febbie."

Jake mentally changed his plan, then went to back to the white Ford Crown Victoria he was using to better look blend into his undercover role as ICE special agent Chris Johnson. He figured one of four things would happen once he got into the hospital. One, Ziva would see him and turn him in or kill him because she was pissed. Two, ziva would tell him to get lost and that she'd kill him if she ever saw him again. Three, Ziva wouldn't do anything to him. Four, after seeing Ziva, the Fed's would grab as he tried to make his getaway. He smiled at the thought of the Fed's getting hold him. I do love a challenge.

000

Jake moved through the E.R., busy as usual and because he wasn't injured or sick, the staff ignored him. He knew the pediatric ward was on the 8th floor, so he pushed the button for the 12th floor. Seeing Fornell caused Jake to change his original plan, but it was necessary if he was going to evade capture long enough to let the heat die down. However long that took, which Jake felt would be a very long time. He might actually burn for what his team had done. But he would make sure that his capture and/or death was where it ended. There was no reason his men needed to spend the rest of their lives in prison or be executed for killing Eli David. Most people wouldn't take the risks he was taking to see their loved one last time, or maybe they would. And Jake never had been accused of being most people. The elevator stopped on the twelfth floor, jarring him back to reality.

Making his way toward the nurses' station, Jake surreptitiously looked around and found what he was looking for just down from the nurses' station on the right side of the hallway. Without looking around, he walked to the door for the Doctor's lounge and pushed through like he'd done it a thousand times. Glancing around the room, he was rewarded with an empty space. After locking the door, he checked the lockers and found what he was looking for after checking the forth one. Ten seconds later, Dr. Nathan Howard left the lounge the make his appointed rounds.

000

Ziva and the girls had coloring books and a rainbow of crayons spread out between the two tray tables. Ayelet had joined them after she and Romi brought back lunch for the little group. The older woman knew Ziva was dealing with Eli's death by not dealing with it, largely because her fiancée was the man responsible for her father's death. Instead of owning up to the consequences, Jake was running and making things more difficult. Granted Eli had given him little choice by deciding to come after Ziva, but still. The man could've turned himself in and explained the situation, surely. But…

"Special Agent David?" the intercom next to Tatiana's bed squawked.

Ziva moved closer so she wouldn't jostle any of the wires connected to Tatiana and pressed the button to reply. "Yes?"

"Ma'am, there's a call for you. I'm sorry but we can't connect it to your daughters' room from here. You can take it at the nurses' station just down the hall."

Ziva and Ayelet didn't miss the nurses' slip of the tongue, but neither woman minded. The girl's would be Ziva's soon enough. "You leavin', mommy?"

Ziva's brain didn't register anything other than mommy for several seconds, and Tatiana's finally said, "That nurse lady sayed we was your daughters, right?"

Ziva couldn't argue with the child's logic, and besides, after the week they'd had both she and the girls needed something positive. She leaned in and hugged Tatiana gently. "She was right, tateleh. You are not my daughter's legally yet, but you are my daughter's here." Ziva said, placing a hand over her heart. "Does that make sense?"

The little girl's considered what Ziva told them, then smiled and nodded. Ayelet sniffled and Sofia turned to her, concern on her three year old features. "Doda sad?"

Ayelet looked at her youngest niece and smiled. Sofia had taken to calling her Doda after she'd heard Ziva use it. "No, Sofia, I am just very happy."

The older woman smiled at the look of confusion on the child's face and hugged her gently. "Go take your call Zivaleh. We aren't going anywhere."

Ziva looked at the girls one last time, then hurried to the nurses' station. She had a pretty good idea who was calling. Pulling out her I.D. wallet as she reached the nurses' desk, she flashed it at the nurse on duty. "There was a phone call for me."

The woman handed her the phone, smiling kindly. "Take all the time you need, hon."

"Thank you." She said, then put the phone to her ear. "This is Agent David, who is this?"

"Agent David, This is Customs Agent Chris Johnson and I need to speak with you if I could regarding the Ramirez case. Is this a bad time?" Jake's voice asked.

The next several seconds seemed like an eternity to her. The former assassin always confident and cool under pressure, suddenly felt very disconnected. She'd hoped she would hear from Jake at some point, but not the day after he'd shot her biological father and his entire protection detail. It was too soon, every alphabet agency she'd ever heard of was probably looking for him.

"Agent David, you there?" Jake asked again.

"Yes, this is a good time. Where would you like to meet, agent Johnson?"

"There's a café downstairs, but I'd advise taking the stairs. The elevators have been acting funny. Say thirty minutes?"

"That would be perfect, Agent Johnson. See you then."

"See you then." There was a click, a second of dead air, then a dial tone.

Ziva calmly handed the phone back to the nurse, then walked to the nearest stairwell and, instead of going downstairs, she went to the roof. When she reached the roof access door, she saw that it had been purposely left open and stepped through it cautiously, her weapon drawn. Had the voice really been Jake's or had that just been wishful thinking on her part?

She saw a man in a white lab coat, blue suit pants and black dress shoes, smoking a cigarette. "You know," she called, "being that you are a medical professional, I would think you would know that those things are bad for you."

"That's funny," the man called over his shoulder and turned to face her, "because I'm not a doctor. I just play one on tv."

Ziva practically ran to Jake and threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him as if her life depended on it. They held each other like that for several minutes, not saying anything.

"I didn't think I would see you for a longtime, if ever." She said, quietly.

"Yeah, I almost didn't come after the message you left."

"Why did you do it?"

"He forced my hand. He would've taken you from me and the girls and your family here, and…" He sighed and she could tell that answering this question hurt him. "I couldn't let that happen. Whether you believe me or not, I am sorry, Ziva."

She was silent and he felt a dampness on his shirt, and silently cursed himself. Jake hadn't meant to make her cry.

"He was the chiton himself, but he was still my father."

Jake only tightened his arms around her in response. She was right, using the Arabic word for devil to describe Eli.

"Malachi and Liat defected." He said, in an effort to turn the conversation in a different direction.

"To your team?" she asked.

"Yes."

"I thought you said the only Israeli you trusted was me."

He didn't bother to correct her and instead said, "Malachi and I worked together a few years ago. We saved each other's life multiple times and that kind thing can't be forgotten."

She accepted what he said without comment and instead asked another question. "When will I see you again?"

"Liat predicted Hamas and or Hizballah will take credit for the assignation in the next few weeks and the world will move on."

"I can handle that. Just promise me you'll come back to us." She said.

"So you're adopting the girls? For sure?" He said.

"Of course. Unless you've changed your mind." She said.

He grinned and shook his head. "Nope. Now get outta here. The feds are probably crawling all over this place." He said. Kissing him one last time, Ziva turned and went back down the stairs. Jake waited ten minutes, then followed. But instead of going to the basement and leaving that way, he stopped on the pediatric ward's floor and stood in the stairwell, steading himself. There was a very real chance that his dreams of being a husband and father were about to end with a bullet to the head. Without giving himself time to think about it, Jake pulled the door open, stepped out and started toward the elevators. He was halfway there when he heard the words he'd been dreading. "FBI, HANDS UP, FREEZE!" He didn't recognize the voice and stayed still long enough that the agent repeated his order, slightly more irritated.

"Which is it, genius? Hands up or Freeze? I can't do both without you shooting me." Jake said, surprisingly calm for having a gun pointed at him. Nurses, doctors, patients and parents were giving them wide birth, with the occasional panicked scream thrown in for good measure.

"Hands up." FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell said. Jake complied.

"Down on your knees." Fornell said, and again Jake complied.

"Executing your best friend's son, Feebie. Not very noble." Jake said.

"Shut up!" Fornell growled, and Jake could hear several days' worth of tension in the man's voice. "Sacks, cuff 'em."

The agent who'd spoken first, moved to Jake's left and reached for his left arm. It was his first and last mistake of the day. Keeping his hands raised, Jake waited until the FBI agent grabbed his left, then he struck. Using his assailant's weight for balance, Jake stomped down on the FBI agent's right instep, then delivered a violent head butt, and the former Delta Force Operator was rewarded with the sound of bones breaking. Not giving the other man time to mount his broken nose, Jake moved around behind him and grabbed the back of his neck, practically throwing the federal agent into the wall and succeeding in knocking him out.

Drawing the Glock .40 from its holster on his belt, Jake pointed the weapon at Fornell's head, ignoring the fact that the federal agent's Sig was pointed at his head. "I can't let you walk out of here, Jake."

The Glock in Jake's hand never wavered. "I've been involved in Special Operations my entire adult life, eighteen years. I've killed 166 people in that time. How about you?"

Fornell knew in that moment he couldn't do it. This man would kill him and walk away without a second thought. But…

"Jake…Uncle Tobias?"

Fornell didn't move at the sound of Tony's voice, and because of that he saw Jake's head turn slightly. Without thinking, Fornell did the only thing he could to beat Jake Gibbs. He squeezed the trigger of Sig Sauer P-228 twice, shooting Jake in the chest both times.

000

AN: So, who thinks Fornell just killed Jake? Anyone?