Chapter 5

Danger is Lurking

February 2017

~~At NYC Hospital~~

Ziva lay in the hospital bed, holding her newborn son in her arms, cradling him and looking down at him. "Such a beautiful son, don't you say?" She tilted her head up to Tony, who was standing at the side of her bed.

Tony smiled at Ziva, looking slightly dazed from the sudden turn of events that preceded the trip to the hospital. "I can't believe I brought him into the world," he muttered.

The doctor looked up from giving the baby a checkup. "And you did a hell of a job, too. You should be proud of yourself." He smiled at Tony and patted him on his shoulder.

"Thanks," Tony said, his voice thick with emotion. "Totally different, and beautiful, experience than just... hearing about how Ziva went through it the first time," he said, his voice barely above a hoarse whisper. He reached down and gently stroked the baby's back, and bent down and said in a soft, singsong voice, "Hey, little man. Abba's here."

The doctor looked over to Ziva and smiled. "And how's the mother doing now? You're looking good, I'd say."

Ziva smiled up at the doctor. "Tired. But I'm feeling great," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She used one hand to push herself up in her bed slightly. "I am looking forward to going home, though," she said, a bit more loudly. "I'm sure Tali misses us by now. It's been a couple of days now."

Tony nodded. "Ade said Tali's been doing great. Asking about us all the time today. She's looking forward to seeing us again, and meeting her new brother." Tony smiled.

"That's good to hear. You'll be glad to know that your son has a clean bill of health. Everything's looking and sounding normal with him. Passed all the tests we gave him. No Tay-Sach's to worry about here," the doctor said, smiling to Ziva, then to Tony. "I don't see any problem with giving you the okay to go home today."

"Oh, that's wonderful, that'll be great to be home, in my own bed, taking care of the baby." Ziva smiled up at the doctor, her face positively beaming. She turned to Tony and said, "Soon as we get the paperwork, you can run ahead and get the car warmed up."

"Sounds like a plan," Tony said, smiling. "Now I've got a story to tell the grandkids one day." He chuckled to himself. "Totally not something that I would have expected to be doing, but in the end, the result was... wonderful. Priceless, even." Tony's eyebrows jumped up and down on his forehead as he looked down at his newborn son resting on Ziva's chest, as he reached down and put a hand on Ziva's shoulder. He slowly bent over and gave Ziva a kiss on the top of her head.

The doctor chuckled. "Yeah, you definitely will have a story to tell, for sure. Not many fathers get that kind of front-row-seat experience that you did. Congratulations on that achievement." He reached out and patted Tony on his shoulder. "I'll get the paperwork written up, and you'll all be on your way in no time flat." He turned and walked out of the room.

Ziva looked down at the resting baby and said in her soft, motherly voice, "You hear that? We're going home soon!" She smiled at the baby, then looked up to Tony. "I think he's more than ready to go home and rest up."

"Yeah," Tony said, smiling. "Tali would have a ball with having a young brother. I can just see her bossing him around when they both get older." He chuckled at himself. "It'll all turn out good, though, I think."

"Oh, stop." Ziva laughed up at Tony. "I'm not ready for that stage, yet. Just let me enjoy being a mother for a little bit." She looked back down at the baby and gently stroked the hair on his head back. "So much hair," she whispered to the baby.

"Yeah." Tony nodded and smiled. "He looks so peaceful, sleeping there. And you look so beautiful holding him," he said in a soft voice.

~~At DiNozzo Farmhouse~~

As Tony and Ziva pulled up in the driveway, they could see a familiar figure looking out the front window. "Oh, is that Tali standing there?" Ziva asked as she pointed toward the living room window.

"Sure looks like it," Tony said, smiling as he saw Tali dash from the window, then the front door flying open with Tali framed in the middle of the doorway. Tony pulled the car to a stop and put the transmission in Park, then rolled his window down and stuck his head and one hand out the window. "Hi, Tali! Wait up there while I pull the car up into the garage," he called out to Tali.

"Abba!" Tali cried out in excitement as she bounded down the steps and started running down the sidewalk toward the driveway.

Adelaide ran out of the doorway and stopped Tali before she got very far. "Tali! Where you going?"

Tali stopped in her tracks and turned to look up at Ade. "Savta, my feet are cold." She started hopping from one foot to the other.

Ade shook her head at Tali, a small smile on her lips, as she picked Tali up. "You shouldn't be going out in the cold with no shoes on like that. Silly girl. Wait with me, okay?"

Tali nodded and smiled at Ade as she signed to Ade that she was cold. "Wanna see Abba an' Ima an' my new brother," she said, her teeth chattering from the cold.

"Let's go inside, and get you warmed up. They'll be inside very soon," Ade said, smiling at Tali. She turned to walk inside the house and closed the door behind her, as Tony and Ziva walked into the side door, Tony carrying the baby carrier and Ziva carrying the baby bag.

"Made it safe," Tony said, smiling at Ade.

Ziva shook her head, smiling at Ade and Tali. "I saw that, little girl. You're silly, going out barefoot like that." Ziva walked up toward Ade and Tali, and reached out for Tali.

Tali smiled and clambered into Ziva's arm. "Ima! I happy you home again." She hugged Ziva and smiled. "Can I see the baby?"

"I'm happy to be home, too," Ziva said to Tali. "Your brother's resting right now. But Abba can show you, over on the couch." She pointed toward the couch.

Tony nodded. "Yeah, it'll be more comfortable to sit on the couch and let him rest."

Tali nodded and smiled. "Okay!" she said and sprinted to the couch and took a seat in the middle of the couch.

Tony chuckled as he ambled over to the couch and took a seat at the end, placing the carrier on the floor in front of him, the baby facing him. "There we go. Ziva, you can sit next to Tali and we'll show her together."

Ziva followed Tony closely behind and sat on the other side of Tali, and reached out and moved the carrier a bit closer to the middle. "Now, we can see better." She popped the cover down fully so that everyone could see.

Ade walked up next to the couch and looked down at the baby, and said/signed to Tony, "So cute! Such an adorable baby."

Ziva looked up at Ade and smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I think it's definitely worth the experience." She looked back down at the baby, and then up to Tony. "Especially with him delivering the baby instead of the doctor."

Ade chuckled to Ziva and Tony. "One you'll never forget, for sure. Your kids and grandkids will be hearing all about it." She pointed to Tali. "She was looking forward to you coming home, you know."

Tony chuckled and nodded. "I saw that when she came out of the house. Barefoot, too."

Ade shook her head, smiling at Tony. "That reminds me of you when you were a young little boy."

"Moi?" Tony pointed to himself, looking at Ade with an innocent expression on his face.

"Yes, you!" Ade pointed her finger to Tony, laughing at him. "When you were two, three years old maybe, you'd just take off outside at random times, didn't matter if it was hot, cold, rain, snow. It could be you're excited to see your parents, or you just wanted to go outside to play."

"That's right. Your father did say something about that to me some time ago." Ziva smiled. "I've seen Tali do this from time to time as well."

Tony chuckled. "Yeah, you got me there. I remember the times I'd get chewed out for running out in the snow. Especially when I got really sick when I was five, six."

Ade nodded at Tony. "I remember that year very well. I came over to help Elizabeth. You were truly miserable that time."

Ziva chuckled. "Must be the DiNozzo genes. I'll have to keep a close eye on Tali, then. Like I've said before, Tali will sometimes slip out the door without warning and run out barefoot, no coat in the snow."

Ade looked down at the baby. "I'm sure he will do the exact same thing as well when he gets a little older."

Tony chuckled out loud, causing the baby to stir. "I sure hope not. I hope he turns out to be the exception to the rule."

Ade chuckled. "You just watch! You just never know with kids, how much they take after you."

Tali looked up from looking at the baby. "What's his name?"

Ziva looked down at Tali. "We've decided to name him Zack Anthony."

Tali smiled up at Ziva, then looked back down at the baby. "I like that name."

Tony smiled. "Yeah, I do too."

Ziva smiled up at Tony. "Only this family knows, until the eighth day. Then we let everyone else know."

Ade tilted her head. "Why's that?"

Tony cleared his throat slightly. "Alright, Ade, let me explain to you about something. According to her customs, we don't officially sign the birth certificate. But to the family, we know the baby's name as Zack Anthony DiNozzo."

Ade sat down on the couch next to Ziva. "Aw, that's a cute name. How'd you come up with the name?"

"Thank you. Tony and I wanted to try to combine our heritages in the baby's name. We decided it would be best to have a Hebrew first name and an Italian middle name for our kids. I think it's a wonderful blend, don't you?" Ziva smiled at Adelaide.

Adelaide smiled and put her hands together, as she looked down at baby Zack. "I think it's wonderful! But why not sign the birth certificate now? Make it official?"

Ziva paused to think of the right words to say, then nodded to herself, satisfied with what she came up with. "Our tradition comes from ancient times, when a newborn baby boy is christened on its 8th day after his birth. On the 8th day, his name will be entered into the official records." Ziva kneaded her hands together as she picked her words carefully.

"Oh wow, I did not know about that. So, why the eight days? I'm curious." Adelaide leaned forward, interested about the custom.

Ziva smiled as she nodded, reaching out to hold Tony's hand, then took a deep breath. But before she could say anything, Tony spoke up first, softly. "Ade, my best understanding of the whole reason behind the eight-days wait, is in Jewish history, now I'm talking Biblical times here. Back then, the death rate of babies was pretty high in general. Most tended to die before the 8th day. So, in their tradition, they waited to make sure the baby was healthy the whole eight days, before naming the baby officially. They believed that once the baby has made it past day eight, that he or she would have a good long life."

"Oh really, that's an interesting history lesson." Adelaide was so interested.

"There's a small ceremony that's involved with it. Just the immediate family. Parents, siblings, and the baby."

"Ah, I see. And that happens, what, five days later?" Ade asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yeah, on the eighth day." She smiled down at Zack, who slept peacefully in his carrier.

Tony let out a yawn. "It's been a long day. Just glad we're home, finally." He looked down at the baby, then over to Tali and Ziva. "I'm hungry, also. How does dinner sound?"

Ziva smiled. "Sounds wonderful. We can take the chance to fix something while Zack sleeps. I'll keep an eye on him."

Tali piped up. "I'm hungry!"

"I'll cook up dinner," Ade spoke up. "Chicken Parmesan?"

Tony's eyebrows jumped up and a smile formed on his lips. "Sounds perfect. You make the best chicken Parmesan."

"Righty-o!" Ade jumped up from the couch and tiptoed around the baby, making sure not to startle him, then walked over to the kitchen and started preparing dinner.

~~ Family bedtime ~~

Later that night in the master bedroom, Ziva was sitting on the bed, holding Zack in her arms, having just cleaned him up and changed him into fresh sleepers. Tali had likewise gotten herself ready for bed, with Tony's help moments ago, and was now sitting next to Ziva, looking down at baby Zack.

"Ah, we're ready for the night, now." Tony sighed in relief as he gently got on the bed next to Ziva, being careful not to move the bed too much so as not to wake the baby up.

Ziva looked up at Tony and smiled. "Feels so good to be back in our own bed again. Much more comfortable than the hospital."

Tony chuckled. "Oh, definitely. More room, too." He reached his arm around Ziva and looked down at the baby. "He looks peaceful, sleeping in your arms," he whispered into Ziva's ear.

Tali looked up at Ziva. "Can I hold 'im?"

Ziva looked down at Tali, and took the arm closest to Tali, and scooted Tali closer to her. "C'mere, sit closer to me," she said to Tali, then put her arm back around the baby. "You can help me hold him. Put your hands between my arm and the baby, and hold him like so."

"Okay," Tali carefully put her hands between Ziva's arm and the baby, and snaked them downwards a bit, then leaned forward without moving the baby, until she was looking at the baby closely. "Hi, I'm Tali. I'm your big sister," she whispered to Zack. She leaned her head forward as carefully as she could and kissed him on the top of his head.

"Got it!" Tony held his phone up. "That was a perfect picture," he said. Gotta get this one framed, for sure." He brought the phone back to him and turned the camera to photo mode, showing the picture he took.

"Aw, that's cute!" Ziva smiled at the photo. "Blow it up and frame it." She looked down at Tali. "I think it's time we put him in his bed. What do you say?"

Tali nodded and said, "I help you put him there?"

"I'll tell you what you could do." Instead of Tali helping carry Zack, Ziva decided that Tali could help with the bassinette. "You could make sure the blanket's ready in his bed while I put him down on his bed."

"Oh, yeah!" Tali gently pried her hands out from under the baby, then quickly stepped over to the bassinette and flipped the cover aside and looked up at Ziva. "All ready now."

Ziva smiled at Tali and said, "Thank you, Tali." She glanced up at Tony as she slid herself off the bed and walked over to the bassinette.

"Ni-ni!" Tali piped up, waving to the sleeping baby.

Tony walked up next to Ziva as she gently laid Zack down in the bassinette and gently put the cover over him. "Hopefully he gets a full night's sleep."

Ziva looked up at Tony, then tilted her head, smirking at him. "Really? We'll see about that." She smirked and winked at him.

"What?" Tony asked softly, an innocent look on his face, his hands held out in the air.

Ziva chuckled to Tony, then turned to Tali. "It's your turn to go to bed, now."

"Okay, Ima." Tali smiled up at Ziva. "I get to play with him tomorrow?"

Ziva shook her head gently and smiled to Tali. "No, not for a while. He needs to grow a little more. Let him sleep for a while."

"Okay. I go bed now?" Tali asked.

"Run along to your room. I'll be there in a second," Ziva said to Tali.

Tali scampered off to her room, then stopped at the doorway and watched for Ziva. "I waiting for you!"

Tony chuckled. "She's cute. What were you saying? About babies not having a full night's sleep?"

Ziva chuckled. "Babies don't follow a typical nine-to-five schedule, at least not initially. You'll see what I mean later tonight." Satisfied that Zack was sleeping peacefully, she turned to Tony and said, "Let's put Tali to bed. The baby's going to be fine where he is, now."

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan." Tony turned and walked toward Tali's room, followed closely by Ziva.

~~Sometime in middle of April 2019~~

Ziva sat on the couch, packing Tali's school bag. She looked up at Tali, who was putting her shoes on. "Got your shoes on, Tali?"

Tali stood up after she finished putting her shoes on and smiled at Ziva. "I put my shoes on! See?" She held out a foot to Ziva.

Ziva smiled at Tali and said, "I see that, you did good. I put a note in your bag for your teacher. I'm just doing a few things in the area, and then I'll pick you up from school this time. Alright?" Ziva held up Tali's backpack and pulled the note out partway, then put it back in and zipped the bag up.

"Ima, I'm happy you be pickin' me up today," Tali said as she made small hops in place out of excitement, a huge smile on her face.

Tony walked by Ziva, carrying Zack in his arms. He smiled at Ziva and held Zack up a bit, showing off the dinosaur shirt he was wearing. "Looks like Zack is ready to go for the day. I also took care of go bag, it's ready and sitting on the bed."

"Ima, me go bye-bye with Abba," Zack perked up to Ziva as he babbled on in excitement.

"Yes, you are!" Ziva leaned over and smiled to Zack, tousling his hair. She stood back up, smiling at Tony and stroking his cheek. "You're the best."

Tali looked up at Ziva. "Ima? Savta stay here with Tobias an' Zara?" Tali turned to look at Ade, who was sitting on the recliner by the playpen the twins lay asleep.

"Oh yeah, they'll be fine here with Savta, right Ade?" Ziva smiled at Adelaide.

"Yup!" Adelaide nodded to Ziva. "They're sleeping quietly now. Diapers I know where, but what about when the babies are hungry?"

Ziva nodded to Ade and said, "There's plenty of food for them in the fridge. Just warm the bottles up in warm water when they need to be fed," she said to Ade.

"Oh, you have plenty for them, that's wonderful. Thanks for letting me know. I'm sure they'll be no problem at all." Ade smiled at Ziva.

Ziva smiled at Ade, "Awesome."

"Everything's set?" Tony asked Ziva.

Ziva nodded to Tony. "If you need anything, you know how to reach us," she said to Ade, smiling. She turned to Tali. "Ready?"

Tali jumped up and down excitedly and said, "Ready! Here we go!" She darted toward Ziva's car.

Moments later, out on the driveway, Tony buckled Tali in Ziva's car, while Ziva put Zack in his baby car seat in Tony's SUV. They both gave their children their farewells, then met each other between their cars. Tony stood in front of Ziva, ready to open her door. "Ziva, my sweetcheeks..." He reached out toward Ziva, and gently pulled her into his arms in an embrace. "You gonna be fine going out there alone?"

Ziva chuckled. "Tony, I'll be fine. It's been a while since I got out of the house. I figured that I'd have a bit of 'me time', and get some things we need. I'll keep in touch with you, though." She reached up and stroked Tony's cheek and smiled at him.

Tony smiled at Ziva, and opened her door and stepped aside and waved her toward her car. "Alright, sounds good. Call me when you arrive at the store. Drive safe. I love you so more, always and forever" Tony smiles as he leaned toward to give Ziva a full-on kiss.

Ziva returned the full-on kiss to Tony, then her eyes glanced toward the back seat, where Tali was looking up at them, with a somewhat uncertain look on her face. She broke for air, then said, "We better go now." She patted Tony on the chest. "I'll keep in touch."

Tony stood back up and smiled at Ziva as she closed the door. As she started the engine, he held up a hand and waved at her. After she had pulled away, he turned and got into his car, and turned to look at Zack. "All buckled up and ready to go?"

"Yes Abba" Zack grinned and clapped his hands once.

~~Later in the day~~

Hours later after Ziva doing some errands, she found herself stuck in a long checkout line with a cartload of her shopping. As she waited, her eyes automatically scanned her surroundings. She had a slight sense of unease that she couldn't quite place her finger on, and out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something, but when she turned to look in that direction, whatever she'd seen had disappeared. She suddenly had the urge to pull out her phone and send a text message, but before she could pull the phone out, it rang in her purse. Blinking, she reached into her purse and pulled it out, looking at the display. Recognizing the name, she answered it. "Hello, Tony." She smiled into the phone slightly, relieved to hear a familiar, reassuring voice.

"And hello to you, too," Tony said. "How's things going?"

Ziva looked at the line ahead of her and moved up a slot. She shook her head slightly and sighed. "Why is it that every time I come to this store that there's only one out of twelve checkout lanes open? I've got one, two, three – looks like eight people ahead of me."

Tony's chuckle sounded over the phone. "Sucks to have to wait forever and a day. Hopefully you can get out of there before my dad becomes a fossil."

Ziva could hear another voice in the background, laughing. She laughed at Tony's remark and said, "Is that your dad with you, Tony?"

"Yeah, I picked him up. Figured Zack would be happy to see him," Tony said.

Ziva smiled. "Awesome. When I get out of this store, I'm gonna go pick Tali up and then come home."

"Sounds great. Love you, and see you soon," Tony said.

"Love you, too. See you soon," Ziva said, before she hung the phone up.

Several long moments later, Ziva walked out of the store and stopped in front of the store for a couple of seconds and looked around the parking lot. She saw a somewhat decrepit-looking van a short distance away from her car, and blinked her eyes. Is that the same van I saw earlier in the day? She thought to herself. As she walked up to her car, she kept an eye on the van. For some reason, something about the van set off alarm bells inside of her, and so she slowed down and hit the key fob to her car, opening the trunk. With the other hand, she pulled out her phone and opened it, and opened a text window to Tony. She reached her car and started loading the food into the trunk, and was in the middle of typing out her text when she heard the side door on the van suddenly slide open. She mashed the Send button and threw her phone under the car with enough force to send it skittering three cars away, then before she could move another step, something hard and heavy smacked the back of her head and she saw nothing but black.

~~Tony gets the cryptic text message~~

As Tony drove down the road toward the farmhouse, Tony's phone dinged. He glanced down at the phone, and saw Ziva's name on the screen. "Hm, wonder what's up," he said to himself as he pulled the SUV over. He picked the phone up and opened the text message from Ziva. "Huh? I got a text from Ziva, and looks like it got cut off." He turned the phone to show his dad Senior. The text read, "The dan".

"What's that supposed to mean?" Senior sat back with a puzzled look on his face.

Tony held the phone, looking at it, and shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, I'm not sure what she was trying to say. Ziva was supposed to call me ten or fifteen minutes ago, but all I got was this weird cryptic text."

"Oh, hmm..." Senior put his chin in his hand and tried to come up with words. "Well, I wouldn't know either what she's saying. Is she alright?"

Tony looked at Senior, but before he could say anything, his phone rang. "Now what? He picked up the phone and looked at it. The number that showed on the screen belonged to Tali's school. "Why's Tali's school calling me?" Tony answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Where's Ima?" Tali's plaintive voice wailed over the phone.

"Tali? Ima didn't show up at all?" Tony asked Tali.

"No-o-o-o," Tali bawled over the phone.

Tony took the phone from his mouth and mouthed, "Damnit, what's going on?" This was so out of the ordinary for Ziva. She never missed her pickup times with the children, he knew. He quickly brought the phone back up to his mouth "Okay, Tali? Hang in there. I'll be there in a flash, okay? We'll see if Ima's okay when we get you." Tony hung up the phone and put the car in gear, then after making sure the traffic was clear, he pulled a U-turn so quick that it caused Senior to yelp in fright.

"Anthony! What're you doing?!" Senior protested.

"Abba!" Zack squealed in fright.

"Something's up. Tali called, says Ziva never made it to pick her up. We're picking Tali up now." Tony turned to Senior and said, "Then we're going home. I hope Ziva's okay." His face was taut.

Senior noticed the tautness in his face. "You sure look... all wound up. "You sure she's okay?" He had never seen Tony this worked up before.

"Abba!?" Zack called out as he felt the car picking up speed, and driving much faster than he normally was used to.

"It's alright, Zack. I gotta pick up Tali." Tony tilted his head up to glance in the rear-view mirror at Zack, trying his best to stay calm so as not to frighten Zack. His mind was going a million miles an hour as he drove on down toward Tali's school.

~At an abandoned building~~

"Unh!" Ziva grunted as she was roughly shoved into a dark room, before rough hands grabbed her shoulders and slammed her into a hard chair. The bindings on her hands chafed her wrists as she managed to steady herself so that she wouldn't fall out of the chair. Even blindfolded, she had the sense that there was more than one person in the room, and she was proven right as she felt the same rough hands holding her down in the chair as a sharp blow reverberated through her face and her head rocked sideways from being slapped.

"No!" A woman's voice sounded shrilly in the room. "Leave her! She's valuable to us."

The rough hands on Ziva's shoulders pushed her hard enough to cause her to gasp in pain, and she struggled and did her best to not allow her tears to flow. Yet her anxiety was ringing shrilly in her ears, causing her to become woozy, and she started hearing other voices. "Oh, no, not again," she whispered to herself internally as the memories of the Somalia incident washed over her thoughts.

One of the minions grabbed ahold of the blindfold at the back of Ziva's head and ripped it off and threw it onto the floor. He leaned his face into hers until he was three inches away. "Not so strong now, are you? And I heard that you were this bad-assed Mossad lady."

Ziva glared at the minion and tried to kick at him, but he grabbed her foot easily. She spat into his face. "Go to hell!" she snarled at him.

The goon raised his hand, but before he could bring it down hard onto Ziva, the woman's voice called out again, "Leave her be!" A familiar-looking woman stepped out of the shadows into the light and shooed the minions away. "You guys can go on now. I'll handle her. I'll make sure she talks, so we can inform the higher-ups appropriately." She stood in front of Ziva and gently pushed the minion to the side and leaned down into Ziva's face. "We'll have a little... girl-to-girl time, shall we say?" She chuckled gently to Ziva.

The minions grunted, then left the room, closing the door shut behind them.

Ziva sat back in the chair, blinking away the voices she was hearing inside her head, looking at the woman and hearing her voice, the different voices overlapping each other. "What do you want from me?" Ziva struggled to sit up a bit straighter, trying to work her hands loose enough to be a touch more comfortable.

"Do you remember me?" the woman stood up and sneered at Ziva.

"Maybe, maybe not. You do look familiar, though. It's been so long ago, and so many people." Ziva shrugged and shook her head.

"Well, yes, it had been a while. Let me refresh your memory, then. You and that guy, what's his name, Tony? Yeah, Tony. And the rest of NCIS just had to investigate me on that case. You had me put away for killing my fiancé. A Marine. And so I was forced to sit and rot in prison for years!" She reached out and slapped Ziva in the face, but not as hard as the minion did. "You ruined my life! But, guess what. I got out of prison last year, and found myself a good group of friends. And how, who do I see in front of me? Now I get my chance to slowly ruin your life." The woman stood back up, then walked toward the door.

"Wait a minute!" Ziva racked her mind for the name. She suddenly remembered the case, the forensics, the paper trail, everything. "You're the same MaryAnn Smith who killed her Marine fiancé?"

MaryAnn rested her hand on the doorknob, then turned to look at Ziva. She smiled and nodded once. "Bingo. Right on the first try." She walked up to Ziva and put a hand on her face and slowly stroked it. "Now, let's see if you're smart enough to survive. You will tell me everything."

~~At DiNozzo's Farmhouse~~

As soon as Tony pulled up in the driveway, he shoved the transmission into Park and turned the ignition off. Snatching the keys from the ignition, he turned to Tali. "Go on up inside. I'll get Zack."

"I'll go with her," Senior said as he got out of the SUV.

"Right – I'll be there," Tony said breathlessly as he opened Zack's door and reached in to unbuckle Zack from his baby seat. He looked up, and looked in the empty driveway space and shook his head. She's not here, he thought to himself.

"Alright, let's go," Senior said as he turned, but he was too late.

Tali bolted up the stairs, sobbing as she opened the door and raced inside.

Senior turned to Tony. "She's upset, she took off into the house."

Tony nodded, but said nothing. Carrying Zack, he bounded up into the house past Senior and came face to face with Adelaide in the living room. "You hear from Ziva? I don't see her car here."

"No," Adelaide answered quickly. "Tony, what's wrong? Tali came in crying."

Before Tony could answer, the TV blared out some breaking news, and he swung his head sharply to the TV. He stood there and watched it.

"- a kidnapping and a shoot-out in broad daylight. Witnesses say that they saw a woman loading her food, then someone running up behind her, knocking her out and dragging her toward the van. One of the witnesses tried to intervene, but was gunned down by other people in the van," the news reporter spoke on the TV screen. The picture cut to a scene of police cars all over the parking lot, and crime scene tape surrounding a familiar-looking car.

"What's the NCIS truck doing there?" Tony muttered, then he looked closer at the screen as the camera panned across the scene, and recognized Ziva's car still there, the trunk still open. He saw a figure walking toward Ziva's car, and the person pull out a phone. Moments later, his phone rang in his pocket, and he looked down at it. He pulled it out and answered it. "Hello, Tony here."

"Tony? McGee here." The familiar voice sounded over the phone. "You home?"

"Why am I seeing you on TV, calling me?" Tony said into the phone. "And don't look, boss-man's coming up behind you."

Gibbs walked up behind McGee and looked at the car, and shook his head on the TV screen.

"Yeah, Tony. Something came up," McGee said.

"What is it?" Tony asked, almost cutting McGee off.

A/N: Dear Readers, this is the cliffhanger chapter, there will be more to come soon, Thank you for enjoying this with Reviews, Tweets, Messages and Kudos.