Hi Everyone,

Apologies for the delay for this chapter. I've been on a well-deserved holiday. But now I'm back with chapter 6 of this story! This is when pace starts to pick up!

Spoilers: This story is set just after Ziva David left NCIS (S11 E02: Past, Present, and Future). I don't take in account what happened in the series after that event. As there have been many seasons (and many Tiva developments) since, let's just say that this is a fun AU.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, I don't earn any money with this story, I'm just enjoying playing with the characters.

Playlist: Every chapter is inspired by a song. For this chapter, it's Stratovarius - Unbreakable. Check out my profile for more details!

Reviews: Thank you all for your nice comments! Sunset Cat, I can't reply to you directly, but thank you!

I hope you enjoy!

(TW - THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MEDICAL DETAILS OF AN AUTOPSY! IF YOU WANT TO AVOID IT, SKIP THE FIRST SCENE OR ONLY READ THE DIALOGUES)

Temples of Gold

Chapter 6: Hold My Breath And Wait

Donald Mallard was finishing the external examination of Drew Abrahams when his phone rang. Thinking that it was Jethro asking for preliminary results, he pushed the button accepting the call and putting it on speaker.

'I'm not finished, Jethro!'

But the voice that replied was not his friend's. 'Ducky?'

He almost let his magnifier glass fall on the floor when he recognised it.

'Ziva? Is that really you?'

'Yes Ducky, it's me.'

'Oh Ziva, I'm so glad to hear your voice! Happy New Year! Let me call the others…'

'No!' she cut him. 'I… I'm not ready for that… I… I just wanted to speak… with you.'

Ducky could hear that it must have been difficult for her to reachout, and he respected that. Ziva had already been proud and stubborn, two characteristics that others might see as flaws but that, to him, were signs of a strong personality.

'That's perfectly understandable. However, I must mention that I am currently in the middle of an autopsy, so I hope that I will not spoil your digestion. If I calculate correctly, it must be early afternoon for you in Israel?'

'You are correct Ducky. Please, continue your work, I don't want to be a distraction.'

'Oh, you're a most welcome distraction, my dear Ziva!'

Ducky took his pen and wrote down the few details that his external inspection had uncovered, before grabbing his scalpel for the first incision.

'Is Jimmy there?'

'No, he's on holiday with his wife. He's coming back tomorrow. Did you know that Breena is pregnant?'

Carefully, Ducky performed the Y-shaped incision, starting from both clavicles and extending downwards to the pubic area.

'I didn't know that, it is fantastic!' said Ziva, enthusiastically.

'They're also in the process of adopting, so they might have two babies next year.'

'Then, they are very wise to take a vacation before all that starts.'

Ducky agreed, while cutting through the subcutaneous muscles in the chest area. Dear Jimmy deserved all the happiness in this world.

'How are you, Ziva?'

There was a pause at the end of the line during which Ducky exposed the abdominal cavity and searched for the appendix. He didn't find it, which was coherent with Mr Abrahams' medical records: the victim had had his appendix removed when he was ten.

'I am… tired,' admitted Ziva.

'What are you doing these days?'

Ducky put back his scalpel and grabbed the surgical pliers to cut through the ribcage. It was quite a physical task and he missed Mr Palmer's assistance at that moment.

'I have created my own charity,' she explained.

'Oh Ziva, that's fantastic! Which cause are you championing?'

Once all the ribs were sectioned, Ducky grabbed his scalpel again to cut the diaphragm and removed the chest plate in order to expose the heart and lungs.

'I'm working on preventing radicalisation in the Middle East. We are funding schools and outreach programmes, as well as social and medical facilities.'

'That must require a lot of resources,' he commented, aware that Ziva was never backing up from a challenge.

'It is a never ending job,' she confirmed.

He cut the pulmonary artery and made sure there was no clot in there, meaning no embolism. He knew that the cause of death was probably the same poison as the two previous victims, but he had learned during his many years as medical examiner to never close any door.

'Is that the reason why you are tired?'

Of course, he knew that it was not the case. Ziva would have never called him if she was simply exhausted. There was something else. He let her pause again, as he knew that she needed time to get out what was on her mind, and removed the heart from the body. He weighted it and noted that it was normal.

'I'm not sure… I am not dealing well with everything, Ducky. There is so much pressure, people depend on me now.'

'Well you have always cared deeply about others before yourself, Ziva.'

'I have left you all without a proper goodbye,' she countered. 'That doesn't show much care.'

'Nonsense.' He removed the right lung, weighted it, then did the same with the left one, while he was thinking about what to say. He then freed the stomach and weighted it too. The results were coherent with arsenic poisoning. 'If you had talked to all of us, you might not have been able to leave at all.'

'Probably…'

Ducky removed the pericardial sac and cut the rest of the diaphragm to free up the liver. Even though the poisoning had been fast and not over a long period of time, he noted that the liver was slightly swollen.

'Then what is it Ziva?'

The answer took a long time to come. Ducky put a clamp on the duodenum and freed up all the intestines.

'Have I made a mistake, Ducky?'

Her voice sounded so desperate that he stopped the autopsy for a moment and moved towards the phone.

'About what? Leaving NCIS or leaving Tony?'

He knew that he had struck a nerve. They had never spoken about her feelings for Tony before, even though they were blatant to him or to anyone else who had spent some time with the pair.

'I don't miss the job, as weirdly as it would have sound to me six months ago.'

'But…?'

'I miss all of you. My friends.'

It was not exactly what he had expected, but it was a pretty big admission for her. Ducky went back to the autopsy table and started to incise a renal capsule to extract the right kidney. That too was swollen.

'Well, we are all here, and I for one am very happy to speak with you whenever you want. I'm sure this is the case for everyone else.'

'I'm not that sure everyone would welcome my call,' she confessed.

'Maybe you should let Tony decide what he's ready to welcome or not,' he tried, while removing the left kidney.

She didn't reply but he could hear that she was thinking intensely. Ducky moved towards the neck and freed all the tissues through to the base of the tongue and dissected along either sides of the neck nerves so that everything could be removed in one piece. There was no burns or ulcers that could sometimes be seen in poisoning cases with bleach or corrosive substances, which again pointed towards arsenic.

'How is it going for you guys?' she asked. 'I can hear that you're on a case?'

Ducky knew that she was changing the subject and accepted it. Some people needed time to process things and she was evidently not ready to talk about Tony.

'Poisoning, my dear Ziva. Mr Abrahams here is the third victim.'

'Serial killer?'

Ducky moved toward the back of the victim's head and started to remove the scalp to access the skull. He knew that Jethro would disapprove of him giving too much information to Ziva, especially because this case was linked to Parsa and the terrorist had tried to have her killed a few months ago. But he also felt that Ziva needed to be warned.

'Not necessarily. The hypothesis is that someone is trying to neutralise a terrorist cell…'

'Which cell?'

'I'm afraid we are facing the Brotherhood of Doubt again.'

'Benham Parsa?' she said warily.

'Yes, my dear.' He grabbed the electrical saw and added: 'It's going to be noisy for a second.'

Ducky performed the incisions in the skull quickly and switched off the saw.

'Is Gibbs really going after Parsa?'

He didn't want to scare her unnecessarily so he replied, 'They're just working the case at the moment. It seems like someone else is going after this terrorist.'

He grabbed a three-headed key and decided that it would not be good to tell her about the bomb in Tony's car. She might decide to jump on a plane and come back to DC if she learned that he had been in such great danger. It would have been wrong to bring her back to her old life this way. If she and Tony had to meet again, it needed to be in better conditions. He inserted the key in the main incision and popped the skull out.

'Are they safe?'

'As safe as they can be in this troubled world, my dear Ziva.'

Exposing the brain, Ducky started to cut some cranial nerves to free it, delicately to avoid damaging it.

'Does he have a new partner?'

She didn't need to say Tony's name. Ducky removed the brain from the cavity and weighted it. He took a vial and cut a sample for Abby to analyse. This task was very important, so he only replied once it was done.

'Yes, her name is Alexandra Bell. She was an army EOD.'

'Oh… a woman.'

'She is learning very fast,' he said.

He came back to the body and peeled off the dura matter, a thick membrane that enveloped the brain and spinal cord. He could then see that there was no fracture in the skull, as he expected it.

'Are they… friends?' asked Ziva again.

Ducky could hear the jealousy in her voice, even if she was not ready to admit to it.

'Friends. Only friends. No matter who he spends his days with at the moment, his heart only belongs to you, Ziva.'

Talking about heart, it was time for him to examine the victim's organ more closely. However, he heard the elevator bell ring and realised that this discussion had slowed him down.

'I'm afraid I need to end this conversation Ziva. I think Jethro is on his way here. But please, call me again soon. I would like to hear your voice again.'

'I will, Ducky. I promise.'

He smiled, then hung up the phone just as Gibbs was entering the lab.

'I'm afraid that the absence of Mr Palmer has me running late. I'm only examining the heart right now.'

Gibbs frowned suspiciously. 'Were you on the phone?'

'Yes… yes… Some relatives that I hadn't wished a Happy New Year's to.'

Ducky knew that his friend didn't believe him but Jethro was busy enough with this case to not pry in his business.

'Any news, Doc?'

'I have only partially completed the autopsy,' explained Ducky, even though Jethro could see it by himself. 'So far, the results are concurrent with the previous two victims.'

He grabbed the heart and dissected the main aorta in order to verify that there was no clot or other cause of death.

'Time of death?' asked Jethro.

'As I suspected on the scene, the time of death is similar to our second victim. Around six in the morning. That would suggest that they were poisoned at the same time, possibly by the same person.'

Gibbs nodded, but didn't reply. Ducky knew that his friend was worried, as he felt responsible for the wellbeing of his team. However, he also needed to understand that the members of his team were worried about him too.

Finally, Jethro talked again. 'What's all this, Doc?' He sounded desperate.

'I don't know, Jethro, but I trust that you and the others will get to the bottom of this. At the moment, it seems that whoever is committing these crimes is doing us a favour. Be patient, soon you'll get the full picture.'

Gibbs sighed. 'I hope we'll get there before anything more terrible happens.'

—

When Ziva hung up the phone, she felt better. She hadn't realised how much she had missed Ducky's quiet presence and his good advice. Admitting to herself that she was missing some parts of her old life was hard, because it was close to admitting that she had made a mistake. She hated mistakes, she hated wrong decisions and she hated that she hurt her friends maybe for the wrong reasons.

But perhaps Ducky was right. If she hadn't put some distance, would she have been brave enough to build her charity so fast? To take so much risk? If she had accepted to go back to D.C. with Tony, would she have been strong enough to stay away from NCIS? Especially knowing that they were once again confronted to Benham Parsa?

This was the most worrying news she had learned from Ducky and it was really hard to stay away from it. Almost unconsciously she checked booking websites to see how much a plane ticket to D.C. would cost her. Expensive but doable. She could be there before 8PM if she left immediately. It was just daydreaming of course, because she couldn't leave her employees without a leader, especially after what had happened.

She was worried for Tony, Gibbs and the others, but she also trusted them. They would find a way out of this mess, like they always did. Of course, in the past, they had had her assistance to solve cases and escape traps. But they had a new recruit now. Gibbs would not have replaced her with someone unqualified; the new woman was probably extremely competent.

Ziva bit her lower lip, trying to convince herself that it was a good thing that Tony had a new partner. He needed support, someone to cover his back. She wondered if the woman was pretty. If she was funny, in a way that Ziva could never be. She was probably smart, and brave. The kind of woman who would help Tony forget Ziva.

She covered her face with her palms and tried to stop the vicious circle of thoughts. Ducky had said that Tony and his new partner were just friends. That his heart only belonged to her. At least for the moment, she would have to believe it because she was not ready to talk to Tony.

Yet. Because she knew that one way or another, she was going to see him again. It was just a matter of time and courage. Today had been the first step. She had tried to leave her old life behind for months, but it hadn't worked. If anything, it had only made her realise how deep her feelings for Tony ran. It was not just a crush. It was not because they saw each other every day. It was much stronger than that. And she felt it every minute she spent alone in Haifa. She was not ready to tell him all of that, but at last she was admitting it to herself.

In the meantime, she had work to do.

She used the remaining of the the afternoon to review the preliminary report that Naheem's lawyer had sent her. It would take at least three months to secure a land for their first school. Naheem's reputation and credibility as university professor made things a little easier, but the government was still reluctant to authorise the project. Money would help, of course, but it had to be sent covertly. Nobody in Pakistan, not even Naheem's contractors, could know about the provenance of the fundings. If they learned that it came from an Israeli charity, the project would be dropped immediately.

Ziva's own lawyer, Madga, had been working around the clock to create an anonymous shell company that would direct the money to Naheem. The enterprise was complicated, full of red tape and insurance that the fundings were not to be used to support terrorism. Ziva was happy that someone else dealt with all this mess, because she would have already lost patience.

All and all, even if things were moving at a glacial pace, they were still progressing.

One by one, she heard the employees leaving the office as the end of the day neared. Chaviv popped his head through the door and asked if she needed something before he left. She thanked him and sent him home.

As she was ready to switch off her computer to depart herself, a Skype pop-up window appeared, accompanied with a ringtone. She deciphered the name and accepted the call immediately.

'Hi Naheem,' she greeted him, 'how are you doing?'

'I'm well thank you. I apologise for contacting you so late, Ziva. I'm sure you are looking forward to go home, but I didn't think this could wait.'

A bad feeling tightened Ziva's throat. 'What is it?'

'I couldn't stop thinking about what you said yesterday, about your life prior to Haifa. You spoke very highly of a man. Leroy Jethro Gibbs, is that the correct name?'

'Yes, it is. We worked together at NCIS.'

Naheem sighed. 'Ziva, I think your friend is in danger!'

'What do you mean?'

'I'd rather not talk about this via Skype. You never know who's listening. I think we should speak face to face.'

Ziva shook her head. 'I can't… How would… Naheem, at least give me something… an idea. Is it bad?

'Very. I'm sorry, Ziva. I wish I could say more. Please, come to Pakistan. It's very important.'

Ziva took a sharp breath, moved her mouse and clicked on the browser. The flight booking page was still open. She deleted "Washington D.C." from the destination, and typed "Karachi".

'I'll come.'

—

Tony entered Abby's lab five minutes after 8PM and saw that the others were already there. Abby was standing next to Major Spectrometer, her arms crossed, clearly disapproving that this meeting was held without Gibbs' knowledge. McGee was sitting in front of the computer, chatting with Alex. Ducky had brought his new smartphone where McGee had installed a chat application, and Jimmy Palmer's face was on the small screen.

'Hey, Jimmy!' greeted Tony. 'Happy New Year! Are you back from New York yet?'

'Yes, we came back this afternoon. I'll be at work tomorrow.'

'Don't rush!' laughed McGee. 'How is Breena?'

'Her morning sickness is finally under control, so she's much happier now.'

Tony envied the Palmers for their vacation, as he too would have loved to take a short break. Of course, he envied their happiness too but that was something he didn't want to think about.

'So, now that we are all here,' he started, '—yes McGee, I know I was the last one to arrive— we can start. Gibbs is in MTAC, he's in video conference with SecNav and the Director, so we should have some time. Alex?'

His partner shrugged. 'I tried to find out more members of the Brotherhood of Doubt by studying our victims' circles but so far no luck. These guys cover their tracks too well, I doubt that any of them knows everyone in the cell, apart from Parsa himself.'

'Which draws the question,' said Ducky, 'how did our culprit know who to strike with his lethal substance?'

That was an excellent question, even if it was not really relevant to their investigation on Parsa now. Although, if they could find their killer, maybe he could help them nail all Parsa's minions. That would give them an edge on the terrorist.

'Any luck on the symbol? Do we know why they are wearing this medal now?' Tony asked.

Mendes and the others they arrested in October were not wearing any identifiable mark of their affiliation to the terrorist group. The change was highly suspicious.

'I have a theory,' said Abby reluctantly. 'When analysing the necklaces, I found out that they were not worn out, damaged and didn't have much skin cells on it. I think they were all new.'

'How new?'

'I don't think they had been wearing them for more than a day.'

They all looked at each other, trying to make sense of this news. 'Do we think that it's a weird coincidence?' asked Tony.

'Rule 39,' cited Abby. 'There's no such thing as coincidence.'

Tony agreed. 'So you're saying that our killer might have given them the necklaces. But why?'

'To identify them after they died?' suggested Jimmy.

'To make sure they were brought to us,' said Abby. 'Or to send us a message, at least.'

That was a frightening thought.

'That doesn't make sense Abby,' countered Alex, attracting a deadly look from the scientist. 'You said it yourself, the symbol was very difficult to identify. Plus, the victims attacked military targets, they would have been brought to us anyway.'

'Well, Agent Bell, if not for the medals, we would never have known that it had something to do with Parsa!'

Tony decided to intervene before the tension between the two women blew up. 'Ladies, we are here to discuss what we know, not to fight amongst ourselves.'

Abby went back to silent pouting while Bell rolled her eyes. Peace was not going to happen anytime soon between those two. Tony had no idea why Abby didn't like Alex but he suspected that it was for the same reason that she had disliked Ziva at the beginning. Abby was missing her friend and she didn't want to open up to someone new. Alex had tried to be nice to her, but Abby was not the type of person you could win by being nice to. She was looking for someone she could relate to, and unfortunately Alex and Abby were probably too different for that to happen.

When he thought about it, Alex had not really created links with anyone in the team but him. She was pleasant with everyone but didn't not really enter any sort of personal conversation. He was convinced that he was the only one who knew that she had loved a man in Afghanistan and was still mourning the relationship.

'What do we know about Parsa himself?' asked McGee to fill the silence.

'I have studied the information you gave me about our enemy,' explained Ducky. 'His psychology is remarkable, really… He was brilliant, destined to study in the United Kingdom. He had received a grant at Oxford. He was a young respectable man before his parents' tragic deaths in 2005. He would probably never have become a terrorist without this US military strike.'

'Are you saying that we created this monster?' said Tony with disgust.

'At least, that's what he believes,' affirmed the doctor. 'He thinks that western countries are the root of all evil, not from a fanatical religious point of view, but more as a consequence of the attacks that his people have suffered in the Middle East. Benham Parsa is the result of the US politic post 9/11.'

Great. Instead of a fanatic, they had to fight an intellectual. A devious intellectual whose vendetta was against them for some reason.

'Why is he so fixed on NCIS?'

'It's unclear why, but if I had to venture a guess, I would say that he thinks we are somehow responsible for his recent misfortunes. Losing Tomàs Mendes was a serious blow to his organisation. I'm afraid he will never stop coming after us.'

'Maybe we should search more information about his parents' deaths?' suggested Alex. 'It might be the explanation of why he's so angry with us?'

McGee snorted. 'Do you seriously suggest that we have anything to do with it?'

'I don't know,' defended Alex, 'but it might be worth looking into it.'

If NCIS was responsible for this drone strike, the only way to get the information was through the Director and Tony strongly doubted that Vance would be ready to help them.

'We might need to wait on that, unless you guys want to hack MTAC?'

McGee shook his head strongly. Problem solved. However it reminded Tony that McGee had told him about a meeting with an NSA agent. He hadn't discuss it with the others because he didn't know if it was going to pan out.

'What about the NSA analyst…what's her name? Did you get anything from her?'

Alex frowned. 'Wait, what NSA analyst?

'Her name is Ellie Bishop,' explained McGee. 'She has studied Parsa for years, until he started threatening her personally. She was pulled back by the NSA, so she doesn't know what he's been up to recently. I've sent her details of the case, she said she would get back to me if she hears anything new.'

Altogether, this meeting was highlighting the fact that they had absolutely nothing. Parsa was still out there, maybe on US soil, planning God-knows-what against them. As if they had all reached the same conclusion, silence fell back in the lab.

'Anyone else thinks that Gibbs should be here with us to talk about Parsa?' Abby suddenly bursted out, unable to contain herself any longer.

'Gibbs would probably be angry that we have nothing, Abby' said McGee.

Instead of Abby, a voice coming from behind Tony replied, 'Maybe Gibbs would be much angrier when he learned that his team is talking about the case behind his back!'

They all turned to the door and saw that the boss was standing there, literally fuming. That was bad, really bad.

'Boss…' started McGee, who immediately shut up when he saw the glare that Gibbs was giving him.

Abby tried to explain, 'I told them that you should be…' Gibbs cut her with one angry gesture and she shut up too.

'All. Of you. Out.'

They all looked at each other guiltily, then one by one walked towards the door.

'Not you, DiNozzo!'

Of course, thought Tony. That would have been too easy. He avoided the looks of commiseration that the others gave him. The door of the lab closed with a thud behind them, leaving him with a Gibbs who was livid.

'I should fire you!' he attacked immediately.

Honestly, Tony expected to be at least disciplined but he didn't want to admit that he had made a mistake. Yes, maybe he should have told Gibbs about their side investigation but his relationship with the boss was not the best at the moment, certainly not one to call for secrets sharing.

'Boss…' he started.

'Don't you see you could get yourself killed?' Gibbs cut him. 'Not to mention the others? Have you forgotten the bomb in your car?'

'I haven't, and it's precisely the reason why I'm doing this! Parsa is not gonna stop coming after us Gibbs, I can't believe you trust him!'

Gibbs grabbed a pile of notebooks that was lying on Abby's desk and threw them angrily on the floor. 'Have you lost your mind, DiNozzo? Do you really think I play the game of a terrorist?'

'Are you investigating him? On your own?'

'What do you think?' snapped Gibbs.

'Then, why is it different from what we are doing now?'

Gibbs grabbed another stack of files that Abby had probably ordered carefully and threw them on the nearest wall. Tony thought that he had never seen his boss lose his temper so much on someone else than a suspect.

'What's different? What's different is that I am protecting all of you! But you are too stubborn to let me do it!' he shouted.

Tony started to feel angry too. 'Oh yes,' he replied sarcastically, 'I have noticed your protection following me around. What I've noticed too is that you don't have one! Who's stubborn now?'

'It's not your job to protect me!'

'No, but it's gonna be my job to comfort the others when you get yourself killed and I'd rather not!'

Gibbs clenched his fists and Tony wondered if he would go so far as to roughing him up like he would do to a suspect who had particularly angered him. The boss settled for turning his back on him and knocked his fist on the table.

'And who do you think is going to have to comfort them if YOU die?'

Tony crossed his arms and tried to contain his anger that had been boiling for a long time. They were getting nowhere there. After a while, he found the silence too tense, so he talked again.

'Don't take it out on the team. I made them do it.'

'Nice try, but I know that the only one you really had to convince was Abby.'

'Our plan was to wait until we have results to tell you.' That was not an apology. He would never apologise for doing something when seemingly no one else was.

'And I bet you got nothing.'

Tony wanted to protest and show thousands of new leads, however he had none so he didn't reply.

'I thought so.'

There was a new silence during which Tony thought about the last months and how their relationship had considerably cooled down. It had all started when Ziva had left. It was like the team was broken since then. Tony wondered if Gibbs felt the same way or if he was just worried about them being less efficient.

'Tell everyone else that they are on desk duty until further notice,' decided the boss. 'They are all on probation from now on.'

McGee was going to jump for joy at the idea to become a probie again. Gibbs walked towards the door without looking at him.

'And me?' asked Tony. 'Am I fired?'

Gibbs left the lab without replying.

—

Alex entered cautiously the small cleaning cupboard that she had located on the first floor a few weeks ago. She closed the door behind her and sat between the mops and the cleaning products. She opened her laptop and started the secured chat software. It was dangerous to call Benham from inside the NCIS building but she had no choice.

'Annie, my love,' he greeted her when she finally managed to get the connection.

The nickname sent a delicious chill down her spine, but she didn't have time to savour it.

'Benham, we have a problem,' she said. 'I don't have much time, I'm still at NCIS. Gibbs has found out about the others' investigation, I don't think we'll get more information anymore.'

'It's alright, we knew that would happen eventually.'

'I know, but it's not why I'm calling you. McGee has contacted an NSA agent, her name is Ellie Bishop. Do you know her?'

Benham paused, then smiled. 'Ah, dear Ellie.'

Alex felt a sting of jealousy when she heard how Benham called this woman. 'Who's she?' she asked angrily.

'No one you should concern yourself about,' he replied with a warning in his voice.

She knew that she should not press on the subject, but her stress levels had reached the roof today with the meeting and the rest of the day spent doing paperwork. Nobody had spoken one word and she had turned the content of the meeting in her head for hours. She was not going to drop the subject like that.

'I'm taking all the risks here!' she reminded him. 'I need to know if this woman is going to be a problem.'

Benham looked angry that she didn't comply but replied anyway. 'She was the closest they ever got to catch me. But I know for a fact that she'll never come that close again. She's weak, she's not like you.'

That reassured her. She hated the idea that another woman had any importance in her man's life, no matter how irrational it was. She was sacrificing everything for him, after all.

'So you think she won't find out?'

'Oh she will. I'm counting on it.'

Alex felt slightly reassured. 'There's something else, though. The forensic scientist… she's is too smart for her own good. She knows that the medals were planted. Maybe I should kill her now.'

'No. That would arouse Gibbs' suspicions.'

He was probably right but she couldn't help worrying. Abby Sciuto had been a pain in the ass since Alex had arrived in the team. She would be the first one to die, if Alex had any say in it.

'I need to leave, I'm the last one here but I don't want to tempt fate.'

'Yes, you need to be careful. We will be reunited soon, my Annie.'

'I know. Soon.'

She kissed her own fingers and applied them on the screen, then closed the chat window. She got up and put her laptop in her backpack. She opened the door and made sure that the camera was still turned at an angle that couldn't see the cupboard before exiting it.

It was still early in the evening. Gibbs had left before six and the rest of the team had departed shortly after him. She had waited until the last agents from other teams who were not on holiday left too before grabbing her bag and heading to the cupboard.

Over the weeks, she had learned to navigate the whole building without being seen. She had used a hacking software provided by Benham to take control of the security system from the inside. The NCIS network had excellent defences against outside attacks, but the same defences worked poorly against a prolonged insider attack. The software had released a virus that had slowly taken over every single system, from the power grid to the lights and fire doors. She could disable any camera at will, or open any door, and a few more days and she could take over the whole building by pressing a single key. The only room she couldn't access, however, was MTAC because it had a completely isolated system that was unreachable to her.

She headed to the main entrance and greeted the guard, who was half sleeping at his desk. The second part of the plan had been more risky. She had had to install several explosives near the main exits. She was proud of the devices, the smallest, yet deadliest, explosives she could build without attracting any attention, but fitting them in position had been dangerous and she had been lucky to not have been caught. She had had time to equip the main entrance the previous day, thanks to a little flirting with the guard and a spilled cup of coffee on his pants that had required him to leave his post long enough for her to hide her device.

As she exited the parking lot, ignoring the FBI car that was following her, she decided that she would enjoy a long bath as a reward for a job well done. Everything was in place. She was ready.

The next days were going to be crucial.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I enjoyed tremendously writing from Ducky point of view, and I tried to be as accurate as possible when it came to the medical details. I hope it wasn't too much! Next time: we land in Karachi with Ziva, and Tony goes down memory lane.

Let me know what you think so far by leaving a review!

Thank you for reading,

Loufoca