Hi Everyone,

We're slowly approaching the end of this story. After this chapter, there's only 3 left! And things are accelerating for the team.

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 Beyond Black - Human. Check out my profile for more details!

I hope you enjoy!

Temples of Gold

Chapter 10: All Our Pride Will Turn To Sand

'Cappuccino with 2 shots of vanilla syrup.'

Tony grabbed the cup from McGee with a thankful sigh. He took a sip, letting the sugary goodness overload his palate, and smiled. That was the stuff.

'How can you possibly enjoy this?' exclaimed Bishop, who was blowing on her tea-no-milk-no-sugar.

'It's a miracle you can drink this sugar bomb every day without swelling like a balloon,' McGee pilled on.

'That's called having a healthy metabolism, McJudgy.'

His colleague snickered, and turned back to the centre of attention: the one-way mirror. The interrogation room was currently empty, waiting for the interview to start. The door of the room open, letting Bell in, who had volunteered to escort Parsa from his cell room. The terrorist looked calm, almost bored, and didn't resist when Bell asked him to sit in the chair reserved for suspects. He handed his cuffs gently and had no reaction when Bell attached a chain to them so that he would be bound to the table. Finally, he just looked straight in the mirror when Bell performed the usual checks on his person, patting his pockets and verifying that there was no form of weapon in his reach.

Bell finally exited the room, and a few seconds later entered the observation room. 'All ready for Gibbs,' she announced in a tired voice. 'Is he here yet?'

'Nope, not yet,' answered McGee.

They were all worse for wear after the awful week they had. Following Parsa's arrest, Gibbs had ordered all of them to go home and get some rest. There would be no interrogation before the morning. These were Vance's orders, probably.

Before leaving, Tony had asked what Gibbs intended to do about Ziva's warning.

'My job, as usual,' was the only reply he had received.

All night, Tony had tossed and turned in his bed. Despite his extreme tiredness, he had not been able to find any sleep. It was so typical of Ziva: a cryptic message, no explanation. And the fact that she had sent it to Gibbs instead of him rubbed him the wrong way. He had called her number several times, but each call had gone straight to her voicemail. He hadn't left a message.

All night he had circled between extreme anxiety, anger and fear. So, this morning, he was grateful that all he had to do was sip his coffee and not conduct Parsa's interrogation, because he wasn't sure he would have the restrain necessary to extract the terrorist's secrets.

'The show is starting,' commented McGee.

Through the two-way mirror, Tony saw Gibbs enter the room, carrying a heavy folder in one hand, and the largest cup of coffee Tony had ever seen in the other. Parsa turned his head to him and smiled faintly. He didn't look scared or impatient. Gibbs' mask was as impenetrable as usual as he dragged the available chair back and sat down. However, Tony could tell that the boss was tired. New lines had formed on his forehead and his eyes, usually piercing blue, seemed washed out.

Gibbs hadn't slept either.

Tony exchanged a worried glance with McGee. He too had noticed the weariness in Gibbs' steps. It was like all the last months' stress had finally caught on to the boss. It was the worst possible timing, but Gibbs was also a consummate professional. He took a long gulp of coffee, then opened the folder he was carrying and extracted several blown up photos. The men that had formed the Brotherhood of Doubt, on the autopsy table.

'Care to explain?'

Parsa's handcuffs clinked as he bent forward to observe the photos. He moved slowly from one to the other, his face attentive as though he was deciphering a complex puzzle. When he was done, his eyes went back to Gibbs.

'Good work, agent Gibbs. You found all of them.'

'Why did you kill them?'

Parsa smiled and slouched on his chair. 'They belonged to me,' he shrugged.

'So… what? You were tired of your little cult?'

'The Brotherhood of Doubt is not a cult,' Parsa explained calmly. 'It has, and always had, one goal. One purpose.'

'Making money from terrorism?'

Parsa didn't reply.

'Killing Americans?'

Parsa, again, didn't say anything, so Gibbs changed tactic. 'It doesn't matter what you tried to do with your little group of degenerates. You failed. They're dead and you're soon to be locked into a federal prison.'

Parsa didn't react to this either, so Gibbs pressed on. 'Why kill your followers? Afraid they would kill you first?'

Parsa chuckled. 'You should not be scared of death. Death is part of the human experience. We are all born to die, my friend.'

Gibbs grabbed the folder from the table and threw it against the wall behind Parsa, missing the terrorist's head by a few inches and scattering the photographs all around him.

'You've spent the past months threatening my team, all that to end up here, talking philosophy. I'm not buying your crap.'

'Gibbs is not going to get anywhere with this,' said Bishop, pensively sipping on her tea. 'Parsa doesn't respond to violence. He's not hot-headed. He's educated, he's a businessman.'

Tony nodded. The interrogation wasn't starting well. In the room, Parsa yawned.

'Am I boring you?' asked Gibbs.

'Not at all. I knew this little interview of yours was inevitable. You are predictable, Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.' His voice lingered on Gibbs' name, savouring every syllable.

Gibbs was not having any of it. 'Why did you target the NCIS?' he asked coldly. 'Why us?'

'These are my favourite letters,' Parsa laughed.

'We're not going to get anything from him,' said McGee. Tony agreed. This was a waste of time.

In the room, Gibbs stared into Parsa's eyes for several long seconds, before standing up. 'Have fun in prison,' he said, before walking away.

He opened the door and Parsa looked directly into the two-way mirror as if he could see their little group staring at him, making Tony highly uncomfortable.

'There is a bomb,' he whispered. 'When it explodes, it will cause a high number of casualties. And I am the only one who can stop it.'

'Motherf….' Tony grumbled. He saw Gibbs freeze and his shoulders fall down.

'That can't be true, right?' said McGee.

Bell shrugged, Tony winced.

'Can he even do that on his own, without the Brotherhood?' asked McGee again.

Bishop replied, 'In 2007 he placed a bomb in a passenger train in Cairo. Thirty people died, and as far as we know he was the only one involved.'

In the room, Gibbs hadn't moved.

'The boss is going to need our help,' said Tony.

McGee moved towards the console on their left, chased away the operator who was monitoring the interrogation, and took over the terminal. 'Collating a list of potential targets in the vicinity of the boat where we arrested him.'

'I'm requesting CCTV near the area in case we can spot him,' announced Bell, typing frantically on her PDA.

'I should keep the NSA in the loop, they might be able to use satellite imagery,' said Bishop, before moving to the back of the room to make a call.

Tony stayed perfectly immobile, observing Gibbs who was still standing near the open door, and Parsa, who was smiling to himself. 'Come on, boss. You can take him.'

Gibbs slammed the door shut, making Parsa and all of them jump. Moving surprisingly fast, Gibbs sat back in front of the terrorist and bent forward, scrutinising the man.

'You're bluffing,' he said coldly.

Parsa returned the gaze, unshaken. 'You don't believe that.'

'Where's the bomb?'

Parsa bent forward, interlocked his fingers and rested his chin on them. 'Is Eleanor Bishop here?'

'What?'

In the observation room, Tony waved at Bishop to hang up the phone. The analyst approached the window, frowning.

'I assume you found me because of the note I left her?' asked Parsa. 'She was always so good at the game.'

'She's not here. Where's the bomb?'

Parsa sighed. 'Oh I think she is behind that mirror there. Ah… Eleanor. Why don't you come and play with me?'

Tony saw Bishop recoil.

'What does he want with her?' asked Bell.

Tony shrugged. 'Play more?' Terrorists didn't need reasons to do what they did. Crazy people neither.

In the room, this was enough to enrage Gibbs again. He tackled Parsa's hand, stood up and in one swift movement slammed the man's head against the table.

'Where. Is. The. Bomb?'

'You'll never find it. Unless…'

'Unless what?' Gibbs increased the pressure on the man's head, squishing his face against the table. Both Bishop and Bell winced at the sight.

'I trust Eleanor Bishop. If I make a deal with you, I know she will force you to honour it. I'll only talk to her.'

Gibbs turned briefly to the two-way mirror. Bishop, forgetting that Gibbs couldn't see her, nodded in his direction.

'You're really going to do it?' Tony asked. 'He's lying, you know that, right? If there is even a bomb, he'll never tell you.'

'He's a narcissist,' she countered. 'Everything he's done to your team, he always wanted you to know that he was the one doing it. He can't help himself, it's his biggest downfall.'

Gibbs released Parsa and exited the room swiftly. Five seconds later, he barged into the observation room.

'Why is he obsessed with you?' he asked Bishop harshly.

'I don't know.'

Gibbs moved so close to her, face to face, that Bishop took a step back. 'Why is he obsessed with you?' he repeated.

'I don't know, Gibbs! I never understood it! I came close to catching him several times, maybe…'

'He went to your flat. He left you a message. There is more to it! Tell me: why is he obsessed with you?'

Bishop took another step back. 'You don't understand! I spent days, nights tracking him. I know everything there is to know about him. I know his habits, his preferences, his thoughts, everything. And he knows the same about me. We are linked.'

'Do you love him?'

'I'm married!'

'Don't lie to me!'

There was a tense silence in the room. Everyone was staring at Bishop, waiting for an answer. Bishop absentmindedly played with her wedding ring for a few seconds, before she replied.

'I'm not lying to you. I don't love him. I've seen what he does to innocent people. Trust me, there is nothing to love in this man. And he loves no one apart from himself.'

Tony saw Gibbs's eyes search for the truth in Bishop's. The inspection lasted much longer than Tony would have ever felt comfortable with, but Bishop didn't flail. She sustained Gibbs' gaze.

Finally, the boss pointed one finger at her and said, 'You don't take any initiative. You shut up and let me lead the interrogation. I get the impression he's getting to you and you're out. Got it?'

Bishop nodded.

'Let's go,' ordered Gibbs, before exiting the room.

'Any word of advice?' asked Bishop to the rest of the room.

'Rule 22,' started Tony.

'Never, ever bother Gibbs in interrogation,' continued McGee.

—

Ellie took a deep breath before following Gibbs into the interrogation room. She had not been trained to interview suspects, let alone professional manipulators like Parsa. To say she was terrified was an understatement. As she entered the room, the hair on her whole body rose up.

'Eleanor!' exclaimed Parsa as soon as he saw her. 'I knew you were here, I could feel it.'

'Benham,' she replied in a voice that she hoped was firm. Gibbs waved her to sit next to him, as he took the chair in front of Parsa. Ellie obeyed, reluctant to get much closer to the terrorist, but not willing to show him that he still terrified her after all these years.

'It's been so long…' Parsa said, echoing her thoughts. 'I'm glad to finally meet you.'

'I can't return the sentiment.'

'Ah, but I know this isn't true. You helped capture me, I'm sure your superiors must be proud of you. I know I am.' He moved his hands, still restrained, forward, as though he wanted to hold her hands. Ellie's goosebumps intensified and she kept her arms firmly on her thighs.

Gibbs slammed his palm on the table. 'Enough. Where's the bomb?'

Benham ignored Gibbs. His eyes were so focused on Ellie that she felt cold sweats running down her back. 'Congratulations on your wedding. I'm sure you new husband is a good man. Jake, isn't it?'

'You don't get to talk about him,' she said coldly. Indignation rendered her out of breath. Jake was out of limits.

Benham smiled. 'I was surprised you chose someone so… average. Mediocre even. He doesn't really fit you.'

'As opposed to you?' mocked Gibbs.

'Agent Gibbs, I'm just showing concern here. Nothing more.'

'Cut the crap, Benham,' Ellie snapped, before Gibbs could reply.

From the corner of her eye, Ellie saw Gibbs tense slightly. She had spoken without thinking. Not even five minutes in the room and she had already broken Gibbs' rule.

'You got what you wanted,' said Gibbs, articulating every word as though he was challenging her to interrupt him again. 'Now tell us where the bomb is or we're done.'

Parsa sat back in his chair, crossing his hands on his knee. 'Fine. The bomb is here. In this building.'

'You're lying!' Ellie exclaimed.

Benham smiled at her, then looked straight past her to the two-way mirror. 'If you sound the alarm, the bomb will explode. If you evacuate, it will explode. Do not do anything stupid.'

Gibbs turned towards the mirror. Ellie caught a glimpse of fear in his eyes.

'You're bluffing,' she said. This couldn't be true.

'Think about it, Eleanor. Did you really believe that you had the upper hand? That you caught me on your own merit?'

'I…' she hesitated. Gibbs had said it himself: it had all been too easy. The message on her building, the CCTV conveniently showing his car, the obvious hideout.

Thoughts whirled into Ellie's mind. Parsa had killed the members of the Brotherhood of Doubt, so they would be found and processed by NCIS. He didn't care about his group, they were just disposable pieces to him. And suddenly, she understood.

'The ultimate sacrifice…' she whispered.

Parsa laughed. 'Good… good. Marriage hasn't totally rendered you useless.'

'What the hell are you talking about?' snapped Gibbs.

If Ellie was scared before it was nothing compared to when that she saw the truth in Benham's eyes. He had played them all.

'It's a chess move. You sacrifice all your minor pieces to trap your opponent into a checkmate.'

Suddenly, the fire alarm blared out. Gibbs stood up, visibly ready to shake Parsa, but the terrorist reacted faster. A gun appeared in his hands, and his cuffs fell on the table in the same movement. Gibbs froze.

'Sit back,' ordered Benham. Gibbs complied, reluctantly. The alarm intensified, almost deafening them.

'What have you done?' shouted Gibbs.

Benham smiled. Ellie's felt a cold sweat run down her back.

'Checkmate.'

—

'He's got a gun!' shouted Tony.

He took a step towards the door, ready to save Gibbs and Bishop, but found himself in the exact same predicament: a gun appeared in his field of vision, pointed at McGee's head, who was still sitting in front of the computer. Instinct took over and Tony unholstered his own gun, pointing it forward before he fully registered who was menacing McGee.

'Alex? What are you doing?'

'Drop it!' she ordered firmly.

Her voice was glacial, he face completely closed. Tony had seen this change of attitude in many soldiers before. It was the cold calm preceding a battle. It was bad. Really bad.

'What do you think you're doing?' he tried. 'We're all in the same team.'

'I'm going to count to three. If you don't drop your gun, I will blow McGee's head. One…'

'I don't understand…' She couldn't be serious. The loud alarm drilled a hole in his brain. He couldn't think clearly.

'Two…'

'We have done nothing…' She couldn't kill McGee, that made no sense.

'Thr…'

'OK! OK!' Tony lowered his gun and raised his left hand up to show he was surrendering.

'Drop it! On the floor!' Alex ordered. 'Then kick it forward.'

Tony obeyed. 'Listen…' he began.

'Shut up,' she interrupted. 'McGee, your turn. Weapon out with two fingers. On the floor. Slowly.'

Powerless, McGee did as he was told. 'I don't understand…' he said faintly.

'There are many things you don't understand,' replied Alex, before hitting him in the temple with the back of her gun. McGee's head rolled back as he slouched, unconscious, on his chair.

One look to the one-way mirror taught Tony that Parsa had had no trouble overpowering Gibbs and Bishop, both unarmed as it was the rule in interrogation. Tony couldn't hear what they were saying because of the alarm, but he saw the terrorist pointing his gun at Bishop, gesturing to use his discarded cuffs to restrain Gibbs.

'You slipped a gun in his pocket, didn't you? When you pretended to search him…' asked Tony.

'Easy enough,' replied Alex. She searched her own pocket and pulled out a bunch of cable ties. She threw a couple at him. 'Tie McGee up. Tight. I will check.'

Tony's jaw tightened. He knew exactly where this was headed. She would make him restrain McGee, then she would tie him up too.

'Then what?' he asked, grabbing the nearest tie and fastening it around McGee's left wrist.

She didn't reply. Instead, she pointed her gun at the other wrist. Tony complied, then tied both legs together.

'Good,' said Alex. She pulled a second chair. 'Now sit and attach your right hand.'

Tony tried to fasten the plastic loop as loose as possible, but Alex grabbed the end of it and pulled so tight that Tony's hand became numb almost immediately. It only took her a few more seconds to restrain him fully.

He glanced at the one-way mirror. In the interrogation room, Gibbs was sitting, his hands cuffed behind his back, while Parsa was restraining Bishop. There was no help to expect there.

'OK,' pleaded Tony. 'Can we talk?'

Alex laughed. 'Talk? Talk about what?'

'Why are you doing this? Why are you helping him?'

Bell kneeled next to McGee and checked his ties. Tony wondered if she avoided looking at him in the eyes on purpose. 'You know why.'

Tony frowned. 'No, no, no, I don't. It beats me, actually. You're a decorated Navy officer, and somehow you help a terrorist. What's going on?'

She sighed, then grabbed the back of McGee's chair and pulled it closer to Tony's. 'I told you,' she replied, her words tightened by the effort, 'long ago. I told you everything. Except his name.'

It took a moment for Tony to understand her words. Then he remembered.

'Parsa? Benham Parsa is the man you love? The one you met in Afghanistan?'

She smiled brightly, the same smile a young bride would have walking down the aisle. A smile that made him shiver. 'He is.'

A lightbulb lit in Tony's brain. 'The bomb in my car… you were not there by chance.'

She nodded. 'It was almost too easy. Benham knew that Gibbs would invite me in the team if I saved his precious DiNozzo.'

'And the bomb in your car?'

'A good way to deter any suspicion.'

It worked. If Tony's hands were free, he would have slapped himself for being so stupidly naive. 'Parsa is a terrorist!'

Alex gave McGee's chair one last pull, until it was backed up against Tony's chair.

'You don't know what you're talking about,' she said, before kneeling under the terminal. She selected a long cord that wasn't linked to anything and stood up again.

'I've been studying Parsa for months. He's nuts! He kills people, innocent people, without a shred of compassion.'

She sighed, then wrapped the cable around Tony and McGee's chest, tying them together. 'He wasn't given a choice. In all of this, he's not responsible. He was left to fend for himself from a young age, and it's our fault if he's had to do all of these actions. America is responsible, not him.'

'This is bullshit,' Tony spat. 'You are nuts too if you believe that's the truth.'

Bell pull the cable tight around his chest and tied in in a complicated knot. 'You couldn't understand. Believe it or not, we don't want to hurt you.'

'Yeah, you're right, I can't understand. Maybe your boyfriend can come and explain why he wants to kill us all?'

She stood back. 'He has to do this. He's on a mission.'

'What mission?'

She bit her lip. 'Enough with the questions.' She collected Tony's and McGee's weapons and stuck both of them in her belt.

'Now what?' asked Tony. 'This alarm isn't going to keep people away forever. Everyone knows we have Parsa. They'll send reinforcement.'

'No, they won't.'

Alex bent above the terminal and typed a series of quick commands that Tony didn't understand. CCTV images appeared on the screen, showing that the evacuation of the building was well under way. Hundreds of NCIS employees were making their way out, rushing in the stairs and exiting into the Navy Yard as fast as possible. An image of the parking lot showed emergency services and a fire truck arriving near the building.

Alex typed another series of commands and the fire alarm stopped abruptly. Alex switched the CCTV image to the building reception and observed the last employees running through the lobby towards the door.

'Too late…' she whispered.

She pushed a button and a massive steel door descended from he ceiling, sealing the exit and trapping the dozen or so people who hadn't made it out. These safety doors had been installed in the entire building following the explosion caused by Harper Dearing's bomb two years ago. They were supposed to protect NCIS employees, not trap them.

Alex typed another series of key, then the spacebar, and Tony saw a detonation in the lobby before the image was lost. One second later, he felt the room trembling.

'What… what happened?'

Alex didn't reply. She pushed a series of buttons and the screen showed various entry points into the building, as well as windows. For each of them, she triggered the security system and lowered the steel doors and curtains.

When she was done, she finally turned to Tony.

'No one can save you now.'

—

When Ziva landed in Washington Dulles International Airport, her first instinct was to switch on her phone. She had been extremely lucky to find a flight that was departing from Karachi only an hour after she had arrived at the airport, and she had had to rush through custom and security. Her layover in Dubai had been brief too, and she had found herself running between terminals to make her connecting flight. She hadn't been able to check her phone in the past twelve hours, and Gibbs' voice grumbled into her head. Never be unreachable.

She pushed through the queue of tourists and business travellers and was the first one at the custom check. Her American passport, the true one, the one that was linked to her federal credentials, was verified rapidly and, since she didn't have any checked luggage, she managed to exit the airport in a record time.

In a taxi heading to the Navy Yard, she finally had a quiet moment to check her phone. Four missed calls, made at various hours of the night. Three from Tony and one from Gibbs. She immediately dialled Gibbs' number back but it went straight to voicemail. She took a deep breath and dialled Tony's. Voicemail again. Something wasn't right.

'I'll double your fare if you can get me to the Navy Yard in twenty minutes,' she said to her driver.

Nineteen minutes and two hundred dollars later, Ziva set foot in the place she had sworn she would never see again.

The Navy Yard had always been buzzing with activity, but what Ziva saw in front of her was pure and utter chaos. Several fire trucks and police cars restrained access to the parking lot, other vehicles that she identified as belonging to the Navy EOD were trying to gain access, blocked by the hundreds of employees gathered outside. A thick dust was covering the entrance of the NCIS building, and all the entrances seemed shut blind.

'Ziva!'

Ziva turned to her right and just had the time to see the bouncing pigtails, the studded dog collar and the white blouse before she was almost choked by a hug.

'Abby!' she begged. 'I can't breathe.'

'I am so happy to see you,' whispered Abby in her neck, before releasing her gently.

'What is happening here?' asked Ziva.

'I don't know! There was a fire alarm, so we all got out, but then the safety doors shut and there was an explosion. Ziva… Gibbs, McGee and Tony. I can't find them. I think they are still inside.'

Ziva's insides tightened. She had warned Gibbs. She had warned him. And still, it had happened.

'Is Benham Parsa here?'

Abby looked strangely at her. 'How do you know? We arrested him yesterday. He was in interrogation with Gibbs.'

'It's a long story. You said the building is shut?'

'Yes, all the safety doors dropped down.'

'That's going to be a problem…' she replied, thinking intensely. 'And there was an explosion?'

'Yeah, the lobby. It shut down before everyone was out. Then there was an explosion.'

'Bobby-trapped,' Ziva deduced. She observed the walls and windows for a few seconds. 'Abby, I think Gibbs and the others are in great danger.'

Abby's eyes widened with fear. 'We should tell someone. I saw The Director speaking with the fire department...'

'No,' interrupted Ziva. 'Parsa has an accomplice, but I don't know who. We can't trust anyone. I have to get inside.'

'No, Ziva, that's too dangerous!'

She grabbed Abby's shoulders and forced her to look directly in her eyes. 'I have to get inside. Now. How can I do that?'

'Don't take it the wrong way', replied the forensic scientist, 'but you look terrible.'

Ziva hadn't been able to sleep much in plane. In the old times, when she was a Mossad operative, she had learned how to fall asleep at any time, anywhere. It was vital to be rested for her missions. But somehow this part of her training had refused to come back to her.

'I know. But I have to do this. Parsa will kill them if I don't.'

Abby stared into her eyes for a whole before she nodded. 'I know a way.'

She took her hand and led her through the crowd. Many NCIS employees were staring at the walls with disbelief. In a distance, Ziva saw Jimmy Palmer fussing around a visibly shook Ducky. She was glad they were both safe. Ziva heard several agents calling her name, but she didn't acknowledge them. She needed to stay focused. And discreet. They went around the safety perimeter.

'Here!' announced Abby, proudly shaking her pigtails.

Ziva looked around and frowned. 'Your lab?' The small windows lied at ground level near a pedestrian walkway. They too were sealed shut with steel blinds. 'I don't get it.'

Abby took a small plastic remote from her pocket and handed it to Ziva. 'I know I wasn't supposed to tamper with the emergency protocol, but these blinds make me claustrophobic.'

'You sleep in a coffin,' remarked Ziva.

'I never close my coffin.'

Ziva smiled tiredly, then hugged Abby tightly. 'Thank you.'

'Save them,' Abby replied.

'I'll do my best.' Ziva pressed the button on the remote, and the left steel blind silently opened. She slipped the remote into her back pocket and found a decorative stone on the side of the walkway. With one swift gesture, she broke the window, making sure she kicked out all the small shards that could scratch her. She dropped the stone and slipped inside cautiously.

With the sole force of her arms, she descended into the lab, until her toes touched the top of one of Abby's cabinets. Once standing on it, she observed her surroundings. The lights were off, except one screen that projected a blue glow in the room. The only noise was made by Major Spectrometer that was buzzing faintly.

She turned back to Abby. 'I'm going to close the blind again. Try to find the Director. Speak to him, alone.'

Abby nodded. 'Please, don't die.'

Ziva pushed the remote button and the steel blind moved down. Before it sealed the room again, she replied.

'I'll do my best.'

As I said, things are accelerating! Now everything is in place for the big explosive finale!

Let me know what you think :)

Thank you for reading,

Loufoca