Hi Everyone,

It's time for a new chapter of this story! Things are escalating very quickly!

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 Nightwish - Endlessness. Check out my profile for more details!

Reviews: I just wanted to say thank you to Juju0915 (I can't seem to reply to your comments) and DS2010 (for being here since the beginning!)

I hope you enjoy!

Temples of Gold

Chapter 11: Dust With A Meaning

Jenny used to say that Jethro's confidence was his biggest quality and his biggest flaw. She usually added that one day, his ego would get him killed. Ironic, really, seeing how she met her own demise. But of course, she was right. She always was.

'Move,' ordered Benham Parsa, menacing him with his own gun.

'Where are we going?' Jethro asked, injecting as much contempt in his tone as he could.

The terrorist only smiled, and gestured Jethro and Bishop to walk in front of him. Bishop opened the door of the interrogation room, then stepped in the corridor. Jethro followed, slowly, trying to figure out a way to get them both out of this situation. The door to the observation room opened as they passed in front of it, letting Bell out. A rapid glimpse inside before the door closed behind her allowed him to see that Tony was alive, albeit restrained. He didn't have to time to see if McGee was alive too.

'You!' shouted Bishop. 'You're the one helping him? I can't believe this!'

She hadn't made the connection, of course. Jethro himself had only figured it out when he had seen the gun in Parsa's hand. Bell had been the one who brought him to the room, searched him and tied him up—or pretended to do so. She had appeared in their lives at the precise moment Parsa had resurfaced. It wasn't fate, it wasn't luck. And it was certainly not a coincidence. He should have seen it coming. He should have pieced it together sooner.

He was getting old.

'Gibbs,' continued Bishop. 'How can you stay so quiet! She tricked us, she tricked you!'

Jethro wished she would shut up. Her anger and outrage was right, but he couldn't join her in her outburst. He had to find a way out of there. He had to protect her.

'He won't say anything,' laughed Parsa. 'He's too ashamed. The great Gibbs. He didn't see it coming.'

He was right but Jethro was not about to give him the pleasure of a reply. As they progressed in the corridor towards the squad room, he went over his meagre options. Running would only reward him with a bullet between the shoulder blades. Creating a distraction to allow Bishop to get away would have worked with Parsa alone, but Bell would not be that easily fooled. She was a damn good agent. Had been a dawn good agent.

'There's still time to give yourself up,' he told Bell.

Parsa and Bell shared a short laugh. 'It's interesting,' said Bell, 'that the easiest one to manipulate was you, Gibbs. Your precious Ziva left your vulnerable. You desperately needed another surrogate daughter to protect. You almost begged me to join your team. And now, you can't help it, you need to save me too.'

'I still can.'

She grabbed him by the collar, then launched her knee into his crotch.

'Gibbs!' screamed Bishop, in vain.

The sharp pain forced him to bend over. Bell didn't release his collar and bent with him. 'It's time for you to learn that not all women are weak and need your protection,' she whispered in his ear.

'I… have… never… believed… that,' he replied, as soon as some air came back to his lungs.

She rolled her eyes, and pushed him in the darkened squad room. All windows were shut with steel shutters, and it was quieter than Gibbs had ever seen it at this time of the day. Still partially bent over, Gibbs hobbled in the direction of the stairs. Bishop put a hand on his shoulder, that he chased with a frustrated shrug. He was fine. Only his ego was bruised. And even that was nothing compared to the feeling of having been deceived for months.

As they climbed the stairs, Gibbs guessed that the final destination was MTAC.

Echoing his thoughts, Bishop frowned. 'Is that why we are still alive? Because you need access to MTAC?'

Parsa smiled, stopped in the middle of a step, and turned to her. 'That is why Agent Gibbs is still alive.' He extended his hand and gently caressed her cheek. 'You are still alive because I care for you Eleanor.'

Bishop jerked back and slapped his hand off her face. 'Don't touch me.'

Parsa smiled again, then turned back and climbed the last stairs to the mezzanine leading to MTAC. With a sigh, Bishop followed. Bell pushed Gibbs to continue walking, and he crossed her eyes. She looked terribly pissed off, and he immediately knew it had nothing to do with him. Interesting fact that he decided to file for later use. That was if they didn't kill him as soon as his iris opened MTAC, of course.

'Look in here', ordered Bell. She grabbed Gibbs' arm and forced him to stand in front of the retinal scanner. The machine wizzed and soon the door unlocked.

'Couldn't you have done it yourself?' asked Parsa.

'After a fire alarm, MTAC seals itself and only reopens if a senior agent is scanned,' replied Bell. 'It will be the same for the whole system inside.'

Parsa stared at her for a fraction of a second too long. Enough for Gibbs to understand that Parsa had doubts about his follower.

'What are you looking for here?' asked Bishop.

'You'll see it very soon, Eleanor.'

They made their way inside, then Parsa closed the door behind them. Jethro quickly reviewed his options as he walked down the ramp that led to the large screens at the front of the room. There was only one exit, the one they had just used. The room was medium-sized, with very few hideouts unless he planned on crouching behind the several rows of cinema-style seats. At the back, on the other side from the entrance, was the access to the Director's panic room, one of the newest addition to their security measures. It had never been used but was completely bulletproof and both Gibbs and Bishop would fit in snuggly. If they couldn't get out, this would be plan B.

MTAC was in high security alert. Access to all terminals was forbidden unless the appropriate security code was entered. Bell went straight for one of the computers on the left of the giant screen, while Parsa stayed behind and ordered Bishop to sit down next to him. Gibbs could tell that his familiarity and gentle manners with her bothered Bishop, but she was trying her best not to antagonise him. Bell typed a few commands on the terminal, eyeing Parsa and Bishop a few times.

'Your turn,' she said to Gibbs.

It was time to enter his code. Except, as soon as he did, they wouldn't have any reason to keep him alive anymore.

'You won't get access to bombs or missiles from here, you know,' he said, his brain working to find a solution.

'I couldn't care less about your missiles, agent Gibbs. I just want to watch a film.'

'What if I refuse?'

'Then, as much as I appreciate Eleanor's presence here and it would pain me greatly, I will put a bullet in her head.'

Bishop's eyes widened with fear. Gibbs stiffened and turned to the terminal. Mechanically, he entered the fourteen digits of his code, and all the screens came back to life. The red light bathing the room lightened to white, and the computers purred back online.

'Now,' ordered Parsa, 'find the footage of the a drone strike that your agency carried in the Swat District, in Pakistan.'

'When?' Bell asked, typing the information in a search bar.

'February 6th, 2004.'

Gibbs heard Bishop inhale sharply. 'Your parents,' she said. 'It's them, isn't it?'

'You know me so well, Eleanor,' replied Parsa with unmistakable pride in his voice.

'But… NCIS doesn't order drone strikes. It's the CIA…'

'That's what I thought too,' interrupted Parsa. 'For many years. Until I met a very interesting Navy SEAL. Lieutenant Chad McBride.'

The man whose head Parsa had mailed to his widow. The beginning of Parsa's obsession with NCIS. The pieces of the puzzle began to make sense to Gibbs.

'His very first mission in my country', continued Parsa, 'was a reconnaissance. He thought he had found someone in my parents' village. Someone NCIS wanted desperately: Tahir Mohammed, brother of…'

'Hussan Mohammed,' completed Gibbs.

He remembered the Hussan Mohammed's operation like it was yesterday: the submarine carrying a dirty bomb, the harbour full of armed men, and his protégé, Vivian Blackadder, who had tipped off Mohammed. Gibbs had been lucky to escape Mohammed's suicide by grenade, but Mohammed's death had meant that they hadn't been able to dismantle his entire network. Months after, his brother, Tahir, had taken over. And with him, a whole cell of would-be martyrs. NCIS had spent the following years pursuing and killing or arresting them all, sometimes using drones. It wasn't pretty. It was war.

'Correct, Agent Gibbs. Except that Tahir Mohammed had never been to my village. My father was mistaken for him. And executed, along with my mother. And I know that the order came from this room. That the person who ordered it watched the satellite image like it was a movie, as my family was blown up like animals.'

A dark premonition tightened Gibbs' throat. 'But you don't know who ordered it.'

Parsa smiled. 'I will know today.'

'Found the footage,' announced Bell.

Parsa nodded, and Bell started the video. The screen was dark for a few seconds, until an infrared satellite image appeared: a small village, with a few hot points. The image focused on one of them and zoomed, once, twice, until it focused on a single house. Two red dots were moving inside the house.

'Hayat and I weren't home,' said Parsa. 'We were only a street away, at the market.'

Suddenly, the infrared image became white, when the drone blew up the house.

'All I remember, continued Parsa, 'is the flash and the noise, like thunder. When I looked again, the house had disappeared, turned into rubble. Nothing was left of them. Nothing.'

'I have the other footage,' said Bell.

Parsa waved her to start it. It was a view of MTAC. During every operation, everything was recorded, including the orders given. Gibbs sighed when he saw himself on the screen, ten years younger, wearing a headset and microphone. Thomas Morrow was sitting in the background, but it was unmistakably Gibbs' operation.

'Gibbs… Gibbs killed your parents?' said Bishop.

'Isn't that the greatest coincidence?' replied Parsa, who didn't look surprised at all.

Bell, however, looked astonished. 'You knew? You knew it was him?'

'It took great deal of efforts to obtain the report on Hussan Mohammed's death. When I found out that Agent Gibbs was the one to kill him, I suspected he would also be involved in the hunt for his brother. But I was never sure.'

'Why didn't you tell me?' Bell asked angrily.

'You didn't need to know,' snapped Parsa. Bell looked like she wanted to reply acidly but one look from Parsa shut her up.

'Gibbs was just following orders! We all do, that's our job!' intervened Bishop. Jethro smiled despite himself. She was just a kid by his standards, idealistic and naive. But brave. Stupidly brave.

'Oh, don't worry. I will take care of the chain of command. Director. SecNav. I've done it before. But today, today is a sweet day. I get revenge. I get to kill my parents' murderer.'

He pointed his gun at Jethro.

'Any last words?'

—

'I. Cannot. Believe. This. Is. Happening. Again!' protested Tony, as he pulled on the cable that linked him to McGee.

'Will you please stop moving?' said McGee. 'Every time you do, the ties get tighter.'

Tony ignored him, too busy with his rant. 'How many moles do we have to uncover before one of them kills us? Seriously! Chip, Lee, and now Bell? Who's next? Gibbs?'

'At this point, everything is possible,' replied McGee.

'Not funny, McGee!'

Tony was pissed off. At himself, mostly, because he was the closest to Bell and hadn't seen what was glaringly obvious now. She had appeared in their life just as Parsa was threatening them. The timing itself should have made them all suspicious. Then there was her story of being in love with a man back in Afghanistan. Another red flag. But he had seen none of it, because he needed a friend, a partner, someone to talk to. Because Ziva had left such a hole in his life that he had been too desperate to fill to take precautions.

'Where do you think they moved Gibbs and Ellie to?'

'I don't think they were going outside, so my best guess is MTAC. Maybe Parsa wants to negotiate?'

'We don't negotiate with—'

'I know, Probie! But maybe Parsa doesn't know that.'

McGee grumbled.

'What's that?'

'I said, if only I could reach my leatherman.'

'Your what?'

'It's a knife, Tony. Over there, near the computer tower. I used it this morning to unscrew the panel and change the fan. I can see the tip of it.'

Tony cranked his neck as much as humanely possible and, from the corner of his eyes, noticed a silver rectangular shape sticking from behind the computer. Problem: it was at least three feet away from them, and it was on the floor.

'Maybe we can hop to there? If we coordinate together,' suggested McGee.

'Great, hopping while tied up to a chair, fantastic. I hadn't done my cardio exercises today so it's going to be just peachy,' replied Tony.

'Shut up and hop!'

Tony used the small range of movement that his feet, attached to the legs of the chair, could provide. He was not able to walk but if he extended the tip of his toes enough, he was able to raise the chair a couple of inches. 'One, two, three, go!'

They moved half an inch. 'Again!' Another inch. 'Come on McGee, put some efforts in it!'

'I'm doing my best!' It took them five minutes, hopping and panting, to reach the computer.

'Now what?' asked Tony, gasping for air.

Tony felt McGee twisting and wriggle against his back. 'I think I can… yes, if I can get… or…'

'Will you please finish a sentence?'

He heard the faint sound of something falling against the floor.

'I can free my right foot,' explained McGee. 'I just needed to get the shoe off.'

There were more wriggles, followed by a couple of curses, then more wriggles.

'Finally!' McGee exclaimed. 'OK, I'm going to try to grab the knife with my toes… Got it.'

'I don't need the step-by-step replay, McGee. Just get us out of here!'

'I'm doing my best here, I'm not exactly a yoga master!'

'Let me try, then!'

'No, I got it!'

If Ziva had been here right now, she would have rolled her eyes at their bickering. And she would have been able to free herself in ten seconds, tops. He didn't know what he missed the most about her.

Tony heard a snap, then another one and the pressure on his chest disappeared. McGee finished freeing himself, then put his shoe back before going around the chair and freeing Tony.

'Told you I got it.'

Feeling slightly guilty for doubting his friend, but not ready to admit he was wrong, Tony asked, 'What do we do now?'

McGee turned to the computer. 'If they really are in MTAC, that means they are using Gibbs to get access. It's dangerous, who knows what Parsa wants there!'

'Can you do something from here?'

McGee sat back in the chair and rolled it up to the terminal. 'Maybe. I can temporarily divert the power. They will probably be able to restore it, but that might give us some time.'

'OK, you do that, I'm going after them.'

'Tony, they are both armed!'

'My backup is in my desk. I can't let Parsa kill Gibbs.'

'I'll go with you.'

'No. Do the MTAC thing, then try to contact the outside. Vance needs to know what's happening.'

McGee nodded. Tony approached the door quietly, and cracked it open, just enough to check that no one was in the hallway.

'What are you going do about Alex?' asked McGee.

Tony took a deep breath, letting his training and cold reflexes take over.

'I'll do my job.'

—

'Revolver or shotgun?' Ziva wondered to herself.

It was her bad luck that Abby had only been testing two fairly ancient guns in her lab that morning. There would be better choices in the armoury, but Ziva had judged that it would be foolish to leave the lab unarmed. She had no idea how many terrorists were present in the building and she couldn't afford to be caught without defence. Plus, since the building system was on high alert, the armoury would probably be locked, out of her reach without a proper NCIS ID badge.

The revolver, a Beretta Stampede according to Abby's notes, appeared partially rusty so she went for the shotgun, a Mossberg 590 with many scratches and discolourations. There were only a few ammunitions in the lab, so it would have to do. Ziva hoped that she wouldn't need more.

Silently, she loaded the gun before heading to the door. She couldn't hear anything outside but listened against the door for a minutes before opening. While she was doing that, she elaborated a plan. Abby had said that Parsa was being interrogated when the fire alarm had rang. Her first stop would therefore be the interrogation room.

Certain that the hallway was clear, she opened the door carefully, and checked the corners rapidly. Her reflexes didn't seem altered by the lack of sleep, but she would have to be careful. Her only advantage was surprise.

She chose to use the stairs and climbed carefully, stoping every couple of steps to listen. The silence unnerved her. She had never known this building to be so eery and quiet. That, in itself, was not normal.

As she reached the ground floor, a smell of smoke tickled her nose. She opened the staircase door to the lobby and was met with rubble and acrid smoke, so potent that she had to close the door back again. Right. The explosion, Abby had mentioned it.

Ziva weighed her options. The chances of anyone surviving this were slim. If the explosion hadn't killed them, the smoke surely would have. There was nothing she could do in the lobby. She had to keep going up.

Careful to lower the sound that her shoes made against the stoned stairs, shotgun ready, she climbed the two flights of stairs that separated her from the corridor where the interrogation room was. It was dark and silent too, which wasn't good. The image of her friends laying dead in one of these rooms came to her mind, providing the beginning of a panic attack. She forced herself to breathe deeply and move forward. Panicking would help no one.

The first door she encountered was the first observation room. She tried the handle but it was locked. A quick glance inside through the square window taught her that the room was empty and undisturbed. The interrogation room next to it was similarly dark and unoccupied. Ziva didn't see any sign of struggle, or any sign of anything else.

As she approached the next interrogation room, though, she noticed that the door was open and the light on. Inside, one chair was tipped on its side, and a chain was lying on the floor. A large cup of coffee stood, undisturbed, on the table. She approached and recognised the label Gibbs' favourite coffee shop. The cup was still half-full, no chance Gibbs would have left it there willingly.

Then, she heard a faint voice.

'Ziva?'

Frowning, she held the shotgun in front of her. Another call, louder. 'Ziva!' It allowed her to pinpoint the origin of the call: behind the one-way mirror.

'McGee?' she called back, recognising the voice of her friend. 'Are you OK?'

'Yes, I'm on the other side!'

Still holding the shotgun, Ziva exited the room, and opened the next door. McGee was sitting in front of the computer, alone. He stood up and a second later Ziva was hugging him tightly. McGee was alive. He was alive.

'Where are the others?' she asked, after he released her from his arms.

'Parsa took Gibbs. Tony was with me. We were tied up but we managed to free ourselves. He went after them.'

Ziva checked the load on her shotgun. 'How many people are with Parsa?'

McGee looked embarrassed. 'Just one, I think. She… she tricked us.'

'She?'

'Alex Bell. She's Tony's partner.'

'Spy?' A cold dread made Ziva shiver.

McGee nodded. 'She tied us up. I think she hijacked our systems too. I can't access anything, I can't open the safety blinds, I can't even communicate with the outside.'

He sat back in front of the computer and typed a few command lines, without much success. The computer displayed the same error message as before.

'Where did Parsa take Gibbs?'

'Not sure, we think MTAC.'

'Is there any way we can see in there?'

'Possibly. The CCTV system isn't compromised.' He typed short command lines, and first an image appeared of the outside of MTAC, deserted. Then they saw the first camera inside showed Parsa sitting next to a blonde woman Ziva didn't recognise.

'Is that Bell?'

'No, that's Ellie Bishop, she's with us… well, NSA… long story.'

The view changed to a third camera, showing Gibbs standing up in front of the large screen, and a redhead woman sitting at the terminal. No one else seemed to be in the room.

'So, that's Bell,' guessed Ziva. The image wasn't precise enough to make out her features, but she looked tall and athletic.

'What are they doing?' said McGee, squinting his eyes and zooming on Gibbs.

Something was being shown on the screen, but the resolution of the security camera didn't allow them to see much. At some point, Gibbs turned to Parsa, who stood up. There seemed to be tension in the room, but without being able to hear what was being said, Ziva had no idea what was happening.

Then, Parsa pointed his gun at Gibbs.

'He's going to kill him!' she said.

'Not if I can help it.' McGee typed a series of rapid command on the keyboard, while Ziva watched, powerless. Any second now, Parsa would pull the trigger and she would watch her mentor, her friend, her surrogate father die. Rageful tears filled her eyes. She hadn't come all this way to see Gibbs die!

Then the image went black.

'What happened?'

Before McGee could reply, Ziva saw a muzzle flash briefly lighten the image before everything went black again. Then another one. Then three more. Then the image disappeared, replaced by static.

'We're cut from the system,' explained McGee.

'Is Gibbs alive?' asked Ziva, shaking.

'I don't know. I cut the light to give him a chance…'

Ziva took a short breath. She couldn't let her emotions overwhelm her. Tony was still out there, and maybe Gibbs. She had to save them.

'I am going there,' she declared.

McGee agreed with a nod. 'I'll keep trying.'

Ziva checked the load of her gun again, knowing full well it was as ready as it could be. Old habit. As she made her way out, McGee called her back.

'Ziva, there's something you need to see!'

She made her way back and noticed that McGee was even paler than the minute before.

'What is it?'

He typed on the keyboard, then moved away to let her see the screen. Goosebumps appeared on her whole body when she recognised what she was looking at.

'Oh, this is not good,' she said. 'This is not good at all.'

—

'Any last words?'

With horror, Ellie saw Benham point his gun at Agent Gibbs. To his credit, Gibbs didn't run or plead his case. He just had his eyes fixed on her, in an expression that might have meant that he was sorry.

'Benham, you can't do this!' she screamed.

But it was too late. Benham's finger moved dangerously close to the trigger. He was going to shoot. Gibbs was going to die.

Then everything went dark.

Someone pushed her and she fell heavily on her behind. A thunder noise blew her ears out and she saw a brief flash of light in front of her. Gunshot, she thought, slightly dizzy. Whoever had pushed her grabbed her again and helped get on her knees. From the feel of his hands and the smell of his aftershave, she recognised Gibbs. He lead the way, on all fours, away from Parsa. Ellie could barely make up the shadow of the row of seats that she had been sitting on. Another flash, another gunshot. This time, she heard it ricochet on the wall next to her.

'Quick!' whispered Gibbs.

Terrified, Ellie accelerated as much as she could on her knees and palms. She was totally disorientated in the dark, but assumed that Gibbs was leading her towards the exit. Another gunshot missed them, breaking a glass panel at the back of the room.

'Annie, I need light!' shouted Parsa. By the sound of it, he was standing four, maybe five feet from them.

'Someone took over the system,' replied the woman from the other side of the room. 'I'm doing my best.' Ellie heard the sound of furious typing on a keyboard.

'Do it faster!'

Ellie wondered if Alexandra Bell regretted dedicating her life to Parsa. Ruining it for him, more like. Like those suicide bombers who changed their mind at the last minute.

'We need to get out,' whispered Gibbs.

That attracted another gunshot, so close to both of them that they were sprayed with shards of plastic from the seat that had been pierced by the bullet. Ellie heard Parsa move in their direction. She didn't see any way that they could reach the door and open it without being shot.

She felt Gibbs tap her forearm twice. Her sight was getting used to the dark and she could almost make out his shape now. He gestured towards himself, then towards the left, then towards her, and finally towards the right. Ellie didn't understand.

'I go left, you go right,' he said in the lowest whisper.

Split up. It made sense. Ellie nodded vigorously, hoping he could see her. She took a step in the direction given, and felt Gibbs moving away from her. Soon, she was alone, and the feeling scared her even more. Without Gibbs' presence, she felt like a tracked animal, an easy target, waiting to be shot down any second now.

'Eleanor,' called Parsa, startling her. 'Please, come out. I don't want to hurt you. If you tell me where you are, I will stop shooting, I promise.'

Fat chance, she thought. Carefully, she crawled under a row of seats, and emerged on the other side near the ramp that led outside. Gibbs had intentionally directed her to the exit, she realised. Which meant…

'She won't get out,' said Gibbs, his voice coming from the other wall. 'She knows you're a liar.'

Parsa reacted quickly and shot in Gibbs' direction. Ellie heard a low grunt and closed her eyes briefly, hoping, praying, crying. Please don't kill Gibbs. Please don't kill Gibbs.

'A liar, and a scammer,' continued Gibbs, like nothing had happened. His voice seemed to come from a completely different position in the room. How he had moved so quickly, Ellie had no idea.

'Annie!' roared Parsa. 'Get the lights, now!'

'I'm in the system. I cut the feed and I should get the lights in ten seconds…'

Ten seconds…

'Bishop, run!' shouted Gibbs.

She didn't need to be told. She propelled herself on her hands and knees towards the ramp, half-expecting to hear another gunshot. Nine… eight…

The gunshot didn't come, but she heard footsteps behind her. She knew she didn't have enough time to reach the door, she knew it was futile. But she rushed anyway. Seven… six…

She landed awkwardly on the ramp, lungs on fire, labouring to stand upright and run to the door. Five… four…

Her sole slipped on the carpet and she tripped. Her right knee banged the floor violently. Pain shot right through her body, but she forced herself to ignore it and get back up. Just a few more steps. Three… Two…

Her palm touched the door. One…

The lights came back up, and she felt a hand grabbing her shoulder.

'Too late, Eleanor,' said Benham Parsa.

I might be enjoying these cliffhangers a little bit too much, but I couldn't help myself! I hope you liked this chapter. There's only 2 left!

Let me know what you think :)

Thank you for reading,

Loufoca