Chapter Four
It had been a week of investigation, and so far they had no leads. There was no strong evidence, no suspects, nothing. They were up shit creek without a paddle.
So far Tony had avoided being partnered up with Ziva, and his strong feelings towards her had so far declined, but not disappeared. He still felt a pull towards her in a strange way.
He still didn't know what it was.
Ezra Mizrahi had been a lot easier for him to be partnered with, as he liked to small talk with Tony. They had got along well. On discussing Azriel's hate for small talk with Ezra, Ezra had assured Tony that Azriel was always like that and don't take it to heart.
Today was meant to be their first day off in 12 days, but when Tony got a call at 09:00 in the morning, he felt like his day off was about to be over. And he wasn't wrong.
Another marine had been killed, in a similar fashion to the last one.
They all geared up, body armour, guns and headed out in some armoured vehicles. In the middle of the rush, he hadn't noticed the person he happened to get in the vehicle with.
Ziva.
She was in the drivers seat and he'd jumped into the passenger seat.
He turned and looked at her.
She was staring at him.
"Hey" was all that he said. He honestly didn't know what to say. She knew who he was so introducing himself would be stupid.
"Hello" she replied. Accent thick and exotic. Her eyes looked him up and down, in an almost seductive manner.
She turned and faced the front, putting the car into gear and the wheels screeched as they took off at pace. He couldn't help but cling onto the door handle.
He knew Mossad received tactical driver training, but he wasn't sure he was going to survive this ride.
Her driving was another level of crazy.
The car was silent for a moment, the only sound was her foot slamming into the clutch as she vigorously changed gears.
Then all of a sudden she spoke up.
"I have seen the way you have been looking at me" she stated, not taking her eyes of the road.
He had no idea what to say.
What was he supposed to say?
He couldn't think of one thing to say that wouldn't sign his death wish.
"Sorry" was all he could think of.
"What is it you are apologizing for?" she then asked.
She came to a stop as a car cut her off, and she looked around the area checking for hostile movement before believing it was clear and looking at him.
"I honestly have no idea" he replied, and couldn't help but let out a nervous chuckle.
Her eyes assessed him briefly before planting her foot on the accelerator and taking off again.
"You have been thinking about how you would like to sleep with me, yes?" she asked, without hesitation.
He was lost for words. He had never in his life, met a woman so forward and up front with him.
It was extremely sexy.
"No, that-" be began, denying the accusation. He needed to stay professional on this deployment. However, she cut him off mid explanation.
"I have been trained to tell if someone is lying to me, Agent DiNozzo" she informed him, her eyes flickering to him briefly. She looked as though she was enjoying toying with him.
Oh, she was the devil.
"Tony" he replied "You can call me Tony"
He could see the smirk on her face.
"Well Tony" the way she drawled out his name was seductive "Your eyes are not very good at keeping secrets" she finished.
She'd caught him out. Red handed.
No one had ever read him like that before. He had one of the best poker faces in the department. Obviously, Gibbs was the only one better than him.
Maybe he was losing his talent.
However, no one else had mentioned anything about the way he'd been looking at her. And he is sure, Derek and Sarah would have pulled him up on it.
He was about to reply to her comment when they came to a halt and she got out. He watched her began to scan the area with her gun drawn.
He got out and followed suit.
The others had also pulled into the empty warehouse area, and were all entering from different angles of the compound.
Their information had come in anonymously, unlike last time.
Last time no one had called in, the body had been found.
So, they suspected due to the different approach that maybe a passer-by had called it in, and they might get lucky and find the offender on scene.
That or the killer was changing his game.
Tony would bet his money on the second option, and that this was most likely a set up.
By the way Ziva was tactically walking about, scanning all corners and areas, he thought that she thought it was likely a set up too.
He came up behind her, tailing her.
Her steps faulted ever so slightly, not expecting him to be so on the ball with their approach.
"I've got your back Ziva" he stated, holding his pistol to his chest and watching both sides as she covered the front.
He didn't expect someone as highly trained as her to fully trust him, and she will probably still cover her own six.
That's okay by Tony.
He knows, that unless you've had the time to bond and gel as a unit, you'll never a hundred percent trust the other person.
He trusts Gibbs, Kate and McGee to have his six, but they've been a team for long enough to have that trust.
As they approached the building she radioed to the other members that they had the south side entrance covered.
This felt so natural, working with her like this.
Like they'd done it before.
She advanced on the building and he was hot on her tail.
She kicked the door to her front and it smashed opened. She's a strong looking woman, but not a big woman. However, that door went down without hesitation.
He can only imagine how strong her legs are.
She entered the building and went right, he went left. They cleared the entrance to the door and took cover behind some wooden boxes.
"I'll go first, you follow, I'll always sweep right, you sweep left. Got it?" she was in full Mossad mode now. Strong, confident, tactical.
He nodded.
She stepped out from the boxes and made her way further into the warehouse, he followed right behind. She was scanning, stopping, crouching. Covering all the angles before moving forward to the next point of cover.
Just as they went to move to the next cover point, he saw something move to his left, up high.
He swung his gun in the direction of the movement.
Shots rang out and he felt the wood chip from beside them as bullets hit the boxes they had been using for cover.
He didn't hesitate in firing.
Three shots in, and he'd got his target.
He doesn't remember the last time he'd hit a target that far away with a pistol.
He lowered his weapon, but stayed alert. His eyes settled on Ziva at his side.
She was crouched and had her weapon pointed where he had.
"You okay?" he asked quickly, assessing the damage.
"Yes" she replied, and her voice trembled.
Surely she's been shot at before, so what had her looking like she'd seen a ghost?
Just as they moved forward, the Derek and Ezra came around the boxes.
"All clear" buzzed over the radio "Status Ziva?" Azriel asked over the radio.
"We're good" Tony replied over the radio as he watch Ziva go from being speechless, to having her steal armour back on.
"One gunman down, left upper stairwell, moving on the target" her robot response came back over the radio. She looked at him briefly, with the slightest glint of panic on her face, before moving in the direction of the stairwell.
He followed.
He wasn't sure what was going through her mind, but he will make a point of trying to find out later.
Derek and Ezra were also in tow.
As they reached the top of the stairs, the gunman was on his back, two shots in his chest and he wasn't moving.
Ziva's fingers went to his neck, checking his pulse.
Her face dropped.
He was dead.
Tony was of the thought that she probably wanted him alive so she could attempt to gain the much needed information from him.
Today, that wasn't going to be the case.
"Negative on the gunman, he's dead" she informed over the radio. Yep, she was hoping for a breathing gunman, one she could interrogate.
"Ezra, I want you to exhibit everything up here" she ordered, Ezra nodded, holstered his weapon and got to work "I want a detailed profile on who he is and where that gun was purchased from" she continued. Ezra nodded again and continued on with his task.
"The marine is on the westside of the warehouse, he's long gone" Derek added. Ziva nodded towards him.
"I do not believe this compound is safe, so we need to move fast" she stated. Tony and Derek nodded and all three of them went downstairs to start exhibiting.
"I will have IDF set up security around the area" she said, and walked off towards an IDF soldier. Tony watched her. She was back to her tough exterior, but he'd seen that fall. Seen shock in her eyes.
And based of how much she avoided looking at him, she knows he saw it.
Ziva stayed out at the warehouse when the rest of them came back for the night. They were all exhausted but Tony was not ready to sleep. Today had been another scary moment, they don't seem to stop happening since he's been here.
Derek had offered him and Sarah some beers, Tony had taken them up on the offer, however his thoughts had been somewhere else completely.
Derek kept shooting him side glances, but hadn't said anything.
Tony opened his phone.
He had her number, everyone was sent the phone numbers of everyone in an email.
He felt like sending her a message.
It was weird, after their brief encounter in the car and when they teamed up and went into the building, it all felt so natural. Like they'd know each other for years.
Their encounter in the car had surely raised his blood temperature when it was happening, but that was the last thing he was thinking of right now.
He was… worried about her.
Something he saw on her face in the warehouse, he knew she wasn't okay. He might not know her well enough, but he is a investigator after all.
If you need a beer after today, you know where I live. Tony.
It felt rude texting her. She would probably just look at it and laugh. He highly doubted someone like her would come and spill all her inner worries to him.
But hey, he cannot feel anymore embarrassed by her after she called him out on wanting to have sex with her, so surely sending her a text wont dig his grave any deeper.
He hoped.
"I might call it a night" Tony said as he stood up. He was met with two surprised sets of eyes.
"Are you sure, its still early?" Sarah pointed out. That it was. It was only 8pm.
"Yeah, I know, just feeling like a early night in after today" Tony replied. Sarah and Derek shared a look of some sort. Like they were quietly communicated on who should make sure he's alright.
Derek stood. Tony guessed he was going to go outside with him and check if he's doing okay.
Tony wasn't wrong.
The two of them stepped outside and walked a few paces to Tony's door.
"You doing okay man?" Derek asked, leaning against the balcony railing. Tony nodded.
"Still trying to get used to being shot at this much, got any tips?" Tony joked. They both shared a light smile.
"If I ever figure out how to be relaxed after being shot at, I'll let you know" Derek joked back.
Derek patted him on the shoulder "I'm next door if you need brother" he informed him. Tony smiled at Derek.
"Thanks man, means a lot. But I'll be okay, think I just need a hot shower and a lie down" Tony placed his hand on Derek's back in a similar fashion to how he had. Derek nodded.
There was such an easy understanding between them, Tony saw them being good friends for a long time after all this crazy shit was over.
Derek disappeared into his room and Tony opened his door.
He kicked off his shoes at the door. What a long day. He's going to age so much on this deployment, its been not even two weeks and he feels five years older.
He striped his clothes off and threw them in his wash basket. He grabbed another beer from his fridge and stepped into the scolding hot water of his shower.
Nothing like the feeling of hot water so hot it numbs your skin. Numbs your soul.