Chapter 28

After a few seconds, Tim took a breath and went back into the house. Daniel was back staring at Logan's body. Tim walked over to stand by him.

"How do you feel now?" Tim asked.

Daniel didn't look up. He just kept staring down at the body on the floor. Blood was starting to pool beneath Logan's neck.

"Relieved," Daniel said, finally. "I never really felt completely safe, you know. Not really. Always worried that he might suddenly show up again and come after me. To have him be dead and see that he's dead... It's a relief. And I'm human enough to admit that there's just a bit of satisfaction. Did you ever read The Most Dangerous Game?"

"In school, I think."

"I can still remember the last line. 'He had never slept in a better bed.'" Daniel smiled a little. "It meant that Rainsford had won and Zaroff was dead. Did it mean that he had taken Zaroff's place? There's that feeling of triumph and satisfaction that not all the will in the world can get rid of. What matters is what happens next."

"And?" Tim asked.

"And I'm going to report this and then... then, I'm going to make sure that I don't turn into Logan myself."

Tim patted Daniel's shoulder and then walked back out to the front room.

"What now, Boss?" Tim asked. He was lead, but he wasn't above asking for suggestions.

"How long before Jorgenson gets here?" Tony asked.

Tim looked at his watch. It hadn't even been half an hour since he'd talked to Director Gellman.

"Maybe thirty minutes, if my source was right."

"Then, we should be ready for him," Ziva said, with a grim smile.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tamara knew that Levi was awake simply because he was still holding so tightly to her hand. The tendons in his arms were visible, but he was unresponsive as the EMT began giving him oxygen and doing a more thorough check.

"Mr. Carew, are you feeling any pain?"

No response.

"He's still holding my hand," Tamara said. "Why wouldn't he respond when he must be awake?"

"Given the state he's in, he may not be able to think beyond what he's doing. It looks like oxygen deprivation."

"Really? How... why..."

"I don't know, ma'am. I'm just telling you what I see, and I see a man who has not been breathing well."

Tamara squeezed Levi's hand and held back her own tears. She had come so close to losing him and now, she feared that she might not get him back.

"Will he be okay?"

"I can't tell you that, but he's alive now. That means something."

"Two minutes out," the driver said.

"Good."

"We're almost there, Levi," Tamara said softly, barely audible over the siren. "Stay with me."

He still said nothing, but he still held onto her hand, all the way to the hospital.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The car pulled in front of the house, and it wasn't the CIA cleaning crew.

One man got out of the car and walked toward the front door, turned the knob and stepped inside.

"Hello, Mr. Jorgenson. How nice to see you," Gibbs said. "Won't you come in."

There was a moment when it looked like he would run. Then, he quickly covered that and looked at Gibbs, letting his surprise show.

"I don't believe I've met you. I'm here to talk to the owner of this house, and that's not you."

"Marc Logan?" Tony asked, stepping into view.

Jorgenson glanced at him.

"Yes. That's right. I have business to discuss with him. If he's not here or if he's busy, I'll come back later."

"He is busy," Ziva said, revealing herself. "But he will never not be busy now."

"That business wouldn't have anything to do with kidnapping and torturing Levi Carew...would it? Mr. Jorgenson?" Tim asked.

Jorgenson's head jerked around at the sound of Tim's voice and he stared right at Tim. There was a brief flash of intense hatred, so much so that Tim actually wanted to step back. He didn't, but he wanted to.

"I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about, Agent McGee, although one has to wonder why you're here."

"I'm wondering what brings you here as well," Tim said.

Somehow, it was now about the two of them. The others were extraneous.

"I told you. Business. I'm a private citizen. You are in NCIS. You have no business here."

"You're right, but unless your business with Logan has to do with abduction, there's no reason for you to have come down here repeatedly over the last couple of months." Here Tim took a risk. He knew Abby hadn't found anything in particular yet. "And you wouldn't have been seen in this area previous to that...maybe back when you were trying to frame me to get me arrested? Ring any bells?"

"I can't say that it does, Agent McGee. If that's all, I'll be going."

Jorgenson turned to leave.

"You don't even want to hear how much you were paying?" Tony asked.

Jorgenson turned back.

"Paying? For what?"

Now, Daniel pushed surviving member of Logan's team into view.

"Talk," he said.

"For us to abduct Levi Carew, kill his wife, and bring him here to be tortured until you were ready to start questioning him," the man said.

"And how much was that?" Ziva asked.

The man was very straightforward. He'd already admitted that he'd been hired. They'd already promised him leniency.

"Five hundred thousand dollars to be divided among us. Logan would get half and the rest of us would get what's left. I got $25,000 as my initial fee with the promise of another $25,000 when it was over."

"Any stipulations?"

"No blood and no broken bones unless we were specifically told to," the man said and then looked straight at Jorgenson. "By you."

"Expensive business," Tim said. "I didn't know you had that kind of money. You must have really liked Logan's work. Was it killing his entire CIA team that impressed you the most?"

"Or was it when he would willingly torture suspects whether he thought they had information or not that made you want to hire him?" Daniel added.

"You have no jurisdiction here, Agent McGee. This has nothing to do with the Navy," Jorgenson said.

"But the CIA does have license to track down and take care of a rogue agent," Daniel said. "And if we asked for the help of NCIS, then, they do have the right to be here. And as a representative of the CIA, I can say that NCIS has officially been asked to give aid."

"So what are you going to do now, then?" Jorgenson asked.

Tim smiled and pulled out his handcuffs.

"Do you want to put them on yourself?" he asked. "You do want to be in charge, don't you."

Finally, Gibbs stepped in and took over.

"Claude Jorgenson, you're under arrest for kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap Levi Carew, conspiracy to torture Levi Carew, aiding and abetting a fugitive and any other charges we figure out as we go along."

He put the cuffs on Jorgenson who tensed just enough that Gibbs thought he might actually fight to run away, but in the end, he stood still.

"Call the local LEOs," Gibbs said. "We need someplace to stash these guys until we're ready to move things along."

Tony nodded and pulled out his phone.

Tim watched as Gibbs led Jorgenson out of the house, leaving he and Ziva with the other man and Daniel.

"Remember, you promised that I'd get leniency if I cooperated," the man said.

"And you will as long as you don't give us any trouble."

"I haven't yet, have I. I was the first one to give up rather than shoot back."

"You are the only one," Ziva said.

"Yes, and I'd like to stay alive, so I'm sticking with it."

"Good."

"Tim?" Daniel said. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay. Ziva?" Tim asked.

"I am fine."

Tim walked with Daniel down the hall, just far enough away that they could have some privacy.

"What is it?"

"A cleaning crew is coming to get rid of Logan. The others will be left behind, but we're taking care of our mess and they'll be here in under a minute."

"Oh."

Tim wasn't sure what to say about that.

"Okay."

Daniel smiled.

"You seem to have a really hard time thinking of me as CIA."

"You were really good at not being CIA," Tim said.

"I was always CIA, Tim. The whole time you've known me. I didn't lie to you, but that's what good cover is like. You don't have to lie. You just are what you say. And I'm CIA. I'll be glad to get back to Morocco, but I also am glad I was here for this."

"I'm not. If I had known you had a personal connection, I wouldn't have asked you do it," Tim said.

Daniel raised an eyebrow, but he didn't get a chance to respond. The CIA crew came in from the back. They saw Daniel and he pointed toward the other hall. Not a word was spoken. They just nodded and pulled out of sight. Tim turned and walked back to the main room.

"Who?" Ziva asked.

"Cleaning crew," Tim said.

For a moment, she seemed confused, but he saw instantly when she understood. He walked over to the hall and there was no sign of a body ever being there. Daniel walked into view.

"I'll be writing up an official report of the CIA's role in this just in case it's needed. If the local LEOs need to get our statement, they can contact the CIA liaison. He'll have all the information they need. Now, I need to get out of the way, unless you have anything else you need me for?"

Tim shook his head.

"No, I don't think so."

"Okay. I hope I can see you and Zahara before I head back, Tim," he said.

"Me, too."

Then, Daniel walked out of the house. Sirens could be heard in the distance and both Tim and Ziva walked out to the porch with the still-unnamed member of Logan's team. Tony had Jorgenson in the car.

Tim watched as Daniel drove away, feeling that same disquiet rise up again. Again, he tried to ignore it while there was still work to be done. The police pulled up to the house and Gibbs intercepted them. Tim was glad. He was happy to let Gibbs be seen as the one in charge and he could just fade into the background. No one the wiser.

Gibbs gestured to Ziva and she took their witness/captive down the steps. In moments, he was being loaded into a cop car. Jorgenson was also placed in another car.

All the while, Tim just stood and watched the activity, not trying to be a part of it at all. Unconsciously, his hand reached up to his neck and he began to finger the Hand of Fatima that Zahara's brother had given him during his visit, less than a month ago. He had said it would protect him from evil.

Maybe it can protect me from fear, too, Tim thought.

Finally, Gibbs walked over to him.

"Take your car and go to the hospital, McGee," he said. "When you're done there, you might as well just head home."

"You guys aren't going to do that, are you," Tim said. It wasn't even a question. While everything was up in the air, they'd be staying on hand.

Gibbs climbed the steps and grabbed Tim by the shoulder.

"Go home, Tim. Be with Zahara. You need that."

"And no one else does?"

"Not like you do."

It was like when Tony and Ziva had made sure that Tim had the spare time to go and talk to Dr. Hicks. Gratitude warred with annoyance. Perhaps it showed on his face.

"You're not weak, Tim. No one who knows you would think that. But you need it and we all know it. ...and so do you."

"Okay," Tim said. "Okay, Boss." Then, he chanced a smile. "Does that mean I'm not in charge anymore?"

"Case closed?"

"I think so."

"Then, yes."

"Good."

Gibbs gave him a light swat on the back of the head and sent Tim on his way. Tim walked down the steps and toward where they had hidden his car. Ziva just touched him on the shoulder and said nothing.

"See you tomorrow, Probie," Tony said. "We'll make sure that Jorgenson is really uncomfortable. Just for you."

"Thanks, Tony," Tim said.

Then, he got in his car and left the scene behind.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Hoshi-eini."

The whispered words startled Tamara, even though she couldn't understand them.

"Levi?" she whispered. "Levi, can you hear me?"

She had never seen him so weak and so helpless. Even when admitting the weakness existed, Levi had always seemed in control of himself, always strong, always sure, showing less than was quite natural. She had never seen him cry before, not ever. She'd never seen him weak. She'd never seen him afraid. But this was all together different. ...and not just because he seemed to have lapsed into speaking Hebrew when he'd never done that in all the years that they'd been married. In fact, she'd always assumed he was simply an ethnic Jew, not a religious one. He'd certainly never gone to a synagogue while she'd known him.

"Choneini Adonai, ki umlal ani," Levi whispered, his eyes still closed.

"Levi, please."

He was currently receiving oxygen and getting nourishment through an IV. If he really woke up, they'd have him eat, but he seemed to be awake and yet not responsive. Tamara had never seen someone look so weak without obvious injury. Whatever had been done to him had nearly killed him, but there didn't seem to be a mark on him anywhere.

"Ms. Carew?"

Tamara turned away from Levi and looked at the doctor.

"Yes?"

"Any change?"

"No. Why is he like this?"

"Very likely, it has to do with the psychological trauma as much as the physical trauma. He's starting to stabilize physically. He'll come out of it."

Tamara nodded.

"There's an Agent McGee here who said he wanted to see how things were going. Are you all right with him coming back?"

"Yes. Absolutely. He saved Levi's life."

The doctor smiled and then withdrew.

"Levi, Agent McGee is coming. He needs to know that this all worked."

Would that wake him up? Tamara had no idea, but she was willing to try anything.

"Tamara?"

"Agent McGee," she said. "Please, come in."

Tim stepped into the room, looking uncertain.

"I'm on my way back up to D.C., but I wanted to stop by and see if anything was better."

"The doctor says that Levi is stabilizing, but he's stopped responding. He's said a few things in Hebrew. I think. I didn't even know that he knew Hebrew."

Tim was looking at Levi without looking away.

"I heard him speak Hebrew once. He didn't know I heard him, but I did."

"That's more than I could ever say. Until now. Thank you," Tamara added. "Thank you so much for finding him alive."

"I wasn't sure we would. I was afraid it might be too late."

"It wasn't, and now...I don't know how to..."

Tim looked at her, smiled and shook his head.

"No. No more debts, no favors, none of that. This was the human thing to do, even if it's what I wanted. What I did was simply the human thing: trying to save another human from suffering. You don't owe me. Levi doesn't owe me. I just hope that he recovers."

Just for a moment, Tamara stepped away from the bed. She walked to Tim and hugged him tightly. She could feel that he was trembling slightly, but she didn't ask why. Tim seemed a little uncomfortable with being hugged, so she let him go. Then, she went back to the bed and took Levi's hand again.

"As soon as I can, I'm going to have him transferred closer to home. I'll let you know where. You're always welcome to visit."

"Thank you," Tim said. "I'd better get on my way. It'll be late enough as it is by the time I get there. But if you need anything, the rest of my team will be here tonight." He handed her a card. "You can call them if you need anything at all."

Tamara nodded and watched as Tim withdrew.

When she was alone with Levi, she pulled out the photograph she'd rescued from the cabin and looked at it. Then, she looked at Levi again.

"Levi, come back to me. You didn't lose me. I'm right here. Don't make me lose you again."

"Hoshi-eini," Levi whispered once more.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim's drive home was basically uneventful. Long, but uneventful. He bypassed going to NCIS, although he'd considered it. Instead, he went straight home. He parked, took the elevator up, just like every day, unlocked the door and stepped inside.

As he had guessed, Zahara was awake, waiting for him. She was watching something on the TV, but as soon as he came in, she was on her feet, running to him and hugging him tightly.

"We found him, Zahara," Tim said. "He was still alive."

"Al-hamdu lillah," Zahara said. "I am so glad. And you are safe, too. I am glad for that, too."

"Me, too," Tim said.

The feeling of disquiet arose in him again.

"You know what? I really need to shower," he said, suddenly, and pulled away from Zahara's arms, barely looking at her. "You can finish watching whatever it is. I'm going to shower before bed."

Then, he walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He stripped off his clothes as quickly as he could, got into the shower and turned on the water as hot as he could stand it. He stood motionless under the stream for a few seconds. Then, he leaned against the wall and slid down to his knees. Before he knew it, he was sobbing. He was kneeling in the shower and sobbing, hands clenched into fists and pressed against his head. He didn't know why. He just knew that there was some emotion crying out to be expressed and it could only be done with tears.

After a minute or two, the curtain shifted slightly as the door opened. Then, the curtain was pulled back and he felt Zahara's gentle, yet strong, arms around him.

"Tim, ana huna," she said softly. "I am here. Lasta wadhak. You are not alone. I am here."

For a long time, Tim just cried in her arms.