Outside in the night Gibbs watched her through the window trying to believe he wasn't caught in yet another moment of insanity. They'd found the warehouse and set up a watch point some distance away. He wasn't the only scope watching the building. But he was lead and they would follow him. Some instinct had told him not to approach the Warehouse right away. Still as they'd set up at the perimeter he'd felt fear and grief try to overwhelm him. He wanted to find her to bring her home and give her a proper rest whatever that meant. And yet the very reality of finding her, in the hell that the couples prior had suffered almost made him run. For fifteen long minutes they'd watched through scopes and binoculars through the warehouse windows. Locke had been spotted right away, along with a body in another room that had been far too tall to be Ziva's. But that brief moment of doubt had nearly made him sick. Just as he'd been about to put a bullet in the man's brain he'd watched the door of a room open and she stepped out.
The rush of air he drew in his lungs was loudly audible, followed by a quick "hold" everything had gone quiet in his ear. She looked impossibly alive, costumed as a queen she'd stepped out unsure tentative searching the room. Her hand had gone to her neck clutching the lavishly beautiful collar. The bracelet remained on her wrist and that made him sigh softly in relief. "She's alive". The words equal in power to the sight of her soaked into every pore. The very reality that she was living and breathing halted the whispers that had seemed to become so much a part of him. He had to stamp down the urge to run across the field and pull her into his arms.
His words registered among the team even as he was left to wonder how she could walk freely through the warehouse. She turned to the window and then to the man sitting at a desk that far too closely resembled a throne. Again she touched the collar around her neck and something about that repeated gesture made him watch as Locke began to laugh. He watched the man's lips, reading the words as they formed and felt his blood run cold. "Nobody move, the place is wired with explosives." As he spoke Ziva's eyes met his even though he knew she couldn't see him and she shook her head firmly. As she did her hand smoothed down the front of her and he could see the proof their child had grown while she'd been in captivity. For all intents and purposes she appeared healthy and well cared for. Unless you looked in her eyes, through the scope he could see the chocolate brown no longer bright with joy but dull with the grimness of her reality. It was difficult but he pulled his focus from her to Locke. He was speaking again as she approached the window.
Locke smiled as she took tentative steps toward the window, her fear was easy to read and he enjoyed it. "They will not find you, I have created far too many blinds and if they had any clue they would have come by now." He watched her raise her head even higher and savored the regal set to her shoulders. She was the perfect Queen, he had her convinced she would die once her child was born. But he planned to be done with his work by then and they would move away from any evidence of his good deeds and she would be his then. "And if they dared to come here they would die trying to get in."
Gibbs cursed as he tried to think of a way into that warehouse. She was watching through the window starring into the night as if she knew he was there. She stayed very still moving only when necessary and with measured steps. But her gaze went from the window to Locke again and again. He noticed she wasn't speaking, hadn't said a single word since she'd appeared in his scope. He smiled and the corners of his mouth felt rusty as if they'd forgotten how. His stubborn Ziva was as always using any weapon she had to thwart her captor. He wished he could signal her tell her was just steps away. Instead he watched her step away from the window and back toward Locke.
Ziva wanted desperately for the feeling that Gibbs was watching her to be true, wanted it like an addict wanted a drug. Instead she sighed and turned back toward Locke. Perhaps a deal with the devil was all that would save her now. She stood close to him closer than she ever had before. She feigned an interest in what he was drawing. She could easily it was some sort of machine meant to torture but she hid her horror and instead raised an eyebrow.
"That my dear is my newest invention. Later I will perfect it for now I am focusing on the plans. If you have questions I will answer them all you have to do is ask. Any question at all." He knew she wanted to know about those she'd left behind.
He was taunting her and she nearly gave in but she had another plan in mind. So she simply pointed to the collar. She hadn't spoken in his presence since he'd slipped it on and only spoken to the baby when she'd known he wasn't in hearing distance. At least she hoped so, or this would have no chance of working. She shook her head and pointed to the collar. She let fear show in her expression and then held perfectly still.
"Foolish woman you think me so unsophisticated, so inept I would make a collar that would go off simply from speaking." Locke reached out and struck her sharply across the face, his hand wrapping around her throat almost lifting her off the ground. She thought him a fool, didn't recognize his purpose. Still she hadn't learned.
Outside Gibbs felt rage wash over him as Locke struck her and then began strangling her. He bit out an order for quiet movement and began to snake across the field surrounding the warehouse. Halfway to the walls he forced everyone to stop and he looked through the scope.
Ziva hadn't fought him, had simply let her body go lax hoping his rage would fizzle out quickly as it often did. Spurts of anger were his norm and she hoped that was true tonight before she ran out of air. The baby kicked and she felt a tear slide down her cheek. Only then did he release her shoving her roughly to the ground. She rolled into a ball letting her hip take the brunt of her fall to keep from hurting her belly. She had sworn he wouldn't break her, that she would remain strong. Yet, with each day that passed her strength waned she could do little to fight him. Perhaps it was weakness but if she gave in perhaps her child could at the very least have its mother. But even as the thought crossed her mind her eyes met Locke's and the feral gleam told her all she needed to know about just would happen after the baby was born.
"You think me weak; don't understand the depth of what I am." He pointed to each window and door. "Every entrance is wired all connected to that collar you know this, but I studied and practiced with it. It will only go off if you try to remove it or pass through any of those thresholds. Did you think I would lie?"
Ziva managed a shrug, not bothering to hide her distrust of him. She managed to stand but it was painful and in more ways than one. She hid that pain though instead raising her chin again and firmly closing her mouth. Her time was coming to an end one way or another, if there was no way out then she would take her child with her and hope God and Gibbs would forgive her. There was no way she would leave her child to this man. She had to forcefully choke back a sob but felt the tears burning in her eyes. She glanced at the window wondering if she would have the courage to leap through it or if she would wait for him to leave and simply open the door later that night.
Gibbs watched her through the scope; saw her carefully hidden pain coursing through her. Somehow perhaps a gift from whatever fate had brought them together he also knew the moment she decided she'd had enough. As her hand cradled her belly and she fought back a sob he knew. "We have to get in there, I think she's in labor and I think he plans to take the baby." It wasn't all he knew but her choice of desperation was their secret at least he thought so until he looked to Tony as the younger man pulled away from the binoculars he was using he saw the same revelation in his grief stricken eyes.
Gibbs could only hope she held out just a little longer. He'd seen her look at the window, knew she was calculating the distance and he knew why. The pain of her resignation had him burning from the inside out. "We don't have much time." He heard the others acknowledge his words but still they were left with finding a way in. Back at the staging point Vance repeated for everyone to wait for Gibbs signal.
Ziva felt a hard cramping in her midsection and had to turn away to hide that pain form Locke. It wasn't as forceful as it could have been so she knew she had time but not much. If she could wait to deliver till Locke left for the night as he always did she might have a few precious hours left.
Locke watched her turn away and scoffed at her. "Go back to your room then, hide there while you still can. Eventually you will learn that you have no other choice but me."
In the night now at the edges of the warehouse Gibbs heard McGee in his ear. "I got a way in Boss. About ten feet from you there's a crawl space that goes under the warehouse and leads into I believe the room Ziva came out of." Gibbs didn't make a sound but he knew McGee was aware he'd heard. Back in a van viewing the blueprints McGee might just be their saving grace. "I can't be certain where it comes out I'm estimating or if it's been closed off but it's in the first set of blueprints and not the second so I'm guessing he might not be aware of it."
Gibbs new it was likely their only chance and he crept slowly toward that entrance, praying again it would lead him to Ziva. Close enough now they could use a sound amplifier that hooked into their earpieces he could hear the sounds inside the warehouse. He froze when he heard her voice crash into his ears.
"I do not think you weak Locke I think you underestimate everyone around you including me. I will never be yours. I will always be his; this child will always be his. No matter what you do to me, no matter what plan you have I will always belong to him and only him. Take me from this world if that is what you wish but know this, he will never stop searching for you. Be certain whatever you do you understand that there will come a day he will find you; perhaps in a market one day, a movie theater, more likely in your bed some night when you are very much alone. You will die and it will not be quick it will be slow, drawn out for every pain you inflicted on us both, all of us.
Jethro is a man who feels deeply far more deeply than you or anyone else knows and his anger his rage is not something he will be able to control when he finds you. And it will be when not if. I can accept that I will die here, perhaps even my child because I know before he leaves this Earth Jethro will see you dead. That is my victory and that is your very certain future." Done speaking she turned and made her way back into her room shutting the door behind her and sinking to the ground. She wanted to cry quietly to hide her grief and all that was lost to her but she couldn't fight the pain anymore, not the physical pain or the pain in her heart and soul. Great wracking sobs burst from her lungs drowning out anything else in her world.
Around the warehouse grown men fought tears along with her. No one looked at each other instead stared in broken amazement at the building that held a true warrior and a woman without measure. Her words had made them envy Gibbs, her tears had them gearing up willing to face death, to man up if nothing else to try to be her equal.
Ziva felt another tightening of her belly, no more or less painful than the last but even that couldn't break through her tears. She felt broken, unable to put herself back together without her other half. She heard the sound of metal on metal; it was the faintest sound slow and just the barest hint through her tears. But it drew her attention; toward the corner of her room behind the divider allowed her for changing she located the sound. She heard the sound of dirt hitting the ground and a shuffling noise. Hiccupping as she tried to breathe she moved slowly toward the sound. As she edged around the divider she knew for certain that somehow in the past few moments she had truly gone mad. In fact it was the only word left to her "Madness…."
There in front of her was the ghost of the man she'd known. She gasped trying to breathe when her lungs were still fighting tears. All in black, gun at the ready he stood before her conjured from a dream. He was greyer, everything about him was darker, harder even, his body thinner but more muscular than when she'd last seen him. She reached out to touch him and then backed up afraid if she touched him he would dissipate as he did when she woke from the dreams she had of him. She shook her head. "You are not real, you are never real anymore." Her voice broke and she backed away again. Descending into insanity should have been pleasant; an escape instead it was a false hope played out just as it was in her sleep.
Tony risked a glance at Vance hating how broken she sounded. In his ear he heard Gibbs whisper. "I'm in."
Ziva nearly fainted when she heard his voice. The sound washed over her just as her body rippled with pain. This time she did reach out letting her hands touch his jaw, feeling the solid scrape of it against her fingers. And she sobbed again, joy cascading through her that this was reality. "Neshama…"
Gibbs knew they were racing against the clock, at any time Locke could walk into the room, knew that everyone could hear them but none of that mattered. He pulled her to him wrapping her in his arms trying desperately not to crush her even as he held her far too tightly. He managed to sob out her name, letting his tears fall without shame. He breathed her in, letting his hands trace her body feeling for injury. When her hand wrapped around his he sighed in relief. "We have to get you out of here Ziva. If I tell you what the wires on the collar look like can you tell me how to get it off?"
Ziva wanted to answer him but before she could she had to touch his face one more time. "I wanted to believe you were out there. I kept looking out that window feeling like I was going mad believing you were out there. I never come out of this room, ever yet tonight I had to. I am yours Jethro always."
Gibbs touched the bracelet around her wrist that had become so much a part of them and then touched her stomach feeling his child kick beneath his palm. "Mine." He'd heard her words to Locke had felt them with all the pride a man like him didn't deserve and knew she needed this moment of reassurance.
Finally Ziva could breathe again such a simple word and yet it had given her back her strength, her determination. "Locke showed me the collar before he put it on; I memorized the pattern it will be easy to remove if you have pliers and a battery." It had frustrated her how simple it would be to remove had she been given the tools or found them. But Locke had been far too careful.
Gibbs watched her in disbelief, and she saw it. "He used a very simple pattern I believe so he would not blow himself up when he planned to remove it. He practiced and he has a few burns on his forearms, plus one finger is missing its tip I am guessing he made a few mistakes." As she spoke she watched under the door watching for footsteps. She breathed slightly easier when she realized it had been more than a few minutes since the last contraction. Gibbs had gathered a battery from his flashlight and had pliers in his hand. He stepped behind her just as she tensed and pushed at his chest. She pushed her finger to his lips and pushed him behind the screen. She threw a blanket from the bed haphazardly over the screen hoping to mask any shadow Gibbs cast.
Tony heard their sudden silence and cursed, that couldn't be good. He couldn't see in that room but he could hear and heard the door opening. It scared the hell out of him.
Ziva had managed to lie on her bed hugging a pillow and staring off hoping to seem casual. He entered slowly carrying her dinner tray. He set it on the small table in the room as usual, and then approached her by the bed. Something he did not normally do. She sat up scooting away from him.
"Loyalty will be your death Ziva, I had hoped after your child was born we could leave this place and make a new life. But I see that will not be possible. You would be far too much of a liability. Your child will live but you will not. If you behave between now and then I will allow you some time with the child before you die. Now answer me do you understand."
Ziva forced the words from her throat past the thick ball of tears she didn't have to fake. The reality of what she'd almost done still fresh in her mind and the rage she knew Gibbs had to be facing were almost too much. "I understand. I will behave." He smiled far too much evil in his face and turned and left the room.
Tony pressed a hand to his forehead feeling the burn of Locke's words. In his ear he could hear a member of the swat team cursing but even that couldn't make him smile. A gauntlet had been thrown down everyone knew it and Gibbs was not a man to refuse such a challenge. Locke wouldn't be walking away from Gibbs tonight.
Ziva waited until she heard Locke's footsteps fade away, peeked under the door and saw he was truly gone and turned to find Gibbs standing beside her again. There was death in his eyes; it tangled with retribution and the promise of revenge. "I love you Jethro, nothing will change that, not tonight not ever. I am yours."
Gibbs drew in a sharp breath and turned her. Following her instructions holding his breath he removed the collar and set it in the small bathroom provided for her. An angry red line surrounded her neck where the collar had rubbed and it highlighted the bruises forming from Locke's hands on her neck earlier. At his sides his fists clenched trying to push away the angry red haze of rage until he could get her safely out of the damn room.
Ziva touched his face again and then felt the almost unfamiliar weight of a gun in her hand. He pointed to the crawlspace that had been crudely hidden by a thin layer of drywall and paint. "I left a flashlight in there for you, follow the crawlspace out Tony will be waiting for you. Then have everyone clear the perimeter."
Ziva swallowed hard trying desperately to push away her fear. "You will not come with me." she made it a statement rather than a question.
Gibbs looked down at her taking in every inch of her beauty, her grace and gentleness. The way she looked at him with far too much love and understanding almost had him following her. "I cannot. I have to do this Ziva."
"You will come back to me." She knew she was crying had tried not to for his sake but hadn't managed.
"I will try.."
"You will, you will swear it on our child on all that we are." She forced him to look at her locking her eyes with his refusing to allow him to have any thoughts of defeat in his mind.
Gibbs finally nodded. "I swear."
Ziva pressed her mouth to his the softest whisper against his and then against her will walked away. She stopped when she heard him whisper against her ear. "I love you Ziva, always."
"And I love you, always." She couldn't look back to him, knew if she did she would end up begging him to come with her and he would follow but he would always regret it. Instead she made her way through the crawlspace fighting tears and fear. When she stepped out Tony stood there looking strong and familiar draping a dark jacket around her to cover the brightness of her gown. "Gibbs is not done here." She whispered and saw him tap his ear. It confirmed what she'd suspected that the others had been able to hear them. For a moment she felt naked and vulnerable but she pushed it away as she followed Tony and the rest of the men as they crept away from the building.
When they were what seemed a safe distance away Ziva stood and watched the warehouse, hoping fate hadn't run out of favors.