Chapter 2

"What happened?" Gibbs asked when he entered the crime scene a few minutes later after having a big argument with a very 'nice' FBI-agent.

"It was obvious one of those sadistic games. I thought they had stopped," Ducky said when he kneed down next to the first victim.

"Can you explain this?"

"We found a video," Tony said. "They had to play a game for their lives. They had to enter the other side and press a button. None of them succeeded. They both tried to bite through the wire. He had nearly succeeded."

Gibbs nodded.

It was about three hours later and the NCIS was sitting in the near-by police office. "It isn't uncommon that people at the Highway disappear," McGee commented.

"But it's a Jigsaw murder. Jigsaw's dead," Ziva mentioned.

"He has been dead for half a year and still there were murders happening after them."

"The last murder was the death of his wife. After that, nothing else happened," Tony said.

"But his wife couldn't have killed herself. She has been murdered by the use of a reverse bear trap," Ziva corrected him.

"It is supposed that Detective Mark Hoffman has something to do with it. He has disappeared shortly after and he was, despite the fingerprints of this guy Peter Strahm."

"Strahm's body was never found but he was declared dead after his hand was found. It was separated."

"Where did they find it?"

"In a burning warehouse. Look page three in the file," McGee mentioned and Ziva looked it up. She nodded. "But this doesn't help us very much," she said.

They continued searching the rest of the day but didn't come to any useful conclusion. So they decided to take a midnight-dinner in town's Subway until they finally arrived at the hotels. It was very small and already overfilled before they have arrived so that Tony and Ziva, McGee and Ducky had to share a room, luckily for all agents, Gibbs had got his own room. However, Tony and Ziva were happy two have to single beds, which made Tony surer to survive the night. Unfortunately he didn't know that he was not as safe as he thought to be…

It was cold when Tony awoke. Why was it so cold? He turned around until he noticed that he wasn't in a comfortable bed anymore but on a cold stone floor. "Ziva?" he muttered slowly.

"I'm here Tony," she said but her voice seemed far away.

"Where are we?"

"No idea. I can't see anything."

Suddenly, the light went on. There were three neonlights on each side. The room, seven times 5 square meters, was divided into two sides by a high fence. Tony lay on one side, Ziva on the other.

"That's not good," Ziva muttered when they both realized what was happening. Tony felt it first. He was chained to the wall by one of his feet. He tried to crawl a bit over the floor and the chain was becoming longer as it was coming out of a hole on the wall.

"Tony, stop!" Ziva suddenly said. She pointed at her chain. It had become a bit shorter. "We're bound to the same chain. Only one of us can go there," she said and pointed at the middle where there was a table with a glass box on it.

"What is this?" Tony asked.

"No idea…but I've got something here," Ziva said and held it up.

"Can't see. What is it?"

"It's a cassette player, I guess. But there is not tape in it."

"I have a tape here."

"Great, and how are we supposed to play the tape now?"

Tony thought for a while and looked at the chain at his foot. "What if you wrap the cassette player into the chain and I pull it over?" he proposed.

"That's not going to work."

"We need to give it a try!" Tony shouted furiously. Was now the right moment to argue about such things? "Be careful!" he added.

"I always am…who do you think did this to us?"

"I don't wanna scare you…but I think that Jigsaw really is alive."

"But why us?"

"We're trying to investigate. He wants to scare us," Tony said and slowly started pulling the chain. "I think the chain goes along under the floor. I just hope that it is long enough."

They both held their breath until Tony grabbed the cassette player.

"Tony!" Ziva mentioned and pointed at the wall. A big display was activated and counting from 15:00 downward.

"Whatever it means…it's no good," Tony said and put in the cassette.

"Hello Tony, hello Ziva," the tape started with a dark voice talking. "I wanna play a game. You have been hunting bad guys long enough. But you seem to avoid the fundamental basics of your work. Your relationship. You seem to ignore it while other people still struggle for recognition. You should see what you could have had. The following task is easy. For one of you. When you can hear this message, the timer has started to count from 15 minutes downward. The chain to which you are both tied is only long enough for one to reach to the glass box in the middle. In there, you'll find one knife and two glasses. You cannot move the glasses, you cannot touch the bottom as it's covered with knives. Therefore you cannot press it down. You can only reach one of the glasses each. You need one kilo to activate the mechanism. But attention: You cannot use parts of your body. The blood will run through the knife-bottom of the glass and activate the mechanism under the table. The other one will then be able to find the key for the chains in the little box that then just opened in the glass box as well. The one who did not lose the blood will be able to free him-or herself. A door will open and the other one will be free. Only one of you survives if you act fast enough. When the timer has reached zero, the chamber will be flooded with a deadly neurotoxin. Good luck…you'll need it."

First, there was silence.

"I go," Tony then decided and crawled forward.

"No, I go," Ziva said and tried the same until they were both stuck on half way.

"Listen, Ziva. There is no time for an argument."

"Then tell me why you should do this!"

"You're the girl."

"Really? That's your point? Tony, there's the possibility of both of us getting out."

"And how?"

"I'll only have to lose one liter of blood. You can leave this here and get help."

"You'll die. How are you supposed to stop the bleeding? This is no point of discussion!"

"But I won't let you die here alone!"

"If you don't let me go we'll both die in here!" Tony shouted. He was exhausted. He couldn't understand why Ziva didn't let him go. She was the most important thing that ever happened to him.

"Tony…just let me do it," Ziva said and pulled the chains. But Tony did not withdraw. He saw how Ziva started to cry and to shout but she couldn't let her sacrifice herself.

"Let me do it. You go out and get rescue. Ziva! Don't let me hurt you!" he shouted and started to pull the chain. First it worked but then Ziva resisted. "We don't have time for this," he screamed and pointed at the display clock. They only had nine minutes and forty-seven seconds left. They needed to get out.

They both looked at each other for a while. "Do you promise me to get help?" she finally asked.

"Ziva…let me…"

"No. You can get help faster. You are stronger. You need to get out and find an ambulance. And Gibbs."

He hesitated, but finally he nodded. "I love you, Ziva. You should know that."

"I love you, too," she answered and slowly began to crawl forward.

Tony watched her as she stood up and took the knife out of the box. "Good luck," he muttered and closed his eyes. He had seen too much in his life and this wasn't one of the things that he wanted to add to his memory. He heard her scream in pain and when he dared to open his eyes, he saw her arm fully red and the blood was dripping down everywhere. It took half an eternity and the clock was down to three minutes until the little box on his side opened.

"Quickly," he said and due to all her pain, she stumbled backward to give Tony the chance to go. She took of her blouse and started to wrap it around her bleeding arm. She felt so numb, she hardly noticed what was going on.

Tony took the key and looked around. He opened his chain and then threw the key over to Ziva. "See if it works," he said while he walked toward the black metallic door.

"I'll come back for you," Tony promised before he walked through the door. But instead of stepping out into the sunlight, he found himself in a corridor. The walls were made of stone and let him conclude that he must be in a basement. There was another tape player with a tape. He played it while he was walking down the corridor.

"Congratulations Tony, you made it. Ziva sacrificed her own life for yours. But are you worthy to survive. Let us find out. Let us see if you are willing to stay alive for her. Let the games begin…" and without being told, Tony knew that the testing has only just begun…

The end of this story.