It was dark and cold. She couldn't remember where she was and she couldn't move. Somewhere off to her left she heard the furnace kick on and she silently hoped that it would warm up some. Searching her memory, she tried to remember what had happened. It was quitting time and she'd collected her belongings quickly and left her workspace. She remembered the phone call that she'd made to Tim the moment she got on the elevator and their plans to unite for dinner.

She felt her hands jerk and a startled moan sounded from behind her. They must have been tied together. The wood below her bottom was not at all comfortable and the cords that bound her hands to her companions was digging into her wrist.

"Abby, are you alright?"

"Ziva? Where are we?"

Ziva relaxed a little as she heard the voice of her friend. There was little hope of assessing their situation in the dark space they seemed to be trapped in. Trying to move her feet, she found that they too were tied down to the legs of the chairs in which they sat.

"I do not know."

"Can you get us out of here?"

"No, Abby. He took my weapons, remember?"

Her weapons. She remembered now. She had been in the elevator on the way to the parking garage when Abby had joined her. Being with another person while on the phone, she had to censor herself and make sure she didn't say his name. No one knew about their relationship, at least no one spoke about knowing of their relationship.

"I love you," She had said and smiled when he called her Squeaker.

Abby had only smiled at hearing Ziva's words. Things had changed so much over the year; she was a citizen and had lowered her guard to really notice the man she spent so much time with. They had started off slowly, meeting up for dinners or drinks, until they finally kissed on her porch a few months prior after one of their dinner dates.

The two women hadn't expected a man to walk out of the shadows of the parking garage. He had approached them quickly and before she knew it, she was sitting next to Abby in the backseat of his car. He drove out of the Navy Yard with a wave to the guard and took them to a park close by. It was there that he attacked them with Chloroform rags.

Now they sat, tied back to back in uncomfortable chairs with nothing but darkness as their companion. It was Somalia all over again and Ziva could feel the whispers of panic reaching into her consciousness. She had been ready to die then but now she had so much to live for. Strong, she had to be strong; if nothing else, for Abby.

The three men stood around McGee's computer as he pulled up the video image of the parking garage. With no sound, they could only watch Abby and Ziva exit the elevator and start toward their cars. They had almost made it to Abby's vehicle when someone walked into the frame. The two girls turned to this person and appeared to be talking.

"No signs of distress." McGee observed.

The girls looked off to the side of the screen and started walking with the person close behind. McGee froze the image and tried to zoom in to see if they got a shot of the stranger's face. He grumbled as it seemed the person knew there was a camera pointed at them. Never once did they look up and a hooded sweater blocked any profile views.

"Looks like they willingly go with this person." Tony said as a car drove by a few moments later.

"My guess would be that Abby and Ziva got into the car with this person and then, on the way out, stopped and dropped off their ID's on top of Ziva's car." McGee stated.

"Why?"

"To prove he has them, DiNozzo." Gibbs said. "Call the gate, I want a list of all visitors. McGee, call Owens and meet her team down in the garage. Start processing that scene."

The two men started to work, their plans for the night forgotten. They had a job to do and their two female co-workers were more important. Tony put in his call and then got to his feet; he wanted to get more video feed of the main gate. McGee called Special Agent Owens and alerted her, telling her to meet him downstairs with her team. He wasn't exactly sure what they would find, if anything.

"Tell me about your sister."

Ziva looked up and turned her head to the side, attempting to see her friend in the dark. They had both given up on trying to keep track of how long they'd been tied together. Of course, waking up after already being put in the room, their guess couldn't even be accurate.

"Tali?" Ziva hadn't talked about her sister in a long time. She hadn't even known that Abby knew about her younger sibling. "She was great. I like to imagine that she would have been part of the peace project had she not been killed. Tali was a lot like my mother."

"You never talk about them." Abby said, thinking of her own family.

"My mother still worries. I am her last child and she does not approve of my job. Though she is slightly relieved that I am here and not in Israel now."

Abby was silent for a few moments before her voice filled the room again. "My parents died just as I started at NCIS. Now it's just me and my brother. He lives in my parents house with his family. I think that maybe I should go visit them after this is over."

"What makes you think you're getting out of her, Miss Scuito?"

Ziva looked up. Before her a man stood in the doorway of what looked like a kitchen. With the little light that filtered down, she could see that they were in a basement. The man walked forward and closed the door, leaving them to darkness again.

"You know," The man's voice sounded as he walked down the steps. "Christie thought she was going to get out of here too. Begged me to let her go, swore she wouldn't look at me."

Ziva looked into the darkness and was suddenly blinded as a flashlight illuminated in her face. The man chuckled at the discomfort he'd caused his captive. He finished walking down the stairs and started circling the girls, keeping the light trained on them so as to not make his identity known.

"Are you going to beg as well?"

"You have kidnapped a federal agent-"

"I know exactly who I have, Agent David."

Abby instantly corrected the pronunciation in a small voice that made the man laugh again.

"See I've been watching you at each of the crime scenes. You don't know how easy it is to blend in with the looky-loos."

He continued to circle the girls as he spoke and then stopped in front of Ziva.

"You are proof that they can't stop me. I took one of their own. They didn't think it possible for me to stay under the radar. Rina said I had potential but then again, that's her job: to plant ideas in your head. Christie said I had real talent; and Beth, I took her down on our first round. Only one in my class to do so."

Walking around again, he blinded Abby with the light.

"You were a happy surprise. A victim of wrong time, wrong place. Although, on the up side of things, they will have much more trouble identifying me without their forensic specialist." The girls could hear the boastful smile in his words.

"You killed those girls?" Ziva asked.

"I had to, Agent David. Their word was what I needed to get into the Black Ops Specialty Team but, even after all the encouragement and high marks, they denied recommending me for the team. While I was good, I wasn't what the BOST where looking for. They needed people who could move in the dark of night without chances of being seen." Ziva nearly jumped when his voice whispered into her ear. "I am proving them wrong."

"Who are you?" Abby questioned.

"You think I'm going to make it that easy for you?" He laughed. "This is a game of strategy. I gave you plenty of time to find me after I took each girl and look at you, you still don't know who I am. Better hope your men are smarter than they look; you've only got 48 hours."

The light went out and the girls clasped hands awkwardly as they heard his feet hitting the steps. He taunted them with the rhythm of a clock ticking as he left. Ziva was again blinded slightly as he opened the door and left them in their dark silence once more.