Author's Note: Oh sweet, sweet revenge! I won't try to say a lot so we can go straight ahead to the chapter. Hope you guys will like this! (And please pardon my lack of better grammar) =D
Disclaimer: NCIS does not belong to me. It belongs to Bellisarius Productions.
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As always, the autopsy room was silent when Gibbs walked in. He saw Ducky standing beside one of the examination tables, a brooding expression engraved on his face while he looked at Lance Corporal James Higgins' half-covered body. "Found anything good, Duck?" Gibbs asked, then walked towards the medical examiner.
"Nothing significant, Jethro," Ducky responded. "Our lance corporal here was stabbed twice. One in the epigastric region and one in the left thoracic area. The knife severed his heart and intestines. He bled until he could bleed no more."
"What's the time of death again?"
"It was probably around two o'clock this morning," Ducky responded.
Gibbs felt uneasy. Landon was still lingering around freely, possibly seeking for vengeance. Even if his team tried not to show anything, he was sure they were uncomfortable, too. He only hoped that all would work out good and that no one would end up dead after all of this. "We're leaving in a couple of minutes," he said.
"Okay. Mr. Palmer and I are almost done cleaning up," Ducky replied. He walked towards the washing area afterwards, then removed his gloves. "You know, Jethro, it's not Timothy's fault."
Gibbs' eyebrows creased slightly. "What do you mean?"
"Mr. Landon Jake. It's not Timothy's fault that he escaped."
Gibbs' eyebrows creased some more. "How can't it be? McGee wrote the book."
"But he did not wish for a person like Landon to be gravitated towards his novel. You cannot blame him for something that he didn't want to happen."
"You and I both know what McGee did. He wrote about us, and now all of us are in danger. Don't tell me you're not scared and angry, Ducky."
"I am scared, I admit, but I'm not angry. What Timothy did was just write about fictional characters—"
"Based on us!"
"But not us as real people," Ducky turned around. "We don't have any right to accuse him of anything. If we do, then we're worst than the person who believes that Timothy's stories are real."
For a moment, Gibbs only stared at Ducky. "Tell Palmer I'll wait in the car," he said. Gibbs, then, walked out of the autopsy room without any more words.
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As he drove home, all McGee could think about was how to talk to Ziva, who sat wordlessly at the passenger's seat, without making her angrier. He wanted to say sorry, but that could make the scenario worst. It could just give Ziva more reason to fume at him.
Slowly, McGee steered the car towards the parking lot of his apartment. Despite his nervousness, he said, "Look, Ziva. I just—"
"Save it, McGee. It would be of no use," Ziva replied.
McGee then pulled the gearshift to Park. After he unlocked the car doors, Ziva immediately got off. "Ziva," McGee said. Ziva was already inside the apartment building when he got off the car, leaving him with no choice but to follow.
McGee wondered, while going up the stairs, if his team's attitude towards his third novel would change if they knew what happened in it. It took him months to consider whether he should write it or not, and because of what took place before, with Abby and Landon, he decided to put it in the novel. Lyndi was not ecstatic about it, but he knew he did the right thing for everyone else.
McGee found Ziva standing in front of his apartment, waiting for him. He took out his keys from his pocket, and then unlocked the door. As he walked inside and turned on the lights, he heard Ziva heading towards the stairs again. "Hey. Where are you going?" he asked as he stepped out.
"I left my backpack at your car," Ziva answered. "I need to get it."
"You can't go out there alone."
"I do not need a bodyguard, McGee."
"Gibbs will be mad at me if he finds out that I let you go."
"If none of us tell him, he won't."
McGee sighed. It would be useless to argue with Ziva about the rules any longer. "I still need to go with you. I have the car keys."
"There is no need. You did not lock the car," Ziva said.
McGee threw the car key to her. "Make sure you lock it before you come up." Then, he walked back in his apartment and closed the door.
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Ziva quickly opened the car door as soon as she reached it. To be honest with herself, she felt a little guilty to have treated McGee badly. She didn't want to say those words to him, but the annoyance and irritation that has veiled her better judgment have made her do so. To cut him off when he clearly wanted to make things better was not the best of her actions either.
She grabbed her backpack from the backseat. Before shutting the door, however, she noticed a white paper lying face down at the driver's seat. She frowned at it. It couldn't have fallen from somewhere, since there weren't any papers at all—as much as she could remember anyways—on the dashboard. She took it, shut the car door, and locked it.
As she turned it over, her heart started pounding. YoU wIll LoSe eVEryThing. The message wasn't handwritten. The letters were cut-outs from magazines and were glued on the paper.
Ziva looked around the parking lot. Landon has found them.
Just when she turned around to go and warn McGee, a loud explosion knocked Ziva off her feet. She looked up, only to see the third floor of the apartment building ablaze. Out of McGee's window came another explosion. Ziva's head throbbed, while her breathing became heavy. She remembered McGee going inside his apartment and closing the door. He was in there. Without any second thoughts, she was on her feet once more and began running inside the building.
Heavy smoke clouded inside, while the fire grew bigger. The heat was also becoming more caustic. Ziva shielded her eyes as she ran up the stairs, hoping to find McGee. He couldn't die. He shouldn't. "McGee!" she yelled, even if the smoke has been stinging her throat. There was no response. "McGee!"
"Ziva. I'm up here," McGee responded.
Ziva found him leaning on a corner wall, at the bottom of the stairs leading to the third floor. McGee's left elbow appeared fractured; it was bleeding. Blood also trickled down from his head to the side of his neck. "I was going to follow you. Are you okay?" McGee asked her listlessly as he supported his left arm.
"I'm okay. Come on," Ziva coughed. She helped McGee to stand up and walk out of the building.
Gibbs would not be happy to find out what happened to McGee. Better yet, what almost happened because of her stubbornness. Then again, the letter she held in her hands would have already made their boss outraged. YoU wIll LoSe eVEryThing.
Landon has found them.
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Oh yes, my readers. More things will come from Landon and our mystery lady. She might just be quite the twist to this story! (Ooh. Those last two sentences rhymed!) =D And that was quick, wasn't it? I'm sorry. I rushed this chapter a little bit. That's why it's all jack'd up.
Please leave reviews! There were a lot of people that have put this story on alert, and I would like to hear from you guys! That will inspire me to write on!
Peace, y'all!