A/N
A/N. Another short chapter, but I couldn't fail to take advantage of another cliffhanger, could I? evil grin.
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'The car's stopped,' McGee informed the rest of the team. 'Single building, well isolated. Pulling up the GPS now.' The image showed a single building, some kind of farmhouse surrounded by fields.
'Approach with caution,' DiNozzo ordered the backup teams through the radio. 'Set up a wide perimeter around the property and stay out of sight. Do not allow anyone to leave unless you receive a direct order from me.' He pulled up the car out of view of the house and he, McGee and Ziva climbed out. 'McGee, with me. Ziva, back door,' he ordered. The three approached the house cautiously and seemingly undetected. 'On three,' Tony whispered to McGee.
Tony took in every aspect of the room as the pair stormed through the door. They appeared to be in some form of kitchen. Vance was standing on the right, near to Abby, who was lying on the floor bound, gagged and apparently still unconscious. To the left there were five men, who from their appearance he could assume to be Vance's Russian contacts. All five of them had their guns out and pointed at DiNozzo and McGee. Ziva was nowhere to be seen.
'Federal Agents, drop your weapons,' McGee yelled as though he expected his order to be obeyed. Tony was less optimistic.
'Look guys,' he began, focusing his attention on the man who appeared to be in charge, 'we just came here for Vance and our lab tech. We're not interested in you. There's no way we're going anywhere without Abby and I can't ignore the evidence against Vance but there's no reason you guys can't all walk away from this now. The building's surrounded and there's no way any of you are getting out without my express order. All you have to do is leave Vance and Abby here and walk away. I'll radio out, you'll leave and Vance can face the music alone. I've got no evidence that any of you have committed any crime, hell, I don't even know who you are. Truth be told, until he kidnapped Abby, I didn't even have enough evidence against Vance to get a conviction. Is he really worth that much to you that you'd allow the death of every single person in this room? He's useless to you now anyway. Just walk away.'
'And if we don't?' the Russian who appeared to be the ringleader asked.
'Then I'm afraid my colleague will have to teach you the hard way why you should never choose to ignore rule number nine.' Ziva had entered the room silently and was now holding a knife against the Russian's throat. 'Ziva here used to be a Mossad assassin,' DiNozzo continued. 'How long do you think you'll live?'
'Just walk away?' the Russian suddenly saw the wisdom in the suggestion.
'Leave your weapons behind and I'll make sure you're not stopped.'
'How do I know I can trust you?' The man asked.
'Do you have a choice?' DiNozzo countered. The man thought for a moment then issued an order in Russian. The four men put down their weapons and Ziva collected the fifth weapon. Tony picked up a radio and issued an order to the agents outside. 'This is Special Agent DiNozzo, there will be five men exiting the building in the next minute. Do not apprehend. I repeat, do not apprehend.' He put down the radio. 'Um, Ziva, you can let him go now.' Ziva released her captive and watched the Russians leave. Once they had departed, the team turned their attention to Vance.
'You should never have tried to split us up,' Tony informed the Director, 'if you'd just left us alone you'd still have your job and your freedom. I just wanted you to know that. You really are an idiot, Vance.' Vance remained stubbornly silent.
A noise from the corner indicated that Abby was stirring. The eyes of all three agents flickered in her direction and that was all the distraction Vance needed. He grabbed one of the discarded weapons and aimed it at McGee. DiNozzo saw the danger an instant too late and desperately launched himself at the younger agent. The gun fired and the two agents fell to the floor.
