The plans had been laid in concrete and Tony was going for broke. He and Gibbs were to be the ones to grab her out of this mess while the rest of the small military deployment would act as a distraction. Obviously concrete took time to harden these days as it all went tits up the minute they neared the compound.
The first thing that they had heard was the explosion. An array of reds and oranges danced into the night sky, escaping with the short lived freedom they had found. Tony now understood how the rest of the team had felt the moment they thought he was dead in his car explosion. Lucky for him he hadn't been in it but they had only confirmed fifteen minutes prior that this was Ziva's location. There was no way she could have made it out alive. Screams could be heard from the flames that engulfed the old war bunker, the eeriness of the dead of night disguising the difference between the yells of man, woman or child. Tony swallowed hard at the thought that he may have lost Ziva and had never managed to explain to her how he truly felt. He always hoped that she knew. It was obvious she didn't know otherwise he and Gibbs wouldn't be here trying to locate her.
The two Special Agents got out of the military vehicle they had been driving in. Surrounded by Marines, they yelled instructions to each other amid the noise and chaos that surrounded them. Their mission: to acquire set target and get out of there before they lost their lives. Neither Tony nor Gibbs said a word, of neither protest nor encouragement, both hoping that they would find her alive only one believing that they mightn't.
Tony's world stopped when he noticed the petite form that lay on the ground, mud strewn across her face. Her eye was swollen and she was barely recognizable but Tony knew, he knew it was her. Drumming an involuntary mantra of "no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no" in his head, Tony got to her motionless body before anyone could stop him. He had broken the protective line to reach her. He didn't care anymore. He had to let her know.
He held her face gently in the palm of his hand, taking in the extent of her torture. He noticed the trails of dirt-free skin that fell across her cheeks. She had been crying.
"GIBBS!"
Tony's voice had only just carried to his Boss, who had been unable to break free of the protective circle of dedicated Marines unlike DiNozzo. Gibbs' heard the hope in his Senior Field Agent's voice and he knew that she had been located. Gibbs ordered the men to make their way across the short distance having succeeded in locating their target. Gibbs' hope began to linger but in a way that could allow for life to be stolen from beneath them. Gibbs squinted through the blackness and flickers of illumination to fall upon the sight of Tony with Ziva lying motionless on the ground. Gibbs let a tear escape. They were too late.