Hello there, children! So, I waited about 12 hours to make the second post of the day, as promised.
Blu bli blu... CBS and Donal P. Bellisario... blu bli blu...
Enjoy, kiddies!!!
CHAPTER 8
Meanwhile Liz had already arrived to the office and, to her surprise, so had Ziva.
"Good morning" Liz greeted coldly
"Good morning, agent Hadley… do you mind if I have a word with you?" Ziva asked standing up from her seat
"About what, Ziva? Do you want to tell me more about your conspiracy theory? One in which I might be involved, maybe?" Liz asked without stopping walking
She was already feeling like crap for leaving Tony's apartment and for letting her date with him go that far. She wasn't really in the mood for a confrontation with Ziva about something she couldn't even imagine.
"I'm serious, Elizabeth" Ziva said grabbing Liz's arm, halting her
"Fine…" Liz replied shooting daggers with her eyes
They walked to the conference room and Ziva closed the door, although she did not lock it.
"What do you want, Ziva?" Liz asked annoyed
Ziva didn't say a word and just threw a bunch of pictures over the large table.
Liz walked closer and examined the images. She closed her eyes and chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Ziva questioned
"All of this…" Liz simply said
"What do you mean?"
"No offence, Ziva but… this is stupid!"
"Oh, really?"
"Yes! You think that a couple of pictures of me talking to a man are going to prove anything?" Ziva frowned and Liz continued "You think I am disloyal and that I came here to ruin your investigation but you are wrong, Ziva"
"How can I be wrong when you've done nothing but hide your true self. If you don't want to tell me anything, don't do it but don't hide it from Gibbs or Tony who seem to trust you with their lives"
"If there's anything I have to tell Gibbs or Tony, believe me, I won't do it because you think it's the right thing for me to do. I will do it when I think is the right thing to do" Liz said upset at Ziva's interrogatory
But Ziva was fed up of, what she considered an arrogant and unprofessional attitude from Liz.
She reached out, grabbed Liz's wrist and twisted it on her back making the latter bend face down on top of the table.
"I know you had something to do with the attack on our only witness and if I find out that you are planning on doing something to put the agency or Gibbs or Tony's life in danger…" Ziva threatened
"That's what's bothering you, isn't it?" Liz asked without even flinching "My relationship with Tony"
"I don't care about your relationship with Tony but he is my friend and the only family I have here, as are Gibbs, Abby, Ducky and McGee and I will not let you or anyone else hurt them"
Liz made an astounding movement in which she got free from Ziva's strong grip and slammed her against the nearest wall pressing her neck with her arm.
"Look, Ziva: I don't want to hurt you. You've given me no reason to do it but you're slowly looking for one and I don't know if I'll be able to help myself"
"You are a traitor and I will prove it"
In that moment Tony walked into the room. In the moment he had arrived he had seen Ziva's and Liz's things at the bullpen and he went out looking for them. He walked by the conference room and heard noises.
"What's going on? Liz? Ziva… what's happening?" He asked shocked by the scene in front of him
"Nothing…" Liz said and released her grip from Ziva looking at her straight in the eye "When you discover the truth, I promise I won't throw anything in your face" She said and walked out of the room
Ziva straightened her clothes and walked to the door.
"What was that?" Tony asked
"Nothing, Tony…" Ziva said
"Tell me, Ziva" He insisted blocking her way
"Why don't you ask her? You seem to trust her more than anyone else" And with that, she exited the room
Tony, still confused, rushed out of the room and caught up with Liz who was walking into the elevator on her way to see Abby.
"Liz, wait!" He called and managed to get into the elevator with her "What did just happen?"
"That's something between Ziva and me, Tony" She dryly replied
Then, Tony pushed the emergency button and the elevator halted went darker.
"Liz, what happened this morning? Why did you leave without saying anything?"
"There was nothing to say, Tony"
"Yes, there was! You… you could've said something like: 'good morning, sunshine' or maybe: 'wow, that was great' or how about: 'this has been the best night of my life'?" He suggested
"I can't say that, Tony because I don't believe it was great or that it was the best night of my life and I can't definitely call you sunshine" She said without looking at him; not even once
"Why do you say that? I thought… I thought you…"
"You thought what?" She exclaimed finally looking at him, a few tears threatening to run down her cheeks "You thought that I wouldn't regret spending the night together? That we could maybe build a relationship after what happened? Wake up, Tony. This is real life, not one of the movies you like so much"
"What are you saying, Liz? It doesn't even make sense!"
"It makes sense, Tony because I've been in love with you for these past 5 years and I've fought this whole time to prevent the huge mistake I made last night"
"You… you're in… in love with me?" Tony repeated in disbelief
Liz couldn't say anything and Tony decided to make a move.
He approached to her and kissed her passionately.
She didn't stop him, at first but then, she opened her eyes and pushed him away from her, the tears now abandoning her eyes.
"No! Stop it, Tony!" She shouted at him, pressed the emergency button and exited the elevator immediately leaving Tony completely overwhelmed
"I'm in love with you too, Liz"
Liz couldn't take the elevator again so she decided to take the stairs but after the first flight of stairs, she couldn't take it anymore and stopped. She sat on one of the steps and started crying.
"I can't do this…" She mumbled
After a few minutes, she wiped the tears off her eyes and face, made herself presentable and headed to Abby's lab.
"Morning, Abs" She greeted as cheerfully as her mood permitted her
"Good morning, Liz!" Abby replied "How are you?"
"Been better… what have you got?"
"Well, I've been looking for the last fingerprint set, nothing yet but, I got you what you asked yesterday" Abby said handing her a personal file "Natalya Tereshchenko"
"Thank you, Abs" Liz said and walked to the exit
"What? Is that it? Just a thank you? Gibbs usually gets me some Caf Pow!"
"Check the fridge" Liz simply said giving Abby a small smile as she disappeared on her way to the stars
Abby ran to the fridge and found a large sized Caf Pow container.
"You're the best, Liz!"
Meanwhile, upstairs, in the bullpen, Tony sat in his desk staring at his cell phone he was holding in his hand trying to decide to call Liz or not.
"Tony… Tony!" McGee called
"Eh?"
"I've got something amazing!"
"For the billionth time, McGoo, I am not interested in Star Trek, Star Wars, Battle Star Gallactica or any other sci-fi franchise with the word 'star' in it!" Tony replied
"No, not that… I hacked into the CIA's system and they happened to have a speculated place where Smirnov could have been staying while he was here in D.C." McGee explained and Tony stood up from his desk, walked to McGee's and read the information on the screen
"Robbins Road? That's less than 5 minutes from here!" Tony exclaimed as Gibbs entered along with Kirsty "Boss! McGenious found a possible location for Smirnov's hiding place"
"Exact address, McGee" Gibbs said
"It's an abandoned warehouse, boss. 13 Robbins Rd." McGee reported
"Good job, McGee" Gibbs congratulated his junior field agent and then turned to Tony "Where's Liz?"
"She's…" Tony started
"She's here…" Liz said approaching to them
"Good. You're with me. Tony, you're with Ziva. McGee, you're in charge of Miss Randall's protection" Gibbs instructed as he walked to the elevator followed by his agents "And call Ducky. Tell him we'll come back to check on Smirnov's autopsy"
"Yes, boss" McGee said and looked at Kirsty who just shrugged as the elevator doors closed
Inside the elevator, the tension in the atmosphere could easily be cut with a knife and all of them noticed it. They waited in an awkward silence until they reached their destination.
Once in the parking lot, Gibbs got in his car and waited for Liz to get in to while in another car, Ziva got in the passenger's seat and Tony remained outside, looking at Liz in silence, who was looking him back.
"Are we going?" Gibbs asked making Liz break the eye contact
"Yes" She simply said and got in
Tony exhaled and got into his car as well.
The ride in Tony's and Ziva's car was completely silent but in Gibbs and Liz's, not so much.
"Are you alright?" He asked
"Yeah… just a little tired…" She lied
"Hopefully this will be over soon" Gibbs said
"Yeah…" They went silent for about a minute and then Liz remembered she wanted to ask Gibbs something "Gibbs… how did you know I was in Moscow before I came here?"
"I have my sources…"
"Don't we all?" She smiled weakly "Secret Service? CIA?"
"CIA"
"Why doesn't it surprise me? Trent Kort?" He nodded "I should've known… I saved his butt once in Alaska…"
"Haven't we all saved his ass at least once?" Gibbs joked and Liz chuckled. It was then when he noticed how red here eyes were and how sad she looked "Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"You might be a great agent, Liz. Profiler, field agent, military and even undercover but you're still human…"
"Sometimes I forget that… I don't know where I've left my humanity, Gibbs…"
Gibbs couldn't find anything appropriate to say and after a couple of minutes, they arrived to the abandoned warehouse near Douglas Bridge.
Both cars pulled over, the 4 agents got out of the cars, geared up with bullet-proof vests and NCIS caps, drew their guns out and after receiving instructions from Gibbs, they dispersed around the outside of the warehouse.
They made a small recognisance mission and once they made sure it was safe to go in, they opened the door and rushed in.
There was no human being in sight.
A Doberman dog barked violently as he tried to free himself from a thick chain that tied him to a rusted water pipe.
"Nice puppy" Tony said with sarcasm
"Weapons, DiNozzo" Gibbs commanded
"Yes, boss" He replied walking to a big moth-eaten wooden table "Ew…"
"What?" Ziva asked approaching "Oh… yeah, ew…"
Different kinds of knives, maces, something that looked like ninja stars covered in blood decorated the table.
"Hey, boss! Look what I just found!" Tony called putting his latex gloves on and picking one particular item up
Gibbs walked up to them and smiled at Tony "Pack it up"
It was the copper dagger Smirnov had used to kill Collins.
"Look at this" Liz said showing them a small bag full of almonds "They look…" She sniffed the inside of the bag "And smell old… rancid"
The rest of the objects they found in the place were able to give the strongest of man goose bumps: leather whips, a spiky short sort of a belt which Liz recognized as a cilice, different torture artefacts, all covered in blood.
"I'm sure Ducky's having a blast with our 'Silas'" Tony pointed out referring to one of 'The DaVinci Code's' characters
They examined the place and it was as creepy as the bloody devices they had found but apart from that and Smirnov's laptop, they couldn't find anything else and returned to NCIS.
Kirsty sat in the conference room all alone. McGee had received a phone call from Gibbs asking him to decode the encrypted emails they had retrieved from Smirnov's laptop.
She held her cell phone in her hands reading for the fourth time the text message she had received 15 minutes before.
It was from Dmitri, giving her his D.C. address and asking her to look for him as soon as possible.
She wasn't sure of what to do. Her heart and head told her to trust Gibbs and his team, to believe they would find him before he found her but the memories, the hatred wouldn't let her think properly.
The team returned to the office and Tony, Gibbs and Liz went straight to Ducky's morgue.
"What have you got, Duck?" Gibbs asked
"Oh, Jethro… and… Lizzie?" Ducky questioned surprised by Liz's presence
"Hi, Ducky" Liz said approaching to the M.E. and giving him a warm hug
"When did you get here?"
"Yesterday"
"And you waited a whole day to come and see me? Why hadn't anyone told me you where here?"
"We've been busy, Ducky" Tony said eying Liz
"Oh, yes, yes… well, is good to have you back, Lizzie" Ducky replied smiling at Liz
"Thank you, Ducky…"
"What did you get on Smirnov, Duck?" Gibbs questioned again
"Well, our disturbing friend here…" Ducky started walking back to the examination table "And by disturbing I mean a sadist and masochist. Timothy called me to let me know you were heading to this fellow's place… I'm guessing you found different sorts of torture devices" The 3 agents nodded "From these markings" He continued pointing at Smirnov's thigh "I was able to deduce that this man had a constant use on a spiked wire belt that when pulled tighter, provokes severe bleeding"
"A cilice" Liz said
"Very good, Lizzie…" Ducky said
"But the cilice is only used by very religious people; fanatics and most of them are catholic. If I'm not mistaken, Smirnov was not a catholic but an orthodox and yet, I do not believe he was a practicing orthodox" Liz commented
"This is starting to sound more and more like 'The DaVinci Code'" Tony muttered
"I believe, Lizzie, that our friend here was not a practicing orthodox, just like you said but he was an avid masochist and people like him tend to adopt any kind of torture method to fulfil their… sexual, mental, spiritual and sickening need of pain as substitute for pleasure" Ducky explained
"That's a nasty scar" Tony said
"Yes… he probably inflicted it to himself or, maybe his addiction to pain was born from it" Ducky confirmed
"Ratified COD?" Gibbs asked
"A very large voltaic charge that electrocuted his internal organs"
"He fried himself" Tony simplified
"Quite colloquial, my young friend but… after running a tox scan of his blood, Abigail was able to isolate a peculiar chemical substance with the chemical nomenclature of HCN"
"Hydrogen Cyanide?" Liz asked in shock
"That's correct, my dear"
"Cyanide? As in the poison?" Tony inquired equally shocked and Ducky nodded
"The almonds Liz found at the warehouse…" Gibbs adduced
"That would explain the contents of his stomach. Nothing but old almonds and vodka… and a very cheap one, dare I say" Ducky said "And for the amount of hydrogen cyanide Abby found in his blood, this man wouldn't have lasted more than 3 or 4 weeks, at the most" He continued and then turned to Liz "Did you know that an almond can contain from 4 to 9 mg of HCN?" Liz nodded at the comment but remained silent
"He was slowly killing himself" Tony said
"What did he mean when he said 'I serve a greater cause than men'?" Liz asked
"He was probably referring to the voices he must've been hearing in his head" Ducky said
"Schizophrenia" Gibbs simply said
"Most likely…"
"He also said something about the American tyranny ending, right?" Gibbs asked
"Yes… but this doesn't make any sense! This case has been more of a personal vendetta towards Kirsty than an actual terrorist attack on the US" Tony pointed out
"We'll see about that" Gibbs said and walked to the elevator "Thanks, Duck"
"Thank you, Ducky. I'll come by later" Liz said giving him a kiss on the cheek and following Gibbs
Tony smiled at Ducky and caught up with Liz and Gibbs.
"You're going to see Abby, right, Gibbs?" Liz asked
"Yes, why?"
"Because I want to check on Kirsty" She lied
"Alright, we'll see you upstairs, then" Gibbs said as the elevator halted. Him and Tony got out at Abby's lab and left Liz alone "Ok, the hard part has just started" She said to herself
Upstairs, Kirsty paced up and down the conference room trying to make the right decision, when Liz walked into the room holding a file in her hand.
"Good morning, Kirsty" Liz greeted as she closed the door and placed the file on the table "Did you rest well?"
"I tried… what's going on?" Kirsty asked as Liz sat down a few seats away from her
"I believe we need to talk… Kirsty…" Liz emphasized her name
"About what?" Kirsty questioned suspiciously
"About Nikolai…"
Kirsty's eyes opened widely at the sound of the name she had thought about at least once a day for the past 6 years.
"I… I don't know what you're talking about"
"I believe you do, Kirsty… or would you like me to call you by your other name?" Liz asked opening the file
Simultaneously, Gibbs and Tony walked towards Abby who was walking around the evidence table rubbing her hands together anxiously.
"Gibbs! Thank God you're here…" She exclaimed noticing their presence
"What is it, Abs?" Gibbs asked
"Have you got anything on the things we brought you from Smirnov's place?" Tony inquired
"Yes… that's the problem…" Abby said "These are very bad news, Gibbs…"
"Tell me, Abby"
She approached to her computer and hit 'enter'. What they saw on the screen paralyzed them.
"What does that mean?" Tony asked
"Those are the finger prints I found in the copper dagger… Smirnov's, obviously and…" Abby's voice trailed off
"It has to be a mistake…" Tony said
"I think it's time to get some answers…" Gibbs said and rushed to the elevator, followed by Tony
Chan chan chaaaaaan!!! Uuuuu Cliffhanger, people, cliffhanger!!! *runs in circles screaming head off*
I'm gonna go and take the pretty colourful pills now...
Nighty night, children and remember: Koo Koo Kah Choo!
xoxo
PS. Oh, and it was long, you can't complain ;)