Hello, my children :)
I'm still sick, but that's nothing new... I'm oh so tired and I feel as if my nose was about to fall off lol
So, you know the disclaimers and with that, I hope you enjoy it.
CHAPTER 10
Liz exhaled as she stepped out of the cab and her cell phone rang for the 5th time. 'Tony', it announced. She groaned and thought 'Not my favourite person right now'.
She walked into the hotel, asked for her messages, which were none, got into the elevator and got to her room.
Once there, she left her gun and badge on top of the dresser, threw her coat and Natalya Tereshchenko's file to her bed and sat on the edge of it.
"If only people knew what we do to keep them safe…" She said to herself "I need a drink"
She reached out for the phone, called the reception and asked for a bottle of bourbon.
5 minutes later, a knock on the door brought her back from her incessant internal struggle.
"That was fast" She said and opened the door although she wished she hadn't done so
Two tall, muscular men burst into her room, trying to knock her unconscious.
Liz ran to the dresser and tried to reach for her gun but one of the men pulled her by her white tank top and stopped her, throwing her to the floor.
She managed to kick him behind the knees making him fall on all fours but the other man grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her backwards. She stood up and fought against the last guy but before she could punch him for the 4th time, the other man hit her in the head with the butt of his gun, knocking her out.
"Выберите сука и давайте отсюда!(Pick the bitch up and let's get out of here!)" The less muscular of the both said
The other guy, a huge gorilla look-a-like man lifted Liz as if she weighed nothing more than a leaf and they left the room.
They rushed to the emergency stairs and exited the hotel through the back side of the building.
At the same time, in the car, Tony dialled Liz's number over and over but it kept sending him to voice mail.
"Nothing, boss" He said "Anything with Kirsty?"
"No… this is not good, DiNozzo…" Gibbs said hitting the gas pedal and speeding up
They pulled over at one of the side streets of the hotel and as Tony stepped out of the car, he saw 2 men putting Liz, who seemed to be unconscious, inside a black van.
"Boss! They're taking Liz!" He shouted and ran towards the van followed by Gibbs "NCIS, stop right there!" He yelled at the men from afar as they got into the van
The men noticed Tony and rushed to drive away. Tony ran behind the van "Liz! Liz! No!" He called hitting the side of the van but it was useless. They didn't stop
"DiNozzo" Gibbs said behind him
"They took her away, boss… they… they are going to kill her…" He said in between breaths
"Not if we find her first, Tony" Gibbs said patting Tony in the shoulder
Abby paced up and down her lab waiting for the last test to throw its result.
A high pitched beep alerted her that it was ready. Running to her computer, she printed the results and widened her eyes in shock.
"It can't be…" She said and ran to the elevator "Ziva, McGee, where's Gibbs?"
"They went looking for agent Hadley, Abby, why?" McGee asked
"Because I just got the last piece of our Russian puzzle!"
"Shouldn't you say the last doll of our Matrioshka doll set?" McGee joked and looked at Ziva and Abby waiting for them to laugh but all he got was a slap in the back of the head from Abby "Ouch! What?"
"This is not the time for jokes, McGee! This is serious!"
"Sorry…"
"Excuse me…" An unknown man in a very expensive looking suit said walking to them
"Yes?" Ziva asked facing the man
"I'm looking for special agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs"
At the hotel, Gibbs and Tony searched inside Liz's suite. It was a mess. A crystal vase shattered into pieces on the floor, Liz's gun on the floor, a few pictures that used to hang on the wall lying broken on the floor as well and a tiny pool of blood staining the ivory carpet that surrounded the bed.
Tony analyzed the scene with terror and anger.
"Tony…" Gibbs called noticing the distress Tony was in
"This is my fault… if I… if I hadn't said all those things to her… if…"
"Tony… I need you focused. We're going to find Liz but you have to have you mind cleared. You're of no use to me or Liz in this state"
"Yes, boss…" He nodded
"There's nothing here that will help us… we better go back to the office and start a search for Liz" Gibbs said walking out of the room
Tony followed him but stopped in front of the dresser. He grabbed Liz's badge, put it inside his pocket and left.
All Liz could understand around her was the throbbing headache that was making her brain pound and the feeling of the dripping blood on her temple.
She slowly opened her eyes and they hurt by the blinding white light she was facing.
Once her eyes got used to it, she looked around.
She seemed to be in some sort of half built edification with tall concrete walls and the same concrete floor.
When she tried to stand up from the chair she was sitting in, she realized her wrists and ankles were duct taped to the steel legs and arms of the chair. A large piece of the same gray tape covered her mouth not letting her utter a sound.
Pulling her hands and legs as strongly as she could, she tried to jerk the duct tape off, unsuccessfully.
"Этонесамыйумный, чтонужносделать, Элизабет(That's not the smartest thing to do, Elizabeth)" A familiar male voice said behind her pressing the barrel of a gun against the back of her head
The pressure caused by the gun gave in and she heard the footsteps of the man walking to stand in front of her. As she looked up, she recognized the man instantly. She dared him with the eyes.
"You don't seem surprised, agent Hadley" Dmitri Vasiliev said with a smile "But why should you? You've been investigating me for 2 years now… I can't believe you managed to go undercover inside my little group of friends for 2 whole weeks and I must say it was my mistake… I didn't recognize you… but you must forgive my memory…" He said, squatting in front of her, playing with the gun in his hands "I tend to forget the faces of the people I find irrelevant" He paused and smiled wider "Although… I do happen to remember agents Jackson and Morris… I sent a crown of flowers to their widows along with my condolences… I felt sorry for them, but just like your fellow agents, I was doing my job"
He then slowly pulled the duct tape off Liz's mouth.
"Is that better for you?" He asked hypocritically
"I'll be better when I look down at your corpse and smile" She replied giving him a cynical smile
"I thought you'd said something like that…" Dmitri replied and then, out of the blue, back handed her across the cheek, giving her a bloody lip "But maybe next time you'd like to think twice before opening your mouth"
"What brought you to D.C.?" Liz asked as he gave his back at her "You didn't just come for Kirsty, did you?"
"You know me oh so well" He laughed "I believe I can trust you won't tell anyone… seeing you're not leaving this place alive…" Liz frowned at the comment "Unlike what you and your agent friends must be thinking, we are not planning an attack on the US… well, at least not directly… I happen to have a very interesting Lebanese man as client"
"So you've left direct terrorism and decided to go for something less… ethical?" Liz questioned
"It surprises me to hear an international agent call terrorism ethical"
"At least terrorists have a cause… now you only do it for the money… how low you've fallen"
"What better reason to leave terrorism!" He laughed
"Лука, шейх Harun знатьвремядоставки(Luka, Hārūn demands to know the time of the delivery)" One of Vasiliev's henchmen said
"Ябудутут(I'll be right there)" He replied and looked at Liz smiling "You'll have to excuse me, Elizabeth… duty calls but don't worry… we'll continue with our little chat later… Oh… and I have a surprise for you…"
Liz saw him walking away and thought to herself 'Luka… we were right… his real name is Luka Volkov. I have to get out of here'
"Boss, what happened?" McGee asked "Where's agent Hadley?"
"Some men took her. We believe they work for Dmitri Vasiliev" Tony answered in Gibbs stead
"What?" Ziva asked
"Do you believe she wasn't working for them, now?" Tony asked Ziva
"Boss, Abby got the results of the blood test she ran on the dry blood she found on the traces of the copper dagger in Collins' body… the name she got was Nikolai Tereshchenko"
"Nikolai and Natalya Tereshchenko?" Gibbs said and pulled Kirsty's file out of his desk drawer and he read both, Natalya's and Kirsty's files. Slowly, he noticed the noticed the similarities "Natalya Tereshchenko and Kirsty Randall are the same person" He deduced
"What?" His 3 agents asked
"We need to find Kirsty… Natalya… whatever her name is…" Gibbs said and headed to the elevator
"Gibbs, wait… there's a man in the conference room… he came looking for you and Tony…" Ziva said
"Name?" Tony asked
"Aleksey Reznikov"
"Who's that?" Tony asked and McGee and Ziva just shrugged
"Come, DiNozzo" Gibbs instructed walking to the conference room
In the moment Tony entered the room and saw this Aleksey Reznikov, he recognized him.
"You?!" He asked infuriated
"Good afternoon, agent DiNozzo" The man greeted
"Do you know him, Tony?" Gibbs asked
"Of course I know him! His name is Liev Meier! He almost killed Liz yesterday!" He exclaimed and strode to Reznikov, grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall "Where is she? I know you know where she is! Tell me!"
"Calm down, agent DiNozzo… please, if you let me explain…"
"Tony, let go of him… let's hear what he has to say…" Gibbs said and Tony released his grip on Reznikov's shirt
"My name is Aleksey Reznikov. You know me as Liev Meier because that's my undercover name"
"Undercover?" Tony asked
"Yes… I'm an agent of the FSB" Tony raised an eyebrow "The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation"
"Russian intelligence…" Gibbs completed
"That's right… I was helping agent Hadley with her mission in Moscow"
"What mission?"
"We were undercover in Dmitri Vasiliev's cell, whose real name, by the way isn't D. Vasiliev… his name is Luka Volkov that's why you couldn't find much of him and that's why the CIA file you got, agent Gibbs contains nothing but a single page of useless information" Aleksey informed
"I'm not even going to ask how you know that" Gibbs said
"Do you know something about Natalya Tereshchenko?" Tony questioned
"Yes… Liz started an investigation on her right after the case in the UK was closed… she got involved with Volkov in the UK under the name of Kirsty Randall. She did it because her brother, Nikolai was killed by Volkov… personally"
"She's been looking for revenge" Gibbs deduced
"Indeed she has"
"Why did you point your weapon at Liz yesterday?"
"Because I've been under constant vigilance since I arrived to D.C. and, unlike Liz, I managed to stay inside Volkov's group"
"What do you mean?" Tony asked
"After 2 weeks of being undercover, Volkov started suspecting about Liz and we decided to extract her from the mission and the FSB relocated her to D.C. right after Volkov left Moscow and came here. You must know how Liz is. She obstinately refused to leave the case and decided to continue the investigation from here and follow Volkov's every single move which she did perfectly. We were probably being watched by Volkov's men so we had to stage what you happened to witness…"
"And now she is missing, dude!" Tony exclaimed
"But that doesn't mean she didn't do her job right…" Aleksey replied as tranquil as before "Volkov arrived to D.C. 5 days ago and I've been following him… but every time I'm about to get his final location, his headquarters, I lose track of him"
"That doesn't make you as good agent as Liz, does it?" Tony mocked
"Probably not… she's far better than I am…"
"Do you know something about her fingerprints on a murder weapon?" Gibbs asked
"Yes… I planted them…"
"What?!" Tony shouted outraged
"Yes… I owe you and her an apology for that but this morning I received orders to remove Liz from the case and I knew she wouldn't leave it that easily. Before agent McGee got the address to Smirnov's warehouse, I was given the intel and headed there in the early hours of the morning. I had Liz's fingerprints and set them up on the hilt of the dagger…" He explained
"You do realize she's been taken because of that, don't you?" Tony asked
"Yes and I am very sorry… which leads me to explain the reason of my presence here… I came to offer NCIS all the assistance the FSB may provide you to find agent Hadley and capture Luka Volkov" He said
"What? Is that it? That's all you can say after making us believe Liz had betrayed us?" Tony said louder than he should have
"I am more sorry than I can say, agent DiNozzo… Liz is not only a great agent but a wonderful person and a truthful friend" Aleksey said sincerely
"Do you know if Volkov is planning an attack in any point here in D.C. or any other city in the US?" Gibbs asked
"Yes… and I'm glad to say he is not planning such thing. He has left terrorism for regular arm dealing. I received some information today on a purchase made by a man who identifies himself as Siraj Hārūn. He is a member of the terrorist organization Fatah al-Islam"
"Is that all you've got for us?" Gibbs said
"Yes"
"Thank you" He said and walked to the door "DiNozzo…"
"If anything happens to Liz… you'll be the second to pay for it, right after Volkov" Tony threatened Aleksey who gave him a smile
"Liz was right about you… you are a nice guy… I'm glad she's friends with someone like you" He said
Tony eyed him suspiciously and then walked out of the room along with Gibbs.
"What now, boss?" Tony asked anxiously
"We're gonna need Reznikov's help to locate Liz…"
"Are you serious? You are going to take his offer and ask him to help us?"
"No" Gibbs said and started to walk away "You are"
"What? No, boss…"
"Coordinate a search team with him"
Gibbs left Tony alone in the hallway.
"Yeah… of course… why not…?"
Tony said and re-entered the room.
"Ok, Aleksey, Liev or whatever your name is… this is the thing: my boss says we're gonna need your help to get Liz back and if he says so, he's probably right… or if he says so and I don't do it then I'd probably die… but either ways, we need to find Liz and…" He said
"I'll help you, agent DiNozzo. I'll contact my team so we can coordinate a search in several speculated places in D.C." Reznikov simply said and Tony nodded
"Ok, then… I'm glad we agree…" He said and left the room
Upstairs, Gibbs burst into Vance's office.
"I was wondering when you'd come, Gibbs" Leon said calmly
"I was wondering when you were planning telling me about the Russian Intelligence presence in D.C." Gibbs snapped back
"You talked to Reznikov?" Vance asked and Gibbs nodded "He came?"
"DiNozzo is talking with him…" Gibbs said and after a pause he continued "He offered his help to find agent Hadley" Vance tilted his head back slightly "You didn't know she had gone missing, did you?"
"When?"
"Two hours ago"
"Who did it?"
"Luka Volkov"
"No wonder Reznikov is offering his help… he's probably hoping to find him while looking for Hadley" Vance said standing up
"Do I have authorization to use all the force to look for Liz?" Gibbs asked
"Would it make a difference if I said no?"
Gibbs smiled and shook his head as he left the director's office.
Action, baby!
Ok, I'm gonna go lay down... everything is spinning around and I do not believe it's normal...
Thank you for reading, my children!
Koo Koo Kah Choo! xoxo