Chapter 9

"Agh!" Abby collapsed to the ground, with a shriek, holding her hand, Tony and Tim were laying on the ground with their hands over their heads as the plasma sputtered, shooting out sparks. Gibbs looked to Abby before army crawling over to her, he pulled her to him; cradling her body to his, he could feel her shaking in fear as he looked around, listening for any sound. Suddenly in the distance the base's security alarms started going off. Tony lifted his head off the ground and looked side to side; he could see two pairs of feet, both unmoving.

"Ziva?" Tony crawled to the edge of the cubical divider, he peaked around slowly, still unsure where the shot came from. He chanced a glance, what he saw made his heart stop. Akiva was laying on top of Ziva nearly covering her, her head face turned to the right, while Ziva's head lay to the left, and a small pool of blood was forming around both of their heads. Tony he could hear Abby whimpering behind him so he army crawled back to the center of the bullpen. "Boss, they're not moving."

Gibbs held Abby's now bloody hand in his; he needed to make a decision and fast. Gibbs new the safest place for them to be was in autopsy, but he didn't know how he was going to remove Ziva and Akiva from the kill zone. "Tony."

"Yea boss?"

"Can you reach them without getting into the kill zone?"

Tony looked back over his shoulder, "I think so boss."

"Tim?"

"Yea boss?" McGee groaned rolling over, his face was covered in small pieces of plastic, but the bleeding was minimal, and thanks to the adrenaline he could feel no pain.

"Help Tony we need to get down to autopsy." Gibbs looked down at the shaking woman in his arms. "Ok Abbs, nice and slow." Gibbs crouch-walked Abby out of the line of fire, she clung to him tightly making it difficult for him to maneuver, finally when he was sure they were safe he stood holding her in a well welcomed hug. From his new vantage, he could see the two sets of legs, one set belonged to Ziva and the other Akiva.

Tony helped McGee up and they crouch-walked to the brick wall, they're hands slowly moved to Akiva first, once they got a good grip on her ankles they pulled gently, she was heavier than they thought, but soon enough she was completely out of the line of fire. Tony's face paled when Ziva came into view, the entire right side of her face was covered in blood, Tony swallowed down his fear and made a reach for her, McGee felt for Akiva's pulse, it was strong, he then helped Tony pull Ziva the rest of the way. Tony pulled Ziva into his arms, her body hanging limp in his grasp, Gibbs slammed his hand on the elevator button, he then gently extracted Abby from himself and into McGee's waiting grasp, she held her bleeding hand close to her chest as McGee guided her into the elevator.

Gibbs looked down at Akiva's bloody face, he couldn't see a wound through all the blood, he felt her pulse feeling it was strong he picked her up in a fireman's carry, his body cracking with the effort and made his way into the elevator. "Guess it's option 3." The elevator protested the weight and moved slowly, everyone was on edge and bleeding, finally the elevator dinged and they piled out into the hallway. Ducky had just arrived when the team filed into his autopsy, his face was full of shock when Tony came in carrying an unconscious Ziva; he laid her gently on an autopsy table memories of Kate flashing before his eyes. Gibbs followed Tony's actions placing Akiva on the table next to Ziva, McGee sat Abby in Ducky's chair, she had finally stopped shaking and was now inspecting her bleeding hand.

"My God, Jethro what happened?" Ducky wasn't sure where to start first.

"Sniper." Gibbs wiped his hands, full of Abby's blood, onto his suit.

"Who's hurt?"

"Everyone Duck!" Gibbs temper finally let loose causing the older man to take a step back. Instead of being afraid, however, he went to Ziva.

"How many shots?"

"One." Ducky looked up in shock and Gibbs let out an exasperated sigh.

Ducky put on rubber gloves and moved over to Ziva's head, he turned it to the side with the most blood.

"I'm going to need something to wipe this away with." Gibbs grabbed a sponge and filled a small tub full of water, Ducky accepted it thankfully and started wiping away the sticky red fluid. Gibbs stood over his shoulder looking for an entrance wound. While Ducky was doctoring Ziva, McGee had started cleaning off Abby's hand. Burn marks were starting to appear from where the coffee hit her skin, he could also see blood coming from between her pinky and ring finger, probably where the- no, he stopped himself, he didn't want to think about it right now. Abby squirmed as McGee cleaned and disinfected the wound.

"Duck." Gibbs pointed to a, now revealed, long cut, at least 3 inches in length, across Ziva's forehead, it was deep but didn't appear to have broken the skull. Ducky grabbed a piece of gauze trying to slow the bleeding. Gibbs let out a breath and looked at his other agents. Tony had a cut across his forehead but it didn't look any more serious than a paper cut, McGee had a few pieces of plastic peppering his face but again was otherwise unharmed. He looked to Abby, McGee had finished wrapping her hand he could see a bit of blood around her fingers, but she appeared to be hurt nowhere else.

Gibbs looked back at Ziva, with most of the blood wiped away she appeared to simply be sleeping, there was a bruise forming slowly around the crown of her forehead, Gibbs furrowed his eyebrows. "Duck." Gibbs pointed to the forming bruise.

Ducky leaned in closer shining a light on it, "Looks like she hit her head on something." Ducky taped the gauze to her head before moving onto the mystery woman at the other table. Ducky looked at Gibbs.

"Akuziva Daveda, Ziva's old partner." Gibbs explained following the smaller man with cleaning supplies.

"Splendid devil? My my, what an interesting name." Ducky mused and leaned in, turning her head; both sides had blood on them so he started on the left, he removed the now blood soaked eye patch from her right eye. With some time, Ducky revealed a small cut across the upper part of Akiva's cheek, the bleeding had slowed and he was able to put butterfly bandages over it, he then turned her head more, revealing a large cut through her ear, the bleeding had stained his autopsy table but he quickly bandaged the appendage and hoped that the bleeding would stop soon. He made quick work of the other side of her face, once the blood was cleared, a small bruise on Akiva's forehead came through. Ducky pointed to the mark, showing it to Gibbs.

"I would speculate that the velocity of the round caused these two young women to literally butt heads." Gibbs nodded looking from one to the other, that explained why they weren't conscious, but now the question is how to get them up, they had a job to do and Akiva was the only one with the intel to pull off such a mission.

"Hey Duck, you have any smelling salts?" Ducky pointed over to a cabinet, his job finished, he pulled off his gloves putting the bloody sponge and tub into the toxic waste bin.

"I keep them for the new recruits who come to autopsy." Gibbs pulled out a capsule breaking it in half, he went to Akiva waving it under her nose, she jumped up with a start pulling a knife from the back of her belt, when her eyes cleared she was looking into the eyes of a very unhappy Agent Gibbs. Akiva slowly put the knife back into her belt as she felt her movement catch up with her head, she closed her eyes willing the pounding to go away. Gibbs went to the other table putting the capsule under Ziva's nose, she jumped but otherwise remained on the table her hand going gingerly to her head. Tony was instantly by her side helping her into a sitting position.

"Ugh, ow."Ziva groaned gingerly touching the bandage on her head.

Akiva swung her legs over the side of the table, holding her head in her hands, "Guess it's option 3."

Gibbs turned looking Akiva up and down, finally she composed her herself and her face set, she stood up straight, determined. She was done taking it by the book, she had put not only her life but Ziva's at risk coming here. She knew she had to leave, she started towards the door. Gibbs trotted to catch up with her swift movements; he caught her in the elevator right before the doors shut. He flipped the emergency switch.

"Just where are you going?" Gibbs growled.

"Away from here, I have already put Ziva and your team at risk." Akiva squared herself up staring Gibbs in the eyes. She was not about be put Ziva into anymore danger and nothing this man could do or say would ever change that.

"It's too late for that." Gibbs paid no mind to the discoloration of her right eye as he glared back. He took a step forward, their faces inches apart. Akiva's jaw set and she stood unmoving.

"I will not let Ziva die for my past mistake."

"Your mistake? What mistake?" Gibbs was loosing his patience fast.

"Legacy, was a top secret mission, I acquired something that is worth billions, it could literally wipe out the worlds debt." Akiva's voice was a mere whisper that sounded more like a growl through her gritted teeth.

"Where is it?"

Akiva shook her head, "I can't tell you, if they were to get a hold of you and torture you, all would be lost. This information can not fall into the wrong hands."

"It sounds like there is only one way to settle this."

"How?"

"Work with us, we can bring them down."

Akiva let out a bark of a laugh, "You seriously think that prison would hold these men? Who do you think took that shot? One shot, five possible kills, come on Agent Gibbs, even you are not that good."

"So killing them is your only option? How can you do that when they have a sniper like that on their team?"

"I will figure something out, snipers are not perfect, and they have their limitations."

"You already got us into this mess, now we are going to work together to fix it."

"No agent Gibbs-"

"Three of my agents are in autopsy one is your friend! The other was an innocent bystander! If you do not want me to kill you then, I suggest you shut up and do as I say!" Gibbs voice echoed in the empty car, his temper had been pushed to the limit.

Akiva, growled, "Fine, but when it comes to the infiltration, you do as I say." Her voice was dangerously low.

"Fine!" Gibbs flipped the elevator back on.

"Fine."

The elevator opened back up and Gibbs let Akiva walk out first, they entered autopsy together with five faces eagerly awaiting answers.

"The man that just tried to kill us, is named The End, he is an excellent sniper, however, he does not stay in one place for long. He will probably be headed back to their safe house."

"We will be forming a team, McGee, DiNozzo get the tactical equipment out of the armory, Abby, if you can, I need you to check to see if we received any files called Legacy."

"What about me Gibbs?" Ziva stood up from the autopsy table with a little of Tony's help.

"Don't let her," he pointed to Akiva, "out of your sight."

Akiva looked down at Ziva, when the rest of the team filed out they stayed, Ducky lingered in the background watching the two of them. Akiva gently ran her hand over Ziva's face, memories assaulting her senses, she leaned down and gently kissed her bruised forehead. Ziva closed her eyes at the contact then took Akiva by the elbow leading her out. Ducky smirked to himself, he turned noticing the bloody eye patch still on his autopsy table, he picked it up inspecting it with his hands.

Gibbs walked into director Vance's office, he was sitting at his desk, talking on the phone when Gibbs stood in front of his desk, he set the phone on the cradle.

"What is going on?"

"Sniper, hit four of my team members in one shot, including Akiva."

"So undercover mission is going to be useless." Vance leaned back in his chair rubbing a hand over his face.

"Well, yea Leon."

"What do you propose?"

" A full op, Akiva has the coordinates on their safe house. We go in take them down, everybody wins."

"I need to brief Dr. Oren."

"Don't."

"Gibbs."

Gibbs sighed and headed to the door, "He's part of it too Leon!" he yelled slamming the door behind him. He suddenly felt the need to trust Akiva, she hadn't led them to his team, Vance did, unknowingly of course, but the fact remained the same. They knew she was here, with NCIS, they knew she had ties to Ziva, so now it was time to clean house.

Gibbs retreated to Abby's lab, the usual music did not assault his ears, but what he did hear was cursing. Abby was having trouble typing with one hand, he rounded the corner to see her slamming her keyboard on her table.

"Hey, hey hey…" Gibbs soothed rubbing Abby's back, she looked at him, unshed tears in her eyes, it wasn't the first time she had been almost killed, but it was the first time it had been such a close call.

"They sent an email Gibbs but I can't type with just one hand." She whined motioning to the invalid password screen on her computer monitor. Gibbs gingerly took the keyboard from her, just then Ziva and Akiva walked in. Abby turned, a deep frown on her face when she looked at Akiva.

Akiva merely stared back, emotionless, which irritated Abby more, if she wasn't as deadly as Ziva, oh she would-

"Hey." Gibbs snapped pulling Abby's attention back to him. Ziva came up next to Abby, while Akiva stayed behind the evidence table, smart move, Abby thought.

"Did they send the file?"

"No, they said that none of us have high enough clearance, and we would all have to be read in, they would have someone walk the file over."

"We don't have time for that." Gibbs turned on his heal heading to the elevator. Ziva gave Abby a sad look then followed, Akiva stayed a few seconds longer, looking at the forensic scientist, before following Ziva.

Tony and Tim entered the bullpen hands full, they laid down the equipment, bullet proof vests, extra clips, combat knives, Gibbs' sniper rifle from the stake out, ear wigs and anything else they could grab. They started distributing they equipment on the desks, Gibbs rounded the corner looking at the equipment. He started, grabbing the sniper rifle, he sat the case on his desk opening it, he gingerly ran his hand over the rifle. Akiva stood in front of his desk, he looked up at her, then turned to a locked drawer, he pulled out a key and opened it pulling out her weapons. She took them gratefully re-holstering them in their proper places. The rest of the team started putting on their gear, Tony approached Akiva slowly handing her a bullet proof vest, she looked at it with a slight disgust. She accepted it anyway putting it over her head, however, her body was too wide for the female jacket. She ripped it off and tossed it to the side of Gibbs desk. Gibbs narrowed his eyes giving her a look.

"I do not need such a device anyway." Tony raised his eyebrows, looking from Akiva to Gibbs. Gibbs rolled his eyes but said nothing. The rest of his team were not getting such an option.

"Do you have satellite imaging?"

"Uh, yea we'd just need the coordinates." McGee finished snapping on his flak jacket.

Akiva pointed to his computer, "May I?"

McGee looked over her shoulder at Gibbs who nodded slightly, "Sure." Akiva sat down, at McGee's desk opening up the required shortcuts, she typed in the coordinates the plasma was useless, as it had a bullet hole going through it, so the team gathered around McGee's computer. The computer revealed a small metal shed surrounded by woods, the trees were very thick, and there was a wide field leading up to the house with an access road at one end, however, there was no car trail leading directly to the house.

"We will have to travel on foot to the shed, the tree's are most likely booby trapped, I would guess they will be waiting for us." Akiva sent an image to the printer, McGee was stunned at her computer skills, although when he thought about how her own computer was set up.

Gibbs stood in the middle of the bullpen with the sniper rifle over his shoulder, "Now is the time to back out." Gibbs looked around at his team, they were all staring back at him like he was suddenly an idiot, Gibbs smirked. "Alright then, gear up." They finished arming themselves, lastly hooking up their ear wigs, then silently they made their way to the elevator.

End Chapter.