Disclaimer:
Oh. My. God. An update. Be shocked.
No, but seriously, I'm super sorry for such a long hiatus. Some stuff's been going on and I've been hugely overworked at school. I have exams in a couple of weeks so I thought I'd write you all a present in case I die or go insane or run away, lol. And I just want to say a HUGE thank you to all the followers and reviewers of this story. It makes my day, really, and does make me smile even when everything else feels a little sucky. Maybe that sounds lame, but hey, it's how I roll.
So please leave a little review, even if it's just to say you're enjoying the story or to let me know your favourite lines or parts.
Thanks so much :)
Enjoy and review.
He swallowed and leant in, grazing his lips against hers. She shivered unconsciously. It was just them. Just them in the woods with no Gibbs and no damn rule twelve and no Jeanne or Rivkin looming over their heads. It was quiet and there were no insecurities or pressure and they were actually going to-
And that was when a loud voice rang out from behind them.
And that was when their heads snapped to the sound and the moment was gone.
And that was when they saw the men with the guns and the words finally registered...
"Well, well, well." Sadistic grin. "Lookie what we have here..."
Tony's eyes widened slightly and his grip tightened on Ziva as she began to slip again. One of the men took a step forward.
"Stop right there." He cocked his gun. "Drop the girl."
Tony didn't move.
The other man stepped forward to flank his partner . "He said, drop the girl." He too cocked his gun.
Tony made no move to let go of Ziva, instead hoisting her up further.
"Tony..." she tried to say, but he shushed her.
"People are going to hear that shot," he said loudly. "We're too close to the town for you to risk it."
The first man waved his gun. "I'm not screwing around. Drop her."
This time, Tony hesitated for a moment, before carefully placing Ziva on the ground at his feet. When he was done, he raised his arms in surrender.
"Now what?"
The men looked at each other, smiled, and took another step forward.
"McGee!" Gibbs all but yelled. "Tell me where we are!"
"Almost there, boss. Take this right."
Gibbs yanked the steering wheel and McGee could have sworn the car was on two wheels for a few seconds. He felt his lunch rising in his stomach and swallowed. Oh God, Gibbs could not see him throw up...
"Now, McGee?"
McGee took a second to regain his bearings. "Oh, uh... straight for another 200 metres or so."
Gibbs stepped on the accelerator and McGee was forced back into his seat. The little red point on his screen flashed.
"Stop!"
The car screeched to a sudden stop and McGee hit the dash. Wow, seatbelts are truly useless when Gibbs is driving, he thought. He didn't have time to regain his sense before Gibbs had shouted, "McGee! Where are they?"
McGee pushed himself back into his seat and retrieved his laptop which was, thankfully, still functional. "This is where they went off the track." He pointed to the right of the car and undid his seatbelt. "Through those trees."
Gibbs was already heading that way. "You armed?" he shouted back to McGee as he began to follow.
McGee unconsciously reached down and felt for his weapon. "Yeah..." he said, looking at Gibbs' disappearing figure curiously. "Why?" he asked, slamming the door and running to catch up. "You expecting trouble?"
Gibbs didn't answer and McGee thought it wise not to ask again.
"What are you going to do now?" Tony ventured, crouching slightly in an attempt to get closer to Ziva. He knew she had at least three weapons at any given time and he was hoping that this was no exception.
"Stop moving," one of the men said, and held the gun up a little higher. Tony held his arms up and straightened slightly. "Dennis," he said, nodding to his right hand man. "Grab his gun. You," he said to Tony, "Try anything and I'll put a bullet in your girlfriend's head."
"She's not my girlfriend," Tony replied through clenched teeth as the man named 'Dennis' relinquished Tony of his weapon. He wasn't sure why it was such an important distinction to make at that time; it was almost just reflexive.
"Whatever," the other guy replied lazily. "Won't matter much longer anyway."
"And why is that?" Tony asked warily, as Dennis moved back again, this time aiming Tony's own gun at his chest. Ouch, that hurt.
"Because you'll both be dead."
Tony shook his head. His harms were still raised and god they were getting sore. Focus, DiNozzo, he thought. This is one of those times you don't want to be distracted by stupid and irrelevant things. "I don't believe you," he said. "If that were true you would have killed us already."
"I want to see you suffer," Dennis said unevenly, and the gun in his hand trembled slightly.
"Shut up!" the other man yelled, clearly in charge. Except... that was when Dennis swung around and pulled the trigger twice. The shots echoed out; one body fell to the ground, crimson blood staining the dank ground.
McGee and Gibbs both stumbled slightly as two shots rang out, instinctively shielding themselves. "Crap..." was the first word uttered out of Gibbs' mouth before he set off at a sprint. The shots were close. Tony and Ziva were close.
"Shit," Tony said as the other man, Dennis' supposed leader, fell to the floor, two bullets embedded in his chest. "And all along I thought he was the big bad guy."
"Never underestimate the power of revenge." Dennis took a step toward Tony. "Of... vengeance."
Oh god, now that was all too familiar, Tony thought as his mind unwilling flicked back.
"So what are you doing here?"
"Well Saleem, there's only one force on Earth that can short circuit a man's better instincts, put fire in his veins, makes him dive head long into danger with no regard for his own well being... Vengeance, Saleem. I'm here to kill you."
Tony looked into the eyes of the man who wanted to kill him and all he saw were the cold eyes of Saleem.
"You want vengeance?" Tony asked.
Dennis nodded. "You killed my brother. You just... killed him."
"He was trying to kill me," Tony pointed out. "I'm not the bad guy here." He immediately regretted his words.
"So my dead brother is the bad guy then?" He was just getting more and more riled up.
Tony heaved a breath, his arms well and truly killing him now. Not that that was important. "Let's just get to the point. You want to kill me. Why haven't you? You had no problem killing your friend over there." He gestured with his head to the motionless body on the ground.
"I told you. I want you to suffer."
"Suffer?" Now that sounded bad. "Suffer how?"
Dennis gave an utterly cruel smile and suddenly changed where his gun was aimed from Tony's chest to a lower target. Ziva.
"Woah, woah, woah," Tony was saying, trying to position himself back in front of the gun. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to kill her."
"Bad idea," Tony said. His heart was beating a mile a minute, his blood pounding in his ears, and he was just trying to keep a calm exterior. As of yet, that was failing. Miserably.
"Yeah?" The gun went back to Tony's chest, likely a reaction to all of Tony's jittering.
"Yeah. Her family... well, they're involved with some pretty powerful dudes."
And that was when the guy furrowed his brow like he had no idea what he'd gotten himself into. Given another second, that look probably would have vanished and he'd be back to anger, but he didn't get another second.
Because in that moment, the previously motionless figure between them had just enough time to grab the gun at the small of her back and fire it once. For a Mossad trained assassin, half-conscious on the ground, once was apparently enough.
Dennis fell to the ground, a single perfectly rounded hole in his skull.
Tony let out a breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding and dropped to Ziva's side, wide-eyes. "Shit, Ziva, what was that?"
She was tired, sick and aching, but she still managed to force out a wry smile as the trees behind them rustled and McGee and Gibbs ran toward them, panting heavily.
"Oh, Tony, who said I had to be fully conscious to kick ass?" was all she managed before the faces over her blurred, and disappeared.
A/N: So, what did you think? FAVOURITE LINES? Good? Bad? Completely ridiculously dumb?
Let me know, please :D