A/N: fourth chapter... Give me some feedback on this one! I have doubts about it!! thanks!

After landing at the Philadelphia International Airport, Tony rented a car and headed to Trenton. It wasn't a long drive, less than 40 miles. Driving, he wondered why an average guy from Trenton with and clean record and apparently no connection to the Todds would have sent what he assumed was a digitally modified tape, faking the kidnapping of a dead person and asking her family for ransom in exchange for her freedom. It didn't make sense to him. No sane person would pay the ransom to get back a family member who had been buried several years aback. He shook his head, not really knowing of what to do of the information he had gathered so far.

He followed the directions the GPS was giving him and as he got closer to the destination point, he got more and more nervous. He felt his heart rate increasing and his hands getting colder. What scared him was that he didn't know what to expect.

As he reached his destination he noticed that the area around was uncharacteristically isolated. It looked more like a warehouse than a real house. There was only one window on the top floor and the main entrance was locked by a massive chain kept together by an as equally massive padlock.

He got off his car and took his knife out of his pocket, easily unlocking the padlock. He drew his sig sauer walking in the dark towards the dim light that was coming from under a door a few feet away. He approached the door and slammed it open.

"Federal Agent! Freeze!"

As he yelled so, he took the time to take a better look around and saw a man tied up to a chair, terror in his eyes.

Another voice came from the other side of the room that was covered in dark since the small light bulb hanging from the ceiling wasn't strong enough to light the whole place up.

"Drop your weapon!"

Tony tried to think about what to do. He had a hostage situation and no back up and an armed person was telling him to drop his weapon. He cursed at himself for not thinking about calling the local cops before breaking in.

"I said, drop your weapon or I'll shoot!"

The voice was strong and steady, and Tony could feel that he would have really got shot if he didn't do as told. He tried to figure out a way to talk his way out of the situation.

Even though the person holding the gun wasn't still under the light, he could now see the silhouette. It was a woman.

"Listen, I am a federal agent. If you shoot me you will probably get locked in jail for life. So lets make a deal…"

As he kept talking, the woman stepped closer, out of the dark, and they both had the chance to look at their opponent's face.

Tony's jaw dropped as he recognized her and he automatically lowered his gun.

"Kate…"

Her face mirrored Tony's, but she still managed to hold her gun, ready to fire.

"Kate… is this you? What's going on?"

"I am going to say this one more time, DiNozzo. Drop your weapon."

Tony looked like he had forgotten he was holding a gun at all. His arms were hanging on his sides and his hands weren't even responding properly to his brain's orders. Shaking himself out of his shocked state, he did as told and put his gun on the floor and his hands in the air.

He stood there, not knowing what to do. He wondered who that woman was. It couldn't be Kate, could it? But she knew his name… Kate was dead, though, so who was she?

The woman quickly walked in his direction and picked up his gun, her eyes never leaving his. She put one of the guns in her belt holster and after looking at Tony in the eyes for a few more seconds she handed his gun back to him.

"How did you find me, Tony?"

Tony was speechless. Was that woman really Kate?

"DiNozzo, did you lose your proverbial loquacity?"

She liked to tease him, she always did. She knew that he, like everybody else at NCIS, wasn't supposed to know she was still alive, but the damage was done and she didn't feel sorry about it.

It was good to finally see a familiar face, after so long.

"Kate… You died."

He couldn't bring himself to say anything coherent. He wanted her to prove him that she was the real Kate; he wanted to tell her he was glad to see her again – still alive; he wanted to tell her that he had missed her; he wanted to ask her what the hell had happened to her and where she had been for all that time. But the words just didn't make it to his mouth.

Kate gave him a heartfelt smile before standing on her tiptoes and placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Hey. I think we have some catch up to do…"

Her tone was soft and understanding. Tony felt his strengths coming back to him as she kept smiling at him. He finally smiled back.

"Why are you here, Kate? Who's the guy tied up to the chair?"

Kate turned around. She had completely forgot about that guy.

"Oh, him… Well, apparently someone told him to temporarily 'take care' of me and he thought it would have been a good idea to get some cash out of it. He's a newbie. It took me less than 1 hour to untied myself and surprise him with his own gun while he was sound asleep. I want to know who he is working for, though."

Tony nodded.

"You know who originally kidnapped you?"

Kate shook her head closing her eyes for a brief moment.

"I assume it was some terroristic cell that wanted to get some information out of me. Maybe they had to lay low for a while. I think they might have chosen this guy to keep an eye on me out of desperation."

Tony listened to her talking and finally took the time to take a good look at her. Her hair was wavy and dark blond reaching the middle of her back. She was slimmer – too slim, he noticed -- wearing black shorts and a white tank top despite the cold weather. He noticed the bruises on her legs and on her arms, assuming she had been fighting a lot lately. The sign of tight ropes were still visible on her wrists. He couldn't stop a huge grin to spread on his face.

"You kind of remind of Lara Croft…"

She caught his mischievous tone, but to his surprise, instead of elbowing him in the stomach like she had done many times before, she grinned back.

"I'm as dangerous as she is…"

That said, she focused once again on her prisoner, pulling a knife out of her thigh holster and slightly teasing his throat with it.

"So, Elliott, are you going to speak or do I have to persuade you by threatening to cut one of your fingers?"

Tony looked at her with wide eyes. He could see how close the knife she was holding was to slit the man's throat and how realistic her threats sounded. He wondered if she was really able to cut one of his fingers off in order to get some information out of him. His eyes met hers for a split of second, and in that moment he realized that she wasn't going to hurt the man.

Kate hated playing the villain. Sure the guy was working for someone who was holding her captive, but he was just another puppet in their big and elaborated puppet theatre. She wasn't aiming to the puppets; she wanted the puppet master's head. She had no intentions to hurt that man in any way, she just wanted a name and she knew that he was going to crack. It was just a matter of minutes. He was weak.

"I don't know his real name! The people who worked with him kept calling him Pejman, but he never introduced himself! That's all I know, I swear!"

She smirked at how easy it had been to make him spill what he knew.

The man was now sobbing and trembling like a child, not even trying to free his hands. With a fast move, she cut the ropes that were tying the man to the chair.

"You're free to go. You better never cross my path again."

As the man ran towards the front door she put her knife back in the holster and turn around to face Tony again.

"Lets get outta here"

He nodded and handed her his jacket. His gesture made her smile and raise an eye brown, teasingly.

"Are you actually being a gentleman, DiNozzo?"

Tony let out a small laugh.

"Katie, Katie… Old habits die hard."

She shook her head at his calling her 'Katie' but accepted his jacket. As they reached the rental car, Tony looked at Kate with questioning eyes.

"Where are we heading?"

Kate shrugged her shoulders. She had been overseas for years and she had just recently got back to the States – as a hostage. She didn't really have a place to go.

He decided to head to the closest hotel. He needed to sleep, eat and take a relaxing shower, and he was pretty sure she needed those things as well. He could have bet that she didn't have a proper sleep in a long time.

Shivering because of the cold, he noticed that even though it was barely 38 degrees outside, and Kate was pretty much wearing summer attire, she didn't seem to mind the low temperature. He was concerned about her health. She looked like she could definitely use a few hamburgers.

"Aren't you cold?"

She softly smiled at his concerned tone.

"I am, but I am well trained."

Tony raised an eye brown, thinking about her former Secret Service job and wondering since when they started to provide such an extreme training. Then he asked.

"What training are you talking about?"

Her face suddenly became dark as she ran a hand through her long hair. She sighed deeply before answering.

"Mossad."

R&R!!!!