Chapter Six

It had been a long day. Gibbs was furious. According to him, this was what a sniper did: he evaded capture and took out targets. As his sniper instincts broiled, his team caught hell. By the time, Fornell convinced him to cut his team some slack, Ziva convinced Tony to go back to her apartment in Foggy Bottom rather than his place. She wanted to enjoy her own bathtub and her own bed.

As Ziva bathed, Tony checked out her piano. He played Dindi. When he finished that, he started playing Change Partners. Ziva came out of the bathroom with wet hair and a silk robe on. Coming up behind him, she draped her arms around his shoulder and neck. She then whispered his ear: "Are you hungry?"

He stopped playing and turned around on his piano stool so he was facing her. The Mona Lisa smile was once again playing on her face. Tony couldn't resist it. He untied her robe and let it slip off her body and fall to the floor then he began to nibble on her body. Ziva quietly started to moan.

"Bedroom now," she groaned.

"Your wish, milady," he smiled.

With that, he lifted her up in his arms and took her to her bedroom. Tony was one to like a woman on top, but it was Ziva's favorite position. Tonight, he let her straddle him and ride him. With her hands on her hips, he stared into her face in the blue darkness of the bedroom. Her face was glowing with a feral passion, which drove him further and further to want to make her have an orgasm.

He watched as her eyes rolled back in her head and her body began to jerk. Tossing her onto the bed, Tony now got on top of her and began to drive harder and harder pushing himself to his own conclusion, while Ziva was driven further into a frenzy. By the time Tony finished they were both exhausted. He collapsed onto the bed beside her.

As he lay there out of breath and feeling lightheaded, Ziva leaned into him and kissed his cheek then made her head comfortable his chest. She wanted to keep this secret and he wanted to announce to it to the world. They were truly different personalities. Ziva pulled the blanket over them.

"Goodnight, Ahuvi," she said.

"What's Ahuvi mean?" he asked.

She laughed: "Look it up."

"If I said something in Italian or Spanish, I'd translate," he said.

"I speak six languages fluently and four partially. I would not need your translation," she smiled. "Now, go to sleep. I am tired… and content."

Tony smiled and allowed himself to fall asleep. For the first time in a very long time, he felt comfortable. He loved being with this woman.

TWO ROADS

When Tony woke up there was a note on the pillow beside him from Ziva telling him that she was out for her morning run. Part of him wished that she had awakened him. He hated morning exercise unless it was sex, but he liked spending time with Ziva. His smartphone rang.

"DiNozzo," he said.

"I'm on an encrypted phone, you're not," said Simon Bruce.

He was a MI-6 agent Tony had met in Afghanistan. They bonded over James Bond movies and Tony's English blood.

"What do you need from me?" asked Tony.

"Come to Baltimore. Hilton Hotel on West Pratt Street in Baltimore. We must talk. Leave your smartphone and comely bodyguard behind, Anthony. This is serious business before us," he said.

"I'll be there," Tony hung up.

He got up, got dressed, tossed his smartphone on the bed and left the apartment. Flagging down a taxi, he had them drive him to the nearest car rental place. He had a credit card under a false name in his wallet, he could use, as well as a Baltimore license. Once he helped take down the Macaluso family, he was always prepared to run and in case, they sent a hit man after him. Fornell knew of this fear and of the false IDs. But would understand Tony disappearing.

He found a pen and paper, wrote her a note then he opened the door to Ziva's apartment and left.

When Ziva came jogging into her apartment, she immediately saw the note on the piano. She walked over and read it. Tony told her that an important lead called him and needed to talk to him. He'd be in touch when he could. She took her smartphone out and called him. When it rang in her bedroom, Ziva came close to throwing a tantrum.

"Harah! He is going to get himself killed the stupid bastard," she screamed then called Gibbs.

TWO ROADS

"Anything from his smartphone?" asked Gibbs, as he came into the bullpen with a fresh cup of coffee in his hands.

"Whoever called him last had an encrypted phone," McGee said.

Gibbs stopped and glared at Fornell, who was sitting at his desk. Fornell smiled then stood up, so Gibbs could sit.

"What is your boy up to day, Tobias?" he asked.

"His job, Jethro. DiNozzo colors outside of the lines. It's what he does best. It also gets him into a lot of trouble at the agency where by the book is considered a good starting point," he sighed. "Sometimes, I think I should have let him join NCIS, but he would have been wasted here. He's that good."

Ziva was sitting in her seat glowering at everyone. He took off on her watch, which was bad enough, but she now found herself worried about him. She wasn't used to that. She didn't grow this attached to a man this quickly, but there was something different about him.

"He'll probably get himself killed," growled Gibbs.

Fornell returned Gibbs' glare with one of his own. He was pissed at DiNozzo himself, but he didn't need anyone writing him off and predicting his death. DiNozzo was his agent, even if the FBI fired him. He been through too much with him and gotten too close to him.

"McGee, I want you and Abby to try and break that encrypted phone," Gibbs ordered.

"Yes, boss," McGee said then he got up and headed down to Abby's lab.

"The rest of you work on finding Shahi," barked Gibbs.

Fornell turned and started to walk away. Gibbs sighed and put his coffee down on his desk.

"Tobias, where are you going?" he asked him.

"I'm going to find my agent, Jethro," he answered.

"You think you knew where he is," Gibbs inquired.

"I have a few ideas where to start looking," said Fornell.

Gibbs stood up and grabbed his overcoat. He started walking towards Fornell.

"Well, let's go," he said.

"You're coming?" asked Fornell.

"You need a partner, don't you?" answered Gibbs.

The two men continued out of the bullpen and towards the elevator. Burley looked over at Sacks, who appeared to be annoyed.

"So, is DiNozzo as good as Fornell says?" asked Burley to Sacks.

"DiNozzo is a disaster waiting to happen," said Sacks. "Best thing to happened to the agency is if gets the boot."

"Shut up, Ron," Ruiz spoke up. "You know Tony is as good as Fornell says. You just hate him."

"Jealous," Ziva stated as she glared at Sacks.

"Jealous of him, ha," he laughed. "I have a future at the agency he doesn't. He was warned about going rogue to catch someone again. He is going to get fired even if Fornell goes to bat for him again."

No one had noticed that Vance had come down the stairs and had heard their conversation. He looked at Sacks as if he was something he had stepped on outside.

"If Agent DiNozzo gets fires from the FBI then NCIS will be glad to hire him. I could use more agents like DiNozzo," said Vance then he walked away.

Ziva grinned as she watched a frustrated Sacks have eaten his words because he couldn't take back to the Director of an agency.

TWO ROADS

Tony arrived at the hotel in a rented Chevy Impala. He parked the car in the hotel's garage then made his way to the front desk.

"Can I help you?" an attractive female desk clerk.

"Room for Simon Bruce," he said.

She looked it up on the computer: "614."

"Thank you," he said and walked over to the elevator bank.

By the time, he was standing out of the Simon's room Tony had convinced himself that this was not one of the best ideas he ever had. The last time he worked with Simon he went rogue and almost got fired for his trouble. The only thing that saved him was that they took down the Hasan kidnapping ring. He knocked on the door.

Simon opened the door. He was dark haired with sharp English features and two inches shorter that Tony. Before letting Tony in he looked up and down the hallway then allowed him to enter.

"We have a bloody problem," said Simon.

"Yeah, a real bloody problem and its name is Gunny Shahi," said Tony.

"He is an imposition doing a great deal of damage. I know we have to stop him. The real problem is Talib Hasan and his brother Tariq Hasan. They are planning on something that will outdo Bin Laden. They need to join that bugger now," said Simon.

"Why contact me? You're the fucking superspy," said Tony.

"I'm hardly James Bond, and you have the good fortune of being on Talib Hasan's most hated list. There is something about you, which he really hates. If nothing else I can use you as bait," Simon smiled.

"How come I got the feeling you want me to take a trip to the Middle East with you," remarked Tony.

"Listen, we have worked with each other three times and we have three successes," smiled Simon.

"And I have three reprimands in my file and have been told one more and I am fired," said Tony.

"MI-6 is always willing to hire a quality operative," chuckled Simon. "You can go by your English family name Paddington. DiNozzo is so unpleasant to say. Too many Z's and O's."

Simone smirked at him.

"You're a sweetheart, Simon," growled Tony.

"Are you going to help me? Funding for our adventure is on me, Anthony. It will be entertaining at least," Simon offered.

"We are going after Tariq and Talib Hasan," stated Tony.

"Yes," answered Simon.

"Do you have any intel for Fornell to use to get Shahi?" asked Tony.

Simon walked over to a desk by the window and grabbed a thick file in an according file holder. He tossed it to Tony, who opened it and smiled. It had the address to three safe houses for Shahi, plus the false name his credit cards would be under. It was more than enough to help track the bastard down.

"Sometimes I feel like Jason Bourne when I work with you," smiled Tony. "Give me your encrypted smartphone."

Simon reached into his pant pockets and tossed it to him.

"If we do this when are we leaving?" asked Tony.

"I gather you have no luggage or clothes," he said.

"No," smirked Tony.

"We get on a plane in five hours to London where we can get you outfitted then it's on to Israel for a sharing of intel," said Simon. "After Israel it is just good hunting."

"I can kiss my job goodbye," sighed Tony. "Fornell is going to kill me."

"It has to be done for the greater good, Anthony. It's either nuclear or biological what the Hasan boys are planning. We have to stop them," Simon said.

"Fuck me," chuckled Tony as he dialed Fornell's number.

"Fornell," he answered.

"Tobias, it's me," said Tony feeling guilty.

"Where the hell are you, Tony?" Fornell barked at him.

"At the front desk of the Baltimore Hilton on Pratt Street there be a file waiting for you. It will have enough for you to track Shah," he said.

"You're involved with Bruce again. I told you that MI-6 will get you killed," he said to Tony.

"He's got a big problem. The Hasan boys are planning an event bigger than 911. They need my help," Tony said.

"Tony, I know I can't talk you out of this. Keep me in the loop. If I can't get the FBI involved in this then I'll convince Director Vance to get involved. He likes ops like this," said Fornell.

"I'll call you, boss," Tony said then hung up.

Tony looked at Simon.

"Let's go," he said.

TWO ROADS

Gibbs and Fornell arrived back at the bullpen with the file. Gibbs handed it to Burley.

"Get the safe houses addresses and start setting up team for surveillance. We are getting close to Shahi," he said.

Fornell walked over to Ziva, who was seated behind her desk looking somewhat worried. He took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"This is from Tony for you. He left it with the file. I wouldn't let Gibbs open it," Fornell said then walked away.

She opened it.

Ziva,

Something has come up and I'm off. Actually, this may sound like a clichéd breakup line but I've been roped into an op with MI-6 that will definitely get me fired and probably get me killed, but there is no one else around to do it so here I go. I wanted to write you to tell you that I think I've fallen in love with you. I'd rather be protected by you than playing spy. I really hope to see you again.

Tony

She folded the paper up; put it back in its envelope and put it in her middle desk drawer then locked the drawer. Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to cry. There was no reason to cry.

"What did DiNozzo want with you?" growled Gibbs.

"It was personal, Gibbs, not professional," she said.

He looked over at her and she stared back at him. She wasn't going to be made to feel guilty by Gibbs. After two minutes of staring at each other, he sighed.

"We'll make sure he makes it back here in one piece," he said.

Ziva smiled and those tears burned at her eyes again. But she was going to cry, not now, not yet.