LOL - Barbara, thanks...I blame the Vicodin for the messing up the Bon Jovi song title. Oh well...it works, even if it's a f'up.
Tony walked past Ziva as she talked to a maid in Spanish and through the doorway into room 217. Ducky stood over the man, examining his wounds, "Tell me, Mr. Palmer, what do you see?"
"Well." Palmer said, stepping up next to Ducky, he bent down at the waist examining the wounds on Hector Ballard's chest, "Contact burns."
Ducky nodded, "Go on."
"Electrical?"
"Are you guessing or telling me, Mr. Palmer?" Ducky asked.
"Telling you, Doctor."
Ducky smiled, proud of his apprentice, "Absolutely right, an electrical shock that caused the man to go into cardiac arrest."
"Makes sense." Tony stated, "Shock to the Heart."
"I beg your pardon, Anthony?" Ducky inquired.
"Bon Jovi, Doctor." Palmer tried to help out, "You know, the band and the name of the song is actually, 'Shot to the Heart.'" He said, correcting Tony.
"I know who Bon Jovi is, Mr. Palmer, but what do they have to do with this case?"
"That song was playing as we entered the room." Tony replied.
Ducky took a step back, "Are we dealing with a serial killer?"
"I hope not, but it's most likely Kort being Kort."
"Ahh, I never did like that man." Ducky admitted.
"Yeah, get in line, Ducky.
Tony's cell phone rang and he quickly lifted it from his belt, answering it, "DiNozzo."
"Boss, I think you're gonna wanna see this." McGee spoke over the phone.
"I'll be right down." Tony replied, he looked at Ducky, "The usual, but wait for Ziva."
"Is it that bad, Tony?" Ducky questioned.
"Probably not, but I'll feel better knowing Ziva escorting you two back with the body."
Ducky nodded as Tony turned, Ziva stepped to him, "The maid recalled a white male in his mid-20's going into the room the last night Mr. Ballard was seen."
"Description of the man?"
"Yeah, I sent her to do a sketch with an artist."
"Good, I'm going to go see McGee in the office, I want you to escort Ducky and Jimmy back."
Ziva nodded, sliding her fingers against Tony's hand "Talked to Gibbs, he took Sarah bowling."
"Bowling?" Tony squinted at Ziva, "Oh, you mean the video game?"
"Apparently no, it seems Gibbs and video games do not exactly get along." Ziva softly laughed.
"Gibbs and the 21 century don't get along." Tony joked, flashing her a smile, "I'll bring lunch."
Ziva nodded as she watched Tony leave the hotel room.
"Ahhh, Ziva." Ducky called out, "How are you today, my dear?"
Tony walked into the security office of the Willard Hotel, McGee was sitting in front of a large desktop computer looking at surveillance footage, "What did you find out, Tim?"
"Here's some footage from the bar in the hotel."
"Of?" Tony said, leaning in for a better view.
"Watch." McGee said, clicking the mouse. The video started to play, Hector Ballard was sitting at the bar, a woman walked up to him, chatting him up, but Hector showed no interesting. Moments later, a man walked up, sitting down and started having a conservation, both men were laughing and joking.
"Who's that man?"
"Just wait, Boss."
Finally the man turned his head, revealing himself to be Private Eugene Poole.
"Okay, that's interesting."
"It gets more interesting." McGee replied, "They leave the bar together, a camera catching them in the elevator doing this." He clicked a button, a video of Hector and Eugene kissing the elevator was playing on the monitor, "Told ya it got more interesting, Boss and Poole isn't seen on camera the rest of the night."
Tony leaned up, "Ziva said the maid saw a white male in his mid-20s going into the hotel room, what's the time stamp on that?"
"Uh, Sunday 9:17 pm."
"And when did he order room service?"
"Sunday 10:01 pm."
Tony opened his phone, dialing, it started to ring, "Ziva, ask Ducky, what was Poole's last meal and when?...So it wasn't lobster and steak, okay...and one last thing ask Ducky to run sex kits on both Poole and Ballard." He snapped his phone closed, "Get a copy of this and show the maid that Ziva sent to the sketch artist and print me off a photo of them together."
McGee nodded, "Where you going?"
"I need a drink."
The elevator dinged, Tony stepped off into the squad room, "Poole was a prostitute."
"You're kidding." Ziva rose to her feet.
"And very good at it, the bartender wouldn't go on the record, but says he's pretty popular with men and women." Tony stopped at his desk and shrugged his shoulders, "The economy does suck."
"So, Ballard gave him that watch?" Ziva questioned.
"Or Poole stole it." McGee added, "Maybe he was blackmailing him? Oh, the maid, Maria Jose Fernandez ID'ed Poole from the photo as the man who went into Ballard's room, Boss." He said, almost forgetting to tell Tony.
Tony sat down at his desk, rubbing his hands over his face, "So, Poole gets killed because he's in the wrong place at the wrong time or as McGee said, he blackmailed the wrong person and paid for it."
"Sounds about right." McGee nodded.
"But why not take the watch back after killing Poole? And why all the theatrics? I mean, that watch is 250, 000 bucks and it was easily traced, why leave it?" Tony groaned, sliding his hands away from his face, "Any word on Kort?"
"None." Ziva answered.
Tony turned to Ziva, "The sex kits?"
"Done and given to Abby, she said 12-15 hours for DNA match, but the blood types did match, so it does seem they were presumably intimate with one another." Ziva stated, she walked over in front of Tony's desk, "Okay, lets say Poole picked up Ballard, they had sex and for some reason Ballard gave Poole the watch...maybe there's something special about the watch? Maybe we should talk to that jeweler again?"
Tony looked at his watch and nodded, "Good, but tomorrow."
"I need you today." Tony uttered, his forearms pressed against the shower wall, letting water rub down the length of his back.
A pair of cold hands touched his back, making him stand tall. Ziva wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her chest to his back, "She's eating."
"Good." Tony replied with a slight grunt in his voice.
Ziva eased back, "Is it your back again?" She asked, rubbing it slowly up and down.
"I'll be okay." Tony replied, turning to face Ziva, "Abby is taking Sarah for the night."
Ziva smiled, "Date night, I almost forget." She said, but she really didn't, she was looking forward to it, very much, "How would you like a sneak preview?" She smile, dropping to her knees.
Tony reached out, bracing himself against the wall with one hand and the shower door with the other. He tilted his head down, Ziva's wet hair bopped in a constant, beautiful rhythm. He moved his hand to her head, causing her to stand up. She smiled and kissed him. He kissed her back, thinking she would return to her knees, but she remained standing, "Do I have to beg?"
"I said preview. I did not finish the other night and neither will you." Ziva grinned, "Until tonight."
"Ohhhhhhh...you are such a teeease."
Ziva opened her mouth slightly, kissing him deeper, longer, leaving a bit more to remember, "But you can wash my hair." She said, slowly turning around. She raised her hands up to her hair, running her fingers through it, "And my boobs." She giggled, backing up to him, grinding her butt into his hardness, "If you're a good boy."
Tony looked down, "Ahhh, damn, It's gonna be a long day." He moaned, reaching for the shampoo bottle.
Tony walked into the forensics labs holding a Caf-Pow, "What you have for me, Abs?"
Abby turned from her computer and smiled taking the drink from Tony, "Not much, gonna need a few more hours on the DNA and don't be mad."
"About?"
Abby moved to her office, carrying out a bag from behind her desk, "I saw this last night and I had to get it for you."
Tony looked at Abby, not knowing what to think.
Abby dug into the bag, unfolding a black shirt with white lettering, holding it up, "'A Jewish girl roxers my boxers'?" Tony read the front of the shirt.
"Roxers!" Abby laughed, "I love that word, so...do you like it?" She smiled, offering the shirt to Tony.
Tony took the shirt from Abby, "It uh, roxers? Heh."
Abby quickly hugged Tony, "I'm glad you like it!"
Tony cell phone started to ring. Abby pulled back, letting him answer it, "DiNozzo." He raised his hand to his ear, trying to hear better, "McGee! ZIVA! I'm coming, I'm coming!"
"What's wrong?" An extremely worried Abby asked.
"Call in police back-up to McGee's location!" Tony sprinted out of the lab. She turned, quickly dialing on her phone.
Five minutes earlier...
Ziva and McGee walked acrossed the street heading towards the jewelry store. McGee opened the door slamming into the man who was earlier behind the counter, he was carrying a black briefcase. Ziva grabbed a hold of him, not letting him leave the store, "We need to ask you questions."
"Let me go, HE'S GONNA KILL ME!" The man yelled.
Ziva pushed him back into the store.
"Who is going to kill you?"
"I am." Kort said, standing in the middle of the store, "I want my diamonds."
"Take him outside, McGee." Ziva said.
"Are you sure?" McGee asked.
"Now!" Ziva yelled, pointing towards the door. McGee grabbed the man and pulled him outside.
"I don't have time for this." Kort groaned, "Move or die."
"You are not making it out that door." Ziva pulled her Sig, Kort dashed forward, knocking it front her hand, grabbing her by the back of the hair.
"This would be so much more fun if I had the time."
Ziva jumped up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, her legs tightened with every breath he took. She pulled down his head, wrapping her arm around it, applying pressure to his neck with her forearm.
Kort's struggled as Ziva held on, his face started to turn blue. He carried her over to the counter, bring her back down on the glass counter several times until it broke, leaving him with a gash on his head.
Ziva's grip loosened, he pulled away only to attack her again. She looked up from inside the glass counter, seeing him charge. His hands went for her throat, trying to choke her.
Ziva grabbing a hold of one of his arms, securing it tightly, she brought up her legs, constricting them around his head, she pulled hard on his arm, trying to snap it off as the power in her thighs tried to choke him out.
Kort lifted her into the air. Ziva thrusted elbow after elbow down into the top of Kort's head until he turned, dropping her onto another glass counter, but this time she didn't let go of her grip.
Kort raised her one last time attempting to slam her once again, but Ziva's body started to shake as she squeezed as hard as she could. He fell back, her entire weight landed on his chest, he was out cold.
Ziva untangled her legs from his body, kicking him away, breathing heavily. She fell back, trying to catch her breath, but the sound of gunfire made her jump up, she ran to the door, McGee and the jeweler were behind a car as two men stood behind their own vehicle with high powered rifles, blasting away at them.
"McGee!" Ziva yelled. The gunmen turned their attention on her, firing towards her. She ducked and ran for the car, jumping to the ground. She moved her hand to her hip, but her handgun wasn't there. She closed her eyes, "GIVE ME YOUR WEAPON!" She yelled at McGee.
McGee heads were covering his head as bullets riddled the car. He tossed over his gun.
"CALL TONY!" Ziva yelled, she raised the weapon, firing it over the hood of the car.
McGee's hands shook as he dug into his pocket, pulling it out. He pressed Tony's name and it started the ring. A bullet passed through the car, trying the jewelry in the head, covering McGee in blood, making him drop his phone, he started to scream, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Ziva turned, as she reloaded, the man's body laid face down under a pool of blood, her eyes moved to McGee, "McGee!"
Tim was his knee, his head pressed to the street below, his hands shaking as he held into his head.
Ziva saw that he was moving and continued to fire until her weapon ran dry.
"Are you hit?" Ziva yelled out, trying to get McGee to answer her. She reached out, grabbing the briefcase, "HEY!" She snapped her last clip and tossed the briefcase over the car. The gunfire stopped. She stood up, firing in their direction, hitting both men in the chest until her ammo was depleted, but they just shrugged it off and began shooting again.
Ziva dropped back down behind the car, still breathing hard. She dropped the gun, reaching down for the back-up in her boot, along with her knife.
A massive screech, followed by a horrendous grind of metal on metal deafened her ears, the gunfire stopped instantaneously, sending glass and metal fragments, a huge explosion rocked everything. Fire flickered on her face as she slowly stood up, seeing the carnage in the street.
Ziva moved around the car, she raised her hand keeping the heat from the two car explosion away from her face. She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized the second car was Tony's Camaro, "Tony." She whispered to herself. She looked around, almost lost. She dropped to her knees in the middle of the street and let out a blood curdling scream.
McGee made it to his feet, touching himself everywhere, not understanding how he hadn't been hit. He looked around seeing Ziva screaming.
McGee hastily moved over to her, seeing something moving out of the corner of his eye, "Ziva."
Ziva looked up at McGee, who was pointing. She swung her eyes to behind the cars, seeing Tony gingerly walking towards them, holding his back. She hopped to her feet racing over to him leaping into arms. He grunted as he caught her, wrapping her in his protective cocoon.
"Shhh." Tony petted Ziva's head, calming her the best that he could. He shook his head looking at his car.
"You okay, Tony?" McGee asked, holding the briefcase in his hands.
Tony nodded, "Yeah, except I'm the one destroying my cars now, that can't be a good thing."
Ziva snorted into Tony's chest, she pulled back and smiled through her tears, "Shut up."
Tony pressed his lips to Ziva's forehead, "Sorry."
Author Note #1 - Root canal: I came, I saw, I conquered and then we got I got ice cream! Yes, I'm an idiot.