Annoyed as Jenny was to be pulled away from MTAC, where she could be sure to know the moment something occurred in Tripoli where the team of Moussad and NCIS agents and Marines was currently tracking the terrorist Safad, she had a feeling this development was connected. It had to be. Why else would someone kidnap Ziva now? And Tony, too, most likely to keep Ziva from fighting back too strenuously. If anyone but Safad wanted to kidnap her, she hadn't exactly been hiding in DC – her presence had been aired for the world to see during the panda incident, even. This was obviously related to their, Jenny and Ziva's, recent mission to Marrakech to interrogate Safad's partner, Sahrawi.

The trip had whetted rather than dulled Jenny's appetite for vengeance. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone, although she was certain Ziva already knew. Ziva. The lack of support hadn't bothered Jenny until she'd had time to reflect on it. Still, siding with Maj. Miner and Officer Arad, refusing to spend a few days tracking Safad after the interrogation had ended… Once they had returned to DC, it had taken only an hour or so in MTAC for Jenny to stop feeling bad about punching Ziva when she'd tried to force her, Jenny, back onto the plane in Tripoli.

Jenny wouldn't allow herself to be forced into anything this time around. This was going to be on her terms. God help Safad's cronies if they came after her. Or maybe she would go without a fight in order to get to their boss. Or maybe the bastard would come to get her himself. It could even happen now, considering she was out of the building and highly visible. She frowned at her driver in the front seat. She could always agree to go without a fight if they promised not to harm Dennis. She would have to make sure that he was safely in the trunk before they left, but… "We're here, ma'am."

"Thank you, Dennis. Wait here."

"Are you sure?"

"I think there are enough Metro cops around to…keep the scene secure." She stepped out of the car and strode confidently toward Ziva's car, which had been roped off with crime scene tape. "Who's in charge here?"

An obese man in an ill-fitting suit demanded, "Who wants to know?"

"Director Jennifer Shepard, NCIS. We have reason to believe two of our agents were abducted."

"Oh? And where would you have gotten that idea?"

"From the sheriff. Would you like to give him a call to confirm that, Det. Bulky?"

"It's Det. Bukowski," he grumbled.

"I must have misheard," Jenny replied with artificial sweetness as she saw the MCRT truck pull up to the curb. "Now, if you don't mind…my people are here, so if you could move yours beyond the tape. Yeah."

She crossed her arms as the Metro forensics team slowly packed the gear they had not yet begun to use. That was a good sign; the last thing she wanted while trying to catch a dangerous terrorist was Metro interfering as a result of unintended collaboration. Glancing over the yellow tape, she could make out a small streak of blood, probably nothing to be that concerned about. Safad wouldn't have harmed his hostages too grievously if he expected to deal with her. At the very least, she would find him before they were seriously injured. Even if Lavoie had been killed within hours of their capture…

Jenny swallowed hard at the unexpected memory of Cairo. If he thought he was going to get away from her, he certainly had another thing coming.

McGee suddenly interrupted her thoughts, "Director, we didn't know you'd be here."

"Two of my agents with a history of going missing have gone missing again. I think it's important that I be here to monitor the situation, in case it develops into something more."

"So you know what this is about?"

"I have a pretty good idea." She leaned away from McGee's confidential closeness. "Get a sample of the blood on the pavement, there."

As he was snapping on a pair of gloves, he remarked, "Funny how it's always Tony and Ziva getting into these things. Well, Ziva mostly. Do you think we'll find them before she needs another long hospital stay?"

"Is there some reason you're making jokes instead of doing your job, Agent McGee?"

"Oh, I didn't…I would never…if I really thought…"

She waved her hand to cut him off. "We don't even know exactly what we're dealing with yet. I do have my suspicions, but that's all they are at this point. This could have occurred for reasons we haven't considered yet."

"Really?"

"Anything is possible." She nodded to Agent Sampson as he approached, carrying several bags. "I think you two can handle this. I'm going to talk to the witness who called 911."

"Um, Gibbs is…"

"Waiting for Agent Cassidy, I know. I haven't been Director so long that I can't perform interviews, McGee." Walking away before he could respond, she made her way across the street where Det. Bukowski appeared to be intimidating the witness.

"…and if these feds try to push you around, you can call me at this number."

"And why would we want to do anything but cooperate with the only person who saw our agents kidnapped?" As Bukowski lumbered off, Jenny put on her most practiced political smile. "Mrs. Carr, I'm Director Jennifer Shepard of NCIS. I know you spoke with Metro already, but we'll need a new statement."

By the time Gibbs arrived to glare at her interference, she had confirmed that Tony and Ziva were definitely the victims and that they had been attacked by men who were possibly Middle Eastern. "You may get your wish and find out something about why Ziva and I had to take that trip last week."

"You think this is connected?"

"I think it's a damn good place to start."

"Whatever you say, Jen."

"Do you have a better suggestion, Agent Gibbs?" she replied, careful to emphasize that they would be using titles for the moment.

"Just that we shouldn't make assumptions about who did this until we get some real evidence."

She waited until he had turned to walk away before saying, "Maybe your gut doesn't have the right information to process this one."

"Maybe that's because you won't tell us anything about it. Someone knocked out DiNozzo and David and shoved them into the trunk of a car. This isn't some personal case that only concerns you."

She allowed him to walk away with the last word this time.

Ziva opened her eyes without meaning to do so. No use pretending she was still unconscious now. Ignoring the pain in her head, she performed a quick assessment and found that she was tied to a chair in a darkened room in which any possible identifying features, including the floor and all four walls, had been covered by assorted, nondescript sheets. The only thing she could really judge was the time of day – sometime between sunrise and sunset if the light filtering through some of the sheets were to be believed. A room with bay windows was not helpful unless she could first free herself from her current situation.

She frowned as she tried to work her wrists against the ropes binding her. There was only one other person in the room with her. Tipping her head back, she discovered that it rested almost comfortably in the crook of Tony's neck. After a quick inhalation to confirm that she wasn't imagining being tied back to back with him, she whispered, "Are you okay?" When he didn't respond, she raised her voice slightly. "Hey, Tony!"

"Mmngnn."

"Don't give me that noise. I know you are not hungover."

He groaned again. "Then why's my head feel like this? And why can't I remember going to work? I can't believe we had a case so bad I had to get this drunk."

"Tony, focus. You are tied up."

"I assumed that was because you're mad at me for getting drunk. Did I throw up out the car window again?"

"You did not drink anything. I believe we were attacked on our way to a scene in Arlington. Do you remember getting a call from Gibbs this morning?"

"Yeah. He didn't yell at me for being late. I remember we went out to the car and you were gonna drive, then…"

"I recall turning and seeing someone with a raised club, but not a face. I believe we have been gone less than six hours."

"How can you be sure?"

"It is still daylight." She twisted her head to an uncomfortable angle, managing to rub her nose against his neck. "And I shaved you this morning and you do not have any stubble yet."

"Makes sense." He turned his head and their eyes met. "You're bleeding."

"Where?"

"On your forehead. Left side. It looks like it's mostly dried, but…"

She tried to raise her eyebrow and felt the stiff stickiness of the area, along with a brief shooting pain. Performing a quick assessment of all the areas of his head and face that she could see, she was comforted to find the Tony didn't seem to be bleeding. "Don't worry about it."

"Hm. Any idea where we are?"

"None."

"Just so we're clear, this isn't fun tie-up time, right?"

"Why would I have tied myself up?"

"Hey, someone hit me over the head, apparently. I don't have to be thinking too clearly at the moment."

"This is quite possibly the best moment for us to be thinking clearly." She took his silence to mean he was taking her advice to heart. She looked around the room again, trying to find anything that could help. They needed to figure out where they were, who had captured them and how to get away, although not necessarily in that order. The windows would be the best escape route, considering they didn't know what and who was inside the building outside of this room – or even where the door was, by virtue of the sheets covering everything. It would be more practical to make a break for the window the moment they freed themselves. Hopefully, they weren't higher than a second story.

"Ziva?"

She turned her head to look at Tony as best she could. "Any ideas?"

"No. I was just wondering, why do people keep kidnapping us?"

"This has only happened once before."

"What are you talking about? We were taken hostage when we went undercover as assassins, we were locked in a shipping container and almost killed that other time, and let's not forget when Moussad fake-kidnapped us, which led to Tushkevich actually kidnapping us. Why can't someone kidnap McGee for once? It'd give him something new for his McNovel."

She had the feeling that he could go on and on, but a noise somewhere outside the room caused her to shush him. "I think someone is coming." Straining against her bonds again, she realized she was not going to be able to work them loose for some time. "I suggest we find out what they want from us."

"Your ropes are that tight too?"

"We did not want you escaping." Ziva's head snapped around as a man appeared between a gap in two of the sheets. He was able to pull the sheets together before she had seen anything but a dark wooden door. She maintained her silence as he walked slowly around the room with a confident smile, rolling up the sleeves of his dark shirt. "After all the trouble you gave your husband, I had thought you would be more difficult to take, Officer David."

"Dmitri was not…" Feeling Tony tense behind her, she didn't say the next words, instead finishing with the neutral statement, "That was a merely clerical complication." She forced the unpleasant memories out of her mind so she could face their captor fiercely. "What do you want with us, Safad?"

"I'm pleased you recognize me. I know we never had a chance to meet until now, though I'm sure you will find it interesting to know that my old friend Ari so wanted to introduce me to his little sister. I don't think even he suspected you were cold-blooded enough to kill him, but…I suppose…well." He retrieved a black case from behind one of the sheets near the door and set it on a large covered desk or table. "He was very loyal."

"Is this guy being ironic?" Tony asked in a stage-whisper.

Safad paused in whatever he was doing behind the open lid of the case. "How rude of me not to introduce myself, Agent DiNozzo. Faiz Safad. I am sure that you have heard of me."

"Yeah. You played the convenience store clerk in that movie with the vampire-zombies, right?"

Ziva tried to twist her body around somehow to protect Tony from a hit that never came. When she realized there was no reason to continue straining against the ropes, at least for the moment, she said, "He does not know anything about you."

"That is comforting. For a moment I was afraid we'd hit him as hard as we hit you." Safad moved back to the case, about which Ziva was starting to have a very bad feeling. "Fortunately for him, we are hoping a trade can be arranged. In exchange for the release of my compatriot Sahrawi, NCIS will receive their agent back, completely unharmed."

"What about Ziva?" Tony asked.

"That will be up to Moussad. Of course, when they refuse to negotiate, we have an acceptable compromise planned." Safad leaned into Ziva's face. "Perhaps I should turn you around sometime in the next few hours so you can enjoy your last few glimpses of your beloved?"

She could feel her own chair bouncing as Tony began actively exerting himself. "If you hurt her, I swear to God…"

"You'll what? Glare at me from the chair you're securely tied to?"

She cut off Safad's incredulous guffaw with a quiet assertion. "You should just kill me now if that is your plan."

Tony pulled even harder. "Ziva!"

"I am not the one who wants you dead, David, although I will not mourn the death of someone such as yourself who has done so much damage to the world and made life so difficult for so many."

"Yeah, not like an innocent terrorist like you."

"Hold your tongue, DiNozzo, if you do not want me to change my mind about returning you unharmed." Ziva flinched slightly as Safad pulled something out of the case, but when he opened his hand he revealed only a small webcam, which he set on the table beside the case. "Shall we contact NCIS and let the games begin?"