Gibbs snatched the keycard from Nozdryov's hand and jammed it into the slot on the door in front of them. If he was being ordered to be here, he was at least going to do it his way. Holding up his hand to prevent Jen and their prisoner – although she had tried to discourage him from referring to Nozdryov as such – from entering, Gibbs drew his weapon and stepped through the smallest opening the door would allow. The room was spacious and open, simple to clear, though he didn't permit the other two to come in until he had thoroughly checked both closets, the bathroom, under the bed and behind the curtains. Something still didn't feel right.

He returned to the door and ushered Nozdryov and Jen through, sticking his head into the hallway to make sure no one had appeared unexpectedly. The bolt felt solid when he shot it through; that was something.

Having removed his coat, Nozdryov made a beeline for small refrigerator designed to look like a cabinet, which Gibbs had also checked and found full of Russian vodka rather than handguns or C-4. "It appears someone delivered a computer to me in addition to fresh linens. Let us hope they also replenished my…ah!" He held up a bottle with a flourish. "If you and your people are hungry, Director Shepard, I would be happy to order something for them from room service, as well."

Gibbs grabbed Nozdryov's wrist as he reached for the laptop open on the desk. "This wasn't here when you left?"

"It does not belong to me, no." He pulled his wrist from Gibbs' grasp and picked up one of the glasses on the other side of the computer. "Perhaps it was brought here by whoever left my instructions with the desk in the lobby." He gave the room a cursory glance. "Incidentally, it appears the note they were written on has disappeared."

"Yeah," Gibbs growled, yanking his phone from his pocket and turning away. "McGee?"

"We're just getting into the elevator, boss. I sent the footage from around the time Nozdryov said that…"

"Go back and get whatever they have from then up to when we got here. Hell, get everything from when Nozdryov arrived 'til now. And I need to know who came into this room."

"It's an electronic lock so there should be a log…" McGee trailed off. "You know, I'm going to get the rest of the security footage and send it to Abby while Sampson finds out who was…"

"Good." Gibbs snapped his phone shut, scowling at Jen as she bent over the laptop. "Maybe we should leave that to McGee and a pair of gloves."

"It's on."

"What?"

"It doesn't take a computer genius to tell that this is on." She carefully folded her hands behind her back as she turned to look at him before leaning closer to the keyboard. "It's just in sleep mode."

"Jen…"

"Jethro, even you can see that the green light is…"

"Fine." He shook his head, putting his phone back in his pocket and feeling something else. He turned the keycard he had taken from Nozdryov over a few times before taking it out. "Do you have more of these?"

"Why would I…"

He ignored Jen's confusion, brushing past her to where Nozdryov was arranging cushions under his feet on a chaise longue in the corner. "Did you get more than one of these when you checked in?"

"I received two." He reached for the vodka bottle on the small table beside him. "If you would like something to eat, the menu is…"

"What did you do with the other keycard?"

"I do not know. What does it matter?"

Gibbs balled his fists, but quickly relaxed them. He could deal with the idiot until they found Tony and Ziva and threw him in jail. "It matters because you keep forgetting to mention little details, like maybe how you gave it to Safad so he could get in and leave this little set up while you were out," he said, waving his arm toward the computer Jen was still examining.

"While I am not strictly on your side, Agent Gibbs, I am certainly not on his. If you are that interested in finding my extra room key, perhaps it is on the nightstand. I believe I dropped it there when I first arrived."

Gibbs was almost disappointed to find it under a book a moment later. Without showing it to Nozdryov, he moved toward the door to answer a light knock. "Who is it?"

"It's Sampson." He admitted the nervous agent, who immediately began reading from his notepad, "The room was accessed an hour and ten minutes ago by someone using a universal keycard, like what staff would have to get in and…"

"I suppose the man who was here would not have needed my key, Agent Gibbs," Nozdryov interrupted with a smirk.

"What makes you think it was just one guy?"

He shrugged and sipped his drink. "I could just have easily said men."

"Got an answer for everything, don't you?"

"As I said, I have been dealing with Mr. Safad for a week. And I would not have survived to retirement in my chosen profession if I had made a habit of undue alarmism. So, there is a computer on the desk that was not there when I left. There is no reason to…"

"Director Shepard! It's been years, hasn't it?"

Gibbs pulled his weapon to confront the unexpected intruder, but was surprised to see Jen still facing the computer and saying, "You're not getting Sahrawi, Safad."

Moving to stand beside her, he was met with a mirthless smile on the laptop's screen. "No need to be so hostile. We're old friends! I'm sure I could have gotten to know you even better if Officer David had not interfered. Do you ever dream about Cairo, Director?"

When she didn't reply, appearing to be frozen, Gibbs stepped between her and the computer, hoping his body was blocking her from view on the other end of the feed. "We want our people back. You can either give them to us or…"

"Or what? You'll rescue them and kill me?" Safad stepped back and turned the camera to a view of Tony and Ziva gagged and bound to chairs. "I am afraid that will not be the case." Gibbs flinched as he struck Tony across the face with the butt of a pistol. "My demands are simple. You will release Afzal Sahrawi in exchange for Agent DiNozzo." He struck Tony again. "You have twelve hours to produce Sahrawi at coordinates you will receive within the hour. If you fail to do so, DiNozzo dies."

Gibbs shook his head, hoping Tony was getting the message that he wouldn't let that happen. "What about Officer David?"

"There is a significant chance that there is nothing you can do to save her." In spite of the threat, Tony was the one to be hit yet again.

"You're not going to hurt her, Safad," Jen suddenly said, her voice much stronger than Gibbs would have expected, given how shaken she had seemed moments before. "I want both of my agents back."

Safad laughed. "Sometimes only one can go home, as I'm sure you remember."

"Don't you dare…"

"Perhaps I will feel more generous after my friend has been released. As for Mr. Nozdryov," he continued, "do with him what you will. I'm sure there are very few people who will be sad to see him go to prison."

"I think not," Nozdryov said, barely rousing himself from his reclining position. "I was promised safe passage home!"

Safad rolled his eyes. "The fool believed I could guarantee him that. His usefulness was finished the moment he came into NCIS's custody. Now, Director Shepard, about our deal…"

"You know the United States does not negotiate with…"

"That is why I am not negotiating with your country, but with you." Safad suddenly jammed a knife under Ziva's gag, cutting her deeply as he sliced through the material that was now falling away from her mouth. "Anything you would like to say to the people who have your Tony's fate in their hands?" He pressed his gun into the fresh wound on the side of her neck. "Don't be shy, Officer David."

"Tony and I…" her eyes flicked to the weapon, the muzzle of which had disappeared into her flesh, "would very much like to…" she gritted her teeth visibly as she stared into the camera, "go home, Jen."

Gibbs had a strange feeling of helplessness as Ziva made the request, so simple but so impossible if things didn't change very soon. What the hell was taking McGee so long? If he were here, he would be tracing the signal to wherever Safad was holding Tony and Ziva and… Gibbs frowned. He had been the one to give McGee the extra task that was preventing him from being here.

Safad casually wiped the barrel of the gun with the gag he had cut off Ziva. "Very touching. You'll have the information I mentioned within an hour." He pressed a button on a remote he waved in front of the camera. "Goodbye, Director. It is a shame we will not meet face to…" The screen abruptly went dead as sparks erupted from the keyboard.

Sampson moved to answer the door and Jen sank onto the bed without a word, leaving Gibbs to wonder if pouring water on the thing would do more harm than good. Appearing at his side, McGee asked, "What smells like fried electronics?"

"That!" He gave McGee a moment to inspect the computer. "Can you fix it?"

"I won't know until I get it to Abby's lab, but the black smoke isn't very encouraging. I may have more luck trying to track the incoming signal through the hotel's…"

"Do it without explaining it to me, McGee. I want a copy of that message."

McGee gave him a confused look. "What message?"

"Got it, Agent Gibbs."

He turned to Sampson, beaming inexplicably as he waved his cell phone. "Got what?"

"My phone takes video, so when the computer…should I not have done that?"

"That's good thinking, Sampson. I'll take that back to Abby."

"Oh, I can just email it to her, if that…"

"Yeah, do it. And I want you two to start going through this room as soon as you've finished the inter-phone stuff." Gibbs nodded to McGee, who left to do whatever computer-related thing he needed to do. "Treat it like a crime scene, Sampson." As Sampson got to work, wisely deciding to start on the opposite side of the room, Gibbs sat down on the edge of the bed beside Jen. "We should let McGee and Sampson handle things here and take him back to NCIS."

Nozdryov met his glare with a languid stare. "I would really rather remain here in my very comfortable hotel room, Agent Gibbs."

"And I'd rather toss your ass in a cell. Think of this as your lucky day."

"Director, you cannot…"

Jen stood, pulling her jacket down. "Mr. Nozdryov, I'm afraid that walking into NCIS today was as good as turning yourself in. Unless you can give us something concrete to help us find our people, you aren't going anywhere." She put her hands on her hips, watching as Nozdryov slowly rose and moved to the refrigerator, where he slipped several vodka bottles into his pockets. Gibbs noted that she was being careful not to make eye contact when she said, "Let's go, Agent Gibbs."

He decided he would give her until they had Nozdryov on ice in an interrogation room to start asking questions about Safad and Cairo.