Fornell stopped a few houses down from the target house. He got out of the car and went to his trunk putting on a bullet proof vest. He checked his weapon as he watched Gibbs putting on his vest too.

Director Vance arrived with the response team. He walked over to them and said "Any idea of where David and Ms. Sciuto are located in the house?"

Gibbs said "Ziva said that they were in a bedroom with a plexiglass window." "We can send a team around the house to see what room has a plexiglass window."

Vance nodded and walked over to the response team giving them instructions. Vance said "We are ready to breach." "I'll be here working he command post."

Gibbs said "Fornell and I will take the front windows…they look like regular glass."

McGee sped onto the street nearly running into the response team's truck. He hopped out already wearing his vest. "I'm ready to go in." He saw the way Gibbs was looking at him for defying his order. McGee said "Rule eighteen boss…"

Gibbs shook his head and said "Alright let's do this."

Gibbs, Fornell, and McGee rushed the house taking positions next to the front windows. Gibbs gave a thumbs up seeing only two men in the living room.

The response team breached the back door and rushed into the house.

Gibbs and Fornell broke the two front windows and hopped inside. "Put your hands up!" both men said in unison.

The two surprised men didn't have time to do anything. They reached for their guns but Gibbs cocked his gun. "Try me…"

They both put their hands in the air and Fornell and McGee made quick work of cuffing the two men.

Gibbs said "We need to clear the house." Gibbs motioned that Fornell should follow him. They walked down the hall and spotted a closed door. The door was pad locked. "I need bolt cutters!" yelled Gibbs.

Director Vance came into the house since it had been cleared. "This is the only room that the response team identified as having a plexiglass window."

A response member ran into the hallway with the bolt cutters. "There is no sign of Eli David."

Vance said "We will find him..he can't be gone far." "The only way he is flying out of here is if he can flap his wings and take off."

Gibbs used the bolt cutters and cut the lock. He yanked the broke lock out of the way and opened the door.

Ziva and Abby were standing back a ways when the door was opened. They both rushed to Gibbs when he walked into the door.

Gibbs put away his gun and hugged both of them tightly. He said "Are both of you okay?" "Are you hurt?" asked Gibbs still not letting either of them go.

Abby smiled at Ziva when Gibbs finally let them go. "I told you so." said Abby.

McGee rushed into the room. "Abs!" said McGee. "Are you okay?"asked McGee as his hand went straight to her stomach and his other arm pulled her in close to him.

Abby nodded and said "We are okay Tim." "Really…" Abby hugged him tightly.

"Come on…the paramedics are here they should look at you anyway." "And then we need to get you to the hospital for a sonogram to make sure the baby is okay too." said McGee.

"Tim…I am fine…really." said Abby looking into his eyes and then hugging him again.

"You are getting checked out." insisted McGee. "That is final." said McGee in a serious voice. He wasn't assertive all of the time but on the important things he put his foot down and wouldn't budge.

Ziva said "You should listen to him Abby." Ziva gave her a smile.

Abby nodded and walked out of the room with McGee. Abby smiled and said "You know…I think it is hot when you get all assertive and demanding…"

McGee he chuckled and said "You are still getting checked out by the paramedics Abs."

"I need a CafPow after all of this...and food…a lot of food…I am starving." said Abby.

McGee kissed her cheek and said "You can have all of the deCafPow you want…food too."

Ziva said "My father…is he here?" But Ziva could already tell by the look on Gibbs' face that Eli was nowhere to be found. The slippery bastard had eluded capture which meant this wasn't over. It wasn't over by a long shot. Eli would not give up easily.

Gibbs shook his head. "We cleared the entire house." "There were only two men here with you." "Eli is gone." "But we are going to find him." "You have my word on that." "He can't go far and I will make sure every traffic cop, detective, sheriff, and crossing guard is on the lookout for him." "He is not going to walk away from this."

"Somehow…I think he will find me." said Ziva. "He plays to win…always…and he will not settle for anything less than victory." Ziva shook her head. "Is Tony okay?"

"I haven't been to the hospital…why don't we take you there…you can see him for yourself?" asked Gibbs putting his arm around Ziva and walking her out of the house. "I am sure Tony is on pins and needles waiting for some news about you."

Ziva said "I want to at least get a shower." "I look like terrible and I smell." "I don't want scare him the first time he sees me." Ziva had a few bruises from putting up a fight when she had been abducted earlier.

Gibbs smiled at her and said "You look beautiful to me." "The most beautiful bride I have ever seen." "And I can guarantee that Tony will feel the same when he lays eyes on you."

Ziva nodded and said "You are lying." "But thank you." "You are right though…I should go and see Tony now." "I can't wait to hug him." "I was wondering if…I would ever see him again." "Eli was set on taking me back to Israel…" "He found out about me marrying Tony." "Someone must have alerted him when Tony and I applied for that marriage license." "I should have known that would bring him out of the woodwork."

Meanwhile…

Tony was still laying in the hospital bed waiting for any sort of news on how the mission to rescue Ziva and Abby was progressing. The longer he laid there the less hope he had of ever seeing Ziva again. The storm outside was growing worse and Tony's condition was getting worse. His fever had spiked to 103 again. He reached for a picture of Ziva and stared at it. His finger traced the outline of her face. "I take you…Ziva David…to be my wife…to have and to hold…in sickness and in health…from this day forward…for the rest of my life…"

Just then the silence of the hospital was broken by the sound of a fire alarm going off. Tony tried to sit up in the bed more to figure out what the hell was going on. Then the lights flickered and went out. Tony could hear yelling in the hallway as the staff scrambled to assess their situation. Tony looked out of the window and saw that other buildings in the medical complex appeared to still have lights. Tony got the feeling that this fire alarm and power outage had nothing to do with the storm. Eli David was coming for him. The lights flickered and the backup generator flipped on. But the generator was only giving power to essential functions like Tony's heart monitor.

Eli David walked into Tony's hospital room and closed the door behind him. He heard a noise coming from the heart monitor he realized that Tony had flatlined. He chuckled to himself. "He died without me killing him." "Somehow…I feel unfulfilled…" He walked over to the heart monitor and turned it off. He thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. His eyes shot to Tony's body.

Tony grabbed Eli David and wrapped the cord from his heart monitor around Eli's throat strangling him. "Every shut eye isn't sleep and every goodbye isn't gone." "Hello Eli!" said Tony through gritted teeth as he strangled the man. Tony had nothing to lose. "If I am going to die I am taking you with me you sick son of a bitch!"

Eli struggled and took a syringe and jabbed Tony with it in the thigh. Tony groaned in pain but didn't realize it at the moment. He tried injecting Tony but he was losing consciousness. Eli fought back harder and easily got the upper hand on Tony. He was able to get the cord from around his neck and started pummeling Tony with force. "You corrupted my daughter! And for that you deserve to die." said Eli. Eli took a pillow and put it over Tony's face trying to smother him. "I want you to die slowly…to struggle for every breath you take…." "You deserve much worse…but we only have a little time." "The staff will only be distracted for so long."

Tony's hand frantically slipped below his covers and pulled out the knife that McGee had left with him earlier. He pulled the knife from its sheath and stabbed Eli David in the center of the chest plunging the blade completely into him.

Eli grabbed for the knife and dropped to the floor.

Tony looked over the rail of his bed and watched the older man clutching the knife that protruded from his chest. Blood spread from the site of the wound. Tony caught his breath and looked Eli David in the eye. "Rule number nine…never go anywhere without a knife."