"Strip"

"Excuse me?" Ziva glared at 'Bob' who smiled at her.

"I said strip. I want everything you're wearing off. That pretty dress of yours, jewelry, shoes, watches everything. Anything that might have some sort of locator chip built in, stuck on or sewn in is coming off. That includes twinkle toes here to"

Bob flicked a dismissive look at Tim as he staggered to his feet and leaned heavily against the hand rail. Ouch his knee hurt. And his head. And his stomach was feeling a bit nauseous after the pain too……Wait WHAT did he say?

Tim realized that just when he thought things couldn't get any worse they just did. He was going to have to take his clothes off in front of Ziva! There were no dark shadows or well angled doors to hide his modesty here. In fact it was very bright and the back wall was mirrored. Great. He should have eaten less at dinner.

Suddenly it occurred to him that he was more worried about Ziva noticing if he sucked his gut in then the two armed gunman currently holding him hostage and Tim smirked at his own vanity.

"And what the hell are you smiling about huh?"

Bob smashed the gun he was holding into the side of Tim's head sending him slamming into wall beside him. Oh so that's what it felt like to get pistol whipped.

"Uh uh wouldn't do that if I were you"

Tim probed his throbbing cheekbone with his fingers to see if it was broken as he heard the gunman above them warning Ziva against retaliation. He turned quickly to re assure her.

"Don't Ziva. I'm fine. It's ok. Let's just do what they say and we can get out of here."

Tim smiled and winced as he realized that even doing that now hurt.

Ziva looked at Tim as he tried to keep her calm. Instead she felt a boiling rage building deep inside her as she saw his beautiful face, one side covered in dripping blood and the other side already red and swelling from the recent impact with Bob's gun. He was trying not to show her how much pain he was in but she still noticed how he was trying not to put weight on his injured leg.

And he was smiling at her.

She was so proud of him. He was staying calm and being a good agent, waiting for the opportunity to take the advantage. Well she wouldn't let him down.

"Fine."

Ziva purposefully unzipped the back of her dress and slid it to the floor. She stood proudly in her tiny lace panties and matching strapless bra and glared at Bob her hands on her hips.

"Now what?"

Bob allowed his eyes to linger on Ziva's curves and Tim found himself making a small angry growling sound. He didn't like the way he was looking at her. Still only Ziva could look MORE dangerous in her underwear than fully dressed. Instead of being embarrassed or awkward now she just looked unhindered by the dress, free of any confining material that might slow down an ass kicking. Tim smirked to himself at the short film running through his head of Ziva doing just that.

Bob ignored him and simply handed Ziva a white bag.

"Put everything in here. And that includes the shoes, rings, bracelet and necklace too."

Ziva gathered everything up and stuffed it all into the large white drawstring bag. Lastly she took off her heels and for an instant as she held them in her hands heels out she considered slashing them across Bobs face. Still no matter how fast she was she still couldn't take out the man on the ceiling as well and it might be Tim who paid the price. Ziva narrowed her eyes and muttered before stuffing the heels into the bag.

"And now you"

Tim sighed and dropped his jacket to the floor and started unbuttoning his dress shirt. He would look stupid standing in boxers, shoes and socks so he toed off his shoes and stuffed them into the second bag along with his socks. He couldn't shake the feeling he was doing a very bad strip to Barry Manilow.

At the Copa , Copacabana
The hottest spot north of Havana
At the Copa, Copacabana
Music and passion were always the fashion
At the Copa....she lost her love

It must be the blow to his head. With a quick thought NOT to think about it and just do it before the situation got more painful Tim unbuckled his belt and dropped his trousers. He stuffed them into the bag along with his watch and the gold wedding band he had been wearing the last few days. It felt strange but after wearing it constantly day and night he felt stranger without the wedding band than he did without his trousers. At least he was wearing his slinky black boxers rather than the ridiculous Playboy Bunny boxers Tony brought him. That would have been embarrassing.

Bob peered at his back as Tim bent and stuffed his clothes into the bag and gave Tim a weird look.

"Kinky. Ok you know what to do with these. And hurry up about it."

Bob handed the bags to the man above him who promptly handed them off to someone else. He then turned to them with a smirk.

"Ok well since I already know you aren't Toby Wilson I'm going to call you J.T in honor of the song you appear to have on your back"

Bob turned and gave Ziva another appreciative once over taking in her curves and tumbling dark hair.

"So I suppose that makes you . Well now this is what we are going to do. JT here is going to help up onto the roof of the elevator. We are going to do this quickly and quietly. If one of you makes a move then the other one will get shot. Are we clear? "

Tim hobbled over to the center of the elevator and bending his tall frame down (and sucking in his stomach) cupped his hand together providing a step for Ziva.

Ziva stepped towards him and quickly, softly caressed his face before stepping into his hand. Tim boosted her small frame easily and she clambered out to stand on the top of the elevator. The second man wearing an almost identical maintenance outfit this time with the name 'Phil' stitched onto the chest leered at Ziva as he kept an eye on her, his own gun aimed and ready.

Tim peered up and winced as he realized that he would have no one to help him up. Bob smiled evilly.

"Oh don't look at me Secret Agent Man you're going to have to get up there yourself. So jump"

Tim jumped up and grabbed the edge of the opening and felt Ziva helping him by pulling him up and through by the elbows. He pulled and cursed until he managed to get the top part of his body over the edge, muttering further as the sharp edge dragged across his bare skin of his stomach. He wasn't going to drop now though because that would mean taking weight on his already damaged knee AND having to do it again. Tim cursed the number of times he had skipped the gym in favor of writing at home as he finally wriggled over the edge and swung his leg up.

Finally he found himself standing on top of the now stationary elevator inside a large dimly lit elevator shaft surrounded by thick cables, hatches, breaking mechanisms and sealed doors. Standing in just his boxers with his bare feet on the cold metal he also noticed that it was quite chilly and he felt his skin goose pimple from the cold. He hoped Ziva didn't notice.

Bob stepped up onto the handrail at the corner of the elevator and clambered up from there. Tim frowned as he looked down. Why hadn't he thought of that?

"Jump"

Bob jammed the gun into Tim's back and indicted the stationary elevator a few feet below them on the other side of the shaft. Phil jumped and then turned his gun on Ziva who leapt gracefully down beside him before turning to look up at Tim with worried eyes.

Tim took a deep breath. This was going to hurt. It was only a few feet. Don't look down.

There wasn't really gaping nothingness surrounding these square flat metal lifelines. It was like a computer game. Nice and safe. You just jumped your figure from one spot to another. If he jumped across he would get bonus life points that's all.

Tim braced himself and jumped with a noisy clatter quickly followed by Bob.

"And again"

Bob turned and pushed a button sending their elevator on its way while he indicated the third and final elevator in the shaft. A service elevator.

Tim swallowed through the pain in his leg and prayed he wouldn't vomit. Ok just once more. Keep the weight on the OTHER leg. Imagine you're a feather.

Tim jumped the short distance and couldn't help the moan that the jarring caused his leg. He grabbed at a steel cable to help him stay upright which managed to cut into his soft hands. The unexpected thick coating of axle grease meant he couldn't get a firm grip and for a second with his weight unbalanced he thought he might tumble over the side and down into the black nothingness of the shaft.

"No!"

Ziva snatched at his arm and pulled him towards her with all her might and then curled protectively into his side trying to help him support his weight without using his injured leg. She shot daggers at Bob with her eyes while her hands dug into Tim's waist. Tim could feel his heart pounding furiously as he tried not to think about how high up they were. He HATED heights. The blackness was good as it meant he couldn't really see. He didn't want to see.

Bob directed them into the service elevator through another roof hatch. He then selected the floor with BR on it and turned to them cheerfully.

"Well now. Won't be long. Your clothes and things will be in the car park by now on their way out of the building. You two on the other hand will be joining me in the boiler room."

Tim swallowed. There was something about the Boiler Room that didn't bode well for him and Ziva. Still at least it was now two against one as 'Phil' seemed to have disappeared into the second elevator on some devious task. Well he wasn't in great shape as his mind seemed to keep wandering off possibly from the repeated blows to the head? Then again he was wobbly at the best of times so maybe it was more like one and a half against one? Tim considered his theory as he swayed slightly. Ziva was an excellent person to have with him in this sort of situation so she was worth more than one. A one and a half for her then. Tim smiled as he worked his equation through. Ok so Ziva's one and a half plus his half equals two full agents verses one gunman. Their odds were getting better. Although how many bullets did Bob have in his gun? Tim frowned again as his mind wandered off and he tried to bring it back.

"How did you know we weren't Tony and Damita?" Ziva asked

"Well J Lo I must say you were both doing well for a while there. Very well in fact. It was one little thing. Toby Wilson might be a super genius but he doesn't dance. Wouldn't even dance at his own wedding. Suddenly here he is weeks later looking like he is auditioning for Think You Can Dance? Please. We knew you were fakes."

Tim frowned. It was his fault. His showing off had resulted in blowing their cover. In Ziva being in danger. He should have known. All he had wanted was to hold her in his arms for a little bit and it might cost them their lives.

"So what are you planning on doing with us?"

Tim wanted to get as much information as he could while Bob appeared in a talkative rather than hitting him with a pistol mood.

"Well your disappearance is going to cause a nice panic among your people and while they are looking for you, the real Toby and Damita will be collected. You are our distraction. In fact there should be something going down right about now. We needed a short period of time and to simply kill you in the elevator alerted them to our presence too quickly. Now they are chasing you through the city and by the time they realize you are still in the building you will already be dead."

"Oh"

The elevator stopped moving and Bob smiled.

"So which one of you would prefer to die first then?"

*******************************************************************

Gibbs turned and looked at Tony whose eyes were anguished. This wasn't right. His gut was telling him neither one of them was in that truck. He turned to Fornell who was still barking out orders and directing traffic, scattering his agents to their tasks.

"It's a set up. They are still in the building Tobias. I can feel it. Come on Tony. You're with me"

Fornell watched as Tony and Gibbs ran from the room.

"God I hope your right Gibbs" he whispered as Jake pulled up footage of an over turned and half crushed laundry truck surrounded by a growing crowd.