Ch. 1 Gibbs Gone

"Morning Ziva," called Tim to Ziva as she entered the bull pen.

"Oh hey Zee-vah. How's the nose?" called Tony before Ziva could answer.

"Good morning Tim," replied Ziva responding to McGee. She simply rolled her eyes at Tony. During the fight, Powell managed to hit Ziva with a wild punch after she disarmed him; he broke her nose. As payback, Ziva had tried to return the punch to his face. Unfortunately, he held up the only protection left to him: his back up weapon. He never got to fire it though. Ziva's fist caught the gun en route to his face, splitting the skin of her knuckles but adding extra pain to Powell as the force of Ziva's fist and his gun collided with his face. Ziva was not mad with Tony because she knew he truly cared. He was the one who took her to the hospital and sat with her when they stitched up her hand and set her broken nose. He'd made every effort possible to make sure she was okay and so Ziva allowed his childishness to slide.

All three agents were working on their paperwork from the previous case when McGee piped up. "Umm, have any of you guys seen Gibbs?"

Tony was about to reply snidely when he realized he actually hadn't seen Gibbs. "You know Probie, you might make an investigator yet. I haven't seen him." At that moment young agent came out the elevator and headed for the bull pen.

"Uh, Major Crimes Unit?" he asked nervously.

"Yes, that is us," replied Ziva. She noticed the mischievous look in Tony's eyes and wanted to spare the poor agent from his taunting.

The agent brandished a manila envelope and handed it to Ziva. "I was told to give this to you," he stated quickly. He then turned heels and returned to the elevator, looking elated at having completed this small mission.

Ziva went to open the envelope wincing; her hand was very sore. Tony and McGee came to her desk.

"Careful Zee. We don't like mysterious envelopes around these parts. Remembering Tony and the plague, Ziva gently lifted the flap of the envelope with a pen and gently extracted a letter with the very tips pf her fingers. Revealing no powders of any sort, Ziva let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Her relief, however, was short lived when she read the letter.

Dear MCU at NCIS,

Do not expect Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs today. He is detained and will be unavailable for quite some time. How long he is unavailable and the condition he is found in depends on you. So, we shall play a game, one that has three rounds. Here are the rules:

are not to inform anyone of this letter or the situation.

2.I will be in touch with you; every time I contact you, I will give you one clue. That clue is a indication as to where I will be moving your boss.

3.I will move Gibbs only 3 times; hence, three rounds.

are subject to change.

you lose our game, your boss losses his life.

The next message to you will contain you first clue.

Abdul al Qalim

Ziva's face paled when she read the name. No, she thought. This was supposed to be over. It should have ended with Ari. She looked up at Tony, noticing the anger build in his face.

"Tony, this is bad," stated Ziva.

"Really Officer David, I couldn't tell," replied Tony, barely keeping his voice down.

"No, Tony, you do no understand. The man who has Gibbs is Hamas. This is a revenge mission."