Gibb and Tony sat in the car anxiously listening as Ziva, Eli and Michael walked towards the car. Gibbs was angry she agreed and Tony felt like he was watching a horror movie. What she was doing was clearly going to reveal the man with the giant chain saw but they had no choice but to sit and hope for the best. They heard nothing through the microphone aside from Ziva breathing in and out, the pace a bit too quick like after a jog. They knew she was apprehensive, so were they. So were Ducky and Abby and McGee. Even little Hannah seemed to have somehow caught on to the anxiety that Tony had been feeling. When she asked he told her the truth, in a way that he could tell a five year old without scaring her. That Ziva had to be very careful because she had a dangerous job. Then he got to play a fun game of twenty questions with her, she was rather intrigued by everything he said. Wanting to pick it apart and dissect each phrase and word separately. She would make one hell of a Mossad agent although he doubted that would happen. He had been joking with Ziva in e-mails one day and one mention of Hannah and Mossad had made her angry enough that he was afraid she would shoot him then and there. Ziva had clearly told him she wanted better for Hannah.
"Gibbs!" They were both pulled from whatever thoughts they were having at that moment from Abby's suddenly frantic voice. "I don't know what happened but the GPS on where the control over the wire's is from just jumped about twenty miles."
"Where is it now?" Gibbs asks not all surprised by the answer.
"With Ziva," she says and he hears her hitting keys on the other side.
"We just lost our connection. All the wires are being blocked. We've got nothing," McGee tells them trying his best to keep his voice calm.
"Son of a-" Gibbs starts but is too busy swerving the car as quickly as he can to catch up to Ziva in order to finish. They turn around the corner only to reveal a car racing away. Tony pulls his gun out but knows he cannot shoot the car. Instead he aims for the tires but that idea is quickly gone as someone, it was too dark to get any sort of facial recognition, leans out of the car with their gun and begins shooting back. Only this guy was not shooting at the tires. The two lean down, Gibbs trying to drive while not looking out the windshield as best he could.
"Gibbs! Tony!" Abby continues screaming out each of their names but receives no response aside from the sound of gunshots. "Gibbs! Gibbs!"
The windshield shatters causing glass splinters to fall all over the two agents. The Gibbs keeps driving though. Well up until he drove through the glass on the ground and flattened a tire. Or two or three. Both Gibbs and Tony are out of the car before either even think of what they are doing. It's a survival instinct only they are not the ones trying to stay alive. It's pointless however, as the car speeds around a corner getting farther and farther away. Leaving them with no targets aside from buildings and the scattered people that had accumulated from the interest of gun shot. You'd think they would run the other way instead of coming to them but of course that is not the case. Gibbs hold up his badge and ID showing they were federal agents and that the police officer coming towards them could go back to what he was doing before.
"I swear, if one of you does not answer me right now I am going to get in my Hertz and drive down there myself!" Abby exclaims hoping that she will be able to get an answer and praying even harder that its not one of Gibbs or Tony dialing for an ambulance.
"We're fine, Abby," Tony says. If she did not stop calling his name he was going to break the damn ear wig. Having words screamed in your ear was not the most helpful at a time like this. "Ziva's not though."
"Guys, I'm-"
"Not your fault," Gibbs says, cutting Abby off before she can continue. It didn't change anything though.
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"This is all my fault!" Abby yells at McGee as she paces back and forth with Bert tightly tucked under her arm.
"It's just as much my fault as it is your's, Abby." That was about the tenth time McGee had said that but Abby seemed to enjoy talking in circles tonight. Either she was trying to convince him to agree with her or she was just unsure of what to do next. He didn't know.
"I should have been more careful! I should have checked to see if anyone else had created a backdoor to the account like we did! I should have added our own separate way to get the signal from the wires.I should have..."
"None of that was even possible, Abby. They were on the same account and Ziva's wires have been completely disabled." Logic hadn't been working either. McGee had tutored someone in high school like this, well he had tried to anyways. That didn't end very well either.
"We never should have even tried to get into their system! If we hadn't then her father never would have found out that she told and Ziva wouldn't be being held hostage again!"
"If we hadn't accessed the director's system we never would have been able to conspire accurately." Dear God someone send Ducky back with Tony and Gibbs soon. "Why don't we try and see if there's anything else we can do to help," McGee suggests and knows very well which sentence is coming next.
"I have already messed up enough! You shouldn't let me do anything. This is all my fault!"
McGee puts his head down on the desk and closes his eyes. His patience was running thin and they were all stressed out enough as it was. He was suddenly envious of Hannah as he watched her sleep in the other room; Ducky had dropped her off since his mother would not be able to watch her if she needed something. He didn't even bother to reply this time and Abby is absolutely content to go into the next phrase without his cooperation. He was going to have some serious health issues after this was all over. Hopefully the profit from the book he wrote of these experiences would be able to pay the medical bills. It really made him curious of what Officer Lisa's fate would be. He originally planned for her to live but if Ziva died he didn't think he could write about Lisa again.
"Ziva is going to be fine!" Abby tells him and he begins to wonder if he had been thinking aloud. He must have done something to break her redundant speech. "She promised and Ziva doesn't lie. Well at least not to me. She would never break rule number one."
"I thought rule number one was never screw over your partner?"
"Abby's rule number one."
"Never lie to Abby," McGee recalls and is glad for the distraction it brought.
"-I had never seen anything like it before in my life." The two hear Ducky say figuring they just missed one of his stories from what they had heard.
"Gibbs!" Abby says running and throwing her arms around him. "Tony!" she yells next moving on to the senior field agent and showing the exact same amount of affection.
"What happened, Abby?" Tony asks quietly wanting to know just how it was that this all went so terribly wrong. It was just supposed to be a talk. A simple talk turned into another horrible nightmare. It was the same though. The same thoughts, same worries, same helplessness. Only maximized by the knowledge that this could be much worse than it was last time. They didn't know the outcome of the rather redundant previous problem. This one they knew what would happen. Death was imminent. No way around it this time. Now they no longer had time to discuss the now positively changed plans. Things were sure to have changed.
"I don't know for sure but I have theories."
"And?" Gibbs asks. Now was not the time for playing games.
"Well clearly there are more people than we originally thought in this little sick plan. They tricked us by having someone controlling the wires back where they had been the whole time. Then they must have had a lap top in the car and clearly that computer was able to access the control center. Once they did though the GPS tracker found them there but not before then. They tricked us and we fell for it."
"Not your fault," Gibbs repeats. He certainly didn't his team walking around feeling sorry for themselves when Ziva's life was being threatened every second she wasn't there with them. Where she belonged.
"Yes, it was, Gibbs! I should have seen that they knew we were there. I should have found a way too-"
"If you're not going to be able to concentrate and do what I need you to do then step aside and let Probie handle it," Tony says stopping her mid-sentence. Not again.
"Tony, I-"
"I don't want apologies and I don't want to hear whatever else it is you want to say!" he yells letting his anger get the better of him. It felt good to just let out some of the frustration. "I want you to get your ass over to your computer and find Ziva!"
"Where is Ziva?" All the attention that had been on Tony was now shifted to the previously sleeping girl. She looked scared and unsure, like a child who thought they'd just been caught doing something bad.
Tony ran his hands over his face, calming himself before talking to Hannah. He knew he'd upset her and did not want to do so anymore. "I'm sorry for waking you up, Hannah. Go back to sleep," he tells her still not facing her. He was unsure of what expression was on his face at the moment and did not want to risk off-setting anymore fear or concern from Hannah.
"Why are you yelled at Abby? She tell that she is sorry. Do you not love her no more?" Hannah asks but regrets it immediately. She should not ask such things. It was rah me'od.
"Of course I still love Abby, Hannah," he tells her now turning and looking at her. She seemed so small and helpless. He did not know what made this different than usual but she just looked so...Fragile. He bent down to her level and held his arms out. She gratefully walked and over and let him lift her up. She was tired, it was very late after all. "Sometimes when people are frustrated or mad they take their anger out on the people around them to make them feel better."
Hannah thought this over for a minute before responding. "Do you want to be angered with me?"
Tony cannot help but smile at her. "No, I'm better now." Hannah whispers something into his ear and when she leans back has a prideful smile on her face. "You're right," Tony says and then turns to Abby, "I'm very sorry, Abby. I didn't mean to yell."
"That's okay, Tony."
Hannah has already returned to Tony's ear though, reminding him of something else. "And I still love you very much." Hannah smiles contentedly and lowers her head on to Tony's shoulder. The lids of her eyes were very heavy and she did not want to keep her head up anymore. She had other questions before, but she couldn't remember what they were now. She could ask in a minute though; all she needed was to rest her eyes for a few minutes and then she would remember.
"Ziva," she says slurring the word with her sleepy tone. She had wanted to know what was wrong with Ziva. She tries to push her head back up and ask for more of an answer. It has barely been lifted half an inch when she feels Tony's hand lightly pressing it back down.
"Go to sleep, Hannah. I'll tell you later, promise," he whispers and is glad that the little girl was too tired to be stubborn tonight. Because boy when she was awake and knew she wanted something. Well the best way to put it is that she was more like her aunt then just in her looks.
"Lai la tov, Aba." Tony opens his mouth to correct her, tell her he is not her father, but closes it on second thought. Why wake her up anymore? Instead he just jerks his head over towards the computers looking meaningfully at Abby and McGee.
"We've tried everything," McGee says in a normal tone but Tony shoots him an angry glance as Hannah stirs in his arms some. "Uh," he starts again in a whisper. "Nothing worked. They left nothing for us to trace or follow. All the wires have been switched off and none of their cell phones are on."
He nods his head and decides to let Gibbs figure out what they do next. "Put a BOLO out on this plate," Gibbs says and reads the numbers and letters out to them. Tony did not even think about getting the license plate. Too many other things were going through his mind. Well one thing actually. Not again. It had been one thought that had not stopped since the whole ordeal happened. He was there that time, and she was taken from him again. This time with him right there, where he should have been able to protect her. He didn't though and now she was either dead or would be soon. Along with many others. Which raised the question that maybe it was time to talk to someone with more authority about this ordeal. Technically they were breaking the law holding such vital information. Since when had they become the CIA? It was now a threat to national security, not just to one of their own. It could destroy the country for years, decades, in fact the US may never be restored to the way it was before. Maybe it was time to let other's in on the potential terrorist attack.
Tony knew what was going through Gibbs' mind though. After what happened a few years ago, about ten minutes before he quit and moved to Mexico, the higher authorities let others die right there when it could have been prevented. Gibbs trusted no one but himself, especially when it concerned part of his team as well. This concerned more than team though, it involved family.
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Tony stepped outside taking in a deep breath of cold air and then blowing it out. He knew it must be cold since his breath was showing but he was too numb to care that he didn't have a jacket on. His thoughts all stayed in one place, with one person. It was nice to get out for a minute. The tension was just getting to be too much to take and he was able to get a breath of fresh air in more ways than one. He had no idea what time it was but it must be late. Ducky's Morgan, Abby's Hertz, and McGeek's porsche, along with a few assorted cars of the security guards, was all that was left of the cars in the parking lot. The place was nearly abandoned.
Tony liked thinking about that, a good change of pace. His head was throbbing he noticed, another good sign he hadn't completely lost the thought to think of something else besides his concern for his partner. Would she be okay? He asked himself again, his mind resorting to the same things as before. Oh well at least his head didn't hurt anymore.
Then his thoughts drifted to inside the building. That small little girl had quickly become a huge part of his life. Every night they only grew closer and Hannah became more and more attached. Tony wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing, but it was good for him. She had called him "Aba." He realized it was a slip of tongue and that she had not actually been fully awake and was not aware of she was saying but still...He had never thought of being and "Aba" never even wanted to be one. After tonight though he did. Not for some random kid though, for Hannah. She needed his love and care so much, it felt good to be so needed and to be able to help so much. That had never been Tony DiNozzo's specialty, but it came so easily with her. He felt that fathering instinct take over. Rarely did people talk about that, it was always more about how after a mother had a baby her instinct kicked in and she knew just how to love and take care of it. For Tony it was like he loved her as soon as she had accepted him. In all his awkwardness and how weird he usually was with kids. Hannah looked right past that and saw him. Just Tony. No jokes to hide behind, no frat boy apparel to keep up, nothing to hide behind. Tony DiNozzo unmasked, and that was how that little girl liked it, how she liked him.
He couldn't elaborate on these thoughts anymore though. Cool metal was being pressed to the side of his head. "Come with us if you want to see Ziva. Alive that is." What an easy decision to make.
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Okay another chapter and only one day later! I think that deserves some extra reviews don't you? C'mon ya know you want to. Hopefully this chapter was better than the last. I also tried to make it longer but it's not by very much. I'm not sure how I feel about it so let me know what you thought!