Well, I thought about waiting a day or so, but I gave in and decided to update today. Thanks for all the reviews. Enjoy.
Gibbs sat in his car in front of Tony's apartment building. He was not sure what made him want to come here, but his gut was telling him it was the right thing. There'd been something going on with his senior agent, and after the even noticeable change, he knew it was time to figure it out. Ever since his return from Mexico, Gibbs could tell the dynamic had changed between Tony and Ziva, but he could never lay a finger on what exactly. For a while, he chalked it off to the transition back to partners, and paid no attention to it. Now he wondered if that had been a wise decision.
Gibbs just shut his car door, when he heard the faint sound of glass breaking. He'd thought he'd heard the faint pop of a silenced gun, but had shrugged it off as city sounds. Looking up, Gibbs saw the window in Tony's kitchen shattered, and his gut knew something happened. Running up the stairs to Tony's apartment, Gibbs drew his gun, preparing for the worst when he forced the door open.
"Tony?!" Gibbs called through the house, listening for any sign from his senior agent. Not hearing anything, Gibbs slowly began searching the rooms. Looking in the kitchen, Gibbs saw the blood trail leading into Tony's room and hurried to follow it, silently hoping that the other end did not lead to where he thought.
Just on the other side of the bedroom door, Gibbs saw Tony lying on his back. "DiNozzo, what happened?" he asked, holstering his gun and kneeling next to the Italian.
"I…don't know," Tony managed to whisper. "Shot came…from across the street," he struggled to say.
"Stay still," Gibbs said, pulling out his cell phone to call an ambulance. "You're going to be fine, Tony," he consoled the man.
Gibbs watched the ambulance drive away ten minutes later, its lights and sirens interrupting the peaceful night air. He'd have given anything to go with Tony and made sure he was fine, but someone needed to keep an eye on the apartment: it was now a crime scene.
It was only a matter of time before Ziva and McGee arrived at the apartment, both equally shocked and worried about the event.
"Did he say who did it?" McGee asked.
"Said it came from across the street," Gibbs nodded out the window. "I sent a team over to that building to clear it."
Ziva felt her stomach flip when she looked at the trail of Tony's blood on the floorboards. This was worse even then when Gibbs had been injured, she thought to herself. She felt sick just thinking back to her and Tony's last conversation together.
Lifting the camera to her eye, Ziva bit her lip when a pain shot through her side. She'd been watching a movie with Jeremy when Gibbs called and told her Tony had been shot. When she told Jeremy what happened and that she needed to get over there, Jeremy grew angry. He didn't see what the hurry was; after all Gibbs and McGee seemed able enough to sweep the crime scene alone. When Ziva insisted she leave, Jeremy reached out and tried to grab Ziva's hand. When she jerked her arm away from him, she lost her balance and fell against her coffee table in the middle of the room, hurting her side pretty good. She was sure she'd probably have a broken rib or two, but she'd had worse.
"Gibbs, in here!" she called, picking up a crumbled ball of paper lying next to Tony's bed.
"What?" Gibbs asked, looking at the paper in Ziva's hands. "Do you know anything about this?" he asked Ziva who shook her head.
"They only met this afternoon at work," Ziva explained.
"Apparently not," Gibbs sighed, looking at the paper once more.
"I warned you once. Do not try to take Ziva away from me. I know all about your past escapades with her, but it's my turn now. If you do anything to change that, you will pay. JH," the note read.
"I think you have some explaining to do," Gibbs said, turning to Ziva. "But I don't care about it right now. All I care about is finding the bastard who just shot my agent," he told her. "And right now, your boyfriend is looking mighty nice."
"Jeremy was with me from the time I got home to the moment I left my apartment to come here," Ziva provided Gibbs. "There is no way he could have shot Tony."
"Cute little alibi," Gibbs pointed out. "All he had to do was hire someone, and then be done with it."
"You have no proof," Ziva insisted, not wanting to believe any of this.
"I still want to talk to him," Gibbs said and Ziva nodded.
"I will ask him to meet me at NCIS," she said, turning to leave the way too familiar room.
Gibbs heard Tony's cell phone ring a few seconds later, and reached down to pick it up. Recognizing Abby's caller id, Gibbs took a deep breath and answered the phone.
"Please don't tell me it's true," Abby pleaded through the phone. "I need him to be okay. I found what he wanted."
"What did he want you to do?" Gibbs asked, scanning the room with his eyes.
"He told me that Jeremy came by his apartment this morning and threatened him. Said if Tony got near Ziva, he would pay. You should see Tony's stomach; it's all bruised from where Jeremy hit him. I swore I would find out what I could. I searched all day, and came up with nothing. I finally found him, but I'm too late," she rambled on, worried about Tony.
"You're not too late, Abs," Gibbs assured the young woman. "Tell me what you found."
"Jeremy Holdset has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Romania. His father was an American citizen, James Holdset. His mother, Andreea Banica, was born in Romania and never left. She died when Jeremy was born, and James brought his son to the states to live," Abby explained.
"The point, Abs?" Gibbs asked, rubbing his temples to ease the stress.
"Andreea Banica is the sister of Vladimir Banica, the man behind numerous bombings throughout Europe. He is near the top of the Mossad most wanted list," Abby explained. "Gibbs, Jeremy's real name is Vladimir Radu Banica-Holdset, but his father changed it when they moved here."
"Does he have connections with his uncle?" Gibbs asked, his gut already seeming to know the answer.
"I don't know yet. Vladimir, the uncle, went off the grid five years ago. I'm trying to track him down as we speak," she explained.
"I'll send McGee to help," Gibbs told her and hung the phone up. "McGee, I need you to head back and help Abby," he said, walking into the main room where Ziva and McGee stood. "Ziva, did you get a hold of him?" he asked.
"He is not picking up. I tried his cell and home phones, but both went to voicemail," she shook her head.
"McGee, put out a BOLO on Jeremy Holdset, aka Vladimir Radu Banica-Holdset, or any other variation of the name," Gibbs said. "I want him in my interrogation room now." When McGee left the apartment, Gibbs filled Ziva in on what Abby had told him. The most important thing we can do right now is go to the hospital and check on DiNozzo," Gibbs told her after she rattled off a few strings of Hebrew that Gibbs was sure he didn't want translated.
I know....I really didn't mention anything about Tony, but I promise you'll found out soon enough. After all, "Patience is virtue!"
