I don't own them. Hey! The new season is starting in about four or so weeks. I'm excited…
Did I mention that this is heating up? I'm sure I did, but just in case…
Enjoy!
What Happens
Experience is not what happens to a man: it is what a man does with what happens to him. -- Aldous Huxley
Eve entered the dark, silent apartment. She carefully surveyed her surroundings as was her wont before continuing into the main room. The only sounds she could hear were coming from the bedroom in the back of the dwelling. She could hear the low drone of the television that sat on top of the entertainment center, and when she entered the room her eyes immediately went to Tony's still form as he slept curled up on one side. She smiled softly to herself and took a deep breath, inhaling the faint scent of Tony's cologne. She dropped her bag in a heap by the closet and changed into one of his old, threadbare Ohio State t-shirts before joining him in their bed. She curled up facing him; he was sleeping peacefully, his deep, even breathing telling the tale of exactly how relaxed he really was. She watched him sleep for a few minutes, feeling her heart clinch. Eve knew that she would do whatever necessary to keep from losing him. She loved him, and he had become more vital than oxygen to her. She gently traced the planes of his face before leaning over to place a feather light kiss on his temple. He didn't stir, so she finally intertwined her fingers with his before closing her eyes and following him into the sandman's realm.
Tony awakened slowly not sure what had pulled him from sleep. The first thing he noticed was that he was not alone in the bed. Now, he had been sleepy and a bit out of it, but he was fairly certain that he had gone to bed by himself. He lay there for a minute taking an internal inventory and enjoying the way they lay spooned together in the middle of the king sized bed. He finally opened his eyes and gave a sad smile. It was a simple fact that no matter what happened or where they went apart they always ended up back together. He felt her stir and pulled her body more tightly to his, burying his face into the nape of her neck.
"Hey." His voice was soft, still rough with sleep.
She was silent for a moment savoring the feel of him holding her so close. She took a deep breath and spoke. "I'm sorry…sorry for all of it. I didn't want to ever lie to you. Tony, you're the one person in my life I never had to lie to. I ruined that and I'm sorry."
He listened to her apology and asked the question that had been tearing at him ever since he had seen her in Morocco. "Why?"
Eve pulled herself free and turned around to face him. She could see the hurt and confusion in his expressive gaze and decided to be as truthful as possible. "Tony, I've always gone my own way, done my own thing…well until us anyway. Once I knew that Davis had survived the stab wounds all I could think about was killing him…getting revenge for me, you, and especially…" She stopped suddenly, her voice breaking with emotion.
Tony finished the sentence for her…"our baby."
She nodded and felt tears slip down her cheeks. "I love you, Tony DiNozzo…more than I can ever show…but the thought of him walking around free consumed me. I couldn't let it go. Please…" Her voice took on an almost pleading tone as she continued, "…tell me you understand."
He reached out and caught one tear as it slid from her eyes, and gently wiped it away. "I understand."
Her breath hitched at his admission but she said nothing as she waited for him to continue.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to his chest as he whispered into her hair, "I forgive you, and I love you too."
She felt herself go limp with relief. Her tears began to fall in earnest and he could feel them warm and damp against his skin. He whispered endearments into her hair and let her cry until she had no more tears. They lay there together wrapped around each other until the beeping of his cell phone forced them up from their sanctuary. They showered, dressed and walked from the apartment once again unified and ready to face whatever the future would bring.
Ahmed looked at his second in command and gave a brief smile in satisfaction. "We are prepared and the men are ready to go forth?"
His second gave him a piercing stare and nodded in reply. "Yes they are ready. I think that we need to have a moment of prayer with everyone before we undertake this glorious mission today."
Ahmed looked into the dark, liquid eyes of his second and inclined his head. He trusted this man more than anyone else on earth, so he finally said, "I agree, gather everyone together and let us pray."
Michael Rivkin nodded and turned to leave the room to rally the troops. He needed to let his CIA contact know that there would be two bombers and to do that he had to somehow escape long enough to make a phone call. Hopefully between the prayers and leaving for the rally he would be able to do that and send the pictures of the bombers to his contact. He was sure it could be done, but he was cutting it terribly close.
Gibbs, Fornell, and several other team leaders stood side by side as they watched their agents begin to ready themselves. The room was filled with over one hundred fifty agents from different agencies, and the atmosphere was tense as everyone realized that the day could have far reaching repercussions. Gibbs nodded at his counterparts and walked over to the group from the major case response team. Abby stood beside McGee since she had been recruited to assist him, and Ducky and Palmer were standing amongst a group of medical professionals from the different agencies and were rapidly taking inventory of their supplies and finally Ziva and Tony were putting on their vests and making sure their weapons were in order. Gibbs slowly picked up his rifle and stroked it lovingly as he made sure that everything was in order. His team was as prepared as it could be. Now the only question was whether or not they could find the bomber before he had an opportunity to detonate his device.
Eve stood in a quiet corner, her eyes trained on the group of FBI Agents she had been assigned to and her phone stuck to her ear as she listened to Michael Rivkin speak rapidly on the other end of the line. As soon as she heard that there was going to be two bombers she felt her blood go cold. Two bombers and the identity of one was all that was known since Ahmed was keeping the identity of the second secret from everyone including his 'trusted' second in command. She gripped the phone tighter and turned her back on the group of agents as she spoke.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. I have spoken to Ahmed himself. There will be two bombers, and thus far he has only given me the identity of one of them. I will forward you a picture for all of your agents to use for identification purposes."
"Is Ahmed himself coming to the rally?"
"That is his pattern. He likes to be on site to witness firsthand the destruction his attacks cause. Will you be retiring him?"
"What do you think?"
He chucked softly on the other end of the line and replied, "I will text you his location as soon as it is known. I will be in the crowd today looking for the second bomber."
"I owe you one, Michael."
"I will collect, Evangeline. Do not think for one second I won't."
She disconnected the call and waited for the text with the picture to arrive. She immediately walked over to the group of agency directors as they watched the preparations take place. She stood next to John Maxwell and placed a hand on his forearm to catch his attention. He leaned over and she spoke quickly and quietly in his ear then, using her phone, sent the photo to him. He glanced at it, nodded to her then pulled the other directors to the side to share the information with them.
A few minutes after that, the Director of National Intelligence stood before the large group of federal agents and gave a last minute pep-talk. "Hello everyone. I know that this event has us all on edge, but we need to focus on stopping this tragedy before it can happen. You all have your instructions given by each of your directors. Thanks to a mole in Ahmed's organization we have a picture of one of the bombers. You are instructed to stop him by any means necessary. Unfortunately there is a second bomber and we do not…I repeat, do not know his identity. If we are given that Intel it will be passed on to you as quickly as possible. Keep your phones available. We want to keep as much radio silence as possible so as not to give away our positions. If you must speak do it quietly and as quickly as possible. Good luck to all of you and Godspeed." He stepped away from the podium and stood beside his aide. The agents present gave him a loud round of applause then turned to their individual team leaders. The moment of truth had come.
The National Mall was crowded with people of all faiths standing shoulder to shoulder as they listened to the various speakers and heard the musicians play. In this group of people there was only one goal and that was peace. This was a crowd of strangers willing to put all of their differences aside and listen to other viewpoints as they struggled to make sense of the world each lived in.
There were four men making their way through the crowds who had one goal in mind and that was to stop the proceedings with as much death and destruction as possible. Two of these men had strapped vests to their persons and were waiting for the exact moment to detonate. One of the men was looking for just the right perch to watch the proceedings, and the last man was waiting for that perch to be located so he could report the position to his counterparts.
The two bombers were in decidedly different parts of the crowd since each had no knowledge of the other. One had positioned himself near a group of Jewish college students who had come all the way from New York to be present for the festivities. The other was settled close to a group of Islamic moderates who were fighting to see their religion recognized for its commitment to peace. The young man sneered to himself. These people were traitors…comfortable dealing with the Infidels. In his opinion they deserved their fate just as much as the nonbelievers. He was ready and was just waiting for the signal to go. The time of fire had come.
Gibbs found himself flat on his stomach on a nearby rooftop as he scanned the crowds. He had the picture sitting beside him as he looked for his target. The crowd had begun to swell during the noon hour as more people were taking their lunch in the park area and enjoying the festive atmosphere of the rally. He scanned an area that held signs from a Jewish group from Columbia University and froze as he noticed his target standing nearby. The target was young, no more than eighteen, and looked nervous as he fingered his coat. Gibbs whispered quietly in his com, "DiNozzo, what's your and David's twenty?"
"We're on the Northwest perimeter of the crowd, working our way in. Why?"
"Go one click straight in. I see the target standing beside a group from Columbia University. Look for the signs. If you can't take him quietly I'm on target and ready to take a shot."
"Roger that, Boss."
Tony and Ziva quickly made their way to the described group. She stopped for a second and exchanged pleasantries with the group while at the same time scanning the crowd for the bomber. As soon as Ziva spotted him she nudged Tony and nodded in the direction of their target. "He is there."
Tony gave a grim smile and followed as Ziva slowly made her way towards the target. He seemed oblivious to her presence as he nervously plucked at his coat. As she made her way closer she quickly readied herself by slipping up behind him. Tony walked straight towards him, stumbling as if intoxicated, and as soon as he made contact with the bomber she struck. When the smaller man fell backwards she moved rapidly and snapped his neck before anyone could notice. She and Tony adjusted their now dead target and walked away supporting him as if he were simply passed out. They were able to quickly make their way to the command center and leave the body with the Medical Examiner and the bomb squad before leaving to return to the crowd and the search for the second bomber.
From his perch above the main group of gatherers, Ahmed could see his man fall and be 'helped off' the park by a man and a woman. He snarled as he finally noticed all of the police officers and other official looking people walking through the crowd of celebrants. This would not do at all. It was time to give the final command to detonate to his final remaining operative. Giving a last glare at the crowd he pulled out his phone and began to dial a pager number.
Michael Rivkin suddenly saw his quarry sitting on a roof top above the crowds enjoying the rally. He reached for his phone and made a quick phone call…
Eve Dupree with Agent Sacks hot on her heels was running through the crowd on the way to the shelter where Ahmed had made his perch. She was speaking rapidly on her phone as she ran up to the structure. Rivkin was waiting at the door, and the two spies and the FBI Agent looked at each other then entered the building looking for an access point to the roof. The three found a small closet with a stairwell in the back and entered carefully. Eve pushed Sacks to the back of their threesome as she led the way up the stairs.
"Stay back. Michael and I will handle this."
Sacks was insulted by her statement and tried to get in front of the petite black haired woman. "What the hell…" He sputtered when the Mossad Officer turned and again gave him a careful push.
"Agent Sacks, please stay back and let Agent Dupree and myself handle this."
The two spies didn't give him another chance as they made their way on the roof and immediately spotted Ahmed at the far end of the roof. They raced across the structure and Eve stood in front of the Saudi, her gun trained on a spot directly between his eyes.
"Don't move." Her tone was low and deadly as the two men caught up to her.
The terrorist sneered at her, "Woman, move out of my way or die with the infidels!" He quickly pushed the send button on his phone just as she pulled the trigger. Her bullet entered his forehead and exited the rear of his skull leaving a mess of blood and gore on the roof. Ahmed fell, but his call had activated the pager of the second bomber. Rivkin picked up the phone and glanced at the number.
"I know this number…" This is for another of the youth who followed Ahmed. He must be the second bomber." His dark eyes were alarmed as he made the connection.
Eve scanned the crowd, frantically searching for the man in question. She could see nothing and knew that time had run out. She knew that Gibbs was on a nearby roof, and hoping he could see something she immediately made contact.
Watching through his scope Gibbs saw the confrontation between Agent Dupree and the man on the roof. He could see the conversation between the two spies and her frantic search in the crowd. He wasn't surprised to suddenly hear a voice in his ear.
"Gibbs!" Her voice lacked the indifferent cool he'd come to relate to everything about her.
"Yeah?"
"We got Ahmed. He paged someone. I can't see anyone who looks suspicious. Do you see anything from your vantage point?"
He immediately began to scan the crowd with his scope but saw nothing out of the way. "Negative. "His gut was screaming that something very bad was getting ready to happen, so for lack of another diversion he pointed his gun in the air and fired several shots in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
Gunshots…The crowd immediately reacted to the sound by beginning to scatter. There was screaming as people began to panic, and the law enforcement officers surrounding the surging crowd had their hands full as they attempted to calm everyone down and move them safely away from the stage area.
Not too far from the panicking throng a young man looked at the beeper on his belt, recognizing the number he grabbed his detonator from his pocket. He knew that his time was short, and he began to pray ardently as he took a firm grasp of the device and pushed the button.
An explosion… Fire, white hot and burning…debris and bodies.
Death.
7And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. – Revelation 6:7-8
