Howdy everyone! I apologize for the gap between updates. College starts back soon, and I have been running around like a rabid dog trying to get ready. I did read a part of this to my boyfriend over the phone before I posted it. He told me not to get any bright ideas about torturing him. He he! Anyway, here we go!
Chapter Nine:
We Are in Play
"Did you have fun last night, my dear sister?" Naomi asked when Ziva returned to the safe house early the next morning.
"Plenty." She answered with a grin.
"Gibbs is due on in five minutes," Abby replied yawning. "God, I miss my morning Caf-Pows."
"I can tell," Ziva replied. "Good thing I stopped by the local coffee shop on my way in." She dropped a fresh Caf-Pow next to Abby.
"Ziva, I love you!" Abby exclaimed taking a large sip.
"And for you, my dear sister," she said mocking Naomi from earlier, "A caramel latte."
"Vielen Dank, meine Schwester," Naomi grinned taking the coffee.
Ziva rolled her eyes in annoyance, sending Abby and Naomi both into fits of laughter.
The videophone rang, forcing all three of them to stifle the laughter and get back down to business.
"Good morning!" Abby exclaimed as she answered.
"Sit rep?" Gibbs asked immediately.
"Somebody's in a bad mood today," Abby muttered.
Gibbs ignored her remark and looked to Ziva and Naomi.
"Ziva and I did some reconnaissance work before we went to sleep. I have a plan, but you are not going to like it."
"Schliemann, out with it!" he demanded, taking a sip from his coffee
"She plans on using me as bait Gibbs, to lure out the assassin ring," Abby answered for her. "I think it's a good idea Gibbs."
"You think what?" Gibbs exclaimed. "Abby, you are not an agent. You don't have the training for this kind of work. What the hell are you thinking?"
"I stick out Gibbs, with my height plus the three inch platforms. I make it look like I am scouting the place out. Ziva and Naomi will be a little more covert about it. They will have eyes on me all the time Gibbs."
"I don't like it, Abs."
"Gibbs, I want to do this."
"Abby—"
"Gibbs," Ziva broke in. "We will protect her."
"You screw this up and your asses will be sent back to Tel Aviv faster than you can say Shalom," Gibbs said menacingly. He cut the link.
"That went well," Naomi muttered as she cut the feed to the video phone.
"Well, let's set up the op, then." Ziva looked at Abby. "Ready for your first official spy job?"
"You know it."
"Let's get cracking!" Naomi replied. "That is the correct idiom, right?"
Abby just chuckled as she rose from her position at the computer desk.
"Okay, Abby. Sound check. Are you getting a clear signal?" Ziva asked as she stretched her arms over her head.
"Just like you're sitting next to me," Abby replied as she booted up her computer. "Now what to do? What to do?"
"I read you pretty clearly, too," Naomi replied shifting her back against an oak tree. She opened her book and continued reading.
Abby grinned when she noticed it was McGee's book Rock Hollow. "I guess I'll play Minesweeper for a while. Expert Level."
"Remember Abby, I have eyes on you at all times, and Ziva will be in the area."
"Gotcha," Abby answered making a grand show of looking around her Then she continued her game.
Ziva took off at a brisk jog running down the trail through the park. She circled around every ten minutes never pausing in her run. Abby also noticed that Naomi had started humming a song to herself as she read her book.
"What are you humming?" Ziva asked as she jogged past.
"I wanna know too. It sounds nice."
"'Bist du am Leben' by Xavier Naidoo. It is a pretty good song. Remind me to play it for you one day, Abby."
"I will."
Thirty minutes later, Abby won her second Minesweeper game. She looked around her again. "I'm switching from this game. It's getting way too easy. I'm going online."
"Have fun," Naomi replied as she turned the page in her book.
"It is rather quiet," Ziva observed.
"Ja, too quiet."
"Something's about to go down, isn't it?" Abby asked, looking around her once more as the sun sank further down below the horizon.
"Just stay calm, Abs. You are doing fine," Ziva assured her.
"Okay."
Abby found an online trivia game that she immersed herself in. She heard Naomi and Ziva conversing in Hebrew, but ignored it as she typed in her answer. She heard her phone ring. She reached down to answer the phone—
BANG.
Abby just sat there, eyes wide in surprise as she heard metal flying through the air.
"It is rather quiet," Naomi heard Ziva say through the earwig. Naomi took a quick moment to scan the area around her. The sun was sinking down, and the mix of people was dwindling ever so slightly.
"Ja, too quiet," she agreed as she turned back to her book, using her right hand to reposition her Sig in her lap.
"Something's about to go down, isn't it?" she heard Abby ask, the nervousness in her voice.
She heard Ziva reassure her, but the words were lost on her as she noted a figure walking towards Abby. Naomi saw that Ziva had stopped to take a drink of water from the fountain. "Ziva," she whispered in Hebrew as she surreptitiously watched the figure, a woman, get closer to Abby, "got some activity on Abby's six."
"I see her." Ziva started jogging again in a loose loop around the area. "She has a knife concealed at her waist."
"Gotcha." Naomi watched as the woman got closer to Abby and brandished the knife in her hand. "Distract Abby."
She briefly saw Ziva whip out her cell phone, but kept her focus on Abby and the would- be assassin. She watched as the woman raised her knife to stab.
Naomi waited no longer. She pulled her Sig from her lap and leveled it. She fired one shot.
The bullet hit the knife, sending it flying out of the woman's hand.
Ziva was there in an instant, her weapon trained on the woman. "Do not even think about it."
"What the hell?" the woman asked.
"You tried to kill our big sister," Naomi replied as she trained her weapon at her as well.
"I thought I told you to disarm her," Ziva looked at Naomi as she picked up the knife, a double edged steel athame.
"I did. I shot the knife out of her hand."
"I meant 'disarm' her."
"Fine. Next time I'll just kill her and get it over with!" Naomi exclaimed. "Blame it on the baby," she muttered.
"Hey, I think it was a damn good shot, Sis," Abby said as she shut down her computer. "Besides, we want her alive," she added as she bound the woman's hands together with plastic ties.
Naomi smiled wickedly as Abby shoved the woman down on the bench that she had just occupied. "So, do you want to tell us why you tried to kill our sister?"
The woman said nothing.
"Why did you try to kill our sister?" Ziva repeated the question, brandishing her knife and pushing it against her neck.
"It was just supposed to be a random killing. I didn't know you were trained!"
"Trained what?" Abby asked, staring the woman down.
"Well, killers."
"Really?" Naomi replied sarcastically. "This was your initiation, wasn't it?"
The woman gulped. "Yeah," she replied, hanging her head. "How'd you know?"
"You acted like an amateur. Revealed your weapon too early. Your approach was roo obvious. Need I go on?" Ziva asked.
"No. What are you going to do with me?" the woman asked.
"We want to talk to your boss. We have seen what they have been doing in the area."
"We want in," Abby finished.
"You will set up a meeting for us. Meet us here same time tomorrow. Got that?" Naomi said. "You don't show, I finish the job I started. Verstehen Sie?"
The woman gulped again, but nodded. "What do I call you guys?"
"What is your name?" Abby shot back, hands pointedly on her hips to accentuate the fact.
"Good point."
"Call us the Fates," Ziva said, eyes cold as ice. "You cross us, your fate is sealed." She slid the knife across the woman's throat, leaving a thin trail of blood. "That is a reminder of your mission."
The woman nodded again.
Naomi pulled her knife, and cut the ties that bound the woman. "Now get out of here. And remember our warning."
The woman didn't say another word, just bolted from the park bench, muttering under her breath the whole time.
Naomi and Ziva watched the woman until she disappeared into the night. Ziva motioned for them to leave as well. On their way back to the safe house, Naomi relayed a message to Gibbs. "We are in play."
AN: Jeez, Naomi and Ziva can be down right evil when they want to be. But it is so much fun to write them that way. Next chapter, the meeting with the leaders. Until next time, Maylee.