Summary: The team continues to hone in on the family. Taking drastic action the family fights back.
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS.
A/N: Hello, hello, welcome back! I do apologize for the wait. Its currently Midterms in my part of the world and life had been crazy! On that note enjoy!
Following the man was tricky. He was by far one of the most difficult people Ziva had ever had to shadow. He was cautious about everything he did. He never once mentioned The Family or acted in any way different from what a Federal Agent should act like. He never led her back to his base or personally contacted his boss. He always worked through handlers to make his reports. Ziva had been forced to choose between following him and risking evidence or following his handlers and finding the source of the man's orders. In the end she chose to follow him, and in the end he made a mistake.
She watched him from the shadows of a stairwell as he approached the evidence locker and produced a false order to procure some false evidence they had planted there. A few seconds later the evidence technician returned with a large plastic baggie containing a roll of duct tape, and a few finger prints. Nothing that the man would suspect was false evidence.
The man glanced at it than, tucking the baggie into his coat, turned and walked unhurriedly back towards the bull pen. He was good. Nothing about his behavior suggested he was suspect. She ducked her head shrinking into the shadows as he walked past and calmly headed up to the bull pen.
She waited a few beats than followed him carrying her own empty evidence bag. He was sitting at his supposed desk when she emerged from the stairwell, plunking away at his keyboard and sipping break-room coffee. He was very good.
Finally at the end of the shift he made his move. Rising from his desk he stretched and put on his coat than left the building, merging comfortably with a number of other agents who were also heading home. She watched him from the window as he headed out of the building. It wasn't until he had climbed into his car, and started the ignition that she dared follow him.
Climbing into an unmarked, suburban she waited and watched while he sat in the idling car and smoked a cigarette. The spy was probably making sure that no one followed him. He was exceptionally good and for a minute Ziva worried that he might be on to her. But if he knew, he showed no signs of it,
Finally after a few long agonizing moments he left, and eventually she eased out into traffic and followed him. He drove at a moderate speed, not harried or worried, just a man eager to get home from work; nothing suspicious, except he had the bag of fake evidence in his coat pocket. He could have been anyone. But they knew he was a spy.
She followed him through the city's streets as he wove an intricate path between the high-rises and businesses, into the more rundown and seedy parts of town. He was probably going to meet with of his contacts and hand over the evidence bag. A few seconds later he pulled into the graffiti covered parking lot of a run down and questionable looking pool hall.
"Gibbs. We've got Johnston. He picked up the false evidence and is about to hand it over to his contact," Ziva reported dialing her boss and watching from across the street.
"Bring 'em in" Gibbs replied curtly and ended the phone call.
Ziva looked over at her empty passenger seat, than at the two men talking in the parking lot. She probably should have brought back up. But tailing someone was hard enough with one person much less two. Johnston had been tricky enough to follow and catch. It was a miracle that after almost two weeks of following him he had finally made a critical slip up.
She paused briefly to look at the picture of her husband which she kept in her wallet, tucked behind her badge, than drawing a deep breath she headed across the street. She kept her gait casual as she approached the two men and it was a minute before they noticed her. By the time they did it was too late. She was to close.
In a flash she had her weapon out and trained on the two men. "Freeze NCIS, put your hands in the air!" she ordered sharply.
Johnston's handler was the first to react. He reached for a gun tucked in the waistline of his pants, even as Johnston wheeled around, his eyes wide.
Without hesitation Ziva fired a single round right next to the handlers head. He froze staring at her with wide eyes. "Unless you want to die this day, you'll put the gun on the ground." She snapped, stopping a few feet short of the men.
They looked at each other than at her and slowly the handler bent down and set his pistol on the floor. Johnston followed suit, both men kicking their weapons towards her, and raising their hands to shoulder height.
"You! On your knees! Cross your ankles" She ordered, nudging her chin towards Johnston. He hesitated, but obediently sank down, his cutting gaze settling unnervingly on her face.
"You! Handcuff him!" She ordered, tossing her spare pair of cuffs towards the handler, who was still standing. He hesitated, his eyes flicking around, looking for an escape route before slowly bending down to retrieve the cuffs.
He had closed the first cuff around Johnston's wrist when the first shot rang out, taking the handler through the head. He crumpled to the ground even as another shot rang out barely missing Johnston, who was swearing and yelling at the man to stop firing.
Cursing, Ziva dove for cover behind Johnston's vehicle and scanned the rooftops for the shooter.
It had been a high-powered rifle that had made the shots, the sound had been unmistakable. This was the same shooter that had nearly taken Tony from her.
Cursing herself a fool, she rose and ran in a low crouch to Johnston's side. He looked at her, his eyes wide, shaking his head and blubbering like an idiot. She slapped him hard, and he blinked at her momentarily caught off guard. "If you want to get out of here alive, you'll do exactly as I say!" she snapped, sternly. He nodded stupidly, in too much shock to think. One thing was clear however. He did not want to die. Thinking quickly, she reached into his pocket and found the keys to the car.
"Get in!" She yelled opening the door and shoving him roughly into the cab even as two more shots rang out. One ricocheted of the metal door, passing so close to her neck that she could feel the heat from the casing. Ducking behind the door she returned fire on the place she thought the shots were coming from.
Johnston dove into the car, sliding behind the driver's seat and started the engine pausing briefly to look at her before peeling out of the parking lot.
Swearing Ziva grabbed onto edge of the car door and pulled her-self into the cab even as he whipped out onto the main road.
Shots rang out after them, splintering the rear window and flying through the cab as they wove through traffic. One of them hit Johnston in the shoulder. He jerked the steering wheel and nearly lost control. But Ziva was quick to grab it and regained control before they collided with the car next to them.
"I'm shot! Is that blood! "Johnston blubbered gripping his shirt as Ziva tried to control the car one handed.
"Yes! Now will you please drive?" Ziva yelled jerking the steering wheel to avoid a car.
"I'm dead! I'm going to die!" He moaned oblivious.
"We both are if you don't get your act together!" Ziva snapped.
He lifted his hands, coated with blood, his eyes wide, than promptly passed out.
Cursing a red streak, Ziva yanked him out of the way, and holstering her weapon took the wheel with both hands and did her best to keep control. He was too heavy for her to lift bodily from the seat, especially at the angle she was at, and so she did the best she could, to keep them from crashing, weaving in and out of traffic in complete disregard to traffic signals. All the while she tried everything she knew to wake Johnston up, but the man wouldn't be stirred.
Thankfully the sniper had stopped shooting at them; otherwise they both would have been dead.
As it was she had no way to stop the car. Swallowing she jerked the wheel, taking the car off the road and across the lawn of a local park. With no other choice before her she did the only thing she could think to do. She angled the car towards the shallow water pond, and braced for impact.
She had just closed her eyes and was thinking of Tony when shots of a different kind rang out, taking the tires of the car. Her eyes snapped open as the car fishtailed and span, turning broadside to the water. They nearly rolled. It was a minor miracle that they didn't. Finally, gratefully, they shuddered to a stop, the water just a few inches away.
Breathing out a sigh of relief Ziva quickly ducked out of the car bringing her pistol up to sweep the area even as McGee and Gibbs ran up to the, weapons drawn. Gibbs had been the one to shoot out the tires.
"You okay David?" he demanded holstering his weapon as he ran up next to her.
She nodded "Johnston's been hit, he's in the car. It was the sniper Gibbs. The same one that shot Tony." She gasped gesturing towards the ruined vehicle.
Gibbs nodded, "McGee, get an ambulance here, now. I want a search chopper in the air as soon as they can. Tell local LEO's to sweep everything within a two mile radius of this park. I want any ordinance they find. We need to get these two out of the open, now," Gibbs ordered.
McGee nodded and walked away, already making calls. While Gibbs made sure that Johnston was still alive and secure.
A few minutes later an ambulance pulled up and took over Johnston's extraction from the vehicle and care. Before long he was strapped to a gurney and on his way to Bethesda. The wound was in the end superficial. The bullet had grazed him. The sight of so much blood had caused him to go into shock but in the end he would be fine and would be more than able to give them the information they needed about the family.
The family had made a huge mistake in sending him.
Ziva was busy telling the local LEO's everything she could about the sniper and was helping set up the search when Gibbs returned to her side. "You sure you're okay?" he asked quiet but not condescending.
Truth be told she was a little shaken, but she wasn't about ready to tell him that. "I will be fine Gibbs. How is Johnston," she replied trying hard to seem strong.
He wasn't fooled. He could tell she was shaken. But he didn't push her. He didn't offer her sympathy. He knew better. Sympathy was the last thing Ziva David wanted at the moment.
"He'll be fine. It was a superficial wound. He should be good to testify on Monday and this will all finally be over." He replied.
She just nodded, taking that in, but her thoughts were in other places. The sniper had been following her and she hadn't even noticed. She should be dead. If it had been Mossad following her, she would have been. She was lucky and she knew it. But like a cat with nine lives' she felt like she was rapidly running out of luck.
"Go home David. Get some rest. Take tomorrow off, and spend time with your husband. You can return to work when you're able to think straight." Gibbs ordered.
She looked at him sharply, her eyes narrowing and her lips parting to protest. But Gibbs just fixed her with that glare of his. That glare that said he would not be moved.
For a full five minutes the two strong willed agents stared each other down than finally Ziva nodded accepting his offer, and accepting his kindness. She would go home and take what time she had left.
Halsten was furious. Twice now that ignorant, foolish, self-entitled, lesser woman had managed to escape him. Twice now she had defied him and beat him at his own game. She had gotten away. She had survived.
He gritted his teeth, watching as they drove away, knowing full well what this meant. It meant he had failed Johnston would sell them out and he would be punished for his failure. The family would be taken down from the inside out.
Way he saw it he had two choices. The first was to go and tell the Grandmother that her man had been taken and give her a chance to escape. Saving her life may allow him to keep his. Or option two was to wait until the Family was under siege. Then return, the faithful heroic, son, to save the life of the woman who had save him. He'd get her to give him authority over the family, than kill her and say she was killed in the fighting. Than once all the media attention blew over he would pick up the scraps of the Family's underground empire and build again. He would start over on a new more aggressive policy. He would be the new, young, charismatic face for the Family. He would have what he always dreamed of. Power, pride and prominence.
As for Chiara Jensen? Well he'd track her down eventually and kill her. For no other reason than to spit in the faces of the law enforcement that had tried so hard to save her.
He smiled slightly at thought of doling out his own form of justice. Than standing he disappeared into the shadows to wait and watch the fall of the family.