AN: If any of you are like JenJen, you are very mad at us for how we left the last chapter. I am going to warn you right now, we are probably going to piss you off again before this is all over. If it makes you feel any better, that deliciously fluffy Tiva bit at the end was all Sebby and he isn't cluing me in any more than he is you so I was left hanging too!
MN: Bwahaha! Sometimes I like getting to be evil! Hopefully this chapter answers more questions than it asks for you guys. Thanks again to all of those reviewing, following, and reading. It means a lot to us!
"Okay, let's go over it all from the top. McGee?" Gibbs was glad he'd switched back to his normal coffee from the diner for this. It was Sunday afternoon. The trial was starting the next day and they still didn't have any definitive answers.
"Right, Boss. Thompson was seeing Yasmin Romach. From what we can gather from the emails, Yasmin was afraid to leave her abusive husband, Nisim, despite Thompson's promises to keep her safe. Thirteen months ago, Yasmin goes missing around the same time her email account is first accessed from home, indicating Nisim found out about the affair."
Abby took a sip of her Caf-Pow then handed the cup to McGee as she took over. "That's when Thompson starts missing work, presumably because he's distraught about her disappearance. The detective who investigated Yasmin's disappearance noted that he suspected the husband, but there was no evidence of foul play."
Another pass of the Caf-Pow and McGee was again speaking. "Until nine months ago when Yasmin's body was discovered buried in a vacant lot. COD was blunt trauma to the head. There was no forensic evidence on the remains. Six weeks later, the case is taken out of an active investigation status. Two days after that, the first couple was reported missing."
Ducky flipped open a folder. "According to the autopsies, as each couple was kidnapped, they were drugged heavily. The men were shot, execution style after extensive beatings. The women had little to no physical wounds. They all died due to overdoses of the sedatives after a single act of rape."
Abby shook her head. "Ew. Then comes the part we already knew. Shoshi Kedar escaped. Thompson went after her. Thompson kills Shoshi, Ziva arrests Thompson, Thompson stops talking."
They all sat in silence for a few minutes considering the timeline. It was Palmer who spoke first. "Guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you ignore the fact that the couples were all foreign born, what does this look like?"
Ducky's eyes lit up in understanding. "A serial killer. We've all been so focused on the foreign connection that we looked straight past the victimology. I have a friend at the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. I can give him a call and get a second opinion."
Gibbs nodded curtly. Finally, they seemed to be getting somewhere. "Do it. The rest of you, grab a nap."
Ziva glanced at the display of her phone as she pulled it from her pocket. The look on her face told Tony the incoming number wasn't one she recognized but she answered it. "Ziva David."
Her face paled. "Ori?" Then she said something in Hebrew that he couldn't catch. She didn't know he was taking lessons. He'd actually called his teacher earlier that day to ask for a translation when he'd given a picture to the boy…
"Ori? Ori!" Ziva stared at her phone. He could tell the call had ended abruptly.
Tony pulled his keys from his pocket and reached for the door handle. "Let's go."
Ziva lay in bed, having completely given up on the possibility of sleep. If the weight on her mind and heart hadn't been enough to keep her up, the ache in her back would have. Three days of cleaning, sorting, and packing had taken their toll on her body.
She held her breath to listen for a moment as she heard a noise then shook her head. A moment later the bedroom door opened slowly and Ori rounded the bed. Wordlessly he climbed in beside her and she rolled to face him. "Can't sleep either?"
He shook his head as he settled himself on the pillow next to her. "Can you tell me again what is going to happen?"
She reached over to take his hand in hers, squeezing it gently to comfort him. "Tomorrow, Bill is going to come pick us up early in the morning. We are going to drive for a long time. Then we are going to meet on of Bill's friends and get in a different car and drive for a long time again. Then tomorrow night we are going to stay somewhere different. On Tuesday morning I am going to go tell some people about the man that hurt your Ima and Aba. Then we get to go see the judge for your adoption."
She could tell he was sucking on his bottom lip even in the dim light filtering in through the blinds from the moon. Another gentle squeeze of his hand was enough to propel him to ask the question on his mind. "Does that mean you are going to be my Ima?"
"Ori, no one will ever replace your Ima and Aba. But I am going to take care of you. Forever. What you call me is your choice."
Again the boy sucked on his bottom lip, something he did when he was thinking. "I think I want to call you 'Mom', if that is okay?"
Ziva was glad for the darkness as she fought back the tears that welled in her eyes. "That's definitely okay, Pitzl."
Ziva could see the figure lying prone on the walk before she was even out of Tony's car. She drew her gun immediately as she hurried forward. Tony was at her side by the time she reached the man. She recognized him as one of Fielding's agents.
Tony crouched to check for a pulse then looked up at her and shook his head. The distinctive sound of a gunshot from within the building had them both moving forward again. As they entered the building, a resident appeared in the doorway of one of the first floor apartments.
Ziva pressed her finger to her lips and flashed her badge then pointed back inside the woman's home. She then held her fingers up to indicate a phone and mouthed '9-1-1'. The woman nodded and disappeared back inside.
Silently she and Tony moved to the stairs. They moved upward as quickly as possible while covering one another, reaching the third floor in under a minute. Fielding was slumped in the wall, bleeding heavily from a wound in the shoulder.
While she kept her gun trained on the door to apartment 3C, Tony moved to help the FBI agent. From the apartment she could hear a woman crying and she reached for the doorknob.
"Ziva! Wait for backup. He's already shot two federal agents. Don't let him make it three." Tony's warning was little more than a hiss, but she caught every word.
A shriek from inside steeled her resolve. "Stay with him. I'm going in."
The knob turned easily, the door swinging open to allow her entry. As she scanned the room she could see the signs of a struggle. Her gun leveled in front of her, she made the turn into the hallway to find three closed doors and Ori, pressed against the wall. "Where?"
The child raised a shaky hand to point at the door at the end of the hall. Ziva nodded then used her left hand to push him from the hallway.
She moved down the hall silently, straining to hear any noise from inside the room Ori had pointed to. She took a deep breath than reached out to open the door.
Immediately she aimed at the man in the room. He was standing over an unmoving Shoshi Kedar, a syringe in his hand. She could see the gun tucked into his waistband. "Federal Agent. Drop the needle and get on your knees."
Everything was a blur after that. Thompson had surrendered quite easily, but hadn't spoken a word. Shoshi had managed to regain consciousness long enough to beg Ziva to take care of Ori before the sedatives caused her heart to fail.
Gibbs had shown up at some point and taken both her and Ori first to the hospital to be checked over then to his house. Ziva had fought the exhaustion closing in on her successfully until Ori was asleep. Her last memory of that evening was a vague image of Tony laying her down on Gibbs' couch and gently spreading a blanket over her.
Ziva woke with a start, somewhat surprised to discover she'd actually managed to nod off. Ori's even breathing told her he was still deeply asleep. She relaxed back into the pillow, her mind trying to make sense of the dream she'd had.
In it, she could have sworn Thompson said something. But the words in her head were in Hebrew and that didn't fit. Nothing in his education or employment records indicated he knew any language other than English.
She shook her head to clear it. It was just a dream. Nothing more.
Repositioning her pillow beneath her head, Ziva deliberately evened out her breathing, determined to recapture sleep.
AN: Okay, seriously, where the flying freak did that come from? The idea about the first bit popped into my head so I decided to jot it down right quick before I forgot it and next thing I know, 90 minutes later, BAM! 1500 word chapter. DONE. Oh crud, it's almost 1am. I better get my butt to bed. Gotta be up at 0700. Will proofread this and upload it tomorrow after work.
MN: Shhh, I'm already in bed. Lee-me lone.