They landed two hours ago. Gibbs was communicating with Vance on CIA info and he received Ziva's actual reports on Cortez's gang. McGee was working to decipher all the information on his laptop.
They were at one of the nicer hotels as Tony paced the room. Waiting right now was not something Tony could do. Tony checked his sidearm and hid it under his jacket. Ducky turned to him and asked, "What are you up to, Anthony?"
"I was a cop for enough years, Ducky," Tony replied. "I am sorry McGee but I can't wait for you to shift through all that information. If you want to know who the baddies are in an area - ask the cops. And that is what I am going to go do."
Gibbs nodded to McGee who stayed and worked on the laptop as he, Tony and Ducky took off for the precinct. It didn't take long once they arrived at the station to find the right officer. Tony scanned the room and spotted the one he believed would know what was what around here. He approached the guy and in his strained but good Spanish asked him about Cortez. The detective sat with Tony and clued him in on the violence from the last few weeks. Cortez was dead and now there was a power vacuum and the gangs were doing his job for him by killing each other.
Tony asked if there had been a woman mixed up in all of this and the cop said there were many women. But when Tony showed him a picture of Ziva from his phone the cop said no he had not seen her. Tony then asked for a name - someone who might have been there the night Cortez died. The detective happily provided Tony with a name and address and told him he didn't care if the guy fell off the face of the Earth.
They made their way to Cortez's building, walked past the crumbling exterior and the bullet hole ridden edifice. Cars were flipped on their sides and one had the roof caved in. As they walked past they saw a few men with guns eyeing them suspiciously. They were a few blocks from the address the cop gave them but Tony had an idea. He led Gibbs and Ducky into Cortez's building - moved Ducky back a bit - and waited.
Just as he thought one of the men entered the building gun drawn. Gibbs disarmed him and Tony waited on the second and took him down quickly. They dragged the men to a nearby room and Tony pulled his sidearm and pressed it to one of their temples.
Tony asked him if he was one of Cortez's and the man spat on the floor. The man asked him if Santiago was hiring gringos now? And Tony gathered he was indeed one of Cortez's men. Tony then crouched down and told the man in perfect Spanish that he would cut his throat and leave his body for the dogs to eat if he didn't answer some questions.
The man waited to see what Tony wanted to know. Tony asked him about a woman that would have been around Cortez. And the man quickly asked, "Ziva David?"
Tony's heart went straight to his throat and he nodded; the man then said Santiago's men must have tried to kill her when they killed Cortez. Tony said, Santiago's men killed Cortez?
The man said yes; someone must have busted into Cortez's room - though he didn't know how since he didn't think they had made it so deep into the building. But when they went to look Cortez had been shot and Ziva had been tossed over the balcony onto a car below. Tony asked him what happened to Ziva? And the man told him he thought the locals took her to the hospital. He asked where the hospital was and the man told him it was a couple of miles north called Santa Virgin.
Tony looked to Gibbs and Ducky had already started walking out of the building. They grabbed their car and hunted down the hospital.
Tony barely waited for Gibbs to stop the car before he raced into the hospital. He went to their reception desk but no one was there. He scanned the area and found a nurse and made a beeline for her. Tony asked her for Ziva David but she didn't know who he was talking about. Frustration bit at Tony's nerves and then he pulled his cell and showed the woman a picture. The would recognized her and pointed Tony in the direction of Dr. Soto.
"Permiso, pero usted sabe adonde esta," Tony started.
"I speak English," Dr. Soto said. "How can I help you?"
"I am looking for this woman," Tony held up his cell. "Her name is Ziva David DiNozzo. I was told-"
"Yes," the Dr. interrupted. "She is here. May I ask who you are?"
"I am her husband," Tony showed him his ring. "Where is she?"
"She is sedated." Dr. Soto started talking to Tony slowly and all Tony wanted was to jump out of his skin and go to Ziva. "She has suffered a terrible injury."
"Where is she?!" Tony insisted.
Ducky stepped up, "What room is she in? I will take the information on her condition. I am Dr. Mallard. Her uncle."
"She is upstairs in room 203," Dr. Soto said.
Tony ran up the stairs with Gibbs following. He stopped for nothing until he saw the placard that read 203. Tony pushed the door open and his breath was taken away...there she was, he found her.
She looked small in that bed. He went up to her and gently sat by her side. She'd lost weight but otherwise she was so beautiful. "Baby, I'm here," he whispered into her ear, rubbed her cheek with his.
He kissed her, "I knew she was alive," Tony cried. "I knew I'd find her again."
"I am thinking GPS tracker under her skin," Gibbs said as his voice cracked.
Tony laughed, "You? A joke? It is a momentous day."
Gibbs kissed Ziva's temple and Tony smoothed the hair from her face. "Why is she sedated?"
"She was agitated, Tony," Ducky answered as he walked into the room.
"Well, she'll be ok once she knows we are here," Tony took her hand in his.
"Dr. Soto believes she is paralyzed, Tony," Ducky simply came out and said it with no preamble.
Tony looked back to Ducky and then returned his attention to Ziva. "She tried to kill herself, didn't she?"
"Yes," Ducky answered. "But I do not trust this diagnosis. This place is ill equipped to make any such declarations."
"Then let's get her home," Gibbs said.
"Yes," Tony nodded. "Right away to the best care. But I think we need to keep her sedated. Is that possible, Ducky?"
"Yes, Anthony and I agree. Let's get her home."
Author's Note: We are coming to the natural end of the story. However, I am so inclined to write past what would be the natural end and do some fluff.. you guys in?