Ziva knew she needed to get them behind something to block the snipers assault. She wrapped her arms under and around Tony tightly, taking hit after hit into her back and chest sides, screaming out when she felt one go through her arm as she covered him with her body.

"We have to roll, Tony." She cried with apologetic eyes knowing this was going to hurt, "I'm sorry." She apologized and then yanked him hard to the side, rolling him over her and then again and again until they were pressed up against the opposite concrete block wall shielding them from the hail of bullets. As soon as they were hidden the firing stopped. Ziva lay pressed over Tony, both with tears in their eyes.

"Zi-" He gasped tasting blood and finding it hard to breathe.

"Shhh," She tried to quiet him, kissing his lips this time with tears in her eyes and raining down her cheeks; stinging painfully as they crossed the bullet graze now bleeding quite profusely.

The sight of her crying and bleeding above him only made Tony more afraid that she'd been hit as well and he panicked trying to move beneath her.

"Ziva!" McGee screamed at them as the first to reach the door, seeing them huddled against the far wall with Ziva lying ontop of Tony and blood pooling beneath them and staining the concrete. They'd heard everyone come running inside screaming sniper and immediately dropped everything to run towards the danger knowing Tony and Ziva were outside.

"Stay there!" Ziva turned her face sharply to look at the glass door where McGee, Gibbs, E.J., Vance, Asa and Malachi were all starting to pile up. "He is still there! We have taken multiple hits!" Her heart was immediately pounding in fear that more of her loved ones would get hit.

"How bad, Ziver?" Gibbs asked with pounding heart to see the blood painting one side of her face and two arms drenched from what he could see. Tony wasn't moving at all beneath her.

"Bad, Gibbs." She tried to contain her emotion and failed sucking in a cry as she looked at him, "Tony is hit in the chest." He tried to steady her voice hearing Tony gasping beneath her, "I have to move him."

Malachi had immediately sent people to the roof where the hail of bullets were coming from and felt torn about going or staying as he spoke into his Comms communicating with his team.

Ziva rolled off of Tony carefully and crawled the best she could, grimacing and crying out in pain as she moved taking hold of Tony's wrist; she tried to pull him but cried out loudly in pain, biting it back through clenched teeth. The upper part of one arm had been shot and the hand of the other had been as well. She cried unable to move him.

"Damnit!" McGee surged forward disregarding his own safety and pulling out of Gibbs grasp. He dove for cover when another bullet zinged past his own head hearing the hiss in his ear and rolled against the wall where Ziva and Tony had taken cover. "They're still firing at us!" He screamed back at Malachi and Gibbs in anger that it still hadn't stopped and the pool of blood under Tony and Ziva was growing.

Malachi yelled angrily into his Comms and looked at Gibbs and Vance, sharing a mutual conversation and then took off with Asa to find the offending sniper or snipers. Someone he trusted had betrayed them.

McGee army crawled his way towards them and slid up beside Tony, "Tony," He tried to smile down at him and calm himself seeing the amount of blood, "I'm going to move you. You're going to be fine." Bullets continued to whiz by them and explode into the concrete near them, causing them all to pull back more tightly against the wall.

"Get…her…out…here." Tony wheezed softly holding tightly to McGee's hand with intent eyes, afraid for Ziva. "Get…Zi-" He tried again and coughed up more blood as his lung collapsed.

"She's okay, Tony. We're going to move you first. I promise you. She is safe right now against the wall." He glanced over to Ziva who was trying and failing to remove her belt to tie a tournaquet to stop the blood loss from her arm. McGee quickly moved around Tony and grabbed the belt from Ziva's hands. He pulled it tight and gave her the other end to hold in her teeth. And then rolled back towards Tony.

"Here we go, Tony." He spoke quietly and locked his hands around Tony's wrists and pulled, inching him across the pavement along the wall and causing Tony to gasp and cry out from the pain and then nothing as he went unconscious. His head lulling to the side and Ziva crying out moving to go towards them when McGee yelled at her, "Stay! I promised him!" He looked at her intently and pulled again on Tony sliding him further, "Of course…" He pulled with all his might barely moving Tony but a few inches at a time as they had to stay low, "You would have to be all muscle, Tony." He complained at how solid and heavy Tony was to drag.

Gibbs moved to help them, not caring if he was shot at this point; he slid down next to McGee and relieved him of one of Tony's wrists. "Count of three, Tim." He looked steadfastly at him, "One, two, three!" He commanded and they both pulled, moving Tony more then a foot this time, "Again!" He repeated the command and they quickly began moving Tony working together across the concrete courtyard leaving a grisly blood smear along the way.

As soon as they'd gotten Tony to the door, Gibbs heard Malachi's voice come through the Comm in E.J.'s hand that said 'all clear.' He didn't wait but a second to stand and run towards Ziva still lying against the wall. He scooped her up into his arms as swiftly and gingerly as possible and then ran back across the courtyard through the door.

The Medical team was already hard at work on Tony when he set Ziva down beside him. Assessing her wounds himself seeing she was slightly in shock from blood loss and staring with blank eyes at Tony's lifeless body beside her.

"Ziver…" Gibbs reached for her face careful of the wound and tried to get her to look at him, "Ziva!" He added a little more forcefully while the medics tended to her arm and then hand. Her eyes slowly moving towards Gibbs for only a moment before they rolled back in her head and her body went limp into his arms. He lay her back gently while the medical team began working on her as well.

By the time they had both Ziva and Tony stable enough to move them, Gibbs was left standing with McGee looking down at bloody tiles on the floor and discarded cut off shirts and clothing, litered around like rags. Gibbs picked up their cell phones and McGee reached over with shaking hand and picked up Ziva's Kevlar vest. She had taken seven different hits to the back and sides in their attempts to get at her heart. All clustered in the same general areas. On her side a few inches below her armpit and inbetween her shoulder blades on the back. The bruises from the impacts were already visibly angry red welts when the medics cut the vest away and knew they would be painful. Vests weren't meant to stop this many bullets.

When the gurneys began to move, it snapped them out of looking at the carnage and they all followed quickly behind. Malachi met them at the crossroads in the hallway, on their way to the medical floor of the building with Tony needing immediate surgery as well as Ziva.

"How bad?" Malachi asked Gibbs with frantic eyes moving over both bodies unable to tell from all the blankets, bandages, stabilizers, tubes and wiring he could see.

Gibbs answered quietly, "Tony took one to the chest. Pretty bad. Another in his upper right arm. Ziva covered him after. She was shot through the upper left arm, through the right hand. She took another in the upper right leg as she rolled him. Her vest stopped seven." He held the beaten fabric up for Malachi. Thankful the man had insisted she wear it today and only wished they would have had Tony wear one as well.

"The sniper is gone. I have no idea which person has betrayed us but I will find out!" Malachi shook his head with fury and fear as he watched them wheel Ziva and Tony into separate operating rooms. "Were they aiming at Ziva or Tony?" He asked not understanding who the original target was.

"I don't know," Gibbs answered softly looking down to the blood on his clothes and staining his hands. Blood of them both mixed together. "Ziva was already in shock by the time we got her inside. I couldn't ask her anything."

"I'll start questioning those who were in the courtyard at the time." Malachi nodded sharply feeling like he needed to do something immediately as this was his responsibility. Gibbs nodded softly at him, refusing to leave the spot just outside the Operating Room doors.

"Gibbs," E.J. addressed him with red teary eyes from crying, "Should we call Tony's father?" She swallowed the lump in her throat, "Before he finds out on the media?"

"Yeah," Gibbs realized she was right. He needed to call Abby, Ducky, Director Craig… a whole list of people who needed to be notified before they learned of it on the news again as they had with Ziva. "I'll call his father and Ducky. Leon," He looked over at Vance, "Can you please call Director Craig? "

Vance nodded he would.

"McGee," Gibbs looked around and saw the younger man now sitting in a chair beside the door staring at the vest in his hands. Ziva's vest riddled with bullets and soaked in blood. Much like his' own clothing now from having dragged Tony and helping Ziva. His pale face and far off look in his eyes had Gibbs immediately concerned he too, was going into shock. "Tim." He addressed him quietly squatting down before him and placing his hands gently over McGee's clutching Ziva's vest so tightly now his knuckles were turning white. "Tim." He tried again to get McGee to look at him.

"Yeah Boss?" McGee finally looked at him asking quietly and snapping out of whatever he was thinking.

"Are you okay?" Gibbs asked still palming the sides of the younger man's head tenderly.

"What if they both die?" McGee asked quietly with hazey gaze in shock and going through the questions in his mind. "I always knew that was a possibility… but never really believed it could actually…happen. Not both of them."

"Hey," Gibbs tightened his grip on the back of McGee's neck and forced his eyes back to his own again speaking a little more determined, "They're not dying. You got that. None of you…are dying. Okay?" Gibbs felt his heart begin to race at the prospect.

"But there was so much blood…" McGee countered slowly with his mind filled with nothing but red. His eyes staring down to his blood soaked hands, clothing and the vest in his hands.

"Hey," Gibbs said again, catching his eyes once more, "Tony survived the Plague, remember? And Ziver…she's survived more then anyone I've ever known. They got this." He nodded softly hoping to convey a confidence he didn't feel and only prayed was true.

"Agent Gibbs?" A nurse suddenly appeared in scrubs and a surgical gown at the doors, calling out to the small group gathered of waiting foreigners.

"I'm Special Agent Gibbs." Gibbs stood acknowledging the woman quietly.

"We had to remove them for surgery. Given they are valuable we thought you may wish to hold onto them." The nurse gave him a small smile holding out her hand, "I tried to clean the blood off as best I could." She sighed softly placing the precious objects into Gibbs hand.

Gibbs looked down at Ziva's jewelry in his palm. Her golden Star of David necklace and engagement ring. He hadn't ever seen her without either since they'd been given to her. Holding them now in his hand just felt wrong. He closed his fingers around them encasing them carefully inside. "Thank you." He nodded softly to the nurse and she disappeared once more. He stood frozen for a moment and then moved to sit beside McGee. He opened his hand once more and looked at the objects. Faint traces of dried blood were already visible in spite of the nurse's best efforts. He gently slid the engagement ring onto his little finger. It didn't even make it past his first knuckle with how small and delicate it really was. Ziva's lithe fingers were far thinner then his. Not wanting to lose either of the objects he opened the clasp on the necklace and threaded the ring onto the chain.

"Barrett," Gibbs quietly called E.J. over and then stood before her, "You keep these safe for her." He looked intently into her eyes as he fastened the necklace around her neck. E.J. just nodded with tears in her eyes and quietly tucked them into her shirt. "Neither of you two leave my side for a second. Got that?" He looked at both E.J. and McGee. "I want constant visual contact." He didn't trust their safety in this place enough to be separated. He already had two down, he wasn't taking any chances with the other two.

"Director," He addressed the man directly, "I need vests for all my people." He nodded towards E.J. and McGee, Vance behind him. They should have all been wearing one this morning he reflected in hindsight, though he never would have suspected Bodnar of going after any of them. Their main concern had been Ziva's safety.

"Understood." Malachi nodded softly with shame filled eyes that once again, Ziva and now Tony as well, had been shot inside Mossad by an unknown traitor. He had taken her safety on personally and still failed. Whomever the traitor was, they were very good and very close to the Director to have such information as to pull this off. He immediately pulled out his phone ordering the request of more Kevlar.

Gibbs dialed the number with sweaty palms and took a deep breath before hitting Send. He held the phone to his ear hearing it ring and then Ducky's voice answer, "Duck," He addressed the older man in a quiet tone knowing it was the middle of the night there.

"Hello Jethro," Ducky answered rather groggily. "What's wrong?" He asked immediately knowing that Gibbs wouldn't have made a call like this in the middle of the night for any other reason.

"Tony and Ziva," Gibbs sighed softly rubbing his forehead, "They're alive." He wanted to assure the man first and foremost, "But a sniper got both of them this morning. They're in surgery now. Tony took one to the chest this time. Another in the arm. Ziva was wearing a vest thankfully but still took three rounds in the arm, thigh and through her hand. They were pinned down. Lost a lot of blood."

"Dear God," Ducky gasped in astonishment, now fully awake, "What can I do to help?"

"I need you to break it to Abs. Palmer." Gibbs took another deep breath trying to control his own emotions knowing how badly Abby was going to take this. "And then get on a plane as fast as you can over here." He added, "I need someone I know and trust taking care of them. Gidon has a severe mole problem with a divided Mossad."

"I'll tell Mr. Palmer first. He can help break the news with me to Abigail." Ducky informed him coming up with his own plan, "I'll be on the first flight out in the morning."

"Thanks Duck." Gibbs answered him quietly.

"How is Timothy doing?" Ducky asked concerned about the younger man, "He must be struggling with both Ziva and Tony hurt at the same time." He knew how close the three had been after all the years of working as a trio.

"Pretty shaken up, Duck." Gibbs glanced softly towards McGee who was still staring at the bullet-ridden vest in his hands. "Listen, Abby is taking care of Director's Vance's kids right now," He remembered this important detail, "She's at his house. You might want to take Breena along to watch the kids if possible. Tell Abby about this outside of the house where the kids won't see her reaction."

"Ah," Ducky gasped in understanding. Not wanting to traumatize the already fragile children with witnessing what was bound to be a very upset Abigail Scuito. "Please let me know when you hear something from surgery."

"I will. Thanks Duck." Gibbs answered quietly and then hung up the call.

The next call was going to be even more difficult. He dialed Tony's father and waited for him to pick up. It was the middle of the night and it went first to voicemail. He hung up and tried again with Tony's phone.

"Oh Junior, this better be good!" Senior answered groggily, "Do you have any idea what time of night it is?"

"It's Agent Gibbs, Anthony." Gibbs spoke quietly and heard the man sit up immediately in bed.

"Gibbs, what's wrong?" He asked over the phone with heart already pounding and fear in his voice, "Is it Ziva? Has something happened to her?"

"They were both shot this morning by a sniper." Gibbs and heard the sharp intake of breath from the man on the other end, "They're both in surgery now."

"I'm on my way. I'll get Schmeil. We'll be in DC in the next couple of hours." The man was already moving quickly on the other end of the phone in a panic.

"We're not in D.C." Gibbs shook his head softly that the man was not aware of where they were. He and Tony didn't keep in that great of contact but then again, neither had he and his own father. "We're in Israel."

"Israel?!" Anthony DiNozzo Senior couldn't contain the surprise in his voice. "Why?" He asked in a panic knowing that was where Ziva had been shot to begin with.

"It's a long story." Gibbs sighed and rubbed his head again and took the plunge, knowing as a father no matter how bad the news, he'd want to know. "Tony took one to the chest. Another in the arm. He lost a lot of blood. They were pinned down. We couldn't get to them." He heard silence on the other end of the phone for a long moment.

"And Ziva?" A cracked voice full of emotion came over the line.

"Tony went down first. She was wearing a vest thankfully but took several rounds." Gibbs paused with mind flashing back to what he'd seen, "Ziva covered Tony as best as she could after he went down. She was shot through the hand, the arm and upper thigh. Just…a lot of blood loss for both of them." He swallowed hard, "We won't know much until they're out of surgery. I just wanted to make sure and call you before you saw it on the morning news."

"Thank you." Senior answered quietly, "I'll book a flight to Tel-Aviv. Please call…" He got choked up and Gibbs understood.

"I'll let you know as soon as I hear something."

"Thank you." He answered and the line went dead.

Several hours later, Malachi now sat beside them and waited for news. He'd brought both Gibbs and McGee changes of clothing, both now wearing tan desert fatigues and t-shirts and everyone was now wearing a Kevlar vest beneath their clothing.

Ziva had been out of surgery for more then an hour now and was resting in Recovery while Tony was still being operated on.

"You can go in and see her now." The nurse appeared with a soft smile, "She won't be waking anytime soon but is holding Stable. The doctor will be in shortly to discuss her injuries." When they all stood to go in the nurse put her hand up, "I'm sorry but only two visitors at a time."

"These two don't leave my side." Gibbs waggled his fingers between E.J. and McGee looking pointedly at the woman.

"It is fine." Malachi stepped in using his authority to circumvent the standard procedures.

The nurse nodded her agreement in the face of the Director and motioned them to follow her. Everyone was quiet as they stepped into the room to see Ziva, once again, lying in a hospital bed and looking too fragile for their liking.

As for her injuries, a small pad of gauze was tapped over her cheek; her left hand was strapped to a stabilizing board and wrapped so thickly with gauze that just the tips of her fingers stuck out from the bandages. Her upper left arm was also wrapped and they could only guess that the wound to her thigh was wrapped in similar fashion but hidden currently beneath the hospital bed sheets.

"The doctor will be here shortly." The nurse smiled at them once more and left the room.

Gibbs leaned over and kissed Ziva's forehead and then stood, holding her one good hand while they all waited anxiously for the doctor. E.J. stepped forward and removed the necklace from around her neck. Smiling softly as she slid the ring off and handed it over to Gibbs; while she carefully replaced the Star of David around Ziva's neck, Gibbs slid the engagement ring up Ziva's finger putting it back where it belonged as well.

"Shalom," The younger doctor greeted them with a small smile. "Ziva is doing very well." He immediately launched into his report knowing how anxious they all were. "The vest saved her life and the other injuries are no longer life threatening. Her biggest concern was blood loss though we believe we're making progress on that front with transfusions." He nodded towards the bags of blood still having from her IVs and slowly seeping into her body. "The gunshot would through her upper arm was the biggest concern. We were able to repair the artery and it should heal very well. The bullet through her upper thigh was a through-and-through, all flesh and no bone thankfully. Her hand," He inhaled deeply shaking his head with a small smile, "Is rather miraculous actually. Because of the way her hand was already wrapped this morning from the stitches to her palm, with her thumb held away from her fingers," He demonstrated what he meant with his own hand.

"The bullet went through the best place possible to cause the least amount of damage. Just through the deep fleshy part of her hand between her palm and her thumb. She will have a limited range of motion now of course with the thumb but all in all, she was incredibly lucky. As was Agent DiNozzo because of that hand." He smiled, "The best we can tell from what we were told is that the bullet that pierced through Ziva's hand then went into Agent DiNozzo's chest. It was just enough to slow the bullet and change its course from piercing his heart. Instead, it veered off towards his shoulder after bouncing off his sternum. I'm afraid that the damage to his upper left lung lobe was quite significant unfortunately. It has to be removed."

Everyone's face fell with the news that part of Tony's lung would need to be removed.

"Ziva's hand on his chest saved his life. Without question in my mind." The doctor offered them some good news with a soft smile, "We already removed the bullet from his arm. Agent DiNozzo is doing well now in surgery. I just left him. The surgeon working on him is excellent at this type of surgery. They are currently perfoming a Posterolateral Thoracotomy." He advised once again using his own body as a visual aid, "Cutting around his side from back to front following his ribs. This way we were able to spread his ribs to access the lung and cause the least amount of damage and recovery time. He already had significant amounts of scar tissue in his lungs, given his medical histoy we know is the result from his bout with the Plague."

The man eyed Gibbs curiously as that wasn't something he saw everyday and Gibbs nodded that it was the truth. "His oxygen saturation is quite low right now given his loss of the lobe and issues with scar tissue. Blood loss is also a major concern that they're watching closely. They're going to keep him medically sedated for a while to ensure proper healing time."

He paused for a moment and then reached into his lab coat pocket removing a tiny plastic containers. "They are both incredibly lucky that it was not worse." He handed over the bullets they'd removed to Malachi who looked at them and then passed them to Gibbs. "Ziva must really be something of a miracle. I performed her surgery last time as well." He shook his head with amazement looking at her now. "I'm so very thankful she was wearing that vest. Given the bruising I already saw on her chest from impact, there would have been no way she could have survived again without it given her previous injuries."

"Thank you." Gibbs extended his hand with a grateful small smile to meet the man who had saved her life before and now.

"I also asked our best plastic surgeon to suture Ziva's facial bullet graze. He used the tiniest stitches possible to reduce her scarring." He smiled looking down at her, "Such a beautiful face. Cannot carry such a scar." He looked back up nodding at them softly. "I will check back on them both later when DiNozzo is in Recovery. They will be moved to the same room even though Agent DiNozzo will be listed as Critical Care."

"Actually, I want them both transferred out of here as soon as possible." Gibbs spoke up and caught Malachi and the doctor's astonished looks. "When they are stable enough to move." He looked at Malachi, "She's not safe here."

"I can make arrangements to Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany." Vance immediately offered knowing it was the US's main medical center for stabalization of major medical crisis coming out of Afghanistan.

"Ziva should wake soon enough. We will discuss where to, when she does." Malachi countered knowing the woman would want to have a say and he still needed her help in getting Liat back. He understood Gibbs reasoning but it still stung to know he couldn't keep them safe as promised.

"Special Agent Gibbs," The doctor began, "I understand your concerns given the situation, but Agent DiNozzo should be moved as little as possible in the next 48 hours at least and it should not be far given his condition. He is still in danger given his lung condition and blood loss. The only reason I allowed Ziva to be moved the way she was last time was as a last resort to save her life knowing she was in imminent danger."

"Well they both could still be in 'imminent danger' here, Doc." Gibbs argued, "Too many people in this building still want Ziva dead."

Liat yanked against her restraints and bit her lip to keep from crying out. The metal cuffs digging into her wrists as she tried once again to slip her hand out but it was futile. The tears were already staining her dirty cheeks burned as they ran from her eyes silently. She heard the sound of heavy footsteps and pulled back trying to hide the evidence of her bloody wrists that she'd been trying to escape, having already been treatened once with sedation if she didn't stop hurting herself with such attempts.

Bodnar came through the door moments later and a hard shudder coursed through her body involuntarily to see his sickening smile. He kneeled in front of her and tisked his tongue at her shaking his head when he looked at her mangled wrists.

"I thought we had this discussion, Liat?" He looked at her sternly, "I gave you the opportunity for the baby's sake, to play by my rules. Now you are forcing me to sedate you until you can cooperate." He nodded towards the man at the door, "Hadar, get the sedation."

"Hadar…" Liat gasped looking at the man in a breathless whisper, recognizing the name from Ziva's stories. The cigarette dangling now from his lips only confirming it and she inhaled a cry as he stared intently at her. "I know what you did to her! You're an animal! You both are!" She spit at Bodnar and was quickly backhanded, splitting her cheek.

"Listen! Little Sister...You're just as stubborn as she is!" Bodnar grabbed her face roughly in one hand, pinching her cheeks and chin and forcing her to look at him. "I told Ziva to come alone to meet me. She didn't listen. This is the consequence." He forced her to look at the photos in his other hand.

Liat cried out with instant tears in her eyes to see Tony's body lying in a pool of blood with Ziva's anguished and bloody face and body desperately trying to pull his dead weight.

"You killed him." Liat sobbed through choked tears to see Tony's body lying as it was with blood staining his shirt and Ziva's anguish.

"I will kill them all one by one if I must." Bodnar left the photos on the ground in front of her, just out of her reach so she couldn't move them and stood back. "Including the beloved father of your child. I know that he is the new Director. Not your' betrothed in Asa." He smiled down at her forcing her to cry even more at knowing the truth, "The better question is, does Malachi know this?" He sighed with contentment. "Perhaps, I should congratulate him on having a daughter. Afterall, a father should be able to take pride in their' own child…even if that child is nothing more then a bastard to everyone else." His tone was biting, "I'm sure that if given the chance, she would have become the darling apple of her father's eye. Just like Ziva." He sighed again and began walking away, "You have Ziva and her stubbornness to thank for you lengthened stay with me, Liat. I'm sure she will need time to recover from her new wounds. Hopefully, by then she will have learned the lesson."

When the door closed Liat couldn't hold back any longer letting go of a long wailing cry and screamed yanking hard on her chains in her own anguish staring at the photos before her. They had come to Israel to find her and in the process, Ziva had been shot again and now Tony was dead. It was more then she could bare and all she could do was cry and scream at the injustice of it all.

Sorry folks, but I will not be updating Rules of Engagement ROE Book:2 again until MONDAY as I'm working in SCIF Mode this weekend and on the go. My many apologies! - Wild