Chapter 3
"Ma'am!" Ziva shouted to a flight attendant who was cowering in the corner of first class. "Come here and help me, please," she insisted.
The pretty blonde didn't look a day over twenty-two, and had an innocence about her that Ziva hadn't seen in a long time. She approached Ziva hesitantly, unsure of what was required.
"Grab that blanket!" Ziva ordered. "This is Special Agent Jethro Gibbs," Ziva said by way of introduction, hoping it would set the girl at ease to know the identity of the man she was assisting. Ziva took the blanket and used the cloth to wipe the blood away from his head wound. She wrapped his head tightly in the blanket, and then shifted his body so that his head was lying in the young girl's lap. "Apply pressure here," Ziva explained. "Thank you," Ziva said, as she rose. "You are saving his life."
Ziva struggled to keep her thoughts off of Gibbs and on to how to stop the crazy terrorist who had hijacked the plane. She looked around the plane, trying to think of a way to stop it. He hadn't closed the door, so the cabin wasn't properly pressurized. If he succeeded in taking off, everyone in the plane would die from lack of oxygen. She knew they had to keep this plane on the ground. "Where's avionics?" Ziva asked the flight attendant.
"Umm… it's down below in the tail of the plane," the girl replied shakily.
When Ziva began to move quickly in that direction, the girl cried out, "You'll never access it! They've added a reinforced door for security," she explained.
"Crap!" Ziva said in frustration. The plane was gaining speed and making its last turn toward the runway. Time was running out, and Ziva needed to think of something quickly.
Ziva heard the engines throttle up a bit through the open door, and decided to attempt to close it before the air speed increased and it became impossible to do so. She held tightly to the handle on the inside of the plane in an attempt to keep her balance, as she reached for the door. With a quick glance to the left, she realized she could see the air intakes for the engines on that side of the plane. "Of course!" she whispered, drawing and aiming her Sig Sauer. Even though the titanium and aircraft aluminum of the engine ordinarily would not sustain much more than a scratch from a 9mm round, with the turbines spinning at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute Ziva knew that the tiny piece of lead would cause one or more of the blades on the turbine to shatter, throwing the engine out of balance and causing it to shake itself apart. Ziva fired two rounds into the first engine. She was rewarded with a plume of thick, black smoke exiting the rear of the engine, followed by a violent shudder, the sound of thrashed metal and a booming sound that shook the plane.
"Director Shepard's is going to love this," Ziva mumbled under her breath, imagining her response to the amount of money this was going to cost. She shrugged her shoulders, and then turned her attention to the other engine.
The passengers who had already boarded the plane had gathered in the part of the plane furthest from the door. Unsure how to deal with them, Ziva gave them a reassuring smile, and then rushed back into first class. She knew Al-Fulani would soon be leaving the cockpit, now that the plane was no longer air-worthy.
Ziva ejected the now-empty magazine from her weapon, and inserted her spare. She stopped to check on Gibbs, never taking her attention completely off the cockpit doors.
"How is he?" Ziva asked the flight attendant.
"He's still breathing," the girl said, still unsure of what to do.
Ziva leaned down over her boss and began running her hands across his body. The flight attendant gave her a weird look. Ziva met her gaze with a smile, and then looked at her nametag. "Sarah," she said to the girl. "Thank you for your help. You are doing fine." Finally finding her boss's extra clip, Ziva removed it from his person and placed it in her pocket. "Thanks for the back-up, Boss," she said into his ear, and then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Stay with us," she begged him, as she rose to stand next to the cockpit doors.
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The scene inside the airport was nearly as harried as the one in the plane. Fornell had taken over, and had begun shouting orders to the security staff as if they were his own people. Medical personnel were on-hand, and he was more than ready to take the terrorist into custody. Airport security had cracked down and the tension was thick, as no planes would be taking off or landing until the situation was resolved and the villain apprehended. Fornell grabbed his phone to contact Sacks.
"It's me," he said, and then listened for the younger agent to update him on the situation at Bethesda Hospital. He smirked in amusement at the young man's annoyance at having to take orders from one NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. "Keep me informed," he said, snapping his phone shut.
Fornell made his way back outside the gate area, where several agents were gathered watching the action unfold. It appeared the engines on one side of the plane had been destroyed, and the plane began turning in a large counter-clockwise circle in the middle of the tarmac. The plane was slowing, and Fornell suspected Al-Fulani would soon attempt to make a break for it. He coordinated his agents, as well as those from airport security, into every possible position. "Bring it on," he said under his breath. He had wanted to stop this man for some time now, and would finally get his chance.
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