Chapter Two
“What did she tell you in the kitchen?” Ziva questioned, mysteriously glancing at Gibbs who sat in the driver’s seat of the sedan.
They had been driving nearly fifteen minutes in the direction of the Navy Yard before a word was spoken between the two. Gibbs had remained in total silence due to the fact of what he had just learned. Anger, regret, and motivation coerced through his veins, causing him to nearly forget where he was and what exactly he was doing. The sound of Ziva’s voice caused him to give a slight jolt, as if awakened from complete meditation.
Ziva, however, had spent the journey from the Clark residence in complete wonder. What did she tell Gibbs? What was making him so edgy? Why has he been so agitated lately?
After Ziva voiced her wonder, he decided to ignore it and took to turning on the radio. After finding a radio station of classical rock, he returned his full attention to driving. ‘How could she not tell me?’ A voice in Gibbs’ mind sounded. ‘Well, she probably couldn’t find you. You’re forgetting she didn’t even know your name!’ an opposing voice said. ‘But still…to spring that on me! What does she expect me to do now?!’ the first voice sounded.
Fortunately, Gibbs was spared of further questions from Ziva when he received a call from Tony. “Hey, Boss. Clark’s C.O. said that Clark was an outstanding sailor and the psychologist thought he was borderline obsessive with his work and a perfectionist; not a bad trait in the C.O.’s eyes but the psychologist didn’t take it as lightly. And all we could find in his bunk that was even a little out of the ordinary was a receipt that looks like it was sent through the washing machine. Other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary.”
“You mean nothing other than a missing sailor?!” Gibbs shouted before hanging up on Tony.
Picking up on Gibbs’ agitation, the feeling of pride that consumed Ziva earlier when he had referred to her as his partner had completely vanished. She began to feel like she had done something to contribute to his anxiety. ‘What was causing him to be so short with everyone? It couldn’t have just been what the woman had told him in the kitchen. He’s been acting off for the past few weeks!’ the thoughts sounded in Ziva’s mind.
It wasn’t like she had her own problems to worry about, much less Gibbs’. But Gibbs wasn’t one who usually showed his emotions to his co-workers. This was most unlike him. Yes, he was always a bit short with them all, particularly with Tony, but he was even snapping at Ziva like that now! Ziva suspected that there might be more than one contributor to this most recent explosion of anxiety expressed by Gibbs. Years of bottled-up emotions were now reaching the top of the jar, threateningly pulsating just before the inevitable explosion.
But then there were her own problems on her mind. She thought that by coming to NCIS she would be able to escape everything at Mossad, such as her father. They had never really gotten along with each other, but even the tiniest sense of love that she ever possessed for him was now permanently extinguished. Deputy Director David of Mossad. She certainly had a lot to live up to, but the prospect of having to shape her life around his reputation threatened her very career. She needed to escape it and hoped to God to do so by leaving the organization entirely.
Although nearly two years ago, it proved to be hopeless, even though she was now with a different agency, in a different country, she could never escape her father. When she was accused of being involved in the conspiracy involving the two FBI Agents that were killed in the bombing, the only agency that was even willing to be there for her was Mossad, the very one she wished only to escape.
If it hadn’t been for Gibbs she would either still be on the run or possibly even in GITMO by now. She decided it was better not to linger on such topics but it proved to be inevitable. No matter how hard she tried not to be, Ziva David was a very pessimistic person, indeed.
Then there was the other problem that had been bothering her for nearly three years. The problem that had been living right in front of her face the whole time. In hindsight, she didn’t know how she has been able to bear it for so long. But the days wore on, and every day she could see her very own emotions for Tony growing evermore into love.
It was all becoming too much for her to handle at that moment. She did all she could to hold in all that she was feeling " Gibbs’ random irritability, family problems, Tony problems and his ever-growing infatuation with that new girl, Heather. If she hadn’t been so swept up in her thoughts, she might have noticed a tear slide down the side of her face.
***********
“So what have you got Abbs?” Tony asked looking over Abby’s shoulder as she looked under a microscope.
Without looking up from her microscope, Abby said audibly “Tony, please enlighten me on something. Why a receipt? What made you decide to bring a receipt in as evidence?”
Tony stared at her, hoping that it didn’t all turn out to be nothing. “Uhm…Don’t ask me…it was all McGee. But my guess is…maybe Clark bought something exotic that we track down?”
“Clark didn’t buy it at all. Whatever McGee’s reasons were, they might have just led us to Carl Clark, or at least to his assailant.” Abby said pulling up the microscope on the computer. “Look.” She said grinning at Tony.
Tony walked closer to the plasma screen at the writing on the piece of paper that had been smeared by apparent laundry detergent. His eyes squinted as he tried to read the blurred letters upon the paper.
“And what exactly am I looking at?” Tony said turning away from the plasma glancing back at Abby.
“Hopefully, Clark’s kidnapper.” Abby said returning to her keyboard and typing in a few notes here and there which cleared the image enough for Tony to decipher what was written on the receipt.
“It’s a credit card number. And the account is not register to Clark.” Abby said looking over at Tony.
“Who is it registered to?” Tony asked glancing at Abby.
With a typing for a few moments at the keyboard, she gave a slight jump, spun around, and snapped her fingers. “Abra-Kadabra!”
Tony did not partake in Abby’s celebration, nor did he make any indication that Abby had in fact discovered who the account was registered to. The face that appeared across the plasma screen was one that Tony certainly did not expect to see. Without another word, Tony left the room.
**********
Gibbs walked down the orange hallways on the ground floor. Walking past Abby’s Lab, he entered the screening room of Interrogation Room 2. He looked through the glass upon the young girl’s face. It was a strange feeling. He certainly could see the distinct difference between her and her brother.
“How long she been in there?” Gibbs asked the monitor.
“Nearly two hours. She’s just been reading that book. Nothing else. Barely moved at all.” The monitor responded to Gibbs.
Gibbs looked in at her for just a few more moments before walking back into the hallway and into the room across the two-way mirror. “Sierra Clark?” Gibbs asked as the young girl placed a copy of her book down upon the table.
“Have you found my brother yet?” she asked looking extremely concerned.
“No, not yet. But we are working extremely hard on finding him. What book is that you are reading?” Gibbs said to the girl, doing his best to console her, while still get some information out of her.
The girl looked as if she was about to burst into tears. But upon mention of her book, it seemed to lift her spirits just slightly. “The Importance of Being Earnest. It’s my favorite. It always cheers me up.”
“Ah, I played Algernon in my tenth grade play.” Gibbs said with a slight smirk on his face. “Always thought I was a bit like him in real life.”
“Really?” Sierra said beginning to smile. “Carl always thought he was like Algernon too. Our mother read us this story since we were little. We always used to pretend he was Algernon and I was Cecily. Of course he was a lot older than me. I must have been four, and he was about eleven or twelve. Gosh, he just loved to read. All the time he had a book with him.”
“We’re going to find him. We are going find Carl.” Gibbs said reassuringly looking into Sierra’s eyes. “But in order to help me find him, I need you to tell me what happened last night.”
Sierra closed her eyes as a surge of tears erupted from her eyes. She emitted no sound, but merely shed a few tears in silence before she opened them again. Sierra then explained the entire ordeal of her brother’s kidnapping.
“We were just spending the evening together. It was his first leave in months. He’d been off in the Mediterranean for six months and he was only given 48 hours. He had to report back on base at 0600 hours tomorrow, so we decided we would catch up over dinner and movie.” Sierra began, looking Gibbs directly in the eyes.
“There were these guys that were taunting him. Just these jackasses that he went to high school with a million years ago. He always used to deal with it, but this time it was different. And I don’t blame him! I mean all he wanted in high school was to get away from those guys! And he comes back after fighting for his country to visit his family and he has to take their shit! Pardon my language.” Sierra said beginning to get carried away in her own tangent.
“What these men taunting him about?” Gibbs questioned.
“Just dumb high school stuff that doesn’t even correlate to anything that was going on that night!” Sierra said as if trying her best not to delve further into the subject.
“I don’t think ‘dumb high school stuff’ will suffice when I fill out my report.” Gibbs said trying his best to get what he could out of Sierra.
“Look, I can’t say. I don’t want to…to jeopardize his career. I mean, you’re a marine. This…this just isn’t pertinent to the case.” Sierra said with one last defense.
“Allow me to decide that.” Gibbs pressed.
“Off the record?” Sierra said, no longer looking up into Gibbs’ gaze.
Gibbs got out of his chair, motioned for the monitor to cut the audio and video and sat back down with Sierra. “Off the record.”
Sierra explained the entire confrontation with the men that were taunting him. Gibbs listened intently throughout the entire explanation, his mind focused intently on Sierra’s words.
“So, you see why I couldn’t tell you.” Sierra finished her explanation.
“It is noble of you to protect your brother’s reputation.” Gibbs said admiringly. “What happened after that?”
“Well, the guys that were giving him a hard time were freaked out, and they just ran off. One of them might have gotten a better look at the person that took Carl. I was knocked to the ground and couldn’t see anything.” Sierra explained.
“Can I have the name of these men?” Gibbs said handing Sierra a notepad and paper.
Sierra glanced down at the paper and then back up to Gibbs. The mental debate that she went through seemed to take a heavy toll on her. But eventually, she took the pen in her hand and listed off five men.
**********
“Hey, Abby. Where’s Tony?” McGee asked walking into Abby’s Lab.
“Don’t ask me. I told him the results of some rather interesting evidence…speaking of which, please tell me why you thought half of a receipt would make interesting evidence?” Abby queried.
“Outstanding investigative intuition?” McGee said sounding slightly uncertain of his own answer.
“Anyways, you might go and check in autopsy. Tony might be down there.” Abby said returning to her computer.
Just as McGee left to continue his search for Tony, Ziva entered Abby’s Lab. “Hello, Abby.” Ziva said sounding very uncertain of herself.
“Hey.” Abby said, turning slightly just grasp a glance of Ziva before turning back to her computer and typing away.
“Listen, Abby. I was…I was hoping that we could….talk.” Ziva said inching closer and closer to Abby and her computer.
“Talk?” Abby said completely abandoning her game of Minesweeper.
“Yes. Talk.” Ziva said affirmingly.
Abby looked questioningly at Ziva before her face lit up. “Oh! You mean…talk?”
“Yes.” Ziva said with a slight exhale of relief.
“Well, yeah! I’m not doing anything right now. I mean Tony just decides to go disappear…” Abby began but was soon cut off by a persistent Ziva.
“Ugh, do not mention that man to me.” Ziva said walking over and fiddling with a few evidence vials.
“What? What do you have against Tony?” Abby asked appalled by Ziva’s actions.
“What do I have against Tony? Well we can start with the fact that he never appreciates anything any of us do! And he just goes about ignoring us all, excluding us from certain…activities.” Ziva ranted flinging her arms about.
“Ziva, what are you talking about?” Abby asked squinting her eyes, trying to understand what Ziva was trying to tell her.
Ziva motioned her hands and said “C’mon, Abby!”
“Oh! You…you…for Tony?” Abby said jumping up slightly.
“Yes!” Ziva said relieved she didn’t have to say it aloud.
“Aw, Ziva.” Abby said walking forward and giving her a hug. “Don’t feel too bad. I mean. At least you’re not in love with McGee.”
“Aha! Yeah. Like that’ll…wait.” Ziva began just as a thought hit her. “You don’t…?”
Abby merely nodded her head. “Aw, Abby.” Ziva said as the two grasped onto each other, bonding for the very first time in the three years they had been working together.
“But it’s not like I stand any chance with Tony! I mean, first there was Jeanne, and now there’s Heather, and…” Ziva began.
“Wait. Heather?” Abby asked as though another, more pressing thought just hit her. Abby walked over to her computer and pulled up the AFIS search result. “Not this Heather?” Abby indicated the photo of Heather Harp, the owner of the receipt in Clark’s bunk.
“Yes. That is the annoying, little…” Ziva began motioning her hands in the shape of a ring.
“Oh my God! Ziva! This is the owner of the credit card that was printed on the receipt! Tony must have gone after Heather himself!” Abby shouted just as Gibbs entered the room.
“Did I miss something?” Gibbs asked holding his coffee in one hand and a Caf-Pow! in the other.
“Gibbs! No time for Caf-Pow!’s! Tony went after his girlfriend because she just became our prime suspect in the case!” Abby shouted at Gibbs, ushering him and Ziva to the elevator.
Having tracked Tony’s cell phone in record time, the team prepared to set off to Tony’s apartment " the location his phone was tracked to. “Ziva, McGee, you two get the car and bring it around. I need to go to MTAC for a moment.” Gibbs dictated as he ran up the stairs to the Director’s office.
Having given retinal identification, Gibbs entered the Multiple Threat Alert Center to find the Director sitting in her normal spot in front of the projection screen. “Director, we have a slight problem.”
**********
Ziva peered over the window sill into Tony’s living room. The sight was a disaster. Furniture was everywhere, broken glass across the floor, and not to mention the form of a lifeless body sprawled across the floor. Ziva held her breath, hoping to God it wasn’t Tony that lied there.
“Got it.” Gibbs said after he successfully picked the lock into his house.
Holding her gun firmly, Ziva entered the room, checking down the hallway in front of her, then the kitchen to her left. Nobody was there. She proceeded on to the living room. Nobody was there either…except for the body lying on the ground. Her gun still raised, she glanced down at the young man.
“Gibbs!” Ziva said calling Gibbs over. Ziva finally saw it. What the woman had said to Gibbs in the kitchen. What had been bothering him all day. It still didn’t explain what has been bothering him for the past month, but this was just one more piece of the puzzle.
Looking up at Gibbs, Ziva stated matter-of-factly, “He is your son isn’t he?”
**********
“You have not been answering my questions, Special Agent DiNozzo,” came the woman’s voice yet again.
Tony did his best attempts to wriggle free from the ropes that bound him to a chair as well as the blindfold over his face. He heard voices echoing off the walls of a large room. He was definitely in a garage of some sort. The air had a slight chill to it, as if somebody had left the air conditioner going for days and days.
“I will ask again: What is your relationship with Mossad Officer Ziva David?” The woman asked for the fourth time.
Tony found this line of questioning extremely odd. ‘Why does she want to know about Ziva? What is so special about Ziva? Unless…” Tony’s thoughts argued.
“Why does Ziva interest you?” Tony asked, finally giving up on freeing himself.
“I am asking the questions here!” The woman shouted at Tony.
That tone reminded Tony of something. He had heard that voice somewhere before…but Tony just couldn’t remember where from.
“Who are you?” Tony asked quietly.
There was a long period of silence on the woman’s end before she leaned forward and slid the blindfold off of Tony’s face.
Tony’s pupils widened, attempting to adjust to the dark atmosphere as he glared up at the woman standing in front of him. Her unmistakeably brown, wavy hair and that same smirk that he had seen every day for two years brought him back in an instant. “Hey, Tony.”
“Kate?”
-To Be Continued-
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.