Chapter 15

The Plan

Ziva notices a change in her routine and then her fate as she sees Tony for the first time in four months, sitting tied to a chair in front of her.

Characters: Saleem, McGee, Tony, and Ziva

Ziva's POV

I was moved back to my smaller room four days ago, after telling Saleem what I would about Mossad and still nothing about NCIS. I had not seen him at all in those four days, but I was under a sedative every time nobody was directly supervising me, because I had made an escape attempt, taking out four more of his number and getting as far as the fences, but not quite to the gates.

Even though I was sedated, I was still quite aware of everything going on around me, and more than aware of the fact that I still had a knife if I needed it. Although I wasn't entirely sure how Saleem had missed the knife in his assaults on me. But, in that respect, I was healing a little. At least, I was no longer in pain in that area, just a little uncomfortable.

It was late afternoon when I heard a disturbance in the camp. There were shouts being exchanged in Arabic and I strained my ears to hear them properly. They talked of men found in the abandoned village and coming in. Two white men, as best as I could hear, but I didn't get any other details because the sedative kicked in around then and everything was so hazy.

I tried hard to hear them when they came in, but I heard nothing from the two men or from Saleem. I listened hard all night and sacrificed my sleep.

It was earlier afternoon on the second day after their arrival that Saleem came into my room again. This time he put a sack over my face and seemed to be very angry. He dragged me by the arm with the broken collar bone, reminding me of the considerable amount of pain I had suppressed, although it could tell that it was healing some. The sedative was wearing off at that point and the feel of his hands on me, made me flinch. I still remembered how hurtful those hands could be.

I was half-dragged, half-led into another room. I guessed it was the initial interrogation room based on the direction we went in, but I didn't know for sure since I couldn't see anything. I was set in a chair, facing the wrong direction, and then he spoke.

"There is talk in town of two missing NCIS agents," Saleem said and my heart nearly stopped as he said these words; I could think of only one person on one specific team who would be trying to find me in Somalia. "One of you will tell me the names and locations of all troops in the area, and the other will die."

The bag was removed roughly from my head and I was met with Tony's green eyes and they were a spectacular and comforting sight, although I was sure my face couldn't quite show that, considering the sedatives and the pain I was feeling. My head had a difficult time comprehending those green eyes and why they hid the fact that Tony was bubbling with emotions at the sight of me. My brain felt hazy and I was fighting to make it work properly.

"I will give you two a moment to decide who lives and who dies," Saleem said before leaving the interrogation room.

Tony smirked at me and said, "Well, how was your summer?"

Always joking, I thought. But it was good to hear it. I wanted to smile and I was fighting as hard as I could against the sedatives. I blinked a couple of times.

"It had to be you," I whispered and nodded my head at him.

"You're welcome," he said nodding his head in return. "So are you glad to see me?"

Yes, I wanted to shout at him. But, I had been here a long time and knew what it was like here, and he was obviously captive himself. "You should not have come," I said shaking my head at him fighting all the different emotions and fighting to think clearly.

He looked confused. "Alright then, good catching up. I'll just be going, then," he said quietly and started to move.

"Tony," I complained and he stopped mid-action. "Yes, I am glad to see you," I added in a whisper somehow unable to keep that from him. "Are you two alright?"

"Just glad you're alive," McGee answered from behind me.

"You thought I was dead?" I asked Tony.

"Oh... oh yea," Tony said with wide eyes filled with pain.

"No he didn't, not really," McGee answered. "Rest of us did, though. Guess his gut's worth something, after all."

"Then, why are you here?" I asked over the top of McGee, not listening to his response.

He struggled for a moment, probably against the same truth serum that I fought for a couple of weeks. "Couldn't live without you... I guess," he said with as much of a shrug as he could muster up.

I smirked and tried to turn my face away from him, so he wouldn't see it. But then I met his eyes and saw the lingering pain from my absence.

"You should've left me alone," I whispered to him.

"Okay, tried, couldn't. Listen, you should know, I've taken some kind of truth serum, so if there's any questions you don't want to know the answers to, just don't ask," he said and I nodded. I knew about that truth serum well. Although it seemed to me that he was doing well with it and what was being spoken and how it was being said.

"Tony, you have to tell Saleem everything he wants to hear," I said to him. "Save yourself and McGee."

"That's not how it works," McGee muttered from behind me.

"How what works?" I asked, my eyes going wide, feeling strength surge through me as I realized there was more to this.

"The plan," Tony whispered, some of the twinkle in his eye returning to him.

"You have an escape plan?" I asked him curiously.

He winked and I smiled a little. "Tony, he has thirty men, heavily armed. He has anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. What do you have?"

"Well that's where things get a little tricky," he said to me and explained his plan and how it was formed.

"Wait," I said, interrupting him quietly, "you got captured on purpose?"

He nodded and there was a moment of silence, where our eyes did all of the arguing. And then, miraculously, understanding came to me. It was like neither Tony or I had missed a beat in our time of separation from each other. "This plan... it would involve being rescued."

"Yes, it would," he said quietly to me and then finished telling me the plan as commotion built up outside.

"Can you reach my ankle?" I asked him, throwing my right foot up on his chair and sliding it as far out as I could. He smirked and pulled the knife from it. I slid off the chair and quickly took it from him and sat back down, just as the door opened.

"Rule nine," he smiled as his eyes met with Saleem's and I slipped the knife between my knees to where my wrists fell and started to slowly saw at the ropes there. "Oh, hey, Saleem," Tony greeted, getting a distraction going for me, giving me as much time as he could, seeing that I was forming a plan of my own. There was no time to share this with McGee and Tony only hoped he was reading it right.

"We're moving out. We're not taking prisoners," he said.

"Well, okay, it was nice talking with you," Tony said as Saleem checked the window and came back.

"No, you're not done yet," Saleem said as he grabbed my hair. I couldn't help the flinch and gasp at the contact with him and Tony read right into it and his eyes became very angry with all that he guessed would cause this reaction from me.

"Kill me, you'll need the Americans for leverage," I said quickly.

"I do not make bargains," Saleem said firmly.

"Do you make pizza?" Tony asked quietly.