“Hey, how’d it go?” McGee asked as they walked back into the bullpen, arms around each other.
“Great!” DiNozzo exclaimed
“Boy or girl?” Gibbs asked walking into the room
“Girl” Ziva answered
“Congratulations you two” Gibbs said “But we have a crime scene, Dinozzo, McGee, gear up and get the van, address is 43 Prince st”
“That reminds me, we never found the little girls parents did we?” Ziva said sadly
“No but were about to”
“Who’s been looking after her?” Tony asked
“Her Uncle and cousin, her aunty disappeared last week”
“What am I doing”
“Going to collect statements from the girl, her uncle and cousin”
“Their address?”
“31 Maple Lane, I’m gonna come as back up”
“Why?” Ziva asked “I’m just collecting statements”
“The suspect is the uncle”
“WHAT! Why would he kidnap his wife and her sister and her husband not to mention his own daughter”
“He has a mental condition, he was discharged from Cleveland Mental hospital when his daughter was 5”
“But that was 8 yrs ago” Tony argued
“They say a tiger lever loses its stripes” Ziva said
“I think you mean a leopard never loses its spots”
“What’s the difference?” said Ziva crabbily
“Anyway Ziva, you’ll go in to collect a statement from each of them, you also need to analyse all their behaviour, if he seems unstable we will have to attempt to remove the kids from the house in the next few days”
Tony and McGee got into the car and Tony started up the engine, they drove for a few miles in very awkward silence.
“So your gonna have a girl”
“Yeah”
“I Think you’ll be a great dad Tony” McGee said
“Thanks it means allot McGee, I’m sure you will be someday”
Gibbs and Ziva were heading to a small suburb not far away from NCIS HQ. It was quite picturesque actually, lots of small and large houses in tidy little streets, kids playing in the front yards with the neighbours and a few schools with mural’s painted on the brick walls of the buildings. Gibbs pulled up outside a little pale blue house with a beautiful flower garden out the front and a white picket fence. It looked like something form a fairy tale.
“This is the house?”
“Yep, get the notepads and pens from the glove box” Gibbs told Ziva “And here, stick this on one of your buttons”. Gibbs Handed Ziva a silver button, she peeled the backing off and stuck it over the button on her jeans.
“If you get in trouble, press it, it calls my pager”
“Ok”
“Good luck”
“Thankyou but it is not as if I need it, its just another set of interviews”
“Be careful, Dinozzo will kill me if something happens to you”
“I will, could everyone stop worrying about me, I am pregnant but I’m not an invalid”
Ziva got out of the car notepad and pen in hand and walked towards the house, Grace’s father emerged from the house.
“Hello, I’m officer David from NCIS”
“What do you want?” he asked grumpily
“I’m here to collect statements from your daughter, niece and you in relation to the disappearance of your wife”
“So go ahead”
“May I come in?”
“No, here is fine”
“All right then, where were you yesterday, all day”
“At work, at my construction company”
“Where were Grace And Nadia?”
“Nadia was at preschool, Grace was at school and she walked by the preschool and picked up Nadia on the way home”
“Do you know anything about your wife’s whereabouts, or that of her sister and your brother in law?”
“No, all these disappearances have been so sudden, no-one knows when they’re gonna happen, its creepy” he said with a shiver
“Can I see the girls?”
“They’re around the back”
Ziva walked around the back and let herself into the yard.
“Ziva?” Grace said
“Hello, I here to ask you some questions about what happened to your mum”
“Aunty Em, went away”
“where to Nadia” Ziva asked, sitting down on a bench in the yard. Grace looked at Nadia warningly
“I don’t know” Nadia said. Ziva Turned to Grace,
“If your know something, you need to tell me, your dad can’t hurt you, we can protect you, but we’ll never find your mum without your help” Ziva said softly
“He’s not my dad” Grace said fiercely
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t talk here, I think he’s listening to us, you’ll never get out, you should never have come!”
“NADIA, shut up!!!, don’t tell the bitch anything!” Grace’s ‘father’ yelled. Grace pulled Nadia close.
“Leave, he’ll hurt you”
“I’m not leaving you here, I’m taking you with me” Ziva told them. She pressed the button on her jeans and heard a car door open and shut in the street. Ziva drew her gun.
“Grace can you put Nadia on your back, go around the side and get into the silver Mercedes parked in the street, lock all the doors and keep out of sight” Ziva told Grace passing her the keys.
“I think they’re in the trapdoor in the pantry” Grace yelled while running around the side of the house
Ziva smelt smoke coming from the house. She entered the door and saw Gibbs struggling through a blanket of smoke spreading quickly through the house.
“They’re here under a trapdoor in the pantry?” Ziva yelled to Gibbs across the noise.
“GO, Go back to the car, it’s to dangerous!”
Ziva knew Gibbs was to far away from the kitchen to reach it in time.
“Get the father!” Ziva yelled at him and trudged towards the kitchen. She flung the pantry door open and saw a trapdoor, padlocked shut. This of course was no obstacle for a highly skilled mossad agent. Under the trapdoor was 2 women and, no that couldn’t be right, 2 men. One of them looked almost identical to Graces so called father.
Ziva dragged them all one by one out the trapdoor, one of the men was not as weak as the others and he helped her. They got them out the back door and Ziva, flipped up her cell, called Gibbs who had the ‘dad’ in custody waiting transport back to NCIS. The girls were waiting in the car. Gibbs had called an ambulance, which was on its way for the 4 prisoners. Ziva then called Tony and Mcgee who immediately raced there from the crime scene.
“Tony!” Ziva said when he arrived
“Are you ok?” said Tony putting his arms around Ziva.
“I’m fine”
“Are you sure?”
“I am fine Tony stop worrying”
“I’m asking the paramedics to check you out anyway, your pregnant and you just dragged 3 fully grown adults form a burning building!”
“Okay” Said Ziva
The paramedic came over and gave Ziva the all clear.
“You need to rest, let’s go home early, get take away and rent a movie”
“I do not think Gibbs will agree with that,” Ziva said
“Who cares” Tony said walking with Ziva towards the car
“How does ‘the cone-heads’ sound?” Tony asked
“Stupid” Ziva replied “how about this?” She said holding up ‘the rabbit proof fence’.
“An Australian classic” Tony said “let’s get it”
Author's Chapter Notes:
They find a clue leading to the recovery of Nadia and Grace's missing family, but Ziva must rescue them from a burning building, will the baby be ok?
Chapter End Notes:
one of my fav chapters