Flames Burn Out
- Chapter 6: Traps Of All Sorts -
He was startled from his thoughts by the increase in the beeping of her heart monitor.
"Jethro...Jethro why..." her voice was weak and he could tell she was still asleep.
"Jen, Jen wake up!" He called to her. He placed his hand on her cheek. He could remember a warm touch during his coma, a warm touch on his forehead and arm. He ran a finger over her forehead soothing away the worry lines. He'd never noticed how well she'd aged, just a few more lines but no grays and still in remarkable shape. He stood beside the bed shifting his weight slightly; he needed a drink or at least a coffee refill.
Jenny found her vision was blurry as she opened her eyes. She didn't recognize the room she was in but felt the warm touch on her arm. The last thing she could remember was sticking her arm in a box to check the package and then...then what? What happened? Jethro!
"Jen, wake up Jen!" His voice sounded pleading and tired. Her vision started to clear and she spotted him beside her.
"Jethro?"
"Jen!" He leaned over her and his bright blue eyes were mysteriously wet, she tried to move her hand but couldn't. Jethro watched her eyes go wide in fear. "Jen?"
"I can't move," she whispered.
"It's okay, it's the snake venom, it'll be better later," he reassured. She looked at him confused.
"Snake venom?"
"You got bit by a snake, a Black Mamba I think."
"In my office?" She clarified.
"Yes, it was in the package you opened. Abby's analyzing and the team's going to figure out how it got into the building."
Jenny turned her head away from him and he heard the faint sight. He tightened his grip on her arm, his thumb tracing over her pulse point. He felt the faint acceleration in her heart rate, which then quickly ebbed. He felt her struggle to move her hand and could see the frustration in her face.
"He did this to me," she said angrily. "He tried again, and he's going to keep trying."
"He's not going to succeeded Jenny."
"Jethro," her voice was wary, the last thing she wanted was false promises.
"It's not going to happen. You can stay with me, the team will get him..."
"Jethro no," she cut off. "There's only one way this is going to end and I...I know that. It's what I dissevered," she whispered. He really hated her guilty conscience.
"You deserve? Jen you are completely irrational!" He protested. "The only way this is going to end is with him in cuffs or dead, dead being preferable!"
"No!" Her voice had risen at that. "You're not going to kill him, promise me," she pleaded in desperation. If she wasn't there to make sure it went away he would be punished and she couldn't have that.
"I can't, and you know that, and even if I could, Ziva would kill him or DiNozzo, or McGee, hell Ducky might kill him too."
"Jethro..."
"I am not going to watch them lower your coffin into the ground," he swore.
"I know," her voice was chocked with tears. So much for the pretending to be over one another, she thought. "Please don't go by yourself, you need backup."
"Jen..."
"If you kill him no one will know, but you have to make sure you don't end up dead too," she reasoned. "And I can't go with you, at least right now." She tried to move her arm again.
"Don't overdue it," he warned holding her arm in place gently.
"I hate this!" She snapped, Gibbs could see the fire flash through her eyes and propped her up on the pillows, which only seemed to make it worse. "Shouldn't you be off torturing your team?"
"Earning another slap?"
"I apologized for that," she argued.
"I deserved it, and to answer your question, no. I should be making sure you're all right," he paused as her eyes softened. "Besides can't have the agency being sold off to the three letter boys," he quipped. She laughed and then frowned.
"I guess I won't be laughing for a while."
"Doctor said you'd be sick for a bit, just a side effect."
"Great morning..." she faded off stopping herself from saying anything else. She wasn't sure he'd dealt with what she had told him and she wasn't sure now was the best time to figure it out.
"It won't be so bad," he replied. She rolled her eyes. They always say that. "It won't, as soon as you're released we'll leave."
"When will that be?"
"Have you always been this impatient?" he teased. She simply smirked and then yawned. "Get some sleep, Jen."
"You'll be here later?"
"I'm not going anywhere," he assured. He watched her close her eyes and waited for her breathing to even out. "I won't let anything happen to you Jen, I'll take care of you."
---
Ziva sat silently at her desk, her fingers typing forcibly against the keys. Tony looked over every so often to see if she had gotten anything. McGee had long left for Abby's lab and was staying out of the line of fire. Tony knew Gibbs would kill them if they let this guy get away. He heard another loud curse from Ziva in what he thought might be Hebrew.
"Something wrong Zee-vah?"
"Jenny is lying in a hospital and we have nothing, why would you think anything is wrong?"
"Ziva she's with Gibbs."
"And he did such a great job of protecting her!" Ziva muttered angrily.
""Hey that was totally not fair!" Tony protested. "He's the reason she's still Director!"
"The reason she's still Director? Jenny has been through more hell because of him then anyone could ever imagine!"
"Gibbs would never..."
"Never what? Hurt her? Break her heart?" Ziva shouted.
"Children!" Ducky snapped interrupting the fight.
"Ducky why don't you tell Officer David that Gibbs isn't going to let anything happen to the Director!"
"Maybe you should tell Agent DiNozzo just how many times he's failed!"
"Enough, the both of you! You should be ashamed, shouldn't even be meddling in things you don't know anything about!"
"I know enough!"
"Ziva dear," Ducky began trying to calm her down.
"Don't even think it Ducky!"
"Sorry to interrupt," Abby piped up from Gibbs' desk.
"What is it Probie, Abby?" Tony demanded.
"We found him," McGee announced.
"Maxwell Aurrilla?"
"It's interesting, the house we found is right down the street from..."
"The Director?" Ziva concluded.
"No, actually its Gibbs," Abby answered looking up at the rest of them.
"Gibbs?" came the surprised echo, okay not what I was expecting, Tony thought.
"Makes perfect sense, Jethro would never let Jennifer go back to her house after this," Ducky told them.
"He'd take her to the safest place he'd know," Tony agreed.
"And put her in the middle of a trap," Ziva pointed out.
"You guys don't get it do you?" Abby sighed.
"Get what?"
"McGee said that you, Ziva, found out about Aurrilla's best friend. A drug lord murdered by a sniper."
"Yea so?"
"Kelley and her mother were killed because they saw a drug lord murder someone."
"So?" Tony questioned again, connections? These events happened are almost fifteen years apart.
"He's going after Jenny as revenge," Ziva said.
"Then he could have shot her, why the snake?" McGee inquired.
"He wanted Gibbs to suffer," Abby inferred. "I checked the box, it was supposed to be delivered to the Director's house...even if she'd survived..."
"She fits the profile," McGee said.
"Gibbs would kill him, scratch that Gibbs is going to kill him," Tony remarked.
"Jenny wouldn't able to cover it up," Ziva replied. "He wants to take them both out."
"And Ziva wins," Abby declared.
"Ziva you're driving!" Tony barked. McGee followed the two.
"Abby we'll call you when we get him," he called back to her. She nodded turning to Ducky and the two sat down at the desks to wait.
"We're going to need disguises," Ziva mentioned.
"Leave it to me," Tony responded. The elevator ride was silent. As they reached the car Tony dug out disguises from the trunk, wigs and such. It wasn't much but hopefully it might fool Aurrilla long enough to cuff him. They agreed to park at Gibbs' house and then go door to door as DCPD on a break-in investigation. The three knew their guns were loaded and ready to fire. As they approached the suspect's house Ziva pulled her hair into the clip.
"He so much as blinks, shoot him," She commanded. Tony nodded, my thoughts precisely, he knocked on the door and they waited. The man who answered was nothing if not good looking, minus the scar over his eye.
"Excuse me Sir, we're investigating a string of break-ins in the neighborhood," Tony said showing his badge.
"I haven't had any trouble," the man answered.
"Are you the owner, a Maxwell Aurrilla?" McGee inquired looking over some papers.
"Yes."
"We're going to need some proof," Tony added. "It's procedure."
"Of course," the man responded gesturing for them to come in. He looked the woman with them over and sighed; to bad she's not a red head. He grabbed his wallet and showed them the ID, DCPD won't know me, he thought. He handed the taller male the driver's licenses and watched the lady look around.
"You a fan of snakes, Mr. Aurrilla?" She asked.
"Yes, that a crime Officer...?"
"Officer David," she supplied. "Not its not a crime, though I see several that I believer are...what is the word?"
"Venomness," Tony finished.
"Yes, venomness. Dangerous pets to have, why a friend just got bitten by hers."
"What kind?"
"I don't know snakes, she's very sick in the hospital, paralyzed."
"Terrible tragedy," Aurrilla consoled. "I hope she will survive?"
"Oh I'm sure she well, her husband is taking excellent care of her," Ziva said. "Well her soon to be husband, amazing how near death experiences bring people together."
"Love is a strange thing," Aurrilla commented.
"I wouldn't call it love," Tony retorted checking over the license. He caught the looks and continued. "The guy, he has a thing for women like her, she's just another mark."
"Women like her?" Aurrilla echoed, sounds like an interesting woman.
"The usual, beautiful, powerful, a red head," McGee inserted. Aurrilla glanced up at this and studied the officers. There's something familiar about this, but what?
"Women with red hair are exceptional."
"Like red heads?" Tony questioned.
"Some."
"You know I generally prefer to see them alive," Tony mocked. At this Aurrilla began to panic and he began to back slowly to the door till he felt a gun at the back of his head.
"Personally I'd rather see men like you dead," Ziva whispered.
"Who are you?" Aurrilla demanded.
"NCIS, you're under arrest," McGee answered idly. Ziva cuffed him tightly and pat him down catching something.
"And looky here, someone else who believes in Rule Nine," she quipped pulling out a knife. It was identical to the one they had found at the crime scene, dried blood still on the tip. "With blood, if I test this am I going to find Jane Cutler's blood?"
"Jane lied!" He barked, so these are dearest Jenny's agents. Bitch! "They both lied, they killed my brother!"
"Tell it to our Bosses," Tony responded. The three got him in the car and back to NCIS with only one minor bump. They locked him in an interrogation room with six guards all with orders to shoot if he moved.
"We have to call Gibbs," Abby reminded as she saw the bad guy in the room.
"I'll do it," Tony said as Ziva reached for her phone.
"I'll call Jenny."
"Wait...call her after we call Gibbs," Tony suggested. Gibbs would kill him if the Director found out first. It picked up on the fourth ring.
"What DiNozzo?"
"We got him Boss."
"Aurrilla?" He could hear the anger in Gibbs' voice.
"One and the same, prints and DNA are being compared as we speak. Ziva found a knife on him, it has blood, she bluffed about it being from the first victim, we're running a sample."
"Who's running the sample?" Gibbs demanded.
"Abby, but Ziva is the only other one allowed in the lab, for some strange reason."
"Better stay that way," Gibbs warned. "Let him stew, I'll be there shortly." Tony heard the phone click.
"Well that went well," Tony sighed. "Now you can call the Director." Ziva did and the phone rang three times.
"Ziva she can't talk right now."
"Don't hang up Gibbs, I need her approval for something."
"What?"
"An amendment to the charges against Aurrilla."
"I can give you that approval, what charges?"
"Gibbs I will only speak with her." She could hear the faint voices and finally Jenny picked up.
"Ziva, what charge?"
"You know what we discussed earlier, about loss and such..."
"Ziva," her voice was quiet and sad. "As much as I may want it, we can't."
"Not to worry, Jenny," Ziva promised and hung up the phone. She could understand Jenny's reluctance on that front. She moved toward interrogation but Tony stopped her.
"Ziva, I'm sure Gibbs will save you a piece."
"He better."