Die Another Day

Chapter 1

Ziva David glanced around the room she was in. It was carefully cleaned and it appeared as if it belonged in some magazine. The only probably with it was the dead marine in the middle of the floor. Anthony DiNozzo walked in and stood beside Ziva. “Hmm…nice house.” Tony commented.

At that moment, Leroy Jethro Gibbs entered the room. “Wife’s a big designer,” Gibbs said quickly. “No marine could afford this on a regular pay.”

Tony shrugged. “I guess I’m in the wrong line of business.” Tony said taking crime scene photographs.

There was silence as the three agents moved around the room gathering evidence. Timothy McGee entered the room with an evidence bag in his hand. “Boss, I found something.” McGee said quickly breaking the silence.

As McGee handed Gibbs the evidence bag that held a piece of paper, Ziva and Tony gathered around him. Gibbs squinted to read the paper. “I can’t read this McGee! It’s just lines and scribbles.” Gibbs said irritated.

Ziva shook her head taking the piece of paper in her hand. “No. This is Hebrew.” Ziva said swiftly.

It was as if everyone was holding their breath as Ziva’s eyes moved over the paper- right to left. Ziva looked up at the others dreadfully. There was a look of fear in her eyes. “Everyone out of the house now!” Ziva shouted quickly.

For a moment, the three agents just stood looking at Ziva. “Bomb!” Ziva said urgently.

That was a word that everyone understood perfectly fine. In a matter of minutes, the entire house was clear and seconds after that, the house blew up. Tony, Ziva, Gibbs and McGee watched from a safe distance. “Well,” Tony said slowly. “So much for the silk curtains…”

((-))

Back at NCIS, Gibbs looked at Ziva expectantly for a translation. “Are you waiting for Christmas?” Gibbs fired off.

Sighing, Ziva shook her head. “Well, this message is very simple.” Ziva said shortly.

Ziva,

There is a bomb in the house. If you don’t believe me, wait and die. If you do believe me, you shall live.

Shalom.

Tony and McGee exchanged odd looks. “The note was addressed to you?” Tony questioned.

Ziva nodded. “Yes,” Ziva said calmly.

This concept made no sense to any of them. “How could a person know you would be investigating this case?” McGee asked. “I mean, there’s a ton of NCIS agents. It’s just the luck of the draw that we got the case.”

There was silence as they thought of McGee’s words.

((-))

Dr. Donald Mallard stood over the charred remains of the marine. Jimmy Palmer joined Ducky’s side. “What a way to go,” Palmer commented.

Looking over at his assistant, Ducky gave him a questioning glance. “What do you mean Mr. Palmer?” Ducky asked curiously.

“Well, first he was stabbed and then he was blown up. So I guess it’s like dying twice…only he was dead before he was blown up, so I suppose that doesn’t count as dying…” Palmer said stuttering.

Tony and Gibbs happened to enter the morgue at that time. “Why do I always hear the end of people’s conversations?” Tony questioned shaking his head.

Gibbs chose to ignore both Tony and Palmer. He held his cup of coffee close to him. “You said you had something for us.” Gibbs said expectantly.

Ducky nodded. “Ah yes!” Ducky said. “Seaman Antonio DiGrizze was stabbed by a very blunt knife. In fact, it was so blunt, a piece of it broke off in him.”

With that, Ducky took an instrument off of a table and placed in into the body pulling out a small metal piece. He placed it in a plastic bag. “You can give this to Abby and when you find the knife, you can match it to this.” Ducky said proudly.

Gibbs took the evidence bag and began to quickly leave with Tony on his heels. “It’s odd, isn’t it?” Ducky question as Gibbs and Tony were about to leave. “His name is almost like yours Anthony.”

Pausing for a minute, Tony and Gibbs considered that. “Creepy,” Tony said shrugging it off before leaving for the elevator.

((-))

Ziva’s desk phone rang. She tiredly reached for it. Gibbs and Tony had just returned from autopsy. “Hello?” Ziva answered.

There was a small chuckle from the background. “Shalom Ziva,” A male voice said tauntingly.

It wasn’t just the word ‘shalom’ that caught her attention. The man’s accent was very Israeli or Middle Eastern at the least. “Who might you be?” Ziva continued carefully.

“I believe you know who I am. If you don’t know who I am, then you aren’t a very good agent.” The man said in Hebrew.

Ziva was now standing. She was concerned for it wasn’t often she got someone to speak Hebrew who knew her name. She flipped the phone to speaker and motioned for the others to listen. “Can we please speak English? I really must get used to the language.” Ziva said in English.

“You just want your friends who are standing beside you to understand our conversation.” The man replied in English. “You were never the greatest Mossad officer Ziva. I heard you switch the phone to speaker. Now you’re brother…Ari was a fantastic Mossad officer.”

Gibbs did not look too pleased with this statement. That was the only problem with Gibbs. He could never hear the sarcasm in people’s voices, just like the man had just used. “What is your reason for calling?” Ziva questioned looking slightly angry.

“I am calling to warn you Ziva. Funny how Seaman Antonio DiGrizze’s name is almost like that of Anthony DiNozzo’s, yes? All those around you are going to die. Hamas is out for revenge. They know you killed Ari as does your father. Basically, the Israeli government wants to arrest you while Hamas wants to kill your friends and you.” The voice said heavily. “There is no way out Ziva. You are either to be arrested or dead.”

Ziva shook her head. “You claim I have no options. This tells me that you obviously don’t know me.” Ziva said firmly.

There was a laugh on the other end. “Oh, but how I do know you Ziva! Unfortunately, I work with Hamas. You would have been killed today if I hadn’t left that note.” The man said quietly. “Since I know you, I know you won’t stop until someone stops you. I am stopping you. Hamas is already after DiNozzo. You have to turn yourself in.”

Now it was Ziva’s turn to laugh. “You seriously need lessons in English! What you are saying makes no sense! The Israeli government can’t touch me. When the crime was committed, it was in America thus the American government has jurisdiction.” Ziva said calmly.

“Yes, but Israel has a plan to force the American government to extradite you to Israel.” The man explained.

“If you work for Hamas, you wouldn’t be helping me.” Ziva pointed out.

It was very quiet on the other end. “I was forced to work with Hamas. They pointed a gun at me and told me to make a bomb. I was forced to become a member.” The voice said sadly. “I want to help you Ziva because I never forgot my first mission with Mossad…or my first partner.”

There was a spark of recollection in Ziva’s face. Before she could say another word, the line was dead.