Lie Again

The Other Option

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As promised!!!

*****

Ziva's head was pounding.

She slowly opened her eyes, and her pulse jumped when she saw the face of her ex-partner.

"Ah, there you are," he said, another grin crossing his handsome features.

Ziva pushed herself into a sitting position with little help from her hands. "You are a traitor."

Judas shrugged. "It pays well."

She so badly wanted to hurt him, but she could barely manage to even breathe with her head aching this way.

The man watched her with amusement, tapping his pistol against his thigh. "I am sure it feels terrible to know you were so close. To know that you were working with a traitor all along."

She didn't know what to say. Yes, she was furious for not have figuring it out, but how could she have known? Judas worked the Mr. Smith case just as hard as she and Daniel had.

But... Judas was always the one who got the best leads.

She never thought that maybe it was because Judas was on Mr. Smith's payroll.

"Oh well. You will not have to live with the guilt much longer."

"My father will hunt you down. He will make the connection after my body is found. It was Daniel, me, and you. Everyone will know it was you when you keep living. Whatever you have gained by betraying us, you will lose."

He just laughed. "That is a lot of big talk, my dear Ziva."

She rocked herself onto her feet but stayed in a low crouch. "You know how my father is. Mr. Smith will not be able to cut a deal with him this time."

"Are you so sure about that?"

She was.

He wouldn't choose her life over finally catching Mr. Smith. He always chose the other option over her.

"Very well, then." Judas left the shadows to approach her, only then noticing that she had her feet under her. "Trying to escape, are we?"

"Not just trying." She kicked her legs out at him, knocking him off balance.

He grunted as he stumbled into a post, but he righted himself. With hardly any pause, he swung his pistol arm at her, catching her in the throat.

Gasping, Ziva collapsed.

Judas stepped on her shoulder to keep her pinned down, and then aimed his gun at her head. "Goodbye, Ziva David."

***

"Can we go any faster?" Tony asked.

The driver met his eyes in the rear-view mirror and scowled.

"This is a matter of life and death. Please, can you drive a little faster?"

The driver merely sighed and pressed his foot down.

Tony glanced over at Eli David, who had been silent this entire time. Tony suspected he was deep in thought, rescue plans racing through his mind. Or rather, capture plans, because Eli David didn't do rescue.

Not even when it came to Ziva.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Tony asked, looking at the address again.

"Yes."

"If this address is wrong, it's over. We won't have any time left."

"It is correct."

Tony was out of the car before the parking brake had been set. He ran for the door, no plans beyond using pure brute force.

To his surprise, no one stopped him in the lobby. There wasn't even a single person. Anywhere.

"Ziva?" he called. "Ziva!"

No response.

His heart pounded as he looked for a way downstairs. She had to be in the basement of this place. Isn't that where bad guys always kept their victims?

"Ziva!"

He found a steep staircase leading into a dark unknown, but he started down without any qualms. If there was a chance Ziva was down there, he'd go down there, too.

He'd walk through fire if she was on the other side.

He stumbled as his foot took the next step and found it to be level with the other foot. He was at the bottom.

He didn't want to risk his flashlight, but he needed to be able to see. So instead he went for the little flashlight key-chain on his key ring, which gave off just enough light for him to see where his feet were going.

"Ziva, can you hear me?"

"Tony!"

He'd heard Ziva panic before, but never like this. "Ziva, where are you?"

"Tony-"

Before he could take another step, he heard Ziva whimper and a man say, "Make another sound and I will shoot your white knight and then you."

That was just enough for Tony to get his bearings. The man holding Ziva hostage should only be twenty feet to Tony's right.

He sneaked up behind some crates and peered across.

In a dim spotlight, Ziva was lying on the floor, her arms bound beneath her and a large man standing on top of her.

Judas.

The traitor.

Tony glanced down at his mini flashlight and an idea came to him. He quickly took the knickknack off the key ring and threw it as hard as he could across the spotlit opening.

Judas turned towards the sound of the flashlight hitting the wall, away from where Tony was standing.

It was the perfect distraction, except Ziva threw herself up at her captor at the same time Tony tried to tackle him.

All three of them went down in a pile.

Tony grabbed the man's gun and held it to the base of his skull. He glanced at Ziva, who was looking very shaken.

He passed her a pocketknife, knowing she could easily cut herself out of her bindings.

"Would you like the honors?" he asked, nodding to the pistol in his hands.

"I am not a killer," she said softly.

He shrugged. "It's a little different if it's self-defense."

"He was my partner."

"So was Daniel."

He saw the resolve harden in her eyes. She took the gun from him and pulled the trigger before he could even brace himself for the deafening sound.

She tossed the gun away, as if disgusted with herself.

"It was the only way," he said, touching her shoulder. This was what she needed.

She looked up at him, and he was startled to see tears in her eyes. "Was it?"

*****

Oh my goodness, was that a roller coaster or what?

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