TIVA FANFIC: Broken Years, Rivers of Tears (NCIS)

The Ransom Note

Tony paced the forest, muttering loudly to himself. How could he have let this happen?

"Shayna's only three days old," he rationalized out loud. "She won't be able to survive on her own for long. We have to find her," he finished desperately.

Ziva had already gotten to work, hunting down a trail of clues.

"Tony!" she called, "Come look at this."

She bent down and picked up a single slip of paper that lay on top of the damp, mossy earth.

Tony ran over, and peered over her shoulder. "It's a ransom note," he observed.

"We have to alert Gibbs," Ziva immediately said.

"NO!" Tony desperately broke in. "If Gibbs knew that our child was kidnapped after three days, he would never agree to the marriage. Please. We can solve this together."

Ziva hesitated: "Fine," and bent her head down to read the ransom note.

In scrawled handwriting was written:

NCIS,
If you wish to see your child alive deposit 10K by the park entrance tonight at midnight promptly. Otherwise your child may never return.

Ziva bit her lip. "Where will we get 10K from?" she asked.

"We'll find it at NCIS," Tony stated. "The basement, remember? We'll trick the tricker."

Ziva sighed. She had hated this from the beginning.

*

The distant church bells chimed twelve times. Midnight had struck. And everything was in place. The trap had been laid out and completed.

Ziva and Tony waited in anticipation for the kidnapper to reappear and take the ransom, hidden within the tall, shadowy trees.

"Is he even going to come?" Ziva asked impatiently.

"Patience, my little ninja," Tony cautioned. "He will arrive for the big bucks. It's ten K!"

Just as Tony finished whispering, a faint crack, like a tree branch breaking, could be heard.

Ziva whipped around to face the noise.

...So the kidnapper had come after all to collect the ransom after all.

Tony chuckled slightly, as if to say I told you so, and concentrated hard.

The plan would now go into action.