He crawled through the rubble, ignoring the searing pain filling his lungs. He could no longer stand and knew he had to get out before he succumbed to the smoke, but he couldn’t leave. She was still in here somewhere. There was no way she was dead; he’d know it if she was, and his gut told him she was still very much alive…for now. “Lisa,” he strained to call out, his voice raspy from smoke inhalation. Before he’d collapsed, he’d done a quick search of the remaining rooms; the only place she could be was under the collapsed wall or…or in the raging inferno where her bedroom used to be. He refused to believe that, but tried to make his way toward the flames, anyway. “Got someone in here!” he heard someone yelling and felt hands grabbing at him, trying to pull him back the other direction. No. He had to get to her! But the smoke had gotten to him and he was too weak to effectively free himself from the grasp of the firefighter who was attempting to rescue him.  “Lisa…” he tried again, struggling to free himself from the other man’s hold. “We’ll get her, Buddy, you just let us take care of you now.” No! Tommy tried again to wrest himself free but instead found himself lifted from the ground and carried toward the hallway. He tried to fight but his body was giving out; his lungs felt ready to explode— 

Tony woke, bolting upright as he struggled to breathe. He looked around wildly and slowly relaxed as he realized that he was okay; there was no fire. He was alive and…sore, but otherwise well, it seemed. Damn nightmares. He didn’t remember having them before, really, but after his run in with the Israeli…

He pondered for a moment. He still figured that it must have been a rogue Mossad agent that had taken Lisa. And whoever had taken Lisa had tried to kill him earlier by bombing his apartment. So it made sense that they’d tried to kill him again. He shouldn’t stay here; he was putting McGee in danger.

He’d already gone into hiding once, though, and clearly they’d tracked him down. He didn’t want to hide again. He’d needed time to recover before, but now he was stronger…or at least he had been before the attack yesterday. There really wasn’t time for him to waste recuperating this time. The longer he put it off, the more likely it was that someone else would get hurt, whether it be Probie, or Abby, or…Tibbs.

Gibbs.

Whatever.

Besides, if he could find the guy who’d tried to kill him, he’d be able to find Lisa. He knew they’d tried. They’d probably exhausted every available resource to try to find her. But now, maybe, he had a chance. He just had to find the guy who attacked him.

According to the clock it was only 4:48am, but he was fairly certain that he would not be going back to sleep any time soon. He silently slipped from the bed and peeked out into the living room where McGee was sprawled haphazardly on the couch, sleeping soundly. He considered waking his partner but decided against it. He’d be less conspicuous if he travelled alone.

Besides, Probie would probably try to talk him out of doing what he was going to do. For good reason, he had to agree. If he was spotted by the wrong person and recognized, his efforts in burning the DiNozzo alias would be in vain.

As quietly as he could, Tony sifted through the packages he’d bought the night before. Selecting the darkest shirt, a pair of jeans, his lucky belt, some clean socks and boxers, he dressed. Still something was missing.

He felt naked without his Sig. Besides, he really should be carrying in case he did happen to spot the Israeli.

Tony glanced again at McGee and reconsidered wakening him. It would be good to have the man’s firepower.

Then again he could have the firepower without the man, he realized, glancing at Probie’s lock box. Tony wasn’t intending to be gone long; maybe he’d even be back before Probie woke up.  He snagged McGee’s shoulder holster from the bed post and then silently slipped into the living room. He wasn’t sure how he knew exactly where he was going to find the key, but sure enough when he lifted the computer keyboard, there it was. He was going to have to talk to Probie about not being so obvious next time.

As he set the keyboard back in place, he knocked the mouse a little bit and the computer screen lit, revealing a desktop wallpaper showing McGee, with a stern looking older man--Gibbs, perhaps?—on one side and…wow. That had to be Lisa on the other. How Tony could possibly have forgotten what the Mossad Officer looked like was beyond him. She was…stunning. That was the only word he could think of to describe her. 

After a few moments he forced himself to look away. It wasn’t right that she was out there somewhere, fighting for her life while he was hiding out in hotels or in McGee’s cushy apartment. It was way past time for him to do something.

His resolve firmly in place, Tony returned to McGee’s room with the lock box key and retrieved Probie’s weapon, slipping it into the holster. He didn’t really have a good jacket to wear over it, so he turned to McGee’s closet, selecting a dark jacket. It was a little bit loose, but not too bad a fit.

On his way out of the apartment, Tony realized a rather major flaw in his plan. He had no transportation.

He needed a rental. There was no way that they’d let him without ID and a credit card, though. So he’d need to borrow McGee’s. He glanced at his still sleeping partner. Then at the hook near the door where his keys resided.

“You snooze, you lose, Probie,” he quietly teased. He’d better leave a note.

Not seeing any paper, Tony returned to the computer. He should put the lock box key away, anyway, he realized as he returned the key to its spot under the keyboard.

Sitting in McGee’s really nice office chair, Tony turned his attention back to the computer. First thing, he’d need to disable the screen saver and sleep mode so that McGee would be sure to notice the message. He quickly did so, and then pulled up McGee’s email.

He grinned as he glanced through the messages in the inbox. Seemed that Probie had an awful lot of offers about increasing his size. Tony’d have to remember to tease him about that later. He pulled up a “New Message” and typed:  “Learn to hide it better, Probie.”

Maybe he should leave a little bit more than that?

“Got your keys and borrowed your car, too. Back in few hours to pick you up. Do me a favor--get me a rental and I’ll pay you back. – Tommy.”

There. That should do it.

With that, he stole silently out of the apartment, taking McGee’s keys with him.

It took him only a couple minutes to find the right car, and an embarrassing few minutes for him to figure out how to find the area where he’d been attacked. He had the GPS thingie, but he didn’t know the address of the park…or even its name. It was downtown, and he knew he should know how to get there, but his brain still wasn’t working. He really needed to go see Doc Malloy today. Maybe he’d swing by NCIS and visit him this morning after staking out the park. Or maybe he should stake out the hotel instead? He shouldn’t have burned the DiNozzo cover. Then the Israeli would have come to him instead of him hoping to find them again. Still, he doubted that the guy actually believed he was dead.  He hoped that his assailant had the same idea he did and would head back to the hotel to try and pick up his trail again.

Wait. The hotel! That was it! He could have slapped himself on the back of the head for not thinking of it sooner. He called up the listing of hotels in the DC area on the GPS and selected The Grand.

He really shouldn’t let himself get seen at the hotel itself, he decided. The hotel management would likely not be all that happy with him for leaving his room open and for causing them a bit of bad publicity. So…he’d still stake out the park. It was a longshot, he realized, but at least there was a possibility the Israeli would go back there looking for him.

It was almost 6 by the time Tony found his destination and parked McGee’s car. He picked up a newspaper and selected a bench where he’d spend the next couple hours observing, hoping that his attacker would happen by.

Ellen DiNozzo was awakened from a sound sleep by the phone ringing. She thought about not answering it; it was probably Tony. He’s the only one who would call her so early in the morning. He probably wanted to come crawling back. She should just let the call roll to voice mail and let him worry all day. Except that he’d probably just keep calling until she answered.

She rolled over and picked up the phone. “Tony?” she asked sleepily.

“Are you a relative of Anthony DiNozzo?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

She sat up in bed, tensing nervously as a feeling of foreboding washed over her. “This is his wife, Ellen DiNozzo,” she informed the caller. “Did something happen? Is Tony okay?”

“When is the last time you spoke with your husband, Mrs. DiNozzo?”

Ellen swallowed hard, tears welling at the corners of her eyes as she thought about the way their last conversation had ended so abruptly. She’d been mad at the time, but…what if he hadn’t just dropped the call to piss her off? “Y-yesterday afternoon. Did something happen to my husband?” she asked again.

“This is Agent Ron Sacks with the DC field office of the FBI,” the caller identified himself and her heart sank. She listened as Agent Sacks explained the situation and asked her a series of questions. Did she know where he might be? Did she know of any enemies? Had they fought recently?

“Should I be coming there, Agent Sacks?” she finally cut off his questions. “Is my husband de…alive?”

“We can have one of the local field office agents pick you up,” Sacks replied, not answering her second question. The truth was the FBI investigation had so-far turned up more questions than answers. It was officially being considered a Missing and Endangered Persons case due to the bloodied clothes found in the hotel’s dumpster. Sacks, however, suspected something far different. He didn’t think DiNozzo had been taken. No, he suspected something far different. The blood on DiNozzo’s clothing hadn’t yet been identified. He couldn’t help but think that DiNozzo’s disappearance just might be because DiNozzo didn’t want to be found.

“I’ll pick you up at the airport in a few hours,” Sacks informed her

Things rarely go exactly how one wants them to, Tony mused as he made his way back to McGee’s car after only half an hour of waiting. Of course he hadn’t lucked out and stumbled on the Israeli. He was probably stupid for having even thought that returning to the park would yield such a perfect resolution.

Things rarely go exactly how one wants them to, but somehow things usually seem to find a way to work out, anyway. He glanced at the newspaper in his hand and grinned. Hell, he could have done all the legwork today without even leaving McGee’s apartment if he’d thought to read the paper online.

He didn’t believe in coincidences, and the attack yesterday could not possibly have been a coincidence. The Israeli wasn’t just some rogue Mossad agent. He was the Big Kahuna, himself. Director of the Mossad, Eli David. And now he knew exactly how he was going to get a little bit of face time and get some answers.   As it so happened, Director David was in town to attend a big Embassy party. So he had to find a way to get into that party. With his ties at NCIS, it shouldn’t be all that difficult. Director Nance was probably going. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise him at all if some of the NCIS agents would be along as protection. All he had to do was make sure he was one of those NCIS Agents.

It was not even 7am, so it was unlikely that the Director would be in yet, but Tony wanted to make sure that he was there to talk to him first thing. Besides, showing up early would allow him a little bit of time to brush up on some of the things he was certain he was supposed to know. Like what the director looked like. And where his office was located. And…well…just about everything else.

Now all he had to do was find how to get to Headquarters. Somehow he doubted that NCIS was considered a “Point of Interest” to the company who set up the GPS destinations. “Come on, McGee, tell me you were anal enough to set up your ‘work’ destination…”

Jackpot.

Tony grinned as the GPS gave him the first instruction.

Once he reached NCIS, however, Tony encountered another problem. He may have a visitor’s pass, but he didn’t have a gate pass for the parking garage. He also didn’t have any ID on him. He hoped that the man at the gate would recognize him.

“Good morning!” he called cheerfully as he rolled the car to a stop at the security gate. “I seem to have forgotten my gate pass,” he informed the man.

“That’s fine, sir. May I see your ID badge?”

“Actually I just have this today,” Tony answered, waving the visitor’s pass.

“That’ll be fine. I’ll call upstairs for an escort, sir.”

“Oh, I don’t need an escort. Unless she’s gorgeous and you’re paying, of course.”

The man faltered for a moment before recovering. “Sorry, sir, but all visitors require an escort at all times.”

“Not actually a visitor,” Tony’s eyes flicked to the man’s name badge—“Wallace Jones”--and continued, “Wally. I’m Tommy DeLuca. I work up in Major Crimes, just haven’t replaced my badge and gate pass since my apartment blew up.”

The guy’s eyes widened. “Your apartment blew up?”

Didn’t the guy watch the news? Surely that would have made the news…

“Yeeeah. And my car…twice.” Okay, so one of the cars hadn’t actually been his, but close enough…

“Oh…um. Sorry. Well, I’m afraid since you don’t have your badge though I’m going to have to--"
 

“I don’t have time for this. Look. Wally. I’m guessing that you’re new here?”

“Last week,” the security officer acknowledged, flushing slightly.

“Then why don’t you pick up that phone?” he suggested in an overly calm voice as he motioned to the one hanging on the man’s wall. “Call your supervisor and ask him if I work here.”

Wallace picked up the phone as instructed. “W-what was your name again, sir?”

“DeLuca. Big D, little e, big L, little uca. Tommy.” He sincerely hoped that he was remembering his last name correctly. Seemed he was screwing up everyone else’s.

Wallace nodded and turned to make the call. “Hey, uh…Mike. Does Tommy DeLuca work here in Major Crimes?”

Mike Watkins, the security supervisor, rolled his eyes as he glanced at his book shelf, which was stocked with books from the Deep Six series. “Of course he does. Everybody knows that.”

“Oh. Uh. Thanks…” Wallace hung up the phone, feeling foolish as he reached over to raise the gate. “Sorry about that, Agent DeLuca.”

Yes! He’d gotten his name right!

“You really should stop at the office and pick up a new badge,” Wallace called after him as he pulled into the ramp.

Tony nodded as he drove into the lot. Since he couldn’t remember his space number, he parked in one of the visitor spots. Not wanting to carry the newspaper with him, he tore out the picture of Eli David and tucked it into his pocket.

Certain that his visitor’s pass wouldn’t open any doors, he carefully timed his entrance into the building to coincide with a few other agents. Hoping that they’d get him to the right floor, he followed them onto the elevator as well.

Taking a gamble he got out on the floor where he noticed another man, obviously carrying a ‘concealed’ weapon, get out. Now he just had to find his desk without anyone realizing that he was having trouble with that task. If anyone figured out his brain was a mass of Swiss cheese, he’d be on desk duty--or worse, forced vacation--for God only knew how long. He glanced at each desk as he made his way through the room. Looking for name plates, pictures, anything that he could use to identify not just his own desk but also figure out the identities of people he was certain he was supposed to know.

Using his new information he casually greeted one of the women as she strolled toward him, watching him with suspicion. “Hey, Gina.” She frowned as she hesitated a few feet away from him. Perhaps he was being too friendly. Maybe it wasn’t suspicion but scorn. He’d probably gone out with her or something. Damn. Oh well, no time like the present to extend an olive branch. “Lost the baby weight,” he commented, thinking back to the photos he’d spotted on her desk. “Looking good!”

She looked startled for a moment, and blushed slightly, but then smiled back at him. “Thank you…” She hesitated for a moment, looking as though she felt awkward before she gave him a little nod and continued on her way.

Once around the bullpen and he hadn’t found his desk. Crap. He couldn’t well make a second round without anyone noticing. Hell, he hadn’t even spotted McGee’s desk. Or Lisa’s. He had seen Gibbs’, which was odd since he’d have thought that the team leader’s desk should have been in the same area as his own, but instead was surrounded by Agents Lee, Keating, and Langer.

Great. So now what?

Abby. Abby was known for being in her lab early in the morning. He’d go see her. Maybe get her to fill him in on the Embassy Party stuff. He’d see if he could use her computer to look up information about Eli David while he was at it.

So…he needed to find the lab.

He casually waited until he saw someone else heading to the elevator and joined her, letting her use her badge to activate the lift. It seemed she was returning to the garage level. “Could you hit the lab level for me,” he asked, flashing a flirtatious grin at her. “Thanks.”

Once again he lucked out and a few moments later he was on the right floor.

“Hey! It’s you!” he heard Abby calling out to him from down the hall. She seemed to make it the entire length of the hall in only a few bounding steps. “How’d it go last night? Did McGee just love you? Oh he must have if you’re here. Is he here? I didn’t think he was coming in today. Why’d he come in?”

“Whoa. Abby. Slow down a second. Let’s just start with ‘Hi’,” he greeted the enthusiastic forensic scientist, not even trying to make sense of her excited chatter.

“Hi,” she greeted back. “So…you’re Tommy, right?”

Oookay. “I’m Tommy,” he agreed with a grin.

“So did you come to see my lab?” she asked brightly.

“Sure. And pick up a new badge.”

She looked confused, so he waved his visitor’s pass at her.

“Oh! Yes! It’ll be a lot better with an authentic one! Come on!” she grabbed his arm and tugged. He allowed himself to be lead through the building to the security office.

“Morning, Abby,” the Security Officer greeted, smiling fondly at her. “What can I do for you?”

“Morning, Jay. We need a badge for Special Agent Tommy DeLuca,” she informed him excitedly. The man looked up, surprised. “It’s for Deep Six. Come on, please?”

Deep Six? Was that some sort of Code Name? It seemed really familiar. Tony was certain that it was supposed to mean something to him. Something really important. He just couldn’t figure out what.

“Yeah. Okay,” Jay agreed, sounding a little bit reluctant, but giving in easily.  “Just stand in front of that screen.” Abby really must have pretty much everyone in the building wrapped around her little finger, Tony surmised as he followed the Security Officer’s instruction. “Okay, smile!”

Tony flashed a wide grin and held it until the camera flashed.

“Should be ready in just a few minutes if you want to stop back,” Jay informed them.

“Thanks, Jay!” Abby called over her shoulder even as she tugged Tony’s arm, leading him back toward her lab.

As they entered the lab, Tony couldn’t help but notice the evening gown hanging on the coat hook just inside the door. “That’s a pretty fancy lab coat,” he teased, hoping that it would segue into a conversation about the Embassy Party. It’d solve a lot of problems if he could just score an invitation from her rather than bothering the director.

“Well, I do like to look good,” Abby replied. “But that’s for this party thing I have to go to tonight.”

“At the Embassy?”

She cocked her head slightly. “Yes. How’d you know abou…McGee told you about it, didn’t he? Is he taking you?”

“I was kind of hoping that I could do you the honor of letting you take me,” he flirted.

“Oh really,” she responded coyly. “You think that I don’t have a date?”

“Not one like me,” he cockily returned.

“Well it so happens that I…don’t. Well, I’m going with Ducky and Jimmy Palmer, but it’s not like a date or anything. Although, ooh, that’d be a really weird threesome wouldn’t it?”

Indeed. Tony smiled at her indulgently. Jimmy Palmer. Now that was a much better name than Pimmy Jalmer. How the hell had he come up with a name like Pimmy? Ducky…Tony couldn’t remember a Ducky at all. He suddenly imagined Abby showing up at the Embassy party with a giant rubber duck. For some reason he doubted anyone who knew her would actually be surprised if that’s what she brought as a date…

“Okay, so, should I meet you here?” he suggested.

“Sure. And bring McGee. I’ll have my very own harem,” she added, looking slightly dreamy for a moment.

“Yeah. I should actually probably go get him…wait. Before I go…” he pulled the newspaper clipping from his pocket. “What can you tell me about Eli David?” he asked, showing her the picture.

Tony regretted asking as soon as the question was out of his mouth. It was as if all the life suddenly drained out of the vivacious goth. “Abby?”

“Sorry. It’s just that…that’s Ziva’s father.”

Ziva? Eli David was her father, that made her Ziva David. Which sounded a lot like Navid…Lisa. He’d done it again! “Oh…I didn’t even think…”

“No. It’s okay. It’s just that I miss her.”

Tony nodded and made the decision that he wasn’t going to question Abby any further about Eli. He also didn’t want to give her hope that perhaps he had a lead on how they might find out Ziva’s whereabouts. He felt sick, though, as he considered that her own father may well have been behind her disappearance. Not to mention the attempt on Tony’s life.

“We’ll see her again,” he comforted Abby awkwardly, hoping he wasn’t lying to her. He was only slightly startled as she suddenly leaned against him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He wasn’t much of a huggy person, but he instinctively returned it. She was just about the only person who ever brought that sort of physical affection out of him.

“Yeah,” Abby sighed. “Thanks, Tommy…” After a few moments she released him again and stepped back. He pretended not to notice as she swiftly reached up and wiped her eyes. “Be back here at 6pm, okay? Wouldn’t want the harem to leave without you.”

“As if it would,” he replied in a smoldering tone and giving her a cocky grin before taking his leave. Now he just had to stop by the security office, pick up his badge and get back to McGee's apartment before the Probie reported his car stolen...