Being Part of the NCIS Family

Twenty-Three

DiNozzo POV
"I'm not that scared of needles!"

"You so are."

"No!"

"Um, yeah!"

That was the soundtrack for our ride to Maryland, until Derek told Aaron and Andrew to shut up. Then it turned to a discussion of who got hurt the most, until it went to who played the most pranks. I had to join in on the prank discussion, of course. The guys loved that I superglued McGee to his keyboard and were plotting to do the same thing to Liv. I helped them come up with more pranks, some of which might end in broken bones, but they assured me they wouldn't mention that I had anything to do with it.

Finally, after about an hour, everyone but Derek and I fell asleep. Good thing, too, because I was driving and he was navigating.

"I hope Liv calls soon." Derek said worriedly.

"I'm sure she's fine." I said.

"I hope so." Derek said. He still looked worried, and his eyebrows were scrunched together. "Call soon, Livvie." he muttered under his breath.

Ziva POV

I woke up slowly, though I had no idea how long it had been. I heard McGee groaning near me, and Gibbs was still silent, and so was Liv. My hands were bound tightly in front of me, and my ankles were tied as well. There were a few dim lights, and I saw that Gibbs and McGee were similarly bound. But Liv wasn't. Her hands and feet were bound, but her hands had rope between them, which gave her room to move, and I wondered why. I squirmed over to her to investigate. When I got close, I saw why they hadn't tied her hands tightly. Her middle was wrapped tightly in a bandage, and she had bled through it on her right side.

"Ziva?" McGee called. His voice sounded strained.

"Over here." I called back, my voice trembling.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's Liv." I said. "They hurt her bad."

"What happened?" he asked, then I heard McGee grunting as he wiggled over, struggling against his bonds. Soon he was next to me. "Oh, God." he said. He put his ear near her mouth. "She's barely breathing." he said worriedly.

"Ziva? Tim? Liv?" Gibbs called. He sounded like he was in pain, and I wasn't surprised. He'd probably at least cracked a rib or two.

"We're over here." I called. "Can you move?" I asked.

"Not easily." he answered. "Think I broke a rib."

"We'll come to you." McGee said. It was hard work, but we dragged Liv over to Gibbs.

"What happened?" he asked as soon as he saw Liv. He sounded almost panicked, but he stayed calm.

"I don't know." I answered. "I just found her like this a couple minutes ago."

"Is she still losing blood?" McGee asked.

"I don't think so." I said. "It seems like it's stopped." I got close to Liv so that my tied hands could reach and gently put my hand over the bloodstain on the bandages. "The stain isn't getting any wider, and the top layer of bandages is dry. I don't think she'll lose any more blood." McGee sighed with relief.

"What about her head?" Gibbs asked. McGee scooted over and checked her head. His hand came away sticky with blood.

"It's split wide open for about an inch or two along her scalp." McGee said.

"And nobody but Liv's brothers knows we're here, and there's not a whole lot they can do about it." I said. "We could be here for a while."

DiNozzo POV
We were just leaving the hideout with some evidence when Aaron stopped in his tracks.

"What?" I asked.

"Liv." he said. "She never called." The rest of us stopped, too, and turned to face Aaron.

"You're right." Derek said. "How could I have forgotten? She should've called yesterday."

"I'm sure she's fine." I said, but I'm not sure that even I believed it. Liv, in all the time I'd known her, had never forgotten to call or text when she said she would. Judging by her brothers' expressions, she'd never forgotten to call them, either. Derek pullled his phone out--a shattered iPhone--and dialed Liv's number, putting his phone on speaker. It rang. And rang. And rang.

"Thanks for calling, you've got Liv Reynolds' voicemail. Leave a message and your number, and I'll get back to you. You know what to do now." beep.

"Livvie, it's me." Derek said. "Please call so we-" his voice caught. "So we know you're alright." He hung up. His eyes were red, and I could tell that he and the rest of Liv's brothers were trying hard to keep it together.

"I'll call Gibbs." I said. We got his voicemail, too. We all looked at each other and came to a silent conclusion. Then we sprinted to the van, piled the stuff in a corner in the back, then climbed in. Derek took the wheel and I sat shotgun, with the rest of the guys in the back.

"Do any of you know how to track a cell phone?" I asked, turning in my seat to face Monty, Aaron, Andrew, and Josh.

"I do." Josh said. "I'll track everybody's phones." He turned to a computer and got to work. After about five minutes, he looked up from the computer. "Everybody's still at the mafia hideout." he said.

McGee POV
"Untie my hands." Ziva told me. "Then I'll untie you and Liv while you get Gibbs." I did as she said, and then she went to work untying first her feet, then Liv's hands and feet. I untied my feet, then went over to Gibbs and untied his hands. I did his feet, too, even though he protested, because I knew there was no way he could bend far enough with a broken rib.

After I untied Gibbs, we went over to Liv and Ziva. Ziva was trying to wake Liv up, without any success. Then I tried. I got a groan, but nothing else. Then Gibbs pushed me aside.

"OORAH, MARINE!" he yelled. "COME ON!" I expected people to run in, but no one did. For some reason, Gibbs' method got through, and Liv's eyes fluttered open. She groaned.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked with difficulty.

"Gibbs got a couple ribs busted, but Ziva and I are fine, just a couple knocks to the head." I said. "You, on the other hand..." I trailed off.

"Couple ribs busted and a stab wound." Liv said, her voice tight with pain. "I feel 'em."

"At least you're alive." I said.

"Won't be soon." another voice said. It was a deep, gravelly voice that really scared me. "Come on. Time to go meet the one who's gonna kill you."