Rifiuto: Non Miriena
He glanced at his baby sister as he picked up the phone and softly cleared his throat. "Director McGee."
A moment passed, before the voice on the other end of the line answered. "Shalom, Director McGee." Tim furrowed a brow, sitting back in his chair.
"You must be from the Israeli Consulate-"
The woman on the other end of the line chuckled softly. "Oh God, no. I had Asara put me through so you would not have to wait." Tim nodded, glancing at his sister; Sarah looked up, catching the confusion on her brother's face. That was enough for her to get up and perch on the edge of his desk, watching the emotions dance through his green eyes.
"I see. And... may I ask... to whom exactly am I speaking?" She chuckled softly once more, a throaty chuckle that made his heart flip for some reason. Sarah raised an eyebrow, and Tim waved her away. Reluctantly, she returned to the sofa, to her work again, but she kept one ear open.
"Of course. I am the director of Mossad." Tim raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really? And what do I owe this call, 'Director'?" He asked, the sarcasm dripping in every syllable of the last word.
"I want to talk to you about possibly working out an alliance." She waited; she could practically hear the wheels turning in his head as he weighed his responses. "I would like to attach a Mossad Liasion to one of your teams. So that we may catch Ari Haswari."
"Let me get this straight. You want to send over one of your killers-" She started to protest, but he continued. "- to be attached to one of my teams, and you just expect me to fall in line and allow this to happen, without any sort of agreement being drawn up or any face-to-face communication?" She chuckled.
"Would you rather we speak face-to-face, Director McGee?"
"Yes, actually, I would, Director-"
"David." She filled in, sitting back in her chair.
Sarah settled back in one of the cushy movie-theater-like chairs in MTAC, watching as her older brother waited for the techs to pull up the Israeli director. Having listened to only Tim's side of the conversation, she got the feeling that he wasn't too happy to be sidelined with whatever the Israeli director was requesting. Sighing, she flipped open her notebook and jotted down things about MTAC- things that would be useful in her final class assignment for the semester. She didn't notice the image come up on the screen until she heard the voice.
"Ah, Director McGee-"
"And you must be Director David." Tim replied; Sarah looked up, to see a young woman sitting back at a desk in an office. Though the image was slightly grainy- something not unusual for technology, no matter how advanced- she was pretty. An obvious Israeli beauty, with sun-kissed tan skin and what Sarah could only guess were dark eyes, the woman looked not much older than Sarah herself. The woman's dark curls were down around her face, small, tight curls that framed her face and only served to enhance her beauty.
She nodded. "Now, shall we discuss-"
"Why?" Tim cut her off. "Why is sending one of your people to help catch Haswari so important to you? My people are doing just fine-" They'd been on this manhunt for the last month, and it was running everyone- but especially Gibbs- ragged.
"Because your people do not know him like mine do." She studied the man. He was tall, with alabaster skin and dirty blonde hair. And if she weren't mistaken, his eyes were emerald. All in all, a very handsome man, one she wouldn't mind getting to know better, were it a different universe.
"He's a killer, Director David. One that's targeting my people. I'm not going to allow him to take out my agents on my watch. Haswari is the threat, and he needs to be removed-"
She shook her head, clucking her tongue. "I cannot allow you to do that, Director McGee. Ari Haswari is not a terrorist. He is a Mossad officer working undercover in Hamas. He is no more a killer than I am-"
"Says the brown-eyed murderess." Tim muttered. She narrowed her eyes.
"I am not discussing this any further. I will send one of my officers out." She stopped; her gaze shifted to the side, to something off camera. Her gaze returned to the American, and she let her dark eyes rove over him once or twice. "Shalom, Director McGee." She ended connection before Tim could say another word.
Once the conversation ended, she sat back in her chair, her gaze roaming over everything in her office. Since her father had retired, since he'd given her the position- he'd groomed her for this, after all- she'd found it harder and harder to keep a tight grasp on what was her reality and what was her father's. And discovering that a relationship with America- a good, strong, allied relationship- was one of the things that gnawed at her. Sadly, she had never been out of the country- well, never to America- and she desperately wanted to go. But being Director of Mossad kept her pretty much tethered to Israel.
Her dark gaze landed on the photograph on her desk- of her and her siblings when they were children; taken long before whatever happy home life the three siblings had had shot to hell. Her fingers moved up to fiddle with the Star of David around her throat, and she sighed. Slowly, her gaze slid towards the bookcase. The young woman standing beside it was oblivious to the wheels turning in the older woman's head, though she liked to think she knew the Director well.
They did share blood, after all.
She cleared her throat, causing the younger woman to look up from her book. "Please, have a seat." Slowly, she did as told, studying the Director silently. She watched the other woman sit back in her chair, steepling her fingers.
"What can I do for you, Ziva?" She asked, voice soft. The director watched her for several minutes, thinking.
"I have an assignment for you. You are going to America, to work with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, to help catch Ari Haswari."
"But, Ziva, he is-" The director held up a hand, stopping her protest from going any further.
"I know. But we need to catch him before they do. And since we know him best, who better than to go find him than you." The younger woman chewed on her bottom lip, before nodding.
"Very well, Ziva." She stood, heading for the door. As her fingers grasped the doorknob, the other woman's voice stopped her.
"I wish there was another way." She glanced over her shoulder, meeting the director's gaze. "But he is too dangerous. We have no choice. It is better to bring him home than leave him there. We can deal with him here, on our own land, under our own rules. Eli created a monster, and he needs to be stopped. There is no other way."
"I know."
"Be safe, Tali." She met the familiar dark gaze.
"I will." And then, she slipped out of the office; as the door shut behind her, Ziva lay her head back, taking a deep breath, wondering about what she'd just done.