"Before we leave," Shmeil revealed as Ziva accepted his embrace of congratulations, "I have something for you."
Torn between wanting them to be safe, far from this place, and not wanting them to go, she stepped back to look at her spiritual mentor. "Shmeil, this was more than I could have ever asked for. You did everything and more, bringing Nettie." Ziva tried to put as much feeling in her thanks.
"Ziva," Shmeil continued as if she remained silent, "you told me you were leaving soon, alone and unable to be in contact with anyone. I have these for you." Shmeil produced a small bag of cell phones. "Anthony, here, you take a few as well."
Tony picked up one to examine it. "Burn phones?"
"Untraceable, yes," came the answer. "And all are programmed with only one number. That number is also for an untraceable phone, one that I will have. Should something happen to me," Shmeil held up his hand at Ziva's inevitable reaction, "natural or otherwise, it will be delivered to you, Anthony. Ziva, I will be your contact, your go-between until it is safe for you to come home."
"You are incredibly generous, Shmeil, and we can't thank you enough." Tony answered immediately and extended his hand to shake the elder's and Shmeil ignored it and fully embraced him. Again, letting the emotions of the day get to him, Tony swallowed the lump growing in his throat and quickly murmured, "And I look forward to hearing from you soon."
Nettie hugged them both quickly, kissing Ziva over and over before Shmeil decided to usher her aunt to the door. "Let them have their time alone before," his voice trailed off without finishing the thought.
Silence filled the room as the elderly couple departed the house and drove away. Ziva couldn't tear herself away from the window until their taillights were no longer visible. Even then, she still faced the window, but her eyes were closed as she pondered what had all happened since DiNozzo showed up. Now he was her partner in more ways than one and as bizarre as it sounded, it still seemed right.
"Ziva, we need to make some plans."
Filing that voice in her memory as her thumb caressed the new "ring" on her finger she opened her eyes and turned around to face Tony.
They first divided the phones from Shmeil. Tony decided that he would only take one, as it would be easier for him to acquire more and pass along the new numbers to Shmeil as needed. Ziva wasn't happy, but agreed it made the most sense. She still wasn't sure how it was going to work safely, but was choosing her battles carefully at the moment. She promised she would check in with Shmeil only when she felt safe or as a last resort, but she would contact him only.
Next was a short discussion on the topic of whom they could trust beyond Shmeil. Short because Ziva would not budge on Tony's accepting both Adam and Monique. Begrudgingly and only after Ziva took his hand and stared him down, did Tony concede to this. But, they both agreed that no one from NCIS would be updated where she was going or even about the events of this day. Ziva was adamant that her work family would remain as safe as possible. Keeping them in the dark was for now, the best strategy. As much as he hated it, Tony agreed. The less Ziva felt she needed to worry and stress about, the better and clearer her mind could be to stay safe herself. He would find some way to not talk about it and when cornered, get creative and lie.
Trying to wrap things up so they could move on to however short a honeymoon it would be, Tony summed up, "We have the method and the means, all we need is the motive."
Taking in that thought, Ziva paused for a moment, then responded, "One last item, I just need to locate it." Then she rose from the sofa and strolled out of the room.
That's what I'm talking about; Tony silently assessed the situation while he leaned back into the cushions and stretched out his legs. Eyes closed and a wide grin enveloped his face as visions of his new bride slipping into something more appropriate for a wedding night flashed through his mind.
Thud.
"Ziva?" Concern and fear voiced in a single word.
"Ugh, fine. It was stuck between some boxes, one moment." After a short time, she emerged from the room looking no different but carrying something in her right hand. "Here."
Bafflement clouded his thoughts. "A book? You're giving me," momentarypause, "a book on the evening of our wedding?"
"Well, it would not hurt you to actually read something other than a GSM magazine, Tony," retorted Ziva. "But, no, reading it was not entirely what I had in mind."
"What else do you do with one? Slip it under a table leg to stop it from wobbling?" Tony took another look at the novel in his hand, for the first time noticing the title, Persuasion. "It's not even The Story of O or Fifty Shades of… "
"Stop! Shut it." Ziva threw her hand up to keep him from continuing and mentally counting to 10. "If you say one more word, I will hit you." She watched as his mouth closed immediately, swallowing the color name, before she exhaled. "Thank you. As much as I would love to see you reading it, I'd like to use it for us. Shmeil may be our handler and I love him dearly, but I would rather not hear your words coming out of his mouth. The poor man is doing enough for us."
"We can use the book as part of our cipher; I think that they called it. In that show, you know that Benjamin, no Benedict Cumberbund version of Sherlock Holmes." She looked away as if in thought again and sighed, "He just might be sexier than Johnny Depp."
"Cumberbatch." He smarted, quietly.
"We'll send our personal messages using this book." Ziva continued as if she hadn't been corrected, "Each word we use will contain two numbers, the page number and the number the word is on the page. We can just give Shmeil the number code, keep it short and no one else need know what we are saying," she looked apprehensively at him as she finished.
"I don't think 'fo-shizzle' will be found anywhere in these pages."
Disheartened, her eyes fell to the floor, "You do not like it?"
Dropping the book, Tony jumped to his feet and grabbed her by the arms. "I only wish I had thought of it first." As reassuring as possible, he continued, "It's brilliant."
Her smile reappeared quickly as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before slipping out of his grasp. "It is the only book I know there are two copies of in this house. I believe the other copy is in my father's office." Again, she traipsed out of the room only to return with a book. "See."
"Do I want to know you why have two copies of the same book?"
"Lesson from my father." Enough said frosted the tone of her voice.
"So," Tony rapidly changed the subject, "Is there some sort of music device around here; I'd like to dance with my wife." Surprise and befuddlement clearly showed in her face, so he stalked her. "Ziva, might we find a radio or stereo or, heck, even a wind-up music box, which might play a fine, yet danceable tune?"
Knowing there was no such piece of equipment in this hideaway, Ziva played coy. "I don't believe my father would have allowed anything like that in his home."
Upon reaching her, his left arm snaked around her waist as his right hand held hers. "No music in the house? Hmm…maybe I could just whistle something."
Oh, really, she thought. Imah, thank you for taking me to see your favorite film, acknowledging her mother silently as a seductive smile grew on her face. Then purring like the Cheshire cat, her finger traced the lips of his astonished and open mouth. "Whistle? You know how to whistle, don't you, Tony?" She almost broke character to laugh at his surprise. "You just put your lips together and... "
The last word was forever lost when Tony devoured her mouth. All planning and strategizing were done and what was left of the night was theirs alone.
He would've preferred to wake naturally and not facing the reality of the new day by the glaring sun. The emptiness of the bed hit him harder than he thought possible. As much as he knew she'd needed the rest, he was well aware that it had been empty for hours. He pushed aside the guilt he started to feel for how late or early rather, it was before they both drifted off. Rubbing the last vestiges of sleep from his face, he rose and dressed in silence. Wandering around the empty dwelling, he packed his knapsack in between straightening up the place and erasing the any remnants of the past day or two. Giving each room an impromptu white-glove test before backing out and worked his way to the main room.
Reminding himself he had to leave with two phones now, he went back through, looking a little deeper looking for his almost-forgotten work phone. Obviously, he'd need to keep both on him at all times, but one was now infinitely more valuable and he'd need to come up with an excuse for having two again. Pushing that thought away for now, finally he found it in Eli's office and after a few quick swipes; he punched the contact he most loathed to deceive.
"Yeah, DiNozzo. Whaddya got?" The gruff voice of Leroy Jethro Gibbs broke the stillness.
"She's not here, Boss." At least, Tony thought, that part wasn't a lie anymore. Sadly, sounding completely defeated was not as difficult as he first imagined. "I'm going to book the next plane to D.C." At least, he had reading material for the flight.
