Chapter 9
A/N: this stuff happens at the same time in this chap. Sorry it took so long, but I am back and feeling awesome and breaking through my writer's block!
Ziva hated road trips. She was bored, sore, and tired. Not to mention worried. She could not just sit there for hours on end.
After a few hours of driving, they stopped at an exit just north of the outskirt of Boston. They checked into a small hotel. Ziva walked into the room to find two double beds, a small bathroom, and a kitchenette.
"very...homely." Ziva said slowly as she sat down on the edge of the far bed.
Keith gave her an odd look before slinging himself down on the bed opposite of her.
"where do we go now?" Ziva asked.
"we get you to Paris from here." he said.
"What about Tony?" she asked.
"don't know." Keith said, slightly annoyed.
"then why must I go to Paris?" she asked adamantly.
"we shouldn't move her Keith." Sarah said and rubbed her temples.
"the doctor said that she was fine." Keith growled.
"Keith, he said she wasn't out of the woods and I know enough that she needs to rest for at least a week before we even think about moving her." Sarah said adamantly.
Keith ignored Sarah's protests. "you'll be safe there. That was the plan. Now go to sleep. You both need it." he grunted.
Ziva hated the fact that he was right. She was thankful that he had helped her this far but she believed that she could handle taking care of herself.
She dozed for about an hour while Keith and Sarah did the same. She woke up, lonely and hungry. She walked into the kitchenette to see nothing on the countertop except for Keith's phone. Ziva grabbed it before she quickly and stealthily snuck out of their room. She walked down to the parking lot where she saw a small breakfast restaurant just across the street. The road wasn't busy and Ziva crossed with ease.
She felt safe enough to where she could call someone now. But who? Tony would be going crazy trying figure out where she was, and Abby...Abby. McGee wouldn't be a bad choice but she felt like she needed a father figure at the moment so she dialed Gibbs's number.
"Gibbs." she heard him say.
"Gibbs." she said quickly. She couldn't help her voice crack a little.
"Ziver." he sounded slightly off but maybe he was just over stressed.
"What now Gibbs?" she was scared.
"I don't know right now." he said softly.
Ziva waited for him to say that he was joking but he didn't.
"I don't want to leave Gibbs." she pleaded. "this is about me...somehow, or my father. Either way, I need to help you."
"Ziver, think of your baby. What if something else happens? Please just keep yourself safe for all of our sanities." Gibbs sighed.
Ziva felt like a burden on all of them. They shouldn't have to deal with all of that.
"Ok, Gibbs." she said, trying to hold back tears.
"I promise everything will work out Ziva." he said.
"please, tell Tony...that I trust him. And...about the baby." she smiled to herself sadly.
"will do, and he already knows." and with that he hung up.
Ziva snapped the phone shut and walked into the restaurant. She felt slightly better knowing that Tony knew but then again, what if he didn't want a child? They had only been together for a short time after all. She decided that it was better not to think about such things.
She sat down at a booth in the back. A waiter handed her a menu and took her order. She was surprised by how busy the restaurant was. There were couples, families, teenagers, and older people all there.
She looked over to see a young couple with a small girl, no older than 4. They were all smiles and giggles.
Ziva smiled at the thought of her and Tony like that someday. If they ever got out of this mess that was.
Ziva was shaken from her thoughts by Keith and Sarah sliding onto the bench opposite her.
"what are you trying to do? Scare us have to death?" Keith said grumpily.
"I was hungry and wanted pancakes." Ziva replied. "with peanut butter and green beans."
Keith rolled his eyes and Sarah just laughed.
"I am so happy that I never reproduced." Keith said while reading his menu.
"you had me." Sarah said.
"nieces are different than daughters. I don't have to crack the whip on you as hard." he said.
Sarah snorted. "like you would ever crack a whip at anyone." she turned to Ziva. "don't let him fool you Ziva, he's a big softie."
"am not." Keith said adamantly. "I'm a damn marine."
Sarah put her hand up, blocking Keith from seeing her lips and mouthed "softie" to Ziva.
Ziva chuckled.
"I saw that." Keith said without putting down his menu.
The waiter brought Ziva her food and her eyes lit up like Christmas lights. She started shoveling her food down.
Keith looked at her, feigning disgust.
"again, I am so happy I did not reproduce. I couldn't deal with a woman who ate me out of my own house." Keith sniggered.
Ziva gave him the evil eye but he smiled back goodheartedly.
They each ate their meal and paid the bill. Ziva walked out into the sunlight and enjoyed feeling the of the sun on her skin. She shut her eyes and imagined that she was back on a beach in Israel. Ari, Tali, her mother, and even her father were there. Everything was perfect.
She was broken away from her daydream by Sarah putting a hand on her shoulder. Ziva looked over to see her smiling reassuringly. The three walked back to the hotel in a content silence.
Ziva stopped short on the curb by where their car was parked and held up her hand to signal the other two to stop.
"what is it?" Keith asked her.
"something is off." Ziva said slowly as she looked around. She scanned the parking lot to see a black van at the far end of the lot. The windows were tinted and there weren't any identifying marks.
She signaled for them to look and they did. They ducked behind the car.
"we can leave right off." Keith said.
"I'm going to see who it is." Ziva said and started slinking towards the bushes.
"Ziva!" Sarah whispered loudly but it was too late because Ziva was already a good 15 feet away, ducking behind the bushes.
She snuck around to the end of the parking lot and thankfully, a fairly large tree was adjacent to the truck. She didn't see anything else on the back except for a license plate. A government official license plate. She was a fugitive, now on the run. This couldn't be good.
She quickly got back to the car and told Keith and Sarah about the plates.
"what now?" Sarah asked.
"I have a plan." Ziva said. "go up to the van, ask for directions. Distract them. We'll go back down to the gas station by the breakfast place. We'll go around back and wait for you there."
She felt a small smile cross over her face. This was something that she and Tony would've done if the situation had presented itself. Then they would've bantered back and forth over their successful getaway and what exactly Ziva said to thoroughly distract them. But Tony was not there. That would never happen.
Ziva and Keith got in the car slowly and watched Sarah walk over from to the van. Ziva saw her twirl her hair and wink, giving them the signal to go.
Keith chuckled and started out of the parking lot. They made their way down the road. Ziva kept checking behind them nervously but never did see the van.
They drove behind the gas station.
Keith sighed. "and now we wait."
"Yes." Ziva sighed. She put her hand gently on her small bump.
"what is our next move?" Ziva asked.
"we need to keep moving obviously." he ran his hand through his thinning hair. "I agree with Sarah. You need to rest."
"But we must keep moving." Ziva said.
"We'll figure it out. Right now, just try to relax." he said.
They waited for what felt like an hour but was really only about 10 minutes.
Sarah climbed into the backseat of the car and they sped away.
"we need a new car." she said.
"we'll get one." Keith said.
"the guys in the van were definitely government but, something felt off about them." Sarah said.
"they are bad, good guys." Ziva said. "dirty."
"yeah." Sarah nodded.
"How many people are after you exactly?" Keith asked.
"I do not know." Ziva sighed. "way too many."
Tony called Malachi as soon he got out of Margaretville.
"Malachi, I'm coming to Israel, I need to talk to Ray and Kort." Tony said.
"no, they're heading to D.C. and I'm on my way." Malachi said. "there's news."
Tony braced himself. "what?"
"that French arms dealer, definitely involved. Kort is connected to them somehow and Ray seems like his handler."
"Anything else?"
"Your new secretary, Jarvis,"
"what about him?"
"he goes way back with Eli and Vance." Malachi said.
"wait, was he connected to everything that went down last November?"
"yes. He was CIA then. All I know is that Eli doesn't trust him."
"neither does Vance." Tony commented. "he got the FBI to investigate."
"I will give them a call then." Malachi said. "I will see you soon my friend. Shalom."
"Shalom." Tony flipped his phone shut and kept driving.
His thoughts were filled with Ziva. Every car he passed, he tried to look in to see if it was Ziva. It was all he could to not go crazy.
He arrived back in D.C. and bought a few prepaid cell phones. He then went straight to Kort's upscale hotel that he always stayed at when he was in town.
"hi," Tony smiled at the receptionist and showed her his badge. "I need a room number for Trent Kort."
"you need a warrant." she said, smiling sweetly.
Tony's smile vanished. He whipped out his badge. "I need the room number. It's a matter of national security."
The receptionist looked scared and quickly gave Tony the number.
Tony went up to the sixth floor and jimmied the lock to room 613.
Kort was exhausted. He walked in the back way to his hotel and went up to his room. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Before he could register what was going on, a gun was pressed into his neck and the door was shut behind him. The intruder took his gun and slammed him against the wall.
"hi there Cyclops." Tony seethed.
"I didn't do anything, DiNozzo." Kort winced as Tony shoved him harder into the wall.
"oh yeah, why is Ziva being set up? Why were you in Tel Aviv? How is the French Arms dealer involved?"
"It's nothing to do with you." Kort said.
Tony spun Kort around, keeping him pinned.
"it has to do with Ziva, therefore, it has to do with me." he said getting nose to nose.
"Let me go and we can talk about this civilly." he growled.
Tony stared at him for a moment and finally released him. Kort straightened out his suit with a huff. He walked into the kitchenette area and sat down. He motioned for Tony to take the seat opposite him and he did.
"I am back undercover." He said.
"with the arms dealing I take it." Tony said.
"yes."
"so why were you in Tel Aviv?"
"I was meeting the arms dealer,"
Tony raised his eyebrows in question.
"Le Têtard." he clarified. "anyway, we met with some woman who was our, liaison, of sorts to Hamas."
"and?"
"Le Têtard did the business. That's all."
"you can't tell me the liaison's name?" Tony asked. He was beyond frustrated.
"Alina, Hastar...Haslar...something." he said.
Tony knew who it was. "isn't your job to get the details here?"
"no, right now I just have to keep an eye on Le Têtard." Kort said adamantly.
Tony sighed. Kort poured himself a drink and took a sip.
"what do you know about Jarvis?" Tony asked him.
"The Secretary? Not much, he did undercover work mostly in Asia and Europe some time ago when he was with the agency."
"was he involved with Mossad?"
"I assume so."
"was he a good agent?" Tony asked.
"seeing as he's now the secretary of the Navy, I would say yes."
"that doesn't mean he wasn't dirty." Tony said. "you don't know?"
"no." Kort said, taking another sip of his drink.
"come on Trent, you're not exactly the picture perfect agent here. Was Jarvis shady?"
"I don't know. I never worked with him. I just took over for him when he started moving up the ladder." he said sternly. "that's all I know."
Tony swallowed hard.
"do you know where I can find Alina?" Tony asked.
"she's in D.C. somewhere. All I have is a number to a burn phone which is most likely already been dumped." he said. "now leave. I don't know anything else."
"Alright." Tony said. "Thank you." he added begrudgingly.
Tony left in a hurry. He had to find Alina fast.
He called McGee as he walked to his car.
"McGee, don't let anyone know I'm calling you." Tony said before McGee could greet him.
"ok." he said.
"I need you to track a number for me. It's 555-555-6190."
"pre-paid cell." he said after a moment.
"can you trace it?"
"last two calls received bounced off of the same towers. Downtown D.C."
"look for hotels around there. Something nice." Tony said.
"the Ritz, The Hilton, The Embassera, The..."
"it's the Embassera." Tony said, remembering the night he followed Ziva right after he met her. Then it hit him. Alina was the woman who switched robes with Ziva.
"alright thanks McGee." Tony said and then he remembered something. "you speak French right?"
"A little." McGee said.
"what does Le Têtard mean in French?" Tony asked, holding his breath.
"uhh..." McGee thought. "the tadpole."
A/N: dynamite cliffhanger no. 1. Review!
