Warnings: Spoilers for S10

A/N: Another short chapter, but I figure shorter chapters coming at a regular pace as opposed to long waits for longer chapters are better... right? LOL Anyways, I hope you enjoy. We're just getting started here dear readers :)

"Our intel has the drop happening tonight," Eschel told them, "at a near-by nightclub."

"And this person, they have the diamonds?" Leah asked, hearing her phone beep in her pocket.

Eschel nodded. "Yes. Mossad has been tracking the diamonds for months. We are certain this is where Ilan is going to try and collect them. He has had several communications with a man here in Berlin."

Leah slid her phone out of her pocket and noticed that she was receiving a video call. Confused, she showed the number to Tony and Adam. "Should I answer?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah," he said, gesturing for Eschel to move out of view. "Answer it." He had a feeling he knew who was calling her; his gut was screaming…

She held her phone up and accepted the call. Immediately, her blue eyes went wide. Leah wasn't sure how he had retrieved her phone number or why he was even calling her…

"Hello, Leah," Ilan Bodnar said, startling both Tony and Adam, "Can we talk?"

"I have nothing to say to you," Leah snapped. "You tried to kill me."

"I know that it is popular belief that I ordered that hit on you, but I did not," Bodnar replied. "I gain nothing from you being dead. There are others out there, Leah, that you know want you gone—you're not telling NCIS the truth."

Leah saw Tony glare at her and she adverted her eyes. "Why did you call me, Ilan? You know that I'm searching for you and that this call could very well be traced."

Ilan smiled, whimsically. "I know; I have scrambled the signal. It will take the tech geeks over at NCIS a while to locate me, and by then, we will have finished our chat. I called, because, I wish to speak with you—without NCIS or Mossad listening in. I want to prove to you that I was not the one that killed Eli David and Jackie Vance."

"Are you admitting to killing Kasmi?" Leah asked.

"We both know who ordered that hit," Bodnar replied. "I was setup to take the fall."

"Evidence suggests…"

"Leah, Leah, Leah, always looking for the straight line, the clear path; this is not so clear cut."

She could see Tony take out his cell, probably calling Tim to attempt to track Bodnar. Leah knew she had to keep Bodnar talking for that to happen. "Then help me understand that path, Ilan. What path should I really be following?"

He chuckled. "Do you think I am going to make it easier for you to find and arrest me? No. When you find out that it was not me that killed Eli, then we can chat again, until that moment I am not going to give you information that you could use against me."

Before Leah could say anything else, he had disappeared from her screen. She glanced at Tony and Adam hopefully; all the NCIS agent did was shake his head and she knew—they hadn't been able to track the call or Bodnar.

"Perhaps," Adam said breaking the tense silence. "We should all get some rest before tonight?"

"Yeah," Tony replied, gesturing for Leah to stand up. He took her by the arm. "Meet in our lobby in two hours; we can go over the fine details until then. I'll have my tech geek at NCIS keep working on tracking that call. We're gonna get him—tonight."

Tony angrily slammed the door to their hotel room shut. "When were you going to tell me that there could be someone else out to get you? When you were dead?" he shouted.

Leah took a step backyards, suddenly afraid of him. "I didn't think…"

"Exactly, you didn't think," Tony snarled, stepping towards her. "My job is to protect you at all costs; keeping something like this from me, that could have resulted in both our deaths, was a stupid idea, Leah."

"But… I haven't worked that case in months!" Leah gasped, "I handed it off to another analyst immediately after I was assigned this case; Morrow's orders!"

He glared at her. "Do you think that matters? No. I need to know who else might want you dead; what were you working on?"

She nervously glanced out the window before looking back at him, timidly. "It's classified."

Tony wasn't holding back, not when both their lives were on the line; he'd worry about hurt feelings later. "Hey, listen, you want to keep it classified, fine, but it isn't going to matter much once you're dead."

Leah swallowed, anxiously while she contemplated what to do next. She could lose her job for sharing classified information with him, but at the same time… she could lose her life… "I've been tracking a terrorist by the name of Benham Parsa for the last three years, that is, until Bodnar assassinated Eli David and Jackie Vance."

"Is it possible he wants you dead?"

"I don't know; I wasn't even close to catching him when they took me off the case."

"Wonderful; I'm going to call Tim…"

"No!"

He clenched his jaw. "No?" Tony repeated, low in his throat. "What do you mean no?"

She took a deep breath. "Please, Tony, you cannot tell Tim."

Tony was exasperated. "Then why did you tell me?"

Leah glanced at him with pleading blue eyes. "Because I trust you, Tony."

"It took you long enough," he drawled, sarcastically.

"Do you trust me?" she asked, quietly.

Carefully, Tony thought about his answer. When they had first met, he didn't trust her at all. He was certain she was there to bring his team down, now after spending all this time with her, alone, in Europe—he could see that she was trying to help his team. "Yeah," he said, "I trust you."

Leah's shoulders eased. Clearly, that wasn't the answer she was expecting and she was relieved to get it. "Then please, trust me now and don't call Tim."

He sighed, heavily and narrowed his eyes on her. "Fine, but if there is another attempt—I'm not holding this information back from my team. I'm going to have to call NCIS and let them know, understand?"

She nodded. "Yes. I understand. Thank you."

"Don't thank me just yet," Tony quipped, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "The day isn't over."

"Are you afraid Bodnar is going to try something tonight besides get his diamonds?" Leah asked.

"He knows we're here."

"You heard what he said today—he wants his name cleared, his money, nothing else."

Tony quirked an eyebrow. "You believe that?"

Leah licked her lips. "Yes. What help does killing us provide him in his case?"

He tilted his head to one side. "Leah, don't fall for it. He's trying to muddy that clear path."

She joined him on the bed. "What if he isn't though? What if he is being set up for the fall? Tim mentoned that the new director of Mossad showed up at NCIS right?"

"Yeah. Mossad officer was murdered in D.C," Tony replied. "The team was helping with the case."

"Is it possible… they're connected?" Leah questioned, noticing Tony's green eyes lit up. "Could it be that the officer was murdered for knowing too much? Just like I do…"

Tony pulled his cell phone out again and dialed his partner. "Hey Tim," he said, looking at Leah thoughtfully, "find out if there's been any unusual activity on the Director of Mossad's accounts. Yeah… I have a hunch."

Tim nervously glanced at Gibbs and cleared his throat. "Boss. I, ah, I did that thing Tony asked me to do."

Gibbs looked up from his work and glared at Tim, then realized why the junior agent was being elusive—Ziva was in the bullpen working on whatever task Vance had given her for the day. "And?"

"And… he was right, on both things," Tim said, curtly.

"Did you put a trace on the phone?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes. If it happens again, I'll know right away."

"Keep me posted. I'm going for coffee."

Tim watched as Gibbs stood up, grabbed his coat, and left. He sighed and went back to work. He'd been tracing that phone call to Leah's cell phone for about two hours now; Tony's hunch was that Bodnar had called her from somewhere in Germany, however, at the time of the original phone call, it was nearly impossible to trace. Tim would be ready next time…

"What was that all about?" Ziva asked, suddenly appearing in front of his desk. "Have Tony and Leah found Bodnar yet?"

"You know I can't talk to you about it," Tim said, frowning. "But, no, they haven't found Bodnar yet."

Ziva scowled. "So, they are going to be in Europe even longer," she stated, bitterly.

Tim wasn't sure what exactly she was bitter at—the fact that she wasn't with Tony, tracking Bodnar, or the fact that she wasn't with Tony to… be with Tony. "Yeah, but Tony feels like they're closing in."

She sighed, heavily and went back to her desk. "If Vance would just let me help, I could easily find him. I know him better than anyone else. The longer it takes to arrest him the less of a chance we have of catching him because he will take those diamonds and disappear."

He wanted to tell her that they knew about a drop that very night, that Tony and Leah were preparing to go undercover—but he couldn't—that would compromise the case. "Well, hopefully we catch him before that happens."

"None of this would have happened if my father had not trusted Ilan. He treated Ilan better than his own children and look how Ilan repaid him," Ziva mumbled.

"They say hindsight is 20/20," Tim mused, briefly glancing away from his screen. "There are a lot of things that none of us saw coming."