Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Chapter Ten

Tony had actually been anxious to get on the plane again. They were now about to land in the country where Jenny was so sure they would find Ziva. Tariq and Jenny were in deep conversation not long after she got off a half-hour phone call from one of her other cell phones. Giorgio, the pilot, warned them that they were about to land and to strap themselves in.

Twenty minutes later, they were taxiing on the tarmac and there was yet another black sedan waiting for them. Tony was left wondering how Jenny managed everything this time, in just a few hours.

"Casey came through for us again," Jenny commented to Tariq as she walked to the front passenger door while Tariq took the driver's side. Once again, Tony and Palmer were left idly in the back seat.

"Where are we going?" Tony asked, leaning forward between the two front seats to talk to Jenny.

"Meet up with another contact."

"Why?" Palmer asked. "You know where Ziva is, don't you? Shouldn't we go there?"

"Exactly," Tony shot out.

"She's not there," Jenny told him.

"Anything illicit, such as weapons, drugs or hostages, is always held at a secondary location," Tariq explained.

"Do you know where?" Tony ejected.

"My contact does," Tariq answered for Jenny with a smile. Still smiling widely, he turned his eyes back to the road and made his way through the dusty streets of Asmara, Eritrea. Tony was almost sticking his head out the window, absorbing the culture and lifestyle of yet another North African Arab state. It was almost 2200h, local time, and he was exhausted, but he knew that he would not sleep until he found Ziva. And yet, he felt his eyes drooping as he let the motion of the machine carry him away.

"We're here, Tony," Jenny announced, cutting through his dozing.

He looked up, confused. "Are you sure?" They were quite literally in the middle of nowhere. The only light anywhere was coming from their headlights, and there was nothing to be seen in the deserted small town. It was almost like an old abandoned Western town, he decided, and looked to Jenny for instructions.

"This way," she told them as Tariq turned off the engine and headlights, leaving them in the dark. It took a few moments, but he eventually switched on a flashlight and followed Jenny in the direction of a dark building.

Instead of going to the front door of the small, two-story house, Jenny walked around to a door in the ground and, with a key from Tariq's pocket, she opened it up.

"Basement?" Tony asked.

"More like a cellar," Jenny told him. She looked at Tariq and signalled for him to go down first. Jenny followed with Palmer.

Tony, who was left until last, unconsciously quoted, "I've got a bad feeling about this." And then he followed them down into the dark hole, closing the door behind him. There were loose steps below him and he cautiously descended into the room below. The creaking of the wooden rungs as he moved had him a little on edge, but no more so than sliding down into a world of unknowns and darkness. He was starting to liken this whole affair to the fires of Hell.

"I've been expecting you," a voice came from the dark as its owner switched on a small light bulb in the middle of the roof. The place was more like a cave than anything else.

"Cliché much, Ben?" Jenny asked with a smile. The man, who, Tony noticed, was wearing jeans and a black long sleeve t-shirt, had very shaven dark hair and twinkling green eyes, and was seated on an old, downtrodden armchair in front of an unlit fireplace. There was a rug on the floor, which looked like it was made locally, two more moth-eaten armchairs and a cupboard over to the side, as well as a small desk and chair with a laptop nearby.

"I've been getting bored," Ben replied, standing up to greet them. "Please, have a seat, gentlemen," he said, talking to Tony and Palmer. "I'm only sorry that I don't have more to offer." Tony smiled at him and sat on the desk by the laptop and Palmer sat on the chair. Jenny moved over to one of the armchairs and took a seat, but Tariq rushed forward, shaking Ben's hand and embracing him in a man-hug.

"Shalom, my friend," Tariq greeted.

"as-salām al-laīkom," Ben replied, and they both sat down in opposing armchairs.

"Shall I make the introductions?" Jenny proposed. "This is NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo and his colleague, Jimmy Palmer. And this is Mossad Officer Ben-Gurion Moshe."

"Please call me Tony," the NCIS Agent asked of Ben, standing and holding his hand out to shake.

"Then please call me Ben," the other man replied, taking his hand in a firm, but friendly, grip.

"Your English is very good," Palmer observed as both men sat back down.

"I was born in Tel Aviv, but my family moved to New York when I was four and then back to Israel when I was eighteen," Ben explained. "I have dual citizenship."

"Do you know why we're here?" Jenny asked, bringing their conversation back to business.

"I've heard rumours. I just hoped that they weren't true. Is Ziva really missing?"

"Yes she is, Ben," Jenny told her with a look of great sympathy. One that left Tony confused. Just who was this man to Ziva, he wondered.

Ben closed his eyes in pain as he grasped the shock. He thought it would be so, but he never wanted to believe it. Finally, he forced himself back into the conversation. After all, he wasn't going to help Ziva by standing around and worrying about her. "She's here in Eritrea?"

"She was in Somalia and we tracked her here," Tariq explained.

"Terrorism?"

"The training camp Rivkin was after."

"I never got any details of Michael's operation beyond getting him into Yemen," Ben replied. "Is he here too?"

"No," Jenny answered him, with another look of sympathy. "Michael Rivkin is dead."

"He get caught too? When I left him in Aden a few months ago, I knew that he was in a bit of trouble. His mind was chaotic and he was getting sloppy. I told Ziva but I don't know if she could've done anything about it."

"He wasn't caught," Jenny explained hesitantly. She knew that Rivkin was a past friend of Ben's and wasn't sure how he would react. "He attacked Tony..."

"And you survived?" Ben asked, looking in Tony's direction.

Tony looked up at him, expecting to see anger, but instead, he received a look of admiration. "He was drunk," Tony answered quickly and defensively. "I didn't even notice. He broke my arm." And with that, Tony lifted up his left arm and revealed his cast.

"Yeah, I saw that," Ben said, still in a state of admiration for Tony's fight. "And I believe that he would have attacked you. Were you going to arrest him for espionage?"

"Murder, actually. Of a United States Federal Agent."

"I never should have let him go under to track down that cell," Ben murmured, with some anguish.

"Did anyone else but Ziva know about Rivkin's state of mind?" Jenny asked, intrigue plaguing her voice.

"I spoke to Hadar, but he wasn't willing to pull Michael out. I think Michael's success was his chance to get out of North Africa."

"What do you mean? Amit Hadar wants out of here?"

"Michael Bashan is retiring as the Head of Station at our embassy in Washington. Hadar wants to take his place."

"Is anyone else up for the promotion?" Tariq asked.

"Yes..." Ben answered slowly. "Me."

"Talk about an agenda," Tony muttered. "Do you know who was responsible for Ziva's mission here?"

"Normally it would be, but I'm under with a legend cover right now so I couldn't get above ground to help her out," Ben answered. "The duty would have fallen to Hadar then."

"He screwed the pooch?" Jenny put in.

"Well, not intentionally," Ben answered. "As much as I despise Amit Hadar, I don't think that he would risk that much just to find this training camp."

"It's on the top of Director David's list," Tariq countered.

"So is his daughter," Ben retorted. "I don't think he would put her in unnecessary danger just to find the camp. Or its leader."

"So is Hadar in trouble now?" Jenny asked.

"More than likely. He was negligent. He wanted to get the job done no matter the cost. Tariq, you and I both know that it's not the first time he's done this."

"Let's hope for a better outcome," Tariq thought aloud. Tony shot a look, wondering what the Egyptian-born CIA agent was hiding in his past. He really wanted to ask about Tariq's past with Ben, and, more importantly, Ben's past with Ziva.

"Do you have a terrorist group?" Ben asked.

"We can do you one better," Jenny replied. "A name."

There was silence for a few seconds before Ben spoke up. "Are you trying to build suspense or something?"

Jenny smiled. "Salim Khalid."

And Ben's face fell. His voice dropped several decibels and seriousness took over in his manner. "How long?"

"Twelve days."

"He is very good at getting information and he'll keep his captives alive until he hears what he wants to hear," Ben told them. "Ziva probably knows this and if she's holding on through the torture, she's probably still alive."

"Will she hold on?" Tony asked, his throat dry.

"If she has something to hold on to," Ben replied, explicitly looking in Tony's direction.

Tony looked away. Great, his mind pounded at him, the man has known you for two seconds and already can see your so-obvious feelings for Ziva. Now he'll think that you killed Rivkin out of jealousy too.

Jenny's voice cut across his thoughts. "We have an address, Ben. Primary warehouse here in Asmara."

"She won't be there," Ben told them.

"I know," added Jenny. "Any idea where she will be?"

"What's the company?"

"Transnational Distributors Africa," Tariq answered. "You know where they are based here?"

"Yeah," Ben replied slowly. It looked like he was visibly racking his brain. He looked up at them, a dawning look of realisation on his face. "I know exactly where their secondary location is. We suspected them of stashing weapons there, but we wanted to catch them with a big load before taking it down."

"Where is it?" Jenny asked urgently.

"The coastal city of Massawa," Ben replied. "Border protection is so concerned with what comes in by sea that they tend to overlook what comes in by land. They'd have transported the weapons from a nearby country."

"Like Somalia?"

"Definitely." He strode across to his desk and wrote the address down for them quickly. Jenny grabbed it and thanked him before walking back towards the stairs to leave, the others following her.

"Wait," Ben called out. They turned back to see the man struggling on the edge of making a decision. "I'm coming with you," he finally decided.

"You don't have to," Tariq told him. "Your cover will be compromised."

"It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is finding Ziva. She was like a sister to me for so many years."

"Really?" Tony questioned lightly, trying to act like he wasn't attempting to probe.

"My younger sister, Rachel, was fifteen when my family moved back to Tel Aviv," Ben explained. "She went to school with Ziva, then the IDF, college and finally Mossad. They were best friends, practically inseparable, along with Ziva's sister, Tali."

"What happened? Ziva has never really spoken about her past to me," Tony told him, clearly interested.

"Rachel was killed on a Mossad mission in Cairo four years ago," Ben replied softly. "Ziva left for the US the following week."

"Her brother died that week, too," Jenny commented.

"Yeah, not a good week for Ziva," Ben added with a weak, sympathetic smile. "But, anyway, I'm coming with you."

Tony nodded slightly, but his eyes were fixed on Tariq's movement. The man had looked awkward throughout Ben's story of his sister and was staring downwards and to the right. He wasn't trying to mask his feelings, but Tony could tell that he was trying to keep them hidden. It was something that left Tony wondering exactly what Tariq's connection to Ben, Rachel and Ziva was.

Author's Notes: So updating now after watching the speech in Cairo on CNN... I was gonna do it beforehand, but I thought that it was starting later than it did. So here's your fuzzy new character and I hope you like him. I'll run through each of the characters that I've introduced so people don't get confused:

Tariq Bustani: The Egyptian-born CIA agent that met with our agents in Algeria.

Jack Casy: The CIA agent they met at the cafe in Algiers and the person whose provided them with the jet, money and passports.

Giorgio: The Italian pilot that flies them everywhere.

Ben-Gurion Moshe: The American-Israeli Mossad Officer they just met in Eritrea who has past family ties, or friendship ties, with Ziva.

Gibbs and the rest of the team will come in soon, but remember, they're going to Le Monier. Please review.