Chapter Nine
Tony wore a white cotton dress shirt and a pair of cargo pants along with army boots. The look made him fit in with the Mossad officers. He stood with his Glock .22 in his hand at the firing range. He had on earphones and goggles, as he fired off a clip. The supervisor, a small intense man around sixty, walked over to him and pressed the button retrieving the target. He had two tight groupings, one in the head and one in the chest.
"Tov me'od," said the supervisor.
Tony looked at him with a blank expression.
"Very good," he said in English.
"Yeah, not bad," he smiled.
The supervisor put in a new target and sent it back down to the wall. He smiled at Tony, "Do it again."
"You're the boss," said Tony.
"I know," said the supervisor.
Tony loaded his Glock, put his goggles, and earphones back on, and emptied the clip into the target. According to Tanaka, Kort went around with a five-man bodyguard. They were all ex-Saudi military, trained by the US Special Forces, and considered the top of their field. She was working on getting a man-by-man breakdown for them of strength and weaknesses.
The supervisor came back and retrieved the latest target. It also had two tight groupings, one in the head and one in the chest. He smiled.
"You are as ready as you'll ever be," said the supervisor.
"Not good enough to be Mossad, right?" smirked Tony.
The supervisor didn't even bother to respond. In his short time dealing with Mossad officers, he had gotten used to their arrogance. It helped that he had seven years of experience dealing with Ziva and her Mossad arrogance.
"Deputy Director David is upstairs in the lounge waiting for you," said the supervisor.
Tony holstered his weapon and headed for the stairs up to ground level. The training center was located in a warehouse near the docks of Tel Aviv. The lounge was a room with a table some chairs, a coffee maker, and a small refrigerator with cold water bottles in it. There was no air conditioning, so the temperature in the room hovered around ninety. Tony entered the lounge to see Eli sipping a cup of coffee.
"You wanted to see me, Eli," he said.
"Yes," he said then motioned to the coffee pot. "Have a coffee or water?"
Tony walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a water then he walked over to the table and sat down.
"Jeanne Benoit is in witness protection," said Eli.
"So soon," Tony said.
He opened the water bottle and started drinking down the water.
"There was an attempt on her life," said Eli.
Tony stopped drinking and looked at Eli with concern.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked.
"Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee are fine. Two agents were killed, though. The Russian Mafia sought Gibbs out to tell him that it was Julian Benoit who did it," Eli told him.
"Great. He's probably a sociopath," snarled Tony.
"I could have a profiler to a profile on him, but I don't really care if he's a sociopath. Once we know where he is, he is dead," said Eli.
"After we locate and retrieve the suitcase," said Tony.
"The timing is open to debate," said Eli.
"No taking him in and having him stand for trial," said Tony.
"Remember our conversation, Anthony," said Eli.
"I remember and I'm not arguing. He's dead," said Tony.
Eli smiled then took a sip of his coffee.
"You are learning," said Eli.
"Do I have a choice?" asked Tony.
"No, not really. If you are going to survive this, you have to act according the rules of the game," said Eli.
Tony took another drink of water.
"Anything else, Eli?" he asked.
"Hannah sends her best. She says that the children miss you," said Eli.
Tony smiled. Against his better judgment, he had started to feel something for Hannah. He wasn't sure why. There was the obvious reason like she was highly attractive, but it was more than that. He felt strangely comfortable with her and he even liked her kids. With Hannah, he didn't put on mask after mask, but he allowed her to see him.
Of course, the fact that she was Ziva's cousin made it difficult to think of her as anything more than a friend. His feelings for Ziva acted as an obstacle, yet that moment in the kitchen they shared felt oddly right. He needed to put her out of his mind for now. The operation was too important to be distracted.
"She likes you," said Eli. "Are you developing feelings for her?"
Tony stared at Eli for a moment then drank the last of his water.
"She's been kind to me," said Tony. "I should get back to work.
Tony got up and started to leave.
"You seem to weave a spell on David women, Anthony. Ziva and now Hannah. Sometimes I think you want to marry into the David Family," smiled Eli.
"All I want to do is my job, Eli, and nothing more," said Tony.
Tony exited leaving Eli alone. Eli chuckled to himself and took a file sip of his coffee. It was time to get back to work.
NCIS
Gibbs looked up from his desk and stared over at Agent Wilson. He kept staring until finally Wilson realized that Gibbs wanted his attention.
"Yes, sir," he said.
"Go down to intel offices and have one of the analysts get you all the information he can on Julian Benoit right hand man, Gerard Mannion. I want to know everything I can about him," said Gibbs.
"Yes, sir," said Wilson.
He got up and walked over to the elevator. Gibbs then looked over at Ziva. Ziva waited to hear his orders.
"Call Israel. Get us some intel from one of your sources on what's happening?" he said.
"Yes, Gibbs," she said.
She picked up the phone and dialed Hannah's smartphone. After it rang three times, she answered it.
"Shalom," said Hannah.
"It is me Ziva," said Ziva in Hebrew.
"I thought I'd hear from you earlier than this," said Hannah.
"How is Tony?" she asked.
"He is fine, Ziva," Hannah said sounding a bit strained.
Ziva had known her cousin for her whole life and was too well trained by Mossad not to know that Hannah was bothered by something.
"I hear tension in your voice, Hannah. What is wrong, Tony?" Ziva asked.
"Nothing is wrong with him. It is me, Ziva. I am the one with the problem not Tony," Hannah said.
"What is it, Hannah? Has he gotten on your nerves? I should know better than anyone else that he can do that," said Ziva.
"No, Ziva, that is not it. Believe me he hasn't gotten on my nerves. I like him, Ziva. As a matter of fact, he is the first man I've liked since Aaron died," Hannah admitted to her cousin.
Ziva was stunned to hear this. She wasn't sure how to react to this news.
"Does he like you, Hannah?" she asked.
"I don't know. I kissed him and he responded to it, but we both knew there is someone else that tugs at his heart," said Hannah. "I don't want to make a rival of my cousin. We are too old for that and you are too beautiful."
"Hannah, I do not know what to say," Ziva said.
"I told you because I want you to know that if you don't intend on pursuing a relationship with him, I would like to," Hannah said.
"Where is he now, Hannah?" asked Ziva.
She didn't want to have this unexpected discussion. Ziva loved her cousin and her children and hearing that she had developed feeling for Tony confused her.
"He leaves tomorrow for Dubai. They are preparing their final touches on their plan," Hannah told her.
"Will Eli be overseeing this op?" she asked.
"Yes. He will be watching from the command center when they make their move. Noa will be wired for a live feed," said Hannah.
"And you?" Ziva asked.
"I asked to watch," she said, "and he said yes."
"I will let Vance know you will have a live feed set up. We may ask to share the feed," said Ziva.
"I'll let Eli know, Ziva," said Hannah.
"Hannah, I understand. He has been staying with you and, as much as I can say that Tony is annoying, he is a good man," said Ziva.
"Do you love him?" Hannah.
"I believe I do," said Ziva.
"You better be sure of it, Ziva," said Hannah.
"Hannah, we will talk more about this," said Ziva.
"I know we will," she said.
"Tell Eli I will be in touch with him," said Ziva.
"That will make him happy. He misses you," said Hannah.
"It is his fault that he misses me, Hannah," said Ziva.
"He knows that, Ziva. Your father is very smart," Hannah said then hung up.
Ziva hung up the phone and thought about the conversation she just had. It set her on edge. She didn't like the fact Hannah had feelings for Tony. No, she didn't like that at all.
NCIS
Tony had to admit that Dubai was clean. It was new and clean, at least in the areas they were scheduled to be staying. He wore a Brioni tan linen suit with a blue dress shirt and red silk tie, while Noa wore an off-white Hebert Stretch-Crepe Dress with black stilettoes. They looked like they had money.
Teo and Liat also were dressed for the occasion. Tony smiled to see them in a suit and dress rather cargo pants and safari shirts. The two couples arrived at the Jumeirah beach Hotel. As they got out of the car service that picked them up at the hotel, Tony was struck how the place reminded him of an adult Disney World. Hell, there was even a water park on steroids the hotel, not to mention an amazing marina and a pristine beach populated with beach cabanas.
They were escorted to their rooms. He and Noa checked the room for bugs once they were alone. They weren't any.
"So, Tony, since Kort knows you, you will hang back as Teo, Liat, and I try to engage him," said Noa.
"I know. He gets one look at me and he'll either try to have me killed or run," said Tony.
"Why do you two have such an adversarial relationship?" asked Noa.
"I interfered with his plans for Rene Benoit, so he tried to kill me and Jeanne," said Tony.
Noa smiled, "You seem to have bad luck with women."
"Why do you say that?" he asked.
"I've read your dossier," she laughed.
Tony could only imagine how it read. From a mother who died young to Kate and Paula and what happened with Jenny and what almost happened with Ziva then there was Jeanne, he did have one black mark after another when it came to women, and too often the woman ended up either dead or damaged.
"I've had my moments," said Tony.
"With your love life you could be a spy," she teased him.
"Why do spies have difficult love lives?" he asked.
"We tend to either seduce potential targets or each other. It hardly ever ends well," she admitted.
"Yeah, well, I guess I do have something in common with you after all," he said.
"I am going to change then we should meet with Teo and Liat and start setting a trap for Kort," she said.
"I'll call Scott and see if he and Call are in motion yet," he said.
She nodded then grabbed one of her pieces of luggage and walked into the bathroom. Tony dialed Scott. The ex-Seal answered his smartphone.
"Yeah, boss," he said.
"What are you and Scott up to?" he asked.
"Since we flew into Dubai last night, we already have eyes on Kort. He travels with his five bodyguards, who seem to be jailers as much as guards to me. I think Kort isn't trusted by this sheik Omar," said Scott.
"Where is he now?" asked Tony.
"At the Dubai Marina," he said. "He's checking out a hotel restaurant for lunch."
"Date?" asked Tony.
"No date," answered Scott.
"Teo, Liat, and Noa will be there as soon as they can. I'll have them contact you," said Tony.
"And you, boss?" asked Scott.
"He knows me, so I'll hang here until we can get him on the damned yacht," said Tony.
"Sitting by the pool having a beer and looking at the pretty women in the bikinis, oh, you poor bastard," Scott teased him.
"I'll have a beer for you," said Tony.
"Make it two," said Scott.
Tony hung up. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. There was something about this part of the op that just seemed destined to go wrong. Maybe he was developing a Gibbs-like gut instinct.