1Author's Note: I don't own anything! Thanks for the patience between updates! I know historically speaking that this is not exactly how the nation of Israel and the Mossad Agency are formed, but it worked well to fit in with the story line so in this installment I consider myself short on accuracy and long on creativity! I also decided not to make Ari evil, just to see what it would be like to write him in his idealized form, a physician who works towards the common good. Please enjoy! BKC...
"Oh Jethro!" Jenny squealed in delight as they stared at the desert.
"It's amazing...really something to see with our own eyes, not just in pictures." Jethro added as he stared in awe at the Great Pyramids.
"Quite the view." A lightly accented voice chirped from behind the duo.
Jenny and Gibbs both spun around sharply to see a petite woman with unruly jet black hair wearing a pair of khakis and a plain blue t-shirt.
"I'm sure you're accustomed to it though." Jenny said simply, waiting for the mystery woman to identify herself.
"It is a common sight for me, but still beautiful nonetheless." The young woman moved towards them and extended her hand.
"Ziva David. It's a pleasure to meet the both of you." The woman introduced herself.
"Jethro Gibbs and Jennifer Shepard." Gibbs said politely as he shook Ziva's hand.
"Please call me Jenny." Jenny explained.
"And please call me Gibbs." Jethro directed.
"Jenny...what happened to your hand?" Ziva asked as she looked at the woman's tightly bandaged hand.
"I was doing the dishes and cut my hand on a knife." Jenny explained simply.
"Has Ducky seen it?" Ziva asked with an arched eyebrow.
"You know Ducky?" Jenny and Gibbs questioned Ziva in unison.
"Who doesn't know Ducky?" Ziva smiled casually as she said it.
"We can get a doctor at headquarters...there are several there." Ziva said as she turned and began walking.
"Uhhh...Ziva ..where are you going? Where are we going?" Jenny demanded, angered that nothing had been explained, and so far it seemed that Ziva was going to leave them in the desert.
"We cannot stand here forever, come on follow me, we shouldn't keep the car waiting." Ziva explained with a wave of her hand.
Jethro hurriedly picked up the bags and he and Jenny walked briskly to keep up with Ziva's head start.
"Thank-you Michael." Ziva said with a sweet smile as a tall dark haired man opened a car door for her.
Ziva and Jenny piled into the backseat and Jethro got up front with Michael who was driving.
"Jenny, Gibbs this is Michael Rivkin. He will be working with us." Ziva explained.
"What exactly will our work entail while we are in Egypt?" Jethro asked.
"Gibbs...we will learn more bout that at headquarters." Ziva said cooly.
"Headquarters for what?" Jenny asked angrily. She was used to being kept in the dark about a lot of details, but this was just annoying. Ziva had forced them to wait in the middle of the desert and now they were in a foreign land with two strangers and absolutely no clue what was going on.
"You should probably let Eli do most of the talking." Michael cut in as he swerved to avoid another car.
"Sheesh! You tryin' to get us killed?" Jethro yelled.
"I am a much better driver than Ziva." Michael said with a chuckle as he turned down a narrow side street.
"Put these on." Ziva demanded as she threw two black blindfolds.
"Hell no." Gibbs said flatly, refusing the order.
"You must. Eli demands it." Ziva said in her cool voice. It seemed nothing rattled the young woman.
"Screw this." Jenny muttered as she flung the blindfold back at Ziva.
"Do it or abandon the mission and go back to the States." Ziva replied sharply.
"Fine...but if you so much as try anything..." Jethro muttered through clenched teeth as the car idled.
Jenny looked at Gibbs nervously and she too put on her blindfold.
"Each of you...take a hand." Ziva said as she gripped one of Jethro's hands and then one of Jenny's after they had gotten out of the car.
"Is Michael coming?" Jenny asked.
"No." Ziva said simply as Jenny heard a car accelerate and speed off. Michael Rivkin and their only means of quick escape were gone, Jenny was sure of it.
Jenny felt Ziva tug on her hand and she moved forward and could sense that the light and temperature had changed. They were inside a building now, Jenny guessed. It seemed like they had walked forever before Ziva spoke.
"Step in." Ziva said.
Jenny and Gibbs obliged, and they both realized they were in an elevator headed down.
"Wait here." Ziva directed once they stepped off the elevator.
Jenny could hear a conversation in a different language, one she couldn't even place.
"Enter." A male voice commanded.
Ziva led Jenny and Gibbs through a doorway and removed their blindfolds.
A middle-aged man with grey hair, tan skin and dark eyes sat behind a small desk.
"You must be Jennifer and Jethro." The man spoke with an accent as he addressed his new guests.
"I am Eli David." The man said as he stood and extended his hand to greet Jenny and Jethro.
Jethro and Jenny exchanged wary glances...Ziva was working with her family.
"I see that Ziva left you no worse for the wear." Eli said with a chuckle as he sat down and motioned for Gibbs and Jenny to sit in the chairs opposite his desk.
"Was being blindfolded really necessary?" Jenny asked furtively.
Eli nodded as he glanced up at Ziva.
"Forgive my daughter, she was only following my orders. This is a strange city to you...although you do not know your way around if you were to be captured I wouldn't want any affiliation with us to work against you." Eli explained.
"And just who is this group?" Jethro asked.
"We are operating under the name Mossad." Eli said simply as he looked at Ziva who smiled.
"Our goal is to help provide intelligence to the Allied Powers in order to defeat the illegal arms trade, namely Renee Benoit. He has many friends and many more enemies. Tracking him down wasn't easy but with the help of the Americans we are closing in. Our eventual goal is to form a new nation." Ziva added.
"What can we do to help?" Jethro asked.
"Work with us, follow our orders. Help us to intercept a shipment that will be arriving in three days time. Prove that it is connected to Benoit." Eli said.
"It's not that easy though...Benoit he moves around a lot. France, Russia, he's all over the world. Even now traveling is easy for him." Jenny said with exasperation. She had attempted to find him before, after the death of Jasper, the man she considered her father but to no avail. He was a hard man to find.
"That is true. He is exceptionally hard to keep track of, however the goal right now is tracking his movements, and the movements of his goods and services. If we cannot bring him to justice now we hope to bring him in front of a war crimes tribunal after the war is over." Eli said with a heavy sigh.
"So this...mission it's really all a crap shoot, we might win...we might lose?" Jethro said grimly.
"Unfortunately yes. But we are bound and determined to at least collect evidence of this man's unspeakable crimes." Eli added.
"Father..." Ziva began as she was interrupted by the ring of a phone.
Eli picked up the phone and spoke hurriedly in a language Jenny now knew was Hebrew.
"I apologize." Eli said with a weary expression as he hung up the phone.
"She is angry again?" Ziva managed a small smile as she looked at her father.
"She and Tali...so upset all the time with us." Eli muttered.
"We are never home it is understandable." Ziva lamented.
"Your mother...never content..." Eli said as he looked back at Jenny.
"Your hand...it is bandaged...were you wounded?" Eli asked curiously.
"I cut it doing dishes." Jenny said as she glanced at Jethro.
Jethro smirked as he looked at Jenny's hand.
"Have you seen a doctor?" Eli asked with a hint of sympathy in his voice.
"No...Jethro stitched it up very well though." Jenny smiled as she said it, remembering the caring and precise work Jethro had performed to repair her hand.
"Send for Ari." Eli said as Ziva looked at her father and exited the room without hesitation.
"Ari is my son. He just finished medical school, and I am sure he would be able to help you with your hand." Eli said.
"Thank-you." Jenny said quietly.
"In three days time you will be sent final instructions. For now just wait and rest. The main goal will be to intercept this shipment of cargo, to have it re-routed." Eli elaborated on the details of their mission.
"Is this my patient?" A male voice rang out as Jenny turned to see what appeared to be a younger version of Eli enter the room with Ziva behind him. Tall with dark hair and dark eyes he was a rather handsome man.
"I am." Jenny said in a confident voice.
"Jenny, Jethro meet my son. Ari. He's my oldest, and my only son." Eli said proudly.
"Let's look at this hand." Ari mused as he knelt next to Jenny, dropping his black doctor's bag on the floor beside him.
Jenny held out her hand calmly as Ari unwrapped the gauze and surveyed the wound.
"Your partner stitched this?" Ari asked in a quiet voice as he looked at Jenny's palm.
Jenny nodded.
"I don't think I could have performed finer stitching myself." Ari said as he smiled at Gibbs.
"It seems you have done a good job of cleaning it as well. I see no sign of infection." Ari added.
"Good work Jethro." Jenny smiled at Gibbs as Ari rummaged through his bag.
"This may sting a bit, but it's just an antibiotic treatment." Ari explained as he massaged ointment over the wound.
Jenny bit her lip and held back a yelp as the ointment stung at her skin.
"The stitches should be able to come out in a few days." Ari added as he re-wrapped Jenny's hand with fresh gauze.
"Thanks. It was nice to meet you." Jenny waved at Ari as he exited the room.
"It is far from glamorous but it will do. We all sleep here, most nights except for my father. He is going home to temporarily quell my mother's nagging." Ziva said as she led Jenny and Gibbs to a bunker-style room after they had enjoyed some dinner.
"We appreciate it." Jenny said as she stared at the brick walls and the bunk beds.
"Bathroom is the fourth door on the left. I will be in the room across the hall." Ziva explained as she closed the door behind her.
"Bunk beds." Jenny groaned as she stared at Jethro.
"This will never do." Gibbs said knowingly.
"We're going to be squashed like sardines all night." Jenny said. After a long trip from Russia to Egypt Jenny was not spending another night without Jethro next to her, holding her tightly.
"Move." Gibbs commanded as Jenny stepped out of the way.
In one swift movement Jethro flung the mattress from the top bunk onto the floor, and then proceeded to do the same with the mattress from the bottom bunk. He placed the two mattresses next to each other and looked up at Jenny.
"Double bed." He said simply.
Jenny laughed and smiled at Gibbs.
"Necessity is the mother of invention." Jenny said as she sank down on their new makeshift bed, weary and exhausted.
Jethro fell down beside her, weary and ready for some sleep.
"What do you think it will be like? Hard? Easy? Dangerous?" Jenny asked as she snuggled up to Jethro.
"What?" Gibbs asked groggily as he forced his eyes to remain open.
"Our mission...intercepting that shipment." Jenny elaborated.
"I'm sure Eli's got it figured out already." Jethro said as he yawned loudly and closed his eyes.