Tony stared at Gibbs for a moment or two, before finally bowing his head. "Does anyone else know?" He asked quietly.
Gibbs knew what he was asking. "Just Ducky; although Abby will, if she sees the rest of Ziva's lab work, since we asked her to check for the synthetic insulin."
"Great." Tony said.
"She won't say anything, Tony. I already told her that Ziva's lab results were to be kept private."
Usual Disclaimers: I own nothing Warning: Violence
Deceit
Chapter Ten: "Subtle (and not so subtle) Clues
Saturday Morning
Ziva woke up with a start. From what she could tell, she had remained undisturbed through the night. She was totally confused by her father's actions.
She then took a deep breath and tried to leave her bedroom. She may have locked her own bedroom door, but it was now also locked from the outside.
"Abba! Eli! Open this door immediately! I will break it down!" Ziva yelled as loud as she could. She hoped she woke up her neighbors and they called the police reporting a domestic disturbance.
She was rewarded by the sound of a chain being removed. She must have been really sleeping hard not to have heard him place that on her door, which made her wonder if he had been able to give her something last night without her knowing it.
"Good morning, my Ziva. Come, get dressed. It is time for breakfast and we must continue to observe Shabbat." He father kissed her and spoke softly.
Much to her horror, her father began to make his way over to her closet, as if he was going to pick out her clothes.
She headed him off. "I can select and dress myself, thank you." She said firmly.
Eli regarded his daughter. "Of'course you can. I was just trying to be…helpful."
"Yes, well, when I need your help, I will ask for it." She snapped.
Eli grabbed Ziva's arm. "Ziva, you will not speak to your father in such a tone!" He looked menacing and dangerous, all semblance of tenderness gone, and for a moment, Ziva truly feared for her life.
Just as quickly, he let her go and kissed her on her forehead. "Go, get dressed. Breakfast is waiting." At that, he turned around and headed for her kitchen.
Ziva just watched him with her mouth open. There was something definitely wrong. She quickly went to her closet and picked out some clothes. She picked a loose fitting top that would conceal the knives taped to her back.
She then let herself into her bathroom, locking the door. She turned on the faucet and washed her face. When she was done, she quickly removed the tank cover again and grabbed the burn phone.
She turned on her electric toothbrush as she texted Tony. When she was done, she placed the phone in her bra.
Ziva's Apartment-Outside
Tim was taking the last swallow of his coffee when he heard the text alert. "Tony! Someone just texted you."
Tony followed Gibbs' orders to get some sleep; he just did it in the backseat of the car McGee was using for stakeout. He knew his back would curse him in the morning, but he didn't care.
"Huh? Wha…?" Tony opened his eyes groggily.
"Your phone. You just got a text." Tim said.
At that, Tony sat upright. "It's from Ziva!" He said. He couldn't believe saying those three words would bring him so much joy.
Regardless of her message, at this moment she was still alive. That was the important thing for now.
Tim became more alert as well. "What does she say?"
Tony was looking at the jumble of letters. "st ok; eli shabbat-n wy out-eli ill? Ilu Z"
"Ok, I think I think I've figured it out. She says she's still ok, her father is still celebrating Shabbat, she can figure no way to get out of there, and she thinks that maybe her father is ill.
She said something like that in her first text to me: Eli not Eli." Tony didn't bother telling McGee the last message.
"Eli not Eli, and now thinking he is ill? Does that mean she thinks there is something medically wrong with him? Tony, if he is dying, it might make sense that he is trying to atone for his past deeds." Tim suggested.
"And taking his daughter with him to his place by God's side? No thank you. I think she means he is acting like he has a screw loose." Tony countered.
"She thinks her father is crazy." Tim said in disbelief.
"Or at least that he is acting crazy, which is pretty obvious to us and we don't even know what is going on inside that apartment. Hey! Maybe we can get into the apartment next to hers and get some sort of micro camera or at least a microphone into her place so we can at least get some idea of what is happening." Tony looked at Tim.
"We'd need to get a court order, and the equipment, Tony. That could take a while, especially since it is Saturday." Tim said.
"Then get going on it, McGee. We don't have time to waste here." Tony pulled out his phone to call Gibbs.
Ziva's Apartment- Inside
Eli was pacing, waiting for Ziva to come out of the bathroom. He dragged her to the dining room and sat her hard in the chair. Then he assumed a calm demeanor and prepared for the second meal of Shabbat.
Ziva sat, not daring to move. She wasn't sure she could stab her father, or that she could even reach him before he anticipated and intercepted her move.
For now, she must bide her time. After breakfast, her father sent her to her room while he spoke on the phone.
She could barely make out what he was saying, except that he was speaking to someone in Hebrew; so it could have been Liat, this Kazmi person or even Shmeil.
Georgetown
Liat Tuvia frowned as she listened to the ramblings of her Director on the phone. None of this was going to plan. But she would never question her Director's actions.
Unlike his daughter, she was loyal to Eli David. She even believed she had taken Ziva's place as his daughter. Until now.
His insistence that he come to the United States to spend Shabbat with Ziva was insane. It made no sense at all for him to feel this emotional need to bond with her.
Why now, of all times? Then he added Arash Kazmi to the equation and the dynamics changed. It was now no longer just about Shabbat, it was about everything: Ziva, Mossad, NCIS, Israel and the United States.
She knew Ziva was close to her partner Anthony DiNozzo and did not see the problem with that. After all, Mossad Officers often have sex with their team partner.
It builds trust and lets you truly know your partner's weaknesses, which could come in handy in a life or death situation. Liat didn't know it, but Ziva had actually told Tony this.
Eli knew from Shmeil Pinkhas that he believed that not only were they intimate, but that it was not work related, that they were in an actual romantic relationship.
Eli David at first was furious about this. He was angry that Ziva would fall in love with a man that not only embarrassed her father and killed a fellow Mossad Officer, but he was not Jewish, which to him was the strongest objection.
But Shmeil had talked to him, and convinced him that Ziva was happier than he had ever seen her as an adult; as happy as she had been as a child.
He had convinced Eli that the relationship was in Ziva's best interest and he needed to accept that. So Eli David had decided to go to D.C. to celebrate Shabbat with his daughter, to show her that he loved her and accepted her new life.
Then something changed. She wasn't sure what it was, but the plan for including Kazmi worried her. There was something she didn't know, and she was not used to being outside the loop.
Her musings were interrupted when her cell phone rang. "Shalom?"
Eli David sounded agitated. "Liat, where are you?"
"I am just around the corner of Ziva's apartment. Her boyfriend and the other one are in a car in front of her building, watching, and waiting."
Eli ran his hands through his hair. "Her boyfriend. Shmeil said I should be happy but how can I be happy when he has taken my only child?"
This cut Liat to the bone. "You still have family in Israel, Director. You have Malachi…and me." Her voice was small.
"It is not the same, you are not my daughter. Ziva is my last surviving child." Eli was pacing, keeping his eye on her bedroom door.
Liat did not answer. "I may need to move up the time schedule. Ziva is not…cooperating. When I call you next, you are to pull immediately in front of the building.
Ziva and I will join you then and we can go to the safe house."
Liat frowned. "What about the NCIS Agents waiting in front?"
Eli David smiled. "It will happen so fast, they will be caught with their pants down."
Ziva's Apartment- Inside
Ziva quickly took out the phone and smiled at the text from Tony. "ILU- b cfl-outside"
She knew Tony would not just meekly go home. If she knew him, he had probably been there all night. In which case, he must be exhausted.
"sleep" She texted.
"Did-MG on." Ziva smiled again, knowing McGee was not only looking after her, but Tony as well.
"wnt 2 c nside; nx dr wll." Ziva looked at that perplexed, and then realized what Tony was saying, that they were looking at getting a camera in to see what was happening.
She shook her head.
"no- 2 dngr- mb more hall" She sent back.
She quickly put the phone away when she heard her father's footsteps come closer.
Eli opened her bedroom door. "Come Ziva, we must talk."
Ziva got up hesitantly, and followed her father into her living room.
"Sit, Ziva." He ordered.
"I'd rather stand." She said, obstinately.
He looked at her, the anger almost oozing out of his eyes. He turned around and went into her bedroom. She craned her neck to see what he was doing and heard rummaging around.
She figured he was looking for weapons, but was not concerned. She was not prepared, however, for his real purpose.
"What are these clothes doing here? Do you mean to tell me he is living here?" Eli was holding a man's shirt, Tony's OSU T-shirt and some running pants that clearly were not Ziva's.
"No, Tony does not live here. But he has been here, we have come here out of the pouring rain, or after a gruesome case, and it makes sense for him to have clean clothes to change into.
And I do not appreciate you going through my clothes and invading my privacy!" Ziva snapped back.
"That is what his home is for. He has no business being in your bedroom!" Eli David was now standing directly in front of Ziva, tall and threatening.
Ziva refused to stand down. "Papa! I am a grown woman. You put Michael in my bedroom, yet you say I cannot choose what man I want?
You took an Arab woman to bed for the sole purpose of creating a child, a child that you would turn into an assassin and a monster. How dare you judge me and my life?"
After Ziva spoke of Ari, Eli raised his hand and struck Ziva so hard across the face it sent her sprawling, falling against her coffee table.
The impact was hard, and she winced in pain. She held her hand against her face and looked in shock at her father. His face was reddened with anger.
"You are my child, and you will do as I say, and you will not speak back to me. Is this what you have learned by living in America? To be disrespectful?"
"What about respecting my wishes and decisions? You left me to die. My friends, my family saved me. You chose not to.
You chose to let your only living child die alone in the desert." Ziva cried back at him, letting loose the pain and hurt she had suffered.
Eli was unmoved. "You do not deserve the honor of sharing Shabbat with me."
At that, Eli kicked Ziva viciously in the stomach. She retched and vomited the contents of her stomach. She tried to crawl toward the bathroom, to take refuge, but he yanked her up by the hair and threw her against the wall.
Ziva lay motionless. Eli David looked at his daughter breathing hard. Suddenly, he was down at her side. "My little Ziva, what have you done to yourself?"
Eli is acting like "Sméagol/Gollum" for you "Lord of the Ring" fans.
Gollum just appeared in full force. Thanks again for the reviews and support.