a/n names of all directors are fictional except for Vance.
Chapter 12
It was well past the witching hour and Hetty simply didn't care as she started ringing around for information that should have come her way. Furious didn't even begin to describe her mood. She had two agents on a naval ship whom she hadn't heard from, an agent destructively worried and alone and her best and fairest in the hands of a malicious and vindictive man, lost in the middle of no where. She had to find out what had gone wrong. She had to save them all and bring them home.
First port of call was Director of CIA Malcolm Peeves. The phone rang and rang until an irritated voice answered, "Yes!"
"Malcolm. Hetty. I need answers," asked Hetty dispensing of all pleasantries.
"Hetty, do you know what time it is?"
"I have 4 agents missing. I don't care about the time. What has happened?" Hetty said raising her voice.
"Look, the intel is sketchy. CIA went in to arrest Stein when Mossad sprang into action. Stein got away and they arrested Ari Benner. Apparently one of their own was dealing in the arms trade. My operatives interrogated him and he confessed to everything whilst incriminating Stein. That's all we have and that's all we needed. They have him in custody and they have jurisdiction there. We can't create an international incident Hetty, you know how tenuous our relationship is with Israel," explained a sleepy Director.
"Malcolm…do you read your mission briefs and do your so-called agents read theirs. Ari Brenner is Mr. Callen, not one of theirs but one of ours. He was sent in to uncover the Israeli side of the trade. My goodness man…how could you be remiss especially on this case. He is not responsible for the trade. Mossad forced him to plead guilty…oh my god….they know…they know it's Mr. Callen," her voice trailing away with the realization of what she had just verbalized.
"Hetty? Hetty?" asked a worried Malcolm.
"Don't you see. Mossad know Mr. Callen is an American agent. They used his alias against him, forced him somehow to confess to your people and now they have him. There's a mole Malcolm in your organization. You all screwed up and now the mission is compromised to the point I may lose 4 agents," Hetty cried the last words into the phone.
Malcolm was silent and still. He didn't always read the briefs especially when they involved agency crossovers with NCIS. because Hetty was at the helm. He screwed up and he was panicking. "How do I fix this?" he asked remorsefully because he knew if Hetty wanted to, she'd take it to the very top, to the oval office.
"Wake up your intelligence officers, get statements or whatever you can from the agents that interrogated Mr. Callen and fax them to me ASAP. No excuses Malcolm. I need to track two of my other agents and then I'll be in touch. We need to get him back Malcolm," said Hetty hanging up.
She breathed in, her breath rushing through to her diaphragm and then out. She steadied her nerves and pushed her worries and anxieties to the back of her mind. She now needed to track down Agents Blye and Det. Deeks. Hetty walked up to the Ops Centre and approached Eric, "Mr. Beale, why haven't we received any communications from the SS Kingfisher?"
Eric turned to face her, "I don't know. Kensi and Deeks were supposed to call in yesterday. They didn't."
"Should I be worried?" asked Hetty.
"I'm not sure. I'll try SS Kingfisher."
He radioed the Kingfisher. No response. He tried again and again no response. They looked at each other. "Ok Naval Command, it is." Eric bypassed all the low ranked officers going straight to the commanding officer's landline.
"Captain Beech at Naval Command speaking," sounding huffed.
Eric put the phone on speaker. "Captain Beech, this is Miss Henrietta Lange, Operations manager of NCIS."
"Yes Miss Lange, how can I help you?"
"I'm not sure if you are aware but I have two agents undercover on the SS. Kingfisher and I am unable to communicate with them," explained Hetty.
"Sorry Miss Lange, we have had communication problems due to a satellite issue. All communications have been ceased while we try to address the situation," explained Beech.
"ETA for that?" asked Hetty
"Couple of hours, ma'am."
"One more question…who is the commanding officer on the Kingfisher?" asked Hetty, knowing full well it wasn't Stein.
"Rear Admiral Watson, Miss Lange."
"What about Captain Stein?"
She heard keys tapping in the background as the young captain worked to get her the answers she was seeking, "It seems Captain Stein was transferred to the SS Raven when they docked at Malta. Apparently the SS Kingfisher had mechanical problems. That's around the time the communications went down."
The gears were working overtime in Hetty's head. "How opportune. Can you tell me if any of the crew left the SS Kingfisher apart from Captain Stein?"
"No they were told to stay on board."
"Thank you Captain Beech, you have been very helpful."
She turned to Eric, "Get that satellite working, or pinch one from somewhere. I need to speak to Miss Blye and Mr. Deeks. Get Nell in."
Now all the pieces were fitting together, she thought. Stein knew there was a sting in the process. Everyone knew. How? she wondered. So Stein, change of ship, loss of communication, set up of Callen, Mossad knowing about the sting…she was missing a piece.
In Israel
"Oh I can see we are all friends here," said Hevel smiling at the coincidence whilst Ziva and Sam looked each other over in bewilderment. Sam had no idea of Ziva and Callen's past, but Ben did. "Ben please get a chair for Ziva and yourself." Hevel sat himself next to Sam. Sam was too flabbergasted to utter a single word.
Ben and Ziva sat down and Hevel spoke, "Now I think we should all introduce ourselves. I am Hevel an old friend of Henrietta. Actually she is my sister-in-law, sister to my late wife." Looking over to Sam, "and yes Sam, Levi is her grand nephew, that's why I thought he'd be safer with her. My wife, son and his wife were killed in a car-bombing explosion in Tel Aviv, leaving Levi and myself when he was 8 months old. Hetty has always asked me to join her in America but Israel is my home."
"Tell them everything Hevel," spoke up Ben. He shook his head not wanting to dredge up the past. So Ben went ahead, "Well I will. Hevel was Director of Mossad years ago. He retired a couple of years after I was accepted. I was very green but Hevel made me his personal project. We became very good friends. I've been with the Kidon for 16 years when Ari, I mean Callen joined. We had a lot of things in common. I always trusted him and still do. That's why I couldn't believe what Eli accused him of and now we know the truth."
"That's where I remember you from. You came to our house for dinner once," said Ziva smiling and pointing her finger at him. "You brought me the most delicious Turkish Delight I've ever had."
"Yes now that was such a long time ago, Ziva. You have certainly grown into a very beautiful woman, much like your poor mother," said Hevel his smile slowly turning sad.
"…and deadly!" interjected Ben laughing.
Sam processed Ben's presence and Hevel's, but had difficulty understanding why Ziva was here. Her presence just didn't make sense. Was she the mole? He was staring at her and his look was not kind or welcoming. It was not a time for beating around the bush. "Why are you here?" he asked curtly.
His question and tone took everyone by surprise. "No need to be rude, Sam. Everything in good time. Let Ziva explain," said Hevel. Sam looked at him as if he had been scolded and folded his arms out of sheer annoyance.
Ziva looked at him and understood his diffidence. She felt Sam's love for Callen. The man inspired love and loyalty from everyone he met. "Sam…Callen was sent on assignment for the CIA with Mossad 16 years ago as Ari Brenner. I was a new agent. We fell in love. During the culmination of one of many missions, Callen compromised the mission to save my life. Ari was blamed and was sent as a liaison for Mossad to the CIA. The CIA maintained Callen's alias. After all they got him back and that's why I assume resurrecting Ari Brenner was easy. He already had a hand in," explained Ziva.
"Shoe..shoe in…not hand," said Sam scowling. Ziva shrugged whatever.
Sam's head was spinning. There was so much about Callen's past he simply didn't know. Sam had been involved in a lot of missions with the SEALS but Callen's past read like something out of The Day of the Jackal. And now, knowing that Ziva and Callen had a past, just blew him away.
"So you're the one that got away?" asked Sam. She didn't answer but just looked at him with such a pervasiveness that made his heart tremble. "So what happened this time?" asked Sam addressing his question to Ben and Ziva.
"Eli knew about the covert operation thanks to Rivkin. He is the only one that would've recognized Callen and he already bore a grudge," explained Ben.
Rivkin thought Sam, he remembered him from the case before Callen was shot…bastard. But bearing a grudge? He was sure that was another story.
"Eli and Aaron, his right hand thug, are responsible for the arms trading. They manipulated everything from the word go to frame Callen. He is being held in Nafha prison," finished Ziva.
Hevel and Sam froze at the mention of the prison, "Nafha…are you sure?" asked Sam fear appearing briefly on his face. He had come across a few Nafha stories and they had chilled Sam's soul. It scared him to think Callen was there and it made him more desperate to save his partner.
"Unfortunately yes," replied Ben, "we need to hurry and get him out before it's too late."
"So you and Callen hit it off huh?" asked Sam trying to mask his jealousy. Suddenly he was feeling very possessive of Callen and their relationship, maybe because their relationship was very tenuous. He was amazed at the loyalty being shown by this guy who Callen had deceived. It made him think about the lack of loyalty he had shown and it was making Sam angry.
"Yes we did. We had a lot in common. I trusted him with my life," said Ben not hiding his affection for Callen. Sam's gaze didn't waiver from Ben's until Ziva spoke breaking the testosterone tug-o-war.
"Boys enough. How do we do this?" asked Ziva trying to move ahead and get to discuss their common goal.
"You're not coming. I can do this with Ben," Sam said staring Ziva down.
She automatically stood up with a menacing look on her face, "No you are not. I know the area, I know the place, I have connections, I speak the language along with several dialects and I was Kidon. I am indispensable on this mission."
Hevel watched the two and burst out laughing. "Fighting over Callen already. Oh please children stop," they both looked at him disbelievingly. "First things first…Sam you need to find out what Hetty knows. Ziva and Ben, you need to draw up a map of Nafha and start formulating a plan. Ok?" They all needed Hevel's wisdom, strength and patience now and he delivered. So they started.
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After an excruciating ride for hours on end in the sweltering heat in the back of a van, Callen was led into the Nafha compound. It reminded him of the concentration camps he'd seen on the History Channel. They weren't gentle by any means. As they pulled him hard the metal cuffs dug into his skin drawing blood. He held back a hiss of pain. Showing weakness was not an option. He was pushed ahead through blank dank corridors with unidentified deep red markings. They kept pushing him. He stumbled onto the floor a few times. They just kept pulling him up. It was almost like his road to Calvary. He was taken to a large room. The side opposite him was damp and wet. Callen knew what was coming up. After all he was familiar with the prisoner protocol.
Eli didn't want him uncuffed yet. So he stood there. They all knew Callen; they all knew what a formidable agent he was. They were afraid that he'd escape and take a few down with him. They erred on the side of caution. Aaron went up to Callen and gave him a very smug smirk. Callen returned it with one of his, "So what now? Where's your puppet master? Not pulling your strings yet? Or are you a hand puppet with his hand up your ass?" taunted Callen.
Aaron smiled angrily but didn't take the bait. Callen was good at goading. So he pulled out a menacing bowie knife and smiled. He raised it ever so slowly, exchanging his glances between the blade and Callen's eyes. Tremors had started to filter through Callen. He tensed his muscles ready for whatever fate was going to throw at him. "Nice toy…your boyfriend Eli give it to you?" teased Callen.
His eyes blazed and the blade connected with Callen's cheek. As he drew in a breath, the blade was dragged down inflicting a thin incision. Blood trickled down. Aaron however continued to be silent as he used the knife to cut away Callen's clothes leaving him naked, hands and feet still in shackles. Callen was humiliated, he was frightened and he was angry. But he knew that whichever course of action he took at the moment, it would only lead to more of the same. So he swallowed the smart remark and took the humiliation. He stood there defiant, scars and all…waiting.
Then he saw a guard carrying a huge water hose which he aimed at Callen. Before Callen could register anything, he pulled the lever and all of a sudden Callen's body was thrust up against the wall. The force of the water was pelting him like an angry crowd. The guard swayed the water to and fro and Callen's body responded the same way. He had no control. He was being buffeted like a rag doll. This went on for eternity before the strength in Callen's legs gave way and he fell to the floor, the water still aimed at his cowering body. He was trying to shield himself, but the shackles made it almost impossible for him to protect himself. The torture went on until he made one last attempt to find some sort of respite, when the stream of water hit the side of his head hammering it into the wall. Everything went dark and he fell like a marionette and the water stopped.
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