For all the devastated Tiva fans, I posted a very short piece of future fluff. It's called, "What's My Name Again?". It's the first thing I've ever posted with a "K" rating! I hope it makes some fans smile.
I, personally, have always wondered about the elusive Shmeil Pinkhas.
When all of their guests left to head back to D.C. on Monday morning it was time to get down to business.
"I assume you've been in touch with Shmeil?" Tony's words were a combination of a question and statement.
"Shmeil is retired and living in an assisted living facility outside if Tel Aviv." Ziva waved him off.
"And…" Tony urged her on.
"Well…maybe I have spoken to him a few times." Ziva confessed.
"I know." Tony quipped back.
"How is that?" She accused him.
"The S-man and I spoke a few days ago. We're tight." He crossed two of his fingers to symbolize their bond.
"I am not sure if I like how close you two have become."
Tony turned serious. "Ziva, who is Shmeil?"
Ziva gave him a flippant expression and waved her hand at him. "Shmeil is an old and dear friend."
Tony grabbed Ziva's arm and looked her straight in the eye. "No Ziva." He implored to her. "Who is Shmeil? I need to know. We are trusting our lives to him and his Intel. And it's not just you and I. It's Tim, Abby, Ducky, Gibbs…Who is this he?"
Ziva sighed and relaxed into Tony's grip. "Ok, fine. But it is a long story."
"I have time." Tony let go of one of her arms and gestured to the table.
Ziva sat down and looked at Tony's waiting eyes. "You really do not need to know. It is not relevant to today."
"I need to know." He told Ziva.
Ziva sighed and gave in. "Shmeil has never told me any of this. It is understood that we do not discuss his past, but I figured most of it out."
"And…?" Tony begged.
"I do not know any of this for certain."
"Ziva, tell me who he is? He can access any info he wants. Yet he never seems to be in danger himself. Who is he?" Tony was desperate to know.
"Okay. Have you ever heard of 'Operation Wrath of God'?" Ziva asked.
Tony's mouth dropped to the floor. "The picture that Ducky had of Shmeil back in 1972…"
"…just confirmed once more what I had always suspected." Ziva finished his thought for him. "I always knew that Shmeil worked for the Israeli Government, but I never understood in what capacity. He is completely off book."
"Is he still working on that? Is that how he knew your father? Was Eli involved?" Tony launched questions at her,
Ziva ignored his questions and continued her story at her own pace. "I think I always knew. And then when Shmeil retired 10 years ago I really started to put the pieces together: why he was always around, why he knew so much, why he had access to every bit if Intel, why he never reported to any authority…"
"So, Shmeil is the-"
"Tony!" Ziva cut him off sharply. "Would you like me to tell you or would you like to continue to interrupt me?"
Tony ran his fingers across his lips pretending to zip them closed, and then threw a pretend key over his shoulder promising that he'd stay quiet. Suddenly, he held up a hand to her and ran his fingers back over his lips to symbolically unzip them for a moment. "Just start from the beginning." He said quickly before he re-zipped his lips, threw away the key once more, and sat back in his chair to listen.
Ziva smiled at his show. "I am not sure all of this is true, but this is what I believe. It all started with the Munich Massacres at the 1972 Olympic Games in West Germany. The Palestinian terrorist group, Black September, took 11 members of the Israeli Olympic Team hostage. There are variations on the exact events of that day, but all 11 of the Israeli hostages were killed. Five of the terrorists were killed, three were captured alive. Those three surviving terrorists were released back to Palestine after the hijacking of a Lufthansa airliner."
Tony's eyes bugged out of his head begging to say what he thought Ziva was about to. Ziva stopped speaking for a moment and glared at Tony until he relaxed and sat back in his chair.
"I believe that Shmeil was in charge of the Israeli response to the Munich Massacres. It was named 'Operation Wrath of God'. This was a covert operation by Israel to track down and assassinate those responsible for the massacre. They tracked PLO operatives to countries all over the world. It was one of the largest and most deadly covert operations even conducted against known terrorists."
"Holy crap," Tony couldn't help himself from saying. "That was a massive counter-terrorism operation that lasted for over 20 years!"
"Yes." Ziva replied. "A list of 35 targets was compiled of those responsible for the massacre. They were to be killed. The Kidon units of Mossad were activated to carry out the assassinations. They worked outside of Israeli law, outside of any laws, and there was reportedly only one point of contact between all the teams. My father was former Kidon, and while not yet Director of Mossad, he was high up in the organization. Shmeil has always been around. He's been around since I was three years old. He has always worked with my father, but he's not Mossad. I believe that Shmeil was in charge of the entire operation, and that he worked secretly with my father inside to arrange Mossad's involvement."
"But he could have been doing a lot of different things. Why do you think he's behind that particular op?"
"There something I remember hearing when I was little. I think they believed me too young to have understood. I was too young. But as part of my therapy after Somalia I was hypnotized and I remembered something. I remember sitting on my father's knee listening to he and Shmeil discussing flowers. I remember the exact words that Shmeil said said, 'A reminder we do not forget or forgive'."
Tony's jaw hit the floor again as he put it together. He smiled at Ziva.
"I can see you remember that a few hours before each assassination the family members of each target received flowers and a condolence card with those exact words. It explains why Shmeil has access to information that should be impossible for him to have. But if he spent 20 years building counter-intelligence connections and contacts with complete autonomy from inside Israel, it woud all make sense."
"So Shmeil was given carte blanche?"
"He did not report to any agency that I know of, or any government. Operation Wrath of God was created to give Israel deniability for all of the assassinations. Shmeil does not work for the government. I think he works outside of them, but with access to all internal information and Intel."
"And you think he's still working on this?"
"I do." Ziva smiled at him. "I believe he is still searching for a few people he was never able to find. Shmeil and my father had a falling-out when he became Director of Mossad. I think my father parted ways with Shmeil because of his political ambitions."
"So is Mossad still involved in this?"
"No. Kidon has not been involved for a very long time. At least 10 years."
"How do you know for sure?"
"I was Kidon. There are not many."
"Wow. Operation Wrath of God. Shmeil?" Tony smiled and shook his head.
Ziva let out a snort of laughter. "I remember the day I put this all together. Do you know what the name 'Shmiel' means?"
"Something about a whale?"
"It means 'His name is God'." Ziva laughed again.
Chapter note: There are many interpretations of the name 'Shmeil'. I chose to use this one. Some of my research says that it means "God hears", but I chose to ignore that. In the NCIS episode, 'Gone', Miranda Pennebaker tells Tony that the name Shmeil is derived from the biblical Ishmael. That's why Tony remembers it meaning something about a whale (at least in my story). Get it- Moby Dick. "Call me Ishmael". My research also says that the name is the Hebrew variation/derivation of Samuel, not Ishmael.
Obviously, I also took many liberties in my creation of Shmeil's story. This is fiction. But I based my idea on some reality. You can check it out for yourself. Just Google 'Operation Wrath of God'.