A/N- Sorry for the delay haven't been inspired.
Dawn was just beginning to light the world when Ziva and McGee arrived at NCIS, both shivering in the early winter morning. Wrapped heavily in NCIS jackets they hurried across the parking lot and into the security checkpoint where FBI agent Sacks was lingering,
"Good morning Miss David" he leered and Ziva found herself being reminded of gutter slime.
"Hello" she threw the word casually as she might to a stranger, not even granting the man the familiarity of her usual greeting. "Is Anthony DiNozzo upstairs?"
The man's face soured almost comically at the mention of the NCIS agent. Though having much in common, Tony and Sacks seemed to hate each other on principle.
Tony often had that effect on people.
"MTAC" he announced churlishly, "Fornell asked me to escort you up when you arrived"
"I can take her for you" McGee offered as he removed his car keys and followed Ziva through the metal detectors, "I'm going with her anyway"
"Did Fornell ask you to accompany her?" Sacks demanded rudely,
"No" Tim responded perplexed,
"Then I'll take her"
He made the mistake of reaching for her arm and she panicked, recoiling and taking a defensive position, "Don't touch me!"
Before Sacks could make another idiotic move, McGee stepped forward and put his hand against her back, rubbing it soothingly,
"Come on Ziva, let's go see what Gibbs wants"
Ziva wrinkled her nose in disgust at the FBI agent and allowed McGee to guide her to the elevator banks, with Sacks slinking behind like a punished dog,
"Crazy effing bitch" he hissed under his breath, unfortunately loud enough for the two NCIS agents to hear,
"What did you call me?!" Ziva demanded, whirling around to face the blushing agent, she clenched her hands into fists and took a step forward.
Having every intention of hitting the man, but McGee stepped in first, blocking her path,
"Hey buddy" he raised a warning finger in Sacks face, "I have never thrown a punch at a federal agent before, but if I don't hear an apology immediately I will wipe the entire floor with your face and then let Ziva have a go at you!"
Ziva laughed mockingly, giving Sacks the degrading look-over police often gave criminals,
"I do not want an apology from such a lowly being. Come McGee, Gibbs will be furious to know why we kept him waiting"
Looking over their shoulders to throw a contemptuous glance at the FBI agent, they stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button, the doors sliding closed in his face.
Gibbs head shot up as the door to MTAC opened and Ziva was escorted in by McGee,
"What did they do to Sacks?" Fornell demanded, seated on his right, the FBI agent having been the one to instigate the meeting this morning.
"I'm sure he's still alive Tobias...somewhere" Gibbs assured him, grinning as he took a long sip of his rapidly cooling coffee, hating the top notch air conditioning that ran twenty-four/seven in MTAC, necessary to keep all the technology from frying, but giving anyone who entered the dark room goose bumps.
Standing in front of them, having ignored the entire conversation, Anthony DiNozzo bounded past them, up the stairs to where Ziva held out her hands for him. Before the dozen or so agents in MTAC, he took her hands in his own and led her down to the floor, chatting as he walked backwards with barely a glimpse over his shoulder. Fornell and Gibbs watched with identical movements and expressions as a smiling Ziva was settled into the back row of the seats, Tony leaning over to whisper in her ear.
"Good God in Heaven," Fornell exclaimed quietly, chuckling to himself "They aren't even trying to hide it!"
Gibbs could only roll his eyes, "That ship's pretty much sailed Fornell, ancient civilisations on primitive islands as yet untouched by technology know those two are fooling around"
"Didn't you have rules against that Jethro?"
"Only if they're both NCIS agents" he muttered quietly, taking another sip of his coffee as Agent Sacks finally came in, carrying several folders which he distributed amongst the audience.
"We received intel this morning regarding the whereabouts of direct- Leon Vance" he began and everyone's eyebrows shot up, Gibbs grabbed the file and flipped it open, glaring at the lists of sightings and seeing a coastal map of Mexico before him.
"And we're only finding out about it now because…?"
"Again, we only knew about it this morning, 1:30 am to be exact"
Agent Sacks hesitated then and looked to Fornell who in turn threw Gibbs a sheepish look,
"The information came straight from the Deputy Director of Mossad and he wants a video conference with us in ten minutes"
That remark got a reaction. McGee actually cried out in protest and Gibbs shot to his feet fully intending to storm out of his own building to make his opinion on the matter clear.
But Ziva spoke up first.
"Gibbs, if Eli David has intel regarding Leon Vance it is likely he has already acted on it and this is nothing more than a polite informing"
Gibbs had stopped on the last step of MTAC and was glaring down at the former agent,
"All the more reason not to meet with the bast- director" he pointed out, but she stood her ground,
"Unless of course his actions affect NCIS and their ability to operate"
She had a point. Gibbs knew that, but damn if he didn't want to throw a hissy fit, and go sulk at his favourite coffee dealer until some paper pusher came running to apologize. Unfortunately he was no longer one of the best agents at NCIS, he was the acting director. He had to put out the fires instead of starting them.
"I'll give him five minutes" he decreed taking his seat again, "But nobody talks without my say so, Fornell that goes double for you and Sacks, or I will let McGee and Ziva take that shot"
"Agreed"
The ten minutes passed slowly, with everyone checking their watches every few minutes or tapping their feet impatiently. Coffee was offered but they were wired enough, even Gibbs turned down the offer- although he considered the office coffee to be a disgusting load of sludge, which may have been a factor in his decision. At eight o-clock on the dot, one of the men stationed at the computers announced the Mossad coming on line and Gibbs stood up, making sure that Ziva was not visible at the back of the room.
The large screen at the front of the room showed the coloured bars before an image of a tastefully decorated office appeared before them, with a well dressed man seated in the Director's chair.
But he was not Eli David.
Seeing this Gibbs wanted to make the cutting motion to the operator immediately and revert back to his former plan, but he'd become intrigued.
"Who am I speaking to?" he asked, not bothering with the niceties, the other man only smiled,
"I am surprised that you do not know me" he replied and Gibbs was able to tell that he was definitely Israeli with English as a second language, like Ziva he spoke too politely to be familiar with the tongue.
"Surely Ziva has given you a full report of the managers and directors of the Mossad?"
"No" Gibbs took a casual sip of his now ice cold coffee, "She's been too busy recovering from the hell she suffered in Somalia to do anything like that"
Although she had given Trent Kort a mine of information regarding Mossad but Gibbs wasn't about to mention that.
"Officer Hadar" he introduced himself, bowing slightly.
"Aw, that's nice, where the hell is Deputy Director David?!"
When Gibbs saw the predatory grin spread across Hadar's face he wanted to get Ziva the hell out of the room, but he knew she wouldn't be able to move without being seen on the monitor, he couldn't protect her from what was about to happen.
"There has been a sudden regime change at the Mossad and as such I am now the Deputy Director of the institution"
Unintentionally the eyes of the federal agents, save Gibbs, flickered to Ziva to see how she handled this information. She turned her face away from the screen and pressed it against Tony's shoulder as McGee wrapped his arms about her.
"A sudden regime change?!" Gibbs spat,
"Right that's how they described the English revolution or the JFK shooting, should I be sending flowers for Eli David?"
Director Hadar pursed his lips in disapproval, "No…but we are going to need Ziva to return to Israel as soon as possible"
"Oh like hell!" Tony called out, releasing Ziva and storming down to the front of the room, "You really think we're just going to ship Ziva back to you so she can "disappear" in the night or have her plane mysteriously crash into the ocean? Dream on buddy"
Gibbs distinctly remembered telling Tony not to speak without his permission, but he decided in present circumstances to let it slide.
He'd head-slap him for it later though.
Hadar turned slightly to look at DiNozzo,
"Ah, you must be the agent that murdered Michael Rivkin in a fit of jealousy"
To his credit, Tony didn't flinch but his colour did go up, "
No…I'm the guy that acted to save my life, but hey- whatever works for you"
"And, last night when you murdered yet another Mossad agent?"
Gibbs had to struggle to stop his surprise from showing on his face, wondering just how the Mossad got surveillance on his house, but maybe they had hacked NCIS.
God knows NCIS had hacked Mossad enough times.
"He fired a bullet at Ziva David, I took aim at the bushes, I didn't even see him til he was lying in our morgue"
"Are you sure the bullet was meant for her?"
"Are you saying Kidon assassins don't know how to aim?"
This was quickly becoming a slanging match and Gibbs knew it was only a few choice words away from becoming an 'international incident'. He stepped forward and threw Tony a quick glare,
"All due respect Officer Hadar, we're very busy here at the moment, if you have something for us, now would be a good time…"
"Leon Vance was shot dead by…I believe you call them Federales, last night trying to board a plane out of Mexico, he died before he could be taken to hospital"
Murder.
Before he had even finished talking everyone in the room knew that he was lying. Leon Vance had been a trained marine and an NCIS agent, had he wanted to escape Mexico without detection he would have done, unless he had been betrayed.
Gibbs knew that if he made the call to the Mexican Leo's this very second they would have no idea what he was talking about. Unless of course Mossad had somehow managed to bribe half the country, not impossible but certainly not advisable. No, likely they were leaving enough loose ends for some dedicated cop to get a fair idea of what had happened, as a message to NCIS.
That they would stop at nothing for what they wanted.
Suddenly exhausted by the sheer duplicity and open scheming by the Mossad officer, Gibbs switched to the polite director speak he'd often heard from Jenny, muttered a few thank-you's and waited for the screen to go blank again.
Half the MTAC audience followed him into his office. Fornell right on his heels as everyone took positions on the couches or at the table, waiting for his instructions.
"It was murder," Ziva confirmed, watching him intently as she strode across the room, "I know Hadar, he was my father's minion for many years, the satisfaction in his face…he murdered Leon Vance or at least gave the order"
"No one here doubting you Ms David" Fornell pointed out, "but I personally find it interesting that the man who seemed so determined to keep you from talking to us ended up dead"
Gibbs saw Ziva's eyes flare with anger, "What are you suggesting?"
"I'm not suggesting anything, I'm telling you that whatever secret your father and Leon Vance shared with you, now would be a good time to tell it!"
She only laughed at the absurdity, "I was one of the most worked officers at the Mossad, I visited nearly every corner of the UN and was privy to hundreds of secrets! How am I supposed to know which is the right one? And meanwhile to so much as speak of Mossad secrets, even unofficially will get me tried for treason"
Feeling every inch of his body ache from lack of sleep, Gibbs took the seat behind the desk and everyone stood to attention,
"Fact of the matter is Ziva, someone's going to a lot of trouble to ensure that anyone who knows this secret turns up dead. First you, then Leon and now your father"
"Must be one hell of a secret" Tony muttered from the couch, giving Gibbs a cheeky, apologetic smile when he caught the young agent's eye,
"Sorry boss"
He only held up his fingers, "That's two DiNozzo"
"Put it on my tab"