The kitchen was a good place to wait – both easily accessible and defensible, and equipped with an espresso machine. Ziva looked up from the new book she'd retrieved from the den to see that the sun was on the verge of rising. The clouds to the east were tinged with pink, purple and orange. She removed her gun from its holster and placed it on the counter in front of her. Another espresso was out of the question. She was wired enough.
She turned back to her novel but was almost immediately interrupted as the back door opened. A single man entered, his M-16 at the ready. She leveled her Jericho and waited for him to make the first move. His eyes flicked around the room before he asked, "Clear?"
"Clear." They lowered their guns.
"Is anyone else in the house?"
"Dmitri is sleeping upstairs. I looked in on him twenty minutes ago. Everyone else is in the bunker."
"How many?"
"Forty-three, including two technicians. Two cameras are positioned over the entrance, so the approach is clear, but internal cameras cover a lot of angles."
"And the lock?"
"My retinal scan will release it. I hope someone over there has it."
"After the munitions locker in Paris? Of course. Is there another entrance?"
"There's a tunnel that leads from the basement to level ten. That's the final level above the storage areas. No one will be in those." She waited patiently as he repeated the details she had told him into a small radio on his wrist. "And now?"
"We wait." He approached her, returning the kiss she gave him on his cheek.
"It's good to see you, Eyal."
Eyal Dagan unzipped his thick coat and took off his wool cap. "And you, Ziva. We have all been concerned about you."
She noticed that his eyes were drawn to her neck, but chose to ignore his interest. "Well, I'm fine. What is our plan?"
"We won't move until the operation has started. They'll signal when they've begun, we'll take out our primary target then go through the tunnel to assist."
She raised her eyebrows. "Just the two of us?"
"And a team that is waiting for our okay to enter the house once we're done. Your Americans will be joining us."
"My Americans? You mean NCIS?"
"Yes. The CIA wanted you dead, so the Director decided to inform the Americans of the full extent of your mission. Navy SEALs are storming the bunker along with our people." He carefully placed his M-16 on the counter and removed a pistol from his belt, using it to point through the ceiling. "Shall I take care of it, or do you want to finish this yourself?"
She smiled and quoted from a passage she had just read, one of her favorites, "I'd strike the sun if it insulted me."
"I do not order it; ye will it," he rejoined.
Her smile grew wider. "I knew there was a reason I set you up with my best friend. How is Adi?"
"She is doing well. Only eight to ten more weeks…"
"You must be so excited."
"Yes. And nervous."
She squeezed his shoulder. "You're going to be a great father."
"Thank you, Ziva. I've always thought…there." He pointed out the window at a tiny green light flashing in the distance, simultaneous with the briefest surge of static from his radio. "It's time."
Jenny Shepard listened eagerly in the command post. IDF commandos and Navy SEALs were in position and ready to begin a frontal assault on the underground bunker where Tushkevich was storing his stockpile of nuclear arms. The SecNav had specifically ordered her not to join the secondary team, so she was forced to wait and listen to the chatter on the radio.
"India 1, ready…India 4, ready…Sierra 5, in position…Golf 3, holding."
Golf 3, that was Gibbs, McGee and Tony. And whoever Moussad had sent with them. She wasn't terribly concerned with any Moussad Officers not currently on loan to NCIS.
The radio operator spoke in accented English, mainly for the benefit of the Americans, "Romeo 2, move in."
"Romeo 2, confirmed entry. Taking fire!"
"India 4 and Sierra teams, move in. India 1, hold in support. Signal Delta 1."
There was a burst of static followed by some gunfire and shouting.
A familiar voice broke in, "Delta 1, confirmed. Will proceed to target with Zulu 1, standby."
Jenny sighed. Dagan and Ziva would maintain radio silence until they'd completed their task. Gibbs and his team were safe from the firefight for the moment. The SEALs were taking fire. She listened to the continuous chatter from the bunker and felt utterly useless.
Ziva walked up the stairs with little regard for the noise she was making. Dmitri knew she was in the house and would not be alarmed if he heard her moving around. Eyal followed behind her, careful to step when she did. There was no sense in potentially alerting Dmitri to his presence.
She paused at the closed door of the bedroom, holding up a hand to stop Eyal at the far end of the hallway. She retraced her steps and whispered, "Let me go in alone. Wait outside for the shot, and wait for me to come to the door."
He nodded and she crept back to the door, slowly turning the knob. She allowed her eyes a moment to adjust to the dark. Dmitri had shifted in his sleep, his hand reaching across the bed to her side. She made her way to stand beside his nightstand. Just as she was about to cock her gun, the phone beside the bed rang. She holstered her weapon and picked up the receiver in one motion. "Yes?"
Ivan shouted so loud she had to hold the earpiece away from her head, "We are under attack!"
"From who?" Even she was impressed by the alarm in her voice as she shook Dmitri's shoulder. The inopportunely timed call had taken the element of surprise. He looked up at her blearily.
She pressed the speaker button so Ivan's voice filled the room. "I don't know! We are taking heavy fire!" He became unintelligible as he shouted orders to the men in the bunker. "How did they get in?"
"Ivan, we are coming," Dmitri yelled.
Ziva disconnected the call as he jumped out of bed. He was wearing only a pair of black pajama bottoms and his hands were empty. His Walther P99 would still be under the pillow then. She waited until he was halfway across the room.
He turned at the click of metal. "Ziva, we must…what are you doing?"
"My duty."
She had not expected the betrayal to come as such a shock to him, but he was seemingly immobilized by it. "But I love you."
She forced herself to remain focused. "I know. And I am genuinely sorry for that."
"My princess…" He never finished his plea, his eyes remaining wide open as he sank gracelessly to the floor. On her way to the door, she tossed her wedding and engagement rings into the growing pool of blood emanating from two gunshot wounds to the chest, just to the right of the sternum.
Jenny's knuckles were white as she clasped her knees. The fight had reached an apparent stalemate on the fifth level of the bunker, with the Israeli and American teams unable to advance, but not under especially heavy fire.
The radio crackled as another voice was transmitted, "Delta 1, confirm Alpha Bravo 1 terminated."
She resisted the urge to clap and ask if anyone had taken photos. She wanted something to shove in smug CIA Director Fitzgerald's face – as if nuclear warheads discovered by her agency weren't enough.
"Golf 3, cleared to enter," the radio operator said.
"Golf 3, confirmed."
Now she would only be able to sit and wait as her team moved in through the underground tunnel to ambush the remaining men in the bunker.
Ziva stood in the hall, waiting for Eyal to confirm and report Dmitri's death. She took deep breaths to calm herself. The trick was not thinking about how unsatisfying the assassination had been. All she had done, all she had sacrificed, and she was still unable to appreciate the magnitude of her achievement. I could always ask for a medal, I suppose.
Eyal finally came out of the room. "Are you all right?"
She shrugged. "He wasn't even armed. What would he have done to me?"
"You know that is not what I meant."
"I know." She smiled. "I'll be fine, Eyal. Let's just…" she paused. Voices were carrying up the stairs. "Sounds like the rest of our team has arrived."
She started to feel better almost immediately as she rounded the corner and saw Gibbs, McGee and, most importantly, Tony taking off coats and gloves as they waited in the foyer. Tony saw her first and moved to stand at the bottom of the stairs with his arms crossed over his chest and a mock-serious glare. "You shot me."
She walked down the center of the staircase. "And I'm sorry for that, but you were wearing a bulletproof vest."
"Yeah, but I had my jacket zipped up over it, so how did you know I was wearing one?"
"Okay, even if I hadn't frisked you five minutes before, I have a pretty good idea of your musculature, and you are not that torn."
"Ripped?" he asked, his smile cracking through his glare.
She stopped on the final stair, pleased to find that she was eye to eye with him. "Whatever. Can we fight later?"
"Yeah, okay." He gave her a brief but wonderful kiss, which ended as Gibbs cleared his throat. Tony smirked and pulled something out from behind his back. "Brought you a present."
"Just what I always wanted. We should move." She hurriedly strapped on the bulletproof vest that matched the ones everyone else was wearing as she led them to the basement. "We'll enter the tunnel, walk for about 500 meters and enter the bunker on the command level." She leaned forward so the laser could scan her eye and went into the brightly lit tunnel.
Tony was close on her heels and walked by her side as they came to the wider section of the passage. "You okay?"
"Fine. You?"
"Yeah. What happened to your neck?"
She tugged at her collar, wishing she'd worn something to cover the bruises. "He's dead, Tony. It doesn't matter anymore." They continued in silence for a few paces. "I really am sorry I shot you."
"You saved my life."
"Still, I know it hurt."
"Yup. Good thing I like it rough." At her sidelong glance, he added, "Don't take that to heart."
She smiled, but it was short lived. "I'm also sorry I broke your nose."
"I deserved that one."
"No you didn't."
"Look, at the time I didn't understand why you were doing what you were doing, but now…I said some things I shouldn't have, things that just made it worse for you. So I'm sorry."
"Tony…"
"I don't plan on doing much apologizing in this relationship, so I suggest you take it while you can get it." He grinned. "Love means never having to say you're sorry."
She laughed as she recognized the words. "I hated that movie."
"Yeah, me too."
"Then why did you make me watch it?"
"It's a classic."
"Hmm." Silence reigned again as the door at the end of the tunnel came into sight. She finally continued, "I'm also sorry for everything…with Dmitri. I'd say it didn't mean anything, but I doubt that will make it any better."
"It's okay. Your dad explained everything."
She almost tripped over her own feet. "You met my father?"
"Oh yeah. We're good buddies."
She paused before opening the door with another retinal scan. "You are such a liar." She turned and addressed herself to the entire team, "There's a short hallway that leads directly to the command center. They're expecting Dmitri and I, so let me go in first and follow at my signal. We should get a visual of the action from the internal cameras in there."
Gibbs nodded. "Good luck."
Jenny was pacing now, unable to sit still. Casualties were mounting, more on the Molot's side than theirs, but there were still men down. It sounded like a lot of ricochet and grazing injuries on the extremities. No fatalities. Yet.
"India 4, proceeding down. Clearing level eight."
They were making steady progress again. If Ziva's number had been accurate, about two-thirds of the men in the bunker had already been either killed or captured.
Jenny checked her watch. This could all be over in less than an hour. Not bad.
Ziva made no attempt to conceal her approach and entered the frenzied control room with little fanfare. Her presence was acknowledged but no one spoke to her. Three men sat at consoles and Ivan rushed back and forth. She fired a shot directly into the closest man's head. She had killed the second before anyone had time to react.
Ivan finally managed to fire and she was thrown back with the force of the impact of the bullet in her vest. He collapsed a moment later, dead before he hit the floor. Gibbs and Tony had charged through the door, McGee right behind them.
The last man sitting at the console refused to submit to their requests for surrender, firing a few shots before sliding to the floor in a heap.
McGee clutched his left arm and swore, "Damn it! Boss, I'm hit." Gibbs guided him to a chair not occupied by a corpse and checked his wound.
Ziva stayed on the floor, leaning against the wall. She held a hand on her chest, just above her right breast, and tried to catch her breath. Tony knelt beside her. "No fun getting shot. Not even in the vest."
"Yes." She coughed hard and brought up some blood. "Especially not with armor-piercing rounds."