Disclaimer : You'll have to re-read Chapter 1 for it.
Just a short chapter...Thanks for the reviews people. I'm thrilled that you're enjoying this story!
Chapter 8
"Tim, DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked as he stormed into the bullpen, Ziva on his heels. "I want you to go and talk with Sara McLean again. See if she's calmed down and if she remembers anything else."
Tony smiled broadly.
"Use your head, DiNozzo…not your…."
"Boss!" Tony protested.
"Ziva, you're with me. We're going to meet this Van Werther."
Ziva winced. Great. Alone in a car with Gibbs. He was going to ask her questions about what she said about them. Did she always have to watch her back? Couldn't she lower the walls with anyone? And why did Roxane have to say anything?
"Ziva!" Gibbs was already at the elevator.
She snatched up her shoulder bag and gun from a drawer. Squeezing in between the doors as they closed, she smiled weakly at her boss.
He stared at the closed doors as they made their way down to the parking lot level.
Yup, it was going to be a long ride she thought.
"What's the history between you and Roxane?" Gibbs asked as he pulled out of the parking spot.
Ziva didn't expect that to be his first question.
"She was working overseas. There was a terrorist attack at a bus station during the morning rush hour. Her car had not shown up that morning to take her to work and she decided that it was safe enough to take public transit." Ziva recalled how she had the met the blonde woman. "The explosion killed over two hundred and injured nearly one thousand. The investigation led us to a small outfit that does not like the military working with foreign companies."
"Her car did not show up…she was the target?" Gibbs asked.
"We believe so." Ziva admitted.
"Believe?"
"Inconclusive. And as her company pulled her out, the investigation was stopped."
"What about the families of the dead and injured?" Gibbs asked.
"Lansing provided a very handsome settlement to all of them." Ziva said. "After Roxane argued that they had to do something. I first met her as she walked among the dead, listening to the cell phones ringing on the bodies on the corpses. She barely had any scratches on her."
"How'd she manage that?"
"It's Roxane's nature to be early…if she was the target, the terrorists planned on that. Unfortunately, Roxane stopped along the way and was a few minutes behind schedule. The explosion happened just as she was reaching the stairs to the platform. Bodies were blown backwards, down the stairs, on to her…" Ziva stared out the window.
"Shielding her." Gibbs finished.
"She helped us during our investigation. Always willing to answer questions, as long as the right questions were asked."
"What does that mean?"
"Didn't you see it Gibbs? You asked her to start from the beginning. She didn't answer."
"You asked something more specific." Gibbs frowned, while concentrating on some upcoming traffic.
Ziva braced herself as the car began to zig and zag through traffic.
"Roxane answers the questions that she is asked. If it is too generic, she won't answer. Ask the right question and she'll answer it honestly and to the best of her ability."