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Chapter XXXIV - Fascinating!


Tali sat in her room for all of ten minutes before she decided that the apology couldn't wait until the morning. Despite how tired she was, her mind was ticking too much for her to actually be able to sleep. She knew the only way to be able to rest was to fix things with her mother so she got up and wandered the house to find Ziva. After looking everywhere inside, she found no luck until she peaked outside and saw her mother standing on the beach.

She walked out onto the deck then down the steps to the cool white sand. When she stood next to her mother, she looked down and was surprised by the bottle she saw in her hand, "are you drinking liquor?"

"Tequila to be exact, yes", Ziva responded without looking away from the water. "Please, save your judgement for another time, I have had enough of it for one night." Her tone was one of defeat and something else Tali couldn't place ... maybe pain mixed with despair.

Tali sighed, "I didn't come out here to judge you."

"So then why are you here? Surely it is not to join me for a nightcap."

"Can you please look at me?" She waited a moment, but when Ziva kept her eyes trained on the crashing waves she tried again, "Ima, please look at me." With a sad sigh, Ziva took another swig from the bottle then finally turned her head. The display before her broke Tali's heart. She'd never seen her mother look so broken and hurt ... so fragile ... she imagined that this was the woman that her father must have found all those years ago at the terrorist camp. It stirred up emotions deep within her as she struggle to now find her voice, "Ima ... I'm ... I mean ...".

"Just say what it is you want Tali, so you can go. I really much rather drink alone without my 17 year old daughter watching. I am pretty sure that I have been the star of enough shows for you today", Ziva interrupted bluntly.

It was enough to get her thoughts together and finally speak her heart, "Abba showed me the clothes you wore when you were captured. It really gave me new perspective. Actually, it scared me to know how close to dying you were. I mean, had abba not get revenge, I probably wouldn't have ever been born. For you to even make it out of there alive after four months and still evolve to be able to fall in love and have family is amazing. And, I guess what I'm trying to say is that, I'm sorry I said all those horrible things to you before. It wasn't right, nor was it fair. My actions were not warranted and I should have never over stepped my bounds. You didn't deserve it. You don't deserve it. I was being childish and selfish while you were only trying to help me. Really, I'm so sorry."

"Are you done?" Ziva kept a stoned expression on her face but her voice hinted that there was something hidden behind her now cold eyes. Tali felt a sting in her chest as she hoped her father wasn't right about pushing too far. All she could do was nod and avert her eyes to the water when her mother spoke again. "Those clothes were from my darkest hour. I really wish I could have convinced your father to burn them but he was so adamant on keeping them. To tell you truth, I forgot those things were even here. I have not been to this island since my honeymoon. Life got so hectic for us after that." She sighed, "I never wanted you or your brother to know the hell your father and I have gone through in the past, as it pertains to the job, but I guess keeping you so sheltered has not served you well at all. Especially when my past has literally become your present. Different characters than that of my own experience, but the main provider of your torment is a man I could have, and should have, killed long before you were born."

Tali looked over at her in shock at the admission but still could not bring herself to speak.

"That is yet another reason why I feel like I have failed you as a mother ... as the person who is supposed to protect you from the evil of this world. Now, I can only pray that when your time comes to be a mother, that you do not make the same mistakes I have made. To some extent, they are the mistakes that my mother made as well. I believe you could break that generational curse of being bound by constant cycles of pain, fear, and hate. That you could be honest in your truth and fully heal. My mother was killed before she could. And clearly I never did, which is why I am here now. I was wrong to think I could help you when I never truly helped myself. I still carry the same pains, fears, and hate that I did back then when I have no cause to. Saleem is dead. I saw his lifeless body on the ground by my feet with a bullet in his head. Yet still, I am afraid of him. I see him in my nightmares. I hear his voice even now as we speak, telling me that I am a worthless whore and I will die alone. And the saddest part is that some part of me still believes that. Even while being married to the best husband in the world, having two beautiful children that make me proud daily, and many friends who care, part of me is still in the desert and I still feel alone."

"Ima, I'm ..."

"Do not apologize again. I have heard you and I am pleased that you have seen your error, but I do not wish to allow your company while I take comfort in my misery. So please, go to bed. Rest and try to dream about anything other than what you have endured in the last two weeks. Do not become me and lose yourself over a past you cannot change. Be better than me. Fight through the lies they told you and the pain they caused. That is how you will heal." She moved closer to her daughter and kissed her gently on the forehead, "Goodnight motek."

Tali hesitated as she thought about protesting leaving but, just like her father, she knew better than to try to argue with her mother when she was in her head. She turned to walk back to the house while calling over her shoulder, "Goodnight Ima, I love you."


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Earlier back in DC, Bishop and McGee had chased down the two men for a block and half away from the hotel before finally catching them. McGee tackled one to the ground while Bishop had the other pressed against the hood of a car.

"Asizange senze lutho!" The dark skinned man that Bishop had cuffed was yelling repeatedly. "Asizange senze lutho!"

McGee scrunched up his face, "what is he saying?"

"I don't know", Bishop responded in complete confusion as to the language the man was speaking.

After standing the man up that he'd tackled, McGee turned him around to see his face. When he got a good look, his suspicions were laid to rest. "Yaniv Bodnar, when did they let you out of prison?" Yaniv just rolled his eyes while he kept his mouth shut.

"You know him", Bishop asked curiously when she pulled out her phone to call for back up to have the two men picked up.

"Yeah, this coward's older brother was the man behind Ziva's father being killed", McGee explained. "I thought he was still in prison. Pretty sure he'll be going back now since he made that call to Ziva yesterday."

"I have done nothing wrong! You cannot treat me like a common criminal", Yaniv shouted.

McGee chuckled, "Yes I can, because you are. Now shut up! You can save whatever you have to say when we get back to NCIS."


Presently, at the Navy Yard, both suspects were stewing in separate interrogation rooms while Abby was explaining what she had found to McGee and Bishop in her lab. "So, you see, our mystery caller actually used an app to alter his voice. Not enough to hide his accent, but just enough to distort his vocals enough so we couldn't run voice recognition. If I take the distortion out of the voice file from Ziva's laptop, we have a perfect match on the voice recognition for Yaniv Bodnar. I can't believe it was him. I mean, after all these years. How is he even out of prison? This case just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Have you called Ziva and Tony yet? They are going to totally flip. Especially Ziva, oh man, she's probably ..."

"ABBY!" Both agents yelled to stop the hyperactive woman from her ramblings.

"I called the burn phones when we first got back, but neither one answered. That was around 2300 their time so I doubt if they'd answer now, it's almost 1AM there", Bishop told them, looking at her watch.

"Don't worry about it. I'll update them later. I'd rather know more about Yaniv's intentions before they know anyway", McGee said. "I need you to make a run though Ellie."

"Sure, where to?"

"I called in a favor with Judge Benson, he has a warrant for us to take all the computers from the Willard's Business Center and a separate warrant to have access to the room Yaniv was staying in. Take Agent Rollins and his team to execute the warrant but only give minor details about what's going on. Mention nothing about the recent threat to the DiNozzos."

"Okay sure, I got it. Quick question though, how are you going to ..." Bishop's question was interrupted by the beeping from Abby's computer.

"Got him", Abby exclaimed while the two agents looked towards the screen. "The other man you guys chased down is on the SASS terrorist watch list. His name is Dingane Kwanele and they have him listed as the general of The Tribe."

"I'll be damned", McGee spoke in awe. "That's the guy that Hunter told me to find this morning."

"Wait, if he was meeting with Yaniv then they all must be working together. Him, Yaniv, Amadi, Benjamin, Torres ... this is too crazy."

"Yeah, and definitely not a coincidence", McGee shook his head. "Ellie, go and take care of executing the warrant. I want to know what we're dealing with before we interrogate Yaniv and this Kwanele character. They can sit for a few more hours. I'm not rushing this."

Bishop nodded and made her way out. Abby looked closer to the information on their newest suspect, "Judging by his place of birth, I'm going to assume that Kwanele was speaking Zulu to you guys when you arrested him. You're going to need an interpreter when you interrogate him. Do we even have any linguists who speak Zulu?"

"Don't know."

Abby noticed the far off look on McGee's eyes. "Hey, what's up?" After a few minutes, when he still didn't answer, she tapped his shoulder, "You okay Tim?"

"Huh", he jumped slightly. "Uh, yeah I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About?"

"What if they're not actually working together for the same cause?"

Abby looked at him puzzled, "not sure I get what you mean."

"Like, what if they all have separate agendas but there's a common denominator? I mean, come on, look at it from another angle. We've got an NCIS agent who's a traitor now, the director of an international government agency, a terrorist war lord, a former arms dealer turned kidnapper, and the brother of a dead rogue Mossad officer. Basically, an envious and money hungry American, two South Africans from seemingly different sides of the social and political spectrum , a racist wannabe German Nazi, and a vengeful Israeli ... they don't actually fit together."

"So you're thinking they're all just playing nice with each other to take out the one thing that has caused problems for them all? And that maybe they'll just mess up some other stuff in the process to use as collateral damage and pull us away their main target", Abby caught on quickly.

"Yeah, exactly. Our government has surely pissed all of them off in someway, who isn't mad at the US these days? But, I can't see all of them coming together just to try to do as Amadi said and bring war to American soil. If that was the case, Yaniv wouldn't have called Ziva making those threats. The DiNozzos wouldn't be a target at all. Everybody's focus should be on Amadi's plan, nothing else outside that realm."

"So, then, what's the common denominator?"

"Ziva, she's their target and the plot against the DC agencies is just a side coverup. Think about it, Ziva accesses all these buildings on a daily basis. It would be very easy for them to take out their target, plus reek havoc on US soil. It's got to be her."

"Why though? I mean, what has she done to Torres to ..", Abby paused as she remembered an incident that happened when she and Ziva both returned to NCIS. "Torres never really got over Ziva catching him doing that evidence switch that got him suspended and fined, did he? Although we all kind of understood why he did it in the end, which is why he still had a job to come back to, but there's still always been tension between those two since then. She didn't trust him completely. And then I can definitely see why Benjamin and Yaniv have something against her since she's the reason they were locked up. But what cause does Amadi and Kwanele have to target Ziva?"

McGee rubbed his head in frustration as he sighed, "I don't know, but I'm going to figure it out. My gut is telling me that Amadi hasn't told us everything. He's the one paying all of them so I know he's chosen each carefully. Ziva, is somehow connected in all of this as the target, I just need to figure out why."

"So basically this is one big collaborative revenge mission?" Abby shook her head in disbelief. "Okay, this has officially become the craziest and most confusing case we've ever worked. It's kinda fascinating!"


Alrighty peeps, now I have everything lined up to bring us to our end ...

We have 6 more chapters and they will move seamlessly into our finale.

Expect a little drama, but nothing too crazy as we want a peaceful finish. =)

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Anyhoo ... review. Review. REVIEW!

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LATER!