Disclaimers disclaimed.
Chapter XXXV - Another Long Day
The day turned well into night before McGee left out of interrogation from interviewing Kwanele. Bishop met him in the hallway after leaving the observation room, "do you think he's telling the truth?"
McGee sighed, "Yeah, although he's holding back still. I really hate having to interrogate with an interpreter. Things get lost in translation. Right now, I need Abby to crack that encryption on the laptop we found in his bag. It's probably going to be our best lead in really getting the truth on what he's hiding." In that moment, his phone rang and he checked the caller ID. Showing it to Bishop he chuckled, "speak of the devil." He answered the call, "Hey Abs!"
"Lab. NOW!" Was all she said before disconnecting the line.
"Think Abby got something, she sounded pretty intense." He informed while putting his phone back in his pocket. "Let's go find out."
Both agents jogged down the hall and took the stairs down to Abby's lab. Within a few minutes, they entered and saw a worried looking forensics expert pacing the floor.
"Uh, Abby, is everything okay?" Bishop asked carefully.
Abby halted in her pacing and pointed to the plasma on the wall. "Everything is NOT okay! We have a serious problem!" The agents moved closer to the plasma trying to figure out what exactly they were looking at. When both looked back at Abby with confused faces she explained, "Since I was getting no where with the encryption key, I decided to take a break and just check Mossad's database for any activity on the jammers they sent out to SASS. Two of them were activated 45 minutes ago but I can't get a read on exactly where they're located. The signals are jumping and every time I get a fix they move. It's like someone is purposely taking them in circles."
"Did you try to remotely deactivate", McGee asked as he walked over to the computer to put in the code that Orli told them to shutdown the devices.
"I tried but they're moving too much for the signal to pick up on it. It shuts off then reboots after a few seconds."
McGee watched the link on the computer do exactly what Abby said. The devices turned off then came right back online seconds later. "Shit! Okay, I need to think."
"What about focusing the trace on the center point of the signals", Bishop questioned. "If we can get a central fix then maybe we can back trace from there."
"That's genius!" Abby pushed McGee over and started trying out Bishop's idea. Her fingers flew over the keyboard at lightning speed. Within a few moments, she locked onto a location that one of the jammers kept circling. "Bethesda!"
"Why the hospital? I thought Amadi's grand plan was targeted at government agencies."
"Because, Ziva still has a reason to go there", McGee sighed. "Hunter is still under our protection and she'd be going to check in with him if they hadn't gone to Maldives. Ellie call Bathesda and have them bump up security around Hunter's room. Abby, call the bomb squad and tell them to get over there immediately with the dogs. Then make sure the device stays active until I clear everything."
"But Tim, if they see heavy police presence they'll just activate a bomb if there's one there. You can't just show up guns blazing."
"Actually, I'm banking on them trying something which is why I want you to keep the jammer activated until we can find whatever they have and them", McGee informed.
"So you're trying to set THEM up when we don't even know who THEY are?" Bishop shook her head as she worried about McGee's plan. "What if something happens before we can intervene? What if we're not even right about the hospital at all?"
"Ellie, finding the central point was your idea and now I'm running with it! Abby, you said it was genius and now I'm agreeing. So, both of you just need to follow my lead and do what I told you to do! If you want to doubt me then I'll someone else to do the job or, better yet, I'll just do this myself!"
McGee left, on that note, with Abby and Bishop standing back in awe. A silence fell between the two women for a few moments before the both pulled out phones to start making the necessary calls.
.
In Maldives, the sun had come up and Ziva was sitting her late father's study staring it the picture of her and Tony's day of engagement. While her eyes were fixed there, her mind was somewhere else completely. The hangover she had didn't help matters as she tried to draw herself back to reality as she heard the sound of Tony entering.
"Good morning sweetcheeks, thought you might need this", he spoke softly as he handed her a fresh cup of coffee and some aspirin.
Ziva gave a half smile and whispered, "thank you."
Tony kissed her forehead lightly the walked over to the desk to check any messages from the team on the laptop and phones. He was surprised to see more than a few missed calls and an email with some photos. "Hey Zi, check this out", he waved his wife over from where she was sitting. When she stood behind him, peeking over his shoulder, he pointed to one of the photos, "Bishop sent these. She says they traced the call from your laptop to the Willard downtown. The guy used a computer from their Business Center and altered his voice with an app. The pictures are from the room he and another suspect were sharing. They have them both in custody."
"Who was the one who called?"
"Bishop didn't say but we have missed calls from her, Abby, and McGee. I forgot to bring the phones up to bed last night. It's pretty late in DC now, do you think we should call?"
Ziva thought for a moment and nodded, "we should try McGee, I need to know who made that call."
"Okay, dialing now." Tony waited a few moments but the call went to voicemail. "He's not picking up."
"Then try Ellie."
Again, Tony did as asked but only got the voicemail. He didn't wait for the next instruction as he immediately ended the call and dialed Abby, but got the same result. "No one is answering."
"Well SOMEONE needs to answer", she yelled then immediately put her hand to her head to try and stop the pounding while she groaned.
Tony let out a sigh, "Zi, you have a hangover so I'd advise you to keep your emotions in check. Unless, of course, you want that headache to be worse. Maybe you should go lie down and try to sleep some more."
"I will sleep after I have answers", she huffed.
"Fine then, I'll try Tim again."
This time the line connected after the first ring. "Not a good time to talk right now, in the hospital doing a sweep with bomb squad. You guys alright?" McGee's tone hinted that he was rushing but genuinely wanted to know if his best friends were okay.
"We're fine Tim, just returning your call. Did you just say you're doing a sweep, like for actual bombs?" Ziva looked at Tony with worry after hearing his words.
"Yeah, I'll call you guys on video conference when ..." He paused and Tony could here someone yelling in the background that they had found something. McGee quickly spoke again, "Tony, I've gotta go."
"Be safe Probie." Tony ended the call and looked at Ziva who was asking with her eyes what was going on. He just shrugged, "Tim said he's at the hospital doing a sweep with the bomb squad. He was rushing and it sounded like one of the guys found a device. He rushed off the line."
"Oh God", Ziva took a deep breath, "Tony, what if something happens?"
"Hey", he stood and pulled her in his arms tightly, "Tim knows how to handle himself. Everything will be fine. Him and the bomb techs can take care of whatever it is. I'm not worried. He lied about that last part, truth was, he was scared for his surrogate little brother but he didn't want to worry his wife anymore. They'd been through enough drama in two weeks, and even more in the last 48 hours, he didn't want to add another thing to the growing list of Ziva's worries. Little did he know though, that list had already gotten longer with another piece of Ziva's past sitting in an interrogation room at NCIS.
.
"We have proof that you made that call to threaten Ziva DiNozzo and her family. Now, I want to know why?" Bishop's voice was stern while Yaniv smirked and shook his head. She waited for his response for a few moments then spoke again, "Look, you've already been here for almost 12 hours, you can keep playing the quiet game and sit here for another 12 hours or you can talk and we can both get out of here. Your choice."
"I do not care to talk to you. This is not the business of NCIS. This is between Ziva and myself." He looked towards the mirrored glass behind Bishop and shouted, "When Agent Dah-veed is ready to stop being a coward and hiding behind NCIS, I will speak to her and only her! Now come face me!"
Bishop did not reveal that Ziva had fled the country, but rather ignored his outburst all together. "How did you get involved with The Tribe?"
"You must not have heard me, I will not speak to you."
"Welp, you just spoke to me twice so I'm gonna say you're contradicting yourself! That's a little confusing for me. It's hard to take people at their word when they cannot make up their mind on what they want to do. So, did Mohammed Amadi seek you out or did you go to him?"
Yaniv glared at her as he tried to visibly contain his composure. Bishop was not fazed by his death stare, instead she continued to talk. "You know what I think Yaniv? I think you are just a lost soul who has no family left and no one to blame for your mistakes and loneliness, so you decided to take it out on the one person who's left from your past. Which I really don't get because, from my knowledge, Ziva tried to save you and it was your brother who left you to rot in prison."
"Had that bitch not killed my brother, I would have never been in that prison!" Yaniv began yelling again. The mention of his late brother causing him to unravel. "She is a coward and a murderer! She deserves to feel the same pain I have felt all these years! I did what I did back then to help my brother, a man that her father looked to as a son so, technically, he was her brother too! But she did not try to help him or me! She locked me away and never looked back! She killed my brother in cold blood and hid under the protection of this agency! Behind your former Director Vance! Now she hides behind your new Director, her husband, the American who her father would never approve of! She is a discrace to her family and her homeland, she deserves to die! And I will make sure she does by my hand!"
Bishop stood and leaned over the table, "did you just openly threaten a federal agent?" He huffed as he tried to control his emotions and erratic breathing but did not respond. "Now you want to go back to being quiet", she chuckled as she stood back up straight. "Okay, not a problem. I've heard enough anyway. Hope you haven't gotten used to the luxury life, because you'll be going back to your old cot in lockup."
By the time Bishop has finished her interrogation and secured the transport for Yaniv to be taken back to prison, McGee was returning to the bullpen. "How'd it go", she asked.
"All our theories were right. The jammers were in the move, local leos apprehended two suspects and got the jammers, as well as a remote trigger off one them. The central point of the hospital was the target. And there was a bomb inside. Had Abby not kept the jammers on, the bastards would have blown up the place. The techs disarmed it quickly and they're now taking it to evidence lockup for Abby to look at it tomorrow. I called her on my way back so she could go home. We've all been working hard today, rest is needed. What are you still doing here?"
"I wanted to wait, just in case you ... well ..."
"In case I got blown up?"
"It sounds bad. I know, sorry."
McGee nodded, understanding her concern, "it's okay. And, uh, I want to apologize for the way I came off earlier. This case has got me ..."
"On edge". Bishop finished for him. "It's understandable. Neither I or Abby took it personally. We've all been feeling it."
"Yeah. So, what have you been doing since I left?" He noticed the transport paperwork on her desk and pointed to it.
"Oh right", she slapped her forehead for getting sidetracked. "Yaniv finally talked ... well actually he yelled."
"What did he have to say?"
"Nothing pertaining to Amadi, but he went on and on about Ziva. He really is out for her blood for the death of his brother. For some reason he assumed that she was in observation watching the interview. I just let him keep thinking she was and brought up his brother. When I did, he took the bait and ran with it; openly threatening to kill Ziva. I used it as a good stopping point and reason to have him sent back to lockup. He's adamant, though, about only wanting to speak to Ziva. How do we play it when we bring him in for the second round of interrogation?"
McGee rubbed his head, "not sure yet. I'll let Ziva and Tony give their input when I video conference with them shortly."
"Do you want me to stick around?"
He shook his head 'no'. "Go home, get some rest. You did good today, really. You've earned some sleep and a decent meal. We can get back to it at 0800. Im sure tomorrow is going to be another long day."
FIVE MORE CHAPTERS TO GO!
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