BACK AT NCIS HEADQUARTERS – 1230
Director's Office
Staring through her window at nothing in particular Jenny Shepard slowly regains her focus. As NCIS Director, the expectation is that she will anticipate what will happen next and her failure to do so is not sitting well with her. She spent the better part of her morning on the phone with all the wrong people at too many sister agencies and the Israeli government. In the end, her efforts produced nothing but a crystal clear message that she had neither the discretionary power nor the formal permission to delve any further into Ziva's sudden transfer or the deaths at the officer's apartment. A woman who relies heavily on her instincts Jenny loathes the times when her position requires her to ignore them. Inevitably those times involve decisions that are the most difficult to live with. Decisions that cannot be explained to anyone not possessing the elusive need to know status. Hell, half of them can't be explained to her and she has to accept that. They all do. It's what they signed up for. They pledge their loyalties and commit acts in the name of all too many things that they will never understand. That's what it means to work for the government. Being Director also means that she does not have the luxury of thinking of Ziva as a friend. Agents have that luxury not Directors. Directors are expected to maintain control, and, appear completely accepting of decisions so that others will be accepting of them as well. That's what leaders do. A smile plays over her lips thinking of what Ziva would tell her. She has no doubt the Israeli would be reminding her that this is a business without room for emotion and that they all have jobs to do. Her mind replays these conversations that they have had so many times until the opening of the door brings her back to reality. As she turns, the yelling face before her serves as an unwelcome reminder that today instinct will have to be ignored.
"Don't you even give a damn?" His voice is loud and harsh as his eyes glare wild with anger. At this moment, he does not care that she is his boss or the reaction to his words. He is only concerned with the truth.
"Excuse me." Looking behind Gibbs, Jen watches the door swing shut from the force with which he opened it and catches a glimpse of Cynthia's apologetic face. Nobody can rush the door like Gibbs.
Standing with less than two inches between them, Gibbs' eyes hone in on his former partner, "What is wrong with you? One day you owe her and the next she's expendable?"
"Agent Gibbs you are out of line." Her voice stern, Jenny maintains her calm exterior hiding the interest that Gibbs' reaction is sparking. This is what she had expected to see when the news of Ziva's reassignment broke. This loyalty, this emotion is familiar to her. Gibbs is not a man who needs to be convinced to have an emotional response, not a man who needs to simmer. His behavior confirms her earlier suspicion that Gibbs knew more than he let on about Ziva. His lack of reaction to the sudden reassignment was because he knew the reason, he knew it was coming.
Gibbs takes a breath staring his boss down, "Ziva saved your life Jen."
"Are you finished?" Used to this dance, Jenny has learned the best way to handle it is to wait him out like any good storm.
Gibbs steps away taking a seat on the couch. It was on their way back from the embassy that he learned Jen ordered Ducky back to NCIS before he reached Ziva's apartment to view the bodies. The Israelis were taking care of the crime scene and needed no help from NCIS. Deep down he knows that Jen would protect Ziva if she could. That she would not be satisfied with the situation but, right now, Director Shepard is the only person he can yell at and he does not care that she is not having a good day.
"It's not my call Gibbs. It's not what I would have chosen but it's done." Standing at the window with her arms crossed, Jenny knows that sometimes even a Director has to reveal when she doesn't agree with something.
"There were two dead guys in her apartment. One with Ziva's knife sticking out of him, one with a bullet in his head. Signs of a struggle. Ducky could have helped." He pauses, his voice calmer now as she searches for answer where he knows few exist, " She never made it to Israel."
Next to him, Jenny's instincts scream that her agent is correct but right now that doesn't matter, "NCIS has been ordered to discontinue all activities and inquiries related to Ziva David. Officially, there is no active crime scene to investigate."
Gibbs' eyes close at the formality of her voice and a condescending chuckle escapes his lips, "Since when are dead men not a crime scene?"
"Since Ziva was no longer a NCIS liaison we have no jurisdiction and the FBI has deferred to Mossad. Ziva was the target of an attack last night by terrorists attempting to kill her to send a message to her father. The men in the bathtub were her assailants. She is enro….
"Enroute to TelAviv. Tell me something I don't know Jen." Gibbs stares his blue eyes like daggers, "Who gave the order?"
"Take your pick, it's a long list. SecNav, SecDef and the Secretary of State and that's just our side."
Gibbs leans back amazed at the trouble Ziva manages to find. "Don't you think it's odd that a Mossad officer's routine reassignment is attracting so much attention?"
"Liaison officer is a high profile position."
Gibbs looks over at Jenny trying to find any clue on her face about what's really going on, "Not that high profile."
"It is when your father is the Mossad director." Jen pauses, failing to remember any time that she's seen Ziva receive any special favors from being the daughter of such a powerful man. "She doesn't need you to save her this time Jethro. Mossad is taking care of their own."
"And what is Mossad going to do?" Ziva called him for help last time. Mossad was looking out for her then too. Her loyalty to both countries may be beyond question but he knows that the level of trust she has in him and NCIS is not the same. She would've known that the bodies in her apartment would be discovered and cause suspicion. If she was simply reassigned, she would have contacted them to let them know that everything was okay.
"It's need to know." Jen answers immune to the powerful Gibbs stare.
"So what do you know?"
Jen pauses then sighs, "Not a damn thing. They didn't feel I needed to know."
"Something is wrong Jen." Gibbs stands up and begins to pace. He knows why Ziva left but not why people died in her apartment. He can live with one but the other he cannot let go. Letting things like that go has never been one of his strengths.
"Famous Gibbs gut?" The number of lives the gut of this man has saved can't be counted nor can the number of times it was right in spite of her own skepticism.
He stops pacing, the determination clear in his eyes, "Too many coincidences."
"When you leave this office you need to be okay with the fact that Ziva is no longer working for NCIS and that the incident in her apartment has been resolved. If you're not, nobody on the other side of that door will be. You have to be willing to let it go." She knows this is hard for him. His loyalty is one of the traits she admires most about him.
"We're not robots."
"No but we are professionals." Jen is all too familiar with Gibbs' work ethic. "Distracted agents make…"
"…dead agents. I'm the one who taught you that Jen." Gibbs' speech is deliberate and full of frustration. He hated when anyone reminded him of what he believed in because it usually meant that situations had spun out of control.
"You also know that your job is to protect your team. Ziva knows the game. Whatever happened with her father she knew what she was doing when she went to that embassy."
Gibbs squints wondering if Jenny knows the truth about Ari, "What?"
"You know what Ziva and her father talked about. It doesn't matter to me what it was but we can stop pretending you don't know what it was."
"I don't' know what you're talking about."
"Sure you do. That's why you were so accepting of her reassignment. You were prepared for it to happen."
Gibbs stays silent under the Director's knowing stare. He is not a man who breaks a promise even a silent one.
"It must have been one hell of an argument to convince her father to take the name of his son's killer off of the Mossad hit list."
"She's a very persuasive person." Gibbs stands up walking away.
"Ziva made a choice Jethro. A sacrifice. Don't tarnish that by getting into a pissing match with her government. We both know that's not what she wants."