Thanks for all the reviews / PMs / follows from the last chapter! This one comes with a big shout out / hug / thank you to Zivacentric for too many reasons to list, but especially for all her recent encouragement, enthusiasm and general handholding over this story :).
Hope you enjoy! x
Tel Aviv. 15th November 2002
Gibbs looked up from his computer as the door to the office opened and Ben walked in, a cardboard drinks carrier balanced precariously in one hand and a bulging paper bag in the other. Evidently the rain that had started overnight had not eased off yet - his jacket was wet, and parts of the paper bag looked soggy enough to be on the verge of splitting. Kicking the door shut with his foot, he dumped the lunch down on the nearest desk before the paper disintegrated completely and, ignoring the trail of drips that he was leaving across the carpeted floor, shrugged out of his jacket and delved into the bag. Like benign vultures, the other three agents immediately left their desks and gathered round. It was now past one, and the first stomach had begun rumbling over an hour ago.
'Four falafels'. He sounded triumphant as he handed the first package to Gibbs. 'Plain, no fries, black coffee'.
'Thanks'. Gibbs accepted the large, slightly greasy package, along with the coffee. He was starting to like the lunch staple of falafel, hummus and salad stuffed into an over-sized pitta bread, but he still wasn't convinced about the spicy pickles that usually went with it.
'Extra fries and extra pickles with mint tea...'
'Mine'. Ziva took it from him, and wasted no time in heading back to her desk and getting stuck in.
'And extra zhoug, no hummus and no tomato'. Ben grimaced as he handed this last one to Malachai. 'You know how grumpy they get when I ask them for no tomato and no hummus?'
'That is why I only get falafel when it's your turn to buy'.
'Hmm'. Ben huffed as he took his own lunch back to his desk. 'How can you have falafel with no hummus?'
Gibbs smirked as he caught Ziva rolling her eyes. Ben and Malachai liked to wind each other up, and argued like an old married couple. It was playful, lighthearted - nothing serious - and he knew that it didn't really get on Ziva's nerves. She was just glad, like he was, that the two agents got on well enough to be able to do that without any hard feelings afterwards.
He watched her as she ate, her sandwich in one hand and her computer mouse in the other. Their first full week had been a busy one. Nothing specific had come in for them to deal with, but just getting started had taken up a lot of time - liaising with other counter-terrorism and law-enforcement agencies, getting up to speed with current intelligence, figuring out what they were likely to need and what they weren't. It had meant some long days. And although he had not yet seen Eli David outside of the office - which was just fine for the moment - he and Ziva had been called for a meeting with the Deputy Director, in which their exact remit had been laid out and their position within Mossad clarified.
'Any terrorist threats that concern either the Israeli or the US navy, anywhere in the world - you will deal with them'. A pause. 'That includes threats from terrorists within Israel, and attacks within Israeli waters or against naval personnel on Israeli soil. Your security clearances will allow you full access to the intelligence desks, and if something comes in that they - or I - deem relevant, it will be passed to you'.
Gibbs knew that Mossad generally did not operate within Israeli borders, and he had been surprised to learn just how much power they were actually being given. He suspected that it had not been easy to negotiate with the internal Israeli agencies, a suspicion that had been confirmed after the meeting by Ziva.
'Shin Bet did not like it. I think some ropes were pulled'.
'Strings'.
'Strings, then. Either way. We will probably have to work with them at some point, but hopefully not too often. And obviously they still deal with everything that is not navy-related'.
The joys of inter-agency co-operation.
That aside, everything had gone remarkably smoothly. He had known, deep down, that he and Ziva would make a very good team - it was why they had been picked for this unit in the first place. Something had just clicked. And Gibbs found that he enjoyed working with her. So far, at least.
He smiled as she licked her fingers clean of pickles, and had to resist the urge to go over and kiss the tiny bit of zhoug from the corner of her mouth. Since he had arrived in Israel just over a week ago, they had spent every night together, usually at his apartment but once or twice at hers, and he had still found himself missing her on those rare occasions when they were not together during the day at work. The idea of taking things more slowly, and of leaving some space in between working together and sleeping together, had been discussed, but quickly dismissed when it turned out that neither of them wanted it. Already, Gibbs couldn't imagine being anywhere other than here, with her. DC seemed like a distant memory.
And, regardless of the logical part of his brain telling him to be careful, he had never known anything that felt so completely right.
'Gibbs?'
He was halfway through a mouthful of falafel when Ziva quietly called him over to her desk. Ben and Malachai, now busy arguing over whether hummus was best with whole chickpeas mixed in, took no notice as he pushed back his chair, sandwich still in hand, and walked over to stand behind her. She suddenly looked on edge and slightly excited and, as he peered over her shoulder, he sensed that their busy week was about to turn into a busy weekend.
Despite that, he couldn't resist dropping his lips quickly to the corner of her mouth, and smiled at her surprised look.
'Pickle'.
'Oh'. She returned his smile briefly before pointing at the screen. An anonymous email. Not much there, but enough to make Gibbs narrow his eyes and lean forward to read it properly, all thoughts of pickles and falafel forgotten. Ziva watched him, waiting until he had finished reading, gauging his reaction.
'I think this is worth looking into'.
'Yeah'. Gibbs nodded slowly. 'Think you're right'.
'Operation Juniper Cobra'.
Ziva pointed at the plasma screen that had been set up in the corner of the room as she perched on the edge of Malachai's desk. In the two hours since the anonymous email had come through, the office had been buzzing with a mixture of excitement and calm, professional activity. That email was now up on the screen for all the agents to see, alongside various screenshots of official documents that constituted the background research that they had been able to do.
If it came to anything, the tip-off would mean a pretty big first case.
'The bi-annual missile defence operation that is conducted jointly between the Israeli and US military, due to next take place in February 2003. Three months from now. And, if that is to be believed...' Ziva moved her finger to point at the email. 'We have terrorists planning an attack already'.
Gibbs knew about Juniper Cobra - NCIS had been involved in risk assessments the first time it had taken place. He also remembered that there had been rumours of some scepticism and surprise within the higher ranks of the US Navy since, despite the close ties between the two countries on many things, it was unusual for the US and Israel to co-operate so closely in military terms. But that was now beside the point.
'Juniper Cobra involves all arms of the military'. Ziva continued talking, and Gibbs noticed that both Malachai and Ben were concentrating on the screen as she spoke, tying in what they were hearing with what they were seeing. 'It consists of live fire exercises in response to a simulated Scud attack on the Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev. Our concern would be the involvement of AEGIS ships from both navies, based in the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea'.
'You think they would target the ships as well as the land troops?'
Ziva looked at Malachai as she replied.
'We have to assume that, yes'.
'So who's got the lead?' Gibbs was assuming that, since the threat was not solely against the navy, this was one of those occasions when they would have to be working with Shin Bet or the military police, but Ziva shook her head and, with a click of a button, brought another email up on the plasma. This one, Gibbs saw, was from Eli, and had also been sent to him within the last twenty minutes.
'We have sole jurisdiction on this for the moment. The tip specifically mentions Hamas working from inside the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which could constitute an external threat and so would fall within Mossad's remit anyway. And the tip just came to us. Obviously we will keep others informed if we need to, but the investigation is ours'.
Gibbs nodded slowly, noting that she was not meeting his eyes. It was a pretty tenuous argument, considering that half the exercises would not involve the navy at all, and Ziva's words implied that no other agency even knew about a potential threat yet. But Eli, for all his faults, did not seem like the type to get territorial for the sake of it. He suspected that there was another reason, and, as Ben took over from Ziva, it gradually dawned on him what that reason might be.
He just hoped he was wrong.
'Whoever it was knew what they were doing. It was sent from an anonymous email account which now doesn't exist, and the message was bounced through several different IP addresses in various different countries - Jordan, Turkey, France, the UK...'
'But you got something?' Malachai sounded slightly impatient, and Ben nodded as his fingers flew over his keyboard.
'Sort of. There we go'. A long list of numbers flashed up on the plasma. 'These are the addresses I traced. This one comes back to an internet cafe in Jerusalem. The Central Bus Station one...but I can't tell if that's where the message originated'.
Zva checked her watch.
'The email came approximately two hours ago...lunchtime on a Thursday, the place will have been packed'.
'Still worth a look over'. Malachai stood up. 'You want me and Ben to go?'
Ziva looked as if she was going to argue, but Gibbs nodded. He was team leader here as well.
'Yep'. A thought suddenly struck him as Malachai grabbed his jacket. 'The email came in English. They have dual keyboards in that cafe?'
'Not sure'. Ben looked impressed. 'If not, whoever it was would have either had to ask for one or use a translation program, which would have cost extra. If the guy was there'.
'Then let's go and find out'. Malachai sounded eager to be off, but shook his head as Ben grabbed his car keys. 'No way. We won't get there until tomorrow if you drive'.
Gibbs waited until the sounds of their bickering had receded down the corridor and into the elevator before turning to Ziva.
'Something you wanna tell me?'
She took a deep breath.
'It looks like you have worked it out anyway'.
'That the tip came from Ari? Yeah, I figured that'. He was trying not to sound pissed off. But something like this...he would have preferred not to have to guess. 'You were gonna tell me?'
'Of course'. Ziva caught his cynical expression. 'Honestly. But those two...they have no idea Ari even exists. I would prefer to keep it that way. He risks his life doing this, Jethro. I have to protect him'.
Gibbs sighed, and ran a hand over his face. He had a nasty feeling that personal and professional lines were about to be blurred beyond recognition, and that it wouldn't just involve himself and Ziva.
'So that's why we've got this investigation?'
Ziva nodded.
'If other agencies became involved they would, quite rightly, want to know where the intel came from. And I am not prepared to tell them. My father knows what Ari does. Normally it is not a problem to pass on information without a source, but on something as big as this...I - we - did not think it was worth the risk'.
It looked as if several emails had been bouncing back and forth without his knowledge.
'Joint lead, Ziva. You should have asked me'.
'I am sorry. But I would have told you'.
He looked at her for a moment, and decided not to push it. For now.
'So you think there's something in it?'
Ziva looked relieved that he had moved on, and nodded.
'He has always been right before'.
'Pretty good track record', Gibbs murmured, but held up his hands in a gesture of surrender as he saw Ziva's face. He really didn't want an argument. 'Ok. So are they gonna find anything at that cafe?'
'I do not think so'. There was a twinkle in Ziva's eyes, despite the slight tension between them. 'That is why I was not going to send them over there. Ari usually sends the emails from a bus - he can pick up the WiFi signal from the cafe. He just uses his laptop as the bus is either pulling into or out of the station'.
'And he knows how to...do whatever it is Ben said?'
'Route it through the different addresses? Yes'. Ziva paused. 'He has to, Jethro. One day you will see what can happen to informers who are careless, who get caught'.
'I know'. He had seen it before, but Ziva shook her head.
'No. Not long after I had joined Mossad, one of the other agents was worried about a confidential informer, he said the guy was becoming careless. Arrogant. A week after we had that conversation, the informer's head arrived at the office. By FedEx'.
Gibbs grimaced.
'I do not want that happening to Ari'.
'I know'. He reached out and slipped his arms around her. He was still slightly annoyed but, as she relaxed into him, he realised that he could understand it. And, as long as they concentrated on the tip and not the tipster, he didn't think that it would complicate the investigation too much.
Ziva would do anything to protect Ari. And Gibbs knew that he would do anything to protect her.