Chapter 14: The path
"Jethro, you should not have yelled at her," Ducky said in a lecturing tone when he sought him out in the hallway in front of the interrogation room.
"I know, Duck, but this is all just so fucked up," he replied with all the frustration he felt and wasn't noticing his choice of words- not that he cared. Tona and Ziva came out of the observation room and looked equally shaken. "Ziva, can you stay with her? Maybe she wants to eat something. If she doesn't run away you can bring her down to the bullpen."
"I will ask her," she just replied and went into the interrogation room, Tony following her without waiting for any more instructions.
"What are you going to do now?" Ducky asked.
"Help her, keep her out of jail when I find a genius plan how," he replied just when Vance appeared.
"Gibbs, I'm going to pay Eli David a visit in the hospital and I want you to come with me," the director requested.
"If you want him to live that's not a good idea, Leon," he pointed out.
"Maybe I don't... I haven't decided yet. However I just read the results of DiNozzo's interrogation and I won't let the child pay for the mistakes of others." He sounded angry and convinced that he would get his way.
"I'm not taking responsibility for my actions," he pointed out again.
"If you want to save your child, you will follow my lead," Vance said and motioned with his head for him to follow him down the hallway for now.
"Why do you want me with you Leon?" he asked him when they rode to the hospital.
"Because I want Eli to look Joelle's father in the eye when he decides if he's going to help me or not," Vance replied. "And I need a security detail with me wherever I go," he added, although they both were aware that it wasn't important.
He remained silent, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was Joelle's father.
"Hit you out of nowhere, huh?" Vance half smiled.
"I had a suspicion, but having it confirmed... I wish I'd have known," he replied and looked out the side window.
"I'm a father as well, Gibbs, you know that. I can't imagine what it must be like," he trailed off. "When I saw her at first this morning and heard the things she said she reminded me of Lee Wua Kai. Same abilities, equal training, same experiences, but she made a different choice," Leon said.
"She killed six people," Gibbs couldn't help but point out.
"To free herself and to get justice for her mother, not in revenge for what was done to her. She didn't kill you or me, DiNozzo or Ziva. She never wanted to kill, she wanted to end it," he explained.
"I don't understand why Jenny didn't write that letter. She knew she'd be dead by the time I'd get it, so what was she afraid of? She should have come to me the second she knew she was sick and should have told me. Would I have been angry? Hell yes, but I would have taken the next flight to Israel and gotten our daughter out of there," he ranted.
"Maybe she wrote the letter and someone made it disappear?" Vance suggested.
"You know something, Leon?" he asked and raised his eyebrows.
"No, I was just thinking that some people went to great lengths to get rid of Jenny to get to her daughter, they wouldn't just let you walk in and take her away."
"We're here, so I guess we can ask him," he replied and pointed out the window to the hospital.
"Leave your gun in the car, just in case," Vance ordered and for once he did follow an order. It was really safer for all of them.
"Ziva?" Eli David asked when he heard the door of his room opening and closing.
"No, it' s me, Eli," Vance introduced himself.
"Ziva won't come, she's with Joelle," he added, hoping it would hurt him. Eli David didn't reply, just closed his eyes again.
"Joelle told us some very interesting things today," Vance started and walked closer to the bed, while he stayed behind, afraid he would kill David with his bare hands if he gave one wrong answer. "Even more interesting is that she can prove it all. Really smart kid," Vance went on.
"Me lying here proves that she tried to kill me and murdered six other people," David replied with a lot of effort. He was still very weak and seemed to be in pain.
"Here's the deal: You insist that we charge her with murder and attempted murder. We will get her the best lawyers and make everything public. It will be in every newspaper from here to Timbuktu, that Mossad had the director of NCIS killed to get her thirteen year old daughter and sent her out on missions where she was tortured and raped. I will make sure they name you as often as possible. It might make the relations between our countries a bit more difficult, not to speak of the consequences for yourself," Vance started putting pressure on David.
"What do you want, Leon?" the Israeli asked.
"I want an agent named Joelle Levi, who is at least 25, made responsible for the murders. Sadly she will never be caught. Then I want you to hand over all documents you have concerning Joelle's real identity. She will be Joelle Liv Sheppard again, like she never disappeared, never lived in Israel," Leon Vance explained.
"I will make all the necessary arrangements," David nodded without even attempting to bargain.
"If you ever come near my daughter again, I will kill you. That's a promise," he spoke up for the first time.
"So you know now?" David asked and seemed a bit amused.
"Where is the letter Jenny wrote to me?" he asked him, he just needed to know.
"What letter agent Gibbs?" David asked innocently. He just snapped. In two strides he was beside the bed and had grabbed the collar of his hospital gown and had lifted him up.
"Where's the letter?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"I don't know about any letter," Eli replied again and this time he looked like he was actually telling the truth. He let go and the weak body of the Israeli dropped back on the mattress.
"How can you live with yourself? You sent a thirteen year old girl out on a mission where she's beaten and raped. If it weren't for Dinozzo your own daughter would be dead by now because you sent her on a suicide mission. What is wrong with you?" he spat out, simply because he really wanted answers to those questions.
"My goal always was that my grandchildren could live in their own country without fear and without a war. There are sacrifices that have to be made, no matter how cruel they might seem at first," David replied.
"Ever thought about the fact that your sixteen year old got blown up by a bomb, your son was killed because he was working against you and you nearly had your last remaining child killed? You will never have grandchildren, because you kill your own kids," he said. "I would give everything just to spend one last day with my daughter and you sent yours out to get raped, tortured and killed." He held his gaze and saw a flicker of remorse.
"You have your daughter now, Agent Gibbs. It might not be the one you just talked about, but you have your daughter," Eli said slowly. "And could you tell Ziva that I would like to see her?" he asked him then.
"No," he shook his head, "no, I won't do that. Because personally I want her as far away from you as possible. "
"I will tell her, Eli, but I won't order her. If she wants to come she'll know where to go," Vance interrupted them. "And we should leave Gibbs." Vance walked to the door and opened it, then held it open for him, signalizing him that it was really time to leave the ICU and get back to NICS.
"You might not believe me, Gibbs, but I love my Ziva, and I love Joelle like she's my daughter, too." David had the nerve to say.
"You stay away from them. If I have only so much as a suspicion that you're out to get them, hurt them or kill them again, I will find you," he swore again. "You're the biggest bastard I ever met," he spat and then hurried out the door, before he would do something he'd regret later.
"He is just as much a victim of the circumstances, Gibbs," Vance said after he had closed the door and followed him down the narrow hospital floors.
"Someone told me once, that who we are might be predetermined, but the path we follow is always of our own choosing. Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one," he replied, still hurrying angrily down towards the exit."Ziva knows that now, Joelle understands the concept but has a lot to learn, but Eli David... he went down that path willingly and he won't go back to change directions. For that he'd have to be forced or dead."
"That's probably the most I ever heard you say, Gibbs," Vance grinned, but nodded in agreement.
"Hope it didn't scare you," he replied and felt that he had a whole new appreciation for the guy.
TBC