Two Weeks later…
Tim grinned as he watched Ziva playing in the water with Geordie, Sarah and Tony. He jumped a little when the wave his girlfriend had just been diving into reached the shore and tickled his feet. He'd probably join them later, for now he was content to wade along the shoreline and watch the others. He and Rob were not enthusiastic ocean swimmers. Tim snorted to himself, it wasn't like either one of them had ever had the chance to decide, this was only their third trip to the ocean. Rob's third trip anyway; Tim was sure he and Sarah had been to the ocean before their father's murder, but neither remembered. Of course Sarah and Geordie had immediately taken to swimming through the waves!
They'd arrived at the shore late yesterday afternoon. Almost everyone had made the trip; Damon was the only one missing as he was still too new at the diner to take time off. However, he assured them that he loved his job and was grateful to be working; really…he didn't mind missing the fun…mostly.
So here they were. After figuring out who got what room and Gibbs had had to untangle that dog pile, they had unpacked, enjoyed the dinner Ziva and Tim prepared for their first night and gone for a long walk up on the cliffs and then followed a winding path down to the beach. From there they'd finally hit the sand a little before dusk. Within a few minutes Tony, Sarah and Rob were engaged in a 'kick water' battle with the wavelets crashing on the shore while the others steered clear and continued down the beach. It had been a long day, a long couple of months and they all needed to decompress, relax and breathe the sea air.
Geordie relished being with his family, new and old, after so many years in the USMC Special Forces. Now he listened affectionately to the banter of the group with noisy seagulls in the background looking for food. Gibbs wished he could just wrap his arms around all of them and hold onto these moments. Arm in arm, Tim and Ziva were looking forward to enjoying their vacation and had decided to do their best to ignore their concerns about Eli David and his increasingly odd phone calls. They believed the man was jealous of her life in the United States and was trying to manipulate her back to active duty in Mossad or returning to Israel.
Before they left on vacation, Ziva followed protocol and contacted her Mossad supervisor Officer Bashan at the Israeli embassy and told him where she was going and why, adding that unfortunately cell service was spotty at best. Bashan wished her a happy holiday and told her "not to worry about anything" which she understood meant that he would either cover for her or somehow convince her father to ignore her absence for a few days. She and her boyfriend needed time to themselves, time to talk about what was to come next.
That night she was content to walk with their family in the fresh air and provide extra support for Tim. His still healing back was stiff from the long journey and he needed a little help keeping his balance on the uneven sand. He leaned on Ziva a little more than usual and whenever Geordie and Gibbs were near, they'd take his arm and he leaned on them.
Now after a good night's sleep with the rhythmic sound of the waves washing up on shore and a relaxing breakfast, they were on the beach and in the water again. Rob was helping their dad dig the beach umbrellas into the sand. Ducky had given strict guidelines to avoid sunburn and Tim knew he for one wouldn't have a problem following them. He'd had enough sunburn in his life, thank you very much; he had #50 Sunblock on and was wearing a hat and a tee shirt with his swim trunks. He grinned as he thought of Ziva helping him apply the sunblock; it had made them late for breakfast.
Eventually the intensifying heat of the sun drove Tim further into the water and soon enough he was swimming and playing with the others. Even Rob and their dad worked their way in and they had an all out splash battle. Dr. Rob eventually ordered their prune-y selves out of the water and under the umbrellas for a rest. Never one to sit still for long, Tony found a kid's sand bucket and scoop and started building a sand castle. Building always interested Gibbs and he soon joined in while Tim and the others laughed their heads off at the monster castle that began to appear on the shoreline. Rob ran inside for the camera and took plenty of pictures as the castle grew and grew. They teased the builders that there wouldn't be any sand left on the beach by the time they were done.
After hearing some stomachs growling, Geordie volunteered to make sandwiches and bring them back out to the beach. When several different requests were called out he whistled his family into silence and when he had their attention, he announced, "Ham or turkey and cheese with mustard or peanut butter and jelly. Anything else, you get to do it yourself." He took the count, in truth he already knew what just about everyone would want and taking the camera which was in danger of being buried in the moat, headed inside.
He was in the kitchen making the sandwiches when through the window he saw a flash of light bounce off a large boulder on the cliff. He and his dad had been using the binoculars last night so he found them easily enough and looked out the window toward the boulder. He spotted a man watching the beach and taking photos, and from what he could see, he was only interested in Geordie's family. He grabbed the camera and using the telephoto feature got a couple of clear shots of him, one taking photos and one full face. Then he sent a quick text to Tony that he needed his help in the kitchen. He had a strong suspicion as to who might have sent the spy and who they might be watching and he wanted one of his Dad's agents on hand when he took him down. He still had his 'temporary agent' badge but he didn't want to take any chances. Tony came rambling in, stopping when he saw Geordie still carefully watching from the window. The watcher hadn't moved his gaze from the group on the beach. Geordie beckoned to Tony, handing him the binocs. Puzzled Tony looked through and then swore. "Dang it, can't we ever catch a break?!"
"Any ideas?"
Tony nodded, "Oh yeah, I'm sure it's the same buzzard you're thinking of."
They quickly made a plan; they grabbed their weapons, badges and id, and Tony his handcuffs. Leaving through the back door, they quietly walked up the road to the walking trail they'd been on the previous evening, knowing it would bring them in behind the watcher. They moved so stealthily behind the guy that he never heard them coming. Geordie grabbed the camera from behind while Tony slapped the cuffs on him, "Don't even bother turning around, you're busted, whoever you are."
The watcher kept silent but the motion caught eyes from below. The two men searched the man and confiscated a wicked looking belt knife and a Beretta holstered on his leg. By now the man was cursing under his breath and they recognized the language, Geordie because he spoke it, Tony because he'd been listening to his teammate speak it for years now. As they marched him back to the house, they were joined by Gibbs while Ziva and Tim shepherded Sarah and Rob back into the house.
Both groups converged on the house at the same time and Ziva swore eloquently when she saw the man. There hadn't been much doubt as to who was behind this but her words removed even that slim little slice of possibility that this might not be the doings of Eli David. Gibbs was royally upset but knew he had to hold it together for his two youngest, the civilians of the family. They sat the man down, cuffing his ankles as well as his wrists and Gibbs questioned him. Ziva grabbed Gibbs' phone and took a photo of the watcher all trussed up and threatened to send the photo to Mossad HQ so that everyone could see how ineffectual he was. That did more to loosen the man's tongue than anything else they could have done. Through his sputtering anger, he managed to let them know he was following direct orders from the Director of Mossad.
XXX
Before they'd left home yesterday, Tim and Ziva had decided they would shut their electronic devices off while they were on vacation and the rest of the family had a pool going for who caved first. Now Ziva dug her phone out of her bag and found she'd missed several calls, all from her Mossad supervisor Bashan. She stepped away to listen to the messages and almost immediately hurried back into the room, motioning to Gibbs. With Tim's help, Tony took over the questioning while Gibbs followed her to the back porch.
"Gibbs, it is Bashan. You know I told him where we would be and he approved. Listen to this…" She held the phone up so Gibbs could hear the message.
"Ziva, it is imperative you call me, your American family is in danger." At Gibbs' urging she called Bashan and explained that they had discovered the spy. He sighed, "Ziva, your family…the Americans…are in danger, grave danger. This one is not the only one out there. Your father… I have tried to reason but he no longer listens to reason or to me." Ziva told him not to worry and thanked him, disconnecting.
She turned to Gibbs who was visibly fuming. "He's threatening our family, Ziva, he's out of control; this is a clear threat! Start securing the house; keep everyone away from the windows, especially Sarah and Rob. " She nodded and left him to get started.
Gibbs mulled over their options. As long as their cells worked, they were safer here than they would be in the cars driving into town. He suddenly worried about the cells and called for Tim. "Son, we need to check for bugs on our phones."
Tim nodded, "And in the house too."
"Yeah."
Tim checked his dad's phone first, "You're ok for internal bugs but we don't know what equipment they've got trained on us; I'll ask Ziva."
"You have one of your sniffers?"
"Yeah, it lives in my laptop bag."
"I'm going to call Vance; help secure the house."
Tim nodded and gently tugged his father away from the windowed back door. Gibbs gave himself a head slap for not thinking about his own safety as he pressed the contact number for Vance's cell.