"I got it, Boss!" McGee exclaimed, nearly shooting out of his chair with excitement, gathering all the attention from the remaining agents in the bullpen. To McGee, it had felt like he had been watching black and white CCTV footage for a lifetime, but after nearly two full tapes, he had finally found what they had all been looking for.
Gibbs, DiNozzo and Ziva all circled around the big screen beside Gibbs' desk, waiting for the imminent presentation by the junior agent. McGee grabbed the controller, pulling up a larger version of the footage he had previously been watching, pausing it at the right moment before he began his explanation, "These are the tapes from the corridor next to where our officer was killed," Pressing 'play', McGee fast forwarded to the point of interest, slowing it down to normal speed for the other agents to view. When a figure came running down the corridor shown on the tape, McGee paused it, giving a good, useful view of the suspected perpetrators face, "Following the tapes around the school, this guy is the one running around the time our officer was killed,"
"Name?" Gibbs asked, though it was more of a request.
McGee gave a small nod of his head, having that area already covered. With one press of a button, a passport scan appeared upon the screen before the agents, allowing McGee to, once again, explain, "Noam Ben-Zvi. According to his record, he's not a student at Franklin Military, he's ex-Israeli military and was here for one week,"
"Was?" Gibbs questioned, picking up on the use of the past tense.
McGee let out a sigh, bringing up flight and credit card records, "Ben-Zvi flew back to Tel Aviv yesterday evening."
"Well, that's helpful, Probie," Tony commented, rolling his eyes.
Turning on his heel, Gibbs took one glance up to the MTAC floor above them before striding confidently up the stairs, clearly heading to inform the director of this new, but challenging development. Jurisdiction wise, this was theirs but now nearly 9 time zones separated them from their killer. It had been weeks waiting for this breakthrough, and no hurdle was going to get in the way.
"Well, that was interesting," Tony commented sarcastically, perching on the edge of his desk, "Looks like a road trip's on the agenda,"
Ziva looked over to her partner, "You think we will have to travel?"
Tony shrugged his shoulders lightly, "I'd imagine so. You know how fond we are of Tel Aviv, Zi." He gave a sarcastic chuckle, sliding his fingers through his hair.
"I'm sure we won't have to go to Tel Aviv, Tony. It's out of our jurisdiction, isn't it?"
"Nope. It happened on our soil, McProbie, so it's our jurisdiction. Whether we have to fly out or not is up to Vance up there." Tony gestured over his shoulder to the Director's office.
McGee shrugged his shoulders, "Anyway, I'm going to take these tapes down to Abby, help her clear up the quality. We should be able to see where exactly Ben-Zvi is, whether any transactions have been made and, if we do fly out, we'll know more." Grabbing the CCTV footage tapes he had been trailing through, McGee offered a polite smile before heading through the bullpen on his way to Abby's laboratory.
Stepping in front of Tony, Ziva looked up to his, her eyes meeting with his. "You really think we're going to have to go?" She questioned, her tone almost weary. The past couple of weeks between her and Tony had been near perfect and the two of them had got on better than ever. Perhaps parenthood had brought then closer than anything else ever could.
Allowing a warm smile to slip across his lips, Tony gently slipped his hand into hers, his fingers sliding through her own, "I think we'll have to, but if we do, I want you to stay here. By the time we have anything sorted, especially with the difference of opinion from each country, things will get a little more dangerous and I can't put you through that."
Touched by his caring gesture, Ziva still lightly shook her head in protest, "Tony, as much as that's incredibly sweet, you know I will have to go. With my connections it will be far easier for me to come with. I know you are worried about the baby, and so am I, but I promise I won't get into anything I can't handle."
Tony knew he would never win that easily. If you didn't know Ziva David was stubborn after an hour of knowing her, you were never going to get very far. Over the years, it had almost become traditional to have a small debate before trying to persuade Ziva to do anything. "Listen, Zi. Who knows how long we'd be there for? I mean, you're nearly three months gone now, and…I don't know, I'm just not comfortable with you going out there when we still have such a long way to go."
Letting out a gentle breath, Ziva absentmindedly playing with his fingers, "You will be there too, so if anything does happen, it is not like you will miss out. Besides, nobody even knows we are together or about the baby, so that is something we will have to get through first. It's getting harder to hide,"
"And I've said that I'll handle that little issue, right? So don't you get all stressed out about it. You don't need to be stressed at all,"
A small chuckle escaped her lips, her brown eyes quickly glancing around the bull pen, "Yeah, except for the appointment we have tonight,"
Tony couldn't deny the grin which crept across his lips. He had been looking forward to it all day, and he could barely contain his excitement. "How can you be stressed about that? Its a few little, routine tests and we actually get to see our baby! How cool is that?"
"I know, it is pretty exciting. It's just…" Ziva's eyes glanced upward, her senses picking up a change. Seeing the director head out of his office and onto the floor above them, giving a perfect view of the bullpen, Ziva dropped his hand, taking a small step backwards thus eliminating any chance of it looking like a red light situation. Before she could even explain her sudden changes to a rather confused looking Tony, the Director spoke.
"Special Agent DiNozzo," He addressed, catching Tony's attention in an instant, "A word, please,"
Tony visibly swallowed, shooting a quick glance to his partner before swooping around his desk, lightly jogging up the stairs to where the Director stood above him. Walking down that stretch of carpet always reminded Tony of 'walking the Green Mile' – perhaps one of his favourite movies ever. Only difference was, people in that particular movie knew what was at the end of that mile, and Tony didn't.
Following the Director into his office, Tony passed Gibbs on the way, indicating this was for his ears only unless Gibbs had was already informed and briefed. Once in the cosiness of Vance's office, Tony closed the door politely.
"Take a seat, DiNozzo," Vance offered, gathering a sand coloured folder off of his desk.
"What's up?" His informal use of language was permitted; something which even the Director of such an agency had become accustomed to.
Taking a seat beside the Senior agent, Vance laid out the folder which he had retrieved, placing it so both men could equally look at and analyse it, "Tomorrow, the team will be flying out to Tel Aviv. This is Michael Aaronov, high ranking in the Israeli Military and close connection to Mossad. Your job, DiNozzo, is to work with Aaronov and closely with Mossad to gain access to Military records on Ben-Zvi."
"What, like an undercover?" Tony questioned, feeling slightly sceptic about where the conversation was leading. He had half expected to go abroad, but working closely with the Israeli version of MI5 wasn't really on his agenda.
Vance shook his head, "They have already been informed and expecting the team at Ben Gurion airport at five in the evening tomorrow. From there, you'll be settled into on base accommodation and start work in the morning,"
Tony couldn't help but laugh, whether it was out of nerves or apprehension, he wasn't sure. "And you really think I'm the right guy to do this? Me and Mossad don't really have that good of a friendship, Sir. I mean, Eli maybe Ziva's dad but I put bullets through his officer, screwed up his mission and got his daughter pre…" Tony stopped before he continued, but he knew by the confused look in the Director's eyes, that he had gone had said too much.
"Excuse me, DiNozzo?" Vance asked, clearly intrigued by the Senior agents sudden halt of words. "Is there something I need to know?"
Tony stood, knowing there was no way out of the office unless he told the truth. This was what was at the end of his Green Mile. Standing, Tony sunk his hands into his pockets, pacing up and down as he tried to gather words in his head. It was simple enough to say, but in front of the Director it felt like he had to complete a marathon. Turning to face the waiting Director, Tony let out a slow breath, "Special Agent David and I are…together. We've been seeing each other for about three months,"
At first Vance didn't react, knowing that there was far more to this than DiNozzo was letting on. Instead, he simply leaned back in his chair, "Go on," he prompted.
"After about six weeks, we found out that Ziva's pregnant. We're the only ones who know and we were going to try and keep it that way for a little longer, but clearly not," Tony went quiet, readying to face the consequences of this revelation. He was still so excite at the prospect of being a father and being totally smitten, but he hadn't given a thought to the repercussions of their situation at work, or on the agency.
Vance silently went through the options, attempting to re-evaluate the new situation which had come about. Standing too, he gathered the file off of the table, turning his attention to DiNozzo, "You may leave," He said politely, unable to give a full opinion on the matter at hand in that present moment.
Tony simply nodded, turned and pulled open the office door. Before taking a step out, Tony twisted, facing the Director, "May I just make one request?"
Vance gave a rather reluctant nod, but allowed the agent to continue.
"Can you keep Ziva here? She shouldn't fly out to Tel Aviv." Giving one final look, Tony stepped out of the confides of Vance's cosy, professional office, releasing a breath he didn't even know he had been holding. He could feel his heart racing, his thoughts soon catching up to such a speed, and as he headed back down the stairs, he battled with himself as to whether inform his partner of the new developments. When the two locked eyes and that gorgeous smile slipped across the Israeli's lips, all Tony could do was return the smile, leaving those words unsaid and silent.