Chapter Eight
Tel Aviv. Form the air Tony realized why the called it the white city with so many of its buildings white. It also, according to the little tourist guide information Tony was reading, had the largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings. The El Al plane started its descent for a landing at the Ben Gurion International Airport.
Once they had landed at the airport and worked their way through customs, an attractive woman sandy haired woman and a handsome dark haired man approached them. They were dressed in cargo pants and safari shirts and had Jericho sidearms visible. They had to be Mossad. The man spoke.
"Officer Malachi Ben-Gidon," he introduced himself and flashed Mossad ID, "and this is Officer Liat Tuvia. We are here to escort you to Mossad Headquarters."
"You could have helped us through customs, mate," said Simon.
"We do not like to break rules," smiled Liat.
Tony knew that Mossad hardly ever kept the rules.
"We being debriefed right away?" asked Tony.
"No," said Malachi. "Deputy Director David wishes to speak to you."
Simon looked over at Tony and smirked.
"Oh goody, intimidation tactics," said Tony. "Are you two going to play good cop bad cop?"
Malachi looked at him and with a straight face said: "We are Kidon unit. It would be good assassin bad assassin."
"Lead on Mr.& Mrs. Smith," smiled Tony.
This remark made Malachi laugh, though Liat looked confused.
TWO ROADS
After being ushered into a SUV, they were driven to Mossad headquarters and brought in through the backdoor. Once into Mossad Headquarters they were shown into a plan conference room where there was a table and five chairs.
Simon and Tony sat down then Malachi and Liat left them alone. The room was without decorations just grey walls. It was meant for intimidation.
"You had to fuck his daughter," Simon said quietly. "I'd rather not meet Deputy Director David."
"Me, too," said Tony.
"Well, you're at it, do you want to get us into more trouble before our little suicide mission continues?" asked Simon.
Tony smiled then he exhaled. Simon was letting him know and their hosts know that they understood just how dangerous this op was going to be.
"Suicide mission?" asked Tony.
"I'm English which means I refuse to be an optimist," he said.
"Don't go all Charge of the Light Brigade on me," sighed Tony.
"You are a Tennyson fan," said Simon.
"No, Errol Flynn," smiled Tony.
Before their conversation went any further, the door opened and in walked Eli David. He was an imposing man in an off-white suit and white shirt with no tie. His craggy face belied intelligence and his salt and pepper hair didn't not have a hair out of place. He smiled at them.
"Gentlemen, it is a pleasure to meet you. So," he said then sat down at the other end of the table from them, "you want to kill the Hasan brothers."
"We want to stop them before they succeed in their next terrorist acts," Simon said.
"How noble," smiled Eli. "Are you noble Agent DiNozzo?"
"Not that I'm aware of," said Tony.
"Your personnel file appears to be filled with many noble acts," said Eli.
"Does Simon need to be here for this?" asked Tony.
Eli stopped and reconsidered Agent DiNozzo for a moment. The man had courage and maybe even more brains than he thought. He had potential.
"No, he doesn't," said Eli.
"Get going, Simon. I'll see you later," Tony said then added under his breath, "I hope."
Simon got up and slowly walked out. He didn't want to leave his erstwhile partner behind but he knew it was futile to argue with Eli David on his home turf.
"You know my daughter," Eli said.
"Only in the biblical way," Tony said.
Eli David smiled. It was a friendly smile but the smile of a predator stalking a kill.
"You admit to having a relationship with my daughter," he said.
"I admit to thinking I love you daughter, but a relationship? I'm not too sure about that, Director David. How you know about us… you have her place bugged, don't you?" Tony asked.
Eli didn't answer. He merely stared at Tony.
"Okay, you have her place bugged. Well, then you know that she wants to keep our so-called relationship a secret. You know her better than I do, what does that mean?" he asked.
"It means Ziva has real feelings for you. She hides what has actually meaning to her. It is part of her training, so that enemies have nothing to hold over her," said Eli.
"I'm not sure about that, but I guess I have to believe you," said Tony.
"And I'm not sure I like you, Agent DiNozzo. You are young and arrogant," said Eli.
"Well, that just makes me sad all over that you feel that way about me," smiled Tony. "I doubt you'll interfere with the mission because you want the Hasan brothers stooped and ready to take it up the ass, also."
"That does not mean you have to come back alive from this mission, Agent DiNozzo," smiled Eli. He wanted to intimidate this man and see him squirm.
"Yeah, yeah," Tony replied to his threat.
"Doesn't the thought that I can have you killed scare you?" asked Eli.
"I can't stop you. All I can do is hope to hell that you change your fucking mind before one of your cute little assassins off me," said Tony.
"And why would I change my mind, Agent DiNozzo?" asked Eli.
"Because I'd owe you one," smiled Tony.
Eli nodded his head. He was starting to like this man in spite of himself.
"You have some possibilities, Agent DiNozzo," said Eli.
"What sort of possibilities?" he asked.
"We shall see," said Eli, who got up and left Tony alone in the room.
Once he was alone, Tony slumped in his chair and exhaled a lungful of air. He survived round one, but he wasn't too sure that he'd make it passed round two.
TWO ROADS
Ziva took her usual early morning run in the park. She would run four to six miles depending upon her mood, or how much she felt like pushing her body. Today, she was going to run at least six miles. Her mind was preoccupied with him. Yes, him, Anthony DiNozzo. He was now in Israel getting ready for some dangerous op and she could do nothing to ensure his return. And she wanted him back. She didn't like feeling this way.
Was it the sex that made her think of him? No, it was more than that, though the sex with him was remarkable. Yet, there was something about him that made her want to be with him beyond the sex. He was an addiction, but not a bad addiction. He was an addiction that was good her in many ways.
If her father knew about this man, he would say that he was making her weak. Weak? He thought love was a weakness. Sex wasn't a weakness but love was. Her father had trained her to abhor weakness. Yet, she was capable of love and she just might have fallen in love with this man. He was her addiction, though. She stopped running.
"I need to make sure he gets back to me," she said.
TWO ROADS
They were seated in a situation room, which was just another intimidating room in this spy building. Malachi and Liat were with them. A pug ugly man with scars on his face stood in front of them.
"We believe that Hasan brothers have a terrorist camp set up in Liberia. To be exact they are in Lofa country by the water. The closest so called city is Voinjama," he said.
"Etan," Malachi spoke up, "isn't Liberia new for terrorist group as a base?"
"Yes. Lucky us that we have another country to keep an eye on," answered Etan. "We believe that Tariq Hasan has developed a relationship with a deposed insurgent who wants to start another revolution in the country. Lofa is the insurgents' home county. He has many friends there."
"Is it going to be difficult to get in and out of country?" asked Simon.
"In, no, but to get out, yes," answered Etan. "But what op doesn't have problems."
"What if we had some help like a Seal team to extract us?" asked Tony.
"It will never happen," said Etan.
"It might. I could talk to Vance," said Tony.
"You think the Director of NCIS would do you a favor," said Eli David as he walked into the room.
"He already has," said Tony. "He trumped up a reason for me to be here under the umbrella of NCIS."
"I see," said Eli. "You and I will talk to Leon in our command center later. Continue with your briefing, Etan."
"Yes, sir," he said.
Eli walked back out of the room.
"A team of six will enter Liberia. There you will meet up a contact who will arm you then you will proceed to the coast," Etan started to explain.
Tony sat and listened. He knew this was important information, but he mind was straying to other thing, like Ziva David. Daddy David was having a bad influence on him.
TWO ROADS
Malachi escorted Tony to the command center where Eli was waiting for him. When he entered Vance, Gibbs, and Fornell were on a large plasma screen already in conversation with them. Tony walked towards Eli stopped a foot behind him. Eli looked over his shoulder and waved him to stand beside him.
"Tony, you look healthy," Fornell said with a smirk.
This was part of a personal code to let him know that Vance was open to his suggestions. They had worked this code out years earlier. The word healthy at the end of a sentence meant the conditions were good.
"Thanks, boss," Tony said letting Fornell knew he understood.
"Emily misses you," Fornell said.
Emily misses you was code that the pressure was on. This was letting him know that they were under pressure to make sure that the Hasan's didn't succeed with whatever their plans were.
"I miss her, too," Tony said letting him know he had his own pressure.
"Leon, I believe that Agent DiNozzo has a request to make of you," said Eli.
Tony stepped forward. Vance was standing there with a passive face waiting to hear what DiNozzo had to say.
"Director Vance, the Hasan's are in Liberia. Six of us are going in…," Tony started.
"How many are in his cell?" asked Vance.
"At least thirty," answered Tony.
"And all you are sending are six," said Vance.
"Four will be Kidon," said Eli.
"Okay," said Vance.
"We can get in but extraction will be difficult," said Tony.
"We have a carry in the area," said Vance.
"Would you have a Seal who can extract us?" asked Tony.
"It is possible," Vance smiled. "We will need more information about the op."
"Information can be provided, Leon," said Eli.
"Some coordination is necessary to make this work, Eli," said Vance.
"Coordination but not control. Officer Bruce and Agent DiNozzo will have operational control on this," said Eli. "My men will follow their orders."
"Two copters should be enough to pick them up. Do you need anything else?" asked Vance.
"Just to hitch a ride," smiled Tony.
"Leon, is my daughter around?" asked Eli.
Vance nodded yes then motioned to someone off to the right. As the three men stepped away allowing Ziva to stand-alone. Eli began speaking Hebrew to her.
"Is he your boyfriend?" he asked.
"Time will tell," Ziva said.
"If you get the time. He is going on a dangerous mission. Who knows if he will return?" said Eli.
"You are threatening him," Ziva hissed.
"No, I am merely stated a fact, daughter," he said.
"If anything happens to him, you will never get a chance to speak or see me again," Ziva said.
"If he survives it will be up to him," said Eli.
"I care for him," she said then turned and disappeared.
Eli gave the sign to kill the signal. The screen went blank. Eli turned and looked at Tony.
"I told you that she had feelings for you," he said with a smile then walked away leaving Tony more than a little confused.