Notes: Thanks to the Nice English Lady ™ for the beta. All errors are mine. Thank you for all the follows, favourites and reviews. Lots of medical and law enforcement procedural inaccuracies to serve the story. Deal with it.

Chapter 8

(5796 words – 26 min)

Michael Rivkin talked a lot for the next two days. Agent Bob Appleton was a very thorough interrogator and asked many questions that Rivkin had not thought about before. Then in the next session, he would bring questions from DiNozzo or Heather Foster to add to the growing list. Rivkin would groan out loud every time Appleton opened his folder with a notepad filled out with scribbles. He would consume an absurd amount of water during those sessions and required constant visits to the bathroom. He just wanted this to end! All that talking was a kind of torture Rivkin never though he would have to endure, or how hard it could be.

Meanwhile, Tony was also talking non-stop with his contacts in a variety of US federal agencies and international ones. Interpol agreed to the proposed time frame and would flag Rivkin's English passport on the fifth day of his supposed arrival in Britain. Since there wasn't any next of kin listed on his travel information, and the address provided was clearly a safe house used for short stops, with nothing personal in it, Interpol could say it had taken them some time to find any connection with Israel. That might help inflate Mossad's ego but would also buy them time to ship Rivkin to his new life and get rid of the body they were using in place of the Kidon agent.

Every bit of evidence they collected was being organised to take down Eli and Ziva David. The information about Eli would be dealt with by the Secretary of Defence and The Secretary of State and that battle would be fought out in diplomatic circles. Tony was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to slap some cuffs on David Senior, but he knew how much politicking was involved in dislodging a powerful figure like the Director of Mossad. It was better that the higher-ups deal with that. The Israeli government wouldn't want to have all his misdeeds flung around the news or the internet, so the U.S. would get some concessions to keep quiet. Tony only hoped that it would be more than just quietly retiring the old cadger.

Ziva David, though, was on U.S. soil, actively engaging in spying through her position in NCIS. That was in Tony's remit to deal with, and he might be a bit geed up in doing it. There was a bit of schadenfreude in the whole situation, but DiNozzo had complained about her inclusion into NCIS and MCRT, not only because of her involvement with Kate's death but the lack of training in the actual investigative work that they did. Tony was sure Gibbs would be pissed with him for interfering in his team and targeting someone he probably saw as a proxy for his dead daughter, much like Abby, but that ship had sailed when Gibbs accepted Ziva and McGee's word without investigating, cutting DiNozzo from NCIS and his life without a second thought.

Now was time to prepare the trap. Coronel Marsten would take the prepared reports and information to the Secretaries of Defence and State. They would work with the President to see how best to apply pressure to the Israeli government, to oust Eli David and get someone more inclined to work with American and European interests instead of dealing under the table with the black market. DiNozzo expected that to take a little longer than Ziva's takedown. But getting her on espionage charges would help with the pressure to end Eli's power trip.

The game was afoot when Interpol officially flagged Rivkin's English passport, attaching a doctored autopsy report to it. They used all the blood samples DiNozzo's team got after they captured the Kidon agent, with real data on his drugged state at the time. They also used the real dead man's information on the state of his heart and general physical conditions to create a convincing report on the "death" of the Israeli agent. Interpol investigated the dead passenger, finding out he didn't have family or heirs, and his will stated he wanted to be cremated with his possessions distributed to some named charities. This was such a stroke of luck for their overall plan against the Davids that a few agents were claiming divine intervention.

It took a couple of hours between the information being made available on Rivkin's death and the Israeli Embassy contacting Interpol. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office was also involved, being prepped for the whole situation through the U.S. Secretary of State. The back and forth, accusations, requests and intimidation tactics lasted for a day, until Israel seemed to accept the evidence and conclusions, as much as how the situation developed. The American representative said their travel protocols would be revised to avoid allowing someone visibly intoxicated to fly, and the British suggested better communication and data collection to avoid letting people fall through the cracks of not having contacts listed in their passports and travel documents. Israel requested the transfer of the body, making clear they would do their own examination. That was the finicky part of the plan. Interpol couldn't hand in the real body, so they followed the dead man's will and sent the body to be cremated soon after the final autopsy. For the Israeli Embassy, and Mossad, they said that a clerk at the morgue jumped the gun after the final report was signed. So the fictional employee Dale Johnson was fired for his mistake and the Israeli received an urn filled with ashes that wouldn't help them at all.

The moment that the apologetic representatives of Interpol and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office were delivering the urn at the Israel Embassy, Rivkin was entering a military cargo plane in Norfolk and being discreetly escorted out of the country with a new identity, no beard, and a well-done colouring job, making him a light brown, almost blond man. Tony DiNozzo, Heather Foster, and Bob Appleton were on the tarmac, waving the ex-Kidon agent goodbye with their most sarcastic smirks in place.

'Out of sight, out of mind?' Heather asked while they walked back to the temporary office.

'More like in somebody's else mind now,' Tony answered, hands in his trousers' pockets, already going through the next steps they need to take.

'What about Ziva?' It was Bob's turn to ask.

'Well, NCIS would have been warned when Interpol flagged the passport,' Tony explained. 'Both Gibbs and the director. I don't know Vance personally, I never crossed paths with him while I was with the agency, but from the way he was playing this game, I think he will try to redistribute his resources in the mole/spy search. He might, might' Tony emphasized, 'ask for Homeland help, but I wouldn't bet on that yet. Gibbs will go into protective mode, trying to shield Ziva in any way he can.' DiNozzo was back into a pensive stance.

'Papa David will have time to contact her before his world comes crumbling down,' Heather stated.

'That would give her the information that Interpol was involved,' Bob said.

'Hum-hum,' Tony agreed. 'She'll go to them in search of answers. She might try the diplomatic approach first though,' he considered.

'She should have some contacts there,' Bob confirmed.

'They did keep the whole thing as "need-to-know" as possible,' Tony informed. 'She shouldn't go far. Then she'll go for their system, trying to find more.'

'McGee ever hacked Interpol?' Heather asked suspiciously.

'We never had a case that needed it before,' Tony explained. 'According to Balboa, nothing that big happened this last year. So, he shouldn't have tried anything yet, unless he works on a pre-emptive basis.'

'Would it make any difference?' Heather continued.

'Humm,' Tony swayed his head, considering. 'Depends how fast they caught anyone trying to slip in, I think. If there's a backdoor already there, they might only pick the hacking when they reach the flagged file. If there isn't anything, they might get them trying to go through.'

'Would McGee help her?' Bob asked.

Tony took a moment to consider it. 'Before I left, I would say undoubtedly. Now? He seemed more cautious with Langer at his back and how he didn't just jump to the top of the list as the best agent ever under Vance's directorship. But I bet he's still deathly afraid of Ziva, so if she leans hard enough, he should do it.'

'Let's give Balboa a heads-up, so if he sees something, we are alerted,' Heather suggested.

Tony laughed. 'Already done, padawan. Now, we wait for our little spider to try to go up the spout.'

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As soon as Gibbs left Vance's office with the information of Rivkin's death, he was in containment mode. He knew Ziva would go ballistic with the news, but wasn't sure where, or who, she would paint a target on about the whole situation. He thought if he could hold her back until Mossad contacted her with more information, things might not go so bad.

The tension in the bullpen was thick as a blanket. Ziva kept shooting angry glares towards Langer, who was steadily working through the pile of papers on his desk. McGee was hunched down behind his monitors, trying his best to be invisible.

Gibbs sighed and sat down, going through the options in his mind. Before he could decide in any one approach, Ziva jumped to her feet, rushing towards his desk.

'Gibbs, what was Abby talking about?'

Gibbs raised his head, a bit surprised by the question. Then he remembered that Abby said the flag on Rivkin's English passport had pinged, signalising that whoever picked his body and did the autopsy was releasing the information on the system. But that gave him a respite, an excuse to go talk to Abby before he had to say anything to Ziva.

'I don't know, Ziver,' he said quietly. 'I'll talk to her and find out,' he continued, standing up again to go to the lab.

Ziva made the motion to follow him, but Langer's harsh tone stopped her. 'You still have two reports to deliver today, Officer David. Better start cracking instead of keeping wandering around.'

Gibbs put a hand on her shoulder to stop her abrasive response. 'Let me find out what Abby got first, Ziva. I'll tell you about it as soon as I can,' he tried to calm her.

The hard stare from Langer and the soft look from Gibbs rattle Ziva enough for her to go back to her desk and sit gingerly. Gibbs nodded and walked out of the bullpen, choosing the stairs to go down to the lab. Langer kept his eyes on Ziva until the stairs' door closed behind Gibbs. Only then he went back to his own work, letting the woman to worry her bottom lip, unsure of what was going on and unhappy she couldn't bulldozer her way in finding out.

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'What that ping means, Abby?' Gibbs asked while still entering the lab.

The goth turned from her station to face the agent. 'Gibbs!' She jumped to embrace him. The man accepted the gesture but was quick to disengage, looking firmly at the younger woman's face. 'What you got, Abby?'

She smiled a little, happy with the standard question from Gibbs but sad for the information she would have to impart. 'Homeland flagged Rivkin's passport as "cancelled",' she did the quotes with her fingers. 'I checked the overall information, and it said the owner of the passport died during the flight to London.'

Gibbs nodded.

'You knew?!' Abby asked, half exasperated, half in awe.

'It was what Vance called us into his office to say. I think Morrow called him. The info came from Customs in London?'

'The police there, yeah. The airline should have called them when they found the guy dead during the flight. Looks like there was an autopsy before Mossad could get a hold on the body though.'

'Can you get the report?'

'Aaahhh,' Abby shuffled. 'Maybe? I need to dig a bit for it, but I should be able to. Unless is classified in some way. Then I might need McGee's help to go deeper.'

'No!' Gibbs was firm. 'See if you can get as officially as possible, but no going behind their backs. Rivkin caused enough trouble here. We don't need to go looking for more since he's dead.' Gibbs stopped for a moment then asked quietly. 'He's dead, right? You don't think he fake it?'

Abby's pigtails bounced around her head, and she shook it in denial. 'I checked the data entry, all above board there. Plane crew's reports, police, customs, everything. Mossad or Rivkin would need a mole in each of these places to fake it. I can dig on their background, but we are talking about around 10 people involved. Seemed a bit much even for the super-Kidon agent.'

Gibbs agreed. If it had happened in a flight to Israel, it would be possible. But it was a standard British Airways flight, full of normal passengers and he knew Ziva was worried about the guy's silence since his departure. This didn't feel like Rivkin's done anything. Still felt damned convenient, like Balboa said, but maybe he was careless and someone else offed the guy.

'Let me know if you get the autopsy report,' Gibbs said already leaving the lab.

'Will do, Boss!' Abby saluted behind him.

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As soon as Gibbs entered the bullpen, back from Abby's lab, Langer informed him about a case they just got. Gibbs couldn't avoid thinking that was a lucky strike that allowed him to avoid talking with Ziva about the whole Rivkin's situation, at least until Abby could get more details about the autopsy report.

The case was time sensitive one since was the kidnapping of a Navy Officer's child. The officer was involved in a project scheduled to launch in the next 48 hours, and the kidnappers wanted to stop it. McGee was quick to find out that a rival company was trying to sabotage the launch to have time to offer the Navy their own product. They thought holding hostage a ten-year-old boy to force his father to delay the test would work in their favour. DiNozzo used to say that nothing was more stupid than a criminal that believed they were smarter than everybody else. That was proved right when McGee tracked the "ransom" letter back to the office of the rival company and when Team Gibbs, with support of NCIS Rapid Response Team, found the boy and two tugs rolled up on the CEO's fancy-schmancy office, while the man himself was drinking champagne at home, holding a burn phone, waiting for the call of the Navy Officer, to comply with the demands.

It was a full 20 hours of high-demand, stressful investigation, with a lot of computer searches that made McGee feel good about himself. Abby had some evidence to process, mostly after they apprehend the kidnappers and rescued the kid, but Langer, through his investigation, and McGee, with his computer skills, were the ones to solve the case and save everybody the headache. Gibbs patted both agents on the back and told the team go home and sleep after the stressful day. Tomorrow would be soon enough for reports. And for Gibbs to talk with Ziva about her boyfriend.

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When Gibbs arrived at the office the day after they closed the kidnapping case, and he was informed of Rivkin's death, six days after the guy left D.C., there's an autopsy report on his desk. Abby came through with the information he asked for and even went ahead, going to Ducky for his comments on it. The doctor confirmed that all seemed above board on the report and with the state of the Rivkin's blood, stock full of opioids and alcohol, it was a testament to Mossad training that the man could function at all. Gibbs snorted at the comment, putting the file inside one of his drawers and mentally preparing himself to talk to Ziva about it, if her father hadn't reached out to her yet.

Langer and McGee arrived on the dot to start the day, looking rested and quickly sat down to work on the reports of last night's case. Gibbs nodded to them in greeting, trying to write his own report while waiting for Ziva to arrive.

The Mossad liaison was half an hour late and in a very bad mood when she entered the MCRT bullpen. She practically threw her backpack behind her desk and went directly to face Gibbs, never stopping to greet the other agents present.

'Gibbs! What is going on? What ping Abby was talking about yesterday? It was about Michael, was not? I cannot get hold of him and even my father is unavailable! This is all very suspicious!' She blurted out, agitated.

Gibbs took a deep breath, knowing that he was out of time. Deciding that the bullpen was not the best place to break Ziva's heart with his news, Gibbs stood from his desk, walked toward the agitated woman, and held her arm delicately.

'Let's talk, Ziver. We'll go down to Ducky's office. Quieter there.'

She hesitated, surprise with the soft tone from Gibbs, but looking around, seeing all the eager faces around the floor, she quickly nodded in agreement, walking with the older man towards the lift without saying anything else.

They entered the empty autopsy and proceeded to Ducky's office, finding the man seated at his desk, going through some papers.

'Jethro! Ziva! Do we have a case?' The older doctor asked, surprised with their presence. But them he remembered the autopsy report Abby asked him to review yesterday while the MCRT was rescuing the poor kidnapped boy, and knew Gibbs brought Ziva down here to give her the sad news.

'No, Ducky,' Gibbs said quietly, motioning for Ziva to seat on the only other chair available. 'We need to talk, and I thought you should be around and help.'

Ducky nodded in agreement while Ziva looked between them suspiciously.

'Gibbs,' she started but was quickly stopped by the older agent's hand coming up in a sign for her to wait.

'Listen, Ziver,' Gibbs sighed, uncomfortable with the conversation ahead. 'Yes, I asked for Rivkin's passport to be flagged because I wanted to be sure he was going back to Israel and not causing any more trouble.'

'He did not do anything wrong!' Ziva bristled.

'He killed all our suspects, and three federal agents,' Gibbs responded coldly.

She waved her hand dismissively. 'Terrorists. The agents were on the wrong place at the wrong time.'

Ducky shook his head in dismay. Such disregard for a fellow human being's life.

'Well, that was the reason.' Gibbs said decisively. 'British Customs flagged the passport when he arrived in London.'

'Why?' Ziva asked baffled.

Another deep breath before Gibbs was able to proceed. 'He died on the plane, Ziver. Rivkin died of heart attack because of his abuse of opioids and alcohol.'

Ziva didn't move for a moment, like she couldn't process the news Gibbs just provided. Then she started to shake her head side to side, denying the information. 'No. No. No! No, Gibbs! Michael cannot be dead!'

'I'm sorry, Ziver,' Gibbs made an abort motion to touch her hand, but the young woman jumped out of her seat, in distress.

'No! It is not possible!' She started pacing. 'What did they actually do to him?!' She screamed.

'Ziva…' Gibbs tried to answer.

'No! Michael is Kidon! He is in top condition! There is no way he would die from a heart condition!'

'Ziva, my dear,' Ducky interfered. 'Unfortunately, the abuse of medicaments and alcohol can cause stress to the heart.'

'No! How do you know is it what happened? Who told you that? Why Mossad, or my father did not contact me?'

'I don't know about Mossad and Eli,' Gibbs said. 'But he was dead when the plane landed in London and the police were called. They did the autopsy.'

'They had no right!' Ziva exclaimed.

'His British passport had no information about his religion or other contacts, Ziva. They didn't know.'

'Lies! They killed him! Or imprison him! Michael is not dead!'

Gibbs was able to hold her in place, locking her into a consoling embrace. 'I'm sorry, Ziver.'

She started to cry on the older man's shoulder, holding herself tight.

'I am so sorry for your loss, Ziva dear,' Ducky said softly on her side, a hand patting her shoulder delicately.

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Gibbs hated to leave Ziva at this moment, but he did trust Ducky to take care of the Israeli agent while he answered another of Vance's summons. He was pissed for the interference and bad news that seems to be the only thing Vance brought to his team. Gibbs stalked towards the director's office, not stopping at the secretary's desk.

'What now, Leon?' Gibbs asked harshly.

The NCIS Director was seated at his meeting table, facing the door, clearly wating for Gibbs to make his big entrance. He waved to his right side, making Gibbs notice the other man seated by the table.

'Tom and I would like to talk to you about the next level of this Rivkin' mess,' Leon Vance started.

'What else happened?' Gibbs asked tiredly. He was so over the Kidon agent's actions.

Vance motioned for Gibbs to seat and waited until the agent threw himself on one of the chairs in front of Tom Morrow, nodding to the other man in his own curt style of greeting.

'Looks like when he died on the plane, Interpol got involved because of the suspicion that it was a test run for terrorism. Until they confirmed it was a heart attack related to his substance abuse, they were investigating it like it was some kind of poison or venom that could be used as a terrorist attack. They went through his possessions, including all his electronics,' Morrow explained.

'The sleeper cell laptop…' Gibbs deduced.

Morrow nodded in agreement before continuing. 'It had information about a training camp in North Africa, controlled by one Saleem Ulman. We, as Interpol and all the agencies they contacted, believe that Mossad knew the camp existed but not where exactly it was or who run it. That's why they sent the Kidon after the sleeper cells. They followed the last guy they knew about that left the camp to come to America. With what they had in the laptop, they probably would try to infiltrate the camp.'

'Why not just destroy it?' Gibbs asked, head tilting to the side.

'I think they wanted the contacts, how they pulled people into their ranks. They need to be inside to learn it. Just destroying the camp would not guarantee the end of their system,' Morrow answered.

Gibbs and Vance nodded, understanding, and agreeing.

'Besides what they found on the stolen laptop, Rivkin's phone was also a throve of information,' Tom Morrow threw the bait.

Vance straightened up in his chair, showing interest. Gibbs just kept his blank face on, not giving away his curiosity.

'Seems like Rivkin was collecting information on Eli David's backdoor deals,' Morrow continued, paying more attention to Gibbs' reaction than to Vance's. 'A nice, long, and detailed list of black-market arms dealers and traffickers, that had been a pain in the ass of most western countries. '

Vance leaned back in his chair; lips pressed together in a thin line; his distress clear on his face. Gibbs's expression become more strained; his hands balled into fists on top of the table.

'Shepard said she got most of her intel from David, but the timeline points to that only happening after CIA made a deal with the Frog,' Morrow detailed. 'We think that Eli uses them as he seems fit and only burn them if they stop being useful to his plans, whatever they are.'

'There's proof?' Gibbs asked rashly. 'Besides whatever Rivkin put in his phone? Because if he was so down under substance abuse that gave him a heart attack, how much we can trust his information?'

Vance half agreed with the question, moving his head to follow up the conversation between the two men.

'Got a lot of confirmation from the European agencies on the information they found on the phone,' Morrow answered, his eyes heavily focus on Gibbs, a bit of suspicious on his whole attitude. 'There were meeting dates, list of goods exchanged, names that the agencies have under surveillance. Pretty solid evidence overall.'

'How that affects us?' Vance finally asked. 'Or how can NCIS help?'

Tom Morrow looked quickly towards the NCIS director but kept most of his attention on the lead agent. 'Interpol and the DoD Special Investigations Unit will probably ask to check any contact and information transfer between American agencies, Mossad and any names listed there. I personally believe this investigation will help us catch the mole that is going around pulling information from the federal agencies.'

Vance agreed with the idea but before he could offer any suggestion, Gibbs pressed on with an angry tone, eyes hard on the Homeland assistant director.

'Do you have anything to say to me, Tom? Go right ahead!'

'Think carefully how much you want to risk trying to protect your little Mossad spy, Gibbs,' Tom Morrow was direct and rash.

Gibbs jumped out of his chair. 'She's not a spy! She's applying for citizenship! She wants to stay here and get away from her monster of a father!'

'Uh-uhm,' Morrow made a sound in sarcastic agreement. 'She protected Rivkin all the time he was here. She helped him get out of the country with the stolen laptop. She's Mossad and following all her father's orders, Gibbs. I don't want to see you taken down with her because you were blind to her manipulations.'

'There's no manipulation!'

'Ah, wake up, Gibbs! She helped Haswari create a hole on your team for her to slot herself in! She's accessory to the murder of Agent Todd! If Shepard wasn't dying, she would also be accused of it. Maybe even conspiracy to commit murder. Time to wake up, Gunny, and smell the betrayal! She helped Rivkin enter the country and then get inside SecNav house and kill one of my agents. He then exploded that shop and killed two more NCIS agents. When enough is enough, Gibbs?' Tom Morrow was still seated, leaning back, making his chair deep backwards. His face was hard and unforgiven, while focused on the MCRT lead agent.

Gibbs kept his hand into fists, the anger clear on his red face. The man was trying to control himself but didn't seem to be working. One could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears. This situation was not being defused.

'Eli David is a monster, and Ziva is trying to escape him. You won't destroy her chances for petty revenge, Tom,' Gibbs spat out.

'Ziva David is an adult that chose her path, Jethro,' Morrow seemed to calm down himself. 'She could have helped any time, she could have stopped Haswari before he killed Todd. She could have talked to you about Rivkin, especially before he killed all the suspects and the NCIS agents. She chose not to. She's chosen her side. When we can prove her involvement, she's going down, together with her father.'

Vance stood up trying to avoid a physical confrontation when he saw Gibbs taking a step forward, towards the Homeland assistant director. 'Let's calm down, gentlemen, take a step back and look at the situation without bias,' he tried.

'I'm not the prejudiced one here!' Gibbs shouted back.

'Just the blind one,' Morrow retorted.

'Tom, please,' Vance tried again.

Tom Morrow stood up, closed the jacket of his suit, and took a deep breath. 'Besides all her involvement with Haswari, Todd's death, even Rivkin, what surprised me the most was how she was neglectful during an op, together with McGee, causing the attack on DiNozzo and you didn't care. I really thought he was your friend, mentee, even your successor, Gibbs. But look like Miss Mossad found your soft spot pretty well and lodged herself there. You cut out the person most loyal to you on the word of that little spy. So very sad to see, Gibbs. This will not end well for you,' Morrow started to walk out of the room.

'What DiNozzo has to do with anything?!' Gibbs exclaimed.

'Everyone knows McGee and Ziva left him to be beaten up on that operation. Just because Shepard closed the investigation officially, doesn't mean there isn't a report on it, Gibbs. But the comment was just another example of the destruction that comes in the wake of Mossad and their plans. I do have more to do than keep trying to make you see reason, Gunny. Let the investigation run its course. If you believe on your little Miss Mossad so much, you should not worry about the results, right?' Morrow threw the barb while leaving the office.

Gibbs stayed frozen in place, an indecipherable expression on his face. Vance let out a deep sigh and walked away from the meeting table towards his desk.

'Calm down, Gibbs, and try not to do anything stupid with this,' Leon commented. 'Let the investigation go and don't interfere. Especially don't say anything to Ziva. Better yet, don't say anything to anyone. We don't want the DoD coming down on us if we interfere with this.'

Gibbs ignored the comment and stalked out of the room, slamming the office door shut.

Vance pulled a toothpick out of its metal case, putting it in his mouth while he looked out of the window behind his desk. Things were not looking good for the MCRT in general. He could feel another headache coming.

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Ziva wasn't on her desk when Gibbs came down from the Director's office. Langer and McGee were working diligently on their computers, but Gibbs was in no mood to be around people right now. He barked out that he was going out for coffee, barely stopping to pick up his gun, credentials, and jacket, stalking towards the stairs, no patience to wait for the lift. While going walking down, Gibbs called Ducky to ask him to keep Ziva around or send her home, whatever he felt was better, but certainly not letting her back to her desk. Gibbs needed to think. He needed to talk of some of his other contacts since Tom Morrow was out on this case. His previous director was out for blood now, and Gibbs was trying to save Ziva's, and if he was honest, his own also.

After buying a couple of coffees, Gibbs sat on a park bench, a place quiet enough for him to think and talk to whoever he could reach. The first person he tried to contact was Tobias Fornell. The guy was team leader in a general investigation unit at FBI but had an impressive connection around his own agency, hearing gossip way before it reached Gibbs' ears. The only better for those titbits of information was DiNozzo but the guy was out of the game now, so Gibbs wouldn't even worry about him. DiNozzo would probably yippee in happiness if he knew all the trouble coming Ziva's way, considering how much he complained about her presence on the MCRT and NCIS.

'Gibbs,' came Fornell's voice from the phone.

'Fornell, I'm looking for information,' Gibbs stated.

'What kind of information, Gibbs?' Fornell sounded weary.

'What is going on with this investigation on Rivkin's death?'

'It's Interpol, Gibbs,' Fornell responded. 'We answer if they ask, but we are not getting in the middle of it.'

'But you heard something about it. How that involves Eli David?'

'I heard that Rivkin's death kick out the investigation on Eli, not the details.'

'Can't you find out who is dealing with it stateside?'

'What happened to your contacts, Gibbs?'

'You are one of my contacts, Fornell.'

'Morrow is pissed, huh?'

'Morrow is out for blood, and I don't want the wrong person to get hurt.'

'Maybe they know who should bleed in this case, Gibbs. You are not always clear headed when the Davids are involved.'

'Who is taking point stateside, Tobias?' Gibbs cut out the other man, not wanting to discuss again his views on Ziva.

'The new Special Investigations Unit from the Department of Defence created more or less a year ago, fully functional for the last 6 months or so,' Fornell stated as if the information was part of a report to his superior.

'They are letting a newbie take this case?!' Gibbs was really surprised. 'I heard about the unit but not who's leading it.'

'Well, the chief is a rockstar investigator, 10 years or so in law enforcement, experience with police and military. Coronel Marsten, the Deputy Undersecretary for Defence for Intelligence made a lot of effort to bring the guy in. Waited for him to be ready, gave him free reign and everything,' Fornell answered leading.

'Hum,' Gibbs murmured, while thinking. He hadn't heard much about this new unit, just it was a brainchild of Marsten, and it was supposed to work in tandem with all federal agencies and the military. He saw some kind of newsletter from them that all team leaders in NCIS received but he ignored it as another useless marketing tool. 'That's someone I could talk to?' He asked, considering how he could stack the deck in Ziva's, and his, favour.

'Oh,' Fornell seemed surprised by the request. He took his time answering, like he was considering his words. 'Well, if you don't know who the unit chief is, you might need an official introduction from one of the higher-ups, Gibbs. If Morrow is too pissed with you right now, maybe Vance or SecNav can help you. I'm not supposed to get involved. My boss said so to me directly.'

'Thanks a bunch, Fornell,' Gibbs answered sarcastically, closing the connection without waiting for an answer.

Gibbs spent the rest of the morning calling everybody he could think of that could help him or, at least, give him so information on the investigation. It was the first time that Gibbs felt like he was banging against a wall. Nobody would tell him anything more than what Fornell already imparted. When he asked about the new Unit chief, he would hear scorn on the tone of the answers, with most saying they couldn't help or that Gibbs should already know who it was. The lead agent was getting frustrated by the minute and ready to call his mark on SecNav himself when Langer called him back to NCIS. It seems that things with Eli David and Mossad advanced quicker than expected.

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