Ch. 12 Chit Chat

"-- and Amit Hadar is her control officer. Boss, there's no report from either of them in the file. I would think at least Hadar would report, unless something went really bad. What are we going to do?" Gibbs did not answer Tony but instead sipped on his coffee. He was trying to but the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. It seemed that the only thing he was missing was the edge of the puzzle. Between Tony's report and bourbon with Philip Davenport, he had many ideas and suspicions, but none of them were concrete. Now, it was time to talk to the director. He needed the edge of the puzzle.

"Boss?" Tony saw the far off look in Gibbs' eyes and knew that the older man was deep in thought.

"You're with me. We're going have a word with Director Vance. Get McGee and Abby. I want McGee to drive her to the Israeli embassy. The two of them need to think of a good reason to get a look at that computer. Abby has to go in. If they see McGee, they'll catch on to us. But I want to know who was using that computer. Go, now." Tony whipped out his phone and had a hurried conversation with McGee. Then he hurried off after his boss who was headed to the director's office.

ooooOOoooo

Vance rubbed his eyes as weariness attempted to creep up on him.

Not as young as I used to be,he thought to himself with a sigh. He continued to shuffle through papers, taking notes of intelligence from several ops. A faint beeping interrupted his thoughts. Reaching into his pocket, he removed his palm pilot. A tiny red alert was flashing, and underneath was a set of coordinates. Vance let out an audible groan.

"Shit," he whispered to himself. He was just about to climb out of his desk when his door burst open and Gibbs came in, a determined angry look on his face. An equally determined Anthony DiNozzo was hot on his tail.

"We need to talk Leon. And we need honesty. No more beating around the bush. I know about the op that SecNav has you running. Where does Ziva David fit." Gibbs spilled out without preamble. Vance, sighed and shook his head, knowing there wasn't going to be much he could withhold. Standing up, we went to his liquor counter and poured himself a drink.

"I've heard about your ability to appear when theres developments in a case. It seems you fail to disappoint. I suppose the best way to start this is that Officer Ziva David is working for NCIS. SecNav wanted me to find get intel on Mossad. He informed me of the task right after the incident at his house. However, it was not until DiNozzo here put the bullets in Rivkin that Officer David was involved at all."

"Leon, what did you do? And what is she doing?" Gibbs had no patience for Leon's games.

"Before we left for Tel Aviv, I had a conversation with Officer David. I showed her the picture of Rivkin with his girlfriend. The sister of one of the men he killed. I asked her again, what was Rivkin doing in Los Angeles. She said she didn't know and I took her at her word. Then I made a proposition. I asked Officer David if she knew what intelligence Mossad was hiding. Again, she said no. So I asked her if she would be willing to find out. She was unsure at first. So this was the proposition: she would stay in Israel and find out what she could, namely about any intel about sleepers in the United States that Mossad was neglecting to tell us about. In return, should she decide that she not want to continue to work Mossad, she would have a position waiting for her at NCIS, as well as American citizenship. She accepted. I think that photo made her really consider what exactly she means to Mossad." Vance took a sip of his drink.

"How could do that Leon? She was emotional. She needed time to heal, not to be sent out on another mission. Now, essentially, two missions, because Mossad sent her out to finish Rivkin's job. What were you thinking Leon? She could be dead!" Gibbs was furious. He despised that Leon would use Ziva's weakened emotional state against her. Using that picture to breed mistrust in her heart.

"She's not. A mere moment before you came through that door, I got an alert on my palm pilot. It was an alert indicating that a GPS locater had been turned on. Before Ziva left, we had that locater placed as a cap on one of her teeth. She was only supposed to activate it something went south. And apparently it has."

"So she's not dead, but she's in danger? Because you put her there. You let her go back Leon. Tell me something, why didn't you ask her if she knew why Rivkin was at the SecNav's house." Vance's eyes flashed.

"It none of your concern Gibbs." Vance was getting angry now. Gibbs was waltzing into dangerous territory.

"I see," said Gibbs nodding his head, "You're trading favors with Eli David? He asked you for something, so in return, he had Rivkin spy on that meeting when you couldn't get close." Gibbs could see in Vance's eyes that he was right.

"What are doing for Eli, Leon?" Deciding that Gibbs would never give up, Vance conceded.

"Director David suspected a mole in Mossad. He asked me to help weed him out." New realization dawned on Gibbs' face.

"You have Ziva at Mossad to fulfill your half of the bargain. You knew what Eli would do when Rivkin died. Damn it Leon, she could be in trouble because of your stupid bargain. Where is she?" Gibbs demanded.

"She's in Somalia according to the coordinates." Tony was amazed at the answers an angry Gibbs could get from people.

"Then we're on the next plane to Africa." Gibbs turned to go, Tony in his wake ready to spring into action. Vance's voice caused them to pause.

"Gibbs, I don't plan on stopping you because I know you won't listen. You leave 0600 tomorrow. You get the coordinates, you go in a get her. A simple extraction." Leon paused and fixed Gibbs with his stare. "Remember who's in charge of this agency, Gibbs. I can have my agents do as I please. I don't need your permission." Before Tony could even react to Vance's words, Vance was on the floor, holding a hand to his bloodied lip. Gibbs was standing over him, his fist still clenched, his eyes flashing a cold, ice blue. Tony would have sworn the room itself got several degrees colder simply because Gibbs' eyes had such a cold, murderous appearance.

"These are not just agents Leon, they're people. My people. Nobody messes with my people Leon. I will die before I see harm come to them. Any of them. Including Officer David." With that, Gibbs turned his heel and stormed out of the Director's office.

A/N: I hope these chapters are well received. Please, lemme know what you think. Have an awesome weekend.