Ch. 27 Endless Waltz
Ziva glanced up and back down as the door opened and shut. Every nerve in her body hummed in anticipation and dread. Tony noted her tension and ignored it. He leaned against the table in front of Ziva, just a foot of space between them. She kept her eyes down. Neither said anything. Finally Tony squatted down slightly in front of her. Gently, Tony placed one hand on the right side of Ziva's face and and used the other to tilt her head back and to the side.
"Tony, what are you doing," she muttered. Tony ignored her and scrutinized the bruise forming on her jaw. Then he leaned forward and softly pressed his lips to her jaw. Ziva winced slightly in pain, but the tension eked from her body. She leaned forward and rested her head in the crook of Tony's shoulder. Tony wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. After a while he leaned back and let her ease back into her chair. She looked up at him. Tony saw fear in her eyes.
"I love you Tony. It has taken me a long time to say it, but I do, with all my heart." Tony answered by kissing the top of her head.
"You're not alone Ziva. Gibbs and I, we've got your back this time." Tony walked to the door and looked back one last time.
"I love you too Ziva." And then he was gone.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Rage filled Tony when he saw Amit Hadar. Gibbs stood in front of the young man to keep him from jumping the Mossad officer. Hadar was flanked by two other Mossad officers.
"Amit Hadar. Welcome to Langley," said Kort stiffly.
Hadar ignored the man's greeting. "I demand a private interrogation with David." was all he said.
"No way in hell," replied Gibbs.
"This is not negotiable Agent Gibbs. As far as we are concerned, Ziva David is a rouge officer with intent to harm Israel. We represent the Mossad. As she is one of our officers, I demand a private interrogation. This not one of your cases Gibbs." Gibbs just glared at Hadar.
"Your men stay out here." replied Kort. Tony, wanted to scream with anger. He felt completely out of control.
"I'm sure you will make them quite comfortable in the observation room?"
"Of course," replied Kort stiffly. He hated being told what to do especially one his home field.
Tony led the way into interrogation, slamming the door open as he went. Gibbs followed as did Hadar's men, Kort brining up the rear. Before they could say anything, one of the men pulled out a silence pistol and shot the recording equipment several times. Gibbs, Tony and Kort reacted at the same time, but their movements were ceased when both man stood at the only door, both leveling a guns at the trio.
"Throw down your weapons. Now." said one of the men. None of the men moved. The guard who spoke responded by shooting Kort in the shoulder. The British man fell to the ground with a strangled yell. Gibbs took control immediately.
"Hey, enough, enough!" Gibbs took out his pistol and removed the clip, tossing both items at the guards feet. Tony did the same for himself and Kort, his eyes radiating hate and fear. Not fear for himself, but for Ziva. On the screen, the door to interrogation opened abruptly and slammed closed just as quickly. Wordlessly Amit Hadar pulled the other chair in the room in front of the door, jamming the back of it into the door handle. Slowly and with what Tony perceived as a satisfied grin, turned his murderous gaze on Ziva.
OoOoOoOo
Resolutely, Ziva did not look up as Hadar entered. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing how nervous she was.
"So...Special Agent Ziva David." He started slowly. "That does run off the tongue easier that Mossad Liaison Officer to NCIS, Officer Ziva David. How do you like your new title?" Ziva remained silent. She was waiting for Hadar to reveal which method of "interrogation" Hadar was going to use. It would either be physical or psychological, thought Ziva, remembering Hadar's strengths and weaknesses. Suddenly she felt hands on her shoulders pull her and her chair back roughly against the wall. Physical, then. As if I have not had enough, she thought grimly.
"Answer me David! How does it feel? Knowing you betrayed your precious father? That you've walked out on him, that you failed him?" Ziva looked up sharply, an angry scowl on her face.
"He failed me Hadar. He trusted a lying bastard like you and would have left me in the desert to die! How does it feel for you Hadar, betraying your country to terrorists who would rather you be dead?" she snarled. The force of his backhand to her face made her world spin a little. She groaned inwardly. Provoking the man was the only way she'd get him to talk, but that meant a less than pleasant experience than she would have preferred for herself.
"You speak lies Ziva. Your father trusts me. I am not the one with evidence connecting me to terrorism. That is you my dear." Hadar's voice dripped poison and Ziva fumed. Still her father swallowed Hadar's lies and would leave her to die.
"On Mossad's word it is. Come on Hadar, you have known me long. Do I have the stomach to stoop to the level of terrorism?" Ziva played along with Hadar, matching mocking tone for mocking tone.
"You never had the stomach to do what was right Ziva. You simply followed orders. Your father's orders, Gibbs' orders. I will follow no orders, from anyone."
"What are your plans, Hadar?" Ziva asked. Hadar simply shrugged and began to pace.
"My plans, Ziva include bringing you home you know. Beyond that I cannot say." His voice was palpably sarcastic.
"Where do you plan to kill me? Here, or there?" Another strike to the face, this time a punch to the left cheek. Ziva grimaced in pain, but as before did not cry out.
"I see you have regained some of your fire Ziva. It looks as though our mutual friend failed to complete his job with you. It is a pity, but you know I like to see a job well done." Hadar reigned a series of blows on Ziva, mostly punches to the face and to the stomach. When he paused to take a breath, Ziva spat out a mouthful of blood. Funny how I am not scared anymore. She thought grimly.
She looked up at Hadar and let out a chuckle.
"Your punches still lack in luster Hadar. What is wrong? Not enough practice with your new friends? Oh that is right, you prefer lying and sneaking around to facing reality like man." This made Hadar snarl and throw a punch at Ziva's face, effectively breaking her nose for the second time in less than a year.
"Is that all you can do, hit me and swear?!" shouted Ziva. Finally, she let every terrible emotion for the man in front of her swell to the surface. She hated him with a passion that ran deeper than the hurt of betrayal. "Why are you here?! You could have escaped, been free. God knows Mossad can find no wrong with you. But you have come back. For what?! Why me Hadar?! Why couldn't you just let me be?!"
"Because I DO NOT FAIL! Ever. You would have been dead if not for your cocky American friend. But you lived! You survived, when you should have been dead." he yelled back. Spitting out more blood, Ziva simply laughed.
"This is about your pride Hadar? You could not kill me in Somalia and so now you come to America to finish the job. What, do you lose membership in your club if you allow the Mossad director's daughter to escape?" Now Ziva's voice dripped with sarcasm. Hadar glared at her, the veins in his neck throbbing with his anger.
"Admit to it Hadar. They say the truth will make you free do they not? What is the truth? Are you a traitorous Mossad officer, or a terrorist who failed an assignment who is now scrambling to preserve his perpetual arrogance?"
"You want truth, David? Truth is that Mossad is corrupt. Its director is blinded by his long list of cozy allies. Officers die because of false intelligence. They die, because instead of investigating ourselves, we trust the Americans. Truth is that there is a winning team that I am part of and it does not include Mossad. I will see Mossad and NCIS burn if it is the last thing I do. The incident with you and the desert, that was only the beginning. I failed to kill you then. I will not repeat that mistake. You call my acts terrorism; I call them retribution. No matter what happens now, I win." Hadar pulled out a handgun, cocking it.
Ziva let out a sigh of relief and a chuckle.
"Finally Hadar. At Mossad, we used to agree that your arrogance would be your downfall. Your Achilles heel. Turns out we were right."
"How is this my downfall, David? You are the one about to die."
"Again with the assuming arrogance. In Somalia, you were more cautious, made no assumptions. Now your pride seeks to destroy you."
"My pride? Like I said before Ziva, you would be dead if not for DiNozzo. There is no difference between now and then." He leveled his gun at Ziva's face. Ziva continued to give her lopsided smile.
"That is where you are wrong, my dear Hadar. The difference between last time, in Somalia, and this time, is that last time, you made sure I was bound to the chair in which I sat." Ziva raised both of her hands, a set of hand cuffs uselessly dangling from her right wrist. At last, while enjoying the look of surprise and fear that flashed in Hadar's face, Ziva was able to fight back.
OoOoOoO
Meanwhile, Tony had been watching the screen in anguish.. Every blow Ziva received from Hadar was like a stab to his own heart. He and Gibbs had bound Kort's arm best as possible sat on the opposite side of the room, facing the door. When Ziva started shouting at Hadar, he allowed himself a humorless smile. He was glad that Ziva would not break, but he feared that Hadar would kill her regardless of her determination.
When he heard Ziva's final laugh and saw her raise her hands triumphantly over her head, he knew it was time to move.
"Enough waiting Boss, she did her job." he whispered to Gibbs. Gibbs just nodded and pretended to scratch his back, really pulling out his back up weapon. He suspected long ago that the men holding them captive in the small room were not Mossad; no Mossad officer would be so foolish as to not check for back up weapons.
Tony stood to his feet, making a show of stretching and rolling his neck out. He sauntered over to the guards, a lopsided grin on his face.
"Hey guys I gotta use the bathroom. Meaning you have to step aside." he said when they didn't move. "Geez, are you guys really gonna be like this." He began rubbing his head as if contemplating his next move. Finally he just shrugged his shoulders.
"I gotta go." Fast as lightning, his hand struck out from behind his head and using the side of it, Tony struck the guard on his right in the neck on the carotid artery. The man crumbled into a heap. A split second after Tony lashed out, a gun shot filled the quiet room and the other guard collapsed, on of Gibbs bullets in his head.
"Let's move Tony!" shouted Gibbs. Both men bolted out of the room.
OoOoOoO
Ziva's first strike set Hadar's gun flying. Her second sent Hadar flying over the table. Unfortunately, Ziva's vision was slightly impaired by the blood flowing down her face from a cut from one of Hadar's punches. She did not see him pull the knife and grunted with surprise and pain when it lodged itself into the muscle just under her left collar bone. Hadar took advantage of her pause and lunged for his gun. Ziva however, would have gone of that. In two steps she was directly behind him and with all the strength she could muster, she slammed her foot onto his exposed right ankle, shattering the bone. Hadar yowled in pain. Ignoring the searing pain and fighting the nausea that it caused, Ziva pulled out the knife from her shoulder and flipped Hadar over to his back, and kneeling onto his chest, ramming her knee under his sternum. He tried to use his hands to dis lodge her, but just cut at him with her new knife, leaving open gashes in his palms.
"Why should I not kill you Hadar? You destroyed my life and would have killed me."
"You are not as cold blooded as you once were David," ground out Hadar with difficulty.
"No, I am not. And for that, Hadar, I am grateful. I will let them charge you as a terrorist. You will see how kindly Americans take to men who would destroy their soldiers." Ziva stood to her feet slowly, keeping her eyes locked on Hadar. For all he'd done to her, she couldn't kill him in cold blood. Nor did she want to. In Mossad she would have done so without second thought. She would never let herself be the heartless assassin again.
Hadar however, did not take her actions as a sign of mercy. With one last excursion of energy he pulled himself and grabbed his gun. He swung it up but was never allowed the chance to use it. The knife he'd foolishly allowed Ziva found it's resting place in Hadar's throat just as the door to interrogation burst open revealing a flustered looking Gibbs and Tony. Gibbs moved towards Hadar and lowered his gun when he saw the knife in his throat.
"Gibbs, I would have let him live to be tried. It was killed...or be killed." she said, with a desperate look at Gibbs. Gibbs just cocked and eyebrow at her.
"I know Ziva. You did good." he said with a small smile. Ziva allowed herself a sigh of relief and then her world spun around her. She have crumbled to the floor if Tony hadn't caught her. Gently he lifted her up and set her on the table. Vaguely, he heard Gibbs use his cell phone to call for an ambulance, both for Ziva and Kort.
Tony used his handkerchief to stem the blood flow from the knife wound and he used Gibbs' to wipe the blood from her face. Ziva winced under his ministration but allowed him to continued anyway. She was tired and leaning against Tony was comfortable. Gently he pulled out the wire that had been recording her conversation with Hadar. It transmitted to equipment that was not even in the observation room where Tony, Gibbs and Kort had been held.
"Ziva, you have to stay awake." he whispered. She knew the logic in his words and leaned back slightly to look up at him. She gave him the best smile she could manage.
"It is over now, yes?" she asked, her voice soft and hopeful. Tony smiled in return.
"Yeah sweet cheeks. It's over. You're free."