Chapter Twelve

Tali slowly blinked her eyes open and as the fog of sleep began to disappear for a brief second she thought she was back at Gibbs house, but then she felt the ropes that kept her tied her hands behind her back and her feet tied together. She looked around the dark cargo hold of the small plane, trying her hardest to keep her tears at bay. Tali didn't know how long she had been asleep, but she knew she had fallen asleep an hour or so after being thrown in the back of the plane, when the reality of her situation had finally sunk in. She leaned her head against the wall and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Yeah she had been kidnapped, but Gibbs and her mom and dad were going to find her, they used to be special agents, this kind of thing was what they had done for a living.

Tali tried to keep this thought in her mind as she felt the plane begin to descend. She lifted up her hands and wiped her face on her arm, she wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry. After about fifteen minutes the plane hit the tarmac jostling Tali and she was thankful there wasn't any luggage or crates back there with her. She stiffened as she heard the lock click and the door slowly open, letting in the first sliver of light she had seen in hours.

One of the men from the SUV walked in, he didn't say anything as he cut the rope binding her feet and yanked her arm roughly so she stood up. As he pushed her through the door into the main area of the plane where the other men were seated; something welled up inside her and she turned around sharply and kneed him in the gut. Tali heard him gasping for breath and a small smile broke out onto her face, but her action soon proved to be a mistake. It all happened in a matter of seconds; one of the men cursed in Hebrew as he threw her to the floor and began punching her in the face. Eventually someone pulled him off of her and she was all but dragged off the plane, then bound, gagged and thrown in the trunk of another SUV.

Tali's salty, hot tears mixed with warm, scarlet red blood that was slowly dripping down her face from her nose and forehead. The man had worn several rings on both hands and she tried not to think about the state of her face or the pain that was emanating from each and every scratch. Instead, Tali began to listen to the conversation trying to figure out why she had been taken and after about fifteen minutes she had heard enough to make her stomach churn. She tuned out there voices and went over the information again. There were four men in the vehicle, all hired by her grandfather to track her down and bring her back to Israel. They had been sent in to replace the team that had been chasing her and her mother for the past ten or so years, which made all the moves around Europe make sense finally. The part that really made Tali's skin crawl was the fact that her own flesh and blood had hired these men to hunt her down at all costs, for reasons unknown to both her and her captors. They didn't seem to mind though, as long as they got paid.

The ride did not take long, it had been twenty minutes at the most when the hatch was thrown open again and Tali was grabbed out of the trunk. This time after the ropes binding her feet were cut she did not fight, because she knew it would do her no good. She didn't pay much attention to her surroundings, she just knew it was hot, sandy, and that she was being taken into what looked to be an abandoned warehouse or office building. Two men dragged her through a maze of hallways until they eventually reached their destination and threw her into a small room and slammed the door shut behind her.

Tali landed on the hard concrete with a thud; there would definitely be bruises on her side in the morning, Though, she thought, those are the least of my worries. She crawled over to the wall closest to her and leaned against it resting her still bound hands on her knees, laying her head on them. Time passed slowly, or maybe it was quickly, at this point it was hard for her to tell but eventually she heard the metal door open up once again. Someone came to stand in front of her but she did not look up.

"Shalom." Still she did not look up and the man chuckled. "Why don't we try English then?"

Tali's eyes grew wide, she had heard that voice before; a very, very long time ago. So slowly she looked up and a fresh wave of tears welled up in her eyes as she saw him. "Grandfather?"

He looked down at her and as his eyes fell upon her bloodied face the smile disappeared from his face. "What has happened? Did they do this to you?"

She merely nodded as he bent down and took out a handkerchief, gently dabbing at her cuts.

"They were not supposed to harm you, only bring you here to me." He said angrily.

"Why?" She asked staring into his dark eyes. "Why did you take me away from Ima?"

"I see you still know some Hebrew then." He commented deflecting her question.

"Sabba." She pressed.

Eli sighed. "I brought you here so that you could be trained. Granted we are starting a little late, but you are a David so it should not take you long to catch up. Your mother did not want you to be trained because she has become soft. This was the only way."

"Trained? Trained for what?" Tali questioned confused, she knew her mother had been Mossad, as Gibbs had referred to it, but she didn't know what exactly that entailed.

"You will learn in time hakatan sheli." He answered standing up and walking toward the door. "I will send someone with food in a little bit."

"Sabba." She called, causing him to pause at the door.

"Yes?"

"I am no longer your little one." Tali said anger lacing her words as she stared daggers at him. "I am fourteen years old, and….and I am a DiNozzo, not a David."

"Well then, I see how this is going to be. I am sorry you are choosing this, Talia." He replied all traces of caring had left his features from where they had been only a moment ago.

"I am sorry too." She spat back.

He closed the door without another word and Tali knew there would be no food coming in a little bit, not now and as her stomach growled part of her regretted her words. But as she looked at her surroundings the angry and betrayed part of her spoke louder than her stomach and she knew that every word she had spoken had been true. She was glad she had said what she had, because she knew deep down that her grandfather didn't care about her, whatever he wanted her trained for it seemed that he was willing to go to any lengths to see it through. Even if that meant completely breaking his granddaughter's entire being into a million pieces, because as each minute passed Tali's hope and faith slowly began to chip away.

A/N: Hey all! Thanks to all of you who wished me less stress in the coming weeks, I really appreciated it I used some more Hebrew terms in this chapter, Sabba meaning grandfather and hakatan sheli, meaning little one. So I hoped you liked this chapter and I would love to hear some feedback!