Tony grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes in the mirror. "Tell me I'm wrong." He begged.
Ziva shook her head. "We need to go." She grabbed her purse, but Tony stopped her. "Sweetheart, I left something in the car. I'll be right back."
Tony quickly got up and walked outside. He went to the car and looked around nonchalantly. He spotted the man getting into a car. Carefully, Tony took a picture with his cell phone.
He rummaged in the car while keeping his eye on his target. He momentarily saw Stan drive by. Sure enough, the other man put his car in drive and started to follow him.
"This is not good." Tony thought to himself.
Vignette Eleven- Part Ten
Ziva joined him outside, and Tony handed his cell to Ziva as they got into their car. "Give Stan a call. We need to warn him that he is being followed. I don't want him bringing his guy to us."
Ziva looked at Tony. "Do you have his number? I do not."
Tony nodded. "I hope it's the same one I used last year." Tony recited the number from memory.
"I hope it is not being tapped. We cannot afford to give away our presence." Ziva looked at him worriedly.
On the second ring, the call was answered. "Stan Burley."
Ziva took a breath. "You are being followed. Do not come directly. Do not engage."
Ziva looked at Tony, as she listened to Stan's reply, hoping he didn't say their names or where they were staying.
But Stan was a seasoned agent. He realized that it had to be Ziva calling, but he actually didn't recognize her voice. "Understood" was his only response.
Ziva ended the call and shakily put it down on the seat of the car. Tony grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "It will be ok." Tony said with more feeling than conviction.
Ziva stared out through the windshield. She knew that as they got closer to Israel the odds would be greater that they would cross paths with Mossad. She just didn't expect it would be…him.
Tony knew better than to try to convince Ziva of anything when she was not receptive to hearing it. He remained quiet and drove in silence to their hotel. They quickly checked and got into their room.
They then sat together, holding hands; waiting impatiently to see if Stan was able to shake the tail and find his way to them.
Stan watched his rearview mirror carefully, easily picking out the black sedan. He pulled into a parking garage about four blocks from the hotel. He quickly parked about a third of the way up, and ran to the stairwell to keep watch and see what his "friend" was up to.
Stan pulled back when he saw the black sedan slow down. The car stopped and the driver got out and looked into the windows of Stan's car. Stan watched him lightly trace the NCIS parking sticker on his window.
Stan wasn't too concerned that this person knew who he was, or at least, what he did for a living. He wasn't undercover or a spy and it was no secret that the NCIS Europe and Africa Field Office was located in Naples.
He quickly decided that this young man was Mossad, but was curious as to his methods. If he wanted to talk to Stan, all he had to do was come up to him in the bar.
If he didn't want to talk to him, he was being very obvious about his interest in Stan. He remembered that Ziva had said to "not engage" so he resisted his urge to confront the young officer.
He decided he better find out what was going on, and he quickly turned and quietly descended the stairs.
He knew the area well and very shortly found himself at the hotel. He casually strode up to the front desk and asked for Mr. and Mrs. Paddington. The clerk picked up the phone and dialed.
Tony got up to stretch his legs. He couldn't take the silence anymore and needed to find out from Ziva whether or not he had seen a ghost. "Chasing ghosts." He thought ruefully to himself. In a way, that was what he and Ziva were doing, chasing the ghosts of Eli David and Jackie Vance across Europe, to find their killer.
Ilan Bodnar: a ghost himself in that he had disappeared without a trace and a term loosely applied to spies in general. Tony didn't think of Bodnar as a spy, but more in the line of "entitled thug".
And now another ghost: a ghost from their past that he never expected, and he was more concerned about Ziva's frame of mind than he had been in months.
Tony sat down again, next to Ziva. "Ziva, I have to ask this. I know it can't be, but…that man. Is it really…?"
Ziva shook her head and took his hand. "No, Tony it is not Michael. But it is still a shock to see him. It is Samuel, his youngest brother. I did not know he had been recruited into Mossad, although I am not surprised. He was very young when I…when I was in Israel working with Michael."
Ziva looked at Tony, troubled. "It is disquieting that he is here, in Naples. He cannot have been in Mossad very long, nor could he have had the time to be fully trained as a foreign operative. Yet here he is. We must wait for Stan. I will say more then."
Tony nodded and kissed her softly. They did not need this distraction right now, and they absolutely could not be seen by this young man. Tony had no doubt that he had been told in minute detail how he, Tony, had maliciously and without provocation murdered his older brother. He imagined his picture at their home, where nightly insults and prayers for his painful death were uttered as they ate their supper.
Tony didn't know if Ziva had ever met Michael's family, but it was clear she knew who he was. Therefore he probably knew her as well. And he would certainly know that Eli David had a daughter, now living in America and working for NCIS. Maybe that was why he was following Stan; to get Intel about Ziva.
Tony involuntarily shivered and then jumped when their room phone rang. He blew out his breath and walked over to the desk. "Yes?" He answered quietly.
"Signore, there is a gentleman in the Lobby who wishes to visit with you." The clerk responded.
Tony sighed, hoping it was Stan. "May I speak with him, please?"
"Naturalmente." The clerk hand the phone to Stan.
"Hi." He said simply. Tony breathed a big sigh of relief.
"Room 420. Knock four times, wait, and then knock three times." Tony hung up.
Stan nodded at the clerk. "Room 420." He replied and pointed to the elevator. The clerk held out his hand and smiled.
Stan quickly went to the car and punched the fourth floor. When he arrived at the room, he knocked as Tony had instructed. He then waited patiently as he heard the door unlock.
Finally a muffled "come-in" was spoken, and Stan slowly turned the knob. He entered the room with his hands spread out, showing he was not armed. Tony and Ziva greeted him with guns drawn.
Tony quickly pulled him into the room and shut the door and locked it. Stan stared at Ziva, concerned. She looked very pale, and not the happy person he met at the bar.
Tony and Ziva lowered their guns simultaneously. "Sorry about that Stan. I assume you lost your tail." It wasn't a question and Tony knew the answer.
"Ok, what in the Hell is going on?" Stan had his hands on his hips. "I heard from Vance and Gibbs that an undercover team was over here to hunt down Bodnar. I am assuming that is you two?"
Tony put his gun away and held out his hand to shake Stan's properly. "That would be us. And they didn't exactly 'send us'. We came on our own. They were finally convinced to offer us support, after we caused the capture of some bad guys." Tony was smiling now, but still on alert.
Stan returned the handshake, recognizing it as an apology of sorts for having their weapons trained on him, and for not being able to greet him properly before.
Stan turned to Ziva and offered his hand. She smiled and gave him a hug instead. "We were very relieved when we heard we were allowed to contact you. But we do not want to cause you any difficulties." Ziva sat down at the small table. Tony and Stan joined her.
"How much do you know?" Tony asked.
Stan shrugged. "I reported in to Vance because I believed my Intel reports were being tampered with. Gibbs and McGee were with him in MTAC. They told me they had an undercover team in Paris and that you had brought down an arm's dealer and a member of the Hamburg Cell. They also mentioned that you were able to place a tracking device on a member of the First Wave group. I had not heard about the two captures, so that confirmed to me that my reports were being censored."
Stan rubbed his face. "They told me to go on as if I knew nothing but to assist if approached. Never in a million years did I expect it to be you two guys. Ziva…" Stan turned to her. "I am so sorry about your father. I do understand why you are here. If there is anything I can do to help, I hope you know that I will. Beyond what we've already been doing, of'course. Which hasn't amounted to much, I'm afraid."
Tony looked sick when Stan said his Intel reports were being intercepted. He had in essence been working blind. If Bodnar was behind this, any reference to him would have been removed. "What have you been doing, Stan? Any reports of interest or has everything gone missing?"
Stan was still looking at Ziva, who had lowered her eyes at his words. She finally looked back up at him and smiled gratefully. Satisfied, he turned back to Tony. "Well, not much, as you can imagine. The reports were always a challenge to find anything useful in them. Now they just contain crap. Old Intel, bad Intel, no Intel."
"You think Bodnar is behind this?" Ziva asked quietly.
Stan looked at her again. "I do now. I'm embarrassed to admit that I really didn't equate it to what had happened in DC until recently."
Tony got up, and went to their room refrigerator. He pulled out beers for the three of them and handed one to each.
"So, Thomas and Lisa Paddington. What's the story there?" Stan took a long pull on his beer.
Tony smiled. "Ah, Tommy and Lisa. Those are our non de plumes in McGee's books. Paddington is my mother's maiden name. I am from London, and Lisa here is a native of Italy. We got married last month in Montreal and are now here on our honeymoon."
Stan listened with growing interest as Tony relayed their story. Ziva picked it up. "When we arrived in Paris, we had been gone about a month and a half. I knew of some possible contacts for Bodnar from talking to him about his prior missions. We had sent McGee an email before we left Canada to tell them what we were about." Ziva paused to collect her thoughts. "After a few days, we located one of the contacts. I think by this time we also logged in on a computer at a local library and had received an email from Gibbs, telling us to call him."
Ziva smiled and grabbed Tony's hand. Tony nodded. "We called, and finally spoke with both Gibbs and Vance. They weren't pleased, but they contacted Interpol on our behalf and they made the bust. In appreciation, they, Interpol that is, provided us with an apartment, weapons and all sorts of neat and fun gadgets."
Stan raised his eyebrows at that. "Interpol gave you an apartment?"
Tony nodded. "And this." He brought over the iPad and opened up the combined database.
"Holy Shit!" Stan exclaimed when he realized what he was looking at. "I don't even have this. Can I get a copy of this?" He looked back and forth between Tony and Ziva.
Tony slid him a flash drive. "All on there, including software for a tracking program." Tony reached over and handed Stan a half sheet of the clear dots.
"What are these?" Stan asked, confused.
"They are tracking devices. You can see the code number over each dot. They are placed on the skin of the person who you want to track. Yes, I know; not very subtle, but they cannot tell the disk is being put on their skin. It absorbs immediately." Ziva smiled at Stan's look of consternation at the way the disks had to be placed.
"Once you have placed a disk, or before if you want, you enter the disk code number into the software and voilà! There's your guy, or gal, on your computer." Tony continued.
"We put one of these things on that guy from the First Wave. They could see his tracking marker from DC, so it has long range capability. What we don't know is how long they work."
"We have a target for you to mark." Tony said quietly.
Stan looked up from the sheet he had been studying with amazement. "My mysterious but not so secretive friend from Mossad?"
Tony and Ziva looked at each other in surprise. "You know him?" Ziva whispered, unsure.
"Personally? No. But I know what Mossad looks like. Although I have to say, this guy looks like he just graduated from Mossad High."
Tony chuckled at that. Ziva just glared at him. "Do not be fooled. He may be young, but what he lacks in experience he will make up for in passion."
Stan shifted in his chair. "You know who he is then?"
Ziva nodded. "He is Samuel Rivkin."
At the name, Stan started. "Rivkin…" He knew that name from somewhere.
"I killed him." Tony said flatly.
Stan started to open his mouth. He remembered now, but since he hadn't known Ziva at the time, it didn't have the same impact as it did right now. "I vaguely remember the circumstances." He said slowly.
"Vance made you go to Tel Aviv. You were cleared and came home."
Tony looked at Ziva, who did not avert her gaze. "Yes, I was."
The three were quiet for several moments. "Do you think him being here has something to do with you?" Stan asked.
Ziva shook her head. "Not in the way that he would know we are here. Do I believe he is under the spell of Ilan? Absolutely. There were many at Mossad at the time who did not believe that Tony should have been set free after killing Michael." She stopped, not wanting to relive that time. Tony got up and stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders.
She gratefully placed one of her hands on top of his. "Anger and revenge are useful tools in controlling people. Samuel was too young at the time to know what really happened. He would only know what Ilan has told him."
"So why is he here? And why is he following me?" Stan persisted.
Tony gave Ziva's shoulders a squeeze and sat back down. "He may be trying to get info from you about me, or us. NCIS is known to have an office here. Maybe they know Ziva and I were here last year with you. They must know that you have worked with Gibbs, because they have dossiers on all of us."
Stan nodded, thinking how Rivkin had touched his parking sticker.
"Ok, well, I am known for walking right up to Mossad officers and saying 'Hi I'm Stan' let's talk; so I have no qualms about going up to this guy. And you want me to put one of these disks on him, hmm?"
Tony smiled at Stan, knowing his personality. He could just see him interrupting some Mossad meeting, bringing the beer.
"Yeah, we want you to put a tracking disk on him. Use the first one. We'll right down the number so we can track him and DC can track him as well, especially if he decides to cross the Atlantic." Tony said.
Stan looked at Ziva. "Is that what you think? He's been assigned to take you out?"
"Ilan has sent others to do his job for him before. He sent an assassin to New York to kill Tony's father." Ziva replied, sighing in frustration.
Stan turned to Tony in alarm at that revelation. "Oh, my God! Is he ok?"
Tony put his hand on Stan's arm. "He's fine. He's been with Gibbs since we left New York. They caught the guy and he spilled his guts. Which reminds me: we have a name of someone from Bodnar's crew here in Naples. Or he was anyway, a Marco Cagnani."
"Sonofabitch!" Stan exploded.
Tony and Ziva stared at him in surprise.
"What? What's wrong?" Tony and Ziva looked at each other.
"That's my courier, the one who brings me my crappy Intel reports. I knew it!" Stan was seething. "He's been with us for five years!"
"Put a tracking disk on him as well, Stan." Ziva said urgently.
"I know exactly what I'm going to do, but it will take some string pulling. Actually, I think we can use this to our advantage. Let's turn the tables on them: let him take false Intel reports back to Bodnar. We can put all sorts of stuff in there."
Tony smiled wide as he listened to Stan's plan. "That's brilliant, Stan. Maybe we can flush him out."
Ziva sat quietly. "I think the only thing that will bring him out prematurely would be the news that I am here."
Tony stopped mid-sip and looked at Ziva. "No." He said with finality.
Stan was shaking his head "no" as well. "No way, Ziva. I am not using you as bait."
Ziva looked at Tony, trying to get him to understand. "That is why we are here, is it not? To find Ilan? What better way to find him?"
"Too many variables. We can't count on him to react the exact way we expect him too. He may smell a trap. I'd rather follow the people he's known to consort with and find him, rather than him finding us." Tony was frowning at Ziva.
"We are not here to take him down ourselves, and that includes you being a lure. Ziva, we talked about this!" Tony was not happy.
Stan shifted uncomfortably. "Look, Ziva, Tony. Let's see what we get with tracking these guys. I will get instructions from Vance regarding what to put in the Intel reports. And in the meantime, I will be getting my real reports, so I will have a better sense of what is going on and may have info to share with you. Ok?"
Tony was staring Ziva down, who reluctantly finally held his eyes and nodded in agreement. The tension in the room evaporated as if someone had popped a balloon.
"Well, if you talk to Rivkin, make it clear that we are definitely in DC. The longer we can keep our departure a secret, the better. Also, mention in passing how sad you were when you heard my dad was killed. That will help support their belief in that they had been successful."
Stan looked surprised at that. "So they think they did kill him after all?"
Tony smiled at that. "Yeah, they got the guy to give the all clear call."
Stan considered that. "Well, I'll see what I can find out from Rivkin, but I won't be too pushy. I don't want him to suspect anything. I want to be his new best friend."
Ziva gave a sigh of relief. She privately did not want to present herself to Bodnar, but she would do that if there was no alternative. They were not at that point yet.
They chatted for a while more and made sure Stan was comfortable with the disks. After two hours, he stood to leave. "You have my work number?" After seeing them shake their heads, he gave them his card.
"Call me if you need to meet me, or need me to do something, Ok? How can I get in touch with you?"
"You don't." Tony said simply.
"I get it. 'Don't call us, we'll call you.' Ok, well, be careful. Bye." Stan walked with Tony and let himself out.
Tony locked the hotel room door behind him and turned to Ziva. "Do not look at me that way, Tony." Ziva said quietly. "I will not leave and do this on my own. I already promised you. I keep my promises."
Tony engulfed her in a desperate hug, emotions on high as he held her close. He wanted so much to believe her, but it was his greatest fear that he would wake up one morning and find her gone. He had to find a way to ensure she would never leave.
Thanks as always for the great reviews and support! BTW, "Chasing Ghosts" is the title of ep 10x20!