She caught up with him, stunned that he had tackled the person he was running after. Tony pulled himself up, bringing his prey with him.

If Ziva was stunned before, nothing could have prepared her for the sight before her now.

"Monique?" Ziva could barely get the name out.

Monique smiled tightly. "Hello, Ziva. I told you Tony was more than he seems." She dusted off her pants. I have much to tell you."

I have to say it: I did not like the ending of "Chasing Ghosts". And now I hear Muse Watson is returning for the finale. My take on that is he is Gibbs' conscience as he grapples with how to deal with the holy Hell that is coming down the pike…

Vignette Eleven: Part Eighteen

Vance waited patiently for Chief Morrow to show up at their "usual" place. After the confrontation in MTAC, Vance knew he would show up here again, and he didn't disappoint.

"Tom." Vance nodded as he sat down next to him on one the benches. Tom Morrow looked around, the cherry blossoms finally blooming. "This isn't going to plan, Leon." He began.

Vance started to speak, but Morrow cut him off. "Agent David was supposed to be sent to Paris, to keep her occupied while we continued with our operation. She is getting in the way. You need to pull them back, Leon. The consequences are too severe."

Vance looked at Morrow, disturbed. He knew he had been helping him out by admitting that he, Vance, had sent Ziva and Tony to Paris. When they met two months ago, Morrow had let it "slip" that Bodnar had been seen in Paris, knowing that Vance would send them there.

"Tom, they did a lot of good while they were in Paris. But my Agents are smart, and they know how to investigate. It was only a matter of time before they would get different Intel and act on it." Vance reasoned.

"And now you need to reel them back in!" Morrow snapped. "This is beyond all of your pay grades. It's need to know and you don't. Call them off. Now! Otherwise, I can't guarantee the outcome."

"What does that mean?" Vance asked, squaring his shoulders.

"What it means, Leon, is that there are serious repercussions for interfering with an active DOD case. What you are doing is strictly personal, not jurisdictional. You are compromising our mission. I will tell you one more time: recall your Agents." Morrow stood, done with the conversation.

Vance watched the Chief leave, his gut churning. He flipped open his phone and called Gibbs.

NCIS

Gibbs stared at the young Mossad Officer, who was looking everywhere but at Gibbs.

The silence continued for fifteen minutes before Rivkin started shaking. Gibbs tried to not smile; none of this was funny. This man just tried to kill his Senior Field Agent, after all. The fact that he hadn't been successful didn't really register on Gibb's radar as a blip of consequence.

Finally, Gibbs pushed forward a photo: Eli David, dead on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds. Samuel swallowed nervously. Surely they didn't think he had something to do with that, did they?

Silently, grimly, Gibbs shoved another picture into view: Jackie Vance, dead in autopsy, the wound to her temple ugly and vivid.

Samuel looked away in horror, feeling ready to retch. "Look at it!" Gibbs yelled. "She was an innocent bystander. She had two children who now have to live the rest of their lives without their mother!"

Samuel closed his eyes, refusing to look again at the photo.

"Where's Bodnar?" Gibbs' voice was cold. Just as he banged his fist on the table, his phone rang. Gibbs was ready to fling it across the room, but saw it was Vance calling. Swearing under his breath, he got up and left the room.

Berlin, Germany

Ziva and Tony sat in the dingy hotel room, waiting for Monique to speak. Tony sat close to Ziva, knowing how shaken up she was by this turn of events.

"I am sorry I could not tell you anything when we last saw each other." Monique began.

Ziva sat up at that. "What do you mean? You were with Ilan last year? You helped kill my father?" Ziva was on the verge of tears, the feeling of betrayal so intense it was painful.

Monique leaned forward and touched Ziva's hand. "Yes and no. Yes, I was 'with' Ilan if that is what you would call it. I was tasked with getting into his pocket, to observe him."

"By whom?" Tony asked harshly.

Monique looked into Tony's eyes. "I cannot tell you that."

"Hell!" Tony exclaimed under his breath.

"Monique, what about my father?" Ziva looked at her mentor, trembling with anxiety.

Monique sighed. "I was instructed to help Ilan overthrow Eli David. My employers thought that they would best be served if your father was replaced. The obvious choice to take over was Ilan Bodnar. I assisted him in planning his coup." She frowned.

"I did allude to this when we last spoke. I realized that Ilan was veering off from the assigned course, and planning his own agenda. By the time I realized his true plan, it was too late. I am sorry, Ziva."

"Yet you are still with him? How can that be, Monique? Why have you not killed him?" Ziva's voice was a whisper, not sure she wanted the answer.

"I am prevented from taking matters into my own hands. All I can do is to continue to monitor the situation and keep tabs on Bodnar. When the time comes for action, they will know where to find him." Monique stared at Ziva, then Tony.

"I do have something to tell you that you need to pass on to Mossad: there is a CIA mole in the office of the Director."

Tony and Ziva sat up at that. Tony's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that, Monique? Are you working for the CIA?"

Monique smiled without humor. "I am not so stupid to back stab my own employer. No, I am not working with the CIA and I will say no more on that matter. I know they have a mole because this person called Ilan and told him you would be coming to Berlin, to find him. You spoke to the new Director, yes?"

Ziva looked at Tony with alarm. Could the new Director already be compromised? The thought dismayed them both.

"So, let me get this straight." Tony began. "You say you are not working with the CIA, but the CIA has one of their own Agents infiltrated inside Mossad, sending information to Ilan Bodnar, who they are supposedly trying to hunt down and capture."

"You see my dilemma." Monique responded quietly.

Ziva's eyes opened wide. "Monique, are you saying that Ilan…Ilan is working with the CIA? That he is a double agent?" Ziva looked at Tony, the idea frightening to her.

Monique shrugged. "Are you asking for proof? I have none. Ilan is not walking around wearing a CIA ID badge after all, and to be honest, I doubt it. I have my suspicions, but they are more in line with Ilan using a CIA double Agent himself. The CIA knows where Ilan is, there is one in his group that is an Agent. His name is Adam Eschel. They could arrest him at any time. They have not. He clearly has help, help that continues to aid him in eluding his capturers."

Ziva lowered her eyes. Mossad could make the same claim. "Perhaps they are waiting for me." She said so quietly Tony almost didn't hear her words.

Monique looked at her friend sadly. "Do you really think the CIA is concerned for your feelings over the loss of your father?"

"What do you really think?" Tony asked, his tone insistent.

Monique took a deep breath, aware that what she was about to say could come back to haunt her. "Please understand that I have no proof, just twenty months of witnessing the evolution of the coup and the end result." Tony and Ziva nodded.

"I believe that Ilan began planning almost two years ago to remove your father. It is very possible the he has the backing of a foreign nation. The CIA, for instance, has such a history of involving themselves and participating in the overthrow of regimes they feel are not of the correct political climate. I was contacted as well, and no I will not say by whom; to plan and execute the same plan. I was steered toward Bodnar, as an obvious partner in crime. I did not suspect at that time that he may have already been under orders by someone else; I felt more that he was serving his own devices." Monique clasped her hands and brought them to her lips, forming her thoughts.

"I then think that Ilan took matters into his own hands and instead of devising a way to remove Director David from office, he had him killed."

"He went rogue, from Mossad and…maybe CIA?" Tony asked.

"In essence and again, I have no actual proof that the CIA recruited Bodnar. However, he is now a problem for the CIA to take care of, but they have not done so. If he is tied to them, it is possible that he is still useful. They do not know how to handle this. The easy choice is for Ilan to 'disappear'. But for some reason, they are not acting on the intelligence they are receiving."

Monique turned worried eyes toward Ziva. "Ziva, I do not like that you are here. You do not want to involve yourself in a CIA disaster. There could be serious repercussions for you."

"Involve myself?" Ziva asked incredulous. "My father was murdered! I cannot be more involved!" Tony took her hand and caressed it lightly.

"There are laws, Ziva. You are now a citizen of the United States. If they charge you with interfering with an ongoing investigation, disrupting an intelligence operation on foreign soil, you could lose you citizenship."

Tony went pale at that. Ziva could lose her citizenship and be deported? What about him? Could he or both of them go to jail? He shook his head. Vance had sent them. He wouldn't have done that if they were in any danger, legal danger that is. Would he?

Tony suddenly wasn't so sure. He knew Ziva was in a way being used as Vance's weapon, since he could not strike the blow himself. Right then, he vowed to himself that should it come to a showdown, Vance would be going down with them.

Ziva was silent. She considered Monique's words. The idea of losing her citizenship terrified her. Where would she go? She had already renounced Israel. And what about Tony? Ziva looked at him and saw the deep concern etched on his features.

Monique stood. "I cannot stay. I have already been with you longer than I should. Tell your Mossad friend about the CIA mole. I do not know his name, or even if it is a male. I am sorry; I wish I had more for you." Monique walked to the door.

"Leave Ziva, Tony. Leave now and don't look back. Revenge serves no purpose and in your case it may cause you more heartache than you suffer at the moment." Without another word, she left.

Tony and Ziva looked at each other, suddenly unsure of what they should do. Tony took one look at Ziva's face, and engulfed her in his arms. "This cannot be happening, Tony." Ziva murmured into his shoulder.

Tony rubbed her back, trying to comfort her the best way he knew how. "We need to call Gibbs and Vance." He said grimly.

NCIS

Gibbs stepped out of the interrogation room and answered his call. "Yeah, Gibbs."

"Gibbs, I need you to come to my office, right now." Vance got straight to the point, leaving the pleasantries aside.

Gibbs looked shocked. "Director, I'm in the middle of interrogating Rivkin…"

"He can wait!" Vance interrupted him. "It's about DiNozzo and David." He hung up before Gibbs could respond. The color drained out of Gibbs' face. Had something happened to his Agents? He couldn't imagine how Vance would have been notified if they had been killed…Gibbs stopped that train of thought.

He told the guard to go sit in the room with Rivkin and rushed up to Vance's office. He was out of breath by the time he got there.

"Leon, what in the hell is going on?" Gibbs gasped out.

"CIA." Vance answered tersely.

Gibbs looked confused. "I thought we diffused Morrow's issue with Ziva?"

Vance paced. "They don't want our Agents messing about their operation, whatever it is. I just received a veiled threat from Tom Morrow, warning me that if I don't pull DiNozzo and David back, there could be serious consequences."

Gibbs' eyes widened at that. "Just what in the Hell is the CIA doing with Bodnar? And what kind of consequences?"

"The worst kind, Gibbs. Can you get in touch with them?" Vance looked closely at him.

Gibbs sat heavily in one of the chairs. "No, I have to wait for them to call me. Leon, what do you know?"

"Not a damn thing; and that has me worried. I usually have some sort of sense of what is happening with our sister agencies, but whatever is going on with Bodnar, I am completely in the dark."

Gibbs sighed. "Of'course you are, Leon. You are on the 'don't tell' list."

Vance nodded. "At any rate, I've been instructed to bring them home."

Gibbs rubbed his face. "Ziva is not going to be happy, Leon. What if she refuses?"

Leon straightened up in his chair. "Well, I guess that's the million dollar question, isn't it Gibbs? How far are you willing to stick your neck out for your Agents? For Agent David?"

Gibbs understood right then that Vance was recusing himself from the situation and that any fallout from this operation would fall on him and his team.

He really couldn't blame him: he had two young children who already lost a parent. He sighed. "I guess it depends on what Tony and Ziva have to say." As if on cue, Gibbs' phone rang.

His eyebrows shot up when he saw the blocked number. "Tony! Ziva!" He answered right away.

Tony looked at Ziva. "Boss, we have a problem here."

Gibbs put the call on speaker. "I'm in the Director's office, Tony. We have a problem on this end as well."

Tony frowned. "You go first." He wanted to hear what Gibbs had to say before they gave him a bunch of "what-ifs" and "maybes".

Vance spoke up. "Homeland Security Senior Chief Tom Morrow has contacted us. They and the CIA have grave concerns about your mission. I've been ordered to have you cease and desist and bring you home."

Ziva gasped. She grabbed Tony's arm, forcing him to look at her. "This confirms what Monique told us!"

"What was that, David?" Vance had heard her outburst.

Ziva took a deep breath. "We ran into someone unexpected, here in Berlin. My friend Monique. You remember her, Gibbs?"

"Lisson?" Gibbs frowned at that. "I thought she hung out in Cartagena?"

"That was last year, Gibbs and just for a short while. She is a free agent, able to choose where and with whom she wishes to work." Ziva reminded him.

"Sounds like she only has allegiance to herself." Vance snapped, wondering how someone like that could be trusted.

Ziva nodded gravely. "That is partially true; Monique has been burned before, so she is very wary. However, I have only known her to work for the common good. She is not a terrorist, Director Vance."

"Ok." Gibbs interrupted. "What did she say to you and how did you find her?"

Tony took over, knowing how emotional Ziva was at the moment and he wanted to make sure Gibbs and Vance understood the situation. "She has been working with Bodnar for over a year. She was hired by someone to assist in the removal of Director David from office. She and Bodnar found each other. And before you ask, she wouldn't tell us who her employer is." Tony took a deep breath.

"Her task was to remove from office only; Bodnar took things further and went off course with the killing. But that's not what we need to tell you. First of all, she says there is a CIA mole in the Mossad Director's office. She knows this because Bodnar was contacted shortly after we spoke to her and told that Ziva was coming to Berlin."

"Son of a Bitch!" Vance said under his breath.

"Monique wants us to warn Mossad of the CIA presence, Gibbs. There is also a CIA Agent within Bodnar's group, Adam Eschel." Ziva piped up.

Gibbs and Vance looked at each other in alarm. "Agents! Under no circumstances are you to report this to Mossad, am I understood?" Gibbs' voice was harsh and almost shaking with anger.

Tony and Ziva looked stunned, but then understanding dawned in Tony's eyes. "Oh, God. We could have been totally screwed if we had called her first." He said softly.

Vance nodded. "Thank God you didn't. This is very serious. If the CIA has a mole in Mossad and they are in contact with Bodnar, there are too many bad scenarios that could go done with that."

Ziva looked upset. "What do you mean I cannot tell Mossad? I have to warn them!"

Tony turned to her. "Ziva, this is what Monique was warning you about! You are no longer Mossad, no longer an Israeli citizen. Your allegiance is to the United States. If you knowingly compromise any intelligence operation in a way that will benefit a foreign country, you could be charged with treason!"

Ziva opened her mouth, and then closed it. This was a million times worse than she had imagined.

"Which brings us back to the CIA's demand that you be recalled: I don't know what their operation is, or why they are doing it, but they are concerned that you are going to interfere, and possibly endanger their operatives. These are very serious issues to consider." Vance reiterated.

Ziva put her head in her hands, her body shaking as she tried to control her emotions. She had been promised that she could seek closure, that she could find the man responsible for her father's death. And now, they wanted to break that promise.

A/N: I know this is a lot shorter than normal, but with so many spoilers coming out right and left, my mind is mush. I changed the location provided by Morrow from Rome to Paris to coincide with my story. And obviously I couldn't add that Tim was involved before they left or that Gibbs agreed to let Ziva go and told her to take Tony. My take on that scene is not a good one: I believe that last scene was the next evening although it is hard to tell because of the wardrobe malfunctions in this episode. So Tony would have reported to Gibbs what he found out, and they decided Tony would go. I am going with Tony volunteering and Gibbs agreeing. Now this is the thing I don't think is good: the next episode is titled "Berlin" and Ziva had a big map of Germany on her laptop. Yet Morrow told Vance he would give him Bodnar's coordinates if he could, but he can't. THEN he casually mentions Bodnar was last seen in Rome. Vance told Gibbs that Bodnar was in Rome and that is where they are sending them. Look at Ziva's face when she hears Gibbs say "He's in Rome" and she answers softly "That's what I thought too." She looks wary to me. And then Vance is right there, smiling and nodding and sending her to Rome. It's possible that Rome is a decoy and they are just appeasing Ziva and giving her a "mission" to occupy her while the CIA does its thing, whatever that is. Obviously, they don't stay in Rome which sets up for the charges and legal problems in the last two episodes. I wouldn't have thought anything about it if the next episode wasn't called Berlin, so it may be a red herring. Anyway, the fireworks are about to begin and a lot of bad stuff is coming down the pike. I hope they soften the "cliffhanger that will have fans stunned all summer" with some positive movement for Tony and Ziva. Otherwise, this is all for naught.