Chapter 15
Mike Macaluso paced up and down the room his lawyer had had him housed in. He knew his son was out there and he had been the cause of his troubles, he'd had his men track him down and was incensed when he found out not only was his son now a federal agent but he was flaunting the fact that he was a Macaluso and had taken on his surname and his two grandchildren were using it.
Zak Worrell, a junior assistant to the Macaluso family lawyer looked over at his client and groaned they were supposed to be hiding out, for someone on the run from the FBI Mike wasn't really keeping too low a profile. A few of Macaluso's men had come and gone, with instructions to find two children or Tony Macaluso. Zak worried he didn't want to be involved in anything involving children, when word had come back that the children had been taken from the school by a known Israeli mercenary he had gone ballistic. Ranting at his men Mike ordered that the Israeli, a woman named Ziva Eshel should be found too, Mike looked over to where his three most trusted men were standing, "I want that fed who is using my name, Tony Macaluso at our safe house in four hours, with or without the Israeli mercenary who has betrayed me…I want them both dead and I want his children…they will make fine additions to our ranks in time." He grinned.
Tony much like his father was pacing up and down the bullpen, the two FBI agents assigned to watch him had been placed at the entrance to the bullpen and ordered not to talk to him or move. Disgruntled but agreeing as the Director of NCIS had manhandled them to their present position and had listened in as Director Gibbs had called their boss.
"Tobias, Gibbs, your men are annoying my boy…." Gibbs looked at Tony who had started walking up and down behind his desk shooting a look at the elevators every few seconds. "McGee went to the kids school, Ziva has them….No I don't know where…gonna need some help finding Tony's kids Tobias…what if it had been Emily at that age." Gibbs moved the phone from his ear and Tony grinned as a stream of expletives could be heard coming from the other man. "You done?" Gibbs asked. "Good, just get here." He said and slammed the phone down.
The elevator dinged and Tony was stopped by Gibbs' hand on his arm as Tim, Clara and Ned walked out of the elevator all looking despondent.
"Baker you and Dorneget check local flights into DC in the last week, any name that stands out, we need to find Ziva." Tim said ushering them off to their desks.
"Sorry Boss," Tim said to Tony, "No one told the school that she shouldn't have them so when they confirmed she was their mother they let them go."
Tony sighed, "I never thought she'd be here, I didn't think to tell them…"
"Tony, Son, its ok, your kids are tough, they'll get through this…they are your children." Gibbs said
"But, Boss, they've been through so much already, I finally thought we were done with all this." Tony turned away and started to walk away.
"Macaluso stop…." Gibbs said and Tony turned around.
"Boss, I need coffee, I need some air…look I'm just going to the cart outside ok…I'll be five minutes…I just need some space on my own."
Gibbs gut churned, "OK, but you don't leave the yard…ok son?" Baker and Dorneget looked up in surprise at the fatherly tone issuing from their usually hard assed Director.
Tony sighed, "Yes Dad…" he turned and walked to the elevator as Gibbs put a hand on Tim's shoulder.
"He'll be ok son, just give him some space, head down after five minutes and get him to get his ass back up here."
Tim let out a small smile at Gibbs, "OK Boss."
Ziva looked over at her children, both had been in the cage in the corner for a few hours now and she could see that Amelia was getting uncomfortable "Ima, I need to use the bathroom….please…It's my time…I can't hold it."
Ziva nodded, "Do not try anything sneaky, I will get your products are they in your bag?" she asked.
"Yes Ima." Amelia said.
Ziva looked through the bag and smiled as she saw the knife at the bottom, "I see Gibbs has taught you well. She then pulled out a small tin that held Amelia's sanitary wear, placing the knife on the table and handing Amelia the tin she moved to unlock the cage holding a gun in her other hand. "Do not try anything." She reiterated as she opened the door.
Adam moved as far back as he could and waited as Amelia and his mother left the room.
Looking around he tried to see out of the window to see where he was, he checked his pockets looking for anything that would aid in their escape.
Amelia sat on the toilet listening to her mother pacing outside the stall.
"Ima?" she asked carefully as she sorted herself out.
"Yes Amelia."
"Did you ever love Abba?" she said deliberately using the Jewish form of father to try to relate to her mother.
"No, he was a target, a part of my mission…I did like him sometimes, but…he was so….infuriating at times," Despite herself Ziva let out a small smile remembering the times she and Tony had had together.
"Did you ever love us?" Amelia asked now standing behind the stall door not wanting this small amount of contact with her mother to end.
Ziva stood the other side of the door her hand stretched to touch it wanting nothing more than to take her first born daughter in her arms and reassure her that all she was doing was for her and her brother, to tell them that she loved them and that she had always loved them. She pulled her hand back as if burned. "No." she snapped cutting her lie off and berating herself for her momentary lack of strength, "Now come, you must go back."
Amelia opened the door, not hiding the tears streaming down her face; she washed her hands and disposed of her trash. "Very well mother." She said coldly and followed her back to her cage, not looking at her mother she climbed into her cage and sat stony faced next to her mother.
"Amy? You ok?" Adam asked.
"I'm fine, I will be a lot better when Grandpa Gibbs gets here and takes us home." She snapped.
Ziva's phone rang; she picked it up and listened to the voice on the other end. Shutting the phone she sighed.
"I have to go out, do either of you need anything before I go?" she asked.
"We need our father." Amelia snapped.
Ziva turned and regained her composure for a second. "Maybe you will see him soon." She said and walked away.
"Ima…IMA!" Adam yelled, "You can't leave us here!"
"Don't…" Amelia said putting her arm around her brother, "Mother does not love us, neither does she care for our well being."
"How do you know?" Adam asked, he held out hope as he had always done that somewhere inside her she actually cared about him.
"She told me." Amelia said flatly.
Ziva lent on the car and allowed herself a few tears, she knew this was necessary and the children were safe, but the call from her contact had unnerved her. She was supposed to be the one to find Tony and convince him to play dead and save the children…This was not supposed to have happened.
Getting the call from her contact to say that some of Mike Macaluso's men had taken Tony from just outside the navy yard and had orders to take him to the rendezvous spot that Mike had picked when he had sent her the details of the job unnerved her. She knew that Mike was planning to kill Tony, and for the sake of her children, that could not happen.
Knowing that they were safe and that Mike had decided not to go after them right now she made a short call. Stopping for once second to hear the surprise in Tim's voice as she called with the children's address and telling them that Mike had Tony, she removed the battery from her phone, opened a new one and sent Zak a message to let him know she was coming.
Tim picked up his phone as it rang, "SFA McGee." He said. He stopped dead and looked at Gibbs hoping to get his attention, his next word did. "Ziva?" he listened, "Are they ok….Ziva? Ziva!" he asked into the dead phone.
"Boss, she just told me where the children are, and she says that Mike has Tony!"
Gibbs stood up from his old desk, "Baker, Dorneget, go get the kids, bring them back here. McGee, check the security footage and find out if Macaluso really has Tony." Gibbs said whilst ringing Tony's phone and slamming it down on the desk as it went to voicemail.
"MOVE!"
