Chapter 32
Tony and Ziva were up early the next morning. The potential for finding Tim and his family and getting them back to the States safely was the most important thing. Nothing else really mattered in comparison. They packed their bags and met Hammami and Drake in the lobby. They all grabbed something to eat for breakfast, but no one was interested in lingering.
They left the hotel together and, to Tony's surprise, instead of a taxi, they had a rental.
"When did you get this?" Tony asked.
"First thing," Drake said. "There was time."
"We'll leave the plane here in an airport we know will work rather than possibly draw attention to ourselves by trying to land in places where we'll stick out," Hammami added.
"Fine by me," Tony said.
Ziva just nodded and they all got into the car. It was a larger SUV which made sense. If they were going to get Tim and Zahara, they'd need more room than a sedan could offer.
"So it'll take a while to get down there, and you'd better hope that the first group we run into is the right one. Al-Hurram sometimes gets a little touchy about people invading their space. We've done our best to mitigate that, but they don't always have communication out there."
"We'll take our chances," Tony said.
"Okay."
They set off quickly. Even with an exact location, they had a long way to go and it would take all day. Tony was grudgingly impressed at how quickly Hammami and Drake had got themselves prepared for the journey. There was food, water, extra gas and Drake was a competent driver in the chaos of the cities in Saudi Arabia. Soon enough, however, they were away from settlements and the roads, such as they were, had very little traffic. This meant they could make good time, but even so, it was a long drive.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"Director Morgan, Director Liu is here and wants to speak with you."
Surprise caused Roy to react without thinking.
"He's here? In my office?"
"Yes. What would you like me to tell him?"
Roy took a breath and got his mind in gear. This was completely unexpected and he would have thought someone would have warned him before the NSA director was actually waiting to be admitted.
"Do I have time?"
"Yes."
"All right. Send him in."
"Yes, sir."
Roy sat at his desk and waited for a few seconds. Then, the door opened and Director Liu came inside. He closed the door behind him and locked it. Then, without saying a word, he walked over to Roy's desk, pulled out a contraption and turned it on before setting it on the desk.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"You tell me what that thing is," Roy said.
"A jammer. Modeled on the one that Bill Joyce cobbled together. It's the same kind of thing that your people have been using lately. Only better."
Roy raised an eyebrow at the deliberate dig. Director Liu had been a perfect enigma since his promotion. He'd been an NSA agent himself and his background had absolutely no blemishes in it which meant it was likely somewhat falsified. No one at his level had zero blemishes.
"Why do you think that's necessary?"
"Because you asked for my help with getting Agent McGee back. What's going on?" he asked again.
Roy decided to take a risk and be blunt.
"Russia is attempting to get control of Agent McGee. I don't think I need to spell out why success in that regard would be disastrous for us. To that end, there was an attempt made to abduct him and his family while they were in Egypt. Four of my agents were killed in the attempt. In addition, Agent McGee's brother-in-law has been successfully abducted, likely for the purpose of coercing Agent McGee into compliance. The worst part is that, unless someone is on hand, that coercion will work because Agent McGee's weakness is his family and threats of harm to them. However, he also has no desire to give anyone what they want from him. We are doing what we can both to find him and his family and to get his brother-in-law free. With your help, we may be on the verge of getting to Agent McGee himself, but we have nothing on his brother-in-law as yet."
Director Liu sat there, showing absolutely nothing. Gellman had been stoic, but this was a step beyond.
"How sure are you that it's Russia?"
"As sure as I can be without them outright admitting it. Which they never will."
No expression.
"You don't know where Mokrani is?"
"No, except that he's likely still in Egypt, not in Russia."
"And we can't do a frontal assault to get him out."
"Not without risking an international incident whether with Egypt or Russia. As important as Agent McGee is, I'm not willing to start a war, no matter who with."
"Nor am I."
There was a long silence and then, suddenly, Director Liu smiled. It was a humorless smile, but it was at least an expression.
"It's too bad that he's not an annoyance. It would be easier to kill him and get rid of the problem permanently."
Before Roy could decide on whether to pretend to agree or chastise him, Director Liu sighed.
"But the plain fact of the matter is that he's not an annoyance and he's been a real help in spite of everything. So we need to prove that we're still his allies and get him out. I'm willing to start looking for Mokrani if you'll give me all the data you have on him and what happened during the abduction."
"I can do that."
"This won't be as straightforward as looking for Agent McGee. People moving a captive around, hidden in a city of over 9 million people is a lot more difficult to track than a family running into the desert is. However, we can try. I make no guarantees."
"I wouldn't expect you to."
Director Liu started to stand but then he paused.
"The CIA has been protecting Agent McGee for more than a decade. How long will this go on?"
Roy smiled grimly. "Until he's obsolete or dead."
"That's going to get more complicated the longer it goes on."
"I know. So does he."
"You're committed?"
"Completely."
Director Liu nodded and then stood up, turned off his jammer, and left the office without another word.
Roy leaned back and considered the meeting. As callous as it was, even Director Liu was admitting that it was not right to kill Tim. Tim was too valuable to kill and he wasn't an arrogant asset. He wished he wasn't an asset. He wanted a quiet and peaceful life, something he'd never likely have in any permanent way.
And it wasn't his fault that his life was like this. So hopefully, the rest of this would go off without a hitch.
At that thought, Roy scoffed at himself.
"Right."
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
It was Tony's turn to drive as night fell. They had all taken a turn throughout the extremely long day. Right now, Hammami and Drake were drowsing in the back while Tony and Ziva were in the front. Ziva was watching their GPS coordinates to see when they'd have to give up on the road. It had been almost silent in the car for over an hour.
Then, finally, Ziva grabbed his shoulder.
"Tony, stop here," she whispered.
Tony slowed the car down and stopped it.
"Not much to see is there," he said.
"No, but the coordinates are east of where we are now."
"We're here?"
The voice from the back of the car startled Tony. He'd almost managed to forget that the other agents were there.
"We're eight miles west of here," he said. "But yeah. You want to start walking tonight?"
Hammami sat for a moment, looking around at the empty desert and then, he shook his head.
"No. We all need to get some real sleep. Let's sleep for a few hours and then get going before the sun comes up."
"Okay."
"Set an alarm for 3 a.m. It's not enough, but it's some."
"All right."
Tony could have sworn that Hammami was surprised at his easy capitulation.
"You two will still be here in the morning, right?"
"Yes," Ziva said. "We will not leave without you."
Tony grinned. "Cross my heart and hope to die."
Then, he looked at their current positions.
"Hey, you want to switch places? I'm guessing that you two don't want to snuggle up, and I'd like to snuggle up with my wife."
"What if your wife doesn't feel the same?" Ziva asked, archly.
"Well, do you want to snuggle up with one of them instead?" Tony asked, pointing to their companions.
Hammami rolled his eyes.
"We'll switch places," he said.
They quickly shifted around and Tony was happy that Ziva slid next to him and they made themselves as comfortable as possible.
"Glad you stopped by," he whispered.
"Shush. Go to sleep," Ziva said.
"It's easier with you here."
"Good."
She put her arms around him and eventually, they slept.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Tim opened his eyes and stared up at the roof of the tent. All was quiet. He heard nothing inside the tent or outside of it. There was a little bit of light from an electric lantern provided by the bedouin. That was to forestall any fears from his children.
Darkness didn't scare Tim. Not the darkness of the night. The only darkness that scared him was that inside of himself.
Was there any way to escape this life? He really didn't know. ...except in the only way that would be permanent and he knew that he couldn't do that.
After a while, he looked at his watch. The sun would be up soon. He hadn't really had the chance to see the sun rise in a long time. Carefully, he extricated himself and stood up without waking Zahara. Then, he walked to the tent entrance.
"Where are you going, Agent McGee?"
The question was so soft that it was just barely audible. Tim turned and saw Omar sitting up and staring at him. He had moved soundlessly.
"Just out to see the sunrise," Tim said in a whisper. "That's all."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"All right."
Tim quietly lifted the tent flap and walked out into the camp. Then, he walked to the eastern edge of the camp and looked out over the dunes. There was a glow that heralded the coming day. What would this day bring? Tim had no idea, but he really felt no better than he had before all this chaos had begun.
He stood there for a while, waiting for the sun to peek over the horizon. There were a few clouds in the sky and for a moment, he felt a touch of whimsy.
Could I be getting rain for a third time in the desert?
But really, it looked much more like just some small clouds that would disappear in the heat of the day. Tim would have been more than surprised if it rained in the desert again.
Then, as he stood there, he heard someone coming up behind him and he tensed.
"You are awake early, Tim."
Tim smiled, almost with relief more than anything else. It was Suhayl. Always there, it seemed. He was like Gibbs, never needing to sleep like ordinary mortals.
"Yeah. I wanted to see the sunrise. I don't know if I ever have in the desert."
Then, the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, splashing a red glow over the dunes and casting their light on the clouds that now looked more meager than ever, although they had beautiful colors. It was beautiful and Tim just stood there watching this moment of absolute beauty. It was nothing more, but it was nothing less either.
And Suhayl said nothing as Tim watched the sun rise higher. The higher it became, the less color there was. The reds shifted to yellow, the clouds became white. Finally, Tim took a breath and turned away from the rising sun.
"And now?" Suhayl asked.
"I don't know. I guess I have to wait, but..."
"No."
"No, what?" Tim asked, confused.
"No," Suhayl said again. "I agree that you must wait for your friends to find you and get you home, but you are trying to allow others to make the decisions again."
"What decisions are there to make?" Tim asked.
"You must decide how your life is going to progress from this moment."
Tim felt the lead weight in his stomach and he turned away, back to the sun.
"I can see why you prefer the desert, Suhayl," he whispered.
"I am not hiding here. This is my home. It is where my family lives. I prefer it, but I do not fear the world as you do. If you allow your fear to decide for you, you will always be a prisoner, no matter where you are."
"I know."
"Then, you must fight."
Suddenly, there was a commotion from the western edge of the camp. Tim looked at Suhayl and then they both hurried to see what was happening.
In spite of the early hour, there was somewhat of a crowd and Tim couldn't see what was going on, but after a moment, it didn't matter.
"We're looking for Tim McGee. I'm really hoping he's here because otherwise... well, we're probably lost."
"Tony?"
Tim glanced at Suhayl once more and then ran forward through the crowd and there they were. Tony and Ziva and two men Tim didn't know.
"Tony! Ziva!" he said
They turned toward him and there was both deep relief and concern on their faces. They walked toward him.
"Tim!"
Tim reached them and hugged them tightly, wanting to cry.
They were a lifeline back to the world he knew.
"I'm so glad to see you," he whispered.
"We're glad to see you, too," Ziva said, softly. "Alive."
For the singular moment, Tim felt like everything might turn out okay.
