Chapter 5

For four days they where together, bunched up in the small room. Ziva had explained that whenever Mossad did a mission they made sure that they had a safe house like this one in the area. It was well stocked so that a couple of people could survive for a couple of days when needed.

They had both contacted their own teams to let them know that they where alive and well and that they would make contact with their respective organizations when it was safe for them to return. Being in a small room and being the only companion the other person had they talked a lot. About anything and everything, they learned a lot about each other. Sometimes Jen thought that she was telling way too much, especially because Ziva was Mossad. But on the other hand talking was really all they could do.

It surprised both Ziva and Jen how easy they could connect with each other. When they where tired of discussing their lives Ziva taught Jen some Hebrew words and phrases. It took their minds of off their situation even if it was just for a little while.

“Look at me.” Jen demanded the men in front of her. “All the injuries I have, where sustained when the bomb that killed Special Agent McCoy exploded. Part of the metal that flew around cut my arm and my forehead. The bruises and the bump where from the wall that I was slammed into when I ran past the truck.” Jen explained to her superiors. “I have not been tortured nor have I been questioned, I was safe during the entire time that I and Mossad Officer David where together.”

The men stared at her, they didn’t say a thing, one of them was jotting some information down on a notepad. “You have been away for four days, am I right?”

“Yes, that is correct.” Jen answered. “But in those for days nothing has been compromised. I haven’t told any details which she didn´t already know. Mossad knew that we where there, working on the same mission we where working on. They knew we where there, but our intel did not tell us Mossad was there when we where briefed before the mission.”

One of the men huffed in disbelief, Jen stared at him. He might not agree with what had happened but he could at least act civil while she told them what had happened.

“I was unconscious when Officer David found me. She took my vitals, she told me that I was coming around at that point. She bandaged up my arm to the best she could in that situation and kept me safe until I was responsive enough to leave the scene.” Jen looked at the men one by one, this was a mind game she knew that and she shouldn’t show them fear. Especially not when she wanted to become one of them one day. “Without Ziva David I would not have been here today. What she did was beyond what she was supposed to do. She could have ignored me being there and moved on, it was not her job to make sure that I would be safe. If she had wanted it, she could have killed me herself she is a trained assassin for Mossad.”

“Why?” The man asked her again.

“You should ask her why, but I think that it might have been because we work for the same cause.” Jen shrugged; “Mossad knew that we where there, they suspected that we where in over our heads and they send out a team to back us up if we needed it. In doing so they put their own people in danger to protect us. Officer David brought me to a safe house because we where being followed for the first part of the trip. She feared that the car had been recognized and choose to go to the safe house instead of bringing me back to our base camp. She didn’t want to put anyone here or at Mossad’s base camp in danger. That is why we waited a couple of days before we returned to our respective teams.”

“Do you know for a fact that this is the way things happened or is this what she told you happened?”

“Due to what I had seen before we left the scene and the pain from the cuts, the blood loss from the one on my arm and especially on my forehead and the mild concussion I was pretty out of it.” Jen explained; “She couldn’t remember that she had seen someone follow them but she remembered the way that Ziva had watched in the mirrors frantically and her driving manners. She had only relaxed when we reached the village east from the airport.”

She leaned forward and took a sip from the glass of water. “Officer David did everything to keep us safe and she was racing to the safe house because she knew that she could hide the car there. And there would be enough supplies and place to keep us hidden for a couple of days without anyone in the proximity realizing that we where there.”

The interview went on for hours, back and forth one of the man would ask her a question and she would answer to the best of her knowledge. Though some things where a blur to her, she couldn’t be 100 sure about what had happened right after the bomb exploded. When they couldn’t come up with more questions for her to answer they send her away and asked her to send Ziva in. She had been waiting all this time in the hallway of the American Embassy, as they had requested.

Jen opened the door and stepped up to Ziva; “They asked you to join them now, it will not be easy, are you sure you want to do this?” Ziva asked the younger woman.

“Yes, my father allowed me to join the ATTF, because he thinks that it might be viable if we work together.” Ziva smiled; “We are after all fighting for the same cause, and I believe that your task force could use a liaison officer from Mossad.” Ziva added confidently; she nodded curtly and opened the doors into the conference room. She stepped into the room and shook hands with the men in front of her before she sat down in the chair across from the ATTF leaders.

She was ready for any questions they wanted to ask her. She could tell them what she had done and what her reasons had been behind her actions. She had nothing to hide; besides that she was sure that they would see that when she had told her side of what had happened that night and the following days.

Chapter 4

Ziva helped her to remove the belt and get out of the car, she gestured to Jen to follow her to a well hidden hatch in the back of the barn. Ziva led her down the stairs and motioned for her to sit down on one of the chairs placed around the small table. She left and came back a couple of minutes later with a bowl of water and bandages. She kneeled down in front of Jen and removed the piece of cloth that she had wrapped around Jen’s arm as a tourniquet. “A piece of metal from the exploding bomb under one of the trucks must have hit you.” Ziva said; the most words she had spoken since she had taken Jen with her.

“Why did you take me with you?” Jen asked Ziva, she winced when Ziva cleaned the nasty cut on her upper arm with a piece of bandage and water that she had retrieved from one of the boxes in the small room.

“You looked like you needed the help.” Ziva answered. “You where unconscious but not badly hurt. Unlike some of the other men I saw, yes.”

Jen looked at her confused, was that a question or not she wondered while she looked at Ziva. Her dark eyes didn’t show much emotion when she started to speak again; “I checked your wounds, and your vitals you where strong enough and coming around. I knew that Hamas and arms dealers where about to bust into the scene and they would not have mercy on you.” Ziva knew exactly what would happen when Hamas found Jen unconscious, one thing was sure she would have been better off death if that had been the case.

Ziva looked at her, contemplating if she should ask the question that was on her mind; “Who was that man?” She asked bluntly, she had seen people get upset with team members dying on a mission but she had never seen someone loose control like that. She could see in Jen’s eyes that there was something more between them then just being team members.

“He was my partner.” Jen stated, her voice flat her face motionless. She hoped that Ziva would not ask further and that this answer would satisfy Ziva.

“Just a partner.” Ziva questioned her, she knew that there had been more to it then Jen was letting on. She could see the way that she looked when she said the word partner she had hesitated. The hesitation had only lasted for a couple of seconds, maybe even less but for someone who was as trained as Ziva registering slight changes in people’s behavior where part of her training and was she was able to see it and she knew that she had been right. Whether or not Jen would admit to it, she already knew the answer.

Jen nodded teary eyed, before she diverted her eyes to the floor next to them. Ziva bandaged up Jen’s arm telling her that it had been a cut and that she should keep it clean and that she would renew the bandages the next day. The cut was fortunately not too deep and she didn’t need stitches, though if she had needed them Ziva would have been able to give them to her as well. It was part of her basic medical training that she had at Mossad.

Jen hissed and tried to pull back when Ziva cleaned the cut on her forehead with a piece of cloth. “No, he was more then that.” Ziva nodded curtly and bandaged up Jen’s head. She told Jen that she would be back in a little while and walked away, she cleaned out the bowl, then she brought a glass of water over to Jen and handed it to her and handed her two painkillers.

“That is a nasty lump on your head, along with that cut. You might have a mild concussion.”

Jen brought her hand up to the back of her head where she felt the bump; “I think you mean bump.” She said without even noticing that she was correcting her.

Ziva guided Jen to a small bed in the corner, told her to lie down and rest for a while. The rummaged around the room, and handed Jen a glass of water. “There is not much here, but it is enough to keep us safe for a couple of days.”

Jen sat up and sipped from the water; “Why would we stay here for a couple of days. My team is in the area, I can contact them and they can pick me up.” She said as she rubbed her temples, just below the bandage that Ziva had wrapped around her head to make sure that the cut on her forehead wouldn’t start bleeding again.

“Because we where followed when we left the airport. It is better if we stay low for a couple of days.” Ziva said as she sat down in the chair her rifle placed next to her on the table. “Get some sleep.” She told Jen, in a demanding manner.

She complied, rolled over and lied down facing the wall. She pulled the blanket over her body but it couldn’t keep her from shaking. Every time she closed her eyes she thought of what had happened and she saw the images flash in front of her eyes. She cried silent tears, her shoulders shaking as she tried to hide her pain.

Ziva watched the woman, her back turned to her as she desperately tried to hide the tears and emotions. It was never easy to loose someone you love, but seeing their broken bodies lying lifelessly staring at the dark sky was even more horrible. Ziva knew, she had seen Tali’s lifeless body. Her father didn’t want her to see it, but she had seen the crime scene pictures taken by some Mossad officers.

She couldn’t take it any longer, she got up and moved towards the bed. Silently she touched the womans’ shoulder when she didn’t react Ziva moved into the bed behind her. Wrapping her arms around the shaking body, as she tried to soothe the older woman. It was obvious that the man had meant a great deal to her. Ziva stayed with her all night holding the woman until she finally fell into a fitful sleep.

Chapter 3

She then turned and dragged Jen back to her feet and supported her as they walked as quickly as they could leaving the horrendous scene behind. Jen was still crying silent tears, she followed the other woman’s lead without thinking about it. There was no time to think, she was being dragged away by the woman towards the woods behind the airport strip.

The tires of the four wheel drive skidded on the gravel road, the woman was driving recklessly. Either she knew exactly where she was going and had driven down this road at least a thousand times before or she was taking a huge risk. A life and death kind of risk. The woman checked the mirrors more times then she should and Jen wished that she would keep her eyes on the road in front of her.

She was scared, she had no idea what was going on, who the woman was and what was going to happen to her. Since they where alone in the car she though that this might be the only time to ask questions. She had calmed down considerably, dark tear tracks had stained her cheeks. She didn’t want to think about what she had seen; Christopher was death. And she never got to tell him just how much she really loved him. Killed by the arms dealer LeGrenouille that he had so desperately tried to catch, he had lost the fight. She cried silent tears for Christopher; sweet, kind and caring Christopher a man that when she first met him had been so different from most man on the special forces. He was a man that would be a perfect father and caring husband, a man that she had not even been able to imagine in the full gear of a special ops operative screaming out orders until she had seen him do it. Christopher was a man with two sides, the very driven special agent and on the other hand the caring man any woman would dream about.

After Paris and Leroy Jethro Gibbs she had promised herself that she would never again fall for a fellow agent especially not a team member, it was too much of a risk. But with a man like Christopher, who could blame her for doing just that. She had for seen a future with him, a future that would never take place because of an arms dealer who doesn’t care who dies as long as he receives his money. She knew that it was a possibility in their job that one might die because of the kind of special ops that they worked and the danger that it brought with it. But it was always unexpected, especially after this morning when she had left him in her bed to receive the details for tonights’ stake out. She blocked the thoughts that entered her minds eye; Christopher and her, the last night they would ever spend together.

She watched her surroundings tried to figure out where they where going, but the darkness prevented her from seeing anything besides that they where in the middle of nowhere.

She shifted her position, carefully not to bump her left arm against the car seat, which she was supporting with her other arm. She watched the woman who was intensely gazing at the dusty sand road ahead. “Who are you?”

She quietly asked the woman barely above a whisper and when she didn’t get an answer she thought that the woman hadn’t heard the question and she was about to re-ask it when the woman started to speak. It took Jen a couple of minutes before she could understand what she said her accent was thick and she spoke softly. “Ziva David, Mossad.”

Jen sighed in relief if that was true then there might be a chance that she was not taken hostage and that she could potentially survive this. “You’re Mossad?” Jen questioned the woman, realizing what she had said and how wrong the woman could take her comment. She turned to the woman to the best of her abilities. “I didn’t mean it like that, what I wanted to ask was why was Mossad at the airport.” She couldn’t help but look at the woman and realize how young she seemed to be, but she knew that in Israel women as well as men would join the army at the age of eighteen. If she had joined Mossad right after the army she could be twenty, maybe twenty two at the max.

Ziva glanced at her but didn’t say a thing, there was an eerie silence for at least a couple of minutes before she looked at her again quickly before she averted her glance to the road again or what was supposed to be the road anyway. “Probably the same thing you where doing there with your team. Trying to prevent Hamas from receiving the weapons and explosives they so desperately need for their suicide bombings.” She said her voice had a thick accent, she blinked her eyes against the tears that where threatening to spill. She hardly ever showed her feelings and she would certainly not show them to a stranger. Even though she had been fighting Hamas since it happened, the bitterness about what had happened to Tali had not lessened, Tali had been one of the thousands of innocent victims.

“So you knew we were there?” Jen asked Ziva wondering why Mossad had not sought contact with the Anti Terrorism Task Force if they had known that they where working for the same cause. And frankly Jen was surprised that the ATTF apparently had no idea that Mossad was involved as well. They probably didn’t even know that Mossad knew what they where working on, evidently Mossad had better intel then the ATTF. But at the same time, Ziva had been caught in the same explosions and shootings as her team had been.

“Yes, we did.” She answered curtly. Her intel had told her a lot about the ATTF that was working in the area, Mossad was known for their intel, which was usually far more accurate then other agencies’ intel.

“Where are you taking me?”

“A safe house.” Again she received a curt answer from the dark haired woman. They reached a small town and drove through it, it only took them a couple of minutes.

“Where is the rest of your team, or was this a solo mission?” Jen asked, she was pretty sure that it couldn’t be a solo mission. It was to high profile to make it a solo mission and it would be too dangerous and irresponsible.

“We got separated.” Was all Ziva said.

They left the town behind them and disappeared into no man’s land. Another fifteen minutes later Ziva stopped the car in front of a barn. “Stay here, I will be back soon.” She got out of the car and opened the barn doors. Soon she came back, she parked the car inside the barn.