Galut 1/? (NCIS, Tony/Ziva, post-Aliyah)

[carrkicksdoor]

Author: carrkicksdoor 
Title: Galut
Rating: T
Fandom: NCIS
Pairings: Tony/Ziva, slight McGee/Abby
Summary: After Aliyah, NCIS has to help Ziva, because no one else will.
Author's Note: Galut means 'exile' in Hebrew.   And yes, each section begins with a piece from McGee's newest L.J. Tibbs novel.

Tommy had been in a mood for three weeks now, ever since they’d left Lisa in Tel Aviv. He said nothing, but every time McGregor looked over, Tommy was glaring at Lisa’s empty desk.

The director was hinting for Tibbs to get a probie to fill the spot, but it was going to take more than hints—it would take a direct order, repeated several times at increasing volume to replace Lisa.

Tommy was glaring at the desk when Tibbs came in, coffee in hand. “Isn’t it time you did your physical therapy exercises?” Tibbs said mildly.

Tommy rubbed his shoulder. His arm was newly out of the sling, but it was still paining him. McGregor had run an extension cord over to his desk so he could plug in a heating pad for the stiff muscles. “Already did, boss.”

***

Tony DiNozzo rolled his shoulder experimentally as he walked out into the hospital parking garage. The doctor had let him out of the sling with the provision that he took it easy on his shoulder and did his physical therapy exercises. Two more appointments over the next month, and Tony figured he’d be back to fighting form.

It ached now, though, after the doctor had manipulated it, and Tony was looking forward to a judicious application of the heating pad in his bottom desk drawer and a couple of Advil. The dull pain in his shoulder was a constant reminder of just how badly he’d screwed up and the nagging feeling that Ziva was no longer there in part because of his actions.

He couldn’t shake the feeling, though, that something else was wrong.

“Excuse me!” he heard a woman call from behind him. He plastered his most charming smile on his face as he turned around. The smooth tone he used reverted to a more appropriate one as he took in the woman trying to hurry towards him. Young and pregnant, she was huffing as she walked down the garage slope. As she got closer, he could see healed scar tissue along one side of her neck and up her face towards her ear. “You’re Tony DiNozzo, right?”

Suspicion crept in through the back of his mind, and a quick review through high school and college said he didn’t know anyone this young with a slight Russian accent. “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” she said. “Two weeks ago, a cargo ship was hijacked off the Somali coast. The ship was not carrying any weapons, but it was carrying a Mossad agent named Ziva David.”

Tony froze. “How do you know?”

“I have connections,” the woman said. “The pirates have ties to Al-Qaeda, and they will likely execute David when they manage to confirm that she is Mossad. The Mossad has written David off as a lost cause and is encouraging your government to force the Ethiopians to call in an airstrike on the training camp where she is being held north of Mogadishu. NCIS is all Ziva has. If you do not rescue her, no one will.”

“Who are you?” Tony asked, regretting that he’d left his weapon in his car. He wouldn’t shoot a pregnant woman, but he could scare her into coming to NCIS and getting some kind of verification on this information.

“I’ve taken a big risk coming to you,” she said. “I cannot reveal my identity.” She pulled a taser from her purse. “I’m sorry, Agent DiNozzo, but I can’t have you follow me. You should probably sit down so you don’t injure your shoulder further.”

Tony stared for a moment, before dashing for the relative safety behind the cars in the parking lot, but he was too late. Electricity ran through him and he fell to the ground, barely missing his bad shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, disconnecting the taser as he continued to twitch. She gently turned his head away from the downward slope before disappearing from his field of vision. A moment later, he heard a car start.

Son of a bitch, he thought, still twitching. If she’s right, Eli David is going to be a dead man.

***