CHAPTER X: Surveillance
Before returning to his desk, DiNozzo went down to the motor pool to arrange for a surveillance car later in the day. Pocketing the key, he went back to the bull pen. For the rest of the day, the three agents were occupied studying or writing reports, making and receiving telephone calls. Whenever Officer David stepped away from her desk, the two men went into frenzied activity. Sometimes she took her cell phone with her, but when she didn't, McGee grabbed it to make some minor modifications.
Thus it was that, when her cell rang late in the afternoon, they were able to pick up a conversation she was having with someone whose location McGee was able to locate at the warehouse. The conversation was conducted in Hebrew, but McGee had had an inspiration, and it was patched through to the translation section of the agency, so that both he and DiNozzo were able to listen through their headphones with avid interest while David set up a meet with the man whom she called Avram.
The meet was scheduled for 5:00 p.m.; because, Avram told David, the "package" was going to be picked up around 5:30. He told her to be in the neighborhood around 5:00, parked on one of the streets leading away from the warehouse, so that he could say goodbye to her in person. He wasn't expecting to return to the U.S. any time soon after his caper went down.
At 4:30 DiNozzo advised the other agents that they could leave any time they wanted to. He went down to pick up his car in the employee lot, but he drove it around to the agency vehicle compound, parking it in a dark corner. Then he picked up the surveillance car, sitting in it with the motor running just inside the compound gate.
He had barely got into position when McGee's voice came through his earwig. "She's on her way out."
DiNozzo watched as David got in her car and left the parking area. Slowly, he eased the surveillance car in behind her and began tailing her. She made a few turns that ordinarily would have led her in the opposite direction of the warehouse, but finally, apparently deciding that she wasn't being tailed, she headed straight for it.
Eventually, she reached the warehouse and parked where Avram had told her to. DiNozzo eased the surveillance vehicle into a parking spot a block away.
"You behind me?" he spoke into his microphone.
"I see you," McGee replied. "I'm going to cross the intersection in front of you and go around the block so I can park about a block and a half behind Ziva."
"Good." DiNozzo flipped on the com device Delbart had given him. "You guys ready?" he asked.
"Everybody's in position," Delbart informed him.
"Don't let anybody move until I give the command," DiNozzo ordered. He checked with McGee to make sure the Hebrew translator at headquarters was ready.
At a minute before 5:00 the front door of the warehouse opened, and a man stepped out, looking around as if checking the vicinity. Then he let himself out through the gate in the fence and walked toward David's car. Once he was in the passenger seat, those listening in heard the sound of a passionate kiss along with some small moans.
"Avram!" David said. Then she continued with the voice of the translator speaking over hers. "Is everything all right?"
"Everything is fine," replied Avram. "Your colleagues have no idea what is going on?"
"As far as I can tell," Ziva said, "they think they're still just working on three murders."
"Good."
Ziva went on, "I still don't know why you had to kill those people."
"I told you," Avram said in a patient voice. "First of all, it's a distraction. So the Americans won't notice this operation until it's too late. They are so smug. They think they're being so secure. They will be learning a lesson from this. There is no protection against those who act with zeal and passion and purpose."
Ziva had still other questions. "But this weapon is going to our nation to begin with. Why is it necessary for us to steal it? And what is going to happen to Professor Bennett? Why did you have to kidnap her?"
"The current government of Israel is—how do you say it?—‘chicken.' They are intent on compromise with our enemies. They will never use this weapon. Only we patriots can provide sufficient protection against the Palestinians. Once we have the weapon, we will be in control. And as for the professor, if what you tell me is true, she can see too much. Once we're safely away with the weapon, we will release her unharmed."
DiNozzo didn't believe that for a moment, but apparently Ziva did. He watched as the two heads in David's car came together, and the listeners heard another kiss. "All right," she sighed. DiNozzo was puzzled. What had happened to the self-assured, competent woman Ziva was at NCIS? This David sounded like a moon-struck teenager.
"Now are you ready?" Avram asked. "I must go." The sound of another kiss. "You know where the rendez-vous is? Good. I will wait until I hear from you that you are ready to meet me."
With that Avram stepped from David's car and returned to the warehouse.
Those surrounding the warehouse waited for several minutes until two unmarked vans pulled up to the gate in the fence surrounding the warehouse. They were expected; the gate swing open, and the two vans pulled into the yard. One of them parked with the cargo end in front of the warehouse door. The driver got out and pulled down a ramp. The warehouse door opened, and both drivers entered.
Outside, among those who waited and watched, tension began to build. Various officers checked their weapons one last time. Cell phones and walkie-talkies were silent.
Suddenly, the warehouse door flew open and people began running out. Shots rang out.
"Move! Move!" DiNozzo shouted into his com.
He saw that Ziva had started to move as well.
"McGee!" he yelled.
"I see her, boss," McGee responded.
DiNozzo set his car in motion almost before David did. She didn't even get to the end of the block before he pulled in front of her, blocking the way. Right behind him, McGee had pulled up to block her from backing up. Both men were out of their cars.
"Get out of the car, Ziva, and drop your weapon," DiNozzo ordered, using his vehicle as a shield.
She hesitated, with her head cocked to one side, apparently taking in the sound of many sirens and the sight of numerous marked and unmarked cars converging on the warehouse. She threw her pistol out the window, slowly opened the door, and got out.
"Put your hands up and kick the gun over to McGee," DiNozzo told her. She did so.
As McGee picked up her weapon, DiNozzo said to him, "Get her cuffed and get someone over here to transport her back to headquarters. Oh, and you might want to call the director and let her know what's going on. Tell her I want to do this interrogation myself."
Leaving McGee with the traitorous Mossad agent, DiNozzo ran toward the warehouse. There he fought his way through the chaos, his right to be there being challenged at least three times before Delbart found him.
"We've got four dead," Delbart reported, trailing behind DiNozzo, who was moving frantically through the first floor searching for Professor Bennett. "We don't know who's who yet."
"What set this off?" DiNozzo asked.
"Not sure right now," Delbart replied. "But somebody in here got suspicious and pulled out a gun. We're still rounding everybody up, but I think we've got the situation under control for now."
By now DiNozzo was running up the stairs, but, searching quickly through the second floor, he found no professor.
Running back down the stairs, DiNozzo shouted out, "Has anyone seen a short, plump older woman?" No one answered. DiNozzo continued to search until Delbart finally caught up with him.
"None of the people in the warehouse remembers seeing the professor," he told Tony. "But the guy called Avram and one other Israeli have disappeared too."
Author's Chapter Notes:
DiNozzo solves a mystery the old-fashioned way.