Son of a Bitch – Prelude

Prelude

She couldn’t believe her luck. That this job, that was so beneath her, had handed her the one thing she had been dreaming of for 12 long years… revenge.

A mindless murder case, they were all mindless and insignificant, the victim this time wasn’t even a member of the military. A Navy wife.

These people did not understand what constituted a real loss. The effort put into solving a single murder when she had witnessed the murder of not just one person, but whole families, neighborhoods.

The deliberate and wanton attempt to wipe out a whole people.

She and McGee had been doing a house-to-house, she has been angry that the work had been left to them, the grunt work Tim called it with a smile on his boyish face.

He was so easy to manipulate, he had no right being out in the field, he was soft, lacked the killer instinct that this sort of position demanded, he would never have made it as an agent of Mossad.

No.

Then there was the fool DiNozzo, he was back at NCIS dealing with the husband, given the easy job, still Gibbs’ favorite, no matter how much she undermined him.

The man who had answered the door had been handsome enough, you may have even called him pretty, but he had a ruggedness and an edge that spiked her interest. The dark features so much like her own…

She had introduced herself, NCIS Agent Ziva David, showing him her identification, and shiny NCIS badge.

The Americans always showing off, at home, you only had to say you were Mossad and people were cooperative, very quickly.

He had identified himself, Petty Officer 1st Class Read Taylor.

She had started to question him, but he had quickly shaken his head and said he hadn’t been home.

But she had insisted on finishing her line of questioning, the Petty Officer had nodded at her absently and asked if she didn’t mind asking her questions while he packed.

Originally she had followed him inside because he was so attractive, her gut, Gibbs had told her to follow the particular internal organ, was telling her this man was not involved.

‘You are moving?’ she has asked.

‘No have a six-month deployment, so someone may as well have use of the place.’ Taylor’s smile was very pretty.

She had looked around the room, there wasn’t much in the way of stuff that American’s usually collected, their little knick-knacks, and there had been a lot of books, which he was currently putting into boxes.

She had watched as he occasionally put one on the coffee table, next to what looked like his duffle bag.

The man was poetry in motion, she had never understood that term, but could now.

She finished asking her generic questions while looking round. On the coffee table next to the books was an iPad, she had pushed the button, it was locked. The screen photo had made her start, a small sound escaped her lips.

Taylor had turned around, ‘You won’t find your murder on my iPad.’

She had shaken her head, ‘No… I…’

She had picked up the device, pushing the button again, ‘Your mother?’

He had nodded his reply.

‘She is very beautiful.’ Was all she could think to say, her mind going in a million different directions.

‘Yes, she was.’ A short terse reply.

‘She is dead?’ The question had been blunt, and fury had swirled in her heart, of an opportunity lost.

‘Cancer, four months ago.’

She had managed to stammer out her condolences and thanked him for his time.

Closing the front door behind her Ziva walked slowly down the path, the need for the revenge she still craved was just as strong.

This Petty Officer’s mother, she was sure was Aziza Jarra a daughter of Abed Jarra. She knew all the Jarra family, all of them.

The Jarra folder at Mossad was very comprehensive, every scrap of information, every photo was included in that file, and Ziva had every piece of paper, and photo committed to memory.

Abed Jarra had been Hezbollah, but his eldest son, his brothers, and nephews had joined Hamas.

His nephew Baseer Jarra, he had been the suicide bomber who had killed her sister.

And now she knew where the grandson of Abed Jarra was, he was within arm’s length, and all she had to do was turn around walk back to the door, knock, pull her gun and shoot.

Ziva paused mid-stride, a slight hesitation, no she thought, no there would be a better way.

Seeing McGee waiting by the van, she walked towards him, a bored expression on her face.

All she had to do was delay Taylor deployment long enough to get in contact with her father. Once she told him who she had found, he would listen to her, send a Kidon team.

She would kill two birds with one rock.

Avenge her sister’s death, and her father would welcome her back into the family.