Bound by Blood, Forged in Fire

The Chase

Ziva was going over the information about the traffickers, they primarily specialized in human trafficking, specifically women and children. She was all too familiar with these types from her time in Mossad, however, there was something particularly troubling about this group. They laundered their funds through a series of shell companies, but that was all there was no paper trail and they couldn't ID the dead combatants. They were essentially ghosts.

The Mossad officer was caught off guard by someone putting a hand on her shoulder. She stopped herself from reaching for her weapon once she saw who it was.

Jace.

He was holding two cups of coffee and had a folder tucked under his arms. "Thought you could use this."

"What did your new Intelligence Officers say about the syndicate?"

"Lieutenant Marrows said that her friends in ONI found nothing but," said Julian, reaching for the folder. "They identified the guys, their nobodies who fell off the grid a few years ago. Aside from that, they have no connections."

Lieutenant Megan Marrows was LT JG Ballard's replacement, transferred from the Office of Naval Intelligence. She served in the Navy Expeditionary Intelligence Command, specifically in an Intelligence Exploitation Teams and an Expeditionary Exploitation Unit.

"How do a group of random people become untraceable?" questioned Ziva, frustrated with the lack of patterns. "Who's pulling their cords?"

"It's 'pulling their strings."

Ziva only laughed, she and Jace spent their spare time going over American adages, metaphors, and the likes. Right now she could use a laugh.

"There's something else you should know, a twelve-man team of Guatemalan ex-Special Forces assaulted the taskforce's section in Columbia."

Ziva was shocked, she just noticed how sullen Jace seemed.

"Casualties?"

"Three dead, five in critical condition," Jace said, resting his head on his hands. "The others have already been told."

"Is it connected to our case?"

"Looks like it, the timing is too perfect."

Ziva noticed that Julian was trying to keep something contained. She recognized something about it.

"Did you know them?"

"Two of the deceased casualties were my friends from Team 3," said Jace, taking out a picture of him and two other men in tactical desert gear. "Chief Special Warfare Operator Ben Grayson and Lieutenant Hal Victors."

"I'm so sorry," Ziva said, not knowing what else to say.

"These guys aren't wannabes looking for a score," Jace said, with a glare in his eyes that was not dissimilar to his father's when chasing a particularly elusive suspect. "The hostages were a distraction, that's why they only used untrained cannon fodder while the real foot soldiers went for the other sector."

"Makes sense, Nicaragua has refrained from using military forces against local criminal enterprises," said Ziva, knowing where Jace was going. "Unlike Mexico and Colombia."

"The Marines and ODA will be handling further foreign internal defense operations. My platoon has been ordered to head to Colombia."

. . .

The ride to Colombia was quiet, it was evident that the SEALs and other Sailors were thinking about their fallen comrades. A handful of them, like Jace, were familiar with the departed. Gibbs and the rest of the NCIS team volunteered to go with them since the investigation fell under their jurisdiction.