United Under Fire

United We Stand

Jace felt like a phantom as he walked through the halls of Dam Neck, other sailors looked at him as if he might break. He had been speaking to a therapist again, discussing his faith in the brotherhood he had been a part of half his life. The Black Squadron half of Taskforce Arbiter was deploying to Germany, they were selected for the hunt for Bodner. He had been cleared for field duty after JAG interviewed him after the Watson case and his doctor gave him a clean bill of health.

Julian sat quietly as Ziva and Tony briefed the team, Director Vance pulled some strings with JSOC and managed to get Captain Dawes the green light.

"We'll meet with an Israeli intelligence operative," said Ziva. "Adam Eshel, I've known him for many years and trust him."

"We'll be operating in a heavily populated area," inserted Senior Chief Rider. "So naturally, we'll have the support of the GSG 9."

"Bodnar is most likely in the area to retrieve a cache of diamonds he has stashed there," continued Ziva. "He picked up this method from his — mentor."

That last word was spoken with poison and hatred, it was no secret that Ziva's father, the late Mossad director Eli David, was the one who taught Bodnar everything he knew. Jace recalled his failed attempt to keep the senior Israeli spook alive long enough until the ambulance arrived. He remembered the devastation on Ziva's face as she cradled her father's body. He knew what she was going through, Jace himself knew the living hell grief and anger could bring when in sync.

He didn't find out about his father's retaliation against Pedro Hernadez until the cartel shooter's equally vicious children came after them. Jace had sent Kathleen and the triplets to Walt and Zoey's while he stayed behind with his father, Grandfather, and Mike Franks. They were all ready to take on Paloma Reynosa and her brother Alejandro. He had looked the former in the eye after the corrupt foreign official had mistakenly shot his sister. Jace had watched as Alejandro was crammed into a squad car, anyone else would've felt a degree of sympathy given what had happened, but Julian only managed to retain enough self-control to avoid grabbing the cartel man's throat.

Ziva had the same look in her eyes as he did back then. This was her time, hers and Vance's.

. . .

Jace loaded up his gear, an HK416 with a 10.5-inch barrel, an MK25, and an MP7 for close-quarter engagements. This was meant to be a low-profile body snatch and the German government insisted on handling sniper support, despite this November Team was bringing along a cache of long-ranged weaponry.

This wasn't the first time Jace had worked with foreign counter-terrorism units; he had trained and done operations with the British SAS and SBS, Australian Commandos, and the French GIGN. But what made these endeavors so intense were the diplomatic relations at stake, a single error could tarnish ties between the U.S. and the host nation, not to mention impact the reputation of the Navy SEALs and the United States.

During the plane ride, Julian watched as Ziva went over the intel with Rider and Grey. Tony opted to stay with the other agents to handle Mossad they had their hands full with Israeli operatives working on U.S. soil.

"This is personal for her isn't it," inquired Hall. "She has that same look in her eye that you did when we were assigned to the Abbas raid."

"Bodnar killed her father and Director Vance's wife was killed in the crossfire."

"So in other words, we're not going home until we bring him in."

"I know that there's a lot of personal links to this," said Jace, stressing the importance of the operation. "But this guy has ex-Mossad operatives in the U.S. under his command."