Exacerbate

Eli cursed under his breath as he hung up on the monthly conference call with Director Vance.

“Someone get me Ziva on the line.” He bellowed. He’d thought it had been bad when he’d noticed that Ziva was sending through a lot more information than she should be. He’d been concerned about the operation then, but now Ziva had exacerbated it.

Vance had given no indication that they’d uncovered Ziva’s treachery and knew she was passing information back home. However, he had mentioned some very troubling behaviors that if Ziva didn’t get a handle on them would lead to the discovery of Ziva’s treachery as people started paying more attention to just what she was actually doing.

Vance had said it so off handedly as to barely even be a hint, but Eli had been at this game for years and could read between the lines. When Vance mentioned that there were rumors that Ziva was leaving her post unattended during normal business hours, Eli knew that meant that she had already been called out on being absent when she should have been at work.

As the operation was her sole task there would be no reason for her to be absent from work, which was suspicious in and of itself to Eli, but the way Vance said it made it sound like this wasn’t the first time and that it was already almost a pattern. Eli knew Vance was doing him a favor even passing the rumor along as Vance would be well within his rights to terminate the position without giving Ziva or Eli a chance to fix it.

Finally, one of his aides came in with a line to Ziva. “What do you think you’re doing, Ziva? Are you trying to jeopardize this operation?”

“What are you talking about? I’m completing the operation faster than expected.” Ziva responded haughtily.

“And leaving a trail a mile wide that any idiot could find if they looked. So far you’ve gotten lucky that NCIS doesn’t seem to have noticed. You need to back off. There’s a reason we planned for the information to be transferred so slowly.” Eli explained in a soft, but powerful voice with a hint of command in it.

“Yes, father.” Ziva sighed petulantly.

“And what’s this I hear about you randomly missing work? Are you trying to get caught? Don’t draw attention to yourself. Any attention will just make it more likely that they’ll discover what you’re doing. Shape up! Go back and pretend to be a good NCIS agent and follow orders. Stop randomly vanishing and behaving like the work is beneath you. That will only get you noticed.” Eli yelled.

“But, father.” Ziva started.

“No buts, Ziva. Fix it!” Eli demanded.

“But.” Ziva tried again, but Eli had already hung up the connection. He wasn’t interested in whatever explanation she had. The fact was she was messing up the operation and now he’d have to send someone else out there to make sure the operation didn’t get entirely screwed up.

He’d have to carefully consider his operatives and who would be the best to balance out Ziva’s reckless nature. Pulling up the operatives nearby or currently available to leave for the US immediately, Eli started combing through them to find the perfect fit. As he read through the names and remembered their skills, his finger stopped on one name in particular.

“Yes, he would do nicely.” Eli thought to himself. If he remembered correctly, there was some history with Ziva which would make him the perfect choice for this operation. Eli called for Rivkin, so that he could brief him about what was going on before sending him to the US.