How To Relate: Chapter 16
Title: How To Relate
Author: justhowthisgoes
Rating: T
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family
Pairing: None
Summary: Tony's been getting threatening letters and the team is worried, but Tony isn't taking them seriously. Then come the attempts on his life. Could the new girl at NCIS be involved? And will a secret from Tony's past be revealed in the search?
Warnings: Spoilers up to season 7
Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even Tony. *pouts*
Chapter 16
Means To An End
McGee had returned with Gibbs and the team sat in the bullpen awaiting Tony's explanation. Meanwhile, the facial recognition software had been left running in the background. It came to a stop and now blinked its match across the plasma screen.
Tony gave a weary sigh and gestured at the screen. "Vincent Giordani, aka 'Vinnie the Punisher'. Ten years ago he was a high-level enforcer for Mike Macaluso. He's your typical thug: big, dumb, and mean. He's got an itchy trigger finger, but he prefers his fists. He was my in."
"I thought all of Macaluso's guys got taken down about the same time he did. How'd he get out?" McGee asked.
"Simple. He was never in. Vinnie disappeared soon after Macaluso was arrested. Presumed dead."
"Presumed?" Ziva puzzled, knitting her brow. "Did they have any proof?"
"Well, the FBI had been after him with a deal to witness, and then when he went missing most people just figured he took a long walk off a short pier wearing cement shoes. Same as what happens to most stool pigeons." Tony shrugged.
"Well, he's obviously alive and well. Any idea why he would be after you?" Gibbs asked.
"I don't know Boss. Why is anyone after me? Take a shot in the dark. You'll probably hit something accurate." Tony grinned.
Gibbs didn't. "Tony."
Tony sighed, his put-on joviality fading. "Well, infiltrating the mafia is all kinds of risky. Getting in is dangerous enough, but then you turn around and put them away, betray them, in a sense, after they've taken you in like famiglia. They don't generally take it too well."
"But ten years seems like a long time to go, holding a grudge and not acting on it," Ziva put in.
"Yeah." Tony looked thoughtful. "I wonder what old Vinnie's been up to. Huh. Maybe the FBI got to him after all."
"Well, why wouldn't he be in your old case files Tony?" McGee asked.
"I don't know." Tony shrugged. "I would guess some kind of mix-up. Or he could've been legally declared dead. Or-"
"Or maybe because," came a voice from behind them, "his files were sealed."
The team turned to see FBI Agent Tobias Fornell emerge out of the elevator, closely followed by Agent Ron Sacks, Tony's sometime nemesis.
"Toby, Ronnie, long time no see." Tony breezed with forced cheeriness. "And what brings the big bad Bureau of Investigation all the way down to little old NCIS? Or do I already know?"
Fornell didn't acknowledge him, instead turning to Gibbs. "I think we need to talk Jethro."
"Conference room." Gibbs stated curtly before striding for the elevator, Fornell right behind him.
Agent Sacks, looking extremely annoyed to be left standing there with no explanation, muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously as though he were insinuating that the departing agents' respective parents had not been married at the time of their births.
A slow, devious grin spread across Tony's face. "So, Agent Slacks," he began.
"For the last time it's Sacks!" Sacks spit out. "Not Slacks!"
Tony waved his hand in dismissal. "Whatever, Slacks. Anyway, since you brought it up, I assume you've seen the new Quentin Tarantino film? No? What are you more into, Harry Potter? I got to admit though; the latest one was pretty good. Lots of sequels and continuations this year: Twilight, Ice Age, Transformers, Night at the Museum, even The DaVinci Code, although Angels and Demons was more of a prequel, really-"
Sacks folded his arms and let out an exasperated huff as Tony rambled on loudly, clearly trying-and succeeding-at getting on the FBI agent's nerves.
"-and I thought that Star Trek was pretty good, although I have to admit I was a little thrown at first by the alternate universe thing. Definitely wasn't expecting that-"The moment the doors to the elevator closed, Gibbs pulled the emergency switch and then proceeded to glower at Fornell as the car powered down and came to a stop.
"Well?" he demanded.
"Well?" Fornell replied, affecting innocence.
"Dammit, Fornell! You came to me. Now, if you know something about the guy who's trying to kill DiNozzo, then you'd better-"
"Whoa, slow down Jethro. I'm only here because your people ran a search on Giordani and the Bureau wants to know why. He tried to kill DiNutso?" Fornell looked perplexed and, to his credit, slightly concerned.
"No, Tobias. I just said it to hear myself talk!" Gibbs growled.
Fornell raised his eyebrows with a half grin. "And people say you have no sense of humor."
Gibbs just glared. "Can it Tobias. We now believe he's kidnapped a civilian. Tony's half-sister."
Fornell blinked in astonishment at this revelation for a second before Gibbs grew impatient and spoke up again.
"What's the FBI's interest in him?"
"He's been in the Witness Protection Program for the past 10 years. Left the program less than a month ago."
"Well what the hell is he doing going after my agent?" Gibbs barked.
"I don't know."
Gibbs fixed him with an icy stare.
"Don't look at me like that, Jethro," Fornell protested. "I honestly haven't got a clue. I had nothing to do with the Macaluso case back then. I heard about it, sure; everyone in the Bureau did. It was big. And I knew that DiNutso was involved. But I can't think of why Vincent Giordani would be after him, especially after all this time. Giordani was one of Macaluso's top guys, until apparently he rolled over on him and got some kind of deal."
"Yeah, I'll say some kinda deal. No jail time and Witness Protection. How did he score that one?" Gibbs challenged angrily.
"Jethro, I can't tell you the details of the case." Fornell began.
"Dammit, Tobias!" Gibbs interrupted. "Are you gonna make me say please?"
"I can't tell you," Fornell continued tolerantly, "because I don't know myself. Like I said before, it's sealed. The whole Macaluso case."
"The whole case? Why?" Gibbs sighed in frustration. "Never mind. Doesn't matter right now. Where is he?"
"Well, when a witness decides to leave the program, we can't do anything about it, but-"
"Don't give me any of that bull Tobias. I know you. You would've kept tabs on him."
"-but I had my suspicions about Giordani keeping his nose clean for this long, so I do have his last known address." Fornell grinned and pulled out a file. "Always be prepared."
Gibbs made as if to grab the file. "Didn't know you were such a Boy Scout, Fornell. Hand it over."
Fornell held it slightly out of reach. "The house is out in Frederick. Giordani would have to have crossed state lines. And his only involvement with the Navy is DiNozzo, which isn't the most solid link. So technically…"
Gibbs growled impatiently, holding out his hand. "Do I look like I care about the credit, Tobias? I just want this guy taken down! Joint jurisdiction."
Fornell smiled as he relinquished the vital information. "You read my mind."Ziva, McGee, and Abby watched the scene in front of them in amusement. Tony had managed to pull an initially reluctant Agent Sacks into a debate about the finer points of time travel in film.
"-yeah, but he changed the time stream, and, in fact, created an alternate universe, or at least an alternate timeline. I mean, when he gets back to 1985, he has changed things quite a bit." Tony pointed out.
"But not anything vital," Sacks argued. "And if you go by the Novikov self-consistency principle, the laws of nature won't allow the time traveler to do anything that could later result in their time travel not occurring. I still maintain that Marty couldn't have kept his parents apart."
"All right, I get that, but what you're saying would actually be more of a causality loop, which it's not, because we know he wasn't actually in the past the first time around, at least not in the original timeline. Although, had the grandfather paradox come into play, it might've-" Tony broke off when he saw Gibbs and Fornell exit the elevator.
"Boss?" he inquired anxiously.
"Ziva, McGee, gear up," Gibbs announced.
At the same time Fornell spoke up. "Let's go, Sacks."
Tony stood as his teammates began gathering their gear.
"What about me, Boss?" he questioned. The sinking feeling that he wasn't going to be allowed to come along was confirmed by Gibbs' next words.
"Did I say you, DiNozzo? You shouldn't even be here." Gibbs' concern for his senior field agent came through in the way it usually did, loud and gruff. "And if you ever try a stunt like this morning again, McGee has my official permission to handcuff you."
Tony shot a look at McGee, who raised his hands defensively in a universal 'I-have-no-idea-how-he-knows-about-that-because-I-certainly-didn't-tell-him' gesture.
Tony turned back to Gibbs, the dismay clearly written on his face. "But Boss," he protested, "I have to come. I-"
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked. He sighed, then began in a slightly softer tone. "Tony, you're still concussed, you look like hell, and above all you're just too damn close to this."
Tony opened his mouth to argue again, but Gibbs cut him off.
"You're not coming. That's an order, DiNozzo. Call me if Abby finds anything else."
Tony slumped in his chair and fumed silently as the rest of the MCRT plus FBI walked out. Sacks shot him a somewhat arrogant smirk, while Ziva and McGee sported rather sympathetic looks.
He waited until the team had left before picking up his Mighty Mouse stapler and chucking it halfway across the squad room where it hit the wall with a thump. Not satisfied, he shoved a stack of papers off of his desk and brought his fists down hard, barely noticing the pang in his wrist.
A quiet gasp came from behind him and he turned.
Abby. He had forgotten she was still there. She looked shocked for a brief second at his uncharacteristic show of temper before immediately wrapping him in her arms.
He exhaled, his anger spent, leaving only worry and fear in its place. "Dammit!" he whispered, running slightly shaking hands through his hair.
"It's ok, Tony," Abby soothed, still holding him tightly. "Shh, it's gonna be ok."A soft beep interrupted the relative silence as the car sped along the long gravel road. Ziva glanced over at McGee when, ten seconds later, another beep sounded.
"What the hell is that?" Gibbs asked crossly.
"Er, that's the sound my PDA makes when it goes in or out of a service area." McGee answered. "I guess the coverage in this area is kind of spotty."
As if in reaction to his words, the PDA beeped again.
"Well, shut it off!" Gibbs replied, pushing his foot further down on the accelerator as if the team needed a reminder of his foul mood.
"Got it, Boss." McGee hurried to obey.Tony anxiously paced the length of the forensic lab while Abby studied him around her computer with concerned eyes.
"What could be taking so long?" he burst out suddenly.
"Tony, they've only been gone half an hour," Abby told him patiently. "Even with Gibbs driving they probably wouldn't be there yet."
Tony sighed. "Yeah, you're right."
"Maybe if Ziva was driving," Abby teased, trying to get a smile out of him.
It didn't work.
Abby bit her lip. "Tony," she began, before being cut off by a loud insistent beep from the machine in front of her. She turned her attention to the screen and quickly read what was there, then jumped into the air with a whoop of discovery.
Tony was at her side in a flash. "What is it Abbs? What'd you find?"
She grinned at him, elated. "Well, you remember those fibers from the SUV?"
"Sure."
"And remember I figured out that they could have come from any of almost a dozen abandoned factories in the area."
"Uh-huh."
"And then I was going to try to narrow them down by finding which factories used that specific chemical compound."
"Right, right." Tony nodded, growing impatient.
"Well, it turns out that didn't actually help much. The compound on the fibers happens to be the most common cogener of PCB that was manufactured in the eastern US since 1920. Eight of the eleven factories in question used it. Of the other three, two used an almost identical compound from a different manufacturer, and the last used a compound from a European manufacturer. Of course back then we didn't use as many foreign imports as we do now, so that isn't really surprising, but-"
Tony had to resist the unfamiliar urge to headslap Abby at this drawn-out explanation.
"Abby." He made his voice very calm and authoritative. "What. Is. The. Point?"
"Wow, look at you, getting all Gibbs on me." Abby looked impressed.
He groaned. "Abby!"
"Right, sorry. The point is that when I looked at these factories before, we had no idea who we were looking for. Now we do. So I searched for Vincent Giordani's name in relation to any of those factories, and I found a connection. His family used to own one before they were shut down. How much do you wanna bet that that's where he's hiding?"
She pointed at the address on the screen, and then gave a small squeak of surprise when Tony suddenly seized her in a bear hug of an intensity to rival her own, lifting her slightly off her feet.
"I love you, Abbs." He punctuated this with a kiss on her forehead before he set her down and rushed out of the lab, his phone already out and calling speed-dial 1.
Abby smiled after him. "You'd better!"
...
Chapter 17
Author: justhowthisgoes
Rating: T
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family
Pairing: None
Summary: Tony's been getting threatening letters and the team is worried, but Tony isn't taking them seriously. Then come the attempts on his life. Could the new girl at NCIS be involved? And will a secret from Tony's past be revealed in the search?
Warnings: Spoilers up to season 7
Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even Tony. *pouts*
Chapter 16
Means To An End
McGee had returned with Gibbs and the team sat in the bullpen awaiting Tony's explanation. Meanwhile, the facial recognition software had been left running in the background. It came to a stop and now blinked its match across the plasma screen.
Tony gave a weary sigh and gestured at the screen. "Vincent Giordani, aka 'Vinnie the Punisher'. Ten years ago he was a high-level enforcer for Mike Macaluso. He's your typical thug: big, dumb, and mean. He's got an itchy trigger finger, but he prefers his fists. He was my in."
"I thought all of Macaluso's guys got taken down about the same time he did. How'd he get out?" McGee asked.
"Simple. He was never in. Vinnie disappeared soon after Macaluso was arrested. Presumed dead."
"Presumed?" Ziva puzzled, knitting her brow. "Did they have any proof?"
"Well, the FBI had been after him with a deal to witness, and then when he went missing most people just figured he took a long walk off a short pier wearing cement shoes. Same as what happens to most stool pigeons." Tony shrugged.
"Well, he's obviously alive and well. Any idea why he would be after you?" Gibbs asked.
"I don't know Boss. Why is anyone after me? Take a shot in the dark. You'll probably hit something accurate." Tony grinned.
Gibbs didn't. "Tony."
Tony sighed, his put-on joviality fading. "Well, infiltrating the mafia is all kinds of risky. Getting in is dangerous enough, but then you turn around and put them away, betray them, in a sense, after they've taken you in like famiglia. They don't generally take it too well."
"But ten years seems like a long time to go, holding a grudge and not acting on it," Ziva put in.
"Yeah." Tony looked thoughtful. "I wonder what old Vinnie's been up to. Huh. Maybe the FBI got to him after all."
"Well, why wouldn't he be in your old case files Tony?" McGee asked.
"I don't know." Tony shrugged. "I would guess some kind of mix-up. Or he could've been legally declared dead. Or-"
"Or maybe because," came a voice from behind them, "his files were sealed."
The team turned to see FBI Agent Tobias Fornell emerge out of the elevator, closely followed by Agent Ron Sacks, Tony's sometime nemesis.
"Toby, Ronnie, long time no see." Tony breezed with forced cheeriness. "And what brings the big bad Bureau of Investigation all the way down to little old NCIS? Or do I already know?"
Fornell didn't acknowledge him, instead turning to Gibbs. "I think we need to talk Jethro."
"Conference room." Gibbs stated curtly before striding for the elevator, Fornell right behind him.
Agent Sacks, looking extremely annoyed to be left standing there with no explanation, muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously as though he were insinuating that the departing agents' respective parents had not been married at the time of their births.
A slow, devious grin spread across Tony's face. "So, Agent Slacks," he began.
"For the last time it's Sacks!" Sacks spit out. "Not Slacks!"
Tony waved his hand in dismissal. "Whatever, Slacks. Anyway, since you brought it up, I assume you've seen the new Quentin Tarantino film? No? What are you more into, Harry Potter? I got to admit though; the latest one was pretty good. Lots of sequels and continuations this year: Twilight, Ice Age, Transformers, Night at the Museum, even The DaVinci Code, although Angels and Demons was more of a prequel, really-"
Sacks folded his arms and let out an exasperated huff as Tony rambled on loudly, clearly trying-and succeeding-at getting on the FBI agent's nerves.
"-and I thought that Star Trek was pretty good, although I have to admit I was a little thrown at first by the alternate universe thing. Definitely wasn't expecting that-"The moment the doors to the elevator closed, Gibbs pulled the emergency switch and then proceeded to glower at Fornell as the car powered down and came to a stop.
"Well?" he demanded.
"Well?" Fornell replied, affecting innocence.
"Dammit, Fornell! You came to me. Now, if you know something about the guy who's trying to kill DiNozzo, then you'd better-"
"Whoa, slow down Jethro. I'm only here because your people ran a search on Giordani and the Bureau wants to know why. He tried to kill DiNutso?" Fornell looked perplexed and, to his credit, slightly concerned.
"No, Tobias. I just said it to hear myself talk!" Gibbs growled.
Fornell raised his eyebrows with a half grin. "And people say you have no sense of humor."
Gibbs just glared. "Can it Tobias. We now believe he's kidnapped a civilian. Tony's half-sister."
Fornell blinked in astonishment at this revelation for a second before Gibbs grew impatient and spoke up again.
"What's the FBI's interest in him?"
"He's been in the Witness Protection Program for the past 10 years. Left the program less than a month ago."
"Well what the hell is he doing going after my agent?" Gibbs barked.
"I don't know."
Gibbs fixed him with an icy stare.
"Don't look at me like that, Jethro," Fornell protested. "I honestly haven't got a clue. I had nothing to do with the Macaluso case back then. I heard about it, sure; everyone in the Bureau did. It was big. And I knew that DiNutso was involved. But I can't think of why Vincent Giordani would be after him, especially after all this time. Giordani was one of Macaluso's top guys, until apparently he rolled over on him and got some kind of deal."
"Yeah, I'll say some kinda deal. No jail time and Witness Protection. How did he score that one?" Gibbs challenged angrily.
"Jethro, I can't tell you the details of the case." Fornell began.
"Dammit, Tobias!" Gibbs interrupted. "Are you gonna make me say please?"
"I can't tell you," Fornell continued tolerantly, "because I don't know myself. Like I said before, it's sealed. The whole Macaluso case."
"The whole case? Why?" Gibbs sighed in frustration. "Never mind. Doesn't matter right now. Where is he?"
"Well, when a witness decides to leave the program, we can't do anything about it, but-"
"Don't give me any of that bull Tobias. I know you. You would've kept tabs on him."
"-but I had my suspicions about Giordani keeping his nose clean for this long, so I do have his last known address." Fornell grinned and pulled out a file. "Always be prepared."
Gibbs made as if to grab the file. "Didn't know you were such a Boy Scout, Fornell. Hand it over."
Fornell held it slightly out of reach. "The house is out in Frederick. Giordani would have to have crossed state lines. And his only involvement with the Navy is DiNozzo, which isn't the most solid link. So technically…"
Gibbs growled impatiently, holding out his hand. "Do I look like I care about the credit, Tobias? I just want this guy taken down! Joint jurisdiction."
Fornell smiled as he relinquished the vital information. "You read my mind."Ziva, McGee, and Abby watched the scene in front of them in amusement. Tony had managed to pull an initially reluctant Agent Sacks into a debate about the finer points of time travel in film.
"-yeah, but he changed the time stream, and, in fact, created an alternate universe, or at least an alternate timeline. I mean, when he gets back to 1985, he has changed things quite a bit." Tony pointed out.
"But not anything vital," Sacks argued. "And if you go by the Novikov self-consistency principle, the laws of nature won't allow the time traveler to do anything that could later result in their time travel not occurring. I still maintain that Marty couldn't have kept his parents apart."
"All right, I get that, but what you're saying would actually be more of a causality loop, which it's not, because we know he wasn't actually in the past the first time around, at least not in the original timeline. Although, had the grandfather paradox come into play, it might've-" Tony broke off when he saw Gibbs and Fornell exit the elevator.
"Boss?" he inquired anxiously.
"Ziva, McGee, gear up," Gibbs announced.
At the same time Fornell spoke up. "Let's go, Sacks."
Tony stood as his teammates began gathering their gear.
"What about me, Boss?" he questioned. The sinking feeling that he wasn't going to be allowed to come along was confirmed by Gibbs' next words.
"Did I say you, DiNozzo? You shouldn't even be here." Gibbs' concern for his senior field agent came through in the way it usually did, loud and gruff. "And if you ever try a stunt like this morning again, McGee has my official permission to handcuff you."
Tony shot a look at McGee, who raised his hands defensively in a universal 'I-have-no-idea-how-he-knows-about-that-because-I-certainly-didn't-tell-him' gesture.
Tony turned back to Gibbs, the dismay clearly written on his face. "But Boss," he protested, "I have to come. I-"
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked. He sighed, then began in a slightly softer tone. "Tony, you're still concussed, you look like hell, and above all you're just too damn close to this."
Tony opened his mouth to argue again, but Gibbs cut him off.
"You're not coming. That's an order, DiNozzo. Call me if Abby finds anything else."
Tony slumped in his chair and fumed silently as the rest of the MCRT plus FBI walked out. Sacks shot him a somewhat arrogant smirk, while Ziva and McGee sported rather sympathetic looks.
He waited until the team had left before picking up his Mighty Mouse stapler and chucking it halfway across the squad room where it hit the wall with a thump. Not satisfied, he shoved a stack of papers off of his desk and brought his fists down hard, barely noticing the pang in his wrist.
A quiet gasp came from behind him and he turned.
Abby. He had forgotten she was still there. She looked shocked for a brief second at his uncharacteristic show of temper before immediately wrapping him in her arms.
He exhaled, his anger spent, leaving only worry and fear in its place. "Dammit!" he whispered, running slightly shaking hands through his hair.
"It's ok, Tony," Abby soothed, still holding him tightly. "Shh, it's gonna be ok."A soft beep interrupted the relative silence as the car sped along the long gravel road. Ziva glanced over at McGee when, ten seconds later, another beep sounded.
"What the hell is that?" Gibbs asked crossly.
"Er, that's the sound my PDA makes when it goes in or out of a service area." McGee answered. "I guess the coverage in this area is kind of spotty."
As if in reaction to his words, the PDA beeped again.
"Well, shut it off!" Gibbs replied, pushing his foot further down on the accelerator as if the team needed a reminder of his foul mood.
"Got it, Boss." McGee hurried to obey.Tony anxiously paced the length of the forensic lab while Abby studied him around her computer with concerned eyes.
"What could be taking so long?" he burst out suddenly.
"Tony, they've only been gone half an hour," Abby told him patiently. "Even with Gibbs driving they probably wouldn't be there yet."
Tony sighed. "Yeah, you're right."
"Maybe if Ziva was driving," Abby teased, trying to get a smile out of him.
It didn't work.
Abby bit her lip. "Tony," she began, before being cut off by a loud insistent beep from the machine in front of her. She turned her attention to the screen and quickly read what was there, then jumped into the air with a whoop of discovery.
Tony was at her side in a flash. "What is it Abbs? What'd you find?"
She grinned at him, elated. "Well, you remember those fibers from the SUV?"
"Sure."
"And remember I figured out that they could have come from any of almost a dozen abandoned factories in the area."
"Uh-huh."
"And then I was going to try to narrow them down by finding which factories used that specific chemical compound."
"Right, right." Tony nodded, growing impatient.
"Well, it turns out that didn't actually help much. The compound on the fibers happens to be the most common cogener of PCB that was manufactured in the eastern US since 1920. Eight of the eleven factories in question used it. Of the other three, two used an almost identical compound from a different manufacturer, and the last used a compound from a European manufacturer. Of course back then we didn't use as many foreign imports as we do now, so that isn't really surprising, but-"
Tony had to resist the unfamiliar urge to headslap Abby at this drawn-out explanation.
"Abby." He made his voice very calm and authoritative. "What. Is. The. Point?"
"Wow, look at you, getting all Gibbs on me." Abby looked impressed.
He groaned. "Abby!"
"Right, sorry. The point is that when I looked at these factories before, we had no idea who we were looking for. Now we do. So I searched for Vincent Giordani's name in relation to any of those factories, and I found a connection. His family used to own one before they were shut down. How much do you wanna bet that that's where he's hiding?"
She pointed at the address on the screen, and then gave a small squeak of surprise when Tony suddenly seized her in a bear hug of an intensity to rival her own, lifting her slightly off her feet.
"I love you, Abbs." He punctuated this with a kiss on her forehead before he set her down and rushed out of the lab, his phone already out and calling speed-dial 1.
Abby smiled after him. "You'd better!"
...
Chapter 17