Chapter 17
Gibbs and Tony were on their way back to NCIS, stopping only briefly for a quick lunch and a coffee refill. Once they got back on the road Tony immediately took out his Ipod, settled back and watched out the car window as the scenery sped by. As he drove, Gibbs snuck glances at Tony out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge his mood.
Tony seemed calm and relaxed as he stared out the window, but Gibbs knew that appearances could be deceiving.
“Damn Tony and his masks” thought Gibbs. He knew that if he could just get a look into Tony’s eyes, he’d be able to tell how he was really feeling. He just sighed to himself; knowing that they would soon be approaching the Navy Yard, Gibbs didn’t want to start something that he wouldn’t be able to finish.
As they got closer to NCIS, Tony put away his Ipod and got out his cell phone. At Gibbs questioning look, Tony raised an eyebrow as he said “Just going to call McGee to help with the boxes.”
As Gibbs gave a nod of approval, Tony called McGee.
“Special Agent McGee, how may I help you?”
“Hey McGee, It’s me.” Tony said. “I need you to meet us downstairs, we have some boxes to bring up.”
“How far away are you?”
“We’ll be there in about 15 minutes.” Glancing over at Gibbs and lowering his voice, he continued “Probably less with the Boss driving.”
“Gotcha, I’m headed down now.”
As McGee grabbed his coat and headed towards the elevators, Ziva stopped him.
“Was that Gibbs?” she asked.
“No, Tony. He wants me to help bring up some boxes from the car.”
“Did he say what was in them?”
“No, but I assume it has to do with this case.” McGee answered as he continued to the exit.
Finally, she thought, some new evidence to go through. Ziva was getting bored and frustrated. They had been going over the same files since yesterday, some of it 3 or 4 times, just to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. So far they hadn’t come up with anything new, at least not anything that pointed at one suspect.
McGee had made it downstairs just as Gibbs pulled in to the parking garage. As he helped carry a box from the car to the elevator, he noticed that Tony seemed kind of quiet. McGee couldn’t quite get that police report from when Tony was young out of his head. Once in the elevator, he tried to sneak a look at Tony without him noticing but no such luck.
“What?” Tony said as he raised an eyebrow at him.
McGee ducked his head, as he mumbled “Nothing”.
Just then the elevator doors pinged as they opened and McGee breathed a sigh of relief. Saved by the bell, he thought to himself, as he quickly exited. Tony and McGee put the boxes they were carrying on their own desks, while Gibbs put his on Ziva’s. As Gibbs began to speak, McGee came over to Ziva’s desk but Tony had sat down behind his.
“Ok, so in these boxes are files that Mr. DiNozzo kept on everyone he did business with.”
Ziva had been glancing through the files when she looked up, interrupting Gibbs.
“I thought the FBI had given us his files already?” she asked.
Before he could respond, Tony, who was pulling files out of the box on his desk, spoke up.
“These are his private files, they contain” he paused “personal information.”
Ziva glanced over at Tony, who was already reading over the papers in front of him. As she started to ask him to explain, Gibbs cut her off.
“You two get to work.” He said as he glared at both Ziva and McGee.
Both of them hurried to their desks and began to pull out files from the boxes. Gibbs went over and stood silently in front of Tony’s desk. When Tony looked up, he could read the question in his eyes.
“I’m fine.” Tony said soft enough so that the others couldn’t hear.
Gibbs eyes narrowed as he studied his face. Satisfied with what he saw, he gave a curt nod then turned and headed to the elevators.
“Where you going Boss?” Tony asked louder.
“Coffee” Gibbs threw over his shoulder.
The team worked in silence for a few minutes, and then Ziva began to speak.
“So, Tony, about these files?”
Tony looked up, “Yes?”
“Your Father, he used this information to, oh how do you say it, persuade his business associates to do things his way?” Ziva asked as she looked up from the papers on her desk.
“You can say it Ziva.” Tony smiled, “The word is blackmail.”
As Ziva studied Tony’s face, she noticed that his smile didn’t reach his eyes. She was about to say something when he continued.
“Nothing you could say about him would shock or offend me Ziva. I’ve been aware of the way my Father ran his business for a very long time.”
As Tony went back to studying the papers in front of him, she watched him for a moment then went back to looking over the files in front of her. The whole time contemplating all the new information she had learned about Tony over the last few days.
McGee had been following their conversation while appearing to look busy. Tony’s demeanor surprised him. McGee knew that if were HIM that this was happening to, that there was no way he could be that calm.
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