Tony stood there silently letting what he said sink in. Fornell just stared at him and then he started to get angry.
“What the hell DiNozzo! Are you saying that one of MY agents…?”
Tony cut him off “I don’t know! That’s why I, or should I say we, need to see his personnel file. To see if the information matches up.”
As the two had a stare down of sorts, Gibbs watched from the sidelines ready to intervene if needed. Finally Fornell sighed as he walked over to Gibbs desk and sat in front of the computer. Once he had gotten over the initial shock, he knew that what DiNozzo had dug up had to be checked out.
Tony leaned against the edge of his desk as he ran his hands through his hair and then crossed his arms in front of him while he waited.
Gibbs grabbed the Pearson file and went to stand next to Fornell, spreading open the file for both of them to look at. As Fornell brought up the personnel file on Agent Crimson they began to compare the information contained in both. After a few minutes Fornell sat back in his chair with a sigh while Gibbs stood up straight with no expression on his face as he continued to stare at the computer screen.
Tony stood up and walked towards Gibbs desk as he watched the other two, looking for some kind of clue as to what they had found. He finally spoke up, not able to take the silence anymore.
“Boss?”
Gibbs looked up, his expression serious “The stats all match. It’s the same date of birth, birthplace, everything. It’s him.”
Tony came around the desk to stand behind Fornell and read what was on the computer over his shoulder.
“All this proves is that his Father knew DiNozzo’s.” Fornell spoke up, sounding defensive. “It doesn’t mean he killed him.”
“Why didn’t he ever mention his connection to DiNozzo when he got assigned this case?” Gibbs asked.
“Maybe he didn’t know.” Fornell said sounding uncertain. “He was just a kid when this all went down.”
“I don’t believe that” Gibbs said “And neither do you.”
Fornell didn’t say anything at first; he just went back to looking at the computer. After a moment he looked up at Gibbs.
“You realize that there’s no real proof here that he did anything wrong. ” he said now resigned to the fact that his agent might be involved.
“I know” Gibbs replied. He could sympathize with Fornell; it wasn’t easy having one of your own accused of a crime. He briefly thought back to the whole Tony/Chip incident as he glanced over at Tony, who had now gone back to his own desk. He was leaning against the edge like before but was now staring at the floor, deep in thought.
Gibbs faced Fornell “How do you want to proceed?”
“Don’t tell me you’re actually going to let me take the lead on this?”
Gibbs raised his eyebrows as he stared at him.
“That’s what I thought.” Fornell scoffed. “So why even ask?”
“I wanted your opinion” Gibbs answered “Figured I owed you that much.”
Fornell nodded as a look of understanding passed between the two.
“We’re going to need a confession.” Gibbs continued.
“Won’t be easy.” Fornell sighed “If we take him into interrogation, he’ll know something’s up.”
“I know. We need to approach him outside of work, on neutral ground. That way he won’t be suspicious.”
“Agreed” Fornell said, then with a smirk continued, “So do you want to draw straws to see which one of us gets that honor?”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Gibbs paused “Tony.”
They both turned around to find that Tony was gone. The two of them had been so involved in their discussion of the case that they hadn’t notice him slip away from the bullpen and exit using the stairs.
“Damn it DiNozzo” Gibbs muttered “Not again”
He headed for the exit with Fornell right behind him. Before he could find out what he meant by that statement, Gibbs gave him a look that said, “Don’t ask”.
As they got on the elevator Gibbs was thinking about the fact that this was twice now that DiNozzo had been able to slip away without him noticing. He was either getting slower as he got older or Tony was getting better at it; he preferred to believe it was the second option.
Gibbs decided to check Abby’s lab first. He had his suspicions about where Tony had gone but he hoped he was wrong. His gut was telling him that if they weren’t careful this whole thing would blow up in their faces. Gibbs exited the elevator and headed to the lab, Fornell right behind him. He was quiet, thinking pretty much the same thing as Gibbs.
As they approached they could hear the pounding beat of Abby’s music. Upon entering the lab Gibbs went over and turned the music down while Fornell screwed his face up at the assault on his eardrums. Abby whipped around, her pigtails flying.
“Hey boss man,” she said cheerily.
Then a little more somber as she looked behind him “Agent Fornell.”
“So what can I help you with?” she asked turning back to Gibbs.
“Have you seen DiNozzo this morning?” he asked
“Yeah, he just left. I’m surprised you didn’t run into him.” She replied “Why?”
“Did he say where he was going?” Gibbs ignored her question.
“You don’t know?” Abby’s gaze narrowed. She then began pacing back and forth.
“I knew it! I knew something seemed off when he came down to borrow that equipment and I hadn’t heard about any operation. But he seemed so sincere and I didn’t think…”
Gibbs stopped her pacing and her rant by stepping in front of her, placing both hands on her shoulders.
“Abby” he said “Calm down. Just tell me what he borrowed.”
She took a breath then answered, “One of my mikes and a recorder. He said he needed it because he was going to talk to someone and he would be by himself.” Her voice trailed off as she saw the look that passed between Gibbs and Fornell.
Abby turned to Gibbs, “Tony’s going to do something stupid, isn’t he?” She then pleaded, “You’ve got to stop him Gibbs.”
Gibbs leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, “Don’t worry Abs, I’ve got his six.”
As the two men hurried to the elevator, Abby slumped into her chair. A determined look came over her face as she muttered out loud, “You’d better be OK Tony cause I’m SO going to kick your ass when you get back.”
Once on the elevator Fornell turned to Gibbs. “Should I be worried?”
“About?”
“About Agent Crimson. We both know that’s where DiNozzo’s headed.”
“Tony wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize a case.” Gibbs said.
“Maybe not normally, but this is personal.” Fornell sighed, “I just hope your right.”
Gibbs glanced at Fornell but didn’t respond. He hoped he was right too.
As they exited the elevator into the parking garage, Gibbs saw Ziva getting out of her car.
“David” he yelled across to her.
Ziva turned and hurried over to them. “Yes Gibbs”
“I need you to call McGee and the two of you meet us at this address.”
He turned to Fornell who had taken out his notebook, wrote something down before handing the piece of paper to Ziva.
“We have a suspect, yes?” she asked.
“Maybe” Fornell said.
“Is Tony going to meet us there?” Ziva didn’t miss the look that passed between the two.
“Just get McGee and meet us there.” Gibbs barked out, ignoring her question as Fornell and him got into his car.
Ziva guessed that Tony was already on his way there and that he hadn’t told anyone he was going, judging from Gibbs reaction. As Ziva called McGee she thought about Tony and what she knew about his personality. She had always wondered if he hid a dark side behind his many smiles and knew that she was about to find out.
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