"Are they really cousins?" Getting Tony to talk about his family was next to impossible. Tidbits occasionally but no real information. He suspected Abby knew more but wasn't telling anyone.
"Near as we can figure. Vin knows more but he aint telling. Him and Ez keep each others secrets."
Chris pressed his advantage. He had been impressed by how Tony handled himself in the pawn shop. He was also impressed by how he acted with his coworker a few moments ago.
"We had the pawn shop under surveillance I was mighty impressed by DiNozzo. He was good maybe not as good as Ez but no one is. Still he was among the best I ever seen. Might even be worth putting up with that spitfire to have him out west." Towards the end of his comments Chris was more musing to himself than really talking to NCIS counterpart.
"How often does he get injured? Has he ever been hospitalized?" Chris was asking trying to determine if maybe the spitfire wouldn't show up for Tony after all. "Did DiNozzo go to NY a month ago?"
"He's been injured but nothing so serious he was ever admitted to the hospital. He hates going there he usually has Ducky fix him up here… that's if we realize he is injured…Hey what's with all the questions?"
"Did he go to NY a month ago?" Chris asked again with as little more force this time.
"YES!"
"Damn, I don't know if I can deal with her more often." The last time Standish had been seriously hurt they almost came to blows. As small as she was he feared she could take him. It wasn't the PD training he knew that what ever special training Standish had gotten he either trained with her or taught it to her later. Standish could be quite wicked in hand to hand combat. Lots of dirty tricks and street fighting stuff mixed in. Not the stuff that was typical fair at Quantico.
"What the hell are you blathering about Larabee?"
"Well Gibbs I would love to offer DiNozzo a job as an ATF undercover agent. You don't see undercovers of his caliber very often. I just don't know if I am willing to deal with Melissa more often than I already do." He started talking to himself again. "Tony would be on another team it would be that leader's job to deal with her and her moods. I can get Ezra to keep her away from me."
"DiNozzo's going NOWHERE! He is on my team and he will stay there is that understood AGENT LARABEE?" Gibbs had enough of this man. Tony wasn't going anywhere.
Chris grinned to himself… So that's how it was hmm.
"Agent Gibbs since you told me that DiNozzo hasn't been seriously injured during his employment let me give you a piece of advice. When he is admitted to the hospital call this number immediately." Chris handed Gibbs piece of paper with contact info on it. "I would then stand out of the way and let the little dynamo take over. She can be … interesting"
Gibbs looked at the paper he had been handed. "Who is she? How is she related to Tony?"
Chris looked at his NCIS counterpart. "Her name is Melissa Kendall. She is NYPD. She's the cop who was shot last month. I have no clue what her relationship is to DiNozzo or to Standish for that matter but my agent signed himself out of the hospital AMA to get to NY once your agent called him. The little I got from Vin once they got back to Denver made me think that Tony was just as close to her and her family as Ezra is. Every time Standish lands himself in the hospital Mel or another of her family show up and take over. They run the show. They are frightening to watch."
Gibbs thought back to the day a month ago that Tony went UA. It appeared that the girl he went to see wasn't a girlfriend but they are close. I will need to try and get more info from Abby.
"Let's go and get a drink Gibbs."
"It's late even for DC nothing is going to be open."
"Let's see if we can find an all night diner at least. I rarely find a SAC who I can work with and I find that it is incredibly easy to work with you. I bet we can trade undercover agent stories all night. Did I tell you Ezra REFUSES to wear a vest? He gives me new gray hair and wrinkles every bust…"
They walked out of the empty bullpen. All of the members of Gibbs team were gone and Team Seven were back in the hotel they had been living out of for the past few weeks.
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Tony sat in the back seat of the rental car dozing. Vin was driving. They had stopped at his apartment. Ezra had gone inside and packed him a bag using his own key. Tony roused when Ezra returned to the car curious why the motion of the vehicle had stopped. He raised an eyebrow at the size of the bag his cousin had packed for him. He would have a few days off to spend with Ezra at the suite of rooms that Mary and Moha use when in DC. Unless a new case came up that is.
Things had been quiet lately. He had been lucky when Moha had stopped in DC with the girls to say goodbye before they went to Morocco. No cases had come up he was able to get out of work on time every night. He knew the way he was running out every night the general consensus was that he had a hot new girl. In a way it was true in fact here were two even, one seven and the other five. Not exactly what the gang expected from him.
The only one from work who knew about the girls was Abby. She had met them on the October trip. She came and hung out with the girls giving him time to talk with Moha about some follow up he wanted Moha to do in Morocco. Both Ezra and Moha had contacts in the government in Morocco and he thought if Moha was physically in the country he might get better results than just from a call long distance.
Tony had been getting desperate. None of the extensive unofficial contacts he had pursued had been able to get him any closer to a name. He knew Gibbs thought he was goofing off and that wasn't helping his cause with his boss. He still half suspected that he would be replaced one of these days.
As a last resort he had started contacting the people Ezra had been involved with on his last assignment with the FBI. He had been working on a terrorism case and had contact with many underground and illegal Arabs and Arab groups. Some of the people were just here on expired visas others were skating on the side of truly illegal although not terror related activities and some were in deep; as deep as the terrorists who planed and executed the 9/11 attack. Post 9/11 the FBI tried to get Ezra back from the ATF. Tony wasn't sure what happened but he is pretty sure that Ezra would be working for the FBI if Mary, the Kendall name and the Moroccan attaché had not intervened in some way. He is very fuzzy on the details they had never spoken about it but he knows something happened. At the time he was too busy taking care of Mel in NY with her 9/11 injuries and freaking out because he almost lost her.
The fact that Ezra spoke both Arabic and Berber fluently gained him access that was unheard of for another agent. Unfortunately it also made his fellow Fibbies suspicious. Think he was one of those "towel heads". The resulting fallout made Ezra a widow and a single father on the same day. Seriously injuring him and signaling the beginning of the end of his career with the FBI.
Shortly after his return to the FBI from medical leave he was offered a position on Team 7 and after a rocky start he was still there almost 5 years later.
If Ezra knew he was talking to those old contacts he would literally kill Tony. Those people played for keeps and if they found out he was a federal agent he would be dead before he knew what hit him. Tony forcibly reminded himself to keep those thoughts out of his mind while with Ezra. He didn't want to slip up and mention something that would make Ezra suspicious.
He had been lost in thought with his eyes closed not truly dozing but near enough for Vin and Ezra to think he was.
"Tony…Tony come on wake up we're here." Ezra spoke to him softly while shaking his arm gently. He knew how to approach Tony so as not to have him wake up swinging.
Tony had called ahead to have the concierge have the rooms ready and waiting. He had made no special requests of the hotel staff and the key cards were waiting for them on arrival. The staff greeted both Tony and Ezra by name. Vin was a little awed by the whole experience. This level of service was something far outside the norm for him.
Tony noticed Vin's discomfiture but didn't comment on it. He had grown up with wealth his father was very well to do. The Kendall's had more money than that but they didn't act like it. From the time that Tony had joined the family they lived like most middleclass people. The only difference is that occasionally he had to attend really boring ritzy parties. He did have nice things but he knew how to cook at least well enough that he didn't starve and he knew how to shop and do simple housework. Mary insisted on it. They had servants but the kids were expected to clean up after themselves and do laundry and the like. Then there were the times they spent together in Morocco. Sometimes in staying in palatial accommodations and other time in a tent in the dessert with no running water or sanitation.
Vin cleared his throat and asked hesitantly "How much is this place gonna cost?" He had no idea when he tagged along with Ezra that he was planning to go to a place like this. He initially thought that they would stay at Tony's place. He figured he would be able to pay for it if he had to. He invested most of his income in fact Ezra had helped him set up his account and managed it for him. He had a nice nest egg with the money he had earned as a bounty hunter.
Tony looked at Vin and said "Don't worry about it. It is always paid for and available for use. Next time you see Mary or Moha thank them for it. It is paid by them, mostly for his use when he needs to be in DC." Moha was frequently called for his expert opinions by the President or for testimony before congress.
In the last 4 years or so it had gotten a lot more use as both Mary and Moha found extra reasons to go to DC to check up on him. Since he started working in Baltimore and now in DC proper many of his chosen family found reasons to be in DC.
Tony, Vin and Ezra got in the elevator. Tony leaned back against the wall and slid down slightly with a sigh. Tony knew he would have to apologize to Ezra once they were in the suite. He was not looking forward to that conversation.
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