Tony knew the FBI would be turning up at the Miami crime lab sooner rather than later, but he had not expected the agent in charge to be one Tobias Fornell. Why would he be sent here? Granted this is a case that the FBI would and should take an interest in, but it was not so important to send an agent all the way from DC to cover the case.
It was also suspicious to Tony that the FBI was here so quickly. Tony had only let the CSIs here in Miami know a few hours ago that this was in fact a serial killer and not a random murder. As far as he knew Ryan's boss had not even notified the FBI. Yet they beat the NCIS team on scene, a team who had a much longer advance warning.
"Hey De Nutso, has the dress code for NCIS slipped even lower?" Tony was definitely not dressed for a work situation. While he was wearing pants and not shorts, they were an older pair of jeans worn for comfort not style, paired with a comfortable T-shirt and caped with an older pair of well worn sneakers. Though technically he could get away with this outfit if he had too, Tony generally didn't go this casual in the office.
"No Fornell, I didn't expect to be here today... well that's not entirely true. I didn't expect to be working today. I'm on vacation. One of the CSIs is a cousin of mine and I came here to visit him, spent the day at his job and noticed some similarities to an old case of mine."
From what Tony had seen the lab appeared to have little in the way of private conference rooms. Other than the case, Tony really needed to speak to Fornell in private without even his lapdog agents around. Unfortunately they weren't in NCIS HQ. If they were Tony would have no compunction at all in stepping into Gibbs "conference room" and using it for himself ... at NCIS, though he was sure he would be setting himself up for a headslap at least. Here, in Miami, Tony did not feel comfortable tying up the elevator. He took hold of Fornell's arm to escort him from the building stopping to point a finger at the few Feebees standing around and saying "Stay."
Fornell glared at DiNozzo and asked, "Going to give them a Scooby snack for good behavior?"
Tony glared right back at Fornell and continued to escort him from the building, muttering under his breath, "Don't temp me."
Tony led the FBI agent out the front door and continued towards the corner of the building out of the way of the general traffic. Tony stood looking at Fornell not sure where to begin. Ask him about the last trip he took to Miami, maybe? Ask him how the hell he knew to get here already? Rage at him for assuring Gibbs that Ari was working on "their side". When he had seen Fornell at the door Tony had grabbed his backpack with the file he intended to show Ryan. It was only a copy, he still had the originals someplace safe; paranoia is a wonderful thing.
"I find it interesting that you made it here before Gibbs, when the notification to the FBI has not even been made yet." Tony finally said after staring at Fornell for several minutes. He was sure that if Fornell was here the FBI agent knew the case's connection to the Navy and that NCIS would be involved.
Fornell looked momentarily surprised but then hid it well. Tony made a mental note to have Abby or McGee check the NCIS phone and computer system. There had to be some way that the FBI found out about this case.
Fornell had almost looked guilty for a minute before covering his expression up completely.
Fornell made no comment and Tony cocked his eyebrow in response. Gibbs, hell even Ryan's boss what was his name again... oh right Caine, could get into this with Fornell later. For now Tony had other things he needed to "discuss" with this agent.
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Ryan returned from speaking with Horatio. Ryan had not been sure how many people would be making up the NCIS team. It could range anywhere from 3 to 6 depending on who Gibbs had been able to authorize for the trip. H had been able to release an unmarked car and a hummer for the ride to the airport.
Once Ryan reached the layout room, he knew immediately that something was wrong. In the hallway, there were suits standing chatting aimlessly with one another. They could only be Feds. Since the NCIS team wasn't due for another hour at least that left the FBI, not an agency Ryan was looking forward to working with. He idly wondered who had notified them and brushed past the milling agents without saying a word or acknowledging them and entered the layout room.
Once inside he realized that someone was missing. He immediately went up to Delko to ask the older man where his cousin was. Ryan had a really bad feeling about this. While Ryan actively disliked the FBI, Tony basically hated them. When Ezra was shot and nearly killed a few years ago Tony almost killed one of the FBI agents who had been working with Ezra.
The man had made an off color comment about Ezra and his wife who had been killed in the same shooting that Ezra was injured in. Ryan wasn't sure exactly what was said, he had been dozing in a chair at the time, but they all knew that Ezra had been taking heat at the Atlanta FBI office for having too many contacts in the Islamic community. The fact that his wife was Moslem was also a point of contention. Tony lost it. He was lucky he didn't end up in jail. Luckily the FBI Agent had actually thrown the first punch so Tony was defending himself.
The FBI being on this case made him nervous. If Gibbs were here already he knew the older man's mere presence would keep Tony in line, even if they were working with one of Ezra's old coworkers. Since Gibbs was not here Ryan felt responsible for his cousin. First he had to find him.
Ryan walked up to Delko and asked him. "Where did Tony go?"
Eric looked up at Ryan, irritated at being interrupted, "He left with some suit seemed like they knew one another, figured it was a member of his team."
Ryan wanted to yell and scream at Delko. Just a few hours ago the older CSI was chastising him for not taking care of his cousin, now Delko had let Tony go into a potentially dangerous situation alone. Ryan held on to his temper, barely, under normal circumstances he fought with Eric way too often. Currently, with the key gun debacle still fresh in both their minds he didn't want to start another argument with his coworker, especially when company, Federal company, was witness to every word. He calmed himself with the knowledge that Eric wasn't aware exactly how bad an idea it was to leave Tony with a Feebee.
Ryan turned by from Eric as the other man finished talking, already dismissing the Cuban from his mind. Only one thing occupying it now, the need to find Tony. Apparently neither Eric nor Calleigh had any idea where the NCIS agent was.
Ryan thought about asking the Feebees standing in the hallway but they appeared clueless. Ryan knew Tony well enough that if he left the hallway he would be looking for at least an illusion of privacy to have whatever talk or more likely confrontation the NCIS agent planned to have with the lead Feebee. The lab's walls were mostly glass and even the interrogation and interview areas where glass, no privacy there. The lack of privacy left two possibilities to Ryan's CSI trained mind. The elevators or outside.
Somehow he didn't think that Tony would use Gibbs' trick of commandeering an elevator and pushing the stop button to use it as a personal conference area. At least Ryan didn't think Tony would do that anyplace OTHER than the Washington Navy Yard. Outside it was, then.
Eric called to Ryan as he was heading out to look for Tony, hoping to find his cousin before he did something stupid. "Where are you going Wolfe? We have lots of work to do here."
Ryan gave Delko an incredulous look; just a few hours ago Delko was ready to coddle Tony. Now it seemed he didn't care what happened to the NCIS agent. "I'll be back in a few minutes Delko. First I have to find Tony."
Ryan was worried for his cousin and it wasn't just the fact that he was off with some unknown Feebee. Tony had been acting strangely; Ryan knew something else was going on with his cousin. He was almost positive that Tony had been recruited to visit him by Mary. He expected that after he had not been to visit the closest thing he had to family in all the many months since Tim's death. He knew Mary worried about him. It wasn't just that however, there had been the comments Tony made at the airport. Ryan had tried to play them of joking about their parents but something had Tony upset.
Then Tony had taken his car keys and disappeared, gone somewhere. Ryan had a suspicion that he knew where Tony had gone.
Speed had been a friend of Tony's since the two had met at a law enforcement seminar back when Tony was fresh out of the academy back in Peoria, just after college. Tony had not been to Miami since Speed's funeral. It would not surprise Ryan in the least if Tony had made a quick visit to the cemetery. That could also have caused the strange mood he seemed to be in at the airport. Tony did not deal well with the death of loved ones.
Now however with Tony disappearing with a person who was most likely an FBI agent, Ryan didn't know what to think. He hoped that Tony wouldn't have difficulty working with the Feebees. Ryan thought that unless through some quirk of fate one of the agents who worked with Ezra during his shooting somehow got assigned to this case, Tony should be able to work with them. Ryan knew Tony worked with the FBI occasionally through his job at NCIS.
As Ryan was having his silent discussion with himself he had been checking out the corners and cubbies of the lab on his way out of the building to try and locate Tony. Unbeknownst to Ryan he had picked up a tail.
Eric followed Ryan out of the layout room where it looked like they were going to be set up for the duration. The newest CSI infuriated and confused Eric by turns. Currently the relationship that Ryan had with his cousin totally baffled Eric.
DiNozzo was definitely spooked when they were initially reviewing the crime scene photos. Ryan couldn't care in the least. Now his cousin seemed fine and Ryan is looking for him like a mother would a missing toddler. It made no sense. Eric didn't like things that made no sense. It was one of the reasons he loved being a CSI so much. He was able to put the pieces of the puzzle together until they fit and made sense. That's why he was following Wolfe. Eric needed to make sense out of what was going on.
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"Actually Tobias, you can duke it out with Gibbs and the Miami guys about how you got here and who has jurisdiction. I have something else that I need to talk to you about."
Fornell's eyebrows had risen at the use of his given name. Something serious was going on here. Tony was never overly friendly to the FBI. He was professional but whenever he thought he would get away with it he would make snide comments and asides. Tony had never used his first name before. Fornell suddenly was worried that more was going on here something that he was going to be blindsided about. He hated it when NCIS bested his teams and they consistently seemed to do that. Hell he had turned to Gibbs to clear his own name when he was framed, rather than any fellow FBI agent.
Fornell made a silent gesture for the younger man to continue.
Tony gave Fornell another considering glance as he pondered the best way to phrase his next statement. He wanted to make a proper impact.
"I've been wanting to ask you Tobias, if you have heard from our friend Ari since he kidnapped Kate and tried to bring down Marine One."
Fornell‘s gaze centered on the younger agent and sharpened. There was something in the way the question was asked that warned Fornell that this wasn't an idle question. He was under orders however and couldn't divulge anything he knew about the double agent.
"DeNutzo, you know I can't talk about him. Where he is and what he is doing is highly classified. Beyond whatever clearance you have."
Tony smiled a humorless smile at the one FBI agent he had actually not had too much of a problem working with. The man was a lot like Gibbs in many ways. He pulled out the files he had in his bag and opened them as he said. "I wouldn't be too sure about the level of my clearance if I were you Tobias. Look in this file it has your name in several prominent places... at least the ones that are readable."
Fornell looked at the file and was stunned. He remembered the shooting here in Miami just 6 or 8 months ago. The one that killed the Miami cop. What a disaster that was! The FBI had to come in and take over the case. How in the world was DiNozzo involved, how did he get this file.
"Where did you get this?"
Tony's smile became a smirk. "I have my ways. I find it interesting that you never told Gibbs about this."
Tony's tone became conversational, if you weren't looking at the man you would never know how angered he was. His expression was one of fury. "Tim Speedle was one of my closest friends. I don't know if anyone in the FBI looked into his life or even cared to find out anything about him but he was a damn fine CSI. He was also gay and involved in a long term relationship with my cousin. I'm a lot like Gibbs, he trained me. I don't believe in coincidence Fornell. He was targeted; they were targeted, because of me."
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