Tony led the way back to the layout room he had used for his initial presentation. Ducky had joined them after regaling a very junior FBI agent with a tale that had the young man still scratching his head.
Tony had quietly told Ryan to call his boss and have the rest of the team meet in the same room that they had earlier.
The three groups introduced themselves and quickly got to work. The previous case files were presented and then the current one.
Tony was leaning against a corner of a desk with a pad and pen not really taking notes just tapping the writing implement against the paper in a rhythm similar to the one he tends to do with his hands when driving a car.
He had thought of something from his he case he worked back in Philly that apparently was not noticed or acted upon in any of the subsequent cases.
“Delko, how cohesive is the Spanish community here? Is there an underground economy for illegals? I know that a large number of the Hispanic population here is Cuban which makes most of them legal but how large is the non Cuban community?”
“There is a medium sized permanent non Cuban community and we have our fair share of illegal aliens living here both Hispanic and other ethnicities.” Delko replied, his expression clearly conveying the question of why.
The rest of the NCIS and CSI teams also looked at Tony with questions obvious in their expressions.
Tony digested that information for a moment. The silence was broken by Kate. “Was there a reason to ask this question or are you looking for a new housekeeper?” she snarked at him knowing he employed someone to clean his apartment.
Tony looked at Kate and smiled. “ No Kayte” over emphasizing the first syllable in her name on purpose. “The profiler on the case in Philly felt that the reason we were having such a difficult time getting a handle on this guy and his habits was because he was a drifter possibly an illegal alien. Most likely an illegal from what I remember. They weren’t sure of his ethnicity at first. But had narrowed it down to either Asian, which statistically was the lowest possibility, Hispanic, or Arabic/ Moslem. They narrowed it down due to the ethnic distribution in the greater Philadelphia area. Thise groups were the most populous so they were the ones that were looked at; though the incidence of a serial killer being of Asian heritage is statistically highly unlikely.”
Kate looked shocked. “It’s all in the reports that Abby copied for you Kayte.” Tony again accenting the wrong syllable.
As Tony was speaking to Ryan slowly made his way closer to his cousin, that son of a bitch! Tony was called in on this case because of Ezra’s contacts to both legal and illegal Islamic groups. I’m gonna kill him! That’s why he’s always so damned guilty about Tamilla’s death and Ezra’s being shot. Why he took that swing at one of Ezra’s coworkers. Ryan’s eyes narrowed and hardened. They had a lot to discuss before they went out on this case.
Tony continued to explain. He wasn’t sure about the case in North Carolina but in the Philly case and to some extent in the Ohio one the only commonality they could find was the use of the same landscaping service and dry cleaners. The workers in both places were migrant and changeable. Most were illegal and the paperwork that was kept on them was nearly nonexistent.
Tony continued, “The owners of the businesses weren’t even held responsible. This was before 9/11 and the increased awareness of immigrants in American society.”
It was decided that the FBI would provide the support both technical and firepower. The CSIs and NCIS agents would pair off with one another and canvas businesses that would likely hire migrant or illegal workers.
Kate rolled her eyes at the pairing of Tony with Eric actually saying “ Well we wont get much work out of the two of them. Bet they get more phone numbers than any real information.” Calleigh snickered and then schooled her expression. Eric was quite the ladies man remembering him talking about ‘toothing. McGee had been paired with Ryan and Calleigh and Kate had been paired together. Abby was going to go over the tests that the samples had already been run through and think up a few new ones to run.
Ducky and Alexx had already retired to the morgue. The elderly ME wanted to look at the body himself, though he was aware of Alexx’s work and her excellent reputation.
Tony went over to Abby after asking Delko to wait. He couldn’t work in the clothes he was wearing. Well he could but he would never hear the end of it from all sectors, his boss, Kate and even Fornell. He knew Abs had something in the bag she carried for him.
Tony took his clothes and asked Ryan where he could change. Ryan tok him to the locker room figuring that if Tony hurried he could catch a shower and store the clothes he was wearing in Ryan’s locker. Besides Ryan had some questions he wanted Tony to answer. The locker room should be pretty empty this time of the day.
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Tony sat infront of Ryan’s locker damp towel draped over his neck, pants on but shirt off. He pulled on his socks and tied his sneakers. He was a little surprised to find Ryan waiting for him as he got out of the shower.
“We have to talk.” Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised. He had hoped that his glossing over the illegal alien aspect of their case Ryan would miss that he was involved with that case solely because of Ezra’s contacts. And further that his use of those contacts most likely precipitated the attack on Ezra and the death of his wife.
He looked at Ryan and said with a sigh “I’d rather not.”
Tony took his towel and roughly dried his hair one more time before pulling on his Tee shirt.
“You owe me cuz.”
Tony looked at him quizzically and quirked and eyebrow at him “How do you figure that?”
Ryan smirked at Tony and simply said “One fractured cheek bone.”
Tony glared at Ryan but he couldn’t argue with the kid. “Squirt!”
“You were used by the PD in Philly weren’t you? Someone there knew about Ezra and you were drafted for that task force you were on. I’m I right aren’t I?”
Tony nodded tightly to him without answering. He knew it was coming. Ryan was a bright kid. He would know that Tony was the reason that Ezra’s life was turned upside down.
“So you think your inquiries are the thing that tipped the balance? The reason the shooters.”
Tony again didn’t answer. He didn’t think it he KNEW that he was the reason.
Ryan looked at Tony. “Have you ever talked with Ezra? Asked him what he was working on just before the shooting?”
“No there was no reason to. He left Atlanta to transfer to the ATF less than 2 weeks after coming back from sick leave. I didn’t want to stress him out.” Tony sat down on the bench seat next to the locker.
Ryan shook his head Tony always took the blame on himself. “About a year after he moved I asked him about it. I didn’t want to bring up painful memories but I also wanted to know if he had any idea who had attacked him and if he thought he was still in danger.”
Ryan had sat down next to his cousin.
He placed his hand on Tony’s shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. “Tony you take too much on yourself. Ezra was investigating links between Terrorist groups and government entities both here and abroad.”
A look of horror passed over Tony’s face. “That fool!” Even though Ezra had been attacked prior to the 9/11 terror attacks, the FBI had been actively investigating terrorist groups. Maybe not as vigorously as they do now but it did happen. It was then and still is a dangerous area to be involved in. To try and find moles in the government both here and abroad was almost akin to suicidal.
Ryan nodded his head. “Don’t get too upset with him. He didn’t want to do it somehow he was coerced into it. He wouldn’t tell me how. Flat out refused. Just don’t blame yourself.”
Tony nodded slowly he still blamed himself in a small part but he now knew more about what Ezra was working on prior to the shooting. Maybe it would help him in his search for the people who were the actual shooters in Ezra’s attack.
One confession down one to go Tony thought to himself. Might as well get it over with. It was pretty deserted now the late hour meaning the day shift had left for the most part and the evening shift was much smaller and they were in the middle of their work and unlikely to need use of the lockers.
Tony looked into Ryan’s eyes and said “I’ve got something else you need to know"Something about Tim’s death.”
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Alexx Woods was a woman who prided herself on her professionalism. She had worked with some of the sorriest excuses to have ever graduated from medical school and had no problems. It made her a little guilty to escape from Donald Mallard in the CSI locker room.
Without a doubt Ducky was one of the most brilliant medical minds she had ever come across. He also matched her compassion for the corpse something that she had seen in far too few in her profession.
She just needed to escape for a little while from his unending story telling. The first and even second pointless story she was able to tolerate, he was on his fifth now and she made an excuse to escape for a short time. She would have to think of a way to redirect his storytelling without causing him to veer off into another story tangent.
Alexx shut the door to the lockers silently for fear that someone would hear and track her down. She stood there for a minute before she realized that she could hear the murmuring of voices. She moved a little closer to see who it was and saw her baby talking to his cousin. They looked involved and serious. Alexx’s mothering instincts kicked in. She was worried that Tony would hurt her baby. She couldn’t have known that Tony would do whatever was necessary to protect Ryan, and always had even as a child.
She heard them talking about another person a man named Ezra. Ryan had told her so little about his family that she had no idea who Ezra was. She could hear the pain in Tony’s voice and his conviction that he was at fault and her heart ached for him.
She heard Ryan reassure his cousin and the two men seemed even closer to her then they did when Ryan introduced Tony to her mere hours ago.
She had stayed where she was once she realized that the men were trying to talk in private. She would never betray the confidence they had unknowlingly given to her and she didn’t want to disturb them by attempting to leave. She also needed a slightly longer respite from Dr Mallard.
She had thought the men were finished then she heard Tony say something that caught her attention.
Ryan had lost someone at least that’s what it seemed that Tony was saying. They were talking about the death of someone… someone named Tim…No it couldn’t be…then she heard Ryan say, “What? What about Speed’s death?”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Two for two! I hope I can keep this up!