My Father's Keeper

Summary: Agent Dinozzo's father scams the wrong man. When he can't pay up, they try collecting from his most valuable commodity...

Rated: T to be safe...later chapters may be M.

(Thought I'd try posting by the chapter this go-around. It'll take the annoyance out of spacing mishaps lol. **And on a silly note, I'm gonna throw in the "Thwoop!" black and white still shots we get on the show before a scene starts—you know what I'm talking about. For your imaginative purposes, they'll be italicized and asterisked...so when you see it, you can think black and white thwoop shot! Ha! Really though it's gonna happen. Let me know if it's too much cheesiness for you to handle. I'll do my best to keep it real ;) )


** Gibbs' hands are in the air as he glances over at Dinozzo's matched stance. His face shows as much confusion and panic as his boss feels, but conceals...**

Director Leon Vance closed up his briefcase when he looked up at the clock. It was nearing midnight. It had been a long day jumping through hoops in MTAC, trying to stall for time for Agent Gibbs and his team on their latest case involving the murder of two Marines who were involved in a top secret operation. Trying to find a motive without being briefed on information surrounding the case was a difficult task.

As he made his way to the stairs toward the bullpen, he wasn't surprised to see the team at their desks going through heaps of files brought in to them by the victims' Commander. Gibbs was taking a long drink from his coffee mug as he tossed a large file down into a box next to his desk and caught sight of the dark-skinned man walking over to him.

"Smells like a Chinese buffet in here," Vance said, glancing around at the various half-eaten containers of low-mien, fried rice, and who knows what else, scattered about at each of their desks.

"Plenty of leftovers if you're hungry," Tony half-grinned as he held up a box that had chopsticks poking out the top.

"I'll pass," Vance said and turned back to Gibbs. "Find anything?" he asked him.

"Nothing that helps us," he replied, setting his mug down.

"Commander Hodges is up my ass about figuring this one out so he can give to go-ahead to his team."

"He could be risking the lives of the rest of those soldiers," Gibbs looked up at him for a moment before opening another file.

"I know that. But he's convinced it's unrelated. Either prove him right or prove him wrong."

"That's what we're trying to do, Sir," Gibbs looked up at him again with his head cocked a bit. Leon turned and began to walk out of the bullpen.

"You should think about calling it a night, soon," he said as he walked. "We have till six tomorrow evening," he reached the elevator, pressed the button, then looked back over at him. "You all should try and get some sleep in somewhere."

"As if that's gonna happen," Tony thought, glancing up at the director then back down at the open file in front of him.

They heard the elevator stop and open, but didn't expect what happened next... Out of the corner of his eye, Gibbs saw Leon backing up. He turned his head to see what was going on. Vance dropped his briefcase to the floor as he held his hands up, not looking away from the elevator.

Slowly, Gibbs stood, and so did Dinozzo as he had looked up upon hearing the case drop. Several men, all dressed in black from head to toe, and armed with silencer-equipped handguns aimed at Vance, came quickly strolling out of the elevator, and just as the two agents went for their weapons in their desks, more of the intruders poured in from the stairwell door to surround them. They were outnumbered and outgunned.

McGee and Ziva quickly stood and put up their hands in unison with the others as they shared surprised glances with one another. Another man entered the room. He didn't look like the rest of them, but he caught the teams' attention.

He was dressed in, what seemed to be, a very expensive gray suit that had 'mobster' written all over it. Gibbs could see the man's weapon on his side, unneeded at the moment for obvious reasons. The man only glanced over Vance for a moment then turned to the agents in the bullpen.

"I'm looking for Agent Anthony Dinozzo," he said. Tony swallowed and Gibbs tried not to be too obvious when he turned to his agent in question.

**Tony silently conveyed his confusion to his superior; panic evident as to how to respond...**


(Okay, the next portion will be up soon. I just wanted this opener to stand alone. BTW, if someone has found a less conspicuous way to portray the 'thwoop-shots', please do not hesitate to send me pointers haha )