It was another exciting day of paper work for the NCIS team. Tony was glad for it for once, after having several hard cases in a row. He was taking a break from typing to studying his teammates. Ziva David was hard at work with a serious expression on her face; he could see the string of cases had taken their toll. Timothy McGee was obviously taking a break from working to play a computer game, probably with Abbey. She hasn't had a lot of work with us on desk duty to finish all the reports. I turn to the last desk of the team, our fearless leader, Jethro Gibbs. He is absent having gone up to have a meeting with the Director. I see him coming down the stairs and sit at his desk, when I see movement out of the corner of my eye. The elevator door opens and out walks my worst nightmare.
Out comes a man of average height and build with deep brown hair and eyes. I have been told that if not for our eyes we could have been twins. It's not true; we are cousins through my mother's side of the family. I get a deep sense of foreboding in my stomach; my peaceful day at NCIS just went out the window. I lowly curse to myself in Italian. He is looking for my desk, I subconsciously sit straighter in my chair. I feel another one of my masks slip into place. I know it is pointless to pretend that I have never met him, thou how many times I wish I could have.
In the last moments I have before he reaches me, I get a quick glimpse at the Boss and see him starring straight back at me. I now know what the sudden meeting with the director was about, I just wonder how bad it is going to get.
I slowly stand up, as he reaches my desk.
"Enrico, I really hope someone has died for you to show up here." I say with a slight edge in my voice.
"Two some ones actually." He replies. "You better sit down for this one."
I sit back down in my chair and quickly go through a list in my head of who it could be. No one immediately comes to mind.
"Uncle Carlos is the first."
"Good I'm glad, the bastard deserved to die."
"And the second is Francesco."
"No, can't be him, are you sure? I just talked to him a couple of days ago."
"Unfortunately I am. DNA tests prove it. The family needs your help, we believe that he was murdered and that military may be involved."
I swear several more Italian curse words. I knew it had to be bad, but never expected this bad.
"Damn it, why could not have it been Father, that would have made my year." I say under my breath but apparently not soft enough.
As I hear Enrico softly say "Amen".
I pick up my phone and call up to the Director's Office.
"Jen, I am going to assume you already knew about this?" I ask and answer her questions and hang up.
I stood up again and asked Boss if we could meet in his office. He agrees and I tell Enrico to wait behind at my desk and not to answer my phone.
"One bad answer and banned from the phone forever." Enrico grumbles.
I follow Gibbs into the elevator and wait for him to stop it before I start talking.
"Have you ever heard of the Rossi family?" I ask Gibbs.
"Sure, I heard that they are an old crime family that is trying to clean up their act."
"My Uncle is the head of the family; he has been trying to weed out all the bad eggs so to speak."
"So he has made some big enemies" stated Gibbs.
"I am going to need some time to take care of this for my family"
"OK, the director has given the green light if you need the team's help"
"Thanks Boss" Tony says with a slight smile.
Gibbs starts back up the elevator and both men stat back towards the bullpen. I am already starting to get a list together in my head of what I need to do and who I need to talk to. As I reach my desk I see Enrico talking on his cell phone, leaning back in my chair with his feet on my desk. I calmly call out "Enrico" with steel in my voice. It is my tone for when I am reaching my limit of tolerance of his antics. He quickly finishes his conversation and stands up.
"What are your orders?" I ask. I say in the same tone of voice.
"I was to talk to you and bring you back."
"Fine, when do we leave?"
"The plane leaves in an hour."
I turn slightly and notice that McGee has been trying to watch us without being noticeable, he of course failed. I finish turning around to face Gibbs. I tell him that we are leaving and I will contact him later when I know more. I get a nod in return. We go down to the garage and get in Enrico's car set off for the airport.