As soon as Tony's plane was off the ground Abby and I headed to Gibbs' house. Neither one of us wanted to tell him alone, so we opted to go together.
I turned onto Gibbs' street and glanced over at Abby. "Are you ok, Abbs?" She was looking out the window and had her knees pulled up to her chest.
"Yeah...Ziva, Gibbs is going to be really mad at us."
"Yes, probably but we were helping Tony. And he will acknowledge that we were taking care of our team. The only part he will not like is us not including him."
"Yeah...he wont like that part."
I turned into his driveway and we walked up the front steps. As I opened the door, Abby slid her hand into mine. We rounded the corner into the living room and saw Gibbs sitting on the couch drinking his coffee.
"I wondered when you finally decide to clue me in."
"Gibbs...We..." Abby began, and then stopped.
When I realized that she was not going to continue, I said, "We need your help. Well, Tony needs your help."
"I know, where is he?"
"You know?" I asked, incredulously.
"Yes I know you four have been up to something. I have been waiting for two weeks for at least one of you to come to me. Where is Tony."
"You said you already knew everything?" Abby pipped up.
"Do not push your luck right now, Abigail. I said I knew you were up to something. I didnt say I knew all the details. You are in enough trouble already. Dont push me."
"Yes, Sir." Abby said softly.
"His plane just took off for Atlanta..." I began, before Gibbs interrupted me.
"ATLANTA! He got on a plane to go to Atlanta? When?"
"It took off at 4:05. We came straight here." I said.
"You have about 60 seconds to explain what is going on. Ziva, tell me what is going on."
I spent the next few minutes quickly filling him in on everything we knew so far. After I finished he looked like steam would come billowing out of his ears at any minute.
"What is he going to do when his plane lands?"
"We don't know, Gibbs." Abby said quietly. "We are supposed to wait until he calls and help him however we can."
"Ziva, what about this trap he is planning on setting?"
"I do not know Gibbs. He would not tell me the details of that part of his plan."
"Alright. Lets go." He said flipping open his phone and dialing a number. "McGee. Meet me at NCIS is 20 minutes...Yes I know...Yes they are...Yes you are...Need you ask how much?
I winced as he slammed his phone shut. We really were in big trouble when all this was over.
Abby and I began walking to my car as Gibbs was opening the door to his truck. "Straight to NCIS, you hear?"
"Yes, Gibbs." I said, climbing behind the wheel of my car. Then turning Abby I said "it is going to be a very long day."
Gibbs had Tony on the phone as soon as he was on the ground in Atlanta. "What in the world were you thinking Dinozzo? As soon as I get you safely back here your ass is mine. Now tell me what your plan is."
Gibbs walked around the bullpen as he listen to Tony explain what his next move was going to be. Soon as he hung up he said, "Everyone up to MTAC now."
As soon as we were all upstairs, Gibbs told us the plan. "Alright this is how it's going to go down. McGee Tony will be texting you his coordinates I want you to pull up any surveillance footage from any nearby camera you can find. Abby, I want you to go down to your lab. Run every print that Tony gave you and I want some answers on who those prints belong to. Ziva, I want you to find out anything you can on the company that guy was working for." When none of us moved right away he added loudly, "Now!"
I went down to my desk and logged into my computer. I pulled up the files of the research I had already done on Trevor's company. I reviewed the highlights and ran back upstairs to update Gibbs.
"Alright, here's what we know so far. Trevor was working for a company named Black Interprises. John Black, the CEO, has had a lot of run-ins with the law in the past few years. He just settled two lawsuits before they could go to trial in upwards of $2-$3 million in the last two years. One of the lawsuits was from a woman named Kyla Silva who claimed she was being targeted and had been fired because she refused to do something illegal. Mr. Black settled out of court. Four days later she was found dead.
After I saw that I looked deeper into the other lawsuit, and that person was also found dead within a week after settling out of court."
"Not a coincidence. What does this company actually do?"
"I don't know boss." I said, "there seems to be no records anywhere. It appears that the only people willing to talk are now dead."
"Ok, Ziva, get Dinozzo on the phone. McGee, I want eyes on him now!"
"Got it boss, switching to the main screen now."
I dialed Tony's number and he picked up on the first ring. "Tony?"
"Hey, sweet cheeks, how is everything?"
"Just fine, Tony, what's your plan? Here is Gibbs." I handed the phone over to a very impatient Gibbs.
"Alright Tony have you made contact with Trevor yet?...ok how much time do you have before you meet him?...ok, alright we have eyes on you from the camera from the bank on the corner opposite you. Stay within the line of vision of a camera, I mean it Tony, no dangerous shenanigans. Got it?" Gibbs waited to hear an answer and handed me back my phone.
"McGee I want you ready to dial local LEO's on my call."
"Got it Boss." He said.
We watched as Tony sat down at a table outside at the cafe. After about 10 minutes a guy in a ball cap and sunglasses walked up and joined him. Tony texted me to confirm that it was indeed Trevor. Then we watched as they ordered drinks. I felt my phone vibrating and put the call on speaker as I answered.
"Hey guys, I am going to keep the phone on speaker as Trevor fills me in."
We watched as Tony set the phone down on the table and we listened as Trevor told us what was going on up until today.
"Well I had been hiding out pretty good until last week when I realized that my cell had been compromised. From what I can gather there are two different guys after me. One looks Russian and the other looks middle eastern. I know one of their names is Stefan. I heard the middle eastern guy call out to the other guy." Trevor said.
"Fill us in on how this started." Tony said.
"Ok so Black Enterprises is just a cover name for a lot of illegal stuff. This company, after you have worked there for awhile you start getting promotions, at first it's great. Bonuses, parties, promotions, lots of money thrown towards you. After you really start enjoying it, you start getting asked to toe the line a little. Maybe to fudge a document, or lose an invoice sheet. At first it's no big deal, but after you are willing to do that kind of stuff it gets bigger. That Kyla girl, she flat out told them she refused to give up her morals, got all religious on them. The boss was not happy. He wanted to know how the religion thing got overlooked in all the interview to say his right hand man didn't show up the next day. I don't want to know what he did to him. Kyla actually tried to take them to court. Black settled with her before it went to trial but she wound up dead a few days later."
"So how did you wind up in trouble?" Tony asked.
"I was asked to loose ten thousand dollars in invoices. I said no and quit. They broke into my apartment that night."
"That's not what you told me on the phone." Tony said, and even through the speaker I could hear the slight hint of hurt in his voice.
"I know and I'm sorry, I just couldn't risk it if my phone was tapped. I hated to lie to you man, I'm so sorry."
"It's fine, so boss what's the plan?" Tony asked Gibbs via the speaker.
Gibbs took a deep breath before he spoke, "Alright, Trevor this is how we will do this. I am going to help you, but I need your word that you listen to any instructions I give you. I am the boss and what I say goes. Is that clear?"
"Yes, boss" Dinozzo said, mostly out of instinct.
"Yes Sir, Mr. Gibbs." Trevor said. And then whispering to Dinozzo he said, "wow, is he always like that?"
"Yes Trevor I am, now listen up." Gibbs said, as Tony stifled a laugh. "I want you to call a number. We will send it to you in a few minutes. Pretend you have no idea that they are tracking your phone. I want you to pretend it's an old friend and you are asking for help. Tell her you are headed to the airport to leave town and you need her to pick you up when you land. Do not say where you are headed. Tell her how scared you are. Make sure you mention your plane leaves at 11. Can you handle that?"
"Yes,Sir." Trevor said.
"Ok good in the mean time I want you to go back where you were hiding out and get your bag and head to the airport. Keep Tony with you at all times. I'm serious Trevor if you go anywhere without him I cannot guarantee we can save you. Tony, you keep your eyes open. I will keep you posted on the plan."
"Got it, boss." Tony said, as he hung up his phone.
We watched him pay for their drinks and then head off to the west. Gibbs turned to me, "Ziva, tell Tony to have him call your number. McGee, I want as much background on this Trevor guy as you can find. I will be back."
As Gibbs left MTAC, most likely to go check on Abby, I turned to McGee, "what do you think he is looking for?"
"I have no idea, but I am just going to do what I am told."
I nodded in agreement and texted Tony to fill him in. Then I waited for Trevor's call. It wasn't long before my phone rang. "Hello?...hi Trevor dear, how are you doing...oh I'm sorry it's been so long since we have seen each other...yes of course...what time does your flight depart?...ok see you then...be safe."
"McGee, he is good. Almost too good. That was too well rehearsed. Either he is more terrified than he is letting on or he is a very good actor."
I didn't have time to think about it further as Gibbs came flying back into the room. "Alright here are the names of the people who the prints belong to. I want everything you can find on them." Gibbs said handing a piece of paper to each of us.
McGee and I went down to our desks and started researching as fast as we could. There were three names on the paper. Viktor Stefan, Abdul Adir, and Travis Snyder. We spent the next hour finding as much as we could on the three names.
After a while McGee found something, "ummm Ziva, go get Gibbs."
I went upstairs and got Gibbs from MTAC. When we got downstairs McGee had two school IDs pulled up on the monitor. One was a middle school library card for a Travis Snyder and next to it was a high school ID card for Trevor Smith. The pictures were of the same kid.
Gibbs turned to me and said, "I want answers, now!" Pulling out his cell phone and putting it to his ear he said, "Dinozzo, listen up, Abby ran the prints you gave us. Three people pulled up from the prints. A Russian, a middle eastern man, and Trevor's prints. When we started digging, I came across a funny thing it seems Trevor did not exist until he was 15. All data before that come from a Travis Snyder. We pulled school records and school ID cards verifies that Trevor Smith is Travis Snyder. I want answers. Get them now. I want you to call me back and I better get an explanation from him. I cannot help people when they lie to me!" Gibbs was yelling by the end of the call, and I wasn't surprised when he slammed his phone down on his desk.
While Gibbs waited for Tony to call him back, I called Abby up to help us. Abby, McGee and I were quickly trying to dig up as much as possible on Travis Snyder. After a few minutes McGee said, "Boss, my vote is on witness protection. There was a robbery that Travis and his father witnessed when he was 14."
Just then Gibbs' phone rang. He put it on speaker. "Start talking."
Trevor's voice came through. "I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you up front, I'm assuming you already found the info on the robbery? It was a job with the Russian mob in New York. I was in the 8th grade, I had been saving up for a year to buy my mom a diamond necklace. My dad had taken me shopping that day when they robbed the jewelry store. The only reason my dad and I survived is because we slipped into the bathroom. I watched all those innocent people die. It was awful. Everything was fine until last month when I quit at black Enterprises. I swear, Mr. Gibbs I'm not hiding anything else."
"Ok, here is the plan. Tony, it's 7:45,I want you at the airport by 8:30. Go to the ticket counter and get 2 plane tickets to DC. There is a flight leaving at 11. I'm calling for local backup and no matter what happens you two better be on that flight. Understand?"
"Got it, boss." Tony said before Gibbs hung up the phone.
Ziva, I want Agent Harris on the phone right now. I know her team went to Atlanta a few days ago. McGee I want eyes in the airport, get me every camera angle you can. I am going up to brief the director."
Gibbs followed McGee and Abby upstairs while I started making phone calls. I contacted Agent Harris and her team and filled her in. I sent her the photos of the two guys we were after and headed upstairs to help McGee and Abby in MTAC.
We watched on the monitors as cameras captured Tony and Trevor buying their tickets and going through security. When they were almost to the front of the security line, Gibbs and the director walked in to MTAC. McGee filled them in and we watched as Agent Harris and her team were in place. Not even 10 minutes later we saw Stefan and Adir walk inside the airport doors. They headed straight to security and were in prime position for Harris and her team. For as many unknowns as there were in the equation, the two men were apprehended pretty easily. Gibbs waited until the two were safely into custody before calling Tony.
"Tony, we got them. Get on that flight and we will see you in a few hours. Ziva will pick you up."
I pulled up to the airport and Tony and Trevor got in as soon as they saw my car.
"Thanks, Ziva." Tony said, as I pulled onto the highway and headed back to NCIS. "So how is Gibbs?"
I just looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "Need you ask?"
"Hmmm, that bad huh."
"You have no idea."
It was nearing evening when Gibbs finished up with Trevor's statement and had handed him back over to the FBI to be reassigned in the program.
We had all closed our computers down for the day and were waiting for further instructions. "I'm going down to get Abby." I said, heading for the elevator.
When I got down to her lab she was sitting on her desk swinging her legs and looking pretty scared. "Ziva, Gibbs is still mad, isn't he?"
I sighed, we had all been dreading this moment for the past two weeks. "Yes, Abby, but we will get through it together. Remember we did all of this to help Tony. Although in hindsight we should not have waited so long to involve Gibbs. Come on, he is waiting."
We took the elevator up to the bullpen and walked over to where McGee and Tony were waiting with Gibbs.
"My house. Now."
"Yes boss." Tony and McGee said in unison.
"Yes, Gibbs" I said, as Abby nodded and slid her hand into mine.
We all followed Gibbs down to the parking garage. I leaned over to Abby, "do you want to ride with me?"
"Yes, Ziva, thanks."
