Family Complications Chapter 3

As they walked back into their hotel room, Chris was already on the phone to one of his buddies. "NCIS. I need as much on this guy as you can pull quietly… No, there is nothing for you to worry about, I just need background information on him before I talk to him…. No I am not going after a federal agent. He works for the Navy cops. He's not in trouble. He reminds me of someone I used to know and I want to make sure he's who I think he is before I approach him… Listen, in this case there is nothing to worry about so just get me the information as soon as you can. I really appreciate this Mike. You got his description? If you need anything else to help you with this, let me know." With that, he hung up the phone and turned around to regard his wife.

"Mike's a little nervous, huh?" At his nod, she continued. "Don't worry, he has never let you down before. I'm pretty sure that this is your brother, he looks too much like Travis not to be him."

"Thanks, but I want to be sure."

"I understand. Come here, honey, let me massage those tense shoulders of yours."

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Two days later.

As Tony approached his desk, he just hoped that it got better than the previous evening and this morning were going so far. He had been woken up at a little after one in the morning by Mrs. Anders, who swore she saw someone prowling around the complex. He himself had searched the area around his building for about an hour. Then early this morning Mrs. Melton had knocked on his door requesting his help to find her dog, Chester, who had run out the door faster than the older woman could catch him. He had tried to take at least an abridged version of his morning run, but had been caught by Mr. Knight and his never ending conversation about whatever sport team had a game the night before. So he just gave up on his run, and went back inside to get ready to go to work.

He wouldn't trade his apartment for anything right now, but sometimes being an officer living in an apartment building with a lot of retirees took a lot out of you. He had chosen it because of the number of retired persons living around him, they were his unofficial security system. Mrs. Anders and Mrs. Jackson alone pretty much kept him up to date on the comings and goings of just about everyone on the floor. But this morning had been full of the draw backs. And then he had cut himself shaving, just to add the icing to the cake.

He was only five minutes late, and was hoping that Gibbs wouldn't notice.

"DiNozzo! Follow me."

No such luck. And Gibbs appeared to be taking his coffee with him – not a good sign. As they reached one of the interrogation rooms, Tony shut the door behind them. "Is there something I can do for you, Gibbs? Sorry I was late, but I had to do some stuff for some neighbors this morning."

"I'm not worried about the five minutes, Tony. I'm a little worried about you. You're not in any sort of trouble, are you?"

"What? No, I'm not in any trouble. Why would you say that?"

Gibbs was a little disappointed that his senior agent hadn't noticed what he did. "I saw someone take off from the front of the building and follow you last night."

"You mean the green Ford Taurus? Yea, they were behind me for a couple of blocks, but then they turned off at the exit for route 50 north and I never saw them or another car on my tail."

Gibbs smiled to himself, he should have known better. He was happy to hear that Tony had watched his six. "I just wanted to make sure, because it looked as if they might have been waiting for you."

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Could they have been part of your trouble this morning?"

"Not unless they kidnapped Mrs. Melton's dog for a half hour, and set Mr. Knight's motor mouth running."

"Alright, let's get back to work."

Tony would have tried to ask more questions, but Gibbs was out the door pretty quickly. There was no way he was going to stop his boss from leaving.

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"You couldn't get any closer photographs?"

"No. The government types get a little antsy when someone is taking photos of their people with telephoto lenses, and one of his nosey neighbors must have heard me when I tripped over a skateboard that some kid left out. The guy almost caught me."

"That was sloppy."

"Hey, this isn't what I normally do, here Mr. Battista."

"I know, Mike. And I appreciate it."

"Can you tell me who this guy is?"

"Not sure yet, and I don't want to let the cat out of the bag before I know if he is who I think he is."

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"Agent Markum."

"Markum, its Mike."

"Hey. Do you have something for me?"

"Yea, and it could be big. A member of the Battista family is in town and is showing some interest in an agent at NCIS."

"What kind of interest and which agent?" the FBI agent asked.

"I don't know the guy's name, because Mr. Battista wouldn't tell me but I can describe him to you…"

"Why wouldn't he give you his name?"

"I don't know. He said something about not wanting to say anything until he confirmed if he was who he thought he was."

"What does the agent look like?"

"About mid thirties, six foot one to six foot three, short brown hair, and looks like an ex-jock. He drove a nice little sports car, and was dressed in what looked like a designer suit. I would give you a picture, but this guy took the film, too."

"I'll pass this along, thanks Mike."

"No problem, just don't forget your friends."

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Gibbs wasn't too happy at the moment. He was trying to get some work done and he was again called into the office of the director. As usual, he completely bypassed the director's assistant with a wave, and proceeded directly in to her office. "You asked to see me."

"Jethro, so sorry to bother you." She said as snidely as she could. "I have just been given notification that a member of the Battista family is here in the city and had a photographer snapping pictures of one of our agents."

"Do you know who?"

"Not specifically, but the description 'About mid thirties, six foot one to six foot three, short brown hair, and looks like an ex-jock. Drives a nice little sports car, and was dressed in what looked like a designer suit' sounds a lot like agent DiNozzo. I just wanted to make sure that the case he worked undercover in the mob for was not for the Battistas."

"No it was the Martonis. Why would a member of a major crime family in New York be here looking into one of our agents?"

"I don't know."

"Didn't your official notification include any other helpful information?"

"It didn't come through official channels, that's why I got the information so quickly but without enough information to make a positive ID. But keep an eye on DiNozzo just in case, he doesn't always have the best luck."

"I always keep an eye on my team. Thank you for your time and concern, I'm going to get back to work." With that he left the office without waiting for her permission.

"DiNozzo!" He yelled as he descended the stairs.

Tony's head quickly lifted from the report he was reviewing. "Yea, Boss."

"Come with me." Tony noticed that his boss did not even slow down as he passed by his desk. All he could do was quickly get up and follow behind Gibbs.

"Sure." Ziva gave him a little grin, which he ignored. Tony knew that he couldn't be in trouble with Gibbs, he'd just have to wait to see what this was about. At least he hoped that he wasn't in trouble, how could Gibbs have found out about that night anyway?

"In here." Gibbs indicated with a flourish, and then shut the door behind them once his senior field agent had entered the conference room.

Tony went to the center of the room and leaned back against the table as he took in his boss's facial expression trying to figure out what this was about before the other shoe dropped. "Something wrong, Gibbs?"

"You tell me, Tony."

"About what? Everything's been pretty smooth around here lately."

"Is that so? We got news that there is a major player from a New York crime family here in DC, and is showing some interest in one of our agents, and that agent's description sounds an awful lot like you."

"Couldn't be me, Gibbs. The Martonis are out of the picture. According to my intel, it has been made clear that retaliation is out of the question."

Gibbs was glad to hear that Tony was keeping up with that information, it meant that he'd stay alive longer. "It wasn't the Martoni's."

"They're the only ones I worked with. Any other mob interactions that I have are the same ones you have through here."

"Well keep one eye open at all times. With that car that seemed to be following you the other night, and then this, I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't you."

"What's this about? Which family?"

"The Battista's evidently have shown some interest in an NCIS agent and the description sounded like it could be you."

"I've never had any contact with that family, as far as I know."

"As far as you know, DiNozzo?" His voice seemed to get more aggravated with each word out of his mouth.

"Some of the minor players change allegiances as often as you or I would change shirts, Gibbs, you know that."

"Yea, well…okay, let's get back to work." Tony could only watch as his boss quickly did an about face and exited the room. This was getting stranger by the minute.

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"So have you been able to figure out if it's him yet?"

"No, I was able to find enough information to indicate that his mother's first name is Elizabeth, which is right, but the last name before her marriage to Edward DiNozzo doesn't match. But she would have changed her name. Anthony Michael DiNozzo was adopted by Edward when he was six. The given birth date matches. It could be him."

"What are you going to do now? You don't have enough information to tell your dad."

"You're right, Beth, I don't. Does your college roommate, Gail, still work at that Bio lab?"

"Yes."

"Do you think she'd be willing to do a DNA test for us if I can get something on him?"

"Sure, not a problem. How are you going to get something from him for a DNA test? He'd be a little suspicious if you stepped up behind him and pulled hair from his head."

"I know that, you smart-aleck." He had to smile at his wife's timely sense of humor. "I'm going to have Ricky go into his apartment and get something from there to give to Gail."

"Okay, I'll let her know to expect it."

"Thanks, honey, I can always count on you." He said as he gathered his wife up in his arms and hugged her. He was so close to finding out if this NCIS Agent is his half brother Anthony. He just had this feeling that it was him, it had to be. This Tony looked so much like Travis and his dad, and was the right age to be Anthony Matteo Battista. What he had to be careful about now was how to approach the agent with this information. How do you tell a federal agent that you used illegal means to determine that he was related to the mafia? And then how do you keep anyone else from finding out, and using that relationship against the family?

He pulled away from his wife and sat down in the easy chair to contemplate his options. The one thing that he didn't know, was if this Agent was his brother, should he tell his family before he approached the man? The family should probably have the option of whether or not they wanted to approach this Anthony DiNozzo once they knew the truth. But then again, he also had an obligation to protect the family, even from other family members.

He looked up at his wife, Beth, when she put his cell phone in front of his face. "It's Ricky." He just smiled at her as he accepted the phone.

"Ricky, I've got a job for you."

"Sure. What's the job?"

"I need you to get in to a federal agent's apartment and get something for a DNA test. Leave nothing out of place, I don't want this guy knowing. And this is to be done quietly; I am not ready to let anyone know why I am doing what I am doing. If I am right, then I will tell everyone who needs to know."

"You got it. I'll call before I come, once I have what you need."

"Thanks, Ricky, I know I can trust you." As he hung up the phone, Chris became hopeful that his instincts were right, and that he had found his brother safe and sound. Now he just had to come up with a plan to meet the young man without raising any red flags.

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Tony DiNozzo was never so happy to be home, and for a day to be over. Everything was just 'off' today. From all his neighbors needing something throughout the morning, to Gibbs confronting him about someone from the Battista family in town, and then while chasing down a suspect in his case he tackled the guy and trashed his suit. He put his key in the door, and turned it in the lock. As he opened the door, Mrs. Anders came out her door and called his name.

"Tony."

"Good evening, Mrs. Anders. How are you?"

"I'm fine, young man, but I am worried about you."

"About me? I'm fine. Why are you worried?"

"Well, after everything that happened last night and this morning, and then having to send someone here to pick up something for your case, I got a little worried. You don't normally forget things, Tony."

"Someone went into my apartment?" At her nod he asked, "What did the man look like, did he give you his name?"

"He said that his name was Agent Stone. He was not too much shorter than you, with light brown hair and dark eyes. He looked Italian, and was dressed like he was going to court. And he had a small scar on his left cheek."

"Well thanks for letting me know, Mrs. Anders. I'm sure it's nothing. My director probably needed a file I had, and didn't want to wait for me to get back from the field today to get it. I really appreciate you looking out for me." He didn't feel bad at all for lying to her, he didn't see any reason to worry her.

"Always, Tony. You need to have someone look after you. Such a young man to be cut off from his family."

"Thanks for your concern. I've had a long day, and so I'm going to go eat dinner and get some rest."

"Sleep well, Tony. You know that if you need anything, you just ask us, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am." He watched as his nice neighbor went back inside and shut her door. As soon as the door was shut, he allowed the calm mask to fade, and put all his senses on alert. As he walked into his apartment, his hand was never far from his service pistol.

After twenty minutes of searching his apartment, he pulled his hand away from his gun, and pulled out his cell phone.

"Gibbs."

"Sorry to bother you after hours, Boss, but after everything that you said this morning, I thought I should tell someone. One of my neighbors, Mrs. Anders, let me know that an Italian looking guy came into my apartment earlier claiming that I sent him for a file I forgot at home."

"Is anything missing?"

"No, nothing is missing, but a few of my things in my bedroom and bathroom have been moved, and they took my trash out."

"Well that was nice of him."

"Yea, but I don't know why?"

"Do you know who this guy could have been?"

"No, as I said, it couldn't be someone from the Martoni organization, and I don't know anyone else to my knowledge. But after our talk this morning, I think someone is looking at me for something, I just don't know what."

"Stay where you are, I'll be there shortly."

"You don't have to do that, I don't want to disturb your evening, I just thought I should tell you…"

"Tony! I'll be there shortly."

"Yes, Boss." He said to the dial tone.

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"Did anyone see you?"

"Some older woman from across the hall. I was dressed in a suit and told her that he sent me to pick up something from his apartment."

"You brought his trash?"

"Well, I got some hair off his brush, but I watch those crime dramas, and they say that blood is the best way to find DNA. He must have cut himself this morning. Don't worry I put another bag in there so he should think that he took it out before he left. How many people keep track of it, except for wives when it hasn't been taken out yet?"

"Okay."

"Hey, Chris, will I get to find out why I did this some time soon?"

"Yes, you'll be one of the first people I tell if this pans out like I think it should."

"Good enough for me. If you need anything else, just ask."

"Thanks, Ricky. Say hi to Trish from Beth and me."

"Sure will. See you later." With that the two men shook hands and Ricky left the hotel room.

Beth came out of the other room of their suite. "Did he get what we needed?"

"Looks like it. We have a couple of hairs from his brush and a bloody tissue."

"I'll call the concierge and have him order a courier for us. Gail will try to get it done for us today or tomorrow."

"The sooner the better."

"I know, its going to drive you crazy until you find out one way or the other."

"Yea, but we've been looking for him for 30 years, another day or so won't kill me."

Beth just walked up to her husband and engulfed him in a hug.