Chapter Two
In the blue darkness of his bedroom Ziva straddled Tony and slowly and determinedly moved up and down on him. They both were bathed in sweat and lost in their latest sexual collision. As she teased them both with the steady slowness, Tony finally grabbed onto Ziva's hips hard enough to leave bruises, if not his fingerprints, and began to move her up and down faster and faster until she was screaming from the experience and he was barely holding on to his own orgasm. No longer able to deal with the feelings, she let go completely screaming out his name and he followed a minute or two behind her. She collapsed on his chest and began to have sporadic spasms of post coital orgasms. He held her tightly never wanting to let go.
"I love you, Tony," Ziva said.
"I love you, too, Zi," he replied.
His smart phone rang. Ziva didn't want to move and he didn't want her to move, but she knew he had to answer it, so she slid off of him.
He reached over and grabbed it and answered: "DiNozzo."
"Director Shepard is talking to SecNav about loaning us to the FBI Organized Crime Task Force. It seems he likes the idea. Are you sure you want to do this, Tony?" asked Gibbs.
"I don't think I really have a choice, boss. I can't sit by and let a mob war breakout and watch the body count mount up and do nothing. And it's my fucking family behind it," he said.
"I know. Wherever you go or whatever you do in New York you are either going to have Ziva or me on your six," Gibbs said.
"Ziva speaks some Italian and understands more which is a good thing for whoever sticks close to me," said Tony.
"I'll talk to her on Monday. She'll stick with you. Fornell will be by again to talk to you on Monday," Gibbs said. "Get rest and get better."
"Thanks, boss," he said then hung up.
"We are going to New York, yes?" Ziva asked.
"It looks like that," he sighed.
"You should have said no, Tony," Ziva said.
"I couldn't, Zi. I became a cop for a reason and this is one of the reasons," Tony said.
"Tell me about your father," she said.
"Pillow talk like Ducky said, huh?" he smiled.
"Please, Ahuvi, tell me about him and you," she purred.
"Okay, I'll tell you, but I need a drink to talk about him," said Tony.
Tony wore a pair of grey sweatpants and Ziva put on one of his OSU tee shirts. They headed to his sofa, but not before he poured them each a healthy scotch.
"When my Emma Paddington married Anthony DiNozzo she thought she was marrying the CEO of a company. You see he was handsome, charming, and wealthy, though not as wealthy as her family. What she didn't know was he was a made man, Mafia," he started.
Ziva sipped her drink and looked at the side of his face, as he refused to make eye contact. His voice was flat and without emotion, as if the subject was too painful for him to speak freely. He needed to be restrained and under control. She understood that.
"So for the first eight years of my life I was mommy's little boy, her little prince. She dressed me up in sailor suits, piano lessons, horseback lessons, read classic books to me, and watched movies, especially the movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s. Well, I didn't really notice the increased drinking or the vomiting or the weight loss. I was only a boy. It was until she was in the hospital with cancer and I was watching a movie with her and she died beside me that I realized my mother was that sick and I was going to lose her," he explained.
"You love movies because of her," she said.
"Yup," Tony sighed. "So, I was left with Anthony DiNozzo who had no time for me and seemed to dislike me. It was six months after my mother's death that he gave me my first beating. I made the mistake of interrupting a meeting between him and a rival Families consigliere. Next, he beat for talking back and then he beat me for not showing enough respect. At first, I thought it was my fault. I thought I was forcing him to beat me because of bad, needy behavior, but by the time I was ten years old I realized he just didn't like me. I was his son and he didn't like me. I wasn't DiNutso enough for me. I guess I had too much Paddington blood, you know the green eyes, and brown, almost sandy hair. I reminded him of my mother and she had the audacity to die on him," he stopped as his voice had too much emotion in it. He needed to have less emotion or he couldn't continue.
"At eleven, he disowned me because I called him an asshole in front of Vincent, who was highly amused by my behavior. So my last beating came at on my twelfth birthday. He brought me to Hawaii with him. The reason was for business, you see he was opening up a relationship with some Indonesian drug cartel. They called him to Bangkok on business and left leaving me in the hotel room all by myself. He didn't even realize he left me," Tony stopped to take a long swig of his scotch.
Ziva was tempted to have him stop and to get in his lap and comfort him, but she knew it was best to let him finish. He was sharing with her and he didn't do that too often.
"After crying for a couple of hours, I got my act together and started ordering room service, watched TV, and generally had a good time. It lasted for three days. When he returned to the hotel and saw the hotel bill I had run up, he wanted to kill me, but he waited until we got home to Long Island. Well, once he got home he beat me until I had to be hospitalized. It was after that Vincent made him do something about me before he killed me. He didn't like how his brother was treated me, his nephew. My summers were spent in at camps and military school the rest of the year until I was eighteen," he said then stopped again for another swig of his scotch.
"What happened when you were eighteen?" Ziva asked.
"I got an athletic scholarship to Ohio State. Vincent sent my father to me to see if I could be convinced to rejoin the family. I had a scholarship in one hand and knew that when I was twenty-five the trust fund my mother left me kicked in, so I told him to get the fuck out of my life and I never wanted to see him again. He left and three and half years later I had a potential sports career ruined by a knee injury. While I was rehabbing I decided that I wanted to be cop and so you have it," he said then turned his face to look at Ziva.
She had tears in her eyes, as she saw the bottled up emotions in Tony. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Ziva crawled into his lap and kissed him.
"Ducky was right and I'm glad you told me," she said.
She started to kiss him again and he started to respond. He slipped his tongue in her mouth where it met her tongue.
"You are not your family and you are not your father," said Ziva.
He started to kiss her neck and she moaned. For the moment he didn't want to talk about the DiNozzo Family or the Genovese Family, he just wanted to lose himself in Ziva's body.
NCIS
Long Island City was going through a revival in the art community as the gentrification of the neighborhood turned what was once abandoned and rundown into expensive real estate, but it wasn't completely gentrified yet. It still had its abandoned warehouses and Mikey Palmeri and his crew had tracked the four young men in the SUV down and brought them to one of those warehouses.
The four young men had their hands tied behind their back with plastic zip ties and they were kneeling in front of four members of Mikey's crew, who were holding Browning Hi-Power handguns to the back of their heads.
"I am what they call in the Family an enforcer," said Mikey. "I like to think of it was more of a calling than a fucking job."
He stood five foot ten inches of sculpted muscle. He was thirty years old, but he already had fourteen years of experience in the business doing his first victim when he was sixteen. He killed a local guy in Astoria, Queens for trying to rape his sister. He cut his throat with a knife and one of the Genovese caporegime found out about it before the police and hid the body and took him under his wing.
"What my men are about to do to you is called a message job," Mikey said. "If done correctly it will send a message to your people and to others telling them not to fuck with the Genovese Family."
The four young African American men tried to remain cool, act tough, but the façade was cracking. They could feel their lifespans growing shorter and shorter.
"We were paid for that job. It wasn't personal," said one of the young men.
"Trust me killing you is fucking very personal. Vincent DiNutso is my Don," Mikey smiled. "This is my Family."
"We didn't even know who we were going to be shooting," he said.
"Who paid you?" Mikey asked.
"I don't know, some guy. He gave us 20 Gs for the job," he said.
"20 Gs to kill Vincent and Anthony DiNutso," laughed Mikey. "You came cheap. No wonder you didn't do a good job."
"He gave us the guns, too," said the young man.
"Give me a description," said Mikey.
"Italian looking, black hair, but blue eyes, light blue eyes. He was, you know, good looking, probably thirty years old tops and dressed in fucking three thousand dollar suits and had a freaking gold Rolex on his left wrist," he rambled on.
"Sounds like Joey Notaro," said one of Mikey's crew.
Mikey nodded. Joey was one of the young Turks, the bastards who thought they knew how it should done, how things should be run, and had no respect for the older generation.
"And now we are going to teach you a lesson for taking jobs like this," said Mikey. "I hope it makes an impression on those that are left alive."
He nodded and the four men out a bullet in the back of the four young African American males. Mikey viewed the area in front of the bodies. There was blood and brain matter. Mikey laughed.
"I think we've created modern art," he laughed.
NCIS
Ziva left him to go to her place on Sunday afternoon. She wanted to exercise, shower, and sleep she told him. He didn't put up an argument because he knew he had some things to do before talking to Fornell tomorrow and the first one was make a call to his cousin Allegra DiNozzo.
Allegra worked as a lawyer for one of the larger law firms in DC. Although he kept little contact with her and her brother Father Francis, he did use her as his lawyer when he wanted to make changes to his will or any other legal documents. He took out his smart phone scrolled through his phonebook until he found her number then he called her.
"Allegra DiNutso," the pleasant voice answered.
"It's Tony," he said simply.
"Oh, Tony, it's been two years since you called me last. I've missed you. How are you?" she asked. "Father Francis only gets to talk to you when you go to confession."
"You know why I don't call, Allie," he said. "There are those in the Family who would frown on the fact that you are talking to him."
"I don't care, Tony. I'm Carlo's daughter and he has nothing to do with the business," she said.
"Allie, I'm the black sheep in a family that doesn't treat black sheep well. I know well enough not to increase my flock," he said.
"Tony," she started to protest.
"Allie, I need some changes to my will," he said.
"Why?" she asked getting worried.
"I'm going to New York as part of Organized Crime Task Force," he told her.
"I thought you said yes to the Navy job because it would mean you'd never have to deal with the Families again. Why?" she asked.
"I'm just a lucky bastard, Allie," he said.
"Oh, Tony, don't do it. Don't go to New York. You know all that it's going to do is cause trouble for everyone, but especially for you," she said.
"Sorry, Allie, but it's my job," he said.
NCIS
Gibbs was in his basement in a NIS sweatshirt and jeans working on his latest incarnation of a boat. He was painstakingly shaping the wood for the hull when he heard the telltale sound of Tony's shoes walking up stairs. When he heard the door to the basement open he refreshed his coffee with some bourbon then poured a generous amount in a mason jar for Tony. As he reached the basement floor Gibbs held out the jar for Tommy to take.
"Hey, boss," Tony said then took the jar and smelled the bourbon.
His preferred hard liquor drinks was scotch but he was starting to get used to bourbon. Next, all I need to do is blow my relationship with Ziva and then starting building boats.
"Why are you here, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked to push things forward.
"I'm not allowed to visit anymore, boss?" asked Tony.
"My door is always open, Tony, but you're here for a purpose. What is it?" he said.
"I came to ask you a favor," Tony said then he took a sip of the bourbon.
"Shoot," said Gibbs.
"You know I know two things really well, actually four things if you add sex and sports, but two things that would affect you," Tony started.
He was feeling uncomfortable making this request but he knew he had to make it. More than anyone else he knew Gibbs knew him, maybe even understood him. If his behavior was going to change, Gibbs needed to know it was for a reason.
"Tony," sighed Gibbs pushing him along.
"I know cops and I know the Mafia. One I became and the other I was born into," he said.
"Okay, still doesn't explain why you are here," said Gibbs.
"You didn't know me in Philly. Two years undercover with the Macaluso Family. Some of the FBI and Philly police that I went native for a while there, especially when it got out that I was being groomed for Don. Fornell knew me then. He was part of the FBI team. You see I remember him, even though he didn't play a big role because he argued against pulling me when everyone else wanted to because they thought I became a mobster. Fornell saw that was playing a role and playing it so well that I fooled everyone, except myself," he explained.
"I know your good at undercover, Tony. What's this about?" Gibbs asked starting to get concerned.
"I need you to trust me when I get too New York, Gibbs. You see there will be times that I don't act like myself. There will be times you are wondering what I am up to, but I need you to trust me and know that I know what I am doing," Tony implored Gibbs. "I understand cops and Mafia and I understand the way to really get the Mafia is to think, drink, eat, and act like them. Most cops act like jamooks when they'd get more acting like a compare, a goombah. If I'm going to do this then I'm going to do everything I need to do to beat them."
"Is this about beat them, Tony, or stopping them?" asked Gibbs, as he sipped his coffee.
"Boss, it's always about beating them at their game. If they are trying to intimidate you then you have to out intimidate them; if they use charm then you use charm and if it's sex, you show them that sex isn't anything more to you than fucking," he said.
"Tony, I trust you," said Gibbs.
"Will you trust me even you think I've might crossed a line or I do something you don't understand?" he asked Gibbs.
"Tony, I know you. I'll always trust you," said Gibbs, as if it was that simple.
Tony took another sip of his drink: "Thanks, boss. I needed to hear that from you."
"Make sure your partner trusts you," said Gibbs.
"If I know Fornell he's going to want to work with me and we've talked about Ziva having my back. At least there'll be two people around who kind of get me," he said.
"How much danger will you be in when we get to New York?" asked Gibbs.
"At times a lot and at other times, the danger will be more subtle. My father hates me. He wouldn't mind attending my funeral, but my Uncle Vincent, who is the Don, well, he'd like me back in the Family. For reasons I don't understand he has a soft spot for me," explained
"Head on swivel and protect you six," Gibbs said.
It was combat advice, which Tony liked because this was like going into combat for him. Going to New York was his field of battle and chances were not great that he'd come out of it unscathed. He finished off his bourbon and looked at his boat.
"Your boat reminds me of Bogey's in the African Queen," Tony said.
"Anything else, Tony?" asked Gibbs.
"No, boss," he said.
"I'll get back to my boat," said Gibbs, who picked up the wood he was bending when Tony began his visit.
Tony placed his now empty mason jar down and headed up the stairs. He was ready to talk to Fornell then it was time for New York.
NCIS
Tony sat at his desk finishing up some paperwork. Ziva had her head down busy with finishing up her paperwork before they got the go ahead to leave for New York. Gibbs was down with Abby trying to explain to her why she couldn't come with them to New York, while McGee working on his computer. Tony felt a presence staring at him, so he lifted his head to see Fornell standing there with a grin on his face.
"DiNozzo, care for a coffee while we talk?" he asked.
"Sure, Fornell," said Tony.
He got up and straightened his suit then grabbed his trench coat. Looking over at Ziva, he saw that she had finally lifted her head. Her chocolate brown eyes looked at him with concern.
"Officer David, tell Gibbs I've gone for coffee with Fornell," he said to her.
"Okay, Tony," she said.
He and Fornell headed off. They settled into a booth in a dinner not too far from the Navy Yard. A waitress came over to them. She was comely about forty with dyed blonde hair.
"I'll have a coffee, black," said Fornell.
"Okay, lovey," she said then turned to Tony. "And you, sweety?"
Fornell watched as the waitress almost purred talking to Tony.
"I'll have a coffee, light four sugars and a bagel toasted with cream cheese," he said.
"Be right back with your coffees," she said.
"Do all women react that way to you?" Fornell asked.
"Not all," smiled Tony.
"Director Shepard will be talking to you as a group before you leave," Fornell started. "The SecNav is excited by the MCRT participation in this Task Force. I voiced my concern with you being on Gibbs' leash. They understood what I was I talking about, so you are going to be temporarily in charge of the team when we get to New York. This way you have room to operate. Director Shepard is probably telling Gibbs this now."
"You didn't need to do that, Fornell, I've already talked to Gibbs about things," said Tony.
"I saw you in Philly, Tony. For a while there I was afraid I was looking at one of the most dangerous potential Dons in a long time. You had it all, brains, ruthlessness, cunning, and instincts. Then I realized it was looking at some undercover cop who lost his way and thought he was the role he played, but I was looking at who you could have been. I argued to give you rope when everyone else wanted haul your ass in and put you in therapy. Not me. I knew you were in control, even when you put the bullets in Delvecchio's knees," Fornell explained. "You knew exactly what you needed to do to keep your cover without completely going over the line."
"Delvecchhio was a bad cop who was on the take and who raped a sixteen year old," said Tony. "He's lucky I didn't put a bullet in his brain."
"I know," smiled Fornell.
The coffees and bagels came.
"Anything else I can get you?" the waitress asked.
"Maybe later," smiled Tony.
She returned the smile and went to her next table.
"Delvecchio deserved what he got and his wounds were considered justified," said Fornell.
"How did you know it was me who kneecapped him?" asked Tony. "He'd never say a damned thing."
"Anyone else in the crew that night would have killed him. Only you would have kneecapped him then convinced the boys who had given a punishment worse than death," said Fornell. "The guy in Philly is the guy I need in New York."
Tony bit into his bagel. At least in New York I'll get better bagels, ones that you don't even have to toast to enjoy.
"Gibbs is going to be pissed," said Tony.
"Take advantage of that and give him something to do that fits his skills," said Fornell then he reached into his pocket and took out three photos that had recently been printed up.
He handed the photos to Tony. The photos were of four young African American men lying on a warehouse floor with the front of their skulls blow open and their blood and brains on the ground. They killed execution style.
"A Message," said Tony.
"The bloodshed has begun. Sacks, Gibbs, McGee, even David, as well as some of the others on the Task Force can start here. I'm sticking with you. I want you to shake things up. I want you to be the guy I saw in Philly," said Fornell.
"You want to do more than stop a war; you want to bring further damage to the Five Families," said Tony.
"When my grandfather came to New York, he started a business, a small neighborhood store in Queens. It was a good business. The mob took it away from him because they wanted to use it as a front for some of their businesses. It destroyed my grandfather. My father ended up a doorman for one of those fancy buildings on the Upper Eastside. I ended up an FBI special agent. I have no love for the Families, Tony, and I know that you don't either," he explained.
"Okay…"
"Call me Tobias. We are going to work closely together," he said.
"Okay, Tobias. I promised Gibbs that I'd keep Ziva close to protect my six, but if she interferes with what we want to do then I'll have her Gibbs," he said.
"I've got three other agents on this Task Force who feel like I do. One is Salvatore Stabile. His brother was killed by mobsters in Chicago. Number two is Patrick Mullen. He's Irish, I know, but he has reason to hate the Irish mob and the Italian mob. He's the son of Paddy Mullen in South Boston…," Fornell was explaining.
"Number two for Red Foley. They gave the Italian mob a run for their money for a while in Boston," said Tony.
"Yeah, well, the retaliation cost him is father, his mother, and his sister. He'd like to bury both mobs," said Fornell.
"And number three?" asked Tony.
"Angela Manetti. Father was a New York cop who was killed by the mob," he said.
"Okay, they'll be five or six of in the Task Force to have our own agenda. Everyone else works this straight," said Tony.
"If all goes well, they'll pin medals on our chests," snorted Fornell.
"You're not doing it for medals and neither are any of the others," stated Tony.
"No. We are in this for the medals or the citations or promotions. This is personal," said Fornell.
"I agree."
"I'm setting up hotel arrangements for a long term stay. This is going to take weeks, maybe months. Our little group I was going to put in the Chelsea Hotel and they rest in a hotel in midtown the New Yorker. Should I put Ziva in with us?" Fornell asked.
"No," he said with a sigh. He knew she was going to suspect something, maybe even be angry with him, but they were going to put their lives on the edge. He didn't want that for Ziva. He was willing to be reckless with his own life but not with hers.
"I agree," said Fornell. "Gibbs is going to be growling like an angry grizzly."
"I've handled Gibbs and his moods," smiled Tony.
"He's protective of you. It's going to be hard to keep him out of this," said Fornell.
"Maybe," said Tony.
"You have an idea," said Fornell.
"Yeah, maybe," smiled Tony.
"What's your idea?" he asked.
"Remove the problem," said Tony.
NCIS
Tony walked into the bullpen and saw Ziva and McGee dutifully working in the way they did when they were dealing with the grizzly bear Gibbs. Gibbs was glaring at him. Tony decided to be preemptive.
"I just talked to Fornell, boss, so I know why you are angry," he said.
"DiNozzo," he said, but Tony cut him off.
"I'll talk to Director Shepard," he said and headed up the stairs and into Shepard's office without knocking.
She sat there in her chair with a raised eyebrow with her empress expression on her face. I can see why Gibbs is still attracted to her, thought Tony.
"And what do you want, Agent DiNozzo?" asked Director Shepard.
"I think I can make your life easier in the long term, Jenny," he said.
"How? Shoot a tranquilizer in the ass of Leroy Jethro Gibbs," she said.
"No. But remove him from this problem," said Tony.
"And what is that?" she asked.
"His need to protect me," he said. "Gibbs doesn't mind me acting as boss because he knows we all know who the boss is. He wants to have control over me so he can keep me out of trouble in New York."
"I agree. He is fond of you. Fonder than I've seen him with any of his other protégés, at least, the ones that were male," she smiled.
"Yeah, bossman, thinks of me as a son sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes," Tony said.
"What's your idea?" she asked.
"Talk to SecNav. Tell him that I am co-leading the Task Force with Fornell for the greater glory of NCIS, but I want to pick three agents who I'll work with on this," he said.
"And you aren't going to pick Gibbs, McGee, or David," she said.
"That's right. I don't want to put them in danger and they'll be in danger if they go to New York with me because their minds will be on protecting my six instead of doing their job. Let me pick who I take," he said.
"Fornell is willing to give you co-lead on this?" she asked.
"If you and SecNav accept my offer," he said.
She smiled: "He'll be angrier with you than with me."
"I know. I'll pay heavily for it when I come back, but at least they'll be safe," he said.
"I'll talk to SecNav. Who would you want in their place?" Jenny asked.
"Cassie Yates, Jim Goode, and Neal Moynihan," he said then paused and smiled. "I'll take his wraith, but if the SecNav agrees, I want you to tell the team. I want to be able to walk when I'm in New York."
"Deal," she said.
"Thanks, Jen," he said and started to walk out.
"Tony," she stopped him.
He turned and looked at her.
"Yes, Director," he said.
"Be careful. I do want you back in one piece," she said.
He smiled: "Yes, Director."