Into the Fold Chapter 3
On Tony's rush back to D.C. he thought about a plan of action. He was thankful he had asked Vance for two weeks off. Tony would now have time to pull himself together and figure out what to do with this new revelation. How do you process information you have a hard time believing? He fought an internal battle.
His mind went to crazy town fearing for his co-workers safety. He should warn them right? But telling them might actually endanger them.
No, Gibbs could be a bastard but Tony knew Gibbs was fiercely protective of him and the whole team.
So he marked off that plan.
Maybe He should just call Gibbs on the phone and confront him…yeah, that is what he would do.
He picked up the phone and dialed Gibbs cell. As the phone rang, Tony bit his lip and tried not to freak out.
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Gibbs had dumped all the cleaning supplies and plastic bags on Dearing's porch for Ducky and Abby. He got behind the wheel of his truck and started it up. His cell phone rang and he almost didn't answer.
He looked at the caller I.D. and his breath hitched…it was Tony.
He needed to be very careful not to spook him.
"Tony, where are you?" he asked
Tony freaked out at the sound of Gibbs voice…."Boss! What the fuck! I saw what you did to Dearing! Jesus! What the hell Boss?! "
Gibbs could hear Tony start to hyperventilate.
"Tony" Gibbs said calmly "Listen to me. I need you to meet me at my house. I will explain everything to you."
"What? Meet you at your house? Are you fricking kidding me?" Tony yelled
Gibbs heard a horn blaring. Tony sounded out of breath. It also sounded like he was driving.
"TONY!" He used a commanding voice, one Tony had never heard before. Tony felt as if a whisper of fog entered his brain and settled there clouding his thoughts. It had a warm calming effect.
Gibbs heard total compliance in Tony's voice when he said "Yes, Boss?"
"Are you driving?"
"Yes, Boss"
"I want you to pull over, Tony. I want you to tell me where you are. You will tell me and then you will wait for me to come to you, do you understand me Tony?"
"Yes…."
Gibbs could hear tires screeching and horns honking. He heard Tony yell "Shit!"
Then Tony screamed at Gibbs "You were trying to work some vampire Jedi mind trick shit on me!"
Tony was indignant. Before he hung up on Gibbs he said "Fuck you, Boss!"
"TONY!" Gibbs yelled in frustration but Tony was gone. What Gibbs didn't know was as Tony hung up he threw his cell phone out the window, it crashed to the pavement at 50 miles an hour and broke into pieces.
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"GOD DAMNIT!" Gibbs yelled bashing his fist down on his steering wheel.
His chance to get to Tony quickly was dashed.
He figured Tony would head to his apartment and then take off from there. He drove as fast as he could back to D.C.
As he drove he called McGee.
"Boss?" McGee answered
"I need you to put out a BOLO on Tony and his car, McGee."
"Why?" Tim asked startled at the request
"DO NOT QUESTION ME TIM!"
Tim McGee responded without emotion.
"Alright Gibbs, anything else Boss?"
Gibbs softened his voice but held McGee enthralled with his voice command.
"Yes Tim. If Tony contacts you, I want you to say anything you have to, to get him to meet with you. You are then to contact me directly. Do not let Tony know you are contacting me. Do you understand me?"
"Yes Boss"
"That's good Tim…put Ziva on."
When Ziva answered he repeated his commands to her.
After he hung up Gibbs felt guilty. He had never, ever bent his Agents will before. But he had to get to Tony as soon as possible. He would do what he had to; to make sure he was safe. Even if it meant he had to violate the teams trust. Chances are they would not even know they had been violated. But Gibbs knew and he recognized this was not his proudest moment.
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Tony parked his Mustang two blocks from his apartment in a secure and hidden place. He grabbed his backpack and ran the distance to his apartment. He left the newspaper at the front door. He would leave the illusion he had not returned home.
He busied himself grabbing a burn phone, his laptop, and his go bag that he always had packed and prepared for undercover work. He grabbed extra clips for his sig and dropped an extended feeder in his goldfish, Kate's bowl. He emptied his wallet of all his credit cards and secured them in his fire safe. He removed the $10,000 dollars cash he kept on hand. To disappear he would use cash only. He removed fake I.D.s as well. These were also untraceable as they were not in any aliases he had ever used before.
He needed a different car. This was the one complicated issue facing him. It then dawned on him he had access to his neighbor Mrs. Winter's vehicle.
She was staying with her daughter for several weeks and Tony checked on her place periodically and watered her few plants. He grabbed her spare keys and looking around his apartment he exited and locked the door behind him. He made his way across the hall and had just entered Mrs. Winter's apartment when he heard someone running up the stairwell.
He held his breath as he heard banging on his front door and Gibbs yelling for him to open the door.
"Shit! That was too close." He thought
He listened as he heard keys jingling and then a door opened. Tony knew it was Gibbs entering his apartment. Tony took a quick peek out Mrs. Winter's peephole. Tony watched as Gibbs exited his apartment and looked around. Tony saw Gibbs look towards Mrs. Winter's door. Holding his breath he stepped back and plastered himself against the wall to the left of the door.
Gibbs was standing outside the door. Tony could hear him breathing on the other side. It felt like hours but was actually just a few minutes. He heard Gibbs walk away. Tony heard Gibbs say "Fornell!" Gibbs was obviously on his cell phone.
The conversation continued "I need your help. Can you meet me at my house in half an hour? Great. I need you to get a man over to Tony's apartment to keep an eye out for him. I'll explain everything when I see you…" His voice faded as he got farther away.
Tony moved to the window and watched as Gibbs got in his truck and drove away. This was Tony's chance. He grabbed his stuff and the neighbor's car keys. He made his way to the fire escape and down to the parking lot. He found the Grey Buick sable and got behind the wheel.
Tony needed answers to his million questions. He released the fear from his mind and filled it with the sharp instincts he had always used as the skilled investigator he was. He needed to find out everything he could about his boss. To do that he needed to go where Gibbs story was known to have started.
Tony was headed for Stillwater.
A/N-Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed, faved, alerted, followed etc. I so appreciate your time. Feedback from readers fuels my fire!