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He hated doing this to Tony; he'd just gotten him settled after his father's visit, now they had to go through it all again. Resolutely he said, "He was concerned Tony, didn't know what to do but thought you'd want me to know."

"Bet he hated admitting that," DiNozzo decided.

"Don't think it was easy for him no, "Gibbs agreed, "but he did it anyway. Now we have to decide what to tell him."

Tony grimaced. "The more people we tell that I made it out alive the harder it will be to keep it secret," he said, tempted to add a quip about breaking rules but finding that he hadn't the energy to do so.

"Not so sure that he'd be any happier thinking you were holed up somewhere than held captive," Gibbs put in. To his mind there was no question, he wasn't putting Tony's life at further risk by telling Senior the truth, he would prefer the man to come to that conclusion for himself however.

"You don't think we should tell him?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Nope, not yet anyway. If this has something to do with him rather than you then he's better off not knowing. His protection is you being dead." He let his words hang, using silence as he so often did to get his point across.

Tony nodded, coming to his own decision. "If they believe I'm dead you can bet they won't want him to know, they may try to up the ante."

Gibbs smiled; pleased to see his agent thinking clearly even after all that had happened over the past day or so. He was interrupted by the ringing of his cell, the ringtone sounding strange in its unfamiliarity.

"Yeah, Gibbs," he answered, not taking his eyes from Tony. "What you got Abs?"

"One, Senior has had another email telling him to get back over here immediately. They obviously know where he is because they mentioned the prince by name and have extended the deadline," the words came out in a rush as the young Goth managed to get everything out in one breath.

Gibbs frowned, ignoring DiNozzo's puzzled look for the moment. "And two?" he asked.

"The men you arrested from the construction site are dead. Sniper. These guys mean business Gibbs," she said sorrowfully. "First Tony, then Shuman and now the construction workers."

"Fuller's team?" he prompted, recognising from her reference to DiNozzo that she wasn't alone, or at the very least, didn't want to risk an open line. That was fine by him, saved any arguments over whether or not she could talk to her friend.

"They're okay, looks like a pro hit. Marchetti's team are out scouting for his nest and I'm part way through the security tapes."

"And Senior?"

"Due to land at 10:30 tomorrow morning at Dulles, you want McGee to pick him up."

"Yeah, that's good work Abby," Gibbs said, hearing the determination in her voice. "Put another Caf Pow on my tab and let me know when you get something." He closed his cell and turned back to Tony who looked about ready for a seizure only having heard Gibbs' half of the conversation. Quickly Gibbs filled the younger man in on what Abby had said, putting his hand on Tony's arm as his SFA made to get up. "What are you planning to do?" he asked pointedly, smiling as DiNozzo eased back in frustration.

"Hell if I know," he admitted. "What time is it?"

"A little after seven, you need to get some rest."

"Well my body might agree with you but my mind has other ideas," he huffed. "I hate waiting," he admitted a moment later.

"How about something to eat," Gibbs suggested wanting to get some food into his agent. He had a feeling that he would need his energy soon enough.

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McGee stared at Fornell, running through his options before committing himself. "Tony was kidnapped early this morning," he began, speaking slowly to get his thoughts in order. "He was taken from the NCIS parking garage at 04:45. The perps made no attempt to hide themselves; we can only think that they had been paid to disappear when the job was done. They disappeared alright," he continued, smiling grimly. "Billy Shuman, turned up dead right after we identified his fingerprints on a transmitter and the other two were shot by a sniper. As he spoke he put the men's pictures up on the plasma between his and Tony's desks. Indicating the unnamed men he continued, "These two were arrested down in the warehouse district, they were demolishing the building where Tony was being held in the basement. We were led to him, arriving just too late to save him." As he gave the last part of his explanation McGee made sure to be facing the plasma so that Fornell couldn't see his eyes, he was fairly sure there was nothing in his voice to give away the lie.

"Damn," Fornell spoke softly then asked again. "Where's Jethro?"

"McGee shook his head, answering truthfully. "You know how Gibbs feels about Tony, Fornell. He may not show him any favours but.." he trailed off.

Fornell was nodding; he did after all have a child of his own. Blinking he realised that the younger man was still speaking, damn he was losing his touch, wouldn't do to become too human. "What was that?" he asked abruptly.

"I was asking what your interest in Franco was?" Tim said again, fully realising that he had yet to disclose their own knowledge of Franco's part in DiNozzo's disappearance.

"Nothing that I can put my finger on," Fornell admitted crossly. "But his name has come up too often lately for it to be a coincidence. Went to see him this morning, he was all smarts and smiles but he gave me the creeps. I've left Sacks there and should have a warrant for a phone tap through in a few hours but you know how judges are about working quickly if it's not urgent. Do you have anything specific we can tie to him?"

McGee took a deep breath but he had come this far and it felt right to confide in Fornell, chances were any leak came from NCIS rather than the FBI anyway. He heard a voice in his head sounding suspiciously like Tony reminding him that it was better to seek forgiveness than ask permission and decided that he'd speak to Gibbs as soon as he'd filled Fornell in. "DiNozzo's father received an email holding Tony to ransom, we tracked it through several countries but eventually traced it to Franco Enterprises' offices in New York. Still searching to find any connection between DiNozzo and Franco."

Fornell waved his hand over at Tony's computer. "Get me in and I'll let you see what we've got on the man," he said, moving aside to let Tim pass. "There wasn't anything obvious in the file though," he lamented. "I'd have noticed."

Half an hour later Fornell continued to watch over McGee's shoulder as the young man sat at DiNozzo's desk reviewing the FBI file on Vincent Franco. He reached to take his cell off his belt as it rang, glancing briefly at the caller id before answering. "Yeah, what've you got Sacks?" he said, piquing Tim's interest.

The one sided conversation gave little away but McGee watched as Fornell's attention sharpened at something Sacks said. Finally the agent closed his phone and gestured for McGee to let him at the computer again. Quickly he opened his email account and retrieved the jpegs that Sacks had sent him.

"Put these up on the plasma," he instructed. "Looks like Franco's had a busy day, all of these people have been in to his building, let's hope he saw one of them at least."

Tim quickly sent the information to the screen and soon an array of faces looked out at them. "I'll send them to Abby to run through the facial recognition programs," he said, clicking busily on the keyboard. "Recognise any of them?"

Fornell shook his head.

"Why don't you go see Abby, see if she's found anything, I'll try and get in touch with Gibbs," Tim offered. "Maybe he'll see someone he knows, or Tony will," he added silently, hoping fervently that they may, at last, have something to go on.

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Gibbs closed his cell and took his coffee over to the bed where Tony had finally succumbed to sleep a little over an hour ago. He hated to wake him but knew that the sooner this mess was sorted out the sooner the young man could get further medical attention. Setting his mug on the night stand he reached over to gently pop his agent on the head. He had found from previous experience that it was the safest way to wake his SFA, probably as the sensation was familiar to him, any other contact tended to be painful to one or other of them as Tony often woke ready for action and either lashed out or pulled whatever stitches he had at the time.

"Hey, DiNozzo," Gibbs kept his voice quiet and allowed his hand to brush the bangs off Tony's forehead as he woke. He was relieved to feel no sign of a fever but made a mental note to check his wounds again soon and apply the antiseptic spray Ducky had given him. "You with me?"

Tony blinked owlishly but looked up alertly enough. "I'm here," he muttered noticing the cell in his friend's hand. "What've you got?"

Gibbs helped the Italian into a sitting position before handing over the cell and starting to explain. "Seems that Fornell has marked Franco as a person of interest to the FBI," he began. "Turned up in the bullpen and challenged McGee."

Tony pulled a face, smirking slightly as he imagined the picture, he knew that Tim was no longer easily cowed and wondered what had gone down.

"McGee told him everything except the fact that you made it out," Gibbs told him. "He also implied that I wasn't to be contacted."

At that DiNozzo snorted. "I wish I'd seen that," he smiled.

Gibbs allowed a slight turn up of his lips before moving on to the more serious matter at hand. "Apparently he visited Franco this morning with Sacks, didn't get far but left Sacks behind for a few days."

"And?"

The older man nodded at the phone in his agent's hands. "He sent pictures of everyone who entered Franco Enterprises since they got there. Abby is running them through AFIS but McGee suggested I might recognise someone."

"Do you?"

"Nope, but you might," Gibbs replied with a smirk, watching as Tony flicked the cell open and began peering closely at the images. A moment later he stiffened. "What?"

"This one." DiNozzo turned the screen to show a picture of a young lady with long dark hair. "I've seen her somewhere recently."

Gibbs waited quietly, knowing better than to tease. He knew that the younger man had dated very little since Jeanne and was pretty certain that the only females he had been out with since his father's visit had been Abby and Ziva. He didn't have long to wait as Tony abruptly looked up, his eyes returning to the present.

"She was on the desk at the Adams House when Dad checked out," he said quietly. "Tessa, no, Taylor, Dad spoke to her before the senior clerk took over."

Neither man spoke for a moment, both realising that they had their first tenuous link between Vincent Franco and DiNozzo Senior.

TBC

This chapter didn't come out quite as I intended but I wanted to get something up as I have a busy week ahead and didn't want you to have to wait too long. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it, VP.