Chapter 21
As soon as they reached the conference room, Webber said, "So, how much of Tony's current state is a result of my father's 'interview' with him?"
"Is that what he called it?" Gibbs asked.
"He told me that he sent for Tony so that they could talk man to man about something that had happened. He was nonspecific about the something, just said that he'd seen Tony in a compromising position that could have a negative impact on his career."
Gibbs ground his teeth. "He saw Tony in the midst of an undercover operation," he said. "Nothing he saw could have the slightest negative impact on DiNozzo's career."
"I'm glad to hear it," Webber said.
"Would you be willing to tell me what he told you about his 'interview' with DiNozzo?"
Webber shook his head, a wry look on his face. "He said he sent for Tony because he'd always been a better son to him than I was, and that he'd offered to help Tony of out a mess he'd gotten himself into in exchange for help in some business dealings. I asked him how Tony had gotten bruised and battered, and he implied that he'd gotten himself involved in a sexual relationship with a violent partner, and that was the mess he was offering to help with."
"Charming. How did he explain his arrest?"
"You're an overly aggressive federal agent with conspiracy theories," Webber said.
Gibbs nodded. "Mr. Webber –"
"Call me Michael, please."
"Michael, if I tell you more detail about this case, you will have to understand that it's confidential information."
"How confidential?"
"Classified," Gibbs replied. "While your father is implicated in the abduction of and assault on Agent DiNozzo, those will be among the least serious of the charges against him."
Michael gazed at him for a long moment, looking thoughtful. "Do I need to sign something?" he asked finally.
"Not at this time," Gibbs said. "We have your father on tape offering to cut DiNozzo in on his long term illegal arms racket, selling weapons to whoever wants to buy them, including those currently fighting American forces abroad."
"On tape?" Michael repeated, eyes widening. "But . . . how . . . was this a sting . . . against my dad?" he asked.
"No," Gibbs said frankly. "Senator Webber's involvement was unsuspected until he abducted DiNozzo. The fact that we caught his offer on tape is due to an accident of timing." A very fortunate accident, Gibbs thought, or they might not have found him as quickly. "DiNozzo forgot to turn in his wire after the undercover operation was ended, and when we couldn't find him later, our lab technician checked to see if it was active, and it was."
"You're kidding."
Gibbs shook his head. "When you called to warn DiNozzo, your father's people had already grabbed him."
"So, if I'd called immediately, he might not have been harmed."
There was a knock at the door. Gibbs had a strong suspicion he already knew who it was. He rose and went to the door, ready to repel DiNozzo, but when he opened it, he found McGee gazing nervously at him. "Yes?" he asked mildly, not sure why the single word seemed to make the young man even more uneasy.
"Um . . . Kate . . . Agent Todd . . . she asked me to come . . . to get you, sir. I mean Boss. I mean Gibbs."
"What is it, McGee?" Gibbs asked.
"Tony's, um . . . he's really . . . he's not . . . he's not himself."
"I'd picked up on that, McGee," Gibbs said, but he wondered what was up. McGee wasn't usually quite this unhinged.
"It's more than . . . Agent Todd asked me to get you."
Gibbs nodded sharply. He turned back towards the younger Webber. "Michael, please stay here. I'll be back shortly."
He hurried down the stairs and found that DiNozzo was sitting quietly at his computer, staring at the screen. Kate was sitting at her desk, watching him and looking worried. Gibbs slowed as he reached the bullpen and realized gradually why Kate was so anxious. DiNozzo wasn't moving, and he hadn't even acknowledged Gibbs' approach. Admittedly, he sometimes pretended to be less aware than he was, but that wasn't the impression Gibbs was getting now. He walked on to Kate's desk. "How long?" he asked quietly.
"I noticed about fifteen minutes ago," she said. "I don't know how long before that. I've spoken to him a couple of times, but he hasn't said a word or even looked at me."
"Have you tried touching him?" Gibbs asked.
She gestured around at the busy office. "I didn't want him to freak out in public."
Gibbs pursed his lips. "Well, he can't stay like that," he said, and he walked over beside DiNozzo. He put a hand on the younger man's shoulder, and DiNozzo's whole body jerked. He looked up, eyes wide. "Boss. I – head." He got up and pushed past Gibbs and went hastily in the direction of the restroom. Gibbs watched him go, then leaned down and tapped the space bar to bring the computer off screen saver. The flying toasters disappeared and an image took their place. Gibbs stared at it for a second, fury suffusing him in an instant. Compassion and concern followed quickly on its heels. He turned off the monitor and took off after DiNozzo.
As soon as they were both out of sight, Kate got up and crossed to Tony's desk. Gibbs had turned the monitor off before he left, but she turned it on again and stared in utter shock. The screen was filled with a photograph that depicted Tony at about fourteen or fifteen, she'd guess. He stood in a large, elegantly appointed bathroom in front of a gigantic tub/shower combination, toweling his hair dry, and he was completely naked. She was fairly certain that he had no idea he was being watched, much less photographed. He looked calm and not remotely self-conscious. It was an appalling image, not least because he seemed so entirely unaware.
She glanced down at the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and saw a cluster of other files. This one was called Tony_33. Also open were Tony_89, Tony_7, Tony_176, Tony_220 and Tony_418. She looked at each one. All of them showed Tony at ages ranging from about fourteen to somewhere around seventeen or eighteen, and in every photo he was in that bathroom, and he was naked. She sank slowly into Tony's chair, wondering where the other numbers were and how these had been selected.
She minimized them, one after another, and came to the source, the e-mail they'd been sent in. There was a final picture there, one of Tony playing air guitar in the bathroom, presumably before his shower, because his hair was dry. It was deeply disturbing to think that a grown man had taken photo after photo of a boy when he was naked and unaware, unable to protect himself. Her stomach twisted at the thought of Tony seeing these photos unprepared. From his reaction, she doubted sincerely that he had ever known of their existence. Each snap of the shutter had been a sexual assault, compounded on top of the fact that there was someone watching to begin with. Sending them was yet another assault. Still, had Webber done more? Had Webber . . .
"Where'd they go?" McGee asked, and Kate looked up to see him standing over her.
"The head," she replied. The e-mail header didn't show an originating address. She bit her lip. "McGee, can you trace an e-mail?"
He raised his eyebrows. "I can try."
Tony was glad to find the head empty when he reached it. He went straight into a stall and stared into the toilet, not sure how far he could control the upheaval in his gut. The door opened a moment later and he hunched reflexively, but the walls hid him completely.
"You okay, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.
"Sure Boss, never better." That might have come across more persuasively if his voice hadn't sounded so hollow.
"I looked at your screen, DiNozzo."
Tony closed his eyes, emotionally unprepared for this news. It was a mistake, because the photos from the e-mail were just projected onto the blackness of his eyelids by his brain. "Did anyone else see?" he asked.
"I turned off the monitor before I followed you."
Tony hoped Kate wouldn't let her curiosity lead her to turn it back on. "There were seven of them, Boss," he said, aware that with the speed of his arrival, Gibbs hadn't had time to do more than glance at the one that he'd left on top. His stomach heaved, but he regained control. "Seven," he repeated, "and not all from the same time. Hell, not even all from the same year."
"In your e-mail?"
"It came in while I was sitting there," Tony said. "The first picture was embedded, the others were attached."
"Are you sure he never touched you, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, and Tony recognized his tone. It meant Gibbs was treating him as a potentially emotional witness/victim.
Tony slammed his fist against the wall of the stall. "He never laid a finger on me, Gibbs," he snarled. "Damn it!" He shook his head angrily. "No one will ever believe that now, will they?" Gibbs didn't respond, and Tony answered the question himself. "How could he possibly have taken that many photos of a naked boy that he never actually messed with?"
"Do you know the answer to that?" Gibbs asked.
"He must have had some kind of a peephole or something," Tony replied. "Surveillance cameras just weren't small enough back then for there to have been something in the room."
"The mirror?" Gibbs suggested.
Tony thumped his head against the cold marble of the stall. "Maybe, I don't know." Seven pictures, all taken in the same room, the bathroom Tony had used at the Webber house. Seven pictures that showed Tony naked, cleaning up, drying off, one playing air guitar. The thought that someone had watched him – had photographed him – while he was in that private space made him feel ill. "He did it to other boys, didn't he? But . . . but he touched them."
"Yeah," Gibbs said.
"Why not me? What stopped him?" Tony realized how that sounded. "Not that I'm upset about that, I just . . . I don't . . ."
"Michael blackmailed him," Gibbs said. "Made him promise to stop messing with his friends."
Tony clenched his teeth, trying not to feel guilty that he was spared when others hadn't been. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Michael? Was he . . . did –"
"He says not."
"Do you believe him?"
Gibbs was silent for a moment, and Tony agonized over the hesitation. Finally, Gibbs spoke two words. "I do."
The door opened again, and Tony took a deep breath. He couldn't stay in the toilet all day. Gibbs walked over and started washing his hands. Tony flushed and walked out of the stall, going over to join his boss at the sink. Gibbs and he left together, but Gibbs guided him to the elevator down to Abby's lab. They'd barely stepped inside when Gibbs hit the emergency stop button. A moment of silence stretched to two. Finally, Tony bit his lip. "Yeah, Boss?"
"Those are going to have to be reported and researched, DiNozzo. You know that, right?"
Tony nodded. "Yeah, Boss," he said, dismayed but not surprised.
"But you don't have to be here. I've interviewed you, you're free to go."
"Go where?" Tony asked helplessly.
"Do you think you could stand to have Michael Webber go home with you?" Gibbs asked.
Tony blinked at the elevator door, considering the question. "How do you know he'd want to go with me?" he asked bleakly. He shook his head. "However little he likes the man, I was just instrumental in getting his father arrested."
"Since he was already working hard to get him arrested for child sexual abuse, I don't think that will be a problem," Gibbs replied, and Tony looked up, startled.
"I thought you said he wasn't –"
"He's testified for the grand jury," Gibbs interjected. "I don't know the content of his testimony because the proceedings were secret."
"Right." Tony shrugged. "I can't tell him anything, though, can I?"
"The director left it to me to decide what to tell him," Gibbs said. "I was going to tell him everything. No reason you couldn't tell him instead, over beer, at your place." He grabbed Tony's shoulder and turned him to face him, their eyes meeting. "Go home, DiNozzo, and let us deal with this mess. You don't need to be here."
Tony let himself be persuaded. Gibbs left him at his desk to gather his gear and went back upstairs. About ten minutes later, he came back down with Michael. Tony looked up at Gibbs. "What about the e-mail?"
"Forward it to Kate," Gibbs said.
"Boss!" Tony exclaimed, not at all sure he wanted his prim teammate to see some of those photos.
"She's going to be part of the investigation," Gibbs said, not unkindly. "And it wouldn't do you any good to send it to me."
Tony grimaced, but he nodded and sent the e-mail. Fixing Kate with a glare, he said, "You don't open that till I'm out of the building."
Seeming utterly mystified, she shrugged. "Whatever, Tony."
He scrutinized her expression. "You looked, didn't you?" he accused.
"Looked at what, Tony?" she asked, her voice oozing boredom.
Still suspicious, but unwilling to express himself any more clearly, he closed down his computer, stood up and walked with Michael to the elevator. "Do you have a car?" he asked. "Or did you cab it?"
"I have a car," Michael replied. "Why, didn't you drive yourself over this morning?"
Tony shook his head and sighed. This was going to be a long explanation.
Gibbs turned to Kate as the elevator doors closed behind DiNozzo. "What did you make of it?"
"Senator Webber is a sick bastard," she replied darkly. She was silent for a moment, then said, "I took the liberty of . . . I already have McGee and Abby tracing the source."
He turned to her in mild surprise. He'd expected her to look; he hadn't expected her to take the initiative. "Anything yet?"
"Nope," she said, shrugging. "They said something about bouncing off servers in Taiwan, and I lost the train after that." They were both quiet, but neither of them moved to return to work. Gibbs was just about to remind her that they had a job to do when she spoke up. "Was he?" she asked, avoiding specificity with rare tact.
Gibbs considered the question. "I don't think so," he said finally.
"That's what Abby said," Kate remarked. "She said his vibe is all wrong." She sighed and started tapping on her keyboard and Gibbs went to his desk, obscurely relieved by Abby's assessment. He'd been working for maybe forty minutes when the elevator chimed. A moment later, Kate stood up. "Gibbs?" she said sharply. "I think we have a problem."
Gibbs looked up and saw Special Agent Fornell of the FBI approaching. He returned to work, apparently ignoring the intrusion and waited for the man to come to a stop in front of his desk. He continued to ignore him until he heard a loud throat-clearing cough. Without raising his head, he said, "Got a cold, Tobias?"
"No, Gibbs, I've got a senator to pick up."
"We arrested him," Gibbs said, finally looking up.
"And I've got no argument with that, but aside from his abduction of an NCIS agent, none of his crimes fall into your jurisdiction, and the FBI would investigate the abduction of a federal agent anyhow. He's ours, Jethro."
"Why don't we have a chat with the director?" Gibbs suggested, but he knew he was fighting a rearguard action. He'd known from the moment they'd brought the man in that they were going to lose him. He just didn't really want portions of this investigation leaving his hands. DiNozzo wasn't going to like it.
