Woo! Big long chapter in here! We're finally having Gibbs and Daniel meet and Gibbs is going to find out the details of the ugly undercover mission Tony just got off of. I know we haven't had much Tony lately but the next chapter will have him in it, I promise. Please tell me what you think and as always I hope you all enjoy!
"Gibbs!"
The shout that echoed across the room drew the attention of everyone in the bullpen except the man who's name was called.
Abby came racing through room, dodging desks and frazzled agents as she held papers above her head. Sliding to a stop in front of his desk, she slammed a manilla folder in front of Gibbs.
He looked up at her from the papers he was reading and raised an eyebrow.
"Abby?"
She smiled.
"Okay Gibbs, so I know you don't like anyone to get involved when you are choosing a team, but I decided to do a little digging. I knew that something was up with Tony, he wasn't just your average good Samaritan, I mean there are people who stop if someone needed help but really though, how many people would put their lives on the line? Not very many. So I wanted to see who this guy really was. Turns out Tony is a detective! Or at least he was. He was fired the very day that he saved me Gibbs, but he totally shouldn't have been! The undercover job he was assigned to was completely hinky, one of the other agents turned and things went south and Tony took the fall for it! Now I know that I technically belong to all of NCIS but I like to think that I am part of your team and as being part of your team I think that you should consider Tony becoming a member of our family. He is such a nice guy and I think that...that...what are you reading?"
Gibbs stared at Abby silently for a moment before lifting up the papers.
Abby leaned forward, reading the name on the top of the first paper.
"You...already...have his file."
"Yup."
She pursed her lips.
"You're already considering him?"
"Yup."
Abby locked her fingers together in front of her.
"I did all of that for nothing then, didn't I?"
He nodded.
She sighed.
"Am I in trouble?"
Gibbs tilted his head.
"That depends. What did you find? Maybe you can fill in some blanks Tobias left."
She smiled and grabbed a chair from an empty desk.
"I never leave blanks Gibbs. Well almost never. I don't have anything from his time before college. It that didn't seem all that important..."
Gibbs looked up at her, a cool blue stare meeting her eyes.
"...But I could be wrong?"
"Everything is important."
She nodded.
Gibbs began flipping through the papers Abby gave him, mostly it looked the same as Fornell's. DiNozzo's file was full of reprimands and notes and a surprisingly high number hospital bills. Alone they would be damning but they were overshadowed by mentions of bravery and courageous actions. His file showed a man who took fast action when action was needed and payed for the consequences when they were due.
As much as Gibbs hated to admit-the kid reminded him of himself.
Abby sat in silence as long as she could, bouncing in her chair, watching Gibbs read. Finally she couldn't take it anymore.
"So?"
Gibbs looked up at her.
"So?"
Abby sighed and pointed at the papers.
"So-Are you going to hire him?"
Gibbs opened his mouth to answer when his phone began to ring.
"Yeah Gibbs…what?…yeah send him up."
He hung the phone up and looked towards the windows with an intense expression.
"Gibbs? What's going on?"
He continued staring towards the window and answered her quietly.
"Detective Daniel Alexander is here."
"Who?"
"Tony's old partner."
"What? Why? Is Tony alright? Why would he come here?"
"We're about to find out."
NCISncisNCISncis
This place was huge. Daniel knew that Baltimore wasn't the smallest precinct in the area but it was nothing compared to NCIS. But then again it wasn't a federal agency. Maybe he should look into switching careers, this place was swank.
Great. Now I'm starting to think like DiNozzo.
Daniel brought his focus up as he was led into wide room filled with windows and a wall covered with photos of dangerous people. He paused recognizing one of the men on the wall as a notorious terrorist. A bright red line was pasted through his face.
"Detective?"
He pulled his attention back to the agent leading him through the room.
"Yes, sorry."
"This way."
He followed the man to a section of desks below a balcony. Three of the four desks were empty, and the fourth had an older man with a marines hair cut and a young woman dressed in black and chains.
The man nodded at the agent behind him.
"I got him."
The other man left, leaving Daniel alone with the two strangers.
"Agent Gibbs? I'm Detective Alexander."
Abby bounced from her chair and raised her hand.
"Hi, I'm-"
"Abby Scuito. I know. Tony told me about meeting the two of you. And a Doctor Mallard. He's the one who patched up Tony when the idiot refused to go to the hospital."
Abby nodded
"That's us!"
Daniel smiled tightly at her and looked over at Gibbs who was still watching the man carefully.
"Agent Gibbs?"
"What can I do for you Detective?"
"Tony…he… we… he's in trouble, with his last undercover."
Gibbs' eyes narrowed.
"He doesn't work for Baltimore anymore, why is he still involved?"
"No he doesn't and I don't know. He's on his own. Agent Gibbs, I understand if you don't want to help, you don't really know Tony and I get that, but I trust him. If he says he can't trust our department… He's out there alone Agent Gibbs. Please."
Gibbs stared hard Daniel for a long minute.
Abby looked between the two men, biting her lip.
"He told you to come to us?"
Both men turned and looked at Abby in surprise before Daniel answered.
"Tony thought he could trust you."
Abby looked over at Gibbs who stood and began walking towards the elevator.
"Agent Gibbs?"
Gibbs paused and raised an eyebrow.
"You coming?"
Daniel rushed after him with Abby close behind.
"Where we going bossman?"
Gibbs hit a button on the panel.
"Somewhere where no one is going to overhear us. I want the whole story."
Abby looked over and squeezed Daniel's shoulder.
"It's going to be okay."
Daniel sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"I hope so. Tony's not very good at being careful."
NCISncisNCISncis
"Now you see young man, that is why mother simply couldn't stand the music of Elvis."
"Ducky?"
The doctor looked up from the dead sailor he was pushing into the drawers to see three people standing just inside the doors of autopsy.
"Jethro? I don't have anything for you, I thought that your case wrapped up."
Gibbs nodded and hit a button on the door locking them from anyone else entering.
"You expecting anyone Duck?"
"No, I was finished for the day."
"Good."
Gibbs walked further into the room and leaned on one the autopsy table. Abby hopped upon another while Daniel slowly walked into the room.
"This is autopsy."
"Yup."
Daniel smiled a rueful grin.
"You know, before all of this started, Tony was good friends with our M.E. Doctor James Treinen. He would go down there after a hard case and chat until he unwound. The two got along great. I think Dr. Treinen was lonely, and Tony knew it, he always gravitates towards people who needs him. He's good like that."
Daniel rubbed the top of one of the autopsy tables and sighed.
Ducky looked at the three in confusion.
"I'm sorry, do you know our dear Anthony?"
Daniel chuckled.
"Anthony? He let you call him that? He must really like the three of you if he let you get away with that. Tony is, was my partner at Baltimore. I'm detective Alexander. You can call me Daniel. That is any of you can, if you like."
Gibbs and Ducky shared a look, it was easy to tell that the detective was stressed and worried beyond what he could handle.
"Detective, start from the beginning, what is going on?"
Daniel leaned against a table and sighed putting his head in his hands.
"Gosh this is such a mess... Okay, I'll have to start from the very beginning for this to make any sense. Tony didn't want to do this. He had just gotten off his third undercover job, he was tired, worn out, the department was breaking its own rules sending him out again and again so close to each job. There's bad blood between Tony and Bergan. Tony accidentally launched an internal affairs investigation and it uncovered some ugly things about the department. Bergan kept his job, but just barely. Ever since Bergan has had it out for Tony. He puts him on undercover job after undercover job, I honestly thought he was just looking for a reason to fire him. I tried to take it to the higher ups but no one would do anything. Bergan wanted to either drive Tony to exhaustion and make him screw himself over or quit. And Tony never quits. He just kept going. And kept solving cases. It was driving Bergan nuts and killing Tony. So one day he called the two of us into his office..."
Flashback
"Detectives DiNozzo and Alexander, my office, Now!"
Tony looked over at and Daniel and rolled his eyes.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."
Daniel smirked.
"Yeah, let's not tick him off any further, come on."
The two shrugged and walked into the office of the angry red-faced man. Daniel hung back, keeping an eye on Tony. His walk was slower than usual, a slight limp he was trying to hide. His last undercover had ended with him in the hospital with a blow to the head and major bruises all over his body. He was still moving pretty slow and had apparently signed himself out of the hospital AMA again. He always did this. If Tony survived whatever Bergan had planned for him this time, Daniel was going to kill him.
"Detectives. Tell me what you know about Malachi family."
Tony and Daniel exchanged glances and then Daniel began to speak.
"The Malachi family is a branch off of the Italian Mafia that has moved throughout the US. They settled in New York in the 1920's and have spread throughout the major cities of the United States. They have a pretty strong foothold in the Baltimore area dealing in drugs and prostitution."
Bergan nodded.
"Excellent job Detective Alexander. Do you have anything to add Detective DiNozzo or are you going to continue to let your partner do all the work."
Tony sighed.
"The 'father' of the family Vittorio Malachi has been arrested almost a dozen times but no charges have ever stuck. The man practically has immunity towards everything brought against him, no one will roll on him. The man thinks he is untouchable."
Bergan moved around his desk and got into Tony's face.
"You may think he is untouchable DiNozzo, but I think that everyone can be brought to justice!"
The man huffed and turned back to his desk.
Tony sighed and leaned over to Daniel and whispered.
"Did I say I thought he was untouchable?"
Daniel smirked and shook his head.
"Ignore him."
Tony shook his head and turned back to his captain who had settled himself back behind his desk.
"So gentlemen, everything you told me is true, but we have some new developments. Malachi has moved on to bigger things than drugs and girls, we have some insider information that has revealed to us that Malachi has moved on to human trafficking."
Tony and Daniel looked at each other in shock.
"Human trafficking?"
"Yes Detective DiNozzo, did I stutter?"
Tony shoved his hands in his pockets to hide his clenched fists.
Daniel stepped up, knowing that Bergan was pushing Tony's buttons on purpose, and with Tony as tired as he was, there wasn't a whole lot of restraint left in him.
"What do you want us to do captain? Bring in Vittorio?"
Bergan shook his head.
"We don't have anything pinning him to it yet. We need someone on the inside. DiNozzo."
Tony looked up in shock shining in his gaze.
"What? But...I just..."
"Excuse me? Did I ask for your permission detective? This is not a debate. The way I see it you have two options, you can either take this undercover or you can start looking for another job. But be aware, you will not be getting a reference from here. The job market is vicious these days and with a record like yours… I would make your decision carefully."
Tony looked at Bergan, anger and pain bright in his eyes though his face remained impassive.
Daniel looked at Tony in dismay and moved closer to his partner, trying to offer comfort without showing weakness to the captain.
"Captain Bergan, with all due respect you can't be serious. Tony's been on three undercover jobs in the past four months alone. There is no way that he can be sent out again. This is unethical and dangerous. He just got out of the hospital!"
Bergan leveled his glare at Daniel.
"Detective Alexander, I suggest that you keep your thoughts to yourself or-"
"Okay! Okay let's not make a big deal out of this. I'm going back undercover. Alright. What's the story?"
End Flashback
Gibbs clenched his fists so that his fingernail scraped across the top of the autopsy table. Abby winced at the sound. Ducky shook his head worriedly.
"This was his fourth undercover mission? And he was threatened with unemployment if he did not comply? Directly after he was released from the hospital?"
Ducky sputtered, unable to say anything other than repeat what Daniel had told them.
Daniel sighed and walked over to a x-ray on the wall. He stared at it quietly for a moment before he began speaking again.
"There wasn't a lot of options. Tony has bounced around from several different precincts. People don't like that, between his father and history, it was hard for his to get this job, for him to start over again…"
Abby looked over at Ducky and mouthed,
"His father?"
He shrugged and whispered back-
"Not now."
Gibbs looked hard at Daniel.
"What happened with the case?"
Daniel gave a bitter chuckle and his sarcasm made Abby flinch.
"Oh, it turned out great."
Flashback
"Officer Blake, do we have eyes on the subject?"
"Negative Detective Alexander."
Daniel cursed under his breath. Tony had been undercover in the Malachi for nearly six months. Longer than any of the other departments they had partnered with, and had amazing success. He had moved up the ranks quickly and had become Vittorio's second in command. Tony had a finger in almost every pie that Malachi was cooking. He was feeding information to Daniel every week and they were slowly shutting down drug deals and prostitution rings but making little progress with the human trafficking.
Bergan had been getting frustrated. All of Tony's progress meant nothing to him. To Daniel it seemed like Bergan was getting more and more unbalanced. All he did was rage against Tony and what he hadn't found.
But that had changed.
Tony had contacted him last night and said that he had made a break in the human trafficking. Malachi was bringing in under-age girls from South America and introducing them to his prostitution ring. Tony sent him information on where the girls were being held and that new girls were being brought in tonight. The coast guard and Baltimore police department were working together to shut the entire operation down when the girls were brought in, hidden in shipping containers on a freighter.
The plan was to fall into all three locations Tony had given them, the warehouses, boats, and hotel that Malachi had set up for the girls. They were going to hit them all at the same time, locking down the 'family' from the bottom to top.
Or at least that was the plan until they lost contact with Tony.
He pressed the mike in his ear, hoping to hear a response.
"Does anyone see DiNozzo?"
Negatives all around.
Daniel cursed again.
"Detective? What do we do?"
Daniel looked around himself, hoping the answer would leap out at him.
"Stick to the plan. We move in ten, get everyone in position."
Everyone affirmed and the mike went dead.
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut.
"Come on Tony, where are you?"
It was quiet for a long moment, six minutes till action.
Still no sign of Tony.
Daniel really didn't want to think about what that could mean.
He found he couldn't think about much else.
"Please Tony, let me know what's going on. Be okay."
Daniel's whispers were interrupted by gunfire and shouting.
A sudden voice came over the mike.
"We got DiNozzo! He's banged up and got some girls with him, Vittorio's thugs are coming after him, what do we do?"
Daniel jerked to his feet.
Three minutes.
Could they do it this early?
If they did they could lose the ship with the girls.
If they didn't they would lose Tony.
Tony would never forgive him if he sacrificed innocent children for him. He would never recover from that.
"Damn it."
"Detective, the ship's here early!"
Daniel didn't even have to think.
"Move in!"
End Flashback
"We shut everything down. Recovered the girls from the ship, shut down the hotel and managed to take down almost everyone from bottom thugs to Vittorio himself. A few minor players escaped but we have warrants for their arrest. We've been watching for them, there is enough evidence for them all to go away for a very long time. Tony's cover had been blown by one of our own men, the b*st*rd didn't know about the hit we were planning or else Vittorio would have been long gone. Vittorio had no idea we were coming on him that night, Tony convinced him it was happening later in the month. He had his thugs work him over pretty good, so I guess he believed Tony wasn't able to lie. Good for us he didn't know Tony. They left him unconscious with only one guard. He over-powered him and then found some girls held not far away from him. He barely got them all out before we came through the door. I've never seen Tony so happy to see me. Tony was sent to the hospital with a mild concussion and busted ribs. He finally gets off medical leave comes back into the office and is fired. Bergan's excuse? His cover was blown. Didn't even care how. All that work to keep his job and it didn't even matter. You know what the funny thing is? Tony was okay with it. He said he wouldn't have had it any other way because there is no way of knowing whether or not those girls would have been saved if things wouldn't have gone down like they did. That's Tony. Always the bright side. Then the same day he gets fired, he meets Abby then you two. That's one of the reasons he was so...off after helping Abby. Normally he has better control of himself, but after so many hospital visits, the exhaustion and the general pain of getting beat up, spending most of his night in a state of unconsciousness doesn't sound too off."
Ducky tutted and nodded.
"That certainly explains a lot. The concussion he had was mild, not nearly enough to account for the amounts he was losing consciousness. I was concerned but he was so insistent that he was fine. I should have taken more care to…"
"Doc, if he let you look at him at all, then you've already done more for him then most doctors ever do."
Ducky sighed and looked over at Gibbs.
"Jethro?"
He was quiet as he turned to Daniel.
"Why did you come to us for help."
Daniel didn't say anything.
He simply pulled his phone out and hit his voicemail.
Tony's distracted breathless voice filled the room.
"Danny, something doesn't add up. Stephan contacted me, he needs help, the girls need help. Bergan said everything wrapped up and everyone was found but they weren't. He lied Daniel. I'm not leaving the kids behind. Time's running out. Look at the evidence again, get it out of Baltimore, something's missing. Get it to Washington, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS. Ask him to help. If he doesn't...well I suppose I'm screwed but it's worth a shot. I'm going back in Danny. I have to. I'm not leaving them behind. I'll contact you. If I can."
Gibbs' lips thinned when he heard the strain underneath the breathless voice of Tony.
Daniel looked at Gibbs.
"Agent Gibbs. We got everyone. I swear, we got all the girls. Tony wouldn't go back in without back-up, not without talking to me. He wouldn't just leave a voicemail. We have the records of everyone in the Malachi family and there is no Stephan anywhere. I don't know what is going on but if Tony went back into Malachi… it wasn't by choice. I think...I think what was left of the family is coming after him. He was trying to leave me clues in the voicemail, I just can't figure this out. Bergan has something to do with it I just know it, and Tony is in trouble. If you don't help...I don't know what I'm going to do. "
Gibbs stared past the three others in the room and spoke with a barely contained rage.
"Give Abby the evidence and tell me everything you can about Bergan and the men who weren't brought in. Tony's not alone anymore. We'll bring him home."