Chapter 13:

After arriving back in DC Gibbs took Tony back to his house and ordered him upstairs to get some sleep. Tony doubted he would get any but 10 hours later he awoke to the smell of bacon frying.

"About time DiNozzo, I thought I was going to have to throw a bucket of water on you."

"Most people just call out or even shake someone to wake them up."

Gibbs smiled and gave Tony a plate of food that was piled high with bacon, eggs, pancakes and beans. "Eat!"

Again Tony doubted he could eat very much but, just like his sleep, he managed way more than he expected.

He pushed his plate away. "What now Boss?"

Just then the front door opened and in came FBI Agent Tobias Fornell.

"Got any left for me Jethro?" He asked as he took a seat at the table with Tony.

"DiNozzo," he said with his usual Italian pronunciation, which made it sound more like 'DeNutso'. "Or should I call you Brooks now?"

Tony looked at Gibbs, "You told him!"

"Relax DiNozzo, your secret is safe with me … until it goes public that is."

"What?" Tony asked, confused as to what was happening.

Gibbs came back to the table with a plate of food for Fornell, "I spoke to Tim and Abby last night and we have enough to make an arrest."

"Oh," Tony said. He knew this was going to happen but it still struck him hard. As much as he was disgusted beyond belief with his father, hated him like he had never hated anyone in his life; he was still his father and he still had that need to protect him that was so inbred in him. After all, he had thought he had murdered someone for him for all these years.

"And that is where I come in," Fornell said with a mouthful of bacon. "Got coffee Gibbs?"

Gibbs shook his head, "What am I? Your butler," he said but got up to grabbed a cup for him, "Want one DiNozzo?"

Lost in thought, Tony answered "No thanks, your coffee sucks."

Fornell laughed causing him to almost choke, he took a large swig of the offered coffee to wash away the offending food. "He's not wrong you know."

"I never heard you complain before."

"What can I say, I'm a polite house guest. Besides if you …"

"HEY! Enough with the Desperate Housewife act. Can someone tell me what is going on," Tony shouted.

Gibbs sat down again, "This isn't an NCIS case Tony. I spoke to Vance and there is no way we can keep this in house. We have no jurisdiction and quite frankly the fact we even ran with it this long and ran evidence is stretching the limits of legality. Not to mention Leon's patience with me. He made a few call and the FBI have agreed to take over and cover us for the forensics and they also agreed to let Fornell run it from here."

"This will be quite the feather in the FBI's cap if we catch your father DiNozzo, so from here in we run it by the book," Fornell said.

"And I suppose you will look pretty good yourself bringing the one to crack a cold case like this." Tony said, still cranky (and worried) that it was out of Gibbs hands.

Fornell shrugged, "That's never been my concern." He leant forward, "Tony I will do everything I can to help you out of this really, really, deep shit hole you have dug yourself over the last … what is it 30 years?"

Tony had no choice but to trust Fornell would have his back, "Ok then, what do we do now?" Tony asked.

"Well, from what Gibbs told me, you can contact your father can't you?" He reached into his pocket.

"I'm only supposed to call him if I run. I have to wait for him to contact me otherwise."

Fornell pulled out the burner phone Gibbs took of Tony when he tried to run. It was in a taped evidence bag and he could see both Gibbs and Fornell's signatures on them as per the chain of evidence procedures followed by all law enforcement.

Fornell slid the phone over too him. "Then you tell him you are running. Ask to meet up with him."

"I don't know that he will meet me."

"Then you make him. Come on Tony, I know you can convince most people to do what you want. Hell you made us all believe you were an outstanding Federal Agent. Surely convincing Daddy for one last hug won't be too much for you." Fornell said.

"I AM and outstanding Federal Agent," Tony shot back but from the look on his face, Tony could tell that Fornell wasn't completely convinced of Tony's innocence in all of this, no matter what he said to them. The evidence bag, the steely gaze; yep, for now at least, Tony was a criminal to the FBI and not a friend.

He looked over at Gibbs. "You don't have any other choice Tony. He is your only leverage in this. If he runs I don't think you will walk away from this. Now this is in their hands, the FBI want an arrest for this and if they can't get your father … that only leaves you."

Tony thought for a moment. He had no way to prove he didn't know what his father had done. He knowingly changed his name and had lived under a false identity for the last 30 years. He had confessed to murder (just because it turned out to be attempted murder didn't detract from his deceit) and disposal of a dead body. Sure he was a minor at the time (now he knew his birthday he was not longer in doubt about that) but he has had a long time when he could have come forward with the crime. Add obstruction of justice to that list of felonies … Just these alone would see him sit in a maximum security prison for the next 20 years, and if they decided to charge him as an accessory to these murders, he would never see the outside of a prison cell until the day he died.

The large meal he had just eaten was threatening to come back up. "Ok, but on one condition." Fornell's eyebrow shot up. "I want to sign an immunity deal first."

Gibbs grinned, proud of his protege but Fornell looked incredulous, "Are you serious?"

"I want to sign an immunity deal first." Tony had worked in law enforcement long enough, and dealt with enough lawyers to know this was his only chance. Even if they catch his father, there was no guarantee they wouldn't still go after him for something. He also knew it was something he would have to ask for himself, because no US Attorney would offer it out of the kindness of their heart. "If I can bring down a serial killer, responsible for … what is it now, six deaths – and that is only what has been found so far – all over the east coast of the US, all unsolved for at least 30 years, then I think that is worth full immunity."

Fornell smiled and winked at Tony, "I thought you might have enough brains to ask so I already made the call DiNuttso, the USA is on the way with the paperwork. But you know how this works; no arrest, no immunity."

"I know."