Chapter Eleven
"I've got an arrest warrant issued for Mikey Palmeri for murder," said Fornell.
The investigative side of the Task Force had come up with trace evidence and a partial finger print leading to Genovese enforcer Mikey Palmeri. The Task Force sat around a conference table at 26 Federal Plaza.
"He should be easy to find. These guidos are nothing if not predictable," said Sacks.
Fornell glared at him, while Mullen laughed.
"And he's a senior agent. Sometimes I wonder if FBI means Fucking Bureaucratic Idiots," Mullen continued to laugh.
Sacks glared at him and was ready to dress him down, but an amused Fornell stepped in to stop it.
"Mullen, don't start a fight, even though it's what you do best," said Fornell.
"We collect a list of his favorite haunts and start visiting them with some NYPD blue boys as or backup then we'll have him in no time," Sacks said.
"His crew will protect him and the minute you get a warrant issued he'll know about it because the Genovese have cops, lawyers, judges, and politicians in their back pocket," said Tony. "If you want to find Mikey, then you look in Jersey not Queens or Brooklyn."
"The Family tell you this," said Sacks.
"Eat me," smiled Tony, drawing laughs from several of the other Task Force members.
"Sacks, you check Queens and Brooklyn and Tony you check where you think he'll be," said Fornell.
"PJ, you up for a trip to New Jersey?" he asked Mullen.
"The Garden State. I'd love a trip to the land of Bon Jovi. Do you know what Bon Jovi means?" Mullen said.
"No, what?" asked Sacks.
"It means good Jovi," Mullen smiled.
Sacks snarled at him.
"Which of the Five Families should be pressure first?" asked Fornell ignoring Mullen smartass ways.
"Mario Barone and the Bonanno Family," Tony said. "They're vulnerable."
"Okay, start leaning on Barone," Fornell said to one Special Agent Murrell.
Tony got up as did Stabile, Manetti, and Mullen.
"I take it you four are a team on this," said Fornell.
"You know it," said Tony.
"Take two cars and have fun in New Jersey," Tobias said.
"Sure, Fornell," said Tony.
NCIS
Ziva came into NCIS and the bullpen. She was a woman without a country, a place to live, or a job. She stayed last night at Tony's picking the lock because she knew he wouldn't mind. Now she had to confront her new reality. McGee looked over at her.
"Ziva, are you alright?" he asked.
"I will be, Tim," she said. "Where is Gibbs?"
"Upstairs in the Director's officer. He's been up there for a half hour," he said.
"I should go see them," she said.
She walked up the stairs to the mezzanine level. Without stopping and speaking to Cynthia she walked into Jenny's office where Gibbs stood in front of her desk talking to her. They both stopped speaking and looked at her. From the expression on their faces she knew that they knew about her new situation.
"Close the door and come in, Ziva," said Jenny. "I heard from Eli today bright and early."
"So you know what has happened," she said.
"Ziver, it's for the best," Gibbs said.
"I told him not to bother sending another liaison. I won't have one," Jenny said.
"I am now illegal in this country, though," she said.
"I am working on that, Ziva," said Jenny.
"You'll stay with me at my house until we work everything out," said Gibbs.
"Tony should know about what has happened. He deserves to know," she said.
"He will know. I'll call Fornell and tell him to have DiNozzo call me," said Gibbs.
"Once we get you permanent residency then I'll work on getting you a job here. Your language skills alone make you valuable enough to have people take shortcuts," said Jenny. "We'll take care of you, Ziva."
"Thank you, Jenny. Thank you, Gibbs," she said softly.
"Family does what it needs to do for family," Gibbs said to her making her eyes burn with tears.
He walked over to her enveloped her in a hug and she started to sob. She may have lost a country and a father, but it appeared that she found a whole new family.
NCIS
Jersey City had its good areas and its bad areas, but the purpose that brought Tony and his team there was that it had a Genovese safe house. On a street filled with brownstone with a Catholic Church at one end and a Greek Orthodox Street at the other, a three brick house held Mikey Palmeri and four of his men.
Tony knew about this place because of his childhood friend who was a Genovese soldier. Since he'd arrived in NYC he'd been texting with Marco without letting anyone know. Though, Marco was a soldier, his days of being a loyal soldier were long past, though. He had seen too many people double crossed or killed out of whim. Made man could kill indiscriminately and not get into trouble, but a foot soldier could get his ass whacked just for talking back. He knew loyalty was bought and Tony was offering him WitSec once this was over, a new life somewhere other than NYC, a life without having to deal with assholes who'd kill you for talking back.
"We'll park a couple of blocks away and then visit the bad men," said Mullen into the smart phone to Manetti. "Maybe afterwards we can have a drink?"
"Mullen, I told you that I don't date co-workers. It gets too messy when it's over," she said.
"Well, to be fair, it's always messy when it's over if it's done correctly," said Mullen.
"You really are incorrigible," she laughed.
"What if I join NCIS, will you date me then?" he asked.
"You'd leave the FBI just to date me?" she asked him.
"Darling, you'd be amazed at what I'd do for," Mullen said.
"I'll think about it," she hung up.
"You really like her," said Tony.
"She tickles my fancy," he said.
"You'd come work for NCIS?" Tony asked him.
"Sure. I think you and I work well together, don't you?" said Mullen.
"We do," Tony said with grin.
They parked their cars and got out and started to walk towards the safe house. When they got close, Tony spoke.
"Mullen and I will go in through the front door. You two find a back door and take it," he said.
"Gives us ten minutes," said Stabile.
Tony nodded and Stabile and Manetti headed back down the block to the public alleyway so they could find the back door.
"We aren't waiting ten minutes, are we?" asked Mullen.
"No. I just don't want them to get hurt," Tony said as he pulled at his bullet proof vest.
"Good," Mullen smiled, "let's go."
Both Tony and Mullen made sure that their jackets were open so people could see their badges attached to their belts then they pulled their Glocks and headed towards the stoop leading up to the front door. They headed up the steps and then Tony looked at the apartment buzzer.
"They have the first floor apartment," he said then he pressed the second and third buzzers until someone buzzed them.
Once they were in the hallway, he stood on one side of the door and Mullen on the other side of it. Tony held up three fingers to let him know that they were going on the count three. Mullen nodded yes. Just when Tony was about to move to kick down the door, a shotgun blast blew a hole in the front door at head level.
"Down!" yelled Tony.
Both men hit the deck as the shotgun was used to blow holes in the walls where they were standing. Mullen got up first, stuck his gun in the in the wall and started firing. Tony flipped over onto his back in front of the door then kicked it open and opened fire on a man with a shotgun putting three rounds in his chest. He noticed that there was another man down with a head wound.
In an attempt to protect Tony, who was still on the floor, Mullen stepped in from of him and took a blast in his chest. He took to the air and slammed against the across from the apartment. Tony didn't have time to check as he opened fire putting one in his kneecap and one in his head as he fell.
Tony got up and quickly checked the living room. It was then that he heard gunfire in the back and assumed that Stabile and Manetti had caught Mikey as he tried to leave through the back. Tony rushed over to Mullen, who groaning in pain.
"For fucksake who the hell invited these fucking tiny vests," Mullen complained.
Tony helped him sit up then took off his mangled vest to check to see if he was wounded and bleeding. The vest held up, but Tony that his torso and back must be bruised and battered from the blast and flight against the wall.
"I'm going to live," Mullen said.
"Yeah, you are," he said.
Tony opened Mullen's shirt to see his chest was already red with welts and would soon turn an ugly eggplant purple. Mullen had a grimace of pain contorting his face. Tony knew the feeling.
"Stabile has Mikey cuffed on the ground," Manetti said. "Why the hell did you two not wait for us?"
"Circumstances changed," was all Tony would say.
She got close enough to Mullen's bruising and took in an intake of air.
"Jesus, PJ, are you okay?" she asked.
"Been better, Angela," he said.
"Let me check on him," she said as she moved Tony aside, which brought a smile to his lips. "I'll call a bus for him."
"I don't need one," he protested.
"Yes, you do. Now shut up," she said as she caressed his face.
Tony got up and watched for a second as Manetti checked on him. For a moment it reminded him of him and Ziva. On one hand she was protective of him and on the other hands she was a hair's breadth away from kicking his ass into a coma. He chuckled and went in to check on the bodies. Three dead and Mikey in cuffs, it was a good first move to send a message back to the Families. He took out his smart phone and to call Fornell, while in the background he head police sirens headed towards them.
"Fornell," he answered.
"We have Mikey in custody and three of his men are dead," Tony said.
"Anybody hurt on your end?" asked Fornell.
"Mullen took a shotgun blast to the chest protecting me. His vest stopped him from buying the farm but he definitely bruised and maybe has a couple of broken bones," he said.
"Good work. Bring Palmeri to Fed Plaza to be interviewed. I'll go it myself," said Fornell.
"I hear. By the way two of the bodies were mine, but I am not handing in my gun for an IA investigation just yet," Tony said.
"I agree. I delay it," Fornell said.
"Thank, Tobias," he sighed.
"Be careful, Tony," Fornell said.
"I'm always careful," Tony said then hung up.
Tony stared at the dead men knowing this was just the beginning.
NCIS
After reports and watching Fornell futilely interrogated Mikey, Tony called it a night. He received a call from Angela that Mullen had no broken bones but a mild concussion from hitting his head on the wall. He was being kept the night for observation and she was going to stay with him.
He went back to the hotel just to sleep and not think about the day. As he opened up the door to his room, he was greeted by Malachi who was sitting in a chair facing the door with a gun with a suppressor on it.
"Please, Agent DiNozzo, come in and let us talk," said Malachi.
"Who are you?" he asked as he shut the door.
"Officer Malachi Ben-Gidon, Mossad. I am here because some of your rogue mafia has been selling guns to terrorists to raise money," he said.
"Tommy Scalia," said Tony.
Malachi smiled: "I am going to enjoy you."
"What do you want?" Tony asked.
"To kill Scalia. I am Kidon and that means I do the dirty work for Mossad," he said.
"Don't tell me you want my help," smiled Tony.
"Very much so," said Malachi.
"Why should I help you?" he asked.
"Because now that your girlfriend is no longer Mossad and has been banished by her father, she will need someone to keep eyes and ears open in case someone is sent for her," he said.
"Ziva. What has happened with Ziva?" he demanded.
"She negotiated herself out of Mossad with a sledge hammer and hand her passport and citizenship revoked by Israel. To say the least her father is disappointed in her," said Malachi.
"Why did she use a sledge hammer?" asked Tony.
"You. Her father put a hit out on you because of your relationship with his daughter. In killing the hit she burned bridges and made enemies," Malachi said.
"I serve you up Scalia and you protect Ziva in Mossad," said Tony.
"What do you think about my proposition?" asked Malachi.
"Well, done, Malachi Ben-Gidon. You have put me in the perfect vise. You know I love Ziva and I'd want, no, need to know when she is in danger. Then there is Scalia. He's scum, selling guns to terrorists, starting a war against the Families which will get people killed. Yeah, you are good," he said.
"So what is the answer?" asked Malachi.
"I'd give my life for Ziva. I won't give her life for Scalia," said Tony.
"So we have an agreement," smiled Malachi.
"We have an agreement. I'll find Scalia and tell you can to find him," Tony said.