Chapter Fifteen
"Gibbs believes that a deal for weapons is going to go down in the warehouse district of Baltimore in a few days," said McGee.
They stood in the front hallway overseeing the movers as they carried furniture into the new house. Abby and Ziva were telling the movers where what piece of furniture went where, while McGee and Tony bid their time.
"He's wrong, Tim, not about the sale but where it is going to take place," smiled Tony.
"Okay, give me your insight, Tony" McGee said with a smile on his face. He was enjoying his new relationship with Tony. Now that he was the senior field agent, Gibbs expected more from him, more than McGee ever realized Tony did, so getting Tony's insight and help made his life easier because Tony was the SFA that Gibbs measured all SFA by.
"It'll be at the port, either at night on the docks or in one of the warehouses," Tony said.
"How do you know?" asked McGee.
"Because unlike Gibbs I knew Baltimore well and still do know Baltimore. The warehouse district is being gentrified, which makes it a less than good place to sell weapons. The Port is corrupt," he said.
"Good point," laughed McGee. "I'll tell Gibbs."
"You should take my team with you as backup," said Tony.
"Why?" McGee asked.
"Easy, we are supposed to help the two MCR Teams and I have two marines who are good in a firefight wanting some action. They can guard the perimeter for you when you take down Macaluso and his crew," said Tony.
"I'll talk to him about that, too, Tony," said McGee.
The two marines were good backup and Gibbs preferred marines to any other form of backup. Tim smiled.
"Ahuvi," Ziva put her arms around Tony's waist, "we will be sleeping in our new house tonight."
"I know, sweet cheeks," he said.
"Oh, Timmy, aren't they are a cute couple?" Abby cooed.
"Yeah, Abby, they're a cute couple," he said.
"We actually have extra beds and bedrooms if you two want to have a sleep over tonight. It is our first night in the new house," offered Tony.
"I could use your help unpacking, Abby," said Ziva.
"Ohh, can we, Timmy, stay?" asked Abby. "Please, I want to have a sleep over. I love sleepovers."
"Well, I'm too old for a sleepover," McGee said.
"McGee, for me. Please," Abby pleaded.
Ziva laughed at McGee's discomfort. He wanted to say no to Abby, but he couldn't.
"Okay, Abby, we can have a sleepover," McGee said.
"Good, now McGee can hook up all the electronics in the house from TV to computers," Tony said with a grin.
"I should teach you how to do it, Tony," McGee groused.
"Tim, you know I couldn't do that kind of stuff when I could see, so I doubt I'll be able to handle it now," smirked Tony.
"Okay, I guess I'm your permanent IS guy," smiled Tim.
"That's the attitude, Mcfixit," Tony said.
"I want to order pizza," Abby added. "Oh, and ice cream. We need ice cream, too. A sleepover isn't a sleepover without ice cream."
"And beer. My sleepovers involve beer," said Tony.
"Okay, Tony Boy, you get beer," said Abby.
"I see you have Abby on your side, too, Ahuvi," Ziva chided him.
"Okay, we order three pizzas, one the way I like, one the way Ziva likes it, and one the way you two like it," suggested Tony, "and Abby and Ziva can pick them up along with ice cream and beer."
"Ziva, okay, I know Tony's pizza is sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese, but how do you like it, Ziva?" Abby asked. "I honestly don't think I've ever asked you."
"Black olives, peppers, onions, spinach, and feta cheese," smiled Ziva.
"A Greek pizza," said McGee.
"I like to think of it as a Middle Eastern pizza," smiled Ziva.
NCIS
As Monday dragged along, Vance extended Tony's little team to include cold cases which either MCRT had trouble finding any new leads for. For Vance he envisioned this team becoming his backstop for the MCRTs. With Tony acting as the supervisory agent, he was starting to teach both marines investigative techniques, as well as to trust their instincts.
By late afternoon they had received several cold cases to check from Sa Diego, Hawaii, and Norfolk. He was sitting at his desk scans the cases into his computer then he would put on headphones and listen to the cases being read out to him by the computer. He used Dragon software to write verbal dictate memos, letters, reports, e-mails, and requests and turn them into print. Occasional when he didn't want to hear his own voice, he'd use the braille keyboard but he'd admittedly became dependent on all the software and hardware McGee found for him and forwarded to Vance.
He was working on listening to a newly transcribed cold case from Norfolk when Gibbs came into his little squad room. Giving him a gentle head slap to get his attention since he was wearing headphones, Tony took them off.
"We need to talk in my office," Gibbs said.
"Okay, Gibbs," he said.
They went to the elevator, where Gibbs did his usual routine of pulling the emergency break to give them privacy.
"I'll allow your team to act as our perimeter backup, but I need something from you, DiNozzo," he said.
"What, Gibbs?" he asked.
"Andrews is coming up with nothing on what day this sale is going to take place and so aren't we. I'm sure it is within the next few days but we need to know what day and where," Gibbs said.
Tony could feel the intensity wafting off of his former boss. He wanted these guns stopped and he wanted Macaluso to join his father in prison.
"You want me to see what I can come up with, right?" asked Tony.
"Andrews admits that you still have a lot of contacts in Baltimore," said Gibbs.
"I'll reach out now and me and my team will head off to Baltimore," he said. "I'll get the information for you."
Gibbs smiled: "Vance was right to hire you. You don't waste good and you're good, DiNozzo."
"Thanks, boss," he smiled.
NCIS
Tony arranged to meet with Doulas Carlyle, who was one of Mike Macaluso, junior's main competition in Baltimore. Carlyle's hatred for Macaluso was even greater than his hatred for Tony DiNozzo, so he agreed to talk to him. The meeting was to take place in an Italian restaurant called Paisans in Little Italy. Business over antipasto and pasta was what waited for him.
"Should one of us go in with you?" Mo asked.
Tony sat in the back while Mo drove and Billy sat in the passenger seat.
"No. I can handle it," said Tony.
"I think one of us should escort you, boss," said Billy.
"Carlyle isn't going to kill me, especially if he can use me to get rid of Macaluso," said Tony.
"Scumbags are scumbags. You can't trust them," Mo said.
"Damn, you're starting to sound like Gibbs, Mo," chuckled Tony.
"Not a bad example to follow. He is a gunny and I'm a gunny," Mo said.
"Yeah, but I'm your boss," Tony said.
"A boss who is going to let me escort him," said Billy.
"Okay, Simms, you win," said Tony.
Since the meeting was scheduled for two in the afternoon, the restaurant was fairly empty. Carlyle sat in a corner booth with several of his men occupying a table nearby him. Billy escorted Tony to Carlyle's table.
"You've changed, DiNozzo," said Carlyle with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Yeah, it appears I gave up sighing for lent," said Tony.
"Now you call this meeting for a reason," said Carlyle.
"Mike, Junior," smiled Tony.
"What about him?" asked Carlyle.
"How would you like to put Junior out of business?" asked Tony.
"Kid is a pain in my ass. I'd love to see him do some serious time," said Carlyle.
"He's selling gun to terrorists. You get me the where and then when and we'll take care of the rest," Tony said.
"I help you and you get rid of Junior. There has to be a catch to this because it sounds too good," Carlyle said.
"You end up ratting out a fellow gangster," said Tony.
"You mistake me for the fucking mafia. I'm not. I only care about me and mine and I definitely don't care about the mafia and their rules. Where and when, huh?" Carlyle smiled.
"Yup, where and when. That's all I need," Tony said.
"Expect a fucking call," said Carlyle.
"You don't mind if I don't stay for lunch. I eat better when I know my company doesn't want me dead," smiled Tony.
"You out Junior away and I won't want you dead, but I will owe you a favor," Carlyle said.
"Expect to owe me a favor then," said Tony.
NCIS
After the restaurant Tony took his team to a little place he knew and liked called Nonna's and bought them an early dinner. They didn't need the bonding but they did need the meal. When they were done they went to the Port of Baltimore to scout out which warehouses and docks would be best used to exchange guns for cash then they called it a night. He was dropped off Mo and Billy at his new house. Letting himself in he was alone for the first time in the new place.
Since Gibbs had his team working nonstop trying to discover the where and when, Tony walked over to his I-Pod in its stand and turned on in order to entertain himself. A Book on tape started to play. As movies uses to be his old hobby and obsession, books on tape were his knew one. With the book on tape being partly acted and partly read by an actor, Tony sat down on the sofa, focused in on the words closing down his other senses and attempted to relax. Listening to the book wasn't working, though.
"Jesus, I really wish I could watch a movie right now," he sighed.
NCIS
Ziva got home at eleven. She was hungry and tired. As she opened the door, she turned on the lights to see Tony sitting on the sofa.
"Ahuvi, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Just sitting and contemplating my navel," he said.
She walked onto the living and sat down beside him.
"Tell me what is wrong?" she said.
"Tonight was the first in some time that I really wanted to watch a movie," he said. "I didn't want to listen, or read braille, or play the piano, but I wanted to do the one thing I've done my whole to relax: watch a movie. But I can't."
Leaning in close to him she kissed his cheek.
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
"Not all the time, but sometimes I really miss the little things, like watching a movie, not having to memorize a room, needing to turn on a lamp, and," he paused because his emotions were starting to come to the surface, "and seeing your face. I really, really miss your face."
"Oh, Ahuvi, I love you," she said.
She crawled into his lap straddling it then gave him a deep, passionate kiss. Before he could use his hands on other parts of her anatomy, she took them and placed them on her face, allowing Tony to slowly feel every contour of her face.
"I love you," he said.
Forgetting about her hungry and tiredness all Ziva wanted to do know was give Tony solace and herself.
NCIS
Tony walked into the bullpen. He could hear Ziva on the phone and Ford and McGee on the computer. He knew where Gibbs was because he could smell his coffee.
"Alright, someone write this down because I just got off the phone with my contact," Tony announced.
"McGee, write it down," barked Gibbs.
"Saturday night at the Port of Baltimore in a warehouse near pier twelve. According to Carlyle they are making the exchange around eleven in the evening," Tony told them.
"Is this CI reliable?" asked Gibbs.
"He's Macaluso's competition and there is nothing he'd like more than to get rid of the competition," said Tony.
"Somehow that doesn't seem right," said McGee.
"I know, McGee, but it's good, solid police work," Tony said.
"Good job, DiNozzo. Have your marines ready for Saturday night," he said.
"I will and I'll be going along with them," Tony said.
"No," barked Gibbs.
"Gibbs, I won't be in the way. I just be hanging back out of the way, but I need to be there. I can't be this useless," Tony admitted in front of everyone.
Gibbs looked at him. He understood what his friend, his family, his old SFA, meant.
"Okay, but stay out of the way and stay safe," said Gibbs.
"Okay, boss," said Tony.
NCIS
They left with the cars, which were parked behind some cargo containers. He was allowed an ear bud so he could listen in and was give one order by Gibbs: "Don't get yourself killed. Ziva will won't let me forget about if you do."
He got out of the car once they left and leaned up against the car. In his ear he listened to Gibbs give orders.
"Ziva, McGee, you come in the back door. Ford, you're with me. Jefferson and Simms come up my six. You're backup," he ordered.
"Gibbs, it looks like there is about fifteen men total," Ziva said into her comm.
"Everyone, keep your head on a swivel. We'll go on my word," said Gibbs.
Tony listened intently. Gibbs gave the word and a firefight broke out. He listened intently feeling his palms starting to sweat even though it was a chilly evening by the water. His mouth was starting to go dry, also, but all he could do was wait and listen.
"McGee is down. Leg wound," called Ziva
Tony walked over to the car and opened the door. He knew that Mo kept a backup sidearm under the seat. Squatting down he felt around for it. Once he found it, he gently ran his hand over the Glock. First, he took off the safety and next he prepped the gun making it ready to fire.
"Ford is down," said Gibbs. "Arm wound."
Unfolding his cane Tony made his way to the warehouse with the Glock in his right and his cane in his left. He kept reciting Buck's mantra to himself: Open your senses. See with your ears and nose and tongue and instincts. Reaching the side of the building he found a door and opened it.
The sound of the gunfire was almost deafening to him as he found himself behind a cargo wooden crate. Out of peripheral vision Gibbs saw him enter and take cover. He cursed to himself, but he should have realized DiNozzo couldn't sit still while he team was in trouble.
"Stop fire they have Ziva and McGee," said Gibbs.
Tony took a deep breath then he heard Gibbs' firm voice in his ear.
"Listen, DiNozzo, Macaluso has a Gun to Ziva's head. There is about eight inches between her and him. The terrorists are decimated and Macaluso is down to three men, who don't look happy. He's at three o'clock for you and I'm going to get him talking to listen for his voice," Gibbs told him.
"She's a federal agent. Let her go," called out Gibbs.
"Here's how it is going to go," Macaluso called back then started to explain what he wanted to happen.
Tony listened carefully. He zeroed in on the man's voice and knew that he was at three o'clock. Eight inches were between Ziva, the woman he loved, and Mike, Junior, human trash. He took deep purging breaths and focused all his remaining sense like Buck taught him.
In his mind he envisioned Junior. He saw his body and how he had the gun to the back of Ziva's head. The voice drew him in like sonar. He readied his sidearm, took a deep breath and fired then waited for the aftermath.
"You nailed him!" Gibbs cried in his ear.
His hand started shaking and his stomach soured. He left like he was going to vomit.
"Ziva!" he yelled. "Please, say my name. I need to know you are alright."
A hand touched his face softly followed by a kiss on his cheek.
"I'm safe, Tony, because of you," she said. "One of these days you will have to stop saving me from bad situations."
"Never," he said, "I love you too much."
"DiNozzo, next time you disobey my orders, it better turn out this well," Gibbs said then slapped him on the back. "We have buses coming for the wounded. How's McGee?"
"Thigh wound. It missed his femoral artery so he should be fine," she said.
"Good, Ziver," Gibbs said. "Stay with Tony."
"I fully intend to," she said.