Chapter Three
"I need some coffee," said Dinozzo.
They were seated at some unused desks on the other side of the partition from Gibbs' bullpen. He stood up and Fornell looked over at him with amusement. Ever since he came back from four years in Iraq and Afghanistan, he had trouble sitting still for too long. Of course, he was always filled with a little too much energy to begin with, but Fornell thought he'd outgrow that in time.
"I'm going out," he said to Fornell.
Suddenly, it occurred to Fornell that Tony was going out for coffee but he had decided to start calling in some of his contacts. He didn't want him going alone, so as Tony got to the a few feet away Fornell raised his voice.
"DiNozzo, if you're gone for more than two hours I expect a call or I'm coming after you," Fornell warned him.
Ziva heard this and knew her FBI partner was going rogue and leaving her behind. She quickly grabbed her Sig and overcoat and took off after him. As she streaked by, Fornell smiled. At least, he'd have backup.
Tony stepped into the elevator and Ziva slid by the closing doors and stood beside him. He looked up at the ceiling in exasperation.
"We are partners until this is over. You do not go anywhere without me," Ziva said.
"Does that include the bathroom?" asked Tony sarcastically.
"It depends," she said without looking at him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he checked her out. With her pulled back in a ponytail, it made her widow's peak more prominent. She barely had makeup on and he could tell she was pissed with him, yet he was attracted to her. Hell, he was more than attracted to her; he had freaking jones for her.
"I need my car. Drive me back to the Hoover Building," he said.
"If you try to lose me, I will hunt you down and hurt you," she said.
"You mean: I will hunt you down; I will find you; and I will kill you," Tony said in his best Liam Neeson accent.
She looked at him as if he was an idiot.
"Taken, starring Liam Neeson," he said.
"I do not watch many movies," she said.
"Oh, goody," he sighed.
TWO ROADS
The agents barely spoke as she drove him to get his car. As Ziva idled outside of the Hoover Building in the Challenger, a black Mustang pulled up beside her. She looked over and saw DiNozzo driving it. He would have a car like that. Egotist.
He motioned for her to roll down the window and she did.
"You can either follow me or we drop off that car at NCIS and use mine. You choice," he yelled over to her.
"We will use yours," she said.
"See you at NCIS," he said then pulled away.
"Mamzer!" she growled and followed him.
It didn't take long for them to drop off the challenger and Ziva to settle into Tony's car. She had to admit but it was a nice car. He put on some music. It was Bobby Darin singing Mack the Knife.
She looked at him with annoyance: "What do you listen to?"
"Jazz, Bobby Darin, and, of course, Sinatra," he said.
"Don't you like the music of today?" she asked.
"Not really. I guess I'm an old fashion guy," he said.
"Hmpf," she sniffed.
Tony didn't say anything, but kept driving. A few minutes passed before Ziva spoke up.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"To meet a friend of mine," he said.
"I will need more information than that," she demanded.
He smiled.
"CIA Officer Nat Devlin. I met him in Iraq and we hit it off. We tend to share information under the table," he said.
"You think the CIA knows about this Shahi?" she asked.
"I put money on it," he said.
"So where are we going?" she asked.
"For best seafood in Virginia Beach at Captain George's," he said with a grin.
"He better have information for us," she hissed and looked out the window.
She didn't want to admit it, not even to herself, but she liked being around DiNozzo. And she couldn't get that kiss out of her mind. It wasn't often that a man's kiss could make her weak in the knees.
As they sped along, Tony took his smartphone out and called Fornell.
"Tobias, it's me," he said.
"Are you getting into trouble?" Fornell said.
"Not much. I wanted to make sure you know that I'll be there tonight for dinner with Emily. I can't wait to see her," he said.
"If you missed it, she wouldn't talk to you for a month," Fornell," said.
"I know," Tony laughed.
"Chuck E Cheese, be there," he hung up.
Tony hung up and put his phone away.
"A date?" Ziva said.
"Yup. With the cutest eight year old in the world," he said. "Fornell's daughter. She thinks of me as a brother."
Ziva looked at him confused.
"The four years I was gone, I had to write her once a month and send pictures and she did the same," he told her.
"Fornell is your boss," she said.
She never thought of Fornell as adopting his agents like Gibbs did. Gibbs treated her and Abby as if they were his daughters. Fornell just didn't seem the type.
"Fornell and I are close," he said not saying anything more.
"Does she think of Sacks the same way?" asked Ziva.
"She has only met him a handful of times. I've lived in Fornell's house at times. Emily knows me well. Hell, Diane even let me hold her when she was a baby. She accused Fornell of treating me like a son," he smiled.
"I didn't realize how close you were to Fornell," she said.
"Right after Gibbs offered me a job with NCIS, he offered me the job with the FBI. He did a good job telling me he'd have my back and he has always had my back," said Tony.
Ziva was surprised that Gibbs had offered him a job.
"Like Gibbs has our six," she said.
"If you say so," Tony smirked.
TWO ROADS
Captain George's was not a fancy restaurant. Ziva was amused when she saw how clichéd it was with a mast and half of the bow of a boat sticks out of the front of the restaurant. Maybe because it was so clichéd and had families in it, it was a perfect place to meet with a CIA spy.
Tony and Ziva entered and Tony nodded to a man who would never stick out in a crowd, even if that crowd were in Iran, which made him remarkable. He was seated at a table for four. They joined him.
"DiNozzo, I see you brought a guest," he said not hiding his annoyance.
"Ziva David," Ziva introduced herself.
"Ziva David, as in former Mossad assassin whose father is Deputy Director of Mossad," Nat said.
"Yes," she said.
"Nat Devlin," he said then looked at Tony. "I forgive you."
Tony took his smartphone out and showed him a picture of Gunny Mal Shahi. Devlin nodded and Tony out the smartphone away.
"After we trained the son-of-a-bitch he becomes the assassin for the Jihad. Very simply put his job is too kill as many important people as he can before being caught," said Devlin.
"That's it – kill important people," said Tony.
"From General to president they are all targets to him," said Devlin. "He killed two NOC operative already."
"Jesus, he's going to be a pain in the ass, isn't he?" said Tony.
"Ah, if you put your mind to it, you'll do just fine," said Devlin.
"I guess lunch is on me," smiled DiNozzo.
"Trust me it's better to buy me lunch and have me still owe you," smiled Devlin.
"Okay, what will you have?" asked Tony.
"Soft-shell crabs," he said.
Tony looked at Ziva.
"I will have the broiled salmon," she said.
"Considering I'm having dinner at Chuck E Cheese, I better eat something good," smiled Tony.
"Jeeze, your dates are getting younger and cheaper," laughed Devlin.
"Tex me the information on the two NOCs and it's Emily I'm having sinner with," he said.
"Oh, sorry," chuckled Devlin.
Ziva looked at Tony and couldn't help but smile. She hated to admit it but even though he was annoying and immature, she liked being around him.
"I'll text you from a burner phone," said Devlin.
"Sounds good," Tony said as he studied the menu. "So did you watch Three Days of the Condor?"
"Sure did and no, Tony, being in the CIA is not like that," he said.
"Don't tell me it's more like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," said Tony.
"I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you," laughed Devlin.
TWO ROADS
Between the noise from the kids and the machines, Fornell thought he was going to go insane. Emily was standing beside Tony as he sank basket after basket. As Fornell sat at the table minding their large pizza and sodas, he got to watch his daughter with his agent. It made him smile.
"Tony, I want pizza," she used her demanded voice.
He drained four baskets then waited as the tickets spat out. Emily crossed her arms across her chest, much in the same way her father's does, and waited.
"I don't like at school," Emily said.
"Someday you will," Tony smiled.
Emily sat down, as did Tony. She grabbed a slice of pizza, as did Tony. They both started eating which brought a big smile to Fornell's face. Tony's smartphone chirped, so he took it out and looked at it. Devlin had finally texted him with the information about the two NOCs. He handed his smartphone to Fornell. He read it and sighed.
"I'm more interesting than the phone," said Emily.
"Are you sure?" Tony asked her with a grin.
"Yeah, I'm sure," she said and stuck out her tongue at him.
"I should let Gibbs know about this," he said.
"Agent David was supposed to let him know," said Tony.
"Good," he sighed.
"Daddy is Mister Serious tonight," Emily said.
"Daddy has a lot on his mind. Remember, he is the boss," said Tony.
"He's my daddy," she said.
"And my boss," added Tony.
"He's your daddy, too," she insisted.
Tony laughed and looked over at Fornell, who was chuckling.
"Sorry, boss, she's stubborn," said Tony.
"I know, Tony," Fornell said.
TWO ROAD
Three Star General David Patterson, commander of US Marines for USNORTHCOM, was exiting the DC Four Points Sheraton Hotel where he had dined with a few friends, who were staying there. As he stepped clear of the doors with his aide beside him, the sound of a loud crack in the air and Patterson's head almost seemed like it exploded.
Chaos broke out and Shahi had his first major victim.
TWO ROADS
Fornell and Tony dropped Emily off with her mother and her stepfather then proceeded to the Four Points Sheraton. When they arrived, Gibbs and his team were attacking as forensic crime scene investigators.
"Should I call in one of our crime scene teams?" Tony asked Fornell.
"Nay, there good at this and their forensic scientist is really good," he said.
"Must suck being them," he smiled.
Tony watched as Ziva took pictures and measurements, as her Stan Burley interviewed witnesses and McGee bagged and tagged evidence. Besides Ziva and her well-rounded buttocks what drew Tony's attention was a geriatric man in a fedora, glasses, a blue jumpsuit with a bow tie showing and his apprentice. This was the famous Dr. Donald Mallard that he had heard so much about.
Gibbs, who like his team was dressed in a NCIS jacket and cap, walked over to them.
"Fornell," he said, "that was General Patterson."
"The Marine in charge of USNORTHCOM," said Fornell.
"Nice target for this bastard to take out," Gibbs said.
"You have a trajectory yet?" asked Tony.
Gibbs glared at him for a moment. Tony smiled.
"Not much of his head is left to give us a clue," he growled.
"Must have been a .50 caliber," remarked Tony.
"Abby will be able to confirm that and trajectory and more," said Gibbs.
Tony looked over at Fornell: "Are we in for a long night?"
Fornell nodded yes.
"DiNozzo and I will collect all the security footage in the area," said Fornell.
"Yeah, people love giving the FBI whatever they want. For some reason I think people are afraid of us," Tony smirked.
"We'll meet you back at NCIS," sighed Fornell.
Ziva stopped and watched as Fornell and Tony entered the hotel. For some reason she couldn't explain she was glad to see him.