The Cascade Effect Chapter Twenty/??
The Cascade Effect
Rating: R(Will Go Up to NC-17)
Summary: One Event, One Minor change in the way something happens can change a lot of events in the future.
Disclaimer: I don’t own so no sense suing.
Chapter Twenty
Their next case was a dead sailor found by a couple in a closed down restaurant. It turned out that their dead man was a serial killer who had been poisoned in the same way his victims had. They were working with Metro and Tony found out that Jeanne was the metro cop’s ex-fiancé. It was strange but it also brought some interesting things into perspective for Tony. The detective’s death had made him realize that in their line of work he could die any day. He wanted to tell Gibbs about his feelings for him but he still was unsure about what could happen if he did. So he decided he would wait.
The case after that was a confusing one; A dead man walking in and asking for them to investigate his murder. Ziva had fallen fast for the dying man and Tony knew it wouldn’t turn out well for her so he made sure Kate and Abby would be there to help pick up the pieces if Ziva did crumble. It made her seem more human and less of an emotionless killer, watching her fall for the man dying of thalium poisoning. He even played decoy when the man asked Ziva to take a walk with him and the doctor started in that he shouldn’t be out of bed. It gave them time to get outside to the walking park in the center of Bethesda’s Hospital Complex. He hoped Ziva would be okay.
Unfortunately their first case after that ended up involving Army CID Colonel Hollis Mann. They’d run into the…woman several times already and every time Mann had hit on Gibbs, pissing Tony off with her annoying persistence. Tony knew from Kelly that Mann had shown up unannounced at Gibbs place several times and Kelly had been the one to kick her out. She’d even asked her dad if he was sleeping with Hollis Mann. The look on his face was one of disgust at just the thought of sleeping with the…woman, if she could be called that. Tony had laughed with Kelly at the supposition that Mann wasn’t a woman. No one on the team really liked her. The fact that she had drinks while on the job with the director just reinforced that dislike. They would be glad when the case was solved and Mann was gone. They did solve the case but not because of Lieutenant Colonel Hollis Mann, actually she was more of a hindrance and the only one that hadn’t jumped when she started giving out orders was Tony and Kate. They’d looked to Gibbs an Ziva and McGee had just paused and waited to see what Tony and Kate would do. Thankfully they had managed to get the serial killing couple off the streets.
A few weeks later and two NCIS Agents were killed in what was supposed to look like a suicide bombing at the site of a future peace coalition. One of the agents had gone to FLETC with McGee and it hit him hard. Tony knew one of the agents because he had worked with him and Paula Cassidy, who had been killed by Ari three years previous. It hit everyone hard that two NCIS Agents were dead. The worst part for Tony was finding out that it was their team not the Agent Simmons* that was supposed to work the hotline that weekend. Tony also knew Agent Simmons, she was a good agents, much like Paula had been but, Tony hadn’t dated Agent Simmons. Gibbs had asked for the weekend off because Kelly and him were going to spend some time together. Tony had been invited but he had already had plans. He didn’t know they were supposed to work that weekend. When Ducky informed them that the man they thought had committed suicide they had to look deeper into the matter. In the End Agent Marianne Simmons died to protect Tony, Kate and Gibbs by knocking the would-be suicide bomber back through the trick wall taking the full force of the explosion. It was a sad weekend for NCIS.
The next few weeks were hectic as ever; Jenny went overseas for a conference leaving Gibbs in charge as acting Director. Tony knew it was driving Gibbs insane, as was Cynthia, the director’s assistant. Kelly had called him plenty of times because of her dad’s increasingly foul mood. In the end Tony ended up staying at Gibbs’ house because Kelly was ready to murder him, that or Jenny when she got back to the states. Tony figured it was better to keep the Gibbs’ occupied to avoid any bloodshed. He still didn’t know how he managed to survive the week with two moody Gibbs’ to watch out for. He was sure he had developed grey hair from keeping Kelly away from her dad and Gibbs away from Kelly. All in all it was a very tense week at the Gibbs house and Tony hoped never to have to go through that again. As far as he knew it was the first major blow up that Gibbs had had with Kelly. He knew there’d been several relatively minor arguments, like most kids had with their parents but things had never escalated to the point it had while Gibbs was the acting director. Tony had even witnessed a few of those minor disagreements and had even been a part of one or two, usually because Gibbs was overprotective and Kelly was annoyed about it. Thankfully Kelly would graduate in another two years. She’d gotten through six years if University and only had two more to go. She had finished her Major of Geology and Geography and her Minor in Chinese Literature and was now working on another degree that went with her first in Geology.**
Things really began to come to a close the week that Jenny Shepard returned to the states. Tony had gone in to the University Hospital to visit his frat Buddy, who had broken his arm, leg and fractured his collarbone and eye socket because of a vehicular Accident. Unfortunately the doctor that was treating his buddy was Jeanne Benoit. He ended up following her to the morgue after a man died because he was a mule for drugs. If shit was gonna happen he would stop it, even if he couldn’t stand to be near Ms. Benoit. He was off duty and had left his weapon in his rental vehicle, since the Supra was in for maintenance and Kelly had his Bronco and his Corvette was in Gibbs’ garage with three flat tires due to an ex-girlfriend of Tony’s.
Tony ended up stopping a man from killing Benoit after she stabbed him with a surgical knife. Nick had dropped the gun when she stabbed him in the shoulder and Tony grabbed the gun and fired off a warning shot, barely missing the drug lord’s head.
As Tony was leaving the building Jeanne caught up to him and told him he should be in for observation for twenty-four hours.
“I’ll be fine, Ms. Benoit” he said as he began to walk away. He was stopped by a limo pulling up right in front of him.
“What’s this?” he asked, hoping it wasn’t what he thought it was.
“You’ll see. It’s my surprise.” She said, an evil glint in her eye. Tony began to get extremely nervous as he was herded into the limousine.
“Ah, so you must be Anthony DiNozzo. Jeanne’s told me much about you. How is Jenny doing?” La Grenouille asked as they pulled away.
Tony immediately and discretely called Jenny in the pre-arranged signal they had set up just in case Tony’s cover from the tagging the bags mission was blown. He also called Gibbs in a pre-arranged signal for if he was ever in trouble. He was using his personal number that only Gibbs, Kelly and Jenny had. Jenny wouldn’t even have the number if it weren’t for her deciding to be a nosy bitch. Suddenly Jeanne got a text from the Monroe University Hospital where she worked about her having not signed the death certificate. Tony planned to use that time to make his escape from the father-daughter duo.
%NCIS%
Ziva practically ran into McGee as she was coming off of the elevator. McGee tried to tell her he had been de-fragging the computers. Ziva was livid when she realized that Gibbs had been there too. Ducky had told her the previous night that she was behaving much like a mother with her toddler or a woman with her wayward lover. Ducky didn’t seem to like the way she was acting about Tony not answering her calls. She was very jealous but would never admit it. Kate showed up fifteen minutes later, having received an odd text from Abby. It was that moment that Gibbs phone went off and he looked at it, he knew that Tony was in trouble. At that moment Jenny showed up and asked McGee to triangulate a number before Gibbs could.
“McGee I want you to triangulate a cell number 202-555-0177.
“DiNozzo in trouble?” Gibbs asked, rhetorically.
“I knew It.” Ziva and Kate said at the same time.
“I tried to get Tony to go undercover. To date a woman named Jeanne Benoit, who is La Grenouille’s daughter. He refused but did agree to place tracking devices in the luggage of La Grenouille’s Associates. I fear he may have been found out.” Shepard said.
“When were you planning on telling us this?” Gibbs asked angrily. Shepard didn’t know that Tony had told him about Jenny wanting to place Tony undercover.
“Triangulating.” McGee said as he walked back around the desk to stand in front of the screen in the bullpen.
“Tony Toretto?” Kate asked. Gibbs smirked knowing where Tony had come up with the name for his burn phone that he was using as his personal phone.
“I want this fed into MTAC and I want satellite coverage.” Jenny said heading for MTAC.
“On its way.” McGee said, walking back behind his desk and beginning to type so that everything was transferred into MTAC.
%Monroe University Hospital%
“Ah done! Now let’s get out of here before they remember something else.” Jeanne said coming out of the hospital.
“I have to move my car oth…” Tony began, hoping to get out of there.
“Otherwise they’ll tow you for sure.” Jeanne finished before he could.
“Wouldn’t want that. Stay close. Wouldn’t want to lose you.” Rene Benoit said as Tony headed for his car.
%MTAC%
“He’s on 22nd street northwest outside Monroe university hospital.” McGee said.
“He’s on the move”
“Must be in a car.”
“How long until we get satellite coverage?” the director asked.
“At least fifteen minutes. Or we could patch into DC’s traffic cam system. See if we can locate him on the traffic cam management.” McGee said as the director and Gibbs gave him the dirtiest looks imaginable.
“Do it.” Gibbs told him.
“Anything?” Shepard asked turning to Ziva to see if she’d been able to contact Tony’s work phone.
“Still not answering. Should I try his personal phone?” Ziva questioned, hoping Tony was alright.
“Put it on speaker.” The director told her as Ziva ht the button for speaker and the sound of racing vehicles was heard and a catchy beat. It sounded like a homemade compilation for the beginning of the voicemail..
Tell me what's the secret I'm missin and I’m a come and get it, I’m a be in the middle, well, of the beat So all my thugs if you feel like I feel it Gimme a piece of the pretty pie. Stick out your tongue and say aah….***
Drive, too fast, Drive too Furious, I’m too fast for ya’ll man. Drive too fast, drive too furious I’m too fast for ya’ll man…4*
You got that, don't wanna two stacks. Hold the front and know how much you got.***
Drive, too fast, drive too furious, I’m too fast for ya’ll man. They’ll only get one finger while I’m shifting gears, NOS tank in the back,4*
You’ve reached Toretto, leave a message after the beep.
Gibbs chuckled at Tony’s phone’s voicemail. They looked at him not getting it.
“DiNozzo’s cousin is a racer, his last name’s Toretto. That’s Tony’s idea of commemorating his skills.” Gibbs said looking at the slack jawed looks from Jenny, Kate, Ziva and McGee.
At that moment McGee managed to get into the traffic cam system and they watched as Tony drove around DC.
“Someone could be tailing him.” Kate said even as McGee called out the directions.
“Maybe he’s the one doing the tailing.” Gibbs said.
They watched as Tony’s rental went west on M street. Then north onto 29th street then as he continued along 29th his car blew up.
“Oh my god!” Jenny whispered.
“Tony…” Kate and Ziva said at the same time.
Gibbs turned to the director and was extremely pissed with her. His agent, his best agent and the man he loved was dead. His hands began to shake and he walked out of MTAC Calling Kelly to tell her the bad news, that Tony could be dead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They arrived at the scene and Gibbs slowly got out of the car, followed by the rest of his team and the director. He could see the burnt out wreckage and the badly burned body in the driver’s seat. ‘No…Tony can’t be dead. That can’t be Tony. Jenny had better hope it’s not Tony otherwise I will have her head. I never even had the chance to tell him…’ Gibbs thought as they walked towards the wreckage. They all paused before Gibbs called back to McGee.
“McGee. McGee!” he called, wanting him to get started so they could get this solved as quickly as possible.
Once everything had been collected and they were back at NCIS he headed for Abby’s lab. He ran into Kelly on the way.
“Dad! Please…please tell me it’s not him. Please, dad. It can’t be him, it just can’t! Dad…” Kelly degenerated into a sobbing wreck. It took all of Gibbs’ willpower to stay calm himself. He was trying not to rage and the director. All he wanted to do was go up there a chew her out.
“I don’t know Kelly. We don’t know yet. I wish I could tell you it’s not him but I can’t. I’m sorry.” Gibbs said, holding her and rocking her slightly. He pulled away and wiped her eyes.
“Kelly, go upstairs with Kate okay. Stay with her I’ll be up shortly.” He said before watching her walk away, towards the elevators. He continued on his way to Abby’s lab.
“Tony is not dead, Gibbs. Not until Ducky says it's him. Until then, he's just...he's not here. I don't care what the evidence says, even if everything here belongs to Tony, it's still not him until Ducky says that it's him. And don't try to tell me anything different because I'm not gonna believe you.” Abby said as she began pulling out the evidence cans containing the burnt evidence. “Tell me it's not him, Gibbs.” She said, turning to Gibbs and hugging him. “Tell me it's not him.”
“I wish I could, Abs.” Gibbs said, rubbing her back, trying to comfort her as he had Kelly.
She pulled away and told him she needed to be alone with her ‘gang.’ That’s when Gibbs noticed the glass and bottle that he’d seen previously at Jenny’s house in her study. He asked Abby what they were doing there before heading for Shepard’s office. He was pissed with her and he planned to rip her a new one without getting fired just yet.
McGee was getting into an argument with Ziva about the person in the car being Tony. He kept going through the photos from the explosion because something Gibbs had said was bugging him. He told Ziva it was possible it wasn’t Tony but she kept saying it was because his phones, ID, badge and weapon were in the car. Once he told Ziva that he was looking for a vehicle that Tony could have been following and that’s when they spotted the limousine.
“The limousine is leased to a shell company. The parent company is EuroFreight.”
“Head office is in Luxemborg”
“The principal behind the company isowned by Rene Benoit.”
“Tony could have been following La Grenouille.”
“I’m sorry to differ Timothy but he wasn’t.” Ducky said coming into the bullpen and turning to Gibbs. “Look, Tony contracted pneumonic plague as I’m sure everyone can remember.” He said.
“Before my time” Ziva commented.
“He almost died.” McGee put in.
“From severe pneumonia. As a result his lungs would have been extensively scarred; unlike the almost pristine lungs of the man currently in autopsy. The body on which I am performing an autopsy is not Tony’s.” Ducky said, smiling at the good news.
“If it’s not Tony then who is it?” Jenny questioned.
“And where is DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked.
At that moment Trent Kort walked into NCIS wanting to know where Tony was.
“Director Shepard.” Kort said as he walked up to the gathered group, of which Kate and Kelly had joined.
Mr. Kort. An unannounced visit by the CIA usually means someone’s in trouble. I trust it isn’t you.” Jenny said in lieu of a proper greeting.
“Where is he?” Kort asked
“It depends on who he is.” Shepard responded.
“DiNozzo.” Kort told her.
“I honestly don’t know and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you until you explained to me why you’re looking for him so urgently.” Jenny parried, answering quite truthly.
“La Grenouille flew into DC this morning, he didn't arrive at his safe house, and his satellite phone has stopped transmitting.” Kort told them, rather unhappily.
“Mislaid your arms dealer, that's gotta be embarrassing.” Gibbs said, wanting to rub the fact in.
“I don’t know what NCIS is up to but I want a private briefing in your office now.” Kort demanded of Shepard.
“I’ll decide what briefing you get and where you get it Mr. Kort. And if you have a problem with that why don’t you have your director give me a call.” She said rather snippily.
“You are jeapordising one of the most important long term covert operations the agency has ever conducted.” Kort tried to guilt them.
“Operation Lodestone.” Gibbs said, showing they already knew about the operation.
“You’re not read in on Lodestone.”
“Okay, so read us in.” Gibbs told Kort.
“Unless the CIA just believes in one way traffic.” Jenny countered.
“This is not going to end well for you.” Kort tried to subtly threaten or warn.
“Special Agent DiNozzo’s car was bombed this morning but I guess you knew that.” Gibbs said as the followed Kort to the elevator.
“He wasn’t in it” Kort said, exasperated.
“Thanks for sharing” Jenny told him sarcastically.
“The agency had nothing to do with it.” Kort told her.
“That when you mislaid your frog? In all that confusion.” Gibbs smirked, rubbing in the fact they’d lost La Grenouille.
Just then the elevator doors opened revealing a smiling Tony. Gibbs was extremely relieved to see the younger man.
“Ha ha! Hey! My car blew up this morning! Did you do that?” Tony said to Kort, laughing.
Kort grabbed him and shoved him against the elevator’s door slot, keeping it open, his arm across his throat.
“Where did you go with La Grenouille?” Kort questioned.
Tony groaned and looked off to the side, right at Gibbs. Kort also looked over and saw Gibbs, Kate, McGee and Ziva all pointing their guns at him. Kort released him and Tony told him that the frog preferred Rene and that he should use the frog for himself. He told Kort to take the stairs and as Kort entered the elevator Tony threw over his shoulder.
“Happy Frog Hunting!”
Tony Gibbs and the director headed for her office where Shepard played the video of the explosion.
“That was more exciting live.” He told them, taking a seat at the table in the conference room they were using.
“You saw it? You were there?” Jenny asked him, seeming extremely shocked.
“Saw it, heard it, felt it.” Tony told them both.
“You can start whenever you're ready.” Jenny said.
“He was waiting when I left the hospital this morning after visiting my friend who was there awaiting surgery. Apparently Jeanne had arranged it. It was her little surprise, I guess. She’s been stalking me for months and I still don’t have a clear idea as to why. I figured that he’d figured out I was the one to tag the luggage, turns out he’d known for months.
Gibbs: Kort?´Gibbs asked him.
“Probably. I tried talking my way out of it, made it as far as my car.” Tony told them.
#Flashback#
Tony was getting into his car as Rene Benoit called out to him.
“Hey, Tony! Tony!”
“Crap.” Tony muttered to himself.
La Grenoullie: “There is no need to take your car. Henry will drive it. You come with Jeanne and me.” Rene said, standing next to Tony who was still partially seated in his car.
“Oh, that's really nice of you, I, uh, gotta go, I really.....I need to go home and change because…”Tony tried to talk his way out but Rene Benoit leaned in and whispered in his ear.
“I absolutely insist, Agent DiNozzo.” Tony looked at him and knew shit was about to get really hairy. Tony handed his keys to Henry.
“Careful in second, it tends to stick a little.” He told Henry.
“And your cellphone.” Henry told him, holding his hand out. Tony handed him the NCIS phone.
“Both of them.” Renee told him. He handed over his personal phone as well.
“You do know this is considered kidnapping of a federal agent.” Tony told him even as they headed for the limousine.
#End Flashback#
“Did La Grenouille tell his daughter you were a federal agent?
“He didn't miss a beat. Pretended everything was fine. I could see that she knew though. Just the way she was acting, I don’t think she cared. That calmness didn't last long. I could see his guy driving my car a few car lengths behind us when... Kaboom.
“What was La Grenouille's first reaction?” Jenny asked as Gibbs filled a glass with water and handed it to Tony before sitting back down.
“That he was the target. I'm not so sure.”
“You think it was you Tony?” Gibbs asked him, knowing this was definitely not easy for Tony.
Was my car, boss. And we certainly have ticked off the agency allot lately. Well, the director and I have ticked off the agency a lot lately. Although mainly me.” Tony rambled.
“For what it's worth, Kort denied Agency involvement.” Gibbs told Tony.
“Mmm, that's because Kort doesn't play by agency rules. Guy's got a hair trigger.” Tony told Gibbs.
“Where did La Grenouille take you?” The director asked him, trying to get as much information from him as possible.
“We stopped at a park and made some calls. Jeanne acted shaken up and kept clinging to me like a limpet. It took all of my willpower not to slap some sense into her.” Tony told the director.
“If you had agreed to the op things wouldn’t have ened as badly as they did.” Jenny tried to convince him.
“Thank you so much for that, Director, I am gonna keep that in mind for next time! Oh, wait a second, there's not gonna be a next time!” Tony said, before getting agry with her. If she hadn’t tried to get him to work her op he wouldn’t be in any of this damn mess.
“What did Jeanne say?” Shepard asked, trying to get as much iformation as possible. Not noticing the danger inherent in pissing Tony and Gibbs off.
“Nothing I'm gonna tell you.” Tony told her, not knowing exactly what Jeanne had meant nor what she was planning.
“Agent DiNozzo!” Jenny’s voice was commanding.
“Nothing you need to know, Director!” Tony tod her, planning to handling the fall out himself since he wasn’t sure why Jeanne had been stalking him. He looked at Gibbs and saw the pride on his face. It made him extremely glad that he was standing his ground with the, obviously insane, director.
“Where is La Grenouille?”
“I don’t know. He dropped me off at the main gate before heading west. Probably halfway to California by now.” Tony told her before telling them that Rene planned to leave the business and only trusted NCIS.
They tried to find Jeanne Benoit but she was long gone and then Shepard got a call from Rene Benoit. Thankfully Gibbs was there and heard everything. He wasn’t happy with Shepard’s handling of the arms dealer’s request. The next day they found out that someone matching Rene Benoit’s description was at the Marina. Gibbs, McGee and Ziva headed there but it seemed as if La Grenouille had already left. No-one knew just how much shit was about to hit the fan.
TBC…
AN: Hope Ya’ll enjoyed this chapter and it’s twists. As always Comments, reviews, and constructive criticism is welcomed. All flame will be used to melt this damnable snow and all flamers will be dealt with by the use of a Dragon Slave. Overkill? Perhaps.
*Agent Marianne Simmons is not a real NCIS character, that I know of. I needed a character to replace Paula Cassidy since she was killed by Ari instead of Kate.
** A Major in Geology and Geography can last from between 4-6 years. I know because my mother was majoring in the same thing as Kelly. Actually my mother’s major and minor is the same as Kelly’s. At least it was until she got sick.
***The lyrics are from the Fast and The furious movie Say AHH (Mercedes Benz) by Shawnna
****The beginning of Act A Fool by Ludacris. It’s from the 2 Fast 2 Furious movie.
Note I mixed the songs up a bit and took lines that I felt would fit Tony’s street racer persona, one that he was using to throw Jeanne off if she ever got the burn phone’s number. Probably not songs Tony would normally listen to but he doesn’t want Jeanne to know it’s his phone since she is a stalker bitch.
Chapter Twenty-One>>