Mentoring

Mentoring

 

Pairings: No pairings yet, possible Tony/Jamie

Fandom: NCIS/Blue Bloods

Warnings: Character bashing

Summary: Tony heads to NY to help the NYPD out of a jam…

~~

It seemed like Director Leon Vance did anything he could to get one Very Special Agent Anthony D. DiNozzo out of his sight when possible. This time he was loaning Tony to the NY field office for some reason that was unclear. Unclear because Tony was just told to report by 9am the next day and that was it. When asked how long the loan out would be, the answer he received was “Until the assignment is done.”

Tony was sick of assignments like this. His career was stalled, and while a part of it was his own fault, he knew exactly at whose feet the blame fell. Leroy Jethro Gibbs. God forbid someone takes away one of his toys, Tony was never getting promoted.

“Ah. Well, in that case, sir, you better keep this.” Tony handed over his cell phone.

“Explain, DiNozzo.”

“If you don’t want Gibbs – nevermind Abby or McGee – interfering, you better keep that.”

“Unless you tell them where you –”

“I never tell them where you send me, sir. They take it upon themselves to find out, as you very well know.” Tony wasn’t about to beat around the bush on this one. “I’ve put in multiple complaints about the misuse of company equipment and the violation of my privacy on this topic.”

“None of that has come across my desk, Agent.”

“Then perhaps you should look into that, Director. But if you’d like copies of the write-ups, all you need do is ask.” He didn’t stick around to see what the reaction to that would be.

With an internal sigh, Tony made his way home – after making copies of said complaints and sticking them in an interoffice envelope addressed to the director. He noticed the director had waited until the rest of the office – especially Gibbs – had gone home before informing him of the “request,” which was actually better for him in the long run.

After packing quickly and settling things with his neighbor – the one who wouldn’t be intimidated by Gibbs and surrender the security code – Tony called ahead and booked a hotel room for the night under another ID and matching credit card – wouldn’t do to be sloppy right at the start – before setting off for the city. He would make longer-term plans once he knew what this assignment entailed.

*****

Commissioner Francis “Frank” Reagan sat across from Supervisory Special Agent Michael Greggs from the New York NCIS office in silence. The NYPD typically took care of their own; their own people, their own problems. But Frank wasn’t too proud to not call in help from outside sources when help from within would be more harmful than helpful.

“Okay, okay.” With a deep breath, Frank laid out the dilemma and hoped that his fellow marine, a man he had once served with, would be able to help him out. At least four officers lives were on the line, and the Commissioner wasn’t willing to sacrifice any one of them.

Greggs, of course, said the magic words: “I’ve got just guy.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. He’s a bit of a legend in the agency. And actually, if you can convince him to stay here in New York, I’ll consider us even.” Greggs didn’t say anything more, but Frank hadn’t seen him look this angry in years. His interest was definitely piqued.

“And before you go trying to dig into him, watch out. Word is someone has his files flagged – nosy hacker type – so at least wait until he’s already up here.” Greggs put his hand up stop Frank before he could ask any questions. “I will bring you his complete file, you just find a better place to catch up.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Frank agreed, eager to read and hear all about this apparent legend. He stood to shake Michael’s hand. “Stop by my house tonight after dinner.”

~~~

His personal car was sitting in a garage, all GPS trackers had been nullified before traveling to its final resting place. A fraternity brother had given him a loaner for this trip so he could travel under the radar and in safety. “Thank God for the Brotherhood,” Tony said to himself as he swung into the parking lot of the hotel. Making sure he had the appropriate ID and credit card ready, he grabbed his bags and let the valet park the car.

Once up in his room, Tony made contact with Agent Greggs, being sure to keep it casual as he never knew if someone was listening in.

“Hey, Mike, what’s the situation?”

“Hey, I’m in need of your skills in a serious way. Can you meet me at Smalls?”

“On 183rd?”

“That’s the one. Two hours?”

“See you there.”

So this was most likely going to be an undercover mission. Great. Tony had been a little too public in the last few years, what with his directors playing fast and loose with his safety. He sighed as he freshened up and prepared to go out for the evening, hoping that he wasn’t going into a situation where yet again there would be no backup or anyone to trust.

Finding new employment had been a real thought lately, but Tony was worried that Gibbs’ actions of late – and probably some electronic fuckery of Abby and McGee – would screw up any chances of him getting new positions in a decent agency. Maybe – well, maybe it was time to leave law enforcement behind altogether. There were only so many times a man could be betrayed and still trust that someone would have his back.

~~~

Greggs waited until Tony had his drink in hand and the band on stage was playing before starting to speak.

“Right, so here’s what’s up. I’m sorry about pulling you in like this, but we needed help and we needed the best. To begin with, this isn’t an NCIS issue, this is an NYPD issue.”

Tony looked at Greggs in surprise. “Since when does NCIS get involved in NYPD cases? And what exactly do you need me for? Michael, my face is not exactly unknown, especially in the tri-state area.”

“I know, I know,” Greggs reassured him. “We don’t need you to go under, but we do need you to run the operation while at the same time help investigate a leak.”

“Okay, you know what? Maybe you should rewind a bit here and actually start from the beginning this time.”

Greggs grimaced at his drink before downing it quickly. “Yeah, about that –”

“Michael –”

“No, no, I’m going to tell you everything, no worries. It’s just, for the whole story you need to come with me.”

“Come with you where exactly?”

“To meet with the Commissioner. He’s the one who picked up that there was something hinky going on and asked me for advice. I thought of you right away, and here we are,” he finished, hands spread out in a fait accompli indication.

“And your connection to him that he would come to you?” Tony asked, still not liking this sudden addition to the story.

“We served together. Never a more honest and just man have I met, DiNozzo. Seriously, I trust the man to have my six and yours.” Greggs was steadfast in his gaze, trying to communicate his trust in the commissioner to Tony with his eyes alone.

With a sigh, Tony capitulated. “Fine, I’ll come to this meeting.”

The tension visibly melted off Greggs body.

“But — huge but here — if I feel that for one second either of you is holding something back that’s mission-critical from me, I am out.”

“I know, Tony, I know. You think we don’t hear things up here? We’ve placed bets on when you’ll finally tell that asshole to kiss off and disappear into the ether. I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize this, nor the lives that are on the line here. And neither would Frank — the Commissioner.”

Tony gave Agent Greggs one more hard searching look before nodding in agreement and following him out of the bar.

~~~

Frank Reagan sat back in his armchair, tense with worry for his men. He currently had four men undercover in a suspected sleeper cell. The intel was good to start with, but he was worried that something substantial had shifted. The men, who had been working in pairs, had all reported back independently actions of the groups they were embedded with that reflected someone from within the NYPD was leaking confidential intel. They were too well-informed of the goings on for him to be comfortable.

At the ringing of the doorbell, Frank was jarred from his thoughts. Some tension left him as he heard Agent Greggs voice, and what must be Agent DiNozzo as well. The background he had received on him was quite impressive and puzzling. Why hadn’t someone with his credentials moved beyond his position yet? He should be leading his own team by now. Was there something not listed in the files that he needed to know? Guess now he would find out.

“Francis, you have guests,” Henry announced, entering the room, followed by Greggs and DiNozzo. Frank rose to shake their hands and gestured towards the other chairs in the room.

“Agent DiNozzo, Agent Greggs here tells me that you’re the man to help us keep my men safe and find the source of the leaks.”

Tony could feel the man sizing him up like a physical thing. The presence of this guy was immense, not just in stature, but in respect to the vibes he was putting off. He just demanded respect, but not in the same way as Vance or Gibbs. This man also gave it back.

“I certainly hope I can, but first I need some actual details about what is going on. All I have so far is a general overview.”

“Well then, let’s get down to it.” Frank passed over three files and let Tony read through them in peace.

Tony closed the files in silence. Four officers, all embedded in two separate cells that seem to be related to the same faction of terrorists. Both getting the same classified information on police movements, security setups at customs and immigration — it was horrifying. There was definitely a leak, and the only way to get these people extracted without notifying anyone was with an outsider’s help.

The question was “How have they not been made yet?”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, sir, but my first question is, how have these four not been made yet? How are their covers still intact? If there is a leak — and yes, I completely agree there is and we need outsiders to extract your people. We’ll go over that in a minute — how have your people been able to stay in this long without being killed? Is this operation not documented anywhere?” Tony sat back and observed the other men in the room as they answered him.

Greggs went first. “Due to the classified nature of the op, it’s been housed on a separate server –”

“Don’t beat around the bush, man, just tell him.” Reagan interrupted, no patience for the drawn out explanation he could see coming.

“Listen, I’ve had a feeling something was up for a while now — no, I don’t know why, it was little things here and there that we can go over later on — so on a whim, I decided to house this particular file on a server that isn’t networked with everything else. Only a few people have access to it, and they are people I’m 100% sure I can trust. It’s a small group, and we all know how to handle ourselves.”

“Who knows about me?”

“Just myself and Greggs here.”

“Right.” Tony cracked his knuckles and picked up the folders again. “Let’s go through this together and I’ll tell you what I’ve seen in here. Then we are going to call in the rest of your group tomorrow — let’s say a late lunch meeting? — and I’ll be there.”