Rule 39: There Is No Such Thing As Coincidence (Tony DiNozzo Love Story)

From Russia With Love

Erin's POV

    As I begin to walk back to my car, I feel a presence behind me and before I can move, a hand is gripped around my arm and I'm pulled aside. I look up to see Ivann's right hand man, Timofei, he smiles darkly as he pulls me back onto the sidewalk and towards the direction of the Library of Congress.

    "Куда мы идем? Там нет необходимости быть дискретным, у меня нет телефона для них, чтобы отслеживать меня." (Where are we going? There's no need to be discrete, I don't have a phone for them to track me with.) I say in Russian.

    He says nothing, only continues to walk, dragging me along with him.

    "Как долго вы хотели бы сделать это?" (How long have you wanted to do this?) I ask. He glances to me sideways.

    "Так как ты вошел в его жизнь." (Since you walked into his life.) He says and I know from his words that it's going to take everything in me just to survive long enough for Ivann to kill me.

Tony's POV

    We're pushing past groups of students and families as we follow McGee on the phone talking to Abby.

    "She says it's supposed to be right here," McGee says as he turns to look at us. We start looking around at the groups of people and I'm about to walk over to couple when I see Gibbs pull the top of a trash can off and look into it. He pulls on a glove and reaches in, in less than a second he stands straight with Erin's phone in his hand.

    "She dumped it. She knew we'd follow her," he says.

    "Well, now what?" I ask.

    Gibbs looks around as does Ziva.

    "Cameras," Ziva says.

    "We need to have them analyzed. Maybe we'll see who she met and if it was Novikov," Gibbs answers as he pulls out his phone.

    Soon Gibbs gets off the phone and says we have to return to the office, the camera footage will be sent to Abby for analysis.

    Once back at the office we sit and wait for any news from Abby as we search through the information we can find out on Ivann Novikov.

    "Ivann Vladimir Novikov was born in Perm, Russia on May 27th in 1949. His parents were both advocates for the Communist Party and supported Lenin and Stalin. Ivann grew up to become like his parents and followed in their footsteps, becoming a diplomatic aid to Nikita Krushchev and Leonid Brezhnev before taking a business career in the machine and metal industry. He holds multiple factories all over Russia, to name a few there's Leningrad, Moscow, Orsk, Chelyabinsk, Ufa, and at least a dozen others, he also has some in Asia; they're mostly in Singapore. At present, Novikov lives in Chelyabinsk in a 22,000 square foot mansion just outside the city," McGee says as we sit at our desks.

    "Does he have any living family?" Ziva asks.

    "He has two sons and a daughter, they are from a marriage he had in 1972. They are all under the age of thirty and have taken their mother's name. The eldest, Sergei is twenty-eight, his brother Nikolay is twenty-six, and their sister Tatyana is twenty-two. They live in Moscow with their mother, Raisa Kuznetsov. The last physical visit they shared was in 1987, there's no confirmation if they've kept in contact otherwise," McGee says.

    "Do any of the children have any ties here in the US?" Gibbs asks.

    "Sergei works as an aid for the Russian Ambassador for the UN, the other two have no connection to the US otherwise," I say.

    "Perhaps we should talk to Sergei Kuznetsov," Gibbs says.

    McGee's phone rings and we turn to him.

    "It's Abby, she says she's got something," he says and we hurry down to her lab.

    "What have you got Abbs?" Gibbs asks. Abby turns and looks at us.

    "I have Erin meeting with a man that fits our Russian mafia boss's description in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building. If you'll take a look," she says as she returns to her computer and begins a play back of the footage.

    "Our guy is already here and has been for about ten minutes before he makes a call, no doubt to Erin. It lasts only a few seconds before he hangs up and begins walking around the rotunda, here twelve minutes later Erin is walking through the front doors."

    We watch as she walks through the groups of people and towards the rotunda.

    "She's surveying the room," Gibbs says, and he's right as we watch Erin slowly look around the room.

    "Yeah, those men lined around the room came in with our guy and they leave when he does."

    "She heads right for him," I say.

    "Is there any way to find out what they are saying?" Ziva asks.

    "From the other angle it's hard to make out despite my skill of reading lips," Abby says.

    "Where are they heading?" I ask.

    "Outside to the steps. It's a bit harder to keep a track of her, but you can see the two talking through some of the groups of people."

    "Whoa, what was that?" McGee asks and Abby rewinds the video.

    "She grabs him," I say.

    "Yes, but look at the other men as she does. They are moving towards groups of children," Ziva says.

    "She let go of him," Gibbs says.

    "He trapped her so that she couldn't do harm to him otherwise he'd have children shot," I say looking at the others.

    "This is when she receives a call from you and dumps her phone," Abby says and we watch as Erin looks at her phone before tossing it into the nearby trashcan and turning. She weaves herself through a crowd and we lose her.

    "Is there any footage of her away from the capitol building?" I ask. Abby shakes her head.

    "Despite the cameras, there's no footage. It's like she disappeared after walking through that group," she says and my chest aches as my stomach tightens.

    "She can't do this again," I say as I look up at the screen.

    "Tony it was only a matter of time before—," Ziva starts.

    "No. She said she wouldn't do this again. She promised," I shout.

    "DiNozzo, get yourself together or I'll remove you from this case," Gibbs says authoritatively. I stare at him incredulously.

    "Boss, I—," I start.

    "You're not the only one feeling cheated. So get yourself together and we can get started on finding her," he says. I open my mouth to argue, but stop.

    "Fine," I say, turning away to look up at the screen.

    Gibbs's phone rings and in an instant he's running out of the room and towards the elevator.

    "What is it?" Ziva asks as we hurry after him.

    "A box has just been delivered," he says as the doors close. He turns to look at us. "To Tony," he says and looks at me. I stare at him as my throat closes up and it becomes hard to breathe.