Chapter 1
The plane had landed and she was awake. With red hair, fair skin, and grey eyes, the girl was attractive, to be sure, even with her hands bound behind her. She was tall, physically fit, and clearly mentally aware.
"You'll sell for a good price," said Liam Greenwald, touching her face before fingering a strand of her silky hair. "Maybe I'll keep you for myself, once I've broken you in."
She smiled but the fact that her smile didn't reach her eyes should have been his first warning. Then she kicked. Before anyone could stop her, she had kicked him in the groin, followed by a vicious side-kick to the side of his face that dropped him the rest of the way to the concrete floor. "And maybe you'll have a broken jaw," she replied coldly, looking at him. "At least something will be broken but it won't be me."
Embarrassed and angry, especially when Arboreal Omen chuckled and the surrounding men laughed, Greenwald stood up and suddenly backhanded the girl. She stumbled, groaning, but didn't fall. Then he grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him. "I am going to have so much fun hurting you, bitch."
"Not as much fun as I'm going to have kicking your ass around the room," she shot back.
He wanted to hit her again, but Omen stopped him. "We can't sell her if she's a mess," he reminded him. He jerked his head towards one of his men. "Take her to the back shed and secure her. She can stay there until our buyers come."
"As long as I get a crack at her," said Greenwald.
"Be patient; you'll get your chance," soothed Omen, watching as the girl was roughly dragged away, a satisfied smirk on her lips despite the rapidly-forming bruise on her face.
Dabi Moore-Gibbs could feel her heart pounding in her chest in perfect rhythm to her now-aching face where that looser had hit her. It had been a cheap shot, sure, but he now had her DNA on his ring, and that could be useful later. In the mean time, she was wherever she was and that meant she now had to bide her time and escape.
The man who was manhandling her across the airport glanced at her a few times, especially at her chest and a plan started coming to her mind, especially when her fingers found her knife. It was a US Navy SEALS Spring-Assisted Pocket Knife Rescue Tool that had been a gift from her friends, G. Callen and Sam Hanna. With a 3 3/4 inch stainless steel blade and a button on the side that allowed the blade to be opened quickly, she was sure it was more than up to the task of taking this guy down.
The trick would be getting at least one hand free and with the way he was looking at her, somehow she didn't think it was going to be much of an issue.
The shed was near the edge of a forest that over-looked a series of rocky hills. They would make perfect coverage for her once she escaped.
The guy entered the shed and glanced at her again. She smiled, and leaned back just a little bit, letting him see some of her cleavage. Yes, her stomach was rolling. Yes, her head hurt like crazy, as did her face, and yes she had a memory gap where she couldn't quite remember what happened in the parking lot of the grocery store where she had been with Quinn Hanna, Sam's wife. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to fight and fight hard.
The guy leered at her and came closer.
"You cut my hands free, and maybe I'll let you have a taste of what that looser didn't get," she suggested, a grin on her face. "I really don't like it rough and he scared me."
Idiot.
He cut her hands free from the zip cord and she smiled.
Then she attacked. She wound up having to use her knife on him. She didn't want to, but he proved to be a bit stronger and heavier than she had anticipated, especially when he brought out his hunting knife.
Blood was everywhere, but the guy was dead.
Dabi stared at him, her hands starting to shake as the realization of what she had just done began to sink in.
Clutching the knife, she carefully stuck her head out the door and, seeing no one, ran frantically for the forest.
She didn't know how far or how fast she ran, only that she did, dimly remembering to fold her knife and put it in her pocket before she accidently stabbed herself with it.
Then she tripped.
And she fell.
And she fell and rolled for what seemed like a really long time before she finally stopped.
When she did, she had landed near a source of water. In pain and bleeding from various new cuts, Dabi tried to stand up, tried to keep moving, but she couldn't. It hurt too much.
Groaning, pulling herself away from the water, she collapsed on the ground. The sight of some beautiful hibiscus flowers were the last thing she remembered.
Then the darkness came.
Five-O Headquarters:
"We got a problem," said Commander Steve McGarrett as he strode into the room.
"You don't say," said Detective Sergeant Danny Williams, joining him. "Is your problem as serious as mine? 'Cause I'm betting it's as serious as mine or mine is more serious than yours."
"Talk," said Officer Kono Kalakaua. Detective Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly joined her.
"I just got a call from the governor. We're being asked to assist NCIS in finding a gun runner by the name of Arboreal Omen, who was last known to be on a flight to Hawaii. Here's the problem; he's kidnapped a girl who happens to be the daughter of an NCIS agent who was undercover at one of the stores Omen was using to smuggle his guns in with," said Steve.
"Which fits in with the call that I just got from our friends in L.A. Remember Callen and Hanna? They were the ones investigating and the daughter, Dabi, is the long-lost, recently-found daughter of an agent who is usually stationed in Washington, D.C," said Danny. "Seems she was in L.A. for a convention when she got bored, hooked up with Callen and his people, and witnessed a shooting, which lead to Omen, which lead to Daddy Dearest nearly having a heart attack and getting involved, which lead to an even bigger mess. They tried to take Omen down but Omen had already figured out who the undercover was and gone after Dabi. A few thumps here and there (I didn't ask for details) got them a location; here."
"Name?" Chin asked.
"Special Senior Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs," said Danny. "His daughter is Dabi Moore-Gibbs. Oh, and we've been warned; she's deaf and a scrapper. Seems Gibbs and his team taught his daughter everything they knew about fighting and shooting and she's a mean crack with a rifle. Plus, she's got a boyfriend who's studying to become one of Washington's finest."
Chin pulled up the files and the images. "She shouldn't be too hard to spot," he said, looking at her. "That red hair of hers could be seen miles away. What about her mother?"
"I asked and was simply told she had died when Dabi was eleven," said Danny.
"Drunk driver," said Chin, bringing up the information.
"And Gibbs has quite the file," said Kono, studying the large file on the NCIS agent. "He's a former Marine sniper who made Gunnery Sergeant before his first wife and daughter were killed by a Mexican drug lord while he was away during Operation Sandstorm. He's currently the senior agent for the Major Crimes Response Team in Washington and he's got an impressive arrest record."
"He's also on his way over," said Danny. "According to Sam, he should be on the flight coming from L.A. to the Honolulu Coast Guard Base, thanks to a few favors that were pulled."
"So what does the governor want us to do?" Kono asked.
"He wants us to help Gibbs, find the girl, and bring down Omen, who runs an extensive gun-running operation and shut this pipeline down," said Steve. "If we have to do it, do it, to quote him. Oh, and work with NCIS, which means being patient with Gibbs, who is known for being a mean bastard when he's pissed."
"Well someone just kidnapped his daughter," said Danny. "I don't know about you, but from a father's perspective, I'd be pretty pissed too."
"You were, when Grace got kidnapped. Remember?" Steve pointed out.
"Which means I can relate to Gibbs perfectly," said Danny, already planning to make a call to his daughter later. "We're going to have our hands full."
"Just another day in paradise," said Chin, grinning.
