Chapter 4

The gun didn't match the bullet and the Fifth Street Boy, little more than a thug, lawyered up. Gibbs turned him back over to the local police, who charged him with possession of an illegal weapon and a few other things.

"Talk to me, Abbs," said Gibbs, coming in to Abby's lab. "Tell me you've managed to translate that diary."

"We did," Abby chirped happily. Then she sobered up. "It's really sad, though."

"Why?"

"Because Joey Ramirez knew Camila was an informant for the FBI. He was the one who sent her on the run. He was trying to protect her from his wife, Maria, who was as nasty as the rumors said," said Abby, highlighting certain phrases on her computer.

"How did she get in to the States?" Gibbs asked.

"Joey bought her a return ticket with American Airlines and paid cash for the ticket. He never knew she was pregnant until she started to show about two months ago. Prior to that, he'd managed to keep her out of Maria's reach and hidden. When he realized she was pregnant with his baby, he kept her safe for as long as he could then got her out of town as fast as he could when he found out Maria knew. Camila landed in Arlington three days ago, rented a car with a credit card Joey had given her, and drove into Washington," said Abby. "She tried to call Agent Kipper, but was shot at by someone before she could complete the call; someone in a dark SUV."

"Damn," said Gibbs. "Why the return ticket?"

"To convince border authorities that she wasn't planning on staying," said Abby. "Seems Joey knows a few tricks and loopholes in the system." Gibbs scowled at that. "The thing is, Gibbs, Joey knew Camila was an informant and he loved her anyway. Seems he really, really wanted a family, a baby of his own, and Maria was rumored to be less than helping in that regards. That's why he kept having affairs, but Camila was one of the few that he really did care about. He even wrote her a really sweet letter, calling their baby the brightest star in their sky, his little Estella. They knew the baby was going to be a girl."

"So we're not going to have any problems with him in the future?"

"Maybe not us, but definitely whoever hired the Fifth Street Boys," said Abby. "The last call Camila made was to Joey, who warned her about rumors of a hitman looking for her and he was going to try and find out who."

Then Gibbs's cell rang. It was Kipper and he didn't sound too happy.

"I just checked my messages and I found an odd message with something that sounds like shooting in the background and a woman shouting 'dios mio'."

"¡Dios mío," Gibbs corrected. "It's Spanish for 'oh my god'. That could have been Camila. Get up here and bring that message with you. Camila's journal says she landed in Arlington three days ago and tried to reach you but was shot at before she could complete the call. We may be able to figure out where she was calling from."

Kipper swore. "I'm on my way."

At the bakery:

Dabi grinned at Damon Garth. He had shown up, hoping to see Fran again, and offered to help with the unloading of the delivery truck. Fran was at the front of the store, settling in to her old role as a Front Girl, until Gibbs could have a little 'chat' with Sean Burkhoff. Her excuse was she was on guard duty for NCIS, which was technically true, given the fact that she had a loaded weapon tucked under her uniform shirt.

"You're no slouch, are you?" Dabi asked, watching him lift a large bag of flour over his shoulders.

"This is easy, ma'am, compared to trying to haul a dead full-grown moose off the road," said Damon, dumping the bag on the pallet that would be used to haul everything into the storage room. "They can get up to seven feet tall at the shoulders and the bulls can weigh over a thousand pounds. I've been on the scene of a few moose-verses-vehicle accidents and nobody wins, not even the vehicle, unless it happens to be a semi."

"Wow."

"What's the deal with the guns?" he asked.

"That little tiny little girl you saw Owen carrying? Her mother was shot and killed yesterday by a gang known as the Fifth Street Boys," said Dabi. "Dad's NCIS and he's investigating because it turned out Sara's mother was an FBI informant, working against a Mexican cartel."

"So you're trying to protect the baby," said Damon.

"The idiots don't realize Camila's dead. Dad thinks they may try and finish the job, so until I get told otherwise, my gun stays with me."

"Fair enough. Do you have a spare?"

Before Dabi could tell him, she saw a dark-colored SUV suddenly tear into the alley. It was a very familiar-looking vehicle and she was sure she'd seen it yesterday.

Then she was being body-slammed into the floor by Damon as bullets started exploding around them. She didn't hear the screams of fear from inside but felt like screaming herself.

The minute Damon let her up was the minute she came up with her gun out and tracking the departing vehicle. Several well-placed shots caused the SUV to swerve and crash into a telephone pole near the end of the alley.

"Someone call 9-1-1!" Dabi yelled, charging after the SUV, Damon right behind her.

Three young men were in the wrecked vehicle, all in varying shapes of injury. The driver was moaning and clutching a bleeding face, the result of his driver-side window shattering. The front passenger was in worse shape. He had not been wearing a seatbelt and had no airbag on the passenger side. The end result was that he had gone through the windshield and would later be pronounced dead on scene. The second passenger, however, was better off. He had been wearing his seatbelt and thus suffered, at worse, a busted nose from where his face had meet the front passenger seat. When he saw Dabi and Damon running for them, he tried to scramble out of the SUV, only to be tackled by Damon.

"You're under arrest!" Damon snapped, wrestling the struggling gang member to the ground.

"You ain't doin' fuck all, man!" the young man yelled.

"You're resisting arrest and attempting to assault a police officer!" Damon shot back.

"Liar!"

Dabi just pointed her weapon at the still-moaning driver and said, "Run. I dare you."

"I can't see," he moaned. "Help me. Call an ambulance, bitch!"

"I'll think about it," Dabi replied, smiling coldly. "Maybe."

By now, Owen had joined them, and he and Damon forced the still-struggling gang member to sit on the ground. He did, when he saw Fran's and Owen's Glocks.

In due course, the dead young man was covered up, the injured driver was taken to a local hospital under tight security, and the less-injured gang member was cleaned up enough to be taken to NCIS for questioning.

Abby got her hands on the gun, a semi-automatic, and set to work on it.

As for Damon, he was nearly tackled by Fran in a very enthusiastic hug. In Dabi's opinion, it was a hug that went on a bit longer than just a simple 'thank you'. She grinned to herself.