(AN) Hello, and welcome to Chapter Three of How the Elf Lord Made New Friends. I hope you all enjoy.
In this chapter, we'll learn more about why Kevin Daly is mixed up with a drug cartel.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS; all characters and locations are owned by CBS and Belisarius Productions.
Chapter Three
Getting to the Truth
The Dalys were examined at Washington General, where aside from some scrapes and bruises, they were given a clean bill of health. Upon returning to the house, Tony and Ziva entertained Tommy and Emma upstairs by playing Mario Kart: Wii: Tony was Wario; Ziva was WaLuigi; Tommy was Toad and Emma was Yoshi. It had soon been discovered that Ziva was terrible at driving in a video game as well as real life.
"Never get into a real life vehicle with Agent David, kids," teased Tony as he watched WaLuigi crash into the side of the track repeatedly, "It never ends well."
"I am not that bad." insisted Ziva, smiling sheepishly.
Tony's phone suddenly rang. "Sorry, but I have to take this." he said, getting off the bed.
Tony went into the hallway and answered his phone. "The Dalys have a clean bill of health, boss." he said.
"That's good to hear. The name of our dead robber is Harry Jeffords," informed Gibbs, "He was a member of a violent Washington based drug gang known as the Cobras; led by Victor Rodregez."
"How did McGee's new friend get mixed up with a drug cartel?" asked a surprised Tony, "And what was on the Navy Mainframe that was important to them?"
"I'm not sure," answered Gibbs, "We need to talk to Lieutenant Daly about this."
"On it, boss." replied Tony.
Tony headed downstairs, where he found McGee chatting with Kevin and Audrey. The special agent quickly took McGee aside and filled him in on the developments.
"This is insane!" cried McGee in shock, "There is no way that Kevin is actually working with a drug cartel."
"Yeah; the guy is too sweet to actually be a drug dealer," stated Tony, "Plus, he seems genuinely horrified by the situation; like he wasn't expecting something like that to happen."
"Well, let's stop beating round the bush and actually ask them." suggested Tim.
The two agents walked back through to the living room. Kevin and Audrey looked up at them.
"So, any updates?" asked Kevin nervously.
"I hate to have to do this to you, man, but we need you to answer some more questions." said McGee apologetically.
"Okay." replied the navy lieutenant in confusion.
"The robber that was killed was called Terry Jeffords, and he was a member of a drug cartel operating in Washington known as the Cobras," said McGee, "What do you know about them?"
Audrey chuckled lightly before looking at Kevin in confusion. "I'm sorry; a drug cartel?" she said in confusion before taking on a suspicious tone, "Honey, what do you know about this drug cartel?"
Kevin looked about nervously before shuffling his feet. "I … uhhh … look, I don't want to get people hurt or into trouble." he answered.
"Oh my god, is somebody threatening you?" asked a horrified Audrey, clinging to her husband.
"Kevin, it's okay, we're here to help." assured Tony in a gentle voice; noting the look of fear on the man's face.
Kevin simply sighed.
"On my last tour to Iraq, I began to notice a couple of my team were acting suspiciously and that equipment was going missing," began the navy lieutenant in a grim tone, "George Hues and Rose Taylor were the ones responsible. I eventually confronted them, and it turned out that before we went on tour, they had gotten involved with this drug cartel named the Cobras. Turned out that they were helping them to smuggle drugs into the country and that they were getting the stolen equipment smuggled back to the Cobras, so, I immediately reported them to my superior officer, who put it on their record. The two were dishonourably discharged. When I got back, I tried to help Hues and Taylor get clean… I then followed them to an alleyway, where they were meeting their boss. I decided to try and confront their boss; to make them see sense."
"You tried to confront the head of a drug cartel on your own!" cried Audrey in horror, "Kevin, what were you thinking?"
"I thought I could handle it," sighed Kevin in a guilt-ridden voice, "I thought maybe if I just tried to reason with him, he'd see sense."
"Sadly, drug lords don't care about anybody but themselves and getting people addicted to their product," stated Tony, "And if you get in their way, they'll hurt the ones you love."
"This is all my fault," said Kevin, sounding guilty, "If I hadn't stuck my nose in this wouldn't have happened."
"Oh, honey, I don't blame you," assured his wife, patting her husband on the shoulder, "You were trying to do what you thought was right."
"You're the victims here, guys," said Tim, "We'll do everything within our power to try and take these guys down."
"Thank you." replied Kevin.
After informing Ziva of the situation, Tony and McGee returned to NCIS HQ the next day, where they updated Gibbs in the bullpen.
"So, I'll take it since the FBI have been hunting Rodregez, that makes it a joint investigation?" asked Tony.
"It sure does." said a familiar voice.
Gibbs, Tony and McGee turned to see Fornell approaching them.
"Gibbs," greeted Fornell in his usual gruff tone, "So … Rodregez is now wanted by NCIS as well?"
"You upset about sharing, Tobias?" asked Gibbs, teasingly.
"No," lied Fornell before turning to McGee, "just as long as we aren't sharing anything else. Right, Agent McGee?"
"For the last time, nothing happened!" cried McGee in exasperation, which earned a smirk from Tony, who was promptly head-slapped by Gibbs, "Anyway; here's what we know so far."
McGee then began using the plasma screen remote to bring up relevant information. "So, our burglary victims are Navy Lieutenant Kevin Daly: born in 1979; joined the Navy in 2002 and is married to Audrey Daly, with two children," informed McGee before clicking the remote again, which brought up more information, "Our dead robber is Harry Jeffords; born in 1978; has a rep-sheet a mile long. He and the other robbers are members of The Cobras; a drug cartel that operates in Washington D.C., which is led by Victor Rodregez."
"So, how does the lieutenant fit into all this?" asked Fornell.
"I'm coming to that," said McGee before clicking the remote again, which brought up the images and records of two navy officers; a young man with ginger hair, and a young woman with long red hair, "Meet Petty Officers George Hues and Rose Taylor; born in 1981 and 1982; joined the Navy in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Both were dishonourably discharged after Lieutenant Daly discovered that they had been helping the Cobras to smuggle drugs into Iraq. After returning from the tour, Lieutenant Daly followed them so that he could confront Victor and try to reason with him."
"And I assume that led Victor to send some of his men to attack the Lieutenant and his family?" asked Fornell.
"Exactly," said Tony, "It's possible that Hues and Taylor gave Rodregez the Dalys home address."
"We need to bring them both in," said Gibbs, "Me and Tobias are also hoping that we can help him and the FBI bring down Rodregez for good."
"The FBI have been trying to take down the Cobras and Victor for years," informed Fornell, "So I'm counting on all of you to help bring down this organisation for good before more innocent people get hurt. Some of his crew are barely older than Emily, and I never want to see her go down that path."
"McGee, try pinging Hues and Taylors phones." ordered Gibbs.
"On it, boss." replied McGee, heading over to his desk.
The young agent began typing away at his computer. After a short while, McGee turned to the others; grinning in triumph.
"Okay, so Hues's cell is turned off, but I was able to ping Taylor's cell," informed Tim, "She's at Rockcreek Park."
"Right, let's get her!" ordered Gibbs, grabbing his gun and badge from his drawer. Fornell, Tony and McGee followed him to the elevator; the later two slinging their backpacks over their shoulders.
Over at Rockcreek Park, Rose Taylor was sitting on a bench feeding the birds, but also feeling a sense of worry. She had heard about Harry Jeffords being killed, and was praying that she didn't end up in any more trouble.
"Lovely day for it." said a gruff voice, which caused Rose to yelp in fright.
The redhead looked both ways and saw that two men were sitting beside her; both carrying guns in their holsters. Rose sprang to her feet and attempted to run, but two more men suddenly appeared.
"Rose Taylor, I'm Special Agent Gibbs with NCIS," said the man to her left, flashing his badge before indicating the two men in front of her and the other man on the bench, "These are my partners: NCIS Special Agent Tony Dinozzo and Agent Timothy McGee, and the man sitting next to me is FBI Agent Tobias Fornell. We just need to ask you a few questions."
Rose shuffled her feet uncomfortably. "I … uhhh … I can't talk to you." she said nervously.
"I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice," stated Fornell, "We know about you and George Hues working for the Cobras."
"Please, just leave. They'll kill me if I talk." said Rose nervously.
"We can protect you," assured McGee, "You're already in a lot of trouble anyway, so you might as well just talk."
"You know about me and Hues smuggling drugs?" asked the redhead in horror before seeing the agents nodding their heads, "Well, believe it or not, this drug smuggling thing is a lot bigger than just me and Hues."
"What do you mean?" asked a confused Tony.
"Being a Navy SEAL is hard. Me and Hues saw things that nobody should ever have to see, so we turned to drugs as a coping mechanism," informed Rose in a grim voice, "Eventually, Rodregez roped us into the Cobras, but it wasn't just us; there were other Navy SEALS as well; all with similar drug problems."
"So, Rodregez is using drug addicted SEALS to smuggle his goods into other countries!" cried a horrified Gibbs.
"That's correct," replied the redhead, "Rodregez would give us the drugs before we went on tour, we would hide the drugs in teddy bears, then when we were in the country and everybody was asleep, we would sneak off and deliver the drugs to operatives that Rodregez has stationed in various countries around the globe."
"But, Lieutenant Daly noticed," said McGee through gritted teeth, "And he noticed the missing military equiptment. Was it you that told Rodregez where he and his family lived?"
"It was Hues," answered Taylor, "Hues was one of the men who went to the Lieutenant's house, he was the one who tied Tommy up. Yes, I know about what happened. Harry and his men were trying to force the Lieutenant to wipe mine and Hues' records clean so that there would be no evidence against us. I was hoping Hues wouldn't let Harry and the others hurt Kevin, Audrey or the kids."
"So, what about this missing equipment?" questioned Tony, "Did you smuggle that to Rodregez as well?"
"Yes," answered the redhead in a distraught voice, "All the SEALS stole equipment and helped smuggle it to Rodregez. He and his whole crew have military grade weaponry just for security at the Cobras base of operations… and when they want revenge: assault rifles, snipers, Kelvar vests, machine guns, bazookas, rocket launchers, grenades, landmines, drones. The only thing they don't have there is tanks."
"What are the names of the other men who attacked Lieutenant Daly and his family?" asked Gibbs, "And where is this base of operations?"
Rose began to open her mouth when suddenly, a loud bang was heard followed by Rose falling to the ground; blood trickling from a wound in her forehead.
As soon as the bang went off, people began to scream and run in every direction. Gibbs, Tony, McGee and Fornell looked around, but soon realised that Rose's killer had become lost in the crowd of panicked people.
(AN) And that was Chapter Three of How the Elf Lord Made New Friends; hope you all enjoyed.
In the next chapter, we get some nice bonding moments with the team and the Dalys, as well as the continuing investigation.
Until then, this is TimeLordMaster108 signing out.