Chapter 8

A/N: I want to thank all who read my story and especially those who are reviewing: Thanks Tophat, Michelle, Harry. And Thanks Bobo Masato for telling me what issue it was.

This chapter is for all of you.

Ian's visit did some good for Scarlett, Jake, and Sara. Syren's testimony could help Jake's case, but they needed to find her before the White Bulls did. Not only that, but it was getting hard to move around the precinct without Dante's knowledge. It was Sara who noticed it first.

"Something's going on, you two." Sara said, closing the door to the office.

"What do you mean, Pez?"

"We're being watched Jake. Helstrom and Burgess have been watching you and me. And Orlinsky's watching Rosalie. I think Dante's on to us."

"I think Dante's suspected us for sometime now. Those three have been trying to gaslight us. Things are going to start happening around us; we're close to their operations. They're trying to make us nervous, make us panic." Rosalie stated.

"We can't have that happening." Sara said

"One mistake, a slight miscalculation on our parts can cost us the entire deal. If that happens, we could end up with nothing or worse. We could end up dead. We need to be extremely cautious." Jake warned. "We need to get to this witness, Syren, soon. Spread out on the streets during our shift and ask around. We can't leave anything undone..."

A door opened interrupting Jake, immediately all three turned to it.

"What's going on in here?" Orlinsky asked from the door.

"Nothing, Orlinsky." Jake answered. Since hearing about the pimp's murder, Orlinsky's presence brought a sort of chill to the three of them.

"Dante wants Daniels in his office now," Orlinsky said.

"Why?" Sara asked.

"None of your business, bitch."

Sara's anger was evident. She took a step towards Orlinsky who seemed pleased with himself. In an instinctive motion, Rosalie was there in between the two of them.

"Easy Pez. He's not worth the effort." Ro's message was clear to Pez. Then with a casual glance back at them, Ro followed Orlinsky towards Dante's office, closing the door behind her.

"That was too close, he almost got you, Sara. It just goes to show that we need to extra careful with them."

"I'm more worried about what Dante wants with Scarlett. Other than her being with us, he's got no reason to suspect anything about her. If he finds out that she's the only eye witness to a real White Bull murder, he won't hesitate to kill her."

"I know, Sara. Despite the fact Orlinsky's a White Bull, all that girl Syren saw was a crooked cop kill a pimp. Connecting it to anything Dante's doing will take time, right now the connection's only informed speculation." Jake said casting a glance down the hall, in the direction of Dante's office.

"You wanted to see me, Captain?"

"Yeah, Daniels. Come in. Orlinsky close the door." Dante moved to close the blinds of the windows that showed the inside of the precinct. Orlinsky moved behind Ro.

"What did you need, Cap?" Ro asked, realizing something was definitely wrong here, especially with the way Orlinsky was now flanking her. Orlinsky moved in suddenly, pinning her arms behind her back. ~Damn it. He shouldn't have surprised me like that. I can't do anything to get away from him in front of Dante. I might end up giving something away.~ "What the hell's going on?"

"I just want you to listen, Daniels," Dante said. "I don't care who you think you are, but if you don't shape up and start following orders, my orders, I'll get rid of you. I know you, you're trying to catch me or something; like Pezzini and McCartey, you look right through me like you know everything. I'll get rid of you permanently; double tapped to the back of the head. I'll even get rid of Pezzini and McCartey. We do dangerous work, Daniels, it'll be easy to pass off your deaths as 'in the line of duty'. This is just a warning to Watch your step, Detective. And it's the only warning you get, is it clear?"

"As crystal, sir." Rosalie said as Orlinsky released her. Dante's threat had been clear, her life and her partners'. ~Well, at least this confirms our suspicions. Dante's not certain what we're doing but he's definitely on to us.~ She thought as she left the office.

"Something's up." Jake said as he watched Ro make her way through the precinct from Dante's office.

"How do you know?" Sara asked. It was then that Ro opened the door.

"Grab your coffee, guys. Let's get out of here." Ro said, rushed. Seeing the confused looks from Jake and Sara, she only told them, "I'll tell you later in the car."

Jake and Sara, hearing the urgency in Ro's voice, grabbed their coffee cups and headed out the door. After getting in the car and driving away from the precinct, Sara broke the silence.

"What happened, Scarlett?" Sara asked, voicing the question that was also in Jake's mind.

"Dante's on to us. He doesn't know what we're doing but he knows it's us. And we've got him running scared." Scarlett said.

"How do you know?" Jake asked.

"He threatened me in his own office. First, he said that he'd kill me and then, he'd kill you."

"Damn it." Jake uttered a few choice obscenities in the following minutes. "We need to get you out of there."

"Jake's right." Sara agreed, "The sooner the better."

"No. If we do that, Dante will be certain that I know something important and another thing, he'll be certain that you're both involved. We need to see this through to the end. No matter what happens next, we have to finish it. For Danny." Scarlett said.

"For Danny," Sara agreed.

"Yeah, for Danny," Jake responded. "So we look for Syren, now."

"Not me. I need to do something could you drop me off somewhere, Jake?"

"Sure. Where?"

"The corner of Lexington and 7th street."

"You're going to the Carson Hotel to see your friends, Scarlett." Sara said.

"Yes. We've got Dante running scared, he's making threats; something big's going down and I'm willing to bet that it's going down soon. After my friend saw Orlinsky the other night, it's safe to say that the Bulls are getting antsy. They're fixing to make their move soon, all the signs are pointing to it. The other night, my informant dropped by; he told me that the Bulls have been funding some Cobra operations. The White Bulls may be your collar, Jake but when it comes to Cobra that's Joe jurisdiction. I think it's time to tell my friends a little more about what's going on."

"Just don't give them too much, okay? I'm not supposed to be allowing this. If they figure it out on their own that's fine, but it can't be known that I had a hand in this."

"Okay. Not too much."

Jinx answered the door to find Rosalie on the other side. Rosalie looked a little nervous and worried about something.

"Hi, Jinx. I hope I haven't come at a bad time. I was visited by my friend last night and he said something that I think you should know. Can I come in?"

"Sure." Jinx replied, standing aside for the detective to enter. "Can you wait here while I get the others?"

"Of course."

As Jinx walked away, Rosalie looked around the room. ~Damn. I'm not supposed to be the one chasing after Dante and his Bulls. But I promised Danny, I'd bring this out no matter what. I owe it to him, to his family, and to Jake and Sara. There is nothing to compare with the power of a Black Dragon's loyalty or honor as Ian says. And I guess he was right.~

Jinx entered the room along with Falcon, Stormshadow, Stalker and Snake Eyes.

*Jinx said you have more information.*

"Yes. My friend came to see me last night and he said some pretty disturbing things. Your friend is involved in a Bureau operation."

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation?" Stalker asked.

"That's the one. She and whoever she's working with, I don't have a name but it's safe to say she has a partner, are getting close to the target of their assignment."

"What's the assignment?" Falcon asked.

"They're trying to oust members of a society within the police force; they call themselves the White Bulls, they're dangerous and corrupt people."

"How do we know you're not with them?" Stormshadow asked.

"They killed one of my best friends and they've threatened me too. I want them found out as bad as the bureau does. But that doesn't matter, what matters is what my friend told me last night." She paused. "I was told that the Bulls are funding some operations of a known terrorist organization: Cobra."

*Why are they supporting Cobra?*

"We aren't exactly sure why at this time. It's gotten hard to find out much about the Bulls at the percinct. One of higher ranking members in the White Bulls is my new Captain."

"How do you know this?" Jinx asked.

"He called me into his office this morning; he knows I have been snooping around them a bit myself. He threatened me and my partners' lives. I told them as soon as I could, but our hands are pretty much tied. The Bulls in the precinct out number us."

"Why were you doing that?" Stalker asked.

"It's no lie that the police here have gotten bad press; it's all because of the White Bulls. I thought if I could get some, any information on them; my friend could find a way to get it to your friend or the agent she's working with. I don't think it was simply in the line of duty that Danny...," she paused to keep her voice from breaking, "Danny was killed. I think the Bulls arranged for his murder."

*You knew him for a long time?*

"Danny had been my best friend for years. He was like a angel, he had such a big heart, Danny cared about every case that he ever got."

"Did you know him while he was in the CIA?" Falcon asked.

"Yes, even at that time; Danny was just incredible. No matter what, he always had time to talk to me. He was so happy to hear that I was transferring here. He told his partner and best friend; Sara, all about me. He even asked Captain Siri; before he retired, to make certain that I'd be with him and Sara on their cases. Then not more than two days go by and Danny's gone forever." she finished, taking a deep breath and struggling to keep her composure.

Ro said softly. "I'm sorry about this. You'd think that I'd be used to death already, I've seen it often enough. I've even stared my own down a couple of times, but I never thought it would happen to Danny."

"He sounds like a great man." Stormshadow said.

"He was, as well as a great friend. I was a few years younger than Danny when we first met, he always watched out for me; he treated me like his younger sister and equal. He never let me down, I don't want to let him down now. He had suspected the truth about the White Bulls for some time; I think maybe he told the wrong person, maybe they just found out and they killed him. He was always there when I needed him. I swore I'd do everything I could to bring the White Bulls down as he would have wanted."

Rosalie's cell started to ring. She calmed herself before she answered.

"Daniels."

"It's Jake."

"Hey. How'd it go? Did you find her?"

"Yeah, but she won't help." Jake paused to take a deep breath, "We have trouble; something's going down and we don't know what, we think it's time or almost time. Dante's calling all units in for some sort of special operation. Sara and I are coming around to pick you up. "

"Now? Is it happening today?"

"I don't know. I'd hoped we'd be prepared with two or three days. Now we don't have any time."

"Shit!" she hissed into the receiver, "Fine, Jake. I'll be outside in five, see you then."

She hung up the phone.

*Is something wrong?*

"Yeah. Something bad is going down and my partners need me to help."

"What is it?" Jinx asked.

"I can't tell you, but I'm certain you'll hear all about it later," she said with a small smile. She walked out of the room without another word.

Less than half an hour later; Sara, Jake, and Rosalie were gathered with all the other detectives under Dante's command. They knew something was going to happen; they just weren't sure what until Smitty asked them an important question.

"Are you three going to Williams's retirement party?"

"Sure, we'll be there." Ro answered, being the first to recover. The three of them knew that there wouldn't be any retirement party; it would most likely be a wake, instead.

"Okay, everybody, listen up." Dante said loudly, "We are going after a very dangerous killer in a matter of minutes. He's psychotic so for your own safety, I'm splitting everyone into groups."

He went through the names dividing all of them into groups of three until there were nine people left, including himself. He read off the final names slowly.

"Orlinsky, Burgess, and Petsini," he deliberately mispronounced Sara's last name for the n-th time, "you three are together. Helstrom, Lubin, and McCartey. That leaves me with Williams and Daniels."

"Sir," Jake said.

"What, McCartey?"

"Pezzini, Daniels, and I work better together then we do like this."

"Tough shit, McCartey. I'm in charge and what I say goes. Time to go everyone."

At the warehouse; Jake, Rosalie, and Sara were keeping one another in view.

"Shouldn't we have seen some sign of the killer by now?" Ro asked.

"Quiet, Daniels." Dante snapped. "Williams, take point."

Williams walked in front of Dante and started to sweep the area slowly; Rosalie kept her eyes firmly locked on Dante. Hearing something from above, she turned to look around. Daunte kept his revolver ready, his eyes locked on William's.

Rosalie, looking back to Dante, elicited a small gasp as she saw Dante aim at the back of Williams's head. She froze, watching in horror as Dante fired once, twice and Williams fell to the ground.

"Don't even move, Daniels." Dante said as he turned the gun on her. He picked up his radio.

"Bring the other two over here," he spoke into it, "the three of them can die together."

Helstrom, Lubin, Burgess, and Orlinsky brought Sara and Jake to where Dante held Ro at gunpoint.

"Where are all the others?" Jake asked.

"At the right warehouse. You honestly don't think I'd bring them all here to watch me kill you, do you?"

Dante turned and leveled the gun at Sara.

"You have been a thorn in my side for years, just like your father, Petsini. I'll make it quick; two to the back of the head, just like your father," Dante paused, waiting for the implications to sink in. "That girl. Williams. And Danny Woo."

Dante had just confessed to the three of them.

"Why'd you do that girl? She wouldn't let you do her or something?" Jake said.

"I killed her because I thought her death would really appeal to you and Petsini." Bruno turned to aim, not at Sara this time but at Jake.

"You, first I had you figured for a Fed. But then, no Fed is as stupid as you."

"Hey Bruno, why Danny? Did he even see you before you killed him?" Rosalie asked.

Dante turned and aimed the gun directly at Rosalie, only this time he cocked it."He knew too much, and no he never saw me. You, I believe, are the Fed. How much do you know? How much do you and your bureau have on me?"

"Enough," she said calmly; playing along, "to make sure you spend the rest of your life in prison along with the other Bulls."

Dante glared at Rosalie, she returned the glare in defiance.

There was the crack of a gunshot, Jake yelled and Sara screamed.

A/N: If this seems a little messy, I apologize. I'm typing most of this story off the top of my head.

I also apologize for the wait, I had writer's block and I've had some problems with my computer recently.

If you don't like the cliff hanger, I apologize. I am currently finishing work on Chapter 9 .