Author's Note - This is my first foray into NCIS New Orleans fanfiction. In the past I've written several seasons of 24 and Sons of Anarchy. This "season" is really a collection of 5 different episodes that are summarized below. Each episode is stand alone though they are linked together somehow, as is on the real show. Meredith Brody's story in particular follows a continuous arc.
I started planning this story halfway through Season 3 so that's where the real NCIS world diverges with this. I still have Gregorio as a relatively new NCIS agent that hasn't really adapted yet, Pride and Isler are not on friendly terms yet, and Brody's shadow is still over the team. I really disliked Gregorio in the beginning when I first started planning this story but I don't mind her as much now. However in this timeline Laurel has already gone to New York as some elements are from more modern seasons. Part of this will explain how Sonja returns from her FBI job and goes back to NCIS, and also Hannah Khoury still works for the CIA. I didn't like her character at first so wasn't even going to write her in here but she's alright now. This is a story ripped from today's headlines, and just like some of my favorite authors like Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn, my worldview is quite clear and I make no apologies for it.
I happen to be a native of the New Orleans area though I live elsewhere in South Louisiana now so I do try to capture the local flavor, including forays beyond the immediate New Orleans area. The portions set in Appalachia are also inspired by my time living in southern West Virginia before coming back to Louisiana. For logistical purposes that segment takes place in southern Ohio, though that region is similar to West Virginia in many ways.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The original NCIS NOLA team will be forced to reunite to deal with new cases and threats none of them could have seen coming – in the Crescent City, and far beyond in this thrilling, action packed final season.
EXTRACURRICULAR HOMICIDE
Lieutenant Eddie Prescott was a hero both on and off the battlefield until his body washed up on a levee deep in Louisiana's Plantation Country and it appears he had a surprising number of enemies on all fronts. Now Dwayne Pride and his NCIS team must find out the truth before the body count rises even more. A thousand miles away, beyond the furthest reaches of the South, Meredith Brody has a new career and a new life, one that will eventually force her to face her past with NCIS.
UNHOLY WAR
Sonja Percy has been deployed to the Persian Gulf on an international FBI assignment involving Iranian agents and ISIS jihadis. while Meredith Brody adjusts to life in the DEA where she's having another fresh start. When an Islamic terrorist faction Sonja has been tracking turns the tables on her and U.S. interests come under attack, Sonja must rely on the only people she can trust if she's to make it back home alive.
WHAT HAPPENS IN BILOXI
A Navy officer dies suspiciously at a major Northshore festival one week before she's set to testify in a decade old sexual harassment case against a U.S. House candidate. Brody is torn when its clear Washington simply wants her in her new job to push their agenda rather than provide assistance to local law enforcement who desperately need. Pride and his team are called to investigate the murder, and as the media closes in, it's up to them to find out the truth – as ugly as it may be. Meanwhile, Meredith Brody is quickly falling for a young state trooper on her new joint task force, but is afraid of getting her heart broken again.
ALL LIES MATTER
The black Navy son of a prominent U.S. House candidate dies suspiciously in a confrontation with state police officers. As out of state activists descend on New Orleans and the city threatens to rip itself apart, the NCIS team is on a race against time to "learn things". Brody finds her life on the line as the situation escalates between her drug task force and a heavily armed local criminal outfit with ties to the Mafia. Brody's loyalties are also tested as tensions rise between the outgunned local police she's embedded with and a federal bureaucracy that could care less about the real lives on the line.
BAD NEW DAYS
Pride's investigation into the brazen assassination of a Federal officer in New Orleans leads him closer and closer to Brody's own long-running case. Soon they realize they must work together again if they're to find the answers that have been eluding them. Reuniting with Brody for one last hurrah, Pride takes his team across the Mason-Dixon Line to the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio, where the good ol' days are over and danger lurks at every turn. As the weight of the past comes crashing down, Brody must make the ultimate decision about her future.
EYE OF THE STORM
The stakes rise to new levels in the thrilling series finale of NCIS New Orleans. As a Category 5 hurricane bears down on New Orleans, Pride's team returns to the Big Easy for a climactic showdown with an enemy deadlier than any they've faced before.
MAIN CAST
Scott Bakula – Dwayne Pride
Lucas Black – Christopher LaSalle
Zoe McClelland – Meredith Brody
Shalita Grant – Sonja Percy
Vanessa Ferlito – Tammy Gregorio
CCH Pounder – Dr. Loretta Wade
Rob Kerkovich – Sebastian Lund
Daryl Mitchell – Patton Plame
RECURRING CAST
Derek Webster – FBI Special Agent Raymond Isler
Scott Eastwood – Sergeant Ricky Parsons, Ohio State Police
Vanessa Kirby – Amber McKenna, Lawrence County Sheriffs Office
Paul Schulz – DEA Special Agent in Charge, Columbus field office
Michael Pena – Marcus Ramirez, DEA, Columbus field office
Isaiah Washington as LaShawn Garner
O'Shea Jackson Jr. as C.J "Moe" Garner
Jason Mitchell – Tre'Vonte "T-Dawg" Harris
Henry Golding - Stephen Khoi Tran
SPECIAL GUEST STARS
Forrest Whittaker – Lieutenant Kevin Gordon, Louisiana State Police
Rocky Carroll – NCIS national director Leon Vance
EXTRACURRICULAR HOMICIDE PART 1
RIVER ROAD – IN BETWEEN NEW ORLEANS AND BATON ROUGE
Scarlett O'Hara, aka 21 year old Nicole LaPrairie of Gonzales, Louisiana, wasn't being a composed, dignified Southern belle right now. That was almost impossible when dealing with DirecTV. In fact, her day had gone quite well before checking her e-mail on her phone while picking up some food from Waffle House after a fun and well-tipped day at her summer job as a historically costumed tour guide at the Houmas House Plantation, aka the Sugar Palace.
Suddenly, she was as aggravated as she'd been in a long time. DirecTV does that to people. But she forced a smile as the pleasant middle aged couple from Colorado that she had met earlier on her tour posed for one last picture with her in her lovely white hoop dress. Her beautiful antebellum outfit seemed out of place in the middle of Waffle House, and perhaps this is why they wanted that picture. After all, DirecTV had her on hold for since she ordered her food, and she'll probably be on hold for 10 more minutes.
"Sorry about that," she said with a sheepish smile, embarrassed that them hearing her curse. "DirecTV."
"You don't gotta tell me nothing more," the gentleman said with a knowing chuckle. "Been there myself, don't even get me started on them! Even worse than the DMV! Switched to Cox and never looked back."
The waitress showed them the picture. "Looks perfect!" the wife said.
"Well, nice running into you again, Nicole. Good luck with school."
"Thanks! And remember, if you're heading toward Baton Rouge, definitely go to Parrain's or Chimes by LSU or Cou-Yon's Barbecue in Port Allen!"
She should have been done with this call minutes ago, but thanks to being put on hold for over 15 minutes then transferred back and forth to two different numbers before being re-directed back to the original department. Nicole got back into her Honda Civic , her change of clothes still in the back, and headed down Highway 44 toward River Road and the Sunshine Bridge river crossing. The bridge also offered a nice view of the Mississippi River below, busy with ship traffic, mostly oil tankers and barges. She usually didn't head this way but she was heading to a friend's property down the bayou for the evening. During a stretch of straight highway, Nicole looked at her phone again. Still on hold, alright.
Suppressing the urge to totally flip out on DirecTV, she slowed down and made a left turn onto a gravel road heading up to the levee. She knew she probably shouldn't be going so fast on the gravel road in her car– she wasn't joyriding through the backwoods in her boyfriend's Chevy Silverado truck – but she had to get up there before she lost the signal. If this phone was disconnected, it would be at least another 45 minutes before she could be speaking to the right people at that cursed company.
"Hopefully you'll be able to help me, finally. This is now the second time y'all have added channels to my account without asking me and then charging me for them. Can you please cancel the movies package that I did not sign up for and credit that part of the last bill?"
"I'll be glad to assist you but can I have you account number, please?" inquired a static filled voice in a nearly indecipherable singsongy Indian accent. Great, just what she needed. A bunch of idiots in an outsourced call center. If these people are going to steal our jobs, at least do it right, she fumed to herself.
"What? I just typed that in, and told the last person, why do you need it again?"
"I am so sorry but we need it for confirmation. When you dialed the first time it was only to confirm your sus-cription…." He probably meant subscription but oh well.
"Alright, give me one second, DO NOT hang up….," singsonged the Indian call center representative.
She got out of her car, opening up the back door to get her backpack where some of her DirecTV invoices were stashed, finally finding it. Okay, it's "13444…"
"Can you slow down please?" the Indian voice said. "I have trouble understanding you."
She shook her head in frustration, as if he could see her. "Okay….its one….three….."
She turned around and looked up the river at the expanse of industrial plants intermixed with the sugarcane fields that have thrived here since the antebellum days. Making her way further along the levee for a better signal, she was also able to look down toward the immediate shore below the levee.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed as she dropped the phone, which fell down the other side of the levee and landed right next to the dead body that was already heavily decomposed.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM! BANG BANG BANG BANG! HOW HOW HOW HOW! YEAHHHHHHHH!
NCIS NEW ORLEANS OFFICE – FRENCH QUARTER
Special Agent Dwayne Pride paced his office overlooking the rest of the facility as he strained to hear Laurel's voice through the phone. It was clear that she was trying to talk over the deafening traffic of New York City in the background. Yes, Pride could sometimes hear the sounds of the French Quarter coming into the office, but that typically consisted of street musicians playing a wide variety of music instead of car horns, cursing drivers and the loud rumbling of a subway train that made Laurel's entire apartment shake.
"Okay, Laurel, remember when I told you about my first week on the job with NOPD, nobody thought I'd last. And now here I am. So remember just hang in there, you hear? Love you!"
Pride hung up the phone as Christopher LaSalle looked up from his desk where he had been working on some paperwork.
"Laurel needed a pep talk, sounds like?" he said in his deep Alabama drawl.
Pride nodded. "She thought that festival in Central Park was supposed to be her big break, supposed to be recruiters and promoters there, but someone else got it instead. Not even a major record label but it would been a foot through the next door."
"Classical music in a festival? Hmmm….." Patton commented, rolling his wheelchair onto the main floor.
"That's New York for you," Gregorio said, "Something I don't expect you people here to understand." She was completely new to the team after being removed from the FBI's drug task force due to a falling out with her superior, Agent Raymond Isler.
"Some of my buddies from Alabama play music gigs for some extra cash, they still just travel to local honky tonk bars around Mobile," LaSalle said. "Flora-Bama would be considered an extreme honor for them." He was referring to the world famous, proudly tacky beach bar and restaurant complex on the state line between Orange Beach, Alabama and Perdido Key, Florida, one of the most well known nightlife spots on the entire Gulf Coast with live music 365 days a year.
"Well those guys didn't go to college for 4 years and get a music degree and move all the way up to civilization," Gregorio said. "And I'm not surprised Flora-bama is your kind of place." It wasn't Gregorio's choice to stay in New Orleans but this is where her career had brought up, with no job prospects back in the Northeast. Plus, the team needed a replacement for Meredith Brody who went on a vacation after their last major case and just never returned without even a formal resignation.
"Civilization? C'mon, Gregorio. Maybe you ought to give her some survival tips about New York. And we do need to get you to Flora-Bama. Take you out of the New York bubble and the New Orleans bubble."
In fact, Gregorio had already given Laurel some tips. Most importantly was which parts of Brooklyn were fully gentrified, which were still semi-sketchy but affordable, and which was still off limits. Laurel had to settle for semi-sketchy, and even then she paid over $1500 a month for an efficiency apartment with the kitchen and living room all in one. It was smaller than a typical motel room at Super 8 and would make any extended stay hotel in Louisiana seem 5 star by comparison.
Suddenly, Pride's phone buzzed and he starred at it with a knowing look on his face. "Work calls, people. Body of a Marine reservist just washed up on a levee along the River Road in Ascension Parish. Local cops want the scene cleared ASAP, don't want that kind of attention from those plantation hopping tourists. Bad for business."
CRIME SCENE – DARROW, ASCENSION PARISH
"Nice view of the river from the, um, River Road," Gregorio said sarcastically as the road followed a high levee built by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Despite the name, the River Road offered very few views of the mighty Mississippi. Both banks were lined by tall levees built for flood protection purposes, and while many stretches were still offered sweeping views of the sugarcane fields that first drew antebellum planters to this part of South Louisiana, the massive industrial properties belonging to the oil and gas industry were also very visible here as well.
"Yeah, that's what keeps us from being in the river, at least when it rains," LaSalle said.
"Did y'all know that this wasn't always a flood area," Sebastian said. "You see all these plantations here, obviously they wouldn't have built them so close to the river if it flooded all the time. All the levees upriver actually worsened flooding so when the feds built the levees up north, they kinda had to build it all the way downriver too. Hence, Louisiana gets screwed over like always you know."
"That's Washington for you," Pride said.
"Hmmm, feels like a narrow version of the Jersey Turnpike," Gregorio remarked as they drove down the curvy River Road past an endless string of petrochemical plants.
"Without the rust and decay, right?" LaSalle asked. He loved poking fun at her New York background still, and it was true that the warm Deep South air and lush vegetation that also lined the road made it far less depressing than the leaden skies and the decrepit post-industrial landscapes of New Jersey.
"Didn't know there was all this industry down here at all. In fact I didn't think there was anything in Louisiana outside of New Orleans except a bunch of swamps and boring little towns." Even Baton Rouge was a backwater to her.
"Quite a lot, New York," Pride said. As much as Pride loved New Orleans, he was also intimately familiar with the rest of the region.
He motioned out the window. "The stretch of the Mississippi from New Orleans to Baton Rouge has the second largest concentration of refinery capacity and petrochemical manufacturing in the nation."
"New Jersey's first, I guess?" Gregorio said.
"Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas, actually," Sebastian chimed in. "Lake Charles is up there too. I know it's a random fact, but…."
"Anyway, we're here," Pride said, pulling off onto the turnoff onto the levee. "And looks like Miss Loretta beat us to it again."
They got out of the SUV and walked to the top of the steep levee, seeing the brown waters of the muddy Mississippi spreading out before them. And then the partly decomposed body of a young black man being carried toward the coroner's van.
"What do we got here, Miss. Loretta?" Pride asked.
"Our victim is Captain Eddie Prescott, Marine reservist based in Algiers," Dr. Wade began. "A hero both on and off the battlefield, which has made him some enemies. Also a science teacher at Harriet Tubman High School in New Orleans. He was reported missing to NOPD when he failed to show up to work 5 days ago and nobody was able to reach him."
The police usually didn't take a missing persons report until 36 hours after a disappearance since there was no evidence foul play was involved, and often it was often the person simply not wanting to be found.
Loretta pointed to Nicole being tended to by some paramedics, for emotional shock rather than any physical injuries. She definitely stood out in her period clothing. "Nicole there discovered the body. Summer tour guide at the Houmas House Plantation. Drove up the levee to get a cell phone signal and just stumbled across this."
Pride grimaced, making a mental note to check on the girl in a bit. She was around Laurel's age, maybe a couple years younger, and looked understandably shaken up. "I know we're not at the lab yet, but what can you tell us about the body?"
"Well it looks like he's been submerged for at least 3 days, maybe 4, which is consistent with this timeline. There's no bullet or stab wounds that we know of."
"So we're not sure this is clearly a homicide. A suicide? Some sort of accident?"
"No, but clearly suspicious," a voice said.
Pride looked up and saw Louisiana State Police lieutenant Kevin Gordon and embraced him warmly. They had served in NOPD together for many years before both left for other agencies.
"Kevin! We really need to see one another more often under better circumstances," Pride greeted his old friend and colleague warmly.
"I know! I think last time was the grand opening at the Tru Tone. You know I always invite you up to the Northshore but you're always busy with your work and traveling to see Laurel and all that."
"Maybe when all this is over. As you can see, New Orleans keeps me busy. The surrounding area as well. So, what you got for me? Why makes you believe this is suspicious right off the bat?"
"My office has been helping NOPD with these missing person reports, with them so overwhelmed with all those recent gangland shootings and because my son knew Captain Prescott when they served in Iraq together. It's not like him to just disappear this way. His life, his passion was in that school, helping those kids out and teaching them to aspire to something more than life in the hood. There's so much he could have done with his intelligence but he chose to return to New Orleans and be an inspiration to kids in our city's most troubled neighborhoods. Had more guts than me."
"C'mon, Kevin, don't undersell yourself."
"No, Dwayne. Even you still stayed to serve the city even if you're with NCIS now. I grew up in the city like you, but I hightailed it outta there as soon as something opened up with State Police."
"So the grass is greener in Ascension Parish or Covington?"
Gordon glanced at the body being loaded for transport to Dr. Wade's morgue. "Most days. But look, Dwayne, something's not right about this. Not saying it's a homicide, but there's definitely foul play involved."
"Okay, please forward everything you have on the case back to my office. I agree with your instinct too. We need to get to the bottom of this, and quickly."
RIVER ROAD
"Nicole, right?" Pride called out, jogging down the levee to where a clearly still shaken Nicole LaPrairie was about to get into her car. He could clearly see an LSU Tigers bumper sticker on the back of it.
"I'm Special Agent Dwayne Pride, NCIS, you sure you're okay to drive? I can give you a lift and one of my agents can drive your vehicle home. You stay close to here or you live on campus?"
"Gonzales at my parents' house for the summer. About 15 minutes. Yeah, you're right, I probably shouldn't be driving in this condition." She spoke with a clearly noticeable Southern accent that was distinct from New Orleans's native dialect even though they were less than an hour's drive from Bourbon Street.
Pride was glad she didn't argue as LaSalle got in Nicole's car, following them as they drove away from the riverfront and into the sprawl of Baton Rouge's exurbs.
"Agent Pride?" she said. "I….I've heard of you. You're….um….Laurel Pride's dad?"
"You know Laurel?" Pride asked.
"Well….kinda. Small world, ain't it?"
NCIS OFFICE
As touristy as it was, Café du Monde truly did make the best coffee in New Orleans, if not the world, so Pride wasn't at all embarrassed to be carrying a cup from the original French Market location as he strolled into the NCIS New Orleans headquarters on St. Ann Street right across from the landmark Royal Bourbon Hotel "Okay, tell me things," Pride said.
"We've obviously done more digging into Prescott's military history," LaSalle said. "Prescott's unit, the 36th Marine Expeditionary Force, fought a major engagement against ISIS terrorists in Iraq during the operation to relieve pro-American Kurdish pershmerga forces trapped on Mt. Sinjar. We managed to kill ISIS's top commander in northern Iraq, helping turn the tide in favor of the Kurds."
"No doubt the hajis are out for blood," Patton said, rolling his wheelchair toward the center of the room.
"Indeed," LaSalle said. "ISIS placed a $20,000 bounty on his head that's been circling on jihadist websites around the world. That's a lot of money given ISIS's current economic situation following the airstrikes on their Iraqi oilfields."
"Any hits on those websites, someone claiming the bounty?"
"No," Patton said, "I've been monitoring Internet traffic from Islamic chatrooms but nothing so far. No terrorist chatter at all going from Louisiana to the Middle East or Central Asia except for the typical pro-Palestinian bullshit. Plenty of Muslim and left wing students celebrate Hamas attacks in Israel, but no proof they actually have even given material support to any terror groups."
"We need FBI to give us a list and IP addresses of members of the Islamic terrorist watch list that have been in this area in the last few months. Gregorio, you think there's still people you can call in some favors from?"
"I'll try," Gregorio scoffed, "Though it seems like most of the Agency don't want to have anything to do with me."
"But you'll promise to see what you can do, right?" Pride said with a slight edge. Her transition onto the team was more difficult than any of the new members, even Sebastian.
"Yes, Pride. I promise I'll try."