Chapter: 15

Great Now What

Now that their suspect is dead, they need to find a way to locate the missing woman and the missing Cajun Navy member.

When she ran out of ammo, it scared her to no end. No sooner than she got back to HQ, she went and bought a Colt Cobra. A Cobra is a mini .38 special mini revolver. This was to be her back up to her back up.

They still need to find Garrett and the missing women. Not much is known about Garrett, so Patton did a deep dive into the man. He came back with some information that was very surprising to Renee.

The missing Cajun Navy man is the half brother to the breeder that Renee knows and the breeder of both Echo and the new puppy. The one that Horatio and Renee were coming to New Orleans to bring back to Miami to train as a forensic detection dog.

Renee had called the breeder to tell him that Renee had Horatio had been called in on a case in New Orleans, and they would be late in picking up the puppy. The breeder had a different last name, so Renee would never have made the connection.

Renee knows that the only way to get to the breeder was by boat. She also knew that the breeder would never leave his house if he had puppies. She and her brother would have to take Pride out into the bayou to talk to the breeder. Luckily Renee knew the way to the breeder since it would never show up on a map since there are no street names or even streets in the first place.

Renee still had connections in the area, so she had boats at her disposal. One of her friends from her days as a Marine had a TRACKER GRIZZLY 2072 CC. Her friend's boat was a very long one, so it was big enough for Renee, Echo, Horatio, Pride, and his team of agents to all fit since it can fit nine people.

It did take a while to find the breeders place since it had been several years since she had been there to pick up Echo. Renee did know the breeder since she was in the Marines, and she was stationed close by the breeders.

That is probably why she knew that it would be safest if she goes to the door alone since she knows her friend was prone to shoot first and ask questions later.

As she approached the door, she quickly knocked on the door and announced who she was.

"Jack… It's Renee Kerrigan. I'm here with some NCIS agents. We're here to talk about your brother, Garrett. I brought Echo too. Please open up. We really need to talk to you."

Without warning, the door opens to reveal a man holding a Browning BAR on the agents.

The man asked Renee a question that surprised her.

"Do you vouch for these men?" A question that she answered with an adamant and fervent, "yes."

Followed quickly by a "that is my brother kindly stop pointing that gun at him."

Echo, seeing the gun pointed at someone she felt was family, the canine quickly jumped out at Jack and was about to sink her teeth into the man's arm when Horatio called the dog off. When Echo heard Horatio calling her off of the attack, she obeyed instantly.

Echo had been standing next to Gregorio when she had seen someone pointing a gun at her family. Instinctively she got between the gun and her family and was growling and snarling at the gunman.

Hearing Echo growl and her brother calling Echo back, Renee stepped up, telling her partner, "Easy girl… It's okay… Jack is putting his gun down now."

She turned to face the breeder who lowered his gun and laid it beside the front door just outside as he walked back inside.

Inviting the team inside to talk about his half brother who he didn't even know was missing.

"Garrett… I haven't spoken to him for a long time. Not since he got back from the teams. Why are you asking about him?"

Judging by the confused look, he was getting from Renee and the others. No one knew that he was a former NAVY SEAL. The breeder continues talking.

"He served under a different name. His birth name is different than what everyone calls him. His birth name is Jakob Garrett McKenna. No one ever called him Jakob except Uncle Sam. He preferred to be called Garrett. He was a Master Chief Petty Officer with the SEALs."

With this new piece of information, Pride took over the questioning. After introducing himself and his team to Jack.

"My name is Senior Agent Dwayne Pride, and this is agent LaSalle, Gregorio, and Sebastian we are with NCIS."

"When was the last time that you talked to your brother?"

"It was after the first body connected to that drug dealer who was using the bayou to disappear in. I told him not to go looking for him and that the feds would find him, but he never listened to me. That is why he joined to Cajun Navy so he would have back up if the need arises."

"I'll tell you this if he is kidnapped he will kill his way out and he will protect any innocent with him. He will contact you, and you will never find him if he is trying to disappear anywhere," Jack tells Pride and his team.

Jack then turns to look at Renee before he asks her a question.

"Do you want to meet the puppy while you are here? I know that you cant take the puppy until you solve the case, and the pup is more than welcome to stay until then."

Renee adamantly nods her heads, yes.

Without another word, Jack calls, "Pups."

Everyone then hears the sound of at least a dozen paws running down the hall. Six half-grown dogs come sprinting to the group of people. Jack didn't need to point out the puppy. The puppy was the reverse color pattern as Echo, and there was only one pup that color.

Renee points the puppy out to Horatio and asks him what he thinks and what would he call him.

Horatio looks from the dog to his sister and back again. I've never seen a dog in those colors before. He's beautiful. Well, based on what we do, I'd say Patriot. You know Patty for short.

Nodding to each other, they tell the breeder that he is perfect and that his name is Patriot.

Patriot was busy playing with his new sister Echo. Jack tells Renee that Echo and Patriot were half-siblings having the same mother. With the pups all playing together and with Echo, the entire group jump when they hear a loud, deep bay of a hound.

Turning around to face the hall, they see who made the bark. It was a beautiful blue brown Catahoula Leopard Dog. The pups all run to her and follow her back down the hall. Echo even jumped and actually hid behind Renee's legs.

Renee looks up at Jack and only says one word, "mom." A question that Jack answers with a nod, yes.

As the team walks out of the house, they process all the information that they had just heard. When they got back to HQ, they have Patton run Garrett's whole name through their database.

What Patton comes back with was more than encouraging. Jakob Garrett McKenna was a hand to hand combat expert. He was also very adept at working in the swamplands of Louisiana and Alabama.

The team had no idea that deep in the bayou, Garrett was working up a plan to break out of where he was being kept and rescuing the women.

He knew that he could since he also lives by Gibbs' rule #9 Never go anywhere without a knife. Despite being searched by the suspect and his underlings, Garrett had some knives that had managed to go undetected this whole time.

Garrett had a knife hidden in both his belt buckle and two in the lining of his boots. They weren't long, but they were long enough to do some damage.

Garrett had noticed that the number of guards had gone from twelve to six over the last couple of days. He knew something was off with the guards. He was just biding his time and find out as much information as possible to figure out where the women were being held.

Garrett noticed the number of boats coming in and out had gone from about five a day down to two a day. He knew at this rate he would have to act soon. Garrett managed to pick the lock on his door with the Bobby pin. He always had one or two hidden in the bottom of his boots. With the lock picked, he snuck out to do a reconnaissance mission to gather information on how many guns and how many boats and where the women were.

He found a cargo container that was being guarded by six armed men he deduced that the women were being held inside that particular container. With this new piece of information, he snuck back into the shed that he was being held in.

His guard was none the wiser to the temporary jailbreak. Garrett knew that he needed to act fast, so when the sun was going down, he again snuck out, but this time, he cut the fuel lines to four of the boats, and using the gas tanks of the boats he rigged several makeshift bombs. He was going to use the bombs as a distraction so that he could get the women out when the bad guys were investigating the explosions.

The bombs had the desired effect, and the women's cargo container was left with only one guard. Being a SEAL, Garrett easily got behind the guard without the guard realizing until Garrett had him in a sleeper hold and was choking him out.

With the guard knocked out, Garrett grabbed the gun and opened the container. Shining the guns light on the women, he calmed them down quickly and led them out to the boat that he had left work.

There were seven women and children in the cargo container, and now seven women and children were with Garrett in the flat bottom boat. Garrett did know the waters like the back of his hands, but he also didn't have a full three gallons in the tank, so he had a limited range that they could stay in the boat before they would all have to get into the water and swim for it.

The explosion that Garrett had rigged ended up being seen by a night fisherman who called it into NOPD, who then called NCIS. By morning the island was being swarmed by NCIS and NOPD SWAT team.

They found the body of the guard that Garrett had choked out along with the rest of the guards. There was no way off of the island when Garrett sabotaged the boats. Taking the only boat that had an intact fuel line, he stranded the guards.

The guards were the only ones that NCIS was able to take in alive since everyone died that was at the processing plant that Renee and Horatio had gone to.

Now they just needed to find Garrett and the missing women. The island was about ten miles from Echos breeder. So Garrett was heading to a location that he knew oh so well.

Renee and Horatio were surprised to get a phone call from Jack.

"Renee, Jakob is in the other room. He just showed up with seven women and children. He's not making any sense when he talks. Just please come with your team."

Hanging up the phone, Renee runs into the other room.

"I got a lead… Garrett showed up with the women and children at Jack's house. Come on, let's go. I'll call my friend with the boat."

As the boat pulls up to Jacks floating dock, Renee and the team get out. Being a Marine, Renee led the group of investigators to the door.

"Master Chief Petty Officer Jacob McKenna, I'm Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Renee Kerrigan. Can you please come out and talk to us. I really need to talk to you and to Sabrina Mancini. It's about her brother Navy Commander Jeff Mancini."

The door opened up with Garrett and Sabrina standing there. Renee now needed to do the one thing that no law enforcement officer or military personnel ever get used to. She needed to make a death notification."

"Sabrina Mancini, I hate to tell you this, but your brother was found dead a while ago. He died trying to get you out. The police wouldn't listen to him when he went there about you being missing and how he feared that you were trafficked."

"His death got NCIS on the case, and we got everyone involved in both your kidnapping and your brother's death. I'm so sorry for your loss."

Sabrina just collapsed in tears. The teenager was now completely alone. She had lost the only family that she had. To be honest, her friends Emily and Ivy, were also alone, so they were in it together.

"Garrett, we just wanted to tell you that your safe and the girls are safe. We also wanted to ask you how you got everyone to safety. We found the hidden base where you all were held by the smoke from the IED's that you rigged."

"Well, we were in the one boat I left intact. We had managed to get six miles out. I knew my brother's place was ten miles. I recognized landmarks along the way. I also knew the best route to remain undetected. Taking that route, the women, children, and I had to swim. With four miles to go, I knew that one of the children couldn't swim that far, so I had her put her arms around my neck. We had to swim and float that last four miles.

While technically the case was closed, Renee asked Pride to not forget about Sabrina and her friends and to make sure that he checked upon them from time to time. A request that Pride had no problem keeping.