Chapter 6

"So I'm sitting at my desk when all of a sudden the Admiral lands square on my shoulders. I yell, because he's digging his claws in to my skin, he takes off running, I get out of the office in time to see one of my guys going up and coming down with a bunch of metal mixing bowls, and someone else go flying with several dozen eggs. Then the Admiral hits an open sack of flour, that goes all over the place. Poor thing, the floors are smooth and he's got furry feet, so he's slipping and sliding everywhere in blind panic and there's a lot of noise and yelling. That sets off Rocky, who makes a dive at Leo, who's just coming in the door with an armload of groceries, one of which is milk. That lands and explodes right next to Leo's head (good thing it missed him, it was a four litre), just as Owen comes down the stairs, wearing nothing but a towel. The Admiral makes a dive at him, misses, catches his towel and poor Owen nearly exposed himself to the whole bakery staff," Dabi recalled, laughing.

Kate was howling with laughter, tears rolling down her face, as she held her ribs. "I haven't laughed this hard in a long time and I hope I never do again! It hurts!" she cried. "What set the Admiral off in the first place?"

"Would you believe Mary? She forgot to warn us she was temporarily shutting off the hot water to do some minor repairs and Owen went to have a shower. When he got hit with ice water instead, he yelled," Dabi explained, grinning. "Mary 'made it up' to him; it took him two hours to come back down stairs with his dignity in place but he had a real satisfied grin when he did."

"Oh I'll bet he did!" Kate cackled.

At their desks, Chris, Brody, and Pride were pouring over the information Kate had given them. For a teenage girl, she knew enough to bring down a lot of people. Then Chris got a phone call from someone at NOPD.

He hung up when he completed the call. "That was Detective Elroy David, from Vice. Seems our poking around has made some people nervous," he said. "He wanted to know our interest and I explained about the murder. Seems Vice is investigating that ring and they're after the head boys."

"Okay, are we going to step on any toes with our investigation?" Pride asked.

"Not really, not if we give 'em the info we just got. This Jake Ambrose guy? He's a low-level player and Vice says if we want him, we can have him, but leave the ring to them. They have a guy on the inside and warned me about blowing his cover," Chris explained.

"Fair enough. Anything we find, they get," Pride said.

"He also said if we go undercover to get Jake, try and keep their guy from getting caught in the mess," said Chris.

"We may have to," said Brody. "We don't have any actual evidence connecting Jake to Adder's murder."

"But if we can find the undercover, he might be able to help us," Chris suggested. "Detective David promised to e-mail me a photo of him. We just need someone to make contact with him."

The group shared a look and then looked towards the kitchen.

"Gibbs is going to kill us," said Brody.

"It's called a black marker," said Chris.

"Kate, what are the chances of someone like Dabi getting picked up by someone like Jake?" Pride called.

"Very good. She's about my age, pretty, and with her red hair, she'd be a real man-grabber," said Kate, coming in to the bullpen, with the kitten she'd named Patches, around her neck.

"So what would she have to do to get his attention?" Brody asked.

"Just show up in something innocently sexy and pretend she doesn't know the area and doesn't have a job," Kate said. "That was how he got me." She scowled at the memory.

"And I just got the guy's picture," said Chris, checking his e-mail then throwing a picture up on the plasma screen.

Pride went to Dabi and explained the situation. "What do you think?"

"And the fact that I can't wear an earwig? Don't you think that might be a problem?" she asked sarcastically.

"We'll have eyes on you the whole time," Pride promised. He lead her to the plasma screens. "This is the guy we're after. NOPD has an undercover there and that's him. We don't have enough evidence to go after Jake and his buddies yet, but we're hoping that if you make contact with the undercover, we can get that evidence."

Dabi bit her lip. Part of her wanted to dive head-first in to it but part of her urged caution. She wasn't a trained operative, just a baker. And her dad would kill her...

"Fine. But I reserve the right to defend myself if I think things are getting ugly," she said.

"Fair enough," Pride said. "Just don't tell your father, or we're all dead."

"I won't tell if you won't tell."

And that was how Dabi wound up wearing a dark purple sleeveless crop top, black lace shrug with angel sleeves, curve-hugging jeans, and black pumps and wandering in to Joey's at eight o'clock at night. She had a recorder tucked in her bra and a GPS in her watch.

Wandering in to the bar, she sat down at the counter and ordered a Coke and rum. When the bartender asked for her identification, she provided the fake one that had been made up for her. Then she waited, ignoring the fact that Chris had just wandered in to the bar and was sitting a few tables behind her.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Brody asked. "I have no doubt Dabi can take care of herself, but this could get real ugly, real fast." She and Pride were in the SUV, and all three were hooked up with radios.

"I have eyes on her," Chris promised. "It's just like we talked about." Then he spotted something. "And things are about to get interesting. J-boy just made an entrance and he's looking at Red."

Dabi spotted Jake Ambrose as well and offered him a shy smile. He took the bait and wandered over to her.

"Hi," he said. He stood at about six feet tall, brown hair, fair skin, and a neat but casual appearance.

Remembering how she'd felt the first time Leo had kissed her brought a blush to Dabi's face, along with a shy smile. "Hi," she said huskily.

"I'm Jake. I don't think I've seen you here before."

"Danielle," she said. "I'm kinda new in town."

"Yeah? Anyone with you?"

"Not really," Dabi said. "Thought I'd check out the nightlife, maybe make a few friends."

"Well, I'd love to be your friend," Jake said.

"Yeah?" And Dabi offered him a sexy smile. "I'd like that too."

"You know, you're real pretty, especially with your red hair."

"All natural, sugar, all." And Dabi gave him a suggestive smile she usually reserved for Leo when she was about to jump him. It was a smile that usually got him very hot and bothered and seemed to have a similar effect on Jake, or at least that's what she hoped.

"Really? I wouldn't mind checking that out myself," said Jake.

"My place or yours?" she asked. "I'm staying at a hotel for now, if you wanna play."

"Sounds like fun to me," said Jake.

"Hook, line, sinker, but no sign of the other guy," said Chris softly. "They're on the move."

As they exited the bar and began heading down the street, Brody and Pride followed them discreetly, until they were near a hotel. Then Brody and Pride jumped them.

"Jake Ambrose, we need to have a chat," said Pride, aiming his weapon at the man.

Dabi shrieked. As per earlier agreement, as a means of protecting her, she took off running down the street. She was not even half-way down the block when someone grabbed her.

Her instincts took over and she swung.

"Let me go!" she yelled. She didn't hear the grunt of pain as her fist connected with someone's face. Whoever it was, he had a strong grip on her and even a kick to his knees didn't work. That someone was rapidly dragging her into a darkened alleyway, hand clamped over her mouth, and lifting her up off her feet, and Dabi knew she was in serious trouble. She could only pray that the others knew this as well.

Once they were half-way down the alley, the man let her go and spun her around, aiming a flashlight at her face. Now missing her shoes, she spun and brought her hands up in fight position.

"Easy!" the man snapped.

"Yeah, I'll say!" Chris snapped. He had his gun out and aimed at the newcomer. "NCIS. Step away from her now."

"Wait, that's the guy Vice warned us about," said Dabi, seeing the man's face.

"Why is NCIS going after Jake?" the man asked. He was fit in appearance, wearing jeans and a nice shirt, and had light brown hair.

Easy on the eyes, Dabi thought.

"We have a witness that says he killed a Navy officer," said Chris. Lowering his weapon, he brought out his cell phone and showed the man a file photo of Adders.

"Damn. I recognize him. Heard Jake and a few of his buddies bragging about teaching some black dude a lesson on stealing girls," the man said.

"We're not interested in the big players; that's your ball. We just want Jake and the guys that joined the club," said Chris.

"Do you know Kate?" Dabi asked.

"Pretty girl, eighteen, brown hair? Yeah, I know her."

"Adders tried to save her," Chris said. "Think you can help us make her disappear?"

The man nodded. "Homicide should be able to falsify a report. Bodies turn up in the bayous all the time."

"That they do," said Chris. "We need evidence against Jake that ties him to the murder."

The man nodded. "It might take me a day or two, but I think I can get it, especially if I can convince the Big Guy to throw the bastard to the wolves."

"Sounds good. Pass it to Vice and we'll make sure we get it from them," Chris said.

"I can do that. In the mean time, darling?" the man said, turning to Dabi.

"Yeah?"

"Care to help protect my cover?"

"How?"

Chris grinned. "Lipstick on the neck and a belt across the head?" he suggested.

"That works, but damn it's going to smart," the man groused.

"Undo your pants," Dabi suggested. As he did so, she nibbled at his neck, prayed Leo never found out, then gave him a resounding smooch, just before Chris hit him across the back of the head with a garbage can lid. He went down without a sound and both Dabi and Chris ran.

"If Dad or Leo hears about this..." she hissed to Chris.

"My lips are sealed," he promised.