Chapter 8

Things got quiet for a bit after that, as paperwork was filed. Then Chris got a phone call from Vice. When he hung up, he had a wide grin on his face.

"Seems the undercover came through. NOPD just had a guy dumped on their doorstep and he looks like he just got put through the ringer," Chris explained. "From the description, it's Jake Ambrose, and it seems he wants to talk in exchange for a deal."

"My kind of deal," said Pride.

"They're bringing him here," said Chris.

"That means we need to get Kate out of here," said Brody.

The two girls were in the kitchen and the sounds of giggling could be heard. Pride, Chris, and Brody joined them.

"Dabi, I know you can handle yourself," said Pride.

"And?" Dabi asked.

"One of our suspects is on the way here and he's willing to talk," Pride explained. "That means I need you to get Kate out of here and keep her safe."

"I can do that," said Dabi. She glanced at Kate. "We're going shopping. A public place is safer, so start thinking about what you want and need. It's on me."

"Maybe a bed basket and a blanket for Patches?" Kate suggested. "She gets cold at night."

"Why not throw in a heating pad for her while you're at it?" Chris asked sarcastically.

"That's a good idea!" said Kate eagerly.

"Open mouth, insert foot," said Brody, grinning at Chris' expression.

"You spoil that cat rotten," said Chris.

"She's just a baby, leave her alone!" Kate shot back.

"Gladly, if she'd leave my ankles alone!" Chris countered.

Pride laughed. Then he handed them what looked like black watches. "These are special locator watches. You press this button here and it'll get you straight to one of us. Plus, it has a built-in GPS tracking that will tell us exactly where you are in real time and where you've been, and is also tamper-resistant, so no matter what happens to either of you, if someone tries to cut this off, we're going to know about it."

Both girls quickly strapped the watches on and Pride screwed them in place with the special lock key.

"After this, Dad might be tempted to use one on me," Dabi admitted.

Pride grinned. "Now, go have some fun. I'll text you when it's safe to come back."

"Take care of my baby," said Kate.

When NOPD officers arrived with a sullen Jake Ambrose, he was escorted to the interrogation room. Someone had beaten him, badly, and he was limping.

"What happened to you?" Brody asked, Patches wrapped around her shoulders.

"Boss wasn't too happy with me about the murder," Jake mumbled.

"Really? No surprise there," Brody said sarcastically. "We found the murder weapon. We have a witness. Talk, now, or no deal."

Jake talked. NCIS and Dabi had been right; Adders had been beaten to teach him a lesson about stealing girls, except one of the guys had over-done it with the wood and Adders had died as a result. They had dumped his body in the bayou to destroy any physical evidence, but Adders had left his mark on one of the other guys, breaking his tooth.

As for the prostitution ring, yes, Kate was one of the girls, one of several, and yes, the stories about the rat-out girl getting eaten by rats was true. He even remembered her name.

"Stupid bitch thought she could go running to the cops and us not finding out about it," Jake groused. "Once you're in, you're in, and the only way out is death for those whores."

Brody was tempted to hit him, but then Patches jumped down from her shoulders and landed on the table. She then proceeded to walk on tip-toe, back arched, fur and tail straight up, ears back, towards Jake.

"What's your problem, furball?" Jake snarled.

Patches hissed and swiped one paw at him, claws extended. Her claws, little as they were, managed to catch Jake across the back of his hand, and he yelped.

"You have a real way with women, don't you?" Brody asked, smirking. She shoved a legal pad and pen towards him, while scooping up the kitten. "Write it down. All of it, and I might consider getting you an alcohol swab for your boo-boo."

Behind the glass window, Chris said to Pride, "Please tell me we got that on video. That was a classic."

Pride glanced at the upper corner of the interrogation room, grinning. "We got it."

"I want a copy."

"You know where to find it."

Ten minutes later, after being formally charged with murder, Jake was turned back over to NOPD.

Then the computers started beeping frantically. It was the emergency signal from Kate's watch.

Chris dived for his computer and pulled up the GPS map.

"Royal Street!" he snapped. "Both girls are in the same area!"

"Get on the horn and get some people down there!" Pride snapped to one of the officers. "We've got two girls in trouble, one with red hair. Go!"

Grabbing their guns, the NCIS team tore out of the building. Chris had transferred the GPS co-ordinates to his phone and that would hopefully lead them to Dabi and Kate before it was too late.

Dabi and Kate were in wandering down Royal Street, checking out the stores and the sights. For all the world they looked like two giggling teenage girls, and for a moment, that was exactly how Dabi felt; like an every-day teenage girl doing teenage girl things and having teenage girl fun with a teenage girl her own age.

That all changed in the split second that it took for a heavy-set man to grab Kate and shove Dabi to one side.

Dabi recognized him and saw red when she saw the flash of metal; a gun. Dropping her bags, she reached for a colorful metal cane that was on the back of an elderly woman's chair at an outdoor café, and swung.

Kate screamed, stabbing frantically at her watch, the man yelled in pain, and the fight was on.

Dabi didn't remember too much after that point. What she did remember was feeling someone gently placing their hand on her shoulder and pulling her back. She blinked, and the fog cleared. She looked down at the man, whom she had the cane pressed against his throat, down on his knees, with her knee in his back. The man was gagging from the pressure on his throat.

"Looks like I won again," she thought hazily.