Chapter Text
Kai and I aren’t on a break. Or at least, that’s what I tell everyone who asks when noticing the iciness at Pearl. I’m just… well. Maybe we are, and maybe it’s my fault. But as opposed to rending this situation wide-open and forcing myself to fit- the square peg in the round hole- I’ve decided to let him sort out his own shit. Because if there’s anything I’ve learned about Kai Holman over these past six months, it’s that forcing him to do much of anything won’t end well. Regardless of who you are to him.
It’s been two days, and we’ve implicitly gone no-contact. Besides for work. Hence the ice.
While these aren’t the worst days of my life, they come pretty damn close. Before everything with AJ went to shit, we’d made reservations at a restaurant in Waikiki, then were planning to spend the rest of the night watching movies and probably getting massive hangovers.
I’ve got one of those things down, at least. Pepper whimpers at me as I drag myself out of bed. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get you your-” Something crashes in my kitchen, and I glance at my phone on my bedside table. No notifications from Kai, or anyone else who might have a key to my apartment for that matter.
But I do have a gun in the drawer below the phone. I pull it out, click the safety off, and swing around the corner.
A man I’ve never seen before sits at my kitchen island, fumbling with the shattered pieces of my pen jar. “Oh, sorry.”
“Who are you, and what are you doing-”
“In your apartment?” Local, if his accent is any indication. Looks wise, he could be from anywhere: hapa, probably some Asian, some Hawaiian. “If I told you I’m with RNCR, would it make more sense?” He turns his full body towards me, still leaning against the counter with way too casual an air for someone with a gun pointed at him. He’s lean but well-muscled, tan skin glowing in the morning light. Just like Kai: a rugged kind of attractive.
My heart aches.
“Not really, no.”
“Well, I’ll say it anyway: I’m with RNCR. A mission leader, actually.” Oh, wonderful. He stands, and I gesture at him with my gun. “I’m unarmed, Special Agent.” I give him a quick once-over.
“Empty your pockets and take off your jacket.” He does as I ask, successfully revealing every area he could be hiding a weapon, and I turn the safety back on. I’m still hanging on to the gun, though. “What do you need me for?”
The smile he offers is too friendly to the point of being unsettling. This guy’s a fucking psychopath. “I’m only here to offer you a warning.” Nothing of his expression changes in the slightest. “Stop poking around AJ Hale’s business dealings.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
He pulls out his phone, types something in, and shows me the screen. “You’re really predictable.”
My parents house. He’s got a visual on it.
If whoever this fucker is thinks I’m predictable, he needs to grow up because I don’t pull out my gun. If I do, he’ll kill my parents.
“You… know what I do for a living?” A hint that it’ll come up eventually. That it has come up already.
“Of course,” the man breezes, “Let me rephrase: don’t get in our way. Yeah?” He speaks to me like I’m a child. Like I’m something to toy with.
And as long as he has eyes on my loved ones, I am.
I watch through the glass of the bullpen’s windows as Tennant throws her head back laughing at something Jesse says. As my godfather gestures as he speaks, one of the habits I love most about him.
I tell myself I’m doing this all for them. That I’m working against them for them. It’s not convincing, though.
I step through the door, only to come face-to-face with a very disturbed Ernie. Can’t say I’ve seen him like this before, which only serves to make me disturbed. “What’s wrong, Ernie?”
“I’m… not sure.” Jesse nods to me and frowns up at Ernie.
“What’s up?”
“CC never showed up to yoga this morning. I can’t find her anywhere.” CC? He can’t possibly mean-
“CC?” is Jesse’s incredulous echo.
“Carla Chase,” Tennant confirms. Jesse and I exchange a bewildered look.
“You and Commander Chase do yoga together?”
“Was the incredulous tone for the yoga or the together part?”
“Both?”
“We do a lot of thIngs together. We’re friends. Hit an amazing centipede exhibit at the insect museum last week.” A chill creeps up my spine.
Jesse exhales deeply. “Sounds like a party.”
Tennant shrugs. “She could’ve just gotten caught up with work?”
“I was just at AFMES. They haven’t seen or heard from her. She didn’t answer the door at her house either, but her car is there.” Not good. Especially not after the friendly visit I had this morning.
“Grab Kai. Go check out her house. Talk to the neighbors, see if they have a key.” Tennant glances up at me. “Sage, stay here.” With Ernie, is what she’s not saying.
“You think Something happened to her?”
“We’re gonna find out.”
“I’ll come with.” Tennant and I exchange a glance behind his back as he rushes away, and I tilt my head. Go , she mouths. So go, I will.
The first thing I note when we pull up to “CC’s” house? The camera in the corner of the garage. “Looks like-”
“Decent security system.” I know Kai’s not finishing my sentence, but rather interrupting me. I flinch.
Jesse pointedly ignores this, taking off his glasses as we step closer. “I was expecting more of a wind chimes and dreamcatcher vibe.”
“She’s actually got an amazing ojibwe dreamcatcher,” Ernie confirms, “But she was also with the Navy medical corp in Iraq. She’s seen some things.”
“Which is why,” I start as Jesse knocks on the front door, “if anything did happen to her, she’ll be perfectly fine.” None of us have any reason to believe otherwise.
“Commander Chase, hello?” Jesse calls, and when he receives no response, he jiggles the doorknob. “Locked.” Kai peers through the large window.
“Let’s check around back,” he mutters.
“There’s a door off the patio,” Ernie informs, and we circle the house. No signs of struggle out here, which either means she’s fine, or she was incapacitated and dragged out. He knocks on the side of the house, snapping me out of my depressing thoughts.
“CC? You here?” Nothing. “What if she’s hurt? We have to get in.”
“We will,” Jesse reassures, and I go to reach for the back door when I catch a glimpse of the glass shards gleaming in the light.
“Got signs of forced entry.” No point in lightening the blow. I glance up at Ernie. “Stay put. Please.”
Upon Ernie’s agreement, Kai slides the door open. “NCIS.” He steps in first, and my heart rate instinctively speeds up. I’m as worried about him as ever. “Commander Chase? You in here?”
We clear each of the rooms, then make our way into the kitchen. Where a knife sits embedded into the wooden floor.
To any lesser organization, Whistler, Tennant and I marching into their office might be seen as terrifying, or at the very least threatening. Here, no one even spares us a glance. “My contact at DEA was tightlipped about this task force,” the former explains, “She heard they were about to be shut down.”
“She say why?”
“Only that the agency seems to be in cover-your-ass mode.” I shake my head. Someone had to have fucked up then, somewhere along the line. Not that they would ever admit to that, and not that I would ever dare to say that aloud.
Three agents gather around the monitors in the middle of the space, and as soon as the older one notes us, he clears the information off of the screen. “Hey, who the hell are you? You can’t be in here.” Sometimes, it’s a wonder to me that agents in other organizations don’t also know about my boss. (Seriously. How can you not know about that woman?)
“Jane Tennant, Special Agent in Charge, NCIS. This is Kate Whistler with FBI, and my colleague Special Agent Sage Chang.”
“And we wouldn’t be crashing your party if you’d returned our calls,” Whistler snaps.
The same man that’d started this whole thing narrows his eyes at us. “We’ve been a little busy-”
“So have we,” I butt in, “Seems like we’re both missing agents. And I’m going to assume we’d both like to find these agents.”
Tennant nods. “Agent Foster and Commander Chase don’t have time for jurisdictional games.”
“It’s a lot more complicated than that.” Oh, spare me.
“We can handle complicated.”
“Look, I’ll go as far over your heads as necessary to find Commander Chase. Or, we can all be professionals and start cooperating.”
The lone woman at the monitors glances at her coworkers in turn. “Come on, guys. Isn’t this thing messed-up enough already?” Hm.
Rehearsed. Or maybe she’s new, nervous- “Let’s start over.” No time to dwell on it. Not with two agents missing.
I step into my office, already somewhat pissed off at the DEA agents, only to find Ernie sitting on the couch, laptop forgotten, busily scribbling on something. “I might’ve torn a page out of your coloring book.” Poor guy. Stressed out of his insane mind, as anyone else might be in his situation. (Where I’d be if Commander Chase was Jake.)
“Might’ve?” Our analyst glances up, and I find in his expression that the immaculate coloring of the flower garden hasn’t made him any less worried. “She’ll be fine.”
“And you’re not just, like, saying that, right?”
The scoff I let out comes too quickly for me to think if it’ll be a bit too gruff. “Come on, Ern. When have I ever said things to just say them?” I hope he remembers the bank. What a bonding experience that’d been. He heaves a sigh. “Do I need to prove to you how honest I can be? Because I can-” Ernie sits straight up, shoves the coloring page aside, and grabs his laptop. “Was it something I said?”
“Actually, yes.”
All the photos that Special Agent Vreeland pull up onto the war room’s monitor don’t look like anything out of the ordinary. “Based on the blood spatter, Agent Foster got stabbed multiple times.”
“Classic sign of overkill,” I observe from where I stand to Tennant’s left, “Santino either wanted a hell of a lot of vengeance, or he was high out of his mind. Lost control.”
“You find the murder weapon?” Tennant inquires, not taking her eyes off of the screen.
“No. Ross thinks Santino used his combat knife,” Vreeland explains, replacing some of the photos. Bloody footprints flash onto the monitor this time. “Body was dragged out back. Boot prints are Santino’s size.”
Jesse frowns. “He didn’t try very hard to cover his tracks,” he mutters.
“Being angry, high or both is gonna make you careless,” I remind, and Vreeland gestures to me in agreement. The door unlocks and opens, admitting Kai, and suddenly the crime scene photos are the most interesting things I’ve seen today. (If not the saddest.)
“Hey. I, uh, talked to Santino’s unit…” His voice trails off, and I know it’s not because he’s seen me, although he has seen someone.
“Kai, this is Special Agent Vreeland with the DEA,” Tennant introduces, and he leans against the middle console.
“You all are cooperating with us now?”
“Some of us, anyway.” Again, too suave. Almost fake. Kai and I exchange a glance, and I shrug before averting my eyes.
“Alright.”
Somehow, this is the most unbelievable part of this whole case. Local music pumps from the bar’s speaker system, and I ignore the looks of approval I get from men and women alike. (Is it ignorance if I barely even register them?) “What’s the plan?” Kai mutters, clearly not ignoring the looks.
Actions always louder than words with him. A part of me almost feels guilty for being mad at him. “I’ll tell you what the plan should’ve been, at least for your dress code,” I retort, glancing at his aloha shirt, “You stick out like a sore thumb.” I’m almost reminded of how we used to be, before we fell in love, before RNCR.
What would I do if we went back to that ?
Kai stares down at me and leans closer. “And this sundress is… distracting.” Ah. Yeah, it might be, with the dark green and black patterned fabric barely reaching to my knees, one of the straps dangerously close to slipping- His hand brushes my shoulder, fixing it just as the crowd clears around us. “There’s Novak.”
“And he’s clearly been peddling his wares.”
My boyfriend’s gaze goes distant, the same way it does before he launches into- “Have I ever told you I used to get into bar fights?”
“K, no . This guy’s possibly the only one who knows where Santino is.” Which means he’d be able to lead us right to Commander Chase, too, but that should go without saying, “No bar fights.”
He frowns without glancing down at me, focus still fixed on our target. “Okay, then, so what’s the-”
“I’ll approach. You stay behind.”
“Like… stay here?”
No, that’s not the right word. “Uh… flank. Or whatever the word is.” With that, he nods, and we separate, something in my chest tugging as he goes. As long as I work this job, I don’t know if that feeling of worry will ever dissipate. At least fully. Novak’s gaze finds me immediately, eyes traversing over my form. Okay, noted and ignored. “Russ Novak?” Immediately, his entire stance shifts. He’s going to run. I don’t dare look over to see if Kai’s picked up on this, too, since that’ll only get Novak even more on edge.
“Who’s askin’, girl?” Ew.
I manage to take a step closer. “Special Agent Sage Chang. NCIS. I just want to know about your… friends.” I pause, giving the two young guys he’d been talking to a smile. “Mind if we take a-” Novak lunges, shoving one of his “friends” to the ground, and takes off. So much for a walk . At least I’d opted not to wear heels. My sneakers pound the grass as I dart after him, slipping between pockets of people that are already starting to dwindle with the commotion scaring them off, but he tosses a partygoer in my way.
I barely catch her before her head smacks the ground, and glance up even as I ask on her wellbeing. Kai’s going to need to go- There he is, by the bar. I jerk my head in Novak’s general direction, and he nods. The lady murmurs her thanks, stands up, and I hand her a water bottle offered to me by one of the women from behind the bar. “Okay, everyone,” I reassure the crowd, noting her shaking hand, “We’ll all be okay. There’s no need for panic.” I glance at the bartender, lower my voice, “Do you have a first aid kit?” She nods, wordless. Shit like this will do that to you. “And if you find yourself with any injuries, please see the bartenders.”
The first guy that’d gotten shoved down checks his elbow, which it looks like he’s skinned, but other than that, everyone resumes their activity. Good. I dart after Kai, tracing his path through the house as best as I can- He’s on the ground, and memories from our first case together come rushing through my mind. His name leaves my mouth, breathless, and I reach down to help him up. “You good?”
“Sure,” he grumbles, but regardless, we still rush out after him.
“Hands up, Novak!” I shout, and he does just that, except with a gun in one of them. Kai and I pull out our guns, but before we can do so much as send off returning fire, he collapses.
DEA to the rescue. Wonderful.
No matter the angle I look at all of this, it doesn’t make sense. Murder someone, steal their body? Sure. But then, steal a medical examiner, after clear indication that you, the perpetrator, didn’t suffer any mortal injuries?
That could really only mean a few things. One thing, actually. And on top of how DEA’s been acting… I’m not willing to believe the surface level is the only thing any of us should be looking at. Which is why I’ve ended up here, sneaking around the back of the old mess hall with Tennant. Jesse and Kai are up front, distracting Santino and apparently doing a damn good job of it, since he fires off two warning gunshots.
A shouting match starts up between him and Chase, and Tennant meets my eyes, giving me the signal to move in. “I am not,” he’s saying, “Going to jail for something I didn’t do!” And there it is.
“I’ll talk to the police.” And CC’s willing to testify on his behalf, too?
“Nobody’ll listen. Not to an addict.” The perfect scapegoat if I’ve ever heard of one. The only question is, who’s the one using him?
Tennant straightens up from her crouch, and I do the same, putting my hands up, palms forward. “We’ll listen.” Santino’s gun comes up, shifting between the two of us, unsure of who he’ll need to fire on first.
“There’s no need for that,” I reassure, to which he only responds by raising his weapon higher.
“Yeah, sure. Get back.”
“We’re unarmed,” Tennant adds, “Why don’t we all find a way out of this where nobody gets hurt, okay? Let’s just all take a breath here.” Her gaze glances to Chase. “How you holding up?”
As far as I can tell, she’s uninjured. Going to be fairly rattled after all this, but physically okay. “Eh. I’ve been through worse.”
I can’t help the wry smile that spreads over my face, one that doesn’t even die when Santino threatens us once more. “Or,” I suggest, “I could let you in on the suspicions I have on a certain task force.” He frowns, but doesn’t lower his gun.
“How do I know you’re not just lying to me? That I won’t end up in cuffs the second I put my gun down? I’d rather end up in a fuckin’ body bag.”
“We could come up with another option,” Tennant informs, “If you could tell me and my partner about Agent Foster’s murder.”
“They’re setting me up.” There it is. “They’re making me look like some crazy nutjob.”
“Good faith will only go so far,” I pause, nod to him, “If this is the image you portray.”
“You have until the count of three. One-”
“Jane, I have a feeling he may be telling the truth,” she nods to me, “As do you, Special Agent Chang.”
Tennant frowns. “What, that he’ll shoot after three?”
“No, that… that’s a bluff.” Whoa. Who knew Commander Chase was this confident?
“Two!” Especially in the face of a potentially homicidal maniac, one who may possibly become one of no fault of his own.
“Sergeant Santino was likely set up.”
It’s always like this. Kai always finds himself in a bad spot with one of the people he loves the most, and then they find themselves in a bad spot, too. Not preferable. Not in this line of work. He peeks out from behind the tree he’d taken cover behind for the third time in the last ten minutes. “Should we call in REACT?”
Jesse shakes his head. “ Nah. Give it a beat. If there’s anyone who can talk this guy down, it’s those two .” Especially with Sage’s suspicions, ones that might even match Santino’s alibi, if they’re lucky- A black shadow passing in front of the dirty window catches his eye.
“Heads up, I see movement.” The door bursts open, admitting Sage and Commander Chase, wheeling a stretcher between them.
“Jess, Kai, a little help?” Christ. He’s never been happier to hear a slightly snarky comment coming from his girlfriend. Kai rushes over, training his gun to the still-ajar door just in case, but no one follows them out. Not even Tennant.
“You good?” He whispers to Sage, who nods.
“We’re all okay, but Tennant’s still in there,” she explains, “We need to move.”
I all but collapse into my bed that night and stare up at the ceiling. Every single one of today’s events have only inspired one thought: what if Commander Chase had been someone else? What if it had been Kai, Jake, Jesse, or Tennant?
What would I have done for them?
The answer is clear: anything.
So I’ll continue to stay away from AJ’s dealings. Kai can do whatever he likes with his investigation, because as long as I don’t have any involvement in it, Kai himself, along with everyone else I care about, will live.
No matter how much of a paradox it seems, at least everything will be okay.