Chapter 01

Agents Tammy Gregorio and Chris LaSalle left the hospital after visiting with their fearless leader, confident that he will eventually get better, but resigned that it would be a long and lengthy recovery. Several gunshots to the chest left Dwayne Pride in critical condition, even after emergency personnel and surgery made life-saving efforts.

“It’ll be months before he’s able to return to work,” Gregorio commented as she stared out the window of the SUV. “You know it’s a miracle he even survived.”

Chris was silent as he drove, not wanting to comment as he hadn’t been able to stay long after they had found their friend shot and dying on the floor above them in the bar. “Let’s worry about getting our work done. Without Pride or Percy, it’s only you, me, and Sebastian. And he’s…” he trailed off, trying to find the right words to describe the last agent that was cleared for any fieldwork. “He’s better in the lab, and you know how jumpy he gets when he gets shot at.”

“So it’s just the two of us to cover everything here. Good to know,” she replied with a cock of her head.

Chris shrugged. “Maybe Vance will send in reinforcements.”

“Right. Who’s going to be in charge? You’ve been away dealing with your family business because of Barlow. That leaves me with Sebastian and Patton in the office. I’m too new to NCIS for them even to consider giving me the keys when it should be you in Pride’s absence.”

“You’re right. I hope they don’t send his buddy from Washington. He can be even more nuts than Pride, and I don’t think my head can take his visiting. Even if it was only a week,” he complained.

“What are you talkin’ about?”

Chris grimaced as he ran a hand over the back of his head after he turned a corner. “The guy has a thing for head-slapping his agents when they don’t respond fast enough or give him some stupid comment. Pride called it character building.”

“Well, I’ll have a complaint submitted to HR the second he’d attempt that shit with me,” Gregorio commented. “We get beat on enough in the field. I don’t have to take it from my boss like that too!”

“Eh, Gibbs is in a class of his own. Let’s see what goes down first. Who knows? Maybe they’ll send a recently afloat agent to help out.”

“I don’t see them giving a leadership position to someone who just served a punishment tour, no matter how temporary the assignment. Like that will happen. We are under enough scrutiny as it is! I’m pretty sure that when they do send someone over, it won’t be a rookie or someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. Maybe they’ll even spy on us for Washington. You don’t know!”

LaSalle sighed, shaking his head. He had no objection or way to respond to her comment because his situation with the IRS only proved that whoever was out for Pride, also knew ways to go after the rest of the team and went straight for him first. He just wanted to go straight back to the office. “Do you want coffee or something on the way back?”

“I’d rather bury my face into a box of beignets and drown myself in a box of wine,” she muttered. “Let’s go straight to the office and try to track down the bitch who shot Pride.”

“I think we have both at the office,” he smirked and continued on the way.

It wasn’t long before the two arrived, walking in tiredly before being stopped in the yard by Sebastian. He had a cautious look on him as he stared at his friends, keeping them from going further into the office. “Uh, hey guys. How’s Pride?”

“He’s holding in there. He’ll survive. NOPD has officers on detail in case Parsons shows up again,” Chris replied trying to make his way past but was blocked by the scientist.

“Oh, that’s great! Great…” he repeated, nodding as Gregorio narrowed her eyes at him and tried to slip past him and he stopped her too.

LaSalle let out an annoyed huff and glared at him. “What’s the deal?”

“Uh, um…” Sebastian stammered as he glanced over his shoulder. “Well, there’s someone here. Uh, sitting at Pride’s desk and reading through his reports… I asked for ID, and she’s NCIS…” he said in a rush when the two pushed past him and made their way to the office.

They found a dark-haired woman at Pride’s desk like Sebastian said, but she appeared extremely relaxed as she had her legs up on the corner, crossed, as she flipped through a report. There was a stack on the desk, and Pride’s usual locked drawer was open.

“Who are you?” LaSalle demanded.

There was no immediate verbal response. Just a flip of a page and she reached out for the mug that was on the desk and took a sip. “So many coffee places in town and I was disappointed that a couple closed up. But I had found this place called Addiction, that has some surprisingly good blends. Still, I think I’ll bring my own beans in for when I’m working,” she commented, turning the page of the report and studied a picture that was attached. “In answer to your – question. Hm, I guess my name is Pride until yours is discharged from the hospital and authorized for duty,” she replied as she kept reading the file.

Chris walked up to the desk and pushed her feet off of the desk. “You’re not sitting behind his desk, lady. And you’d better tell me who you are. Sebastian might have seen your ID, but it could be fake. I could arrest you for impersonating a federal agent.”

She smiled up at him, shaking her head. “Tsk, tsk, Agent LaSalle. Please. Impersonations are below me. I understand that you’re a little – jumpy, after everything you’ve been through, but I am one of the good guys. Where’s Triple P? He does work here, doesn’t he?”

Gregorio spoke up then, her hand on her holster as she stared at the woman. “You know Patton?”

The woman rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. “Yes, of course, I do. But if it soothes your tail feathers, you can see my assignment orders yourself,” she offered, pulling the file folder out from the desk drawer and holding out to Chris while she glared at Gregorio. “It’s signed by Director Vance himself. Would you like me to get him on the line as well, Princess?”

Chris snatched the folder and read through it, lifting his eyes to the woman. “Agent Myriam Mikaelson? Sent from Washington. What do you know…” he murmured as he looked over at his teammate.

Myriam smirked as she sat back and sipped on her coffee. “Conspiracy theorists, are we? Fabulous. So, let me guess. You think I was put her to spy on you because of all the recent events. Well, I’ll have you know, I know plenty about that sort of drama. You don’t work in D.C. without having to face a few of those.”

“Mikaelson is a pretty popular name around these parts,” LaSalle noted and watched as her face soured.

“Ugh, don’t get me started on those vampire stories! I try to avoid going anywhere near the family crypts because I’m creeped out if it those were ever true!” she shuddered. “Fuck you very much for bringing that up.”

Gregorio wasn’t sure if she was still a threat or not as Chris again weighed her up. “So you’re from New Orleans?”

Myriam nodded. “Born and raised, got the hell out of dodge to make a life of my own. Now I’m back here because Pride decided he wanted to be a colander for Halloween. The asshole will owe me big for this shit.”

“How do you know Pride?” Chris asked.

She stared at him and frowned. “That’s personal. How did you get into NCIS?” she countered, blinking innocently.

“Pride recruited me,” Chris countered. “Same with Gregorio. And Patten.”

“One happy little family. Then I supposed I’m the red-headed stepchild?” she said as seriously as she could, inspecting her hair. “I should dye it, right? Mardi Gras is coming up. Fireball Whiskey red, ya think?”

Gregorio blinked as she looked over at LaSalle. “Is she for real? Is she even taking this seriously?”

Chris leaned on the desk, dropping the folder back on top of the stack Myriam had been studying. “Gibbs recruited you when Pride got you out of the city for whatever reason.”

She only smiled in response, sliding the folder back into the drawer. “Good work on weeding Barlow out,” she acknowledged. “However, from what I understand, Parsons, his blond pit bull is still free. Do we know anything about where she may have gone?”

“Underground, likely trying to leave the city,” Gregorio didn’t waste a breath informing the new guy in charge. “The last thing we’ve heard was that Patten was looking all over, hacked in all the satellites and security feeds. NOPD is doing the best that they can but they’ve lost one of their own, their chief was in on the whole thing. It’s safe to say that they’re uniquely demoralized at this point.”

Myriam shrugged a shoulder casually. “No big loss with Gossett. It was only a matter of time before he was found out,” she muttered, scratching her brow as she reopened the file on Parsons. “This woman isn’t an idiot and is professional and methodical.”

“Are we seriously going to work the case now? Tonight?”

“Oh, you are free to go home, have a nap, shower, have some food,” she said dismissively. “But the trail is still somewhat fresh. We need to keep looking. Now, where is P?”

Chris looked at his watch, noting that it was nearing midnight. “Home, in bed. Since he’s smarter than the rest of us.”

Myriam narrowed her eyes and looked over at the clock. “Oh. Okay. Yeah, we can pick this up at 0630 then,” she replied as she picked up her phone to send out a text message. “Is there anything else for now?”

“No,” the three agents chorused.

“Good, oh, and I also want the crime scene report of the shooting on my desk tomorrow. You guys did process the scene, didn’t you? No, I can’t wait, I’ll go there myself. Have a good night you three, see you in the morning!” Myriam smiled at them and waved before she grabbed her bag.

Sebastian was silent as he watched her lock the papers up and disappear out the door. “She’s one strange lady,” he noted. “0630? Really? Was she serious?”

Chris went over to his desk to grab what he needed and shut the drawer a little harder than necessary. “I think so. Vance’s paperwork says she’s interim leader until further notice. The fact that she knows both Gibbs and Pride is more than a little disturbing.”

“Why is that?” Gregorio asked as she headed for the door.

“That usually means that either she’s a good agent, an ultimate wildcard, or worse. Someone who’s dangerous and not to be reckoned with,” Chris sighed as he followed his friends out the door and locked up for the night. “In all instances, likely bad news. Or maybe she is on our side. Who knows? I will call Vance in the morning.”

~o.O.o~

When the team made their return to the office by 0630, the lights were on, and the essential monitors were already displaying information and reports with Agent Mikaelson sitting on the corner of Pride’s desk, staring at the screen with her coffee in her hand.

“There’s breakfast in the kitchen and fresh coffee in the pot,” she called out. “Grab yourselves something before we get started. It’ll be a long day.”

Gregorio looked at Chris. “She’s feeding us?”

“I guess so,” he murmured as he stared at the agent with suspicion.

Sebastian eyed Myriam warily. “Does she sleep? You know there are rumors that the Mikaelson family were related to some vampire legends in New Orleans.”

She shrugged as she went to raid the offered food and caffeine with him, who was moving like the walking dead.

Chris approached the new team ‘leader’ who had mostly ignored them. “I did some looking into about your family.”

Myriam’s hand paused as she went to take a sip of her coffee and eyed him. “And what? You think I’m dirty,” she knowingly smiled. “NCIS knows all about my family history. I went through the same polygraphs that you took.”

“What surprised me that unlike the rest of your family, you don’t have a criminal record.”

“Maybe I was able to cover it up better,” she replied, leaning in to taunt his recently acquired suspicious nature. “Maybe, I was the mastermind of my family’s downfall so that I could secretly rule it all.”

He glared at her. “You’re messing with me now!”

She gave him an impish smile and turned back to the screen. “Go get your coffee and then we’ll talk.”

When the three returned, she set her coffee down and pointed up at the screen. “So I have been studying the city. The ins and outs. Unless you are a local, you don’t know the real shortcuts or how to avoid traffic cams. This lady, we shall use loosely, we can assume is a professional assassin at this conjecture. Ya think we can agree on that?”

“An outsider would need to take time to study and memorize the streets,” Gregorio admitted. “It took me weeks before I figured the streets out, and not just the different districts.”

“You still get lost,” Chris pointed out with a grin.

“Still contributes to my point. Barlow was a local, and before he returned, he had to have had Parsons make sure she was intimately familiar with the city. It’s what I would have done,” Myriam stated.

“I smell the lovely scent of Boucheron!” a voice called out. “That can only mean Mon LouLou has returned to New Orleans!”

“Loretta!” Myriam exclaimed as she pushed herself off the desk to go and greet her old friend. “Mon Chou!”

The medical examiner hugged her friend and pulled back to get a good look at her. “You are looking good, child. What are you doing in New Orleans? Why didn’t you call me when you got to town?”

Myriam passed a sheepish look as she glanced at the pile of reports on Pride’s desk. “I was reassigned and felt the need to get reacquainted first. It has been a while and to come back here; I had to make sure that there were no demons I would have to deal with first.”

Loretta smiled and nodded with understanding. “We will have to do lunch soon. You are working with the team then?”

“She’s replacing Pride,” LaSalle grudgingly said. “For now.”

Looking back at the girl, she was more concerned. “Will you be okay?”

Myriam raised a brow. “When have you ever known me not to be?”

Chris, Gregorio, and Sebastian looked at one another confused about the interaction between the two. They were growing more annoyed by this agent and her little slips in the short time that they met about her knowledge of their group thus far.

“Alright, alright. You know Patton and Loretta. And seemingly Pride. What’s the deal now?” LaSalle questioned.

Loretta’s smile faltered as she looked at Myriam to see how she chose to handle the question. “Well, you don’t live in New Orleans without being familiar with this young lady’s family. Despite the circumstances of our meetings, we developed a good friendship I believe.”

Myriam rolled her eyes. “They don’t need to know everything,” she muttered. “Some things are better to be left buried. Besides, we have an assassin to hunt down.”

“Assassin? When did you get another case? I haven’t gotten a call for a body,” Loretta looked around confused.

“No new case, just an ongoing one,” Myriam replied as she went back behind Pride’s desk to get her coffee. “An attempted murder on an agent never closes, and until something else comes up, we will continue to work on this.”

“There is nothing to say that Parsons is an assassin,” Gregorio reminded the new member of the team.

Myriam’s slowly rose her gaze as she met the agent’s eyes. She could hear Loretta hum in amusement. “By definition, an assassin is someone who murders a political or prominent person for fanatical or monetary reasons. Tell me, Agent Gregorio. Does any of that definition sound like Amelia Parsons or Dwayne Pride? She was able to get in and out undetected. To me, that sounds rather like a professional hit. Only she, like everyone else that goes after Pride, or Gibbs, underestimate their will to fight.”

Gregorio’s tongue pushed the back of her lips as she stared down the other woman. “And just what do you think happened? Where do you think she went if you are such a great agent that we haven’t figured it out?”

“You know, I never considered myself a great agent. Very Special Agent. That has a ring to it. However, yes, I do have a theory as to where Miss Parsons may have gone. It is right up that screen if you know what you are looking for,” Myriam responded, managing to keep her temper under control. “And I would suggest that you cool your attitude, fast. I understand there will be tension with the orders of my being here. It’ll take some time to get used to one another, and I think we all could get along. Mostly,” she added at the end, glancing at Gregorio with the word. “The time doesn’t have to be a complete misery for all of us if you constantly try to find reasons to fight me at every turn. You can trust that my being here was not by my choice. New Orleans is never my choice of assignment.”

“That would be because of your family, right?” Sebastian asked. “I mean, I know no one has said anything, given that there is next to no one left.”

Myriam gave him a small nod of acknowledgment for his recognition, saying nothing else as Loretta moved towards the kitchen, humming her displeasure with the turn of conversation.

“What? What do you mean about her family?” Gregorio questioned.

LaSalle let out a small laugh and waved his finger. “The Mikaelsons were like New Orleans royalty for nearly two centuries of generations, as far history shows. Only at some point, they were leading the crime circuit from very high places.”

The agent nodded her approval of the explanation. “And now all you need to know is that I managed to get out and eventually became an agent and now assigned here. So, may we get back to work?”

He looked at her as she turned her attention to Parsons’ file, trying to avoid all the focus on her. If she was going to be with them for a while like they believed, he could take the time and get to know her more. Didn’t mean he had to trust her. Turning back to the monitor, he scratched at his neck and cleared his throat. “There are plenty of empty warehouses, and even the cemeteries can give a nice hideout if she can get into a crypt in a quiet section.”

Myriam looked up and nodded. “Yes, those are possible but not likely. Think further south.”

Sebastian was the first to catch it, surprisingly. “What about the ports?”

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