Half an hour later he was waiting in his car in darkness watching an empty house in the suburbs.
This was the address for Christopher Lions, an ex-con suspected of arms trafficking.
This could be the contact he needed to get to Ari.
Drake's cell buzzed in his pocket.
He cursed under his breath then answered.
"Drake…Hello Director Roberts, what can I do for?" He was cut off in mid sentence.
"I know where you are, Joy has tracked your GPS chip in your cell. I know what you're doing. You didn't clear your computer screen. It's SOP to follow up leads with backup. Stay where you are and wait for us to get there."
Her voice was commanding and she hardly took a breath, not allowing him to get a word in.
"Do I make my self clear?"
"Absolutely Director Roberts. Oh one thing, it would be best if Joy stayed in the lab and kept an eye on the GPS."
Her voice was noticeably indignant. "Are you telling me how to do my job?" she asked.
"Of course not," replied Drake smoothly. "Just a suggestion."
"We will be there in ten minutes." said Gillian. Then she hung up.
Drake put his cell back in his pocket.
A car pulled up across the street. Lions stepped out and walked up the drive to the front door of the house. He entered but no lights came on in the house, a few moments later he reemerged carrying a large case. Walking down to the car he left the front door of the house open. Drake watched as the man put the case into the trunk of his car and went back to the house.
Drake got out of his car and moved quickly across the road to the house, hiding himself to the right of the front door he pulled the Glock 19 9mm from his shoulder holster and waited silently. The man reemerged from the house with a second case. He put the case down, then closed and locked the door.
Picking up the case he suddenly stopped when Drake stepped out and told him, "If you move I will shoot you."
The man didn't hesitate, his hand immediately reached for the gun concealed in his jacket. Drake didn't hesitate either. One shot rang out, the man cried out and dropped to his knees, he had been shot at the joint between the humerus and radius the lower part of his arm hung uselessly and blood poured down his forearm. Drake moved forward quickly and disarmed the man pointing his Glock at Lions shoulder joint he said, "I'm not going to kill you. But if you don't tell me what I want to know you will wish that I had."
The man now breathing heavily looked at Drake, he was obviously in agony and terrified. "Aaagh, come on man I need an ambulance!" he said.
Drake looked at him, after studying the man's arm for a second or two Drake said, "Yeah, I would say you're right, I might have nicked an artery with that shot. You had better keep pressure on that and tell me quickly where Ari is before you bleed to death. Or get shot again."
"Hey man are you a cop or a fed? I've got rights you know."
Drake pushed the muzzle of the Glock into the man's shoulder and replied, "I'm neither of those. The only right you've got with me is the right to bleed. Answer the question."
"Please man, I don't know. I'm just a delivery guy. I pick stuff up and take it to where I'm told."
Lions was obviously about to pass out, and Drake had not yet got enough information out of him. He prodded him just above his gunshot wound with the muzzle of the Glock. The pain was enough to bring Lions back to consciousness.
"So where were you to take the cases? Quickly now you haven't much time"
"Ok, I have to take the cases to Prince William Forest, the end of Park, Park Entrance Road, off Joplin Rd…..Come on man, an ambulance I need an ambulance."
"Not just yet. When are you supposed to be there?"
"Ok, ok. 5 AM tomorrow. I'm to wait in my car till Ari contacts me."
Lions slumped; the wound wasn't that bad apart from the elbow joint being shattered. Drake had seen the results of Haswari doing much worse and as far as he was concerned anybody working with Ari deserved what ever they got.
Drake reached into Lions' jacket and took his cell phone and slipped it into his own pocket.
Behind him a car pulled up, Paula & Gillian got out just as a police car pulled up. The police officers got out of their car with weapons drawn and only relaxed slightly when Gillian and Paula showed their ID's and informed them that Drake was one of theirs detaining a suspect.
Immediately they called an ambulance and one of the cops started to administer some first aid whilst the other cop watched Gillian, Paula & Drake carefully inspect the cases. They would need to get Joy to check them for forensic evidence but they needed to know what was in them first.
Gillian opened one with great care.
"Oh my god, will you look at this?" She said to the others.
Drake and Paula and the cop looked into the case and were horrified to see about 33 lbs of C4 explosive, the other case contained the same.
"Well that turned out ok." said Drake Looking at Gillian.
She motioned him to move closer.
In a low menacing voice she said, "In my office when we get back. You're lucky I don't tell the cops to arrest you and take you away now." She drew a breath and shook her head very slightly. "When I say wait, you damn well wait."
She walked away back to the car.
Paula walked over to Drake and said, "Gee, she is pissed at you, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes." With that she went to join Gillian as the ambulance arrived with a second police car.
Lions was loaded into the ambulance and, with a police guard, taken to the hospital.
Drake got into his car and drove back to the office to face the music. But at least he had a lead, now all he had to do was persuade Gillian to let him follow it up.
On the way back to the office he looked at the time, 2355hrs. Only 5 hours and five minutes until the meeting that Lions would not make. He knew that this was his best shot at getting to Ari.
He knew the longer he delayed the less chance he had of getting the bastard.
He also did not trust information not to leak from NCTC office.
The beauty of being in America is that there is always a store open. He stopped at Wal-Mart he found 66 lbs of flour and two cases identical to the ones that Lions had taken from the house and placed them in the trunk of his car. He needed Lions' car to make the plan that was forming in his head work.
He was not going to enhance his popularity, in fact he might end up facing charges, but he had been there and done that before so that was nothing worth worrying about.
The main thing was to get Haswari before he could cause any more death or pain.
Having loaded each case with 33 lbs of flour Drake set about making use of his shadow. He picked up his cell-phone and called DiNozzo.
"I know you have been watching me all evening so you might as well help." he said as soon as Tony answered his phone.
"Drake? What are you up to? I have seen you going to Wal-Mart, are you going on a trip? Planning on doing a lot of baking?"
"Tony I'm going to be breaking a few rules and I need you to back me up….Are you up for it or are you gonna go running to your boss?" said Drake trying to appeal to the rebel in DiNozzo.
"Ok, we need to talk, I'll take the lead. Follow me." said Tony. His car pulled out from three cars back and over took. Drake followed him and a few minutes later they were pulling into the car park of a bar.
As he took a glass from Drakes hand Tony asked, "Ok Drake, what's going on in that sneaky British brain of yours?"
Drake laughed. "How much do you want Ari?" Drake watched the expression on Tony's face change. "Well however much you want him, I want him more."
"Don't bet on it! He killed a co-worker and very good friend of mine" said Tony with an edge of passion and anger in his voice.
Drake looked Tony in the eye and told him, "He killed my wife…."
Tony was noticeably shocked. "Oh, man I'm sorry….I had no idea."
"Of course you didn't. I don't share my life story in my line of work and I don't have many friends that I talk to." Drake looked at Tony and saw that he was pleased to be called a friend. "Lions was going to deliver two cases of explosives to Ari in the morning, I plan on going to that meeting and getting the bastard."
"So what do you need from me?" asked Tony.
"I need the car that was taken to the NCIS compound this evening from Lions' place"
Tony looked shocked. "Gee, why not just ask for something difficult."
"Yeah I was afraid it might be more than you could do." Drake said looking down at his drink.
"I just need you to know that I'm going to do this because I want that bastard not because you're trying to push my buttons. Understand?" said Tony finishing his drink. "Wait here I'll be back in about an hour."
An hour passed, Drake figured that either Tony would do what he had asked him to or he would tell Gibbs. Either way Ari would get what was coming to him.
There were some feelings of guilt for keeping Gillian, Paula & Joy out of the loop but he knew they were all team players and would insist on playing by the rules.
So far playing by the rules had done nothing to get Ari. Tony walked into the bar and dropped a set of keys on the table in front of Drake.
"When Gibbs finds out what I have done he is gonna kill me. You know that don't you?" Tony said sitting at the table with Drake. "So what's our next move?"
Drake looked at Tony, "Your next move should be to go back to the office and think of what to tell Gibbs when he finds out that you took the car from the impound."
He knew that the chances of DiNozzo actually doing this were slim especially if he had not told Gibbs what was going on.
"Well we both know that is not going to happen. Tell me where the meeting is and I'll back you up." Tony said in conspiratorial tones.
"The meeting is in Prince William Forest Park." Drake stated.
"It's a big park, exactly where in the park?" asked Tony, looking concerned.
"The end of Park Headquarters Road. I'm….Well Lions is to wait there for instructions," Drake lied. "If you are coming along then you had best wait on Joplin Road, when I get the call I'll call you with my cell phone and keep you informed."
"But Lions was the one who was going to be contacted, how are you going to get around that?"
Drake pulled Lions' phone out of his jacket pocket and waved it at Tony with a slight smile on his face.
"You knew what you were going to do all along, didn't you?" said Tony in an accusing tone.
"Well I had an idea of what I might do." answered Drake quietly.
-------
It was 0455 and DiNozzo parked his car 100 yards from the Park Headquarters Road turn off. Drake turned onto the road and once he was out of sight he accelerated to an unsafe speed he had some distance to cover and little time to do it in.
He turned right at the first fork in the road and then sped along the mostly straight section of the road to the next junction where he turned right his tires screeched sounding like a racing car. From here the road became more bendy and Drake drove like a confident mad man.
Again he took the right fork and sped on.
As soon as he saw the ‘T' junction ahead he knew he was at Park Entrance Road and he turned left onto it and accelerated onward.
A few moments later he arrived at a dead end and stopped the car.
A few moments passed then Lions' cell phone rang.
Doing a fair impersonation, Drake answered the phone "Yes?" He waited and for a couple of seconds there was silence, then a familiar voice.
"Ah, Mr. Lions. You have what I want?"
"Yes." answered Drake. Again he waited
"There is a track at the end of the road. Bring the two cases 100 meters along the track….On foot." Drake pulled on a black woolen hat and got out of the car. He retrieved the two cases from the trunk and set off along the track.
After 100 meters he stopped and put down the cases. He looked around, all seemed to be quiet then a voice from the woods.
"Well if it isn't my old friend John Drake. What brings you here on a cold dark December night? Ah I see you have bought my cases….Not containing my C4 I'll wager. No matter. That was not why I wanted you here." The smugness in Ari's voice was unmistakable.
Drake drew his Glock from his belt and pointed it in the direction of Ari's voice. Then there was a very very bright light then nothing at all just silence and blackness...................
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.