NCIS Fic: Paris to Serbia (Ch. 8)
Series: Paris to Serbia
Chapter 8: In Too Deep
Author: vegawriters
Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Jenny/Gibbs
Timeframe: Pre-Series
Rating: Adult
A/N: I’ve always had a problem with the idea that Jenny rose to her position in NCIS so quickly. So this series gives some history not only to Gibbs and Shepard, but also to Jenny’s past and where her skills lie.
Disclaimer: I keep falling in love with beautiful characters already written by other people. If CBS is looking for a young, up and coming writer who will devote herself wholeheartedly to the process, I’m the right girl. Otherwise, I make no money from this. NCIS, Jenny, Gibbs, and the team belong to other people. I’m just walking with them for a while.
Summary: A knock on the door and the knob turned, creaking a bit in its setting. Decker and Jethro both reached for their guns; no one was scheduled for a drop off. But as the door opened, Jethro let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Jenny stood there, pale and tired, but whole.
The flat in Paris was far too small. Jethro paced like a caged tiger, resorting to occasionally pawing the window, looking past the people on the streets and the lights of the city to beyond, to wherever Jenny was. He could see it in his eye: Kitty, charming a room full of gun smugglers, using her legs to get attention, getting what she wanted with a soft, flirtatious smile. He’d succeeded at pushing away jealousy and accepting that whatever happened happened because she was doing her job. But she was out there actually doing their job while he was trapped in a Paris flat with Decker going over intelligence and following paperwork and money.
What if she was hurt and he wasn’t there to save her?
“Lay off it, Jethro. She’ll have the intel soon and come back and when she does, I promise to put in ear plugs at night.”
“Fuck off, Decker.” He stood at the window, watching rain drops spatter the sidewalk. The truth was that he wouldn’t care if Decker heard the way Jenny screamed just as long as he got her back safe and sound.
“It’s a bad idea to get involved with team members. Aren’t you the one always spouting that stupid rule?”
Really, the guy was itching to get his face punched in and he would have but the truth was, it was a rule he was always spouting. But then he’d met Jenny. Jenny with legs that went all the way to her neck and a brain that made the rest of her even sexier. In bed, she whispered Russian poetry while screaming four letter French words as she came. She could beat anyone at mental chess, hell, she could beat anyone at actual chess. She could go anywhere and do anything with herself and her career. She had her choice of lovers. And she chose him. Him. With his bachelors in hard knocks and a college degree in how to be a cop. He spoke Russian because he’d been trained to. He spoke French because Jenny whispered it in his ear at night. It was destined to fail but he didn’t care. He just wanted her. He wanted to go back to DC and start a life with her. A life that didn’t involve trying to replace Shannon but moving on from her.
“You think she’s okay?”
“It’s deep cover, Jethro. All we can do is hope she is and rely on her handler.”
“I’m supposed to be her handler.”
“Not once we got to Paris. You read the mission report. By putting Vance in deep, he can keep an eye on her while you play the jilted lover. It works better in the long run for getting you guys into the ring. We need your persona working things from a different angle. You have to let her work her side of this.”
“Those monsters are going to eat her alive.”
“There’s a good chance she’ll eat them, you know. Come away from the window, Jethro. You’re a sitting duck if there are eyes on us. We’ve got people to take out.”
Jethro swallowed. Decker was right, damn him. Be he didn’t trust Leon Vance as far as he could throw him. For a control officer, he was far too green and far too ambitious. Scuttlebutt was that Jenny was in line for the eventual directorship but all it would take to screw it up would be her being upset in the wrong moment. All it would take was someone close to her tainting her future. And Vance was the perfect person to screw everything up for her.
He moved slowly from the window, walking over to the couch and sinking into it. Weeks without a word from Jenny, since he’d last slipped into her body and felt her clench around him as she came. At the worst times, he swore he could still smell her. They’d had ten days in Marseille to be together and it had been longer than that since he’d seen her.
His mark stared back at him from the photograph. It was Salvo’s money man, the guy who was funneling the funds from Russia through to Afghanistan. Take him out, they broke the chain. Take out Decker’s mark, they split the divisions. Take out Jenny’s and the entire supply chain dissolved. They had the intel of the people, just not on the where’s and when’s. That was Jenny’s job. He wanted to shoot himself.
“Focus, Jethro. If she wasn’t okay, Vance would let us know.”
Jethro wasn’t sure he believed it, but he just nodded and settled into mission details. Work kept him sane. Crossing the line with Jenny had been a mistake. It distracted him. But when he closed his eyes, all he could see was her smile. He was really going to go crazy.
A knock on the door and the knob turned, creaking a bit in its setting. Decker and Jethro both reached for their guns; no one was scheduled for a drop off. But as the door opened, Jethro let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Jenny stood there, pale and tired, but whole.
She was dressed simply. Black jeans, a white blouse over a red camisole, and three inch black heels. Her makeup was minimal, her hair up in a ponytail. But there were circles under her eyes and her step was wobbly as she came into the room and closed the door behind her. When she spoke, her voice was thick, tired, accented, as if she hadn’t spoken a word of English in the time she’d been gone.
“Hey.”
Jethro raced over and caught her around the waist. She fell against him, shaking so hard he was worried there was something wrong. Her skin was clammy. “Jen …” What the hell had happened to her there?
He walked her to the couch, grabbing the blanket from where it was draped over the arm rest and wrapping it tightly around her shoulders. Decker ran to get her some tea.
“I’m okay,” she shook her head, “just absolutely exhausted.”
“You’re clammy, Jen.”
“It’s cold out there. Really. I’m fine.” But she was silent until Decker returned with the tea and even when she accepted it, her hands were shaking so hard Jethro had to grab it to keep her from burning herself. “Thanks.” She took a breath and her hands steadied enough to take the tea again.
“Jen, we weren’t expecting you.” Decker took a seat on the coffee table. “Where’s Vance?”
She cleared her throat and ran a shaking hand over her face. “I don’t know where he is. I wasn’t expecting to come either. I knew the safe house location. I was never in a place to get here until today. I shook Salvo, who is a leech and smells and I want to put him away just for that. But I shook him, saying I needed to go shopping.”
There was something about her speech that worried Jethro. She was all over the place, speaking quickly, in disjointed sentences. It wasn’t just the readjustment to English that was tripping her up. He worried his lip in his teeth and let Decker do the talking.
“Is it safe to be here, Jen?” Decker leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “If you were followed …”
“Shut up, Will.” Jethro wrapped Jenny tighter in his arms. “Just shut up.”
“I wasn’t.” The Russian accent was starting to fade. Jenny pulled away and reached down to a purse Jethro hadn’t even noticed. She pulled out a dozen micro tapes and handed them to Decker. “Every important conversation I was privy to. I know there were more, but I did what I could.”
Will took the tapes and set them down on a file. “Thanks, Jenny.”
“How long do you have?” Jethro was starting to fret. He was bothered that Vance hadn’t been the one to deliver the tapes and Jenny looked absolutely terrible.
“What, till they miss me? Honestly, I don’t know. But I needed to see you.” She was still trembling, even with the blanket and the tea.
Jethro recognized the sound in her voice, the worry that he wouldn’t want her after what she’d been up to. He stared at Will for a moment, waiting for the other agent to get the hint, until Decker cleared his throat and made up some excuse about a girl on the other side of town. As soon as the door closed behind him, Jethro’s lips were on Jenny’s. Her lips were chill and chapped and he tried to kiss some warmth back into her body.
“I’ve been so worried,” he whispered when he finally pulled away.
“I’m okay, Jethro. Really.” But she was clinging to him.
“Do you have to go back in alone?”
“We’re so close …”
“You’re putting yourself and your health at risk.”
“We’re accomplishing the mission.”
He looked into her eyes. Her vision was glazed, pinpricked. It clicked. “You’re high.” His stomach caught in his throat. What had Salvo been pumping into her?
“Jethro …”
“No.” He took her chin in his hand, staring into her eyes, “What the hell is he giving you?”
She took a breath and put her head on his shoulder. “I don’t know. But I know he’s doing it. It makes me more compliant. Once I realized he was doing it I was able to pace my drinks better - cause that’s how he does it. It’s one reason I’ve been so intent on making sure conversations are recorded. Just in case I pass out.” Again, she shook her head, “I’m coming down off of it.”
“I’m putting you in bed. Now.” He scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. Tucked onto the bed, he pulled her shoes off and tugged her hair free of its ponytail. “Jesus, Jen …” her eyes closed and he leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Sleep it off. We’ll deal with this later.”
She was sound asleep by the time he closed the bedroom door behind her.
* * *
An angry message from Matthew to Salvo let the bastard know that Matt was out of the whole deal if he didn’t get his Kitty back but Decker had to physically restrain him from walking out the door and delivering it in person. “Killing Salvo won’t do anyone any good. I’ll drop it off, okay?”
“He’s raping her,” Jethro fired back. “He’s drugging her to make her more compliant. Do you get that? I don’t even know if she gets that. She’s so focused on making sure the brass know how good she is that she’s letting herself …” He collapsed onto the couch. “Decker, he’s forcing drugs into her system. He’s got her in how many different situations. I mean really.”
“Are you worried about her as her partner or her lover, Jethro?”
“Why can’t I worry about her as both?”
“Because you know better. She’s your partner first and your lover second. She’s got a job to do and if she gets it done well, we will bust up an entire weapons smuggling ring that leads right into Al Qaeda. But this is the first link on the chain and she has to succeed at this. So back off and think like an agent.”
“And as an agent, my partner is being drugged.”
“She’s aware of it.”
“She doesn’t even know what’s in her system! Decker, she didn’t break cover just because she missed us. She needs help! She’s in too deep and Vance is nowhere to be found!” He tried to take a breath and keep his voice down. Waking Jenny was not in her best interest.
“She came here. She knew she needed out and she came here.”
“Yeah.” Jethro let out a long, slow breath. “Where the hell is Vance?” He repeated. “He’s her control officer.”
“Clearly he didn’t think she was that bad off.”
“Clearly Vance is full of shit.”
“It’s not that bad, Jethro.” Jenny stood in the doorway, arms around her waist, looking for all the world like she was in the first stages of withdrawal. Her hair hung limply around her face, her red tank top was soaked through with sweat.
“Jen …” He was on his feet and at her side in an instant, his hands on her waist. “Jen, let’s get you into the shower, okay? You have to take it easy.”
“Nyet …” she whispered, slipping easily back into the Russian she’d been speaking. “Nyet. I’m okay.” For a second, Jethro wondered how she'd managed to hide the fact that she spoke Russian fluently. Maybe Salvo already knew. Maybe he didn't care. Maybe he was using Jenny and knew something was up. The maybes were going to kill him but he had to focus on Jenny today. Tomorrow, they'd figure out if her cover had been blown.
Decker cleared his throat and slipped out the door, presumably to deliver Matthew’s message to Salvo. Jethro just focused on Jenny. “Please. You need a shower and some clean clothes.”
“I have to get back. Salvo will already be …”
“Salvo is getting a nasty message from Matthew.”
“That’s only going to make him angrier, Jethro.”
He winced. Had Salvo been beating her? “Where the hell has Vance been in this?”
“Don’t shout …” she wobbled back and he grabbed her tighter. “Please.”
“Okay.” He took a breath and again ran a hand through her hair. She’d lost weight in the time she’d been gone. “But you will feel better if you shower.”
“Okay.” She nodded slowly and let him walk her into the bathroom. Her stomach started to heave and she hit her knees, her head over the toilet. Jethro kneeled next to her, holding back her hair. There was nothing in her stomach to empty, and she heaved until she was coughing and crying.
“Here.” He stood up and filled one of the small water glasses next to the sink. She took it, sipped, and promptly threw up the water, but it settled her stomach.
“Thanks.” She leaned back and pushed her fingers into her temples. “God I feel like shit.”
“You don’t look so great either.” He put his hands on the bottom edge of her tank top. “Hands up.” She obeyed and then made quick work of her flimsy red bra. Seeing her sitting there topless, it took everything Jethro had to not pounce on her. His gaze lingered on her breasts, on the raspberry nipples, on the pale skin and trails of freckles. But as he looked lower, he could see the outlines of her ribs. “What aren’t you eating?” He let his fingers move down her rib cage. “God, Jen.”
Gently, he unbuttoned her jeans and hooked his thumbs into the waist and the edge of her panties. She lifted her hips and let him pull the clothing down her legs but she tried to pull her legs up to her chest and he stopped her, staring at the bruises on her thighs. “Jenny …”
He’d never be rough with her again.
“I’m okay,” she said again. “It’s part of the package. We’re going to get this ring. We’re going to take them down. And before you start thinking all I’m doing is sleeping with our marks,” she tilted her head back … she sighed. “You’re not totally wrong.”
“Where is Vance in all of this?” He repeated, angry. Control officers were to make sure things didn’t get out of control. This was out of control.
Jenny bit her lip and reached over for the faucet on the tub. “Let’s not get into it.”
“Where is Vance?”
She shook her head and pushed away, standing on shaky legs so she could plug the drain and settle into the water. Jethro handed her some bubble bath, sat on the floor next to the tub, and waited. Her refusal to answer was bothering him.
She ducked under the bubbles and stayed longer than Jethro liked, but he sat still. He couldn’t get angry. She was drugged, had possibly been raped more than once, and her control officer wasn’t doing his job. When she surfaced, her wet hair sticking to her, he reached for washcloth and grabbed the soap, silently washing her down. She’d talk when she was ready. Too bad patience wasn’t his strong suit.
“Most of the bruises are from last night,” she whispered. “There was a party. Things got out of hand.”
“I can see,” he was carefully avoiding washing her breasts or between her legs.
“Vance was there,” she closed her eyes. “I don’t remember what happened, Jethro. It’s why I got the hell out this morning. All I know is that Salvo and his crew are selling more than guns.”
“They’re peddling women?”
She nodded. “Girls, really. That’s the middle eastern connection. The money for the guns is coming out of the old Russian mafia partners and down into Europe, where it’s laundered. Salvo and his crew select women, and put them up for auction, where they are sold to buyers in Asia. They travel through the Middle East, bringing messages and money for the traders.”
“Are you up for auction, Jenny?” He stopped in his ministrations and linked their fingers under the water.
“No. I’m too old.” They both shuddered at the implications. “And I have money of my own to bring to the table. I think he just wants me for himself. It pisses you off, so he wants me.”
“You’re done in there. We’ll get the intel another way.”
“I can’t be done. But we can go back in together. What did your message to Salvo say?”
“To keep his hands off my woman.”
She almost chuckled but the smile did reach her eyes. “Then we go back in together. He still needs your connections in Serbia. So you go in with me, say you’re done letting me be used, and that if he wants my money and your connections, you’re part of the package. It’ll get us through into Serbia, where we can break the chain and hopefully stop everything.”
“You’re half drugged and clearly in pain and you’re still thinking like an agent. You amaze me.”
“I am an agent, Jethro.” She opened her eyes and reached up, finally touching his cheek. “Before anything else, I’m an agent.”
He caught her hand and kissed each finger before leaning over the tub to kiss her gently. She responded, weaving her hand through his hair as she pulled him closer. For a moment, they both forgot about anything but each other.
TBC …
Chapter 8: In Too Deep
Author: vegawriters
Fandom: NCIS
Pairing: Jenny/Gibbs
Timeframe: Pre-Series
Rating: Adult
A/N: I’ve always had a problem with the idea that Jenny rose to her position in NCIS so quickly. So this series gives some history not only to Gibbs and Shepard, but also to Jenny’s past and where her skills lie.
Disclaimer: I keep falling in love with beautiful characters already written by other people. If CBS is looking for a young, up and coming writer who will devote herself wholeheartedly to the process, I’m the right girl. Otherwise, I make no money from this. NCIS, Jenny, Gibbs, and the team belong to other people. I’m just walking with them for a while.
Summary: A knock on the door and the knob turned, creaking a bit in its setting. Decker and Jethro both reached for their guns; no one was scheduled for a drop off. But as the door opened, Jethro let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Jenny stood there, pale and tired, but whole.
The flat in Paris was far too small. Jethro paced like a caged tiger, resorting to occasionally pawing the window, looking past the people on the streets and the lights of the city to beyond, to wherever Jenny was. He could see it in his eye: Kitty, charming a room full of gun smugglers, using her legs to get attention, getting what she wanted with a soft, flirtatious smile. He’d succeeded at pushing away jealousy and accepting that whatever happened happened because she was doing her job. But she was out there actually doing their job while he was trapped in a Paris flat with Decker going over intelligence and following paperwork and money.
What if she was hurt and he wasn’t there to save her?
“Lay off it, Jethro. She’ll have the intel soon and come back and when she does, I promise to put in ear plugs at night.”
“Fuck off, Decker.” He stood at the window, watching rain drops spatter the sidewalk. The truth was that he wouldn’t care if Decker heard the way Jenny screamed just as long as he got her back safe and sound.
“It’s a bad idea to get involved with team members. Aren’t you the one always spouting that stupid rule?”
Really, the guy was itching to get his face punched in and he would have but the truth was, it was a rule he was always spouting. But then he’d met Jenny. Jenny with legs that went all the way to her neck and a brain that made the rest of her even sexier. In bed, she whispered Russian poetry while screaming four letter French words as she came. She could beat anyone at mental chess, hell, she could beat anyone at actual chess. She could go anywhere and do anything with herself and her career. She had her choice of lovers. And she chose him. Him. With his bachelors in hard knocks and a college degree in how to be a cop. He spoke Russian because he’d been trained to. He spoke French because Jenny whispered it in his ear at night. It was destined to fail but he didn’t care. He just wanted her. He wanted to go back to DC and start a life with her. A life that didn’t involve trying to replace Shannon but moving on from her.
“You think she’s okay?”
“It’s deep cover, Jethro. All we can do is hope she is and rely on her handler.”
“I’m supposed to be her handler.”
“Not once we got to Paris. You read the mission report. By putting Vance in deep, he can keep an eye on her while you play the jilted lover. It works better in the long run for getting you guys into the ring. We need your persona working things from a different angle. You have to let her work her side of this.”
“Those monsters are going to eat her alive.”
“There’s a good chance she’ll eat them, you know. Come away from the window, Jethro. You’re a sitting duck if there are eyes on us. We’ve got people to take out.”
Jethro swallowed. Decker was right, damn him. Be he didn’t trust Leon Vance as far as he could throw him. For a control officer, he was far too green and far too ambitious. Scuttlebutt was that Jenny was in line for the eventual directorship but all it would take to screw it up would be her being upset in the wrong moment. All it would take was someone close to her tainting her future. And Vance was the perfect person to screw everything up for her.
He moved slowly from the window, walking over to the couch and sinking into it. Weeks without a word from Jenny, since he’d last slipped into her body and felt her clench around him as she came. At the worst times, he swore he could still smell her. They’d had ten days in Marseille to be together and it had been longer than that since he’d seen her.
His mark stared back at him from the photograph. It was Salvo’s money man, the guy who was funneling the funds from Russia through to Afghanistan. Take him out, they broke the chain. Take out Decker’s mark, they split the divisions. Take out Jenny’s and the entire supply chain dissolved. They had the intel of the people, just not on the where’s and when’s. That was Jenny’s job. He wanted to shoot himself.
“Focus, Jethro. If she wasn’t okay, Vance would let us know.”
Jethro wasn’t sure he believed it, but he just nodded and settled into mission details. Work kept him sane. Crossing the line with Jenny had been a mistake. It distracted him. But when he closed his eyes, all he could see was her smile. He was really going to go crazy.
A knock on the door and the knob turned, creaking a bit in its setting. Decker and Jethro both reached for their guns; no one was scheduled for a drop off. But as the door opened, Jethro let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Jenny stood there, pale and tired, but whole.
She was dressed simply. Black jeans, a white blouse over a red camisole, and three inch black heels. Her makeup was minimal, her hair up in a ponytail. But there were circles under her eyes and her step was wobbly as she came into the room and closed the door behind her. When she spoke, her voice was thick, tired, accented, as if she hadn’t spoken a word of English in the time she’d been gone.
“Hey.”
Jethro raced over and caught her around the waist. She fell against him, shaking so hard he was worried there was something wrong. Her skin was clammy. “Jen …” What the hell had happened to her there?
He walked her to the couch, grabbing the blanket from where it was draped over the arm rest and wrapping it tightly around her shoulders. Decker ran to get her some tea.
“I’m okay,” she shook her head, “just absolutely exhausted.”
“You’re clammy, Jen.”
“It’s cold out there. Really. I’m fine.” But she was silent until Decker returned with the tea and even when she accepted it, her hands were shaking so hard Jethro had to grab it to keep her from burning herself. “Thanks.” She took a breath and her hands steadied enough to take the tea again.
“Jen, we weren’t expecting you.” Decker took a seat on the coffee table. “Where’s Vance?”
She cleared her throat and ran a shaking hand over her face. “I don’t know where he is. I wasn’t expecting to come either. I knew the safe house location. I was never in a place to get here until today. I shook Salvo, who is a leech and smells and I want to put him away just for that. But I shook him, saying I needed to go shopping.”
There was something about her speech that worried Jethro. She was all over the place, speaking quickly, in disjointed sentences. It wasn’t just the readjustment to English that was tripping her up. He worried his lip in his teeth and let Decker do the talking.
“Is it safe to be here, Jen?” Decker leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “If you were followed …”
“Shut up, Will.” Jethro wrapped Jenny tighter in his arms. “Just shut up.”
“I wasn’t.” The Russian accent was starting to fade. Jenny pulled away and reached down to a purse Jethro hadn’t even noticed. She pulled out a dozen micro tapes and handed them to Decker. “Every important conversation I was privy to. I know there were more, but I did what I could.”
Will took the tapes and set them down on a file. “Thanks, Jenny.”
“How long do you have?” Jethro was starting to fret. He was bothered that Vance hadn’t been the one to deliver the tapes and Jenny looked absolutely terrible.
“What, till they miss me? Honestly, I don’t know. But I needed to see you.” She was still trembling, even with the blanket and the tea.
Jethro recognized the sound in her voice, the worry that he wouldn’t want her after what she’d been up to. He stared at Will for a moment, waiting for the other agent to get the hint, until Decker cleared his throat and made up some excuse about a girl on the other side of town. As soon as the door closed behind him, Jethro’s lips were on Jenny’s. Her lips were chill and chapped and he tried to kiss some warmth back into her body.
“I’ve been so worried,” he whispered when he finally pulled away.
“I’m okay, Jethro. Really.” But she was clinging to him.
“Do you have to go back in alone?”
“We’re so close …”
“You’re putting yourself and your health at risk.”
“We’re accomplishing the mission.”
He looked into her eyes. Her vision was glazed, pinpricked. It clicked. “You’re high.” His stomach caught in his throat. What had Salvo been pumping into her?
“Jethro …”
“No.” He took her chin in his hand, staring into her eyes, “What the hell is he giving you?”
She took a breath and put her head on his shoulder. “I don’t know. But I know he’s doing it. It makes me more compliant. Once I realized he was doing it I was able to pace my drinks better - cause that’s how he does it. It’s one reason I’ve been so intent on making sure conversations are recorded. Just in case I pass out.” Again, she shook her head, “I’m coming down off of it.”
“I’m putting you in bed. Now.” He scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. Tucked onto the bed, he pulled her shoes off and tugged her hair free of its ponytail. “Jesus, Jen …” her eyes closed and he leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Sleep it off. We’ll deal with this later.”
She was sound asleep by the time he closed the bedroom door behind her.
* * *
An angry message from Matthew to Salvo let the bastard know that Matt was out of the whole deal if he didn’t get his Kitty back but Decker had to physically restrain him from walking out the door and delivering it in person. “Killing Salvo won’t do anyone any good. I’ll drop it off, okay?”
“He’s raping her,” Jethro fired back. “He’s drugging her to make her more compliant. Do you get that? I don’t even know if she gets that. She’s so focused on making sure the brass know how good she is that she’s letting herself …” He collapsed onto the couch. “Decker, he’s forcing drugs into her system. He’s got her in how many different situations. I mean really.”
“Are you worried about her as her partner or her lover, Jethro?”
“Why can’t I worry about her as both?”
“Because you know better. She’s your partner first and your lover second. She’s got a job to do and if she gets it done well, we will bust up an entire weapons smuggling ring that leads right into Al Qaeda. But this is the first link on the chain and she has to succeed at this. So back off and think like an agent.”
“And as an agent, my partner is being drugged.”
“She’s aware of it.”
“She doesn’t even know what’s in her system! Decker, she didn’t break cover just because she missed us. She needs help! She’s in too deep and Vance is nowhere to be found!” He tried to take a breath and keep his voice down. Waking Jenny was not in her best interest.
“She came here. She knew she needed out and she came here.”
“Yeah.” Jethro let out a long, slow breath. “Where the hell is Vance?” He repeated. “He’s her control officer.”
“Clearly he didn’t think she was that bad off.”
“Clearly Vance is full of shit.”
“It’s not that bad, Jethro.” Jenny stood in the doorway, arms around her waist, looking for all the world like she was in the first stages of withdrawal. Her hair hung limply around her face, her red tank top was soaked through with sweat.
“Jen …” He was on his feet and at her side in an instant, his hands on her waist. “Jen, let’s get you into the shower, okay? You have to take it easy.”
“Nyet …” she whispered, slipping easily back into the Russian she’d been speaking. “Nyet. I’m okay.” For a second, Jethro wondered how she'd managed to hide the fact that she spoke Russian fluently. Maybe Salvo already knew. Maybe he didn't care. Maybe he was using Jenny and knew something was up. The maybes were going to kill him but he had to focus on Jenny today. Tomorrow, they'd figure out if her cover had been blown.
Decker cleared his throat and slipped out the door, presumably to deliver Matthew’s message to Salvo. Jethro just focused on Jenny. “Please. You need a shower and some clean clothes.”
“I have to get back. Salvo will already be …”
“Salvo is getting a nasty message from Matthew.”
“That’s only going to make him angrier, Jethro.”
He winced. Had Salvo been beating her? “Where the hell has Vance been in this?”
“Don’t shout …” she wobbled back and he grabbed her tighter. “Please.”
“Okay.” He took a breath and again ran a hand through her hair. She’d lost weight in the time she’d been gone. “But you will feel better if you shower.”
“Okay.” She nodded slowly and let him walk her into the bathroom. Her stomach started to heave and she hit her knees, her head over the toilet. Jethro kneeled next to her, holding back her hair. There was nothing in her stomach to empty, and she heaved until she was coughing and crying.
“Here.” He stood up and filled one of the small water glasses next to the sink. She took it, sipped, and promptly threw up the water, but it settled her stomach.
“Thanks.” She leaned back and pushed her fingers into her temples. “God I feel like shit.”
“You don’t look so great either.” He put his hands on the bottom edge of her tank top. “Hands up.” She obeyed and then made quick work of her flimsy red bra. Seeing her sitting there topless, it took everything Jethro had to not pounce on her. His gaze lingered on her breasts, on the raspberry nipples, on the pale skin and trails of freckles. But as he looked lower, he could see the outlines of her ribs. “What aren’t you eating?” He let his fingers move down her rib cage. “God, Jen.”
Gently, he unbuttoned her jeans and hooked his thumbs into the waist and the edge of her panties. She lifted her hips and let him pull the clothing down her legs but she tried to pull her legs up to her chest and he stopped her, staring at the bruises on her thighs. “Jenny …”
He’d never be rough with her again.
“I’m okay,” she said again. “It’s part of the package. We’re going to get this ring. We’re going to take them down. And before you start thinking all I’m doing is sleeping with our marks,” she tilted her head back … she sighed. “You’re not totally wrong.”
“Where is Vance in all of this?” He repeated, angry. Control officers were to make sure things didn’t get out of control. This was out of control.
Jenny bit her lip and reached over for the faucet on the tub. “Let’s not get into it.”
“Where is Vance?”
She shook her head and pushed away, standing on shaky legs so she could plug the drain and settle into the water. Jethro handed her some bubble bath, sat on the floor next to the tub, and waited. Her refusal to answer was bothering him.
She ducked under the bubbles and stayed longer than Jethro liked, but he sat still. He couldn’t get angry. She was drugged, had possibly been raped more than once, and her control officer wasn’t doing his job. When she surfaced, her wet hair sticking to her, he reached for washcloth and grabbed the soap, silently washing her down. She’d talk when she was ready. Too bad patience wasn’t his strong suit.
“Most of the bruises are from last night,” she whispered. “There was a party. Things got out of hand.”
“I can see,” he was carefully avoiding washing her breasts or between her legs.
“Vance was there,” she closed her eyes. “I don’t remember what happened, Jethro. It’s why I got the hell out this morning. All I know is that Salvo and his crew are selling more than guns.”
“They’re peddling women?”
She nodded. “Girls, really. That’s the middle eastern connection. The money for the guns is coming out of the old Russian mafia partners and down into Europe, where it’s laundered. Salvo and his crew select women, and put them up for auction, where they are sold to buyers in Asia. They travel through the Middle East, bringing messages and money for the traders.”
“Are you up for auction, Jenny?” He stopped in his ministrations and linked their fingers under the water.
“No. I’m too old.” They both shuddered at the implications. “And I have money of my own to bring to the table. I think he just wants me for himself. It pisses you off, so he wants me.”
“You’re done in there. We’ll get the intel another way.”
“I can’t be done. But we can go back in together. What did your message to Salvo say?”
“To keep his hands off my woman.”
She almost chuckled but the smile did reach her eyes. “Then we go back in together. He still needs your connections in Serbia. So you go in with me, say you’re done letting me be used, and that if he wants my money and your connections, you’re part of the package. It’ll get us through into Serbia, where we can break the chain and hopefully stop everything.”
“You’re half drugged and clearly in pain and you’re still thinking like an agent. You amaze me.”
“I am an agent, Jethro.” She opened her eyes and reached up, finally touching his cheek. “Before anything else, I’m an agent.”
He caught her hand and kissed each finger before leaning over the tub to kiss her gently. She responded, weaving her hand through his hair as she pulled him closer. For a moment, they both forgot about anything but each other.
TBC …