And there it was. “Okay, well what can we do to help?”
“This is a sensitive case, so I’ll be there in a few hours to brief you.”
“Yes sir, Director,” I acknowledged.
“Oh, and I’ll be bringing one of my agents along,” he added.
“Yes, sir I believe he is on the phone with him now.” I heard Logan say. “Yes sir, I’ll tell him.”
We both hung up.
“What’s going on?” Jared asked.
“That was the Director of NCIS saying he needs our help with a case. They have a missing agent and a dead sailor,” I said, half telling the team and half wondering where this was going.
“Why do they need us?” Jared continued.
“Not sure, but he said he was on his way down here to fill us in.”
“The Director himself is coming?” Stephanie asked clearly surprised.
“Apparently.” I nodded.
“Well, our Director just called and said to make sure we give them every courtesy and help them as much as we can.”
“Wonder what is going on?” Jared looked from Logan to me.
“That is a very good question, Jared. Start looking into it. I hadn’t heard anything about a dead sailor.”
“They must be keeping it really quiet.” Stephanie stated the obvious.
“We’ll, find out as much as we can before NCIS gets here so we can be prepared.” I instructed the three of them.
We all got to work. I sent Kay a text explaining I’d be tied up tonight and would call when I could. I had a feeling that might not be for a while.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kay
It was Thursday evening and I had barely heard from Ethan all week. I also hadn’t heard from Mac. I knew Ethan’s team had a big case they were working on, but he couldn’t give me any details. I didn’t need them. I had my own issues to deal with this week. I had made a tender offer to my other shareholders in the company. I wanted to take the company from public to private to try and protect it from the wolves at InDesign. I didn’t care how much they were offering, and I knew they were willing to pay an outrageous sum to try and buy the stocks that weren’t held by me. Going private would put the expansion into the medical arena nearly impossible but I was willing to give that up before I was willing to give up the company.
The tender offer had been met with mixed results. Some shareholders were willing to sell, and others were offended assuming that I didn’t trust them to hold out against a takeover. At this point I couldn’t be worried about feelings. I had employees and their families in three cities to worry about. It had been a long week and it was far from over.
I decided the least I could do was take a couple of pizzas to Ethan and his team on my way home. I called in the order to pick up and headed out of the office for the night.
“Sherry, go home.”
“What about you?” Sherry looked up for her computer.
“I’m going to pick up a pizza and go home myself.” It was a half truth.
“Okay then, I’ll see you in the morning.” She picked up her purse and coat as she headed for the elevators.
When I arrived at Ethan’s office there were a lot more cars in the parking lot and I hoped I had brought enough pizza. Maybe they had other teams working late tonight.
I walked in the door and was greeted by Logan. “Kay what are you doing here?” I surprised him. That made me smile.
“It is always a pleasure to see you, Logan.”
“I mean, we’re a bit busy,” he continued.
“So, I heard. That is why I am dropping off pizza,” I replied, pushing my care package ahead of me.
“Thank you.” Jared said as he stepped into the bullpen. “Is what Logan meant to say.”
“I know it is, he just says it differently than other people.” I smiled at Jared.
“We’ve tried retraining him and it just doesn’t seem to work.” He looked down and shook his head in mock dismay.
“Hey, you two I’m sitting right here.” Logan growled.
“I brought three, I hope that is enough. One veggie for Stephanie, pepperoni for normal people and then a meat-lovers for Logan.”
“That was very thoughtful.” Jared smiled.
As sweet as Jared was, I could see tension in his face.
“Well, I won’t keep you. I know you’re busy.” I turned to leave.
“Kay?” Ethan stepped out of what appeared to be a conference room. “What are you doing here.”
I glanced over at Logan. “You’re a bad influence on him.”
He just grinned and shrugged.
“I’m not staying, I just dropped off a snack.”
“Thank you so much.” Ethan stepped over and kissed my forehead.
There was a coughing sound from behind Ethan. “Oh, I’m sorry.” Ethan stepped aside.
I stood face to face with Mac. I felt the blood drain from my face and my knees felt weak.
“Kay Dandridge, James McIntyre, NCIS. We have a joint operation we are working on this week” I heard most of what he said, my mind was racing to find a graceful way to leave as quickly as possible.
“Really?” I said. My mouth felt like it was full of cotton.
“Ms. Dandridge it is a pleasure to see you again,” he said, reaching out his hand.
I was sure it was anything but, I was certain he hadn’t missed the kiss from Ethan. This is not at all how I wanted this to happen. I took his hand, weakly, hoping he didn’t notice.
“You two have met?” Ethan looked surprised.
Logan’s looked turned dark.
“Yes, I met Ms. Dandridge through her grandfather, and she managed to beat me rather badly in a friendly game of poker.”
“It was just beginners’ luck.” I squeaked. I heard Logan make a noise that sounded like a snort.
“Well, I will let you all get back to work. I’m sure you’re terribly busy.” I started backing towards the
