I put on a nice black dress while Stabler gets ready to go undercover as well. Benson helps me with my makeup and explains to me what's going to happen.
I get to the restaurant and go to the bar and sit on the end. I watch as Stabler comes in, looking like a stock broker. He goes up to the fancy looking bartender who's wearing a vest and a tuxedo tie.
"What can I get you?" He asks Stabler.
"Give me a beer, the last one on the end." Stabler says and looks me up and down a moment.
"And uh, give the lady whatever she's having." He adds.
"Vodka on the rocks?" The bartender asks me and I nod.
"You got it." The bartender says and Stabler smiles at me.
"Thank you." I tell him.
"You're welcome. How you doing?" He asks.
"I'm not bad. You?" I ask and take a sip of my drink.
"Better now." He says with a smirk.
I get my phone out and pretend to call someone while Stabler "accidentally" shows the bartender some cocaine product.
I started helping out in the middle of an investigation. A woman's child was killed when there was cocaine found in some baby formula. They found out that IAB was running an investigation on a possible dirty cop but their lead was killed.
Stabler offers the cocaine to the bartender and he tells Stabler that he has connections.
"What's your name?" Stabler asks me and I get off the phone.
"Donna." I lie and put my phone away and the bartender goes over to talk to someone.
"Probably the resident dealer." Stabler whispers and leans against the bar.
"Glasses kinda suit you." I chuckle.
"Is that so?" He asks.
"I'm a nerdy book keeper kind of way and he chuckles.
The bartender comes back and Stabler is told that the man at the end of the bar wants a word with him. I finish my second vodka and the bartender gives me another.
"On the house." He says with a wink and I smile.
"Thank you so much!" I say and he nods and I watch Stabler follow a man into the bathroom.
"He's following a guy into the bathroom." I tell Fin through my earpiece.
We get back to the precinct and I get changed while Stabler gets ready for his meeting. I go out with Benson to watch the meet go down only to see Stabler get arrested by the man he's trying to meet with.
"Guys let's talk about this." Stabler says and they put him in the car.
I get out of the vehicle, without my gun and badge.
"Honey, what's taking so long, we're gonna be late for dinner? Hey, what are you doing with my husband?" I shout at the two other men and they look at one another.
"Get lost if you know what's good for ya."
"Why are you arresting my husband what did he do?"
"Go on." The cop says.
"I'm not leaving him alone with you!" I shout and stop my foot on the ground.
The other man grabs me and shoves me in the car next to Stabler. He looks at me with wide eyes, but I give him a warning look.
We drive for a few minutes and the cop threatens me with his gun to shut up when I keep whining and asking him what's going on. We get to an alley and they take Stabler out of the car and start punching him.
"Stop!" I shout at the cop punching Stabler and the other man grabs me.
"Calm down, he's not gonna kill him." The man assures me.
"Gregory Elliot, married, no kids. House in Forest Hills. You still got that gambling problem, Greg? Director of, uh...station Operations for Global Package Express. What's that mean?"
"I run our worldwide shipping stations. What are you doing? Putting together my resume?" Stabler asks and the man lets me go.
"Must be a lot of travel."
"Yeah, I do my share." Stabler catches his breath and I run over to him and he brings me into a hug.
"Honey, I told you to stay in the car." He says, looking down at me.
"I think you're just the guy we're looking for." The cop says.
"Guys, I just sell this stuff. Small quantities. I don't move it." Stabler argues.
"You do now, unless you want this pretty wife of yours to go to prison too. Might not be like it will be for you, but still." The cop says and looks at me.
"You've got till tomorrow to decide. Phone number's on there."
"Who's answering?"
"Uh, call me Kendall. Oh, one more thing." The cop says and then punches Stabler one more time.
"That's for the attitude." He says and Stabler grabs me and brings me away.
"What were you thinking?" Stabler asks once we're alone.
"I was thinking they were gonna need a little more than an ID and some coke to buy it." I say and he furrows his brows.
"It's easy to make up a life, harder to prove that it's real. A concerned wife, really sells it." I explain.
"They could've hurt you." He counters.
"They could've tried." I scoff and start walking away but he grabs my arm and stops me.
"I'm serious, that was extremely reckless." He says, staring me down.
"It needed to be done, now they won't try and look further into the lie. You're welcome." I say and walk away.
We get back to the precinct and Cragen doesn't look too happy with me. I follow him into his office and he closes the door.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Cragen growls.
"Ask Stabler, I'm not repeating myself." I scoff and start walking towards the door.
"I agreed to let you in on this case because your boss said you needed some street work. That doesn't mean that you can go around doing whatever you feel like."
"You think I wanted to play the damsel in distress? They needed proof that his fake life was real. I gave them that." I say and he sighs.
"Next time, tell someone your plan." He huffs and I leave.
We start looking into the dirty cop and putting stuff up on the board. I sit in a chair next to Stabler's desk.
"Neither of these guys are running this operation, they're only pawns." I state.
"We don't know how, but this thing is, but there's no way they only have one mule." Benson agrees with me.
"Kendall is hard for product, if he doesn't get some soon the people that buy from him are gonna buy from somebody else." Fin adds.
"Get back to Kendall. Turn up the heat this time, but meet in a public place. Danika, I want you on Stabler's six, but do not interrupt this time and stay hidden." Cragen orders me.
"I got no reason to do that again." I shrug and he nods.
I stay in a dark corner of the restaurant while Stabler meets with the cop again. I listen in on their conversation and Stabler gets the upper hand this time. He gets back to the car after I slip out.
"I don't think he liked that." I scoff about how he made the cop look like he was working for Stabler.
"He needed a little wake up call." Stabler shrugs and I chuckle.
We get back to the precinct and meet with the DA to explain what's going down.
"Mexico is a little out of our jurisdiction."
"Not to mention out of our league." Cragen adds.
"Tell Kendall you can't make the trip on such short notice without arousing suspicions. Somebody in Mexico City will make the pickup for you." I offer and Cragen looks at me impressed.
"You do this before?" Alex asks me and I just wink and smirk.
"Where's the drop?"
"My alter ego's house in Forest Hills? Delivery company drops of the tiles, Kendall will come to pick them up." Stabler offers.
"We'll have to involve DEA. They can get us a cover house and handle the pickup in Mexico." Cragen states.
"Kendall could be working with DEA people." Alex counters.
"Well...that's a chance we're gonna have to take."
—————
"Why do I have to be here?" I groan annoyed.
"Because you're pretending to be my stay at home wife." Stabler reminds me.
"Just tell them I'm out at the store or something." I complain.
He goes out to collect the tiles from Fin and I huff and get ready.
"Honey, you almost done?" I ask as I walk out into the porch.
"Yeah."
"You need to get in the shower, we have to be at Vanessa and Glenn's in less than two hours." I say as I go up to Stabler and then give him a kiss on the lips to seal the deal.
The van starts coming back and Kendall gets uneasy. Another car pulls up and Kendall runs for it as he gets his gun out. I chase after him and Stabler goes the other way to cut him off.
"Police, freeze!" I shout, hating it when I have to run.
"Drop the gun! I swear to god!" I shout, realizing I left my gun on the counter in the kitchen.
"I don't see a gun on you."
"Box cutters do just fine." I counter.
The cop turns around, smirks points his gun at me. I take the box cutters and throw it at him and get him deep in the neck with the blade, right in the carotid artery.
He drops the gun and stumbles towards me, holding his bleeding neck and goes down at my feet. His body is sprawled out as the blood pools under my shoes in the grass. I hear the team run over and they look down at the dead body.
"Shit." Fin huffs and shakes his head.
"You okay?" Stabler asks me.
"Yeah, idiot pointed his gun at me. He wanted to die." I mutter and walk away, leaving bloody footprints.
"I need your gun." Cragen catches up with me.
"It's on the kitchen counter." I say.
The body of the officer is taken away and I know what this means. IAB is gonna wanna talk to us. I haven't met these specific agents yet, but apparently the guy in charge is a hard ass.
"You did what you had to do." Stabler keep repeating to me, almost as if he's trying to reassure himself more than me.
We get to the precinct and I change my clothes in the locker room. Stabler's waiting by the lockers for me with a pity look.
"Try not to let Tucker get under your skin." He reminds me and I roll my eyes.
"Dude, I'll be fine." I scoff as I close the locker they let me borrow.
"I'm just saying, he's good at finding weak spots." Stabler explains.
"I don't have any weak spots." I mutter.
"Everyone has a weak spot." Benson counters as she comes over.
"Not me." I shrug and she quirks a brow.
"Really? What about your medical history?" She asks about all the times I've been shot and stabbed and attacked.
"What about it?" I shrug and she looks at Stabler impressed.
I get down to the room where I'm gonna be questioned and I notice that Cragen has a concerned look on his face.
"Why do all of you think I'm gonna snap? It's not like I'm gonna grab him by the jacket and call him a lying son of a bitch." I scoff and Cragen gives me a warning look and I smirk.
Stabler told me about how Cragen got pissed when Tucker tried to take the case from them. Tucker told them that Cragen signed off on it when he clearly didn't.
I walk into the room and see an older man with short grey hair sitting at a table, with a chair across from him.
"Ah, you must be Agent Danika." Tucker says with a half smile.
"And you're the rat." I say and he motions for me to sit with a hint of annoyance on his face.
"They explained that you can have council with your, correct?" He asks and I nod.
"I don't need council. It was clean kill." I shrug and lean back in the chair.
He tilts his head at how relaxed I seem to be right now. He has a intrigued look on his face but I just blink, waiting for him to continue questioning me.
"You don't seem too bothered by the fact that you killed a man, a police officer nonetheless." He points out.
"He pointed his gun at me. I defended myself." I shrug.
"With a knife?" He asks.
"Box cutter." I correct him and he simply nods.
"And no one else saw it go down." He comments.
"Elliot and I split up to look for him, I got the short straw I guess." I answer with my hands behind my head.
"Ask what you want to ask me, man. I've got nothing to hide." I yawn and he quirks a brow.
"Why didn't you shoot him?" He asks.
"I accidentally left the gun on the kitchen counter. I had to go and give Stabler the box cutters and left the gun behind." I explain.
"You often forget your weapon?" He asks.
"No, I didn't think I'd need it. Plus, I didn't want the cop to suspect anything." I answer.
"Yet you still pursued him when he ran." He counters.
"I was the closest one, besides Stabler. I had his back."
"You could've been killed." He counters.
"You could've been killed on the way here, life's full of risks." I argue and he scoffs.
"You got lucky that the knife got him where it did." He states.
"It's not like I was gonna try and charge him with it. I'd be where he ended up." I scoff.
"You sure you don't want your Union delegate here?" He asks me as he gets up and comes around to my side of the table.
"I already told you, man, I've got nothing to hide." I scoff and he quirks a brow.
"You sure about that?" He asks and places a folder down in front of me.
"Show and tell?" I ask.
"Why don't you open it and find out?" He offers.
I lean forward and open the folder up and see multiple photos of different people.
"What do you want me to do with these?" I scoff.
"You're telling me you don't recognize the people you killed in the field?" He asks and I look back down at the photos.
"I'm not great with faces, maybe if you gave me some names."
"Why, you saying you killed so many people you don't remember them?" He asks.
"Dude, I see people every day, it's kind of hard to keep track." I scoff.
"Really, even if you slit their throat in a parking lot. Or shot a man in front of his father? Oh, what about the cop you shot right in your own building, or the kid you shot in the alley?" He asks showing me multiple pictures.
"You're telling me you don't remember these?" He asks.
"I'm telling you, they were all clean kills." I say calmly, knowing he's trying to work me up.
"You know, I really am trying to figure out how you're still out in the field with this many deaths in your file." He huffs.
"I'm good at my job." I shrug.
"Your job to shoot and kill people?" He asks and I chuckle.
"Only when necessary." I answer.
"You seem to be put in a lot of situations where you find it necessary." He counters.
"Okay, you come at me with these photos of dead people, but I'm pretty sure the people I've helped get arrested outweigh the people I killed." I point out.
"What, 2:1?" He scoffs.
"Most of the people the FBI goes after aren't people willing to get arrested. They either off themselves via police, or by their own hand. It's quite rare that we don't end up shooting someone." I say and he quirks a brow.
"And you think that's okay?" He asks.
"Less money for tax payers to pay." I shrug calmly and he narrows his eyes.
I know he's trying to get under my skin but I literally couldn't care less. It's not like I care that those people are dead, and I don't care what he thinks about it either. I don't find the need to try and justify my actions go him, and it clearly pisses him off.
"And if I pointed a gun at you right now?" He asks.
"How would you handle that?" He asks in a low voice, trying to get me to snap.
"Depends."
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"The place your body lands depends on where you were standing at the time." I say and he looks at my face, trying to get a hint of emotion from it.
"We done?" I ask.
"I'm officially notifying you, you're on modified assignment, restricted to this office until our investigation is completed. You're not to make any arrests or interrogate any suspects until then. Is that clear, Agent?" He asks.
"Wait, what about if a person comes in the precinct with a loaded firearm and I'm the only one in the precinct? Do I let him shoot me?" I ask calmly and he narrows his eyes.
"That's not gonna happen."
"What if it did?"
"There's always someone in the building."
"With a gun?" I ask and he clenches his jaw.
"Okay, what if it's just me and that one person with the gun and he turns on me?" I ask.
"Wait, do you need to take everything away from me now? I mean everything that can be used to kill someone?" I question and he flares his nostrils.
"I mean, I think we covered the fact that I don't need a gun to kill someone, so, I just figured you'd want to be extra careful." I add and he glares at me.
"We're done here." He huffs and leaves the room with the tape and I can't help but smirk to myself.
"How'd it go?" Stabler asks once I meet him at his desk.
"I think I got under his skin." I smirk and he quirks a brow.
"What kind of Agent is she?" We hear Tucker asking Cragen and I chuckle.
"What did you say to him?"
"Oh, just making sure we got all of the boxes checked." I shrug and he scoffs.
"Look, I think it's dumb you even have to do this at all. The guy gave you no choice." Stabler huffs.
"Yeah, now let's figure out who bankrolled the dead guy." I say.
"I thought you weren't allowed-."
"No, he said I wasn't allowed to make arrests, or interrogate people. He never said anything about investigating." I point out and Stabler chuckles and puts his arm around my shoulder.
"The lab found dandruff flakes in the computer cable used to strange our first guy." Fin points out and Cragen explains that the cop killed him.
"Probably on orders from the top." Cragen adds.
"With Kendall gone, we may never find out who that is." Stabler huffs.
"Really? You have that little faith in us?" I scoff and he looks at me.
"What do you got?" He asks and I smirk.
"The wife of the first vic. She went to Mexico too. Different flights than the corpse took." I say and hand him the paper Munch gave me.
"Mother traveling with a baby. Customs wouldn't given a couple extra cans of formula a second thought." Stabler says.
"No wonder she refused our protection. She's the mule, not Derek." Benson figures.
"But he's the one who got whacked, so he's gotta be in on it." Fin points out.
"So, the question is, did he or his company arrange his business trips?"
"Let's go ask his boss, Keith Gerard." Benson offers and leaves with Cragen to talk with the boss, and I already know what they're gonna find out.
That the wife never had a baby, the person running this operation has access to mothers and babies.The babies are being used as mules.
I sneak out and find the sister of the wife's house. There's a baby inside crying but I don't feel any other minds in the house. Benson and Cragen arrive and look at me shocked.
"I'm pretty sure they're dead." I mutter and point to a broken window.
"Why didn't you call police?" Benson asks as she rushes to the door.
"I just got here, plus, they'd probably think I did it." I scoff.
"Stay by the car." Cragen orders and I shrug and stay put.
He comes back out a minute later and huffs.
"Figured." I mutter and get on my bike.
"Hey! I thought you were told to stay in the office!" He shouts at me but I rev the engine to tune out his voice and drive off.
I get back to the precinct and Stabler has his arms crossed when he sees me.
"What the hell were you thinking?" He asks me.
"How many times are you gonna ask me that?" I mutter.
"What if the killer had still been there?" He asks.
"Seriously, do you guys ever get sick of asking that question?" I scoff.
"I'm being serious."
"So am I. I can handle myself." I assure him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tucker growls at me, coming from Cragen's office.
"You're gonna have to be more specific." I respond.
"Okay, what the hell did you think you were doing leaving the precinct?!" He clarifies, staring daggers into me.
"I needed some air." I answer and he narrows his eyes.
"All the way to a suspect's sisters place?" He asks, getting in my face.
"Hey, back up." Stabler warns and goes to push him back.
"Get your hands off of me, detective, unless you wanna be written up too." He threatens Stabler.
"You don't touch her." Stabler warns and Tucker takes a small step back and Stabler calms down again.
It's not odd seeing Stabler get hot headed, but it's odd he's being so protective of me. He obviously knows I can handle myself. So why does he act like he needs to protect me?
"I didn't know it was the sister's house." I say and he glares at me.
"How do you figure that?" He asks.
"Quite easily. I went out on a bike ride to get some fresh air, I stumbled up onto a house and heard a baby crying. Before I could call police for back up, Cragen and Benson showed up." I shrug.
"And it just so happened to be the sister of the suspect's house." He scoffs.
"Hey, that's what happened." I shrug and he stares me down, knowing he can't prove otherwise.
"You step out of line, one more time." He warns.
"Is this line imaginary, or can I not step over any line? Because I think that's gonna make going through a bathroom doorway pretty complicated." I shout say and he has fire in his eyes, but I just stand there calmly as he makes his way back over towards me.
"Hey, just leave. Trust me, you're not gonna win this, not with her." Stabler warns him and he glares at him.
"Congratulations, Detective. You're officially on the same boat as Agent Danika." Tucker sneers.
"What's going on?" Cragen asks.
"She disobeyed a direct order!" Tucker explains the situation when Cragen walks over to see what's going on.
"Actually I asked her to check it out. Benson and I were on the way, but we got stopped in traffic." Cragen lies for me and I'm surprised.
"You got everyone in your pocket, don't you? What I told you still stands Stabler. You wanna protect her so bad, make sure she doesn't leave this building again." He tells Stabler.
"Pull a stunt like this again and I'll have your ass handing out parking tickets." He whispers, so only I can hear him and then storms off.
"Wow. You really do know how to get under his skin." Munch says impressed.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I say with a wink and Fin chuckles and pats me on the back.
"Alright, children. What do we know?" Cragen gets us to calm down again.
"The only person who survived all of this is someone who doesn't even talk." I state about the infant with my arms crossed.
"We have no witnesses, meaning no leads." Munch adds.
"I think it's the boss."
"The husband's boss?" Benson asks and I nod
"I know what I'm talking about. There's only one person who could be above a decorated cop. Someone just as conceded and slimy. A business man."
"Shit, forgot that that's a touchy subject. All about protecting your own." I scoff with my hands in the air and Benson gives me the side eye.
"We need to look at any murders that happened recently who have infants." Stabler changes the subject and everyone goes to their phones and computers to look.
Cragen motions for me to follow him to his office and I already know I'm in trouble. I get in and he closes the door and stands in front of me with his hands in his pockets.
"You're lucky I covered your ass. If Tucker even got a whiff of you disobeying a direct order, he would have your ass sitting in a cell, waiting for a hearing." Cragen scolds.
"I didn't go inside-."
"You really don't understand how serious this is, do you?" He asks with furrowed brows.
"This isn't about just some scum bag you killed. He was a decorated officer of the law for thirteen years! We take the death of one of our own very seriously!" He says.
"I've noticed." I mutter and roll my eyes.
"You don't feel any guilt?" He asks.
"He pointed his weapon at me, I defended myself. End of story."
"No, it's not 'end of story' it's serious and everything about your career is on the line. Or don't you care about that?" He asks.
"I care, it's just...nothing I do is gonna change their mind about me. IAB looks at my file and sees a wild card. They don't like wild cards, I'm unpredictable and even dangerous at times. But if you think I'm gonna try to suck up to them, you got another thing coming your way. The fact of the matter is, they have been failing at busting this cop for two years! It took us two days to take him down. So, how I see it, they're more butt hurt about the fact that we did their job better than them. Now they want to make an example out of me to keep their fragile egos inflated. I'm not gonna bend over and give them what they want just because they aren't mature enough to admit that they fucked up." I string out and leave the office.
I see Stabler yelling at the others, clearly pissed off he's been benched alongside me. I go over and Stabler calms down and sighs.
"Why the hell would you put yourself in that position with Tucker?" I ask him after Cragen leaves with Benson to another murder.
"He was crossing the line." Stabler shrugs.
"You got suspended."
"Nah, reprimanded." He counters and I scoff.
"Okay, back to the case. This person isn't as much of a cold blooded killer like you're giving him credit for." I start out.
"What do you mean?" Fin asks.
"The gunshots are all from the back of the head. Killer can't face the victim while he kills them, plus he leaves the babies unharmed. He still sees them as people. He's killing as a survival instinct only, he doesn't take joy or pride in them. Which means he has a conscience." I explain and start leaving.
"You heard Tucker." Munch warns.
"Yeah, I did. But he can go fuck himself for all I care. Benson and Cragen are headed into the lions den and they're gonna need more backup before this before it becomes a hostage situation." I scoff and grab my knife.
"Danika!" Stabler shouts at me but I'm already out the door.
I get to the building and get to the second floor and slowly turn the corner as I hear the boss holding a woman and her infant hostage. Cragen sees me and understands the game plan.
I sweep up behind him and put the knife to his throat, gently pushing it into his skin.
"Drop the gun before I drop you. I don't care if it makes the gun go off and the baby becomes deaf from the gunshot that kills the mother. I will still do it." I warn and I can feel him gulp.
"Fine." He finally says and drops the gun and let's the woman and her infant go as I kick the gun towards Benson.
Fin comes over and cuffs and arrests the business man while Benson cares for the mother and Cragen gets the gun from the ground.
"You never learn, do you?"
"Good thing, huh?" I ask and he scoffs.
I get back to the precinct and I see Stabler standing there, shaking his head at me. His arms are crossed but he has a smirk on his face.
"Thought you'd go after me." I scoff.
"I have more to lose than just a job." He says and I nod.
"Yeah, well, sometimes breaking the rules pays off." I shrug and he smiles.
"For you." He taunts.
Cragen comes over and tells me that IAB cleared both Stabler and I.
"What did it cost you?" Stabler asks.
"Not nearly what it was worth. Oh, and Tucker said knives should be illegal for you to use." Cragen tells me and I scoff.
"If he really was worried about me randomly killing people, he'd have me locked up." I scoff and Cragen smirks.
"Probably crossed his mind." Cragen admits and heads to his office after giving me my gun and badge back.