Dying Embers
By Shaz1
Disclaimer- none of the characters recognised belong to me, unfortunately I am being forced to return them
This is set probably late season two and follows on from my last story Man in the Mirror- although it should make sense as a standalone.
I absolutely thrive on reviews so please make sure that you leave me your thoughts on this!
Dying Embers
The lone man tried his best to not sway as he walked along Venice beach- exhaustion dragging him, but he knew he had to keep moving, things had definitely not gone to plan the previous night and he had to make it back to his boss to report or he would be held accountable. It was three am, and only the streetlights illuminated his pale features as he moved as quickly as his battered body would allow. His gaze constantly moved around him- checking for any tails around him. Finally he caught sight of the office block that he was aiming for, he moved around the edge, checking for any traps, satisfied that it was safe he moved forward, pushing the door open and heading up the stairs.
"Demetri?" a voice called out from the dimly lit office.
"It's me" he replied as he stumbled up the stairs and pushed open the door.
"What happened to you?" he was asked as he was ushered further into the room.
"I don't know what happened- I went to the meet and then there was an explosion. The next thing someone opened fire on us and I had to run" Demetri explained.
"The others?"
"I am sorry Andrei, there was nothing I could do" he replied with a sad shake of his head.
"Do you need the hospital?" Andrei asked looking at the other man in concern.
"No I am ok" the younger man responded with a sigh. "Andrei, they took all of the stock- there is nothing left" he told the senior man nervously as he sat down, no longer able to hold himself upright.
"I will contact Ivor" Andrei responded, his tone also holding a trace of nervousness. "Are you certain all of the others are dead?" he questioned.
"They must be I was nearest the door when it blew, they wouldn't have stood a chance" he replied with a wince "who would have done this?" he questioned.
"I have no idea, but Ivor will find out" Andrei reassured him, "now two doors down is the rest room- go and clean yourself up" he instructed softly. Demetri nodded, struggling to his feet and heading out as instructed. He looked himself over in the mirror, one of his eyes already swelling and bruises forming around it, a cut on his left cheek still lightly bleeding and a gash in his closely cropped hair making itself known by still trickling blood. He shrugged his shirt off, unsurprised by the mass of bruises already forming over his rib cage- being blown through the air and into a doorframe would certainly do that to you. With one last glance at his sorrowful reflection he edged under the steaming water and felt the tension drain from him. He stayed under the flow of water for a few minutes before he turned it off and reached for the nearby towel. He winced as his wrist tweaked in pain at the movement and he sighed, he had to get moving- get out of here. He finished drying himself and pulled on his jeans, searching through the cupboards for a clean shirt- pulling it on drew a hiss of pain, but he didn't hesitate as he walked from the room- back to Andrei to plan the next move.
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"Ivor wants to see you" Andrei told him seriously.
"Does he blame me?" the injured man asked.
"He says not, he is suspicious of the seller. Go home and get some rest- come back tonight at 8" Andrei instructed. Demetri nodded, turning quickly and heading out of the block. Within minutes he was in a taxi heading in the opposite direction from his home, jumping out of the cab he walked for two blocks before climbing into another taxi, he repeated the process twice more before he finally felt satisfied he had done enough and made his way home. With a sigh of relief he let himself in and laid down, praying that sleep would claim him quickly.
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Sam whistled as he made his way over to his desk. He had enjoyed a wonderful rare weekend with his family, he felt relaxed and refreshed and ready to start a new week at work. He placed his bag beside his desk and his coffee on the top; he shrugged his jacket off and placed it on the chair before looking around him. Surprised to see that his partner wasn't already there, he didn't have time to wonder before a loud whistle from above him stole his attention and he looked up to find Eric above him.
"Case" the tech called down, Sam nodded in acknowledgement before going up the stairs only to find Kensi and Deeks already there. Hetty walked in a short distance behind the former seal.
"Take it away Mr Beal" Hetty instructed softly .
"This is Camera footage from a warehouse just off of sunset from 2am" he explained as he played the footage. All three operatives winced at the explosion that filled the screen a few moments later.
"Terrorists?" Sam questioned in confusion.
"An arms deal" Hetty replied, "when fire crew and LAPD secured the area they found the remnants of storage crates- crates that were registered to Pendleton marine base" the ops manager explained.
"Who was in the explosion?" Kensi asked.
"A mixture of Russian and US nationals, five fatalities and evidence that two further people were there, but escaped" Eric responded softly.
"These are the people involved" Nell took over pulling image after image up on the screen in front of her.
"Where's Callen?" Sam asked Hetty whilst the others were looking at the photographs on the screen.
"He is on his way in- you can brief him up in the car" Hetty told the former seal softly. Sam nodded, taking the handout that Nell offered him he headed back downstairs to find his partner perched on his desk waiting for him.
"You ready to roll?" the younger man asked softly, not looking up from whatever he was reading.
"Yeah, what kept you this morning?" Sam asked softly.
"I was otherwise engaged" Callen responded, already heading towards the door leaving his partner little choice other than to follow. Wordlessly the two men stepped into Sam's challenger, instantly falling into the usual habit. Sam started the engine before turning to his partner to hand him the folder of information- catching a glance of the black eye that his friend was sporting.
"What happened to you G?" the seal asked in concern.
"Walked into a door" he replied with a grin, the impressive black and blue surrounding his eye standing out against his pale face.
"Seriously man you ok?" Sam asked, worried.
"I'm fine Sam- just call it an aggressive date" the younger man responded with a sigh. Sam shook his head in frustration, knowing full well that there was more to his friend's apparent injury than an aggressive date or a door mishap- yet he also knew better than to push his partner. "Now what do we have?" he asked, flicking through the photographs in his hand.
"Explosion at sunset- looks like an arms deal gone bad- stolen crates from Pendleton found in the remnants of the building" Sam explained in short. Callen nodded as he took in all of the images and filed them to memory.
"Kensi and Deeks off to the base?" Callen asked his mind already moving through the case and planning their next moves.
"Yeah, they are going to call as soon as they have anything" Sam responded, keeping half an eye on his partner having noticed the further cuts to his face- and the way that he was using only his right hand and barely moving his left arm at all. Callen didn't miss his partner's silent appraisal of him- he had been expecting it, he knew he couldn't tell his friend the real cause of his injuries, and he hadn't had time to come up with a good cover for the obvious signs of his mishap.
"LAPD meeting us there?" the lead agent asked again, reaching for a tootsie pop that his partner kept in the glove box just for him.
"Yeah, Hetty called ahead" Sam responded with a sympathetic smile for the poor officer that had taken the call. Callen nodded as he popped the lolly into his mouth. "You skip breakfast again?"
"What are you my mother?" Callen parried quietly, his gaze out of the window and sun glasses blocked his injured eye from view. Sam just shook his head as he indicated and turned into the flurry of activity, the agents quickly out of the car and approaching the cops of scene duties.
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"Is Mr Callen all right?" the director asked softly.
"He should never have been in that position without the proper support from his team" Hetty answered, her voice portraying her anger for her agent being placed in harm's way.
"He was aware of the risks Henrietta and he was unconcerned by them" Leon responded with a sigh.
"Callen would run head long into certain death if there was a mission, and we both know it" the ops manager responded. "I am yet to have a chance to thoroughly assess his injuries" she finished.
"Is his cover still intact?" the NCIS director asked, his own concern coming to the forefront.
"As far as I am aware- there is nothing to suggest otherwise" Hetty responded with a sigh, she would almost prefer the long standing cover to have been compromised- then she would have an excuse to pull her agent out.
"Keep me updated" Vance instructed before disconnecting the call. Hetty sighed, she needed an update herself first, and more importantly to make sure that her agent was indeed relatively uninjured.
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Callen and Sam made short work of the scene itself before heading back to Ops, the lead agent unsurprised to find Hetty sat waiting for them.
"Mr Callen a word in my office if you please?" she asked. Callen followed her immediately. "How are you?" she asked as soon as he sat down.
"I am fine Hetty" he responded quickly.
"I need you to be honest with me, are you injured?" she asked again, wanting to know exactly what he had suffered in the explosion.
"Just a few bruises" he responded.
"Are you compromised?" she asked her voice low. He moved closer aware of his partner's eyes burning into the back of his head.
"No, I have a meet later- hopefully that will give me a further push within the firm to get to the higher ups" Callen responded softly.
"Any possibility of the team supporting you?" she asked, keen for him not to go lone wolf- whether that was his preference or not.
"No, not without me getting made. Tonight is make or break" he replied.
"How have you explained your injuries to your partner?" Hetty asked, accepting his answer.
"I haven't really, just brushed him off" he responded with a grimace.
"I had the rapide collide with a tree this morning and it is with the work shop now. As far as the team need to know you had a crash in the early hours of the morning. A police report has been created to fully support the story" she told him. He nodded in understanding, appreciating the thoroughness of the experienced spy.
"I'll keep you updated" he stated as he got slowly to his feet and headed back to his desk.
"Make sure that you do" she responded to his retreating back. He made as far as the coffee machine before his partner was beside him with a questioning glance.
"Are you in trouble again?" the older man asked quietly.
"Hetty needed to discuss an expense report with me" Callen responded, pouring himself a cup of steaming coffee.
"What report was it?" Sam asked, Callen sighed as if his partner had finally pushed him into telling the truth.
"For the rapide" he finally responded.
"Why? What's wrong with it?" he asked in confusion, he had seen his partner drive it out of the car park on Friday evening and it had seemed fine.
"I crashed it" Callen responded, feeling guilty for the lie he was telling his partner, but not showing anything of the sort on his face.
"You didn't!" Sam exclaimed. "You love that car" he stated.
"She's in the shop now" Callen replied with a wince.
"Man you must have done some damage if you did this to yourself. Were you not wearing your seat belt again?" the seal asked with a dangerous edge to his tone. Callen sighed with a shake of the head.
"Listen it's done, I'm fine and the car is fixable" he responded finally, moving back to his desk.
"Did you go to the hospital?"
"No need, just a couple of bruises" the lead agent responded, picking the file back up. "Give Deeks a call and get an update and I'll see what Eric has" Callen instructed, keen to make a start on the case at hand. Getting to his feet to avoid further questioning he headed up to Ops, not missing the concerned glance that his partner shot his way.
End Chapter One