"What have we got Eric?" asked Sam, striding into the room.

"Murder. A Navy man – that's how the LAPD put it – found down by the docks partially clothed in a uniform. That's all the info we have from them at the moment."

"Crime scene photos?" Callen asked.

"Nothing yet, they said they are having some sort of" he mimed air quotes, "technical difficulties." Eric rolled his eyes and muttered, "Monkeys are still learning to use tools."

"What was that?" Sam asked, grinning.

"Nothing." Eric turned back to the screen, "LAPD has secured the scene and is standing by with our liaison officer until our team gets there.

"Our liaison officer? They found Deeks?" asked Kensi.

"I guess. No one has mentioned replacing him."

"You suppose they dragged him off the beach and he's still wearing his surf gear?" Kensi smiled.

"Isn't that what he always wears?" asked Callen.

XxXxXx

At the crime scene the team met up with Marty Deeks. To their surprise he was not dressed in his usual beach bum outfit consisting of shorts and sandals.

Kenzie whistled appreciatively, "You clean up niiiccce!"

Deeks frowned, and tugged at the collar of his shirt, "Thanks, I think. I had court this morning. We called you as soon as we found the Navy ID."

"We? They wouldn't even let you into the crime scene." G teased the plain clothes LAPD officer who stood outside the yellow tape. "You sure don't liaise very well."

Deeks ignored the barb. "According to the ID found on the body, he was First Class Petty Officer Dwayne Petersen. His throat was slashed. No blood at the scene so he must have been killed somewhere else and then dumped here."

"Not dumped, more like displayed," Sam ducked under the tape, "It looks like he was tortured first." Sam pulled the body forward, "his back is all cut up."

"Fuck." Marty stumbled back with a hand over his mouth.

Sam grinned, "S'matter Deeks?" he rolled the body so the cop could get a better view. "You got a sensitive stomach?"

G poked at the wounds with a gloved finger. "It looks like they used a cheese grater on him."

Gagging, Deeks ran for the edge of the pier.

The three burst into laughter but quieted when Kenzi's phone chirped. "That's weird, it's Hetty."

"You think she knows we're pickin' on her boy?" Sam glanced around, half expecting to see the tiny woman.

Kenzi slid open the phone and held it to her ear. "What's up?"

"Where is Marty?" Hetty asked gravely.

"He's puking up his guts into the harbor." Kensi couldn't hide the laughter in her voice.

"I want you to get him right now and put him into your car, just you and no one else. Nate will meet you at the boathouse."

"Why?" Kensi glanced over at the officer; he was still bent over the rail, retching violently. "What's wrong?"

Hetty's voice was tense; "Do it now, Kenzi." she hung up.

At Sam's quizzical look Kenzi shrugged, "Hetty wants me to take Deeks and meet Nate at the boathouse.

XxXxXxX

In the car he's shaking and shivering, coming down from an adrenaline high that any base jumper would envy. Deeks won't speak to her and she gives up, he just sits, turned toward the window with his arms wrapped around his chest as though he's afraid he might fly apart.

He's sweating profusely and as she turns up the fan on the air conditioner, the acrid scent broadcasts his fear.

Traffic is light, the morning rush hour has passed for the most part and it worries her that Nate's car is in front of the boat house when they pull up.

Boat house is a misnomer; the building before them has not housed boats in almost a decade. The single story building has been retrofitted, not in a way that is obvious from the outside, and now is a holding area with interrogations rooms and also a small kitchen and a comfortable living room.

"He beat us here, that's not a good sign."

Kensi waits beside the car for Deeks to get out, just as she reaches the end of her patience and is reaching for the door; he slams it open and exits.

Nate meets them at the door, a serious look on his face as Kensi slips past him.

"Hi, Marty." Nate greets the liaison officer casually.

Deeks' punch is lightning fast and Nate goes down, the file he had been holding falls open and the pages scatter on the floor. Deeks nervously moves away as Kensi glares at him, and then she helps the psychologist to his feet.

"Deeks! What the hell is wrong with you?" she shouts.

Deeks paces back and forth, turning as though he wants to come back to them, then changing his mind and heading toward the windows. He moves around the room growing more and more agitated as they watch. He lashes out suddenly, breaking chairs and shattering glass.

"Don't." Nate warns, holding out a hand to keep Kensi from going to the distraught officer. "Give him a few minutes to work it off."

Kensi can't watch as Deeks burns off the fear and rage by destroying the furniture, so she busies herself helping Nate recover the scattered file, stopping when she comes across the photos of a bloodied back, covered in wide cuts.

"How did you get these? Eric said he didn't have any photos from the scene." Another glossy shows the chest and face spattered with blood. "Oh my God." she gasps, "Is this…"

"Marty? Yes."

"Jesus Christ." Kenzi winces as another window shatters. "Is this why Hetty called me to bring him here?"

"When she heard about the shape the body was in, she knew Marty would react violently. If G or Sam had tried to bring him in, he would have fought them. It was safer for you to do it, Marty wouldn't attack a woman."

Marty was slowing in his path of destruction; he finally collapsed to his knees, panting.

Nate nodded, "Would you mind?"

Kenzi swallowed hard, "Are you sure?"

"He won't hurt you."

Kensi's eyebrow lifted, "He slugged you."

Nate rubbed at his chin, "He saw me as a threat."

"Thanks for the backhanded compliment."

"He's just reacting to memory. I promise he won't hit you."

"Okay."

Kenzi carefully approached Marty, keeping in his line of sight so that he would not be surprised.

"Deeks? You okay?"

He gave a painful laugh, "Got any Band-Aids?" He held out his hands, his knuckles were covered in cuts and blood.

"Sure, I think there are some in the cabinet."

Nate handed over the first aid kit from the kitchen and Marty looked ashamed.

"Sorry about slugging you, Doc." Deeks apologized, "I don't know what the hell I was thinking."

"I've already forgotten about it." said Nate, then winced, "Almost."

Kensi opened the kit, took out some antiseptic wipes and began to clean Deeks' hands, and it's his turn to wince as the moist squares sting the cuts.

"You know Hetty is going to take this out of your pay, right?" she teased him.

Deeks groaned lightly, "What pay?"

When she finished bandaging his hands they got to work setting things to right. Most of the damage can be repaired quickly – replacing two deck chairs and five windows.

Nate swept up the last of the broken glass and dumped it in the trash just as Kensi and Deeks put the remaining chairs back around the coffee table.

"You want to tell us what that was all about?" Kensi asked as they settled down to rest.

"Not really," Deeks leaned his head back and scrubbed his hands across his face, "but I guess I have to since it looks like this new case is somehow related to one I worked a couple of years ago."