This is the sequel to Doppelgänger. Most of the story is written so that it is not necessary to have read the first novel.


Reviews appreciated and welcomed.


AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Title: Nowhere Man

Rating: M

Story Premise: A group of thugs kidnap G Callen and want the device back which was found in the Doppelgänger's SUV.

Category: An angst/hurt/comfort novel.

WARNINGS: Non-consensual Sex/Rape: G/OC

Darkfic: Story includes angst, violence, torture, betrayal, and sexual, mental, emotional, and physical trauma.

Whump: A majorG Callen whump ahead.

DISCLAIMER: NCIS: Los Angeles and its characters are owned by CBS and the producers of it. I do not own anything, but if I did I would torture G Callen more and make him cry and suffer and have plenty of angst. I am grateful to CBS and the producers of NCIS: LA for their contribution to the world of entertainment.

My stories are a work of my imagination and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. This is a work intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by CBS and the producers of NCIS:LA. I gain no profit from the creation and publication of this story. I love to play in the sandbox with the characters and their lives. I especially love to torture G Callen. It is fun!


Nowhere Man

Chapter 1

Earlier than usual, G parked his Mercedes sports coupe outside a donut shop. It was the second shop he visited this week, making sure he varied his routine more than usual with different times and places. An odd telephone call he received almost a week ago bothered him more than he let his partner know. It made him more cautious than his normal cautiousness. He turned off the engine and stepped out of his car. G rounded the street corner and was about to enter the store when he saw Deeks. He stared at his fellow team member for well over a minute before walking toward him. "What are you doing here?" He asked, lowering his voice. Something was off. His gut told him that. This felt like the strange telephone call. He backed up and started to turn away.

Two brawny hoodlums grabbed G and shoved him face first against a black Suburban. "If you know what's good for you," a deep voice with a familiar accent said, "you won't fight us."

G knew what was good for him and it was not allowing these two burly men do anything more to him. He twisted his body hard to the left and slugged the guy in the gut. The man grabbed his gut and yelped, falling on his butt. With another twist to his body to the right, he kicked the second guy squarely in the groin. The second guy cried out, grabbing his groin and doubling over and falling to his knees. G took out his cell phone and pressed his agent in crisis alert button which autodialed NCIS Headquarters. Next, he snapped pictures of the Suburban, its license plate, the men who attacked him, and Deeks, who was not Deeks. Damn. As Deeks would say right about now, really. He backed away from them, sending the photos of the blond-haired men as he moved. G flipped on his heels.

Before he managed to take one step further toward his Mercedes, he was tackled to the sidewalk by both brawny men. His cell phone sailed through the air landing in the gutter beside his Mercedes. The breath knocked out of him, G struggled to raise himself off the cement sidewalk. He pushed upward hard, attempting to unseat both men from his back.

"Stop fighting us or I'll knock you out and drag you back to our car," the same man said again.

This time G decided it was best to play by their rules until he had more room to maneuver.

The two hoodlums lifted their captive off the sidewalk and brought him back to the Suburban. "Get in!" The men pushed him forward into the open door. G shoved backwards, attempting to go for a second round of slugging these two men. The man who had spoken punched G in the left kidney.

He fell to sidewalk, grabbing his left side and grimacing.

"Get up!"

G struggled to stand, clutching his left side.

They lifted him to his feet again.

He swayed from the pain now gripping him and threatening to overwhelm his senses.

"I suggest you stop fighting us," the familiar accented voice said, "now get in." He pushed him toward the open door again.

G decided to make one last effort to escape their plans to kidnap him. He started to climb into the Suburban and bowed down, backing up as fast as he could manage after getting punched in the kidney. Instead of escaping their grasp, he escalated their vigilance.

The non-talkative hulking man punched his captive in the liver.

G collapsed to the sidewalk, panting and writhing.

"Enough?"

G nodded unable to raise himself off the concrete.

The two burly men lifted G off the pavement and pushed him into the Suburban. One climbed in after him and the other climbed into the opposite side of the SUV. They grabbed their prisoner's wrists and used two sets of handcuffs, attaching each wrist to the headrests on the front bucket seats. They pushed him to his knees on the floorboard. The talkative man grabbed a roll of duct tape from the back seat and taped the prisoner's mouth. The other man took a syringe and filled it with a drug.

When he saw the long needle on the end of the syringe, G struggled, pulling hard against the handcuffs.

"Time to sleep," the man with the syringe said his first accented words. The first man held their prisoner still while the second man injected his right biceps area with a sedative.

Ten minutes later, G slumped forward, the medicine taking away all the fight left in him.


NCIS:LA NCIS:LA NCIS:LA


Sam dialed his partner's number for the fifth time that morning. They had planned to meet for an early morning run after G bought donuts. No answer. Odd. Out of character for him. He started to place his cell phone in dashboard holder when it rang in a peculiar manner. Sam glanced at the alert coming up on his phone. His partner was in a crisis. No one wonder he failed to answer his cell phone. He gunned his engine and sped toward NCIS Headquarters.

Fifteen minutes later, half the time it normally took him to drive to work, Sam arrived at headquarters. He rushed inside to find Kensi and Deeks climbing the stairs to the OPS Center. Sam caught up with and passed them, taking the stairs two at a time. He hurried into their enclosed, high tech conference room.

"Hetty, what happened to G?"

"We're all in the dark, Mr. Hanna," she said, nervously patting down her burgundy suit jacket. "Mr. Beale, the video footage."

Kensi and Deeks entered the room and stared at the images coming up on the high definition video screen.

Deeks's mouth hung open. He stepped closer to the screen. "That's not me, I swear."

"It can't be Mr. Deeks unless you were up at five this morning buying donuts with Mr. Callen."

He pressed closer to the image of his double. "This can't be happening again, can it?"

"The rest of the video, Mr. Beale."

All of the agents' jaws dropped. They watched their team leader attempting to fight off two brawny men with muscles bigger than Sam's.

"Eric, stop, back two frames, maybe three," Sam said. "Stop, see that, G's phone hit the gutter under his Mercedes. Anyway to access it from here?"

"He sent photos but some were damaged in transmission by a jamming device," Eric said, putting up all the photos. "His phone could be damaged. I was unable to access it. A partial plate is all that took. I've done an extensive search and can't find any intel on it."

Sam eyed his tech. "Not extensive enough."

Eric swallowed hard and turned back to his computer. "I'm on it."

"Where's Nell?" He asked.

"I have her on an assignment searching for the identity of one man's face," Hetty said. "The other photo was blocked."

"And his double?" He glanced over his shoulder at Deeks.

"You mean his doppelgänger?" she asked.

"I hate that word," Deeks said, "bad things happen when people use that word. Besides—"

"It's true Mr. Deeks, like it or not, that man is your double."

"Glad you didn't use that word again."

Kensi slugged him in the arm.

"I'm just saying."

"Are you sure you didn't meet Callen for donut shopping?" Kensi sniggered.

"Come on, seriously, at five in the morning?" he asked. "This is like a scene from some B movie—"

She slugged him again and shot him a look.

Deeks rubbed his upper arm.

"Let's go check out the scene," Sam said.

"Be careful, Mr. Hanna."

"Yes, Hetty."

"And… find him, do whatever you can to find him." She turned back to the screen, clasping her hands at the small of her back.


NCIS:LA NCIS:LA NCIS:LA


Sam, Kensi, and Deeks piled out of the SUV and started scouring the scene at the Hollywood and Vine location for clues.

Sam crouched low at the curb and scanned the gutter next to G's car. He reached into the muddy water and pulled out his partner's cell phone. A job for Eric. No wonder G's cell phone failed to fully transmit the images. He examined the device closer and noticed it had been burned. Odd. Sam hoped his partner's identity was not burned too. He pocketed the phone and attempted to open the Mercedes' side door. A jolt of electricity from the door handle sent Sam flying through the air and landing on his butt on the sidewalk. He yelped. "What the hell?" Sam was thankful he had not been standing in the muddy water at the curb.

Deeks rushed over to his side to help Sam off the sidewalk.

Sam pushed Deeks's hands away. He stared at the burn marks on his left hand. First degree burns. G never used anything to prevent someone from stealing the Mercedes. Sam stood and studied the door and car. He removed his jacket, wrapped it around his right hand, and attempted to open the door again. Same jolt of electricity. This time blocked by the jacket. When he felt the electrical impulse, Sam instinctively jumped backwards. He took out his own cell phone and checked it over before autodialing Eric.

"Any security devices activated on G's car?"

"Nope," Eric said, "double checked."

"Get shocked when I touch the door handle."

"Nothing like that ever installed on his car," Hetty said, joining the now conferenced call.

"Check his credit card purchases and see if he had this installed on his car," Sam said. "It may be what shorted out G's cell phone along with it sitting in muddy water."

"I'm on it."

Now Sam wondered about his partner's mention of that odd telephone call earlier in the week. It spooked G more than he had revealed. Not good. Sam was about to disconnect his cell phone.

"Got something," Eric said, "it appears he purchased an elaborate security system for the Mercedes on Tuesday night."

"Can you deactivate it from your end?"

"Been working on a solution since I discovered the credit card purchase."

"Reading my mind again, thanks, call me when you have an answer." Sam disconnected.

"That's a little paranoid," Deeks said.

"Highly paranoid," Sam said, under his breath. G figured out something and failed to inform me. "Find anything else?"

"Kensi's in the donut shop seeing about the security camera feed," he said. "I found and took pictures of that SUV's tire tracks in the mud. Sent them to Eric."

Sam's cell phone rang at the same time Kensi walked out of the donut shop. "What do you have for me, Eric?"

"I've broken the security code and you're not gonna believe this."

"What?" He sighed.

"The code is a series of words."

"Words? What?"

"Yes, in the photos he sent to me, some of which failed to come through, he included the password," Eric said. "I didn't see it before."

"Okay, give it to me."

"Hetty wants only you to hear this."

"What?"

"Mr. Hanna, your eyes and ears only for now."

"Okay, whatever, why the secrecy?"

She disconnected the conference call and lowered her voice. "He knows who these men are." Hetty sighed. "I'm well aware that he told you about a call he received."

"He wasn't sure if it was anything."

"Mr. Callen is now," she said, "and was when he installed the security system on his car. The security code decrypted spells, 'tell H Romanian.'"

Sam shuddered hearing those words. This was their doppelgänger case all over again. These men had kidnapped his partner. "I understand the reason you want to keep this—"

"Your eyes and ears only, no ifs, ands, or buts, understood?"

He sighed exasperated by her orders. "Yes, Hetty." Sam disconnected the cell phone and placed his jacket around his right hand. He was gun shy after two shocks. Nothing this time when he touched the door handle. Sam sat in the passenger's seat and scanned the car interior, hoping to see something obvious. G left a clue for him to find.

Deeks leaned into the car. "We're wanted back at headquarters."

"The shop owner gave me a disc copy of the security cams," Kensi said.

"How do I know G didn't rig this car to blow when it starts?"

"Hetty said to call her when you are ready to leave," Deeks said.

Sam watched them leave and reclined the seat and closed his eyes. His eyes flew open and he stared at the ceiling before him. Could it be that simple? He felt the ceiling above him, wiring for the new security system. The trunk. Sam searched the front seat of the car, under the seat and floor mat for an extra key. It was common for G to leave an extra key under the floor mat taped to the underside. Nothing this time. He grabbed his jacket again and covered his fingers while he opened the glove compartment. No shock. He released the jacket and searched the inside of the compartment. No key.

He sighed, exasperated by his fruitless search.

Sam felt an odd raised area to the back of the box. He ran his fingers across it several times, searching for a free edge. Instead he found a wire. Sam followed the wire to bottom of the box. He removed the contents one by one from the glove compartment, setting each one on the driver's seat. G never stored much in his vehicles and this time he assumed would be no exception. A map book with an extensive index. A spoon. That was a first. A sterling silver spoon. It was partially tarnished. He turned it over and found an inscription on the back of the spoon handle. Sam stared at the words, his jaw dropping open.

'Pentru fiul meu, iubirea PaPa.'

What the? Looked and sounded Romanian. Sam took out his cell phone and accessed a translation site. 'For my son, Love, PaPa.' G had not mentioned any contact with his father. Sam pocketed the spoon. He reached into the glove compartment again. The map book hid a treasure of sterling silver items all with that same inscription. Chills traveled up Sam's spine. His partner had kept this all hidden from him. He removed everything, at least ten more items, now without inspecting them. The compartment now empty, Sam traced the raised area at the back with his fingers until it stopped on the compartment's bottom. He discovered a raised edge with a slightly lifted corner. He tugged on the corner and pulled it back. His jaw dropped open again. The area covered the whole bottom of the compartment. It was filled with letters postmarked in Romania.


Thanks for reading.