Changeling
Chapter 1
Romania || 1975
He wanted to finish the sandcastle he was building. It was one of the best he ever made. He stopped when there were footsteps of two men came nearer. If they would step any closer they might ruin his work. He looked up, his blue eyes angry and expecting at the same time. One of the men smiled and bowed towards him. He definitely must like this sandcastle too, as he handed him a toy soldier who could live it the castle.
She had watched all three of them and send him a quick, encouraging smile. There was a strange sound after that and the men left soon after. He played on, happy to finally have an inhabitant of his castle.
Soon after that, another person carefully stepped towards them. He looked up when he heard the sharp inhale of breath. A very small woman looked sad, very sad at the woman in the beach-chair and then noticed how sweet he was playing with his tin soldier.
"You have to come with me, young mister Callen," the woman told him and reached out her hand for him.
He did not really understand what she meant and shook his head "Nu!" and he pointed at the sea. The woman bent down and looked in his cautious, ocean blue eyes. It was clear the boy had no intention to leave, neither to trust her.
"Mama ta vrea să aibă grijă de tine [your mom wants me to take care of you]," she now said. He was surprised by the tear that ran over her cheek and the sadness in her eyes. There was more, he felt her worries about something that must be very important.
Again, he shook his head. "Nu". He took his toy soldier and stepped back, looking for a way to escape, looking if his friends were around to help him. They were too far away though, enjoying the waves of the Black Sea.
From a distance he saw the two men that had passed earlier and who quickly came their way now. Just as he decided to run away and escape from this strange woman, she caught his stare. Once again, the boy heard how the tiny woman kept her breath. He sensed she really cared about him and she was looking for a quick way to leave the beach.
Then, intuitively, he took her hand. He knew a way to get to the parking without being seen. They crossed the road and then he guided her, through an area of alleys and warehouses where they met nobody at all.
The boy had played many times in there. He knew how he could avoid other people.
Stay unseen.
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Los Angeles || 2009
For a brief moment, he stared through the window. The Santa Monica Ferris Wheel was empty at this time of the day. He had got used to the hustle and bustle of this part of the town. It was easy to go unseen in the crowds, even at broad daylight. Still, it was time to move on and leave this motel.
Callen got dressed, eager to leave for his first day back at work after the shooting. He was ready for it. He put his belongings in his rucksack and took his bedroll. He looked around, knew there was nothing he would miss once he'd left and then stepped out the door. Sam would pick him up.
"You'll be surprised by the new headquarters," Sam had told him. "It's like a Spanish mission on the inside, and from the outside it is like a derelict warehouse. You'll like it. Busy."
"And Macy's gone. Michigan. Really?" Callen wanted to know. She had visited him in the hospital, but at that time she had not mentioned anything about an upcoming transfer to one of the other NCIS teams.
"She is. You know what? The little 'Ninja' now runs our operations. The two of you know each other, she said."
Callen smiled. "Seriously? Hetty Lange in Los Angeles? Wow."
The 'Ninja'. They had briefly worked together when she was the operation manager of a case he and Gibbs had in Serbia. Back then in Washington, some of the NCIS personnel were really scared of the sharp remarks the tiny yet unbreakable looking woman made. Callen himself had felt strangely at ease with her.
Nothing wrong with working with Hetty Lange.
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Once in the system it should keep him safe from the ones who were responsible for killing Clara Callen, so they had decided. Although there had been no possibilities to keep in contact, Henrietta Lange had tried to keep track of the young boy once he had arrived with her in the United States, but it had been impossible to do so.
In a way, it satisfied her. If she could not find him, neither could the enemies of the Callen family. At least she had saved him.
He suddenly surfaced as a young agent in the FBI when she heard his name for the first time. Then he switched to the DEA and some years later she heard CIA-agents speak about his abilities in deep undercover work.
'It's in his blood', Hetty Lange reminded herself. In a way, she was proud of how the young boy she had taken from the Romanian beach, grew up to be an agent. Just like his mother, just like his grandfather.
Hope you liked this short introduction to this story!