A/N: Yes, yes, yes - I'm back, with yet another NCIS: Los Angeles fic. This will be my fourth NCIS: LA story - fourth! I think I just broke a record - most unrelated stories in a single fandom!

Anyway, I started working on this while What We Do was posting, so it was a simple matter to continue it until I could post it. I only have a few more chapters to write, and enough chapters in between to keep you busy.

There will be another author's note at the bottom to explain the format of this story to you, but for now: enjoy!

Prologue

They were on their way in; soon, this would all be over. They would rescue their teammates and get the hell out of there; they'd close the op and return to OSP, where things would go back to normal.

Or so they told themselves. Truthfully, each of them knew that the danger was very real – too real – and there was a very good chance that this could all go very wrong, very fast, and they wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. But still they hoped that they could pull this off.

They had to pull this off, or their agents were toast.

It was not to be.

The crack of the gun stopped them cold in their tracks. Glancing fearfully at each other for the tiniest fraction of a second – each reading the raw terror in the others' eyes – they proceeded on their way. Bursting through the door with a yell of, "Federal agents!", they held their guns at the ready.

The bad guys froze and swung their own weapons around. The resulting firefight was intense, but nothing they hadn't been through before.

It was what came after the fight that broke them.

With every villain down for the count, there was no one left to distract them from the sight they'd been dreading.

Their agent, barely conscious, on the floor, bleeding profusely out of two very fatal-looking gunshot wounds.

And then the cold fear washed over them like an ocean, and they threw themselves into a panicked flurry of activity. One of them knelt next to the fallen agent, pressing fabric against the wounds; one called Eric, demanding an ambulance now; two rushed around to make sure the building was secure; and the fifth agent, the other one who had been in the building, stood rooted to the spot, unsure what to do. That fifth agent and the one bleeding on the floor had gone through way too much – some good, some bad – in the past few months – and for this to happen…

It was worse than a nightmare come true.

A/N: Yes, I know it was short - but prologues usually are. But, short as it was, I hope it got you hooked (*grins evilly*).

So, this story will be multi-chaptered (obviously), but I don't yet know how many chapters there will be in total, 'cause I haven't quite finished it yet. As you might guess, given that the prologue pretty much dropped you right in the heat of things, the story will develop by going back in time before it leads up to the present and beyond. The titles of each chapter will tell you how far back (or forward) it is in relation to the prologue (the present). Also, don't expect the story to stick to canon after Deadline (Season 3 Episode 4), as I've only written it to fit the show up till that point - mainly because the next episode hasn't aired yet!

With that said, I will of course be updating daily, so I will see you tomorrow with Chapter 1!

P.S. If you read the prologue carefully, I'm sure you've noticed that there are more agents than usual ;) You'll have to read to find out where the extra two came from.