MURDER IN MODEL
The NCIS team was working on a rare case this time. Someone had killed a US marine and had sent to his wife a mini model in which his death was appeared; the position of the body, the crime scene, the murder weapon and every detail in the room- which was his office at work- the desk, the chairs, everything. The team thought that he was killed because of something he had discovered. His wife had told them that her husband was working on something very strange and he didn't tell her anything because he didn't want to scare her. The three boys, Callen, Sam and Deeks, were coming back after they had talked with a very good friend of the victim, who could possibly knew what Nathan, the victim, was working on. But it was a dead end.
As they entered the office, Eric and Nell were rolling down the stairs. "Before you say anything, two questions, one what's that box on my desk?" Deeks asked pointed at a small box that was put in his desk. "I don't know. It was brought an hour ago." Eric answered "And two, where is Kensi?" Nell answered this time "We don't that either. She got a text and left in a hurry."
"What do you have?" Callen asked seeing the dynamic duo like they have found something.
"LAPD crime lad finished processing the mini model. They got a partial print and get a much on the man who made the model." Eric said and continued "Meet Gordon John Brandel." Deeks' eyes were filled with confusion. He remembered the day Hetty told him his father died like it was yesterday. "The problem is that he died in 1998 in an auto accident." Eric continued.
Sam noticed the confusion in Deeks' eyes and asked him "Do you know him?"
Deeks was looking at him. He didn't know what to say. A few minutes later he spoke. "Yes, he…um…he is my father." Callen, Sam and Eric were staring at him. Both Hetty and Nell knew it; Hetty, well, because it's Hetty and Nell because Hetty had her track him down when Deeks was shot.
"Your father?" Callen still couldn't believe it. "Why your father would kill a US marine?"
"I don't know." A thought crossed Deeks' mind and looked at the box in his desk. "Eric can you trace Kensi's cell?"
"I'm on it!" Eric said and started tracing it. "Why?" Sam asked. Deeks didn't say anything. "It's off. Either dead or the battery is being taken off." Granger approached them and asked. "What's going on?"
"Kensi's phone is off." Callen replied. "And?" He obviously didn't know the new recover.
"Deeks' father killed that marine." Sam answered him.
"Where is Blye?"
"We don't know." Hetty said. Deeks was still looking at the box. "No, no, no." he said and pulled his knife from his back pocket and cut the tape of the box. He opened it. "Oh my God!" he said. In the box there was another mini model. There was a car upside down with a woman under it. From the environment of the model the assumed it was part of the desert. Deeks looked at Callen "You are thinking what I'm thinking?" Deeks asked him. "I don't want to." The doll under the car looked like Kensi. Yes, Deeks was afraid that his father might have taken Kensi. "You think it's him?" Granger asked him. "It's defiantly him!" Deeks said being 100% sure that his father had Kensi.
A guy walked in. "I might help you find her." It was Brandel. Callen, Sam, Deeks and Granger pulled their guns out immediately. "On your knees! NOW!" Deeks yelled. Brandel kneed and Sam passed him the handicaps. In Deeks' eyes the anger was drawn. He hated his father more than anything else in this world and now he was back and had kidnapped his partner.
In the boatshed
Granger walked in the interrogation room. The three boys were observing from the screen. Deeks was never that angry before in his life.
"Why did you fake your death?" Granger asked Brandel.
"Let's just say that I wanted to run away from some enemies of mine." he answered.
"Where is Agent Blye?"
"I'm done taking to you. I will talk only to Marty."
"Trust me I let him talk to you, you wish toy were really killed 16 years ago."
"He is not going to hurt me. He knows I am the only one who can tell you where she is. And if I were you, I would do it fast. I heard the weather forecast. It's going to be a raining night. She might not make it." A very loud thunder was heard. It was rarely raining to LA but when it did all the roads were flooded. Imagine what was going on in the desert.
Granger closed the opened case file he had in front of him, picked it up and left. Approaching the three agents, he placed the file on the table and looked at Deeks. "Go. And try to control your emotions detective." Deeks nobbed "And give me your gun."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not letting you go in your gun!" Deeks pulled out his gun and placed it next to the file on the table and made his way to the interrogation room.
He wasn't angry anymore. He was sad that his father was back in his life and that he had his partner, the only person he cared more than anything else in this world. They were dating for the past three months and they haven't told anyone. No one knew that they were a couple, no one but Hetty of course.
Deeks walked in the room and sat in the chair across his father. Brandel didn't even look at him. Finally, he raised his eyes on his son and said "You have that pathetic look you had when you were a child."
"When you were beating me. And not just me; mum, Emily, me. You were beating every one of us, everyday." Outside Granger asked "Who is Emily?" Neither Callen nor Sam knew who she was. "And I was wondering what I have done so that I will be treated like an animal. What could possibly a five-year-old little girl have done to beat her? And what could mum have done, um? When I shot you, I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought I was protecting mum, I thought I was protecting my sister."
"But?" Brandel asked him.
"But I was wrong. By killing you I wasn't going to bring back neither mum nor my sister. That night…that night you beat them to death. When the paramedics arrived at the house, they found them dead on their rooms. And you didn't even care about them. While you were at the hospital, you were trying to find a way to escape. But you weren't that lucky, aren't you?" Brandel didn't say anything. A few minutes later Deeks finally asked what he wanted to know. "Where is she?'
"I don't know."
"Don't make me ask you again."
"You know what I want. I want you to beg, like you were begging me, when you were a child, for her life. I loved that; you were crying and begging me not to beat you. You are not going to beg me for her life? You are going to let her die? I don't think so." Deeks didn't say anything. Another thunder was heard. The rain was about to start soon.
"Where is she?" Deeks asked him again.
"I forgot."
"Why are you doing this, um? Why? What have I done to you?"
"You shot me. And because of you I spend five years in prison."
"You deserved that."
"And you deserve to lose everything you love. And that's just the beginning." Deeks stood up, approached him and grabbed him from the shirt. "If anything happens to her, I swear the God I going to kill you with my own bear hands. Keep that in mind!" And he walked out. "He is not going to tell us anything." Deeks said to his co-workers as he was approaching them. "How sure are you?" Granger asked him. "100% sure. I know him very well. He just came to us to play with us, to play with her life." Deeks answered to his boss. The rain had just become. And it was bad, very bad.
"Guys." Eric was calling them from Ops center "We found Kensi's car."
"Where?" Callen asked him.
"On a parking lot down town. I sent the address to your phones."
"Okay. Check also Kensi's phone. There must be a reason she went there." Callen said.
"I will." And Callen, Sam and Deeks left leaving Granger behind with Brandel.
In the parking lot
'Kensi was exiting the elevator heading to her car. She got text from Ops. Eric texted her the name of the man who made the model. Gordon John Brandel is probably our guy. It was a short text that Hetty ordered Eric to send. She knew Kensi knew who Deeks' father was and right now she needed to know that he was their guy.
"Gordon John Brandel! That's Deeks father and he died 16 years ago." Kensi thought. Deeks had told her the entire story about his father and his sister. Kensi was taken aback with the text and went to her car and waited. The reason she left was because someone had texted her that Clairmont was not her father's killer. For so many years she was looking for the truth behind the father's death. It's been two years since they have found the man responsible for the death of so many marine including Donald Blye. And now someone was telling her that her father's killer was alive, that Clairmont was not his killer. No one could ever imagine that Kensi Blye will act so foolishly, go there alone, with no back-up, without telling anyone.
The text message was saying to wait outside her car. And that's what she was doing. She waited for 10 minutes when she heard someone calling her name "Kensi!" She turned back and saw Brandel. He shot her using an electrocuted gun. And as a result she fell down.'
Through a security camera in the parking lot Eric and Nell were seeing Brandel dragging Kensi from the legs and putting her in the track of his car.
Callen hanged up with Eric. "He put her in the track of his car. Eric and Nell are trying to find it." Callen briefed his partner and Deeks. It was raining cats and dogs. The rain didn't stop.
In the Ops
Eric and Nell were able to find the car exiting the parking. "Wait, Eric stop it. There. Zoom there and enhance." Deeks said pointing a road sign in the direction Brandel drove. Eric zoomed and cleared the image. "Guys, he went to the desert close to the Mexican borders." Nell said.
"Beale alert our people in the borders, let them know what's going on and tell them to start searching the area. We are looking for a red sedan. Tell them to use thermo detector to find her." Granger ordered Eric. "Yes sir!" He said and he started making calls.
"It's cold out there and if she is under that car, she won't be found easily." Sam said.
"And what are you suggesting to do Agent Hanna?"
"I'm just saying." They were too close to start an argument.
Deeks walked out of the Ops center and headed to his desk. He sat down and looked at the model that was still on it. Granger approached him and asked him "Felling guilty?" Deeks gave him a look and said "You wouldn't if you knew your father had kidnapped the only person you…you love more than anything else in this world and it was your fault?"
"Yeah, I would, I probably would but I wasn't going to sit and just wait whether she will be found dead or alive. I would do something."
"Like what? If I could go out there and look for her, I would." On the plasma the weather forecast was being played in the news.
"We have just issued a severe weather alert for south LA. Three thunderstorms are converging and heading right for us. So, up to three inched of rain, they are expected to hit in the next eight hours. Flash flood warnings have been issued for the city and surrounding desert areas. This has never happened before in LA."
Deeks was scared. He knew that his girl was tough but she won't be able to survive under a car with the rain.
Eric rolled down the stairs "Guys we found something!"And Granger and Deeks made their way in Ops as fast as they could. "What do you have?" Granger asked "We were able to find Brandel's car. We can access to the GPS system and find the last location he went. And probably Kensi." Nell said. "Do it, and fast." Granger ordered.
"Not you though Ms Jones." Hetty said "You will be accompanied by an agent and go through Mr. Brandel's house. I want you to find anything that can possibly tell us where Ms Blye is. Understood?"
"Yes." She said and left in a hurry. The clock was ticking against Kensi's life.
In the desert
Kensi was still under that car, unable to move. Her right hand was broken because of the car's weight. The car had trapped it and unfortunately broken it. She was in terrible pain. The car was flooded with the rain's water and her head was almost covered. She was barely keeping it out of it. She didn't know what to do. She was never been that scared before in her entire life.
At the LAPD's garage
Callen and Sam had just arrived to take a look at the car themselves. The driver's window was broken and there was blood on it. Brandel had a small wound on the left side of his forehead. Sam noticed that the speaker at the back seat was broken and he opened the track.
"G, I got a zip-tie unlocked. She was in that track."
"The question is where is she know?"
"She may get out G."
"No Sam, she is under that car. I saw it in his eyes. He completed the model. Kensi is under that car."
'Kensi had just regained consciousness. When she opened her eyes she was in that track. She didn't fell her hands but she was felling something holding them together. She tried to look back and that's when she saw the zip-tie. Looking around to find something to unlock it her eye caught the bullet that was still in her left shoulder. She grabbed the bullet with her teeth and threw it behind her. She grabbed it with her hands and used it to unlock the zip-tie. She knew she couldn't jump out of the car because she will get herself killed. She was looking around the tack trying to find something that will help her get out there. That's when she saw the speaker. She tried to take it off something she finally did. She pulled her hand out of the hole and she placed down the back seat. She pulled her head up and quietly approached the driver's seat. All of a sudden, she grabbed Brandel from the shoulders and as a result he lost control of the car. Kensi hit his head on the driver's window, she opened the back door and jumped out. Kensi rolled in the ground like a barrel. Brandel stopped and got out of the car. He approached her. She was barely moving. She had some wounds in the head that they were made when she hit the ground. Brandel took her, zip-tied her hands in front of her, put her at the back seat of his car, gave her some water so that she will regain consciousness and drove off.
"Why are you doing that?" Kensi asked him with a low voice tone.
"Ask your partner? Well, wrong. You are never going to see him again." he answered.
"He is your son…."
"He should have thought that before he shot me."
"It was self-defense. You…you were beating him, and your wife and your daughter." Kensi's voice was getting lower and lower.
"I probably had my reasons to do it."
"What reasons? Are you serious? You took a shotgun and threatened to kill his mum while she was lying in the floor, bleeding."
"I see Marty has told you everything, hasn't he?"
"Everything." her eyes were closing "What….what did you put in the water?" And Kensi fainted.
When she opened her eyes, a car was going down and she was under it. "No, don't do it. Please, don't do it." The car was now on top of her and she couldn't do anything. Brandel got in his car and left her. A few minutes later the rain began.'
As Callen and Sam were processing the car, Callen's phone rang. "Go Nell!"
"I think I found something. There is an address written in a paper here and I called Eric to check it out. It's an old auto garage, where parts of old cars are used for several reasons."
"Could he have got the car Kensi is under from there?" Callen asked her.
"Most likely." she answered.
"Alright, thanks Nell." he hang up and told his partner "Nell may have found from where Brandel took the car."
"We will go there first thing in the morning." Sam said.
"If it's not already too late." Callen said.
"There is nothing we can do tonight G." Sam said and the two agents left.
The next morning in the old car garage
Sam was driving as fast as he could. When he entered the garage, he searched for the owner. When they found him, both Callen and Sam got out of the car and approached him. "Hey buddy! NCIS." Sam showed his badge and Callen continued "You know this man?" Callen asked him showing him a picture of Brandel. "Yes, he came by a couple of days ago. He wanted me to move a car close to the Mexican Borders, a….a red sedan." the old man said. "Where? Here, show me in the map!" Callen asked him taking out of his back-pocket a map. "Um,…here." the old man said pointed in place in the map.
Sam took out his phone and called Eric "Eric we have a location. Call the LAPD and tell them to move fast. Tell also to Deeks and Granger to gear up and meet us there."
"Copy that."
Two helicopters were in the air looking for that red sedan. Two SUVs were on the ground, in one were Callen and Sam and in the other one were Deeks and Granger. Five police cars were also on the ground searching for the red sedan. A while later, the man who was in the helicopter called through the radio "I found it. East of you."
"Got it." Callen responded back. "We have visual too!" Granger confirmed. When the two SUVs arrived there the car was buried with sand. All four started unburying the car yelling "KENSI!" But there was no response. Some police officers helped them using shovels. But there was no luck. She wasn't under the car.
'The pain was killing her. She tried multiples times to take her hand out of there but she couldn't. She put her head in the water hoping to find something she could use. She found a rock. She took it and tried to pull up the car. But the sand was wet and the car was drowning in the sand. She put her head again in the water but this time she took the mirror that was in the car. She was determined to get out of there. Something she eventually did. She managed to unchain her hand and she left from a broken window. She was holding her hand. It was definitely broken and she was in terrible pain. Holding in the other hand the mirror, she left.'
Deeks was looking around hoping that he would find something which he did. "Guys, I got shoeprints!" he yelled and Callen, Sam and Granger went to him. "They are small in size. It's Kensi's. She got out of the car." Sam said. "Yeah, but where is she now?" Callen wondered. "Callen and Sam will continue with the car. Deeks and I will move on foot. We will follow the shoeprints. Let's hope we will find something." Granger ordered and Callen and Sam made their way to the car. "Let's go!" Granger said and Deeks followed him.
Deeks and Granger had walked a few miles following the shoeprints. "Do you see anything else?" Deeks asked Granger "No. Nothing." he answered. Deeks was looking through the binoculars when he saw something. "I think I found something!" he said and moved forward. Granger followed him. "This is way better than shoeprints!" Granger said. There were three small rocks placed one on top of them making a small tower. And there were a few more ahead. "That's my girl!" Granger gave him a look. "Do you see any other?" Granger asked. "Oh my God. No, no, no!" Deeks run. He saw a dead body, turned upside down and half-buried. The two men unburied and turned. "It's not her. It's not Kensi!" Granger said making Deeks fell better. The dead body was a male, with no ID on him.
"Alright, thanks Eric." Callen hang up with Eric "His name is Pedro Hernandez, Mexican. He probably passed the borders last night and he was killed by the storm." Callen and Sam reached them as soon as they get the call from Deeks about the presence of a dead body. Deeks was a few meters away from the rest of them. Sam approached him "Where is she Sam? It's 110 degrees, without water, probably injured." Deeks told him "We will find her Deeks, I promise you that."
Kensi was walking in the desert, wounded, holding her hand. She was still in pain. She was telling herself not to give up and keep walking. She was still leaving her marks by making the small towers. Something inside her was telling her that they are out there looking for her, that her Deeks was going to save her, hold her in his arms. The sun was hot. Her head was boiled. She couldn't stand anymore; she kneed and fell down. She was still holding the mirror.
Sam was driving- as usual- and Callen was looking around through the binoculars. He saw a shine on his right. "Sam slow down, slow down." he pointed to the direction where he saw the shine "Go that way, go that way." They drove a few miles and they finally found her. Callen got out of the car holding a bottle of water and run to her yelling "KENSI!" When he finally reached her he kneed next to her and spilled on her water in order to cool her. "Kensi, it's me, open your eyes." He placed his fingers to her neck "I can't find any pulse." He said looking at his partner "This is Agent Hanna. We got Agent Blye. I need a rescue helicopter on the west side. ASAP." Sam said to the radio. A few minutes later the rescue helicopter landed. Sam got up and yelled "Over here!" Two paramedics approached them and one asked Callen "What's her name?" And Callen said "Kensi." The other paramedic tried to make contact with her "Kensi can you hear me?" At the same time Deeks and Granger arrived and Deeks run to her. "Who is she?" Granger asked and one of the paramedics said "She is not responding." They put her an oxygen mask and then put her to the stretcher. Deeks run to them and hold her hand. "Where are you taking her?" Callen asked them. "General Hospital." one of them answered "Move over. I'm going with you!" Deeks said and got on the helicopter.
One of the paramedics placed some icy on her head to cool her. Deeks was holding her hand. He wanted to touch her hair but he couldn't because of the icy. It's been no more than three minutes and Kensi opened her eyes which met those blue eyes she hadn't seen since yesterday. "Hey baby. It's okay. Everything it's going to be fine." He squeezed her hand and kissed it.
At the hospital
Deeks was waiting for at least an hour for someone to come out and tell him how Kensi was. He had already asked two nurses but none of them knew something. Finally a doctor came out "For Ms Blye?" she asked "Yes. Please tell me how is she?" Deeks asked. He was very worried. She was under the sun without water for so many hours. "Don't worry. She seems to be doing fine. She has a badly broken handand multiples head injuries, none of them seem to be severe. But I have to tell you, she is very lucky to be alive." the doctor informed Deeks. "Can I see her?" Deeks asked. He wanted to be next to her all the time. He promised himself that he was never going to leave alone again. "Of course." the doctor said "Thank you."
That night at the office
"Alright, thanks Deeks. Goodnight. She has a broken hand but she is going to be okay." Callen said.
"Thank God. I will never get used to the idea of losing an agent." Hetty said.
"Deeks is going to stay with her in the hospital?" Sam asked his partner.
"Looks like. He is not planning leaving her alone. He blames himself for what happened." Callen said.
"Good job gentlemen. Now go home, get some sleep. You need it." Hetty told her agents.
"We all do. Goodnight Hetty." Callen said and left with his partner.
Hetty made her way to her office, sat down and started making her tea. That's when Granger arrived. He sat on a chair across Hetty. "What's the story between Blye and Deeks?" Granger asked her knowing that she knew something. Hetty smiled at him. "It's a love story, Owen." Granger looked at her a while. She obviously had accepted the fact that these two were born to be together.
Back at the hospital, in Kensi's room
Deeks was sitting in a chair. He had his hands his head and he was looking on the ground. Kensi slowly opened her eyes. She looked around "Where am I?" she asked. "Hey baby." Deeks stood his head up and hold her hand "You are in the hospital. We found you. It's all over now." She couldn't believe that she made it. But the pain still existed. "Do you want me to call the doctor to give you a painkiller?" he asked her watching her in pain. "No, I'm good." she said. "What do you mean you are good baby? You are in pain." She obviously wanted to take it later when the pain will be really strong.
Deeks kissed her hand and started crying. "Baby I am sorry, I so sorry. For….for everything." he said.
"For what?" Kensi asked with tears in her eyes.
"For what you went through, because it's all my fault. He wanted to hurt me and instead of that he hurt you."
"Deeks I never blamed you for not even one second of what happened, because….because I can't hate you. I love so much that I can't hate you." she said with tears in her eyes.
"I have promised myself that I won't let anyone hurt you again, after what happened to Afghanistan, that I will always protect you, ALWAYS. And I didn't."
"Deeks I don't give a damn about my life. All I want is you to be happy and safe. I will do everything for you, I'll kill for you, I'll die for you, I'll lose everything for you. But not you. I can't imagine a day without you in my life Deeks." Deeks got closely and kissed her forehead. Granger was outside watching them. They didn't see him. "I can't either imagine a day without Kens. I wake up every day to see those beautiful eyes looking at me and that beautiful smile of your face making me happy every single day." They were interrupted- once again- by a phone call. It was Callen who had just been informed from Nell. "It's Deeks. Callen, what's up? You got be kidding me. Okay, yeah thanks." Kensi understood from his voice that something was going on. "What's going on?" Deeks looked at her for a while and then said. "Um, it was Callen. Brandel's escaped."
TO BE CONTINUED….
Please feel free to leave your comments and thoughts about what can happen next. Hope you like it.