- chapter 2 –
Pins, Bullets and Journals
A/N Thanks for the reviews you've left on the shortest of what I came up with. Too bad I cannot respond to the guests separately, but let me say that I really would love to see more episodes written for Callen and Eric more.
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Los Angeles || Interstate 10
He drove his grey Mercedes on Santa Monica Highway in the direction of La Brea Avenue and called in once again. "Eric, talk to me. Anything new?"
-"Not really. I'm going to ask Mosley to contact the director of this organization."
It was quiet on the other side of the line and so Eric went on. "LAPD should be around by now. Just in case. They won't intervene though." He paused a short second and added "I still don't know who's behind this, Callen. Found this Baker's parents, who live somewhere near Ventura. Called them. They never even heard their son talk about taking this summer job. Gave me a phone number though and I called him but—"
"He didn't answer," Callen uttered his thoughts.
Eric shook his head. "He didn't."
"Yet he was in touch earlier, hence the e-mail. It proves he knows my name. The place I work. And made the threats. You still believe that?"
-"But it was his phone, Callen."
"You think it were his words too? Might want to work on that thing too, Beale. Better have all those systems running as fast as they can."
Eric turned to his screens and nodded, although Callen wouldn't notice. From the corner of the eye he noted how the GPS from the team lead's phone was still another five minutes from the destination Callen was heading to and so he said "This movie theatre is an old one. Charlie Chaplin had it built about a century ago and the Muppet Show was recorded in there too. This organization, Love-U-LA, uses it two full days this week for their summer school."
"Need to know information, Eric?"
-"No. Just saying. I... You need to focus. I get it. It's just that 'till now there's no-one to share with —" he paused, since the sliding doors of the Ops center opened and Nell and Mosley both entered. "Nell's here now, and Mosley."
"I get it. Sit-rep asap, deal?" Callen offered and asked at the same time and he closed the call after a confirming 'uh-huh' from the Tech Operator.
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Los Angeles || Ops Center
Her hands on her hips, Executive Assistant Director Shay Mosley stood and faced the younger man. "Nell's here now, and Mosley," she repeated Eric's words. "Tell me Beale, who were you talking to and why did you mention this?"
Eric tilted his head in various positions, thinking how to reply in only a few sentences. "Callen. He's on his way – nearly arrived – at what we assume is a hostage situation."
Mosley nodded. "Who's around as his back up?"
"Uhm... none of our own people as a matter of fact. But LAPD should be around too by now."
"What the hell is he thinking? Get him on the line for me, Eric."
Nell interrupted. "Callen must have had a pretty good reason to do what he's doing, right, Eric?"
"Yes. You see, there's this —"
Mosley shook her head. "Get HIM on the line, Beale. Now."
He blushed, this time because he felt rather uncertain with Mosley ordering around. But then, there hardly was any choice, so he made another connection with Callen and put the phone on speaker.
- "Eric? What you have?" Callen said.
"This is Mosley speaking, agent Callen. Now, before you start to explain, you listen to this. As your superior I order you to abort your mission. There's no way I'll allow you to go along with any case which I have not authorized. Not like this, not the way you seem to have made your own decision without discussing this with me first."
It was silent for a few seconds and even Nell and Eric kept their breaths. Then Callen's voice sounded again. "Eric will explain. There's no way to stop this, not now. I'll discuss this when… if it's all over."
He simply cut the call and focused on the situation in front of him.
Two black-and-white police cars were parked in front of what was one of the older buildings in the neighborhood.
He slowed down, came to a stop and parked his car right behind the second police car. Then he took a deep and slow breath, feeling the adrenaline in his veins already and he knew he would do whatever it took.
He tapped at the side window while showing his badge and once the officer opened the window, Callen said "Special Agent Callen, NCIS. Have you noticed anything unusual so far? Any strange sounds from the inside? Other anomalies? Have had any questions about you being around?"
The officer shook his head. "None whatsoever. Seen nobody. You sure we need to stick around?"
Putting his badge back into the pocket of his jeans, he just shrugged. "You stay in here, right until someone comes around with a higher rank and tells you to do differently."
Then, he straightened his back, went back to his car and took the bulletproof vest from the backseat. He took off the dark blue coat and instead, pulled the vest over the grey shirt he wore. He checked his gun and ammo and adjusted the earwigs. Then he simply tried it, by tapping it twice and asking the techs at Ops if they heard him. There was one short and affirmative 'yes' coming from Nell.
Again, Callen took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a couple of minutes. Blinking twice after that, he started walking towards the first door he noticed.
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Los Angeles || Ops Center, minutes earlier
"How dares he!" Mosley ranted.
"Like I said before, there's this," Eric felt like trying to explain once again. He tapped his keyboard and four separate screens opened in front of them. Then he swiveled his chair again and turned to both women. "An e-mail, coming from the account of a young man called Lewis Baker. Addressed to Callen."
Mosley just raised her brows and said nothing, obviously just waiting for him to continue.
Nell, on the other hand, asked "Somebody he knows?"
Eric shook his head. "We checked. It's not the name, Callen figured. It's the message. The threats in it to a group of children."
"Someone who knows he works here. His name, and what his standing is in here, with NCIS," Mosley saw. "Anyone you found out about?"
"Nothing on nobody."
"Work on it," Mosley said.
"As if we don't know that. We've already been doing that, I mean, it's what Callen and I were doing already. Before, the past few hours. It's what I tried to explain." It came out harsher than Eric wanted to but he didn't really care.
"And where is he now? You know where Callen's headed to?"
"These music and movie studios," Eric pointed out on the map. Next to the street plan, some pictures appeared as well. "So far I haven't been able to reach any of the organizing party for this summer camp yet, so I hope you can take care of that," Eric said, now to Nell.
"The building itself has three entrances. It's old on the outside, and inside there are over ten soundproof rooms. All in all, I… we don't know who or what we're facing," he concluded.
Nell let her fingers go through her loose hair and watched the screens as she let her partners message sink in. "But still he decided to go there all alone. What can we do for him?"
A deep sigh came from their temporary leader. "I... well, I suggest you let me work on that, Jones, Beale."
Indeed, another chapter which isn't too long. I sure look forward to your reactions!
Kni®benrots
