"He's been what?" Sam asked in shock. Had she just said G had been arrested by the CIA? That was ridiculous. G hadn't done anything to warrant being arrested by the CIA. They hadn't even done anything regarding the CIA in months.
"What for?" Tim asked. He too had a hard time believing Callen had pissed the CIA off so much that they arrested him.
"That is a very good question. One no one seems to want to answer," Hetty said sounding very irritated. "Not even the Director has been able ascertain the reason for this."
"How can the director not know? You know what, screw it. I say we go down ourselves and find out what the hell is going on," Sam said.
"That's not possible, Mr. Hanna. Not unless we want to be arrested as well. There is apparently an order barring all of NCIS from this investigation, and that includes seeing or speaking with Mr. Callen," Hetty said.
"They can't do that, can they? Callen has rights," Eric said.
"It's the CIA, Eric. They can do just about anything they want," Tim said. Trent Kort and all the crap he'd pulled when Tim worked for Gibbs was still firmly in his mind. "And as every other agency likes to remind us so often, we are the bottom of the federal food chain.
"So what do we do? We can't just leave Callen to fend for himself with the CIA. We have to do something," Kensi said.
"I can hack into the CIA. Try to find out what he's being charged with," Eric said.
"You will do nothing of the sort, Mr. Beal. Mr. Callen wouldn't have you risking your career and freedom for him and neither will I. Officially, we will have no part in this investigation," Hetty said.
Tim raised an eyebrow at her word choice. "What about unofficially?"
Hetty looked right at him. "There is nothing we can do, Mr. McGee," she said pointedly before walking out of the Ops. Center.
"Okay, I know she meant something by that, but what?" Eric asked.
Tim appeared to be in deep thought for a minute before turning to his partner. "Kensi, what's today's date?"
"January 13, why?" Kensi asked. That was a pretty random question. What did today's date matter?
"I'd say it's been about seven and a half years since I spoke to my father. I really should look him up," Tim said before walking away.
"What the hell? He's gonna call his father at a time like this?" Sam asked.
Kensi smirked. She'd figured it out. Tim had told her all about his father. "Tim's father is a Navy Admiral."
"Oh," Sam said as the significance registered in his brain.
Eric frowned. "Am I missing something?"
"Admiral is a very high ranking position in the Navy. It means his father knows people in power all over the world. He would have connections from here to Congress."
Eric finally got it. "And he would be able to find things out about other government agents. Like say the CIA?"
Sam nodded.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Tim managed to get him to find out the information he needed about Callen. That was about four hours ago. Though he supposed it took time to get the information, even for someone as influenced as his father.
Suddenly the phone rang. Tim snatched it up before it even made it to a full ring. "McGee. Hey, Dad."
Sam and Kensi's attention immediately went to their teammate and the conversation he was having.
Tim's mouth dropped open when he hear d what his father had to say. "What? No, that's impossible."
"What is it?" Sam asked.
Tim took the phone away from his ear for a minute as his father began to yell. When he stopped, he brought it back. "No, Dad, I'm not calling you a liar. I'm calling them liars," he said before once again listening to his father talk. He regretted listening immediately. "I don't need this lecture. I know Callen. I will never believe that he'd do something like that. Now I have to go. I have a friend to save." He then hung up on his father before the man even had a chance to respond.
"Well?" Sam pressed the second his colleague was off the phone.
Tim took a deep breath. "Callen has been accused of sharing government secrets from his time with the CIA with a knownterrorist group in Iran."
"What?" Kensi asked.
"No way! G betraying this country? No way in hell!" Sam said adamantly.
"We should take this conversation elsewhere," Tim said. They weren't supposed to know this, so it would be a bad idea to have this conversation in the middle of the squad room.
Sam got up and led the way down the hall to the supply room. Once they were inside, he closed the door. "Okay, what the hell is going on here? No way did G do this."
"Agreed," Tim said.
Kensi nodded her own agreement.
"Somebody is obviously setting him up. The question is why? What does anyone have to gain from Callen being locked up?" Tim asked.
"We all have a lot of enemies, especially, G. He's been in the federal game the longest. I'm sure he's compiled a whole boatload of enemies," Sam said
"Yeah, but most of those enemies would kill him, not frame him," Kensi said.
"Maybe it's the CIA that's doing it. I've seen what agents in that agency are capable of. People like Trent Kort. Maybe they see Callen as some sort of threat. Or maybe they're looking for a fall guy. Someone to take the blame for something one of them did," Tim said.
"There could any number of reasons. Unfortunately, if we try to find out which one it is, we could be arrested!" Sam said in frustration. Not that that bothered him much. He'd risk that and more to save his partner. But they would most likely get caught before they could even figure anything out and they would be right where G was now. That would hardly help anything.
"We have to do something. We can't just let him fry," Kensi said.
Tim had to agree with his partner. They had to do something. Callen was always there for all of them and now they had to be there for him. The problem was that they couldn't do that within NCIS. The CIA would most definitely be watching their every move. But there was someone he knew that wouldn't be watched. Someone who was no longer with NCIS. Tim loathed the idea of going to the man, but he would do it for Callen. "I have an idea."
