Chapter 2

16 hours earlier—4 am local time. Nell Jones' residence, Los Angeles, CA.

Nell woke up at early o'clock, as her mom would say, to the sound of her work phone ringing. Unceremoniously slinging an arm across her bed, she snagged the offending device and answered the call. "Nell Jones."

"Good morning, Miss Jones," Hetty replied. "I am truly sorry to rout you from your bed at such an hour, but I have just received word of a timely development in a case we are tracking from our friends in Hawaii."

"The arms dealing case."

"Correct. Five-0 has just decrypted information indicating that the main city of import into the contiguous United States is, oh dear, Bye Locksi Mississippi?"

Nell resisted the urge to laugh. "B'luxi. Home of Keesler Air Force Base, home of the Air Force Hurricane Hunters."

"Precisely, Miss Jones. And by directive of Secretary Porter, you are about to embark on a group field trip. Apparently, this case is determined significant enough to require a collaboration with the D.C. crew as well as Five-0. Anyways, I need you here as soon as possible for a skeleton briefing before I send you all back home to pack."

"Understood, Hetty. I'm on my way."

5:30 am, NCIS Office of Special Projects, Los Angeles, CA.

Nell and Eric had just put the finishing touches on the backstopping for way too many aliases when the rest of the team dragged themselves into Ops. Hetty followed just behind her sleepy agents, silently hoping none of them would strangle each other before the day, let alone the month, was over. "Miss Jones."

"We have received notification courtesy of Hawaii Five-0 that a gang of arms dealers we have been monitoring is shipping their arms into the contiguous U.S. through here," and she tossed a map onto the big screen, "Biloxi, Mississippi."

"By order of SecNav," Granger put in as he stepped into Ops, "you are headed for a joint task force on an extended undercover op."

Hetty shot him a warning look. "Miss Jones, details only please, we're rushed for time."

"Okay, details. We're going to Biloxi. Gibbs team and Five-0 are meeting us there. Pack clothes for a week, we'll have a washer and dryer. Bring street clothes and beach items. Identities are military brats or retired military, so you may dress accordingly. Hetty, what did I miss?"

"You are going to a beach house on vacation. Mr. Beale, Mr. Deeks, Miss Jones? Bring your surfboards. Mr. Deeks, you may bring our canine associate along as well; he will lend an air of authenticity and could be useful."

"Umm, how long are we looking at? I need to know how much dog food to bring."

"I have secured your location for a month with ability to extend beyond that. However, you should be able to purchase whatever is required nearby, so a few days worth should be sufficient, Mr. Deeks."

"We have a flight out of Pendelton at 10 to Meridian Naval Air station. We're driving from there," Nell added.

"Miss Jones and Mr. Beale will conduct a full briefing once all teams have arrived on location. Have a good trip."

6 pm Central Time, The Beach House, Biloxi, MS.

Nell had spent much of the transit time pouring over floor plans and discussing logistics with Callen. But even the floor plans Hetty had provided didn't do the majestic beach house justice. The private drive would around behind the house to the underground garage, which contained a row of neatly parked vehicles with 3 additional spaces. As Callen parked the Excursion, Nell put on her teacher voice and called, "Okay, everybody, listen up! You may exit the car and retrieve your luggage, but then await further instructions. They're from Hetty, so don't shoot the messenger!"

"D.C. team is an hour out, Five-0 maybe fifteen minutes behind them," Callen updated.

"That's enough time to work with."

The agents and Monty piled out and unloaded the SUV. "Okay, we're taking the tour to familiarize with our territory," Nell stated. "I quote, You may leave all personal possessions in your assigned rooms until all teams have arrived, at which point full briefing and instructions will be given, end quote. Okay, this is the garage, obviously. Only other means of entrance or exit is the door over there, which opens outside from the stairwell." Nell lead the way towards the far end of the garage. "Don't ogle the cars, Deeks, I don't know which ones Hetty has assigned to who. On your left is the mudroom, which should really be called the sandroom; beyond that is the full bath for use cleaning up from outside. More on those rooms later. Upstairs," by this point she was halfway up, "ground floor is living area, top floor is bedrooms et cetera." She ran out of things to say, which was just fine considering she wasn't entirely sure she had words upon first look at the living areas. The stairs ascended into the spacious kitchen, which opened over a bar into the dining room. A grand staircase divided them from the living room, with a pantry tucked underneath. The entire ocean side of the house, along with the dining room and living room's outer walls, were floor to ceiling windows opening onto the private beach. The tasteful, casual furnishing pulled tones from the ocean, with a honey-sand wood tone and sea foam green predominating the color scheme.

Once the team had taken in the view, Nell continued upstairs. Around the staircase, an O-shaped balcony provided access to the bedrooms. "Rec room's in the back, underground, more on that later." Nell lead to the front-most door on the right. "Kensi, you're in there with Kono and Catherine. Five-0 boys are right over there," she gestured to a door directly across the stairwell, accessable by the balcony, "so they're just a few steps from their team." Kensi's door was one side of a U-shaped inlet, with a door on each side. Nell next opened the door in on the left, leading into the bedroom and depositing her luggage along a wall. "Ellie and I are in here. Deeks, Eric, you get the corner room, with an ocean view. Both rooms open into the Rec room, which I will get to in just another minute." She stepped back out and lead to the other side of the O, which was a mirror image. She opened the room analogous to Eric and Deeks'; "Sam, Callen. D.C. guys are next door, and Five-0 in the front. Okay, the mysterious Rec room." Nell used the communicating door to enter the room from Sam and Callen's. One side of the Rec room was a home theater, complete with projector screen, while the other was lined with desks separated in the center by another projector screen. "Our MTAC on one side, tech ops on the other. MTAC side closet is D.C. armory, Ops side is ours. Five-0 has a closet armory off their boy's room. Hetty says to get the armory and Ops set up before the other teams get here," "Which is in 45 minutes," Eric finished. "Let's get cracking."