Chapter Two

Callen's plane landed in Denver and when the flight attendant gave the all clear to use cell phones he placed a call to Jay Curry. He wanted to get rid of the files and be on his way.

When Curry answered his phone on the second ring and he suggested Zebulon Park, a few miles from the airport, as a meeting place. He explained that it would make the drive to Callen's hotel a shorter one than from the airport. Something in Jay's voice made Callen stop and take note and because he did that it meant that he couldn't accept the reasoning for the place of the meet as real. There was more to this file delivery than met the eye and when Jay felt the time was right Callen felt that he'd share with him. When Jay arrived and wouldn't share, Callen would talk with him and try to reason with him to get the rest of the information but he doubted getting the information would happen. His ex-partner could be extremely stubborn at some times and Callen felt this might be one of those times. Their stubborn streaks are what made them a good team. But Callen felt something "hinky" about the situation, as his friend Abby Scuito loved to say.

Callen took his time making his way through the airport, stopping to pick up a bottle of water and a snack or two to eat while waiting for Jay. He also waited for everyone else before picking up his duffle from the baggage carousel and renting his car. This was all done while trying to give Curry time to get to the park and for some reason Callen knew that Jay wanted to make sure he hadn't been followed. Maybe it was working so closely with him for the last two years that made it seem so. Callen shrugged and moved on.

Callen had spent the last few minutes eying the other people in the airport to be sure he'd not been tailed. Both men had called it 'gut instinct' while they worked together and both believed in self-preservation. It usually worked out well for them because of their cautious, stubborn natures.

Callen arrived at the park rather quickly after he'd spent all that time dogging it through the airport and still had to wait for Jay to get there. He found a bench in what little shade there was and ate one of the snacks he'd purchased. He took the time to look about and examine the area.

The park was a wide open space. There were a few trees and the city tried valiantly to keep a patch of grass and the gardens around it growing. They weren't doing so well with the endeavor. The west has been in a drought system for the last few years and even though Denver isn't exactly a desert it still suffers from a water shortage at times. Despite all that it was a pretty little park in a kind of 'down on its luck' kind of neighborhood. Children played on the swings and slides and ran around having fun while their parents looked on. Not one of them looked affluent or even comfortable with what they took home in wages and by the number of fathers there at two o'clock in the afternoon he thought that they many of them might be out of work.

Callen returned to watching the children play and felt that envy that he always felt at times like this. His childhood had been nothing like this. He always had to be older than his real age and wary of the adults in his life that used and abused the children in their care. It usually fell to him to keep the younger children safe as well. It was no way for a child to grow up and he hoped none of these would ever be in the foster care system. His mind went to when and if he ever had children and how he hoped their lives would be better.

While he pondered about the children on the playground and the ones, possibly, in his future, Jay arrived and sat next to him on the bench. The middle aged man who sat next to him had aged drastically in the last two months since he'd seen him. He looked haggard and had an ashen pallor to his skin. Callen wondered what had happened to him. "Thanks for meeting me here. I didn't think that you wanted to come to my office since you're newly set free." He gave a forced laugh but it wasn't filled with humor as he glanced about the park. Callen watched him with worry.

Callen's gut went crazy. Jay's behavior told him that something really wasn't right and in order to help him he needed to know what it was.

Curry's behavior and tone of voice brought G to an even higher alert level. He sensed a nervous level in his partner that didn't help with what he felt. "Jay, what's going on? Are you being watched or followed and if so, by whom?" G took a second to look around. "What is in these files that you wanted? There's almost nothing that we worked on together in here. I didn't recognize any of the file numbers."

Curry just grabbed the files. G kept his grip on them and met Jay's eyes but Jay just pulled them free and stuffed them in his brief case. "I'm working on something, something within the agency but the less you know the better. Besides you're not one of us now." If G hadn't known better he'd have thought that Jay was envious of his new freedom, but more so, he was afraid but of what or who?

Callen's jaw set and the tone of his voice made his point clear. "No, I'm just your mule." Callen didn't speak again right away. He took a moment and looked at the man who'd been his partner for the last two years. His faith in the man slipped a bit. "Is there anything I can help you with? Come on Jay, talk to me."

Curry got up to leave. "Call me when you get to LA. By then I should have all the information I need and will have brought him down. Talk to you then." Jay walked away and G walked back to his car. There was that feeling between Callen's shoulder blades that never boded well but if Curry didn't want to share he couldn't make him. Callen chose to walk away for the moment.

Callen climbed into the racy little BMW Z4 roadster he'd rented and drove to the Best Western that he'd stay at tonight. They suggested a restaurant down the street that had a nice little western theme working. The steaks he ordered reminded him of ones that he'd eaten at Gibbs house on many occasions and for one moment he regretted leaving the man behind. After dinner he opened his computer to map out the route he'd take tomorrow. It would be a long drive but he looked forward to it. These two months would be the vacation he hadn't taken in the last few years. He sat back and thought but he couldn't remember when he'd last taken time off of work to just do what he wanted. Every exotic location he'd visited in the last five years had an element of espionage or terrorism involved with it and he was tired. Tired of travelling, tired of being on his toes all the time and tired of not being in charge of anything. He'd been the low man on the totem pole for too long a time. He needed the rest that this trip would give him and he intended to get it.