4. Drug Bust

Safe house of LAPD in Santa Monica (L.A.) | Friday, 8th July 2011, 08:23 am

"Kensi, we can't just leave here! We'll have to preserve the crime scene and… stuff like that." Deeks jogged after Kensi, barking Monty following him close on his heels.

Kensi rolled her eyes, sitting inside her car, while she talked to the radio, informing the LAPD of what had happened while her partner was still whining about them not being able to leave here. What did he think she was just doing? Did he think at all?!

Deeks opened the reel car door, letting his dog jump into the back before he sat down on the front passenger seat. "Seriously, Kens, we can't just break protocol like tha-" – "That's why I called it in, genius!" The brunette shook the radio in her hand so that her partner would finally recognize what she was doing. If she had hoped that might shut him up, she would have been wrong. "Alright, you called it in. We still can't leave; we have to wait until at least a squad arrives…"

Kensi sighed inwardly, but she managed to give Deeks a smile. "Yes, that's exactly what we're going to do. In the meantime, mind telling me what your secret undercover-job today was all about?" – "I can't, it's an open LAPD investigation… And I still think it tops major drug deal." Deeks winked at her, teasing her over their disrupted conversation.

"You forgot: and someone just tried to shoot my partner over it." For the first time this day, Kensi spoke dead seriously. "Deeks, this isn't funny. Someone targeted you because of whatever you're doing, so I need to know what it is you're hiding!" Why on earth did he look so pleased all of a sudden? Kensi always got a bad feeling when Deeks gave her his sunny-boy pleased-as-hell look. If she were a nurse, he would probably go on with a sponge-bath joke now. It was that look.

"What?" she snapped, when he didn't response to her question. "So you actually do care." Deeks grinned even broader, gazing at her face. "I knew it." Kensi did not know why, but she felt uncomfortable in this situation. She did not like that gloat of his – she did not like how it made her feel; all fuzzy and warm and butterfly-ish. Okay, she did not like this feeling with Deeks – she was more than fine when other men made her feel like this. "'Cause I do. You're my partner," she shot him off and folded her arms, forcing herself to break up the gaze between them and to look straight out through her windshield instead. "I'm calling Hetti too," she informed Deeks while pulling out her mobile phone. Nothing to break up a conversation, that made her uncomfortable, like calling her boss.

NCIS HQ, Los Angeles | Friday, 8th July 2011 | 11:37 am

"Two hours! I can't believe Hetti made us stay on that crime scene for two hours!" Deeks shut his car door with frustration, opening the posterior door for Monty. "What on earth was that all about?!" – "She just wanted us to take a good look around, in case the LAPD missed something." Kensi did not say what Hetti's real intention had been, in her opinion. Hetti didn't trust the LAPD, just as little as Kensi did after Deeks had finally filled her in. This was the reason why Hetti had made two of her agents stay with the crime scene and watch the investigation there. Deeks' job had been to surveil a dirty cop, and someone had tried to shoot him before he could get to it. The dirty cop himself could not have done it, so there were possibly other security leaks inside the Los Angeles Police Department. Kensi hated that Internal Affairs had made Deeks work for them; she knew how he felt about these guys, just like any other cop: he despised them, for obvious reasons. No one liked people who sniffed around where they shouldn't; cops investigating cops was just wrong.

Of course, telling Deeks that they suspected the complete LAPD to be in on the assassination attempt on his life was like telling a kid there was no Santa Claus. Worse, probably. Deeks put a lot of effort into pretending he didn't care about things, but he had a deep sense of honour, of loyalty. He was a good – more importantly, he was a very decent guy, even if he sometimes had a strange way of showing it. Kensi knew about her partner's many downfalls, but – although she never would have admitted it – she also knew about his hidden, honest side. She knew who the guy behind the clown's mask truly was, and she respected him. She liked him, in fact.

So, although the obvious answer came to her mind at once, as Deeks answered her comment about them looking after the LAPD forensic team not missing some traces by telling her that this was, in fact, not the first crime scene the police department investigated, Kensi didn't voice it. She just couldn't, there was a small part inside her that hoped that she and Hetti were wrong and this was no huge LAPD cover-up, where they tried to cut off loose ends by killing people working for the Internal Affairs department.

After having bickered all the way from Santa Monica down to HQ, they walked down the corridor in silence. Kensi was not quite sure what to make of Deeks' face now. She hadn't answered his last comment, so he shot some sideway-glances at her as they made their way up the stairs to OPS. He did not say anything, however, and that was very unlike him. Normally, he would try to break her silence with chatter, pushing her to reveal her thoughts. That he didn't do this now could only mean that he had thoughts of his own, he was wondering about her, about Hetti, about motives. He was a damn good cop, when he stopped bickering for a few moments, she realized.

Or he was just shut up for once – however unlikely that much luck on Kensi's behalf might be.

same place | approximately same time

Upstairs in OPS, Eric was chewing his lower lip while typing data as fast as he fingers would move. The constant clicking sound was almost like a little drum, performing a rhythm faster than he could think. And that was good, because it made it actually harder for him to think about certain things. For example, why Nell hadn't answered any of his phone calls last night, and when he wrote her an SMS in order to ask her if she wanted to go grab a drink wrote back that she wasn't feeling so good. He had asked her this morning, why she hadn't picked up her phone when he called, but hadn't received an answer – just one of those mysterious shrugs she used to give him when she didn't want to talk about something. Was it because of him, had Nell misinterpreted his invitation as some kind of sexual harassment? They were just friends, she had never really responded to his flirtation, so Eric had eventually stopped it. She wasn't interested, that much was clear to him; so he stuck to being her friend – which was pretty awesome, as well. The problem with Nell was that she never let people in on her thoughts; she was a bit like Hetti that way.

Nell sat right next to him, looking at her own screen and typing exactly as fast as him. Was he the only one who felt that their silence was uncomfortable?

"I just wanted to tell you," Eric carefully began a conversation, "that I didn't mean to ask you on a date or something last night." As soon as he'd said it, he felt his face burn with a blush. Gosh, why was this so awkward? "I just mean, not that you're not hot enough to ask you on a date or something, it's just…" He realized that Nell had stopped typing and was looking right back at him, frowning slightly. "No, I mean…" Damn. This was one of those moments, when you just couldn't find the right thing to say, because everything you said would ultimately be the wrong thing.

Someone cleared their throat, and when Nell and Eric turned around as though they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, they realized that Deeks and Kensi had been standing there the entire time, listening to Eric talk. Nell looked perfectly ashamed for a moment before she managed to put on a calm expression; Eric on the other hand did seemingly not know where to look and took a sudden interest in his own knees.

To their surprise, there was no gloating, no joking on Deeks' or Kensi's part. "What've we got, Nell?" Kensi just asked after a few seconds of awkward silence, and gladly, Nell jumped to her feet, walking over to the big screen. "Operation Mushroom. The NCIS got an anonymous tip that there will be a major drug trade at the Port of Los Angeles today." – "Anonymous tip?" Deeks interrupted, "since when do we follow anonymous tips just like that?"

Hetti, as always, seemed to materialize out of nowhere directly behind him. "We usually don't, Detective Deeks." Deeks almost jumped, although he should have gotten used to her Ninja-skills by now, he figured. "This tip, however, gave us genuine information about the Mexican Reynosa Cartel that had been classified by the FBI. It fits, furthermore, right into files of the on-going investigation concerning this cartel by one of our own teams in Washington." Deeks frowned. "But how can this…" Hetti nodded slowly. "It can't be, unless we have a spy in our midst, or the tip came from someone with intelligence originating inside the cartel. Since I don't think anyone at NCIS is talking to the Reynosa family, we must assume the tip as being genuine."

Deeks folded his arms and exchanged a look with Kensi. "I don't like it. Smells like a trap to me." – "You're not alone, Mr Deeks. That's why I send four of our best agents together with a SWAT unit to look into it. If it's a trap, the cat might have cornered a mouse they'd better left alone."

Nell and Eric had continued typing very fast on their keyboards, while Hetti was briefing Deeks on the Operation. "Alright, we're all set," Eric announced while hitting a last key. A life stream, obviously by a helmet camera, flashed up on the big screen; simultaneously Nell started talking to their agents on the other side of the line. "We've got eyes and ears, Callen", she informed them colloquially. "Copy that," G's voice sounded through the OPS room. Kensi, Deeks and Hetti stepped in front of the big screen, watching as Sam entered their frame and moved forward simultaneously with Callen.

Eric hit some more keys and a second life stream flashed up, showing another agent right in front of the camera. "We've got eyes and ears, Agent Coulby," Nell informed the second agent too, and smiled at the "Copy that, Ma'am" that she got in response.

"I had Agent Coulby and Agent Donahue step in for you, since you were otherwise engaged." Hetti informed Deeks and Kensi. Kensi nodded. "I know Coulby, he once showed me some good moves." Deeks raised his eyebrows, she quickly added: "Fighting moves, Deeks, not what you're thinking!" – "I'm not thinking anything," Deeks gloated right next to her, highly amused by the fact that he could bring her out of her shell so easily.

While the two teams of agents carefully scanned the harbour region that the anonymous caller had pointed them to, Hetti turned towards the two agents standing in OPS. "Miss Blye, what news from the crime scene?" Kensi silently reported about the three bodies, all John Does, and that the guns found in their possession seemed to match all shots fired so far. Hetti didn't comment on the rather sparse report as she watched the on-going operation. "I want the two of you to stay on this case," she finally declared, her eyes still locked to the screen. Deeks and Kensi both murmured their consent. An attempt on one of their lives was a serious problem, one that needed solving.

"And Miss Blye – keep your partner safe!" Hetti told them, as they were already half-way out of OPS. Kensi turned around, to say "Of course", but the words stuck in her throat. Suddenly there was gunshot noise; Agent Donahue dropped to the ground, just as Agent Coulby – according to the sudden frame shift of his helmet camera. Sam, too, hit the ground as obviously gunfire was also opened on the first group of agents. "Where's the SWAT unit?" Hetti barked, being the one who overcame her shock first. Agent Coulby lifted his head, one could see this by the camera moving, and then he seemingly crawled towards his partner, trying to get him into cover. At the same time, Callen's camera moved towards Sam, who already was halfway on his feet again, hiding behind a container with Callen, while they tried to localise the shooters. Nell and Eric already zapped through all observation cameras they could find of the area, doing just the same, as Kensi and Deeks watched in shock.

Several bullets hit Agent Donahue's unmoving body, just before, suddenly, Coulby's camera failed altogether, showing them nothing but snow. "Agent Coulby, come in." Nell's voice trembled, as she tried to reach their agents. "Agent Donahue, report status. Agent Coulby …"

"Agent Callen, can you make out our other team from your position?" Hetti's voice was restricted and calm, even if she looked a good deal paler than most times. "Negative, no sign of Coulby or Donahue." Callen's voice was disrupted several times by the sounds of gunshots, then, suddenly, there was silence on all channels and the second camera, too, showed them nothing but snow. The next second, all observation cameras of the harbour region were shut off completely, their screens showing nothing but blackness.

"What's the matter?" Hetti turned towards the two hackers, who were already typing faster than one could watch. "No idea," Nell replied beneath gritted teeth, "someone just… threw us out. They shut down our communication completely." – "Well, bring us back online!" Hetti watched the two nerds, who seemed to struggle with an attack on their system. Deeks and Kensi had finally overcome their shock, both had pulled out their mobiles, Deeks calling the LAPD for backup while his partner informed several ambulances.

Neither of the agents waited for Hetti's command. While they were still talking on their phones, they rushed out towards the exit, towards Kensi's car. There wasn't necessary to talk about this; their friends and colleagues needed their help desperately. That was all that counted.