Author's Note: Another longish chapter, but we will start to see a little bit into Callen's past. I don't much like the ending of this chapter, but it was the only place I could break cleanly. Reviews are loved and my inspiration. Love you all!
Disclaimer: 'Operation Tayga', its description, and plotline are completely fictitious; any reference to past or present military operations or procedures is unintentional and unplanned. I also do not own NCIS, the characters, or anything recognizable. I make no profit from this.
NCIS:LA NCIS:LA NCIS:LA
Kensi slammed the bag of fast food down in front of Kimball and glared at him. "Eat this. And stay in the building this time." She snapped. "That is third time I caught you out back."
"You put me next to that beautiful beach and expect me to resist it?" Kimball asked innocently as he started digging through the bag.
"I expect you to follow my orders if you don't want to wind up with a bullet between your eyes." Kensi said with little emotion. Kimball shook his head and looked at Deeks.
"She always this bossy?" He asked.
"Oh, you have no idea." Deeks said with a slight grin. Kensi shot Deeks a playfully offended look and swatted his shoulder.
"Someone has to watch out for you two. Does anyone besides me know what the term 'safehouse' mean?" She sighed in frustration. Deeks glanced at her and gave an almost imperceptible nod. He knew she was still rattled about the brief but intense confrontation earlier. Deeks tilted his head toward the door and made the 'call me' symbol with his fingers and raised them to his face.
"Isn't it time to check in with Hetty?" He said, his words laced with double meaning. Kensi understood that he was giving her a chance to find out what was going on. She nodded at him gratefully and stepped out into the hallway and closed the door. She decided to kill two birds with one stone and double check the windows and doors on both floors of the house. As she walked casually through the house checking locks, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the only one that would probably let her know what was going on.
"Nell? It's Kensi. I have some questions and I want answers."
Deeks leaned against the wall of the heavily curtained dining room and watched their witness nonchalantly. It was only a few moments before the silence became marked in the room. It unsettled Deeks, but Kimball seemed fine with it. He ate casually, portraying that he was in complete control of his situation. He stood and crossed over to the window. He pulled back the curtain and Deeks grunted.
"Back away from the window, please. I would rather not have a dead asset on my record. Or an angry Kensi Blye on my back for allowing you to get shot."
Kimball sighed theatrically and let the blackout curtain fall back in place. "I didn't realize helping you guys meant I was a prisoner."
"You are not a prisoner, Kimball; we are trying to keep you safe. You can go anywhere you want inside the house, you just have to stay away from the windows and not go outside. Those are the rules. That's it." Deeks struggled to keep his patience; he had been parroting the guidelines all morning. Kimball shook his head.
"Fine." He walked out of the dining room into the den right next to it. He sat in front of the television and flicked it on. Deeks followed the man and leaned against the wall again. Kimball seemed to get bored with the show selection and started talking.
"So, you work with GG, huh?" He said it quietly, with a strange bite to the words.
For some reason Deeks felt resentful of the obviously acidic pet name Kimball kept calling his friend. "Yes, I work with Agent Callen." He stressed pointedly.
"Agent Callen, oh please." The man laughed strangely. "How desperate did they have to be to give him a badge?"
"Agent Callen is one of the finest agents NCIS has." Deeks retorted. "You should show him more respect."
Kimball looked around exaggeratedly. "I don't see the kid here. And I would think you would have more important things to do than defend his honor. Like keeping me alive." He laughed arrogantly. Deeks swallowed and resisted the urge to throttle the man.
"So, did you or sweet cheeks out there run that description I gave you?" Kimball asked with high interest.
"Agent Blye sent the description to our analysts an hour ago. They will be sending some pictures of known criminals matching the outline over with our replacements." Deeks said as calmly as he could.
"Wait, you guys are leaving?" Kimball sounded tense.
"Yes. Agents Hanna and Callen will be relieving us in about an hour." Deeks stated. Something flickered in Kimball's eyes that made Deeks nervous suddenly.
"Oh, little GG is coming back for round two? That will be fun." Kimball laughed; the meanest sound Deeks had ever heard. The detective opened his mouth to reply when Kensi appeared in the doorway.
"Deeks." That one word was loaded with meaning. Kensi looked more upset than Deeks could remember. She shot a look of pure loathing at Kimball, and the man's face hardened.
"Kens? What's wrong?" Deeks asked in concern.
"I need to talk to you. Now." She jerked her head over her shoulder. "Alone."
Deeks followed her into the main area of the house; far enough away from their asset they could not be overheard.
"What's wrong, Kens?" He repeated as his partner folded her arms and looked at him.
"I just called Nell to see if she knew anything about that blowup earlier. It was like pulling teeth to get her to tell me anything, but apparently Hetty approved her to tell me the bare bones. Which isn't very much; in fact, it is just enough to make me mad but give me no information whatsoever-"
"Kensi, you're rambling. Just tell me what is going on." Deeks grabbed her shoulders and stared at her.
"Okay. Apparently Nell and Eric found Kimball's record."
"Kimball went to jail." Deeks said, processing. "I am with you so far…"
"For eighteen years. For child abuse."
Deeks flinched. "Bastard." His knee jerk response didn't surprise Kensi at all, considering his own experiences with abuse. "But what does that have to do with Cal-"
"It was Callen." Kensi said in a rush.
Deeks looked like he had been slapped as shock worked through his brain. "You mean…we are protecting…someone that not only hurt a kid…but Callen?"
Kensi nodded, fury taking hold in her own face. "That about sums it up."
"Oh, don't look so depressed, Deeks." Kimball's voice made the agents spin around. The asset was standing behind them. "I' m not such a bad guy, once you get to know me." He grinned cheekily.
"You are damn lucky we need you, or I'd let you die." Kensi said in a low, threatening voice.
"Oh, come on, Kensi-doll." Kimball shrugged. "That was a long, long time ago; and honestly, the brat deserved it. He needed some toughening up. Looks like he still does, if he has a girl fighting his battles for him."
Kensi started breathing very deeply and Deeks knew she was a second away from snapping. He spoke up quickly.
"Let me give you some advice, buddy." Deeks tone was icy and anything but friendly. "I would quit while you are ahead."
Kimball smirked but stayed silent. There was a tense moment as all three stared at each other, no one wanting to be the first to look away. Deeks's cell phone suddenly buzzed and the detective reluctantly answered it.
"Deeks." He barked into the phone.
"Easy, killer." Sam sounded amused. "Has Kensi been rattling your cage?"
"Not her." Deeks said, keeping one eye on Kimball, who seemed too calm for Deeks's liking. Deeks finally walked out of the room to talk to Sam without being overheard.
"Oh." The tone in Sam's voice told Deeks Sam understood.
"Do you know?" Deeks asked tersely. "About him and what he did to-"
"Yep." Sam was curt, and Deeks guessed Callen was somewhere close. "Listen, we are on our way to the boathouse; we got a guy coming from DoD to tell us a bit more about Operation Tayga. We will be by to relieve you as soon as we are done."
"We…Callen is still coming?" Deeks said in surprise. "Is that wise? Considering?"
"Talk to Hetty about it." Sam didn't sound very happy. "I got to go. Watch yourself and Kensi."
Deeks hung up and bit his lower lip. He had a horrible feeling that the whole situation was like a case of TNT, and someone had just lit a fuse.
Sam hung up his phone and glanced over at Callen. His partner had his eyes closed and was resting his head against his fist, elbow propped against the door.
"You shouldn't talk on your cell phone while driving. It's dangerous." Callen commented quietly.
"I'm not driving. I'm sitting in bumper to bumper traffic waiting on a thousand cars and a red light. I think we're just fine." Sam said good-naturedly, hoping Callen was bantering as they usually did. But Callen did not respond.
"Callen? You okay?" Sam asked, concerned. "Callen? Callen!"
"Callen!" The harsh voice scared him; he knew when Kimball used that voice bad things happened. He had only been with Dennis and Sherry a few days, but he had learned that quickly. He had learned the first night that Sherry worked the night shift at the bar, and she was the only thing that stopped Kimball from getting angry with him. And when Kimball got angry…well…Callen rubbed his freshest bruise on his cheek, wincing at the pain.
"Where are you? Get in here or you will be sorry!" Kimball's voice was louder…he was getting closer. Callen knew Kimball would find him and he would be angry that he had had to look for him. Callen held his breath as he heard Kimball's footsteps get closer. Surely the man would not look in there…
"When I get my hands on you...you're gonna be in a world of pain, boy!" Kimball yelled, the voice getting fainter. He heard the front door slam and breathed easily for the first time since Sherry had left that night. He pushed the door all the way open and slid out from under the kitchen sink. Callen was safe for one more night, or so he thought until a hand clamped down on his elbow. He could smell the man's thick cigarette smoke on his breath as Kimball whirled him around.
"I told you you'd be sorry."
"G! Answer me or I swear to God I will take you to the emergency room!" Callen heard Sam snap with genuine concern. Callen shook his head, clearing the cobwebs of the memory away.
"I'm fine, Sam. Just a little tired." Callen stretched. "It's been…a long day. I'm fine."
Sam was staring at him with a strange expression on his face. "Right. And you have some oceanfront property in Wyoming."
"Best surfing in the country." Callen shot back.
Sam shook his head once. "If you ever decide to leave NCIS, you could get a job at a circus as a master escape artist, you know that?"
"Just call me Houdini." Callen said, nodding toward the exit. "We're here."
Sam growled to himself all the way into the boathouse, and Callen felt guilty shutting his friend out…again. But he had bigger things to worry about, he told himself sternly as he shook hands with the DoD agent, who introduced himself as Thomas Berrigan.
"Gentlemen, I hope you understand that what I am about to tell you is very sensitive and must be handled discreetly?" The small, nervous looking man said, adjusting his glasses with the air of a condemned prisoner.
"We are very discreet." Callen assured the man. The agent looked at the two with traces of skepticism on his face.
"Alright. What would you like to know?"
"What was Dr. Frement working on that required a protection detail?" Sam asked.
"Or was worth kidnapping him over?" Callen supplemented.
Berrigan sighed. "Well, initially Operation Tayga involved finding better, more reliable vaccines for different viruses such as anthrax."
"Sounds innocent enough." Sam commented.
"It was. In fact, it wasn't even classified stuff. Except, Dr. Frement discovered a completely new virus by accident."
"A bad one?" Sam asked anxiously.
"One of the worst I've ever seen. And if we could find it, you know someone else could. Operation Tayga instantly became classified, and the people involved began to study and document the new disease. We figured if we could discover an antidote before one of our enemies discovers the weapon, we could neutralize the threat."
"But someone kidnapped your lead scientist before you could discover the antidote." Callen guessed.
Berrigan nodded. "Bingo. What's worse; Dr. Frement could replicate the virus again. We feel that whoever has him knew he could do so."
"But that would mean…" Sam trailed off.
"There was a leak in our intelligence. Yes." Berrigan nodded. "And I am afraid we don't know how deep it goes."
Callen shook his head and Sam frowned. "Is that all you can tell us?"
"I am afraid so. Although…I can tell you this. The Tayga virus can be made in a powder form, which makes it very easy to spread. It is also very fast-acting; it could wipe out half of Los Angeles in less than an hour. "
"Great. I hate this." Sam said in a tired voice. "You have given us nothing to go off of, just to tell us we could all die."
"Allow me to finish. The Tayga virus needs a high, concentrated level on energy to be made. Whoever is responsible for this would need a lot of power and a considerable amount of time; even with Dr. Frement, it takes a while to form."
"We can at least start looking in old factories or power plants." Sam said, slightly mollified.
"It's a start." Callen agreed. They thanked the agent and left quietly; Callen making a phone call to Eric to start the search.
"You ready to go on protection detail?" Sam asked, with an underlying tone of concern.
Callen didn't even bother responding to it. "We will need to get some supplies; Kensi says there is no food in the house."
"There you go again, Houdini." Sam shook his head as he buckled up. "You know you can't hide from me forever, right?"
Callen sat straight up and stared at Sam. He willed himself to calm down. Sam said it is a teasing way…he didn't mean it like…
"You can't hide from me forever, GG. You know that!" Kimball's voice was carrying up the stairs. Callen was hiding again, although he knew it would do no good. He had been with Dennis and Sherry for six days now. Every day he had invented new excuses to Sherry and to his teachers for the bruises. He had been getting to school early and staying as long as he could; even helping the janitors clean up, just so he wouldn't have to come back to the house. But it was Saturday…Sherry was working all day and there was no school. Which was why he was hiding in the towel closet, not daring to breath.
He had no surprise when Kimball yanked the door open. He felt the man grab him by his shirt, but he was detaching himself from the scene. He barely felt the fist connect with his jaw, just winced slightly as he felt blood trickle from his lip. Kimball was livid.
"You hid it. You stole the box." His voice was quiet; that was when he was the most dangerous. "The one by the door."
Callen didn't deny it; it would do no good. Kimball wasn't in the mood to be reasoned with.
"Well, you need to be punished. I told you not to touch the box." His voice was cold. Callen suddenly couldn't detach himself any longer. He was getting better; not showing fear or weakness immediately. But he couldn't help the cold sweat that broke out on his face as Kimball pulled him closer to the stairs. He held Callen on the edge of the landing, back to the steps.
"Please! I'm sorry!" Callen said, against his will. He didn't want to ask this man for anything; it wouldn't do any good anyway. And he hated how small he sounded.
"You like running and hiding, right?" Kimball said with a cruel smile. "Let's see how you like falling."
He let go of Callen's shirt and pushed-
"Callen!" He felt Sam shake him. "What's wrong?"
He shook himself again, and opened his mouth to answer.
"And don't tell me you're fine. I know you aren't. Answer me or I'll call Hetty and have her pull you." Sam meant it.
"Okay. I'm not fine. But I cannot be pulled off this case, Sam. I cannot." Callen said quietly. Sam watched his partner's face for a moment, then nodded.
"Alright. I'll leave it alone. For now."
Silence reigned through the shopping run and all the way to the safehouse. Callen opened the door and nodded to Deeks, who was standing right inside.
"Well, well, well. You actually came back. I wondered." The voice was mocking and impressed at the same time.
Kimball.
Callen turned to face him. The man was walking toward him slowly, a smirk on his face. Callen took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. He wasn't a scared little boy anymore. And Kimball was going to find that out.