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Chapter 4 - Never Be A Victim Again

Callen left his colleagues and searched for Joann. He found her at the shooting range and waited quietly.

Joann finally gave in and turned to him.

"What?"

"You know that we cannot classify this thing as 'private'?"

Joann said nothing, staring straight ahead. Finally, she nodded. "Yes, I know. It's just..." She shrugged her shoulders. "I just wanted that private stays private."

"In a way, that's it. After all, your colleagues are your friends."

Joann sighed. "Well, if someone has been snooping around in my past, then better the colleagues who are also my friends."

G hesitated a moment. "If you'd told them earlier about this..."

"... that would have changed nothing."

"Maybe, nevertheless. Eric would have had him on the screen and we would not have been surprised by the situation."

Joann's eyes were expressionless. "Maybe."

Callen let drop the subject. He knew that Joann had had reasons for her silence. It was not up tp him to judge, whether it was right or wrong.

"Let us go back. Possibly Eric has already found something."

They found the rest of the team in the Ops.

"You're just right. Davenport was released completely legal. Apparently his family has hired a bunch of expensive lawyers who should be looking for a way to get him out of jail. One has succeeded. It looks like he has found a very tiny vice of form that did not see the other lawyers. It would require a new trial against him, but so far the DA's office seems to do nothing."

Joann did not trust her ears. After all, what she had to endure in order to get him to prison, Davenport now was released and threatened her. Her colleagues were aghast.

"Damned formal errors!" Sam was pissed.

"I am a danger for the team." Joann's voice was emotionless.

"Nuts!" Kensi wanted to give comfort to her friend.

"No, Miss Blye, Miss MacKenzie is right." Once again Hrtty had approached unheard. "As long as we have no precise information on Davenport, we must assume that Miss MacKenzie's cover do no longer exists. We need to find out whether she is still safe."

"Do we have the same situation as at the time with Keelson?"

Sam's question was justified, but Hetty shook his head.

"No, I do not think so. This seems to be like a targeted attack against Miss MacKenzie, not against the OSP or NCIS."

"Then I'll better go. If I was observed, I have to get out of here."

"We have not been observed, Jo, that would not have slipped my attention."

Her only comment on Callen's substantive objection was just a snort.

"I'm going to the L.A.P.D. and see if they know anything or can do anything for us." Deeks rose.

"I'm coming with you. You're still not very popular there."

"No, but Joann is. She has left a permanent impression with her effort on the container ship."

"Nevertheless, a charming smile can not harm."

"Kensi is right, Deeks. You both will go." Then Callen turned to Eric. "You will look about for any information regarding Davenport, his possible whereabouts, contacts here in Los Angeles. I also want a complete background check on him."

"Right, but I need support."

"Sure, Mr. Beale. Miss Jones shall help you. Oh, and if you stumble over obstacles, I will be informed immediately."

Eric nodded to Hetty and called Nell.

"Sam, we both go to the central NCIS mail dispatch and try to find out who delivered the package. Ray, you come along, too. We will probably have to sift a lot of surveillance videos. Jo, you support Eric. Give him all the information you have."

Joann tensed up extremely. G went up to her and spoke very softly.

"I know it's hard for you, but we must find and defang him. You are professional enough to know about it youself. So act that way."

Joann hesitated a moment, but then she nodded to him. She watched Sam and G leave, before she went to Eric.

If Joann had not been so tensed up by the whole situation, she might have been impressed by Eric's and Nell's work. The two worked together perfectly, almost like two halves of a whole. Joann answered the questions of them short but honest, mentioning names, dates, places, anything on that she could remember. When Eric and Nell began to hack into data bases, of which she had never heard, Joann went to get a coffee.

Lonely she was sitting in a chair and stared straight ahead. The memories of the events were so vivid as if it all happened yesterday. When Joann closed her eyes, she could smell his breath that reeked of liquor, hear his voice, which she berated sarcastically, feel his punches that hit her body.

"It's over, Joann."

Startled, she opened her eyes and looked at Nate. She had not even noticed that he had set himself to her.

"Damn, I am getting too distracted from it."

"No, you don't. You are safe here, you should know that."

Hearing that Joann was aware, that she had spoken her thoughts aloud.

"What happened back then has left its mark on you. As scares on your body, you will keep them all your life. They are a part of you. Joann, you can let them intimidate and slow you, or you draw power from this and become stronger." For a moment Nate looked at her, before he spoke on. "Joann, I know you quiet a while and I am absolutely sure that you've grown on it." Only a slightly raised eyebrow indicated that Joann was listening. "You're angry, frightened, maybe even a little scared. All these emotions fit the situation. You are entitled to them. You may be angry, frightened and anxious." Nate could see how it worked in Joann, while reflecting on his words.

"Never again victim."

"What?"

"I will never again be the victim."

"You have not been one and you will not be one."

"Of course I was a victim, his victim."

But Nate shook his head. "Davenport had surprised you, that's all. You have defended yourself, both in his attack on you and later on. Joann, because of you he has gone to jail!"

Irritated Joann responded Nate's view. "I have not fought back, he immediately knocked me out."

This time, Nate was confused. "Have you ever read the report from the forensics?"

Joann shook her head. "Why?"

"They have found his DNA under your fingernails and a dental impression in his shoulder. You definitely resisted, even if you do not remember."

Joann was a little stunned and processed the things heard. "I really cannot remember. Also no one told me about. In a trial it would probably come up, but so... Nate, why can't I remember?"

He shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I can give you no clear explanation. Perhaps the shock or blood loss. You had a head trauma from the beating, this is also a possible cause. Or you wanted to forget everything and have repressed the memory of the incident. It can also be a combination of everything."

Joann nodded. "I wish I had known it ..."

Nate could barely understand her, because Joann spoke under her breath.

"Thank you, Nate." For the first time since she had opened the package, Joann smiled again.

He returned the smile. "You're welcome, Joann."

Determined she stood up, made three cups of coffee and went to Eric and Nell. Perhaps she could do there something useful.

Relieved Nate watched her leaving.

"Well done, Mr. Getz." Again Hetty appeared out of nowhere.

"I just do my work, Hetty." Nate was embarrassed.

"Like all of us, right?" Hetty winked at him a moment, then became serious. "Therefore Miss MacKenzie does not know all what happened."

"No, I was surprised, too. There was no indication in her medical file to partial amnesia."

"Should she get to know it?"

Nate shook his head slowly. "No, Hetty, I do not think so. She is already tainted enough. Maybe when everything is over and Davenport is back in prison." Thoughtfully, he looked at Hetty. "Does Callen know?"

"No, Mr. Getz, I have not given him this part of the file."

He nodded understandingly. "We keep our knowledge better for us, at least for now."

Hetty nodded in agreement.

"There he is!"

Ray was the first to discover Davenport on the surveillance video. No one from the team knew how it worked, but Ray found things and people in the pictures at a rate reminiscent of a computer. Callen knew exactly why he had taken Ray with him.

"He really is so bold and delivers the package himself!" Sam panted with rage.

"He wants to dare us, Sam. Because of his training he knows that we review the tapes - and that we support Joann."

"He has tangled with the wrong crowd, G." The determination in Sam's voice spoke volumes.

"Yes, he did." Callen nodded, not less resolute.

"Since when are you so charming? I have not known that of you!"

Kensi was really impressed. Normally Deeks came into conflict with the people of the L.A.P.D., but this time he had been so kind that they had all eaten out of the palm of his hand. Well, the sympathy that Joann had aquired by the L.A.P.D., was also not been of damage.

"I'm good undercover, so I will manage to be nice to my 'colleagues'."

Deeks sounded slightly strained. The kindness didn't came naturally to him. Kensi gave him a gentle nudge.

"It's for Joann, I know. You are allowed to say that. 'cause I know that you would have done the same for all of us."

His tension subsided. He had feared that Kensi would be jealous, but he had forgotten that the two were best friends.

"You really think that the captain can make a difference?"

Deeks shrugged his shoulders. "I know the attorney he was talking about from his time in Los Angeles. Clever, of integrity, sometimes a little stubborn, but he did want not only right but also justice. Yes, I think he will help us."

"What have you found out, Eric?" Callen looked at him expectantly.

"This will not please you."

Eric looked at all seriously. A quick look at Joann said Callen that she knew what was coming.

"It is indeed a vice of form, so cleverly hidden that it seems like a coincidence. It is not. The release was planned well in advance. However, I still cannot figure out what went wrong, that it took so long to find the error. Anyway, he has flown quite legal to California, has took lodgings with a luxury hotel and visited old friends."

"Old friends?"

"Lucinda Rodriguez."

G looked at Joann. "Your ex-boss?"

She nodded. "Yes, apparently she and Davenport know each other from college. The two had a brief relationship and then became friends. Rodriguez is a friend of the family Davenport since then. This explains why she treated me so bad."

"And how Davenport knows where Joann works." Nell turned on. "Rodriguez has given him this information. She just could not tell him where our headquarters is located."

Sam nodded. "He wanted to get you to make a mistake, so he can find you, Joann."

"Well, he failed because Joann is to clever." The satisfaction in Ray's voice made the others grin.

"What's next?" Joann looked inquiringly at G.

"Eric, Nell, continue your search. I want to know who is responsible for the vice of form and why it was not found sooner. I also want to know the name of any other person with whom Davenport had contact since he is in Los Angeles. Deeks, what does your visit to the L.A.P.D. reveal?"

Attentively Callen listened the report.

Thoughtfully Sam looked over at Callen. "Should we pay him a visit?"

"That poses some risks."

"Yes, it is obvious to me, but that could get him to make a mistake."

Silently, the two exchanged glances.

"You will stay away from him." Hetty stepped in. "He is clever and dangerous. Your visit could enable him to track down Miss MacKenzie."

"We should him have shadowed."

"I have already arranged this. For now you can do nothing, so go home."