***AUTHOR'S NOTE:: Hey everyone! I sincerely apologize for the delay in posting a new chapter. Life's been crazy (In a good way!), and I've barely been on my computer. Plus, my muse disappeared on me for a while. I promise this story WILL get finished! It just may take some time. :) Please hang in there with me. I *will* be updating as much as possible! I didn't forget about you all! Thank you so much for all of the wonderful reviews so far, too! I hope you all enjoy Chapter 4! Please let me know what you think! -A.E. :)***


When Callen came out of Arkady's house, Sam was standing against his Challenger in the street, a few houses up.

"You didn't need to follow me here," Callen barked.

"Arkady happy to see you?" Sam smirked, completely ignoring G.'s remark.

"He says he knows nothing."

"And?"

"And I don't believe him."

Sam nodded, still amused. "Maybe it wasn't him."

Callen stopped and looked directly into Sam's eyes. "If I had any doubt, do you really think I would've wasted my time coming here?"

"Knowing you?" Sam grinned.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"

"I think you're overreacting, G."

"I'm overreacting? I meet these guys halfway across the world, they try to kill me, I don't see them for ten years, and now, all of a sudden, they've resurfaced where I'm now living and just happen to be dead? That's overreacting?"

"Coincidence?"

"No," Callen shook his head, "this is no coincidence. Someone wanted me to find them."


Kensi and Deeks were now back at the office, both with their chins resting in the palms of their hands, lost in thought.

"She was involved," Kensi commented, annoyed, breaking the silence.

"What gave you that idea? Well, aside from the fact that she was lying to our faces the whole time and abruptly asked for a lawyer. I give the girl her props though. She's a great actor. She should win an Oscar for that performance," Deeks replied.

"Why would you lie about knowing your husband was dead?"

"She could've been in shock, or there could've been some pretty awesome life insurance policies that she was aware of. Oh, and there's the whole 'she did it' thing, too, which goes along with the pretty awesome life insurance policies."

"I don't think she was alone, Deeks."

"I didn't see anyone else in the house."

"No," Kensi shook her head, "her involvement. I think she had a partner."

"If she did it," Deeks cocked his head.

"You know she did it, Deeks. She pretty much told us without telling us."

"But we don't have any evidence to support that yet."

"So, let's find some."


Sam and Callen drove back to the office and met up inside. Callen got there first, clearly not learning from his previous speeding tickets and traffic school. Sam found Callen sitting alone with no one else in sight. Kensi and Deeks were upstairs with Eric. Callen's stare was blank, but Sam knew something wasn't right. He walked over and sat down across from Callen, leaning back and crossing his arms.

"What's on your mind, G.?"

"G.?" Sam called out again, after acquiring no response from Callen.

Callen looked up at Sam, his voice soft as he spoke, "What?"

"I asked what's on your mind, G." Sam studied Callen worriedly.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Do we really need to have this discussion again?" Sam asked, annoyed, wanting nothing more than for Callen to just tell him what's going on.

Callen hesitated and decided to be up front with Sam. He looked around, making sure they were the only two in the room before speaking.

"I got a call on the way back," Callen began, then pulled up his voicemail on his phone. He pushed play and set the phone on the desk, speaker on, allowing Sam to listen.

"You thought I forgot, didn't you? I never forget, G. Callen... or should I say Agent G. Callen? This is far from over."

Callen looked up at Sam and Sam cocked an eyebrow.

"Any idea who it is?"

Callen shook his head. "Not a clue."

"Number?"

"Blocked. Eric's trying to narrow down the location as we speak."

Sam studied Callen as he put his phone away and sat silent. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Callen responded, "I'm fine."

"Up here, G.," Sam tapped on his own head, indicating that he was questioning Callen's state of mind.

Callen sighed, locked eyes with Sam, then headed upstairs.


Meanwhile, Eric was filling Kensi and Deeks in on his findings.

"So," Eric began, slightly excited, "I ran a trace on Carli Chastain's cell phone and found..." He then pulled up a call log on the large monitor. "...this." Eric walked up to the screen and pointed to the numbers. "She made seven calls in the last two days to the same number. That doesn't count the incoming calls, which leave a count of six. I ran a trace on that number, and, of course, it's a prepaid burned phone, but..." He pressed a button on his iPad and switched the screen on the monitor. "...I found this. Store is just outside of Los Angeles, purchase date and time. Apparently, the buyer paid in cash, go figure, but maybe you could get surveillance tapes from the store owner?"

Callen walked in as Eric was finishing up, and Sam was close behind him. "What can you tell me, Eric?"

Eric gave Callen a look, unsure if G. was referring to the phone call or not, and Callen responded, "Case-related."

Eric nodded and repeated what he had just informed Kensi and Deeks of.

"Kensi, Deeks," Callen began, "go talk to the store's owner. Get those tapes, see if he remembers anything."

Deeks glanced at Kensi, and they both knew that something was going on.

"We're on it," Deeks replied.

Callen waited for them to exit and turned back to Eric quietly. "Got anything?"

Eric glanced nervously at Sam, then back to Callen. Callen answered, "He knows. What do you have?"

"Well," Eric started, displaying phone records on the monitor, "you're not going to believe this, but the number that she's been in contact with? That same number called your phone early last week."

Callen gritted his teeth. "I haven't received any unfamiliar calls until today."

"The call time was only two seconds, so my guess is that whoever dialed your number hung up before it could actually ring on your end."

"You can't trace the number?" Callen questioned, knowing Eric couldn't, but trying to hang on to a glimmer of hope, regardless.

Eric shook his head sadly. "Phone's burned. I've got nothing."

Callen sighed heavily and quickly left the room.

Eric glanced back up at Sam worriedly. "Is he okay?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Sam stated simply, giving Eric a nod of thanks and half-smile for digging up what he could, then removed himself from the Ops Center.


Sam looked down to the ground floor, noting that Callen wasn't at his desk. He took a quick look around, unable to find him, and knew that there was only one other place he could've gotten off to that quickly.

Looking through the glass window of a door, Sam's instincts were right. There, he watched as Callen discharged his weapon into the chest of a target, firing multiple rounds until his clip was completely empty. As Callen went to reload, Sam opened the door and let himself in.

"Pretty sure you got him, G. I don't think any more rounds will make a difference," Sam teased, hoping to lighten the somber mood.

Callen turned around, obviously annoyed. "Not now, Sam." He, then, continued reloading until he was ready to fire again.

"What's goin' on? Talk to me. Somethin' you're not tellin' me? This isn't like you, G."

Callen ignored him and cocked his weapon. "If you plan on staying in here, you better cover your ears."

Sam sighed and donned a pair of earmuffs, knowing Callen wasn't about to comply any time soon. He studied his partner's body language as Callen continued shooting.