Detour
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: As you all know, the characters in this story are made up by Shane Brennan and belong to CBS. Nevertheless, I'm glad to play around with them!
California State Prison || Lancaster
The smug smile on the man who had worked quite unnoticed in their office for years and years surprised Deeks and Kensi. In fact, it annoyed Kensi so much she hardly was able to hide it.
"I could've killed you easily. All of you. And you-" he tilted toward the junior agents as far as his cuffs enabled him and confessed in a lower voice: "especially you two and that naïve techie would never see it coming."
Carl Brown then leaned back in the plain plastic chair and sent them a satisfied smile.
Now Deeks put his elbows on the table and leaned over to the other man as far as he could. and looked the rather dull looking and corpulent man in the eyes. He shook his head and said: "Carl. Carl, you know that you are in this rather unpleasant place not because of us. True, we let you live and had you sent to this place. But the real reason you're in here is because of somebody else. Someone who will not help you out of here."
Kensi sent the man one of the sweetest smiles she had. One that made Deeks smile inwardly because he knew it meant trouble. "You'll meet people in here who will - how shall I say... they will like to comfort you. That's right, aint it, Deeks?"
The detective nodded, looking serious now.
The too heavy man licked his lips nervously now. "What do you mean - comfort?"
Deeks smiled pathetically. "Imagine something like intimate hugging, Carl. Until your trial you'll experience the people in here are really nice for their fellows. You haven't experienced one of the shower sessions with your inmates yet, I can see."
Again, Brown looked rather scared and nervous. "And what if I told you more. Then we'll get out of here, right?"
Deeks now sat upright and let his hands go through his messy blond hair. He then nodded slightly.
"Paul Angelo." Another smug smile appeared on Carl Brown's face.
Both Deeks and Kensi managed to hide their surprise to this confession. Then Deeks pushed back his chair and rose, while Kensi nodded and smiled friendly to Brown once again. "Like you said, we'll get you out of this room. Thank you."
She then followed Deeks who knocked on the door, letting the guards know they were ready.
"Wait, wait," Brown now begged. He finally realized there was no reduction of sentence granted like he had hoped.
"Indeed, we're out of here," Deeks simply replied. Then he chuckled, more or less to himself 'Remember, you'll know a raccoon when you see one, Mr. Brown.'
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NCIS Office of Special Projects || Los Angeles
"Look-ezar-naadzja street. Or something like that."
Eric sighed in relief, now he managed to tell the others to where he had followed the trail that led all the way from Los Angeles to the place their operations manager was last seen. Not by him, but by traffic camera's.
"It wasn't really that hard," he proudly said. "And since there's no KGB anymore it won't be any trouble at all. Though I don't know what the FSB will think of it."
Nell simply ignored her partner's chatter and put a map on screen. With a small laser pen she pointed at the black, non-distinct Nissan that halted at the beginning of a long street with small houses on both streets. "If you look carefully, you'll see her get out of this car."
Although the person on screen stayed more or less hidden in shadows, it was clear by seeing the posture of the person who got out. The four of them knew it was Hetty indeed.
"Well done." Sam simply said.
Callen looked closer. "This is November 4th, which is consisting to what we know."
He looked as his watch. "How about our paperwork, y'have it all ready for the four of us, just in case?"
"Like I said, yours was easy Callen, since your alias Gilles Carlson from Manitoba already existed. We have a press card, a driver's license and passport for you already. You're a writer for the Winnipeg Sun. And you will be Sam Hanson, photographer for that same newspaper. Kensi and Deeks can go as Kathrin Brewer and Martin Dawson who write a background story on the climate changes and how this effects the surroundings of a large basin."
"Wait… That is serious business you want them to write about? How about the two of us?" Sam asked.
The small redhead smiled sweetly. "Bird hunting?"
"Wait-wait… Did I hear bird hunting?" Deeks' voice came from behind them. "Sounds terrific. Russian birds must be awesome, right, Fern?"
Sam shook his head. "That's clear enough. Nell, you should switch those items we work on."
The only words that sounded reasonable came from Kensi. "It's mister 'Three Hearts' we'll be looking for. Paul Angelo. That lying traitorous agent Hetty sent away."
Callen looked up when he heard the name. "He told you that, did he? So, Carl Brown wasn't the one behind this after all. But really… Paul Angelo?"
He shook his head, remembering how the agent he never worked with but whose name had rang a bell when the team had been assigned with the case of getting Krokodil Crock off the streets.
He remembered the only time he really dealt with Angelo. However, the two never talked. When they met, Callen had been wearing the filthy old coat from Deeks and using a syringe to get Paul Angelo off the case since his cover was doubted. At first, it was to protect Angelo. Only hours later, Paul Angelo managed to betray the one who trusted him, once – Hetty. And yes, it nearly got Callen killed too. Because instead of giving him a save-word, Paul Angelo gave him a word that made the baddies realize they're work was breached.
And now Hetty was after Angelo?!
Another glance at his watch told him there was at least 18 hours left to think about it.
"Time to go, guys."
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Volgodonsk || Ul. Luchezarnaya || 14.26 PM
By now, Hetty hardly felt her fingers, her hands, anymore. And although the place was pitch-dark, she felt there was water in the basement as well. More than beforehand.
Things had turned out very, very different from what she had expected. Different and far from good.
And Hetty knew that if the water kept coming in this basement at this pace, she'd be gone in 10 hours from now.
Unless of course she managed to escape herself, or when Paul Angelo came back to get her out of here, or the water level would drop. In a way, she could accept an ending like this.
And she knew she made a terrible mistake.
She shouldn't have come to find the man who was once the boy Pyotr Pavlovitsj Gavrilov. Little Pyotr appeared to have grown into being a far more evil man right now. How on earth could it be she never saw this coming? And how on earth did she get in this position - getting caught?
Now the cold definitely settled in her tiny sixty-six years old body, she could not stop the painful coughing anymore. Still, Hetty Lange did not want to give up.
All she wanted to do was to warn her team for the damage that could be done by this agent who went rough.
There was more than Paul Angelo had told her. Things that she needed to figure out, before… Well, before it was too late.
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Rostov-na-Donu airport | 14.30 PM
At least they had won 11 hours, getting from Los Angeles to the city Rostov-na-Donu. It had been a long flight in a crowded plane, and as ever, Callen dozed off easily. During the periods he was awake, he realized how much this situation resembled the time they followed Hetty to Prague and from there on, to Romania.
This time, the team was left in the dark about the real reasons they're mystery Operations manager had to travel to Russia.
All that mattered now was to find her and ask.
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