Half Moon Bay
Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.
Chapter 4
Los AngelesCallen stood in front of the digital table in the middle of the Ops Centre, with his team gathered around him. Their expectant faces gazed on him, as he revealed his plan to them. Hetty stood opposite him at the far end, observing.
"Sam and I will fly on the arranged domestic flight later this morning to San Francisco. We will send a tip through to Sidorov of our departure, to lure him to follow. He wants Quinn, so Sam is going to deliver on his request."
"How are you going to send a tip through to him?" Kensi inquired.
"Arkady," Callen confirmed.
"I thought we didn't heed to terrorists?" Deeks could not believe that Callen's plan was to do this.
"It's the best way to make him think he's getting what he wants, Deeks. But it will be a trap." Callen explained further. "Gibbs will be on a roof top constantly watching Michelle's back. He will be situated with a sniper rifle ready to shoot Sidorov when he's about to take Quinn from Sam. I'll have Sam's back."
"That's it? I thought we were a team. Kensi and I should be there to back them up too. I know you don't want me on this team, Callen, but this is so wrong." Deeks had had enough of feeling less than adequate on the team.
Callen's body tensed as he looked over to the detective. Blue eyes met blue eyes, like a Mexican standoff. Kensi could feel the electricity in the room intensify. She looked to Sam in hope that he would sort them out before one or both of them got hurt. Sam looked to Hetty who only shook her head.
Callen noticed the looks of his team. He averted his gaze and exited the room and ran down the stairs. He needed to get his head on straight. His head continued to pound, not helping his cause for focusing on the task at hand. But what he didn't expect, was for the detective to follow him and verbally attack him head on.
"This is not going to work if we don't work as a team, Callen. You are not alone in this fight with Sidorov. We've all suffered at the hands of this man..."
"You don't get it do you, Deeks?" Callen interjected. "This is not about me not wanting you on this team. It never has been."
"What?" Deeks looked at their team leader confused. "But you told me very clearly that you didn't want me here..."
"Obviously not clear enough," Callen snapped back. He shook his head. "You spend too much time talking, that you never see the big picture."
"Look, I know I talk far more than you and Sam put together, but I observe things too, you know. This talking, it's part of my cover..."
"I never meant for you to think I never wanted you here on the team. If I didn't want you here, Deeks, you would never have been here in the first place," Callen told Deeks plainly.
"But I thought you didn't trust me?" Deeks was trying to figure the man out before him. He was as much of a mystery as their Operations Manager.
"Don't you see it, Deeks? I have far more in common with you than I do with anyone else in this building. You are the closest person here who understands what I've been through," Callen admitted. "And you proved your worth a long time ago when you saved my butt from those Iraqis when we had to rescue Kensi." Deeks thought back to before he worked full time for the team. It was his second case with NCIS team.
"I don't understand. Why did you say you didn't want me here then?" Deeks asked him. He had misjudged the man before him badly.
"Not if you didn't want to be here, or if you weren't ready after what happened with Sidorov..."
"Oh, so that's why I'm being sidelined," Deeks analysed.
Callen shook his head. "I can't have you go through it again, Deeks. Sidorov won't let you live this time if he sees you again. I can't let it happen again."
Hetty observed the two men from the balcony, intrigued of what was transpiring below. Finally Callen was breaking his walls down to the detective.
Deeks stood dumbfounded from Callen's confession. He had admitted his true feelings of what he felt for him.
Callen felt awkward under Deeks' gaze. "It was my decision to bring Janvier back to the U.S. I hold full responsibility for what happened to you, Sam, Matt, Ava, our kids...and what is about to happen. It this goes wrong, it will be my head alone on the chopping block."
"This is where you're wrong, Callen." Deeks tried to find his voice again and argue his point across. "We're a team. We go together."
"No."
Deeks became frustrated under Callen's stubbornness to refuse his and Kensi's help.
"I need you and Kensi to fly on a private jet into Half Moon Bay, undetected. To keep Ava and the kids safe, while we deal with Sidorov. This includes Sam and Michelle's daughter as well."
"What?" Disbelief appeared on Deeks' face. "You...you want Kensi and I to protect your's and Sam's families?" Callen's words sunk in.
"Yes! I need people I can trust. Depend on." Hetty smiled as she saw the two men resolve their misunderstanding. That is how she had seen it from the beginning. She was always right. It just needed her team leader to break his walls down and allow Deeks into his inner sanctum.
Deeks was speechless. Instead he moved forward and gave Callen a hug. He felt accepted, finally. A place to call his home. A family who he belonged to. He felt Callen stiffen in his embrace, but he knew it was because he struggled to show his emotions to others. "Thanks, Callen. We won't let you or Sam down," he finally said, his voice choked with emotion.
Kensi and Sam joined Hetty to see Deeks hug Callen. "What happened?" Kensi asked her, surprised at what she saw. She was expecting a fist fight with blood and bruises. Not a hug.
"Mr Callen broke his walls down to Mr Deeks and confessed his true feelings towards him," Hetty told them with mist in her eyes.
"What, our G?" Sam inquired. "He must have been hit harder than we thought." Sam chuckled over the mysteries of his partner. "He is ready for this op isn't he, Hetty?" Sam's worry for his partner suddenly returned. He worried for his wife and his partner, but he was glad Gibbs was already in place for extra backup.
"You know your partner better than anyone, Mr Hanna. He'll see this through to the end. Just make sure he doesn't die in the process, will you?" Hetty looked to her other senior agent. "He needs to survive this. We all do." The toll from the trauma Sidorov and Janvier had placed on the team, showed on the ageing woman.
"I'll have his back, Hetty. I always do," Sam ensured her.
"I don't doubt that, Mr Hanna. But this is going to be a hard one for you. A decision may have to be made on who you are going to save. Your partner or your wife. Just remember that Agent Gibbs is there to back up your wife. Work as a team," Hetty stressed.
Sam nodded. This operation had become too personal a long time ago. "We'll end Sidorov, Hetty. It needs to happen today. This cannot go on like this any longer."
"That I agree with you, Mr Hanna. Remember you have the President's approval to shoot to kill on this one." Sam smiled as he thought over the advantages of having one's sister married to the President of the United States. However he was well aware that the situation that occurred at Camp David the year before was the only reason why Deion had given his approval for the shoot to kill of Isaak Sidorov and his men.
"Yes, Hetty." He walked down the stairs to rescue his partner from a very appreciative Marty Deeks.
San FranciscoThe plan had been initiated cleanly. Sidorov took the bait and followed them up to the city of San Francisco. Sam and Callen waited in position to where they had prearranged with Gibbs, for Quinn. Callen hid his amusement as Michelle transformed into CIA operative Quinn in her masquerade for Isaak Sidorov. He knew Sam struggled with her performance as she played so friendly with the Russian Arms Dealer.
"David." Quinn greeted her partner, pretending she had no idea he was Federal Agent Sam Hanna. "What are you doing up here? It's not that I'm not happy to see you, I was working on a job for a client when you called." She looked at Callen. "Whose your friend?" She smiled sweetly at Callen. "Aren't you a gorgeous one, with those sapphire blue eyes?"
Gibbs controlled his amusement, knowing how awkward Callen was feeling at that moment.
"Is she for real?" Callen asked his partner. "She's Quinn? The one that Russian wants?" Gibbs was impressed how smooth Callen was in his role. It was imperative for Michelle's safety that Callen showed no recognition towards her. They knew Sidorov was nearby watching.
"Isaak is here?" Quinn asked surprised. "What does he want this time? Another job?"
"No you," Sam replied.
A sound of clapping was heard from their left as Isaak Sidorov made his appearance with four of his men. "Well, well, well. I have to thank you Agent Sam Hanna for making my job so much easier."
"You led me into a trap? You betrayed me?" Anger rippled through Quinn's body as she played dumb.
Quinn took a step back but she was held by Sam, in fear of losing her to Sidorov before Gibbs could take him down.
"You betrayed me, Quinn. You played me well."
"What are you talking about?" Quinn tried her best efforts to appease the Russian. Sam had told her Sidorov knew she was a Federal Agent. But how much did he know?
"A gun for hire. Huh! What a surprise when I discovered someone you had supposedly killed for me suddenly shows up in a small Canadian town, very much alive." Any fondness Sidorov had for Quinn could no longer be seen in his eyes. "I paid you good money, too."
Quinn stood still, eyes wide open as she tried hard to think of the people she had saved from Sidorov by faking their deaths. There were 9 of them all up. Which one had he found and were they still alive? She had done her job well for her government. She had been the only agent to successfully infiltrate this paranoid arms dealer's group.
"So I decided to do my own research on you, Quinn. I had a man follow you, and what a surprise to find you living the American Dream in a suburban Los Angeles home with your husband and two children."
Fear rippled through Sam and Michelle's bodies as their nightmare worsened. "I have some men in Half Moon Bay as we speak to sort out the mess you and Agent Gibbs left last night with my other man. What? You think I would not keep tabs on you, Mrs Hanna?" Sidorov displayed a frighteningly calculating amused look on his face.
"Callen, I need the word and I'll shoot," Gibbs spoke through his comms. All of them feared the danger their children and grandchildren were now in, while they sat as sitting ducks beside Isaak Sidorov.
"How's the head, Agent Callen? Still throbbing?" Isaak mocked him. He turned to Quinn. "I then had someone follow you to Washington D.C. What a surprise to find you are related to the First Family. Did you think you could return to your normal life and not be found out?"
"My head is fine," Callen stated. He appeared to not care about the threat on Sam and Michelle, but the fact was, he used his code word 'Head' to signal to Gibbs to fire.
Gibbs pulled the lever and fired one, two, three, four, five shots out simultaneously at Isaak Sidorov and his men. The look on Sidorov's face of disbelief as the bullet ripped into his flesh, slicing into his heart, would stay ingrained in Michelle and Sam's memories till the day they died. Finally after ten years, they were safe from the paranoid Russian Arms Dealer. All five Russians fell to the ground. Callen moved to kick their guns away from them and checked for a pulse. He stood up and turned to where Gibbs was situated. "Thanks, Jethro." A smirk appeared on his face as their take down of the Russians went smoother than they anticipated. But his relief was short lived however, as he dialled Deeks' phone.
Half Moon Bay"Callen, we're under attack. There are four, I say four men firing at the bakery. We need back up stat," Deeks shouted over the heavy gunfire. Locals ran for cover, away from the bakery. Customers screamed and laid low to the floor as Deeks and Kensi urged them to crawl to the rear of the store. Deeks heard Ava cry out in pain. He turned and saw a bullet rip into her flesh on her side, just above her waist. 'Crap!' "Eric, we need an ambulance. Natalie's been shot." He wanted to keep Ava's real identity hidden.
"One on it's way, Deeks." Eric advised him through their comms. He looked worriedly to Hetty. He hoped Ava would be okay. He knew what it would do to Gibbs and Callen if she didn't make it.
"Talk to me, Deeks." Callen asked on the phone. He'd heard what he had told Eric. Callen motioned to Sam and Michelle that they needed to move fast. Gibbs quickly joined them with the car, ready to go immediately.
"Kensi moved over to Ava and applied pressure on her wound. "Stay still, Nat." She grabbed a dish towel and pushed it firmly onto the wound.
Sandra moved low to the ground closer to her friend. "What can I do to help?"
"Place all your pressure on the wound," Kensi told her. "I need to help Deeks."
"Sandra..." Natalie tried to speak as her strength waned.
"Don't talk, Nat, help is on it's way."
Natalie gripped her friend's arm, desperate to tell her friend the truth.
"Shh! Save your energy to stay with me, Nat."
Kensi and Deeks moved low towards the front of the bakery. Kensi covered Deeks as he moved to the door and fired towards the Russians who stood outside the store firing automatic weapons.
Sandra watched them move like pros. She was aware they were friends of Jake's, as she had seen them and another blond guy teach Natalie and her kids how to surf. "Who are they, Nat? Why is this happening? First the mutilated body found by the marina last night and now this? What's happening to our quiet town?" Sandra never expected Natalie to answer her but she said her questions out loud to her friend any how.
"They're to protect us from these Russians," Natalie replied, her voice rasping.
Sandra looked down at her friend with a bewildered look on her face. "Why are Russians after you, Nat?" Fear flowed through her body for her friend and children.
"An enemy of Jake's. He killed my husband and they tried to kill us," Natalie admitted. She felt too weak to go on any further. Breathing became a struggle as sirens could be heard in the distance.
"Stay with me, Nat," Sandra pleaded.
Ryan moved closer towards them after ensuring his sisters, brother and Eden were safe in the basement. "Mom!" He worried over her as he saw the blood on Sandra's hands. He looked over to where Deeks and Kensi were firing back at the Russians outside. "Where's Dad? He should be here."
Natalie shook her head at her son. She couldn't muster the strength to speak any more. It took all she had to take each breath.
Sandra looked between mother and son and knew there was something missing. "Who are you talking about, Ryan?"
Ryan mentally slapped himself for being careless. Heck, it no longer mattered. They had been found. "Jake's not my uncle, Sandra. He's mine and Lexis' dad. Grandpa is really Mom's dad," he admitted to her.
"Then whose buried in the cemetery?" Sandra inquired, confused.
"Zac and Mia's dad." Ryan ripped his plaid shirt off his back and moved to his mom's wound. "We need a fresh pressure pad. If we can get some ice out of the freezer..."
Sandra followed Ryan's gaze towards the kitchen. "It's too risky, Ryan."
Stubborn like his father, Ryan moved quickly, but staying low to the floor and rushed into the kitchen. The sirens were coming closer, but whilst the Russians were still alive, there was no hope in help coming for his mom. He needed to slow the bleeding or she would die. And there was no way he was going to let his dad down by letting her die on his watch. He opened the freezer and grabbed some ice in a bag. He froze as he saw something metal catch his eyes. He moved his hand to the bottom of the deep freezer and pulled at the object. He couldn't believe his luck. A hand gun. A Sig Sauer P224 to be precise. Dad must have hidden it in here for an emergency, he thought to himself. He checked for the clip. Of course they wouldn't be in here. They would freeze over. He rummaged through nearby cupboards and found a clip with eleven rounds of 9mm bullets. He grabbed a second clip for back up. A smirk crept onto his face as he clipped it in, placing it in the rear of his jeans and moved back into the main area of the bakery, carrying the bag of ice. "Apply this, Sandra. It will stop the bleeding."
Sandra gratefully accepted the ice, but furrowed her brow as she watched Ryan pull the hand gun out from his lower back and make his way to a near by window. He smashed the window with the butt of the gun and fired at the Russians. Two still remained alive, after Deeks and Kensi had killed the other two. He fired again, keeping count of how many he had left. A habit his grandpa had taught him. "Got him," he said loud enough for Sandra to look up and shake her head. Ryan had hit one of the assailants in the shoulder. Deeks shot at him also, sending the Russian to the ground. Kensi fired the fatal shot at him. Deeks and Kensi turned and saw Ryan give them his father's trademark smirk.
Deeks shook his head in disbelief. Like father, like son, he thought.
Ryan, Deeks and Kensi ganged up on the remaining man of Sidorov's. All three played a game of attack with him, tempting him to come out from his hiding place to surrender or die. As Ryan shot, Deek would shoot, then Kensi and so on. Never giving a space to fire. But he was arrogant and moved slightly out of his hiding spot behind a car, giving Ryan the opportunity to shoot him in the torso. "Arrogant bastard," Ryan said quietly to himself, as he shot him down.
Deeks and Kensi moved out of the store and fired too. Deeks kicked his weapon away as Kensi checked for a pulse. She shook her head. Now that it was safe, they moved swiftly amongst the other men of Sidorov's to ensure they were dead as well. Satisfied, she motioned for the paramedics to move in.
"GSW victim inside the bakery," Kensi advised them. "Female, early forties. Bullet through and through on her left side." Kensi followed them into where Sandra remained with Natalie. Ryan had returned and held his mom's hand, talking to her. "Helps here, Mom. You're going to be okay now." He had no idea where his strength came from, as he felt all shaky inside from the adrenalin that shook within him from helping Deeks and Kensi kill two men.
Two paramedics assessed Natalie before gently placing her onto the stretcher. One held firmly onto the ice pack and pressure pad. "Who came up with the bag of ice idea?" One paramedic asked, looking at Sandra. Sandra looked over to Ryan who remained by his mom. "Good thinking, son. You may have just saved her life."
A car screeched outside, doors slammed shut as Callen, Gibbs, Sam and Michelle ran inside the bakery, blown away by the devastation they faced. "Av!" Callen moved towards her on the stretcher. He assessed her condition. "How bad?" All he could see was blood. Ava's blood. All colour left his face as he realised just how badly Ava had been injured.
"I'm sorry, sir. We've got to move her now." Callen nodded. Sam and Michelle moved towards the back to find their daughter and the Walker children in the basement. Relief washed over them to see them safe. "Mom! Dad!" Kamran hugged her parents. Lexi, Zac and Mia climbed up the stairs to see their mom being led out by stretcher to the ambulance. They hugged each other from fear.
Callen stood back as the paramedics wheeled the stretcher out front and into the ambulance. "I'll go with her," Callen told Gibbs. "Jethro?" He inquired to him when he received no response. Callen saw the fear in his old friend's eyes.
Gibbs gripped Callen's arm. "I need to go with her."
Callen nodded when he realised he would have to let him go instead. Gibbs had already lost a wife and daughter. There was no way he was letting Ava go this time.
Callen saw Tom standing there with blood over his T-shirt and arms. But it was the sig in his hands that had him curious. "Where.."
"Freezer," Tom told his dad. "I found the clips in the cupboards."
Callen pulled Tom in close for a hug. His son had done him proud again. "You got the ice?"
Tom nodded.
Callen felt his son shake. He removed the sig from him and inspected the clip. "You fired a whole clip?" He asked, clearly impressed over his son's courage.
"He helped us kill the last two of Sidorov's men." Deeks entered the store, while Kensi continued briefing the local Sheriff and his men. "You're a mean shot there, Ryan. Make sure I never get on your wrong side." He turned to Callen. "He made you proud today, Callen." Deeks braced himself for Callen to yell at him. But none came. "I'm sorry I let you down today, Callen. We were out numbered. I thought she was out of range. Safe..."
"I don't blame you, Deeks. You and Kens did well. Thanks," Callen told him. His voice wavered with emotion. How the heck any of them survived this massacre, he had no idea. "If you hand't been here..."
"Dad!" Bronte didn't care if people found out who they really were now. Not after all of this. How could they not explain what had happened to their bakery? She ran over into his arms.
"Hey, Bron." He pressed his lips onto her forehead, thankful they were safe. He looked over to Jessie and Kelly, who stood back, fear clear as day displayed in their eyes. "Jesse, Kel. Let's go to the hospital to wait with your grandpa." It seemed pointless to worry about their identities anymore. They had been through hell. They needed him to be their dad. Even to Jesse and Kelly. He was the closest thing they had to a dad, since losing their own the year before.
"Jake?" Sandra needed some answers. She was shell shocked over all that had happened there that day.
Callen turned to the red head, who he was well aware Gibbs was attracted to. "Sandra. Do you want to come with us?"
She nodded. She felt like a zombie as she followed them out the door to the waiting SUV Gibbs had arrived in with them.
"Agent Callen." A fellow NCIS Agent from the San Francisco office had arrived to help. "Is everyone okay!" He had been told there had been one injured.
Callen turned to Agent Steve Kearney. "Agent Gibbs' daughter Ava was shot in the torso. We're going to wait for news at the hospital."
Kearney looked from Callen to Tom and then to Bronte. "These your kids, Callen?"
"Yes, they are. It's their mom who was shot." Callen swallowed the bile that threatened to bring back his nausea. His head pounded and he felt dizzy. He threw the keys to Tom. "I need you to drive. I've been banned by the doc for a few days."
Sam noticed his partner struggle to function. "Hey, G!" Sam walked up to him. "Are you okay?" He studied his pupils. "Tom, I'll drive. You've been through enough today already." Sam wanted to ensure Callen was seen to at the hospital.
Relieved, Tom gladly threw the car keys across to his dad's partner. But he worried about his dad. He had noticed Sam's concern over him. As his dad turned away from him, he saw the head injury. "Whoa dad! What happened to you?"
Callen turned to face his son. "It's nothing."
"Like hell," Tom turned to Sam. "What happened to him, Sam?"
Callen glared at his partner, shaking his head, which increased the pain he felt.
"Concussion. Happened yesterday. Let's go and see how your mom is," Sam urged, as he knew Callen needed to be seen to pretty soon. "Have you had your pills?"
Begrudgingly, Callen pulled the pills out of his pocket and dry swallowed two tablets. "Happy?" He quipped.
"I will be once you've been seen to again. What are we going to do with you, G?" Sam shook his head. "Your kids and Ava need you. Heck, even I need you."
Callen raised his brow over at his partner. "Careful, Sam. Remember you're not my mother."
"I promised Hetty I would have your back, G. I'm not backing down." Callen rested is head back on the head rest and drifted off to sleep.