Chapter Four: Listen to the wind blow part III

In my defence, I would like to point out that technically Deeks was knocked out in Comes A Time. So unless you count being flung by the explosion (which I don't), then technically he hasn't actually been maimed in this story at all. However, it is still early days… and as I have pointed out before, he does maim beautifully.

Deeks eyed Nate's bag hopefully. "Any good pain-pills in there? Something with codeine in it, perhaps? Because my head is really thumping and the rest of me is starting to ache in sympathy."

"That's the worst possible thing for someone with a concussion and mild memory-loss," Nate informed him. You're just going to have to ride it out."

"Thanks for all the sympathy. And I don't have a concussion. I just banged my head a couple of times. It's no big deal." Deeks closed his eyes and swallowed convulsively two or three times in quick succession.

"Don't even think about throwing up," Callen warned him. He remembered Kensi telling him that Deeks would whimper on pathetically about a minor paper-cut, but never admit when he was really feeling ill and immediately felt guilty. "But if you really need to vomit, shout out and Sam will pull over." After all, it was still a good hour till they reached San Diego and there was no sense in making their travelling conditions any more uncomfortable than they already were.

"Correction – Sam will attempt to pull over. I'd quite like to get us to San Diego in one piece and doing sudden lane switches at 80 miles an hour isn't the best idea." He looked back at Deeks, who had gone a peculiar shade again. "There's a bottle of water back there, G – give him something to drink before he passes out again."

"Why are we going to San Diego? You hate San Diego, Callen." Deeks suddenly realised how thirsty he was and grabbed the water bottle with both hands.

"Because we thought it would be cool to go to Sea World," Callen replied, helping him to raise his head up.

Deeks gave him a blank look. "Okay. Can we leave it till tomorrow though? I went there when I was a kid. Not been back for years. The manatees were my favourites…" He closed his eyes and his voice trailed off. Callen made a grab for the bottle of water and caught it just before it spilt its contents everywhere.

"He's really out of it," Sam said. "That was cruelty to dumb animals, Callen. And now he's going to pester us until we actually go there and sit ringside at the Shamu show. You are sure he's going to be okay, Nate?"

"As sure as I can be without checking him into a hospital for an MRI. Do you fancy our chances if we do that?"

"Not particularly."

"He'll be fine," Callen said, with a breezy assurance he didn't feel. "Deeks has got a hard head. He's got to, in order to cope with Kensi. And anyway, he's got all that hair to cushion the blows with." His legs were going numb and he shifted them slightly, smiling despite himself as Deeks frowned momentarily at the disruption. "The minute we get to San Diego, we're getting a burn phone and calling LA. It's too risky to use any of our own equipment right now. God knows what they're thinking."

Eric leaned back in his chair and stared wearily up at the ceiling. "No GPS signal from any of their phones," he announced. "They're either dead or they've been switched off. It doesn't make any sense. I can understand that Hetty and Deeks might not be in any shape to get in contact, but what's up with Callen and Joe? Callen knows protocol better than anyone. Why hasn't he got in touch?"

There was only one possible answer to that question, and they all knew it. But no-one was about to admit that maybe they were all dead, or being held by party or parties unknown.

"Think about it," Nell urged, and took another large mouthful of coffee. For some-one who had previously abhorred anything with an artificial stimulus, the past few months working at NCIS has transformed her into a caffeine addict. "There's only one thing that could possible make any sense – they've deliberately gone off-grid. That's why we haven't heard anything – and why the emergency services didn't find any bodies in the wreckage. And when you factor in that Sam and Nate have also gone silent." She stopped and checked to make sure her line of thought wasn't too off the wall.

"They're all together, aren't they?" Kensi looked up and for the first time since the accident there was a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes. "You mean they might still be alive? Really?"

Nell didn't want to give her false hope. "Kensi – anything could have happened. We just don't know and there are too many variables to begin to work out conclusively what's happened or who is behind it. We just don't have enough solid information. They could have been taken or…"

"We would have heard. Someone would have been in touch." Kensi was on her feet now, prowling around the room. "Hetty's an important figure, Marty's a damned millionaire and a major stockholder of a Fortune 500 company, for crying out loud– we would have heard if they were being held for ransom."

"So they're probably alive," Eric conceded. "But where are they, and why haven't they got in touch?"

Kensi whirled around. "We've just got to be patient. We'll hear from them. I know we will." Her eyes were shining, as if she had just found a reason to keep living and she almost danced across the room, interrupted only by the ringing of her cell phone.

"Marty?"

"Sorry honey, it's only me. I'm downstairs with coffee and muffins for the troops. You want to come down? This cute agent won't let me up. He seems to think I'm a security risk."

"I'll be with you in a moment." Kensi ended the call and looked at Eric in horror. "That was Nico. She's downstairs – and I don't think she knows anything. What on earth am I going to say to her?"

"Say nothing," Nell urged. "You're still officially on sick-leave – you don't know anything. Just stick to that line and you'll be fine."

"And when she asks me about Callen – which she will, I can guarantee that - what do I say then? You know Nico – she not going to be fobbed off with some half-baked story. If she thinks something has happened to him, she's going to go ballistic."

"Then make sure you tell her a damned good story," Eric said decisively. "So far there's been a total media black-out on the explosion, which is bad on the one hand, because it shows there are very powerful people who have their own reasons for keeping this hidden.

Nell took up his chain of thought seamlessly. "But it's good, because only we know there is something deeper going on. And we're going to keep it that way. Until we know which way the wind is blowing, the fewer people who know, the better."