Deeks arrives at Callen's house within an hour.

He walks up to the front door and knocks quickly, keeping a hand by the door and the other by his back. It takes the man a minute to realize that he doesn't have a weapon with him- his spare is under his pillow in his apartment. Mid worry about his weapon, the door opens and instead of the 5'10" blue eyed agent, Deeks fines himself face-to-face…not so literally, with Hetty.

"Whoa, what are you doing here?" Deeks exclaims. Hetty raises an eyebrow at him and asks, "The same for you, Mr. Deeks. You haven't heard from him?"

"No, we haven't really had the time- wait, why are you here?" Deeks asks. He remembers the boxes that are stacked up near Hetty's stairwell. Last time he checked, Hetty was supposed to be on a boat half way across the Atlantic.

"I plan on going on my boat as soon as I know that my agents are ok," Hetty answers. She turns and walks back into the living room, which is completely empty. Deeks follows her, trying to remember if Callen had anything in his house to begin with. Hetty carefully watches him before asking, "You've quit LAPD, I assume?"

"Seriously, how do you-"Deeks catches himself and quickly composes himself. He starts back up after a minute, "Yes, I did and about my application folder turned in, I'm scared as hell. Granger tossed his aside as if it were trash!"

Hetty looks away for a moment before saying, "I'll see what I can do, Mr. Deeks. Granger is frustrated and being an ass right now. Since you aren't with Kensi and Sam right now-"

"Crap!" Deeks exclaims- it's the second time he's disappeared on them in one day. Hetty smiles and points to the phone that's sticking out of his pocket. "Call them. I'm sure they're pretty worried about you."

Deeks complies and quickly dials Kensi's number. His partner answers on the first ring. "Deeks, are you ok?"

"Wow, Kens. You sound really, really calm- it's kind of freaking me out a bit."

Kensi inhales deeply. "I'm just worried about you, Deeks. It's been one hell of a day. Oh, Detective Rueben, who you should have punched right in the nose, is our new work buddy."

"I'm so sorry, Kens. I probably should have waited for a later time-"

Kensi cuts him off, her voice now tense. "Don't be sorry, Deeks. I'm just glad you did it. Oh, Hanley's coming back. Call you later?"

"Yeah. Bye." Deeks hangs up and pockets his cell phone. He's so relieved at how well the conversation went that he forgets that Hetty is standing next to him.

"Mr. Deeks?"

Deeks blinks and looks down at Hetty. "Sorry, Hetty. That was Kens….what were we talking about?"

"I think Mr. Callen isn't handling the aftermath of the shooting very well. Not only is there a high chance that he may be fired-"

Deeks scratches his head. "Speaking of, I saw that his stuff was packed up at OPS. Did he quit?"

"No, that could be Granger trying to speed up the process. Since you're free, I'd like you to check Manhattan Beach for him, not only on his well-being, but I believe that the Iranians will want an answer on why Atley is alive and the Chameleon is dead." Hetty pulls a SIG P229 from her purse. Deeks is confused, more so because he was positive that Hetty's purse isn't big enough to carry a gun.

"Take the gun," Hetty says, "Things could get dangerous and you might as well start using it now."

"But I'm not in-"

"I said that I wasn't leaving until all my agents are ok," Hetty reminds him. She smiles before leaving the house. Deeks looks down to the gun in his hand and mutters, "Ok, then."

Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles

Deeks pulls up to the parking lot at Manhattan Beach. The clouds and light drizzle has cleared out the beach, leaving only a few surfers wading in the water. Deeks walks onto the wet sand and wishes that he had his surf board. It's been a few days since he's been out on the water because of the hellish last few days. Focus- I'm here on business, Deeks tells himself.

Deeks stops in his tracks, puts his hands on his hips, and scans the beach. His mind quickly travels over to the Sig that's hidden under his shirt. He gets the idea to adjust the gun, but in the nick of time, he spots Callen. The lead agent is sitting next to his silver and blue surf board that's sticking up from the sand. To Deeks, he looks unbelievable angry and broken, an understandable feeling after the last few days.

Deeks waves his hand above his head to grab Callen's attention. The lead agent stares back for a second before nodding his head in disbelief and turning away. Deeks growls in annoyance and breaks off into a jog towards Callen. He doesn't make it very far before all hell breaks loose.

Again.

Little under one hundred feet from where Callen is standing, a silver Ford Explorer explodes. Callen is thrown backwards into the air before landing on the sand. Bystanders scatter in a million different directions as pieces of metal fly through the air. Deeks only reacts for a second before running towards where Callen is laying. The ex-detective finds Callen lying next to his surfboard. The agent appears to only be unconscious.

Deeks kneels next to Callen and pulls out the SIG from his belt. The gun is a little heavier than his Berretta. Deeks ignores the added weight and scans the area for anyone who could be waiting around to make sure the job was done.

I guess Hetty was right.