Chapter 7: Life After Death
The box was full of shelves with all kind of things stored on it : newspaper articles, photos, notes. A World map full of tacks link by thread covered completely one of the walls. Sayers tied was sitting on a chair set in the middle of the room.
Alex and Lisa were busy cleaning the room and putting in order some papers. They kept some of them or let other in evidence. Than after a last look at the room, Alex took a gun, looked at Sayers and shoots him in the head. They left the box without any look behind.
At the same moment, Nell succeeded to find Victor Bark, a specialist in diamond and guns traffic with Congo . Eric found the address by tracing back the IP address of the computer used to send the bank transfer orders.
"Ready?" asked Callen stand up in front of the door. Kensi and Sam acquiesced by a simple look. "NCIS!" He screamed in the same time he smashed the door.
"Sayers!" said Sam when he came into the place and discovered Sayers's body on the chair.
They asked Nell to join them to dig into all the papers and staff let on. She found around 15 fictive IDs deeply involved in The Web and a bank transfer of 14 million dollars from Victor to Niki. Nell understood that the 15 different IDs were in really just one, Deeks. Given the amount and the kind of trafficking, she decided not to reveal the information. The team was enough under shock like that. She noted some other IDs but she didn't succeed to establish any links. After an hour of investigation in the room, they came back to OPS center.
"We didn't found any evidence that Deeks is related to the crime. The box is rent under Victor Bark name, a false ID. Do you have news of him?" asked Callen
"I am not surprise. No news for now" answered Hetty.
The team sat on the sofa in the living room and tried to sum up and understand where that let Deek.
"Deeks family is in trouble" started to sum up Callen. "Deeks joined Sanders' organization under Maximilian Gentry name to protect him and in order to win money quickly. Than the NCIS recruited Max as an informer via the Navy. He broke the contract …."
"Why? Asked Sam "His family is in needed of money and protection at this moment?"
"He maybe already knew for the moll in NCIS and he scared for his family. He prepared backs up for him and his family by taking money from the traffic. He could succeed to send it discretely to his family. Sanders discovered that Max stole his money and decided to bring it back, so Deeks decided to disappear" Nell suggested.
"Deeks mother never left Los Angeles and we found anything's suspicious on her account"informed Hetty.
"…5 peoples died because of Sanders in the house in Idaho one of them is Maximilian" kept going Callen focus.
"…died burn alive, …so no identification possible…that make things easier to disappear" completed Kensi.
"They found new IDs,..everybody thought they were dead except Sanders who knew he didn't kill them. Deeks appeared few mouths later as a student. Just after graduation from law school, he was in charge of the case… with the JAG as adverse party and himself undercover and as a supposed dead victim? That's not made any sense!"
"In that kind of trial usually IDs of undercover victims are not spread. Deeks couldn't be recognized by anyone. Since a while, the NCIS is guessing the involvement of another agency in this case, agency with enough power to help Max to disappear, Mr Deeks to appeared than to let him in charge of the case.
"Is that explain why Deeks doesn't want join the NCIS...and why is he still alive" said Callen
"What? NCIS asked him to join the agency and he refused! I thought he trust us…and how many IDs he have? Which one is the good one? He was dealer, than lawyer and cop and now he is killing people in cold blood" said Kensi in anger. She starting to walk nervously around the bullpen, tears in the eyes.
"Kensi! Deeks will give us the answers when he will be ready to do it. You must understand, he stayed undercover during 13 years with a sociopath tracking him. The unique protection we gave to him is an agent turn as a traitor. His silence made him safe" Hetty answered to calm her.
"…he lost the trial, left the Bar, joined LAPD…"continued Callen "He keeps going the investigation and found the NCIS implication… but he accepts to become a liaison officer for LAPD"
"What's turned wrong?" asked Nate
"Darcum become close to Deeks, grab information on him and sell them to Layers who sell them back to Sanders. But Darcum has to protect himself so he recruits Dantal to kill him. The plan turn wrong, Deeks didn't fall in the trap, Dantal under menace give Layers localization. In the same time, Deeks's friends kidnap Layers and kill him. With no news of Sayers, Sanders understand Deeks is going closer" proposed Sam.
"The first one who found the other one stay alive" concluded Callen
"Say me that we can find them!" begged Kensi.
"Sanders is a ghost, it's impossible to track him. Deeks's cell phone is turn off. We even if don't know in which perimeter looking for to do a research with the scan" answered Eric.
The team decided to stay in OPS until Deeks's news pop'up.
Alew and Lisa were on foot and on the way to join the team. A back SUV stopped near them, 2 men with ski mask get out, put a chloroform tissue on their nose and put them back in the car. They woke up in an old industrial building, tie on a chair. Sanders had been waiting for this moment since a long time.
"I am starving! This 13 years of tracking made me in appetite….blood, tears,…I am delighted with doing that again" said Sanders.
Alex and Lisa stayed calm and focus on any signs. Sanders was ill. Answered him will just speed up his ardor and violence. He started to caress Lisa's face then going down to her breast and a little bit lower. Suddenly, she cut her loose, took her knife and stabbed him in the back. Sanders collapsed. The two men take off their ski mask and John and Tom faces appeared. The other members of the Crew arrived in the place.
To see Sanders dying slowly created a sense of loss. They were waiting for this moment since 13 years. They were living during 13 year just for this moment. Those last weeks were intense, with tracking, listening and extract one by one each Sanders's man to replace them.
"The area is clean but we have to hurry up the manager notice the presence of the cars and should be here soon" said Michael.
After leaving the place, the team split to preserve the discretion and decided to meet the next evening at The Independence.
Alex went back in his house, took a shower and dressed up with a grey suit and a tie. The taxi let him at San Monica opera. It was just on time, the light turned off and the audience applauded when the orchestra arrived. His mother, a violin in her hand, filled her with happiness. Like usual he stared at her all long the spectacle feeling hiding in the middle of the spectators. At the end, he stayed sit down to live the moment.
"The last piece was awesome. Your mother is the remarkable violist" interrupted Director Vance who was sitting up next. "I hear about your collaboration in private case of Interpol" It's seemed you are free to take a new start". He gave him an envelope. "We'll be happy to see you definitely join the NCIS".
Alex was exhausted. After a short walk along the beach he sat on a bench, opened the envelope and started to read. It was administrative papers to join NCIS as an agent. He stayed there thoughtful. Deeks was becoming more than an undercover character. Join NCIS will mean reveal his past and assume the consequences for his partnership with the rest of the team especially with Kensi. He was thinking about his mother. He wanted to come back and explained her every things but did he have the right to do that. She cried his death during years and she seems happy and peaceful now.
After hours of thought he filled the papers. He took a taxi to get to the OPS center. All the team was here, quiet, eye down, dozing and sad face. They knew about Sanders death but didn't have any news about Deeks. No one remarked his presence. He sat down slowly on the last chair and waited until the team emerges. Sight and shoulder tap finally welcomed him.
"I own you explanations" he started
"No but if you really want to take all the time you need" encouraged Sam
"I will try to do short. I joined Sanders organization when I had 15. A friend, Lisa, recommended me to take an undercover name and I choose Max Gentry. A day I was arrested for drug trafficing and a guy from the navy show up instead of a lawyer and proposed me in exchange of information on Sander organization protection for my family. I accepted and Lisa followed me in it. A day, the most improbable things happened…" He stopped and felt his stomach tie. He kept going with a shaky voice. "Lisa fell pregnant"
Kensi was stunned. She stayed quiet. Hetty was under shock. She couldn't imagine a love story in a middle of this chaos. She put her hands in front of her mouth to hide her anxiety.
"We took that like a sign of change. We decided to disappeared and have a new start so I left the Navy. Found money from some deals than left Sander organization. We get married and changed name. I created an association for autism, my sister is autistic, to cover the money transfer for to keep my mother and sister away of trouble. We were living in a cabane with friends when Timothy showed up in June 2002. The winter was pretty cold and we decided to move out to the house the navy gave to us. Sanders found us"
He took a long break. Tears appeared in his eyes. He took a long breath and continued. "He stabbed Timothy until death. Guys from Interpol came on time to not let them kill us. I don't describing you what happen after that but we finally understood that a mole was infiltrated inside the Navy and gave my name to Sanders. We decided to find him. I changed my name…again, started law school to have a look on the trial than I joined the academy and …now maybe become an agent….well if you want" He gave the envelope to Hetty.
The team had thousand of questions to ask but stayed quiet.
"Of course we want! Answered Callen who was the unique one who understood that Deeks just gave to Hetty the papers to become a ncis agent".
"Maybe Kensi will let me drive the car now.."
Kensi still under shock recognize the tone of his partner he used to take when he want to tease her. She understood and started to come back.
"Woww, that's not change anything. By the way, it's seemed you never pass your driving exam. You aren't register anywhere".
"It was the most useful birthday present offered by Lisa. Deeks stand up ready to go away. "The Blye tyranny still running" ….said Deeks from the corridor.
The team laugh and understood that they will have to accept many strange thing from the new agent.
"Did you know? Callen asked to Hetty after everybody left the bullpen.
"No. But now…I'm thinking…When I visited Mme Brandel to inform her of his son death she asked me to find a young woman and to bring her back next to him. She gave me a photo of a young couple and maintained that they will never separate themselves. Lisa made the promises to keep his son safe whatever it cost. Thanks to this photo I could recognize Gentry in Mr Deeks".
"Did you find her?"
"I looked for her. Her parent died in a strange auto accident. She spent more of her childhood in an orphanage from where she escaped at 13. But…"she stopped, her memorize started to come back. She continued. "I think she still keeping her promise. ..Few month after Mr Deeks joined NCIS, I went in Romania to investigate the Comescu Familly. I was in a very bad situation when young ladie showed up, studded the armed man behind me. She just said "do the same for your men or next that will be me behind you". I didn't have the time to say anything, she was already gone".
"What was she doing in the Comescu case?
"I have no idea..?but I own her for the rest of my life"
Deek went to the boatshed. He sat at the end of the pontoon and fixe the horizon. Released, he started to cry slowly. This night, Alexander Brandel was definitely dead, Martin Alexander Deeks was born.
