Gone
Chapter 7
"You okay?" Eric lifted his head from where it was resting in his hand to turn to Nell. His eyes lit up briefly and Nell smiled as she handed him the large cardboard cup of hot coffee before dropping back down in her seat next to him leaning back,
"Anything?" she asked but he shook his head,
"Nothing, nada, nil, nought, zero, zilch, zippo. I can't find any connection between the men or the victims or Callen and any of them apart from their CIA involvement and I'm not getting anything from them" Nell could hear the frustration in his voice and she let her head fall back.
"Well Hetty's still talking to someone from the CIA" she said remembering as she had walked past Hetty's desk hearing her less than civil tone as she was speaking into the phone.
"The directors on his way" Eric said and Nell nodded before Deeks looked up from the table in the centre of the room from his position by Nate,
"There's got to be something, we've got to be missing something, there's got to be something that ties them together" they had been sitting for hours on end trying to find something, anything but had so far come up empty handed,
"All the murders were done differently, some from a sniper shot, some a clean cut to the neck, a stabbing, a drive by, a car crash, asphyxiation there's no consistency" Deeks continued,
"So these men, the perps, before this meeting they weren't associated, they were just considered as convicted killers with no ties to each other?" Nate asked and Deeks nodded,
"So what ties do we have?" he asked,
"Only that they're all involved with CIA. We've managed to pair up who killed who but that's about it" Deeks and Nate stood as they inspected the board which was now lined with photo's of which of their perps were responsible for which murders.
"But we've still got no connection between the killers?" Deeks asked,
"No, none. Not to mention no case or anything tying all the victims together. They didn't work together, some weren't even with the CIA at the same time" Eric said leaving everyone just as confused before,
"Well at least it explains why the methods of killing were so different. So we need to work out why someone's picking of CIA agents" Nate said,
"We need access to CIA files, that's what we need. And that seems like it's slow going, we must be cutting through a lot of red tape"
"Something's wrong here, I have a bad feeling about this" Deeks said and the others nodded knowing things didn't add up. At that moment the doors swished open,
"Well Callen doesn't know any of them. He can't identify any of the victims or perps. Can't think of any reason other than the norm that someone from his CIA days would want him dead, at least why they would wait until now. Can we check if anyone's that Callen put away from his days there has been released lately, or three years ago?" Sam asked as he walked into the ops room and Eric turned to him,
"We haven't got CIA access yet" Sam frowned,
"Why not?" they shrugged and the ex-seal just sighed before turning to walk out heading for Hetty. He paused however turning back,
"You heard from Renko?" he asked the room at large but they shook their heads,
"Hetty went over there after we came back from the safe house to explain what's going on to Kensi. She said she was holding up alright, wanted something to do" Eric said and Sam nodded before turning back out the room.
Henrietta Lange sighed as she resisted from slamming the phone down into the receiver,
"Hetty?" the operations manager looked up to see Sam standing metres away from her desk,
"Mr Hanna, any luck with Mr Callen?" she asked although he suspected she already knew what his answer would be. He shook his head,
"Doesn't recognise anything or anyone" he said and Hetty sighed,
"What's going on with the CIA?" Sam asked frowning,
"That Mr Hanna is a very good question. It appears as if there is some miscommunication going on. Like Mr Deeks I do not believe that they aren't investigating these murders however someone very high up is covering this investigation well. The LAPD had no idea, they were under the belief that they were in charge of the investigation" Sam nodded knowing that she was as frustrated as anyone, it was rare that Hetty's contacts failed her,
"I'm sure you've got a few more numbers you can call Hetty" Sam said smiling lightly,
"Oh that I do Mr Hanna, that I do" Sam did smile this time at her determination and knew that if they had anyone on their side they would choose their operations manager every time.
"How is Mr Callen Sam" he nodded and the use of his name only added to her sincerity,
"He's okay, I think he'll stay put for now. I've given him the lecture recently about lone wolf stunts and I know that Kens has as well" he said,
"Perhaps it would be time for a refresher the next time you head to the safe house Mr Hanna. Mr Callen has waited a long time for a family and I don't think much will stop him trying to protect it" Sam nodded at Hetty's words knowing that she was right,
"I know Hetty and I'd be happy to" she nodded before sighing picking up a book and reaching for her phone again,
"Good luck" he said,
"They will need it" Hetty replied simply and Sam chuckled as he walked away once again. On walking back into the ops centre he headed for the centre table,
"Okay Hetty's still making calls, where are we up to?" he asked and Deeks looked up,
"We're going to leave it to Hetty and the Director to get us CIA cooperation for now, I doubt we can do anything more than what they can so we figure we're going to focus on the murders. If we can find them we can find who owns that little black book and why those names are the ones written in it" Deeks explained and Sam nodded,
"How are you going to do that? I mean LAPD have been trying to hunt them down for almost three years now, we're going to have to do something remarkably different" Nate said and the men nodded,
"Alright have we got any information on these men?" Sam asked,
"Not really LAPD didn't dig up much apart from a long list of murders they've been responsible for in the past and are still wanted for" Nell said bringing up more files in front of her,
"So they're assassins?" Sam asked and Nell cocked her head to the side,
"Pretty much" she said,
"But untraceable assassins I mean they're wanted by the LAPD along with countless other state departments, the FBI along with a lot of other international criminal organisations. Most of them are on every other wanted list"
"So we can only hope that they're still in the country"
"They will be" Nate said assuredly as he turned back to the surveillance photo's on Callen along with some reports written by the perps themselves,
"They're angry, they thought they had finished the job. I would guess they're under a lot of pressure from whoever's ordering the shots. They need to get this finished and Callen's the last here" Sam nodded,
"I'm going to try and get the autopsy reports and confirm the deaths of these men. I mean Callen's supposed to be dead according to these men, well according to them a few days ago at least right? So maybe there's others who haven't been killed? I'll collect the forensics from the cases while I'm at it" Nell said and Sam nodded,
"They'll need to go into protective custody if there is anyone still alive" he said and Nell turned back to her computer hands whizzing over the keyboard,
"Alright Doc, so what's the best way to draw these men out. I mean they were nearly caught for, as far as we know, the first time in almost three years probably longer by the LAPD. Are they going to be hiding out?"
"They'll be cautious, but they'll want this finished"
"So who looks like the top dog?" Deeks asked and the three men turned to inspect the photo's once again,
"That I can't tell from some profile pictures" Nate said and they nodded,
"The only way they're going to come out from wherever they're hiding though is if they can make a shot at Callen" Nate said and Deeks and Sam exchanged an uneasy glance nodding.
"And plan B?"
Chapter 7, I realllllllly should be doing my uni work, oh well : )
Hope you're liking it so far, sorry if anyone had some confusion I had to change a couple parts in chapter 4 to suit what I'm planning for future chapters.
Hope you're liking it and you're not too confused? If you are please let me know!
Other than that review please!
Nina
xx