Treasures: Chapter 9
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For the first twenty minutes he was in the pool house, Deeks leafed through at least a dozen magazines, started and stopped reading several books and surfed through over two hundred cable channels, none of which held his interest. He was on edge and unable to relax so he rose from the bed and peered out toward the house and once again tried to convince himself that Hetty could take care of herself. But, he had been an undercover cop a long time and couldn't help but sense that there was something wrong. He could almost feel it in the air.
He looked around the room, checking for weapons or anything he could use if something was truly wrong, finally catching a glimpse of a small pair of binoculars buried under a stack of birding magazines. Making sure he couldn't be seen from the house, he scanned the windows until he saw Hetty ushering a man to the sitting area by the French doors overlooking the upper patio above the pool. He kept up his surveillance until he saw the man rise and lean over Hetty, shouting at her. A chill raced down his spine and he wanted to kick himself for not bringing his service weapon with him on this assignment. Hetty had convinced him it was unnecessary when he had asked and now he felt a deep regret that he had ignored his own instincts.
He raised the binoculars again as an older man came into view and he could just make out two others with guns drawn in the shadows behind him. He saw Hetty rise and he tensed, his hands becoming clammy with sweat as he saw how small she was compared to the four men who surrounded her. He could feel his heart beating faster and the adrenaline rushing through him, accelerating his mind as he scrambled to formulate a plan to come to her aid. He looked away, trying to steady himself. He took several deep breaths and slowly his heart stopped racing and his mind sharpened. He remembered his phone and stepped deeper into the room to avoid being seen as the group walked out onto the patio. He quickly called Callen.
"What's up Deeks, Hetty still have you up to your eyeballs in knickknacks and curios?" Callen laughed.
"Callen, she's in trouble," Deeks said urgently. "Four armed men just walked her out to the pool."
"Where are you?" Callen's voice was sharp with concern and Deeks felt better just hearing it.
"I'm in the pool house and unarmed," Deeks informed him. "I'll try and stall them until you get here."
"Don't get yourself killed, Deeks. We're on our way," Callen said evenly.
Normally, it would take them at least a half an hour to reach the house from the OSP Center, twenty minutes with Sam driving, but this was rush hour and Deeks knew he would have to stall a lot longer than that. He took several more deep breaths and as he limped over to see what was happening an idea formed in his mind. If he failed to convince the men that he was harmless, he would probably be dead within the next few minutes. He'd never worked an undercover with Hetty, but he knew she would pick up on his act as soon as she realized what he was doing. He had the utmost faith in her and he hoped she felt the same about him.
"Okay buddy, show time," he said to himself as he put down his cane and limped out to the pool. He picked up the leaf skimmer and a bucket of chemicals that the pool boy had left yesterday and let a goofy smile spread across his face.
"Hi Miss Hetty," he called out and waved madly like a five year old.
His heart was pounding as he saw a look of shock appear briefly on her face, replaced quickly with a brief smile and a slight nod of her head. Two of the men turned to see who had called out and the older one immediately motioned for the two armed guards behind Hetty to go for him. He ignored their approach and began to putter around the pool, skimming out leaves that weren't there and loudly humming a silly song his mother used to sing to him. When the two men got to him he reacted with surprise and a shy grin.
"Hi, my name's Jimmy. What's yours?" he asked with a giggle. "Want to help me clean the pool? Miss Hetty lets me do it every week and I do a good job, too." His voice was earnest and mild and his head nodded repeatedly as his smile broadened.
When they roughly grabbed him, twisting his arms behind his back, his eyes filled with tears and he went limp, falling to the ground and crying out to them not to hurt him.
"Why are they hurting me, Miss Hetty?" He cried out. "I didn't do nothing."
Hetty realized immediately the part he was playing and quickly came to his defense.
"Jimmy's no threat, Kirov," she said as she stood and started to walk toward Deeks. "He has the mind of a seven year old. He was in a terrible accident last year and suffered severe brain damage. I let him come here so he thinks he has a job. He's really quite harmless."
"If you don't want him killed, then tell him to come over here," Kirov said.
"Jimmy, it's okay. They won't hurt you," she called to him and waved for him to come to her.
He quickly scrambled to his feet and limped slowly over to stand by her side.
"Did I do something wrong?" he asked quietly as he wiped his tears with the palm of his hand. His shoulders were hunched and he peered sideways at the man with the icy blue eyes.
"No dear," she said patting the small of his back. "These are friends of mine."
A brilliant smile suddenly lit up his face and he giggled as he stuck out his hand.
"Hi, I'm Jimmy," he said cheerily. "I clean the pool."
Kirov said nothing as he pushed him roughly into the arms of one of the guards.
"Let's get back to business Henrietta," Kirov said. "My client is interested in obtaining the intel you've been gathering on one of his competitors, Nicolai Zeitzev."
"Is that someone I'm suppose to know?" Hetty asked as she settled back into her chair.
"Don't play games, Henrietta," Kirov said while slowly removing an object from his jacket and flipping open a switchblade. He nodded to one of the guards, who swiftly grabbed "Jimmy" around the neck and twisting his arm up behind his back, causing him to cry out and whimper. Kirov stepped over to him and smiled as he rested the blade lightly against his cheek and Hetty felt her anger begin to boil at the viciousness of the Russian. She knew he wasn't bluffing though and that knowledge made her steel herself for what might happen and hope that Deeks could handle whatever was to come.
"I got the information from a former agent who couldn't wait to tell me whatever I wanted to know," Kirov moved closer to Jimmy and then laughed as a slight trickle of blood began to flow down his jaw.
"Leave him alone, Kirov," Pasha said, and put his hand on Kirov arm in an attempt to pull the knife away.
"Don't tell me what to do, Pasha," Kirov said, knocking his hand away and pointed the knife in his direction.
"I didn't come here to terrorize an innocent man," Pasha said.
"I know what you came here for, Pasha," Kirov said, his voice low and threatening. "You came to kill Henrietta and you will have that pleasure as soon as I get what I came for."
Pasha backed off and Hetty almost felt sorry for the man he had become.
"I want that intel, Henrietta, or your damaged friend here will pay the price," Kirov warned.
Hetty sucked in her breath as she recalled the details of the recent death of one of the NCIS agents working out of the Washington DC office. He had been cut to ribbons over a couple of days and his body dumped in the basin below the Jefferson Memorial. She would have realized it was Kirov's work if she hadn't believed he was dead. She looked quickly at Deeks and was impressed that he was still working his alias. She assumed he was stalling for time, but she wasn't sure how much time he had left before Kirov began to torture him to make her give up what she had. She assumed Deeks had contacted the team and was stalling until they got here so she quickly calculated the time and decided she would give in instead of let Deeks suffer serious injury.
"Don't hurt me, mister, please," Jimmy whispered softly as tears filled from his eyes.
Kirov backhanded him hard and Hetty winced as he let himself slump to his knees.
"The intel, please," Kirov said softly as he advanced on Jimmy, the knife moving in narrow circles the closer he got.
"Stop, Kirov," Hetty said as she caught her breath. "I'll get you the intel, just leave the young man be."
"Is it in the house?" Kirov asked as he turned toward her.
"Yes," Hetty said softly.
"Tell your friend Jimmy here where it is," Kirov said laughing.
Hetty walked over to Jimmy, who was still on him knees. She smiled softly at him and began gently stroking his hair. His breathing started to even out and he wiped the tears that had mingled with the blood on his cheek, staring at the smear on his hand with a terrified look on his face.
"Jimmy, do you remember where my office is?" Hetty asked quietly as he nodded. "There is a black briefcase on my desk. I need you to bring it to me. Do you understand?"
Jimmy nodded, shooting a quick, frightened look at Kirov before nodding repeatedly at Hetty again. The guard jerked him to his feet and shoved him toward the house, following closely behind and pushing him forward as he limped heavily and slowly up the brick stairs. He stumbled and fell onto his knees just as he reached the upper patio, and it took the guard a few minutes to get him back on his feet. Behind him, Hetty smiled inwardly at his delaying tactics and hoped Callen and the team was closer than she had calculated they would be by now. She began to wonder what else Deeks had planned and found herself looking forward to what that might be, even though she was worried about what Kirov might do to him once he brought the briefcase and the files back to her.
...
Deeks slowed his progress as much as he could without arousing suspicion. He limped slowly through the house and into Hetty's small office, and he could tell the guard was becoming exasperated by his stumbling progress. He was a large man and all muscle and Deeks hoped his choice of weapon would work on someone his size.
Deeks limped slowly around the room and his smile grew as he lingered over some of the small collections Hetty had there. He paused the longest in front of the beautiful antique paperweights Hetty had shown him earlier. He giggled as he picked up one and then another, holding them up to the light and grinning at the bodyguard. The man practically growled at him and pulled him away and shoved him toward the desk in the middle of the room. Deeks let his face take on a look of confusion as he stood in front of Hetty's desk. Finally the guard pushed him aside and walked up to the desk and reached for the black briefcase himself. Deeks raised the heavy glass paperweight over his head and slammed it down as hard as he could on the back of the man's skull. The sound made him nauseous but the man dropped like a rock and didn't move. He managed to drag him into the small bathroom and shut the door, and then he took a deep breath and called Callen.
"Deeks? Status?" Callen demanded urgently.
"One down," he answered. Then he quickly let him know the names he had overheard and the files Kirov was after. "What's your ETA?"
"We're still five or ten minutes away," Callen said and Deeks could hear the uneasiness in his voice.
"Okay, I'll do what I can, but hurry," he said and tried to steady his nerves. "Callen, call me when you breach the house. Gotta go."
Deeks made sure his phone was set on vibrate and slipped it into the pocket of his shorts. He searched the desk for weapons, but there were none that he could find, so he turned to the briefcase and flipped quickly through the files inside until he found the one on Nicolai Zeitzev. He scanned the first page, stopping when he saw the section highlighted. The man was a double agent and Deeks sucked in his breath sharply, knowing he couldn't turn it over to Kirov. He switched the contents with another file and checked the room for a place to stash it, settling on the narrow space behind the sideboard holding the paperweights. He took a couple of deep breaths to steady himself and found he was staring at an ornately etched dagger in the display in front of him, and he smiled. He quickly removed it and placed it inside the briefcase and limped resolutely back toward Hetty and Kirov.
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