Some pretty crazy stuff going on in this chapter…I really hope you like it. Thanks so much for reading, and please let me know what you think!


-III-

"There are two control rooms that we have to physically deactivate…we can't do it remotely," Sam said. He hadn't wasted any time from the moment Kensi's plane touched down on the runway. Now he and Kensi stood in a small office, examining an electronic map on his laptop. Sam pointed to two different squares outlined in black. "They're not close, so we're gonna have to split up. Kensi, if you take this one from the back…" Sam pointed to the square deepest into the cavern. "I'll take the other one from the front. We deactivate them, and then we join up here…" Sam outlined a path. "And we get G outta there."

"How do you know he's there?" Kensi asked.

"We know they have an old bunker in the center," Sam explained. "It's always been used as a dungeon for prisoners."

Kensi studied the map silently. She didn't want to ask her next question, but she had to. "How do you know he's still alive?" She thought she heard her voice crack on the last word, but she wasn't sure.

Sam looked at her worriedly. "We don't," he admitted. "We stop the missiles first." He thought he saw something flash in Kensi's eyes. "You ready?"

Kensi nodded. "Let's go."


As Sam and Kensi approached the cavern, Kensi gulped at the sight of the colossal rock formation. According to Sam's map, there was an elaborate system of rooms and corridors underground, but the cavern also stretched far above into the sky. From their vantage point, Kensi could see the front and back entrances, two black holes that seemed to lead to nowhere. She turned to Sam and tried to give him a confident smile. He nodded back at her and mouthed the words, let's do it!

Kensi quickly moved towards the back entrance, her gun drawn by her side. She disappeared into the corridors and stealthily wove her way to the cavern center. As she approached the control room, she peeked around the corner and saw several soldiers crowded around a large screen. They were focused intensely on some sort of tracking system, and they were punching numbers that looked suspiciously like geographical coordinates into the computer. The detonator, Kensi thought.

Suddenly, the screen started beeping loudly. The soldiers shouted at each other in Russian, and even though Kensi didn't understand their words, she could tell that they were trying to figure out how their missiles had been deactivated in the first control room. Sam, she thought. Now it was her turn. Kensi took a deep breath, raised her gun, spun out from behind the rock, and pulled the trigger.

As her bullets ricocheted off the screen, the computer sizzled and sputtered. The soldiers ran for cover, and they only noticed Kensi just as she let one last bullet fly into the center of the electronic device. It was the command center, and as the bullet sliced through the wires, the entire computer went up in flames. Hot black smoke spilled out of the chamber, the rocky sides of the cavern began to shake, and the stalactites on the ceiling fell to the ground like daggers.

Kensi whirled around and ran.


"Kensi!" Sam bellowed.

But his voice was lost in the explosions. He couldn't see through the dust and smoke. Sam squared his shoulders and prepared to charge straight down the corridor anyway. No way was he leaving his teammates behind. But suddenly, with a giant crash, the decision was made for him. The ceiling caved in, and an impenetrable wall of rock stood between Sam and the path to the dungeon.

Immediately, Sam turned and raced out of the cavern. He had to hope that the back entrance was still clear. He dodged a falling boulder and escaped into the daylight…and not a moment too soon, as Sam heard a second layer of rock come crashing down behind him.


Meanwhile, Kensi raced down the back corridor, her heart pounding in her chest. She could hear heavy footsteps and a chain of explosions following her. The ground was shaking beneath her, and she leapt to the side as a deep trench split the path in two.

As she turned the next corner, she suddenly saw the door she was looking for. The heavy dungeon door was unguarded now. It had splintered under the quaking cavern, and it didn't take much strength for Kensi to bash it in. She glanced behind her and did not see the soldiers yet, so she quickly slipped inside the dark dungeon.

Kensi could not contain her strangled cry of surprise as she laid eyes upon the prisoner shackled to the wall. Even in the dim light, with the cavern walls trembling, she would know him anywhere…her teammate…her leader...the man she had lost her heart to.

"Callen," she whispered. She cautiously reached up to touch his face. He was scruffier, and dirtier, and streaked with blood, but it was him.

Callen could hear a soft voice speaking to him. He tried to open his eyes. He hadn't heard that voice in so long, and he wanted to see the beautiful face that it belonged to. He felt her gentle touch against his face, and he tried to speak. Her name caught in his throat, but the small exhalation was all that Kensi needed to see that he was alive.

Suddenly, Kensi felt two rough hands on her shoulders, yanking her backwards. With lightning quick reflexes, she spun around and found her gun pointed directly at a Russian soldier's face.

"Who are you?" the soldier demanded, in halting English with a heavy accent.

"NCIS," Kensi informed him bluntly.

"What do you want?"

"I just want to bring my agent home," Kensi replied.

"No," the soldier said defiantly. "He is more than your agent. The way you look at him…the way you touch him…what is he…your lover?"

Kensi set her jaw. She knew he was playing a dangerous psychological game with her.

"Ahhhh," he taunted knowingly. "He is your lover. Well, then, you can both die here together in this cozy little cavern…that is what you call romantic, no?"

Kensi could feel her rage building, but she stayed calm. She gave the soldier a cool stare and raised her gun to his face.

"I would not do that if I were you." The soldier's gun was aimed straight at Callen's heart. "Unless you want him to die." The soldier cocked his gun and glanced over at Kensi to see her reaction. That was his fatal mistake.

Kensi took that opportunity to knock the gun from his hand and tackle him to the ground. The earth shook, not from the force of their bodies, but from the entire cavern getting ready to explode. Kensi coughed as the dust engulfed her. The smoke was burning her eyes, making them tear painfully, but she did not miss her target as her fist collided with the soldier's jaw.

With a frustrated growl, the soldier threw Kensi off him and tried to get to his feet. Kensi recovered quickly and launched herself on his back, pinning him back down to the ground and holding him just out of reach of his gun.

Furious that he could not reach his gun, the soldier whipped out his knife and slashed Kensi's arm. Kensi yelped in pain and stumbled backwards. The soldier immediately grabbed her in a forceful headlock and squeezed with all his strength against her throat.

Kensi gasped and sharply elbowed him in the stomach. His grip loosened, and she flipped him over her shoulder. The soldier hit the ground, and rocks from the sides of the cavern started to fall.

As the earth shook beneath her, Kensi was also knocked to the ground, but her gun was only an arm's length away. With a burst of energy fueled by a fierce adrenaline rush, she lunged for her weapon. The soldier loomed above her to drive his knife through her stomach when she flipped herself over and rapidly fired two bullets into his heart. He fell to the ground on top of her, the blood oozing onto her hands as she yanked the keys to Callen's shackles off the soldier's belt.

The underground cavern was rumbling. The noise was deafening, and dust and debris were falling from the ceiling. Kensi was coughing hard, as the smoke was suffocating her, and she could barely see, as it was also blinding her. She hurriedly flipped through the keys on the ring, trying them all in the locks that bound Callen to the wall.

She saw his eyes starting to fade, and his head begin to droop. "Don't you dare, Callen!" she screamed at him. "Don't you dare die on me!" She tilted his head back and kissed his lips hard, as if she were breathing the will to live into him.

She heard the click of the key, and the chains fell from his right arm. She quickly unlocked his left arm and braced him against her shoulders. "Come on," she said softly, although she doubted he could hear her over the cascade of explosions. With all of her remaining strength, Kensi dragged Callen out of the deep dungeon and through the maze of underground corridors.

Through the thick smoke, she could see a faint glimmer of light from the back exit. Almost there, she thought. At that moment, a large section of rock fell from above and smashed into Kensi's head. Now her own blood began trickling down the side of her face, and she stumbled as her vision clouded.

As she emerged from the tunnel in a cloud of smoke, Kensi saw a tall black man rushing towards her. She felt the weight of the man she was carrying being lifted from her shoulders. She felt herself being dragged forwards. She heard the cavern behind her collapsing into the earth. And then she promptly blacked out.