I didn't want to leave you all hanging too long with how I ended the last chapter so here's another update. The ending of this chapter is at least a tad better, (though maybe not lol) In any case, thanks for reading and for all your reviews. Very much appreciated.
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"G!" Sam frantically searched the water, trying to spot his partner. He couldn't see him anywhere though, not even a glimpse of him. "G!" He began to run and continued to scream for his friend as he ran and followed the river along its downstream course. "G, where are you?!" The gunman was completely forgotten as Sam desperately searched for Callen. "G…G please…" Sam finally stopped running and bent down, putting his hands on his knees as he started to sob. Callen was gone.
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Kensi waited tensely, holding the rifle in position, as she kept an eye out for the possible appearance of Bart, his men or any other potential enemies. It was starting to grow dark and she was more than a little bit worried about the fate of Sam and Callen.
"I think something happened to them, Deeks," she said.
Deeks wanted to reassure her, but in all honesty, he had the same feeling. "Do you think we should look for them?" he asked.
Kensi hesitated as she tried to decide the best thing to do. She would have preferred going off on her own to look for Callen and Sam, but she knew there was no way Deeks would stay put here waiting. Not to mention, she didn't really want to leave him on his own. It wasn't like they could cut the rifle in half. "We'll wait a little bit longer," she stated uneasily. She prayed that one or both of their teammates hadn't been injured or worse.
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Sam started slowly walking back upstream as he tried to make sense of what had happened, unable to stop thinking about how he had failed to save his partner. He wished he had searched the area before Callen went over to the side of the river. He should have been closer to him. If he had stayed by his partner's side, he could have grabbed him the second the shooting had begun. He could have shoved him to the ground, out of harm's way and away from the river…the river…he couldn't even bear to think of Callen dying alone in that cold and now swiftly darkening water. Finally, he reached the spot where Callen had dropped his canteen. He picked it up and clutched it tightly as tears began to fall once again. How could this have happened? How could he have failed his best friend so badly?
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"I think we need to go," Kensi said as she got to her feet and reached for Deeks' hand to help him. "We need to find them before it gets really dark."
Deek was just about to take her hand when he spotted Sam slowly walking towards them. "Kens…" he said softly. Kensi looked at him with a questioning look in her eyes and then turned around and saw Sam.
"Sam? Sam, what happened?" Kensi asked. Her concern only grew as she saw that he had obviously been crying. She looked behind him for any sign of Callen, but there was none.
"We…we heard the shots," Deeks said. He exchanged a glance with Kensi, neither of them wanting to ask the obvious question.
Sam sat down heavily on the ground, not saying a word.
"Sam?" Kensi asked as she tentatively touched his shoulder. "Sam…Talk to us…Please…"
Still nothing.
"Is Callen? Is he?" Deeks hesitated, still not wanting to ask the question.
"Is he what, Deeks?" Sam turned his head and stared at the younger man, his eyes angry and glistening with tears. "Is he dead? Can't you say it? D…E…A…D… Dead. Yes, Deeks…he's dead!"
Kensi's eyes began to well up as she stared at Sam, horrified. "Sam? How? Where?"
"He's somewhere in the river," Sam whispered. "He…he was shot…in the head…He fell in, went under right away…I tried to find him…I did…I tried…I couldn't…I….I never saw him…not even a glimpse…"
"But, maybe…There's no…" Deeks stopped himself, unable to refer to Callen as a body. It sounded too cold, too callous…He was having a hard time believing this to be true. How could Callen be dead? It just didn't seem possible.
Sam didn't respond. He couldn't stop thinking about the look of shock on his partner's face. He had realized what had happened. Sam prayed he had lost consciousness immediately afterwards. He didn't want to think about him struggling in the water, unable to rise to the surface as his lungs filled with water and he drowned. He bowed his head and began to sob. First Michelle…now G…first his wife and now his brother…he was done…done with it all…done with NCIS. He'd had enough. It was just too much. How much more was he expected to take? Hadn't he lost enough? It just wasn't fair.
Kensi went to Sam and gently took him into her arms as he cried and she allowed her own tears to fall as well. This whole damn thing was just a huge nightmare and it kept on getting worse. She couldn't believe that Callen was gone. Maybe if she had witnessed it…maybe then, but not this way… She just didn't want to believe it was true…
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When he first hit the ice cold water, Callen immediately went under as he felt his body slamming into rocks of varying shapes and sizes. He felt like he was spinning around in a giant washing machine full of rocks. The current carried him rapidly and he was unable to rise to the surface at first. He really thought he was going to drown. Then, every time he managed to get his head above the water, he was quickly swept under again. Finally, after being carried for what felt like forever, he desperately managed to grab onto a large rock and keep his head above the water for more than a few seconds. He coughed up water he had swallowed and took some gasping breaths. He couldn't stop shivering as he looked around to try to get a handle on where he was. Of course, he didn't have any idea. All he knew for sure was that he was all alone and in a terrible amount of trouble.
Callen realized that eventually he was going to have to let go of the rock and make an attempt to swim towards land. As he looked at the distance he needed to go, he wasn't very optimistic about his odds for success. Realizing that he was just going to get colder, the longer he stayed in the water, he finally decided to go for it and he let go of the rock. Unfortunately, the current continued to carry him downstream, but eventually he reached an area where the flow of the water was slower. Finally, using the last bit of strength and stamina that he possessed, he managed to make it to shore. He crawled out of the water onto the riverbank and passed out, totally spent from what he'd just gone through.
When Callen eventually came to, the first thing he noted was that it was almost dark. He slowly sat up to try to take stock of his injuries. He was sore all over. He had no idea how many scrapes and bruises he now had as a result of his crazy plunge into the rock-filled river. He was also entirely soaked and freezing. "Damn…" he said to himself as he wrapped his arms across his chest and tried to stop shivering. He then remembered the gunshot that had gone off and he tentatively felt the side of his head. He suspected the wound couldn't be anything more than a graze or there was no way he could have made it through the rapids alive. The wound felt very shallow and was pretty sore, but was likely just a scrape. He realized how lucky he was to be alive. He wasn't lucky to be separated from the rest of the team though. He also wondered what they thought about his situation, if they even thought he was alive. He realized there was every reason in the world for them to think he was dead. Because of that, he was going to have to try to find them, in case they weren't looking for him. They had been consistently following the river downstream and Callen couldn't think of any reason why Sam would change their course. With that in mind, he slowly began to head upstream, hoping, at some point, to meet up with his teammates once again.
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Sam's tears had finally ceased and now he, Kensi and Deeks were just sitting there in the dark, all of them alone with their morbid thoughts.
"Maybe he's still alive…" Deeks finally stated, wanting to break the eerie silence and needing to say what had been on his mind ever since Sam had returned from the river.
"He's not alive," Sam said. His voice sounded lifeless, almost devoid of any emotion. "He was shot in the head... Either the bullet killed him or he drowned." Once again, he prayed the bullet had killed him, the other alternative sounding too awful.
"But Sam…"
"Deeks…Shh…" Kensi took his hand and held it gently. "We'll be heading downstream tomorrow," she whispered to him. "We'll search for him as we walk…maybe…maybe there will be a miracle." She didn't really think so, nor did she want to get Sam's hopes up, but even if they found Callen's body, washed up on the bank of the river…as distressing as that thought was, at least it would give them closure.
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Callen's walking was clumsy as he tried to make his way through the darkness, stumbling numerous times over rocks and exposed roots. He knew this wasn't a very good idea, but neither was falling asleep in the cold with his wet clothes. More than anything, he wished that he was back with his friends and that he could wrap himself up in a warm blanket and sip from a cup of hot tea. He hadn't gone very far at all when he spotted the unmistakable glow of a campfire and heard the murmuring of voices. Knowing with certainty that it wasn't his team, he forced himself to move faster. He needed to warn his teammates that they were heading in the direction that would put them on a direct collision course with Bart and his goons.
"Agent Callen," the haunting voice came out of the darkness and then a flashlight was turned on and shone in his face. Callen turned his head away from the light only to see that, in addition to Bart, he was surrounded by four men with rifles all pointed directly at him.
"I suggest you come with us," Bart said as two of the men roughly grabbed Callen by his arms. Resistance will prove to be quite futile and will leave a bit of a bloody mess in this beautiful natural habitat. I don't think we want that, do we?"
Unable to see any viable means of escape, Callen did as he was told and didn't try to escape as Bart and his men ushered him towards the camp.
