Running Rogue

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these shows.
A/N: Thanks for the lovely comments, TMVH50, Sweet Lu, and anonkp.

Pieces Fit

Steve, Chin, Callen, and Sam were huddled behind the van while Steve stared at the floor plans of the house holding their final carjacking ring suspects. Callen and Sam were testing out the weapons that Chin had passed them; feeling their weight, examining their firing mechanisms, and double-checking the magazines. Chin waited until they looked up and then handed them some spare vests.

"These say HPD, can we wear them?" Sam asked as Callen chuckled. "I'm serious, we don't want you to get in trouble."

Steve briefly looked up from the plans "I hereby deputize you."

Chin waved his hand in a gesture that looked like a cross between knighting them and crossing himself. When Callen cocked an eyebrow at him, Chin shrugged and said "That's what Danny would do if he was here, only there would be a lot of words flying around with it." Steve grunted and Chin hitched a thumb back at him, "See, Danny would translate that for us."

"He's never close, though." Steve mumbled as he flipped through the papers.

Chin grinned at the special agents and stage-whispered "He's often closer than Steve cares to admit."

Steve clapped his hands together and straightened up to face the group. "Okay, the plans show two exits plus some windows at ground level." The other three shared some amused looks, but Steve plowed forward. "Chin and I will take the front door and Sam and Callen will take the back door. Be aware that the back of the house is fenced in with one gate. There doesn't seem to be much cover, so we'll breach the front door and then you can enter the yard. Hopefully we'll funnel the suspects out towards you."

Sam noticed the pained look on Callen's face and smirked, holding in a laugh. "Where are the windows of concern?"

Chin spoke up, "All open into the lawn. Based on the type of company these guys keep, they'll be jumping out of every available opening."

"Rats on a ship." Sam summarized.

"Yep. Let's hope everyone we think is there so we can wrap up this case." Steve checked to see if there was a round chambered and nodded once. "Let's go."

Sam and Callen made their way through the back alley and caught glimpses of Chin and Steve as they worked their way to the front of the house. They crouched at the gate after Sam peeked over the fence to confirm they were at the right house. As they waited Sam shook his head at Callen. "It's a little different when you're being given the orders, not giving them."

Callen rolled his eyes, "I can handle it. This is their island."

"Admit it, you want to be the one breaking down the door, running in, waving your gun, and taking out the bad guys, not waiting for them to flee from Five-O." Sam stopped holding in his smile.

"I was the one who got the address." Callen shifted and raised his chin.

Sam shook his head. "Deeks was right, putting the two of you in there was a bad idea; two crazy cops with no good cop. I think you scared him into an early grave."

"He gave us the address, didn't he?" Callen hissed at his partner.

"I brought him to holding with Chin and I think he was looking forward to the punishment he'll be getting from his friends in jail."

Callen shrugged, "They'll put him in protective custody."

Sam rolled his eyes, "That's beside the point."

Callen started to retort, but Chin alerted them that they were about to breach the door. They readied themselves to have their hands full of carjackers.

Kensi checked the GPS coordinates one more time. "The data says we should be standing right on top of them. This is where Danny's phone went off-line and died." She gazed at the waves washing against the pier. "My best guess is that it's somewhere down in that water."

Kono leaned down and used a brush to sweep the mess of broken plastic and wiring into an envelope. "I think I found one of the earwigs, or at least what's left of it."

"So let's recap: Deeks was missing, but then we found him. Now Deeks and Danny are missing. If this keeps up, we'll have to put his face on a milk carton." Kensi rolled her eyes.

"Or shoot a tracker into him." Kono suggested.

Kensi smirked, "You not the first one to suggest that." She dropped her hands on her hips and scanned the area.

Kono let out a giggle as she did the same thing. "I see that stimulus money was spent well." At Kensi's furrowed brow, she explained. "This dock received some money to make it more appealing. There was a big to-do about the fact they spent some of it on plantings that they scattered around the area. You know, trying to break up the dullness of concrete and shipping containers with flowers and ferns."

Kensi's head snapped up at the mention of the selected plants. "Ferns? Where?" She followed Kono's pointed finger with her eyes and then ran towards the planter. She plunged her hands into the greenery and rifled around the surface of the soil. Kono watched in silence as Kensi's mouth settled into a determined scowl. She jumped slightly when Kensi ripped her hand out, spraying fern leaflets in the air. "Thank you Max!" She grinned triumphant, holding a cell phone in the air like a trophy.

"Is that…Deeks' phone?" Kono was slightly confused, but figured her stand-in partner would explain.

"It has to be." She paused, realizing that Kono didn't know the story. "One of our first, well, it was our first, undercover operation together he gave the name 'Fern' even though I told him not to. He tends to use it more often then I'd like, but don't tell him that it's growing on me." She ducked her head and focused on the phone. "Huh, it's dead. I guess that's why we couldn't ping it."

Kono nodded. "We have his phone. What's our…" her words were cut off by the quick honk of a horn. They both turned to find a tow truck pulling up beside them.

"Hello officer, what brings you down to the docks?" A smiling man leaned out of the cab.

"Hokeo, what are you doing here?" Kono crossed her arms with mock seriousness. "Prowling the police scanner again?"

"Probably the same as you; I got a call." He pointed at the warehouse behind them. "Car's been parked in a no-parking zone. I have to move it. Your turn."

Kono grimaced. "We're following up a missing person case."

"Might be connected to my car, want a lift?"

Kensi and Kono shared a look and then nodded. They looped around the cab and slid into the seat. Hokeo drove the distance and they waited as he backed the truck into position to pick up the car. As he set about preparing the car to be towed, they looked around and inside the car. Seeing nothing of value, but not wanting to pass up a possible lead, they asked Hokeo to tow the car back to the crime lab. Kono put a call into Fong to look over the car. Hokeo cleared it with the dock manager, who was fine with the change in plans as he no longer had to store the vehicle. Kono and Kensi walked back to their car and headed back to the office to break the news to the rest of the team.

The raid was a bit of a blur – Steve rocketed through the door identifying himself with a yell. The shocked carjackers were frozen in their seats around the table for a moment as Chin came in behind and turned to clear the rest of the house. In the next instant the men jumped from their seats and ran for the back of the house with Steve in close pursuit. He got one in handcuffs before they cleared the doorway to the kitchen. He heard Chin call 'clear' on the rest of the single level house as Steve left his first hogtied carjacker squirming on the floor and launched himself after the other five. He heard a loud 'oomph' and guessed that Chin had grabbed the slowest of the pack as they jumped out of any opening into the backyard.

He heard Callen and Sam yelling at the four remaining suspects to raise their hands and hit the ground. When he popped out of the door he found Sam covering Callen as he went down the line putting cuffs on the wide-eyed men. Figuring those two had it under control, he walked back to pick up his trussed up suspect. He hauled him to his feet and walked him out to the back of the house. They met Chin coming out of the bedrooms with his prisoner. They shared a smile and settled them in line with the rest of cuffed men. Steve pulled out the sheets on the men they were looking for and started matching men to their mug shots.

"Congratulations, we got them all." He paused at one who had blood smeared on his face and was scowling. "What happened to him?"

Callen shrugged. "I told them to stop."

"Oh yeah?" Chin asked as watched the suspects.

"I clearly remember saying it." Callen nodded.

"I heard it." Sam threw in.

"And this one didn't stop." Callen shook his head and frowned. "So, he ran straight into Sam's fist." He sighed. "If he had heeded the warning, he would have seen the danger."

Sam shrugged. "It's dangerous out there for a carjacker who doesn't listen."

Steve fought back a smile. "Let's load them up. Including the one that ran into the fence."

"That ain't no fence, that's police brutality!" The man with the bloody nose tried to yell, but between the blood and sore face, it came out muffled and very un-threatening.

"Based on your last mug shot, this probably improved your face, I'd take that as a win." Chin pointed out, with a sage expression. The other carjackers burst out laughing and the injured man pouted and kept quiet. Steve and Chin shared a fist bump behind the suspects' backs and then herded them towards their transportation.

Steve, Chin, Callen, and Sam strolled into the office laughing and celebrating the successful raid.

"I think that one guy was still in shock up until the jail door slammed shut."

"All we could hear was a banshee yell that sounded something like Fiiiive-aaaayyii!"

"I couldn't believe the pile of keys we found."

"'Perplexed' – that's what the guy kept mumbling in the car."

The voices piled on top of each other punctuated with chuckles, but it all came to a screeching halt when they collectively looked up to find Kensi and Kono standing stiff by the table.

Kono eyed Kensi and decided to explain. "Your techs alerted us that the earpieces went offline. We went to the spot and it's not good."

Kensi took a slight step forward and Kono turned to the screens to organize what they had learned while they waited. "One of the earpieces had been destroyed and we believe the other, along with Danny's phone, are in the bottom of the bay. We did find Deeks' phone…in a fern." She waited a moment to let the significance sink in for Sam and Callen. "I think they're in trouble."

"We have the data on Deeks' phone." She pointed to some files on the screen. "We unlocked a file and found a container number, shipping company, and several pictures. Eric has been working on this as well." As if on cue a beep sounded and Kono opened a web chat with the NCIS:LA office.

Eric and Nell stood against the table, tablets ready in their hands. They nodded and picked up the briefing.

"We're running the faces, but it'll take some time since the pictures are not the best quality and they were taken from a distance." Eric paused for a moment and then added "we're doing the best we can."

Nell hefted her tablet and read off the screen. "I've been chasing down the shipping company and it is a front. I think I'm close to breaking into who actually runs it. The container originated in the Sudan and it's worked its way around Africa and Asia before landing in Hawaii. The landing documents are obviously faked, but it was a part of a four container shipment. I'm tracking the remaining containers as they had been moved prior to this one."

Callen nodded, "Good work. Keep us posted as to what you find." He turned toward the group. "We have two angles to work – there's catching Billy and his crew in the act and ending his career once and for all, and we have to get our detectives back." Callen frowned and looked at the screen.

Hetty nodded sagely from where she walked to stand in front of Eric and Nell. "You do have six people at your disposal. I suggest you divide and conquer." She raised her fist in the air to emphasize her point.

Steve crossed his arms and sighed. "What do we know right now?"

Nell stepped forward. "Based on the messages we received, Billy will be taking delivery of his next shipment on Thursday at 3:00 in the morning. Hank is not the mole. That leaves Mack and Bugs on the shortlist as the one sending the information. Deeks and Danny were" she swallowed hard, but kept going, "taken from the dock only a short time after they checked in and they've been missing for half a day now."

Steve frowned, "How have they been missing so long? How did we not notice?" Anger rolled off of him and Nell took a slight step back.

Eric coughed, "We were working on something else when the alert came in but when we saw what it was we started working on it right away. But, we're, uh, not used to working in Hawaii and we lost valuable time trying to access the programs we'd need. Plus we..." He swallowed. "We went as fast as we could."

Steve waved his hand, "I'm not blaming you, we just need to find them." He pulled out his phone and quoted a number. "If you need help, you call Catherine. She has the access that will ensure you're not slowed down again."

"Thanks." Eric and Nell each gave another nod and then they cut the feed.

Sam shook his head. "We need to focus."

Steve nodded his agreement. "I think Sam and I should go back to the base and try and find the Navy mole. I think Chin and Callen should check with the Gangs squad, see if they know anything that would be useful and follow up on the shipping company and container."

Kono spoke up, "Fong should be done with that car, if it is theirs, it should give us some clues. Plus we can see what we can dig up on the other players."

Callen clenched his jaw and gave a firm nod. "Sounds good. Let's meet up in a couple hours to pool our results." He glared at the picture of the broken earpiece on the screen. "Let's bring our boys home."