Brothers in Arms
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS:LA, if I did, I'd have my office in the middle of the set. During filiming.
A/N: Reviews are lovely, as are the reviewers. Thanks jmlane1966, Sweet Lu, SunnyCitrus10, shestarsky, and CM-x-SN-x-HP-x-roxmysox.
Day 10
"Picture's up."
"Audio's up."
"We're set."
"Very good, Mr. Beale, Miss Jones. Watch them." Hetty scanned the feeds from the cameras that had been planted by Sam in the warehouse. She was not happy with how little coverage there had been in the club. Callen was being evasive about their plan and Hetty hoped to fill in the holes with information garnered from this meet. "Alert me when the players arrive."
Eric and Nell acknowledged the order and turned back to their screens.
"It's been weird without Callen and Deeks." Eric stopped typing and looked at Nell.
Her fingers paused on her keyboard and nodded. "It's been calmer, but not as much fun." They looked at each other and pondered that.
A blip popped up on Eric's screen. "Looks like Deeks is getting close to the warehouse. We should call Hetty."
"No need, Eric, I'm here."
Eric and Nell froze, their eyes widened. They turned slightly to catch either other's eyes and raised their eyebrows to communicate their confusion. When did she get there? Did she ever leave? Why was she so silent, and was she deadly to match? Okay, they knew the answer to the second part of the last question.
Eric cleared his throat, "Uh, the tracker in Deeks' ring is showing them four blocks from the warehouse."
"We should be picking them up on camera momentarily." Nell put the camera view in question up on the big screen.
The three watched as an SUV pulled past. Nell changed the views as it pulled into the warehouse. It parked and waited. Nell rotated through the views on her computer screen to watch for the other invited party. Eric spotted them coming from the north and Nell tracked them. Three SUVs turned in and the lead one parked nose to nose with the one holding their Callen and Deeks.
"Where are Sam and Kensi positioned?" Hetty posed the question while they watched the players exit their vehicles.
Eric pulled up the floor plan of the warehouse, "Kensi is up in this corner and Sam is watching over here."
Voices began to filter in through the microphones and Eric moved to turn up the volume so they could listen. A program began to make a transcript and Nell positioned it on the big screen beside the two best camera views while entering the proper names.
Diego: Hello friends, I think my choice of meeting area was much more welcoming.
Callen shrugged with his arms hanging loosely at his side and Deeks stood still, one hand resting on his hip and the other shoved deep into his pocket.
Callen: I see you brought many friends.
Diego: Laughter I am not one to travel light.
Deeks: Neither are we.
They watched as a paper cup lying to the side of the group exploded into little pieces. The transcript program labelled the sound bang but they knew up in Ops that it was a shot from Kensi's rifle signalling that the Savic brothers had their backs covered.
Diego: We have made our positions known. Shall we do business, yes?
Callen: Do you have our payment?
Diego snapped at one of his men who brought over a laptop. There was some typing and switching of the computer back and forth.
Eric monitored the account and once the money came through he sent a text to Callen. They watched as Callen pulled out his phone, read the message and then nodded at Diego. The laptop got packed up and everyone readied themselves to leave.
In the flurry of movement of the money transfer everyone but Hetty missed a note being passed from one of Diego's henchmen to Deeks. She tried to watch as he unfolded it and read it, but people kept moving. She eyed the transcript to see what it was picking up.
Deeks: This wasn't part unintelligible extra unintelligible need time to plan unintelligible
Goon: unintelligible make it work unintelligible contact within unintelligible
A terse nod from Deeks ended the conversation and Hetty tamped down frustration. She could guarantee herself that neither of the partners would fill her in on this little exchange since Deeks did his best to shield the conversation from the cameras. She would have to trust them to do the right thing. But she didn't trust that what they thought was the right thing was in their best interest.
A few weeks later…
Kensi met up with Sam in the parking lot and they joked about their respective parking jobs. The Savic case had been wrapped up by the warehouse meeting. The shipment had been tracked down to a jungle hideout and satellite imagery had confirmed it as the base of operations. Hetty handed the information over to the DEA; Callen and Deeks had suggested it so that the cartel would be taken down because of their drugs, not because of the guns. That would hopefully allow the legends to remain viable if they would be helpful in the future.
Their partners had returned to them in one piece and the four had worked on two cases since. Everything was going well. Sam and Kensi were optimistic that the tendency to take off on their own had been successfully squashed. They wandered to their desks only to find Hetty standing there, head down and hands folded. They stopped in front of her, unsure of what was coming.
Hetty was still, as though she was bolstering herself. She raised her head and spoke. "They're gone."
The question 'who?' hung in the air unasked, as though if someone spoke it, the room would explode.
Hetty continued, "I found these on my desk." She gestured towards two dark piles sitting on the edge of Sam's desk. "I do not know where they are, but I know I cannot protect them." She turned on her heel and walked away.
Sam and Kensi slowly turned toward Sam's desk, as though they were in a fog. They stared uncomprehending down at the piles.
The first was a NCIS badge with a note that read 'I brought back-up'.
The second was a LAPD badge and ring resting on a watch with a note that said 'I'm the back-up'.
Sam and Kensi looked at each other; Sam's lips were pressed together, holding back all the things he wanted to say to his missing partner while Kensi eyes welled with tears and she bit back a snarl.
Callen and Deeks had gone dark.
A/N: And we're back to the regularly scheduled updating! It'll be every Monday until the end of the story.