Chapter 10
~ Turn Back Time ~
When there's so much speculation on the scoops Shane Brennan left us for season 6, there's one that says "Romance is in the cards for Callen, and from an unexpected quarter". For the series? No way! But thank you, Shane Brennan, for being able to use 'your' – in fact he is ours! – G. Callen for this storyline…
In the end, Callen had chosen to simply have a nap in the cozy chair in the room. A nap from which he just woke, gasping and in need to clear his head. Call it nightmares, call it bad dreams – all in all it mostly were just memories that kept haunting him. It seemed like they were always there and usually it took him some moments to realize that's what they were – memories. Despite the fact the dreams were as bad as he was used to, this time things were different when he opened his eyes.
He sighed at the sight of the sleeping form right in front of him and for once, Callen wished he could put some restlessness aside. And stay, no matter what.
But then he got up as he already had decided which steps he'd take from now on.
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NCIS Office of Special Projects || Los Angeles
"Just do what I asked, will ya, Eric?"
Sam nearly snapped. After a night with far too little sleep he was cranky right now. Only this morning he had picked up his car, finding out neither his partner nor someone called Rebecca Belgrave had entered the ER. So right now, he was pressing Eric to check camera feeds of the parking garage.
"Easy, big fellow. We all understand you're moody. No need to help us into that same moody mood," Deeks advised. "Why not try the GPS on your phone first? You mentioned Callen took it."
Eric shook his head. "Already gave it a shot. Turned off, of course."
"How about the other one?" Nell asked. At the same time, she typed the number of the phone she'd given Callen right before he left for his cover op. "It's without GPS but hey… We should and can deduct, right?"
Kensi came closer, curiously looking over the other woman's shoulder. "You mean your system can also trace a phone without GPS?"
The red hair head shook just a little. "No way. But we can look into the phone records. Just like we can do that with Sam's mobile. I'm going to give Callen the standard call, 'call home' so he knows we need him. Maybe he'll respond. If not, the system can check if he made any calls at all and whereto. All we need to do is wait for maybe an hour."
"Huh. An hour. So, Eric, how about camera feed?" Sam urged.
Nervously, Eric looked up at the senior agent. "You know I cannot do this without orders from Hetty, Sam."
The scraping of the throat they all heard was very familiar. "Since Hetty is not around, orders of the assistant director will do just as well, don't you think Beale?" He simply nodded to the others. "Good morning, by the way."
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The Strand || Manhattan Beach
It was an awkward way to wake up. There was an odd and buzzing feeling next to her stomach that she did not recognize. It seemed to take ages until her weary brain realized that it was a phone that was put on the blanket.
Rebecca took it. There was no number on the screen, just one message 'call home'. No way she would use someone else's phone to do so. And all of a sudden she realized it must be Callen's phone she had in here. Then it hit her and it hit her harder than she ever imagined – of course he had a home and probably a family of his own. And so he was not around in here right now, because he went home - of course.
Minutes later, at nearly 10 in the morning she noticed, Rebecca picked up the same phone again. For a while she did not know what to do with it, except for scrolling through the contacts. No, no way she'd do that. She shove it as far from her as possible.
Slowly she rolled back on the bed, closing her eyes again. Meanwhile Rebecca was thinking what to do next.
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South Westlake Avenue || Los Angeles
Justin Miller.
Only the other day Vlad had mentioned that name. Miller… Callen knew the name, but he never met the man. Had Miller been around in Russia or Serbia? He didn't remember. Thing was that Vlad had told him Miller and Malic had been discussing the fact that Yoran Krajic should be recruited. Why had that been?
Perhaps he could get Vlad to explain better. Just Vlad. The guy seemed above-board, hard working too, with perhaps some secrets. If he could only get Vlad to the boathouse and ask about Miller.
Since there was no way Callen would be naïve and go back into that club to meet with the large bouncer, he would pay him a the least expected place – his home.
One thing he always trusted was his ability to find back locations everywhere in this town – his town. He bitterly understood this was one of the benefits of living in so many foster homes or on the street.
Although it had been past midnight when he arrived at this address some nights before, Callen parked the same grey Chevrolet he'd taken last night to the opposite of the street. He took some minutes to observe the neighborhood. Two too well padded moms with strollers passed his car, nothing looked suspicious. He got out of the car, crossed the street and entered the porch he needed to be in.
A quick look on his watch affirmed what he already thought. Vlad would be around, but probably nearly be ready for the next move. One that Yoran Krajic was supposed to help with, mostly to listen to what Vlad had to say.
It took him only one breath to shake off G. Callen and become Yoran again. He knocked on the door as he called Vlad at the same time. The door opened up nearly immediately and the look on Vlad's face was surprised, though not hostile.
"Yoran! Hey, thought you'd left not to come back in our business."
He smiled. "Sure. Just to let you know I met a girl last night. And a guy like me needs some money to entertain a woman. You know how things go, don't you? So now I was about to pick you up. Ready?"
Callen expected the man might come with some excuses, but Vlad took a jacket and nodded. "Talking about Victoria, right? Boy, Yoran, don't interfere with her business. Seriously… Well, we can discuss it on our way to the warehouse."
He gratefully nodded. "Tell me all about it! You know what, I'll drive!" Callen jogged across the street to the car that wasn't his. Vlad stood on the other side of the street, waiting for a dark van to pass. A dark van with two wide opened sliding doors.
For a split second, Callen expected to hear Sam shouting. However, the shots he heard, did not come his way. Instead, they hit the man who was to drive with him. As in slow motion, Callen only noticed the three masked men coming his way.
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The Strand || Manhattan Beach
She'd taken a quick shower and dressed. The small and tiny older woman must have put the clothes in the bedroom Rebecca had stayed in. Clean clothes – fresh underwear, a pair of jeans that would fit with the belt that came with it and a plain gray granddad shirt. Black boots. Gratefully she got dressed and, just as she was about to leave the room the phone buzzed again. For a while, she doubted what to do. A different tone this time.
She sighed. Too curious, she decided to answer it. And without any introductions, there was a voice on the other side simply telling "I've arrived. We should meet."
Thank you for reading!