The Ballad Of Mona Lisa

Chapter 11

So, I'm never going to own it. I'll just play with the toys and put them back mostly un-maimed.

'Give me a sign,

I want to believe...'

'Morning, Deeks, Sam,' Callen said, walking into the bullpen, holding a Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee.

'Morning Callen.'

'Morning G.'

'Where's Kensi?' Callen asked.

Both men shrugged, one behind paperwork, the other behind a comic book, his injured ankle propped up on the desk.

'Don't think she's here yet,' Deeks said, turning a page.

'Should you be reading that?' Callen asked.

Deeks nodded. 'Sure. Work starts at nine thirty, and it is nine fifteen. Therefore, I have a right to do whatever I like.' He sipped from his mega-size coffee mug.

'Tane's reporting to the boatshed at ten,' Sam informed Callen. 'I think Densi should interview him.'

'And what will you two do?' Deeks asked.

'Well, I think Rose would be finished with the body by now.'

'We've loaded her up, haven't we?' Deeks asked.

'Well, we did give her two extra bodies yesterday.'

'It was the men's fault for stealing it in the first place.' Kensi stalked into the room, her high heels clicking on the ground.

'Morning, Kensi,' Callen said.

Deeks looked up from his comic and almost choked on a mouthful of his coffee.

'Good morning, guys,' Kensi said, putting her handbag down at her desk and slipping her phone into the pocket of a pair of jeans that definitely weren't a size two but much, much smaller. Her newly cut hair was curled into loose ringlets and she wore a loose, creamy coloured off-the-shoulder top over a bright red camisole. She looked so beautiful that you didn't really notice the bandage on her arm.

'You feeling good today, Kens?' Callen asked, taking a mouthful of coffee.

'Actually, I am. Why do you ask?' Kensi asked brightly, blinking her long lashes.

'You look hot,' Sam said candidly.

'Why, thank you, Sam,' Kensi replied.

'Does the new haircut have something to do with this?' Callen asked.

'It might,' Kensi smiled, blinking long dark lashes that brushed her pinker-than-usual cheeks. 'Are you alright, Deeks?'

'Just coughing up a lung, don't mind me,' Deeks wheezed.

'How about the ankle?'

'Still limping.' He nodded to the crutches resting against the desk.

'Mr Deeks, please take your foot off of the desk,' Hetty said.

'Doctor said that I should keep it elevated to avoid swelling,' Deeks replied.

'I have the feeling that it's a little past that,' Kensi said, nudging it.

'Ow,' Deeks said pointedly.

'Whiner.'

'You're the one that pulled me out of the car,' Deeks replied.

Kensi shook her head. 'You didn't get out of the car when I told you to.'

'You're the one that parked on a freeway!'

'Densi!'

Kensi and Deeks froze and turned to Hetty, who stood with her arms folded and a stern look in her eyes.

'Yes?' they tentatively asked in unison.

'Go talk to Agent Tane. Here's his file, you can review it on the drive to the boatshed,' Hetty said, handing it to Kensi.

'Okay,' Kensi said, flipping it open. 'Come on, Deeks.'

'I wanna drive,' said Deeks.

'Not likely,' Kensi said, jingling the keys in her palm.

'But you always get to drive,' Deeks was heard to protest as they made their way down the hall and out the door.

'And I'm not gonna trust you behind the wheel when you've got a busted ankle and 2nd degree burns all up your legs.'

'You've got burns up your arm.'

'Not half as bad as you. You are not driving, Deeks. I value my life too much for that.'

'Gee, thanks. Tell me...'

Their bickering faded as they got further and further away.

'What are you going to about them?' Callen asked, turning to Hetty and watching as she smiled, listening to them as they bickered on their way out of OSP.

'Sounds to me as if they are perfectly fine.'

'Fine? That don't sound fine, Hetty, if you don't mind me saying,' Sam said.

'They sound exactly as you and Mr Callen did at that stage in your relationship.'

'Relationship? I think you mean partnership, Hetty,' Callen said.

'No, Mr Callen, it is definitely better called a relationship.'

'Do you know something that we don't?' Sam asked suspiciously.

'Don't I always?' Hetty asked archly.

'No, what Sam means it that-'

'I'm very aware about what Mr Hanna means, Mr Callen. And no, they haven't.'

'I don't even know how you know that,' Callen replied.

Hetty smiled again. 'It would be simple. There would just be something simply different about them.'

Sam snorted. 'The moment they stop bickering is the moment that hell freezes over.'

Hetty smiled. 'I think that the ME is waiting for you, boys.'

Sam smiled and collected his jacket from his desk. 'See you, Hetty.'

'Bye, Hetty,' Callen repeated. 'We'll call as soon as we have something.'

'Agent Tane?' Kensi threw the file of the investigation onto the table and motioned that he sit.

He nodded. 'Wow. This place exists.'

'You work for NCIS and you didn't know that this place exists?' Deeks asked.

He nodded again. 'Apparently. Most people think that this place is a myth.'

'Special Agent Blye, Detective Deeks.'

'I've heard about you two.'

The pair sat down opposite him.

'What?' Deeks asked.

'The whole thing with the Russians and the little black book is kind of urban legend now.'

'Not a legend, it happened,' Deeks muttered.

Tane turned to Kensi. 'Is it true that you made it through a maze of lasers and then survived the building blowing up?'

Kensi winced and Deeks winced in sympathy.

'Bad memory, man, we don't talk about it. My back still hasn't recovered.'

'Oh... sorry. So, uh, why am I here?' Tane was young and eager, and he obviously worshiped the more experienced partners.

'You recently got off of the Lincoln on assignment, right?' Kensi asked, flipping open the file.

'That's correct, yes,' Tane said. 'There was a pretty bad drug problem and I couldn't make head nor toe of it.'

'Why didn't you ask for help?' Kensi asked.

'I did. That's why Agent Murphy flew out.'

'You heard about what happened to Murphy, yeah?' Deeks asked.

'Yeah. She was so nice.'

'We know,' Kensi said.

'We think that her death had something to do with the case she was working,' Deeks said.

'Wh-what, the drugs?' Tane stuttered. 'Why would the drugs have anything to do with this?'

'Because drugs often do,' Deeks said grimly. 'What can you tell us about it?'

'A week out from LA, a petty officer was found dead in his bunk. I sent the body back to the ME in Washington, a Dr Mallard, who found high concentrations of not only methamphetamines and cocaine, but also, strangely enough, potassium cyanide. Only a week later, another sailor collapses unconscious on the flight deck. He gets rushed to the bay and is barely saved, same stuff.'

'That would be Petty Officer Maine, yeah?' Kensi asked, casting an eye over the file.

'Yeah. And Petty Officer Paul Lite checked into the bay only a few hours afterwards. He'd only just found out about the bad stuff and wanted to make sure that he'd be okay. Turns out that he had gotten a bad batch.'

'We know; some other agents talked to him. Have any other cases turned up?'

'Not since we disembarked from the Lincoln, I've been making sure.'

'And I haven't found any cases of civilians coming foul of this stuff,' Deeks said, flicking to the back of the file. 'I checked with LAPD, nothing. Seems like only Navy seamen are getting bad batches.'

'Only Navy seamen on the Lincoln, Agent Tane,' Kensi corrected.

'So, you think someone on the ship gave it to 'em?' Tane asked, eyes wide. 'Whoa.'

Deeks paused and then took a seat next to Kensi. 'Just out of curiosity, Tane, was it you?'

Tane's mouth dropped open. 'What? Me? Oh, no, man, not me. I'd never do anything like that to anyone.'

'Are you sure?' Kensi asked. 'Because Murphy felt a little suspicious.'

'About me? Are you sure?' Tane asked.

'Well, you were the Agent Afloat on the Lincoln, right?' Deeks asked.

'But... but I would never do anything like that,' Tane stuttered.

Kensi pulled out another file and placed it on the table. 'You see, Tane, we did a little research. Your great grandfather was part of the British Royal Navy in World War One, yeah? And then your grandfather fought in World War 2. Your dad was part of Vietnam. You were gonna be fourth generation Navy.'

Deeks took over almost seamlessly, matching her intensity exactly. 'Until you all found out that you had a heart murmur. And there went the big dream.'

'So you joined NCIS. Close as you could get, yeah?'

'But when you got stuck on a big ship full of all these healthy, eager Marines, people who managed to be what you had always wanted to be, didn't that just make you a little mad?' Deeks asked, holding two fingers apart by about half an inch.

'No, no!' Tane protested. 'It's an honour to serve the Navy in any way I can.'

'I don't believe you,' Deeks said, blue eyes shining cold.

'You know what I think, Deeks?' Kensi asked, turning to her partner.

'I think you're thinking the same thing that I am, but you can tell me all the same,' Deeks replied.

'I think he snapped. These men have the opportunity to serve in the Navy, and they throw it all away by using. So one day, you contact their supplier, anonymously of course.'

'Of course,' Deeks agreed. 'And you pay him the $5000 that you withdrew from your account a month ago to slip a little more into the mix than those men paid for.'

'Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. Funny that.'

'What do you think, Agent Tane?' Deeks asked.

Tane bit his lip. 'I think I need a lawyer.'

'Now that's a brilliant idea.'

Well? Was I a bit too hard on Tane? Do you think that he did it? Or is he innocent? Let me know...

Also, thanks to everyone who wished me luck on my exams. I've finished the trials… now for the real thing… *gulp*…

Now, people, listen up! Time for some tough love. I refuse to post the next chapter until I get at least five reviews… is that too much to ask?

XD PurpleHipposRock