I'm so happy so many people have stayed with this story. For a planned story it's gone much better than I expected. Thank you to everyone who left reviews.
To everyone following, thank you as well.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA
Hetty walked into the OPS where Deeks and Eric were still going through footage. She saw the facial recognition software running against faces pulled from surveillance.
"Who are these charming gentlemen?" Hetty noticed both of them jump at the sound of her voice.
Deeks took the question. "These are the two guys we identified as watching to see who showed up to watch my apartment. They stayed out in front of a closed café for four hours while the police did their thing. Eric is trying to get a facial match on them."
"And there they are." Eric said. "Meet Hectar Rodriquez and Manuel Perez. They are lieutenants in the Death's Head organization."
"Well that's not surprising." Deeks said.
"Well this is, they are from the Mexican side of Death's Head. Everything I've found is from Mexico. This appears to be the first time they have ever been in the states." Eric said. "Their record in Mexico, however, it extensive and varied. Drugs, murder, kidnapping, assault, bribery, etc. They apparently enjoy a good crime."
Hetty looked at the screen. "The Mexican side? Mr. Beale, what have you found out about the ship Archangel?"
"It's registered out of Argentina, but ownership is hidden through a maze of holding companies and in some cases simply false documentation. It is however exactly where we were told it would be." Eric hit a few buttons and several live shots of the ship appeared on screen. "All of this is footage from the docks. I started recording footage when the location of the ship was given."
"Very good work Mr. Beale. Is there anything else?"
"Just one. Everything on this ship looks normal, like a regular freighter, but, if you look on top of the bridge just to the rear of the standard equipment." Eric hit a few more buttons. "Those three dishes aren't for watching TV. This looks more like some sort of command and control communication set up."
"Mr. Beale, please send these pictures to Agent Del Campo. I would like to know what the DEA knows about these two."
"Sure, Hetty." Eric answered.
"Feel better." Kensi asked.
"About how I acted or about being a target?" Nell looked a little nervous.
"About how you acted. Being a target sucks. Always will."
"Then in that case yes, I'm better."
"Good. Now, we are going to have to go talk to Sam and G about tonight. We are going to have to have a plan. After that we are going to have to go over it until it is automatic and we have found all the holes in it."
"That won't be depressing."
"We have your back Nell. You let us do the worrying."
Hetty was sitting at her desk when the phone rang. She picked it up when she saw Eric's name appear.
"Yes, Mr. Beale."
"Hetty, Agent Del Campo just called me back requesting a meet at the boathouse in half an hour. She didn't want to discuss whatever it was over the phone."
"Thank you Mr. Beale. Please let Agent Callen and Agent Hanna know and they can meet her there. Remind them that they cannot tell her about Mr. Deeks."
Sam and G arrived at the boatshed before Agent Del Campo arrived.
"You know, when an agent wants a face to face it is always bad news." Sam said taking a seat on the sofa.
G had a seat on the chair beside him. "Yes, and given the last seventy-two hours, I have a feeling this is going to be worse than most."
Agent Talia Del Campo walked into the boast shed a few minutes later. She shook Sam's and G's hands. "It's nice to see you guys again, but I really wish you hadn't sent those pictures. Are they currently in America?" She said pointing to the two faces displayed on the screen at the head of the table.
"Yes." Sam answered. "On a boat in LA Harbor."
"Damn. I take it you know who they are and who they work for, that's why you called me. You just want details?"
"Yes." G said shaking his head.
"Hectar Rodriquez is Santiago's cousin but they were raised like brothers. Your intel probably has him listed as some high level lieutenant, but he is more like a general. The Death's Head army doesn't make a move without his say so, and it doesn't move without him knowing. Call him number three in the organization. Manuel Perez is logistics. He moves it, ships it, and flies it. He handles everything the cartel does. Ships, trucks, cars, people – all of it run by him. He also happens to be Santiago's brother-in-law. Family is a big deal in any cartel, but in the Death's Head, it trumps everything."
Talia turned from the screen where the two men's faces were displayed.
"If both of them are here, in LA, then….wait, what boat? The Archangel?" Talia sent questioning looks between the two agents.
"Yeah." Sam replied.
"Then it's worse." Talia said looking at the floor.
"It always is." G responded.
"The Archangel is Santiago's boat. It's the one he travels on. On the outside it doesn't look like much, but inside it's like a yacht. It also has doors under the water line that allow it to dump and retrieve narco submarines."
"Ok, I know you all have a lot going on but how does the DEA not know that the leadership of Death's Head is sitting in LA harbor."
"I can trust the two of you to keep a secret right?" Callen and Sam have incredulous looks. "Right. Forgot who I was talking to. Death's Head has a mole in DEA. High up in the DEA. There have been two separate attempts to smoke the mole out and they both failed. In fact each investigation implicated the agent in charge of the investigation. I'm pretty sure that the first agent was clean and I know the second one was."
"You?" Callen said taking a guess.
"Yep. I still got sidelined while everything got sorted out. Why do you think I was undercover at a fish market? Anyway, do not bring the DEA in on this. If you do they will run and they will know that some three letter agency is after them."
"We are a four letter agency." Callen responded.
"Right." Talia answered.
"Thank you for the help." Sam said offering his hand again.
"Don't mention it." Talia said shaking Sam's and then G's hand. "Seriously, to anyone. The fewer people who know I ever talked to you the better." With that she turned to walk out the door.
Sam turned to G. "She didn't even ask."
As Talia opened the door to leave she turned to face them. "Agent Blye and I reached an understanding. I don't ask about Marty and she doesn't sneak into my apartment and slit my throat while sleep."
G and Sam just laughed.
When they got back to the mission Sam and G went straight to Hetty's desk.
Sam spoke first. "Hetty, this isn't going to work. We are going to have to rethink the plan."
"What do you mean Mr. Hanna?"
"The two guys outside Deeks place aren't just lieutenants. They are related to Santiago. Hectar runs the military arm of the family. Manuel is the logistics man. He runs the entire smuggling operation, sea, air, and land. Also the Archangel? It may look like a container vessel but it is fitted out like a luxury yacht inside. Del Campo says that if it is here, Santiago is here."
"Add to that the fact that there is mole in DEA for Death's Head." Callen spoke up.
"How sure is she about the mole?"
"She ran the second hunt for him and ended up being framed as the mole. It's why she was working at the fish processing plant while they sorted it out."
"This situation keeps getting worse and worse gentlemen." Hetty stapled her fingers as she sat at her desk. "I agree that the original plan is no longer viable." She looked up at her two agents. "What do you suggest?"
"We hit the boat." Callen stated firmly. Sam shook his head in the affirmative.
"We hit the boat before the meet. Nell stays here. The currently reality doesn't make risking her life necessary." Callen was almost pleading.
Hetty didn't exactly concede the point. "Yes, Mr. Callen. Miss Jones will not be a decoy."
Sam and Hetty both noticed Callen's shoulders and facial features relax at the statement.
"We are going to need a lot of firepower G." Sam said.
"You let me worry about fire power, Agent Hanna. Get the team and Director Granger together in OPS and come up with a plan." With that Hetty reached over and picked up the phone.
Kensi, Deeks, Nell, and Eric were all in OPS pouring over the video, pictures, and schematics for the buildings near the docs where Archangel was docked.
Kensi looked up when Sam and G walked into the room. "Hey guys. I'm glad you're here. We are trying to get a plan going here."
"The plan has changed." Callen stated evenly. Everyone looked at him with different levels of surprise. "Hetty connected us to a DEA source. The source says that the Archangel isn't just any transport. The inside is supposed to be set up like a luxury yacht. It supposedly has underwater hatches that allow it to launch and retrieve narco subs as well. Also, the two 'lieutenants' that were watching Deeks place? They are family of Santiago. One is his cousin who runs the military arm of the business. The other is his brother-in-law and he runs the entire smuggling side. The source says that that if both of them are here on the Archangel, then Santiago is here."
Sam stuck with 'the source' motif. "The source also said that Death's Head has a mole in the DEA. So we have to stay completely internal for this whole thing."
"The source?" Kensi arched an eyebrow at them.
"Yes. The source." Callen stated in such a way as to brook no further discussion.
Sam leaned over the table looking at the layout. He was just about to begin speaking when Hetty and Granger walked into the room.
"Eric, please open a secure video link to Camp Pendleton and the San Diego office."
Eric hit several buttons on his keyboard causing live video feeds to appear showing the NICS tactical centers of both locations.
Hetty turned to her agents. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Special Agent Hank Greeson. He heads the tactical response unit out of San Diego. The will go by the call sign Priest. This is Special Agent Roger Henson. He is currently running the Great Lakes tactical unit through training at Camp Pendleton. They will go by the call sign Wyvern. They are going to help us with tonight's operation. We will go by call sign Wizard."
Granger spoke up. "In light of new information, the fake hostage hand over is going to be abandoned. They Death's Head already know Agent Deeks to be LAPD. They assume Agent Jones is as well. They suspect the rest of the team as being police as well. The identification of the two new players as well as the high likely hood that Santiago himself is here make the risk unreasonable." Granger nods at Callen. "We are going to go with Agent Callen's original plan. We are going to hit the ship half an hour before the agreed upon meet time." Granger saw some questioning looks. "The two tactical teams need time to get here and geared up. Also moving this many people in such a small area, the darkness will cover our us." At that point Granger turned to Nell. "Agent Jones, you no longer have to play decoy on this mission, but you are a field agent. If you want to be part of this, then no one," Granger leveled a steely gaze at Callen, "will stop you."
Nell wondered if someone had talked to Granger about not calling her bait. It occurred to her that maybe he had told everyone else not to call her bait. There was still so much she didn't know about the man. Her decision was make quickly. "I would like to see this through, sir." She couldn't back down now. If she wanted to be a field agent she had to go even when it was hard. She looked over at Kensi who gave her a slight nod in encouragement.
"I assumed as much." Granger responded.
Nell though that maybe the unusual look on Granger's face might have been a smile. It was hard to tell, she had never seen him do that before.
"You can partner with Agent Blye." Hetty added. "I trust that will keep your blood pressure down, Agent Deeks."
Deeks didn't say anything. He just smiled and nodded his head toward Nell.
"Alright, I believe a plan was being put in place?" Hetty questioned.
"Yes." Sam responded immediately. He looked toward the screens where the tactical units were gathered. "How many marksman do each of you have?" Each special agent responded they had one designated marksman. "Excellent, you can run over watch under Special Agent Blye's direction." Sam turned to Kensi. "Were do you want to set up Kensi?"
Kensi had been studying the overheads and schematics. "Well, I would say the crane here and the roof here and here, but those are either being watched or already manned. We are going to have to pick secondary locations with better cover. We can cover from inside the top floor of this building, the deck of this ship, and I will be inside this warehouse, here." She gestured to the positions on the screen causing dots to appear that everyone could see. "That gives us full coverage of the whole ship and surrounding area. We will also be able to remove any guards they have at these other higher locations."
The marksmen from the other two squads were shaking their heads in agreement.
Sam continued. "Using the darkness as cover we will move to the ramp and make entrance to the vessel. We will be in front, Priest next, Wyvern last. Wyvern you will take the helm. Under no circumstances can this boat leave the dock. Once you have subdued the crew and disabled the controls, sweep the rear. Priest, you descend as quickly as you can and find the underwater doors. There is some concern that they may attempt to open them to sink the ship to destroy evidence, kill us, and attempt escape. We will sweep forward."
"We have no schematics of the inside of this ship. You all will be going into a snake's den. We have been told that the inside is more like a yacht than a commercial vessel so keep that in mind." Granger looked around the room. "This is a national security matter and as such is more a military operation than a police action. Do not hesitate to do what needs to be done. Am I clear?" Granger looked around the room as well as the people on the screens. Liking what he saw he continued. "Greeson, Henson, get your people moving. We will see you in a few hours as the air field hanger. From there we move forward."
With that the screens went black. Everyone looked at one another as if to gage their thoughts and emotions.
"The calm before the storm." Callen muttered.
"I have always hated this part." Sam agreed.
"Agents." Hetty said getting their attention. "Might I suggest that you begin your preparations for tonight? Things will become very busy, very quickly."
Callen nodded and headed for the door. Sam, Nell, Kensi, and Deeks followed. As they cleared the door to OPS Deeks grabbed Kensi's hand.
"Be careful, Fern." He hugged her with his good arm.
"I will. I've got Nell." Kensi said.
"Deeks 2.0 at your service." Nell said with a bow.
With that the four left to prepare their gear for the night and Deeks returned to OPS.