Mexican Rose ~ 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'
Chapter 11
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Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects
"So we've got eight people at the morgue and three missing persons – our team leader Callen, your agent Ryker and Manuel Santosa," Nell summarized. "And one hospitalized team member of ours, Sam Hanna."
Granger continued "As for the suspects, we've got Los Zita's. As you know, most of them are at large after the prison break nearly six weeks ago."
Against all traditions and agreements, officers Corey and Roberts had accompanied Hetty, Deeks and Kensi and were listening as well. Roberts now put forward "There's more, you forgot we've got La Eme, here in town and in the region - Santosa is connected to them. Then there's Leah Ryker's worries about Hank Webster and his team. And let's not forget the Juarez cartel, once they found out that our Ana Juarez was not theirs."
"'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'. Ever so true, Shakespeare was right." Deeks softly mentioned. Kensi looked up, remembering they once laughed about this quote Deeks.
Nell filled the pause "Um, about the thing you wanted to find us more about, Hetty? So far, only two classified files on DEA versus Santosa. Granger requested to look in them, but it can take some hours before we have all the informations we want."
"What I don't get is why Sam was shot and Callen disappeared," Kensi said.
"We'll have to think it over, think it under too. How about distraction?" Deeks commented.
"Shakespeare again?" Eric wanted to know.
"Another classic one, Beale. Winnie the Pooh."
"Good thinking, Mr. Deeks. What if the team of Hank Webster, more or less trusted by Mr. Hanna, was responsible for all that happened, knowing Manuel Santosa was kept in that safe house? With just the slightest of inside information, they managed to get Leah Ryker in there as well. It would explain why they were around that soon. Your partners however were there too," Hetty resumed.
"And Callen told us something was off with one of Webster's team. He just couldn't remember. No wonder, with that concussion he suffered from back then," Kensi said. "It still doesn't make sense though, unless they expected Callen in there. On the other hand, if Sam and Callen being there simply caught them by surprise, they might have started to plan. What if there's more to that team member Callen mentioned?"
Nell took her tablet and started typing. "We've got Hank Webster, a former Seal. Then the others, what do we know of them?"
"Nigel Sebastian. And two others, Xavier and Ruiz. Don't know if we heard their first names, do you, Deeks?" Kensi's partner simply shook his head.
"Right. Let's see what we can find on them, partner," Nell looked at Eric who already opened Kaleidoscope and Photosynth to find Sebastian and Webster, hoping the other two would pop up so they could compare pictures and let facial recognition systems check them. Nell let her systems go through names that might be connected to Webster and Sebastian, at the same time checking if any security cameras caught some footage of these men.
"All we can do now is watch and wait, am I right, Miss Jones?" Hetty asked.
"Uh-huh," Nell and Eric simultaneously uttered.
It was then when Corey told he and Roberts would return to El Paso. "We'll try what we can find out from there and keep you posted, alright?" They all agreed and it was Granger who showed them out.
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On the road || one hour later
"How about a man to man fight?" Leah suggested. "There will be only three of them in here. What if they stop for a refuel or even at an airport?"
"They locked the back door, Leah. Besides, they're armed and we are not," Callen said. Her remark surprised him though, only shortly ago he had taken care of a wound that should bother her in any movement and now she was planning a fight. "I think we need to find the right time and place. Just sit back and wait."
"Really!" she sneered. "In that case I might just as well jump out of a driving car. If we wait, they'll take us exactly to where we don't want to be." She shifted just a little, stretching her left leg, pulled up the right knee and put her arms around it. They were both quiet for a while.
Callen rested his head to the partition that separated the driver compartment from theirs and stared to the plain white cabin of the van. Perhaps she was right. With her training, Callen knew she would be better than him when it came to fighting. Besides, he had seen for himself what she was capable of – back in Dieciocho de Marzo she had easily floored both Deeks and Kensi. But no matter what, he knew they should not be reckless and he hoped she understood.
Through her lashes, Leah observed the man who had only introduced himself as Callen. Not too large, but he definitely was in a good shape, sturdy. The five o'clock shadow made him look even stronger in a way. Like her, he was trusting his own notions and she knew they might differ from hers indeed. So far, this whole thing of them being taken prisoners seemed to leave him unaffected, still, she felt something was troubling him more than he would mention. His striking blue eyes showed no dishonesty at all, on the contrary, so far he had been sincere and caring towards her. She sighed deeply.
"Wanna share?" Callen asked, glancing at her.
Leah reddened slightly. Stupid thing to let her thoughts go. She looked up. "We'd better try indeed. I mean… I told you my thoughts about Ruiz and Rubio. You asked me about Santosa and I told you I don't know him. You do, yet you seem to prefer stonewalling."
He had heard that before, even from his partner and best friend. Callen realized he needed to open up, though he had trouble remembering what had happened. "It's all about revenge, I guess. As I said, eight years ago I worked for DEA in El Paso and in Mexico, Durango. For that occasion, I had to work with a partner. We both were undercover and supposed to find out how those cartels move their money, where they keep their assets and, most important, who their leaders are. Santosa popped up and the moment I decided we were to call for back up and make arrests, I found out my partner preferred to be paid by Santosa as well." He let his hands go through his short hair.
"What happened?"
"My partner and Santosa disappeared for some days. Ruiz stayed around all the time."
She kept trying to read his face and now noticed how his pupils contracted, a sign he was angry although the rest of his posture did not show any emotion. Leah frowned. "And you could not escape from him?"
"Not with a bullet in my thigh, Leah." Even after all these years Callen remembered the frustration, the pain and the betrayal all too well.
"Oh crap—still, I don't get it. Why now… How—Who. What I mean, I know Ruiz probably will get paid by the Rubios for taking me in there. But how about you?"
Callen had tried to figure this out all the time. "Really, Leah, there is this missing link I can't seem to find." He liked to see how she cocked her head when she was listening and concentrating at the same time. Meanwhile, she seemed to be unaware that she repeatedly took a strand of hair, twisted it around her fingers and let go of it again.
"Just go on. What happened back then?"
He tried to shake off the feeling he missed something and let his thoughts go back. "I got feverish the second day. I remember Santosa came back, that day or after it, frantic because the money he had disappeared. He was sure I was responsible for it and was desperate to get it back. I still don't know if it was Ruiz Jiminez or my partner". He paused again. "Anyway, to cut a long story short – I got beaten up and was left to die in the desert."
"Yet you didn't."
He sighed deeply. "Just imagine – a group of illegal immigrants decided to pass the border near where I had passed out. They managed to get me on a truck and delivered yours truly at the first infirmary they found. Yes, I survived."
Callen noticed the van had left Los Angeles quite some time ago. From the way heat came in now he estimated the were driving southwest. "What's your idea, Leah, how many miles to go before they'll have to refuel?"
She had been thinking about it too. "We're not traveling pure south. Feels like dry air, so my guess is we're heading for El Centro. We probably already passed Palm Springs. From Los Angeles to El Centro, if that really is the case, they'll be filling up right before we cross the border. Between an hour and a half and an hour, I'd say."
"You still assume it will be Mexico?"
She silently nodded.
"Listen," he said, "there will be a right time for us to get away, I'm sure. My team will be working on it already." Callen grimaced when he imagined how Sam would be grumbling things like he needed to save his ass once more or even accuse him from going lone wolf once again. It would be different this time, perhaps, because deep down he had a bad feeling about this situation.
Her green eyes locked into his. "Don't, Callen. I don't need any rosy predictions. Just be realistic, if we wait, there will be at least twenty guys waiting for revenge. Right now we'll have to deal with only three of them," she argued. "So, talking of the right time, that would be soon if you ask me."
He pondered over her remarks for a while. "How many weeks were you in there, Leah?"
"Thirtyfive. And nearly two in jail."
Eight and a half month keeping a cover going. He raised his brows for only a second. Yes, he had many undercover ops in the past, some of them some days or weeks, sometimes for some months. But there were backups for him in those cases. She had told him she had worked alone. "That's—long. Were you scared?"
She slowly shook her head. "I could handle it. It was a matter of supplying them with disinformation, and misinformation. Things changed when Webster and Ruiz and the others came along and my handlers got confused. Then, there was you and your team and everybody started worrying and distrusting the others. My superiors decided to abort the mission in the end and although I managed to 'go down' with the others I know they know."
She licked her now dry lips.
"By now I don't know who is involved and who isn't, Callen." She stretched her legs once more, arched her back and let her head rest, closing her eyes and try to ban the bad feeling she had on what was going on.
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Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects
One soft bleep came from Eric's system. He looked up. Xavier. It had sounded Spanish indeed. So far. Nell leant over to see what it was that made her partner hold his breath for just a second. "Not good Eric."
He got up and did what he always did: walk out of ops until he got on the platform, then whistled loudly. When he was sure he caught the attention of Deeks and Kensi, who were talking with Granger, he was about to turn around when he noticed the large posture of Sam, seated in the chair opposite of Hetty. Eric smiled as he yelled "Hanna! Upstairs!" Though he caught the worry in Sam's eyes, it was good to see him back at OPS indeed.
As you all know, none of the characters in here belong to me. Those who appear on screen at CBS were great finds of Shane Brennan and his writing team. All the others? I just made up names , not based on any existing people!
