Chapter 11

Callen never went back to sleep after his early morning meeting, so when the sunrise broke in streaks across the sky, he was one of the first men standing as the doors opened and the queue began shuffling forward. By the time Callen walked back out onto the street after a meal of coffee and scrambled eggs, he saw Deeks eating a breakfast sandwich that had been delivered by another local volunteer organization. Callen turned and headed to Gladys Park, a few blocks away, his duffle again slung over his shoulder.

When Callen reached the park, the gate was open and groups of people had already found their spots: children were in the play area, a group of men were facing off on the basketball court, and people of all ages lounged around the picnic tables and on the benches. Callen made his way to the exercise stations. He dropped his duffle bag and started doing pushups on the incline bars. Not far away, Deeks was unenthusiastically rummaging through a trash can.

Callen's routine was interrupted by a familiar voice. "You know your form is terrible," Sam said after watching Callen for a few minutes.

"Thanks," Callen replied with a sarcastic edge and stopped. "If I were training for some event, I'd care. Besides," he continued as he grabbed his duffle, "I don't remember asking you to be my coach."

"I offer my expertise free of charge," Sam said with a simple nod, "to those who obviously need it."

"I'd rather have a donut than your advice," Callen said with a sullenness that reflected his current sugar deficit. Without a word, Sam pulled a small white bakery bag from inside his jacket and handed it to Callen. Callen looked at Sam with a combination of amazement and gratitude.

Sam merely cocked his head and shrugged his shoulders, "I know my partner and his terrible taste in food."

"There's nothing terrible about this," Callen sighed as he pulled the donut apart, folded a bit of the dough, and popped it into his mouth. His face expressed his contentment. They walked until they reached a corner of the park, then stopped and leaned against the metal fence.

"They contacted you sooner than you thought they would," Sam observed.

"Yea," Callen said after swallowing the last of the donut. "Maybe there's a dearth of reliable guys or vets in the area right now. Anyway, it looks like we were right about them coming up this weekend."

"Two more days on the street."

Callen shrugged, "But only one more night. That's a plus." He paused and checked to make sure that no one was paying undue attention to them. Deeks had moved from the trash can and was now sprawled across one of the benches, providing a running commentary about the basketball play on the court to no one in particular.

"There are no cameras in that alley where you're meeting to collect your merchandise, G."

"That's not a surprise. They seem to have this whole operation pretty well planned out."

"Did you recognize the man who contacted you?"

"No. I didn't see him at the Men's L.A. Shelter, but when I was there one of the volunteers checked out my paperwork pretty thoroughly while I was given a tour. He might be a contact."

"Eric wasn't able to get enough for a facial rec of your visitor last night, so we still don't know who's working with Ross and Xavier on this end."

"Whoever it is, they're organized which suggests that there's a lot of money involved," Callen observed.

"It does," Sam agreed. "And if that's the case, it also explains why they have no problem getting rid of people they use or think might cause problems." He looked at Callen steadily and after a moment, Callen turned to his partner.

"I am not going to take any unnecessary chances, Sam." He pulled the mace canister out of his pocket. "Look, I even have this within easy reach."

Sam studied him for a moment, and then turned and looked out at the people in the park. "Good. You keep that within reach, G, and like I told you earlier," he said as he lowered his voice, "if you go lone wolf or take any unnecessary risks, I'll kill you myself if they don't."

"I know you mean that in a 'this is how much I care about you partner' kind of way, but I'm just not getting that vibe." Callen squinted into the sun and studied Sam's face. "You're grumpy when you don't get enough sleep."

Sam pressed his lips together tightly as he turned to leave and said quietly, "Oh, you'll get my vibe if you do anything stupid, G. And I'm going to get some sleep now, so don't give Kensi any grief." Callen was preparing a retort, but Sam wasn't waiting. He turned and exited the park walking past Deeks who was still hanging around the basketball court. Callen waited a few minutes and then threw away the bakery bag and decided he'd wander to San Julian Park. From there, he would make his way to the alley and check out the rendezvous spot in case he had to improvise on Friday.

As he left the park, Callen stopped and asked directions of a man sitting near Deeks, "Hey buddy, isn't there another park in the area?"

Before the man could say anything, Deeks—in his best Artie voice—answered, "Does he look like a map?" Callen gave him a quizzical and slightly irritated look, but that just encouraged Deeks to continue. "He isn't a map, but I am."

"You're a map?" Callen said wishing he could have thought of some other way to alert Deeks to his next destination.

"Absolutely," Deeks said, clearly relishing being able to tweak Callen without suffering any consequence. Callen paused a moment, giving serious consideration to ending this conversation now, but he could see that Deeks was enjoying himself, so he thought what the hell. Callen didn't have anything better to do at the moment.

"So, you can tell me if there's another park in the area?"

"Nope," Deeks declared.

Callen looked at him with some confusion, "I thought you said you were a map."

Deeks' expression was one of amazement that he had to explain the simplest thing, "I am. I'm a map of San Francisco. If you need directions to Golden Gate Park, I can help you, but I don't know anything about L.A." And then Deeks turned his attention back to the basketball as if Callen had simply disappeared.

Exhausted from the conversation and beginning to feel the effects of lack of sleep, Callen made his way to San Julian Park. On his walk there, he made a point to stop at the various shelters, SROs, and charitable organizations scattered throughout Skid Row, but he took care to avoid the volunteer center where he and Sam had met Mary. They'd let Mary know that Callen would be "working" on Skid Row in the unlikely event she saw him. Still, he wanted to prevent any accidental meeting. He also stopped back at the Men's L.A. Shelter to find out the status of his application for assistance; the volunteer at the desk told him to come back tomorrow. Callen's next stop was a small convenience store where he purchased the largest cold bottle of water he could find—he hadn't had a drink since breakfast—and asked the clerk directions. Although surly, the clerk relented and pointed to his right, so when Callen left the store, he turned right.

The park was crowded and Callen made his way carefully so as not to disturb any of those already sleeping. He found an unoccupied tree trunk and dropped his duffle, sat down, and leaned against it grateful for the shade. Not long after he was settled, a familiar figure entered the park, casually noted the park's current inhabitants—including his charge—and then took a seat on the ground and stretched out his full length. Callen watched, wondering how Deeks could wear that coat for so many hours and never develop even the hint of a rash. Maybe his skin was immune to whatever irritant was woven into the coat's threads. That would explain a lot. After a few minutes, Callen stood up. Deeks sprawled on the ground with his eyes closed was too much to resist. Besides, Callen knew Deeks would thank him later. Callen silently picked up his duffle, headed out of the park and stopped next to Deeks. He looked around at the crowd and then without a word slowly turned the bottle upside down.