Forget today
Chapter 11
Disclaimer: you all will understand that none of the characters of NCISLA belong to me. They were created by Shane Brennan who did a great job, like all the writers do too.
A/N Thank you, Guest, EvaMcBain2009, 974lk, Linda Wigington, Skippy, ilse23, KatieinSyd, wotumba1, Blackbear53 and Baby Dick Grayson-Wayne, for leaving your reviews! Hope this - short little - chapter won't disappoint either.
Never mind the fact that he was far from objective, like Granger already stated, Callen also knew he was able to look at this case from a distance. Like he knew he could, like he knew he had to.
True, now he realized Rebecca was somehow part of the case it might make him more vulnerable and he knew it. On the other hand, he felt the urge to solve this case like any other case. Heck, he needed to.
And it felt good to simply get away the way he did. Callen was pretty sure Granger not only noticed but also understood this step he took. Maybe he was even cooperating, keeping Nolan in the discussion and thus distracting him enough so Callen could go and do what he did. Simply because Granger had told him he did not really trust Nolan.
A quick way of juggling like he knew he was good at and Callen was on his way.
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
NCIS Office of Special Projects || Los Angeles
Carefully, Nell let her hands go through her hair. The systems had worked incredibly fast. She leaned back and said "Callen will handle this old-school, don't you think? I mean, like deduction, analysis, perhaps even with distraction. By now he will know about where to look."
The blond, bespectacled technic analyst smiled at the remarkable abilities of his younger co-worker. "Well, best thing is they won't have a clue it will be Callen around, and not the other guy, this sweet talking, big-boss CIA manager they expect. Right?"
"Right it is."
Her remark sounded very convincing indeed. She had let Callen know already that he should be prepared for any out-of-the-ordinary, since she was well aware of his true way of working – lone wolf. He should be expecting the unexpected and meanwhile counting on his boss, his managing operator and his coworkers at Ops. Nell realized Callen counted on his team to know exactly what he was doing and thinking. Well, not this time. This time it was only him, on his own.
Nell knew too well that Granger would play along for as long as it was necessary. Which probably might be a rather short period of time. She also knew that all the other co-workers would not expect their temporary chief to play along in the simplest part of the game. But she had seen how Granger had grown to show a pretty soft side when it came to this team, and even more since Rebecca had come to town.
"Do you think there's anything else we have to know by now? Anything we need to share with Granger, with Callen or with Densi?" Eric asked.
Nell raised her brows. "Excuse me… No way you should call them 'Densi'. If ever Kensi hears that, she'll just—well, I think you'd have bruises afterwards." She was quiet for a few seconds, then she continued "I really wished Sam was joining him. You know, because someone should have his back."
Eric understood. "We can. I mean, there are camera's around. Navy traffic cams," he smiled. His fingers went over the keyboard, quickly as Nell was used to see. Then, all of a sudden, his facial expression changed. "This is—odd. Or even worse."
Eric looked up and turned his screen to Nell. "As if I simply lost signal. I mean. Just watch." He kept tapping his right finger on the rewind-button. "Here", he said, "these four cams are covering the street where you just sent Callen to."
Nell hummed in order to avoid nodding. "Nimitz Road."
"Right. Now see what happens." Eric watched just as closely as his female co-worker did, even though it was the third time he saw what he now saw again.
"Wait. What?" Nell practically squeaked.
"Exactly my thoughts. Those two cameras in here are getting switched off, and the ones back further are turned to another angle. Which means we now completely miss the only spot where 'something' might be going on." Eric let out a deep sigh. "Call Callen, and send Granger a message," he then said.
"And you?" Nell wanted to know as she already pressed the pre-dial button on the office phone.
"Going to find out who the heck hacked those camera's," he briefly answered.
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
the Four-Oh-Five || Los Angeles
The Ford was a nice car to drive and he'd put the radio on the channel which had all the internal chatter of the agency on it, not really listening but simply keep scanning. He felt his own phone buzzing and Callen used his right hand to get it out of his pocket and one look at the small screen made him respond without any hesitation.
"What've you got, Nell?"
The brief feeling of being able to befool the CIA man quickly disappeared when he heard what Nell had to say.
"See if you can find out who's responsible for this," Callen told her. "Oh, and you'd better inform Granger too."
-"Already did that, of course," Nell said. She managed to hide her worries for the lead agent, knowing he was on his own. "You should wait for the others to be around, Callen." The minute she spoke, she recognized how Hetty addressed him with every single case.
And suddenly Nell realized that she made her words sound like this because she loved him. She loved him like she would love a big brother, like a mentor she deeply cared for and whom she really admired.
He paused and pondered over the situation. "Inform Kensi and Deeks, tell them to come this way too."
-"But—" She hesitated slightly. "It will take over an hour, with the jams of this moment, to get there."
He knew.
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
CIA headquarters || Los Angeles
The soft buzz distracted him from the insignificant discussion he had with Victor Nolan. His eyes darted over the short message.
"Anything going on?" Nolan asked as he noticed the slight change in behavior of the man he once worked for.
Granger shook his head and carefully shove his phone aside. "Nothing important actually. Now, about that couple we were trying to take care of."
"The Johnsons."
"The Johnsons indeed," Granger said. "Like you heard from agent Callen they went missing since last night. We've let all offices known to put out a BOLO for them, including pictures. Yet you haven't mentioned them so far. Did you inform your agents about them at all?"
Nolan narrowed his eyes just a second too long in Granger's opinion. "Of course I did," he then said. "There's this new system, a prototype which might replace Kaleidoscope in future time. We're using it in here. Perhaps you heard of it already – Moonlight Shadow?"
Granger shook his head, then a slow grin appeared on his face. "Well, such a funny coincidence that this enterprise of Abe Johnson is called 'Moonlight' as well." He frowned and continued "What does this program do?"
For a brief moment Nolan looked away, then he was focused again. "It's slightly more sophisticated than Kaleidoscope. It picks up faces, cars, nearby cellphones… it even recognizes voices. All those algorithms together may identify the exact location of the exact person at the exact time. And so far, we haven't found the Johnson's yet."
"So if you, for instance, would want to find agent Sam Hanna, NCIS?" Granger wanted to know.
Nolan seemed to be complete upright when he nodded and turned his computer screen in another angle so Owen Granger could see what he was doing. He started to type the name and in the left, a vertical time taper ticked down faster than any system Granger saw before. Then images came across the screen at the speed of light. Within a minute, four different sub-screens appeared, of which one recent picture of Sam, a copy of his ID and a map of the location. "This should be agent Sam Hanna, located at the Pacific Coast Family Medical Group."
"Impressive," Granger acknowledged.
"So you're one man short," Nolan concluded with a suppressed smile.
Granger looked up into the pale blue eyes and recognized the look. He immediately knew he made a mistake. A minor one, he supposed.
A look on his watch showed that Callen was ahead nearly 20 minutes already, so he might have reached Lawndale by now.
Slowly, Granger nodded. "Indeed. One man short." He sighed deeply as he rose, and concluded "If there's anything you get to know about Abe and Maureen Johnson, please inform me or my staff, will you?"
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