NB: Sorry! I really am grateful that so many of you are still following and reviewing (all 118 of you!), even though it's taking way longer to update than I'd hoped - I managed to make this story far more complex than I'd originally intended and I had to make sure I wasn't digging myself deeper into a plot hole...
Note on Rating: I'm leaving it as K+ because even though Eric gets shot, shootings happen pretty much minimum once an episode in the series and you all watch the show and it's not exactly a surprise after the past two chapters but please PM me or review if you think I'm making the wrong call and I'll change it.
Disclaimer: Still bitterly disappointed I don't own NCIS or NCIS LA or CBS...
Chapter 12: The Light's Always Red In The Rearview
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. .:. .. .: 48 Hours Previously :. .. .:. .
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Eric straightened his tie and tried not to notice the fact his collar felt tighter with the button done up. He'd gotten into the habit of positioning his tie in a particular spot so it looked like his top button was done up but it actually wasn't. It would sound, to anyone else, like an insignificant distinction but to Eric, it was a tiny defiance that kept him sane in spite of the straightjacket he was forced to wear - commonly known as a business suit. Yes, over the past month he'd gotten surprisingly used to it but at moments like these he desperately wished for his sandals, his board shorts and a soft cotton t-shirt. Hell at this rate he'd keep the suit if he could skip this presentation and go back to ops instead. Not that he'd ever tell Hetty that, it was dangerous even thinking it, after all Hetty was the most omniscient person he'd ever met.
"We're just about ready Marc, James will announce you in 5."
Eric barely had time to look up and nod before his assistant had disappeared again. With a grimace Eric gave his collar one last tug, picked up his notes and headed for the mini lecture theatre that had been dubbed the 'press room' during the heights of oil exploration although it was rarely used for external purposes these days. Today was to be an exception.
"...today we will present our official 5-year direct action plan to expand the Coles Levee Ecosystem Preserve and, at the conclusion of the presentation, there will be the opportunity to discuss how you can play your part in this historic project."
Eric wanted to roll his eyes at the dramatics but he'd learned his presentation skills under Hetty's hawk-like tuition and even now, he couldn't shake the idea that if he did roll his eyes, she'd somehow find out about it. And that was one conversation he did not want to have. Settling instead for reshuffling the notes he held, Eric waited for the summons to come.
"Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I present man of the moment and our Head of Ecological Preservation and Innovation here at Aera Energy, Marcus Whitman."
Resisting the violent urge to run in the opposite direction (and not stop till he was back in ops), Eric stepped up onto the stage and shook hands with the Director of Strategic Business Development before taking up his position at the lectern.
"Thank-you. As all of you are aware from our correspondence the topic of today's presentation, I will spare you the preamble and get straight to the details..."
Heads nodded as he spoke, their approval plain in their faces as he got swiftly into the complex segments of the report. Of the five rows of people seated before him, Eric recognised all but four from the dossiers he'd made up on their existing and potential research partners before submitting his recommendations to them for consideration. As he presented the proposal, which he now knew almost by heart, he considered each of the unknowns in turn. There was an neat young woman who looked like she was fresh out of college, a man in his late 50s who was on the beefy side, an even heavier set young guy and one who looked a lot like one of Eric's science teacher in high school. Eric reminded himself firmly that this was not a normal undercover op. There were no assassins, no disgruntled CIA operatives, no criminal master-minds, just a bunch of scientists, research assistants and company employees listening to a presentation on a topic which fascinated them - money to fund their research. The young woman was almost certainly the PhD candidate he'd heard mentioned in passing, the older man - likely was a trustee (all the major research companies seemed to come with at least one), the science teacher look-alike - probably a scientist because stereotypes existed for a reason and the heavyset young guy? He looked more like a journalist but they'd agreed on supplied photographs only so he was probably just an admin assistant of one of the big wigs.
It was a sign of the number of times he'd given the same presentation in the past week that he could now, without any real conscious effort, remember every word and repeat it faithfully while thinking of something completely different. But the wrap up had been tailored for this specific group so, reluctantly, Eric turned his eyes down to quickly scan his notes. Thinking of Bethany's eidetic memory provided the smile Eric needed for his final flourish.
"As you can see, this historic venture - set to be the largest investment in ecological preservation and pioneering research since the establishment of the Coles Levee Ecosystem Preserve in 1992 - is also an opportunity for you and your research teams to be part of making history. So today I formally call for submissions. There is an application kit under every chair and we hope to have a final list of partners and projects before Christmas. Thank you."
Eric paused, waiting for the polite (but totally unnecessary) applause to cease. It was then that, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the large young man move out of his seat but before he could turn his head to look properly at him and see what he was doing Eric was joined at the lectern by James, the director who introduced him and he was forced to turn his attention back to the presentation. When Eric next had a chance to look for the young man he'd gone, but then so had most of the really junior staff as the bigwigs stayed to discuss details.
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40 minutes later when he'd finally managed to get out of the Press Room he'd been greeted by his assistant with the 'exciting' news that he'd been profiled in the online science journal 'The Ecologist' as an up and coming leader in ecological reform, complete with photograph. Eric had managed a weak 'I'll have to send Sally a copy, she'll be so excited,' and had rushed back to his desk. Leaving his assistant trailing in his wake recounting the stats of all the new meetings which had been scheduled, how many proposals they were expecting and Eric was thankful for the first time in almost a month that he had an assistant who insisted on emailing you confirmation of everything he told you in person because he was barely listening as he sent urgent messages to Nell asking her to find the photo online and replace it while he destroyed the internal email, setting every opened copy to corrupt and every unopened one to disappear without a trace.
..::..
Eric had been so unsettled by the drama with the photograph that should never have existed - even though Nell had found it, replaced it and had given the all clear before it could be syndicated restricting it to just the people who had gone to The Ecologist website within less than an hour of the story being published - he'd taken the unprecedented measure of driving to pick Bethany up from school rather than parking at home and walking the short distance.
He kept telling himself it should be fine but once he arrived at the Ronald Reagan Elementary he found himself unable to wait, he had to see for himself that she was still there. Entering her classroom with a rushed apology and saying he'd come to take her home. The teacher, while standing on protocol had no recourse because Eric was, according to their records, her father and at last, with a stern warning about proper notice, they were able to leave. There was genuine relief as he scooped the chattering Bethany up into his arms the moment they made it out of the classroom.
Something of his distress must have shown because when he released his first, vice like hug she looked at him with very adult concern.
"I'm alright you know. I've only been gone since this morning and I've been here all the time, I promise."
Eric managed a smile at Bethany's consoling tone, reminding him just how mature that little brain of hers was despite outwards appearances.
"Sorry Munchkin, I've just had a very boring day and I've been looking forward to seeing you all afternoon. So I decided to break you out of school early just this once."
"Does that mean we can play another puzzle game before I do my homework?"
It seemed like today he'd get no chance to forget why they were here and what was at stake if they failed.
The 'puzzle game' was the name Bethany had chosen for the algorithm cruncher he'd designed so she could help them break the lowest level encryption protecting the Bent Protocol. He was glad, given the public area she had no idea what that game actually meant and had chosen a suitably innocuous name for it. They'd actually gotten the last of the baseline encryption finished last night but there was no harm in keeping the game up to hone her skills and stretch her more than the school mathematics was able to.
Eric pretended to think about it as he opened the back door of the car for her to get in. They'd stuck to her always sitting in the middle of the back seat and today, Eric was glad of the extra security measure.
"You'll have to ask Mom but I think we might be able to persuade her to let you, just this once."
..::..
Someone was following them. He'd seen them parked outside the school gates but they hadn't looked like they were part of the school pick up crowd. Besides, he'd picked Bethany up 20 minutes early with a trumped up excuse so there shouldn't be anyone else who was outside the school gates leaving now. Unless they had been lurking, waiting for them? But that was crazy. The only reason he was here was that he'd had a bad vibe ever since that photo had gone out which could, in a one-in-one-million, chance be traced back to Eric Beale from the NCIS LA: Special Operations branch. Which is why he'd left work early, driven rather than walked to Bakersfield Elementary and decided not to wait for the school bell.
Eric glanced in the rear view mirror again, everything about that van was wrong. It kept an even 6-feet back no matter what speed he went, the windows were a couple of shades darker than legal and either a genuine plumbing company had employed a serious amateur to wrap their car or it was a fake. And Eric's money was on everything pointing to this being a set up. Swallowing hard, Eric let his eyes fall to the face of the genius he was playing chauffeur to who was currently enthralled by the iPad mini app he'd made as a treat after all her hard work on untangling the encryption for the Bent Protocol. Thank-god he'd gotten to her first. Now he just had to keep her safe for two more minutes till he could get them home.
Nell was home, still tying up loose ends on the possible security breach, so all he needed to do was to get Bethany to that front door and provide enough distraction to ensure that she got inside. Hitting the hazard-lights button, Eric sped up slightly, praying he was making the right decision. Instead of turning on the indicators, a screen popped up on the dashboard and Nell was there instantly, her voice coming urgently into his earpiece, rather than through the speakers.
"Eric! What's going on?"
"We're being followed. They're hanging back which makes me think their might be a second team who'll box us in at the house, they seem pretty content to let me get back there." His words were clipped, sounding harsh and loud in the relative quiet of the car and he saw Nell pale in response to his tone as much as his words.
"What do you need?"
Eric was relieved she didn't question him, he couldn't let Bethany see how terrified he was and this was the only plan he had.
"I'm going to drive straight across the lawn and swing the car so the back passenger door will be aligned with our front door, I need you to grab Bethany and get her to safety. I'll hold them off as best I can."
"Eric –"
"There's no time, Nell. I'm eight houses away, can you get to the front door?"
"Yes but–"
"Do it now." Eric cut her off forcefully; they didn't have any more time. Somehow it was enough, Nell looked worried but raced off screen.
"Daddy?" Bethany was staring, nervously at the screen Nell had disappeared from.
"I need you to be brave Munchkin, okay?" Eric wished desperately he had time to reassure her, "Undo your seatbelt and slide over to the far side of the car. When I pull up at the door you wait until Mom opens the front door and then you run as fast as you can, okay? Don't look back, I'll be absolutely fine."
Bethany's lips quavered as she set aside the iPad and unclipped the safety harness but she crawled across the seats just as he passed their next-door neighbour.
"Ready." That little voice was strong even though she clearly scared. God, she was a fighter.
"Hang-on Munchkin, almost there," Eric swerved at the last minute taking them up over the sidewalk, dodging the street tree and making a beeline for their front door cutting across their pristine front lawn. The front door opened as he pulled up but he didn't pause or look back. He grabbed the sidearm that was stashed under his seat, opened his door and turned to face the two men who poured out of the van that had followed them.
Whatever they were expecting, it clearly wasn't a fight. Their assault rifles hung from the straps slung across their bodies as they advanced, apparently confident that threat would be sufficient against two analysts.
"Give us the girl and no-one gets hurt." One of them shouted, making no effort to disguise his patently American accent.
Right now it didn't matter that he'd never actually hit anything on either of the two occasions when he'd previously fired a real gun at the NCIS shooting range. All that mattered was that he was Bethany and Nell's only cover and if that meant firing wildly at the two men with assault rifles then so be it. Remembering what Callen had said he didn't worry too much about aim and focused on being erratic, he didn't have any skill so the best he could do is keep them guessing and pray Nell and the cavalry weren't too far away. He managed to get off two shots before either of them managed to raise and aim their rifle and just kept firing moving rapidly away from both the car and the house in hope of drawing any stray bullets away from his family.
He was already half deaf from rapid gunfire and totally off balance from the repeated recoil when the first shot hit him. It was as though every nerve in his body was on fire as he staggered, some how managing to cling on to the gun when his whole existence was rapidly being reduced to wherever it was that bullet had hit him. The second bullet he experienced as a flash of white, his vision seeming to cloud with the pure agony before his head connected with the concrete of their driveway and everything went blissfully black.
..:..
It had always been a possibility that the fight would come to their doorstep, but seeing Eric's SOS message - suddenly it was real. The emergency beacons were active, backup had been notified and she'd called for the local police and ambulance just in case. Nell's movements were efficient, pausing only to view the video feed from outside as she armed herself, her senses heightened by adrenalin and the cold focus she'd learnt in training washing over her as she quickly took stock of the situation, watching as the car barrelled across the lawn and turned to pull up alongside the house. Ripping the front door open with unnecessary force Nell rushed to the car door Bethany was already opening, scooping her up into her arms and racing back inside.
As she ran she heard those first shots and knew this wasn't going to end well.
"You have to go back for Daddy!" Bethany cried, her arms thrashing as Nell ran through the house aiming for the den.
"Just promise me you'll stay inside until I come back for you? Don't come out, not for anything. When I come I'll say 'Dinner's Ready' -"
"I promise, just go!"
Nell pressed a kiss to Bethany's forehead, trying to hide her fear as she turned and sprinted back up the main hall to see what carnage waited behind their closed front door.
She had to force herself to slow down long enough to look at the screen first, Eric was out there with a gun (which may as well have been a cheese knife given his lack of training) and she needed to get to him. But she had Callen's voice ringing in her ears; telling her to trust her training not just react. Both Eric and Bethany were counting on her; she couldn't afford to get this wrong.
She'd never turned the screen off and so once she'd committed to look it was all there in Technicolor before her. The two men with assault rifles, Eric waving the pistol from under the seat in their car, dodging and firing, drawing them away from the house by keeping all their attention on where he was going to aim next. It was amazing that neither of them had hit him yet but he was moving as erratically as he was shooting.
She didn't wait to see anymore. Wrenching open the door she moved with an eerie sense of calm, as though someone had hit mute. She only had one clear shot. The man closest to Eric was too much a risk from this angle. Take the first shot and move as fast as possible to the left to find a clean angle. That was the plan. They needed a lead and they needed a witness but they were far too close to Eric, she had to assume they had vests. As she fired she saw Eric fall, his head hitting the concrete with sickening force. For a split second she thought she'd made an impossible mistake and then she saw her mark face down on the lawn, his neck neatly bisected. The second gunman turned, hearing her fire and gave her what she needed, a clear line to put a bullet in his head. She only wished it could have been before he shot Eric.
Nell paused, carefully checking her surroundings again to ensure there wasn't a second team waiting in the wings or any civilians set to be caught in any future crossfire. Curtains twitched across the street but no one came out to check they were okay. Nell didn't blame them; she just hoped they'd all put in extra requests for police and ambulances. Ambulances and backup, which were yet to arrive. Which meant she had no choice, she'd have to take Bethany with her to assess Eric's condition. It was too much of a risk to leave her in the house, even in the den, while all her attention was on Eric. At least if she took Bethany, she'd have some chance of protecting them both. It wasn't a good plan but she couldn't just leave Eric to bleed out and backup was no-where to be seen.
..:..
'Where was back up? Seriously! They needed them 5 minutes ago! Could the men who'd been in that van have already attacked the backup team? Surely they would have heard the instant that team were offline. Oh God.' Nell swallowed, fighting back hysteria as her turbulent thoughts chased each other round in circles of panic in her head. 'Surely not. Please don't let them be dead! And where was the ambulance? They lived so close to the hospital, how hard could it be to drive a few blocks?' She wished desperately that they weren't 1½ hours from Los Angeles. 1½ hours from the team; from the security of Callen, Sam, Kensi, Deeks & Hetty as backup. Never, in all the years since moving out of home, had she felt so alone as she did now.
It was such a relief when she saw the red and blue emergency lights start washing across the neighbours' houses down the street, the sirens dramatically increasing in volume. It had been agonising having to keep up surveillance, her right hand rendered useless by her SIG while she applied pressure to the gaping, bloody holes in the front on Eric's white business shirt with her left. Bethany was sitting on her lap, protected by Nell's body and her gun, her two hands adding to the pressure on Eric's wounds. With the approaching sirens came the gut wrenching knowledge, she had to ditch her gun and she had to do that now or lose any chance of receiving the medical help they so desperately needed. Trying to be as subtle as possible Nell lent further over Eric and slung the gun into the shadow of the tree beside them. It wasn't much and they might still have seen her do it but it was the least obvious way to dispose of it as the shadow and her back would have made it harder for the cars to see what she was doing.
As she sat up, at first she only saw black and whites advancing on them from north and south like - well, a tactical unit expecting a gunfight - but as they peeled off, pulling into driveways and surrounding curbs, their officers spilling out like ants, finally she saw what she had been wishing to see so desperately, Ambulances.
What happened next was surreal, like Nell was seeing it from outside as well as being in the middle of it. It unfolded exactly as she would have ordered it be carried out, exactly as she had ordered such responses to be carried out in the past, with officers splitting into clear teams; searching the surrounding area, entering the house, going to look for witnesses among their neighbours and lastly, a more senior group, turning their attention on Nell, Bethany and Eric. The paramedics, in contrast were single-minded. Three worked exclusively on Eric; checking vitals, covering his wound and suppressing the bleeding and prepping him for transfer. One had briefly checked the two men, clearing their rifles and then leaving their bodies to the police. There was no chance either was alive, with gunshot wounds to the head and neck you could see that from ten-paces but one of the medics confirmed it all the same.
Nell stood to one side, her blood soaked hands shaking as she watched them, so calm and efficient but they moved swiftly and it seemed only a minute before he was on a gurney, hooked up to oxygen, a drip and half a dozen machines and they were moving to load him into the ambulance. She could see Eric moving still but the movements seemed less distinct somehow, weaker. She wanted to go to him but the fourth paramedic was inspecting Bethany (who'd temporarily quietened to wracking sobs rather than screams of anguish) and she couldn't leave Bethany's side even though she had herself checked her for visible damage, it was not something you should rely on when professional help was available.
"Mam, I need to check your -" The Paramedic's words cut into her dark thoughts.
"It's not my blood!" Nell said impatiently, trying to see past the young Paramedic's shoulder to the ambulance while holding the distressed Bethany to her side.
"You're in shock, you might not realise -"
Nell turned on him, giving him her full attention for the first time since he'd approached them. She was angry but her protest died on her lips. She couldn't tell him she'd been in situations like these before, that she'd been trained, just as he had, to respond to scenes such as this. Eric would be safest if they maintained cover.
Nell nodded, spreading her arms in mute permission, submitting to the examination.
"Your daughter's physically unharmed," the medic said as he performed a thorough examination of first her clothes and the splashes of blood, then began a broader assessment while holding one wrist to check her pulse.
"Thank-you." Nell said relief flooding through her at the confirmation that Bethany really was fine.
There was a sharp whistle and three pairs of eyes turned to look at the ambulance, Nell realising that Eric was already loaded, ready to go. They needed to be in that ambulance. Nell wasn't letting Eric out of her sight till he was safely in that hospital.
"Come-on, we'd better get you loaded too."
"We're riding with Marc." Nell said firmly as she stepped around the diligent paramedic, lifting Bethany up into her arms and ran the 10-feet to the closing doors of the ambulance.
Whatever the waiting Paramedics saw in Nell's eyes was enough for one of them to put out a hand to help her up. Close to Eric looked paler and his grasp on consciousness more tenuous. Nell allowed the same medic to guide them to a seat up near the driver and strap them in as Bethany, having also spotted Eric began to cry loudly and began violently wriggling, trying to break Nell's hold to go to him.
Nell was so busy trying to maintain a non-bruising but iron-like hold on Bethany and trying to at least lower the decibels of her plaintive cries that she missed the moment they'd begun to move and was therefore surprised when they suddenly took a corner. The surprise had it's benefit though in that Bethany paused momentarily in her deafening distress, but it wasn't long lived, building up again to a crescendo.
One of the two medics who were working tirelessly on Eric reached for a draw, extracted a syringe and a vial and turned to face them and came towards them, moving with the fluid grace of a sailor used to rolling seas.
"I'm sorry we'll have to give her a mild sedative, we can't risk it escalating to shock. She'll become drowsy but not truly unconscious." the medic said, drawing the plunger on the syringe to fill it with the liquid from the vial.
Nell knew it was more likely about preventing either the driver from having an accident or one of the medics being distracted at the wrong moment but she gave her consent, if she had known that their team would meet them at the hospital she would have been tempted to ask for some valium for herself as well. But there was no such guarantee so she would need her wits about her.
"Chloe," Nell said looking into Bethany's reddened eyes and putting a quieting finger to her trembling lips, "they're going to give you a little injection, to help Daddy."
It wasn't completely a lie but Nell was glad that for once Bethany's superior and inquisitive mind did not question the lack of logic in injecting one person to aid a completely separate one.
Bethany gave a hiccupping sob but nodded bravely, the tears still running down her cheeks. Nell met the paramedic's eyes as he swabbed her tiny little arm and gently inserted the needle into her vein. He'd returned to Eric's side by the time Bethany's little eyelids slid shut and she slumped gently into Nell's embrace.
The resulting silence made Nell realise how cathartic Bethany's crying and raging had been, how it had occupied so much of her mind that she'd had little to spare for exactly what the medics were doing because she was splitting her focus between Bethany and watching Eric's face. But Nell didn't have long to consider the change before she felt the ambulance stop and the sudden rush of activity denoting their arrival at the hospital.
Careful not to get in the way of either medic Nell hurried to undo the harness which had pinned her to her seat and shifted Bethany into a less confining position so that she could get out before she lost sight of Eric altogether. Nell was surprised to see Diane standing with four men in suits waiting at the entrance to the hospital. Fear spiked as two of them moved to follow Eric's gurney but Nell recognised one of them as FBI Agent Dunin, a man Hetty had been trying to poach for NCIS for a few years now quickly scanned the faces of the other two unfamiliar men. With the new context their names surfaced from the depths of her mind, Agent Carter (Dunin's partner) and Senior Special Agent Asten (Dunin's boss), she noted all three men wore their tie pins down at half mast and realised Hetty had sent help after all. The fourth man, the hospital's CEO looked distressed and uncomfortable but it was him that spoke as she approached.
"Sally, these men say they're here to provide police protection to you and your husband because there was a shooting?" He looked at her expectantly, clearly hoping there had been some kind of terrible mistake.
"That's right, Sir." Agent Asten said firmly, "We'll look after Mrs Whitman and her family from here."
Diane who, until now, had stood still as a statue burst into tears, saying incoherently "I'm so glad you're alright Sally."
Agent Asten looked slightly uneasy at the transformation from efficient secretary to blubbering mess but motioned to the CEO that it was his problem and began to usher Nell after the retreating gurney. The whole exchange taking barely a minute although it felt interminably extended to Nell.
"Wait!"
Nell turned to see the now sobbing Diane pick up a cloth bag at her feet and step towards them.
Senior Special Agent Asten put himself between Diane and Nell with a speed which increased Nell's confidence in him but she doubted it was necessary.
"There's a spare shirt and a cardigan that should fit you Sally, they're not much and I'm too tall to lend you some pants but I thought if you weren't hurt you'd want something -" Diane swallowed, visibly searching for the right word "clean to put on."
Senior Special Agent Asten took them and glared suspiciously at Diane but Nell managed to get in a couple of words before being propelled along in front of the out-of-sorts but highly regarded agent.
"Thank-you Diane - I -" Nell couldn't think of anything that could in anyway explain so instead she nodded and allowed herself to be swiftly led away, her focus now 100% on Eric's gurney which was now approaching the far end of the corridor.
She was aware of Asten riffling in the bag and muttering darkly about 'good deeds' being suspicious but was more interested in the fact that Eric had continued passed the last emergency bay and had been joined by a man Nell recognised as their Chief Surgeon, Matthew Scarlett. She was surprised then to hear Asten's voice clearly in her ear.
"The OR is prepped and they will be starting to work their magic on him as soon as they can get him to theatre. Dunin and Carter won't leave his side for a single moment throughout surgery and recovery and Henrietta and your team will be here as soon as humanly possible."
Nell swallowed, trying not to let it show how relieved she was to hear that they were on their way.
"In the meantime my orders are to get you safely away from here. No." Nell, who'd tried to stop at his words, was forcibly propelled back into motion, "you know you can't stay. For the same reason that Henrietta didn't send NCIS agents to meet you, even though they were probably closer. It's not just the mole, no-one has heard from your official NCIS backup and news of a separate attack on Benjamin Mastin -" Nell's shudder must have told Agent Asten she recognised the name as he made no further explanation of who he was, "- reached your team before they left in response to your distress call. Henrietta was actually briefing me to provide you with immediate backup when she got the call about it."
Nell's felt cold. Once news like this would have terrified her, perhaps even been paralytic but instead it galvanised some deep-seated need to fight. A need to protect and to avenge. Asten must have seen something of her thoughts because his next words fitted her mood as accurately as if she'd spoken aloud.
"There is a beat up dark blue 2000 Chevy Malibu in the car park reserved for Surgical Residents with a full tank of gas, supplies and I've been told you'll know how to get to the North West Exchange. The shirt in this bag is no more identifiable than the one you're wearing and the less bloodstains visible the easier it'll be to get you safely out of here. I've checked both items for any tracking devices but it seems your assessment, after your unexpected conversation with Diane a little under a week ago, was accurate. Kindly, eager, intelligent but no genius and completely uninvolved. That CEO's an idiot if ever I saw one though, I imagine he has to rely on his assistant a great deal."
They had turned down a hallway leading to the inner workings of the hospital and now Asten opened a door on their left marked STOCK - NON MEDICAL SUPPLIES and ushered her in. Once inside he seemed surprised to have Nell hold Bethany out to him.
"If I'm going to change I'll need both hands." Nell said roughly, waiting only long enough to be sure he had Bethany securely in his arms before she picked up the bag on the floor, but stayed facing the agent. Known commodity or not, Nell wasn't about to lose sight of Bethany even for a moment and she was a long way past caring about common principles of modesty. Nell wiped her blood stained hands on the already ruined shirt before unbuttoning the collar and cuffs and slipping up over her head. She was relieved the blood had dried completely now so she was able to slip the larger off-white shirt on without worrying about staining it too. Tucking the too-long shirt's tails into her jeans, thankful that black didn't show bloodstains as obviously as every other colour, Nell reached for Bethany. Asten, despite his total lack of emotion as she changed, was visibly relieved to hand back the drowsy six-year-old he'd been entrusted.
"You've got a diversion in mind?" Nell asked as she handed him back the bag with Diane's lime-green cardigan.
"Yes. You know how to get to the East Car Park stairs from here?" He acknowledged Nell's nod and continued, "There will be a minor incident at the ambulance ramp you came in, a diversion at the North stairs and me trying to keep up with a young woman wearing this green thing storming towards the OR."
Nell nodded and started for the door.
"Send a message to 213-557-4740 to let me know you've made it to the Cache and if you need anything - call me first."
"213-557-4740," was all Nell said as she slipped out the door into the maintenance corridor, her gratitude could wait until she'd made it out of here alive.
.
. .:. .. .: The Present :. .. .:. .
.
When Eric forced his eyes open again it was not Hetty's but Callen's sharp blue eyes that met his and Eric was relieved. It was easier that way.
"Sam's going to be furious. He was here for three-and-a-half hours, pacing around like a caged lion and the only break he's taken, getting us some decent coffee from the cafe down on first, you open your eyes."
It wasn't much of a greeting. Certainly not anything in the order of 'I'm so glad you're still alive, Eric' but again, Eric was relieved. No need for that awkward conversation or the one about how he'd managed to let Callen down; had failed to protect Nell and Bethany. Nope, just a calm, ordinary type of conversation.
"Tell me you've got some kind of tech device on you. A laptop?"
Callen shook his head.
"A tablet?"
Callen shook his head again.
"A smart phone?"
Eric was just trying to figure out if he could somehow modify something as antiquated as a pager when Callen dug into his pocket.
"This do?" Callen asked, eyebrows raised holding out an iPhone.
"Perfect." Eric lifted his arm to reach for it and had to suppress a wave of nausea. Looking down at his arm he saw plenty of tubes attached to it but no reason for the sudden desire to empty his stomach.
"I believe that would be a result of them having to reinflate your right lung. Sounded pretty nasty, apparently they stick the medical equivalent of a drinking straw between your ribs to extract the air, which was preventing the lung from filling. You did an impressive job of injuring yourself thoroughly."
Eric regarded Callen warily as he approached, holding out the phone, his tone still casual. He knew he'd have to get down to brass tacks soon enough but first, he needed the phone Callen had just placed in his hand.
"Thanks."
"You can't reach them you know, Hetty told you she's heard they're okay but that's all any of us know."
"Nell will have left me a message." Eric said, his focus never leaving the screen he was rapidly typing on at arm's length. If Callen wondered what we so urgent about a Final Fantasy MMORPG Administrator's Forum, he chose not to comment. He lent against the raised side of the hospital bed and watched in silence as Eric started rapidly scrolling through the visible entries on a page entitled 'Hyur Clan Moderators'.
"Found it."
Another man probably would have jumped at Eric's sudden announcement, Callen merely raised an eyebrow. Eric considered the fact the message would mostly be incomprehensible to Callen but dismissed it as irrelevant, turning the phone so Callen could see the screen.
The post Eric was pointing to read:
"Scw-Hyur has successfully fled Ul'dah and settled in Ala Mhigo with the assistance of Roegadyns Naest and Nduin. Limsa remain on guard but Alay-Hyur are well protected in sector eight, chamber nine, astral five and no Highlanders have taken note. I will lead as a Mi'qote, Keeper of the Moon until Dalamud falls. Seek by the Sun, clear my path, I will repel the Garlean Invasion. Lalafell-Mew, ILU2."
Eric waited impatiently for Callen to read it, knowing it really wouldn't make any sense but it was proof that Nell was safe and that he needed to get in contact with her now before she did something stupid.
"Alright, so I'm going to guess that this means you know where she is?" Callen said, his words light but the eyes which met Eric's were serious. All jesting gone, just cold, soul-deep assessment.
"Do the names Asten and Dunin, FBI mean anything to you?" Eric asked, meeting Callen's challenge head on. Turned out the boardroom had rubbed off on him after all.
This time, Callen's surprise was blatant.
"How? How did you get their names from four lines of gaming mumbo-jumbo?"
"Roegadyns are a race with characteristics similar to trusted non-NCIS Agents and the name cipher is so simple anyone who knew what they were looking for would find it. They got her and Bethany out and are their lifeline if anything goes wrong. She hasn't gone to an NCIS safe house because she says they fled the place where Hyur's normally live and ended up where the Hyur's actually fled from. She's given me enough pieces to be able to track them - sector eight, chamber nine and astral five - and she's warning me you don't know where she is with the comment about the highlanders."
Callen looked at him quizzically, looked back at the post and shook his head. "Glad she didn't leave anything half that complicated for me. I doubt all the Wikipedia entries in the world could have deciphered that for me. What about the rest?"
"I need a favour. You can do whatever retribution you had planned for me once we find Nell and Bethany, I know I failed you. Failed them. But you have to take me back to Ops, right now." Eric's voice was calm, he didn't plead he just spoke as though giving orders. When Callen opened his mouth to protest, Eric ploughed on regardless. "I'm the only one who can find Nell once she's gone dark and she's about to take on the Mole single-handedly so I'd recommend you find Sam and get him to bring the car around front, we've already lost enough time."
It was at that moment, as Eric stared defiantly at Callen, that Sam arrived carrying the coffee.
..:..
"So tell me again how this crazy non-English paragraph was enough justification to break a guy who's just had major surgery out of hospital, disobeying a direct order from Hetty?" Sam asked, taking his eyes off the road to glance meaningfully at Callen.
"If I left you a message to say I'd 'gone fishing in Utah with my Uncle Mitch' would you have sat around licking your wounds?" Callen threw back.
"Given the only fishing you ever do involves information rather than boats, you hate Utah because you got stuck in mineshaft in a mission you still won't tell me about and you distrust all men named Mitch because of one guy who turned out to be a plant? No, I'd be tryin' to figure out how to save your ass before you did something stupid."
"Exactly. Apparently Nell's fantasy board post thing is like that. And I didn't get stuck in a mineshaft, I just spent more time there than I wished to."
"That's the definition of stuck, G - not being able to leave when you want to. Still think she should have sent us a message instead. She knows he took two bullets and a nasty crack to the head, what if - you know."
"I didn't make it?" Eric asked coolly meeting Sam's gaze in the rearview mirror.
"You were busted up pretty good. And what's to say you wouldn't have been able to read that message for like a week."
"It's not a cry for help. She doesn't want me to come to her aid, much less stop her. She's letting me know she's okay and for old times sake, letting me know her plans. She would have gotten in touch with you if she'd needed to be bailed out or rescued in a hail of bullets but this is a problem you're not going to be much help with."
Sam looked shocked. Eric's hesitation, his blustery way of talking, his convoluted and highly technical descriptions - all gone. Sure Eric looked, except for the bandages and borrowed clothes, just as he normally did but this wasn't the innocent but brilliant tech operator they'd teased about playing house. As though confident the conversation was now closed, Eric's eyes slid shut, the strain of breaking out of hospital beginning to hit now they were on the highway and the adrenalin levels started to drop.
"Are you sure they removed all that lead from him?" Sam asked Callen at a volume just a shade above under his breath.
To be Continued...
