Running Rogue

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these shows.
A/N: I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year's, and in the spirit of the holiday season, thank you for your readership and reviews, TMVH50, knirbenrots, Timeless Musketeer, jmlane1966, and a guest.

Lowlife

Deeks groaned as he opened his eyes and rasped out "I'm sorry I got you into this."

"What are you talking about?" Danny frowned.

"If I hadn't pulled you in you'd be home with Grace not tied to" he waggled his hands "whatever the proper name for this thing is."

Danny rolled his eyes and snapped, "If I wasn't here you'd probably be dead. There's nothing to feel guilty about." He paused, realizing that the combination of lack of sleep and no food that had turned him into a grouch had probably goaded Deeks into this morose state. "Snap out of it, we have company."

Deeks pouted and stared down at his rumbling stomach. "My hunger begs to differ, it wants me to wallow."

"We'll go out for steaks after this."

"Well, that just makes it worse – now I'm thinking about a New York strip. And what's with people promising meat to each other? Steve owes Sam one, Callen promised me one." His mind was wandering and he seemed unable to stop it. "What is so celebratory about a steak? I'd want cake, with 'Congrats on not dying' piped on the top. Or some of your mom's cookies – those things were good. Oh! Those cookies mixed into an ice cream cake and 'You're alive!' on top."

Danny had to stifle a laugh; he ranted and Deeks rambled, they were quite the pair. "What would you rather do?"

"Get you up on a surfboard."

This time he made no attempt to stop his chuckles. "No way." Out of the corner of his eye he caught moving shadows. "They're coming in."

They got their game faces on as the behemoth broke through the doorway. Deeks slid down a bit, slouching slightly against the pole and had his ankles crossed. Danny pulled one foot up and left the other leg splayed straight out. They looked bored and definitely neither dead nor injured.

This is not what the man expected, he thought they'd be cut up, broken, and begging for some sort of medical help. He did not imagine he'd be faced with two shackled men who appeared to be…relaxed? The one was working at his tooth with his tongue, and not in a way that suggested pain, instead it looked like he was trying to work out a piece of stuck food. He paused where he was standing, hoping that the semi-darkness would cover his bewilderment and portray something threatening.

The other jerked his chin at him in the universal sign of 'hey'.

They were not intimidated.

And worse yet, they had survived the night without a scratch.

He needed to re-evaluate their plan. A quick spin on his heel sent him back outside to the others in the SUV. They had to come up with a new method.

Danny leaned back to whisper to Deeks "He just left; I think he was surprised that we're alive."

"I'm surprised we're alive." Deeks scoffed.

"How do you want to play this?"

Deeks pursed his lips as he thought. "Uninterested? Above it all?"

"I know something you don't know?" The door opened again and Danny leaned back, "Look bored, he's coming back."

The man was coming back, with reinforcements. Three other men fanned out behind him. They all looked similar, but none had the sheer size of the one leading the group. "It looks like the wolves didn't think you'd be too tasty." He tried to play it off like it was no surprise, but everyone in the room knew that that was a lie.

"You missed all the fun, we roasted marshmallows, sang campfire songs." Danny gave him a lazy grin.

One of the men in the back had to hide a smirk behind a fist, clearly seeing his boss uneasy was not common. The man in front snarled a bit, but he cleared his throat. "Let's focus back on me and the fact that you're tied to a cattle guard. Which one of you is Charlie?" His grin stretched, "Yeah, we know who you are."

Danny rolled his eyes up at him. "We've been here for almost a day. I hope you could've learned something in that time."

"Because if you're not learning something new every day, your brain is decaying." Deeks pointed out.

"This one." The voice appeared behind the group and all the detectives could see was an arm reaching out to point. "That's Charlie."

But Deeks had spent the better part of a week with Billy's group listening to that distinctive voice. "Bugs, didn't expect to see you here."

Bugs emerged with a satisfied grin on his face. "That was the plan."

"I expected Mack."

Bugs suddenly looked uncertain and his mouth started to form a question, but Deeks noticed he did have enough intelligence to not actually ask.

"Billy knows there's a mole. I guessed it was Mack seeing as he has the majority of the brains out of all of you. Who's pulling your strings over here?" Deeks pulled his foot up and kicked at a loose piece of concrete. He put some taunting into his voice, knowing that Bugs was not the mastermind type, even if he did manage to hide his duplicity this long.

Bugs took the bait. His face reddened and he pulled his hands into fists. "I am."

"I highly doubt that." Deeks gave him a sneer, "Actually, I think it's impossible."

He reacted exactly as Deeks thought he would, but that didn't ease the pain of a fist smashing into his face. The kick to his midsection that followed was unexpected. Deeks sucked in a breath but his chest muscles didn't appreciate having to expand after their encounter with Bugs' foot, so he found himself coughing, which brought on a fresh onslaught of pain. Basically Bugs had succeeded in his mission: effectively shut him up for the next few moments while he worked out a new less painful way to breathe.

Bugs face showed that he was proud of himself. Deeks fought to keep the struggle from his face and they locked eyes. Bugs blinked first, but he did so with a smile. "I'm more interested in the new guy." He walked around to face Danny. "I didn't like you from the moment you sat down at our table."

Danny's jaw muscle twitched. "Whatever. We agreed that Mack was most likely the one to rat."

Bugs grinned. "Now who's the smart one…looks like it's me."

"I wouldn't be too proud of myself if I were you." Danny's mind clicked the pieces that had been floating around his head into place. "You were never part of that crew to begin with. Someone put you in with Billy – they did all the work, all you've been doing is following orders. It wasn't your original thought to up and be a mole for the Undertakers, did they send you hoping for at least some information before Billy figured it out and killed you?"

"I…no…not…" Bugs' eyes bugged out as he stuttered. His face rearranged into a hate-filled mask and he walloped Danny in the chest with a kick that left him hacking for air.

Deeks had spent his time fighting for oxygen following Danny's logic. "Clearly you're not New York Irish. Your hairline is too pointy and your skin's too olive-y. Did you really think anyone bought that story that you tan well? Plus you hate dark ales." Deeks spat out a clump of blood that had congealed on his tongue.

A spark of fear crept into Bugs' eyes. "You have no proof. And Billy has no clue."

Danny leaned his head back and squinted up at Bugs. "You sure? Maybe we've been messing with you."

Bugs snarled. "We'll see about that." He motioned to the others and they stalked out of the building.

Sighs from both sides of the pole circled up to the rafters. Deeks spat again and cleared his throat. "Well. That went well. Good call on Bugs."

Danny shrugged. "I had a moment of clarity. Now what do we do?"

They waited as the sun rose and the shadows shortened. They talked about nothing in particular, not knowing whether or not anyone was listening. Danny regaled Deeks with an increasingly disgusting list of foods he had tried over the years in an attempt to silence the growling from that side of the pole. Deeks judged it to be around lunch when the five men from the morning scurried back into the building following one angry man taking huge strides towards them.

"You work for Billy?" The way the question ripped out of his throat, there was no avoiding answering him. Both detectives nodded, no wanting to anger him further. His face grew stormy and he spun around to glare at the five men jockeying to not be in the front. "Dom, this was your idea?"

Bugs burst out from the group, most likely from being pushed out. His eyes skittered away from the glare being directed at him and he waffled on his answer, "We really had no choice, they were snooping around the dock." His excuses died away as he finally made eye contact.

A half groan-half roar of frustration tore out of the man and Deeks and Danny watched as he folded his hands into fists and flexed his shoulders. "Now I'm stuck cleaning up your mess. At least Mouse was man enough to tell me, otherwise this could have blown our entire operation." Their interrogator, the hulk of a man perked up at being called out.

"What do we do, boss?" Bugs asked, looking as though he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar – regretful, but not sorry.

"If you weren't related to Hogg…" The man sighed. He turned to send a cold stare at the detectives. "We accelerate the plan."