Altered Fraction of Truth
Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.
Chapter 14
Navy Yard, NorfolkLeroy Jethro Gibbs and his team were caught up in another case when the news bulletin hit their television screen. Everyone stopped and watched on in horror as the video footage, taken by someone on board the USS ANZIO, of a Grumman C-2 Greyhound crashing into the sea. The news reporter stated that there was no status on any survivors, only that there were Naval employees and some civilians on board.
Tony and McGee had been arguing over who was right over which suspect was guilty for the murder of a Petty Officer from the night before, only to stop in mid sentence and watch on in horror. They looked over at their boss, whose eyes remained fixed on the screen.
The lift doors on the mezzanine floor above them pinged and all eyes looked up at a group of people who looked dazed, being ushered through to the conference room. Gibbs' eyes darted from the television screen to the people above him and he knew instantly who had been on board the plane. He ran two at a time and encased one of them in his arms.
He felt her shudder and held her there until he knew that she had relaxed in his hold. He gently pulled back and looked over at his old friend who remained beside her. "This was you guys?"
Callen nodded. "Quick thinking by Sav and good pilots got us out in time." He was surprised that Gibbs knew Savannah, but he shouldn't have, seeing that she too was an agent and had worked out of this city over the years. But the connection between Gibbs and Savannah was still a mystery to him.
Gibbs eyes darted to the other members of the team, remembering his last visit to Los Angeles. He recognised Sam Hanna and Kensi Blye, but not Deeks. He'd heard about the detective from Callen over the years and nodded to them. "Glad you're all safe. He spotted Robert and surprised flashed over his face. "Robert? Luca? Jacob? You've been found." Callen recognised the disbelief in Gibbs' eyes. He hugged the three of them, relieved to see them safe again. "Why isn't the truth over your rescue being released?"
"To lure whoever shot at our plane to think that they succeeded," Callen replied. Savannah still remained closed lip about anything and everything since they'd boarded the USS ANZIO.
"Thank goodness you're all safe." The voice of their director caught their attention. "Come on through."
Savannah shook her head and looked directly at Gibbs. "I can't go in there. I promised myself that I would never go in that room again." Gibbs gently squeezed her hand for comfort. "I need to speak with Nell in MTAC. They need to know that we're safe." Her voice sounded foreign to her, as if she was on autopilot.
"I'll take you." Callen followed Gibbs and Savannah and entered the highly classified communications room. Gibbs spoke to one of the techs and before long, their Ops centre in Los Angeles came on line.
"Nell." Savannah moved forward, thankful for this moment to see her kid sister again.
"Oh my goodness, Sav. We heard what happened. Are you all okay?" They could see that Nell had been crying and she instantly knew they'd all thought they had perished.
"We're all safe, Nell. Tell Amanda and Dad, please. I don't want them worrying."
"They're on their way over to you. They think…"
"It's okay, Nell. We're all safe."
Nell nodded. Hetty and Eric appeared in the side of the screen, thankful that they were okay.
"We parachuted out and landed on some rafts. You've put together a good team, Hetty."
Hetty nodded, pleased that her people were indeed safe. "Mr Callen. What happened?" She needed to direct her attention to her team leader, in hope that after his latest near death experience, he just might forgive her for her failings.
"We're not certain. But just incase it was the Comescus behind it, we're playing it this way. We need for them to think that they succeeded in killing us."
Hetty nodded, pleased that he communicated with her on the matter. "I'm truly thankful that you are all safe, Mr Callen." She turned her direction to Savannah. "How are you feeling, Savannah? You're looking a little pale."
"I'm good, Hetty. It's one thing to train with Mark and his team jumping out of planes on the rafts below, it's another when the plane has been hit and your life is in danger." She took in a deep breath and tried to remain calm.
"You've done well, my dear. We'll be in contact soon."
Gibbs cut the connection and led them back out of MTAC. Director Vance met them outside of his office and asked for them to enter his office.
"Here, have a drink." Vance led them over to the table and chairs and waited for them to sit down. He'd had his secretary place fresh bottle of water out for all of the survivors. "I know you're still dealing with everything that's happened, but the sooner we debrief, the sooner you can go home and recover from this latest ordeal. Let's start with how things went in Romania."
Callen found himself filling their director in on the details on how smooth their rescue of Robert and the boys in Constanta went down —-unaware of any informant at the base or in the restaurant, to give away who they were and their true reason for being in the seaside city. Savannah sat, unwilling to answer anything, which concerned Callen even more.
"We have a team of SEAls searching for this boat, that shot at your plane. Once they have been located and we have proof of the Comescu involvement, we can then send in our SEAL teams into the Comescu compound and end them for good. Hetty has read me in on the latest problem and for your reasons for being there. I know this has been personal for you, Agent Callen, but now that they've attacked a U.S. naval plane, they've made it our business. We will send a message that we will not be terrorised on our shores."
Callen nodded, thankful that they had the director on their side with this problem.
"Now, I need to know how you all miraculously survived this attack."
Two hours earlierSavannah turned and faced Sam, going into team leader mode. "Where are the parachutes?"
Sam pried himself out of his seat and moved to the rear of the plane. "There's enough here. But not everyone has the experience."
Savannah looked over at the team, Robert and the boys. "Who here has never parachuted before?"
The boys and Deeks raised their hands. "What, we're it?" Panic was evident in the detective's voice. He'd flown with the team before and they'd joked with him about jumping out of the plane, but now it was a matter of life or death.
"That's good, Deeks. The fewer of you the better." She looked to the others and assessed the situation. She called the pilots and told them her plan.
"Thanks, Agent Hall. Glad to hear it." They were concerned that their passengers weren't experienced to parachute, seeing they were agents and not marines. Let us know when you want us to open the rear."
Savannah and Sam threw the packs to Callen and Kensi. "This is how we're doing this. " Savannah caught their attention. "Sam, you take Jacob after you've thrown two rafts down first. One for landing on, the other to climb into, once you've released your chute." Sam nodded, it was the usual SEALs training and he realised that her husband, Mark, had taken Savannah along. It gave him the confidence that they would all get out of this alive and he began preparing the gear for himself and Jacob. "Kensi. You take Deeks with you and Callen, you take Robert. Luca will come with me."
Callen stepped forward to disagree. "No. You're coming with me."
"This isn't debatable, George. Amanda needs you to take care of Robert."
"I'm sorry, Sav, but this is where I take over as team leader." He saw the fire ignite in her green eyes, but he chose to ignore it. "Robert, how many jumps have you made?"
"Over a hundred with Mark. But it's been a while."
Callen nodded. "Good. You take Luca."
Savannah was angry with Callen for undermining her authority. She climbed into her own parachute, determined not to go tandem with Callen. She hadn't done so in a real long time. She wasn't going to be treated like a beginner, seeing she'd done her time.
"Sav, listen to me," Callen growled. "You're not well, it's not safe for you to go alone or be responsible for someone else. Don't be stubborn."
"There's nothing wrong with me. I've done this enough. This is what Mark and I used to do on the weekends," Savannah roared in return.
Callen called through to the pilots and the rear of the plane opened up. They moved steadily along towards the rear, connected to the wire above them. Sam threw the two rafts out and prepared Jacob to jump. Sam led Jacob to the edge and pushed off, flying out the rear of the plan into the cool air. The wind blew over their heads and they were thankful for the helmets. Kensi led Deeks along and followed suit. Robert and Luca jumped out next, leaving Callen and Savannah left. He called through to the pilots and did the countdown for their jump. He grabbed Savannah's hand and held it tight as she jumped out and he went with her. He refused to let her hand go and remained by her side as they flew thousands of metres above sea level. They saw out of the corner of their eyes that the pilots had managed to turn the plane around, heading it away from the coast and ejected out of the cockpit.
Savannah's stomach lurched and her head went dizzy. She closed her eyes to keep control of whatever it was that was affecting her, to rein it in. Her children depended on her to survive, so why was she being so stubborn? Callen moved closer and pulled her cord, but she wasn't in the position to fight him on it. He'd let go and pulled his own cord, but managed to stay close to her at all times. Memories of the times when Mark had taken control of events in her life to protect her, overwhelmed her. Tears formed and fogged up her goggles. She choked on a sob, realising that Callen was protecting her just like Mark had. He knew her better than herself many times and it was what had eventually broken the barriers down around her heart. But it had taken Mark six months to achieve what Callen had, in only a matter of six weeks. As she neared the raft, she refocused and landed softly, quickly releasing her chute and climbed over to the adjoining raft. She sat next to Robert, relieved that they all had made it down safely. Her stomach betrayed her and she leaned over the side and spewed out what remained inside of her. Robert swiftly moved closer and rubbed her back.
"Sav, are you okay?" He studied her and became concerned over how pale she was. Savannah did her best to nod and pulled out a bottle of water that she had strapped to her leg and swallowed the contents.
Callen joined them onto the raft, leaving the pilots to join them. He'd seen her lean over the side and concluded that she had vomited. If only she'd open up to me.
The pilots were almost there, when they could see a Naval ship head in their direction. Once both pilots had landed, Sam shot out flares to catch their attention. Savannah avoided Callen, remaining close to Robert, in hope that he would keep his distance. She was an emotional wreck over his actions. It had hit her in a sudden rage, mid-flight. The fear, that she not only loved him, but that she was in love with him. She couldn't deal with it at that moment. He worked out that she wasn't well and he'd gone against her to ensure that she was safe. No one, other than Amanda and Mark had ever done that for her. It was too much for her to process, when their lives hung in the balance.
Callen noticed the ugly scar along Jacob's arm and pulled his shirt higher to take a closer look. "What happened?"
Jacob shied away, embarrassed that Callen had noticed it. He'd seen the family resemblance and knew who he was. He'd heard members of his father's family speak with hatred of him and his team. They'd come into their home and killed many who guarded the family beach house. To save some old lady. But he also knew that he was his mom's brother.
"That's nothing," Luca piped in. "You should see the one on Dad's back from protecting Jacob." Callen's eyes moved over to the other side of the raft, surprised. Robert appeared to be who Amanda and Savannah had told him, he was. He caught Robert's gaze and acceptance began to appear in Callen's eyes.
Savannah frowned. "What did they do to you?" She asked Robert and he allowed her to raise his shirt for a closer look.
Callen's eyes widened at the sight of the ugly whip lash across Robert's back. They'd whipped the boy, but Robert stepped in to protect his son.
"Why on earth would they do this to either of you? You are family to them." Savannah shook her head in disbelief that his family could treat him and his sons this way.
"They would have killed Luca and Jacob if it hadn't been for the training Mark had given me over the years, Sav. He was a good man. We have a great deal to be thankful for him. It gave me the skills I needed to protect them until they were old enough for me to help them defend themselves. They saw them as the enemy. Callens and not part of their family."
Callen's body tensed and anger bubbled under the surface. Not at Robert, but at the rest of his family. He wanted to return to Romania and finish them for good.
The USS ANZIO drew near to the rafts and sent a small boat to pick up the survivors from the crashed Naval plane. They'd heard the mayday call and seen the plane crash into the sea. Safely onboard, Callen told the Captain that Savannah needed to be seen to by the ship's doctor and she was led to sickbay.
When Callen found her, she was hooked up to a bag of fluids and sleeping soundly on the bed. The lights had been dimmed and he felt an overwhelming need to make her realise just how far he would go to, to make sure that she was safe. He sat in the chair beside her bed, waiting for her to wake up and found himself drifting off. The recent events had him highly strung, but now that they were almost on home soil, his defences came down and he relaxed a little.
When he awoke, he found the bed empty. Typical Savannah style. Skipped out on him when he'd finally lowered his defences.