Eric was momentarily confused when he woke up, he found himself on a chair in a dark room, with his hands cuffed behind him. Eric remembered what had happened and he knew whoever had come to the house had knocked him unconscious, he was certain that Kerry was safe; they had obviously taken him for a reason. He doubted they even knew Kerry was at the house, Hetty would have gotten there and the team would keep her safe – especially Callen.
Nell's face flashed through Eric's mind, she made him feel safe and strong and he needed that right now. He wished he could speak to her, even if only to tell her how much he loved her. If he didn't get out alive and she had never known… the thought alone broke Eric's heart.
Eric jumped at the sudden sound of a door being unlocked behind him, it was only then that he realised what else was in the room with him. The chair he was handcuffed to was placed right in front of a desk; on the desk were four computer screens and keyboards to match. Eric understood why they had taken him; he was one of the best hackers in the world, which must be why they wanted him. The door slammed shut behind him and dim lights made the room less scary, but the heavy footsteps that came closer to Eric brought even more fear to his mind.
"Eric Beale, I am told it is an honour to be in your presence." The man's voice was deep and gruff, it also sounded in some way vaguely familiar, but Eric didn't have the chance to wonder why. Eric didn't reply to the man's statement; he hadn't been trained to deal with any situations like this – he was just a computer geek. "I can see that you are afraid, I know who you are – technical operator for NCIS. For a man that is not cleared or trained for field duty, you know how to handle a gun." Eric still didn't reply. "I do not care if you don't say a word to me, all I need done is the job. Then you will be free to go." Eric seriously doubted that.
"Am I really expected to believe that you will let me go after this?" The man chuckled.
"I don't care what you believe. We don't have all day, so let's get started." The man removed the handcuffs and Eric massaged his wrists. "You are going to hack into every government agency I tell you to, you won't use any passwords or clearance, you will hack in. Then I want all the information on three names; every case file and every report. Do you understand?" Eric shook with fear but his next statement was instinctive.
"I understand, but I can not do it." The man leaned in close to Eric and growled at him.
"You do not have a choice." Again Eric shook his head and said he would not do it. The man motioned towards the door, which opened and Eric was dragged off his chair. He tried to stay quiet as they beat him, but the pain was worse than he could have imagined. One thing Eric did notice was that the 'muscle' made sure to leave his hands alone - presumably because Eric could not work without them.
"This is not your job, you are just the nerd of the group. Just agree to follow orders and the lain will stop, it is painful to hear." Eric wanted nothing more than to be able to stop the pain, but he could not give these men the information that would almost certainly lead to someone's death.
"I can't do it… I won't." Eric coughed. Luckily, he knew the pain caused was deliberately temporary and would wear off soon enough - but each blow still pushed pain through his body.
"I admire your resilience Eric Beale, but we both know it will not save you. You will do this, or we will kill your girlfriend too." Eric's eyes widened. "Yes, we know all about the little lady that visits your home after work and on the weekends, we have been watching you for weeks. I believe her name is Nell, is that right?" Eric was silent and motionless in shock. "Nell Jones, we also know where she lives."
Eric looked at the monitors in shame and defeat. "Fine, I know you'll shoot me when I am done, but leave her alone, please." The man agreed and flicked on the power, Eric took the first keyboard as the man gave him the first name. Eric's heart stopped at two of the names he was given, but he tried to stay calm. He knew Sam and Callen would find him, he only hoped he would be alive when they did.
"We don't know who has him, or why! G, you can't just storm into their place and expect to walk out with Eric. This plan is insane! Neither of you will get out alive!" Sam was frustrated with his partner, but he could see that G had decided to ignore the obvious emotions in Sam's voice.
"It will work… Eric is coming out alive Sam, whatever else happens!" That attitude was exactly what worried Sam, G was always too complacent when it came to his own safety. Sam grabbed his partner's arm and whispered so only he could hear him.
"I know that Eric is, but he isn't the only agent in danger." G looked up at Sam and glanced towards Kensi and Deeks, who stood only feet away.
"Sam, nothing is ever going to happen to my team. I will protect you all." Sam sighed, exasperated. He was sometimes truly shocked and confused when it came to G's blatant ignorance. Did he know that Sam was talking about G? Or did he simply think that it does not matter whether he comes back or not? As long as his loved ones did…
"I mean you G." Sam watched as his best friend looked slightly surprised, before looking at his partner with nothing other than confusion in his eyes.
"I'll be fine Sam." He whispered, sounding as convinced as he wanted to, but not convincing Sam at all.
Callen couldn't help the confusion that stopped his mind working properly, why did it matter what happened to him? That was one thing that was plain and clear to the lead agent; he had to protect the others over everything and everyone; including himself. Sam had a family that he had to return to, Deeks couldn't disappear because it would break Kensi - both her mind and her heart. Kensi had to be protected because she was like Callen's little sister, but he wouldn't loose her like he lost Amy. Nate was important in his own way too - how many agents would be lost without him? He had done much good that Callen had not failed to see. Hetty was… Hetty, and more important than most people Callen knew - if not all. Eric and Nell were the best techies in the US and among the top in the world, they had turned down offers that would have made them rich, because they wanted to do the right thing and help people. Everything made sense in Callen's mind, but Sam was starting to confuse him - even though that was not a difficult task recently. Callen decided to wave off Sam's concerns and worry about them later - he just didn't have time for it.
Hetty watched her team as they planned their assault on the building that Eric was being kept in, they were getting ready even though they had no idea where Eric had been taken. The operations manager watched Sam and Callen and listened to what was being said; she knew Callen better than most people - if not all - including Sam. Hetty could see the confusion and slight distress on Callen's face, he didn't understand Sam's concerns and anxiety when it came to his safety.
"Guys!" Nell's voice echoed from upstairs, making it even more quiet without Eric's whistle. The team rushed upstairs, sensing the same thing Hetty had in her voice; relief. Which found only mean that there was a lead on Eric.
"Nell?" Sam asked desperately the moment Hetty entered the room.
"In the last five minutes, multiple agencies have had their security breached; they have been hacked. The CIA, DEA, FBI, NSA and currently NCIS databases have been under attack from the same source." The team and even Hetty were still a little lost, although Callen had made his usual leaps and deductions to understand what was being said.
"How do you know it is him?" The lead agent pushed, finally Hetty understood.
"Who?" Kensi asked, Deeks also looking confused. But Hetty could hardly be surprised; the team was running on no sleep or rest whatsoever.
"Eric." Callen answered quickly.
"Eric and I worked out a long time ago what to do if we needed to let eachother know something without anyone else being able to understand of even know the message exists. Eric has hacked the agencies traditionally, using non of the security clearance he has or could fake. Obviously with multiple agencies being attacked we were notified but before we were hacked. I watched the hacker as they bypassed the firewalls and checked all the other trails too, I know it is Eric. He has a message for us." Hetty herself was surprised, even her technical operator and analyst had a plan to contact eachother in times such as these; her team truly was the best.
"What was the message Miss Jones?" Hetty asked.
"Well, that is the slight issue. Eric had to encrypt the message so it would not be seen - only I would be looking for it - but keep it brief and vague in case someone was able to read it. I'm not entirely sure what it means but I have it decrypted." Nell pressed a few buttons on her keypad and swiped the message onto the big screen. Hetty didn't understand it but she had a bad feeling that only worsened when she caught a glance between Sam and Kensi.
Callen stared at the message, he had an awful feeling about the first part and the second, but the third remained a mystery to him. No one spoke but there was a definite tension in the room as the team tried to understand Eric's rushed message.
-3 requests: anGel, devil, shield, angel's hart.
"Request?" Sam asked, needing clarification for what he guessed it meant.
"What they wanted from him, information." Nell said.
"Why is the G in angel a capital?" Deeks asked, Callen turned to the detective and gave him a half smile. "Oh." Deeks gasped, worried.
"It appears Gabriel has come back to haunt us again." Callen said, leaning against the wall, exhausted. "Will I never be rid of it?" His statement was whispered to himself, but they all heard him, they chose to keep quiet never Callen knew that and was grateful.
"So you're the angel." Kensi said. "And the devil?" Sam looked angry and Callen could feel his partner's watchful gaze.
"Karl Johnson. But what about the Shield?" Callen knew that one but was reluctant to speak, until Hetty pushed him into talking.
"Deeks, our LAPD liaison - detective." Deeks paled and stood surprised, but Kensi's hand on his arm calmed him down.
"And we all know who the angel's heart is." Sam said, everyone nodded but Callen wasn't convinced that it was what the team assumed.
"Nell, is there any chance that Eric would make a spelling error in the message? Could it have been deciphered inaccurately?" Nell looked confused but shook her head definitely.
"No chance, I have never seen Eric make any mistakes, spelling or otherwise. But he would make sure that the message was perfect before leaving the trail, he will know how it would be decrypted and write it accordingly. I triple checked anyway just to make sure… the message is sound, exactly how he wanted he to read it." Nell didn't need to ask, her face spoke for the entire team. But Callen couldn't answer straight away.
"Give me a minute." He said, before walking out of Ops and into the gym. Callen felt uneasy and confused, but the second he called Kerry and her voice sounded in his ear, he could think more calmly and rationally.
Kerry could tell that something was wrong the moment she heard Gabriel's voice over the phone; he sounded exhausted and concerned but still strong. He apologised for waking her, knowing that she had been home for a couple of hours and would have been asleep, but she told him not to be stupid.
"You can phone me any time you need or want to, for whatever reason. I wasn't sleeping too well anyway, I always sleep better with you beside me." Gabriel said it was the same for him too and Kerry knew that was true, she had witnessed the nightmares he suffered with. But for some reason, when they were together, neither of them suffered from bad dreams or anything. Gabriel had even been known to get four to five hours sleep in one run, twice his average amount.
"Kerry, I need you to get my box off the mantelpiece." Kerry was shocked by Gabriel's request but she did as he asked and sat with his most precious possession on her lap. He never let anyone near the box, although he had never told Kerry not to touch it, she didn't want to - it was the only thing she felt she couldn't interfere with.
"Inside is a newspaper cutting, I need you to tell me the name of the man it is talking about." Kerry put her cellphone on speaker and carefully looked through the few papers and trinkets inside. She pulled out two pieces of paper: one was a list of all his foster homes and the addresses and the other was the article he wanted. Kerry scanned the article and found the name after a few moments.
"Gabriel?" He grunted down the phone to tell her he was still there, but he was doing something himself, Kerry could hear him rooting through papers. "The name of the man is Thomas Hart." There was silence from Gabriel's end of the line and Kerry waited as she heard him take a deep breath.
"How do you spell the surname?" He sounded wary and as it he dreaded her answer, Kerry wished she could avoid answering or lie, but she couldn't and in a way she didn't want to.
"H-a-r-t." She spelled out, before Gabriel swore to himself and thought quickly for a moment.
"I need you to come down here Kerry." He said. Kerry didn't even ask for a reason, she didn't need one.
"I'll be twenty minutes." She said.
"It's a forty minute drive." Gabriel smirked down the phone.
"For you, I would do it in ten minutes. But that would be unsafe."
"I'll be waiting outside." He chuckled, before hanging up.
Callen checked his watch and rushed back up to Ops, once again serious and annoyed. Why did his past always seem to crop up and cause problems for his team? What had he done that was so wrong?
"Mr Callen, I presume you can explain now." Hetty pushed.
"Sorry Hetty, I wasn't sure but I definitely know what Eric meant by the third request. He wasn't talking about Kerry like you all thought, he means Thomas Hart, that is why the spelling was so crucial." Of course, no one knew the name.
"I have heard that name before, but I can not place the memory." Hetty said, Callen checked his watch and ran to the computer. He typed in the name and found the appropriate person, before pointing out the relevant issue. Then he turned to leave.
"Now where are you going G?" Sam asked.
"To get Kerry, I told her to come here, I feel better knowing she is alright. I'll be five minutes tops. See if you can make sense of this because I don't understand the relevance myself." Then he left.