"Our boy scrubs up nicely," Callen observed, watching Deeks help Nell out of the Lincoln Town Car parked outside the Brandel Building on the view screen in Ops an hour later. He and Sam had finally got home to LA just before midnight and had managed to snatch a few hours sleep before coming in to find the latest operation already in progress and unfolding before their eyes.
Hetty moved in for a closer look. "A Brioni custom-made suit. Very nice indeed. Our Mr Deeks is dressed for business."
"Brioni?" Sam snorted. "Deeks has got this whole James Bond vibe going on, what with having to have his Beretta and now the fancy Italian suits. Pity he couldn't find a few moments to get a hair-cut."
Eric flashed him a smile, "You gotta admit, Sam – Deeks has got a heck of a good head of hair." He looked pointedly as Sam's shaven head. Recently, there had been a whole lot of speculation going on in OSP as to whether Sam was going bald or not. The smart money was on never broaching the question with the man directly, not if one wished to stay alive and in one piece.
"Pity he never seems to brush it. Looks like it does its own damn thing, like some sort of animal you find in the woods," Sam said dryly. He turned his attention back to the screen and tried to concentrate. It had been late last night when he finally got back home and of course Crosby had been in bed for hours. Sam had stood in the doorway just watching the child sleep before a wave of exhaustion hit him. It was too much effort to go through to the couch, so he'd simply lain and slept beside his son. The only problem was that Crosby still had a small child's bed and this morning Sam's back felt like hell. That, plus the jet lag and the simmering unease he felt about the Yemen mission all contributed to his current black mood.
Kensi said nothing, she just sat there and thought how good Deeks looked, hair gleaming in the early morning sun, the perfectly cut dark suit emphasising his physique. And she wished, more than anything else, that she was at his side instead of Nell.
Deeks opened the car door and reached inside to take a gentle hold of Nell's arm as she exited the Town Car as graciously as possible. "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine. You're going to brilliant."
Grasping her briefcase firmly in one hand, Nell pulled down her skirt with the other and then walked beside Deeks as they crossed the plaza in front of the Brandel Building. At the front entrance, once again he opened the door for her, standing politely aside so that she could enter first.
A girl could get used to this sort of life, Nell thought: being served breakfast in a Malibu mansion, a chauffeured ride to work and being treated like a lady by the best looking guy in LA. Pity he's only got eyes for Kensi.
"Good morning, Mr Deeks!" A receptionist, who looked uncannily like a model on a magazine cover greeted them as they made their way across what seemed like acres of polished marble flooring.
"Window dressing," Deeks said in a whisper. "Meet and greet: keep them sweet." He flashed a grin at the woman as they walked towards the security gate.
"Very nice. You've got good taste, Deeks," Callen's voice said in his ear. "You recruit her personally? Nell, go and look over in her direction again, will you? I could do with a good, long look to brighten up my day."
Nell obediently swivelled her head so that the camera built into her glasses would pick up the receptionist as Deeks responded in an undertone. "You want I should get you her number, G? You never know - maybe if she's got a thing for older guys, it could be your lucky day?"
By now they were at the security desk, where Deeks signed her in. "You'll get your ID pass upstairs and we'll program it so you have all-area access.". And then they were at the executive elevator. Nell stepped in with a confidence she did not feel. She had made it so far – but this was just the beginning.
"So this is the other side of Deeks' life, is it?" Callen was fascinated as he watched the guy interact with various board members and staff of Brandel Holding, Nell sticking pretty close to his side, clutching her laptop bag so tightly her knuckles showed white even on camera. "Exactly how much do his family know about his real employment?"
"About OSP and NCIS – why, nothing at all, Mr Callen. They do know, of course, that he is an LAPD detective, and seem to regard this positively, in the main. I believe that his uncles regard Mr Deeks' career choice in law enforcement as resulting from that unfortunate incident in his childhood."
Wow! Hetty, you've always been a master of understatement but this is the best yet. An eleven year old shoots his father in self-defence and you describe that as an unfortunate incident?
Hetty continued. "It would appear that they do not object to Mr Deeks taking rather a back-seat in the company, despite his majority shareholding. I rather suspect Bernard Brandel has ambitions for at least one of his children to take over the reins at some time in the future, so he may encourage Mr Deeks to maintain his low level involvement in the day to day activities of the company."
In any company, large or small, there was going to be the inevitable jockeying for position among executives. Until proven otherwise everyone on the board of Brandel Holdings was a potential suspect. Hetty was still not ruling out the theory of corporate espionage. If there did prove to be a fault in the Overlock tracking system, whether created by sabotage or not, word would soon get around. Stock prices would go down and the company could be ripe for a hostile takeover. That was the last thing any one of the security agencies wanted. Procurement contracts for such sensitive equipment involved months of vetting. It was not just as simple as letting the new owner of the company take over the existing contracts. And that was the best-case scenario. The worst case was that Overlock had been compromised deliberately and that hostile sources were now controlling the system. That was the stuff nightmares were made of.
"They're on the move," Eric commented and switched views so that they got direct feed from Nell's viewpoint.
"My office." Deeks opened the door at the end of the corridor, ushering Nell into a large corner office with incredible views from the floor to ceiling windows that lined two sides of the room. "We've got about thirty minutes before the board meeting." He didn't need to say anymore. Nell booted up the desktop PC and accessed the administrator permissions. The first step was to override the security protocols and disable the download blocker. Simultaneously, Deeks booted up the NCIS laptop and connected it to the desktop hard drive. They worked together in a well-rehearsed routine, aware that every second counted.
"You reading us, Eric?" Deeks asked as Nell worked frantically beside him.
"Coming online as we speak… Yes. We have remote contact. Nell – you've got to download the program stored on your laptop and…"
"I know all that! Just give me a minute." Her fingers flew over the keys. "Okay. Download complete. Transfer complete and starting synch now."
They could see the progress bar gradually move across the screen. "Synch complete. Confirm mirror established, Eric?"
"Confirmed. Mirror established. Ladies and gentlemen, we have access. We're in business."
"We only have that access for as long as Nell is in the building and her laptop has a signal," Hetty reminded him. "It's time to get to work. Mr Beale - start pulling that information over to our systems. Miss Blye: I think it might be expedient for you to move to the vicinity of the Brandel Building."
Eric activated the comm link. "Deeks – get us as much time as you can. We've got a lot of data to grab and it's going to take time. And make sure that laptop is up and running at all times."
"Understood. It's going to cost you though. Have you any idea how boring these board meetings can be?"
Satisfied that she could focus on the other pressing matter, Hetty stood up. "Mr Callen and Mr Hannah: I would appreciate your attendance at a debriefing meeting. You may be interested to know that Director Vance will also be attending, at his personal request. Five minutes, gentlemen, if you please."
"Hetty's not pleased," Callen noted. "Looks like Vance is out for blood. You want to get our stories straight?"
"Leave this to me," Sam said. "No arguments. I messed up and I'll go down on record saying so. This is my call, Callen. What's the worst he can do?"
Callen just shrugged.
You really don't want to know Sam, believe me.