Inferno

Summary: G. Callen is not the only one with a host of secrets. How will Nell react when she has to go undercover with Callen to bring down a particular sadistic ring of human traffickers? Will she be able to turn her mind off to accept the role she is expected to play? Or will the memories and shame be too great for her to ignore, and will she stay safe in Ops.

A/N: This is for G & S, who didn't want the Blaze die down and the Embers put out but wanted a happy ending.

A/N 2: This story is rated M for sexual content, strong language, and the hints of sexual sadism.

Disclaimer: The characters and sets of NCIS:LA are all owned by CBS, Donald P. Bellisario, and Shane Brennan. I only own a copy of the DVDs from season 1-5. I do get to play with everyone, but they all have to be home by curfew.

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Chapter 14

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Friday Evening || An Undisclosed Location in the Downtown Los Angeles area

The computer screen in front of Nell froze, with the logo of a bank in La Paz, Bolivia on it, along with a small digital countdown display that showed how long it would be until any transactions could be completed.

Nell turned toward Callen and informed him, "Master, there will be a slight delay."

Perry heard what she said and turned around, his gun out and aimed at the two of them, "WHAT...?" he screamed.

He started waving the gun around at them and asked, "What kind of con game are you running?"

Callen turned toward Nell and ordered her, "Explain this."

"It's not my fault, master." She whimpered. "It appears that the bank in La Paz is doing maintenance at this time. The website says it will be available in a little over ten minutes."

"Then things will continue normally?" He asked her.

"Yes, master." she said.

Perry said, "Work around it. I want my money."

"It doesn't work that way. Pet, explain it to him."

She looked at Perry and tried to explain, "Have you ever seen a row of dominoes that are lined up to fall, one after another, each one knocking down the next?"

"Of course I have, who hasn't?"

"And what would happen if one of those were removed? Would it interrupt the chain of dominoes falling?"

"I guess it would."

"And if one then replaces that domino, and pushes it so it starts to fall, would the entire chain continue to go down as if it never had been moved?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"So then, in nine minutes and fifty-two seconds," she said without looking at the computer screen, "the computers at the La Paz bank will again come online and your money transaction will continue. Once the process is started, we cannot go to any spot along the line and interrupt it. It will continue normally once the bank computers come online."

"Okay, we wait. We will proceed with the rest of the auction. If my money isn't there by the end, your two purchases will be put on the block, and you will lose whatever you have already spent."

"That's fine by me," Callen said, and he and Nell went to the desk that had Nell's cloak on it. Grabbing two chairs, they sat down and waited.

. . . . .

Perry and Henderson set up a video camera focused on a blank wall and attached the feed to another computer. Perry switched it on and entered a code to broadcast the live feed. At the same time, Henderson went to the first computer and set the controls for a multi-person Skype chat. Two of the girls were brought in, and one was positioned so the camera showed her, head to foot.

Slowly, six different boxes opened up on Skype. After a brief word of welcome to each one, Henderson asked for an opening bid on the girl. One person started at $25,000. Henderson rejected it as being too low. He simply stated that all opening bids would start at $50,000. He quickly got that from one of the men online. The bidding tapered off at $87,000. Since there were no more bids, he declared this part of the auction closed, and that arrangements would be made when the auction was over to schedule for the transfer of the money and the girl.

The second girl was brought into the range of the camera and another box opened up on the Skype connection, making seven who were bidding for her. The bidding went quicker for this girl but topped off at $94,000. Again arrangements were postponed to the end of the auction.

. . . . .

Nell was keeping time in her head. From the time she was a small girl, she seemed to have a stopwatch in her brain. If you told her something would take twenty-seven minutes and thirty-six seconds to complete, she could tell you exactly when that moment occurred.

She signaled to Callen and inched her hand closer and closer to her service weapon that was hidden in her cloak. Grabbing the weapon, she extended all the fingers of her other hand and started retracting fingers, as she signaled a silent five-second countdown. When she got to zero, both of them closed their eyes and waited for the fireworks to begin.

Three seconds later they heard the sounds of doors being broken in, glass being shattered, and then the flash-bangs went off. When the intense light subsided, Nell jumped up and pulled the plug of the computer that Henderson was working on, shutting down the computer completely. When Henderson's vision returned, he saw Nell with her weapon drawn, aimed at him. He couldn't believe it when she announced, "Federal Agent. You're under arrest."

She had him so completely fooled. He would have never taken her for a Federal Agent. She played her role so well. But she was all alone right now. Her partner must be dealing with Perry. For a few moments, he thought of trying to rush her and take her down. He was bigger and stronger than she was.

She was standing just far enough away that he couldn't surprise her. Besides, she handled her weapon like she really knew how to use it. He wasn't going to challenge her and give up his life that easily.

Nell could hear the shouts of "CLEAR!" and knew that the rest of her team members were starting to come closer. She still did not want them to know about the scars that marred her body. None of them could understand how self-conscious she still felt about them.

If they were ever to know about her scars, it would be because she told them, but only when and if she felt ready to do it. It was really hard for her to admit to Callen what had happened to her. Telling the rest of them would be ten times worse.

Nell decided to try to put it off to sometime in the future. She backed up to the desk that her cloak was on and picked it up with her free hand. She got her arm into one sleeve and was transferring her weapon to that hand when Henderson saw his chance to escape. He took off running, never realizing that all the exits were covered and escape was impossible. Nell just stood there, finally getting her cloak on. Then she started castigating herself, for letting Henderson get away.

. . . . .

Callen had returned with Perry in custody. He looked at Nell and immediately knew there was something wrong with her. Henderson was missing and he worried that the man had done something to Nell to help him get away.

"What's wrong Nell?" he asked. "Are you hurt?"

"Callen, I'm afraid that I will never be good enough to be a field agent." she said with a tear in her eye.

"Why do you say that? What happened while I was gone?"

"I heard the members of the team clearing out the rooms, and then I remembered how I was dressed. I didn't want them to see me like that, to see all my scars, and I tried to put my cloak back on. I got distracted, and Henderson got away. I'm sorry." she gushed.

Callen could see the tears that she was holding back. He moved Perry to a desk off to the side and zip tied his arms behind him to the adjoining chair. To make sure he stayed there, his legs were also zip tied to the legs of the chair.

He then went up to Nell and gathered her into his arms. Softly he spoke to her, his lips just inches from her ear. "Are you upset with yourself that you didn't keep Henderson here in custody?"

She suppressed the sob that was trying to get out. "Yeah. I failed to keep him here when I had him."

"Just how did you fail, Nell?"

"He got away. I had him and he got away from me."

"And where did he go?" Over her head, Callen could see Sam enter the room with Henderson in tow.

"I don't know. He just got away."

Callen turned her around and asked her, "What do you see over there?"

"S...Sam and Henderson." she was forced to admit.

"You know, for getting away, he sure didn't do a good job."

"But he was my responsibility. I shouldn't have counted on Sam to get him. I was too worried about the team seeing all my scars to do my job."

"He was not your responsibility. Think back to what you told me earlier. What was your responsibility?"

"Rescuing the girls, shutting down this operation? Is that what you mean?"

"No," Callen told her. "Who was it that whispered to me that we had to stay? That this computer contained all the evidence we needed against them? That our job was to protect that evidence?"

"I guess that was me." Nell admitted.

"And has anyone touched this computer since you did your 'Wonder Woman' act to pull the plug so none of the evidence could be tampered with?"

"No..." she said, her cheeks getting red as she blushed. She thought that Callen had not seen her dive for the power cord of the computer to put it into the emergency shut down.

"So, you protected the evidence. You did your job. In fact, it could be said that I failed in my job for leaving you alone with Henderson while I went off after Perry."

"No," Nell told him, "You had to do that. You had my back." The light bulb glowed bright over Nell's head as she realized, "Just...like...I...had...yours."

"Yup." Callen said as he pulled her back into his chest, a smile on his face that went from ear to ear.

. . . . .

Callen signaled to Sam to come over and pick up the other suspect.

As always, Sam had to tease his partner about some aspect of the mission. "Here we did all the work and you end up in the arms of the girl. It's just not fair."

"What you mean, Sam," Callen countered, "is that Nell and I worked hard on this case all week. You and the rest of the team come in at the last minute, and want to take all the credit."

"Seriously, man, how are you two?" Sam's professional mothering side took over, as he looked each of them up and down for wounds or injuries.

"We're both fine, Sam. I have another guest for you over there, Brandon Perry, who really is Second Lieutenant Matthew Nelson. You already have Dennis Henderson, who is Chief Petty Officer Third Class Kenny Harmon. In one of the rooms you will find Joanne Singleton, Harmon's girlfriend, and her look alike guarding a bunch of Hispanic women."

"Kensi already found the two women and has them in custody. One of them took a cattle prod and used it on Deeks, and he now wants recognition for a battlefield injury. He was willing to let the other girls comfort him, but then he found that they spoke no English, and they couldn't understand his Spanish."

"Well, maybe he can use his muscle to take this computer over to the Mission and let Eric and the other geeks have a look at it. Nell says that everything we need to convict these guys can be found on it."

Nell pulled away from Callen and asked Sam, "Those other Hispanic girls, are they still here?"

"Yeah," Sam replied. "They're in one of those side rooms back up the hallway. Kensi is still with them. We're waiting for Immigration to arrive so that all of them can be sent back home. Why do you ask?"

"There is one of them that I have to apologize to. I'm afraid I really scared her with something I said and did."

She turned to Callen and with her look asked his permission to go.

"Go," he told her. "It will make you feel better and probably calm her down a little bit."

She ran off, looking for the women.

Sam looked at Callen and asked, "Care to enlighten me what that was all about?"

"Nothing you have to worry about." Callen answered. "It's just something personal that she has to do, just because she's Nell."

That made Sam wonder even more just what kind of case the two of them were on this past week.

. . . . .

Nell ran over to the side room where she saw Kensi standing at the door. "Hey, Kenz, are those Hispanic girls in that room?" she asked the female Agent.

"Yeah, Nell," Kensi answered, "I'm just waiting for Immigration to come so I can transfer them to their custody."

"I have to talk to one of them before you do," the younger woman said, as she opened the door and went into the room.

As she entered, Kensi heard a voice screaming, "No. Ella es una de ellas. Mantenga lejos de mí." [No. She's one of them. Keep her away from me.] She went in to see Nell approaching one of the girls.

Nell was trying to explain to the girl, "Yo no estoy con esos hombres. Yo soy un agente federal. Me enviaron aquí para ayudarle a volver a casa." [I am not with those men. I am a federal agent. I was sent here to help you get back home.]

The young girl cowered in a corner, "No. Usted quería que yo sea tu esclavo ... para ir en su cama." [No. You wanted me to be your slave...to go in your bed.]

Kensi had come in and listened to the exchange. She too wondered what had gone on in this operation. Nell looked at her and pleaded, "Kens, will you please explain to this girl that I am on your side, that I am here to help, not hurt her?"

Softly taking hold of Nell's arm, Kensi approached the young girl, gently telling her, "Esta mujer es mi amigo. Ella nunca te haría daño. Ella está aquí para ayudarnos a llegar a casa." [This woman is my friend. She would never hurt you. She is here to help us get you home.]

Nell looked at the girl, with tears in her eyes. "Lo siento tanto que tuve que asustarte como yo lo hice. Sólo lo hice para engañar a los hombres que le habían tomado. Yo nunca te haría daño." [I'm so sorry that I had to frighten you like I did. I only did it to fool the men who had taken you. I would never hurt you.]

The girl looked at Kensi and asked, "¿Es realmente tu amigo?" [Is she really your friend?]

Kensi assured her, "Sí, yo trabajo con ella todos los días. Usted puede confiar en lo que dice." [Yes, I work with her every day. You can trust what she says.]

The girl looked at Nell, a smile appearing on her face as she said, "Gracias. Debe haber sido difícil para que usted pueda actuar de esa manera." [Thank you. It must have been hard for you to act that way.]

Nell turned to go, but before she left she said, "Estás a salvo. Eso es lo importante." [You're safe. That's what is important.]

Before she made it out of the room, the young girl ran up to her and gave her a hug, thanking her one more time.

. . . . .

Nell went back to find Callen. He had cleared everything with Sam and the rest of the team, and they were free to go. The two of them walked outside, and both were surprised to see the car and agent that had driven them to the meeting place waiting for them.

Callen looked at the agent and began to ask, "What...?"

Before he could get another word out, he got the answers to all his questions, "Hetty's orders, sir."

Callen just shrugged his shoulders as he escorted Nell to the car.

As they drove off, Nell suddenly realized. They were going back to the hotel. The case was over. She and Callen would be alone...with no one to answer to...with no place to be but there...alone...together...alone.

The easy part of the mission was done. The really tough part was about to begin. Would the two of them be able to do it?

SMUT ALERT - Yes, what everyone has been waiting for the entire story will finally take place in the next chapter - that is, if Nell and Callen can finally realize that there is nothing to stop them from exploring their new relationship.