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Chapter 14
An hour had passed since Kensi had made up her mind to visit Porta in jail. It seemed the only option left; to face the devil himself but she needed Hetty's written permission. She knew Hetty wouldn't be happy but she had to try away. She was lost in her thoughts when Hetty hobbled into OPS. Hetty's deteriorating state had taken the team by surprise and it shocked Kensi out of her vengeful state. Hetty's health was one more thing to add to her growing list of worries. "Hetty?" Kensi called out as she dashed towards her mentor.
"I'm fine Miss Blye, just a little sore and tired. I'm not a spring chicken anymore and my body doesn't bounce back like it used to," she said while sitting in the nearest chair.
"How's Sam?" asked Deeks moving towards Hetty.
Hetty looked up at him. Her face was stoic. There was no need to worry them further. She kept her response clear and true. "He is stable. The burns are healing well however the head injury is a different matter. Dr. Marsden believes when the swelling goes down, he'll be able to give us a better prognosis. There is nothing else we can do for Sam now. Our priority is to find Raina and the children. So what have I missed?"
Hetty's calm reaction wasn't what the team expected. They all looked at each other. Sam's news wasn't what they had hoped for. They all had wanted Sam back amongst them, leading them, helping Hetty but it wasn't to be. It just seemed that the team was falling apart, slowly disintegrating.
However Eric was the brave one to voice his findings, "Hetty we haven't found anything…yet. We're trying everything." He stopped and closed his eyes ready for a backlash or an onslaught of
Hetty nodded pensively. "Do we have any different angles we could try?" she asked looking at her agents. They were the best at what they did but they were better with Sam and Callen at the helm. The team needed Sam and the team needed Callen. The duo saw angles that others never did. They worked in tandem, feeding off each other's experiences and intelligence. That's what made them great. She missed it. But Hetty knew she couldn't dwell on those thoughts. That realization brought her back to the present.
Kensi touched Hetty on the shoulder, "I need your permission to see Porta." Everyone held their breath in anticipation for Hetty's reaction.
"Fine. I'll make the arrangements. Take Mr. Deeks with you and see if what you can do Miss Blye. At this point, we'll try anything," explained Hetty, to Kensi and Deeks' surprise.
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Callen didn't waste anytime. He was definitely running solely on adrenaline. He had ditched the car and rode his motorbike to a self-storage place. After punching in his code, he walked to his space and opened the roller door, which he immediately closed. There was a touch pad to his left. He placed his thumb on it and different panels slid open revealing a smorgasbord of weapons; uzis, grenades, shotguns, knuckle-dusters, knives and the list went on. Callen didn't have a planned form of attack. Normally he would scope out the place but time was of the essence. He'd have to rely on his instincts and his skills. He chose the weapons that were light to carry and caused maximum damage. He stared at the Kevlar vest. He hated wearing those things and only wore them if absolutely necessary. Today it wasn't. It would only slow him down and if the worst were to happen, so be it. He suited up and closed his storage space when his phone rang. He needed to ignore it. He just couldn't get side tracked. He didn't have the time. But something told him to answer it. Hesitantly he fished it out, noticed the caller ID was blocked and answered it, "Yeah."
"Callen. I need to see you immediately," ordered Mort. The chill in his voice made Callen's hairs stand on end.
"I can't. I'm in the middle of something and it can't wait. It has a 2pm deadline," answered Callen anxious to end the call. It took a courageous man to say no to Mort.
"Is this something for Hetty?" baited Mort.
"Hetty is dead. What are you playing at Mort? I don't have time for games. Children lives are at stake," spat Callen.
"How sentimental of you. That had never stopped you before (there was a sadistic chuckle on the other end) and Callen, I know Hetty is not dead. She is alive and the book you retrieved is a fake. You need to explain," explained Mort, his voice deep and threatening.
There was silence on Callen's side. Nothing. Hetty was alive? She let him believe she was dead. But then again she had no way to reach him. She let him take the wrong book? She knew whom he was working for? She must've known the repercussions of failure. Hetty let him shoot her knowing the book was a fake, but then again maybe she didn't know. Confusion and so many questions ran rampant in Callen's head. He couldn't deal with that now…Raina and the kids needed him now and he'd fight for that.
His head…his head hurt. The scar itched and his head throbbed, a side effect from Vladivostok. He took deep breaths to keep the pain away. Having composed himself to some degree of self-control, "Mort I have never lied to you. She wouldn't give me the book, then she admitted to keeping secrets from me including knowing my mum…then I lost it. She was going to shoot me first and I shot her. She must've had a vest. I didn't know Mort. You just said retrieve the book and as far as I was concerned I did just that. Why are you suddenly doubting my loyalty?" asked Callen, his voice losing the controlled nature that was his trademark.
Mort was silent. Maybe Callen had been played, thought Mort. "Mort I don't have time for childish games. Not today," said Callen anxiously. Time was ticking.
"You know my influence and how far it goes. Come by the house tonight. Don't let me down again Callen. I won't be so forgiving," and he hung up.
Crap! Crap! Crap! Why did there have to be so many so complications? Callen needed a clear head for the challenge that lay ahead. But his head was far from clear. He needed to prioritize; Raina and the kids were first. Then and only if he made it alive he would meet Mort and then he'd decid what to do about Hetty. A focused Callen zipped up his bag, mounted his bike and headed to El Sereno.
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Kensi had flipped the coin and she won the toss; she drove. Deeks flashed her a half-hearted smile and then prayed to the gods. An angry and anxious Kensi made for a crazy and erratic driver. If one didn't suffer from carsickness, they would after riding with Kensi! The trip hadn't been that bad as Deeks stumbled out of the car, his legs wobbly and his face green. "Really?"
Then he smiled and straightened up, "Your driving improving…definitely improving."
"How can you joke around Deeks when everything is just…"
Deeks interrupted her, "Only way to keep sane and keep everything from imploding Kens. We can only do our best and worrying about it doesn't help anyone. It actually distracts the people who need to be focused and that's us."
She nodded, "Don't let this go to your head, but you're right."
Deeks moved closer to Kensi, cupping his hand behind his ear and smiling, "Exsqueeze me? Beg your buns? Say that again? I didn't quite hear you."
Kensi squinted her eyes wanting to kiss him so badly. She loved it when they bantered like this, "You're right. Now let's go kick some ass." The two lovebirds strutted into the prison.
The walked into the entrance and the place was in a flurry. They stood around looking at the guards running around, shouting and yelling orders. Kensi took out her badge and yelled, "NCIS SPECIAL AGENT BLYE HERE TO SEE DIRECTOR FARROW." Deeks smirked. An older guard turned around at the mention of NCIS and walked over to the pair.
"Special Agent Blye and Detective Deeks, I'm Bud Smyth. I'll escort you to the director's office. Please follow me." He led them through so many corridors it resembled a rabbit's warren.
During the walk Deeks was silently mouthing something to Kensi. She was shaking her head NO! But he went ahead and said smiling, "Hey Bud."
Bud stopped and looked at Deeks, "Now if we weren't in this prison and you weren't my superior, I would deck you right now."
"Oh come on…you don't get it that much. I mean who remembers Abbot and Costello?" asked Deeks holding out his hands for support. Bud glared at him then turned and stopped in front of the door. He knocked and entered, "Director the Agents are here to see you." He motioned them to enter. Deeks smiled and Bud just glared and secretly stuck out his foot, making Deeks stumble. Bud then followed it with a smile.
"Geez honey you make friends so easily. You must've been dropped on the head when you were a baby," said Kensi smirking at Deeks' clumsiness.
"Funny. Insults from you as well," replied Deeks. Kensi shrugged her shoulders. Then she extended her hand, "Director Farrow, I'm Special Agent Blye and this is Detective Deeks LAPD. We're here to speak with the prisoner Porta, Jakob Porta."
"Pleased to meet you Agents. I'm sorry that you had to come all this way."
Kensi and Deeks looked at each other perplexed.
"Porta, Fin, Rivera and Benfield were all found dead in their cells an hour ago. No signs of any trauma whatsoever. Our coroner suspects all had a heart attack. Highly suspicious. We are currently investigating all events from last night up to this morning with the added assistance of the FBI. Sorry I can't be of more help. But as soon as we have more information, I will personally inform Miss Lange," said the director. He looked like he had been to hell and was still there. Deaths in custody were never a good thing, let alone four high profile ones. Kensi and Deeks stared in absolute horror. Porta was the only one who knew the location of Sam's family. This was the worst news.
"Did they have any visitors this morning or last night?" asked Deeks. Kensi still frozen from the news.
"Yes…" the director opened the file, "a Special Agent Tom Stait CIA at about 8:30am. His credentials are valid and there was nothing suspicious from the security video except for some reason there was no audio."
Deeks looked at Kensi. This had to be the key. "He met with Porta and you couldn't hear what was being said?" asked Kensi suspiciously.
"Yes, that's right. He only met with Porta but asked the guard at point 12 to pass on some documents to Rivera, Fin and Bedfield regarding their case."
"And that doesn't ring alarm bells, Director?" said Deeks accusingly.
The Director stiffened up and his face took on a very menacing look, "Yes, yes it does Detective Deeks but there is no proof of any foul play…yet! When the autopsies are completed we'll know more and Miss Lange will have the reports."
"Sorry my partner didn't mean anything by it. You have been really helpful Director Farrow. However could we have a copy of the security footage?" asked Kensi batting her eyelids and flashing her mega watt smile, trying to repair the damage Deeks had done. The Director called for his assistant and she walked in with a thumb drive. Kensi raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "That was efficient."
"We thought there might be other agencies wanting copies. Now Agents I'm rather busy…"
"Yes thank you again Director," said Kensi as the left the Director's office. They walked a few steps when Kensi hit Deeks on the shoulder. "What were you thinking?"
"Sorry…but something isn't right. Who would have the motive to eliminate all of them?" posed Deeks.
"I don't know…let's get this back and see if Nell and Eric can find something," said Kensi.
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Callen "borrowed" a service van and drove it slowly past the residence that held Raina and the kids. It was quiet with no obvious security presence. He just hoped it was the right place. He kept going round the block until he reached the corner near the house. He adjusted his overalls, double checked the position of his guns, knives and smoke grenades. It was a rough neighbourhood so the sound of a few gunshots would not rattle the residents. This was the moment of truth. He stopped the van in front of the house. He left the keys dangling in the ignition and hoped that no one would steal it. He placed his left hand holding his Sig in a document satchel. It gave the illusion that the hand was supporting the clipboard, then he made sure that his Desert Eagle was secured in the right overall pocket. He closed the van's door, plastered on a goofy look and started walking up the path. Callen reached the door and knocked with his right hand. He waited several seconds and knocked again. When the door was pulled open by a massive hulk of a latino who stood in his way. "What?" he grunted.
"Hi I'm Josh from Californian Gas Company. The owner of this property complained about excessive gas usage…" While Callen spieled off an obscene about of babble he simultaneously scanned the area behind the hulk and found two similarly built individuals sitting at the small kitchen table. That was three. Easy! Then he'd deal with the other three.
"So buddy I'll need to check the gas lines…" Callen didn't finish his sentence as his smile dropped, he stepped forward whilst his left hand squeezed the trigger sending three shots into the man in front of him. Using the momentum, he pushed past the bullet riddled man into the lounge room lifted his right hand and squeezed three shots into the guy on the right then instantaneously with his left hand, sent three shots into the guy on the left.
Without pausing, Callen pulled himself up against the wall and inched along trying to hear anything. Suddenly he stopped, he could hear breathing and it wasn't his. He took one step forward to round the corner when he received a blow to his left arm, forcing him down and knocking the gun from his grasp. Sparing nothing Callen swung round, his leg bringing the big guy down. The guy fell but intertwined his leg with Callen's as he fell. The guy had time to get up and punch Callen once, twice until Callen raised his hand and grabbed his arm. He twisted it, bringing the big guy down and they rolled onto the floor as Callen tried to get him into a sleeper hold but the Latino guy was huge.
Finally after crashing into furniture and sharp corners, the Latino guy let go. Callen stood regaining his footing and went to re-gather his gun. The Latino tackled him into the glass sliding doors. The crashing of the glass was deafening. They both went flying through as glass shards flew everywhere like confetti. The struggle continued until Callen found his combat knife. He managed to wriggle out from the big hulk, he straddled him on his back and jerking his head back, he ran the knife along his throat slicing his jugular. Callen released the head and released his breath. He cleaned the knife on the man's shirt and placed it back in his leg pocket. He pushed himself up when a searing pain lanced his gut. He looked down to see, a large shard of glass sticking out of his abdomen. The cut was deep. He knew better than to pull it out but he had no choice. Gritting his teeth, he slid it out and dropped it like some poisoned dagger. The blood flow was slow yet steady. Ok, he could deal with that. He pulled out emergency gauze and stuck it on. Now he needed to find Raina and the kids.
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