Season 1, Episode 20: Fame
The whole conversation was code, because of course it was.
When did G Callen become a blip on your radar?
They both knew the answer to that was not one that could be spoken in the office. Not and allow them to keep working together without having to answer some questions by Director Vance which, frankly, neither of them cared to address.
When G Callen appeared in Hetty's life was not under discussion.
It was still the issue of Marty Deeks.
Kiev. The mission with the analyst who wanted to be an agent, but was refused because of politics.
Was Deeks someone Hetty couldn't get another way because of something in his past?
Houston. The case had revolved around an unknown heir to a mafia family who could be turned as an asset before falling into the underworld.
Was Deeks connected to someone powerful, or dangerous, and they intended to use that connection?
Bogota. That fiasco had been mainly a cleanup after an agent went on a rampage trying to find and kill the person who murdered their partner in cold blood.
Did Deeks have something in his past that Hetty felt should be revenged, and such access would only come through the opportunities and resources of NCIS?
Jersey City. The job Callen remembered as the one where he lost a bet to a superior and had to complete the entire job with the worst partner the man could find.
Did Hetty get stuck with Deeks because she owed a favor to the LA Chief of Detectives, and it was a convenient way to get rid of him?
Her answer surprised him.
Peking.
You mean Beijing.
A mission Hetty had undertaken entirely willingly, though every analyst and director who got wind of it told her not to go. A mission that was doomed to fail because it simply could not be done.
And, of course, Hetty had accomplished it flawlessly. It was a legendary op, told in whispered stories and snatched conversations where superiors couldn't hear; it had taken G a decade to learn that it was true, and that it was Hetty.
Actually, neither of those things had surprised him at all.
Callen had one of those as well, a few decades later, in the same city. Apparently Beijing was the destination for the impossible, the unworkable, which turned out to be both critical and exemplary.
It almost made G want to give up being team leader.
It was Jersey City, wasn't it?
It would be so much easier if Hetty had just lost a bet. Whatever Hetty saw in him, whatever she knew about him, this wasn't a move undertaken thoughtlessly or without all the background knowledge necessary.
This was a move she took because it was the only way to success, no matter how difficult.
Callen accepted the cup of tea gratefully. He was going to need it.