Chapter 21
Mexican Rose ~ 'Hell is empty and all the devils are here'
DISCLAIMER: You know already that I don't own any of the original characters of #NCISLA. Simply grateful to be using them in here :-)
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
NCIS Office of Special Projects || Los Angeles
He took a small sip of the golden amber colored liquor. "Ah… this is good."
"I knew you would appreciate a Glenfiddic like no-one else does in here, Mr. Callen," Hetty gratefully smiled. "And I, for once, am happy to be able to be share it with you."
"Nell told me you and Eric shared a lot of whiskey lately," he chuckled, relaxed.
"Oh, we did indeed. A Jameson. Present from assistant director Granger."
"Different from this one?" Callen wanted to know.
"Sure. This bottle of Glenfiddic for example was a special present. Michail handed it to me when he visited Washington back in 1987."
He quickly tried to remember what happened back in 1987. It was the year he'd graduated high school. He then raised his brow. "Michail. As in Gorbatsjov?"
With Hetty, you never knew.
This time, she only nodded and then continued. "So. Your field-trip turned out to be rather different from what we all expected."
Callen knew all too well that Hetty already heard what happened earlier today and that this was her way to lure him to tell more.
He inhaled as deeply as he dared, took another sip of the delicious whiskey and said "It's worrisome to think that somewhere there's a truck loaded with a whole lot of materials to produce some dirty bombs. Nell told me you found out that one of Webster's team had connections to Naseem Vaziri. Which sounds even worse."
"I understand dear boy. But you know what worries me more?" The older woman sighed and kept her steady gaze fixed at him.
Even though he might have a clue, he simply let her pause for a while without interrupting. "One of those nemesis of yours is still on the street. A second one appears to be unregistered whatsoever. The third one was killed. And you, dear boy, still haven't told why exactly they were after you."
He looked up, a hint of surprise on his face. "I thought it was all in the files. Nell mentioned you had the unredacted files in here."
"That's correct. But it's only a summation of statements."
"I never found out. Santosa told me I took his money. Never got a chance to prove who did it, Corey or Ruiz. They—tried to make me talk and confess. When torturing me did not work they used..." He hesitated, sighed and coughed immediately afterwards, grimacing because of the pain it did cause.
He continued, talking in a soft and sorry voice "there were young people, kids. Sometimes their cries wake me at night."
She understood. "If it hadn't been for this 'Operation Zorro' last August, you'd never have run into Ruiz again and none of this would have happened."
There was another long pause.
Callen swirled his glass, staring at its contents. Then he got up, emptied the last of bit of liquor and said "Not to me, that is true Hetty. Don't want to think of what would have happened to Leah Ryker though."
He walked to his desk and took his bag and jacket. "I'd better try to catch some sleep. So should you," he smiled at the older woman he'd grown to be so fond of.
She shook his head, not really able to catch his thoughts this time. "Goodnight, Mr. Callen."
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
NCIS Office of Special Projects || Los Angeles
It didn't surprise Sam at all that Callen was already behind his desk, although it wasn't 7.30 am yet.
"Hey. You're early," Callen greeted in surprise. The bag of his partner hit the floor with a thud.
"Says who?" a broad smile appeared on Sam's face.
Callen sighed, eying at the pile of files he still had to go through.
In fact he had started hours earlier, reading the DEA reports both Nell and Hetty had referred to the day before. Parts of it were known, since he had been the one back then who had been suspended, he had been the one who had to testify even if it had meant uniformed co-workers had wheeled him out of the hospital. Corey had walked out of it all and Santosa and Ruiz had been bailed out.
Nothing new so far, nothing he did not know already.
"Came in early for gym. With this rain I didn't really feel like running outside," Sam said. "So, wanna spar?"
An all too familiar smirk appeared on Callen's face. "Really. How's the memory buddy? Thought I told you about my ribs?"
"Huh. So how about some cycling?" He turned to the sideboard where he poured himself a coffee. "Want some?"
Callen shook his head. "Later, maybe." He looked back at the screen of his laptop, finishing what he had been reading before closing the file and erasing the search history of the browser.
"Yuk!" Sam slammed the mug back on the sideboard and glared at his partner. "So how long did you say you were around? This is cold and old."
A quick smile came his way "I was early enough to enjoy the hot beverage, Sam."
He got up, walked to his locker and took out some sportswear. "Some slow cycling can do no harm I suppose. You coming?"
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
The sound of a horn came from the balcony at the moment the four of them had been sharing some information about the way Hank Webster and Nigel Sebastian had behaved during the interrogation, the day before.
Although none of them had seen Hetty going upstairs, she had joined Nell and Eric already at the Ops center.
Callen leaned relaxed against the large table, his forearms loosely folded in front of his chest. "So, we've got a new case?" he asked expectantly.
"Partly, Callen," Eric responded. "Something old, something new."
"Something borrowed, Something Blue," Deeks maundered.
Hetty took over. "No weddings to attend, Mr. Deeks. Instead I suggest the four of you to prepare for some trade."
"Trading places? Trading recipes? You name it, we can trade it," Deeks now retorted.
The tiny office manager shook her head. "Mr. Beale?"
Eric cleared his throat and said "175 kilos of cocaine, 350 bricks in total."
"Each kilo worth about $ 30.000. So you'd be making a fortune," Nell added, smiling.
There was a long whistle from Deeks this time. "Enough to cover a great wedding party, Kenselina."
Kensi shove her hair back and smiled sweetly at her partner. "Ten minutes in Vegas honey, that's a whole lot cheaper."
"What.. Vegas? We? Seriously?"
This time Sam interrupted. "Guys. Let's keep it serious indeed. Please, go on Hetty."
"Word goes La Eme is waiting eagerly for the material they ordered. And Mr. Beale managed to pull some strings this time", Hetty smiled, nodding once again at Eric.
The tech operator nearly beamed as he continued. "A friend of mine works for a great crime show at CBS and I could borrow over 500 fake bricks. So, we figured that with the same barrels and the same truck, completed with about 10 bricks of the real thing, you can face the baddies."
"Sounds solid. Did you get any names from Webster or Sebastian yesterday?" Callen asked Deeks and Kensi.
Kensi shook her head. "The only name we've got is Santosa. And we knew that he'll probably won't be around."
"No way he would be that stupid," Sam agreed.
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
Los Angeles, Exposition Drive || 2.15 PM
"You really think this is the best way to be parked?" Deeks shot a glance at the team leader who was sitting next to him and then let his gaze go again at the truck that was parked near the main buildings that belonged to the African American Museum.
Callen simply hummed "uh-huh".
"You really think it's a wise decision to have Kensi and Sam being the ones who're doing the real thing?"
"Uh-huh," Callen repeated.
He glanced at his left and noticed how nervous the liaised LAPD detective looked. "Deeks, listen. Sam can play the part like he plays everything. And you know your partner, she's the best. Carlotta from Tucson is back in town, bro! She'll manage. Besides, your Spanish still sucks."
Deeks breathed out loudly. "You're probably right. Still, I would prefer it were you and Sam in there and Kensi and me in here."
This time, Callen was the one who sighed. "So would I. It's just that… Well. I'm still not cleared for field work. So just pretend I'm not around."
They both were quiet for a while.
"How did Sam manage to get Webster to tell where we had to go?" Deeks asked curiously.
Callen responded without letting his gaze leave the rear view mirror "Something with Seals who never leave their team behind, I believe. That, combined with some threats from fellow prisoners," he grinned. "Hetty had him locked up in the worse of the worse places you'd wanna be imprisoned. It didn't take that long for Hank Webster to choose wisely in exchange of the information we needed."
He looked at his watch, then back in the mirror and quickly tapped the small device that would keep them all interacting. "Showtime."
Two dark SUV's drove past their silver Explorer.
"Do you see them coming, Sam?"
"Yep. We're ready for them. Eric, cams in position?"
From the operational center they heard Eric confirming that. "The moment you're all at the back of your truck don't forget to step to the left Sam, Kensi. Get that?"
"Si, señor Beale," Kensi reacted.
"You really think we have enough manpower around here?" Deeks now asked, looking at Callen once again.
"Mr. Deeks? I do have another team posted in there. The fact you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there," the voice of their operation manager came in.
"Thanks Hetty. This definitely cheered Deeks up," Callen reacted with a smile. He then took his gun, took off the safety and made sure he was ready to go in, no matter someone had decided he wasn't ready for fieldwork yet.
"Well I'll be damned," Deeks exclaimed. "Thought you all said he wouldn't be this stupid?" His hand grasped Callen's underarm. "Now you to stay in here. You're the only one he'd recognize Callen and you're the only one who can mess this up right now."
Deeks saw the all too familiar nervous twitching of the jaw of his co-worker.
"We need to arrest Santosa, not kill him unless there's a good reason to. I'm not the one to tell you that, Callen, you know all too well."
"Those are five men, am I correct?" they heard Nell ask.
"That's correct. Looks like all of them exited the cars." Deeks answered.
"Nope. The driver is still in the left car," Callen corrected. "I'll keep an eye on him."
Once again, he spoke so all of them would hear. "Ready, Sam, Kenz?"
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
NCIS Office of Special Projects || Los Angeles
"Do you think they'll buy it?" Eric asked nervously.
It made Nell giddy. "If so, you'll have a problem with your CBS friend since you're the one in charge of their material".
She kept looking at the footage, ready to zoom in or switch camera's if necessary.
"You know what I mean Nell. Will Sam and Kensi be good enough?" Eric said. "This Santosa-guy, you heard Sam and Kensi first mention he would be clever enough to send someone else. Yet here he is. I think it's too coincidental to be stupid."
Nell bit the inside of her lips. "You might be right. Maybe you should warn Hetty."
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
Los Angeles, Exposition Drive || 2.45 PM
It was Santosa himself who addressed Sam. "So. Who're you? Where are my men?"
"What men?" Sam retorted. "You mean those two chickens who offered us a 30 percent profit if we were to deliver this stuff?"
Kensi snorted "Told ya 30 percent ain't that much, Samuel."
"Shut up Carlota," Sam growled. "You sit and drive. I do the talking and trading."
He stepped out of the truck and joined Santosa. Two of his men accompanied, the other two stayed where they were, facing the street and the people passing.
"Any of them look familiar, Callen?" Deeks nearly whispered.
Callen shook his head before he took the camera from the back seat. He zoomed in and photographed these two men. "Nell, try these two. Run them through the system and inform us if you find anything."
An immediate 'On it' reached their ears.
"We met those two guys this morning. Carlota knew them, they rang and asked us to deliver this stuff. Told us you'd pay us 5 Mill," Sam told Santosa.
A smug smile appeared on the man's face. "Show us what you got. Payment will be after that."
Sam nodded as he opened the back of the truck and stepped to the left. Santosa motioned to the other two men to open the first barrel and one of them took a plastic bag and put one of the bricks in it. Then he took a knife and carefully cut through the packing. He slightly wetted his index finger and put it in the contents of the brick, brought his finger to his face, sniffed and tasted. He nodded "de bienes, Manuel."
"Good. Good," Santosa repeated.
Sam observed his face carefully and saw the smallest of gestures of Santosa to both this men.
"Go-Go!" Callen ordered. Deeks and Kensi immediately were out on the street, so were two tourists that had been seated on a bench nearby.
In matter of seconds, three of the men were shot. In horror, Callen noticed how Santosa had his gun pointed at Sam, nearly pulling the trigger. He threw the door open and shouted "Santosa!"
Turning on his feet, Santosa faced Callen. His eyes narrowed in anger and he now pointed the gun at Callen. "You!"
It was not who shot faster. It was about who shot better.
As Santosa had hit the street, Sam quickly and relieved shove away the gun that had fallen out of Santosa's hands.
"Thanks, G," Sam said when a genuine smile appeared on his face.
"Told you before, I've saved your life more often than you saved mine," Callen reacted with a faint smile.
Without being able to stop it, one of the SUV's sped off.
"Crap," Kensi said. "We should've stopped it but I was too busy with them, as she nodded to two of the companions of Santosa. "You're good?" she asked Sam.
"Yeah."
Deeks had cuffed Santosa, who was wounded and bleeding.
"EMT's on their way," Eric spoke, looking at the situation from screen. He squeezed his eyes and asked "Callen? Is that blood on you too?"
Kensi looked at Callen. "Oh my God. You're shot too!"
"Just a graze," he muttered. "Nothing to worry about."
From OSP he heard the rather tinny voice of Hetty now speaking "Mr. Hanna? Will you please take care that Mr. Callen is to be taken care of by an EMT?"
He tried "But Hetty…" but was overruled immediately. "Consider it an order, Mr. Hanna."
o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)
NCIS Office of Special Projects || Los Angeles
"Since you keep telling everyone it is just a graze, I suppose it is just no problem for you to finish that," Hetty pointed at the stack of files on Callen's desk.
"But Hetty…" he said, realizing he had mentioned that before. He muttered something even Hetty couldn't understand.
"You need a hand?" Kensi asked. She just got rid of the fake nose rings and loads of make-up that fitted Carlota, and overheard Hetty.
Callen sighed deeply. "Some coffee might do miracles. As for the files—"
The buzzing of his phone made him look at the screen. "Tucson. You know, that nurse, Debby." He tapped the 'respond' sign on the phone and greeted "Hi, Debby."
"Hi, Callen." Her voice sounded a little huskier than he remembered. He stood up and walked to the locker room.
"Leah! Hey, so how're you?" he wanted to know.
"Fine. Or well, bored."
Callen softly chuckled. "Bored. How long did you say you were hospitalized already?"
"Don't mock me. They let me sleep for over a night and a day, refueled me with whatever was necessary and now I can't sleep. So I was wondering… Did you catch them all?"
He understood the need to know and despite the fact she was no co-worker, Callen remembered those words of Daniel Corey. A lack of trust. Not now. "Were you aware Jorge Rubio died?"
A soft hum was her answer. "And the truck?"
"We took it with us…"
Leah must have heard his hesitation in that short sentence. "But?"
"It contained drugs. Lots of drugs. Which were to be picked up by Santosa. We've got him in custody. That goes for Hank Webster and Nigel Sebastian too. Corey's dead."
She was silent and he did not know if he should ask if she was alright. "Still feel a bit dizzy. There's a truck with nuclear waste missing. And Xavier Nasser is missing as well."
Callen nodded. "That's correct." Again, there was a long pause. "Leah?"
"Maybe I should go to Santa Ana. I'm sure they said Santa Ana. I would—"
He cut her off, amazed and disturbed at the same time by her way of thinking. "Listen, you're definitely not in the position to do so. Get some rest. I'll let you know how we're doing, okay?"
"Uh-huh." She softly hummed.
Callen breathed out slowly. "Tell Debby I'll call her."
The next 'uh-huh' came through, even softer and he knew from his own experience sleep was winning. "Sleep well," he said, not knowing if she still heard him. He kept the line open for another minute, then disconnected and walked back to his desk.
"The two of you decided to make up?" Sam asked expectedly.
"We—what?" Callen asked.
Sam cocked his head and a dimple appeared as he smiled "C'mon. I've seen that stupid grin on your face before, G. So you'd better tell me before I'll have Michelle ask to call and hear it from Joelle's side."
"Sam… Don't start about 'that'. Told you weeks ago it wouldn't work and it doesn't work."
"How's that?"
"Think, buddy. There's no way I can live a life lying about who I am, what I do for a living. Disappearing for days, weeks maybe. Or worse, endangering someone without them knowing. Besides, I enjoy being single."
His partner and friend shook his head. "What are you gonna do when you're old and lonely? Who's going to take care of you?"
He sighed. "Maybe I'm going to move in with you. Now, we done?"
Callen demonstratively took one of the files Hetty had put in his 'to-do' box. As ever, it was his task as a team leader to write the last, concluding paragraph before a case could be filed indeed. Then he took a sip of the still warm cup of coffee Kensi had put on his desk.
"The young ones gone already?"
Sam slowly shook his head. "Yeah." There was more, much more he'd want his partner to share, to talk about, but Callen never really seemed to open up when it came to his personal life. For a while, Sam had hoped things would have changed after the blind date he and Michelle had set up. He didn't know who he pitied more, Joelle or Callen.
As if he sensed, Callen looked at his partner. "Listen Sam, I'm perfectly happy. Now, you go home. Your family needs you."
Thank you for the neverending stream of reviews. I really appreciate them all! Hope you'll find some time to tell me how you liked this chapter.