Marty save's Brian's sister and meets Brian. He also goes undercover for the first time as a high-school student. How's he going to handle his first assignment? Is he going to be all right?

This chapter describes an attempted rape, so if it bothers you, skip the first two paragraphs. I don't feel the first two chapters raise the story to an "M" rating, but do want to let my readers have the choice on whether or not to read the more disturbing parts. I wouldn't be bothered for my own children to read this whole chapter, but other people might not feel the same way.

To Susan G: Thanks for the review. I wish you had an account so I could respond personally. I'm always trying to find all the "yours" in the chapters and get them right, but I know I miss a few. I'll try harder.

All characters from the show are the property of NCIS Los Angeles. Sadly, I will never own the show or the characters.

Anything in italics are thoughts. Anything in bold type is a quote from one of the episodes of the show.

Reviews are always welcome. They're the only form of payment I receive for my stories.

Enjoy.

CHAPTER 21: Meeting Elizabeth and Undercover

One evening after a particularly grueling day Marty was walking to his car from the precinct after clocking out and saying goodbye to Richard. He had parked his car about a block from the precinct and was about half the way to where it was when he heard noises coming from an alley not too far from where he was. He could hear some male voices taunting a woman and decided to investigate what was going down. As he reached the alley and began to walk down it, he found three men attempting to rape a young girl. They had already ripped her dress, torn off her underwear and had her up against the wall of the alley. They were taunting her by asking her if she had ever had a threesome and did she want to go down on them while pawing at her breasts and between her legs.

One of the men had grabbed her and pulled her back against his chest with her dress up around her waist. He was getting ready to sodomize her. One of the other two men had spread her legs and had his fingers inside her while preparing to rape her. They were going to rape her together at the same time. The third man was taunting her with what they were going to do to her. He was telling her that she was going to enjoy his cock in her mouth and down her throat while one of the others fucked her like a dog. She was struggling while crying and pleading with them to just let her go, but he kept laughing and telling her she was going to enjoy everything they did to her. "Before we're done bitch, you'll have all three of us doing you at the same time. You're going to enjoy it too" he promised her when Marty intervened.

Marty pulled out his gun and pointed it at the three men before yelling "This is the police. Stop right there. Let the girl go."

They took one look at him and his gun and took off in three different directions leaving the girl to sink to the pavement of the alley and curl up crying. Marty had a difficult decision to make in a split second. He could go after the men and maybe catch one of them, or he could take care of the young girl. The decision turned out to be surprisingly easy for him to make once he got a good look at the girl. She was quite young; he thought she might be 19 at most and looked like she might go into shock at any moment. Keeping an eye out to make sure that none of the men returned, he began talking to her quietly in a kind voice.

He didn't try to approach her right away; instead he continued talking to her in a soothing tone of voice until she looked at him. "It's okay now Miss. I'm here and no one is going to hurt you, I promise. My name's Marty and I'm a policeman. Can I come over there and give you my jacket?"

It took Elizabeth a few minutes to understand what Marty was asking her, but as soon as she nodded her head, he approached her very slowly and stopped a few steps away to give her a chance to come to terms with a man approaching her. As he took each additional step toward her he would stop and give her a questioning look; waiting for her to nod her head that it was okay for him to come closer. He didn't want to scare her more than she already was. "Can you tell me your name?"

It took her a couple of minutes to respond but he waited patiently and was rewarded when she quietly stated "My name is Elizabeth…Elizabeth Groves."

"Are you all right Elizabeth? Do I need to call an ambulance?"

"No…I'm…I'm okay…I was just on my way home from school when th…they gr…grabbed me. I never e…even saw them. They must have been hiding just inside the alley. I w…was so scared. Are…are you really a cop?" she asked.

"Yes, I am. Let's get you to the precinct so I can file a report for you. Here, let's get you covered up some." Marty wrapped his jacket around Elizabeth because she was shaking like a leaf and her dress was ripped. She startled badly when he first went to put it around her shoulders, but then wrapped it tightly around herself to cover up.

"Do I have to report this?" she asked him in a trembling voice.

"No, but it would be better if you did." He tried to reassure her. "I know it's hard. I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but from everything I've learned, it will help if you talk about what happened to someone. We have rape counselors at the precinct you can talk to even if you don't file a report. But if you file a report, you might end up helping catch the guys before they hurt someone else. If you're scared, I promise I'll stay with you while you make your report. Would you like me to stay with you?"

Elizabeth looked into Marty's eyes and saw nothing but kindness there. There was no judgement or disappointment in his eyes and for some reason, she trusted him immediately. "O…okay, but stay with me, pl…please?"

"I'll be with you the entire time. Come on, let's get you someplace warm," he said as he put his arm around her shoulders, tucked her into his side and led her to the police precinct. He stopped just inside the door so she could get her bearings. "Are you ready to talk to someone?" He gently inquired.

"Yes, I think so." She was still staying as close to him as she could. He took her into one of the rooms used for victims of rape and called for a female officer to come to the room. When the officer came to get her clothes, she clutched at Marty's arm and gasped "Don't leave me, please."

"I'm right here, I won't leave you." Marty looked at the female officer daring her to say anything. As soon as Elizabeth had changed her clothes, she gave a description of the men that was good enough to link them to several other assaults. Marty kept his word and was with her through the entire ordeal of giving her statement, talking to the counselor and then submitting to the rape exam at the hospital.

Her parents had been called by Marty the minute he and Elizabeth arrived at the station. He told them to met him at the hospital where Elizabeth would be examined. By the time she completed giving her statement and being examined, they were there to take her home. Elizabeth tried to give Marty his jacket back, but he told her to keep it until she got home. He would come get it in the morning.

"Thank you so much Marty." Elizabeth turned to her parents and introduced him as the cop who saved her. They both thanked him profusely before all three left the hospital with Elizabeth in the middle between her parents. Marty was exhausted by that time and was glad to get home and collapse into bed.

~,~,~

In time, Elizabeth's report and the reports from other victims became essential in apprehending the scum that had been preying on young women attending the colleges in the area.

Elizabeth was so grateful with how helpful and kind to her Marty had been, she told her brother, Brian, all about him. He was an Army Ranger on a tour of duty in Iraq but when he found out what had almost happened, he was determined to meet the man who saved his little sister. He was so thankful that someone had intervened for Elizabeth, he insisted on meeting Marty when he was home on leave. He couldn't thank Marty enough and told him that he was now part of his family. Marty tried to insist that he was just doing his job, but Brian wouldn't hear of it. He told Marty that once he was his friend it was for life and that Marty could always call on him for help at any time. It reminded Marty of when Sam had told him almost the same thing.

Marty successfully completed his probationary period with a commendation for the way he had stepped up and helped find the group of men targeting young women. As soon as his probation was complete, he became a Police Officer 2 assigned to the same unit. He quickly developed a reputation for being very good with children. He was able to draw them out when no one else could. They seemed to instinctively trust him and would talk to him when they were afraid to talk to other policemen.

He was assigned to an older officer for his undercover training. Even though he and Richard didn't work together any more they still kept in touch. Marty was invited to dinner a couple times a month or he would have them over to his apartment and cook for them. Angela had given him the recipes to his favorite dishes from her meals and also gave him hints about cooking when he needed it. He enjoyed cooking for them and always learned something new from Angela whenever they came over.

Marty's new training officer, Michael McDonald, had been working for over 15 years when he became Marty's training officer. The first thing Marty was told by his new training officer was what he preferred being called.

"Marty, call me Mac, not Mike or Michael. Mike is a friend of mine and Michael is my dad, so I became Mac so people could tell us apart when we're talking about or with each other."

"I can do that Mac" Marty replied.

At first Mac wasn't sure the young man standing in front of him could cut it as an undercover cop. He seemed too laid back to be able to do what had to be done. Mac knew Richard, so asked him what Marty was like and got an earful. Richard couldn't say enough about how good Marty was. He told Mac about Marty's commendation and his ability to connect with traumatized children.

Mac knew some of Marty's background as an attorney before becoming a cop and was curious as to why he had switched careers, but Marty was a closed book to him. Mac could tell that Marty didn't trust easily. When he asked Richard about it, all he would say was to give it some time and Marty would come around. It took Mac a long time to get Marty to confide in him. The turning point in their relationship was the Bradley case.

~,~,~

The Bradley case began as an investigation of a small-time gang dealing narcotics to kids attending several different LA schools. The gang specialized in dealing cocaine. The case had come across the police blotter several months earlier but became urgent when several kids ended up in the emergency room with varying symptoms such as high fevers and chills, infections or sores in the mouth and skin. In one case a kid had developed pneumonia after buying and using cocaine the gang sold. Eventually it was discovered the cocaine had been contaminated with Levamisole. Since Marty could still pass as a teenager when he was clean-shaven, he was sent undercover at one of the schools as Martin Anderson, a senior transfer student, to see if he could make a connection with the gang. His lieutenant thought it might be easier for Marty to use his own first name as part of his alias since he was still new to undercover work.

Mac was his case officer for the operation and several undercover cops were stationed elsewhere in the school as backup if things went sideways. It took Marty a month to catch the attention of the gang and then several more months working his way into the gang to begin providing information to the police. A background check run on the gang leader, Eric Bradley, provided details of his various activities. He had started out as a small-time dealer when he was 19. By he time he was 22, he had branched out and formed his own gang to sell drugs on campuses and street-corners using underage teenagers. As more information came to light it was discovered he had big plans to take his operation nationwide and then world-wide. The man was smart and tough enough to make it happen if the police weren't able to shut him down now.

About four months into the undercover operation, Marty caught Eric's attention. Eric liked what he saw so began 'grooming' Marty for a bigger role in the gang. At first, it was delivering the cocaine to local dealers and picking up the money. Then Eric began including him when he received the drugs from his sources. Everything was going really well with Marty providing a lot of good intelligence to the department that would end up being used for numerous indictments. Marty worked as Eric's right-hand man for three months before things blew up on him.

~,~,~

Marty met up with Eric as usual one evening to go over the instructions for receiving the next big delivery when he got a gut feeling that things were about to go sideways. Before he could alert his backup, Eric's bodyguards grabbed him and knocked him out. When he came to he was tied to a chair with Eric sitting in front of him glaring at him. "What the hell is this, Eric?" Marty asked, struggling to get out of the duct tape securing him in the chair. "What's going on? Why did one of you knock me out and why in hell am I tied to this chair?"

"Well now Marty…your name really is Marty isn't it? Or is it something else? Its come to my attention that you're a cop." Eric stated coldly.

"A cop!" Marty snorted. "Have you been trying your own product, Eric? I'm no cop. I'm not even 18 yet. How can I be a cop? What fool told you that?" Nothing but irritation and disbelief at what he was hearing showed on his face, but he was desperately thinking of how to get himself out of the jam he was in. "Oh man, this is what Richard and Mac are always talking about; getting made. I have to keep Eric off balance and questioning himself about whether or not I'm a cop until my backup arrives. What would my alias do?" The pounding in his head wasn't making it easy for him to come up with anything that might help himself. He thought some more "My alias is a talker. Richard always says to stay true to my alias. I can talk his ears off until help gets here. That's what I'll do." He decided to use his gift for gab and keep talking to convince Eric his information was wrong.

Eric was surprised at Marty's attitude. He hadn't even blinked when Eric called him a cop but instead got mad. Eric couldn't tell whether or not he was telling the truth but he had to admit that Marty wasn't acting like any cop he had ever come in contact with and he wasn't acting any differently than usual. If he was a cop, Eric was sure he would have tried something. Eric had researched Marty thoroughly and everything he had been able to find out indicated that he was indeed only 17. He wouldn't be 18 for another two months according to the background check. Eric began re-thinking the information he had been given. He knew the source who had told him Marty was a cop was usually reliable but he also knew the man resented the fact Eric had promoted Marty over him in the gang hierarchy. He began to wonder if the guy was lying for some reason to get back at Marty. He turned to one of his bodyguards and ordered him "Get Stinky in here. I want to talk to him."

Stinky's name was actually Stuart, but his lack of hygiene had led to his nickname. Stinky could be smelled from a distance since he didn't bother showering often. His breath could knock someone over from 10 paces away and the clothes he wore looked like they hadn't seen a washing machine in about a year. Eric only kept him around because he was usually good at his job.

"Stinky! Is he the idiot who thinks I'm a cop?" Marty exclaimed. "God, Eric. You know Stinky is too stupid to tie his own shoes. That's why you put me in as your number two instead of him even though he's older than me. He's just jealous. I bet he thinks if he gets you to kill me he can take over the number two spot. Don't you realize he'll be after your job next?" Marty continued talking to do everything he could to make Eric believe Stinky was lying and just trying to take 'out' a rival. If he was successful, he thought he might survive the next few hours. He had missed his mandatory check-in so Mac would know he was in trouble. He just had to hang on until Mac got there with backup. He only hoped they hadn't moved him to a secondary location because Mac had always told him that when the bad guys moved someone to a second location, it made it that much harder to track them. He couldn't tell where he was since all he could see were the walls of the small room he was being held in.

"Come on, at least untie me Eric. I'm not going to go anywhere and besides, Fred here would kill me if I tried."

Eric motioned to Fred to untie Marty. He heaved a sigh of relief and began massaging his hands before he checked out the back of his head. He didn't feel any blood but he did feel a sizable lump near the crown of his head. "Whoever hit me sure packs a wallop. It feels like I got a marching band performing in my head. Can I get a bottle of water and some ibuprofen?"

"Sure Marty. Fred, get him some water and the pills while we wait" Eric replied.

When Fred handed him the water and pills, Marty thanked him. He leaned back in the chair trying to look as relaxed as possible. He knew the more relaxed he looked and the more he kept talking the less sure Eric would be that he was a cop. He was counting on Eric believing his story over Stinky's. It was the only way he was going to survive until Mac could get there.

~,~,~