A/N: Thanks to all who continue to read, review and support. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Chapter 21

Next morning, the tension between Callen and Hetty was palpable. Everyone had awoken early. Hetty looked haggard with puffy eyes and Callen looked paler than normal, his eyes edged with dark circles. Callen was non communicative especially to Hetty but snapped at Sam that he was not hungry and left the room to do some exercises outside. Hetty was not much better and toyed with her food, finally leaving it untouched. Breakfast, therefore, was a very uncomfortable experience for Sam and Dr Tom Rhodes. Sam joined Hetty in the kitchen as she tidied up before leaving for the airport.

"What's happened between you and Callen?" asked Sam not beating about the bush.

"What makes you think anything's wrong?" asked Hetty, summoning all the innocence she could muster.

"So you're telling me that Callen ignoring you, snapping at the rest of us and not having breakfast is totally normal?" asked Sam. "And the fact that you were preoccupied and played with your food was another giveaway" added Sam.

Hetty looked into Sam's brown eyes and saw nothing but concern for Callen and herself. She sighed. "Mmm, we are a little tetchy I suppose and it's my fault. I fulfilled a promise I made to Mr Callen when he was shot but he didn't like what I told him." Sam frowned not quite understanding what Hetty meant. "I told him what I know about his mother" elaborated Hetty. "He now blames me for keeping secrets from him."

Sam sighed. "I guess it's understandable he's upset but he'll come round once he's had time to digest it all" said Sam.

"I hope so but I'm not so sure. He made it abundantly clear last night that he doesn't want anything to do with me" said Hetty, with a slight hitch to her voice. "Any way please keep an eye on him, Mr Hanna, he may need you even if he doesn't know it. Now I must dash or I'll be late picking up Agent Gibbs."

Sam went outside to find Callen, who was doing his stretching exercises. Sam stood watching him and noticed he was doing them a little too rigorously and knew Callen was still extremely angry and therefore dangerous, though mainly to himself. Sam decided to take the risk and asked Callen the same question he had previously asked Hetty. However the response he received from Callen was nowhere as civil as the one he got from Hetty.

"I don't want to talk about it, Sam" snapped an angry Callen.

When Sam pressed him for an answer Callen turned to face him, eyes blazing. "I said I don't want to discuss it. It's none of your business!" said Callen, turning on his heels and going to his room, slamming the door behind him.

Sam went to follow but felt a hand on his arm gently restraining him. He turned and saw Tom, who shook his head. "Pushing him might shut him down totally. I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I heard what Hetty said. Let him stew for a bit and he may come round. I sense that he and Hetty are very close but this knowledge has shaken him."

Sam nodded. "Hetty is like a mother to him and if truth be known he's like a son to her. This has hit them hard. I hope they can come back from this."

Taking one last look at Callen's closed door, Sam turned and walked away with the doctor. I'll check on him later Sam said to himself.

Hetty arrived at the airport and noted that Gibbs' flight had yet to land. She took a seat and waited. She was so preoccupied that she failed to notice Gibbs' approach until he spoke to her.

"Good morning Henrietta" and when she did not respond, he touched her arm and said "Hetty?"

Looking up startled she smiled and said "Jethro, good morning. How was your flight?"

"Uneventful, which is how I like them" he responded. "Hetty is anything wrong?"

"Wrong? No, I'm just a little tired. I didn't sleep well last night" she answered.

He looked at her with his piercing blue eyes drilling into her head for what appeared to be an eternity but was probably no more than a couple of seconds. He then tilted his head slightly to one side, and with a slight smile twitching the corner of his mouth he said "Okay, let's go."

Hetty thought how much Gibbs' characteristic half smile was quite like one that Callen made. She felt a tightening in her chest as she recalled their argument and the pain it had caused them both. Pulling herself together, Hetty led Gibbs to her car and drove him home to Dovecote. On arrival Gibbs renewed his acquaintance with Sam and was introduced to Dr Rhodes.

"Where's Mr Callen?" asked Hetty, anxious for her boy to see his friend.

"Last time I saw him he went to his room" said Sam, failing to mention the exchange between Callen and himself earlier in the day. He would speak of that later if necessary.

Hetty went to Callen's door and tapped on it "Mr Callen, Jethro is here. Will you come out and see him?"

There was no answer. Hetty knocked again, this time a little louder. "Mr Callen?"

Still receiving no answer, Hetty took a deep breath and opened the door. The room was empty. She looked round to Sam "He's not here! When did you last see him?"

"Not long after you left for the airport. He slammed the door after refusing to speak to me about what happened" answered Sam, becoming worried himself.

Gibbs looked bemused

Hetty sighed. "I can't give you details without Mr Callen's permission. I'm already in his bad books but suffice it to say that he's extremely angry that I've kept information about his past from him. We rowed last night."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and sighed.

Tom said "He couldn't have gone far. After all, he's not fit and has only just started doing light exercises."

Sam, Gibbs and Hetty exchanged worried looks. They all knew Callen too well and knew the lengths he would go to if pushed. He would disregard any injury or pain, to the detriment of his own well being, and push himself well beyond his limits if necessary. No one had seen him since early in the morning when he had rejected Sam's request to talk. The armed guards patrolling the grounds would not be a problem as Callen was a master of disguise and renown for becoming invisible, a ghost in fact. If he had in fact left the property, he could be anywhere.

In the first instance they would have to search the house and grounds and if Callen was nowhere on the property then they would have to search further afield, enlisting the help of the Wonder Twins who would search for him on traffic cameras and using Kaleidoscope or tracking his phone, although Callen would avoid the cameras and would turn off his phone if he did not want to be found.

After checking the house and the grounds, it was safe to say that Callen had indeed left the property. Sam had checked Callen's room and had confirmed that his wallet, phone and clothes were still there but not his watch.

"Where would he go?" asked Gibbs of Sam, who knew Callen best.

"I don't know" he said running his hand over his head. "I doubt he'd go home as he'll know that's the first place we'd look. May be to the beach, he finds it relaxing" he added.

Taking his phone Sam called Eric at the office.

"Pull up any footage from the cameras on Hetty's property and the surrounding area. Callen's in the wind and we need to find him. Also check his watch – it's got gps. Phone me if you get anything" said Sam.

"On it!" answered Eric.

Turning to Hetty Sam said "I'll take Gibbs and we'll cruise the area in the hope that we can spot him. Don't worry, we'll get him back. It's not your fault Hetty" taking her small hand in his and gently patting it in reassurance.

"I'm afraid it is, Mr Hanna, but thank you for trying to reassure me. Once again, please bring him home" she said.

Sam nodded. "I'll get Eric and Nell to keep you updated" he added.

"Thank you" answered Hetty.

"You coming?" asked Sam of Gibbs, when he hesitated to joining his LA colleague.

"Will you be okay Hetty?" asked Gibbs.

"Yes, go with Sam. I think Mr Callen will need one or both of you when you find him" she said in response.

"Can I come?" asked Tom. "He may need medical help if he's pushed himself too much."

Sam nodded and the doctor grabbed his go bag of medical supplies and followed Sam to the car. Getting into the back seat, Tom settled down and waited until Gibbs got into the passenger seat. Sam gunned the Challenger into life and roared down the drive pausing briefly at the junction with the road wondering what direction his wayward partner would go. Making his decision, Sam turned left and headed out on the road. They had not gone too far before Sam's phone rang and he answered it putting it on speaker.

"What you got Eric?" asked Sam.

"We've got footage of Callen walking down the drive easily avoiding all the guards" stated Eric

"I'll have them doing latrine duty for letting him get away" snapped Sam.

"In all fairness, they were targeted with keeping the bad guys out, not keeping the good guys in" said Nell in defence of the guards.

"Well, that's as may be" said Sam. "I'm still gonna have words with them."

"Anyway, Callen then turns left onto the street" continued Eric. Sam nodded to himself pleased he chose correctly. "He starts to jog and gets faster until he's running flat out" finished Eric.

All the men in the car sighed as one. "That's not good" muttered Sam.

"It looks like he staggers and falls" added Nell with concern in her voice.

"Definitely not good" added Gibbs.

"Does he get up again? How does he appear?" asked Tom anxiously. He was worried about this turn of events and how his patient's injuries will hold out.

Eric continued. "Yes, he gets up and brushes himself down. He walks for a bit and then starts jogging again. He appears alright though I think I detect a bit of a limp, like he's hurt his ankle."

"Or if he's hurt, y'know in pain?" asked Tom

"Yeah, could be" said Eric. "He jogs for a bit then hails down a cab and gets in. We're trying to pull up the taxi's details to see if we can get in touch with the company and therefore the driver" added Eric.

"Hey, I've just got a hit on Callen's watch" interrupted Nell. "The address is on your phone."

"Good job, guys. Please update Hetty" said Sam as he disconnected.

Looking around at his companions, Sam said "I could kill him sometimes!"

Gibbs chuckled. "I know what you mean. For an intelligent guy he can be real stupid."

When they get to the location where gps indicated Callen's watch was, he was nowhere to be seen. Sam contacted Ops. "We don't have eyes on Callen. Can you lead us in?"

Following directions from Ops the trio came to a house outside which was parked a taxi. "I don't recognise this place. I can only assume Callen gave the taxi driver his watch as payment" said Sam.

Knocking on the door a Hispanic man answered. "Excuse me for disturbing you" said Sam flashing his credentials. "NCIS Agents Hanna and Gibbs. Have you seen this man?" showing a photo of Callen.

"Yeah, I picked him up just outside West Hollywood. He asked me to take him to Venice Beach. He didn't have any money but gave me his watch as payment. Is he in trouble? He seemed nice, just a little preoccupied."

"No, he's not in trouble. Well, actually he's in big trouble but not what you think. He's my partner and a federal agent too. He's just given us the slip. He may be in danger. Where did you drop him?"

"At the intersection of Pacific Avenue and Venice Boulevard. Please give this back to him," handing Sam Callen's watch. "I wasn't comfortable taking it from him but he insisted."

Sam took it. "Thanks. What did he owe you?" and when told, Sam handed the driver the cash for the fare. Sam also handed him a card. "I'm hoping you won't have to but if you need to contact us, don't hesitate."

Sam got back into the car and drove to the location given to him by the driver. They drove slowly up Pacific Avenue which ran alongside the beach. It was not long before Callen was spotted, sitting alone on a bench staring out at sea. Sam parked the car and all three men got out and went towards Callen. Gibbs held up his hand to the others.

"I know he's your friend and partner, Sam but you say he's already refused to speak to you. Let me try. You can keep us in sight so you can be on hand if he tries to make a break for it" said Gibbs, with a slight smile on his lips.

"Okay, but he won't be going anywhere fast once I get my hands on him especially if he tries to get away from us" stated Sam.

Gibbs smiled and squeezed Sam's shoulder in support. "I don't think he's planning on running any more" said Gibbs.

"Oh you'll be surprised what he's capable of" answered Sam. "You obviously don't know him that well."

"Oh but I do Sam" said Gibbs. "We may not see each other too often but we know each other very well. I've seen him do this too many times. Trust me, he's done running."

Unconvinced Sam watched as Gibbs walked slowly but steadily towards Callen. Coming up beside him, without a word Gibbs sat down on the bench and stared out to sea. Finally the silence was broken by Callen who spoke without turning his head.

"You found me then" he stated. "How?" he asked.

"GPS on your watch" answered Gibbs.

"Oh. I thought I'd turned it off" said Callen absently.

"You probably did but I guess the cab driver turned it back on again" said Gibbs.

Callen grunted in response and then asked with a slight twitch of his lips "Did you have much trouble getting Sam to hang back?"

"Naw, he only wants what's best for you, you know that" answered Gibbs.

"Yeah, I do. He's a good man and friend but can be a bit over powering sometimes" said Callen quietly.

"He's worried about you. We all are" said Gibbs. "Callen, what the hell's going on with you?" he asked turning to look at the younger man.

Callen dropped his head into his hands and rested them on his knees. Callen was silent for a while and Gibbs knew him well enough not to pressurise him for an answer. Gibbs could see that he was struggling with his emotions and deciding what to say.

"All these years, she's known, but she never told me" Callen all but sobbed. "Why couldn't see tell me? She knows what it means to me."

Gibbs felt sorry for his friend as he could hear the anguish in his voice and knew he was hurting; not just from his injuries but from the pain of the argument.

"The honest answer, G, is I don't know. You'll have to ask her" said Gibbs.

"I did. She said she was protecting me. I'm a grown man and a federal agent, for God's sake. Doesn't she knew I can look after myself!" raged Callen angrily.

"From where I'm sitting" said Gibbs quietly "you're not doing a very good job of it. You're bleeding."

Callen glanced down at his side where his sweatshirt was tinged with blood. "Yeah, I think I split my stitches when I fell" he said. "I suppose the doc has brought his kit with him" Callen asked as he turned and looked towards Dr Rhodes and Sam.

"Yep. You should get it looked at" said Gibbs.

"I will but not yet. I'm not ready and it's not that bad" answered Callen and the two sat in silence for a little while, Callen slowly regaining some composure.

While Gibbs and Callen were talking, Dr Rhodes and Sam looked on anxiously. Sam's phone rang and he answered not recognising the number.

"Agent Hanna" he said.

"Agent Hanna, you said I could phone if I needed you" a voice said.

"Who is this?" asked Sam.

"Sorry. It's Miguel Hernandez, the taxi driver who dropped off your friend" he said.

"Okay, what can I do for you Mr Hernandez?" asked Sam.

"I thought you should know that about fifteen minutes after you left, two men accosted me as I went to get in my cab. They asked about your friend and where I'd dropped him. I don't know how they found out I'd taken him anywhere but they had his picture. I told them I dropped him about six blocks from where I actually did. Hopefully you'll have time to get him away" said the cab driver.

"Thank you. What did they look like?" asked Sam.

"They were both around six feet tall, one slender and the other heavily built wearing dark trousers and light short sleeved shirts. The heavier of the two had black, slicked back hair and the other's was light brown and close cut. They both were heavily tattooed and spoke with an accent, possibly Eastern European. I think they were both armed" he said.

"That's a very detailed description, thank you Mr Hernandez" said Sam.

"I used to be a cop" said Hernandez "before I got invalided out."

"That explains the depth of detail. Look, we'll deal with it. Get back indoors. I'm going to send agents to you just in case. I don't want you hurt if things go south. You've been a great help" said Sam disconnecting.

Sam quickly told Tom what he had learnt and the two started to scan the area for the two men. While he did so, Sam phoned Gibbs so as not to alarm Callen and told him what he had just found out. Sam then got onto Eric in Ops.

"Eric, get onto the cameras at my location as quickly as you can. They're after Callen. We've got him but we don't know how close the men are." Sam went on to give the description of them. "Also try and find out how they knew Callen got a cab and who the driver was. His name is Miguel Hernandez. Get agents out to his address. I want to ensure he's safe" said Sam.

Noticing a change in Gibbs' demeanour, Callen sat up and looked at him. "What's up?"

"The cab driver has just phoned Sam to say two men asked him where he dropped you. Possibly Eastern Europeans, one tall, slender with close cropped hair; the other tall, heavily built with black hair slicked back. Both are heavily tattooed and armed" answered Gibbs starting to look around trying to spot them as did Callen.

Sam and Tom approached the pair on the bench. Sam had his gun drawn in readiness but down by his side partially hidden from view from the general public. Gibbs started to stand and said to Callen "Come on, we've got to get you out of here."

Back in Ops Nell phoned Hetty to give her an update whilst Eric frantically scanned the live camera footage for the two assailants. Eric quickly spotted Callen and Gibbs with Sam and Tom approaching them.

"We've located Callen and the others" relayed Nell to Hetty and she heard Hetty mutter Thank goodness. Eric's searching for the two men but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack" continued Nell.

Back on the beach, as Sam and Tom were closing in on their colleagues, Callen stood up ready to leave with them. Sam turning to look in their direction, spotted a red dot on Callen's chest and yelled "G, get down!"

Callen looked down in dismay and saw the tell tale red spot of a gun's laser sight. At the same time, Gibbs saw it as well and lunged at Callen pushing him aside.

Callen fell into the soft sand and heard a grunt as Gibbs fell next to him.

Sam and Tom dived for cover scanning the area from which the shot came.

"G! Are you hit?" screamed an anxious Sam.

"No" said Callen a bit shaken "But Gibbs has been hit" he added scrambling to his knees and turning over his friend frantically searching for the wound.

Back in Ops the scene was watched by Eric and Nell and when she saw Callen and Gibbs fall, she could not help but exclaim "Oh my god!"

"Miss Jones! Nell! What's happened?" asked Hetty frantically on the other end of the phone. afraid to hear the response.

"They're being fired at. Callen and Gibbs are both down. No, wait! I think Callen's okay. Gibbs might've been shot though; I don't know" said Nell.

"Tell them to go to my beach house. Mr Callen knows the address and how to get in. I'll get agents to meet them there" ordered Hetty.

"Yes, m'am" said Nell disconnecting.

"I wish they had their earwigs in" said Nell to Eric as she phoned Sam.

"Not a good time, Nell" answered Sam as he put the call on speaker.

"Trust me, Sam, I know. We're watching. Hetty says to get to her beach house as soon as you can. Callen knows where it is." Sam turned to look at Callen who had heard the conversation and nodded in confirmation. "She's getting agents over there. Is anyone badly hurt?" she asked.

Callen shouted so Nell could hear. "Gibbs took a bullet in the arm. He's pissed but it's a through and through" said Callen, looking down at his friend who was rolling his eyes at the younger man's comment.

"Yeah, right" said Gibbs almost to himself.

"Well, you've had worst" said Callen smirking. In a more serious tone he added "Thanks. You saved my life."

"Again" added Gibbs with a groan.

"Yes, again!" confirmed Callen. "I think we're even."

Stifling a groan and struggling to sit up, Gibbs said under his breath "No doubt I'll have to save your butt in the future."

"What's that?" grinned Callen, clearly hearing what his older friend had muttered.

"Nothing!" groaned Gibbs. "Just help me up."

Callen did as he was asked ensuring that he and Gibbs were somewhat sheltered by the bench.

"Any sign of the sniper or the others?" asked Callen.

"I think the sniper's in the wind or he would've fired again" said Sam. "He was probably paid to kill Callen and when he no longer had a target he set out to join the others. Yeah, look there they are!" pointing towards three men who had split up but were making their way towards them.

"How far is Hetty's house?" asked Gibbs through gritted teeth.

"About half a mile down the beach" answered Callen. "We've no chance of getting there unseen or without further casualties or collateral damage" looking around at the number of people on the beach totally oblivious of what was happening around them.

"Are you armed?" asked Sam of Gibbs.

"Of course. And before you ask, I can fire with my left hand" Gibbs answered.

Sam nodded. He did not know Gibbs very well but like his partner, Gibbs was a legend within NCIS and the other alphabet agencies.

"You got a back up weapon, Sam?" asked Callen.

Without answering or arguing, Sam pulled a gun from a holster at his ankle and tossed it to his partner who caught and nodded his thanks.

"You're not fit and you're still bleeding" said Tom to Callen.

"True but I'm still a better shot in this condition than most others" he stated.

"That was a humble brag" announced Sam, grinning.

"Yes it was" agreed Gibbs.

"What?" asked Callen in all innocence. "We'll all be dead if we don't neutralise these guys" answered Callen. "You've been in the military, Tom. You know how it is."

Tom nodded. "I do. Does anyone have a gun for me?" he asked and Gibbs motioned to his ankle where his backup weapon was located. Callen reached over and retrieved it and after checking the gun, tossed it to Tom.

"Good" said Sam. "Let's get this done."