I find myself at a little diner at six o'clock the morning after I returned. I knew from the caller Id that it was someone at the agency. Word of my exploits over the past three months had gotten out. They probably wanted know what transpired down south. The person I meet, was the same person I contacted the last few times I needed information, was a woman by the name of Sheik. Her name is deceiving because she is not of Middle Eastern descent.
I had a cup of coffee waiting for her when she arrived. Sheik sat down, took a sip of her coffee and then asked. "What happened?"
"Other than freezing my butt off for three months, it was pretty straight forward. Got in, erased the data, had a partner set some charges, and killed the guy in charge." I said.
"What are we going to do about the Syndicate?" she asked.
"Not my problem." I said.
"So it's going to be my problem?" she asked.
"If I were you, I'd jump ship. The C.I.A. isn't going to get rid of the enemy agents, so I don't see why we have to." I said.
"Someone has to get rid of them." she said.
"I'm perfectly happy with letting someone else handle the job. I've already handled one shadowy organization. I have no intention of taking on another." I said.
"Also I heard a rumor that someone from the agency was on the oil rig you went to a few months back" she said.
"Who?" I asked, before taking a sip of my coffee.
"A woman by the name of Joelle." she said.
"Did she have a clue that she was in the services of a rogue organization?" I asked, shocked to hear that Joelle was involved.
"Unknown. Your guess is as good as mine." she said.
"Any more surprises that I need to be aware of?" I ask.
"No. I'll be in touch." Sheik said, and then got up to leave.
"Yep." I said, and then left. I got back in my car and head for the beach.
I spent an hour at the beach, resolving to spend more time there. I haven't been surfing as much as I like. I get an unexpected call from an old associate when I'm driving home.
"Hello." I answered.
"What's up Marty?" said a male voice on the other end of the line.
"Kip Brigham. To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?" I asked.
"I'm having some friends over to watch the game this weekend. I was wondering if you wanted in." Kip said.
"I'm down. What time?" I asked.
"Eight." Kip said.
"See you then." I said, and then hung up.
I get a shower when I get home, and then decide to run an errand before heading into work. That was until I get a message from Hetty reading that there is a team building exercise starting in an hour. There goes that plan. I thought as I was putting the vehicle in gear to head to work.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
OPS: gym-
What did I get myself into? I thought.
What is Hetty doing? How is this a team building exercise? And why are Deeks and I in the spotlight, while Callen and Sam are just standing around? Kensi thought.
Being this close to Kensi, and in this very setting, reminds me of the first time I was with Kenzie. To a T. But she got over herself real fast, and as they say, the rest is history. Except for Hetty and Nell, nobody knows that I was married before. This whole situation is starting to make me a little nervous.
Sam and Callen were in their workout gear, while Hetty was teaching me and Kensi a ballroom dance. Soft music is playing, as Hetty gives the four of us a history lesson about the dance that Kensi and I are doing.
"The waltz was revolutionary in the late eighteenth century because it was the first time couples faced each other when they danced. It was a scandalous display of public intimacy." Hetty said.
"Public intimacy. I like it." I said. The words were out of my mouth before I knew that they had entered my brain. Chalk it up to being nervous.
"Count." Hetty said.
"One, two, three." I said.
"One, two, three." Hetty also said.
I missed a stepped, and stepped right on Kensi foot. Opps! I thought. Kenzie would have my head if I did that to her.
Kensi grunted. "He's stepping on me." Kensi said.
"That's not true. You keep putting your feet underneath mine when I lift up." I said, knowing full well it was a lie. Sam was laughing at the two of us.
"Know where I'm going to put my foot?" Kensi threatened.
"Why are we doing this?" I asked, looking at Hetty.
"Because you need to face each other and try to work together." Hetty said.
I'm pretty certain she's talking to Kensi. I can completely be professional when I have to. I thought.
"Ah. We do work together." Kensi blurted out.
That was completely unprofessional. I thought.
"Uh, yes, not always harmoniously." Hetty countered.
"Couldn't we do something like synchronized swimming instead?" I asked.
"Deeks?" Kensi cut in. She didn't want Hetty to take me up on the idea.
"What? It's just like this, exceptyou would be in a bikini." I said.
I thought I had found my rhythm, but the thought of seeing my Kensi in a bikini and high heels distracted me and I stepped on her foot again. "Ouch!" Kensi exclaimed.
"Grace." Hetty said.
"Sorry. I was thinking about bikinis." I said. Kensi had jerked me back into the dance position. "I'm listening! Ready? One, two, three."
"Posture, grace, floating as one." Hetty said.
"Kind of hard to float when you're in heels. Ow." Kensi said.
"That wasn't me." I said.
"Think of your partner." Hetty said.
"It's kind of hard when all she keeps talking about is high heels and bikinis." I said.
"Maybe Kensi should lead." Sam said.
"Isn't that what she's doing?" Callen asked.
"Not necessary. I just need to find my rhythm again." I said. The entire time we were dancing Kensi didn't look at me. When I said that I "needed to find my rhythm again," Kensi looked at me. Kensi didn't get to respond because Hetty was about to put Sam and Callen in their place.
"Really? I would love to teach the two of you the traditional Viennese waltz, with each other as partners." Hetty said. Kensi and I stopped dancing to watch the antics. This is going to be great! I thought.
Sam chuckled at the thought of him and Callen dancing, and then Kensi and I started laughing. Then Sam, Kensi, and I are laughing together. But from the look on Hetty's face, Callen could tell that she was being serious.
"She's kidding." Sam said, looking over at Callen.
Callen and Hetty share a look, and then Callen said. "No, she's not."
"Agent Hanna, take your partner by the waist, back straight." Hetty said. Sam was blindsided by what Hetty just said. "Do I need to repeat myself?" Hetty asked.
"Hetty, you—" Sam begun with a look of disgust on his face.
"Hetty." Callen said.
"Sorry, guy, but we got a case. Hetty." Eric said.
"To Ops. Make sure to return the heels Miss Blye." Hetty said, as she exited the gym.
Kensi grabbed one of my arms to steady herself as pulled off one of the shoes. Both Kensi and I look at the length of the spike on the heels that she borrowed from Hetty.
"You guys owe me big time." Eric said.
"Anything you need." Sam said.
"Anytime you need it." Callen said.
Sam and Callen went to get a shower, as Kensi went to return the heels. I made my way up into one back halls on the second floor. When I got there, Nell was already waiting for me.
"So how did it go?" she asked.
"How would you feel dancing with Eric knowing full well that you had a relationship with him in a past life?" I asked.
"You have my condolences. It must have been excruciatingly painful trying to keep your feelings at bay. You wanted to talk." she said.
"I need you to discreetly dig into Kensi past." I said.
"Why should I do that?" she asked.
"Something is off about Kensi." I said.
"Off how?" she asked.
"Kensi could have done a lot of things with her life, but she found herself here." I said.
"You think something in her past could come back to haunt her?" she asked
"In our line of work." I said.
"Very true." Nell said, and then walked away.
I was staring out the window when I got lost in my own thoughts. I think back to the three months in Antarctica. How I played a lethal game of cat and mouse through the compound. I had to kill three men before I could kill the immortal in charge of the place. Or at least that's what Alexa tried to tell me, but I stole some information to help me navigate what I was walking into. I spent most of the time freezing my butt off. The last week I was there is when everything jumped off. The killings happened at the beginning of the week, and the middle of the week had an explosion. The next two days I was traveling back to civilization.
"Deeks."
I turned to see Kensi standing at the door to Ops. I nodded my head, and briefly looked back out the window again. When I entered Ops, I approached the center console behind Kensi and leaned against it. The case wasn't a normal one. There weren't any dead marines or sailors. There even wasn't a pending terrorist attack.
"So what's the problem?" Callen asked.
"There new software being developed." Eric said
"Uhhh." I said, knowing how this is going to go down.
"Problems, Mr. Deeks." Hetty asked, as everybody turned to look at me.
"How is that every time groundbreaking technology is being developed, a prototype is leaked before the program is fully operational?" I asked.
Nothing. It was dead quiet for a whole minute before Eric continued the briefing. "Well the prototype hasn't been stolen, but a ghost code has been implanted into the program."
"Ghost code?" Callen asked.
"It's a line of code that allows the program to be completed without people knowing its being copied." Eric said.
"Eric." Sam said.
"He means that the program can be fully developed. And when all the bugs have been worked out, the ghost code can replicate the software without alerting the developer of the breach." Nell said
Kensi turned and looked at me. "Oh. It's a lot worse than I expected" I said, rolling my eyes.
"When did they find the ghost code?" Sam asked.
"Two days ago." Eric said.
"How long until they try to leave the country with the program?" Kensi asked.
"Unknown?" Nell said.
"What are you saying? That the people have high end software, and they have no intention of leaving the country." Sam said.
"They're waiting for everything to blow over, and the heat to dissipate." I said.
"How long is that going to take?" Kensi asked.
"Unknown." Nell said.
"We're we able to track the where the software was being sent after it was copied?" Sam asked.
"A man was fired for uploading the software into the system, but he didn't have a copy of the software on thumb or a hard copy of the files in his personal effects." Eric said.
Something seemed off. All this fanfare, and no big heist was looming on the horizon. Unless. I thought and then something on the screen caught my attention. It's was a symbol of an A. The more I look at it I begin to realize that the symbol is actually a logo. Something doesn't add up. All the pieces are in place for a heist, but there aren't any signs of the job happening in the immediate future. I look at the A again, and then I realize that it's a V.
"Eric." I said.
"Yeah." Eric said.
"What company has a "V" for its logo?" I asked.
It took Eric a moment to the trace running, but it the trace was over as soon as it began. "Vasir. The company is called Vasir." Eric said.
As soon as Eric said the name of the company, Hetty and I knew what kind of trouble we were in. "Problems?" Sam asked.
"Vasir was just awarded a sizable contract by both our government, and Israel's to revamp our missile's guidance systems. Plus any other advancements they can think of." Hetty said.
"Deeks is right. It's a lot worse than we feared." Nell said.
"Who was the man spying for?" Callen asked.
"Does it matter? They're at least ten foreign governments who would want this technology. Either for themselves, or to foil our attacks." Hetty said.
"What do we do until learn the location of the meet?" Kensi asked.
"Just track the data. See if it moved from the building to any other locations." Nell said.
"Is there anything else?" Callen asked.
"Yeah. Got to Vasir, and get a copy of their database. It could help us track the theft, and keep an eye on the people involved." Eric said.
"You got it." Sam said, and then he and Callen left.
"I want you two to go and question the suspect." Hetty said.
"The address is on your phones." Nell said.
Kensi and I left OPS, driving out to Culver City, but it would be a bust. Callen and Sam on the other hand would be more successful.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
Culver City-
Kensi pulled the SRX up in front of the suspect's house, and from the looks of the place I knew something was wrong. The big give away was that all the curtains were drawn. I saw that it was a bright, sun shiny day out, and the person's curtains were drawn.
"Is it me, or are we already too late?" I asked.
Kensi looked at the house, and asked. "Kind early to be saying that don't you think?"
"If you say so." I said, and then we approached the house.
I knocked on the door, and there was no answer after thirty seconds. Kensi then decided to ring the door bell, but there still was no answer after thirty seconds. I was looking at a spot on the frame, mesmerized really. I reached out and touched the spot, but it had already dried. And then I saw the hole in the door.
"Our guy had company recently." I said, pulling my gun.
Kensi pulled her gun, and then tried the knob. It was locked, so she holstered her gun and then picked the lock. Kensi drew her gun, and then opened the door. And as I thought the place had seen better days. To say that there was a struggle would be a massive understatement. On the floor three feet in front of us is a body with three bullet wounds in his chest. We gave the house a once over, and then the gloves came out. I noticed that there were a lot of portraits hanging on the walls. None of them have any monetary value.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
OPS-
Sam and Callen had returned with a flash drive of all the pertinent details of the contract that Vasir had acquired. "There is a lot of data here to sift through, so it's going to takes a while to get through. Days even." Eric said.
"Call Kensi. See if they found something." Callen said.
Sam pulled out his phone, and dialed Kensi. It rang twice before Kensi answered. "Hey, Sam."
"You guys find anything at the apartment?" Sam asked.
Before Kensi could respond, the line went dead.
"What's wrong?" Callen asked.
"The line went dead." Sam said.
"Call Deeks." Callen said.
N.C.I.S. L.A.
Culver City, One minute ago-
Kensi was closing a hall closet when her phone started to ring. She checked the caller Id, and saw that it was Sam. "Hey, Sam." Kensi answered.
"You guys find anything at the apartment?" Sam asked.
At that very moment, Kensi felt a hand left shoulder, followed by a female voice saying in very soft tones. "Hang up."
Kensi instinctively looked to her right and saw a gun. The woman said. "Please don't make a sound."
Kensi ended the call. Her mind was running a million miles a minute, trying to remember all the gun disarms she learned in training. But then the two woman heard me say.
"Are you digging the art in this place as much as I am? I mean it's bold and it's cool. I mean, why isn't there more cool art?" I ask, showing Kensi a portrait of a female silhouette in a provocative pose holding a gun in one hand. No response. I let the portrait slide in my hands, and then walk away. "Oh, another one. I wanna show you this one. This is my favorite because it's the perfect combination of girls and guns."
Kensi is shocked that I didn't see her being held at gun point. Kensi lowers her head in defeat, but what she and our unwanted guest didn't see was that I placed the portrait on the floor, and came back to face them with my gun drawn. I pause for a moment to take it all in. "Let me make this perfectly clear. If you harm her, this is going to be you last day on Earth." I said. I noticed two things. First, the look on Kensi face when I came back with my gun drawn. The look on her face was that she couldn't be more proud of me. The second was that our unwanted guest was a woman with blonde hair. At that moment my phone started to ring. And it continued to ring.
"Agent Deeks." the woman said.
"Sheik?" I said.
It was then Sheik released Kensi and holstered her gun. "It's okay Kens." I said, as I holstered my gun and then introduced the two women. "Kensi this is my contact within the C.I.A., codename Sheik."
"Nice to meet you." Kensi said.
"Pleasure. Sorry about the gun." Sheik said.
"Occupational hazard." Kensi said.
I answered the phone and gave an all clear, and then hung up. "What do you have for us?" I asked Sheik.
"I have information for N.C.I.S. about the case they are working." Sheik said.
"That's very generous of you." Kensi said.
"Sheik may work for the C.I.A. on paper, but she has no love for the agency." I said.
"What can you tell us about the Vasir heist?" Kensi asked.
"The person who uploaded the ghost code is in C.I.A. custody for other crimes he has committed, but we were able to find out that he was working for the Chinese. Here is the location of the cell that he was working with, but the only problem is that there are five people. Four are that location, while the fifth one is in the wind at the moment." Sheik said.
"Where is the trade going to be made?" I asked.
"At the gala that Vasir will be holding in two months." Sheik said.
"Our people have a list of all the things that were compromised when the code was uploaded." Kensi said.
"Getting into the event won't be easy. You will need to be invited to the event." Sheik said.
"That won't be a problem. Anything else?" I asked.
"I'll be in touch." Sheik said, and then left.
Kensi called a team to process the crime scene in case there was something that was missed, and then we left. It was a silent ride back to OPS, but this wasn't an uncomfortable silence. When we get back to OPS, we got out of the SRX and head inside. Before we get to the door Kensi stopped short.
"Yeah." I said.
"How did you know?" she asks.
"How did I know that you were in trouble?" I asked.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Remember that portrait I showed you?" I said.
"It was hideous." she said without missing a beat.
"That's how I knew." I said.
"I don't understand." She said.
"Sheesh, Kensi. I showed the picture to you on purpose." I said.
"To get a response from me." she said. All I did was nod my head. "Oh, I get it. So when I didn't respond with one of my pithy quips."
"I knew you were in trouble." I said, with a silly smile.
"Thank you." Kensi said, but something seemed off. It seemed like she wanted to do something more than just saying "thank you", but I don't force the issue.
"You're welcome." I said.