Turn of Events

By BH72

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from NCISLA. They all belong to Shane Brennan and CBS. I am thankful that I am allowed to borrow them and return them, ready for the next episode.

A/N: Thanks for reading and for the wonderful reviews. Time to find Sam.

Chapter 37

Office of Special Projects…

Nell worked tirelessly besides Eric, while Deeks and Kensi continued to check out all of the known locations the gang had been to over the past three months. Owen Granger and Michael Nassir visited known associates of the gang, in hope someone would know where Sam was. Nothing came up from their searches and brought them all back to the Office of Special Projects, feeling dejected. Hetty called in all her known contacts, in hope that someone could help. Lastly, she dialled Arkady Kolcheck. The former KGB agent was known to have a soft heart for her team leader, so she hoped that he might have heard something with regards to Sam.

"Mr Kolcheck," she greeted him.

"Henrietta, is Callen okay?" If the situation hadn't been so pressing, she would have settled on updating him on Callen's situation, however, time was of the essence.

"He's fine, Mr Kolcheck. His partner, however, is not." Arkady listened to Hetty explain the situation in hope that he could provide them some form of intel to help locate Sam, before it was too late.

Arkady's Mansion…

"I see. I will make a few calls and see what I can find out for you, Henrietta." He disconnected the call and shook his head with a smirk on his face, when he found his old friend walk out holding his bodyguards hostage with his weapon. "I see you still don't have any trust for my men, yet you continue to come to me when you need something. I've told you before, Callen, I am not interested in providing you with favours, I have a business to run. You still owe me a favour from eighteen months ago."

John Summers stepped out from behind his son and saw the look of surprise on Arkady's face. "Hello, Arkady. It's been a long time, my old friend."

"Nikita?" Arkady's grin broadened and he greeted his old friend with a hug.

"You said you didn't know who my father was," Callen told him annoyed. He'd hoped that the Russian could have helped him locate him when he finally found out his father's name. Although now he knew it to be an alias. And here he was greeting his father like an old friend.

Arkady pulled back and looked over at Callen. "You look so much like your father, how could I not know whose son you were." He looked between the father and son, gazing at their shared cerulean eyes.

"Then why did you lie to me?" Callen was tired of people keeping secrets from him. He wanted to put Arkady in a position where he felt he owed him something and not the other way round.

"I hadn't seen your father for a very long time. Not until today." Arkady grinned over to John, happy to see him again. "I had nothing new that I could give you. All I would have done is given you false hope. But why get upset about this now, you've found each other now." He patted Callen on the back. "You need to relax, moy syn."

"How can I when my partner is missing?" Callen scanned the garden for danger.

"Ah, yes. Henrietta, she just called me and asked for my help. I was about to make some calls. How are you, my old friend?" Arkady poured some tea for his guests.

"I'm fine." Callen deviated his gaze to the tea pot, wishing he could do more for his partner, than chase up old contacts for help.

Arkady studied Callen for a moment and frowned. "No, you're not fine." He looked over to John and became curious as to why there was something amiss about his old friend. "What's going on? Henrietta doesn't normally call me as well as you visit me. Have you two had a fight?"

"No. We're good. We need to find Sam, Arkady. We'll let you make your calls." Callen sat with his arms crossed over his chest, as he waited for Arkady to make those calls he promised.

"Okay. I will make them now." The Russian strolled across the paved patio, into the rear of his lavish white washed house and into his study.

"Do you two always behave like this around each other?" John asked his son, amused.

"Pretty much," Callen shrugged. "If I don't play this way, he'll turn it around that I owe him a favour. This way, I get him to help me regardless."

John chuckled. "Oh I can see Arkady has a soft spot for you, my son."

"He's helped us on occasions." Arkady exited the house with some good news.

"You are in luck. I have an address where you can find your partner." He passed the address on a piece of paper to him. "Take back up with you, if you want to succeed. I hear this gang has ties with some Croatians. Not a good mix."

Callen and John stood up to leave. "Thanks, Arkady."

John hugged Arkady. "Thanks, my old friend, for taking care of my son for all of these years and for helping him."

"You're welcome, Nikita. For you, anything. For your son, too. Just don't tell him I said that." John laughed and followed his son out to the car.

Ops Centre…

"Callen, I can't tell you anything," Nell curtly replied as she answered his call.

"Hello to you too." He could tell that she was annoyed with him for turning up at the diner earlier. "But I've not called for info, Arkady's given me the address for Sam's location."

"Where?" She quickly typed in the address of the abandoned warehouse, downtown. "But that's not in their territory or from any of their known locations."

"It belongs to a Croatian group that the San Clarita gang have teamed up with. We're heading there now. We need back up and an ambulance at the ready."

"Wait, Matt. You can't just go in there, please wait for back up," she pleaded with him.

"I can't wait any longer, Nell. Sam's life is in danger. Just get the others to that location ASAP." He disconnected the call as he sped along the freeway towards downtown, Los Angeles.

Nell bit on her bottom lip to prevent herself from screaming out loud her frustrations over Callen's Hardy boy behaviour. She sent the address through to Deeks, Kensi, Granger and Nassir, praying that they got there soon, before something not only happened to Sam, but also to Callen. She wasn't sure if John was with him or not. She hoped when he said, we, he meant him and John and not him and Arkday. The last time Callen went lone wolf and teamed up with Arkady, he left the Russian to be picked up on the side of a road, after he'd killed two Comescus and vanished to meet with Vasile on his own. Granger ended up with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and he and Sam were almost blown up. Michael Rhinehart was killed and they almost lost Callen. She watched the GPS locators of the two teams as they headed over to the location she'd sent them and looked over to the big screen as Eric brought up the camera feeds outside the warehouse.

The sliding doors whooshed opened as Hetty entered and stood watching the live footage from the large screen. "What's the status on our teams', Miss Jones?" Nell swivelled her chair around to face her boss.

"Granger and Nassir are fifteen minutes out. Kensi and Deeks are eleven minutes out. I have no idea where Matt and John are." Nell looked over to her boss with fear for Callen in her eyes. "I told him to wait for backup, but he said that they couldn't wait."

Hetty pursed her lips together and assessed the situation, praying in silence that Kensi and Deeks were closer to the location than Callen and John were. She'd just gotten off the phone from Arkady Kolcheck, who explained to her that Callen and John had paid him a visit and that he'd given them the address. She'd cursed herself for not warning the Russian in ensuring that he didn't provide the details to her team leader. She'd not had the time to delve into the reasons why at the time, which she now regretted. But she found herself having to explain the situation on how Callen had been on medical leave for the past four months due to a heart attack. Arkady had apologised profusely and was furious for not being told earlier. He cared for Callen like a son and was hurt for not being told about Callen's health issue. It explained to him why Callen appeared different to him. He thought at first it was because he and Hetty might have argued, but then he had wondered why Hetty had called and he'd visited him. Hadn't he asked that question to Callen, but he'd avoided it? It wasn't his fault that he'd been kept in the dark over Callen's health, nor over the fact the younger man continued to not trust him. He'd tried his best for his friend, Nikita, in looking out for him. And he'd done just that.

Abandoned warehouse…

"You sure you're up to running in there and facing gunfire, son?" John looked over to his son as he checked his clip once more on his weapon. "You still have another two months before you can get back to working in the field. You've been through a great deal more than most ever endure in their life time."

"My heart is fine, Dad. I just need to find Sam and make sure that he's safe." Callen scanned the area and prepared for battle.

John nodded and followed him along the adjoining warehouse to get into position. Callen noted the camera surveillance ahead and warned his father that they could have company at any moment. As they entered the first door that they came to, Kensi and Deeks arrived on scene and parked behind John's car. They came up behind them and followed them in. Three minutes later, Granger and Nassir joined them, providing three teams of agents. They went down the side of the warehouse and entered in another door. The warehouse was dark and dusty. Tiny scatter of footsteps from vermin flittered in the corners, sending chills up the agents' spines. They could hear talking ahead in a foreign language that only Granger, Callen and John could understand. It was Croatian and they sounded angry.

"You let a Federal Agent into your gang, you stupid fool." The man who appeared to be the boss, shouted at the leader of the San Clarita gang. "You will pay for this." A gunshot rang out and echoed through the building as the leader of the local gang fell to the floor. A pool of dark red blood flowed out from his head from the impact of the bullet, sending the rest of the San Clarita gang running for cover. Chaos erupted in the main room of the warehouse as gunfire shot out from behind crates from the San Clarita gang and the Croatians.

Callen spotted Sam's bloodied body lying still on the floor. He was tied to a pillar and there was no signs of life in him. All colour vanished from Callen's face as fear for his partner consumed him. He studied the locations of the two groups who'd erupted into an all out war. Sam was safe to the side for now, but that was only if he was still alive. He needed to provide a distraction so he could get to his partner. He looked over and saw Kensi and Deeks to their left and Granger and Nassir to their right. If they played this right, he and his father could get to Sam without being noticed, while his team surrounded them. They needed more backup, he realised and sent a text to Nell immediately, requesting for a SWAT team.

"On it," her quick reply came, pleased that he'd asked for more help. It proved to her, that although he was determined to save Sam, he was thinking like an agent. The six agents waited and stayed in the shadows. A stray bullet flew passed them, causing Kensi to look over at him with concern. They needed to act now and hoped that the SWAT team was almost there. Fifteen minutes they'd sunk in the shadow, while the San Clarita gang and the Croatians fought it out with their weapons. In the end Callen took charge and signalled for them to move in and knock people out, so he could move in closer to Sam's location, without the risk of being shot at.

They worked seamlessly as a team, John providing backup for Callen, as they moved over to where Sam lay, whilst the other four agents, silently took the assailants out one by one. Gunfire ceased and the agents had taken control back into their favour. The Croatians and gang members were tied up and their weapons removed from their vicinity, as Callen arrived by Sam's side.

"Sam," he called out. He assessed his partner and was pleased to find a pulse, although it was weak. Sam was strong and fit, so he'd had an advantage over the average guy, from the torture and abuse they'd inflicted on him.

Sam pried his eyes open, he thought he was hearing things, when he heard his partner's voice. "G?"

"Yeah, it's me. You're not dead yet and you can't get rid of me that easily," Callen joked, trying to make light of the situation. "Stay still, paramedics are on their way." He assessed his ribs and concluded that he had three broken ribs, although his torso was bloodied and black and blue from a good beating. "Anything else hurting?" He looked further for any wounds that caused the amount of blood pooling underneath him. He found a bullet wound and ripped his shirt from off him, placing pressure on his partner's leg.

Satisfied that they were in the clear, John made his way over to his son. "How is he?"

"Three broken ribs, from what I can see and a gunshot wound to the leg." Callen dialled Ops, for the status on the ambulance. "Nell, how long for the ambulance? Sam's been shot in the leg and has been beaten pretty badly. Pulse is weak, but he's conscious."

"They're pulling up outside right now. SWAT have arrived too." Nell was relieved to hear Callen's voice, that Sam was alive and that no one else on their team were injured. Eric pulled her into a hug, to comfort her. He understood what a strain the day had been on her and how much she worried over Callen's rogue behaviour. But they had found Sam alive and he was now in good hands with the two paramedics who were tending to his needs now.

"Thanks, Nell." Callen disconnected the call and moved back to allow the paramedics access to Sam. He watched them apply a tourniquet to Sam's leg and insert a shunt and attached a drip. Sam had lost a quite a bit of blood from his gunshot wound and had become dehydrated as a result. He watched them move Sam onto the stretcher and raise it back up to it's usual height to wheel him into the ambulance. "I'm coming with him." He looked to his father, who nodded, completely understanding how important it was for him to be there for his partner.

It's good to see that Callen is thinking straight, although he's not signed off to return to work. Let's hope Sam will pull through. Love to know what you think, please leave a review.