San Diego Cohort Office
"Where is Holtz?" Callen yells when, Sam, Nell, Eric and he burst through the main doors of the small office building with the one goal they all agreed within ten minutes after finding the Jaguar- hunt down Holtz. The foyer alone is surprisingly packed with San Diego police officers and FBI agents from the San Diego offices. Callen doesn't bother guessing if Hetty had alerted the FBI ahead of time. He also doesn't bother guessing that a lanky woman in a suit that angrily steps up to them is the lead on the case.
"Who the hell are you?" the woman exclaims, "How did ya'll get in here?"
"Special Agents from the Los Angeles office," Callen snaps back. Sam pushes past Callen and two female police officers to start digging through the agent's assistant's empty desk in front of Holtz' personal office door.
"You of all people cannot be here," the female agent says. When Callen crosses his arms to stand his ground and Nell and Eric start to walk to Holtz's personal office, the female agent calls out, "No! Don't you go in there!"
Callen explains, "Our operations manager has been taken by Holtz- we need to find him now-"
"Your operations manager called us to clear this office out two hours ago. We haven't found anything on Holtz's wareabouts in the past two hours and we're certainly not going to be able to find anything with you all here."
"We can help," Callen says, giving Nell and Eric a nod to continue into the office. He cocks his head slightly at the sight of the assistant's desk. "Where is the assistant?"
The female agent points towards the hallway. "Rhea? I have her down the hall with one of my best-"
Callen and Sam immediately bolt into the hallway and into the adjacent room where Rhea sits wide-eyed in front of an agent. She can only squeak in fear when Callen and Sam walk in the room, kick the other agent out and close the door behind them without a word. Callen walks around the edge of the table that Rhea sits at without a word. Ever since finding the note in Hetty's Jaguar, Callen has been pissed and too focused to slow down.
"Rhea, I'm Callen and this is Sam," Callen says. He watches Rhea flinch at every word and it tells him that she isn't as arrogant as her boss. Callen holds out his cellphone screen to show her Deeks' hospital pictures from two months ago. " Holtz tortured this man and killed almost a dozen others. I need to know where he is now."
Rhea rubs her hands together and whimpers, " I- I told the other agent that I can't. I'm really sorry about what happened to your friend, but I can't get him in trouble. He's a good man."
Sam steps in by pulling up a chair next to Rhea and calmly sitting down on the chair backwards. "He was good to you, wasn't he?"
Rhea smiles sadly. " I'm alone out here in Los Angeles except for Carey. He always asked me about my day, remembered my birthday-"
"You fell in love with him," Sam finishes for her. When Rhea's eyes begin to tear up, he says, "You don't want to lose him and that's understandable, but lives are on the line, including ours. If you help us, I can guarantee that Holtz will be taken into custody without being killed. That's a promise." A necessary lie- I plan on putting a bullet in Holtz as soon as I see him.
"How can you promise that? Everyone here wants him dead!"
Sam places a hand on Rhea's hands and digs deep to pull out his next lie. "Rhea, we will not kill Holtz."
Rhea closes her eyes as her lips tremble. The SEAL sits up and exchanges a look with Callen as both men wait for the small woman to explode. It doesn't take long- Rhea takes in a deep breath and exclaims in the same breath, "He rented out an old clothing factory in Santa Monica and told me before he left a few hours ago that the only way you all can get his location is through a video call. He won't give his location or Hetty's location unless he can video chat with Deeks."
Two and a half hours from Los Angeles
Hilo, Hawaii.
Out of all the places in the world, Hetty is sending Kensi and Deeks to Hawaii.
It takes Kensi a few threats to get the pilots to give up their end location and when they finally do, she feels confusion. She had expected them to be sent somewhere thousands and thousands of miles away from Los Angeles. Hilo is also unexpected as it's the birthplace of Deeks' mother, Lianne. Kensi is thankful that Deeks doesn't have any idea of his mother's exact birthplace.
"Go to sleep. We still have three hours to go," Kensi reminds Deeks gently. He's resting his head on her shoulder and watching the sight out of the window- complete cloud coverage. Deeks' eyes flutter as he readjusts his position.
"Not tired," Deeks mutters. He yawns and looks back over to the window. "Why aren't we going to China or something?"
"Who knows? Now go to sleep."
"Fine." He leans back on her shoulder and whispers, "Promise me that you'll wake me if something happens."
"Ok," Kensi lies, hoping that the sudden stillness in her partner means he fell asleep before he heard her lie. She sits quietly for a few minutes to hear and feel her partner's steady breathing. She soon starts to drift asleep herself before a shrill noise from her bag brings her back to reality.
Beep.
Kensi opens an eye and spots her blue tablet sticking out of one of the pockets in her duffel bag. The red light on the top of the tablet flashes invitingly at her. Curious, Kensi uses her foot to pull the duffel bag close enough for her to be able to reach the tablet without disturbing Deeks. She turns on the screen and finds that Callen has sent her an instant message less than a minute ago.
Are you free to talk alone?
Kensi narrows her eyes at the message suspiciously. The lead agent should know that privacy on a small jet isn't possible. She breathes in slowly and types back- Deeks is sleeping on my shoulder. Make it quick. What's wrong?
Hetty is missing. We believe she made a deal with Holtz. Holtz's assistant says that the only way to get information is for Deeks to video call Holtz for a location.
"What?!" Kensi exclaims. Deeks shoots up in his chair and mumbles incoherently in a panic. After a moment, Deeks gets back on track and asks, " Wha- happen?"
The brunette agent swallows hard and glances back down to the screen in hand to see Callen's next two messages.
Kensi?
I know this is bad and I'm not asking or telling him to do it. We can find Hetty without Deeks if we need to. It's his choice. Whatever he chooses, the entire team has his back.
"Did something happen?" Deeks asks worriedly. He watches his partner bring the tablet close to her chest. " Kens?"