And I'm back. Heres the next chapter, sorry for the wait.

Again thanks to Jet1967 for her editing prowess.

I'll try and update faster.

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. Let me know how I am doing. Critique is fine, as well as positive thoughts.

NCIS LA DISLAIMER: I do not own the characters just my OC's

Have a good weekend!

Manhattan Beach

California

2215 hrs

When I got home, I had every intention of getting some sleep, but my mind was running 100 miles a minute, so I put on my running shoes and hit the Strand. My phone was in my pocket and my bluetooth headphones in my ears.

I tuned out every noise or person and just concentrated on the concrete in front of me.

In my ear my running tracker just announced I had completed 5 miles. I decided to do 3 more miles and pushed on. My legs still felt good. The moonlight reflecting off the ocean was comforting. I must have zoned out for a second because I hardly noticed my music had stopped and a ringing was in my ears.

Someone was calling me. I stop and stand to the side in front of a sand dune.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at the number. It was from the 757 area code.

Who was calling me from Virginia?

Then I noticed the prefix; it was from Langley Air Force Base. I instantly recognized the number. The General... Executive Officer of the US Air Forces Air Combat Command, Lt. General Henry "Hellbent Hank" Carlisle's office….. and Andy's father.

Oh, crap… and it's after midnight on the East Coast. What did I do now?

I stopped and gathered my breath. Then, I hit answer.

"Major Matthew Lee," I answered, practically standing at attention even though it was only a phone call. I had expected the voice to be the General's aide, Colonel Beverly Jackson, an ex B-52 aircraft commander, one of the very few female bomber pilots.

She was just as much a ball buster as the General, but Colonel Jackson had a soft spot for me. That's when I got my first surprise of the night.

"Major, Hank Carlisle. Am I interrupting anything?" The older man's voice was very shaky, not the normal commanding tone that I had become accustomed to and, at times, feared.

With my back straight, I responded, "No, sir, General, sir."

His voice was very disconcerting to me. I had never heard him like that. "Just on a run to clear my head from a case. What can I do for you, sir?"

"Major…" The General hesitated. "Matt….. we have a situation... It involves Andy…..um, Lt. Holtzman. Details are still very incomplete and trickling in." He stopped. Silence came through the phone for almost a minute. I could feel the 32-year Air Force Veteran, and ex F-15 Eagle driver, veteran of Panama, the little known US deployment to the African nation of Chad, Bosnia, and Desert Storm, tough as nails, "Hellbent" Hank, trying to keep his emotions in check.

The information he gave me wasn't enough. "Sir, what are you saying?"

"Major, we have preliminary reports that Lt. Holtzman, Sergeant Tompkins, as well as a team of Marines and Naval Law Enforcement officers were ambushed on a resupply mission." At the mention of that, my throat dropped to the pit of my stomach. I kept stayed quiet, hoping my silence would make him continue.

"The supply trucks were three hours overdue, and the Marine outpost is trying to send out a Recon patrol to see if they could find them. We had a Globalhawk that was on station nearby fly over the route. It transmitted images and video. It is still transmitting video. The video feed shows all three MRAP's destroyed. Eight bodies can identified, unknown who they are, but they didn't see Lt. Holtzman, Sergeant Tompkins or the Navy folks. They are currently categorized as missing," he said calmly.

Shit… I gathered my thoughts. "General, sir, do you have the names of the Navy personnel that are also missing? My team was tasked to work alongside them; I may be able to get some answers from them."

I could hear him shuffling papers and clicking a mouse. "Ahhh, preliminary intel says NCIS Assistant Director Owen Granger and a Special Agent Kensi Blye."

Under my breath I uttered a curt "shit". My mind started going into overdrive. "I know them, sir. I have worked with Agent Blye. When will the Recon patrol arrive on site, sir?"

"The report I got from their CO is that the location is twenty-five klicks south, but the road is suspected to be mined. He said an hour or two tops by road. He is trying to get a helo but a shamal is blanketing the area with sand; the rotorheads can't take off. They are playing it cautious with the attack. Insurgents like to plant IEDs to catch a rescue patrol coming to the scene. The Globalhawk can stay on station for another six hours."

"I am sorry, sir, about your daughter. I know the Marines in the area will do their best to find her and keep her safe."

That's when I got cut off, and the ole' "Hellbent" came out. "God Damnit, Major! I don't trust the damn jarheads to pull this off. All they will care about is the Marines and the squids…"

"I highly doubt that, sir. They will treat everyone equally." I was trying to be diplomatic, but the General was having nothing of it.

"Don't play that 'inter-service cooperation' bullshit card on me, Major," he chastised me.

"Yes, sir." I then took a deep breath. I knew what he was getting at. "What are your orders, sir?"

"Your orders, Major, are to get your ass over to Afghanistan and make sure the Air Force's interests are taken care of. Don't let anyone push you around. Use my office if you get any resistance. The Secretary of the Air Force and I play golf; he give you whatever horsepower you need."

"Yes, sir. I will get right on that, but I will need to involve the NCIS team I am working with here in LA. Agent Blye is a team member and the reason why I am on this joint task force. I was her temporary replacement." I needed to finish this call and get Hetty involved.

"Do what you need to do, Major. Just don't let them make you take a back seat. I expect you to run this, and if somebody screwed the pooch I wanna know so that I can bury his ass. Understood? I want reports daily," he ordered.

"Affirmative, sir. I may need some assistance in the next few hours, especially from operations at Edwards." I warned him that I might ruffle some feathers.

"Have anyone who gives you flak call my office. Now move, Major." He paused. Then in a voice the completely opposite of the dressing down I just got, with complete sincerity, "Bring my daughter home safe or at least bring her home…." the hidden meaning was obvious, "Major, please."

"I won't stop till I do, sir. Please have the Globalhawk feed available to me when I request it. I need to gather intel and share it with NCIS out here."

"Done. Good luck, Major."

"Hang in there, sir. I am on it." I reassured him as I hung up my phone.

I did not dial Hetty or Ops just yet. I walked down the Strand and found a bench so I could sit down and take in all that I had just learned and gather myself for the chaos that was about to begin.

I put my head between my legs and took in a few deep breaths.

'Ok, my team and Kensi were ambushed and possibly taken prisoner… Or killed… No! Get that thought out of your head, right now! I gotta call Hetty. She probably already knows, or does she? The General did say the information was coming over Air Force Globalhawk feeds.'

Just then my phone dinged with an email. It was the access needed to get the live feed from the drone over the ambush site. I started to dial Hetty but erased the number and dialed another. This person needed to know. It rang two times. "Come on," I yelled. It rang three more times.

"Deeks," my partner answered.

"Hey, Deeks, it's Emil," I interrupted him.

"Emil, I was asleep, man, and, you should be, too."

I tried my best not to be snappy and curt, but I failed. "Deeks, shut up and listen. Get your ass up and head into Ops. NOW."

"Emil… Matt, what's going on? Everything ok?" I could tell he was deeply concerned.

"Deeks, I can't talk about it right now. It's preliminary and unconfirmed but it looks bad. I need to get moving on this. It's… It's..." In my mind I was debating telling him about Kensi, but I didn't know everything and didn't want to worry him too much. I could hear a pin drop on the other end.

"I'll fill you in when you get there." I told him quickly.

I prayed he wouldn't push it. After a few seconds he said, "Alright, on my way." I let out a sigh.

"Good. I gotta call Hetty." And I hung up. I hit *5 on my phone. It rang twice.

"Good evening, Mr. Lee. I thought I sent you home to get some rest? Now, what could be bothering you at this hour?"

Wow, I thought to myself, for once Hetty didn't know something. That usually never happened. I had a stupid notion to remember the date and held back a laugh.

Hetty's voice brought me back to reality. "Mr. Lee? Did you call me in error?"

"Hetty, we have a situation."

OPS Center

2345 HRS

Deeks POV

Callen and Sam walked into Ops one behind the other. After getting the call from Hetty to come in, Sam must have swung by and picked up his partner. Sam wiped some sleep out of his eyes, but his nightowl of a partner looked fresh.

Callen noticed his partner looking at him; Sam had nothing to say that Callen hadn't heard before and just gave him the typical Sam look. The two senior agents took a quick scan around the room.

Eric was at his desk wearing a hoodie, pajama pants, and his trademark sandals. He was stretching his arms above his head and letting out a big yawn.

Nell was also in a hoodie and a pair of comfortable pants, but she had on pink fuzzy slippers. She was typing away on her tablet while having a conversation on the phone, giving her partner a funny look.

I was standing in the middle of Ops, leaning against the briefing table with my arms crossed across my chest. I was dressed in my usual jeans and t-shirt. I locked eyes on my

Supervisory Special Agent boss and his Senior Agent partner.

Callen and Sam both looked at me, asking non-verbally if I knew what was up. I could only shrug.

"Emil called me, said something was up and to get my ass into Ops." I hold my hands out to the side with my palms up.

Callen was the first to ask everyone in the room, "Ok, what's going on? Why the late call?"

Then Sam asked the other unspoken question, "Where's Hetty?"

At that instant Hetty walked through the doors and into Ops. "I'm right here, Mr. Callen. Sorry to have ruined your evening, lady and gentlemen, but we have a developing situation that requires immediate attention."

Sam shifted his weight to his other foot. "What's the situation?"

"I believe Mr. Lee is better equipped to answer that question, Mr. Hanna. He is the one that got the information first." Her voice was calm.

Callen was getting annoyed and it was starting to show. "Where is he?" He was looking right at me. I didn't know how to answer. I reached for my phone.

Just then, as if on cue, Matt came walking through the door. His phone was up to his ear; he was deep in conversation with someone. He was wearing running attire, like he just walked off the trail - running shoes, shorts, t-shirt, zip-up Under Armour fleece jacket,collar popped up, topped off with a non-descript hat from some charter airline company. Around his waist was a black, ballistic nylon fanny pack that must of held his weapon, badge/creds, keys, and wallet.

The fanny pack got some strange looks from the guys; I was wondering where he bought it.

Matt walked over and stood next to Hetty, his back dead straight, talking on his phone. "Yes, sir… I am here now… Yes, I got the email with the proxy address for the 'Hawk feed… Yes, sir, I will keep you updated… Understood… Thank you." He hung up and took a deep breath.

Six sets of eyes were now locked on to Matt's face waiting for him to begin, including my own. I had scenarios running through my head from good, to bad, to worse. Matt decided not to waste our time and began.

"Approximately…" Matt pulled his wrist up so he could look at his black Omega Speedmaster, "...two hours ago I received a call from Lt. General Henry Carlisle," Eric threw up his photo on the monitors, " the XO of US Air Force's Air Combat Command. He told me that he got a call from a colleague in Afghanistan that a resupply mission of three Cougar MRAP's headed to an OP northeast of Khost was three hours late and possibly a target of an ambush." Serious faces could be seen all around the room.

"On board was an Air Force AFOSI Agent, First Lieutenant Andrea Holtzman …... his daughter…" My jaw dropped. Lt. Holtzman was Andy, one of his fellow AFOSI team members. I didn't know I was in for even more of a surprise.

Matt paused, took a breath, and continued, "Also on board were Gareth...," Matt looked straight at me, "Kensi,"

I gasped,

"and Assistant Director Granger." Matt shifted his weight. Callen moved to ask a question. Matt just raised his hand; he wasn't finished.

"There are unconfirmed reports, mostly radio chatter, that an insurgent attack was made on a three vehicle convoy. The Marines at the OP are organizing a Recon Patrol to look for them. Helicopters cannot get airborne because a shamal has overtaken the area." He paused.

Why couldn't they fly? What the heck is a shamal? I had to ask; my heart was thumping in my chest. "What is a shamal?"

Sam handled the answer, "Sandstorm, Deeks. Zero visibility. Helos can't fly in it."

My body just locked up tight. I couldn't think or speak. I could only listen.

Callen asked, "How long has it been since the ambush?"

Matt rubbed his head. "Best guess ... six… seven hours. We don't know. The situation is very fluid right now."

Sam then asked, "What were they doing up there? What was there mission?"

Matt just sighed and let his shoulders drop. "Unknown at this time, Sam, sorry, this whole thing is developing as we speak."

Callen sighed deeply in frustration, but he couldn't fault Matt. The Air Force team member continued.

"I just found this out an hour and half ago and came straight here." Then Matt's phone beeped with a text. He looked down. There was an urgency in his voice as he spoke.

"We have a Globalhawk drone on station." He turned his head over his shoulder. " Eric, bring up the feed." Eric started typing on his keyboard. "If the shamal is still bad, the thermal or IR cams should be able to see through. But I just got a text that the weather is improving." A grainy image began to show on the screens. It slowly faded, zoomed, and focused in.

At first it was just a feed of the desert floor with boulders and small scrub plants, but the operator of the drones camera payload started slewing the camera until stopping on another blurry image. It was just three white hot blobs with no definition in the image. Then the camera began to focus.

A sharp intake of air came from Nell as she put her hand over her mouth; Eric just swallowed; and Callen, Sam and Matt remained quiet. I was quiet as well but screaming on the inside.

The focused image revealed three burning vehicles; they look like big trucks. You could tell they had been burning for awhile since they were completely gutted.

Sam broke the silence, his SEAL training kicking in. "Ok, looks like a typical ambush." He pointed at the screen. "They took out the lead vehicle, then the trail." He then pointed to one of the vehicles that was off to the side, off the road and in a ditch. "This one must have been the center vehicle. It tried to get around the lead vehicle to escape and got hit."

The camera then began to pan around the area. You could see human-like forms lying on the ground near the burning vehicles. You couldn't really tell who they were. The thermal/IR images weren't that detailed. Even though I knew it was fruitless, I squinted my eyes to see if I could recognize the form of my partner. It was then I noticed my hands were balled up into fists.

Matt was looking at another feed from the Globalhawk. It was a daylight wide angle that gave an overview look of the area from around 5000 feet. He pointed to the screen and announced, "SAR helo's are on site." On screen you could see two CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters with its twin rotors turning arrive on scene.

The helos circled the site for a few minutes. Watching them orbit was driving me insane. 'Why aren't they landing? Get down there!'

After what seemed like an eternity to me, one of the helos landed nearby as the other continued to orbit. Fifteen figures from a platoon, leaped out and formed a tight perimeter as the helo took off again. Slowly and methodically they worked their way to the ambush site. 'Come on; hurry up,' I was pleading in my thoughts.

Matt barked at Eric, "Eric, can you get on their communications network and let us hear what they are saying?"

"Gimme a minute. It's an encrypted channel; it may take some doing." Eric adjusted his glasses.

Matt, realizing he had snapped at Eric, replied, "Do what you can, Eric. Sorry."

On screen the fifteen figures arrived at the vehicles and begin to fan out. It looked like they were doing a search. Just then, over the speakers, voices began to come through.

"Lt., perimeter is secure. No one is in the area."

"Roge-o, Sergeant. Take ten men and keep it that way."

"Aye-aye, sir."

Another voice appeared, "Sir, I have what appears to be four KIA in the first vehicle."

"Understood, three KIA."

Then a different voice, "Lt. I have five KIA in the trail vehicle, and two KIA in the middle vehicle"

Ops was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Roger, five trail and two mid. That still leaves seven unaccounted for. Keep searching."

On the Globalhawk feed you could see men searching the area. SIlence was heard for about five minutes. In my mind I was saying, 'She may still be alive... she escaped… she had to. If she was gone, I'd feel it, right?'

Then a deep voice boomed over the speakers, very excitedly, "Sir, I got somethin, about 200 meters northwest of the middle vehicle."

"What is is, Corporal?"

"Sir, I have a shallow foxhole, looks like a fighting positon, I have 5.56 casings everywhere- one Marine KIA, dog tag reads PFC Smith. Looks like I got more than one blood trail here, sir. Someone else was wounded, but they're not here. I have drag marks leading off towards the ridgeline."

"Copy that, Corporal. Anything else?"

"Yes, sir. I found two leather wallets inside the hole, sir. They look like badges and ID's."

"Read me the ID's. I'll check them against our intel."

"First one is for a First Lt. Andrea Holtzman, US Air Force." Matt's head dropped. "Second one is for a civilian, NCIS Special Agent Kensi Blye." I instantly became weak in the knees. "Lt., it looks like they were captured and one was dragged out of here, sir. One must have been wounded, lotta blood sir. I have blood trails inside the drag marks."

Matt's phone buzzed in his hand. He looked at the screen and answered, "Major Lee… Yes, General, I'm watching the feed…" He made a quick exit out of Ops.

For the next 15 minutes I stood there, glued to the monitors, watching the Marines search and work. All I could think about was Kensi and what may or may not have happened.

Kensi is Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman would survive. Kensi can survive.

Who was watching her six? I should have been there to protect her. That's what partners are for.

This wouldn't have happened if she hadn't been sent halfway around the world by herself. This is Hetty's doing. She's going to have to answer to me.

Callen and Sam were in the background talking with Hetty, Nell and Eric. I tried to stay involved in the conversations but just couldn't.

Callen's voice snapped me out of it. "Hetty, we need to go, and we need to go now."

"I agree, Agent Callen, and time is of the essence. I will arrange transport for your team and Major Lee immediately. I will give you whatever you need." Hetty was visibly shaken but holding strong.

Matt then reappeared through the Ops doors, still on his phone. He looked different. "Mags, I know it's early. I need that -D model with the conformals setup along with drop tanks, preflighted, and ready to go as soon as I hit the ladder. Wake up whoever you need… I don't care what your Lt. tells you… If he gives you shit, tell him your orders come directly from General Carlisle and that it would be the General's pleasure to give him an ass chewing and demotion if he so chooses… Get on it, Sergeant, I'll be there in 45."

That's when I realized why he looked different. He was in his flight suit, complete with boots, sidearm and his go bag. Under his arm he had another green nomex flight suit. He looked over at Callen and threw the flight suit at him. "Suit up, I got us a ride. You and I can be on the ground there in 14 hours."

TBC