Chapter 28
Jethro looked at the i.d. on his phone and smiled at the name that appeared. Jack couldn't help herself when it came to him. She'd made him her mission to work her psychological skill on, but he continued to push back. And he toyed a little with her on their personal relationship. He enjoyed her company more than he let on.
"Jack, what's up?"
"How is he?"
"Who are we talking about?"
"Your friend."
"He's improving. What's up?"
"I have some interesting information for you on your friend's past, a case for the CIA that led to the actions of Cairns on him. It's not just that fact he was after your friend's father, it was something from 1990."
"Tell me." Gibbs' eyes went on alert again, anything that pertained to this information Jack shared with him was top secret.
"Thanks, Jack. I'll speak with him and get back to you."
"Can I speak to him?"
"He's dead, remember?" Gibbs reminded Jack of the illusion their agency had put in place for Callen's protection.
"Okay. Call me when you have something to pass on this way."
"Sure."
Gibbs stepped into the private room and watched the sleeping form of Callen in the bed before him. He looked peaceful when he slept, something his friend hadn't done much in his earlier years in case someone tried to hurt him.
"He's just fallen back off to sleep. The exercise is wearing him out."
"It's good that he is walking." Gibbs angled his head towards the door. "How about you take a break, go for a walk, get something decent to eat and drink. I can sit with him for a bit."
"Thanks." Sam rose, his eyes shifting towards his partner one more time.
"Call me if he wakes."
"I'm sure you'll be back before he does."
Gibbs settled in the vacant chair and looked at Callen. Slow steady breaths and the constant beeping of the heart monitor reaffirmed his friend was alive and on his way to recovery.
"Has he gone?" Callen's blue eyes opened and stared at Gibbs.
"Stephen. Are you playing games with Sam already?"
"I'm bored lying here or sitting in that chair. What I need is to escape this place and head to where my family is. I'm going crazy."
"Patience was never your thing."
"Nor yours either. Sam, however, appears to have the patience for everyone."
"He's well trained in the SEALs."
"And you weren't in the Marines?" Callen scoffed.
"Point taken. I've become irritable in my old age."
"Yeah, like you're that ancient yet," Callen smirked. "I bet there's something going on with that Forensic Psychologist you keep mentioning to me. What's her name? Jack. That's right. Tell me about her."
"Actually, it's funny you should bring her up. She just called with something interesting from your past."
Callen frowned. "What is it?"
"How much do you remember about your first case with the CIA?"
Callen frowned, thinking hard. "I was kidnapped and shot. I don't remember much other than a woman, De something, saved my life and got me out of Moscow with Hetty's help. Why?"
"Who else was in Moscow with you and Delaney?"
"That's right. Thanks for reminding me."
"Who else was with you and Delaney in Moscow?"
Callen shook his head. His mind tried to dig deep into his memory, but nothing came. "I don't remember. I almost died and lost my memory."
"You went to Moscow with Eric Cairns."
Callen's eyes widened. "I'm sure I would have remembered him being there."
"Janet Delaney's come clean on the truth that occurred on that trip to Moscow. She's heard the news that Cairns killed you."
"Almost achieved it." Callen coughed and pain ripped through him.
"Do I need to call for a nurse?"
"No, I'm good." Callen blinked a couple of times. "I'm okay. Thanks."
Gibbs nodded. "If you're sure."
"What happened in Moscow?"
"You overheard Eric Cairns speaking with General Kuznetsov. You discovered something."
"Who is General Kuznetsov?"
"Eric Cairns' grandfather. His mother escaped Russia to get away from him and the things she saw from working with the government. She is one of the many your father helped escape with new identities in the U.S. Eric Cairns is after your father for helping his mother escape, resulting in his father being killed by his grandfather because they thought he was behind her disappearance. And he's been after you ever since you discovered the family connection and called him a Russian spy. And it looks like he's been doing some serious digging into your background and discovered who your father is. I believe the recent swap with the reporters to the Iranians may have revealed your connection. It's made seeking you out more urgent."
"So it wasn't just because of who my father is, it's something from my own past working at Langley that's brought this attack on?"
"Yes. The fact that he's discovered Nikita is your father, doubled his intentions to cause you harm."
"Great." Callen cringed.
"I'm getting a nurse."
"No. I need to get out of here. Ask someone for my release papers, or I'm walking out of here without it."
"Stephen," Gibbs remembered his alias, never revealing his true identity.
"Please, Jethro. Before Sam gets back. I need to be with Thea and our kids."
Gibbs nodded. "Okay. But no escaping before I get those release papers."
"Thanks." Callen sighed with relief. He was getting out of there at last. A smirk formed on his lips that he still could manipulate Gibbs in doing things for him.
"Cheeky." Gibbs studied his friend and noted his spirits lifted with the hope of getting out of there. He exited the room and headed for the nurses' station.
Sam walked back to the hospital and stalled when he saw Callen and Gibbs waiting for him at the entrance. He shook his head as he approached them.
"Don't tell me, Stephen waited for me to leave and begged for you to get him out?"
Gibbs shrugged. "We're waiting on a taxi to take us to the plane."
Sam studied his partner. "You sure you're up to this?"
"I need them, Sam."
Sam looked back at Gibbs. "What did the doctor say?"
"That he needs to remain in the hospital for another week, but if you stay with him, he'll be happier, since he's insisting on leaving."
"I don't intend on leaving him." Sam glared at Callen.
"I'll behave. I just need to be with my family."
"We are your family."
"Yeah, but you're not my wife or kids."
Sam placed his hand over his heart, jesting his feelings were hurt.
"Come on, big guy. You know how important you are to me."
"Same for you, which is why you should stay in the hospital until you're ready to leave."
"I'm going insane."
A taxi pulled up and Sam helped Callen inside. "To the marina."
The taxi pulled away from the hospital and Callen released the breath he'd been holding. Relief flooded him. He was going home. Not L.A. home, but family home, and it comforted him.
Deeks buried his head into his hands. After searching for ghosts for almost a week, he had nothing to show for it except for separation issues from his wife and son. He missed them desperately, and besides the daily phone calls, he felt alone in the world except for having Eric Beale around. The Tech joined him for drinks the night before and they'd shared their wish to be with the rest of the team instead of being stuck in L.A. with strangers. The D.C. team left a hole in their day, they'd been good agents and they'd worked well for the week they'd been there. Now unknown agents gathered in the Ops Centre being briefed by Beale and Ochoa on the Russians they were after, and all Deeks wanted was home and sleep.
The past two weeks had been few on sleep for the detective, who'd gone undercover as a homeless man once again, and dealt with the attempt of saving the Harper and Campbell homes from the fire that gutted the former's home. He hated driving past to see the desolated plot of land. There was no protection from that side of the Campbell's family home now, and he quickly arranged for a security fence to be installed to keep it protected.
There were no leads on who these Russian mercenaries were—no fingerprints to chase, no witnesses, other than Audrey Harper, who said they wore masks and she couldn't identify them. Eric had scoured the home security Callen had installed on their home, however, even that hadn't given them much. The armed men had arrived from the other side of the Harper property, almost missing Callen's cameras, as if they'd known they were there before they invaded and killed Jason Harper.
Deeks switched his laptop on and scanned over the camera feeds again. "There has to be something here."
"Try three weeks prior."
Deeks looked up and found Eric standing in front of his desk.
"Where did you come from?"
"I flew down." Eric held his tablet in his hands. "In fact, it was one of the subs that found it while scouring through the Campbell camera feeds. It's a good thing he sends it onto a hard drive for back up, otherwise, we would never have found it. Most are overwritten in a forty-eight hour period, some more advanced may go back fourteen days. They had no idea who the occupants of the house next door were, and therefore they did not consider that it all would be kept." Eric continued on the facade that Nell and Callen were the Campbells, just in case there were ears listening that shouldn't be.
"I'll remember that the next time I drive past their house to check on it."
"No need, I have it all coming through to me in Ops. I had permission from Mrs Campbell, it was set up to make certain they remained safe."
"Good planning. So I can ditch my daily drive-by."
"Yes, you can." Eric frowned. "You're not sleeping."
"No. I miss Kensi and Zander-man too much."
"Let's hope we can get them home sooner, so we can return to normal around here."
"Show me what the sub found?"
"Who are you calling a sub?" A girl appeared next to Eric and Deeks shook his head and squinted his eyes, to check they were functioning correctly. He really did need more sleep. A woman, a young woman around late twenties, he surmised, with straight dark hair and intense eyes, stared at him.
"Who are you?" Deeks settled back into his chair and folded his arms over his chest.
"Agent Stephanie James. Your new partner."
Deeks shifted his gaze to Eric who merely shrugged. "Ochoa's idea."
"Right. I'm Detective Marty Deeks. Everyone calls me Deeks."
"So, you're not an agent?" She ran her brown eyes over the length of him, assessing the man. He was tall and shaggy. Probably a surfer. And loud, from her own assumptions when she could hear him talking from the floor above.
"No. Never needed to become one." Deeks eyed her suspiciously.
"I was told you are our team lead, but you're not an agent. I don't understand?"
"I've worked here for ten years. Wow! That long. I'm as experienced as any of the agents that work here, my title is irrelevant."
"Okay." Stephanie James shifted her attention to the desks around her. "Which desk is mine?"
Deeks looked wide-eyed as she chose Callen's desk and settled there.
"Who's does this one belong to?" She opened a drawer and pulled a file out from the desk.
"I don't think you should be reading that." Eric moved swiftly to remove the file from her hands. "I will need to empty the desk before you can work from there."
"This is that agent's desk, the one that was shot down over Montana?"
"That's debatable on whether it was South Dakota or Montana," Eric added. He quickly placed everything from Callen's desk into a box and took it away.
He'd seen the rage that simmered in Deeks' eyes over they way Stephanie so aimlessly mentioned about the attack on Callen's plane. He wanted to get out of the bullpen as soon as possible, who knew what Deeks might say or do to his new partner if the conversation continued on about Callen.
He placed the box onto a shelf in the storage room and hoped it wouldn't be too long before the contents returned to Callen's desk. It would always be Callen's desk no matter who sat in it. He wondered how the other two agents would behave at Sam and Kensi's desks, and worried how Deeks would take their company. Things didn't appear to be going well with Stephanie.
"Was he your partner?" Stephanie settled in way too well for Deeks' liking.
"He was our team leader. The four of us worked closely together for a real long time. He was like a brother to me."
"I'm sorry. I can move desks if that helps?" She saw him struggle and took it to be his grief.
"No, it's okay. I've got to get used to him being gone." The words echoed around the ground floor and Deeks wondered why he was lying so easily, playing the part of a grieving brother? The illusion had to remain in place for Callen's safety, but that didn't remove the anger that churned inside of him over the attempt on his life. The fact that he'd almost been killed and suffered in a great deal of pain in the hospital, way too soon after Mexico, concerned him the most.
His thoughts were broken when his cell shrilled. He picked it up. "What is it, Eric?"
"We have found the vehicles from the raid on the Harpers' home."
"Where?"
"The address is on your phone. Agents Grasby and Evans are on their way down to you. SWAT are on their way."
The other two new additions to his team moved swiftly down the stairs and looked to Deeks for direction.
"Follow me." It was easier for Deeks to lead them to the carpool than to explain the meanderings of this long building. Carpool sat at the opposite end to their offices and he couldn't afford for them to get lost. His own vehicle was parked there anyway.
Deeks drove Agent James without any further conversation, while his mind focused on the next turn he had to make to the warehouse, just south of the Lincoln Memorial Park. They had to navigate through traffic, and he was thankful it wasn't peak hour. He hoped whoever they were after was there and they got them all. He needed his team back, not this substitute team who didn't know any of them.
SWAT was waiting for them around the corner and Deeks and the other agents followed him to meet with the commander. They looked at the map of the building to discuss how this was going down.
"There are exits on all sides of the building. If we breach here," Commander Willis pointed to the front of the building, we have a good chance they'll come out here, here, and here." He pointed to the side and rear doors that lead to a major road and other warehouses, adding to the danger that innocent civilians could become collateral.
"Then we split into four groups. One of us goes with two or three of your men." Deeks looked at the ten-man SWAT team under Commander Willis.
"We breach on my command." Commander Willis stated, knowing although Deeks was the team lead on this, he was only LAPD not NCIS.
Deeks nodded, thankful to have him on board for this operation. He expected all hell to break loose once they breached the warehouse. He was also pleased to split up his new team in amongst the SWAT team, hoping that no death or injury came their way.
"All in position?"
"Affirmative," Deeks replied. He was positioned at the front of the building and hoped the men inside were unarmed when they entered.
"Breach! Breach! Breach!"
The agents and SWAT team entered. Gunfire greeted them and the sound echoed around the warehouse. Deeks ducked, a bullet nearly hit him in the neck, and he blew out a quick breath as one of the SWAT officers fired back and the shooter fell to the floor.
More gunfire sounded at the rear, where the Russian mercenaries attempt to escape was blocked by Agents Grasby and more SWAT officers.
"You're surrounded. Lay down your weapons." Deeks called out.
Another automatic weapon sounded, shattering the contents on the shelves above Deeks' head.
More gunfire exploded to the right, and Deeks knew that Agent Evans was pushing forward to get to the men in the middle of the warehouse. Deeks peeped above a sack that looked like it contained flour and hoped that was all it was since its powder form puffed out from the bullet holes onto his face. His eyes scanned the area in front of him, and there was no way he and his officers could move any closer.
He saw movement to the left—Agent James moved in as close as she could, ducking and swerving as she moved closer to their targets. She narrowly missed being hit, and Deeks swore under his breath over her arrogance that she was invincible.
Deeks shot at the man who was firing at James. He went down and Stephanie nodded her thanks to him as she moved closer. The officers moved closely behind her, and now she was in the best position to the last group of men standing.
Deeks took photos of the men that remained and sent them to Eric. There was one man who stood out from the rest, he was tall and broad and appeared to be giving instructions to the rest.
"Capture only, do not kill the man on the right. He looks to be the leader, and we need to question him." Deeks called out over their comms.
More gunfire ensued and the leader took a hit in the left arm. His right held onto a gun and fired it back. Agent Evans took a hit to the chest. He went down, but Deeks knew the kevlar vest had saved him.
You okay, Evans?" Deeks asked him.
Evans gasped as the impact winded him. He took a couple of breaths. "I'm good."
"Don't do that again. We need to survive this."
"Will try my best," Evans responded. He was tough, served in the marines before moving to NCIS two years earlier. He was accustomed to gun battles and this one was no different.
Grasby moved forward from the rear and threw a noose of rope he'd found out back to loop around the leader's leg. He dragged him away from his gun and his men.
The leader attempted to wrestle with the noose, to get it off his leg, but his injured left arm made the task almost impossible.
"Помогите!" The leader called out. One of his men turned and fired Grasby's way. Agent James fired and hit the man firing at Grasby, exposing her position.
Deeks saw the Russian aim his weapon at James and he quickly fired and hit him in the head."
"Nice shot. Thanks." James thanked Deeks again.
"That's two you owe me."
"I didn't realise we kept score." James shook her head at how Deeks could appear so nonchalant during a gunfight. But she didn't have time to study the detective further when she ducked and nearly missed another bullet heading her way.
One of the officers behind her fired back, hitting them in the chest, and they fell to the dusty floor instantly.
"Five to go." Commander Willis called over the comms. "Try to injure not kill."
But with the remaining men intent on killing the agents and SWAT officers, it was kill or be killed.
Thankfully, Grasby had taken the leader hostage and tied him up behind a pile of heshan sacks. He ripped the bottom of the hostage's shirt and tied it over his injured arm. Blood was oozing out way too fast for his liking.
Satisfied he'd held the pressure off long enough, he focused on his team. "Eric, we need an ambulance for one of the suspects. Gunshot wound to the left arm."
"There's one waiting a block away until it's deemed safe."
"Good. We still have five men to deal with."
The man before him groaned in pain.
"You'll live." Agent Grasby told him.
"You won't get away with this." The man growled at him, his Russian accent was prominent. The pain from the bullet took main focus for him, and he hissed as another shot of pain ran up his arm.
"Don't move your arm. You'll be given medical treatment once your men put their weapons down."
"They will never surrender."
"Why did you invade the Harper's family home and kill the husband?"
"He took something that belonged to our country."
"It was never in the States. You're here illegally, and these weapons are from Russia. Why are you here?"
"To get back what was stolen from us."
"Jason Harper never had the Fabergé egg. You were sent on a wild goose chase. Who gave you the orders? Who sent you here?"
"I will never tell you."
Grasby held the suspect's arm around the bullet wound, and the Russian cried out in pain.
"Answer my questions and we can do this more civilised."
"Who sent you to L.A.?"
"I'll die before I tell you."
"We'll see about that." Grasby shoved a knife into the man's injured arm and shocking pain seared his flesh, sending sharp and unbearable pain up his arm. He yelled out in agony.
"General." He breathed out. Sweat beaded down his temples.
"General who?"
"Kuznetsov." He gasped for breath, as Grasby released him.
"He's still alive?" Grasby remembered Eric Beale talking about the General from years ago, how he was Eric Cairns' grandfather.
The man laughed sarcastically. "It will take a nuclear war to kill the old warhorse."
"Why did he send you to L.A.?"
"To find the Fabergé egg. But you tell me it's not here?"
"It's back in Moscow. It was taken by General Kuznetsov's grandson to cause problems with our agency."
"NCIS?" The man read the letters on the kevlar vest Grasby wore."
"Yes."
"Why NCIS?"
"To draw out one of our agents he had an issue with from many years ago. You were drawn in on his personal vendetta. Now your men have suffered greatly. Not only are you in the United States illegally, but you've also killed two Federal Agents on U.S. soil, and your men are falling like flies."
"Стоп!" [Stop!] The man called out to the few men of his that remained.
The gunfire behind him stopped. Gunpowder floated in the air, and the silence was replaced by movement of the NCIS agents and SWAT officers, disarming and cuffing the last of the Russians standing. Four men beside the leader remained.
Deeks scanned the warehouse. It appeared to hold pantry items in bulk sacks from what he could see, a good cover for these Russians to hide while they waited for more instructions.
"You go easy on my men." The Russian told Grasby. "We were only doing our jobs."
"We'll see about that." Grasby hauled the Russian to his feet. "I cannot promise you anything. It depends on what my bosses decide."
"You are a pawn like we are."
"We'll see about that." Grasby studied his prisoner closely. His English was excellent and he wondered where the man had studied, to be proficient like he was.
Grasby moved him into the rear of the ambulance and allowed the paramedics to tend to his injury. He looked over and watched Deeks dealing with another survivor. He looked exhausted and wondered how long the Detective had been working on this case.
"You good?" Grasby asked Deeks as he arrived at the ambulance.
"I'll survive. Has he told you anything we can work with?" Deeks looked up at the Russian been tended to by two paramedics.
"He told me General Kuznetsov is still around and sent them here for the Fabergé egg."
"Sounds like Cairns continues to work with his grandfather. We'll interview them all after you've finished here."
"You're so certain Eric Cairns and General Kuznetsov are related?"
"His mother confirmed it to Director Vance."
Grasby nodded. He knew this case went high on the list, and exactly who Eric Cairns was. He hoped that whatever else went on, the Detective and the rest of his team who remained away at this time found some closure for the loss of their team lead.