Note: I recently developed a theory to the whole 'Hetty on a mission' thing. And since there's info that says that in another month, the team will be trying to find her, this qualifies as a speculative fic. Enjoy.

Oh, and I use a few spoilers from Season 12 so far.

After Nell told Callen that Hetty might not be coming back, they both went looking for her.

Sam had said that she was overseas, possibly close to Syria, hunting down a Russian mole and trying to free 2 of her assets, so they tried contacting people close to Syria asking if they had seen her.

A couple of months passed, still nothing. It had gotten to the point where even Callen, for a brief moment, was thinking if she really had completely disappeared forever.

Then through SAT phone, Nell was finally able to find the phone she had been using to keep in contact with her team.

Callen tried calling her.

'Hello?'

'Hetty?'

'Mr. Callen?! How did, how did you get this number?' Hetty asked.

'Nell tracked it down. Where are you? The team has been trying to find you for the past couple of months! We're, concerned that you've, abandoned us per say.' Callen replied.

Callen then heard her sniffling.

'Are you okay?'

'I'm okay, but, I'm in hiding.' She replied, with a shaky voice.

'Where?'

'I'll tell you, but please don't tell anyone else! I'm really paranoid right now about being found by the wrong person!'

'Okay okay. I'll keep your secret safe. But, I need to see you. I need to see for myself that you're okay.' Callen said.

'Okay. But I need you to bring supplies, like medical things, food and water, I'm running low.'

Hetty gave Callen the address, which wasn't that far from LA, Callen went there immediately.

There was a guard outside the door, Callen gave the secret password.

He then went up 2 sets of stairs, knocked on a door, and Hetty answered.

'Hetty?'

'Hi, come on in.' She answered, softly.

'Well, this looks like a nice place. Cozy, well lit, clean.' Callen said, describing the small living quarters.

'Mmm. Please take a seat. I'm sure you have a lot of questions.' She responded.

They sat down.

'Back in October, I was told that 2 of my overseas assets had been captured, and that a Russian mole was on the loose and that I was the right person for the mission. I agreed to it, on the condition that I have a way to keep in contact with all of you. So, I was given Internet access, and I hid a SAT phone as a more secure line and backup system.' Hetty said.

'Okay.'

'At some point, I don't know when, I started getting suspicious that there was more to the mission then I was being told. So I started digging around. A while ago, I was on my to bring the captives home. I was ambushed, I barely got out of there alive. Every soldier I was with was killed or captured. The camp I had been staying at since October was destroyed. I had to go into hiding after that.'

'How did you get back here?' Callen asked.

'Help from a friend.' Hetty responded.

'So, why are you in hiding?'

'Because my digging revealed that the mission was possibly a set up designed to get me killed in battle, and I think I know who set me up.'

'Who?'

'Admiral Kilbride.'

Silence.

'You sure?' Callen asked.

'He's the one who set up the mission, and apparently, he's the only outside source who's kept tabs on how the mission was going, and he's never really liked me at all. I'm convinced it is him, and I'm working on a way to take him down.' Hetty responded.

Callen then explained how often he had been around the team, the things he's said about her, and the offer he made Nell.

'Oh dear God, sigh. I would never abandon any of you like that. That was not going to be my last mission. I was going to complete it and come home and resume my position as your boss.' Hetty responded.

'So, what do we do? We take him down, you can come out of hiding, right?'

'Right.'

'The whole team is going to help on this. I'm going to need everything you have on him.' Callen said.

Hetty gave him everything she had.

'Yes, it's a lot. Please be careful.' She said.

'You do the same.'