trscrny: Yay, glad I was able to get you right inside of that bank. Seems like I fleshed everything out enough to make the scene come to life. As for the communication… being watched closely, they can't exactly speak openly, so some covert talking and behaving accordingly was in order. Glad you like the story. Thanks for reviewing. And now on to Ch4 with you :)

CH: *bows* Thank you!

ssl71: Thanks. Chapter 4 coming up now :)

Have fun with Chapter 4 everyone!

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Come Hell or High Water

Chapter 4

Frustration was clear to see in the three robbers - and also in the hostages. Four hours into the hostage situation, it was plain to see that neither of the three robbers were really primed for what was happening. Miller was the most controlled of the lot but he, too, was showing cracks.

Watching hostage situations on TV gave you a warped perspective of time when the case would inevitably be resolved in about 40 minutes to satisfy the need for a common TV format. Even the two hours or so of a normal movie didn't come close to the real deal. In reality, these things dragged on for hours and hours.

So far, negotiations had heralded a minor success in swapping three hostages - the mother and her 7 year old son as well as an elderly man - for some food.

Callen let his eyes wander over the remaining hostages. They were mostly being left alone - even Caroso had seemed to tire of bullying them. The bank's manager would be nursing a headache for a while, but the man had refused to leave and take a spot for himself when the release of three hostages had been negotiated.

Callen wouldn't have begrudged the man for leaving, but he respected him all the more for staying and not leaving his employees or patrons in the hands of the three hostage takers. Not that the bank manager could offer anything to improve the situation, but leadership came down to being there in the worst moments.

Kensi beside him was lost in her own thoughts and Callen watched her for a few silent moments, renewing his pledge to do everything he could to make sure she came to no harm.

Their comms were mostly silent, only now and then advising them of developments. He knew that while they were in the middle of the mess, the others were doing all they could to work together with the FBI to resolve the situation. Unless they needed information, he knew to let them work in peace.

He had absolute faith in his team, knowing they had been through many tricky situations together over the years that had shaped this team into a well functioning unit with implicit trust running between them.

Callen's eyes slid over to the counter where Miller and Haley were seated. Caroso was pacing but not making any moves towards either the other robbers or the hostages. Tuning out the pacing man, he focused on Haley. The younger man was still the most nervous one of the lot, fiddling with whatever he got his hands on - from a fallen pen to click with, to jiggling his gun on his thigh, to digging through the pile of cell phones and wallets the three men had collected earlier.

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Silence had fallen around the room, only broken by the occasional shuddering breath from one of the hostages or one of the robbers-slash-hostage-takers moving around. Therefore, Callen glanced up in surprise when sound suddenly filled the room.

"iThe hostage situation in LA's First Bank is still in full swing/i," the voice was tinny and scratchy, but he could guess on the source of it before visually confirming it. Over four hours into the hostage situation, he knew that behind the FBI barricades, reporters would be circling like vultures to get the best story of the day and earn their keep. True enough, he saw the TV mounted on the wall now showing the live stream of an LA news channel.

Callen shifted his body slightly towards the TV, so that his button cam would pick up on it before he let his head drop down, "guys, we have a problem. They've switched on the TV and found one of the news channels," he muttered.

"Hey, what are you muttering about?" Caroso's voice boomed behind him and Callen jerked up, scolding himself for losing sight of the third man. He allowed his eyes to widen and his expression to morph into abject fear as the man came around and circled closer. "N-nothing," he stuttered, leaning backwards when the other man towered over him and waved a gun in his face.

From the corner of his eyes he saw the other hostages shrink away, heard the shocked gasps and whimpers. Everything had been quiet for hours, but the sudden escalation of emotion and potential violence hung in the room and people reacted accordingly. He couldn't focus on that though, instead prepared himself for action, gauging his chances of survival if he was pushed into a confrontation now. They weren't good, but if push came to shove... He didn't think Caroso would be a match for him training and fighting wise, but the gun so close to his head also didn't leave much room for error. On top of that, there were two more men with guns and while he suspected they might not react instantly, there was also no way the situation wouldn't quickly escalate.

Going against everything he was, every instinctual behavior that said to meet the challenge and push for a confrontation, Callen instead let his eyes flicker away from the man towering over him, let his shoulders curl forward and his hands tremble, showing even more submissive behavior than he had just moments earlier by shrinking back. It rankled, but it was key to deescalate the situation. Plus, he couldn't let on that neither he nor Kensi were really crowed by the situation - it would bring too many questions about their personalities and who they were. Joe Average wasn't used to being in a hostage situation after all.

Luckily, his demeanor was enough to stroke Caroso's need for dominance and watching someone else suffer. The man backed away after another moment, a feral smile on his lips.

Glad the situation hadn't blown up in their faces and they hadn't been found out, Callen took a slow breath and looked over to Kensi, finding her eyes on him. Knowing they had to complete the picture, feeling several gazes on them, he shakily reached for her and drew her close, burying his face in her shoulder once more.

They stayed that way for several long minutes, both of them knowing they needed to sell the distraught couple they were portraying.

Miller's shout and Haley reaching for the remote control drew his attention over to the remaining hostage takers and he watched the TV flicker and die. Callen turned his head into Kensi's neck - this time to hide his grin. While the TV going down would be a short term disgruntlement for the robbers, it wouldn't escalate the situation, so he counted it as a win.

It had been a few minutes since he had contacted the team to inform them of the TV being turned on. Callen was glad that law enforcement hadn't reacted instantly once his message had come through. He knew that Nell and Eric likely could have shut this down seconds after he had voiced his concern, but it also might have made his position more precarious. It was unlikely that anyone would have connected his low words with the TV going out moments later, but in situations of high stress, sometimes things unexpectedly went downhill.

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He had kept Kensi against his side since the near miss half an hour ago. It was less because it was needed and more to complete the picture of a man having come close to death and now clinging to his girlfriend.

Pretending to be afraid was never something he liked doing. He could do it just fine, but it was the emotion that he loathed to allow close. In order to be believable, he had to allow that emotion to swamp him and that was something he both hated and feared in equal measures. He had spent a lot of time in his youth being afraid and since then he had put countermeasures in place against that feeling. He still had the capacity to feel fear - when an op spiraled out of control, putting him or one of his own in danger for example - but bringing it up as a weapon in a situation like this was difficult as it worked hard on stripping away the many measures of control he had erected against it.

Since the near miss, nothing more had happened. He had felt the men's gazes on him more than once, but Callen made sure to keep his own observations covert. He still had a clear picture of where everyone was and how the situation stood.

A squeeze of his hand brought his attention to Kensi. "You good?" she asked.

He glanced over and briefly let his nervous and scared mask fall, showing her the face of the agent she was used to seeing. It seemed that despite the years of working together, he could sometimes still fool even her.

The small smile that flittered over her features and the relaxing of her frame let him know she had seen what he had wanted her to see. The curve of her shoulders eased and relaxed, confidence returning.

Callen tensed when he could suddenly make out the voice of an anchor person of one of LA's news stations. "iAnd we've got breaking news on the ongoing LA bank robbery. Jimmy, what can you tell us/i?" The sound that wafted over was once more tinny and flickering, but it was still clear enough to make out the words.

He glanced up at the TV in the corner of the room, finding it still darkened and lifeless, before he turned to look at Haley. He was leaning against the counter, his pose near casual if it weren't for the rapt attention he had on the cell phone in his hand. Shutting the TV off to isolate the robbers from any outside information was all well and good, but the technical possibilities made that more and more difficult these days.

Callen glanced around to locate Caroso and Miller, finding them far enough away from the hostages. Miller was pacing close to the counter, but his pacing slowed down and he half turned towards Haley and the news reel. Caroso was standing at the opposite side of the room, leaned against the interior wall where he had a good view of the whole room. His attention was primarily on the hostages, but he was too far away to hear anything if Callen kept his words quiet.

Tucking his head down, he delivered a curt but urgent message. "Damn it, Eric, cut their feeds," Callen muttered under his breath, "they are watching the damn news on a cell phone."

He heard the discussions going on in the background as the chatter on their earwigs suddenly picked up. Their tech guru had once broken the internet, but it seemed that shutting down one specific cell phone wasn't all that easy. Shutting down the wireless system in the area would mean their comms would go down as well - and possibly also those from the FBI.

So that wasn't the way to go.

Callen ignored all the tech talk. In general terms: he didn't care how it was done, just that it got done… and quickly.

He watched with mounting concern as Haley's eyes hung on the phone. There was something going on that he didn't like, something that would just worsen the situation they were in. He could tell. He had honed his gut feeling all his life and currently, it was telling him that things were about to get even more fucked up.

His worries were verified when seconds later when another voice came on, the rushing sounds in the background indicating the speaker was outdoors. The words were said in a rush, someone excited to break a news story that no one else had gotten to yet.

It was a news story that turned into a bombshell announcement:

"iYeah, Laura, sources tell me that there's a federal agent inside of the bank/i."

Kensi's wide eyes met his just before Miller's furious shouts erupted inside of the room.

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