#5
Mike had grabbed Hetty and run for the parking lot, so quick that the other woman was several steps behind, not having expected Mike to have grabbed Hetty as quickly as he had.
She had heard the stories about the agents working for OSP in Los Angeles. But had always assumed they were just that, stories.
Andrea had only been there to report in, having been advised not to use any NCIS procedures, official or otherwise.
She had been aboard the yacht when Hetty had stumbled down the few short steps into the cabin. She reacted by asking a load of questions, but failing to do something, being so shocked with seeing Hetty with a gaping chest wound.
"We can't take her to a hospital. You know that… too many questions that we can't answer…" Andrea offered as she watched Mike place Hetty in the back seat of his car
"What do you want me to do… just leave her on the sidewalk to bleed to death" Mike replied curtly,
"What do you do when you get injured on the job?. You know we can't report this…" Andrea started, before being cut off by Mike
"I have an idea. Get in… NOW"
…
Mike had slammed the brakes on and had the car door open before the car came to a full stop. Andrea had fired off a pair of quick flash messages in the car, and glanced down at the blood on her own hands.
"You coming!" Mike practically shouted, with no regard for where he was or who could hear him shouting
He grabbed Hetty from the rear seat and made for the service entrance to the morgue
Once he was inside, with Andrea but a few steps behind, he kicked open the door to Rose's autopsy room and laid Hetty down. She had been unusually quiet on the drive to the morgue…. Mike had been expecting some sort of orders to the thrown at him. But even if she had tried, he wasn't in the mood to listen to any…
"Rose?" he Called out, before looking out the window to see if her car was still there… it was "Rose…. I could really use your help!"
A few moments later in rushed Rose…
"Mike, what's the emergenc…" Rose began before stopping mid sentence when she saw Hetty on the tabletop
"Rose. .. I really NEED you to help me here!" Mike encouraged, placing emphasis on the word 'need'
Mike stepped back from the table before Rose even had a chance to ask him to Give her some room
"Don't... I need you to keep pressing right there!" Rose instructed, grabbing Mike's hand and pushing it down on Hetty's torso, while she rushed over to her filing cabinet to pull out her medical kit
…
"She's down… Doesn't look good, G" Andrea said over the phone, as she peeked inside the autopsy room, trying to avoid Mike's glare
[…]
"What am I meant to do… this isn't what I was trained for!"
[…]
…
"What's happened?" Grace groaned into the phone as she rolled out of her bunk
[…]
"I know it's not. I need you to keep calm. Take a breath… try and stay calm, Andrea. Okay. Who're you with?"
[…]
"Do whatever he asks… I'll be there as soon as I can,… You can't let her die… the job's not finished" Grace instructed, before groaning in discomfort
…
Somehow Rose had managed to stabilise Hetty… for a while. But she urged Mike to get an actual doctor to look her over
Mike agreed, but he had something that had to be done first
"Who are you…" He began, before grabbing Andrea and Grabbing her, pulling her into the room "What were you doing on Hetty's boat, and who did you phone…" He continued sounding far less friendly that Andrea had heard
"I'm an NCIS agent. That's all you need to know"
"Yeah… Well we'll see about that. Hetty dies tonight… you're going to fry for it" threatened Mike
…
"Brother, could use your help…"
[…]
"Yeah. Better Tell, G and the rest of the team. If this goes sideways… may not have another chance to say bye"
Mike cut the call off and slipped the phone back into his trouser pocket. He felt like he had been dragged through a cactus patch in the last few hours
"I'm not going to die Michael…not yet by any stretch of the imagination. You can cancel the call for the others to come running" Hetty spoke softly
Mike was shocked. The amount of Hetty's blood soaking into the back seat of his car seriously had him thinking this was the end for her
"Who shot you?"
"ah. Straight to business I see. I assume you have other questions… you wouldn't be you if you didn't"
Mike didn't know where to start… first off he wanted to scream at her, demand answers about why the baby he had collected from Vic's place was being listed as connected to Grace, when she had died several years previous. Demand information about who the young girl he had found by Hetty's side was.. And yes, he wanted to know who had shot her… probably in that order…
"I don't know where to start… with you I never do…"
"Andrea is one of us. You can rest easy… she is not the one who shot me"
"Yeah, well I'll rest easier when I can verify that with someone other than you. You ,… you.." Mike spoke, stuttering at the end before letting out an almighty roar "Nothing with you is ever straight is it… I mean all those ops. Putting Callen, Sam, Kens, Deeks… Grace at risk of death" he continued before letting out a soft sigh "You swore to us that G wasn't fit to work. You said he was at a specialised facility. You swore you had no idea where Grace was for those 3 years, despite the fact that you had her watching over G from a distance. This was NOT the life he wanted for her. But that wasn't good enough for you was it… you pushed her through god only knows what sort of training. Just like G… just like Grace Stevens, Lauren Hunter… and Sullivan. We pretend like you're some sort of almighty angel, saving people from dark situations… but the truth… the truth is you're the one responsible for putting them all in even darker situations" Mike had started off calm… but the more he said, the angrier he became
"She's in here!" he heard as he turned to find Andrea and a pair of … what looked like paramedics walking into the autopsy room. Mike got up and walked past the 3 of them
"I'm out of here"
…
Mike looked round when the passenger door opened "Hey" Sydney said softly
Mike looked confused, but before he could ask how she knew he was here she said one word "Hetty"
"You another one of her pawns?"
Sydney softly punched Mike's arm
"What's happened?"
"How much time've you got…?! You know I so desperately feel like I need a drink"
"The fact that you can admit that says your growing"
"You were right the other day, Syd… I've not dealt with losing Grace… I don't think I ever will…She had so much potential. And because of your sister and G… she repeated their mistakes. She gave up on a normal life… she could've been anything. To die from a shooting….in her own home. That wasn't the life he wanted for her… not the life any of us wanted for her"
"You think I don't know that. It's not the sort of life Penny wanted for her… at least, not when she was born. The fact that Grace was willing to sacrifice her own happiness, her own life for the benefit of another. That sounds very noble. Just like the rest of you have done for as long as I've known you all"
…
"Okay. The bullshit stops here… Who the fuck are you?" Mike asked, dragging Andrea into Rose's office and standing in front of the door, blocking the only exit
"I told you . I'm an agent"
"Okay then. Show me your badge…"
"I don't answer to you Agent Renko. Never have and I never will"
"Yeah?! Well if you don't start filling in the blanks, LAPD will come and get you, let you spend the night in a cell. Somehow I doubt Hetty will be making a call for clemency on your behalf… not in her current state anyway"