Lyneham took a deep breath and began to talk.

'First of all, you need to understand this was never my idea, never my intention. All I ever wanted was to build a retreat where people who society failed and rejected, could all belong. Most people were happy, content with our remote, outdoor space and some moved on. New people came and they were less happy. Some were pretty damaged by the system, by the institution. All kinds. Broken homes, abuse victims, Vets with PTSD. And slowly that caused the mood and atmosphere to change. So we turned in to a community who had the desire to affect change in the society which had rejected us. It was never meant to turn violent, just to shock people into seeing what is happening in front of their eyes, to see what the government is allowing to happen. To force people to care and to force the powers that be to make changes.'

'How did these people find you?' Kensi asked.

'At first it was chance, then through word of mouth, mostly through homeless shelters.' Lyenham paused, looking down at his hands.

'And then?' Sam said, a slight hint of impatience in his tone. He did not trust the man in front of him at all, he just knew Lyneham was playing them now, just like he'd played Callen.

'And then someone from my past surfaced. Anton DuValle. He said he'd been down on his luck and at a shelter for Vets when he heard about us. He turned up about a year ago with Stone. By then the mood was already changing and he just sorta took charge.'

'But you ran the ranch...' Kensi stated. They all knew Lyneham was deflecting and looking to lay the blame on anyone but himself. 'You had control and the power.'

'Well, only at the start,' Lyneham admitted. 'I mean, we worked together mostly and then Duvalle and Stone came along, then Chet, Thomason, Ariel and Raider, and lastly Rob. We all shared ideas, but it quickly moved from protests to suggested violence with smoke grenades and tear gas. Sure DuValle started to bring in weapons but that really wasn't part of our plans.'

'Then why allow DuValle to illegally source military weapons and build a specific hiding place to store them? You don't do that without the intention of using them.' Sam watched as Lyneham closed his eyes momentarily.

'Again, that was not my idea. Sure, the smoke grenades and tear gas, anything to cause disruption and attention without violence. DuValle…and Ariel, but she didn't want violence, she was just scared of DuValle…'

'Who placed the bombs at the Welfare Office?'

Lyneham sighed. Maybe this wasn't going as well as he anticipated. Self-preservation and protecting those he cared about were his top priorities and all he had suddenly caught himself doing, was implicating everyone when DuValle was the real villain.

'DuValle provided the weapons and Ariel oversaw their storage. The smoke grenades and tear gas cannisters were planted by Stone, Thomason and Rob, with Rob tasked to detonate them floor by floor, once he ensured everyone was safe. We didn't plan on hurting anyone and none of us knew those grenades were real bombs.'

'But innocents were still caught up in your domestic terrorism. It's a good job there were no pre-existing respiratory problems. Who made the switch and why?' Sam was not going to let go of this line of questioning.

'I don't know.' Lyneham shrugged. 'It could have been anyone of a number of people but the only person who had a reason was DuValle.'

'What reason did he have?'

'His authority was being eroded and he didn't like that. I tried to remove him strategically, sending him out of state but he returned without us knowing and swapped the weapons.'

'Who was eroding his authority?' Kensi asked. Lyneham may have been more forthcoming but both agents were having to work hard to extract the information from him.

'I guess it was me, Ariel and Rob. Rob challenged his operational strategies when no one else would and called him out publicly. There was real tension between those two that hadn't been there a few weeks earlier. And in the same meeting Ariel humiliated him further. He was also jealous of Rob's position.'

'Rob Gladstone…' Kensi moved Callen's mug shot in front of Lyneham, knowing they had to ask questions about him lest suspicions arose or worse still, if Lyneham identified him as the rogue federal agent. 'Tell us about him.'

'DuValle met him at a homeless shelter maybe seven weeks ago and background checks showed he had the skillset and mindset we needed. His foster brother tagged along too. Once I got to know him I agreed, and he worked well with the team generally and strategically.'

'Your history does not suggest you trust easily,' Sam commented. 'And neither does his.'

Lyneham shrugged. He had no answer to that statement.

'So, Gladstone assumed a position of power, alongside you and Ariel, which pushed DuValle's nose out of joint?'

'Yeah, that's what happened.' Lyneham refused to elaborate further. If he said that DuValle was a loose cannon and he and Ariel were happy for him to disappear, that would open another can of worms.

'How did the idea of attacking the VA centre come about?' Kensi changed the subject back to the attacks.

'Some of the Vets wanted to highlight how the services and government send us to fight their battles and then abandon us when we're done. It was agreed there'd be no violence, only chaos.'

'And what about the other attacks?'

'They speak for themselves. Taxes, banks, welfare...'

'They were highly coordinated attacks, using a variety of tactics,' Kensi stated. 'The official reports confirm the smoke bombs at the four target premises were rigged to a single cell phone for remote detonation. Whose idea was it?'

Lyneham looked down at his hands, tapping his fingers. 'DuValle,' he said without looking up.

'And who rigged the explosives?' Kensi persisted.

'Raider.' There was no hesitation in the response.

'How long has Raider been with you?' Kensi continued.

'About a year, on and off.'

'What's his background?'

'Special ops, black ops. He gives off a chilled vibe, but he's seen and done some bad things in his time.'

'Who sourced the weapons?' Sam quickly changed tact again.

'DuValle as I already said, but I only told him to get the smoke grenades and then he turned up with cases of guns.'

'I don't believe you,' Sam said. 'You were responsible for organising and structuring work at the ranch and that included fence building and renovation of a barn. This barn,' Sam placed pictures of the barn's footprint, the historical design clearly showed the old nuclear bomb shelter. 'This barn was deliberately chosen to be used as a weapons cache. You instructed the men to make sure it was suitable. That shows predetermined knowledge and intent.'

'It was DuValle.'

'DuValle is very conveniently dead.'

'Doesn't change the fact it was DuValle who organised the weapons.'

'With your authorisation.'

'No.'

It didn't take a genius to realise that DuValle would be and was being used as the scapegoat. Sam wondered if it had been part of Lyneham's long-term plan or whether he had seized the opportunity after the bombing of the welfare office.

'Who killed him?'

'I don't know.'

'You said you did know. Who killed him?'

Lyneham started to look agitated. He repositioned himself in the chair, his left knee bouncing a few times before he caught himself. He broke away from looking at Kensi and Sam, instead staring at the table.

'The DOD sent us some video clips they received from an anonymous source.' Kensi said gently. Like Sam, she still thought Lyneham was playing them and Callen. Maybe a good cop, bad cop routine would encourage him to tell a lie he thought they might believe and could easily be disproved. 'They showed your team planning the attacks, two of your team brutally fighting each other, and an audio clip purporting to be DuValle's murder.'

Lyneham glanced up sharply. 'What?'

'You heard,' Sam continued to play bad cop. 'Now who killed DuValle?'

'Why are you asking me if you already have evidence of his killer?'

'Because that evidence has been confirmed by specialists as fake. Audio spliced together.' Sam had every confidence the wonder twins would prove Callen's innocence. 'I'm sure the sounds of him dying from a slit throat are real enough, the rest…'

'Who betrayed you Josh?' Kensi asked, deliberately using his first name, and quickly changing the topic again to throw him off his game. 'You said you knew the name of an undercover agent who'd gone rogue. Who did you let into the inner circle? Who befriended you and your team with the only intention of betrayal? Did this person enjoy your community a little too much?'

There was no easy way to ask the question, but at least Kensi and default NCIS, gave the impression that any agent had not been placed by their agency.

'Rob Gladstone.'

Kensi and Sam shared a look, barely daring to breathe as they wondered what would follow.

'He was too good to be true,' Lyenham continued, tapping Callen's photo with his right index finger. 'He's like my long-lost brother. Shared childhood stories, rough teenage years, detention centres, military service. What are the odds of that actually happening?'

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In the operations centre, Callen felt his heart drop. His whole undercover persona and mission had been to gain Lyneham's trust due to their mostly real, shared background. What had he done to cause Lyneham to doubt him? And why had he never been confronted? He stared at Deeks, who stared back.

'Look, man…' Deeks started to say.

'No,' Callen shook his head. 'He's fishing, he has to be, to see how much we know. Raider's the one.'

'Yeah, I'm with you.' Deeks stared back at the large screen monitor in disbelief. Could Lyneham really have been playing Callen all along?

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'We didn't bond straight away; I mean he held back. I used to think I was closed off but jeez, Rob was hard work at first. But after a few weeks he and I were like best buddies. That's never happened before, and I don't think he had any other friends apart from that goofball of a brother and some girl in Venice he sometimes hooks up with. And then the doubts crept in. Ariel was suspicious and something happened, I don't know what, between Rob and DuValle. There was this hatred between them which is so weird as DuValle vetted him and brought him to me in the first place. I told you that already. Thomason dived into his background, found a number of unredacted versions of his files. Every trap I laid failed, and I kept him close just in case. We both opened up to each other and really bonded. We just trusted each other, and it felt right to partner up and together we adjusted DuValle's hairbrained plans so no one would get hurt. He's not a fed or a rogue fed and wouldn't turn traitor to save his own skin. He's the real deal and loyal to the end.'

'That's a real nice story,' Sam said roughly, but smiling broadly on the inside. 'Which has wasted our time. Who is the rogue undercover agent?'

'I'm not wasting your time,' Lyneham said with force. 'I'm trying to explain how complicated this all is.'

'It's ok,' Kensi shot Sam a look as though to berate him to riling their suspect. 'I understand how complex human nature is and how manipulative people can be. Please, carry on.'

Lyneham smiled weakly. 'It was Raider.'

'Explain.' Sam said.

'He passed all the background checks, nothing flagged to us as overly convenient or suspicious. Former special ops, a bit of prison time when he struggled with civilian life. He was down on his luck. Kept his head down but made friends quickly, a great character. He drifted in and out of the ranch over the last twelve months – people do, we're used to it, and accept it. The last time he returned, maybe a month before Rob and Billy showed, he seemed, I don't know, he just set off alarm bells for all of us. So, we re-did his background check and the further we dug, the more questions we had. There was no trace of his actual marriage or the birth of his kids. I mean the certificates were fine but looking into their lives, places of work, schools – nothing. His stint in prison seemed to be legitimate until we found his so-called cell mate didn't even exist. And then we discovered his real name, Mark Stapleford. Turns out he was in the military, and that some of his work were highly covert black ops in the middle east, run by the CIA. We couldn't work out which agency he's with, but we suspect it's something high profile like the FBI or Homeland Security. Clearly with the resources to plant an agent undercover for the long term - not like yours.'

'Ouch!' Kensi feigned a hurt look and decided not to enlighten Lyneham that they operated in over forty countries and were just as much involved in preventing terrorism as the FBI. And he had been fooled by not just one, but two NCIS agents, taking liberties with Deeks' position, of course. 'Well, that sounds pretty damning on all fronts. What made you think he'd gone rogue?'

'He was complicit in the weapons haul, rigged the bombs at the VA centre and he was under surveillance the whole time. There was no way he could be feeding back to his handlers and was as surprised as the rest of us when we were raided and tasered.'

'Hmm,' Sam said. It didn't sound too much like the actions of a rogue agent to him. Callen and Deeks had easily fed back information without falling under suspicion and he had no doubt Raider, or Mark or whatever his name, was just as well trained as them, more so if he had CIA links, if he was indeed a federal agent. 'So, let's return once again to the question of who killed DuValle?'

Lyneham looked up guiltily. 'I really don't know for sure, but there were only two people who hated him enough to kill him. Ariel and Rob. Ariel was attacked by him that night, and Rob pulled him off and…and I think he would have killed him if we hadn't interrupted. We reckon DuValle was killed maybe a few hours after that. Our surveillance shows Rob leaving his rooms and disappearing. He never accounted for his time and we never captured where he went. There is no footage of him entering the barn or the cell. He had means, motive and opportunity, no matter what your tech guys say about that audio. But my gut tells me it wasn't him. I don't believe it was and you said you have evidence it wasn't. So I really don't know…'

Silence ensued and Sam and Kensi took a few moments to let Lyneham's words sink in. They trusted Callen implicitly but until Eric and Nell could prove the audio was fake, it looked like their team leader was still the number one suspect. Lyneham had still implicated Callen and although he stated he didn't think he was guilty; Lyneham's thoughts didn't count for anything. Sam wondered what game he was actually playing now – or even if he was playing at all.

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Ariel was singing like the proverbial canary. Nate and Hetty barely had the opportunity to ask any questions, not that they were needed. Ariel filled in pretty much all the blanks they had and confirmed that Nate's suspicions were correct. Tears had flowed at pivotal points when Ariel recounted her past connection with DuValle, and the disgust she felt at holding evidence of child abuse over him to further her own causes and to protect herself. She revealed she had lived in fear at the ranch over the last few months due to DuValle's presence, her hardened shell a persona she had adopted many years ago in the aftermath of her sexual assault. She too had firmly laid the blame for the move to violent tendencies at DuValle's door.

Nate was pretty sure her and Lyneham had spent time aligning their stories whilst Callen was out getting blown up in the welfare offices, but then again it was easy to lay the blame on another, nasty individual who was unable to defend himself. She had revealed a dislike of Callen's undercover alias, giving no apparent reason apart from agreeing with DuValle that something didn't quite add up. That something being the fact that Lyneham had never previously allowed anyone into his circle of trust so quickly and easily.

Nate had called her bluff about DuValle's attack on her, accusing her of setting it up so Callen could be the fall guy. The numerous witnesses easily laying credence to Callen being guilty of DuValle's murder by using the same method to which he had almost succumbed earlier. Tears had ensued and she admitted she had considered leaving herself open to an attack, but one that was orchestrated so Rob Gladstone would honourably defend her and yes, maybe kill DuValle, finally getting rid of him and solving their problems once and for all. And yes, if everything went wrong, then both he and DuValle would become the fall guys.

'But you did accuse Gladstone of murdering DuValle later. In fact, we've heard from several sources that your voice was the loudest.' Hetty stated.

'Well, he clearly just finished what he started earlier.'

'I still think you orchestrated all of this. You've already admitted this was your desired outcome and our technical experts have just confirmed the audio footage received purporting Gladstone's guilt is actually fake.' Nate tilted his head to one side, relieved that Nell and Eric had finally been able to clear Callen's name – at least from the audio. The medical examiner was still pawing over DuValle's dead body, and the next step was to confirm the knife used to slit DuValle's throat was not the same weapon that had been confiscated from Callen when his alias was arrested.

'What?' Ariel looked shocked and confused. 'No,' she shook her head strongly. 'He did it. If I hadn't brought help, he would have killed him right there in my bedroom. He finished the job; I just know it.'

'Knowing it and proving it are two different things,' Hetty advised. 'When the ME has finished examining the body and comparing knife and weapon wounds, we will know for sure.'

'So, just playing devil's advocate here,' Nate tentatively spoke up, hoping to draw Ariel into some supposition. 'If it wasn't Gladstone, who else could it have been?'

'Anyone. It could have been anyone.'

Nate leant back in his chair and thought. Ariel clearly had a dislike of Callen, and maybe shared in the suspicions held by DuValle that he was not all he seemed, but here she had the prime opportunity to lay the blame at the door of Stone, Raider or even Lyneham himself. She had not even mentioned Raider and he wondered if she had been privy to the news that Raider was an undercover agent who had infiltrated the camp. He decided to try his luck and press the point.

'Several sources have suggested there was an undercover federal agent at the camp. Who did you think it was?'

'DuValle was convinced it was Gladstone and I agreed – for a while. But that would have meant Billy was too and he doesn't have the –' Ariel stopped and tapped the side of her head. 'Thomason also could find no evidence either was a fed and all the evidence to confirm their identities. And Rob is so guilty of everything, there's no way…'

'You don't think it was Gladstone then…Was there an undercover agent?' Nate persisted. Just as he heard from the other team, Lyneham had similarly led them down the garden path of Callen.

'Yes. Raider.'

'Why did you not just answer with that?'

'I thought you wanted to hear everything. I just assumed you knew and were fishing. I mean, you are a federal agency too. Surely you know this already?'

Nate glanced at Hetty and decided to ignore the question, as yes, they should have known this already. 'There are also suggestions that he has gone rogue and genuinely supports your cause?'

Ariel gave off a little laugh. 'Raider or whoever he is certainly has the skill set but he's too easy going. He was never in the upper reaches of the leadership, never had any say on the running of the place, the operations. He wasn't rogue, and he was under constant surveillance. We believe he was unable to report back to his agency for the last two months and we enjoyed using him. He's just as culpable as many of the others but no, not rogue. I was happy to let him play his role.'

'And throw him to the wolves if need be?'

'Yeah, if need be.'

'But you haven't.

'I don't need to. DuValle was the ringleader.'

'Well, we have strong evidence against you and a number of others. Laying the blame at a dead man's door is not your get out of jail card.'

'You should also know that I caught Rob snooping around the weapons in the barn. He had ample opportunity to mix things up, kill DuValle and proclaim his innocence.'

'Miss Du Bouchard,' Hetty interrupted. 'We are covering old ground once more. That man did not kill DuValle and it is highly doubtful he intended to blow himself or anyone else up in the welfare office. You have already admitted his involvement ensured that civilians were kept safe from harm and violence, so I really do not understand why you persist in these accusations of violence.'

'Because, Miss Lange,' Ariel replied in a tone that mimicked Hetty's. 'I saw the eyes of a murderer when he attacked DuValle and held a knife, very, very tightly, to his throat. So tight that he drew blood.'

Hetty sighed audibly. They were going round in circles with Ariel now and it was time to press pause and to regroup.

'I'm terminating this interview. You will be charged with domestic terrorism, inciting violence, blackmail, and anything else I damn well fancy. You will be further questioned about your involvement in the murder of Anton DuValle.'

Hetty stood up and Nate followed her lead. They both glanced at Ariel who returned the look, a ghost of a smile glancing over her face as she watched the agents leave the interrogation room.