Chapter 12

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Author's note: I am about to have a three weeks leave, although not yet sure which possibilities there are to go for a holiday as well. We sure hope we can! I remember telling you this was only a short story. My bad… here we are with chapter 12. Still, I hope to finish this story before there'll be a season 13 of NCIS LA on air!

Oh, and Teresa and wotumba, thank you for sticking around! I sure hope there'll be more readers, one day…

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Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects || next morning

Half an hour later Callen joined his co-workers, again after a switch of cars. Doing so, he supposed nobody was following. He clocked in later as he hoped and knew for sure Sam and Nell weren't happy about this.
Still, all of them were at Ops and he listened how Fatima reported how their search at the Mayflower had been. He nodded at her words.

"What did you come up with, Callen?" Kensi wanted to know.

"Honestly? Nothing in particular. But maybe it's not that important right now. It's more what we want to make believe." Although he missed what the others had come up with, he started to explain.
"Elisabeth told me how she was responsible for the protection of what she figured was a middle-man of the Riviera Maya gang, who was supposed to testify. Then, the guy died, and the attention was drawn to her. She thinks that this man, Lupu, had something that could and would hold in court."

"And that is why they're after her!" Sam understood. "It's enough to get her killed."

Callen nodded. "It is. However she hasn't got a clue if this guy Lupu really hid something while he was in her protection, but... we can make them believe. So, my next move will be that I'll contact Poliakoff and let her know what I found. Our guess is that Poliakoff doesn't even know this backstory and that she simply followed order. Not federal orders though. She was bribed, willingly doing this. I mean, it would be as if Nell in here would simply kill me and go after Sam to have him eliminated too, so no one would even know what went on."

"So... Poliakoff may let her contact know you'd be a danger for the whole operation while you are in fact completely empty handed. Now that's what I say is a cunning plan, Callen. Not." Deeks stated.

"True. The way you state it, I'd say it's called bluffing," Callen retorted.

Sam shook his head. "I'd say it's called stupid and playing with your life."

"I dare to disagree," Nell said. "You see, director Vance has teams ready in Arizona, checking the place Elisabeth, our previous Jane Doe, used as the save house. And Eric and I, well, we gathered proof that Poliakoff was illegally paid. She'll be picked up after Callen makes his call. Either at a meeting point, or after she's given orders by phone about meeting agent Callen."

"And still we don't know who Callen is facing."

"Which is why I want you all around as a back-up team, Sam. You'll all be around before I'll arrive," Callen argued.

"Also, Poliakoff's own people are informed by now. Vance just sent a message telling me so," Nell said.

Callen looked up at this information. "But isn't she the highest in rank here in LA Nell?"

"Hmm... actually I think she is. Maybe Vance meant he talked it through with her boss. I'll check it."

"So you can trace the calls Poliakoff makes. How long will it take us to find out who she contacts? As far as I know we can't tap her phone," Kensi asked.

"Oh, but we can," Nell said. "Callen and I discussed that matter as well with the director earlier this morning."

"Unless she uses another phone, of course," Callen stated. He figured that if he was in her shoes, he would consider that. If Poliakoff really was a dirty cop, she'd check every single measure to stay out of trouble, so a second phone was an option. "Still, we will be able to follow her tracks."

Since no-one interrupted, he continued. "All we need is one single connection between Poliakoff and Lupu. Vasile Lupu, who died about one and a half year ago in Phoenix. So, Lupu and Poliakoff. And either a phone call to both of them from another party, or a money transaction to her from someone connected to Lupu," Callen said. "Same from cases connecting US Marshals to the Riviera Maya or human trafficking from Mexico to Phoenix."

"Aren't you're asking something impossible Callen?" Deeks asked.

He shook his head. "Don't think so. Linking these lists of numbers is nothing new to Nell and Eric. But time is working against us. I wanna contact Poliakoff and tell her I found something in Elisabeth Sharden's stuff. And I want to grant her some time to share that information."

"And share the name 'Callen' with some bunch of idiot Romanian or Mexican mobsters. Which is great."

"This is not about me, Deeks. The way you state this, I should be feeling like a sitting duck indeed," Callen chuckled. "But hey, I really don't think there's any Comescu around."

Sam listened to all Callen was explaining. "You really think there's a connection that we" – and he spread his arm in half a circle — "that we can discover that any time soon?"
He noticed the trust in his friend's eyes and also on Nell's face.

"And if not, what will you offer Poliakoff?"

Callen rubbed his chin, then pouted slightly, frowning towards Nell who nodded. "A memory card. Which, of course, has information on it. Even better, it'll be traceable with an extra chip. Which means we can follow Poliakoff like that as well."

"Eric will be here any minute to assist with it," Nell said.

"But what'll be on it? I mean, I only use them for pictures," Roundtree brought up.

Callen nodded. "Same in here, so we need two pictures of I'd say handwritten names, quite random. Names of those we know that died or are locked up, we may add more, like fake numbers, and so on. Two pictures of two pages of that list will do. From what I know, Lupu was about to reveal he knew about the contacts of Tudor, the leader of the Riviera Maya gang."

"So you plan just make things up. Sounds okay," Kensi understood.

"Kind of 'who's on the list'. Well, that works for me. I volunteer to start," Deeks offered. "It's like cooking. You have a bit of this, add a little bit of that 'eeh walla'. Yeah, I think I can handle that."

"Et voila… Deeks. Please feel free. Like I said, time is of the essence," Callen accepted Deeks suggestion.

"Well, this again shows he's got a great imagination after all." Sam shook his head as he saw the list Deeks came up with, together with Eric. "He worked in several Comescus too, you know. Vasile and his men."

Callen nodded, nearly absently. "They may have been involved, who knows. But to be honest, it hardly matters what names are on the list, since it's the tracker that matters. Still, if the names would seem too fake, it won't work, so I'm glad the surfer boys arranged this."

More serious now, Sam agreed. "We'll have to trust technology, G."

"Yeah," Callen sighed. He rolled back his desk chair and slowly stretched. For a second or so none of them spoke.

"What do you think Poliakoff's real role in this is, Sam? I mean... Elisabeth said it was she who shot her. But Poliakoff also should be informed that 'Sharden' isn't Elisabeth's real name. So... someone showed her a picture..."

"Or?" Sam prodded as he noticed a hesitation in his partner's thoughts.

Callen sighed. "Or this Marcus was just as rogue as we assume Poliakoff is."

"Then why would she have that man killed?" Sam wondered, his elbows now on his desk. "Sure, I can think of money issues, threats, or the fear of him turning himself in voluntarily, taking her with him and revealing her assumptions, her role in this unknown sting."

"Well… I don't know," Callen said. "Maybe it's something for a later moment. Thing is, Elisabeth made me think about it. She genuinely cared about Marcus, but what if she was misled after all? What if she felt so safe she let him know her true identity in the end? I mean, she trusted me with that intel as well. And then, well, she wanted to know about a funeral and I hadn't even thought about that."

It caused a deep and roaring laugh coming from Sam. "Now, hear, hear… You're growing soft, my friend, once you start to think of those things."

"Not soft. Human. I'm human, big guy, and I feel."

"G… soft can be good."

"Oh no… this is called gentle, so you better call me a real gentleman. Soft is like sloppy, which never relates to me, right?! Always in the game."
With those words, Callen turned his attention back to his laptop and ignored the shake of the head and broad smile of his friend.

TBC

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Kni®benrots