Retired Admiral Holace Kilbride wore his normal grumpy expression as he walked into the bullpen. He looked round at the three senior agents sitting at their desks, elbow deep in paperwork.
"Will Investigator Deeks be gracing us with his presence today?" Kilbride said to no-one in particular, his tone as grumpy as his face.
Kensi looked up, her irritation matching Kilbride's grumpiness. "Deeks got a call from Whiting at LAPD, he didn't say what she wanted". She was annoyed Deeks had gone back to LAPD and had made her feelings clear to him. Perhaps she had been a bit hard on him, she knew he wasn't happy about it either.
"It would have been nice to be kept in the loop"
"Did you check your voice-mail? He left you a message" Kensi's irritation ramped up a notch.
"I would have thought now Deeks is NCIS, LAPD would stop taking him back"
"Nobody is more annoyed about it than Deeks" Kensi turned her attention back to her report.
Deeks became vaguely aware of flashing blue lights. His vision was blurred by the fog in his head. He couldn't focus on anything. The pain in his head was excruciating, the throbbing terrified him. His heart was beating fast, hard enough to shake his body. Unseen hands were pulling him along the ground. He felt himself being hauled to his feet, his hands behind his back. A hand pushed his head down as he was manhandled into a confined space, surely he was being dragged into Hell. He thought he heard the word "arrested", then the darkness returned.
The team had given up on paperwork and were working out in the gym. When Kilbride joined them, none of the team could read his expression but they knew something was wrong.
"We have a problem" Kilbride took a deep breath. "Investigator Deeks has been arrested"
"Not again!" Sam groaned.
"What for?" asked Kensi.
"It seems instead of coming to work this morning, Deeks raped and killed a young woman"
"You ARE joking" Kensi said, only half smiling, while Callen and Sam looked at each other, stunned.
"Rape and homicide are not things I joke about Agent Blye"
"Why do they think Deeks did it?"
"Because he was found with the victim and had the murder weapon in his hand. Seems our boy has really gotten himself into trouble this time"
Callen turned to face Kilbride "You can tell us more than that. what's going on?"
"According to LAPD, two hours ago Deeks was found with the body of a prostitute in an alley downtown. Her throat had been cut and the knife in Deeks hand had the victims blood on it." Kilbride looked at the team, stunned into silence, "One more thing, it seems Deeks had injected himself with drugs, probably cocaine"
Kensi was the first to recover "Well it obviously it wasn't Deeks. He hates drugs, hates needles and he is hard wired to protect women"
"So how do you explain his DNA inside the victim?"
"Save the best till last" Callen glared at Kilbride.
"No no no! There must be some mistake, Deeks would never….." Kensi looked about wildly
"If he was going to kill someone, he would use a gun" Callen added, unnecessarily.
" LAPD have made it clear it's a police matter and they won't tolerate any interference from NCIS"
"Nothing adds up" Sam looked confused "Have they got a forensic lab on speed dial? It usually takes hours to get results"
"I don't know Deeks as well as you guys, but I don't think he did it." Rowntree piped up, "If he was a cop surely LAPD will look at the evidence and see their mistake"
Sam shook his head, "Deeks' relationship with the LAPD wasn't, shall we say, healthy. He upset a lot of people. He doesn't really have a fan club down there"
"Where is he? I need to see him" Kensi was trying to tamp down the feelings of panic.
"He passed out in the back of the police car, they took him to a hospital, but I don't know where he is now"
"I need to see my husband. What are they doing to him?"
"It would have been so much easier if Deeks had got himself kidnapped by a drug cartel." Sam looked round to the team, " Fatima would find him, we'd go in with guns, shoot the gang, and bring him home."
"Are you saying this is all Deeks' fault" Kensi turned on Sam "Deeks is the victim here". Kensi felt a growing horror at the situation. With lawbreakers they could go in with guns but the police upheld the law, didn't they? The LAPD had the law on their side. Deeks was a lawyer but probably in no position to help himself. Worse was the look of hurt and annoyance on Deeks face when she left him that morning.
"You have to realise that you know the man, you know he's innocent. Most people at LAPD know the reputation, to them he's guilty. They're not going to look for anybody else." Kilbride spoke gently to Kensi. "We have to play this by their rules, but we do need to find out the truth, find out what really happened."
Gradually Deeks became aware of a faint beeping. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but white light. For a moment he thought he might be in Heaven. Then he tried to raise his left arm, he found he was handcuffed to some sort of bed. Not Heaven then. His vision was still blurry but when he looked around, he realised he was in some sort of hospital. The pain in his head was still there but the throbbing had eased. He couldn't remember ever feeling so ill. The last thing he could remember was lying in his own bed, making love to Kensi. He smiled at the memory but had no idea what had happened since. Clearly something very bad had happened, or he had done something really bad. He knew he should be worried but strangely he wasn't. He was confused, disorientated and slightly nauseous. He was sore all over but he didn't think any bones were broken, perhaps he hadn't been beaten up too badly then. Resigned to his fate he laid back and waiteded for the darkness to take him again, this time for good he hoped. Then he thought of Kensi and he wanted to touch her one more time.
