A/N - Thanks for the initial response. Having fun with this one. Stay close. A little mystery here and then some stuff to figure out and some action coming up in the next few chapters. Follow for notifications when I update, and review to let me know you were here. Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Fierce.
There are a lot of twists and turns, and between the circuitous route and the short duration, Kensi knows that she hasn't gone far. They don't talk to her. Even when she asks questions they don't talk to her. They don't touch her any more than they absolutely have to. They help her out of the SUV respectfully. She's led somewhere, and they seat her gently on a chair.
Someone changes the bandage on her arm. The wound is cleaned and the field dressing is upgraded to something more substantial. They tell her they need to draw blood and to hold still. When they're done they put a bandaid on the needle site and bend her arm to stop the bleeding.
Finally they take off the hood. Her eyes adjust to the light. They give her a protein bar, a candy bar and a bottle of water. The two in the room speak as little as possible. They pull the clothes out of her crash bag and throw them to her, pointing her towards a bathroom. Finally she gets an update.
"The SAC will be here in about thirty minutes. Cleaning up your apartment and calming down your team is taking some time, as I'm sure you can imagine. Grab a shower. Change your clothes. He'll explain everything when he gets here."
Kensi does as she's told. Years of training and her dedication to NCIS tell her that there isn't another way. She wants to talk to her team herself. She wants Deeks to tell her it'll be ok. Kensi leans back in her chair, frustrated and anxious. She finishes the food and water and takes a shower.
()()()()()
Eric tells them that Kaleidoscope got a hit on Kensi's car. It was seen entering a parking lot at an industrial park. It hasn't been seen leaving, but they don't have eyes where it is now. Deeks stays at Kensi's with LAPD to catch them up and tell them it isn't their crime scene and that NCIS is handling all the forensics. Callen leaves his car and drives with Sam to the lot.
When they arrive on the scene they find her car. Burning. It's been burning for some time, and is starting to smolder. Callen approaches with speed to see what he can inside. The heat is radiating off the car making it hard to be close, hard to breath, burning his eyes, but he looks inside to see if the car is empty.
"Please, god, let it be empty," he whispers to the air.
It isn't empty. There are three bodies in the car, burned beyond recognition.
They can hear the fire engine in the background getting closer. Sam walks around the car to see anything else before they have to back off the scene. The get on comms and report what they found. They have facts, but no idea what they mean. Her car was torched with three bodies inside. Did she torch it? Was she in it? They have no way to know yet.
Sam and Callen are dealing with the fire department and arranging to have the car brought to the NCIS lab for investigation. Deeks has ensured that LAPD stays out of Kensi's apartment and turned that scene over to NCIS techs as well. It's been a whirlwind morning and the sun is barely up. They get the call to haul ass back to Ops right away, and without even thinking they drive.
"What do you have, Eric," Callen barks as Deeks meets them in Ops.
"Facial recognition software just got a hit on a camera on Venice Beach, timestamped at 5:35AM."
"That's around two hours after Kensi's distress call," Sam points out.
Eric and Nell are both tapping on their tablets and no one is sure which one of them pulls it up, but the footage appears on the big screen and everyone is frozen. It's definitely Kensi. She's standing next to a bench. She's in jeans and a hoodie and looks stiff but uninjured as she steps into the camera's line of site. She knew exactly where to look to be square to the camera. She wanted to be seen.
Eric resolves the image and gets it zoomed in a little tighter, and the expression on her face makes it clear she wants to be anywhere other than where she is. She looks side to side as if she knew she was being watched, and closes her eyes. Her attention is grabbed and she looks up at something they can't see, then right back at the camera.
Kensi reaches into the pockets of her hoodie and pulls out her badge and her gun. She holds them up in front of her, her eyes moving from the camera to the objects. There's reverence in her touch. Her eyes look haunted, lost. She closes them again, and when they open a tear trails down her cheek. She repositions them in her hands for emphasis, a deliberate display of the most obvious signs of what it means to be a Special Agent. Then she lets them fall out of her hands into the sand at her feet. Her legs move as if she's burying them in the sand. For a split second after they fall her hands remain in front of her, palms out. There's something written on each one, but at this distance and resolution they can't make it out. She looks off camera with a scowl, and then back at the lens.
In Ops it feels like she is looking right at them.
And then she turns and walks away. It's only then they see what they believe is her crashbag hooked over one shoulder. She shoves her hands in her pockets and keeps walking. They keep the footage playing while she walks across the edge of the sand, crossing the walkway and disappearing behind a building in the distance. She never looks back.
"Play it again," Deeks says, with barely enough air to make sound.
"We need to…," Granger begins.
"Play it again." This time Deeks demands. He's found his voice, but Granger is resolute.
"We saw what we saw, gentlemen. That video was taken two hours ago. You get to that location and see what you can find and let Jones and Beale work on cleaning up the footage," Granger instructs. And he's right. Sam put his hand on Deeks shoulder and gets his attention. He gathers his thoughts and nods in agreement, heading out of the Ops Center.
When they arrive at the scene they can see exactly where she stood. The impressions of her feet are still there despite the time that's passed. Deeks kneels down in the sand, and without disturbing the area too much his fingers feel the contours of her badge and gun. He reaches for them instinctively. The gun has no clip, chamber is empty. He runs his fingers over her badge, not caring if it's considered evidence. He treats it likes a lifeline and shakes the sand out.
"Come on, Kensi. Where are you?"
When he stands he has a better perspective and can see the trail from the bench to the edge of the sand. She walked in a straight line, and helped by having seen the footage, they follow her path. Eyes dart around the area hoping they'll find her obscured in a doorway and waiting for the cavalry to arrive, but she's nowhere to be found. They disappear behind the same building she did just two hours ago and begin looking in the alley. They kick cardboard and peek in dumpsters and Deeks calls her name, just in case.
They are about to give up when Callen sees something propped up against a dumpster, obscured from passersby. There's a black utility backpack, and after a little observation and poking around he determines it's safe to retrieve. He pulls it out and they go through the contents. It's Kensi's crashbag.
"Are you sure?" Deeks asks.
Sam pulls out a wallet in the bag. It has an Ohio Driver's license for an alias Kensi's never used but with a clear picture of her. There's no question it's her.
"There's a loaded gun in here and," he takes a minute as he thumbs through a stack of money, "close to ten thousand dollars in cash."
"So she went where she knew we would see her and dropped her gun and badge, a sign of breaking ties. She unloaded the gun before she dropped it. So if she's really crashed, why does she come around the corner and then drop everything she needs to run? Leave a loaded weapon and 10G in a bag on the street? That doesn't make any sense," Sam tells them, and the others can't help but agree.
"None of it makes any sense," Callen tells them.