In the van on the way to Venice it became clear these guys were not on her side. Kensi could tell from the way they explained to her what she had to do that there was a lot more going on. Finding the pen in the SUV and writing covertly on her hand was all she could do. The men were heavily armed and she didn't have a weapon she could get to. They had sniper positions on her. They clearly knew a lot about NCIS. Whatever this was, it had to be related to the team. She was biding her time looking for intel and opportunity.
Once she completed her performance for the camera on Venice Beach everything about her handlers changed. They shed the charade as soon as she was out of camera view, grabbing her and throwing her against the SUV. They took her crashbag and tossed it on the street, she remembers, and she tries not to think about a loaded gun and ten thousand dollars just out there for the taking. If she was really about to run, she would need it, but she understands now they aren't going to let her run. They are using her for something.
When they get back to the building they are using for a base of operations they put her in the same room as before, but now there's nothing gentle about it. They grab her and she sees a syringe out of the corner of her eye. It disappears in her arm, and then blackness takes over. When she wakes she's lost all concept of time and her back feels like it's on fire. She's laying on the floor of the room on her stomach and her back is burning. Not randomly. Very specific pain. Not long strikes like a lash, small ones all around her upper back. And it feels like her shirt is sticking to her, like she was bleeding and it's all drying. She tries to reach to feel what it is, but there is no contortion that gives her access, and every attempts hurts.
When she uses her hands to push up off the ground the pain is intense, and she lets herself fall back to the ground.
()()())()()()
Back at the mission Deeks takes the stairs two at a time to get up to Ops. Nell said they had new information.
"Good news first. Forensics finished its analysis of the blood in Kensi's apartment." Photos of Kensi's apartment appear on wall of monitors. "The blood in the bedroom is from two people, blood from a third individual in the bathroom. None of it was Kensi's." Deeks lets himself start breathing again while Nell continues. "The samples match three former NCIS agent who were all dismissed or disavowed over the last five years. Names are Hollings, Park and Nixon. Initial searches don't connect Kensi to the three by location, suspect, case or operation. We don't think she knew them."
Nell looks to Hetty and Granger. "Records are sealed. It will take intervention at a higher level to find out why."
"I've heard of Hollings, but I don't know any of them," Hetty tells them.
"I'm on it," Granger says quickly taking the task.
"Quick dental record checks against those three tell us that the three bodies burning in Kensi's car match the same three guys. They likely died in her apartment, were transported to the industrial park in her car, and were disposed of there."
Another deep exhale in the room. The timestamp at the industrial park was after the timestamp at the beach. There was still a chance, albeit remote, that Kensi could have been in the car. The relief shows in all of their body language. They look at the pictures of the three large men on the screen. These men tried to capture or kill Kensi. Deeks has equal parts rage at them and pride in Kensi, but the pieces don't add up.
"I buy that Kensi took them out, but she didn't have time to drag them out of her apartment and put them in her car. Someone else must have cleaned up the scene," Deeks concludes. "So did she have help? Did she get away? Were there others who took her? And who cleaned up the apartment?"
"No finger prints in the house that weren't … expected," Nell shoots a quick glance at Deeks, "so nothing else in the house that helps that we've found yet, but the techs are still sifting through evidence."
"What about the blood on her door?" Sam asked
"This is the part you're really not going to like. The blood on the door is Kensi's."
"So she's injured when they finally subdue her, she thinks about going back in the apartment, puts her hands on the door, but doesn't go back in?" Sam postulates.
"It's her blood, but only one of the handprints are hers," Nell tells them.
"Yeah," Callen says looking at it again. "That one is larger. Was there a match for that print?"
"Not yet."
"So a team of at least four operatives that includes at least three disavowed NCIS agents ambushes Agent Blye in her apartment in the middle of the night. She kills three of them. She appears on a city camera that she knows we'll see and ditches her badge and her gun. She leaves her crashbag and torches her car? What is the message in all of that?" Granger asks the room.
"Could they have told her something or showed her something that would make her want to or need to break with NCIS and the team? I doubt it," Sam tells them.
"If Kensi were truly burned I would have been informed by now," Hetty assures them. "I've received no notification."
"And the agents involved were no longer with NCIS, so whatever it is isn't sanctioned," Granger adds.
"What if it's all a charade," Callen says, his eyes wide as he formulates an idea. "And she's being coerced, somehow. We just don't know the endgame."
"But why bother to make it look like she's burned at all?" Granger wonders. "If they just wanted to take her why all the song and dance?"
"Well, all the agents were dismissed or disavowed. Maybe this is about them losing their badges and identities. Maybe its revenge, burning Kensi is symbolic?" Sam offers
"We need you to get us access to their files. Also, if these three found each other, let's get a list of all the dismissed and disavowed agents over the last five years and see if we can figure out where they are," Callen tells Granger, who nods in agreement.
They team leaves Ops and once in the hallway Callen puts a hand on Deeks shoulder and pulls him aside. Sam follows.
"Why weren't you with Kensi last night?" It isn't an accusation. It's an honest question, but it hits Deeks like a knife and he doesn't know what to say. He hasn't made peace with not being with her last night, and the question sounds like blame. But the team isn't supposed to know yet, so he stumbles at his answer.
"I don't know what you…"
"Michelle saw you making out when we all went ice skating. You went away together over the holidays. We all have eyes. You're together. You leave together. You come in together. You're together. Let's not play any games," Sam directs.
Deeks sets his stance, his feet shoulder width apart. This isn't how he expected to tell people. He hooks his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans and squares to his teammates.
"Ok. We're together."
"So why weren't you together last night?" Callen repeats, getting back to his original point.
"Guys if I had any idea something was going to happen I…"
"Deeks!" Callen yells louder than he means to get the Detectives attention. "Someone knew Kens was going to be alone last night. They had a plan, and they waited for an opportunity. If they'd wanted to kill her she'd be dead. Thye need her for something. If we can figure out how they knew we can start to figure out who they are and what they want."
Deeks takes a deep breath leaving the defensive guilt and rising worry behind for a second and answers the question.
"Monty. We grabbed a late dinner last night, Kensi and I, not Monty and I, and we went back to my place and when we got there Monty was sick. He was whimpering and vomiting and when he didn't' get better I decided to take him to an emergency vet. I told Kensi there was no point in her sitting at the vet with me. She actually got me a coffee from that all night coffee shop on Loredo and dropped it off. She stayed for a while, but I told her to go home and get some sleep."
"So maybe someone's been trailing her and waiting for an opportunity?" Sam asked.
"If someone was trailing Kensi and I long enough to find an opportunity one of us would have spotted it."
"Does Monty get sick like that often?"
"No."
"Where is Monty now?"
"They kept him at the vet hospital," Deeks tells them.
"It's the only lead we have. Let's go."
()()()()()()()
When they get back from the vet they head to Ops to get an update.
"We completed the enhancement of the video. The writing on her hand is sparce and doesn't really tell us anything that helps us. They zoom in to two stills from the video footage. She'd only flashed them for a second, but it's all Ops needed. On one hand it says 'Jasmine Blossom Wolf'. On the other is a heart that says M+F4E.
Everyone in the room understands the importance of the M+F4E. That was Kensi telling Deeks she loved him. Max and Fern Forever. Deeks hand goes to his hair in a nervous habit as he blows out a long breath to stop the fear and worry from coming to the surface. No one feels the need to comment on it.
"Jasmine Blossom Wolf?" Deeks asks, drawing the team's attention away from the other hand.
Nell explains. "They are Kensi's protocol responses to challenge questions.
"OK, but what do they mean?"
"Lavender means she's under duress, Blossom means she's uninjured, and Wolf means she needs assistance," Nell explains.
"The more telling thing," Eric continues, "is that to enhance the video footage we applied a series of techniques to make her hands readable. One of the filters makes light refractions visible if they were captured in the original recording but maybe dulled out by glare or other environmental. If we manipulate the original feed we find this."
Nell shows the footage with the filters applied and two red laser sight dots become visible on her chest.
"Well, now we know how they got her to do it," Sam says.
"She isn't burned, she's captured," Callen says.
"And I think I know who has her," Nell says looking at something on her tablet.
"What? How? Who?" Deeks asked throwing all the questions at Nell at once.
"We just got a match on the fingerprint for the second hand on Kensi's door. It belongs to Paul Angelo."