When they slam Kensi into the chair her back makes her want to scream, but she doesn't. She isn't the kind of girl who likes giving the bad guys any satisfaction, and for sure, these are the bad guys. She just doesn't know who, yet. Or why. She waits, impatiently, wondering how long it will take for the next part of the plan to materialize.
It doesn't take long.
The door opens and while two men hold her in the chair, she looks up to see the smug face of Paul Angelo.
"I've missed our heart to hearts, Agent Blye," he mocks. "Or heart to heart to hearts, as it were."
"Very clever. You think that one up all by yourself?" She is actually buoyed by the information. Now she knows who has her. It's a start.
"I imagine you're pretty proud of yourself for your performance back at your apartment. Quite the fighter."
"Tell them to step outside," she tells him, using her head to gesture to the men holding her in place, "and I'll show you."
He laughs. "I'm sure I'd regret that. But I actually have another plan, and I'd hate for you to spoil it."
"Awww. Well I'd certainly hate to do that after you went through so much trouble," she says sarcastically.
"I'm bored, Agent Blye."
"Get a hobby."
"Hetty took my job, my life, all the personas I worked so hard at building. I had to really search my heart for what would make me happy."
"Which heart did you check first," Kensi says to be snarky.
"Oh, I get it. What would Detective Deeks say to you right now? Touché?"
She's temporarily silenced by his knowledge of how she and Deeks interact. She knows that this man plays with people for fun. As much as she would like to tell him how much she hates him, she starts to think that silence may be the better play.
"No witty comeback? See, this is what I'm talking about. I finally start to have fun and NCIS ruins it. But I came up with a way to solve that problem. We're going to play a game."
"Checkers?" she asks. She can't help herself.
The smug smile that's been on his face since they got there hasn't changed. He's in control and he knows it. She's unnerved by his confidence. He places a map of LA on the table in front of her that has dark lines traced with marker creating boundaries around an area centered on downtown.
"We're going to play tag. Well you are. Your team is going to try and tag you, and you are going to evade them."
"Why would I run away from my own team, Angelo?"
"Because the first one of them to touch you dies."
The men hold her in place even tighter and Angelo opens a case on the table. He removes long strips of something and grab her leg wrapping a wire to it and then wrapping the strip around her ankle. She can't see exactly what he is doing, and her kicking is earning her a fair amount of heat from the group. When he finishes he does the same to her wrists. She says 'no' and grunts as she tries to over-power them, but she can't. Then something is placed around her neck. It isn't adhering to her skin, but it's tight enough that it isn't coming off easily.
"Get up, Agent Blye."
"I'm good here," she said.
"Have it your way." Angelo reaches it the case and pulls out a device that looks like a remote control. He taps a button and Kensi feels a bolt of electricity quickly pulse at her neck. She yells through the unexpected pain and the smug smile remains on his face. "Let's try this again. Get up, Agent Blye."
This time Kensi does as she's instructed and they take her into another room. On the far side is a mannequin with a strip around its ankle that mirrors the four Kensi now wears. Angelo picks up a different remote and presses a button, and the ankle explodes blowing the foot off sending it in pieces all over the room while the mannequin falls with a loud crash to the floor.
"RDX strips. Wired underneath. Break the circuit they will explode. Cheat and I will detonate them." He gets close, right up her face. "Boom."
Kensi's still harboring a fair dose of anger, but it's mixing with fear as his plan starts to come into view.
"If you leave the area marked on the map, boom. If you remove the communicator we give you, boom. If you accept help from your team, boom. If you speak to anyone on your team, boom. And if one of them touches you, boom."
"You're out of your mind."
"See what boredom does to a man. Remember, I'll always know what you're doing. Say goodnight, Agent Blye."
She felt another syringe and then everything was black.
()()()()()(
They are standing in Ops going over information. Blood tests confirm Monty was poisoned. It wasn't dangerous, but uncomfortable.
"What kind of lowlife poisons a dog?" Nell asks rhetorically while she pulls up other information on the screen. He was given an overdose of a medication that made him sick. The medication was unusual, and they checked vet records across the city. They find everyone who dispensed it over the last two weeks. They track the recipients and run them through facial rec. This makes disgraced agent number five – some guy named Tinordi none of them know.
"How many of these guys are there?" Deeks asks, frustrated at the scope of the operation that took Kensi. Something that big is well organized. It makes it harder to break.
"We have a call coming into the secure Ops line. It's a burner phone, I think," Eric tells them.
"Put it on speaker," Granger tells them.
They all know the taunting voice when it greets them.
"Hello, Hetty."
"Paul Angelo," Hetty responds.
"Ahh. If you already know who this is, we can cut to the chase. I think you're missing one of your agents."
"Where is Ms. Blye?" Hetty demands.
"Did you see that look in her eyes when she dropped that badge?"
The room is quiet. They don't want to let him know they are all listening, but more over none of them want to answer. They all saw the look in her eyes on the video. She was haunted. Hetty shakes the picture of it from her mind and answers.
"Yes, we found the video, Mr. Angelo."
"It was despondent. Devastated. That badge meant so much to her." He's pushing their buttons and doing a good job of it.
"Where is she?" Hetty asks again.
"That's how it feels to have something you love ripped away from you. To have no options. To lose everything," he tells her, not hiding the contempt in his voice.
"You brought that on yourself," she reminds him. "No one did that to you."
"You did it to me, Hetty. And then you had the nerve to stand there by the water and tell me that even after you took everything away from me, my own name even, that I owed you. That you always collect on your debts."
"I let you live, Angelo – a decision I'm regretting more and more by the minute," Hetty hisses, and it comes out like venom.
"You're out of time for regrets."
"What do you want, Angelo," Callen says, not willing to let the baiting continue.
"Ah. Agent Callen. That's easy. I want to play a game. I'd like to play a game with your team."
"I'm not in the mood for a game, Paul. I want my agent back," Hetty tells him.
"You discard agents like their nothing. You throw them away. Just like you threw me away. It's all a game to you. But you do have your favorites, I suspect. Could it be that Kensi is one of your teacher's pets?"
"I should have dumped your lifeless body in the marina when I had the chance," Hetty hisses.
"You should have. It would almost have been a mercy compared to the existence I live now, but you didn't. Now I have Agent Blye, and you'll either play my game or she'll die."
They hear the agitation growing in his voice and Hetty makes the decision not to push him.
"We're listening, Mr. Angelo."
"I'm in the mood to play some hide and seek," he says in an innocent voice, as if people haven't already died in the set up to this game, as if he hasn't taken Kensi from them. Deeks can't take it.
"Oh I'll find you, Angelo," Deeks spits in the background unable to stop himself.
"Is that Detective Deeks? You are the only one I almost want to apologize to. I know taking her probably hurts you the most. Partner. Lover. You let her see your third heart – it's like letting someone into your soul. Losing her would be like losing a part of yourself. Maybe that will make you our most dedicated participant. See, you're not looking for me. She's the one hiding. You're looking for her."
Looks are exchanged in Ops. There has to be a catch. Why would Kensi be hiding from them?
"I'm betting on Blye," he continues, "but just to keep it interesting I'm adding some urgency to your search. I think if she's on the run you might wait her out. Her tradecraft is so good you might just let her come back to you when she thinks it's safe, but what would the fun in that be for me? I've injected her with a toxin that's already starting to affect her. She'll get weaker, and weaker. You have about four days to find her."
"Or what," Sam barks at the man.
"Well, in 5-7 days the toxin will kill her. I've gone ahead and sent the antidote to the boatshed. It's in a sealed case, and if the syringe is exposed to air the compound will deteriorate and be rendered ineffective, so don't open it until you're ready to use it. If you find her, you save her life. If you don't you can just wait until someone finds her body. See, Hetty. You used her to get to me, and used me to get to her. It all leads back to you. You use people, and discard them. That's what you do, only now it will cost you an agent you actually care about, and there's probably nothing you can do. Happy hunting."
When the phone clicks as he disconnects it's so quiet in ops they could hear a pin drop.