The warehouse appeared empty as promised, except for the crates of merchandise waiting for the transaction. Kensi didn't like the plans for the exchange, but she had pushed as far as she could. She'd demanded her own team at the exchange but had been denied- and flat out threatened by Alawi. Maybe sensing her unease, maybe it was plan all along, but Tony handed her a 9mm.
"Just in case," he told her. The last three weeks had been tense. It was a peace offering. Tony had also spent a lot more time with Alawi than Kensi. If he was uneasy there was good reason. Although Tony made her plenty uneasy these days, too.
Alawi's man in LA brought the payment: diamonds for The Rising to pay for the merchandise and cash for the Cardenas as a finder's fee. Kensi had her team drop the merchandise for Alawi and a crate of weapons for Antonio as his matchmaker fee. Tony gets Alawi and his team to the meet, gets Kensi to the meet, collects his money and weapons and goes back to Mexico with connections and guns.
Everyone walks away happy. For ten weeks that had been the plan. Well, that was Ton's plan. Kensi knew it wouldnt play out that way, and sitting there behind the crates between eight Hezbollah terrorists and five hired guns and the head of the Cardenas cartel, Kensi knew that a million things could still go wrong.
She knew the team was there for her. She didn't see them, but she knew. She remembered back to when she was under as a thief. She was getting ready to go to the target's house and Deeks came alongside her in Ops and said 'I'm going to be with you every step of the way. Even if you don't see me, I'll be there.' She heard the words again now. She knew her partner would have her back.
Maybe she was on her own down in Mexico, but she'd texted them the where and when and the crates were where they were supposed to be. No way they weren't somewhere just out of sight. Her partner was here.
The details of the exchange were reviewed for all parties to the transaction. Everyone agreed. The crates were checked. The diamonds were verified. NCIS was waiting on the exchange to take them down. And then just when it was about to be over it all fell apart.
"You're as bad as the Americans, peddling in drugs that only contribute to their circumstance," Alawi spit at Antonio.
"Unless I'm missing something you are here to cause some harm yourself, so no need to point fingers," Tony answered.
"The US is a complicated place with complicated people. I don't like to judge people's vices," Kensi added.
"And yet you profit from their sins and help them destroy others." Alawi's eyes got dark and his expression hardened.
"It's not like your hands are clean here either. We're all in this together," Tony reminded him, just as he had reminded Kensi a week ago. Maybe he regarded her the same way he regarded a Hezbollah terrorist. She should have taken that as a compliment to her cover, but couldn't help but be a little offended.
"Not anymore," Alawi said, and with a nod to his men Kensi saw the guns come up aimed at her side of the room.
The bullets started flying, and Kensi was happy to at least have a weapon for this fire fight. They ducked behind crates and assessed the room for an exit when one of Alawi's men flanked them. Taking aim at Kensi he pulled the trigger, but Tony was already in motion. He grabbed Kensi and pulled her behind him, taking the bullets meant for her instead. Kensi opened fire and brought down the shooter and without a second thought for the man on the ground beside her, she ran for the best cover she could find. She emptied her weapon and
That was when she heard the familiar call of "Federal Agents" echo through the room. More gunfire followed, and footsteps with the sound of bullet ricochets all around. She heard grunts of pain and bodies fall, and felt the tide turning back in her favor. Stopping for a moment behind a shelving unit, she ripped off the head covering they made her wear finding it too restrictive. Only a moment from being clear of this whole ordeal, she felt someone fist her hair and pull her head back.
Alawi.
"So like a woman, deceitful and false," Alawi growled at her. "In my country we would stone you, but today I don't have time." He raised a knife to her neck and Kensi fought back with everything in her. Two months had come down to two people, each fighting to survive. In the end it was Kensi getting the better of the man and despite his clear preference to not be taken alive, she emerged with his arm twisted behind his back as she put him on his knees in front of her team.
Deeks' whole body was rigid with tension as he looked over every inch of her. He checked the way she stood, the way she held herself. They made eye contact, and she started to back up just the slightest amount.
The adrenaline was still flowing. Singularly focused on one thing for so long, feeling under siege, trusting no one, being alone – Kensi couldn't explain it, but the concern in his eyes, their eyes, and the questions she knew would come very suddenly stole the air from her lungs. A quick survey of the room told her Alawi was the only one of the bad guys who were being taken in alive. Was it worth it? Could it have played out differently?
"You good, Kensi?" Deeks asked, a gun still trained on Alawi.
He expected a quick 'good' or 'fine', but instead he heard nothing. She just shook her head slowly at first and then more quickly. As her breath quickened it was Callen, who was closest, that reached over to put a hand on her shoulder.
"Just breathe, Kens. We got you."
But the words only increased her feeling of suffocation, and she twisted her shoulder out of his reach. Her eyes caught Antonio on the floor and she added a tinge of guilt to her emotional mix – that he would give his life for hers, and that she felt nothing. That she'd hugged his children and laughed with his wife, and then led him to his capture and it became his death. Her hands went to her neck, and when she felt the gifted necklace she tore it from her body, then did the same with the bracelet letting them hit the warehouse floor.
Sam and Deeks kept their weapons trained on Alawi as Callen moved to cuff him. They wanted to secure him and the room so they could focus on her, but her fight or flight had flipped to flight and she needed a way out. She needed fresh air and less scrutiny while she fought for solid ground under her feet. She tried to breathe, not sure why now that it was over she should be so close to losing it completely. All she wanted for ten weeks was to be with her partner again but when she looked at him she wasn't ready. Finally she found an exit strategy, and while her team took Alawi into custody, she made her way outside.
Deeks moved to follow Kensi. The look in her eyes before she turned to leave haunted him. It was vulnerability, and panic and anger all rolled into one. And the way she shrugged off Callen's touch, the way she walked out of the warehouse without a word – it broke his heart.
Sam held him back when he made for the door.
"She needs to come down," Sam had told him.
Maybe Deeks understood. Maybe there was undercover work you had to detox from. When the smoke cleared, there were times you needed to remember who you were. He knew the feeling of needing to shake it off. Maybe ten weeks with cartels and terrorists left her needing some time.
And then he remembered Kensi looking over at the man on the floor and Deeks was drawn to him. Still breathing, but not going to make it, and there was nothing to be done. Deeks went to one knee next to him, about to take a picture to confirm his identity when the man reached up and took hold of his wrist.
"Tell her the debt is paid," he rattled as he drew his last breath.
Deeks stood up and went outside to at least put his eyes on his partner as the QRF flooded the scene. If she needed space, he would be her overwatch. He scanned the immediate area with no success, and then caught a glimpse of her. She was leaning against the building a fair distance away. He took a few tentative steps towards her, not looking to crowd or startle, but an SUV pulled up in front of her.
She turned away when Granger got out, and Deeks saw her wipe tears from her face. When Granger tried to approach her she looked like a cornered animal ready to strike. She slid farther down the wall to put distance between them, but Granger said something that stopped her in her tracks. She put her head down, her chin touching her chest, and shielded her eyes from the sun or the scrutiny for a minute, and nodded her head.
Granger backed away from her and opened the passenger side door to the SUV. He backed up again to give her as much space as she wanted, and she got in the vehicle. Then he closed the door and drove her away.
()_()_()_()_()_()_()
The boys double timed it back to the mission to see Kensi, only to find that she hadn't returned.
"Hetty, where is she?" Deeks questioned their Operations Manager, not really bothering to worry about his tone.
"Agent Blye is with Deputy Director Granger."
"But why aren't they here?" he asked more pointedly.
"Agent Blye is at a safehouse. Tonight her dance card is booked. I have a doctor at the location to review her condition and ensure the treatment she received in Mexico was sufficient. Then she'll begin to put together her account of the last ten weeks. There are agencies across the government who want to debrief her and all of that needs to happen before she's cleared to leave NCIS custody."
Deeks was grateful that she was going to see a doctor first. The idea of cartel basement surgery left him very uneasy. Add in the fact that they had been drugging her and it made for a bad combination. He remembered getting treated by a cartel vet once back in the day. Sketchy. But none of it reduced the frustration at the delay in getting to see his partner.
"Who's in line to debrief her?"
"Who isn't, Mr. Callen. CIA, FBI, DHS, ATF and DEA have all had my phone ringing off the hook. I expect she will have two days of debriefing ahead of her." Hetty reached over to Deeks and was uncharacteristically affectionate. She took his hand in hers, and tapped the top of it with the other. "She won't be alone, Mr. Deeks. Owen and I will see to it. We can't avoid what happens next, but she won't be alone."
He locked eyes with Hetty and saw a resolve that mirrored his own. Nodding, he accepted her promise that Kensi would be safe. He took a moment and excused himself. He went to his desk and reached underneath it. Grabbing a black backpack he returned to Hetty and placed it on her desk.
"It's a sort of go bag. Maybe the opposite. It's a welcome home bag, maybe. I don't know. It's some comfy clothes, some, well, you can look through it if you're worried. Just … if you're going to be there with her if you could just bring it to her I would appreciate it."
"Understood, Mr. Deeks. I will see that she gets it. And gentlemen," she said loudly to make sure Sam, Callen and Deeks all turned back to her, "her debrief sessions will be on in the main room at the boatshed if there aren't pressing cases."
Deeks made his way back to his apartment. Over and over he told himself she was home. It should've made him feel better. It didn't. The look in her eyes. The way she looked at Antonio. The way he swore he saw her step away when she saw him. He'd told her to do whatever it took to come home to him, but now he had to know what that was. He needed to know what happened, because he was determined ro be there for her.
