Author's Note: Originally posted on AO3

This is the sequel to 'The Hispanic'. You don't necessarily have to know that one to understand this though.

Xxxxxxx

Crosshairs

Chapter 1

The sound of gunfire from the other side of the building made all their heads snap up while they crouched down and took shelter behind several cars. Nell hunkered down beside him while Sam was two cars over.

Callen tapped his earwig. "Eric…" he prompted.

"Kensi and Deeks are taking fire. Tac team 2 is sending reinforcements from the west end," Eric told them, his voice calm despite the tense situation.

It relaxed Callen enough to proceed with their planned approach. If Eric was not overly worried, they would proceed. He turned to Sam, signaling for him to go ahead, giving Nell a brief sideways glance. She had proven herself capable and clearheaded under fire before and he knew she would be a valuable asset once they were inside. Her job was to recover the stolen data and their job was to get her there and make sure they took down as many bad guys as possible on the way.

Scanning the building ahead of them, they waited for Sam to reach new shelter closer to the building. Callen followed first once his partner signed for him to go before Nell sprinted over as well. Sam was about to proceed when Callen jerked him back down, a bullet pinging off the edge of the car's fender where Sam's head just had been. Nell moved to the car's bumper and fired off several rounds, making the man duck back down.

The warehouse's door rolled open and a van roared outside, the side open and a man hanging out with a semi-automatic pointed in their direction.

They were sitting ducks if they stayed where they were. Reaching for Nell, he bundled her forward, knowing Sam would be right behind him. He fired in the direction of the first shooter, hoping he would be encouraged enough to stay down so they wouldn't be gunned down from both sides. Sliding around the car, he kept their rear covered while Sam took aim to take out the van. If the data was in that van, they had to stop it from escaping. Nell and Sam stood facing in one direction, trusting him to keep their backs protected. When the first shooter popped up, Callen didn't hesitate, firing instantly to take the man out. The way the man dropped down and out of sight was a good indication that he had managed to do that.

Turning around to help Nell and Sam, he caught a sense of movement on his left and instantly swung that way, not waiting until he had finished his turn before he took the shot. It was still a fraction of a moment too late and the man fired a single shot. The man fell a moment later, the same time that Nell stumbled by his side, pushed back into the car by the power of the hit.

Callen turned to her and drew her back behind the relative safety of the car they were crouched behind. His eyes moved over the younger woman, zeroing in on the blood on her arm. He reached up to his ear and tapped the earwig, "I have an agent down. We need backup," he ordered, trusting Sam to keep them covered for that brief moment of inattention.

Nell hissed and pushed him away, "I'm good. It's just a graze."

He narrowed his eyes at her and held her down, ripping the fabric of her shirt away to check on the wound. It was indeed a graze, a fiery line along her upper arm was bleeding sluggishly. Callen ripped off the sleeve of her shirt the whole way and tied it around her arm over the wound. It was only then that he let her up. It was a crude field dressing, but anything more thorough had to wait until they had finished the raid.

Sam had taken the van out and after a brief non-verbal communication, they made their way out from behind their shelter and over to the wreck. Nell remained where she was, covering their rear. The van had crashed into another car after Sam had taken out the front tire. The shooter lay inside, his neck bent at an unnatural angle. The driver was beginning to move, groaning and trying to sit up.

Callen drew open the door and scanned the passenger side while Sam dragged the driver out of the van and threw him face down on the ground, proceeding to zip-tie his hands behind his back. "Clear," Callen stated when he was sure that there was no one left inside the vehicle. Sam nodded and stood, bringing his gun back up. Callen tilted his head into the direction of the surprise shooter that had injured Nell. They once more covered each other while they approached. Callen rounded the corner and frowned when the spot was empty.

"Where is he?" Sam asked a moment later.

Callen growled in anger, turning around to see if he could spot anything. There was no further cover around, so the shooter wasn't laying in wait for them. He scanned the side of the yard and then checked the walkways above them, finding nothing. He allowed his weapon to sink before turning back around.

Sam crouched down at the corner, pointing at a stain of red. "Blood," he noted, "you probably winged him."

"Keep an eye out," Callen muttered, angry that they had one suspect on the run. For the moment they would have to let him go. They needed to get inside the warehouse to secure their Intel. He reached for his earwig, "we have a runner on the south side, Eric. See if you can spot him and send someone after him. We'll proceed inside."

"Copy that," Eric answered, his voice only mildly distracted as he was overseeing all of the tactical teams included in this raid. He was good at multi-tasking, guiding several teams at the same time if necessary. Still, it would have been nice to have Nell in Ops as well. But the decision to take her along to secure the data had been made as a team and he stood by it. They hadn't expected that much trouble. Callen mentally shrugged… hindsight.

The gunfire from the other side of the warehouse had died down, only sporadic gun shots ringing out. Callen and Sam both turned at the same time, checking on Nell who was still crouched by the car, scanning their surroundings and keeping their backs covered.

Callen signaled for her to stay where she was until they reached the entrance and she nodded. He could see blood on the bandage he had wrapped around her arm, but the stain wasn't growing rapidly enough to be dangerous for the moment.

Callen and Sam hurried over to the entrance, keeping to what little cover they had while trusting Nell to watch their backs. They shouldered the wall beside the entrance and waited for Nell to come over.

"Proceeding inside," Callen stated before he followed Sam inside.

"Tac team 1 is already inside," Eric answered, "Kensi and Deeks are about to breech as well."

"Copy that," Callen acknowledged without taking his eyes off of their surroundings, swinging his gun low while Sam checked the high ground of the walkways. They weren't met with any resistance but they stuck to the cover of old barrels and machinery as much as they could. No one wanted any more surprises.

All three of them turned when there was a gunshot from the other side of the building.

"Agent down." Kensi's voice came over the line. Eric had merged all of their channels together now that they were inside the warehouse.

Callen traded a glance with Sam, unspoken communication between them before he broke off from his partner and Nell. He would go for Kensi and Deeks while Sam and Nell proceeded inside to secure their data. On the other side of the room, the shadows moved and he drew to a brief stop, beginning to duck down when he caught sight of the bulletproof vest with the NCIS lettering of one of the tactical squad. They nodded towards each other and proceeded, merging together when they approached a corner of the corridor that would lead them to the entrance where Kensi and Deeks had come inside.

Together, they quietly stepped into the dimly lit hallway and cautiously scanned the area. A shot came from up and behind them and they both dropped down, rolling to the side and trying to get a beacon on the shooter. The agent from the tactical team motioned to the walkway up above and Callen nodded, scanning the structure and barely able to make out a dark silhouette moving away. He fired a shot but missed, the shadow starting to sprint off. "One suspect on the walkway northbound," Callen spoke while pushing himself up and starting to chase the shadow, the tactical agent right behind him.

He listened to Eric directing some agents to their position before their technical operator cursed. "Callen, there's a helicopter coming in from the south. Flying low, under the radar."

A helicopter could only mean one thing… their targets were trying to escape that way. "Have the squads outside try to take it out," he ordered, "we have to get to the roof," he told the tactical agent behind him while running, changing his direction slightly when he remembered the blueprints of the building. There was a shortcut to the roof access close to where they were. They sprinted around a corner and up the flight of stairs, only slowing down when they approached the door that would lead to the roof.

The sound of rotors outside was loud, letting them know that tactical teams outside hadn't managed to force the chopper down. Signaling to the tactical agent, Callen pushed the door open and dropped to a crouch, scanning the roof. He jerked back when a bullet slammed into the steel door above his head. Sneaking a peek round the door, he took in the scene: two men sprinted towards the helicopter while another man covered their rear from the door of the chopper, firing in his direction. He traded hand signals with the tactical agent and then exploded in motion, sprinting for a brick wall close by that provided convenient cover while the tactical agent fired at the helicopter and the enemy shooter. Shots pinged off the ground by his feet and Callen slid to a stop behind the wall. He instantly turned towards the helicopter, firing as well now that he had enough cover. The two men jumped inside and the other returned their fire, quickly climbing into the waiting helicopter as well. Despite their best efforts, the helicopter took off momentarily, banking to the right as Callen stood and ran after it, still firing. He approached the edge of the roof and slowed down, spitting curses.

"Eric, the chopper got away." He rattled off the registration number. "Find it," Callen ordered their tech before turning back. The tactical agent looked similarly pissed at having lost their targets. "Kensi, status report," he ordered, needing to know who had been hit and how bad it was.

"Deeks took one to the leg. Flesh wound. No arterial bleeding." The words were somewhat distracted and even if the report was short and precise, he could hear the worry in them.

"ETA for the medics?" he asked.

"Two minutes out," Eric answered and Callen nodded to himself. "Sam?" His partner and Nell hadn't called in yet and he needed to know how things stood on their end.

"We got a laptop here. Nell is checking the data. Not sure if it was copied to an external hard drive yet."

"Once you know, get Nell to the medics as well," he said.

"Copy that," Sam acknowledged and Callen sighed softly. Two of their team wounded, even if it seemed to be minor wounds. Their targets got away… if with or without the data wasn't certain yet. In his book, that made for a lousy outcome.

Growling in frustration, he kicked at a pebble lying in his path before he started for the stairs, needing to check on the state of things downstairs.

Xxxxxxx

When he came downstairs, two ambulances were waiting outside, slightly apart from each other. Deeks was lying on one of the stretchers with the medics fussing over him. Kensi stood close by without being in the way. There was tension in her frame, but not enough to suggest the wound was worse than previously thought.

Callen stepped up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You good?" he asked.

Kensi gave him a strained smile. "Yeah, I'm good." She glanced over to where her partner was, "medics say it's a flesh wound. Still… the guy came out of nowhere. Fired a single shot and was gone a moment later. I didn't even get to return fire before he was gone."

Callen shrugged. "He made his way up to the roof. Probably knew the chopper was coming and decided to get out and save his skin instead of taking the fall." He squeezed her shoulder and turned to the medics, wanting their assessment on top of Kensi's, "how bad?"

The medic turned to him with a reassuring smile. "Through and through. There's some soft tissue damage. It needs to be cleaned and stitched up. Circulation is intact and there's no nerve damage as far as I can determine."

"Good," Callen nodded and glanced at Deeks who was trying to get up when the other medic turned her back on him. Callen smirked at the obvious escape attempt. "Deeks, stay put. Get that patched up."

"Stitches mean needles," Deeks whined.

He laughed while Kensi rolled her eyes. Still, the comment served as enough of a reassurance that Deeks was alright and he felt himself relax.

"How's Nell?" Deeks asked.

"I'll check up on her next. She had a graze on her arm but was able to continue on. We split up and she stayed with Sam," he told them both, "the wound didn't look too serious."

The impact of the information was measured easily by the relief and relaxation visible in both Kensi and Deeks. A lot of things had gone wrong in this raid and they would have to find out exactly where they had gone wrong… after everyone was patched up and safe. "Kensi, go with him and make sure he get's patched up properly," he told her with a nod towards her partner who glanced around furtively as if considering making a break for it.

She touched his arm briefly when he turned away from her, offering comfort and taking it at the same time. They all were aware that they had gotten somewhat lucky today. Even if the raid had gone to hell, they had all come out of it alive, if worse for wear.

Callen approached the second ambulance, taking in Nell's form on the back step. Sam stood guard over her while she sat somewhat hunched over, a clean bandage on her arm that the medic was just tying up. "How are you?" he asked gently when Nell looked up.

"Just a graze," she reconfirmed.

Callen glanced at the medic in askance who nodded at the unspoken question.

"Graze on her upper arm. I've cleaned it up. No stitches required," he told both Callen and Sam before turning to his patient, "you're free to go. Keep it clean and watch out for signs of infection. Take painkillers as needed."

With a nod, Nell stood and moved her arm, hissing softly, "stings like a bit**."

Callen and Sam both laughed. "Yeah, they tend to do that," Sam told the younger woman, putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her against his side. "Your first one, right?" he asked gently and Nell nodded with a small grin, more proud than scared by having acquired her first battle wound.

Inwardly, Callen rolled his eyes. Adrenaline junkies. The lot of them. "Alright, let's head out. Nell, we'll drop you off at home. You get some rest and then come back to Ops tomorrow," he decided and started turning away when Nell shook her head.

"I can work. No way we'll let these guys get away."

Sam turned more fully to her, "of course not, but you should get some rest."

Nell's eyes narrowed and Callen nearly took a step back at the fire in them. "Would you?" she asked.

Her tone of voice suggested that they better answer that question honestly. She looked a lot like Hetty in that moment. The old ninja had taught her well. Callen smirked and looked at his partner, who looked back at him. "Well, Sam… would you?" he needled, making Nell laugh and his partner narrow his eyes at him. Callen shook his head and turned back to their younger colleague, "alright, Nellverine, then let's get back to Ops. I'm sure Eric will want to see you for himself and appreciate the backup."

Xxxxxxx