Crosshairs

Chapter 4

Kensi and Eric were at one side of the room, both of them stunned and disbelieving by what had happened to their respective partners.

Callen, Sam and Hetty were on the other side of the room.

"Just what have we been missing, gentlemen?" Hetty asked, her voice low and worried.

Sam shook his head, "it was a clean cut case. Missing access codes for drones. We followed the leads to an Indian liberation group. They got wind of the drones and used an unsuspecting and naïve Lieutenant to gather enough info to stage a coup and gain access."

"This whole operation has gone seven shades of sideways ever since the raid. Until then, the leads were sporadic but visible," Callen mused, pursing his lips, "but since the raid, a lot of things have been bothering me."

Before he could go into further detail, several physicians stepped into the room, masks over their faces and geared up. They were not quite in biohazard outfits, but they were in enough protective gear to be close. "Dr. Mitchell has given orders for you to be put in quarantine and checked over."

Callen growled and was about to decline, when Hetty put a hand on his forearm, shaking her head when he glanced at her. "If there is a risk, we need to make certain we corral this as quickly as possible," she told him softly but firmly before turning to the physicians, "lead the way."

The men handed out masks they put on before the group followed them through different corridors into an unused ward of the hospital. It felt somewhat stunning that there was an unused ward for cases like this, but every now and then, there were medical emergencies that necessitated the use of a quarantine station. Upon entering the ward, they were separated into different rooms before each of them underwent a thorough check-up.

Callen hated medical check-ups and he hated needles, but two of his colleagues had fallen violently ill within a few hours and he saw the need to make certain that no one else was developing symptoms. He felt fine, but then again, despite the bullet wounds, so had Nell and Deeks until recently. Once the doctor and nurse who had been with him left, he started pacing the room.

This whole case was stinking to high heaven. Something was going on that had landed Nell and Deeks in hospital, at least one of them in a potentially life threatening condition. He didn't believe in coincidences.

Two hours later, he was no closer to a solution than before, but he also wasn't winding down. His brain was working furiously over the facts and trying to make connections where he couldn't see any connections yet but knew he had to look for them at exactly that point.

Callen looked up when the door opened and Steve stood in the doorway, beckoning him outside. They met with the rest of the team in a large room, standing around in a loose circle.

"All of your stats and blood parameters are normal; neurological tests, too. We'll take another blood sample in 4 hours to confirm the results and make sure there's nothing happening, but right now, I don't think you contacted anything," Steve stated. "Was there anything that only Nell and Deeks had access to during the raid?"

Sam shook his head, "we approached from different sides of the building and those two didn't even get close to each other. Even the ambulances were parked apart from each other."

Callen tilted his head to the side in thought, slowly moving around the room.

"Callen?" Steve prompted.

He turned and shrugged, "the bullets." He held up a hand when Kensi wanted to protest, "yes, different bullets, and different sides of the building, but only Nell and Deeks were wounded. Plus…" he tapered off.

All of them watched him closely while he tried to put his thoughts in line, grabbing for something that had been unreachable before.

"It was something you said, Kensi…" Callen stated slowly, testing the words before verbalizing his thoughts, "you said the attacker fired a single shot and was gone a moment later, that you didn't even get to return fire."

Kensi nodded slowly when all of them glanced at her.

"The same was true for when Nell was shot," Sam muttered softly, "Callen fired a shot at him because he saw him move, but he was gone when we checked around the corner where he had been."

"Yes," Callen nodded, "and the helicopter… that took forethought. No one manages to organize a chopper within five minutes of the authorities arriving."

Hetty's eyes narrowed, "you're thinking it was a trap," she concluded, more statement than question.

Callen glared over at her, his eyes flashing, "yeah, I think we were set up. Whether it was Nell and Deeks specifically or not, I don't know."

"You think the bullets were poisoned?" Steve asked, obviously seeking clarification.

"Run a ToxScreen," Callen told him firmly.

"Already being processed," Steve nodded, amending, "for all of you."

Callen returned the man's stare, "let us go, Steve. We need to be outside to find those guys. I'm sure that none of us is in any way or form sick. Both Nell and Deeks weren't feeling well after the raid. We put that down to them being shot," Callen stated, looking to Kensi for confirmation since they hadn't seen Deeks after he had been taken to the hospital to be patched up.

Kensi nodded slightly, "he complained about the wound several times, said it was burning more than it should have."

"He was also agitated, seemed twitchy in the waiting room," Sam added.

"He complained about cramps in his back," Callen nodded.

Steve watched them all, seemingly undecided about whether to let them go or not. Callen turned to his mentor, "Hetty, we are of more use outside."

"Another team can…" she started, but Callen exploded, fury and adrenaline dousing his system, the hold he'd had on his anger and frustration snapping.

"This is my team. Our team. I will not put their lives into anyone else's hands," he growled, surprising all of them with his vehemence - everyone but Sam and Hetty, probably. Callen took a calming breath, "Hetty, we take care of ourselves. We'll go over what we found before. We already know the case so we will not need to read up on it."

"Maybe another team would go at it with a different approach, a different view," Hetty said, but he could hear from the tone of her voice that she was making a token protest, playing the devil's advocate.

"No time to get a new team read into the case, Hetty," Callen said softly, glancing at Steve for confirmation. He saw it in the way the other man held himself. He had been here often enough to get to know Steve and he knew how to read the man, knew when he was worried and when things weren't too bad. Right now, he was gravely worried. "How bad, Steve?" he asked softly.

The others looked away from him and Hetty, and instead over to Steve who sighed.

"We've sedated Nell. She's had another seizure and she's now on a ventilator. Her lungs have filled with fluid and she's had trouble breathing," he said softly, "Deeks is somewhat conscious but rather confused and he, too, is developing a fever and cardiovascular symptoms."

Callen and Sam shared a glance before he turned back to the physician. "Steve, let us go. If they've been poisoned, you will need to know what kind of poison, right?"

Steve nodded, "right now, we're managing the symptoms, but yeah, the poison determines the antidote and even the treatment."

Callen straightened and turned to his partner, taking in the firm nod that Sam sent his way. He glanced at Kensi and Eric. "Are you two able to work this?" he asked gently, "I know those are your significant others in there." He would not force either of those two to work the case, but he quietly admitted to himself that the backup - especially the technical side that Eric could provide - would be greatly appreciated.

Both Kensi and Eric looked torn for a moment, glancing towards the corridor before resolutely turning away from where their partners were laid up and facing Callen with a nod.

He gave them both a small and appreciative smile, "alright, let's go."

Xxxxxxx

Kensi didn't particularly like being in Eric and Nell's domain, but she had bowed to his order for her and Eric to team up. Those two could hold each other up and keep each other focused. Callen had briefly toyed with the thought of mixing Eric and Kensi with Sam and himself to be able to better support those two now that they were worried over their partners, but he got the feeling that he shouldn't break up his own longstanding partnership with Sam right now, that they would be better off together. They knew each other's quirks and he didn't want Kensi in the field right now, since a distraction as big as was happening right now in the hospital could get them all killed.

Their opponents were obviously very good and he didn't want to risk anyone else.

Still… he had a feeling that things would go wrong however they played this. It was just that tingling sensation he got that alerted him of trouble ahead.

He entered the boatshed ahead of Sam, nodding towards their fellow agent who was standing guard over the woman who had been naïve enough to fall for a scam and start this whole thing. They would question her again, see if they had missed something that could help point them in the right direction.

Xxxxxxx

When the cell phone number they got from the woman came online and Eric was able to pin it down, neither of them wasted a moment. Four more hours had gone by and they were more than ready for action.

The reports from hospital were sobering. Neither Nell nor Deeks showed any signs of improvement, but at least they weren't worsening further right now. The doctors were managing the symptoms but making no headway into what had caused their illness.

Leaving the boatshed at a fast pace, Sam and Callen strode over to the Challenger when a single shot rang out.

Xxxxxxx