AN: Mea culpa on the delay. Work craziness, plus a longer-than-expected chapter kept me from being done last week. I was all set to post yesterday and a coworker had a medical emergency that knocked everything off-kilter and I forgot I hadn't posted until I was already almost asleep. The good news: After tomorrow I'm on vacation with nothing scheduled and finishing this and having the chapters ready to go for the next four Wednesdays is at the top of my list.

When the whistle split the air, Steve looked up to see the blond computer tech at the top of the stairs. The LA team scrambled, and Hetty turned to the rest of them. "While I deplore the mechanism by which he employs it, Mr. Beale has indeed trained the team into quite an effective Pavlovian response."

"I think that means we're supposed to follow them," Tony said. "Come on."

Steve got up and forced his mind to ignore all the complaints his body was sending him. Case first, rest later. This wasn't any worse than he felt after some of the training sessions in BUD/S. He also forced himself to ignore the little voice that sounded suspiciously like Danny pointing out that he was 15 years younger then.

When they all walked into the second-floor ops room, Grace stopped dead. "Whoa!" she said. Steve could agree — this was impressive. And the team of four at the front of the room was as mind-boggling as some of the technology. Nell was connecting things on one huge touchscreen, while McGee and Eric sent information to the screens and Abby tapped away on a tablet.

"The Navy gives you guys more technology than some of the SEAL missions I've been on," he said. He looked up at the screens where images of files and photos and data kept popping up. "Wait, that's-"

"That's Doris," Chin said. "John used to keep a photo of her in that same outfit on his desk at the station."

A memory surfaced in Steve's brain: It's the name I went back to the day I met your father. "She couldn't have been on an op when Dad met her — he only ever knew her as Doris."

"She was," Eric said. "McGee hit the motherlode."

Steve tried to process everything he was seeing, but-

"Nell, what do we have here?" Callen asked.

The analyst stepped away from the screen and took the tablet from Abby, who stepped up to continue moving images around.

"Doris had been a loyal CIA operative since she started college, first infiltrating campus radical groups, then moving on to more dangerous ops after graduation," Nell said. "But she tired of the pace and wanted out."

"The Agency doesn't let you out," Steve said.

"No, but they don't like disillusioned agents sticking around, either," Tony said. "How did Doris make it out alive?"

"They made her a deal," Nell said. "She would be sent to Hawaii as herself and would essentially be an agency asset on the ground in a state that was difficult to infiltrate because of its isolation."

"That part is true," Chin said. "It's easy to visit Hawaii, but because there are so many haoles, the kama'aina keep to themselves, especially about important things."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Danny said. "So you're telling me that Doris was using John, Steve and Mary as cover? That stinks. No, it's worse than than that, but with my daughter in the room, I don't have the words to tell you what I think of this arrangement."

"Danno, I've heard bad words before," Grace said.

"Yes, but you shouldn't be hearing them and I shouldn't be saying them in front of you, Monkey," he said. "And if your mom finds out I did, she would be very mad, and she would be right to be."

"Is Danno right?" Steve asked. Although he was fairly certain he knew the answer.

"We don't know," Nell said.

McGee turned around and flexed his fingers. "From everything we can find, Doris never communicated with the CIA again until two weeks before her alleged death in 1992, when Langley sent her a message through an agent that Wo Fat was looking for her."

"And then she faked her death and dropped off the grid until the Boss found her last year," Kono said. "But how does any of this relate to what's going on now?"

"That's the hinky part," Abby said. "Tell 'em, Timmy."

"About three hours before the attack on Steve, a CIA operation based in Honolulu started receiving a stream of encrypted messages," McGee said. "They've bounced the signal all over the place, but some of the messages originate from Langley."

"And the rest?" Callen asked.

"From Los Angeles," Nell said.

"Okay, I'm going to say what we're all thinking," Deeks said. "We're-" He broke off at a glare from Danny. "We're hosed."

Steve couldn't argue with that.

~NCIS~H50~LA~NCIS~H50~LA~

Callen looked around at the motley collection of agents in the room. This was shaping up to be one of their most complicated cases — even worse than the one where Cold War-era spies came out of the woodwork for that damned little black book.

"We have missing research here, and a CIA operation in Hawaii and Langley back in DC," Callen said. "But it doesn't make sense to divide our forces at this point — there's more risk to Sam and Steve that way and I think we're going to need all our skills to unravel this."

"Langley's not even a factor," Tony said. "Sure, that's where this is coming down from, but it's not like we can just bust in there and let Gibbs stare them into submission."

"The research lab isn't the real focus," Kensi said. "We need to find the leak, but it's probably somebody who was hired or bribed — I didn't see anybody there that could mastermind something like this. We need to find the people responsible."

"Kensi's right," Callen said. "That means Hawaii and the operation there has to be our focus."

"Five-0 has full immunity and means," Steve said. At a cough from Chin, he said, "Well, mostly. But in this case Gov. Denning isn't going to get in our way. If we go to Hawaii, I can deputize everybody temporarily."

"First, we need to find Anna Peters and talk to Arkady and see what he can tell us," Callen said.

"We're not getting on another plane tonight," Danny said. "Aquaman here needs sleep before he falls over, and Gracie is on her umpteenth timezone in the last fifteen hours. Flying to those hunks of rocks has to wait until tomorrow."

"Detective-Sergeant Williams is quite correct," Hetty said. "I will make arrangements for your trip tomorrow."

Callen nodded. "Deeks, Kens, you two need to take Sam, Steve and Grace to a safehouse until then." He looked around the room. "Gibbs, we'll go find Arkady. Kono, why don't you come along as backup. Just in case."

"Sure, brah," she said.

"Chin, stay here in ops and work with Eric, Nell, McGee and Abby to figure out as much as possible about what we'll find in Hawaii. Your local knowledge can only help." He paused for a second. "Everybody, feed your information to Danny and Tony so they can come up with a plan. These guys are good, and if we want to get the jump on them, we need to be ready to roll as soon as we land tomorrow."

~NCIS~H50~LA~NCIS~H50~LA~

Tony motioned for Danny to join him and they followed Hetty downstairs to her ornate office, if you could call it that.

"Now, I suggest a cup of tea while we decide our next moves," she said. "Agent DiNozzo, Detective Williams?"

"This is a nicer setting that I'm usually in for tea," Tony said. "Okay, Danny, you're the expert on Hawaii. What should we expect?"

Danny started laughing. "You, you're funny," he said. "You're asking the haole? Now I know we're in trouble." He paced around the tiled end of Hetty's space. "We have the CIA gunning for Steve's head and for Doris, not that she doesn't deserve it if anybody does, and absolutely zero idea of what we're walking into when we land and you think I can tell you what to expect? Explosions, because McGarrett likes to blow things up, and about a million broken rules and I don't even know what else because I stopped being able to predict what my days would be like, unlike Jersey, where you had your dope-pushers, your gang-bangers and your thieves who would knock over a store to pay for whatever bad habits they had picked up. No espionage, none of this insanity that has become standard operating procedure since I was hijacked into Steve's band of merry men."

"Now, Detective Williams, do calm down," Hetty said and handed him a tea cup that made Ducky's look like cheap yard sale pickups. "Agent DiNozzo?"

Tony took the cup and thanked her. "From what I hear, Callen and Sam have a knack for things that go 'Boom!' too, so explosions seem inevitable. We'll just make sure to keep Gibbs clear — I don't think even Franks can unscramble his brains if he gets blown up a third time." He sat back in the leather chair opposite Hetty's desk. "The McGeek Squad will have a location for us in Hawaii, so we'll be able to plan our approach on the actual cell at that point."

"You believe this to be a terror cell?" Hetty said.

"I think that anything involving Russian sleeper agents, Afghani heroin, a Navy SEAL mission, the CIA, NCIS and the Hawaiian governor's task force isn't your run-of-the-mill arms dealer," Tony said. "Especially not when we know Mrs. McGarrett was a sleeper agent on Hawaii herself."

"No surprise the agency wasn't willing to let her leave," Hetty said. "She was quite an effective agent in her day."

"You know Doris McGarrett?" Danny said.

"I knew the woman you know as Doris McGarrett," Hetty said. "We worked together once or twice. Even then she was beginning to become disillusioned with the agency, as many were then. It seemed as though we were often on the wrong side of everything, yet we could hardly do anything else."

"Is that when you joined NCIS?" Tony asked, keeping his voice light.

"In those days, it was still NIS, and would remain so for another two decades," Hetty said. "As you might imagine, I did not meet the minimum height requirements for a sailor, even had I wanted to attend boot camp. But I did manage to find assignments that were more to both my skill set and my taste."

Tony decided he wasn't about to ask. Not after all the urban legends he'd heard about Hetty Lange over the years. Before he could ask the question on his mind, Nell walked in, tablet in hand.

"Yes, Miss Jones?"

Nell turned the tablet around. "We have a location in Hawaii. Chin says it's a warehouse district where you've made some raids before."

"Not just some raids," Danny said after looking at the map. "That's where Sang Min used to have his headquarters."

"Sang Min?"

"Low-level scumbag and human trafficker we put away on our first case. Like a bad penny, he keeps turning up. He's useful, as long as you know you can't trust him. If his boys are involved, it's a good thing you're all coming — they know all of us by sight." Danny leaned against the railing. "They get people on and off the island, so that probably means our boys didn't fly over on Hawaii Air or on those damned black planes."

"CIA wouldn't risk an op by using that type of transport," Tony said. "An African op, or something in the Middle East, sure. But on American soil, far easier to just travel using a cover, or an agency plane."

"Unless the agency raided the warehouse," Hetty said. "Perhaps we have this backward and the agency is working with us."

"And Gibbs suddenly started talking like Abby?" Tony shook his head. "If anything, they're probably trying to cover up their own mess."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Danny said. He set the tea cup down and walked over to where Nell still held the tablet. "Nell, can you find…" He paused, then rattled off an address.

"That's an import-export company," Nell said.

"No, that's the official office of the CIA in Hawaii," Danny said. "After they got on our radar a few years ago, we made sure to keep an eye on where they set up shop. Are there any messages from the warehouse, LA or Langley to that address?"

"We'll find out," Nell said, then she turned and left.

"What are you thinking?" Tony asked.

"I think that just like Doris has gone rogue before — no wonder Steve's such a lone wolf sometimes — we might have a loose cannon in the CIA," Danny said. "If they're trying to keep an op off the official radar-"

"They would have to treat this like infiltrating a foreign country, and one with limited, high-visibility access points," Tony said.

"That narrows this down a little," Danny said. "The only way they could get in through the human traffickers would be if they looked like the came from Asia, or one of the islands scattered between Hawaii and Asia. That's where most of the operations originate."

"While disguises can be quite effective, this is one case where an agent of the proper background would be the first choice," Hetty said. "Concealing the tape that alters the appearance of the eye structure is damnably difficult in close quarters, especially with limited privacy."

"Like a shipping container on a freighter," Tony said, his tone grim.

"On a giant island, that doesn't narrow things down much," Danny said.

"Then I suggest we wait for Miss Jones to return with more information," Hetty said. "Until then, gentleman, please enjoy your tea."

~NCIS~H50~LA~NCIS~H50~LA~

"Does this traffic ever end?" Kono asked.

"Only when you fall into the Pacific," Callen said. "Do you speak Russian?"

"Only Danny does," Kono said. "Even Steve doesn't."

"Then if they draw a gun on you, shoot first and ask questions later," Callen said. "They will."

Gibbs couldn't help a quirk of his lips at that. Not that there was anything to laugh about in this situation.

"Arkady's moved up in the world," he said as they pulled up to a mansion with extensive grounds.

"Capitalism is lucrative, especially when you can scare people into working with you," Callen said. "He doesn't ever have to get involved with the Russian mob — everybody just assumes that if you mess with Arkady, you'll end up running from them."

"I don't scare," Gibbs said.

"Let's hope Arkady remembers that," Callen said.

"He will."

Gibbs followed Callen to the side door, dodging the guards circling the grounds.

"Knock?" he asked.

"I prefer the informal approach," Callen said. "He'll be at his pool eating dinner."

Sure enough, at the table by the inground pool sat an older version of the KGB agent Gibbs had met during those days of the crumbling Cold War Soviet Union, his last assignment before Paris.

"Old friend, why do you never knock?" Arkady said as they walked up. "And who is-"

"Vy pomnite menya,"Gibbs said. You remember me.

"Gibbs," Arkady said. "Or should I say-"

"No." That alias was going to stay hidden forever if Gibbs had any say over it.

"What brings you to Los Angeles?" Arkady shifted in his chair. "If I had known this was going to be a reunion, I would have prepared more food."

"Anna Pietrovich," Callen said.

"Is good Russian name." Arkady shifted again.

"You know her?" Callen asked.

"Is also common Russian name," Arkady said. "You might as well ask if I know Mr. Jones."

Gibbs took the photo Eric had printed for them from his pocket and slapped it on the table in front of the former agent.

"She is most beautiful," Arkady said. "She reminds me of my third, no, my fourth wife."

"Sneaky, duplicitous and conniving? Can't argue with you there, my friend," Callen said. "She was an asset. Who's her handler?"

"You act as though I still have my old role," Arkady said. "I have been gone from Russian for many years now."

"So has she," Callen said. He pulled up the photo of Anna and her parents when she was a child on his phone and showed it Arkady. "This ring any bells?"

"Should it?"

The arch tone of his voice set Gibbs temper to simmer. "It is if you had anything to do with sending her here," he said. "One SEAL is dead, one was almost killed earlier today and two others are in danger."

"I oversaw many operations while I was in Russia, but it was long time ago. Details are fuzzy."

Gibbs leaned in, hands on the table, until he was inches from Arkady's face. "Think harder."

"If the files on that operation still exist, they would be at a very high level," Arkady said. "If she is not working her own angle, she is being directed from the very highest levels of the FSB."

Not until they were back in the car did Gibbs say what he was thinking.

"We're screwed."