Author's Note: I'm SO sorry for the crazy delay in postings. I swear, your reviews to continue writing were the one thing I could not ignore so I dug deep and finally found a direction for this story again, and I'm so happy to be writing after such a long break! Thank you for the push, I NEEDED IT! – M. Rae
"His ear piece! Trash it!" The NCIS agents heard Narek shout from the van. They heard more brawling and grunts until Callen's voice sounded. "I got this, just find me." The team leader mumbled, and that was the last thing they heard before the line went dead.
"G! Status, can you hear me? … Callen!?" Sam shouted into his earpiece but knew he had just listened to the sound of the comm unit going offline.
"Son of a bitch, they're headed east down Revere street." Deeks voiced slowing his sprint to a jog and then stopping completely in the middle of the street.
"No! Damn it, how did that just happen?!" Sam shouted in frustration. He placed both hands over his head and rubbed his skin in anger.
"Callen's GPS just went offline, is he in that van?" Eric inquired anxiously through comms.
Nell looked over at Eric with worry, awaiting an answer. Hetty stood silently behind her tech agents waiting for some useful information about her surrogate son.
"Yes, they took Callen, trashed his earpiece and probably phone too…" Kensi responded as Sam interrupted her.
"Eric, start tracking the vehicle, 2-1-1… November..." He trailed off as he spoke. Sam had kicked furiously at the sand and froze when he saw several dark red stains across the sand's surface. It was pools of his partner's blood.
"You only got the partial plate? I need make and color Sam." Eric was furiously typing away at his desktop in search for their now kidnapped lead agent."
"Last three are November-bravo-4, black van, Ford make." Deeks finished the identification for his partner who seemed distracted, with good reason.
"Let's round back to the cars, come on!" Kensi shouted breaking them all out of their blankness. With that, the trio turned and ran back towards the pier.
x
"That was not a good idea." Callen warned. His arm was pulsing and leaking blood all over the back seat as the car made a screeching right.
"Shut up." A nameless arms dealer threatened, tightening the cuffs they had manhandled onto the agent's hands, pinning his arms painfully behind his back as soon as he was tossed into the van.
"What exactly is your plan here? You would've been better off without a federal agent in your getaway vehicle…" Narek spun around in his seat and punched the NCIS agent in the face, cutting him off midsentence.
G's head snapped to the side as his bottom lip burst open. He didn't make a sound in response to the assault and turned a dark gaze back at Narek.
"Are you deaf? I said shut the hell up." Narek snapped.
Callen stared into the Armenian's eyes, turned his head and spit blood onto the car's interior floor. He then turned his face back towards the angered passenger and gave him a menacing glare. "Got it." G answered firmly, flashing his hallmark smirk.
Narek exhaled in irritation and then turned back to face the road.
Callen decided he would shut his mouth for the moment anyway and use the time to assess his own status.
Okay, let's just go top, down he thought. There was a thickness along the left side of his nose and he could feel pressure building underneath both his eyes. Oh yeah, broken nose.
His head was pounding lightly but his vision was clear enough, there was nothing major there. Probably a mild concussion.
Moving down, his back was aching, but he couldn't remember why. Maybe it was the four tackles to the ground, and/or the wood rail that smashed apart, courtesy of my back. Whatever, it's just sore.
His arm was the real problem. Callen looked at the distorted flesh on his forearm first and was sure both bones were broken and displaced, it didn't take a doctor to figure that one out. He experimented moving his fingers gently to see if the arm could be at all helpful in this escape plan he had yet to come up with. But one simple curl of his index finger caused a sharp and breathtaking pain to shoot up his hand and through his elbow. He sucked in a breath quietly and shut his eyes in discomfort. Okay, okay, it's useless.
After breathing and willing the dark edges of agony to clear from his periphery, G found the strength to open his eyes to glance down at his shoulder. There was one crimson hole that could be seen surrounded by bloodied and reddened flesh just under his clavicle, but no exit wound in sight. Great.
He felt his heart pounding against his rib cage telling him his adrenaline was still pumping healthily through his body. Good, I'm gonna use that shortly… once I figure out how to get out of this car that is.
"Davit, stop!" Narek's voice broke Callen out of his muse just as he saw the nose of a semi-truck blast into the right rear of the van, hurling it into the air. The impact was ear shattering filled with the warping groan of metal crushing metal and shattering glass. And then there was black silence.
Hetty stood silently watching her prized team work.
"Any leads yet?" Sam asked into comms. They were driving block by block towards the last known location of their team leader but the trail was getting cold, fast.
Nell's voice spoke up. "Sam, I think we got something. I'm getting reports of a car accident on the corner of Venice and McLaughlin Boulevard. It's likely Narek passed through there."
"Nice work guys, we're headed there now." Deeks responded and Sam sped off down Washington Boulevard, hoping to pick up the trail and finally catch up to his best friend.
"How long ago was the crash?" Kensi inquired, trying to figure out how far behind they were.
"A witness called it in at 11:34 am." Eric answered.
Sam tipped his head down at the car's console that read 11:37. He peeked at his watch ticking at 11:37:45, 46, 47. Three minutes isn't bad, he pressed on the gas pedal and planned to make it on scene in under two.
Deeks sat tensely in the back seat tapping his foot on the floor of the car. He had a towel he was using to wipe Callen's dried blood that had smudged onto his hands and arms. His clothes were soaked, but he didn't seem to notice, nor care.
Sam didn't even bother with the towel. His clothes were still saturated with the salt water and he could smell the copper scent of blood on his black shirt. He had to get to Callen, the gunshot wound on his shoulder had been leaking blood rapidly in the water and on the beach. The first worry was G passing out from low blood volume, but even worse would be Callen going into hypovolemic shock, which was a death sentence if not treated immediately.
The senior agent tore the wheel left and the black SUV skidded onto Venice Boulevard. "We're on Venice." Sam voiced. His adrenaline was picking up the closer he got to the scene. He was banking on someone giving him information on the van and racing off into whatever direction they indicated. Nell was working on the traffic cams, Eric on the dispatcher calls, they had a lead, finally, they would find him.
I got this, just find me. Callen's voice echoed through his head. "I'm coming buddy." He whispered for his ears alone.
The trio approached the McLaughlin intersection, ready to secure the scene and take witness statements as fast as they could.
Smoke could be seen up above, along with small crowds of people, glass, and a crashed in semi-truck.
"God damn, this is a mess." Sam worded as the intersection came into full view.
"Shit, guys look." Deeks pointed towards the unfortunate vehicle that had been the victim of the semi-truck and there, on the sidewalk tipped on its side, was the black van their team leader was abducted in.
"Eric we're on scene, Narek's van was part of the crash, it was hit by a semi." Kensi stated grimly.
Nell turned frightened eyes to her coworker. Hetty bowed her head and turned away from the monitors in unease. At least we found him. She thought worriedly.
The trio clambered out of the SUV and ran towards the van.
"Federal Agents! Back away from the vehicle now." Kensi shouted, flashing her badge to the nearby witnesses inspecting the wreckage.
Deeks rounded the car first and saw the driver was collapsed inside the vehicle against the pavement and the broken through passenger side window. The junior agent reached a hand through the shattered front windshield to check the man's pulse and found none. "Driver's dead." He announced.
"Callen!" Sam shouted, rounding the underside of the black car wreck. He reached up and grasped the side of the tipped vehicle and hoisted himself up. Gripping next for the van's slide door, he yanked at the handle, effectively unlocking it, and slid it noisily open as it crashed to the edge with a searing bang. Sam peered into the sideways car and his heart sank.
"They're gone guys, must've fled the scene." The senior agent reported, both dread and relief filling his words at the fact that his friend was not a current occupant of the crushed up vehicle. "We need some eyewitness reports now."
Kensi turned around and looked towards the small group standing off to the side of the street. "Federal Agent." She flashed her badge as she approached the trio. "What happened here?" She inquired.
One woman jumped at the opportunity to share what she saw. "The light was red and the semi just blew right through it." She recalled the incident with animated hands. "Slammed right into that van. It flipped over and over until it got pinned up against the building." She pointed to the van Sam was currently scaling.
"Where did the occupants of the van go? Did any of them appear to be injured?" The agent pressed on quickly.
"All of them were injured." She stated brusquely. "They all exited the car in a hurry though."
"How many men were there?"
"Um, four." She continued. "When they started piling out of the car, that's when my daughter called 9-1-1. My son went over to try and help them but the men shouted at him to back away, so he did. They weren't speaking English."
Kensi nodded, listening intently for any detail that could help identify what happened to their team leader.
"There was one man that looked really bad, they-"
"Were any of them American?" Kensi interrupted.
"Uh, yes the one that was dragged out spoke English I think." The woman confirmed. "They dragged him out, pretty roughly." She made a face of horror. "He was covered in blood." She stated. Kensi paled.
"They were in a rush so they must've thought the car was going to explode or something. That's when we all backed up." The woman continued.
"Where did they go?" Kensi pressed. I need a location.
"They went straight for a car on the street, broke in the window and drove off down Venice." She finished.
"How long ago was that?" Kensi asked.
"They drove right past you as you rode in." Kensi mentally kicked herself.
The junior agent spun around and strode back towards the car wreck. "Nell did you get all of that?"
"Yes, traffic cams picked up Narek leaving the scene East down Venice, I just tracked them to a side street but lost the trail. Hurry." The tech agent added.
The NCIS agents climbed back into the SUV as patrol vehicles drove in, understanding time was of the essence.
"East down Venice." Deeks repeated Nell's words, and Sam tore off down the street.
The three agents drove in silence, each working to control their breathing from the adrenaline presently pumping through their bodies at the seriousness of the situation. Things could go so wrong, and they all knew it. But that wasn't a pliable option right now, not while they were doing their damndest to save Callen by performing their jobs to the best of their abilities. They had to stay sharp.
"It's your next right." Nell's voice broke through the silence. Sam slowed slightly and made the turn. There was an abandoned car at the end of an alleyway with all four doors opened, an obvious red flag for the trained agents. The SUV came to a stop and the three piled out, guns out of their holsters and reflexes ready for anything. They approached with extreme caution and stealth, turning quickly to face the inside of the red car with their weapons active.
"Clear."
"Clear!"
"Clear." They all confirmed and they took in the wreckage of the scene. Blood lined the seats and floor of the abandoned sedan. There was dirt on the doors and behind the back of one of the seats, an obvious struggle had occurred. Deeks rounded to the fenced edge of the alleyway looking for a trail the occupants may have moved in.
"What have you got, Mr. Hanna?" Hetty's voice finally broke through comms.
The senior agent let out a frustrated exhalation and reported. "Vehicle's been fled, all four doors open in a hurry. We're securing the area and working on following a blood trail." He shook his head and turned his back away from the car. "But he's not here, Hetty." Sam concluded dreadfully.
x
Nearly thirty minutes later, forensics were on sight and the scene was being marked up. Nell and Eric continued to search through traffic cams and cell phone calls made around the area, but nothing had come of it yet. A half hour was too long to not have any leads on their team leader and the atmosphere amongst the NCIS team was meek at best.
Sam was walking along the fence with Deeks inspecting the blood trail once more, trying to get the image out of his head that this blood was likely his best friend's splashed across the asphalt.
His phone ringing broke him out of his stupor and he reached down and jammed his thumb into the screen, answering instinctively.
"Hanna." He answered blearily.
There was a bustling noise on the other line and the sound of labored breathing, but no voice spoke. Sam's eyes furrowed and his stomach dropped at the tension building through the silence. "Who is this?" He pressed turning his back away from the fence. Deeks looked up at Sam's response and sudden change in tone.
Another agonizing moment passed until finally, a familiar but pained voice broke through the speaker.
"Sam?" Callen whispered.
TBC