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Chapter 5

Driving back to OSP, Sam felt confused. Callen was in good hands and he just couldn't face his friend right now, he needed answers and come to terms with his own feelings of guilt.

"Mr Hanna, what are you doing here? I expected you to be with Mr Callen." Hetty greeted him astounded. "Kensi is looking after Callen. I have to find out what happened, Hetty! I failed him, I didn't have his back." Sam tiredly rubbed his eyes, emotionally drained. Hetty looked him over carefully and nodded: "I see, Mr. Hanna, I see". Then Hetty pointed him upstairs. "The wonder twins are on it."

Sam stormed into OPS: "What have you got?" he asked Eric and Nell head on. Nell faced the large screen, tablet in hand, all professional: "Here you see the footage of your arrival and shoot out with Garcia, Callen looks fine then. After that we lost visual, as there were no quickly accessible cameras in the warehouse. Whereas we could keep a voice connection with you at all times we lost it with Callen at some point, so we were completely blind. Only later on when the comm worked, again, we could inform Callen about the danger you were in." Nell turned to face him, "we just managed to hack into the warehouse security cams but haven't checked it out, yet" Tapping onto the tablet she faced the screen again and started the video.

Sam saw his partner running after him through the alley of stacks at good speed when suddenly, out of the blue, a guy viscously jumped onto him, wielding a large knife in his hand glinting in the light, a second guy kicking Callen's gun away. Sams eyed widened at what he saw, he kept his breath dreading what would transpire next. He could hardly bare to watch the brute force of Callen being stabbed, his cry of pain making Sam feel sick. "Oh my goodness... G!" he breathed clenching his fists. Blood was rushing in his ears - this was his partner, and best friend being hurt in front of him.

Nell stood shell shocked, staring at the screen in despair, tears glinting in her eyes. She shared a glance with Eric who slowly shook his head in disbelieve - this was Callen, their seemingly invincible team leader.

Callen appeared to be in a hopeless position, badly injured and faced with two deadly opponents. Sam saw his partners pained grimace and dreaded the further outcome. He was amazed to watch Callen swallow back the pain and somehow fighting and getting the upper hand, marvelling at his partners skill in hand to hand combat. When Callen finally managed to grab the gun Sam dared to let out the breath he had been holding.

"I can't even imagine how he managed to bring the attackers down despite of the horrendous pain", Nell commented worriedly and Eric gave her a reassuring look.

Despite of his bent and swaying form Callen managed to aim a steady gun at the attackers while securing them. Face contorted with pain he then struggled to keep upright, leaning against a crate and supporting himself with his hands on his knees. Shutting his eyes he breathed in deeply, perspiration showing on his forehead. He then tapped on his earpiece.

Sam felt weak after watching the emotionally devastating feed and swiped his hands over his face. G could be dead now, he could have lost his brother, his family and it would have been his fault.

"This is when I could reach him, again." Eric informed. They heard Eric's and Callen's exchange and watched Callen's expression go from pained to determined in no time. He straightened his body and gathered himself together. He slowly started to run towards the exit of the warehouse but managed to increase speed. "The rest of it you know." Eric faced Sam.

"And I accused him of not being fit enough." Sam whispered. He hated himself. "He did more than I could have asked for to save me, I can't imagine how he pulled this off at all."

"How is Callen?" Nell asked quietly. Sam looked at her with a blank expression, realising that in fact he actually didn't know. He had been too busy coping with his own feelings and the need to find out how it all came to pass. He had let his partner down a second time.

"I need to go, see G.", Sam left through the sliding doors, shoulders sagged.