chapter 4

Pins, Bullets and Journals

A/N All who read the previous chapter and who left a review: thank you! I hope you will still be wanting to know more. Due to busy times, long summer nights and a little lack of inspiration, it took a while to come up with this chapter. As ever, I'm using any names I made up. So any resemblance with actual persons are purely coincidental. .

Kni®benrots

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Los Angeles || Hollywood, North La Brea Avenue

There was no real or clear answer, but it made him think it might have something to do with the early childhood care centers where he had had to live since there was no other place to live. Still, there was no need to stir up anything he didn't plan.

"Never mind," Callen mentioned as calm as he could. "Now I'm here, I think you should let those kids go."

The sound of unlocking the safety mechanism of a handgun was something he would always recognize. And above anything else, he wanted to prevent any violence at all. The idea of any of those scared kids getting hurt really frightened him. He raised his arms and said "all right, all right, forget I even mentioned it."

For a few silent seconds nothing happened, then one of the children started to cry.

"Oh, you just shut up!" Another man shouted now , which made it two male voices. The young leader of this summer holiday group had informed him that there were three men but so far, none of the voices or the vague features looked or sounded familiar though.

Callen didn't know how, but he did know it was time to distract the attention from the children and even more to himself, before any accidents took place. And he had to do it without offending those man.
"Listen, the three of you asked me to come around, in which case you would not harm any of these kids in here. Now here I am. You may just as well tell me what you want from me."

A dark haired man came closer. Two fighting Dragons, one in green and the other one in red, marked his right arm. It seemed as if though they were crawling from underneath the short sleeves of his shirt. Now he was closer, Callen noticed that next to the other man's right eye, there were two tattooed drops. Callen expected this guy was more or less a weapon himself. There was no expression in his empty, nearly black eyes.

Callen knew he was tempting the grownups, as long as the attention was drawn away from the scared girls and boys. "Well?" he tried again.

"Pull off the vest, and put it on the chair which is immediately behind you. Together with your gun and any communication devices you carry." The words came out like a robot, just as emotionless.

He shrugged, had expected all this and so he tore the Velcro tape loose and pulled the vest over his head. Then, slowly and completely visible, he took his gun and phone and put it on a tip-up chair behind him.
Then he turned towards the man who gave this order and raised his hands again. "There you go. So now, how about you let half of the group go, for example all the seven boys, together with the leader called Jeanny? It may help to persuade me to do what you want, whatever it may be."

"All of your communication devices, we said!"

This order came from someone whose voice Callen did recognize and he only just was able to mention it aloud and more surprised than he wanted to. 'Paul!?'

Whatever went on behind him, it came as a sudden action which he didn't expect either.

A sideward kick against his knee made him go down to the floor, and the expressionless man kicked again. This time he aimed for his head and although Callen was able to reach for the foot with his hands and tried to avoid the kick, the impact was still there and he was dazed too long to make it a serious fight. He heard words like 'ears' and 'shirt' and 'button'.

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Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects

Eric was making mental notes for a while, then decided to take a note pad and jotted down things he heard. He heard Callen name two orphanages and something about three men.

"They're forcing him to get rid of gun, vest, phone," he mentioned aloud although Nell wasn't sitting next to him. He reckoned she'd be listening to everything Callen was saying as well, but only later, for the reports.
Playing with a ballpoint once again, he was just concentrating until he heard what he did not want to hear and he took the phone immediately.

"We've lost contact, Nell."

-"You mean..."

"Like he said, Jones. Beale in here mentioned a lot but until now, your co-worker has not been able to find out anything useful." Mosley's words, coming from behind him and butting into his words as well as pressing the conference call button of this same phone.

Eric continued, not really impressed by his boss' words. "There was some kind of fight and I picked up a name, Paul. After that, some groans and then, nothing."

Nell understood. "And now?"

Eric looked at Mosley, while she kept staring at the screens. He then felt the urge to explain. "These are the blue prints of the building. Two ordinary ways in, although only one is in use nowadays. One long corridor with several small studios and two larger theatre stages. I suppose they're in one of those, based on Callen's words when he entered the place with Baker." He pointed to the two rooms while talking. "Two leaders, of whom Lewis Baker is one. The other one is his girlfriend I suppose, a woman called Jeanny."

Mosley nodded. From what I heard her name is Jeanny O'Neill, eighteen years old, from Malibu. Her parents already are informed."

"Callen also mentioned seven boys." Eric said.

Again, Mosley confirmed it. "Love-U-LA say there're seven boys, nine girls in this particular group."

-"Which makes eighteen young people and Callen being held in here," Nell said. "Three captors."

"At least seven guns, including Callen's. And of which I think there are some automatics too." Eric read from his notes.

-"There should be a way of getting in without any chances of casualties," Nell pondered.

"Leave that to the SWAT team itself, Jones," Mosley said. "By the way, have they arrived already?"

-She shook her head. "Still nothing. They should be here soon, right?"

"Indeed, Jones. Remember, in there, you are just the liaison. May I remind you to contact me as soon as they arrive?"

All Nell could do was to confirm that.

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Los Angeles || Hollywood, North La Brea Avenue

Still weaker and more hurt after the sudden attack, he found himself sitting on a wooden chair, dressed in his t-shirt and jeans only.

Paul…Of course Paul Angelo had known what to look for. After all he'd worked for NCIS long enough to use the same items like the earwigs and the smallest microphones.
Angelo... where had he gone after he went rogue? Actually Callen did not have a clue. He remembered some details of the single case during which he'd met Paul Angelo. It had never been friendly at all, not even after they'd done everything to keep him safe. Angelo already had different plans and he had betrayed Callen and his team within the blink of an eye.
And now he was back... but from where? And above all, why?

More children were crying now and the only man who talked about a past acted nervously by now. "Stop whining!" he shouted.

This time, the young female leader started talking. She was far too young but as far as Callen observed, someone who was loving to coach these children and would try to do anything to protect them as well. "You're scaring these kids. Why? Why don't you let them go?"

"Shut up!"

"Don't yell like that at Jeanny", Lewis Baker now pleaded. It cost him a serious slap in his face, and now even more children were disquieted.

Things might be quickly getting out of control and Callen considered what his best option would be.
By now, Eric should have warned the SWAT team for sure. His own concern was to keep those children safe. He wriggled his cuffed hands in a position which was far from comfortable until he reached one of the smallest items which always remained unseen; one of the two hair-pins which had saved him before, in the past when Sam and he had been captured by a militia group. He clipped them onto his jeans without thinking nowadays.

He wriggled and fidgeted until he finally felt how the pin got the grip and he was able to unlock the cuff. Still, he remained seated and started to talk.

"Wanna tell me, Paul, what it is you want from me? And who you brought with you as your company?"

"Why ask Paul? Afraid to talk to me, G-man?"

Callen shook his head. He still didn't recognize this man nor his voice. But G-man... He'd been called like that during his stay on the streets of Los Angeles. Had it been months before he'd been picked up by LAPD and was saved by Hetty? He reckoned it was during that period indeed.
"Not afraid of your story at all. So… you wanna tell me more?"

"Could tell you a lot. So, you're still with your surrogate mommy?"

Someone who knew about Hetty. It struck him. Paul knew Hetty — he understood. But now there was this guy who mentioned Hetty as well. Callen tried to shrug, but was aware of the fact he had to make believe he was still cuffed and so he simply groaned aloud.

Again, he had the feeling it would work. Keep the men talking, eager to tell him about the why and luring their attention away from all the innocent bystanders. It worked, he hoped, and if all was going the way it should it wouldn't take long until the SWATs were around to get everyone out, without casualties. How, he did not figure out yet.

It all went wrong when one of the girls started to cry desperately "Miss? I wet my pants. Can I please go to the bathroom?"

Jeanny got up, reaching out for the young girl's hand. But before she knew, Paul hit her, the force of it made her fall back on the floor.

"Jeanny? You're okay?" Lewis Baker got up from his position once again.

He had told Baker to stay put before the two of them had entered and even now Callen felt the urge to send him a low warning. "Baker..."

Things really got in whirl. The tattooed guy took his weapon and fired a warning shot, straight up. Now some kids were screaming in fear. Jeanny got up, definitely trying to comfort them, and Baker was on his feet too. Another shot was fired and Baker was hit and dropped on the floor, crying out in pain. Children got up now and were trying to get away, causing even more panic.

He could not let this happen. In a swift move, Callen got up from his chair and used the steel handcuffs as a weapon. He swept them in the air and it hit the tattooed man straight into his face. With one yell he dropped down, reaching for his eyes. His gun dropped too and Callen grabbed within the same pace.

Before he fired it at this same guy, there was a huffing laugh of Paul Angelo.

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Los Angeles || Hollywood, North La Brea Avenue, outside

The loud cracks of five gunshots reached the ears of the leader of the team of SWATs, Louis Ramirez, as well. "It's time to interfere," he told Nell.

She only nodded, thinking of what might have happened and how Callen was involved. Still, she had to remain professional and ignore any personal feelings. She knew it and it was more difficult than she ever envisioned. "Is there anything we can do to avoid coming in all armed and shooting?"

Ramirez shrugged. We've got flash grenades, smoke grenades, teargas... You name it, we've got it."

She bit her lower lip, wondering what was best. "Something like a gas to put them all asleep for just a couple of minutes?"

"Things like fentanyl, which the Russians used?" He shook his head. "Nothing that strong, not with children around. We wouldn't want to put anyone at risk with it. We dó have a light version though, sevoflurane, and it'll work for a couple of minutes only. Enough to leave everyone motionless, helpless and easy to overwhelm. Only thing is, how would you want to bring it in?"

She had to call in, but Nell wanted to avoid discussions with Mosley. She took her cellphone and calked Eric's private number.

Time was ticking and she knew it...

Thank you all for reading! Please do let me know if it is alright with you, so far...