Chapter 6
Pins, Bullets and Journals
A/N Thanks for all the reviews you've left so far, and also for all of your patience. I had wanted to publish some new chapters while on vacation, but all I got was terrible WIFI. So, I did write, and now I'm back, all I had to do was copy, paste and redact. I would be happy when you share your thoughts on this story so far too!
Kni®benrots
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Los Angeles || Hollywood, North La Brea Avenue
She hadn't expected it would all go so fast. Six men were armed and wearing gas masks already. With care they studied the entrance door for boobytraps and when they discovered none, the lock was broken seconds after. All of them went in even before Nell had ended the call with Mosley and with Ramirez still standing next to her.
The two men who had been up on the roof went down in minutes. Instead of putting on gas masks, they removed the hinges and the doors themselves as well, which made the entrance wider. From the outside they spotted if there'd be more windows or escape doors to be opened or broken.
"For fresh air, and oxygen?" She asked.
A short nod came as a response. Ramirez was checking his watch in the same time. He counted inwardly until he figured it was enough and ordered "Smith, DuPont, ready… here, now."
Both men switched their positions, and Ramirez then raised his hand to both the van drivers and the paramedics, motioning the first teams to get ready. Indeed, half a minute later, the first three men exited the corridors, each carrying a young child and carefully put them down on the ground.
A small tank with what Nell figured was more oxygen was brought over and masks were put on each child.
Physically they would be alright, she could see that.
Two men went back in immediately after, the third lifted his mask and said "at least four of them are wounded. Most probable is that they were shot. One of the grownups may have died. One child is severely bleeding, two more adults wounded. We'll need medics in here, and we'll bring them out first."
Nell swallowed. No, she shouldn't even try to think any further. What if...
"Ma'am? Your coworker was awake already and he left the building."
She let her gaze go over the building. So Callen left? Her relief won for some milliseconds over the fear, then doubt set in. "He left?"
It was so unlike him; with all those innocent kids around. He should be helping.
"How do you know?" she then asked.
The other man turned away from her already, but sent a short smile. "NCIS on a bulletproof vest, just like yours. He opened on of the doors from within. It really helps, you know."
Then he put back the gas mask and went back in, meanwhile making way for his fellows who brought out more kids out now.
Nell knew she needed to call in already, and she dialed the number while she gratefully noticed how six children were guided to the first van. All of them on their own feet, but with the necessary support, just in case.
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She now concentrated more on the phone call that Mosley had insisted on. After the short introduction she said "it's been confirmed that four people were shot, on presumably deceased."
-"Agent Callen?"
"Don't know what happened," Nell replied. "One of the men mentioned an NCIS agent who left the building from the side entrances, but—"
-"Good to hear," Mosley interrupted.
Again Nell shook her head which made her ponytail sway from one side to the other. "I don't know, I mean, it doesn't sound like Callen."
There, she said it. She didn't know whether or not Mosley would share her doubt and so she added "Perhaps Eric can check for cameras in the neighborhood?"
-"Beale in here is checking on files from agent Callen's cold cases. Which are quite a few as you will know. So I suggest you ask Ramirez to keep you informed about any victims. It seems to me everyone should be out already or you would have checked for yourself, right?"
Nell mumbled something about all the precautions which had been taken. Just in case their temporary boss - at least, Nell presumed the other woman had other aspirations than to stay in LA - would disapprove on the way they'd entered the building.
"I'll keep in touch," she finally said. Then she pressed the red phone icon.
Looking around, she was happy to see so many children being transported away. Away from what should have been one of the most special days of their week. Instead it had become a disaster. Sixteen kids who may each have their individual nightmares.
She was tapped on her shoulder. Ramirez.
"First two are out. I'm afraid one is dead already, as we expected earlier. One of the adults indeed. And we have a young girl," he motioned to where a medical team were blocking Nell's view as they were working in collaboration without noticing the outside world.
"Is it bad?" Nell wanted to know.
Ramirez nodded. "Very bad. Critical, so I was told."
He shrugged and heaved a deep sigh. "Something you never get used to. Especially when you're a parent yourself."
Nell fell silent for a beat. She had no clue about situations like that, since she was no mother herself. But she hardly was an experienced agent herself either and she had never been in a situation like this before. It made her feel nauseous right now and although it was a cliché, she said "Let's pray she'll be okay."
Next, she heard a female voice pleading to one of the EMT's that her friend needed to be saved first.
Nell raised her brows in a non-asked question.
"The leaders of the kids. Obviously the male was shot too. Maybe in a heroic situation, maybe not. You know, whatever went on in here, each and every one will have an own story to tell."
Before Nell could reply, the younger woman started to yell "He did it, he shot, he is one of them!"
She kept pointing to a man who walked out with the last two kids an three members of the SWAT team.
It was an easy situation to persuade the man she meant to join two police officers.
Then, the last gurney was carried out and this time Nell hurried to it. "Callen? Callen!"
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Los Angeles || UCLA Medical Center
Nell had followed the ambulance to the nearest hospital, after she had informed Mosley and Eric.
A short hour later, the wait for more information was over. A female surgeon approached Nell.
"You're related to George Carver?"
Nell nodded as she'd called him in with this alias, which would be better than using his real name. She introduced herself. "Nell Jones, his uhm, his co-worker."
"Jenkins," the surgeon said. Her scrubs were definitely worn longer than an early shift only and the woman looked just as worn out herself. She nodded and continued "About your co-worker? He will be doing fine. The impact of the bullet that hit him was less than we expected. We've made a chest X-ray, just to be sure. Only some smaller vessels were hit. He lost a lot of blood, but there are perfect solutions to solve that. So all in all, your friend was lucky. Very lucky I must say."
Nell shrugged and shook her head. "I wouldn't call being shot 'lucky', to be honest."
A curt smile appeared on the other woman's face. "He's faced worse situations. The scars on his upper body showed."
Nell nodded again. "And now?"
Jenkins let her gaze go over the other woman. Although Nell never said anything about their profession it was clear to the surgeon it was not to be discussed. "It will take a while before he'll be in the field again. For the moment, we decided to — well, this bullet may remain in this place, inside the bone, just as well. Removing it may cause problems of their own."
Nell frowned about the message of the surgeon. "But... how do you know it'll stay there?"
"Bones are solidly fitted in one's body, right? As long as your co-worker will keep his left shoulder inactive for some weeks it should be okay. Operating it would mean it's risky too. Perhaps we'd even have to replace the whole bone. To describe it in easy words; we would need to be break it loose from the shoulder bone. There's more risk to damage muscles, tendons, bones might fraction... And, perhaps more important, healing would take longer too."
"I think I get it," Nell said.
Jenkins added "As soon as we have concluded he's free from any fever, he'll be ready to leave late tomorrow afternoon."
Then the surgeon rubbed her temple and, definitely tired, she offered her right hand as a greet.
Half a minute later, Nell reported to the smallest team ever at their office.
-"Before you discuss anything with agent Callen, I want to be around too. He will need to explain why he went in and whatever happened inside," Mosley said.
"But he is — I mean, I can talk to him already. You'd need about half an hour to get here," Nell argued.
-"He's a grown up. He should be able to handle a half hour or more on his own, don't you think?"
It would be useless to discuss the matter with Mosley, Nell realized. And so she disconnected the call and waited.
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Los Angeles || UCLA Medical Center, VIP section, 9thfloor
Nell was grateful to see how Callen looked so much better than she expected. Sure, there were bandages covering his left shoulder and his right knuckle. It probably was hurt during a fight. But nothing touched his carotid artery or jugular vein. Which was good.
She had waited patiently for Mosley to arrive, and so she had asked about other people around who were involved in the situation. So, in the mean time she did had the opportunity to listen to the two leaders of the group whom she met while they were waiting for someone to have them picked up to leave.
"All they wanted was to have him to be around. Some kind of revenge or to have him to do something, I don't know," Jeanny said. "They mentioned a name too, Hetty."
Lewis Baker added "And two of the guys knew him, your friend. The third man, I don't know. Your guy managed to break loose from some handcuffs, I don't know how, but he did. All I know is... well, he took a gun. If you'd ask me, he could have overwhelmed the other two too, perhaps. But instead he was scared someone else might get hurt too — and Macy... he did everything to save her. Then all went in a blur. I don't really know what happened."
"Your friend mentioned another name. Paul. He must be of the bad guys, who talked about Hetty. And Frankie. I'm pretty sure I heard that name too."
Nell thanked them both and wished them well. She figured the organization they worked for, Love-U-LA, was offering them professional help if needed.
Back in the waiting area she called Eric.
"You remember anything about a certain Paul, Eric? I just found out about a Frank and a Paul. This man, Paul, mentioned Hetty."
"Angelo? Really Nell, you remember Paul Angelo. He went in deep, and although Callen and the team tried to help him out he betrayed them. All of them. Hetty just threw him out. She made sure his personnel file was deleted. We'll never know how and what she told him, but we never heard or saw about him again. Nothing."
Eric thought about the matter for another few seconds. "But… Why now? And why Callen?"
"Try and figure it out. I'm gonna have to deal with Mosley who's wanting to hear the whole, none-redacted and unwritten file from both Callen and I."
"Hang in there Nell. She won't take no for an answer. I'll do what I can do and will keep you posted anyway, okay?" Eric said.
As mentioned before, please do feel free to comment on what you read and about this storyline. I'd really appreciate that!