Chapter 9
Pins, Bullets and Journals
A/N Thanks for all of your great response to the previous chapter. Of course you're the ones who are waiting for what's to come next and so I do hope you will like this chapter too. Please do share your thoughts, as ever, reviews are so welcome!
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Los Angeles || outside the NCIS office of special projects
His grim facial expression convinced her that for some reason, Angelo would never let Callen go. Two men who were around left the place like in a smooth operation, planned perfectly.
"Why? What is it you want me to do?" Hetty wanted to know from Angelo. She hoped he'd explain, but he didn't answer.
Hetty joined him to the car and decided to sit down in the passenger seat with his unspoken motion.
She could only let her gaze go shortly over the man who was her favorite agent, the boy she took in and treated like her own son. He sat in the back, behind her. Small lines were etched around his eyes and the red vessels in the white of his eyes were visible. With what she'd witnessed that was no surprise, after all she knew too well what tasering did to a human body.
"You're… are you okay?" she asked him.
"Guns and phones, please," Angelo ordered before Callen could reply. Angelo held his hands up since the simple statement was enough. Reluctantly, Hetty was the first to hand her purse to the man who still stood next to her side of the car. He went through its contents and found what he was looking for. Without further talking, he took the phone, removed the battery and the sim card, which he bowed and creased until it broke. Bit by bit, he threw parts away, and the remaining larger phone case he shoved onto the road which was closest to the car. The gun, on the contrary, he took with him and put it in the back of the car. The purse itself was put next to one of the other cars, nearby.
"Yours too," he told Callen. "Slowly though," he added.
There was little choice and slower than usual, not taunting but simply because moving his left shoulder was so damned painful, the ritual was repeated. All in all it probably only took a few minutes.
Then, as the last one, Paul Angelo had taken a seat next to Callen in the backseat and he nodded to the driver to move.
"Now to get things clear," Angelo started, "I won't allow you to speak. So, to make things clear, Hetty Lange, if you keep asking questions, Callen in here will not be okay. Since you insist to know though, Hetty, we've put a bullet in his body yesterday. And frankly, I never expected him to be back already. But I must say it's quite easy to make him cooperate at the moment. And with that, he is useful as he is."
He held up two weapons, the taser and his gun. "You may want to do what I want you to do, Hetty. Or not. Your decision. I suggest you stop talking and asking questions, both of you. My gun could easily lose a bullet. Elbows, knees — whatever. It would keep Callen alive but just like me, put him aside from his job. Or—as you put it 'He'll walk, but freedom is another matter entirely.' Remember, Miss Lange?"
It sounded polite, the way Angelo put forward his words. Just like she remembered. Once she truly had admired him, being polite and having a way to move around in public. And yes, also because of his impeccable way of dressing himself. Some years ago, however, she discovered too late that it was all fake and that Paul Angelo decided to betray his fellow special agents in a matter of a few words. It nearly had Callen and Deeks killed and she wasn't going to tempt that same man, knowing how easily he'd make a decision like he now spoke of.
"We get it. Agreed, Mr. Callen?" she said.
Callen didn't reply. He just sent a glare at the man next to him and wondered how he could turn this situation into something he could control. Angelo was no fool. He controlled them both and made sure it was his hurt and wounded shoulder closest, so there was no possibility of a fight and, if necessary, he could easily hurt Callen even more.
He noticed how Angelo signed at the driver. No words. The other man knew what was expected from him.
There was no possibility to share anything with Hetty right here, right now. All he could do was to let this happen and hope for a weak moment or some kind of different surprise.
Again, it was Angelo who expressed his thoughts. "This is what you predicted, weren't you, Hetty? That we'd meet again. I remember your words. What was it, that I owed you my life? And that you were the one to collect on your debts? Well, I decided we'd turn it all around. But I let you think about it for a short while. I'll explain, all in due time, all in due time."
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Los Angeles || different part of the city
The LAPD car kept driving for what seemed like hours. His shoulder radiated and his whole body kept pounding for what seemed like even more hours.
No one talked. Then, the driver turned left into what appeared an ordinary and civilized street, somewhere in the proximity of what he figured LAX. Hawthorne perhaps, or Lennox. They passed four houses when the car slowed down and at the fifth, it was driven on the driveway until Callen knew they were out of sight. Near the backdoor, the same men stood who had been near the NCIS office.
In the same quiet voice as ever, Paul Angelo said "Now, let's all get out, do what I ask and I will explain what I want you to do, Henrietta Lange."
Callen hesitated a brief few seconds too long and he noticed how the Asian-like eyes narrowed slightly.
"Out." It was a snarl.
Hetty turned around and wondered if Angelo addressed her too. She caught a glimpse of Callen's face and read the frustration and guilt in his eyes. But above that she knew he was in pain. He wasn't in the talkative and stubborn mood right now, yet Hetty figured out already it had to do with what Angelo mentioned before. "You decided to shoot and torture agent Callen, Mr. Angelo. You mind telling me why?" Never showing her own feeling of worry, she addressed Paul Angelo as if nobody else was around.
"Out, I said," Angelo repeated. Both passenger doors were opened from the outside.
Slowly, Hetty now did what they asked of her and Callen hardly had a choice. He was slower. Wounded. Tired but reluctant even though. Still, they forced him, nearly hauled him out and he grunted in pain. Once he was on his feet, Callen turned to Hetty. "I'm sorry that I wasn't fast enough, Hetty. I should have warned you."
"Now you shut up," Angelo stated again. "The two of you behave. And you, Hetty, are going to listen to my demands, or else..."
They entered a small room in the back of the house. "Please do sit down," he now asked politely.
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Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects
Uncomfortably, Nell sat on the edge of the couch in Mosley's office, opposite of Mosley's desk. From that place, the woman faced the younger information analyst whom she now had declared agent in lead of this case as well. "Now, about this case and the interrogations we had, I'd say, Frank Smith holds a grudge against Callen because of what he says 'it's unfair that he, Callen, was taken to grow up in a safe environment'."
Nell nodded. "Frankie did time in juvie, just like Callen did. But it's different, as you'll have noticed, because Callen was never the violent kind of boy. Hetty must've known too."
"Hetty simply knew where to find the son of her protegee, as she kept trace of him. That small journal proves that. She tried to keep him on the right track I suppose."
Nell didn't like the way Mosley cocked her head but she tried to ignore it. "As I said, Callen appeared to be the one who hotwired a car, who was on the look-out or who did the sweet talk to distract others. And you must've read how he was the one too who protected the weaker kids from being violated by others."
She had enough of talking about Callen with Mosley and feeling as if she had to defend him. "Now, Paul Angelo—"
"He made severe mistakes," Mosley took over, "and I must say, it is one of the most creative punishments Lange came up with. Did she really take his identity?"
Nell smiled just softly. "His job, his passport, all the paperwork… everything indeed. All he had was his freedom. Yeah, back then it sounded so good, but now? I have my doubts. It seems he's back for some kind of vengeance, but how, and why, we don't know. However, Hetty's gut feeling was right back then, like it always was. Angelo around is never right. With the guy's attitude he has his ways to compose an own team. Not good at all."
Mosley took the paper file from her desk and started reading again. Her way to dismiss Nell.
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Los Angeles || South Fir Avenue
"Hetty... you know the rules. No negotiations with criminals."
The next few seconds were just as awful as he remembered from the previous attacks and again, Callen was trying to breath in as best as he could, hurt as he was. With the earlier gunshot wound and the beating he felt terribly weak and he hated it to know how vulnerable he would look in the eyes of Hetty, and Paul.
"Au contraire, Callen. I assume this little witchy woman will do exactly what I want her to do, since I've witnessed ánd was told by Frankie how keen she's always been to save your but. As if you were better than—"
"What do you want?" Hetty interrupted. She didn't like where this lead to at all.
Paul Angelo smirked as he turned his attention from Callen to Hetty. "Papers. An identity, a new one, preferably. Since you decided to erase everything I've ever been and accomplished there's no Paul Angelo around, right?"
"Oh, c'mon. No way," Callen muttered. So this was what it was all about? "Hetty... he was about to kill innocent kids, to get to me so he could get to you. We can't do this — you can't. I won't let you."
"Ha... You, my friend, are not in a position to make demands or stop me, are you?" Angelo sent an unspoken question to one of the men who accompanied him and seconds later, Callens arms were roughly forced backwards and his hands were being tied from behind and he grunted and moaned aloud in pain. Once he opened his eyes again he noticed how Hetty glanced up at him. "Don't, Hetty," he pleaded weakly.
She let out a deep sigh and she finally looked away from him too. In some weird way she couldn't stand seeing him hurt like this, in here, and getting even more hurt because of her reluctance to find out more. "Now, Mr. Angelo, tell me how you figure out I could be of any assistance to you?"
And he explained.
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Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects, half an hour later
"Jones, what's the latest you've heard from Hetty?" Mosley asked as she entered the Ops room where she sat down on a vacant chair. Whereas Nell turned towards their boss, Eric tapped with a pen on the desk and kept his attention on his computer screen.
"Nothing," Nell said. "Actually, I wasn't aware that I was to contact her. You said—"
"I know what I said. But by now she could've and should've been around already." Mosley glanced at her watch. "Perhaps I have to call her again," she sighed.
"Maybe I should I try and reach Callen?" Eric suggested.
Mosley now turned to Eric, who nervously started to click with the ballpoint in his left hand.
"Callen? Please explain yourself, Beale." She raised her brows.
"Yes... well... he went to try and meet with Hetty. Wanted to warn her too, beforehand, about Paul Angelo being back, you know."
Mosley got up. "Thát obstinacy. What is it he's holding against me? I told him I was going to talk to Hetty about this matter. For once I wanted to share intel and now he's doing this, without informing me. Again."
She shook her head and exhaled loudly, stood for a moment before she continued "Yes please, Beale. Make that phone call, and put it on speaker, will you?"
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