Pins, bullets and journals

Chapter 12

A/N: Thank you so much, all of you, for reading and/or leaving any reviews. I can't tell you how grateful I am for those, sherrib1968, countrygirluk5, wotumba1, Guest, n4d1n3 and Mulderette.

~ It was better this way, with Hetty on her way back to their office. ~

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Los Angeles || South Fir Avenue

Of course, Mauro. There had been four men, he'd seen them outside the NCIS headquarters.
The man who responded to Paul Angelo's call entered the small and poorly decorated living room and seemed to be waiting for orders. In one way or another, Callen felt that time was ticking, his time was running short. He really didn't trust that Angelo would keep him alive. Perhaps for the shortest while, as a bait for Hetty to come back with everything Angelo had requested. New identity papers, his badge back, and for what?

Again, Callen lifted his chin. At this moment he could only think of two things. He wanted to know what Paul Angelo was planning, and, if the situation occurred that he, Callen, was no longer in a position to stop Paul, his fellow agents ought to do that. So, he now sent a smirk with his words. "Hetty still will need footage of me, alive and kicking Paul. Otherwise she'll never do what you want her to do."

"How stupid are you? I explained. My companions will destroy everyone in your office."

"You still wouldn't be Paul Angelo. Still wouldn't have your credentials back. What were you planning? Crossing the border? Hetty and director Vance will still do whatever is in their power to stop you. ." He was tempting the other man. On purpose, Not knowing how he'd end up in the end. Callen's inward clock told him that by now, Hetty and her guards, appointed by the man he talked to, might've arrived. "So? Mauro's the guy with the camera, I suppose?"

Although he thought he was well prepared, the severe blows in his face and on his torso had him gasp for air and grunt in agony. Once he caught his breath again, nothing had changed. He still sat, hands tied behind his back and unable to do what he wanted to do.

"My guess is there's a team coming this way soon. You know about Hetty's photographic memory, eh, Paul?"

This time there was doubt in the eyes of Paul's companion.

"I am aware of all of that Callen, but never mind, we will have left this place anyway. Hetty is a clever old woman," Paul Angelo agreed. "But she won't find any of us in here, even when she manages to find this street and house back. I bet she'll be quite devastated to find you are gone. Besides, I gave her only a one and a half hour to hand me what I wanted. She knows there's no way to alarm anyone – then you're a gonner. She won't take any risks, buddy. It's such a sweet loving thing I'm working on, don't you think?"

"We'll find you Paul. If not in here, it'll be somewhere else. No matter what, we'll find you."

The stare that met him was hard and finally Angelo said "There's no 'you' in 'we', Callen. By the time Mauro is through with you, Hetty won't be able to understand what you're saying. Nobody will hear you, I suppose." He huffed a laugh. "Mauro has a mission, you know? To ruin you, bit by bit, until you're literally gone."

Angelo took his phone and aimed it at Callen. And despite the fact he felt blood running from his brow which he was unable to wipe away, he looked straight into the camera, trying to look as confident and defiant as possible.

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Los Angeles || NCIS office of special projects

"Hi there, this is NCIS, Eric Beale, speaking. Could you let me know which emergency occurred earlier today, Mindanao Way?"
He waited a beat, listening to the person on the other side. He nodded, and continued "There was this car of yours. It looked like your people left it for about a quarter of an hour, then were ready with whatever they may've been doing and left."
He kept clicking his ballpoint on and off for the time he took in the other side's information, then took the notepad on which he'd been doodling and writing and said "Sure, I have the 5-digit number in here." He read it aloud and nodded several times. "Please do so, ASAP. We'd like to know. Your man or men may have caught something which may be very important in connection to one of our ongoing cases."

He didn't need to tell what it was about, Eric figured. The officer whom it concerned would be warned and he'd hear any specific details.

Nell had swiveled her chair towards her partner. "Anything?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. No names, no more feed, nothing. You?"

She inhaled deeply. "All that feed to go through when it comes to Angelo. It's going too slow, Beale. All I found out so far is that he's been using several aliases so far, and has ties to some in criminal organizations."

"Korean?"

"Because of his looks? Nope, Sureño. Not that it changes anything, or at least nothing in the crimes committed. They've got eyes and ears everywhere, Eric, and perhaps he's deeper in this than we've expected."

"And more than only a rogue NCIS agent," Eric understood. "You think we ought to tell Mosley?"
On her nod, he trotted to their boss' fancy glass office and Nell followed.
They didn't find the executive director behind her desk. Instead, she sat behind Sam's desk in the bullpen, with paper files stacked next to the one she was reading.

"Anything new?" She looked up at the flip-flops of the male tech, inwardly shaking her head to the way this man dressed.

"LAPD will let me know about—" He blinked his eyes several times and shook his head just a little. "Hetty?"

"Mr. Beale," the former operations manager nodded, to the three of them who looked up. She was accompanied by a LAPD-officer. "This is Richard Barnet, LAPD. He offered to come along. Just… to be sure."

Although her words sounded logical as only Hetty Lange could be, Nell found something alarming in the way this happened. Hetty never would have taken anyone in as a visitor to the anonymous headquarter, unless there would be a very good reason. All she could remember were the members of the Hawaii five-o team, and Thapa, but any other than Deeks as a representative of LAPD? Never. She would welcome them at the boathouse, not here. Not 'just to be sure'. Besides, there was something familiar in the man's face, although she couldn't lie a finger on it yet.

After those first welcoming words, Hetty and the accompanying LAPD officer entered the bullpen as well.
Despite the sudden suspicion she managed a grateful greet at the older woman she once again considered her the best mentor one could ever have.
"Why, hello Hetty! So glad you popped up. You know we were on a look out for you? Ever since we found your bag, being left on the sidewalk. You knew we found it, or rather Eric did?" She started jabbering and she was aware of it too.

It was good to see how Mosley carefully observed the two unexpected guests too. "Miss Lange… I did invite you to come on over to discuss a rather urgent matter, one from the past."

"I see, I see. Well, my dear, tell me, how can I be of any assistance? Ever since I presumed Miss Jones in here could be of your help any time now, you are making me very anxious about what it is you ask of me. Lord knows I may have forgotten so many matters."

"Of course Nell does help me," Mosley stated. "She already handed me a tremendous load of intel, both digital as analogue, but that's obvious, seeing this, right?"
Saying this, Mosley turned part of the paper files around so Hetty could read the numbers of those files. Even she knew of Henrietta Lange's immaculate memory and so seeing the files alone might be enough to tell what she was working on.

"I see... So perhaps my day out to come and see you was not worth all the effort and setback I met with today. Although, Mr. Beale, I am grateful for handing me back my bag. It was rather clumsy to find I must have forgotten it. You reckon everything that was in it still is?"

Eric shrugged. In all the rush he never checked its contents, and he doubted he would ever dare to. "We checked your phone Hetty, but it was dead."

She shook her head. "Now then... if that is all I think none of us should be worried, should we?" Without any obvious emotion, she then asked "Mr. Callen is not around?"

Eric was about to reply, but Mosley was first. She figured that in one way or another she could read the experienced woman's face, and if not, warn her in some way or another. "Ah, well, he went to see you. I suppose you didn't have a chance to talk to him at all?"

Hetty paused only a millisecond. Enough for Mosley and Nell to understand there was more than Hetty trusted to mention. "We haven't indeed. Now, since you appear to be more than capable to read into the matter which worried you, dear, I think I may look into some of the matters that I left in here for some rainy days as a matter of fact."

She turned to Barnet and said "You may get comfortable and sit down and wait for a while, Mr. Barnet."

Only Nell spotted the grin and something which might be a warning in the man's eyes. "It's alright, miss Lange. I'm sure you won't want to waste any time either, so why don't I join you?"

The formal smile on the former Operations Manager's face went with her words, but never reached her eyes. "Very well then." She turned to head to her own old oak desk to find what she was looking for right now, knowing that Barnet wasn't going to leave her out of sight.
Then she stopped, turned and addressed the tech operator. "Oh, Mr. Beale? It may come in handy if you could assist executive assistant director Mosley. I think there's another digital file you all may need to solve this matter." She rubbed her chin and slowly nodded in confirmation herself. "I think I filed it myself earlier on. There's a pin you may want to enter, try and find it. It goes by the number 18-09, if I'm right."
She simply neglected the puzzled look on the younger man's face and motioned to the uniformed officer to join her. Once she sank down on the wooden chair behind her desk she felt how the situation was working on her nerves by now. She felt rather shaky — this minimized team she saw right now would have to work harder than ever to get to a breakthrough and do whatever was within their power to get to the bottom of this case. Shakier than she wanted, she demanded in a soft voice so they could not be overheard "Show me evidence that Callen is still alive, and I will get what is needed."

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Los Angeles || South Fir Avenue

He didn't know what Angelo planned to do, not from now on. Not with him, or with Hetty, or with why the guy needed and wanted so desperately to be one of the NCIS officers right now.

After the short time the camera had been running, Paul Angelo left the room for a matter of minutes. There was some talking, but too faint to overhear. The smug smile on his face once he re-entered wasn't telling it was anything good, not for him.

"Mauro, get the car and be back as soon as you can," he ordered.

The other man left the room. For a short second, Callen closed his eyes, letting the man's features go by. Mauro. It sounded Spanish, Portuguese maybe. "What are you into, Paul. You being blackmailed or something?"

"Intriguing… You never reckon I could lead some branch or something?"

He just shook his head. "Too much of a short fuse." He expected it, the next few blows which landed everywhere and he hurt like hell. He figured that if he weren't tied up like this, he could handle Paul Angelo, but only if he was in a good shape. Not like this.
He needed a plan and he needed it fast.
He wheezed slightly when he finally looked up. "So. Not wanna share?"

Paul Angelo just shook his head and chuckled. "No way Callen. For once, you lose. Ah, well, that will be your final loss as well." There was the click of a knife opening and Callen felt how his hands were untied. "Now, get up."

"Impossible," he sighed, "wait another second". The sound of the hammer of a gun reached his ear and slowly, very slowly, he got up, understanding this might be it.
The stiffness of his body never surprised him, not after these hours of sitting in the same painful position, but since he wanted to do what he wanted to, one more action, he leaned on the table in front of him with his right hand. Then he slowly let it go and moved his right hand over his left shoulder where everything seemed to be hurting. He grunted and tried to hide his pain. He closed his eyes and blinked a few times and let his hand go over his eyes, then his right shoulder. "Just a sec," he repeated and he inhaled deeply before he toppled forward against the other man's body. Paul Angelo nearly stumbled backwards himself but managed to stay on his feet in the end.

"Losing is a bitch, Callen," he said when Mauro entered.

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