Callen dropped the bags by the door and moved to grab his gun from the back of his pants.
"G?" Joelle questioned.
"Stay here."
"G, what's going on?"
"Just stay here."
Callen carefully opened the door and moved inside with his gun raised. He looked into the house. He didn't see anything at first. He looked at the alarm system and saw it was still, or again, enabled. As he wanted to walk further into the house he heard sirens and heard them stop in front of the house.
"G," he heard Joelle call.
Callen walked outside and saw LAPD make his way up to the house.
"Agent Callen," one of the officers called.
"What are you doing here?" Callen asked.
"We got a message that the alarm at your house was going off, so we came to check it out. We didn't know you were home."
"I wasn't, I just go home. We had gone away for the weekend. When I came home I saw that the door was slightly open. I went inside to check it out. I didn't see anything at first and I saw that the alarm was still on. I was about to look further when I heard you approaching. So it just happened?"
"Yeah, we got the callout about ten minutes okay. Is anything missing?"
"I don't know, I haven't checked the entire house."
"Okay, we have no idea if he's still here. He could have split when he heard the alarm."
"Let's check it out. Can someone stay here with Joelle?"
"Of course."
A female officer stayed behind with Joelle as Callen and the other police officers went into the house to check it out. Callen grabbed a glove so he could punch in the code on the alarm system in case finger prints were on that. After that they moved into the house. They cleared everything but there was nobody to be found and nothing seemed to be disturbed or missing. Callen went out back to check the yard and garage but nothing seemed to be disturbed and he didn't see anything. He had checked everything thoroughly but there was nothing to be seen. When he was sure it was clear he went back out front where Joelle was. As soon as Joelle saw Callen she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him.
"What's going on G? Is everything okay?"
"It seems like someone broke into our house, our door was open. The alarm went off and nothing seems to be disturbed or missing. I've checked the entire house but no one is here anymore."
"Someone broke into our house?"
"It seems that way but it's possible that they got scared away by the alarm going off."
"Do you think this has something to do with your job?"
"I don't know but I'm not taking any changes. We have some cameras around so I'll check who it was that broke into our house. It could just be a random burglar but I wanna make sure and just in case we're not gonna sleep here tonight. Whoever it was might come back. I will get to the bottom of this. Don't worry, I will keep you safe, I promise. Come on let's go, it's late already."
LAPD had looked for some fingerprints but couldn't find any other than Callen's and Joelle's. Callen went to lock the door again. The door hadn't been forced up so it could still close. Whoever had broken into their house had probably used a lock pick.
"If we have any new information about this we will contact you agent Callen," one of the police officers spoke.
"Thank you."
"Do you want someone to come with you to keep you safe?"
"No that's not necessary but thank you."
"Alright."
Callen put the bags back into the car and he pulled away from the house. He went to a hotel nearby, luckily they still had a room free. It was now 11pm. Callen could tell that Joelle was tired. Once they were inside the room Joelle changed into her pajamas and went to bed. She sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Callen.
"Don't worry about this honey, I will get to the bottom of this and I will keep you safe until I do."
"Just be careful, you don't know who this person is."
Callen crouched down in front of her and took her hands. "I promise honey. Just try to get some sleep, I'll be right here." Callen caught the look in Joelle's eyes. "Don't worry honey, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you or our little boy, I promise."
"Promise me you'll be careful."
"I promise honey. I will have the team look into it and I promise I won't go anywhere without Sam." Callen gave Joelle a kiss. "Just try to get some sleep honey. I love you."
"I love you too."
Callen gave Joelle one more kiss before she lay down. Callen sat down at the table and grabbed his laptop, his Chinese laptop. He had grabbed that before they left the house. He looked at the cameras they had around the house. He started with the front door. He looked at earlier this evening. He saw a man approaching the house but he kept his face away from the door. Callen zoomed in and saw he used a lock pick to open the door. As he moved in to the house Callen switched cameras. There was a camera pointed directly at the front door. Unfortunately the man was wearing a hoodie and kept his head down so Callen still couldn't see his face. There was another camera in the left corner of the living room. Callen switched to that camera. They had a mirror hanging left of the kitchen. Callen zoomed in on the mirror and he got a glimpse of the face. Callen took a screenshot off it.
Callen took his work laptop, he had taken that too, and logged onto the server. He wasn't a tech like Eric and Nell but he still knew the basics. He took the screenshot and tried to enhance it. When it was enhanced Callen ran it through facial reg. While the facial reg was running Callen went back to his Chinese laptop and looked through the rest of the footage. He saw the man fumbling with the alarm but it didn't work so the alarm went off. As soon as the alarm went off he split. Callen looked at all the cameras in the house but he didn't see anything else. Maybe this had been just a random burglary. Apart from stepping into the house and fumbling with the alarm the man didn't do anything more, but maybe he would come back with a device to unlock the alarm so he could finish what he came to do. Callen kept the feed on so it would alert him if the man came bag. The facial reg was still running. Callen looked over to the bed and was pleased to see Joelle asleep. He really hoped this would be resolved soon so they could go home. Since there was nothing more to do right now Callen stripped out of his clothes and got into the bed as well. Joelle was facing his side, snuggled up to her pregnancy pillow. Callen gave her a soft kiss on her head and lay on his side as well. He wrapped his arm around her and crawled close to her. He dozed off a bit but was woken up a few hours later when he heard his laptop beep. Quietly he got out of the bed. He looked at the two laptops and noticed it was his Chinese laptop. The man was back at his house. Callen quickly pulled his phone out and sent a text to Sam. Callen put his clothes back on and put his gun in the back of his pants.
..
Sam woke up when he heard his phone beep. Sleepily he reached over to the nightstand. He grabbed his phone and looked at the time. It was 2.30am. He saw he had a text from Callen.
'Sam, my house, now,' the text read.
Wondering what was going on Sam jumped out of bed and got dressed. He grabbed his gun and keys and drove to his partner's house.
..
Callen picked up the room phone and called down to the front desk.
"Hello," a friendly woman answered the phone.
"This is agent Callen in room two two four, can you send hotel security to my room?"
"What's going on sir?"
"I'm busy with a case but I have someone here who needs to be kept safe."
"Of course sir, I will send someone right away."
Callen waited outside the room. Within a minute the security guard was there.
"There's a woman in the room, keep her safe until I get back."
"I will sir."
"Here is my number, call me if something happens."
Callen gave him his card before he left. Callen got in his car and drove to his house. Callen had taken his laptop with him. The man was still in the house. The hotel wasn't that far from the house so he was there in a few minutes. When he pulled up Sam just pulled up too.
"What's going on G?" Sam questioned.
"If will explain later, someone is in my house. You take the front, I'll take the back."
Wondering what was going on Sam did as Callen said. With their guns drawn they made their way up to the house. Callen approached the back door and used the key to open the door. The front door was still slightly open so Sam quietly opened it further so he could step into the house. They both moved quietly through the house with their guns drawn. According to the last feeds Callen saw the man was in the master bedroom. Callen quietly made his way up to the bedroom as Sam searched the rest of the house. He peeked around the corner and saw the man looking through his stuff.
"Federal agent! Freeze!" Callen spoke as he walked into the room. Callen could see a bit with the light coming through the windows. "What are you doing here?"
Callen kept an eye on the man and saw his hand moving towards his pants. Before Callen knew it the man turned around and shot at him. Callen quickly dove away and shot back at him, hitting him in the chest. Callen saw the man go down. Sam made his way over to his partner after hearing the gunfire as Callen moved into the room. Sam scanned the room to make sure there were no more threats.
"You go G?"
"Yeah I'm good."
Callen checked the man, he was still breathing but barely.
"Who are you? Who sent you?" Callen demanded to know.
"Call….. Call….. Callen," He spoke with his last breath.
Callen was shocked. This man knew his name. Sam was about to speak when Callen's cell phone rang. He saw it was Joelle.
"Hey Jo," Callen answered the phone.
"So glad you took the bait, agent Callen," Callen heard a male voice speak, he recognized the voice. It was the security guard that was watching the hotel room with Joelle in it.
"Where's Joelle? What did you do with her?!" Callen yelled.
"Oh she's safe for now and she will stay that way if you do as I ask."
"If you harm her, I swear to god I will kill you!"
"You're not in the position to make threats agent Callen."
"What do you want?"
Sam was on his phone and had contacted Eric to run a trace on Callen's cell phone.
"You, a trade, you for your pregnant fiancé."
"Fine, just don't hurt her."
"That's entirely up to you. Come alone. I'll send the address to your phone. None of your agent buddies. If I see any of them she's dead, you hear me."
"I hear you, just let me hear her voice, to make sure she's okay."
The man held the phone against Joelle's ear.
"G," Callen heard Joelle's scared voice.
"It's gonna be okay baby. I'm coming to get you. It's gonna be okay honey."
"G, please….."
Callen couldn't hear the rest of the sentence since the phone was removed from her reach. "You heard she's okay. Now meet me at the address in twenty minutes or she's dead."
The line went dead.
"What's going on G?" Sam asked.
"Someone has Joelle."
"Is she okay?"
"For now she is."
"What's going on?"
Callen told Sam what had happened when they arrived home from their weekend trip.
"I have to keep her safe."
"Of course G. We will keep her safe. I'll contact the rest of the team and brief them what is going on. We will get her back!"
Some agents stayed at the house to take care of the dead guy as Callen went to the address the man had given him. Sam had send some other agents to the address to keep an eye on them. Callen pulled up to the abandoned warehouse. He parked the car and made his way to the door. With his gun raised her walked into the warehouse.
"Ah welcome agent Callen."
Callen saw him standing there with Joelle sitting on a chair next to him. Callen could see the tears in her eyes. Callen walked up to them with his gun pointed at the man.
"Jo, are you okay?"
Joelle nodded.
"Thank you for joining us agent Callen. No need for the gun." Callen didn't put it away. "Put it away, or I'm gonna shoot her." The man pulled a gun out and pointed it at Joelle.
Not wanting her to get hurt Callen lowered his weapon.
"Kick it over here."
Callen did as he was told. The man motioned him to shit on the chair next to Joelle.
"Jo, are you okay?" Callen asked as he walked up to them.
He wanted to put his hand out to Joelle but the man stopped him.
"Sit down."
Callen did again as he was told and the man tied him up.
"You have me now, let her go."
"Sorry, I can't let her go just yet."
"You son of a bitch. You said you would let her go."
"I lied, I can't have her tell someone where we are."
"Just don't hurt her. Do whatever you want with me, but don't hurt her."
The man walked around so he was facing Callen.
"Who are you?"
"Someone who has been looking for you for a really long time and I'm not the only one. We won't rest until you are all dead."
"Comescu," Callen spoke, putting two and two together.
"We will kill you all agent Callen."
"How has that worked out for you so far? We killed a lot of your family and we will kill you too."
Callen got a slap to his face. "You're tied up. I have all the cards."
"You really think that?" Callen spoke with a smirk, blood starting to come out of the cut on his eyebrow.
The heard some noise around them. Comescu looked up and saw agents standing on the top floor.
"Guess the game is over."
"No it's not."
Comescu pulled out his gun and was about to shoot at Joelle. Callen pushed her out of the way. Comescu managed to get a shot off before the agents shot him. Sam, Kensi and Deeks came storming in. Sam made his way over to Comescu. He removed his gun and checked him. He was dead. Kensi and Deeks made their way over to Callen and Joelle. Joelle was lying on the floor and so was Callen but Callen was still tied to his chair.
"Are you okay Joelle?" Kensi asked as she helped her sit up.
"I'm fine please check on G."
Deeks was busy checking on Callen. "Eric, we need an ambulance. Callen has been shot."
"On its way," came the reply from the tech.
Deeks untied Callen from his chair and put him on his back. Deeks saw that Callen was shot in his stomach. Deeks kept his hands on the wound to try to stop the bleeding.
"Jo," Callen's soft voice spoke.
"I'm here G, I'm here." Joelle crawled over to Callen and placed his head on her lap. "It's okay G, I'm here. I'm here."
"You….. okay?"
"Yeah I'm good, just save your breath G. I'm right here." Callen moved his hand up and Joelle took it. "I'm right here baby, just stay with me."
A little later the ambulance was there. Joelle refused to leave Callen's side but Kensi pulled her up so the paramedics could do their job. Once Callen was placed on the gurney Joelle went with him in the ambulance. During the ride to the hospital she held onto his hand.
"Please be okay G, fight G. We need you. Don't you dare die on me."
Callen removed his oxygen mask. "Jo….."
"Sir you need to keep that mask on," one of the paramedics spoke.
"I'm right here baby. I'm right here. I'm okay. You protected us."
Once they were at the hospital Callen was taking into the trauma room.
"Ma'am, let us check you out," a female doctor spoke to Joelle.
"No, I need to stay with him. I need to know he's okay."
"The doctors are working on him. They will make sure he's okay. Please, let us make sure both of you are okay too. I will ask the doctor to come update you."
Joelle looked at Callen lying on the gurney and the doctor's working on him. Eventually Joelle went with the doctor. The doctor took her to a bed next to the trauma room so Joelle could still keep an eye on Callen. Joelle lay down on the bed and the doctor checked her over. Joelle was doing okay. The doctor grabbed the ultrasound machine and put the wand on Joelle's stomach. She moved it around over her stomach. Joelle heard the baby's heartbeat.
"The baby is doing fine. The heartbeat looks fine and there's no sign over any blood or trauma to your womb." Joelle was pleased to hear that. "Are you feeling pain anywhere?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Alright, just take it easy and if you feel anything contact your doctor."
"I will."
The doctor that was working on Callen stepped out and walked up to Joelle.
"We have to take him upstairs for surgery," the doctor told Joelle.
"Will he be okay?"
"He has some internal bleedings but we will take good care of him. You can go upstairs to wait in the waiting room."
"Thank you."
Joelle went upstairs and sat in the waiting room waiting for an update on her fiancé.
