Author's Note:
Thank you all for the continuing support. Hope you enjoy.
-C
"I need to see Eric Beale!" A petite woman demanded. The nurses at Pacific Beach Medical were working double overtime with the influx of people from an explosion downtown. A constant flow of loved ones had come in, asking for updates on their family members. Too many were left sobbing in the morgue.
But none of these family members had quite the determination of Nell Jones when her friends were in danger.
"Ma'am, we're a little busy right now," a nurse impatiently warded her off.
"Hannah," a voice of disapproval sounded a few feet behind Nell. "This woman is obviously hurt and needs some assistance."
Nell spun around and found an aged, stereotypical doctor approaching them. A pencil was tucked behind his gray hair and a stethoscope lay wrapped around his neck.
"Come with me, miss," he asked, and led her to a private room.
Nell dabbed at the blood dripping from her nose. She hadn't given it much attention since the building came crashing down. At the time it just wasn't important.
"I'm fine, really. But I need to find-" Nell insisted.
"I know. Henrietta is an old friend of mine."
The intelligence analyst raised her eyebrows in surprise. She hadn't seen her boss at all.
"And yes, she is alright. She mentioned something about taking care of some agents still in the field."
Nell breathed a sigh of relief despite the situation.
"Let me have a look at you and then I'll help you find your friends," the doctor promised. He reached to tilt Nell's head back but she stopped him.
"Wait, who are you?"
"Doctor Ben Sullivan. My brother was once an NCIS agent."
Deeks blinked his eyes against the sunshine streaming into the rundown apartment. He automatically reached next to him, searching for Kensi. He realized with a frown that he was still partially living in dream world, where their thing was figured out.
"Good, you're awake."
The blond rolled over on the floor to find Sam anxiously making origami out of the soup can labels. The ex-Navy SEAL kept glancing towards the door, half-expecting somebody to open it.
"Good morning to you too," Deeks grumbled.
"We have to move soon," Sam ignored his jest. "Members of the Salinas came knocking last night a few times. They know we're close."
The detective rubbed the exhaustion out of his eyes and rubbed his numb arm. It was hanging uselessly at his side. "How did they find us so quickly?"
"We knew this was a dangerous mission from the start." Sam shook his head absentmindedly. "They have eyes everywhere."
Deeks found himself standing up and stretching out, sore from a night of uncomfortable rest. "We need to get moving as soon as possible. Is there any place where Callen would know to meet you in a time of emergency?"
"Besides here? No. None for something like this."
The two agents were forced into silence, thinking about the gravity of the situation. Deeks limped his way over to the window and gazed below. The streets were nearly empty.
Suddenly, a beeping noise shook the two from silence. With a surprised expression, Sam reached into one of the bags and pulled out a burn phone. He murmured something unintelligible and snapped the phone shut. He dug out a change of clothes and tossed them at Deeks.
"What is it?" He asked.
"We just got a text with an address from it. I think it's from Hetty."
"What's the problem here?" Kensi asked with growing anticipation. She could no longer hear Sam or Deeks talking in the background. And because that was highly unlikely, it meant that there was a com failure.
"The problem?" Axel scoffed. He beckoned his guys with the sound of a whistle. Two men appeared from the back room with Patrick Lawrence hanging in between them. He was beaten and bruised with blood streaming down his face. "You two are federal agents."
Simultaneously, all the men in the room drew their side arms.
"This is obviously a misunderstanding," Callen spat. "Torture will get you answers to make the pain stop, not necessarily the truth."
Kensi knew he was trying to buy them time. Deeks and Sam would take notice of the communication failure and would come in to save the day.
"Special Agent Callen," Axel chuckled darkly. "You're backup outside won't get here in time." The cold-blooded man aimed his gun directly at Kensi's head. "Shut up and walk. Otherwise I will put a bullet in Agent Blye's pretty skull."
Reluctantly, Callen and Kensi raised their hands in surrender above their heads. Two of the men approached them and roughly searched them for any weapons. Once their SIG Sauers were removed, the two agents were corralled into one of the three SUVs waiting in the warehouse.
Kensi was forced into the middle of seat in between two burly men who had their guns pressed into her side. They made a quick work of zip-tying her hands in front of her. Meanwhile, Callen was secured to the door in the front seat. The caravan took off, carrying the two agents further and further away from help.
"This is insane," Callen mused. "We're expanding your business, and this is how you repay us?"
"Shut up," the driver growled.
Kensi took note of their surroundings. They were in a pretty run down section of Los Angeles, and Axel was not in the car with them. Thank goodness, because the rest of his men seemed pretty thick to be working for a notorious cartel.
"Got a plan?" She asked. Their cover was blown- it was no use pretending otherwise.
"He said shut up!" The man to her left repeated and drove a hard blow across her mouth.
Kensi bit back the discomfort. The metallic taste filled her mouth until blood was drizzling out of the corner of her mouth.
Callen seemed to be taking note of every turn the driver made. They were speeding along back roads close to a car demolishing site. She recognized the calculating look in his eyes. As the SUV in the front of the caravan made a sharp turn right, the team leader made eye contact through the rearview mirror.
"I'm sorry, Kens."
He lashed out with his foot and struck the driver across the jaw, easily breaking it as they made the turn. Callen then hooked part of the steering wheel and yanked it hard to one side. In combination of the turn and them traveling at 60 miles per hour approximately, the car flipped over itself several times. At last, it landed belly-side up with a ground.
Kensi lost all sense of orientation. She didn't know which way was up, what was down, where her enemies were. Her already fuzzy vision was growing steadily worse until the whole world was spinning. Looking down, she could see that her ankle was twisted in the wrong direction. Bile rose in her throat as a red hot pain electrocuted her whole leg.
"Callen?" She choked out, trying to untangle herself from the mass of limbs.
He didn't reply. In the dimming of her sight, she made out his unmoving form tossed in the front seat like a ragdoll.
"Callen…" she drifted off, her head lolloping to one side.
"Deeks are you done yet?" Sam complained, keeping an eye out the window.
"This isn't all that easy with a half-useless arm," Deeks protested, pulling a shirt over his head.
"I hope you're a good shot with your left. Because we have company."
Kensi was roughly shaken back into the world when fierce hands dragged her out onto the pavement beside the car.
"Come on, Kens. We gotta get moving," a familiar voice prompted.
The brunette blinked against the rain that was starting to pour down onto them. A revving engine in the distance brought her back to reality, and she found the strength to roll over and try to push herself up. When the slightest weight was applied to her ankle, Kensi shrieked in pain and collapsed from her push-up position.
Callen lifted her off the ground and into a standing position. She heavily leaned on his side as they limped away from the wreck. Kensi eyed the automatic weapon that the team leader managed to salvage.
It was growing dark quickly, and the outlines of Axel's men had almost disappeared. But Kensi knew it wasn't long before they would catch up.
As they headed for the car demolition plant, Kensi couldn't help but wish for a dozen more of those automatic weapons. They would need them before the night was over.
"Deeks and Sam?" Kensi asked with a grunt.
"No sign of them," Callen panted. The brunette wondered how badly he was hurt.
She risked a look behind them to find that the men were quickly gaining.
So I had a review from somebody saying that they were a bit confused by the timeline. I'm sorry if that goes the same for others. Basically, text in the normal font is what is happening to the characters in the POV currently or from where we left off. Italics means that it occurred in the past, and unless specified otherwise, usually earlier on in the day. Sorry for the confusion! And more will be revealed as the story goes on!