Author's Note:

Wow, ok, I realize it's been a long time. So, uh, long story short as I explained in my other story: Where My Demons Hide- school and life have been stressing me out and I've had little time for things I actually like- such as writing. I'm trying to get better at updating.

On that note, as it is, we've reached part one of the climax of this story. The next two chapters will be longer and will include the rest of the climax. After that, well, the story will be wrapping itself up. I'll add a little thing or two more at the end, but enjoy this chapter!

He heard the radio call from several floors down and the running patter of feet that followed. The blond shot down the stairs as fast as he could; jumping a few or tripped over a couple. There was what, one floor left, two at most at this point? They could make it.

Deeks rounded the corner and found a gate barricading them from further access to the stair. He kicked it several times, but the door didn't fly open. He made several more knocks against the locked barrier as the voices drew nearer and nearer…

"Deeks-" Kensi warned.

"I know, I know," He said, setting her down against the wall. With two more desperate kicks, the rusty gate finally burst open. Suddenly multiple gunshots exploded from behind him- Deeks whipped around to see Kensi still holding the smoking SIG. The perp who had been chasing them now lay bleeding out on the landing.

"Nice shot," Deeks said, giving his side to Kensi again. He no longer had the strength to carry her and get any real distance between them and the cartel members.

"Come on, I can still hear them coming."

Kensi was right, more footsteps could be heard pounding down the stairs.

Deeks started through the gate and was led to a service hall. He took a wild guess, hoping that turning right would lead them to a door out of this place. The blond felt Kensi pull the gun out of his waist band and shove it in his free hand not wrapped around her torso.

"We can't," he protested breathlessly.

"They already know where we are, Deeks."

He couldn't argue with that logic, he thought. Soon the dimly lighted service hall opened up to an exit. He knew what the red type said even at this distance: the fire alarm would sound as soon as the latch clicked.

Normally he wouldn't pay attention to that. But they were in a crowded hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Depending upon if the alarm was still primed to that door, and where the others were, the possible evacuation could put civilian lives in harm's way.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kensi asked.

"Unfortunately yes."

"Okay so what are we going to do about it?"

A shout followed by several gunshots alerted to them their enemies' presence. Deeks quickly forced Kensi behind a storage bin as he returned three more shots. He collapsed next to his partner while the hostile fire had temporarily ceased.

"How are we on ammo?" Deeks yelled over the return shots.

"I have three shots left plus another mag. You?"

"Roughly the same. And it's going to run out pretty damn quickly."

Kensi used up the last three shots she had in the clip before reloading, eyes glowing with fight. "What do you want to do here?"

Deeks looked at the door once more. They were only about ten yards away from it, but it was going to take nearly an entire clip just to get one of them over there and through the darned thing. And that still didn't solve the problem of the potential civilian chaos going on.

"Anyway we can shoot out the wires to the door?" Deeks asked.

"I don't know much about electrical engineering, but they'd probably be in the walls."

Deeks mulled this over while shooting back only once. He didn't see how many men were on them when they went for cover. It was definitely more than two, and he knew that neither he nor Kensi hit any of them.

"Okay, here's what we do," he said, reloading. Their next move was going to require a lot more bullets. "Make a run for the door, I'll cover your back. If the alarm goes off, then get down until I take them out."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then run like hell."

"We can't endanger anyone else and I'm not leaving you!" Kensi argued fiercely.

"This isn't a debate!"

"You're, right, it's not! Now, let's take these guys out together! I go high you go low!" Kensi propped her arm up on the top of the storage container and began firing, driving the bad guys down for cover. Deeks peaked out on the ground, taking aim and hitting one of the men before being forced to dive back behind the bin.

"One down," he said.

"I counted four in total, not including the one you shot," Kensi reported.

A ping from hitting a garbage can in front of them pulled their attention away from the shooters for a split second. There was a bronze round sticking out from a dent in the metal. Kensi traced her finger over the hole in the storage bin where the round went clean through. The other end was probably so shot up by now that it was effortless for the bullets to hit them now.

"And add that to our list of growing problems," the brunette cursed.

"One of us is going to end up dead if we keep this up," Deeks said solemnly. He nodded towards the exit. "Go Kens."

"Not happening."

"I thought as much." Deeks then went to their last option. With four(?) men in total on the other side, and only on handful of bullets on theirs, it came down to two options- and death was not on the agenda today, nor was endangering the public.

"Stop firing! We surrender!" the detective yelled over the roar of fire. He repeated himself several times over until the bullets trickled to a halt. Deeks released the mag from the chamber and slid both his gun and the clip across the floor to them.

Kensi's jaw dropped as if she wanted to refute his decision. She snapped it shut again when she realized what Deeks was doing. Reluctantly, she did the same and handed the weapon to her partner to turn it over to the enemy.

"Stand up slowly, with your hands above your head," a voice called.

Deeks rose first, offering a hand to Kensi to do the same.

"We're coming out!" he called again. In a low voice, he dropped to Kensi's ear, "Whatever happens do what they say. I need to get one of our faces in front of a security camera."

Kensi nodded, understanding what he meant. Deeks held Kensi tight against his side as six men circled them.

"Where did you learn to count, Kens?" Deeks jested despite the situation. "Four more my ass."

"Shut up!" One of them ordered.

In the sudden silence, Deeks could hear different conversations over the radio. He turned his ear to it the best he could as two of the cartel members moved in front of them. From what he could gather, nobody else had been found.

"Walk," the one who seemed to be the leader commanded.

"Yeah, yeah we know the drill."

The two men in front pushed open the door to the outside, and indeed the alarm went off. Deeks felt a dropping sensation in his stomach. If they were willing to call emergency services here, then they had a quick escape.

Kensi and Deeks were forced through the door and into an alley. One of the other guys in front said something too quiet for either agent to hear, but he was no doubt calling for a pick-up. A big, black SVU rounded the corner and began barreling towards them when Deeks did one of the most stupid things in his entire life- which was saying something.

He snatched up a nearby garbage can and threw it at the three men behind him. Deeks then pushed the other two agents in front of him before bolting across the alley, the car missing him by mere inches.

Deeks ran as hard and as fast as he could towards the street, hoping that some store front camera might catch a glimpse of him before the cartel members caught up. When Nell and the others took notice of their absence, the first thing they would do is search for them using the security system Hetty practically gave them.

Deeks was within fifteen yards of the street, fifteen yards from the nearing sirens when finally two goons caught up and tackled him from behind. He fought for about two seconds before his head was slammed to the concrete in the skirmish- everything fading to black with the sound of sirens too far away to help.

Nell, Callen, and Sam had waited so long to come out of their hiding spot that the fire engines and other emergency response vehicles had left and the people had come filing back in. While nobody was sure why the alarm was triggered, the three OSP operatives made quick work of getting out of there. It was no coincidence. And they had to figure out exactly what happened to everyone else.

As Sam drove evasively to ensure they didn't have any tails, Nell received several text messages from the remaining agents, letting her know they made it out alright. It was another thirty minutes before pulling into the driveway of the address Hetty left Nell, and they were more exhausted than ever. Hell, Callen was passed out in the backseat.

"Who have we heard from?"

"Everyone made it out," Nell said, rubbing her temples with exhaustion. Suddenly, a thought dawned on her, and she made a rapid scramble for her phone.

"What's wrong?"

"It's been over an hour and a half since we split up. Kensi and Deeks haven't checked in."

When Deeks came to, there was blood in his eye and his head was vibrating so violently it felt as if he were on a roller coaster. Correction- he was moving. In a car, that is. As his vision began to clear and he blinked the blood out of his eyes, Deeks could fully take in the surroundings.

He couldn't see very well out of the window, but it didn't matter. There wasn't anything to see at this time of night. His hands were zip-tied to the handle above the window. Across the SUV from him was a grim looking cartel member donning a suit and a gun pointed straight at the detective. A quick glance behind him revealed Kensi, whose hands were also zip-tied in front of her. The two men on either side had the barrel of their guns pressed into her hips on either side.

Her expression and body language held the defiant Kensi Blye he knew. Her eyes were full of fear.

So boom, slightly longer chapter. Please let me know what you think on the way out! The support and feedback is always welcome! :)

Okay, so a few more notes (sorry)

I keep forgetting to post this information. If you have any interest in following me on Tumblr, (I post a lot of NCIS stuff and may put some drabbles and such on there), my user is Darth-Vader-Likes-Ham on the Holy Blog of Bullshit (Yeah I know, the name choices I made at 2 am. Anyways).

Will I do another story after this? Yeah, but I'm going back to my 'one story at a time' thing I was doing when I first started fan fiction. I'll probably post the first chapters of that in two-four weeks. Honesty, I'm very excited about it. More info to come.

Anyways thank you for being patient with my updating.

OH AND I WANT TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PREMIER/INELEGANT HEART! (didnt want to write anything directly here cuz spoilers)

-C