Hello! Another little chapter up for this week. Next one starts the next climax of this story and a lot of action, and the team finally see him!. It'll be up around the weekend, I think. Oh, and I have never been to Moscow, so I'll claim any geographical discrepancies I might've made, although I still tried to research the area.
Please be so kind and leave me a review! :))
(Tuesday, early afternoon, Moscow)
Callen walked with Iverson through the airport they'd landed at, casually positioning himself in video surveillance vantage points in case Eric could access the cameras. The five of them made their way through the packed airport, observing travelers hauling huge suitcases around the crowds and hurrying to catch their flight. Callen's eyes scanned the faces he met, subtly observing his surroundings as he followed behind Iverson. Finally, their group made it outside where two black town cars were waiting for them. Callen was motioned inside the first one as Iverson and one of his men joined him. The doors slammed shut and the car began to merge onto the busy street.
They drove through the vibrant streets of Moscow, headed southeast out of the city, Callen noticed. He appeared to be looking at his surroundings through the glass, but in reality he was watching Iverson through the reflection. The agent could feel the intense stare thrown his way since the car doors shut. Callen guessed he was just trying to intimidate him, but nevertheless it made him eager to get the upper hand. The fact that he hadn't been left alone since landing prevented him so far from trying to contact Eric, frustrating the agent.
The car pulled up to an expansive, elaborate hotel near the edge of the city. Soon, they'd checked in and inside, Callen was given backstopping for his old alias, Nikolai Krymov. He was also given a cell phone and told he needed to check-in every half hour as he made the drive alongside the forest to the mansion that Novikov resided in. He would be traced with the phone and car's GPS, and of course if he tried anything, Iverson would have his team killed. He would drive there, complete the deal, and drive back with the cash. Callen could follow these instructions simply enough, although he knew that it wouldn't be that easy. Nothing was ever easy when it came to the unpredictable Russian. A few hours later he was escorted to his car, where he pulled onto the two-lane highway that lead to the mansion.
As Callen began his journey, Sam, Kensi, and Deeks were finally arriving in the lively city of Moscow. The junior agents had yet to ever visit before, and briefly took in the dynamic activity and historic architecture that represented hundreds of years of culture as the sun sparkled off the towering buildings. They took a cab to a secluded hotel on the surrounding edge of the city, eager to set up communications with Ops and receive an update. Finding their teammate quickly depended upon Eric receiving anything that would point them in the right direction.
Once arriving inside their room, Sam pulled out the satphone and dialed Ops.
"Eric, anything?"
The tech operator began to answer. "We got lucky. I managed to isolate which airport their flight would arrive at and with some hacking and a little bit of looking over the shoulder of the Russian government, I accessed their security cameras. Iverson, Callen, and three other men left the same airport you arrived at almost four hours ago. I'm still tracing them since they got lost in the city. Normally, I could do it in seconds, but with the traffic and limited number of cameras I can access, it'll take a little longer."
"How long?"
"About a half hour."
Sam sighed, unhappy with how little time they had, but there wasn't much of a choice at the moment.
"Alright, just make sure you cover your tracks. We don't want to spook him."
"Already done." Back at Ops, Nell, who'd been working alongside Eric for hours on useful information the team could use and predicting next moves Iverson would make, hit the speaker button and began to talk.
"I've been looking into properties Iverson owns in the area. He has one large estate in the south-east of the city, but I doubt that's where they went. There's only one access road there and there's a street camera near the entrance. After managing to hack into it, I can tell you that no one has been on that road after their plane landed. We're still looking into Novikov's location of his residence. He covered his tracks well, it'll take some time to narrow down his location."
"Thanks, keep us updated Nell."
"Will do."
The line shut off, leaving the team members a little more anxious than before. They'd covered all the details and angles they needed to review on the plane, and now all they could do was sit and wait for a lead. Sam was tempted to just go out anyway and look for him, but the more rational part of his brain took over and he knew that it wouldn't do any good. Each of them waited in silence, occasionally pacing and checking the time. After a few minutes, Sam decided to be productive and prevent himself from charging out the door by cleaning his gun and loading the ammo. He slowly and meticulously ran the cloth in and around the barrel, clicking the pieces back into place once he finished. Kensi had taken to flipping through the fuzzy channels on the old TV set and after Deeks had grown tired of looking at the hideous décor of their room and started to observe the street through the window, a loud ring broke the silence.
"Go, Eric." Sam immediately answered.
"I traced them to a hotel about fifteen kilometers east of you, but a traffic camera caught Callen driving a car forty-five minutes ago traveling further east, headed towards a forest. We did more digging on Novikov and found a mansion in the direction Callen is going that is linked to him."
"Was there anyone in the car with him?"
"No, but there is a cell signal coming from the car. One call has been made. I traced the number of the owner of the phone that Callen called and it traced back to an account in the Caymans registered to Iverson."
"Thanks Eric." He slammed the phone shut without waiting for a reply and quickly the team gathered their things and headed through the door. When they arrived to the parking lot, they realized they didn't have a car to take. Quickly, they found an appropriate car and Kensi used her skills to hotwire it. They took off from the parking lot, headed east; determined to bring their leader home.