The Little Red Tattoo

Chapter 2

Istanbul, Turkey – September 24, 2017

The Red Scorpion had all the documents in place and was boarding a flight to London, England. She was going to stop there for two days and change her alias for the trip to Canada. The plan was simple; fly to Vancouver pick-up a car and drive over the border to the US. Then drive down the coast to her destination. Along the way she would collect the weapons and equipment required to complete the hit. This was a very dangerous operation since moving around on US soil was not as easy as you would think. But she was ready and the plan was good and was meticulously in its details.

Upon arriving in Vancouver she picked up her wheels – 2017 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 Red convertible and headed for Blaine, Washington to cross the border. The alias she would be travelling under was Helen Stamulus, a Canadian business woman heading to LA for a conference and a little vacation. The drive would take about three days, winding along the coast down highways 5 and then the 101, seeing the sights and enjoying the view of the ocean. Funny but she had a strange affinity toward the water and the waves and she couldn't shake it.

She drove for about four hours and decided to stop at a little town on the coast to rest for the night. Grabbing something to eat she sat in the hotel room and began to review the file on the target. This was a different approach than she usually took. The standard methodology to the assignment was simple. The target was presented without name or background information. The location of the hit was provided along with the method to be used. The mission was carried out and then she would lay low for a couple of months getting ready for the next target. She had taken out high profile people in Cyprus, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The reasons for the missions were never given and she never asked. She was well trained to do what she did and was paid very well to it. Her handler took care of all the details and left her to do the job that needed to be done.

But since this particular target had stimulated something within her, the need to know more was to be satisfied. The file was not very thick so she began slowly to go over the information provided.

Looking at the picture again she moved on to the data:

Name: Henrietta Lange

Current Status: Retired – Former NCIS OSP – Operations Manager

Residence: Los Angeles, California, USA

The file went on to list the numerous other achievements and career highlights. It all seemed very interesting but nothing in the file indicated a possible connection with her. The time lines were all wrong.

So what is it about you? Why are you so important that they sent me to hunt you down and kill you? You must have really pissed off someone high up. Guess it sucks to be you 'cause you're already dead and you don't even know it.

Putting the file away and turning off the light, she slide into bed and waited for sleep. First thing tomorrow she was going to contact the man providing her with the weapons she had ordered. It was to be another long day of driving but at least the ocean would be a beautiful distraction.


Los Angeles, January 7 2014

They landed in Afghanistan and headed for the base CO to advise him they had arrived and for any news regarding Kensi and Granger. The flight had been a long one. Hetty had made one call and had them in the air within an hour. The second call was to the base CO who was given the coordinates they had received and filled in on what had happened. Deeks, Sam and Callen had collected the gear they needed and were in the air working on a plan. It was a rescue mission, plain and simple, until they found proof to the contrary. At this point nothing was certain or confirmed.

Deeks didn't say word the entire flight. He held Kensi' knife in one hand while staring straight ahead, focused on a small spot on the fuselage of the C-130 Hercules.

His mind was out of control, spinning, falling and attempting to rationalize what had just happened.

She can't be gone, she just can't. We were finally together and we were going to make it work. I promised to be patient with her. I promised I wouldn't get myself killed. Why didn't I make her promise me? We're going…no, I'm going to find her and bring her back. Then we are just going to hang out together, drive around, maybe get some ice cream, whatever we want to do. Yes, the possibilities are going to be endless. She disserves this, I disserve this, hell, we both disserve this chance to be happy. We were supposed to have all the time in the world. We were to have our 'thing', so she is going to be fine, she had to be.

Sam and G stayed busy going over maps of the rescue area and known insurgent movements over the past couple of days. They checked on Deeks every few minutes making sure he was still ok. They eventually noticed that his body had become very tense and the look in his eyes had turned stone cold.

G nodded to Sam and they both knew that if the worst case scenario was true, then Deeks was going to need a lot of help to survive the ordeal and the aftermath that followed.

They stood before the base CO, a one Major Webster, a short stocky man with what seemed alike a lot of miles on his face. He looked tired, as if the entire weight of the world was resting on his shoulders. He motioned that they sit but all three declined, they wanted to get going so the sooner the briefing was compete the better.

"Gentlemen, can I offer you anything? Water, coffee?"

They all raised a hand indicating they were good.

"Right. We sent a team to the coordinates you gave us and found Granger badly wounded. He was stabilized and then transported to our Military Hospital. From what I have been told he is going to make it."
"That's good news, what about Agent Blye?" Callen was asking the question they all wanted the answer to.

"Well, somewhat good news there as well. Both Blye and Sabatino are still missing. We are expanding our search radius and the locals are being questioned."

"Really, how the hell is that good news? Am I missing something here guys?"

Deeks was looking at G and Sam for input, but none came.

"If that's your idea of good news, please never give me the bad news. I'm not sure I could take it."

"The reason I deem it to be a positive is that the last sniper we sent to hunt down the White Ghost was found decapitated. Actually, we only found the body. The head was never recovered."
"Good God almighty." Deeks went white and turned away from the Major. He felt like he was going to vomit right then and there.

Callen wiped his face with both hands and stared at Sam who had become stoic.

"Gentlemen, the fact that no bodies were recovered indicates that both Blye and Sabatino are considered to be of value. If they weren't, we would be loading their headless bodies on the next plane home."

They each looked at one another letting the words sink in. It was still a rescue mission and that was the upside, if you could call it that.

"What's the plan Major? We need to get moving, we are losing daylight." Sam broke the silence.

"You will travel with my men to the location of the ambush and start there. What ever you need, just ask and we will do our best to accommodate. Stay on comms and don't wander off alone. This is a very hostile environment in many ways. I don't want to start a second rescue mission. Are we clear?"

"Yes Major." Callen replied for all of them.

They grabbed their jackets and gear and headed to their bunks. They were to move out in an hour, which was exactly fifty-nine minutes too long for Deeks. But he needed to stay focused and remember he was a guest here. He was still LAPD like it or not and Hetty pulled every string she needed to just to get him over there.

"G, I want to stay in Kensi' room. Can you arrange that?"

"Don't see why that would be an issue. But are you sure you can handle that?"

"I need to handle it. It's the only way I'm getting through this."

He found her room and stood at the door way just looking in. His hesitation was two fold; first it was still her room so he wanted to be respectful of that and second it was her room. The images he was experiencing at this moment were intoxicating. So entering slowly he noticed her clothes piled on top of the bed, typical Kensi décor. Her gear bag was sticking out from under the bed. Once he was in he closed the door behind him and just sat on the bed. He moved the pillow and found her cell phone. Hitting the button it turned on to the last photo she was looking at before she left that day. His heart started pounding harder and he caught his breath as he looked at the photo of him with his left arm around Kensi' shoulders. They were set between Callen and Sam and they were all happy and smiling. Scrolling through he watched all the pictures she had been looking at the last time she used her phone. It cut him to the core. He had to find her, alive. There were no other options.

To pass the time he began to move her clothes off the bed, folded them and replaced them next to her pillow. He pulled out the additional items he needed from his bag and then placed it under the bed next to hers. The phone he returned to its original place under the pillow. He took a deep breath and one last look around and then left the room. His hand always seemed to find its way to Kensi' knife, touching the handle had become his grounding rod as of late.

Reuniting with Sam and Callen they made their way to the meeting area to be taken out into the desert to view the site.

The ride was long and bumpy and put a serious pounding on Deeks' kidneys. Once they arrived at the location, Deeks immediately found a spot to take care of his business. Nature wasn't just calling, it was screaming at him so he really had no choice.

"Sam, can you figure out why Kensi and Granger would take this position to hold off the terrorists. Deeks, when you're done, can you check the top of that hill for shell casings. Something is off about this whole dynamic." Callen could sense that this was a set-up from the start. The entire scene didn't look right. It was as if they were funnelled into this spot. If they were, how and who was involved?

Deeks made his way up the hill but stopped at the spot Kensi was taken. Parts of the phone still lay scattered on the dirt. There was blood on the rocks and on the ground. They had already taken samples and sent them off for verification. But why was she here when Granger was over there? Staring at the rocks he pictured her face as she spoke her last words to him, when she told him she loved him, with everyone listening. It was the bravest thing she had ever done and she did it for him.

Sam was behind him now and stood there with him just looking at the rocks.

"She was hit. That was the only way they were going to take her"

'I know Sam. Question is how bad?" With that Deeks kept moving up the hill to the top.

They spent the day collecting data on sight lines, angles, casing locations and the location of the ambush relative to the surrounding terrain. The more they compiled their information the clearer it became that this was orchestrated to try and take them not kill them. They wanted them alive, except for Granger.

"The question now is why? Are they setting up a prisoner exchange? Is it going to be a demand for money?" Callen was walking towards the vehicles for the ride back to camp. They needed to get all this data to Eric and Nell and the sooner the better.

The next five days were spent scouring the hills in every direction for any possible trace or clue that would indicate the direction taken by the abductors, but none was found. The blood samples confirmed that it was Kensi.

No ransom was requested, no contact of any type was received. They had vanished from that rock pile. They could still be in Afghanistan or they could be in Pakistan, there was no way to know where they were.

With no other choice available to her, Hetty recalled the agents.

"We can't go now, we still haven't found her." Deeks was pleading his case to Sam, Callen and Hetty over the speaker phone.

"We haven't accomplished our mission. We just can't leave her here. This is Kensi. She is one of us. She's the best one of us." All rational thought had left his mind. He was running on very little sleep and a ton of emotion. He knew he had to go home but he just couldn't bring himself to acknowledge that fact.

"Mr. Deeks please understand we have done all that we can for now. We will continue to work to find her but you must come back for now. Should you need to return we will make those arrangements at that time."

"Hetty please let me stay. Sam and Callen can go back but I need to be here."

"Deeks, we have done everything we could here, time to go. We will be more effective back in LA than here running around the countryside looking at the rock and hills." Callen needed Deeks to understand and override his emotions.

"Fine. When do we leave. I need to pack Kensi' stuff."

"Wheels up in sixty Deeks."

Running his hand through his hair and down his neck, Deeks slowly walked back to her room. First he packed his clothes and then he started with hers.

He pulled out her duffel bag and emptied if first before starting to place her things inside. What fell out last was a sealed envelope with "Marty Deeks" written on the front in Kensi' handwriting. He picked it up and looked at, turning it over and over. He sat down on the bed and closed his eyes holding the letter in his hands.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly tore the envelope open.

He unfolded the paper and began to read.

Dear Marty,

If you're reading this then things did not go well for me during my mission.

Whatever happened here, know that I will always be with you, right there beside you.

If you love me the way I love you then you will know what I mean.

I want you to be happy. Promise me that you will at least try. There is someone out there for you. A very wise lady once told me that sometimes you find them and sometimes they find you. So keep your eyes and your heart open and don't stop looking.

When you see my mom, please give her my dad's medal and spare her any details about my mission. She may need your help to sort this out, so please be there for her.

I want you to keep my dad's knife. I know you will care for it the way I did.

For Callen, Sam, Nell and Eric tell them not to miss me, just remember me.

Please convince Hetty that this was not her fault, it was my job and I knew what that meant.

Give Monty one great big hug for me.

You always made me laugh; you have the ability to that with people, especially with kids, so don't deny yourself that.

I would have loved to raise those little mutant ninja assassins with you but…..

Take care of yourself and know that I didn't leave you, that I would have fought with every ounce of my being to stay here with you.

Know that you are everything to me and what I wanted the most in the world. Always remember that.

You are a good man Marty Deeks, I know because you made me a better person by just being with you. You taught me to trust again, to feel again and to love again. Not an easy thing to do with me, as you well know.

I need to say good-bye now because I'm crying like a baby and staining this letter.

Remember me and use me to make yourself stronger. You must move forward Marty, don't make me the reason to quit on life that is not how you honour me. That was not how I honoured my father.

I Love You.

I always will.

I should have told you face to face and should have said it a million times. I'm sorry I didn't and that is my only regret.

I Love You.

I will Love You always.

Be good.

Kensi (Fern)

Tears were running down his face, he couldn't stop them, it was impossible.


So there is Chapter 2 - Thanks for the great reviews, please keep them coming.