This chapter has mentions of Season 1 Episode 8 called Ambush.
Flashback in this chapter
I don't own NCIS:LA or characters. I do own Sarah.
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And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
"Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls
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Chapter 10
Hetty walked up to Sarah and hugged her, "I'm so sorry," Hetty told Sarah an hour later at the Mission.
"Thanks."
"I have spoken to Director Vance. He told me that due to the circumstances, you are
now off the case."
"Good," Callen said quietly, from the bullpen.
"No. I want to be on the case. I want to find out why they are doing this."
Callen walked out of the bullpen, "They are doing this to flush you out."
"But I want to find out why, Callen. What did I do to them that was so horrible, that they did this to April? Those girls? To me? If they want a fight, they got one."
They stood there watching her walk up the stairs. "Is she always this stubborn?" Callen asked with a slight smile on his face.
"I think you've met your match Mr. Callen," Hetty smiled and went upstairs to Ops.
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"What do we got, Eric?" Sarah asked, walking into the room.
"Got the footage from tonight from LAPD, with the help of Officer Bury. There is some other footage that we found out while looking into the case."
"What is it?" she asked.
"Something that Hetty wants you to look at when she gets here," he handed her the tablet.
As the door opened Eric and Nell walked out, and Hetty walked in.
"What's going on, Hetty?" Sarah asked, not liking the worried look on her face.
"I wanted you to see this before the others. This was recorded three months ago," Hetty pulled up the video.
Malcolm Tallridge Leader of the ELE walked into the visitors area of the Federal Prison and sat down in the chair.
"You have ten minutes," the guard said.
"Do I know you?" Tallridge asked, after the guard left.
"It's been a long time, Sir," the younger man said to him.
"Gabriel Reardon? It's been a long time," Tallridge smiled.
"I know," Reardon nodded.
"You look good. How did you find me? Why are you here?"
"I still have some contacts. They told me about what happened two years ago and that you were here. I have a question. If you had a chance to finish a job that you had years ago would you do it?"
"What do you mean?" Tallridge asked.
"I found a loose end. I want to know if I should finish it?" Reardon looked around, "From West Virginia."
Tallridge looked at him in shock and then hid expression, as he knew the cameras were watching, "Look son, you're not a kid anymore."
"I haven't been a kid since you put a gun in my hand that night and told me to take care of that business."
"Just remember what you are asking me. If you think you found a loose end it's your choice not mine. I'm stuck in here, I can't get involved."
"I understand," Reardon got up, "It's good to see you, Sir."
"But," Tallridge said, looking down at the table, "If it's who I think you are talking about, I personally would go for it, and not hold back."
Reardon stopped, turned around and smiled, "Thank you."
The tape stopped and Hetty looked at Sarah. Her face was as white as a sheet as she looked at the faces that haunted her dreams for years.
"Sarah?"
Sarah opened up the file and looked at reports, "Two years ago you went to Washington DC for a meeting you came back you told me that you were informed by Director Vance that Malcolm Tallridge was caught. After ten years the person responsible for Dan's death would rot in jail for the rest of his life," Sarah said calmly. "Gabriel was just a child, barely eighteen years old and Tallridge had him..."
"I know Sarah,"
She pulled up the picture from the file. "You told me that if Tallridge got any visitors they would have background checks to see if they were former members."
"Yes," Hetty said.
She walked over to the table, "Then how did he get by?"
"It was a mistake," Hetty told her knowing that the answer was unacceptable.
"A mistake? This mistake is now partially responsible for everything that is going on now Hetty. This mistake got April killed!" She took the mug on the table and threw it against the door.
"You think I don't know that? You weren't the only one who was hurt in all of this Sarah. Every time I send out an agent out I worry if they are going to come back or not?" She walked over to Sarah, "I'm just as angry as you are of what happened to Dan," She said quietly knowing that the others would be coming up to Ops to see what was going on, "He did not deserve to die like that but we cannot think about that right now. We need to figure out how to get this guy before he hurts someone else." Hetty watched her knowing that if Sarah walked out that door no one would be able to stop her. "I need you to focus Agent Burgess because if you don't I will be forced to take you off this case."
Sarah took a deep breath, nodded, and looked at the screen, "That was filmed three months ago?"
"Yes."
"A month before the girls started getting attacked," Sarah pulled up the footage in the bar of when the victims left, including hers. Reardon walked over and dialed a number for all of them except for April, whom he followed out the door.
"Why didn't he just do it himself instead of having someone try to steal my purse? Why did he have those other girls attacked? He knew I was there twice a week. He saw me and had the chance."
"Because he wanted to see if you would notice and probably also knows that Sam and Callen were there when you were attacked." Hetty said, looking at the footage repeating of April walking out the door and Reardon following her, "How do you want to do this, Agent Burgess?"
She sighed, "Give me some time to gather the information. I need to do this alone."
"You don't have to do this alone, Sarah. You have a team," Hetty told her.
"My team is waiting for me to get back so they can be taught and we can get a show together to perform in six weeks. Your team will help me when I am ready. I need to do this part by myself right now," she said.
"I'll let you get to work," Hetty handed her a bright pink flash drive.
Sarah looked at it and was not surprised, "Steven wasn't supposed to give you this unless I was dead," she said, as Hetty walked to the door.
"He knew when you gave it to him that it was probably important. Don't be mad at him."
"It saves me a call to Director Vance."
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Callen stood by the stairs as Hetty walked out of Ops.
"Yes, Mr. Callen?"
"How is she?"
"She'll be fine when all of this is over." She assured him walking down the steps.
"What's going on Hetty?"
She stopped and turned around, "We have a break in the case, and she's getting the information together."
"So that's why Eric's mug went flying across the room. Why are keeping her on the case?" He asked.
"I would rather her be on the case so I can keep track of her, than have her go on her own."
"I don't like it." He said now hearing music being played Ops.
"I don't either but I know she can do the job."
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Two hours later Sarah stood by the screen as everyone walked into the Ops room.
"Go ahead, Agent Burgess," Hetty told her.
"Our suspect's name is Gabriel Reardon. He works as a busboy over at Lonigan's Bar for the past six months. When he was seventeen he was reported by his parents as a runaway. He ended up in West Virginia and joined the militia group ELE."
"We cannot get away from them," Sam said.
"You know them?" Sarah asked, knowing that Tallridge was caught two years ago, but had no idea it was Hetty's team that got them.
"Two years ago we got the leader of the group Malcolm Tallridge. The ELE was stealing dragon missiles from Camp Pendleton," Sam informed her.
"The NCIS mission back in 1999 was a two person op. One on the inside with the ELE who had been there for almost a year, and the other one that got the information and was to get their partner out when the time came. A month before the mission was over their Handler was transferred. Their new handler was an up and coming agent, who wanted to prove that he could get it done, and he claimed that they were working to slow getting the information."
"Didn't that idiot know that you can't rush crazy?" Deeks asked.
"No. There were mistakes from the agents and the Handler. In the end Malcolm Tallridge and other higher ups escaped and got to start their own groups over all over the country."
"Three weeks before the raid the agent's Handler forced the agent gathering information in as a possible supplier. She did not stay at the camp but they were supposed to bring their contact in for making the deal."
"What about Reardon?" Sam asked.
"Reardon looked up to the agent in the camp. That agent went up the ranks quickly and became a trusted inside member of Tallridge. Reardon also became friends with the supplier. Both agents had to act like they hated each other. He had made it known that he didn't trust her. She had held her own against Tallridge and the others. Three days before NCIS was supposed to raid, the group had a gathering for Reardon's eighteenth birthday, he saw her walk into the woods. He wondered what was going on since an hour before she told him that they were not feeling that well and left. Reardon followed her and found the two agents together. For two people who put on the act that they hated each other they...didn't act like it when he saw them in the clearing of the woods."
"They were involved?" Kensi asked.
"Yes, Gabriel was hurt and instead of confronting them he went to Tallridge. The next day they got the female agent and questioned her. Roughed her up a bit and when she told him to go to hell he shot her."
"Right shoulder?" Sam asked.
She closed her eyes, "Yes."
"Are you sure she should be doing this?" Nate asked Hetty quietly.
"She needs to for him," Hetty said.
"They brought Sullivan over to question me."
"Sullivan?" Kensi asked, "Your Agent Sullivan, Hetty?"
Hetty nodded.
"I passed out from the pain and woke up with a hood over my head. I heard Tallridge and Sullivan talking. Dan- Agent Sullivan, took the hood off and stayed undercover said that he knew it was me and he knew that they shouldn't have trusted me. But in his eyes I could see was all that he wanted to get me the hell out of there. Tallridge handed him the gun and told him to finish me off."
"What did he do?" Callen asked.
"He made the mistake in trying to reason with him. Sullivan told me one night a couple of months before that he witnessed an argument between Tallridge and a potential second in command. The man tried to reason with Tallridge and he was killed. So when Sullivan refused Tallridge shot him in the stomach. He told his second in command to finish us off. I was untied from the chair and was on the ground next to Sullivan. Tallridge took Reardon back to camp. He didn't want the kid to see to us get killed."
"Yet he had him involved with what happened," Kensi said.
"And saw two people get shot," Deeks said.
"His Second in command waited until they were in the woods. Dan told me a week before that he had been wearing his gun for the past week because something was going on. The man told us to have fun in hell together. I grabbed Sullivan's gun, shot him in the head and told him you first." She closed her eyes.
"Left handed," Sam asked.
"Yes."
"Good girl," Deeks said.
Callen realized that she was about to tell him what happened the other night but he wouldn't hear it. He walked up to her and just stood there.
Her hands began to shake, "I tried to save him. I tried to take him with me... he wouldn't go...Told me to not have Hetty lose two agents in one night...I tried to save him," tears streamed down her face. Emotions were beginning to flood and she just prayed that she would be able to stop it.
He touched her face, "It's okay."
She looked at Hetty, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," she began to cry and he held her in his arms.
"It's okay," he repeated.
She held onto him tight, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," he held her to support her up, and ended up on the floor with her in his arms.
"It's okay," he told her again, and kissed her forehead.
Hetty looked at Sam and nodded to have him to have everyone leave the room. She stood there watching them holding each other. Callen whispered in Sarah's ear comforting her. The trust between them was now sealed. The anger, sadness, and the past that she buried so deep was now being shown, but this time she had someone to get her through it. Hetty turned and walked out the door leaving them alone.
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When Hetty got to her office Kensi, Sam, Deeks and Nate were standing at her desk.
"Yes?"
"How is she?" Kensi asked.
"She has finally let out emotions that she has never let surface, in over ten years. It will be rough for a while, but they will be fine."
"Are they going to be on the case?" Sam said.
She sat down at her desk, "What do you all think we should do?"
"It will help her with letting go of the past and moving on," Kensi said.
"But what if something happens? What if Reardon kills her?" Hetty asked.
"Reardon will not be breathing if that happens," Sam told everyone.
"I know I probably should not have told her this when I checked on her, after she heard how April died, but I told her the only way that she could even be on the case, is if she promised to get him alive." Deeks admitted.
"Why did you tell her that?" Sam asked, slightly annoyed that he waited until now to tell everyone this.
"Because it got her to stop feeling guilty about something that she could not control for a while, and sometimes that one little glimmer of hope helps to get them back in the game. That was the only thing that got me though after Tess Trainer was killed." He admitted.
"What do you think, Nate?" Hetty asked.
"Sarah needs closure. This is part of her past that she buried deep and she is finally ready to move on. I'm still amazed that she did that, most people would have not made it. She has lost so much during her life, but now she has Callen," he told her, "Callen on the case is going to be more difficult. Since she was involved with her partner the last time she is going to worry more about him, and that might take her focus off Reardon. It may get her hurt. In the short time that Sarah has been in his life, Callen has learned to trust. That's something you have wanted him to do for years. If something happens to her he will kill him."
"Do you all think that way?" Hetty asked them all.
They nodded.
"I will see how he does the next couple of days. If I have to, I will pull him off at the last minute."
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Sarah sat there in his arms feeling his hand stroking her hair. They had not talked for several minutes.
"Hetty didn't know how deep your involvement with Agent Sullivan was."
"The only person who did know was Gibbs. We didn't mean for it to happen." She admitted.
"You were his constant. You kept him grounded."
"I got him distracted," she said, looking at him. She got up and looked at Sullivan's picture on the screen, "We looked beyond the mission. That night I told him that NCIS was going to raid in three days, and that I was pregnant. He was happy. Told me that after the mission we were going to quit, go to Montana, he would take over his Dad's business and I would go teach. Leave secret squirrel life behind. I was only six weeks pregnant. He wanted me off the case but I told him I would be okay."
"What happened after Sullivan told you to leave?" He asked.
"I ran into the woods. I knew that part of the woods like the back of my hand because I was the one who was supposed to get him out. I was halfway through the woods and I stopped. I wanted to turn around and go back to him. I heard a gunshot and I knew that Dan was dead. I went back to running. I made it to the road and I just started walking."
"A Doctor on his way home found me, and it took him awhile to convince me to let him help me. He knew that there was a group nearby that had made some comments in town. He asked if I wanted him to contact anyone. I told him my 'brother' Gibbs, and then I passed out in his arms. When they got me to the ER I miscarried. They found Gibbs in Russia and he was there within two days. He told me of all the rules I broke, that Dan was gone, that..."
"You lost so much that night," he sat down next to her.
"We fought. I didn't want to hear any more so I pulled out the IVs and went to leave. I was already beating myself up about it and I didn't need Gibbs to tell me what I already knew. Gibbs grabbed my right arm by accident as I lunged forward to get away ripping out all the stitches and I turned and punched him in the jaw. The Doctor told him that it would be better if he wasn't in my room anymore. He called Hetty and sat outside my room until she arrived. When she arrived, he went back to Russia."
Callen smiled, "He told me that he got into a bar fight."
"We made up two months later. Hetty had us in a room for two days and the truth came out. He felt responsible for what happened and for leaving us. He also felt responsible because he promised my Dad that he would keep an eye on me two weeks before he died."
"Your handler after Gibbs is an idiot." Callen looked in the file to see who it was.
"That idiot has gone up the NCIS ladder and has protected his ass ever since."
"Well let's hope I never meet him."
"I know you don't agree with this, Callen, but I have to do this. I have to get Reardon, and put him in jail for what he did to April and to Dan," she got up and went to the phone, "Yeah it's me. We're fine, get the team up here so I can tell everyone how this is going to happen."
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"So what's the plan?" Deeks asked.
"This op will go on in two days. Kensi, Nell and I will go to the bar for girls night out. If anyone asks, I've taken a couple of days off. I will sing, and after 30 minutes Kensi and Deeks, who will be there working as a busboy will cause a distraction, and I will sneak out. Sam and Callen will be across the street from the car. The plan is to get him to follow me."
"No." Callen told her.
"It's been approved by Hetty and Director Vance." Sarah argued.
"This is not a good plan. You'll be alone."
"I'll have three people with me at the bar, and you both will be watching."
"I still don't like it."
"Doesn't matter if you like it or not, Agent Callen, I'm lead on this one. This operation goes down on Tuesday, we will all meet here at 8:00, whether you are here or not," she told him, and walked out of ops.
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Flashback May 1984 Gibbs and Sarah: day of the funeral.
"May I sit down?" He asked.
"Sure." she moved over and he sat down next to her.
"How are you Sarah?" He asked her.
"Fine," She said in her standard answer. Everything was fine. She was fine. Dinner was fine. The service was fine. She slept fine. As long as everyone accepted her answer and left her alone everything was fine.
"Liar," he said.
She looked at him. No one ever called her on it. Hetty and Mike would just nod and go with it. Other people would give her the look and change the subject.
"You lost your Dad about a week ago. You've had to deal with relatives, friends, strangers, with no time to yourself. Everyone asks the same question and you get to the point where you give them and answer that will make them happy and hope that they leave you alone. So how are you Sarah?" Gibbs asked again.
She sighed, "Shitty," She said.
He tried to hide his look of surprise as she realized that she swore in front of an adult. The kid was opening up to him and he had a feeling she had not done that to anyone yet. He wasn't going to give her a speech about how she shouldn't swear she would clam up again and not trust him. "Go on," He said.
"Everyone has been treating me like I'm a porcelain doll. I'm followed everywhere and told what to do. When to eat, when to sleep, told what to wear, what to say."
He just nodded, "Sucks doesn't it."
"My Aunt wrote the Eulogy."
"You didn't read it."
"I couldn't because it wasn't my words. It was written like I was five because that was the last time she saw me."
"The song was beautiful."
"Thanks," She sighed. "Now I have people arguing about what to do with me for the summer. It's like I'm not even there. No one has asked what I wanted to do."
"What are your options?"
"Staying with my grandparents over at a cottage in Wisconsin, which is fine but after a couple of weeks it gets boring. Hetty, my Godmother, told me that I could stay with her. My Aunt wants to send me to some all-girl camp that she went to when she was a kid because she wants me to make friends and to move on."
"What do you want to do?" He asked her
"I think I want to stay with Hetty."
"I think your Dad mentioned her a couple of times."
"She was friends with my Mom when they were kids. Mom died when I was eight." She looked at her hands.
"I lost my Mom at that age too."
"It sucks," She said.
He smiled. "Yes it does."
Sarah walked outside in the courtyard, took out her phone, and dialed the number. If she was going to be required to talk to someone before the mission she was going to talk to the only one who would understand her.
"Gibbs."
"Hey," She said trying to sound like nothing was wrong.
"Hey, you're up early, what's up?"
"I-I to speak to someone before I go on this mission that is going to happen in two days." She began pacing.
"Okay," He paused. "Everything alright?" he asked.
"No," Her voice cracked.
"How are you Sarah?" He asked.
She smiled and wiped tears off her face "Shitty."
"Tell me everything."
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"Everything okay Boss?" DiNozzo asked when Gibbs walked back to his desk after taking the call.
Gibbs tossed his phone in his desk, "Yeah," He then started to feel it. It was different from the gut feeling he got from knowing if someone was telling the truth or not. His stomach started turning in knots. It felt like someone was trying to tell him something. Screaming at him to leave. He sat down trying to shake it off but it wouldn't go away. His heart started racing, his breathing got ragged, and had this urge to go to Los Angeles. He needed to get there and protect her even if Callen and the rest of the team would be there he needed to be there. He tried to shake it off again but it wouldn't go away.
"If something happens to me I would like you to keep an eye on her," Sarah's Father asked him all those years ago.
"Do you think something is going to happen to you?" Gibbs asked him.
"You never know kid. I just need to be sure that she'll be okay."
"Why me?"
"Because sometimes you get a vibe about some people," he said looking at the beer glass. He looked up at him, "Just promise me that you will.'"
The feeling was getting stronger. He tried to keep it out of his mind but he couldn't shake it. The conversation kept on nagging at him. 'Protect her' kept on repeating in his mind.
"You okay boss?" McGee asked looking worried.
"I'm fine," he said, then glanced at the picture of Sarah. Gibbs now knew what she meant by the difference between a gut feeling and a vibe. "DiNozzo take over," he grabbed his keys, phone, gun and badge.
"Where are you going?" Ziva asked, not liking the look on Gibbs' face.
"Someone is in trouble," he picked up the pace to the elevator.
"Who?" DiNozzo followed him.
"Sarah."
"Sarah? She's in town? Hang on I'll-"
"No. She's in Los Angeles," Gibbs kept on hitting the elevator button to go down.
"Then how do you know she's in trouble?" Ziva asked, catching up with them with McGee not too far behind.
He got on the elevator and looked at Tony knowing that he would understand what he was going to say. "I got a bad vibe," the doors shut and Ziva looked at Tony who looked like he had seen a ghost.
"Bad vibe?" Ziva asked.
"Oh crap," McGee said quietly.
Tony tried to hide his reaction to what Gibbs just said. "It's something Sarah gets. A bad vibe is different from a gut feeling. With Gibbs getting a bad vibe is not good."
"When was the last time Sarah got one of these 'bad vibes'?" she asked.
"2006. When Gibbs was injured in the boat explosion. I got a text from her five minutes after it happened asking me if everyone was alright."
"I hope he gets there in time," Ziva said.
"Me too."
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Gibbs dialed the number as he went to his car.
"Yes, Gibbs." Hetty said answering on the first ring.
"Hetty, is this op is in two days?" He asked unlocking and getting into his car.
"Yes," She said quietly.
"I'm on my way," Gibbs told her.
There was a long pause, "There is a ticket waiting for you at the airport."
He started the car, "You felt it too?"
"No, I've seen her and...you need to be here Jethro," She finally admitted.
"Meet me at our usual place," Gibbs started the car.
"I will," Hetty said.
"She is more than ready to do this mission," Gibbs said driving.
"I will let Nate know."
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