Interagency Cooperation
/Chapter 8/
...damn, I really had thought this was going to be the last chapter...but the muse keeps taking the story in a different direction than I intended. I think it will be wrapped in in Ch. 9.
...I'll try to put in the requested 'whumping"—but I prefer the emotional kind to the physical kind...so we'll see where the muse leads me.
...this chapter would have been a whole lot easier to write in a script format rather than a story one, so I hope I'm not confusing anyone...remember, all the agents are wired up to each other and Ops via the earwigs and can hear what is going on in each area of the operation...and Kensi and David are also wired with mini-cameras... (though not particularly useful at the moment, seeing as how they're locked in a bedroom)
...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...
Previously—
"No riskier than killing him," Sam said with a shrug, adding, "I'm not saying not to kill him...I'm saying make sure his usefulness is ended first. If the meet goes down without a hitch, then we cap him; but if the Feds do manage to catch our tail, we'll need a little protection. The commander and the girl are also high value hostages."
Cooper just nodded. "Very well, we'll take your advice then."
Sam just nodded his head in agreement...
...
In the back bedroom, Kensi and David breathed a sigh of relief as Sam talked his way back into Cooper's good graces and for the moment saved the Op and saved Colby from getting a bullet to the head.
Kensi gave David's shoulder a comforting squeeze, "Sam has Colby's back..."
David just gave a slight nod, his face a grim mask. "I know, I just hate sitting here...doing nothing...with us in here, no one has eyes on what's going on out there..."
"We've still got audio," Don interjected. "I swear to you David, it won't happen again...we have his back on this..."
In Ops, Eric and Nell gave Hetty the same confused look that Callen was currently directing towards Don.
"We don't abandon our people, Agent Epps..." Hetty said, "We won't sacrifice Mr. Granger for this Op..."
Don gave up being surprised by the knowledge (and contacts) Hetty seemed to always have at the tip of her fingers, and just knew that she was aware of what he and David were referring. Letting out a heavy sigh, he said quietly, "Thanks Hetty."**
"And, no Mr. Callen, this is not the time..." Hetty added.
Callen just looked to Don and nodded, making a mental note to try to drag the story out to Hetty later.
...
"However, we're twelve hours before the meet; I don't like the idea of keeping tabs on three hostages for that long...it's too dangerous... "Cooper said, waving a hand in Colby's direction and adding, "Especially, this one..."
"Oh, he's not gonna give us any problems," Sam replied.
"How can you be so sure...he's a Fed, and he has the same military background as you...you really think he won't try something?" Cooper asked with both curiosity and suspicion.
"That's exactly the point, same training; puts me right inside his head..." Sam answered Cooper, though his eyes were on Colby. "But his priorities have shifted...he now has two civilians to consider."
Cooper was thoughtful for a few moments, "But knowing the repercussions of failing to retrieve the pathogens; what then would your mission focus be, Mr. Stryker...save a few hostages or do whatever it took to finish your mission, thus saving hundreds of thousands of people? And as with the Fed, the commander knew the risks when he put on a military uniform."
...
In the van, Callen looked over to Don, his face showing surprise and trepidation...
"What," Don asked.
"Hetty, did LAPD run a check on Terry Cooper...what do we know about this guy," Callen asked.
"Callen, LAPD just ran the usual check for aliases and priors-why," Eric interjected.
"Dig deeper Eric. This guy is too good, seems to know an awful lot about how a military op is run...he's countering every move Sam makes," Callen said tightly.
...
"What are you suggesting, Cooper," Sam asked pointedly.
"You said yourself, Granger isn't wired, so his mission was to infiltrate and report...so, his people are waiting from a distance; they're going to be relying on the tracking device, not their agent..." Cooper explained, "...and while I agree with your strategy to not prematurely discard any potential resource; if we lead them away from the meet we really don't need all three hostages."
"Meaning..." Sam asked tensely.
"Meaning we can take care of several problems at once..."
The next several seconds played out in a burst of flurried activity and shock, as Cooper fluidly raised his weapon and fired at Colby, who in turn managed to dodge a killing hit but not the bullet itself.
...
"What the hell was that...?" Don yelled, "someone give me a report..." looking to Callen, he demanded, "that's it, it's over, get us in there..."
"Sam," Callen asked tightly, that one word filled with a plethora of questions; while his hand unconsciously went for the ignition.
...
Colby had barely hit the ground when Sam was quickly kneeling at the downed agent, turning him over and assessing the damage. He gave an internal sigh of relief; Colby wasn't dead, but he was injured, and bleeding profusely...the bullet tearing through his shoulder."
Deeks and Frank had both pulled their weapons but were unsure who to point them at...
"Stand down...everyone, just stand down..." Sam yelled, both to the people in the room and to the agents. He then turned to Cooper and spat out angrily, "What the hell was that...?"
"I'm just manipulating my resources to better serve my needs..." Cooper said.
"By shooting him..." Sam exclaimed angrily, as he tried to stop the bleeding, "kind of hard to negotiate with a dead hostage. When they find out their agents dead they'll stop at nothing to take you down...and hopefully kill you in the process..."
"I see no need to 'negotiate' if the Feds never find us to begin with," Cooper replied, watching Sam's efforts to aid the agent, "we were planning on disposing of the hostages anyway...why then are you suddenly so intent on keeping this one alive?"
...
"Sam, Cooper is ex-CIA, sealed files; wouldn't have popped up on an LAPD check...he went off the radar about four years ago when an Op he was running went south...his whole team was caught in an explosion...they just assumed he died with the team..."
"What was the mission?" Callen demanded.
"His team was tracking black market shipments of weapons..."
"You think he was dirty..." Kensi interjected.
"Could explain why he fell off the radar...didn't report in after the explosion," Callen commented, "And it explains why he has always been one step ahead of us. Sam, he's not just cleaning up...he's testing you..."
...
"I already told you, he's no good to us dead," Sam ground out.
"He's not dead, yet...just easier to handle now," Cooper said, "and he still has a use..."
"Really," Sam shot back skeptically.
"It comes down to this...we need to keep the Feds attention elsewhere while the buy goes down; and we need to tie up all our loose ends so they can't pick up out trail..." Cooper explained.
"Yeah, tell me something I don't already know..." Sam grumbled.
"The oldest game in the book, but none-the-less still very effective—'Bait & Switch', gentlemen; 'bait and switch'" Cooper explained smugly. "We get the feds off our tail and take care of our loose ends at the same time."
Eyeing Cooper with open skepticism, Sam said, "I'm listening."
...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...
...sorry, it was such a short chapter, but like I said, this story has taken a completely different direction than I had intended...it went from being a Deeks centered piece to showcasing Sam's (and Colby's) skills...
**Refers to the Trust Metric/Triple agent story arc in Numbers (season 4) where Colby is arrested (by Don) for being a triple agent...Colby later escaped custody to meet up with his 'contacts' who then try to kill him...he actually dies for a few minutes before they get him back...