Chapter 4

"The op is over but Mr. Deeks has gone missing."

Kensi felt sick. What if the last thing she ever got to say to him was that he was just like his father? Accused him of cheating? Never got to apologize? She wasn't sure how she would live with that. Sam came up behind her and put his arms around her. She leaned back for a moment, accepting the silent support he offered but then pulled away from him; ready do whatever needed to be done to find Deeks.

Callen asked "What do we know Hetty?"

Hetty sighed and told them "Lt. Bates said the raid went as expected, until it didn't. There were more people at the warehouse than expected and they were more heavily armed than the intel suggested they would be. There was a gun fight that, eventually, ended with LAPD coming out on top. Max Gentry was supposed to be arrested with the rest in order to keep his cover intact. It wasn't until the dust settled and everyone was processed, that they realized that Gentry had not been booked. He was not amongst the dead who were sent to the morgue. Nor was he on the list of wounded sent to Pacific Beach Medical. At this point, his whereabouts are completely unknown. I have informed Ms. Jones and Mr. Beale and they are combing through whatever video footage they can find from cameras inside and around the warehouse, hoping to locate our Mr. Deeks. LAPD is currently searching the warehouse physically from top to bottom, but it's a large space and that is going to take some time."

The three agents and their Operations Manager headed upstairs. They entered Ops expecting to find Nell and Eric, but were surprised to find Granger there as well. Granger turned as everyone entered the situation room and looked at Kensi. "We will do everything in our power to find Detective Deeks, Agent Blye. We won't let him get away that easily." He turned back to watch Nell and Eric, leaving three very surprised agents behind him. They weren't sure if it was for Deeks or for Kensi that Granger was doing this, but it didn't matter, they basically had carte blanche to do whatever it took to find their missing man. They had all noticed a change in the man's attitude towards Deeks since Afghanistan. Granger had seen what the detective was capable of and, after a long talk with Sgt. Makar about what transpired once they had left the two of them behind at the cleric's house, he had revised his opinion of the goofy detective. Unbeknownst to anyone in the room, other than Hetty, he had begun his own campaign to get the detective to sign the paperwork that would make him an official NCIS agent.

Eric and Nell began searching video feed from in and around the warehouse where the raid had gone down, starting at just before 1:00. From a traffic cam on the corner where the warehouse was located, they watched two groups of men going in, finding Deeks among the first one. Shortly after, the footage showed LAPD arrive, move into position and begin the raid. They could find nothing to show him leaving that warehouse, before, during or after LAPD's incursion. They couldn't find where he might have gone within the warehouse from the cameras they were able to access inside it. There was also nothing on surveillance or traffic cameras from the surrounding areas. Deeks seemed to have just vanished. "Is there any chance he's still in there, Eric?" asked Callen.

Eric pulled up the plans for the building and put it up on the main screen. "He could be. As you can see, it's a huge place and there are lots of areas the cameras can't see into."

After searching for almost two hours, Hetty's phone rang. Looking at the caller id she told her team "It's Lt. Bates." and turned away to speak with him. They all listened to her side of the conversation. She didn't put him on speaker as she wanted to be able to tell the team in her own way if the information on Deeks was not good.

"Yes Lieutenant, have you found him?"

"Excellent."

"Oh dear, I see. Where was he taken?"

"I'll let his team know. "

"Really? Yes, that doesn't seem at all like him."

"I don't know the answer to that, but I will be sure to ask. Thank you for the update."

She hung up. Turning to the expectant group behind her she said "Mr. Deeks has been located and brought to Pacific Beach Medical where he has been seen by a doctor." Kensi was already heading out the door, only too familiar with the hospital in question. Sam and Callen waited to hear the rest of what Hetty had learned from Bates. "Mr. Deeks was found in one of the offices on an upper floor, pretty badly beaten. He was initially unconscious when found but awoke before the ambulance arrived. The doctor who saw him found bruises and several lacerations that required stitches, a possible concussion and several bruised ribs, but no internal injuries. It looks like he will be fine but is being kept for observation overnight."

Both agents heaved a sigh of relief and started for the door to Ops to follow Kensi to the hospital. They stopped when Hetty asked "Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna, a moment of your time, please?" They turned back and waited to hear what Hetty needed from them. "Lt. Bates asked me a question at the end of our call. One that was very reminiscent of something he asked during the Clarence Fisk operation. Apparently our Mr. Deeks made no objection to being held overnight and never once asked if he could be released. Lt. Bates said he didn't seem to care one way or the other. He asked me what we've done to his detective. Do you have any ideas?"

Everyone in the room knew that Deeks hated hospitals and would beg to be sent home, no matter how injured he was. His not requesting to be sent home, for something he would consider relatively minor, was disconcerting, to say the least. Sam and Callen exchanged a glance, not sure how much they should tell Hetty. That one glance was enough to put Hetty on the scent that the two men in front of her knew something related to the situation. "Mr. Callen? Mr. Hanna? It's obvious you know something and I want to hear it now!"

There was silence for a moment and it was Callen who responded. "He and Kensi had an argument this morning over something she saw and misunderstood. She, um, might have accused of being just like his father."

Hetty sucked in a breath. More than anyone at NCIS, she knew how much an accusation like that would hurt the detective. "I'm afraid Ms. Blye will have a tough time getting him to forgive her for that. It's probably the one thing in this world she could say that would hurt him to the point of being unable to do so. That might explain his lack of interest in going home. For him to agree to stay in the hospital speaks volumes. Well, that is between the two of them. I am interested to find out who put him in the hospital to start with." She turned to Nell and Eric to say "If you'd like to go to the hospital as well, please feel free. Then come back and work with LAPD on who did this to him. I will be joining you shortly."

Granger added "As will I."