"Clear!"
"Clear." Deeks felt his pulse quicken as he burst into the last room of the house, his eyes scanning the empty space with a sinking feeling.
"They're gone," he mumbled, lowering his gun slowly as Sam appeared behind him. The two men remained standing in the entrance to the room, letting the realization sink in that they had been so close to finding both their teammates.
"They can't be far," Sam said roughly, pushing past Deeks and approaching the window, looking outside before stomping out of the room and shouting orders. Deeks took a few careful steps into the room, his eyes fixating on the tub of water. There were still a few ice cubes floating around. He crouched down to pick up the rag on the floor, noting very clearly that it smelled of chloroform and was stained with blood. He hoped it wasn't blood from his teammates. Walking over to the other chair, he discovered blood droplets on the ground and his worry increased. He promptly stood up, pulling out his phone and turning away from the chair.
"Eric I need you to find that van," Deeks snapped as soon as the younger man's voice was heard over the line.
"We're already working on it; we're tracking all of the traffic cams in the area."
"Deeks!" Sam's voice echoed from downstairs and Deeks hung up on Eric, dashing down the stairs to where Sam was standing in the entrance to the garage. He approached the doorway and saw, to his dismay, that a white van was parked in the garage.
"Damn it," he growled, noting how Sam was grabbing the doorframe tight enough to turn his knuckles white.
"Where are you G," Sam mumbled, refusing to meet Deek's gaze. He knew it would be as worried as his.
5 Hours Earlier
"Sam, Deeks, are you in position?"
"We have eyes on you G, parked down the street." G glanced nonchalantly behind him to see the silver car parked a few cars down, the familiar view of his partner and Deeks sitting in the front seat. "Kensi is approaching now." He felt her brush behind him before she settled down in the chair next to his, putting her cup of tea on the table together with a book. Callen lowered his newspaper to smile at her and she returned the expression. The two of them were currently sitting at an outdoor café in downtown LA, waiting for a man who had identified himself as John.
Deeks and Sam had gone undercover two weeks ago to infiltrate a drug cartel that was building up significant power in LA. The organization had moved from smuggling drugs across the borders to weapons in a matter of days, and they were now suspected of transferring official documents to high-paying bidders.
Sam and Deeks' mission had been simple, join the organization, extract as much information and evidence as they could, and make the arrest. It was only yesterday that they had learned that high priority classified material had been obtained by the organization. The only way to stop the transaction was to get in close to the main players. So far, Sam and Deeks had managed to gain the trust of a person named John Higgs. He swore he had information that pertained to the transaction of the classified materials and had agreed to meeting Callen and Kensi to exchange information for protection.
It was crucial for the mission that Sam and Deeks remained undercover, and Callen had ordered them to stay out of the situation unless he gave them the word. He knew that national security depended on them remaining unidentified. Hetty had agreed with his decision to leave them undercover. Sam had already proven himself as a worthy bodyguard asset, and it was NCIS's hope that he would be asked to partake in the transaction as protection. Deeks was tagging along for the ride.
"He should be here by now," Kensi mumbled, looking around the area as though she was surveying it as a civilian.
"He'll be there, he gave us his word," Deek's voice breathed over their earwigs. Sure enough, a very skittish looking man rounded the corner and paused, searching the faces in the café until he landed on Callen's. They kept brief eye contact before the man nervously made his way over toward them, settling down in the chair across from the two agents.
"John?" Callen folded his newspaper and placed it on the table.
"Did Rick and Michael send you?" John asked, referring to Deeks' and Sam's aliases. He was obviously paranoid as he glanced around him. Kensi picked up her tea cup and took a sip, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.
"Yes, do you have the information?" Callen made sure to keep his voice calm, even though he felt the urgency of getting this meeting over with. He felt exposed. John nodded erratically, eyeing Kensi suspiciously.
"Yea yea, I have the info, but first you have to promise to offer me protection." G raised an eyebrow, leaning forward slightly.
"That was the deal, information for protection. You have our word." John wrung his hands together nervously, nodding again. It was then that Kensi noticed two men exit from the bathrooms inside of the café. They were both huge, probably larger than Sam, and sporting clean cut suits complete with ties. They paused by the bar, murmuring something to each other before one of them glanced directly at her. She played it off as though she was just looking around before feigning wiping some dirt off of Callen's shoulder.
"Guys, two men inside the café." She felt the tension immediately rise as her teammates in the car strained to catch a glimpse of them.
"Shit I recognize them," Sam hissed.
"John, I need the information," Callen pressed, making sure the man in front of him understood how serious the situation was. As soon as the words left his mouth, a white van came careening around the corner, stopping short of their location and bursting open the backdoors. Simultaneously, Kensi saw the two men in the café rip out guns and she called out a loud get down before bullets started speeding toward them. Callen was able to duck down, realizing that the man jumping out of the van also had a gun and was shooting at them from the front. However this realization did not come fast enough for him to warn John, and he watched as the man was shot five times in the back before he slumped over the table. Kensi had her gun out and was firing back at the men in the café, crouching down between the tables. Callen swiftly took care of the man from the van before he also turned, returning fire and hoping that the men inside weren't hitting innocent people.
"Deeks, around the back," Callen heard Sam order in his ear.
"Make sure they don't see you or you'll blow your cover," he reminded them briskly, reloading as Kensi covered him.
"Callen, behind you!" Sam's voice made Callen react quickly, turning and firing at three men who had just rounded the corner. He cursed under his breath, knowing that this wasn't going to end well if they all decided to shoot at once. The shooting suddenly seized and Callen and Kensi cast wary glances at each other, not risking sticking their head up to see what had happened.
"Throw your guns toward us or we'll shoot you both." The voice came from one of the three new comers and Callen could vaguely see them taking cover behind some planet pots.
"I could take out one, maybe both of the men inside," Kensi quickly assured him, not wanting to back down from the fight. He shook his head, grimacing.
"We're coming G, just hang tight," he heard Sam mutter, obviously somewhere close by.
"No, don't blow your cover," Callen hissed, knowing that the whole operation was going to go to hell if Sam and Deeks lost what little progress they had gained over the past two weeks.
"I won't repeat myself," the voice called again. Callen motioned for Kensi to throw her gun out and she did so reluctantly, giving him a questioning look. This was not going the way it should be.
"You guys better find us soon," Callen mumbled, and Kensi understood that this was going to get much worse before it got better.
"Goddamn it G, don't you dare let them take you," Sam growled.
"I swear, if you blow your cover, I will kill you when I get back."
"You're not actually thinking about…" Deeks' sentence trailed off.
"National security," Callen reminded them. Kensi could practically feel the distaste coming from Deeks and Sam.
"Stand up with your hands above your head," the voice from the planters shouted, and the two agents did just that.
"You'll get us back," Kensi stated quietly, echoing words that she had spoken to Deeks months ago. She had been fine then, and they would be fine now as well.
"Step toward us, don't make any sudden movements!" The two special agents made their way over to the three men and were roughly shoved toward the white van, guns pressed against their heads. Deeks and Sam watched from a distance as they had their earwigs removed and crushed before they were shoved into the van and knocked unconscious. Sam recognized one of the men as his boss and cursed under his breath.
"I'm not just gonna sit here," Deeks said, getting up from his position with his gun ready. Sam pulled him back down roughly, tightening his grip on Deeks' arm.
"Callen's right, we can't blow our cover. We will get them back." His statement did nothing to assure Deeks and he watched with a painful fear in his stomach as the van pulled away from the scene.
"Eric you better be following that van."
To be continued.
A/N: No more flashbacks now, I promise! Just had to clear some stuff up. Thank you so much for your support and feedback, please let me know if you have any suggestions or need any clarification! Just to reiterate, this won't be a Callen/Kensi romance thing, it'll just be very angsty friendship hurt/comfort. There will be slight tones of Deeks/Kensi, but nothing overwhelming, don't worry. Thanks for reading!