The scent of damp mould rolled Kensi's stomach as she stirred and she coughed trying to swallow the stale smell. She was freezing and she shivered as she prised her eyes open taking in the dark room surrounding her. It looked like a basement of sorts and she leaned back against the cement wall inspecting the binds that secured her wrists. The ropes loosened slightly suggesting her captor was either a novice or cocky and she started working the knots, flinching when light suddenly flooded the room.

Hank Grady stepped out of the shadows and she squinted adjusting to the brightness. He was tall, rugged in a handsome way but his blue eyes were raw and bloodshot making it look as though he hadn't slept in weeks. He was holding her gun at an odd angle, obviously not comfortable with the piece and she mentally filed away the information.

"I'm sorry-" he knelt down in front of her with shaking hands, his gaze flicking desperately around the room as he shoved her gun in his waistband. "I needed help and I didn't know what else to do."

"Hank-" Kensi coughed, her chest immediately protesting the action. She wasn't sure how long she'd been unconscious but it hadn't miraculously cured her cold and she breathed out slowly trying to gauge the situation. "Why am I here?" She broached the question with a neutral tone, honestly not sure if she should be curious about his intent or fearful for her safety.

"Syverson are corrupt." He flinched as if he was going to be struck for the comment and again his eyes darted manically around the basement, "they're trying to kill me and I didn't know who I could trust."

Kenis tugged her wrists wondering if the wave of nausea that clamped her stomach was due to illness or the accusation he was making. He didn't exactly look like an orchestrated murderer and the desperation on his face was palpable, meaning whatever she'd been caught up in it wasn't as black and white as her team first thought. "You abducted me-"

"Because I didn't know if they would be listening." Hank shifted nervously, his palms sweating as he tried to remember his rehearsed plea. After everything he'd been through, from discovering anomalies in Syverson financing sector to discovering his best friend murdered, he was running out of options and he needed the agent to believe him. If she didn't he may as well pull the trigger on himself right now. "Please, I have a wife and a son... I'm sorry, I am... but I need your help."

Kensi sucked in a sharp breath as she coughed again, waiting for the fit to subside before resting her head back against the damp wall. Under normal circumstances she might have been able to overpower him but the room was spinning worse than a fair ground ride and for the moment all she could do was try to get her bearings. "Tell me... what happened."

A short burst of relief shot through him but he knew not to get his hopes up. Even if she believed him there was no way he could escape the fact he'd kidnapped a federal agent... but he pushed the thought out of his mind trying to focus on the whole story. "I followed you home after you showed up at Stallards house. I didn't-" he stopped suddenly, his eyes flicking to the door, "I won't hurt you I promise, I Just didn't know what else to do. No where is safe... not even here."

Kensi followed his line of sight trying to determine what had him so worked up but as far she could tell it was just his own paranoia and she stretched out her hands trying to reason with him, "prove it... untie me and we can go somewhere safe, we can figure this out." He looked like he was considering the suggestion and she felt a small bubble of hope well up as she tried to coerce him into letting her go. "My team can help you but not from here, you know that."

He opened his mouth to respond but before he could answer a large explosion rippled the house above them and he grabbed Kensi's wrists yanking her up off the ground.

"They're here, we need to go now!" He'd hoped they would have more time but the board of Syverson had resources. They'd managed to kill Trent and frame him for the murder, as well as pinning them both with some fabricated drug story. If they didn't move now they were as good as dead and he pulled Kensi with him towards a frosted window at the rear of the basement. It was hidden from the outside, obscured by trees and shrubbery but he knew there was still a risk they'd get caught and he squeezed through the opening first to make sure it was clear.

For a second Kensi thought he was going to do a runner but he knelt back down, urging her to hurry as she twisted through the small space deciding he was obviously a man with a conscious. A characteristic the people who had just blown up his house clearly didn't share. "Hank-"

"We have to go!" He cut her off, dragging her through the bushes towards a hole in the neighbors fence. Heat and debris rained down on them but he didn't have time to mourn the loss of his childhood house. Instead he squeezed through the tight space, pulling Kensi along until he spotted the shortcut in the foliage leading them to the road.

The car he'd stashed was waiting for them and he fumbled nervously with the keys somehow managing to get them both in the car without drawing attention. Once Syverson realised the house was empty it wouldn't take them long to search the area and he put his foot down on the gas, keeping the gun in his lap while he used his hands to steer. He hated he idea of using it but he needed to protect them and it worked well as a deterrent. The last thing he needed his passenger to do was something stupid like trying to jump from a moving vehicle.

Not that she looked up to it, or in any sort of shape to be planning an escape. Her face was completely ashen and guilt pulled tightly in his chest, reminding him how completely and utterly screwed he was. "I'm sorry," he tried apologizing again, unable to stop himself, "I thought we would have more time... are you... are you feeling okay?"

Kensi coughed roughly but ignored the question. She was exhausted but she needed to focus. Whatever truth Grady was hiding, someone had just gone to extreme lengths to keep him quiet and she needed to bring her team up to speed before the situation spiraled even further out of control. "Hank listen to me-" she stole a deep breath, glancing over her shoulder at the smoke now billowing in the distance, "I need to take you in. My team, we can help you."

His hands shook as he put his foot down on the accelerator. Trent had tried to go to the police and had wound up dead. The system was bent, corrupt and with no idea how high up the scandal went he couldn't risk trusting anyone. "You don't understand... they're always one step ahead. If they saw you then they're already connecting your team to the case. We need to go somewhere they can't find us, somewhere safe."

Kensi's head spun as he took a sharp turn onto the main road and she flinched as the wheels skidded over loose gravel. His knuckles where turning white from gripping the wheel and she threw a sideways glance to the gun in his lap. Even if she could take it she'd have nowhere to go and in her current state her best option was to try and reason with him, penetrate the fear that was making him act irrationally. "Hank, tell me what happened. What did you find at Syverson?"

He swallowed rigidly, remembering when Trent first noticed something was amiss and wishing he could go back and tell his friend to just leave it the hell alone. At first it hadn't looked like a big deal, just odd shipping dates and times that didn't have paperwork associated with them but over the months more and more started appearing. Every question seemed to be met with a reasonable explanation by management, or at least that's what they thought until they'd realised the contracts being assigned to the discrepancies were being falsified.

"Trent and I came across a list of times, dates and shipments that weren't on the book-" he kept his eyes fixed on the road as he told the story, "we thought someone had overlooked sending us the documentation but once we started checking past logs we noticed there were more instances... almost identical times and remote shipping locations. When we started to ask questions the contracts magically began appearing so we dropped it... until Trent realised the contracts were fake."

"Did you find out what they were shipping?" He shook his head indicating no and Kensi rested back against the seat trying to ignore the bile heaving in her throat. She needed to think. With the resources Syverson had used tonight their operation had to be big, probably drugs or trafficking and she wished she had the OPS resources at hand. Not only that but if Sam and Callen had gone undercover and she'd been made leaving Grady's they could both be in danger.

She needed to get in contact with Deeks, sooner rather than later.

A knot twisted in her stomach as she realised he probably didn't even know she was missing. He would've tried to call, probably messaged a bunch but it certainly wouldn't have been the first time she'd ignored his over-protective nature. Fortunately though for her, he did care and he was too stubborn to be dissuaded by a little hostility on her part. She knew it wouldn't take him long to figure out something was wrong, she just hoped time was on their side.

AN: Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everybody who has reviewed! :) xx