Kensi coughed violently as she was dragged from the car failing to pinpoint their location. Focusing on anything except blurry buildings and moving lights had been near impossible during the journey and the darkness hadn't helped her disorientation. Truth be told she was lucky she'd even managed to stay conscious. The pain in her side was bordering on excruciating, tearing up into her chest with every breath and she bit down hard on her lip as she was forced forward again. Right now she had to concentrate on Grady. He was behind her complying with his captor, not that she blamed him for ceasing to struggle. In their current situation, unless he could actually escape, trying anything stupid was probably just going to get him killed sooner.
Drawing as much strength as she could, she forced her voice to remain steady as she tried to reason with the man handling her, "you're making a mistake... he doesn't know anything. He found some anomalies, that's it." Her captor remained silent as they reached a large roller door re-affirming what she already knew, talking wasn't going to do them any good.
A third man heaved the corrugated iron across and she winced at the sound of screeching metal, blinking as light flooded her vision. It looked like an industrial warehouse and she scanned the room as she was pushed inside, hoping to find something in the space to use to her advantage. There were crates and boxes stacked high to the ceiling making the area look a lot smaller than it was but there were no out of place objects or anything that would make an obvious weapon.
She mentally cursed as she tried to loosen the zipties biting into her wrists and was again reminded that they weren't dealing with armatures. When she turned one of the men had already vacated the room but even though two was better than three, in her current condition she wasn't sure it was going to make any difference.
Swallowing the bile in her throat, she drew in a slow breath trying to keep the room from spinning. She needed to stay focused, keep the men distracted until she could come up with a better plan. "You don't work for Syverson do you?"
The man closest to her pulled the balaclava from his head with a tight smile, "good guess hunny, fraid I'm just a contractor." It wasn't that he particularly enjoyed killing people, he was indifferent really... but it paid well and besides that he was extremely good at the job. "Companies don't like to have ties and all that jazz... but if you need a name to the face you can call me Clutch."
Kensi took in his cavalier attitude noting that it reflected his features. He was A-typically handsome. Tall, dark and possibly of Irish decent but he was as arrogant as he was cocky, something she could use to her advantage. "And him?" She nodded to the man with Grady, trying to hold back another coughing fit. "Last time I checked... hitmen didn't... work in pairs-" the wheeze in her chest was audible but the comment had the desired affect. Whoever the second guy was she knew he wasn't part of Syverson's endgame and she watched him shift nervously before directing her attention back to Clutch, "you want to tell him... or should I?"
Anger flared through Clutch's body and it took all his willpower not to rise to the taunt. She was right. Harry was an amateur, a liability who worked on the board and needed to be 'seen too' but he'd wanted to wait until both the agent and the leak were dead before acting. Unfortunately she'd just forced his hand and he drew his gun shooting the man square in the head without hesitation.
The shot made Grady jump and he tripped over his feet, landing on the ground as the dead man fell beside him. "W...why did you do that?" Fear tightened in his stomach making him want to throw up and he screwed his eyes shut, fighting the urge to run. He had no where to go, no weapon, and with his hands tied behind his back he knew he'd be dead the second he tried to escape. With no other option he resorted to begging, "please, I don't know anything. Trent had all the evidence, I won't say anything to anyone I swear."
"Forget him-" Kensi swallowed her guilt, trying to shaft the memory of the man's sudden death. It was on her but she didn't have time to dwell on the fact, she needed to get Clutch's attention back on her and away from Grady, "you kill a federal agent... and you're going away for life."
He turned, lifting his gun and he moved to circle around her, "you think I'm a novice, agent?
"I think you've... bitten of more than you bargained for-" she coughed roughly, still trying to ignore the pain radiating through her side. She had to have at least one cracked rib if not more and she struggled to stay upright as black spots skimmed her vision.
"This is all going to wrap up in a nice little murder suicide package. I'm sure your team are smart enough to figure out it was Mr. Grady who abducted you-" he watched her start to sway and let out a bored sigh as he breathed against her neck, "come on agent you're making this too easy, where's all your fight."
Anger pulsed through her at the comment and she swung her head back with force, hearing a crack as it connected with his nose. She knew the action would cost her and she cried out as he kicked the back of her knees sending her crashing down to the cement floor. His boot connected with her her ribs and she sucked in sharply as pain exploded in her chest, willing herself not to pass out.
Clutch wiped his nose, laughing at the crimson smeared across his fingers. He liked it when they fought back but this was starting to drag on and the longer he waited the higher the margin for error grew. He needed to finish this and with a snarl he reached down grabbing her hair and forcing her to kneel in front of him.
Kensi ground her teeth together, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her appear weak. She endured far worse and right now her only regret was failing to help Grady. Stalling was becoming too much of an exhausting task and she closed her eyes knowing she'd let him down. There was no way out and the only she could draw comfort was by focusing on Deeks, remembering how concerned he'd sounded when she'd called him from the gas station. There was no way he'd buy any of this as a murder suicide and she used the last of her strength to make sure Clutch understood that. "You're wrong-" she breathed out through her nose, pushing venom into her words, "my partner will figure this out...and when he does, he will hunt you down."
Clutch didn't so much as flinch at the threat but he was miffed by the naivety of it. He was good at his job, excellent in fact. He didn't leave a single thing to chance and the notion that her partner had some sort of gifted ability made him laugh, "let him try sweetheart, he won't find me-"
"Want to put money on that bet?"
Deeks stepped out of the shadows, gun drawn and fighting the urge to pull the trigger. He'd picked up the SVUs tail shortly before it arrived at the complex but as promised he'd agreed to wait for backup before he engaged. It had taken all his will power not to storm the room the second he'd breached the rear fire escape but it would have been two against one. Now Sam and Callen were in position and the odds were in their favour, he wasn't going to waste anymore time with pleasantries. "Drop the gun, drop it now because if you don't... I will kill you."
He didn't expect the other man to comply and when his wrist shimmied, a shot took him out from behind. Deeks caught Callen's gaze, giving a sharp nod as he tucked his weapon in the waistband of his jeans. Sam was outside dealing with the man in the black SVU and once the all clear came over radio he rushed towards Kensi, kneeling down behind her to free her hands. "Kens... you ok?"
She nodded choking back another cough and he slid round to get a proper look at her. She was struggling to breathe through another outburst and he gently tugged her hand away, feeling his stomach clench as he noticed the blood spotting her knuckles.
"Hey, look at me-" he cupped her cheek, his eyes drawing to the crimson around her lips. It was a sign she'd sustained internal injuries and he fought to hold her gaze as it became glassy and unfocused, "come on Kens, stay with me."
She nodded slightly, leaning her full weight against his chest and he breathed out a sigh as he helped ease her to the ground, "...it's ok, I've got you." She mumbled something incoherent and he reached for his radio fumbling with the button. There was an ambulance on standby just around the corner and he put in the call hoping like hell it wouldn't take them long to respond.
"Deeks?" Kensi swallowed roughly trying to stay focused on her partner. His words were starting .to jumble but she felt his warm touch as his fingers skimmed across her rib-cage. Confused she tried to sit up to see what he was doing but a sharp pain exploded in her chest and she cried out trying to writhe away from the source.
"I'm sorry... I'm done, I swear I'm done." Guilt knotted tightly in his throat as he helped her to settle, catching Callen's concerned gaze with a shake of his head. Her reaction confirmed his suspicions, that she'd punctured a lung, and he glanced back down at her silently willing the paramedics to hurry up. "Kens, listen to me... you're going to be fine. This is nothing, no worse than than that bad Chinese you had the other night."
She coughed again barely paying attention to the words. She was too busy trying to make sense of how he was here and she reached blindly for his hand feeling a warmth spread as he entwined their fingers. She didn't know how it was possible but she really, really hoped it wasn't part of near death delusion. "How... how did you-"
"You know, knight in shining armor stuff and all that." He squeezed her hand, glancing up as Callen led Grady out of the warehouse. He wasn't good in these sorts of situations, he always defaulted to humor... but he couldn't keep hiding the truth. He needed her, not just as his partner but in his life and he grew serious as the realization dawned on him.
"Kens, you do not give up on me-" his throat was dry and he swallowed roughly trying to get the words out, "I need you and I can't... I can't do this without you. There were things I should have said... about our thing... and I'm an idiot but I swear we're going to have that conversation. You just need to hang on, you can't give up ok?"
Footsteps echoed in the doorway drowning out her mumbled response and he swiped his eyes as the paramedics rushed to her side. She was going to be fine. She had to be. Because after everything they'd been through together he didn't think he could deal any other alternative.