All characters and all rights at 'NCIS: Los Angeles' belong to CBS and Shane Brennan Productions. The following story does not serve any commercial purposes, but was written only for the pleasure of fans. An injury of Copyright is not intended. All further persons belong to the authoress.

English is my second language, if you find any mistakes in my story please send them back to me for correction.

I also would be very glad to get your reviews.

Chapter 3 - Excessive Ambition

Silently, Joann and Ray went to the next corpse finding place. That had been opened to public some time ago. Nobody expected that they would find undiscovered tracks. It was merely the place itself. Joann followed Kensi's instructions, while Ray kept his eyes glued to her and the environment. There were mistakes he obviously made only once.

They managed two more sites before it got dark. Joann had spoken with Ray only the most necessary. She was angry. Angry with Ray because he had made such a stupid rookie mistake. Angry with Deeks, because he was the experienced one of the two and should have known better. And finally, angry with herself, because her training had apparently failed at Ray.

…

Callen and Sam looked around carefully, but like Deeks they could discover nothing.

"This supports our theory that there are professionals at work." Callen sighed. "Let's go back, Sam, we go no further here. We have to look at the shots that Eric has done. Probably we'll find the answers there."

Sam nodded, thoughtfully. "That's more than strange. Wherefrom did they know that we wanted to take video shots? You have taken the decision only after the conversation with Detective Fisher, G. And why should someone steal a camera, if the shots are filed at us?"

"That's the point, Sam. Whoever it was, didn't know that Eric would send the shots as a live stream."

The men looked at each other.

"When I had the idea of sending Eric here I was in the boatshed. I have made the decision about the live stream at headquarters." Callen picked up his phone. "Hetty, the boatshed must immediately examined for bugs, but unobtrusively. Detective Fisher may be in on it. I don't want her to realize that she has been exposed...Yeah, we are on the way, Hetty." Next, he called Nell.

„Jones."

"Callen. How far are you with the background check of Detective Fisher, Nell?"

"It's going on, Callen. I also see about the surveillance video, try to set up a team to check the boatshed, and have a look on Joann's crime scene videos. Anything else that I can do for you?" Nell hung up on him.

Puzzled Callen looked at Sam and described the contents of the conversation. Sam grinned broadly.

"Our shorty has temperament, you've got to hand it to her. Today it's probably a bit to much for her, G."

"Or she spends to much time with Jo and Kensi. The two have a bad influence on Nell."

Incredulously Sam looked at his partner. "It's exactly the other way round. Nell is a sly old dog. She always reminds me of a goblin."

Callen had to laugh now. Sam had hit the nail on the head.

…

"What are you doing here, Mr. Beale? You should still be in the hospital." Hetty looked intently at Eric.

"I'm good, Hetty, so they let me go. There is plenty to do, more as Nell can do on her own." Purposeful Eric went to the ops.

"Mr. Deeks?"

"That's right. The doctors have excluded a concussion. He should cool his bump. With nausea or blurred vision we should bring Eric to a doctor, but they do not expect it." Deeks sighed. "Fortunately it turned out all right for Eric."

"He does not owe that to you, Mr. Deeks."

Given the sharpness in Hetty's voice, Deeks winced. He knew that he had screwed up. "I'm sorry, Hetty." But she didn't hear his words anymore, she just ditched him. Like a whipped dog, he went to the ops.

…

No one realized, what Callen said to Deeks and Ray, but the two came back to the bullpen with flushed faces and drooping shoulders. No one could address more serious reproaches to the two than they already were doing to themselves. In private Callen also had spoken briefly with Eric. He was a little pale then, but plunged immediately into his work.

"Okay, Nell, what could you find out about Detective Fisher?"

"Nothing unusual, Callen. She was an exceptionally good pupil, made her high school diploma already with sixteen, followed by four years of college, degree in criminology. Fisher has gone directly to the police academy. After an unusually short time on patrol, she was admitted to the detective exam. With all degrees, Fisher has ever done, she was among the top five. However, so far I could not determine why she was deported on this small precinct. To carve out a career is almost impossible there. But I stay on the ball and dig deeper." Nell finished her presentation.

"Do you also have information about her private live?" Attentively Callen had followed Nell's report.

In the boatshed a bug had been actually found, whereby Detective Fisher became from an investigator to an offender.

"Sure, but also here everything is unobtrusive. The father is a teacher, the mother an accountant, no siblings. Fisher is single, never seemed to have a long relationship. In college, she lived alone. I have the impression that she is a career-minded loner." Nell shrugged her shoulders. "The worst thing I could find about Fisher are a few parking tickets, but she has paid them on time."

"Thank you, Nell, well done. Kensi, what have you found?"

"Unfortunately nothing, Callen. From the photos and descriptions, we already knew that the places, where the bodies were found, are very similar. I haven't seen them all, but one thing struck me about the previous one: Everyone has a point, from which one can look down on it. Normally I look for a place that is not visible. If I hide a corpse, I finally won't be seen." Kensi showed screenshots of the respective places.

"Yeah, but at such a point one can position someone, who warns you against unwanted visitors." Deeks had thoughtfully considered the shots. "One has a good panoramic view, nobody can approach unseen."

"That would mean that it is more than one offender." Joann was very serious. "That won't make it easier for us. However, I don't see how Fisher could be involved in it. In my opinion she is too purposeful, to take time for torture and mutilation. If she wants to put somebody away, she will do it with as little effort as possible. Quickly and thoroughly."

"Maybe I've found something." Sam spoke up. "I thought that I knew one of the victims. I was right. James Heritage. A few years ago I was undercover as an MP. He had nothing to do with my investigation, but I got that colleagues were at his home because neighbors had reported a loud argument. He had badly beaten his wife. Because she didn't press charges, the MPs couldn't do anything. They had put him in jail only for a night because he was drunk."

"And then?" Callen didn't see the connection yet.

To answer Sam showed a picture of the corpse on the monitor. Everyone stared at the photo.

"His hands were cut off." Callen understood first what Sam had discovered. "The hands with which he has beaten his wife."

Sam nodded. "I brought on the report of the pathologist. The hands were cut off with an electric saw, when Heritage was still alive. The forearms have bruises above the wrists. There he was tied off, so that he didn't bleed to death. Fast, effective and very cold-blooded."

"We have to check whether similar things can be found at the other victims." Joann activated the files of the two victims with mutilated genitals. "I guess, rape, attempted or performed. The gouged eyes may indicate that the victims were witnessing something without doing anything. Cut-out tongues, perhaps the victim said too much or too little." Joann shrugged her shoulders. "There is a lot of room for interpretation."

"But not today, ladies and gentlemen. It's late, go home and sleep. Tomorrow is another day." With a friendly smile Hetty nodded to everyone before she left.

"Hetty is right. Today we accomplish nothing at all." Callen stood up and pack up his things. "Come on, guys, see you tomorrow."

…

Although it was late and she had a short night ahead, Joann stood on the patio, staring into the darkness.

"You have done nothing wrong, Jo. Ray is no longer a beginner, even though he still lacks some experience. And Deeks has enough experience to know better. In addition, Eric has felt much too safe, otherwise he would have waited for one of them to accompany him."

"Eric is no agent, G, he doesn't know when he can feel safe and when not. That's why you have sent the two with him."

"Sure, but Eric experienced every day firsthand, what can happen to us at crime scenes or during investigations. That should be enough to let him be careful." Callen sighed. "Things turned out well, Jo, and none of the three will make such a mistake again. Go to sleep, Lovey."

Joann also sighed. "I know, nevertheless, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Maybe you should rip them a new one, instead of trying desperately to say nothing."

"What?" Joann thought she had misheard. "That's your job as team leader and as far as I know you've done that."

"I have. But you're Ray's instructor, so you have this right, too. And as for Deeks..." Callen had to say no more, Joann understood him anyway.

"I think about it." A violent yawn prevented that Joann could begin immediately. "Tomorrow. If I'm not so tired anymore."

…

Nobody, not even Callen, learned what Joann said to Ray and Deeks the next morning, but the two seemed quite wrecked thereafter. Joann, however, felt better, she was clearly not as tense as the day before.

Callen distributed work. Joann and Ray should take shots of the other places where the bodies were found, Kensi and Deeks would proceed with the review of the victims, Eric should deal with the surveillance videos, while Nell should look further into Detective Fisher's past. He and Sam would clarify the bug theme.

…

Ray looked around thoughtfully. "Something is different here, Joann. This is now the seventh finding place that we have a look at. I can't quite realize it, but it has a different...I don't know…charisma, a different…atmosphere." Slightly embarrassed, Ray shrugged his shoulders.

For a moment, Joann looked at her partner. Then she looked around. Slowly, she nodded. "Yeah, you're right. The place is not nearly as secluded. It is also difficult to monitor. And access is easier." Joann paced a couple of steps, changing her vantage point. "Whoever chose this place, has thought of something, but didn't think far enough. Basically, it was fortunate that the deposit of the corpse was not observed." Joann nodded to him. "Well spotted, Ray. Let's do the shots. I've got a hunch what concerns the remaining sites."

…

Deeks grumbled. "Really, I hate this part of my job like poison. I prefer to be in the street than to burrow in files."

"Well, somebody has to do this work, Deeks. And after yesterday..." Kensi just looked at him. "Well, come on. We got a clue by Sam. Joann's interpretation of the mutilations sounded pretty logical. So let's look for similar incidents at the other victims."

As Deeks would not stop nagging, Kensi gave him a heavy blow on the arm. "Shut up, Deeks, you have to reparable something." She slammed a stack of files on the table. "Go ahead."

…

"Have you been able to discover something on the footage, Eric?" Nell looked up from her own research and at her colleague.

"Perhaps, Nell. Who knocked me down, knew the parking garage. Shortly before and after you see a figure on the footage. Always from behind. The person knew where the surveillance cameras had been. He or she wears jeans and a T-shirt, more cannot be seen. But I have seen this." Eric enlarged a detail.

"Ah, you found a reflection! With what do you edit it?"

An intensive shoptalk started. Hetty listened to them, who had not noticed her at all. Chuckling she left the ops.

…

"What do we know about the bug?" Sam looked questioningly at his partner.

"Nothing. According to Eric, it's nothing special, you can get it in many electronics stores. It works wireless, based on Internet. Nell tries to find the receiver. But this will take a while." Callen had to grin as he thought about the conversation with Nell. "She has used a lot of technical terms, most of them I had never heard before. When I asked her to express herself in a way which everyone can understand, she sighed and just said that it's difficult and will last for a while."

Sam laughed. That was typically Nell. "Okay, and which plan do you have considered?"

"I assume that Detective Fisher has placed the bug. Of course she now knows that we have found it. The colleagues have simulated a routine check, so she doesn't realize that we suspect her. As we have promised to keep Detective Fisher up to date, we should do so."

Sam looked at Callen with a raised eyebrow, then nodded. "Let's go, G."

…

The two agents met Detective Fisher in her precinct. After a few pleasantries, the young policewoman turned to Callen with a beaming smile. "I hadn't expected to hear from you so soon, Agent Callen. What can I do for you?"

"We may have discovered the reason for the mutilations and were hoping you could help us with additional background information on your victim." With a smile he provided the information.

Tamy Fisher's smile turned into a pensive impression. "There were rumors, but nothing tangible."

Eagerly Callen continued to smiled at her.

Inwardly smiling about the acting skills of his partner, Sam kept his expressionless face. "What rumors, Detective?"

This time the smile completely disappeared from her face and was replaced by very cool rejection. "Rumors that the victim was a voyeur. Women in his neighborhood have reported a figure in front of their windows. The descriptions were vague, but all had a certain resemblance to our victim. Investigations revealed nothing." Anew Fisher turned to Callen. Again, she smiled brightly. "His gouged out eyes were to fit your theory. Therefore the rumors corresponded to the truth."

"Have you checked the women who have reported a voyeur, Detective Fisher?" With expressionless face Sam again interrupted Tamy Fisher's attempt to flirt.

Instead of rejecting this time anger appeared on her face, if only for a moment. Then her expression was neutral again. "Of course, Agent Hanna. I've mastered my job. Everyone had an alibi and had no connections to the Navy." Abruptly, she turned her back on Sam and warmly smiled at Callen. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Agent Callen?"

"No, thank you, Detective Fisher. You have really helped us." Callen stayed in his role and returned the warm smile.

"Call me Tamy, Agent Callen." The warm smile turned back into a beaming one. "Maybe we can go out for dinner tonight and have a brainstorming on this case."

"Sure, Tamy, why not. I'll call you later, then we can arrange something." Callen still had the warm smile on his face.

Sam's cell phone vibrated. He glanced at the display. "G, we have to go. Detective." Sam nodded briefly at her and then beckoned Callen to come.

Briefly anger flickered across her face, but Fisher pulled herself together and beamed at Callen. "I await your call, Agent Callen. See you later."

…

In the car Sam could not contain himself any longer and laughed uproariously. "If you'd allowed her, G, she would have eaten you alive. She only would have been more direct, if she had told you to your face that she wants to sleep with you."

Callen grinned. "I know. Good thing that Jo didn't take part, she would have kicked Fisher's ass."

"You really want to go to dine out with her? You might have trouble keeping Fisher at arm's length." Sam still laughed.

"Well, if the helpings are big enough, she may not try to eat me alive." Also Callen was laughing now. "But I think I'll eat out with her. She'll want to pump me for information after we found her bug."

Thoughtfully Sam nodded. "Do you think Fisher is in on the murders?"

"No, Sam. That doesn't fit her. Joann's appreciation of Fisher's ambition matches with her résumé. Fisher wants to make a career so urgently that she is willing to place a bug in the boatshed and to flirt with the leading investigator. She doesn't commit murder." Callen chuckled. "That's anything but a career booster."

…

Joann laughed uproariously, as Callen reported the conversation with Fisher. "G, you really got involved with something! Hey, Eric, I absolutely want to have surveillance footage of this, from all angles, so that I have something to laugh for a long while."

The whole team got jollies at Callen's and Sam's description. Even Hetty chuckled. It was joked around a lot, mostly at Callen's cost. Finally, the team became serious again.

"Okay, Callen, what do you expect from the dinner?" Kensi was curious.

Callen became serious. "She has placed a bug at ours. Until now we can't prove that, so Fisher has to admit it. We can't let her get away with that. Then there is the attack on Eric. She could have been that, too, to get information."

"We need to know whether it was her or whether it has been the offenders, who stole Eric's camera. Fisher won't say a word voluntarily, if we should ask her directly. G is the best way to screw it from her." Sam thought for a moment and then looked at Joann. "Jo, you were of the opinion that she won't sleep her way up to the top. How certain do you feel about Fisher not using sex as a weapon?"

Joann became thoughtful. "I can't imagine that she would sleep with a supervisor to make her career. Flirting, a deep neckline, a tight skirt, high heels, flatteries, that yes. She whets the men's appetite for herself, indicates without promising anything. The men do a lot to please her, hoping to get more than what she shows. Sex would be counter-productive. Then the men would get what they want and need do nothing more for Fisher."

"But Callen can't help her with her career, Joann. The NCIS has no influence on the L.A.P.D.. Why does Fisher want to meet with him?" Deeks looked questioningly at his colleagues.

"Because he can, Deeks. If Fisher solves her murder and thus also all the others, it will give her career a huge boost. She certainly will be transferred on a more prestigious position. Fisher can get all the information she need for solving by Callen."

"Kensi is right. G is a valuable source of information." Joann nodded determined. "I'm pretty sure that if G doesn't tell Fisher what she wants to know, she'll sleep with him as a last attempt to get information."

After this statement an uncomfortable silence arose.

Joann chuckled given the embarrassment of her colleagues. "Hey, guys, I trust G, so should you. He will find out everything from Fisher before they even are at the dessert. We should now arrange the monitoring." Joann became grim. "I want hard evidence that she tried to spy on us."

…

Tamy Fisher had pulled out all the stops: The skirt was short, the shoes high-heeled, a deep neckline and the make up perfectly concentrated on bedroom eyes. With swinging hips she went to Callen. As she spoke, her voice was velvety and seductive.

"I was not sure whether you really would call, Agent Callen." She smiled brightly at him. "Or may I call you 'G'?"

He returned the smile as bright. "But of course, Tamy." Softly Callen laid his hand on her back, as they followed the service to their table.

…

While Joann listened to the conversation, she could not hold back her laughter. G played with Fisher and she did not even notice that.

"How can you laugh about that? You are witnessing how your boyfriend is flirting with another woman. With a damned cute woman who is clearly eager to lay him." Ray looked at his partner in disbelief, when she laughed even more.

"Believe me, I know exactly where I stand with G. He plays his role perfectly." Joann smiled at her partner. "If I didn't know that, we couldn't both be a couple and work together."

"If you say this..." Ray was not really convinced but let rest the matter.

…

"Damn, she's hot stuff!" Deeks stared at the laptop. Callen's button camera just granted an insight into Fisher's cleavage.

"Do you start to drool now?" With a mixture of curiosity, amusement and jealousy Kensi looked at her boyfriend.

Now you could see Fisher's rear view, which also was nothing to sneeze at. Deeks was so captivated by that sight that he did not catch Kensi's question.

"Ouch! What's that?" Confused Deeks looked at his girlfriend, rubbing his ribs, where Kensi's elbow had struck him. "I have done nothing!"

In only partly feigned despair Kensi shook her head. "Men!"

…

Sam was the only one of the team in the restaurant. He had no doubt that G would be done with Fisher. Nevertheless, he was rather cautious. Sam had chosen a place from which he could observe the two without being seen himself. Meanwhile, he was torn between irritation and fascination. He was irritated because Tamy Fisher had not shown any weakness and he was fascinated how cleverly G let her go around in a circuit. Nevertheless, it was about time that Callen came to an end. "Bring it to an end, G. We all want to go home."

Sam's remark aroused a giggle on Joann. "Leave him alone, Sam. G has just so much fun." She giggled again. "And me, too." The answer she got from Sam was only a growl, while everyone else was laughing.

…

"I thought we were looking for new ideas in this case. But you give me nothing, I can work with." Fisher pouted and underlined this with a deep look of her eyes.

Callen beamed at her. "Well, Tamy, it is now an NCIS investigation. You did a good preparatory work, but everything else is the business of my team."

Briefly Fisher's face convulsed with rage. Then she let her eyes suddenly become spherical. "But I thought you wanted my advice and my help, that's why we're here. Or have I misunderstood something?" Again she was the seductive siren. "Are we maybe here because you wanted to see me again, G?"

"We are here because I wanted to know how far you are willing to go, Detective Fisher, to obtain information in this case." The bright smile vanished from Callen's face. It was replaced by cool detachment. "I think your outfit speaks for itself."

The seductive siren became a nagging fury in a split second. "You made a date with me by false pretenses? You have made me obvious that you are interested in me!" Fisher angrily flashed at Callen. "You have made it clear that I am involved in the investigation and now you leave me out in the cold! Have you really thought, I put up with this? You're just an dumbass, like all men!" Fisher's expression became gloating. "You can't keep me out of this, that is my investigation! I've discovered that there are serial murders and not individual acts! I've discovered that the Navy is the link! And I find out everything what I want to know whether you like it or not!"

"Oh, yeah? Perhaps because of this?" Callen put the bug on the table, which was found in the boatshed. "Or are you now trying to score with someone else from my team after you didn't succeed with me?"

Fisher jumped up, raised her hand and wanted to hit Callen. But he dodged without a problem. "Detective, you should think about an anti-aggression training."

"You fucking bastard, that's my case! I won't let fuck up my chance to get out of this crappy precinct by a dick-driven monkey!" Then a triumphant grin appeared on Fisher's face. "You have not even noticed that I have planted the bug on you! It has been found only during a routine check! And your technician is so stupid and naive that it hasn't even been fun to take away his camera!"

"Thank you, that's enough!" Sam came up behind Detective Fisher and cuffed her so fast that she even did not realize it. Then he brought her outside, where the rest of the colleagues and two staff members of the department for internal affairs by the L.A.P.D. already waited.

Slowly Joann walked toward Tamy Fisher. "One should never be so ambitious that one underestimated others, Detective. We are hot on you trail for a while. Our technician now can unequivocally prove that you have bought and placed the bug. In addition, our technician has discovered you in a reflection on the video that you have stolen. While you have made on seductive siren, a team has searched your apartment. There the records of the bugs were found and the memory card from the video camera." Gently Joann shook her head. "Did you really think no one can find the loose flag behind your mirror in your bathroom?"

Callen appeared next to Joann. "But do you know what was your biggest mistake? You have attacked one of us. Nobody does this with impunity." He waved the two waiting detectives nearer. "She belongs to you, guys."

…

At headquarters, the team was already expected. "Well, Mr. Callen, so you have convicted an overambitious cop." Hetty looked attentive at her people. "But you still have nine unsolved murders." Then she smiled in her inimitable way. "But we will bother of that tomorrow. For now it is enough that you have solved a case of illegal wiretapping, assault and theft." Chuckling, Hetty went back to her desk.

…

On the way home Joann did not get the grin from her face. Callen finally relented.

"Let it off."

"What?" Joann looked at him with an innocence air.

"That what you bite back the whole time." Callen threw a quick glance at Joann before he looked back on the road.

"I don't bite back anything. I just had a lot of fun tonight. "Joann giggled softly to herself. "Actually, the dinner wasn't even necessary, after Nell could prove that Detective Fisher has bought the bug. That has been enough for the search warrant. Nevertheless, you wanted to go through with the dinner." Now she laughed aloud. "You have to blame yourself for this evening."

Callen sighed. Joann had a point. "That's true, but we didn't know whether something would be found in her apartment. Now we have her confession on tape. Fisher can't even accuse us of a trap, finally the dinner was her idea." Now Callen grinned, too. "But she really has put her back into it, hasn't she?"

Together laughing they drove home.