Brothers in Arms
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS:LA, if I did, someone would say "Alright, who died?" after walking into Ops. Preferably Hetty.
Day 2
Deeks awoke to his phone buzzing, signalling a text. He groaned, contemplating pulling a pillow over his head and pretending he didn't hear it. He'd been up until three in the morning going over first the file, which was pretty slim, and then laws and loopholes. He'd had his last coffee at eleven but it was enough caffeine to keep his mind running until he finished his task.
He reached over and found his phone by feel, pushing aside the paperback that he'd been wanting to finish. His arm, still somewhat numbed by sleep, found its way in front of his face and he rubbed at his eyes with the other hand while he opened the text by rote, his eyes still fighting to open.
When he finally levered his eyelids up, he read the text, blinked numerous times, and then read it two more times. Confident he understood it, he closed his eyes again, only to be rudely awoken again by his phone buzzing. He sighed, wiggled until his legs had moved from the bottom of the bed to hanging over the edge and rocked back and forth until he shot upright and out of bed.
He padded into the bathroom and set his phone on the counter. What he really wanted was breakfast, but he had a bad feeling he wasn't awake enough to be trusted with making anything yet. He stepped in the shower and ran through the texts again in his mind as the water beating down on his head woke him up enough that his eyes were staying open on their own.
Pack enough clothes for a week and meet me in Room 528 at 7. Avoid people as much as possible. There were GPS coordinates for a hotel located by LAX attached.
Don't fall asleep again. Get up and moving. Thanks mom.
Deeks dried himself off and stepped out of the shower with the towel haphazardly wrapped around himself. He found another text waiting for him. He assumed these things were coming from Callen, but he was too bleary-eyed to really check.
You better be awake. Deeks sighed and tapped out a reply: Awake, showered, but dressing and feeding still needed. He considered flushing the phone, but Hetty would make him fill out more forms. So, instead, he padded back into his room and put on some boxers. Clothes would wait until after he ate as he would probably spill.
He made his way into the kitchen and pulled out a bowl and his box of Honeycomb. Today was a day that called for a sugar kick. The Corn Flakes wouldn't be enough. He poured the milk until the cereal was floating and dug in. The milk leftover got some fresh cereal poured in and he slurped the last bit that remained after. He wasn't fully awake until his stomach was full. He looked up, clear-eyed, at the clock on the stove and gasped. No wonder he was feeling so dumb, it wasn't even 6:00. He had gotten somewhere between two and three hours of sleep.
He grunted and pulled himself out of the chair and walked back to his room. And then walked into the bathroom. This was not going to be a good morning.
Feeling more awake after the 45 minute drive through the loveliness that is LA traffic, Deeks pulled his car into a short-term parking lot by the airport and found the appropriate tram that would drop him off at the hotel. He figured Callen had something up his sleeve and leaving a car tagged with NCIS GPS right outside what was obviously a secret meet wouldn't aid in that plan.
He slipped through a door, tailgating into the building behind a businessman that was concentrating on his phone and took the stairs to the second floor. There, he found the restaurant and joined the group of people taking the elevator up after finishing their breakfasts. He got off at the 5th floor and followed the arrows to find the right room.
He knocked on the door and called out "Room service" and waited with his hands in his pockets for the chain, deadbolt, and knob to be turned.
Callen stuck his head out and looked at Deeks' hands. "You didn't buy anything this morning, did you?"
Deeks stepped through the door and internally sighed. "Sorry, I didn't know the secret code knock."
"But you didn't buy anything, right?"
"Just a tram ticket to get here from the airport and I did it with cash."
"You parked at the airport?" Deeks nodded. "Good. We're starting on the right foot." Deeks was surprised; that from Callen was a compliment.
Callen motioned him to the table and chairs that was around the corner. It had a pile of papers near the wall but it was more than what Hetty had given him. Deeks set his duffle bag packed with clothes in the corner and pulled his pile of papers out of his messenger bag. It was also bigger than what Hetty had given him. Callen pointed to the coffee pot but Deeks shook his head and veered into the bathroom to grab a glass of water.
Once they were both settled in their chairs, Callen laid out the work he had done the night before and started explaining his plan.
"The packages that Eric and Nell put together are fine, but they're lacking in creativity. They've been told that simplicity is best, as it's easier for us to learn in the short time we're given. However, in order for us to explain why this new arms dealer has appeared so quickly and has the ability to take over a good chunk of the market, we have to go for smart, not simple.
"I like the background, but we and they are going to have to build on them. I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with it, but an idea popped into my head when you spoke up about playing the arms, not drug, dealer this time."
Deeks face reddened a bit, but Callen smiled and leaned forward.
"I spent a couple hours reviewing the cases where you've gone undercover, including the LAPD files I got access to and you, while type casted as the screw-up, have done a fair share of more, shall we say, threatening roles. I can point to Max Gentry and that little performance of boss and secretary you pulled with Kensi. You do clean up surprisingly well, I might add.
"We're going to put those two sides into one person. I'd like to introduce to you Jakob, or Jake, Smit. In a previous life, he was Jasha Savic, little brother to Mikhail. Now, Mikhail got into the business and when things got a bit hot, he sent his brother to school in the US, specifically business and law school. See, Mikhail saw the writing on the wall when it came to the arms business. Too many people were being bullies, it would be better to gentrify it and work within the system, hence the training in law. With a new plan and way of doing things, Mikhail re-emerges as his own boss and works his own way. Questions?"
"Starting from the top: Smit, not Smith?"
"Smith sounds like an alias, whereas Smit is a common Dutch last name and you and your blonde hair and blue eyes lend yourself to a Dutch name."
"Brother or illegitimate brother?"
"Blood brother; the illegitimate part is a layer of protection between the two."
"So Jake is a lawyer?"
"Not quite. Jake likes to have fun, which is the one part we're pulling in from your past experiences. Jake did manage to double major within law and business, after a year or two extra, but never went for the bar. The bar means a bigger paper trail, which Mikhail doesn't like. Jake is officially a consultant."
"How does the other side fit in?"
At this Callen paused and seemed to gather his words before starting. "Mikhail is ruthless and covers that with a layer of indifference. Jake, being the younger brother is outwardly carefree, but inwardly he's just as ruthless as Mikhail. They each have their faces for their respective audiences, Mikhail with the sellers and buyers and Jake with the general public and business world, but if push comes to shove, they'll do anything to protect each other and the money."
"Would they ever screw each other over for the money?"
"No." Callen said that with certainty. "Growing up with only each other under the fist of mother Russia in an undisclosed part of the USSR made blood thicker than anything."
"Problem: I don't speak a lick of any of those countries' languages."
"Easy, Jake's not supposed to. His people emigrated from Holland after WWII. I know, it's a bit loose, but we'll have to work with it."
"What about the draws of American life, would Jake leave his brother behind for it?"
They stared at each other for a moment and before Callen could answer, Deeks asked another question. "Who is their enemy?"
Callen smiled a small grin as this was an important question. "Russia."
"Then the American dream is part of the fight against Russia, and the draw is a moot point."
"Did you find some loopholes we can work with?"
In response Deeks tapped a sheaf of lined paper with writing scrawled across the pagers.
"All right then, we're going to go to work. I'll pass off the additional backstopping we need done to Eric and Nell. We'll work through the day and then I'll drop you off where you'll be staying for the night as part of your cover." Callen said.
"And where is that?" Deeks asked.
"Rehab."
A/N: Wahoo! This is fun. Next week we'll be back to the regular scheduled Monday posting...Canada Day busted that plan this week.