Brothers in Arms
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS:LA, if I did, Hetty would Gibbs slap Gibbs. Where do you think he learned it?
Day 5
The ringing of the phone broke Callen's concentration and as a result, the screwdriver slipped down into the spring and got itself stuck. He looked at it hanging, so he left it there as he dug under the parts strewn across the table for the cell. When he found the one making the noise he realized that it was Mikhail's phone and the caller ID was unknown. This was not a development he expected, so he answered it with trepidation.
"Yes" but of course that trepidation did not come through his voice.
The voice that filtered through the phone was not one he recognized...yet. "The elusive Le Renard, I speak to you at last."
"Who?"
"Are we going to play that game?"
"I don't know Blanco del Diablo, or should I call you Diego?"
Eric had come through once again, chasing through the rentals, fake names, and numbered companies to discover the true identity of the people in the black Beemer Deeks had pointed out. Blanco, as it was commonly shortened to, was actually Diego Rojas and he ran a group called Los Dos Demonios which was named for guns and cocaine. They were known for two things: the production of cocaine and fighting against Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) which is a guerilla communist movement in their home country of Colombia. Nell had done her part and provided the in-depth analysis of Diego and his bunch and her conclusion was that this was a good place for Mikhail to start. There were two other interested parties, evidenced by the additional tailing cars, but chatter was saying that the LDD had suggested the others step aside, for now. Callen was mostly surprised by how quickly they acted, Deeks and himself had planned on playing this out for at least another week.
"Diego is fine. I shall call you by your contact name on this phone. Hello Dick." Callen grunted to himself, Deeks didn't give up 'Mike', he guessed it was a start, but he was unimpressed by how this was going so far. Diego was still talking, "I have in my possession su hermano pequeño."
Your little brother. Callen let his anger slide into his reply, "What!"
His mind was racing; Deeks was supposed to appear to be targetable, not actually get himself kidnapped. He was supposed to flaunt himself around the town, not get kidnapped the second day out. What kind of mess was he creating? But Diego took the anger to signify that 'Dick' was worried for his brother.
"This one, he is not as he appears. He killed two of my men and another will be paralyzed. Well, he is going to be dead soon." Diego discussed death as if it was a menu item at his local cafe.
Callen, on the other hand, snapped straight up in his chair. Deeks killed essentially three of the LDD's? He had gone under unarmed. Questions raced through his head, but Diego was still talking.
"Also, to get this number, it was not easy. There is this...persuasion technique I learned from the filthy towel heads. Cómo se dice...how you say...waterboarding. To get the name was twice as long as the Navy SEAL I first saw the technique on. He is a dangerous man."
Callen turned his voice to ice, "Where is he?" Too many thoughts were running through his head; he would finish the call and then process them.
"We meet and we will talk business, no?"
"We will meet, but we will not talk business, not yet. Not until he is back with me."
"Okay. He is in his car at his office. I will copy this number and leave the phone and my number with him." Suddenly the deadly Diego came out to play when he added, "do not wait long to call, I know of more techniques and I will grab him again if necessary."
Callen heard the call end and sat and stared at the phone in his hand. He looked at his other hand, wondering why it hurt and found a screw digging into his palm. He surveyed the various toaster pieces still lying on the table and decided it would have to wait. He grabbed his coat and his keys for one of the rented cars and headed out the door of Mikhail's short term rental.
He was pulling into the lot half an hour later. The rental was closer, but he took a circuitous route so that Diego wouldn't be able to back track him. He pulled up in front of the Jag and saw Deeks slumped down in the driver's seat. He wrapped around to his passenger door and pulled it open. He then turned to Deeks' door and found it unlocked. Deeks' eyes were shut and they didn't open when he poked him, but he did stir slightly. Callen leaned him forward and wrapped his arm around Deeks' back and placed his shoulder under his. Bearing most of Deeks' deadweight he half dragged, half pulled him over to the idling car. He jogged back to the Jag and when he scouted the interior, he found the messenger bag lying on the passenger seat so he grabbed it as well. He locked the Jag and shut the door. He got back into his car and pulled out of the garage.
He made a couple corners and confirmed he had a tail. He tugged the phone out of Deeks' jacket pocket and found Diego's number listed under Blanco and he dialed it.
"Shall we talk?" came Diego's opening line.
"No. You've disrespected me once by attacking my brother. Don't make the mistake of disrespecting me again by attempting to follow me home."
A theatrical Latino sigh came through the line, "you Europeans and your secrets. Fine, I call them off."
Callen ended the call and watched behind him as two of the cars pulled off, however the third stayed. That was fine, he did some tricky turns and lost it not long after. He reached over and pulled up Deeks' hand and found the ring firmly pushed onto his finger. At the next stop light Callen worked it off and stuck it up against the vent that was blowing cold air. That would signal that Deeks was in trouble and the first call would be to Callen. He waited for his personal phone to ring and picked it up on the second buzz.
"I have him Hetty, but we're going to need a doctor."
Callen watched as Hetty packed up her supplies. Normal procedure would be that they would have met at the boat shed, but Hetty had stated it wasn't safe enough there. They both stared at Deeks as he melted back onto the couch in the bullpen. His one eye was swelling shut, he had a split lip, and a bruised jaw. His knuckles were bleeding and from the way he was moving he was going to be stiff for the next few days.
Hetty spoke, "you don't have a concussion but I want to hold off on the painkillers until we understand fully what transpired." At this Deeks nodded. Callen was starting to get a bit worried, Deeks hadn't spoken since he woke up in the car and he wasn't sure what to make of it.
Callen leaned forward, "Deeks," he drew out the vowels.
In response he held up his hand, "Lungs...hurt. Shower first." With that he pushed himself off the couch and stumbled a bit. Callen resisted reaching out to steady him, knowing that action would be the last thing he would want. Deeks steadied himself and headed in the direction of the gym.
Once he was out of sight, Callen turned to Hetty and said, "you a doctor now?"
Hetty clasped her hands behind her back and looked to the floor, "oh, Mr. Callen."
Callen shook his head, "I know. Forget I asked. Tea?"
"Tea."
They were finishing off the pot when Deeks came back out of the bathroom. Callen thought that he was trying for a saunter, but it was coming off more like a limp. His hair was wet and the smeared blood had been cleaned off. With fresh clothes from that original bag, he appeared as though he had just come off of a difficult take-down, not a lonely run-in with a Colombian guerilla squad. He dropped into the chair beside Callen at Hetty's desk and failed to cover up a wince.
Hetty stood and placed a cup in front of him, "Have a drink of this, I know it's not that tar you call coffee, but it will soothe your throat." At Deeks' look of hesitation, she said "Go on before I decide something requires stitches" and held up a needle preloaded with thread.
Deeks grimaced when he took a sip and looked surprised as he swallowed.
Callen smiled and leaned over to stage whisper "I sweetened it with some scotch." Hetty gave him a look from across the table. She was just keeping up appearances; she had handed Callen the bottle.
Callen sat at his desk and watched Deeks sleep off the various injuries on the couch. He was officially never going to underestimate Deeks again. It had been quite the story and he was impressed. He now understood why Hetty had arranged this op the way she did. Because as much as he hated to admit it, she had played him from the start. He was sure if Deeks hadn't made the comment he did, she would have manipulated the situation so that something similar would have been arranged. He ran over the conversation one more time as he waited for the rest of the team to come in.
Deeks slurped up the rest of his 'tea' and carefully placed the cup on the saucer. Callen noted how he was controlling his movements, much like a drunk would be overly careful about how he walks. Deeks was covering up something, but for the time being Callen would let him.
Deeks blew out a breath, took a big one back in and launched into his tale.
"I worked for the day and around six I decided I had put in enough time. I figured I could start my rounds of the restaurants and clubs at eight so I headed down to the garage. I took the stairs and a couple steps out into the lot I got a bad feeling and obviously I was right because the next thing I know, I'm lying in the back of a van. I played possum for the ride, listening in. It was then that I realized it was the Colombians. At first I tried to get an idea of where we were based on the stops and sounds, but after a while I realized that was hopeless. So instead I tried to wiggle and stretch as much as I could to get ready to do whatever if an opportunity came.
"We finally pulled into a building and they dragged me out of the back, since I was pretending to still be unconscious, I was completely limp and it took two of them to get me out. By peeking I found out that they had formed a semi-circle around the back of the van and the guys were packing handguns. My hand conveniently ended up brushing the guy on my right's holster, so I decided that was my opportunity." At this he paused and glanced back and forth between Hetty and Callen, "uh, how much detail do you want?"
"We need to know everything, it doesn't have to be right now, but it has to be before you go back out" Hetty provided.
Deeks nodded, "Best to get it out now then." He scratched his head and continued, "so, uh, my hand by the holster. I grabbed the gun and wrapped my arm around the other guy's neck and started firing into the crowd. I emptied the clip and pulled the other guy's gun when I got tasered from behind. Someone must have snuck around into the van once the bullets started flying."
"So...you used a gang member as a human shield? And randomly fired into a crowd?" Callen wanted some clarification since Diego had said that Deeks had killed two and injured one of his men.
"Well, Jake Smit isn't one to negotiate when the rubber hits the road and isn't that what henchmen are for?"
"Diego said that two of his men are dead and one is paralyzed because of you."
Deeks head snapped up and his eyes were wide, "what? I wasn't actually aiming to kill, I was just spraying ammo. I was trying to make it look like I was...well..."
"Ruthless" Hetty supplied. Deeks gazed at her and then slowly nodded. "I guess if they were too slow to get out of the way, it was their own fault. Did anyone fire back?"
"I think so, wait," he pulled up his shirt and pressed his fingers to a round bruise on his rib cage, "this one was during the firefight."
Callen leaned forward and looked at it, "yep, that could be caused by a round going through your shield. So one death was probably friendly fire. I don't think Diego's the kind of boss to worry about fixing up someone stupid enough to end up as a shield for an unconscious man."
"Or ones that were hit because they didn't move fast enough. I sign this off as a good shoot." Hetty mimed rubber stamping the pages on her desk.
One corner of Deeks' mouth turned up in a weak smile. Callen could see he was going to carry the guilt; he would have to have a talk with him later. It was one thing to shoot and kill a man that was trying to do the same, but it was different to shoot someone who was unaware of the danger.
It was Hetty who focussed them back on the task at hand; "What happened after the tasering?"
"It must have been a heavy-duty one because I blacked out again."
Hetty tipped her head to the side slightly, poising to ask a question, but Callen beat her to it: "how come the agent-in-distress alarm sound?"
"He's getting to it, aren't you Mr. Deeks?" she turned her head towards to Callen and pursed her lips. She had known better than to ask. Callen turned his torso towards Deeks and ignored the pursing.
Deeks squinted at Hetty and Callen, he looked slightly puzzled. "Yeah, well, the second time I woke up from the taser I was sitting in a chair with my hands tied behind my back and a fist coming at my face. A fist that was wearing my ring. Whoever it was, I guess he thought it would be funny to beat me with my own ring. I remember seeing my jacket thrown into a corner, so the alarm didn't sound. I preferred the way I woke up from the first time." Deeks stared off into the distance; he appeared to be thinking about the events following that fist. His brow would furrow and release while his mouth turned down. "It's fuzzy after that. It's more like flashes and spurts." He broke off, finding a different point to stare at.
Hetty nodded. "I think we have enough." She pulled a pillow up from beside her and handed it over. "Take a nap and we'll regroup in" she checked her desk clock, "four hours to decide where to go from here."
Callen holds his hand out to stop Deeks from getting up and looks at him hard. "One question first; Diego mentioned waterboarding," he paused to find the right words, "how...?"
Deeks gave a tiny smirk, "Diego and his goons got nothing on the Pacific Ocean. I was under water longer the last time I went surfing." He winked at Hetty and then pushed himself out of the chair and stiff-legged his way towards the couch.
Hetty and Callen locked eyes; Hetty squinted and Callen dipped his chin. They were happy to see that a sliver of Deeks peek out from behind the bruises. They watched as he dropped himself on the couch and wiggled down into the cushions. They shrugged at each other, agreeing to see what time would bring and then make some decisions. Callen headed towards his desk and Hetty tugged out some files to work on.
He walked over to the couch and tugged the blanket up over Deeks' shoulder. Hetty had put some cream on the black eye and the swelling was going down, but he was going to have a wicked-looking bruise. A contemplative smile flickered across Callen's face; Deeks looked both younger and older when he slept. Sam had once mentioned that Callen looked the same when he slept. Sam, on the other hand, looked like stone while he slept and Kensi just burrowed down until you couldn't see her face. He had a feeling that Hetty never slept, so he assumed she looked the same as she did every other moment of the day, a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma clutching a hand grenade.
He had long finished his paperwork and was wasting time on his laptop when people began to straggle in. Sam was first and sent him a questioning look and pointed at the shape on the couch. Callen held a finger to his lips to signal Sam to keep quiet. Callen planned on briefing them somewhere else and letting Deeks sleep; he was starting to feel guilty about all the sleep he hadn't been getting due to this case. He figured Deeks hadn't had a full night of sleep in a week. Better to not poke when you don't know if it's a bear or kitten on the other side.
That plan got shot to pieces when Callen walked back from the bathroom to see Kensi poking and shaking Deeks shoulder in an obvious attempt to wake him up. Callen hurried his last few steps and ended up beside Sam who stood cross-armed and watching.
Suddenly Deeks rolled his upper half so that he was looking Kensi square in the face. He pierced her with a hard look and ground out between his teeth "How about instead of interrupting my slumber, you go make yourself useful and get me an egg white omelette – asparagus, Portobellos, and asiago. And don't forget the Italian Roast." Kensi froze, shocked and awed. "Fetch!" and with that, Deeks rolled back and promptly fell back asleep.
Kensi slowly turned and faced Callen and Sam who were trying hard to hold back their laughter and smirking hard. Callen motioned them to follow him and lead them to the wardrobe storage.
"I would like to introduce to you Jake Smit, brother to Mikhail. He's a feisty one."
Kensi was still attempting to process what just happened. "He told me to 'fetch'."
"He's not Deeks, Kens. He had a hard night."
Kensi let out a snort, "hanging out with women in clubs, yeah, real hard."
Callen slid a look out of the side of his eyes. "He got worked over really hard by some Colombians. Try to give him some slack."
She rolled her eyes, and said "fine."
"Kensi, it was bad."
When she met his eyes, she saw how serious he was and let out a small 'oh'.
He nodded to Sam and said, "well, you have what you need to do. When you get back, we'll plan out what you'll need to do. This has blown up faster than we anticipated so there's some catching up to be done."
Kensi furrowed her brow and slowly asked, "what do we have to do?"
Sam looped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to the door. "I'll get the omelette, you find the coffee, and remember: Italian Roast, not the gunk on the bottom of the pot." He shushed her protests and guided her towards the door.
All seven gathered around the table in the weapons room at the end of the day. Eric and Nell shifted and bumped against each other as they worked away on their tablets. Hetty, in contrast, stood perfectly still with her hands clasped behind her back. Sam stood with his arms crossed and his feet shoulder-width apart and watched Callen as he looked at Deeks out of the corner of his eye. Kensi leaned against a wall on the opposite side of the room as Deeks, still pouting a bit from his order in the morning. Deeks, who had spent most of the day sleeping, was looking somewhat better. The bruising and cuts on his face were a variety of colours and he was still wincing if he moved too quickly.
The thing that had everyone shocked was that Deeks had barely spoken when awake. It had taken Callen a time to decide on the proper adjective, and he had narrowed it down to a few when Hetty had jumped him in the hallway outside the bathrooms and spoken one single word.
"Aloof"
Callen had nodded, "he's trying to stay in character, to not lose the alibi."
Hetty had pursed her lips and provided, sagely, "something you must start." And with that she had turned and walked towards her desk.
Callen turned to face the group and laid out what had been decided over the course of the day. "Tomorrow's Saturday, and we're taking the weekend off. I'll be dropping Deeks off at the condo."
Deeks spoke up, "office instead, need the car." Nell and Eric, who had not seen Deeks all day, looked confused and somewhat concerned at the abruptness of the statement. Instead of asking, they made a silent agreement to go back to their computers.
"Fine. He'll be working the socials all weekend, which will mean restaurants, bars, and events. I'll be prepping to call Diego on Monday or Tuesday, to set up a meet. Sam and Kensi will be partnering up for the remainder of this op and there are a couple of leads that will need to be chased down starting Monday. Hetty has the list." He looked around the group.
Suddenly, Hetty sprung from her place of stillness and was beside Deeks. She tugged up his shirt and poked at his abdomen. His face contorted in pain and he inhaled sharply, which caused a new wave of pain to run across his face.
"You cracked a rib and didn't tell me." She accused, "you thought you could hide it?"
"No..." she prodded the same spot with her fingers. "Ow!" he exclaimed.
She tugged on the handful of shirt she still had in her hand and lead him out of the room. "Come, I'll get you some anti-inflammatories for that" she turned and pierced him with a glare, "and you will take them, along with the other pain medication and hot/cold treatments. I need you in good shape."
Deeks turned his head toward the group and mouthed 'help me' as he rounded the door jamb.
They heard from the hallway, "they cannot help you, now come willingly or I'll crack another."
Nell was the first to break into giggles, Kensi soon followed. Tension broken, they each headed out for the weekend, preparing to rest up for another week.
A/N: Phew! That was a long one. Now: FARC is real, LDD is not and Columbia does have a history of communism. The quote about Hetty being 'a riddle wrapped up...' is from Season 3 Episode 2 (Cyber Threat).