Everyone was ready to take action.
Deeks would leave the bomb in the cafeteria as planned and lure the leader after him, whilst Callen and the rest of the team would handle the two gorillas and the bombs.
Just as the gorilla that was standing outside made a move to enter the building, Sam tackled him and Deeks took one last sip of coffee, walked out the building, and removed the suitcase from him. They did their best to keep it down so that the leader and the other gorilla in the cafeteria couldn't see what was going on. The bomb squad immediately took the briefcase and confirmed that it was empty. He was just a decoy to check if this was a set up. That meant that the real bomb was still in the cafeteria.
Deeks took one last sip of coffee, left the briefcase under the table and walked towards the exit as planned. The gorilla thankfully hadn't noticed the commotion in the lobby and carried on with their plan. He stood up taking the case with him and moved towards the lobby.
Meanwhile, Deeks was out of the building. He pretended to be nervous and started as fast as he could away from the alleged explosion. He spotted the leader with the corner of his eye following him with the car. Deeks of course knew the area too well and lured him in an alley where he was absolutely sure there was a camera for Hetty and the rest of the team at the Ops to watch.
Once he walked in the alley, he stopped to catch his breath. That's when he heard the car stopping right behind him.
The first gorilla was already in custody and it was time to take down Gorilla No2. They had to be extremely careful because there was always the possibility the bomb would be manually triggered.
Before he could walk out the building, G apprehended the case while Sam threw himself on him to drop him. This one though would not go down so easily. He immediately stood up and started punching Sam. He recognized him as the man who had hit Kensi and that gave Sam extra motive and energy to take the bastard down.
A couple hits in the face, stomach and groin and Sam was the victor. This was a fight he would under no circumstances lose.
After they cuffed him and the bomb squad successfully disarmed the bomb G and Sam ran to assist Deeks.
Eric led them to the alley Deeks was and after watching on screen the leader stepping out of the car, he told them to hurry.
"Mr. Callen remember we want the leader alive. We have to confirm there is no one else behind these hits," Hetty reminded them.
The leader stepped out of the car and started clapping.
"Congratulations officer, you did exactly what you were told," Deeks could sense a tone of irony in his voice.
"There is one little problem though. You see there was no explosion and my two assistants haven't checked in yet," he said as he took out his gun and pointed it at Deeks.
"Look man I just did what you told me. I am sure they will call you any minute now to tell you the bomb went off. Hell we are so close we will probably even hear it ourselves," Deeks tried to win some time as he raised his hands in defense.
"I can't risk leaving any witnesses behind. Goodbye officer," the leader said but before he had time to pull the trigger G shot him in the leg.
Deeks let out a deep breath relieved they had shown up just in time.
The leader was lying on the ground with a minor bleeding laughing hysterically.
"You can't stop me. You have nothing against me, you can't hold me."
"I am pretty sure we will match the bullets from your gun with those we found on the dead marines and officers. I don't know who you really are but you're going down," Deeks told him as he pushed him back on the ground.
"You are all so rotten. The whole system is rotten can't you see it? It was never leaked that officers' marines or seals were behind any attacks. You protect your own so well. I just wanted to make a point. Just how far you are willing to go, how many pieces of evidence are you willing to alter, how blind are going to be in order not to blame one of your own."
"And you were willing to kill hundreds of innocent people just to prove a false point?" Sam glared at him. All this time they thought, they were looking for lethal pubic enemy and it turned out to be someone with a grudge.
An ambulance came and picked him up but not before, they were able to take his fingerprints. It turned out his real name was Arthur Steward 35 years old. Six years ago, his fiancée was killed by a drunk driver who happened to be a marine. Because of his rank and the fact that he served in Afghanistan the case was buried deep and he was never punished or brought to trial.
After that, he desperately looked for revenge and planned his for 4 years. He had a facial makeover along with the two gorillas that he hired to avoid being recognized. Money was no issue to him since he came from a quite wealthy family. The rest is history. He used as bait all the former marines, cops etc, as he put the blame on them for the attack and if the blast from the explosions didn't kill them; he wanted to leave no witnesses behind. As long as they kept covering up the stories that military, people were behind the attacks he would keep on killing.
Finally, though this case was over and time for Deeks to face his own demons.