Kensi was surprised to find that the chair they had made her sit in, followed by cuffing a wrist to it's armrest, was rather comfy. She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there for, but if she had to guess, she'd put it at over 3 hours. After making the deal with the guy who was simply referred to as 'Boss', he had rather kindly guided her to the chair and made her sit. It hadn't stopped her from asking questions about how that was going to help them, even if she only got a response of small chuckle.
Her eyesight was still near blinding. Every time she thought she'd open her eyes and brave the lights, which were now dimmed down a bit, it caused a sharp pain to travel along her eye nerves and straight to her head and jaw, forcing them close. Even if she didn't, she couldn't see a thing anyway. If there was something that she had learnt from them, it was that they were clever, making it very hard for her to identify any of them or the place they were in to ensure escape when it came to it. But Kensi knew that no matter what they tried, she'd try harder to stop them.
The warehouse was quiet apart from some small musings and murmurs between the 3 men in the room with her. She was fairly sure that there was only three, all of whom spoken perfect English with a Californian accent. She'd even picked up the slight differences in the voices and associated them with the names that she had heard. Boss, Taylor and Wilson. Out of them all, Taylor had been the nicer one, the one who had handed her a bottle of water when she asked for it, who had gently cuffed her to the chair, and the one who she would be using as a way out.
Suddenly, the quiet of the warehouse was broken by the ringing of a cellphone. Kensi held her breath to listen out for any clues that she might be able to pick up from the phonecall. She had expected it to be one sided, but was surprised when the phone was put onto speakerphone.
"Anderson. Where are you?" The voice she recognised as Boss spoke. She remembered hearing the name Anderson before, about how they couldn't reach him and how they wondered if he was done with Morgan.
"NCIS caught up with me. But I'm heading back now." Anderson's voice came across the line. Kensi had to bite back a smile at the words, glad to know that the team were on the right track to finding her.
"They caught up with you? Why?" Boss asked, worry and agitation clear in his voice.
"Something to do with that agent of their's." He answered before adding quickly, albeit nervously, something that Kensi found suspicious. "But I convinced them that I was just supplying and they bought it. They're too focused on finding her that they disregarded me."
"Ok." Boss replied after a pause. "Make sure that they're not tailing you and head back immediately. We'll have to speed up the plans and get moving just in case they're bluffing." He said.
"You got it Boss. I'll be there in 30." He said coughing lightly before adding. "If you've got someone watching the road by the, uh..., the fern trees, pull them back. I'll be using that road."
Kensi didn't know whether to be amused or pissed at the use of word, but she simply squashed it down with the relief that the secret message gave her. They weren't just on the right track, they were still following it. It was obvious to her that Anderson was being scripted, which meant that he was still under their custody. Which meant that they knew that he knew where she was. Which meant that they were most probably coming for her.
The realisation hit her quickly and she wasn't sure whether to be excited or nervous. Not only could she not see, but she had no weapon and the place was a maze. She wouldn't be able to do anything to get herself out whilst they were moving. And by the sounds of it, the place was pretty well guarded. Which meant that she had to go along with it and leave it all up to her team to get her out of there. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, she did, immensely, it was just that she wasn't use to being useless. She just hoped that they didn't get themselves hurt in the process, because if there's one thing she's learnt, it's that these people were pretty brutal when it came to survival. They had, after all, killed 4 women simply for money.
"...fern trees in this climate. They're palm trees." Kensi caught the end of Taylor's sentence with a bit of amusement.
"Sorry. You know what I mean." Anderson replied before exchanging goodbyes and hanging up. The murmurings began once again, this time more urgent and louder. They were planning on moving, and soon. And if she knew her team, then that's when they will be coming for her.
He wasn't sure whether to be suspicious or relived that their plan had worked out. It had seemed such a simple and easy plan that had left many doors open for something to go wrong, and Callen knew that when they left a base uncovered, it was usually that which went wrong. However, here they were, less than an hour after the call, waiting on the stretch of road that was hidden by many trees that looked down to the warehouse over 40 feet away where their suspects, and Kensi, was. And now, Anderson.
They hadn't been able to bug him in any sort of way, heeding to the warning that his boss would be on the lookout for such an obvious thing and search him to make sure that he was in fact free from NCIS. Apperently, he trusted noone, which could be good or bad for them. Callen wasn't sure which it was.
Sam shifted in the passenger's seat next to him, bringing him back to reality. They were both focused on the warehouse, waiting for any sign or movement for them to make a move. It was still the dead of the night and the only light was a dim glare coming from a few high up windows.
"Nothing?" Callen asked his partner, dryly, turning to glance at him as he propped an elbow up on the door and rested his head on his hand.
"Nope." Sam replied, putting down the night vision goggles for a moment to look at the site normally. "Deeks?" he asked through their earpieces.
"Ditto." the LAPD detective replied with a sigh. He was positioned on the other side of the warehouse so that between them, they had all four sides covered. "Did Eric manage to find any surveillance then?"
"No. Nothing." Callen told him though they hadn't expected much. There was a murmur of disappointment from the other man before they fell back into silence, keeping their eyes trained hard on their point of interest.
Time passed in silence, every minute stretching into the next until the hours began to go by too. There wasn't anything left to do for them but to sit and wait, but unfortunately, that was the last thing that any one of them were good at doing. They needed action, to be busy, to be at least feeling as if they were involved with pushing forward the case. Not sitting and waiting. But it was the only thing that they could do, so they stuck it out without a complaint for their teammate.
Callen looked at his phone once again, only to find that only another hour had passed since he had last looked. Another 90 minutes and the sun would start to rise. Letting out a sigh of frustration, he ignored the questioning look from Sam and kept his eyes ahead. His left thumb carried on continuously twisting around the gold band on his left ring finger. He had picked it up when he had made the brief trip home to get changed after getting back from his cover. The ring had been where it was always; on the bathroom counter next to his wife's own one and another simple diamond one. He had slipped it into his jeans pocket, knowing that he couldn't wear it on his meet with Anderson, but made sure to keep it with him so that he could put it on when he was free to. The weight of it was odd, almost unfamiliar, yet comforting.
"Guys..." Deeks' warning tone snapped him back to the present and he saw Sam sit up straight out of the corner of his eyes. "I think I have moment."
"You think?" Callen asked sceptically.
"I'm pretty sure." he reiterated. "Wait, the door just opened... Yup. They're moving." he told them, a mix of agitation and exicitement in his voice.
"Any sign of Kensi?" Sam asked as Callen paused and thought things through. They didn't really have a plan with what to do now, and there was no margin for error in this.
"Nothing yet." Deeks replied with a sigh. "What should I do?" he asked, eager to get moving.
Sam stayed quiet and looked towards his partner. He called the shots for this, no matter what they thought. Not when it came to Kensi. "You wait." Callen answered finally.
"What?" Deeks' disbelief was clear before sighing.
"I said, you wait." he repeated with a bit more force. "Until we have eyes on her, we don't do anything." Callen told him before looking over at Sam. "How close to you reckon we can get in the cars without them hearing?"
Sam shook his head. "Not close enough if we don't wanna risk it." he admitted and Callen nodded.
"Deeks?"
"Same. They'll hear us in this silence." he told him.
"Alright. Let's get going then." Callen said, already opening the car door to step out.
"Wha-?" Sam began, only to be beaten by Deeks.
"I thought you said we wait."
"We do." Callen confirmed, already walking closer to the path that would take them downwards with Sam following. "But we get as close as possible."
Deeks followed his orders and crept as close as he could while still maintaining enough distance so that the light from the car's headlights that had just been switched on from the guy he recognised as Taylor didn't make him visible. There was enough trees and shrubs to keep him hidden. He wasn't sure how long it had been before his knees started to ache at his position. But before he could even whisper a complaint, his eyes came across who they were there for.
"I see her." he told the others through their earpieces. "But she's still inside."
"Ok. Stay put until I say so." Callen replied. "We're going to enter the building from this side. You try to get her eye and let her know we're here without letting the others see."
"Right." Deeks breathed out, not impressed that he had gotten the hardest job. But he wouldn't complain or go against it, knowing that it was essential to get Kensi back safely. Taking a deep breath, he stood up and got closer. If he was to catch her eye and get her attention he had to be in a little vulnerable position. He just hoped that the wrong people didn't see and didn't get killed in the process. Or worse, get Kensi killed.
Whoa! I'm still so amazed to get all those reviews and views for this little fic of mine! It gets my writing, as you can see. A long chapter which I could not stop writing. Many of you are wondering whether the plan will work out... Well, here's the start of it. And the end of it will be in the next chapter. Hehe. Sorry, but once again, I'm running out of time to individually thank you all. But I do read and appreciate and LOVE every single review! I hoped you liked this chapter and please R&R!