Thank you for the reviews! Thank you, ClaudiaRain, for beta-reading.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognizable characters, they all belong to Shane Brennan.
Chapter 7
Monday, 22nd
''Mr. Hanna, I'm pleased you have found the right way back to work though you are 21 minutes late!'' Hetty announced. ''I trust Mr. Callen is here as well.''
''He wasn't at home, I called him, but the phone is dead. I don't know where he is,'' Sam reported in short.
''What do you mean, Mr. Hanna?''
''I couldn't reach him on Thursday and I don't know what he got himself into this time,'' Sam sighed.
Hetty resolutely entered the ops center. ''Mr Beale, try to locate Special Agent Callen's phone and car. Find out the last phone calls he had. And look at whether he logged into our network last week.''
''The phone is switched off. Last time when it was active, it was in the area where Callen lives. No hits on the car.''
''He didn't log into our network,'' Nell reported. ''What's going on?'' she asked.
''Zulu-November-Tango-8-9-2-5-4-H, there's a list of Callen's aliases. Check whether it was activated last week. One by one, Miss Jones,'' Hetty ordered.
''Hetty, it everything alright?'' Eric asked uncertainly.
''That's a good question, Mr. Beale.''
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Hetty retreated to her office and prepared herself a cup of tea. Sam paced in the bullpen back and forth.
''Sam,'' Hetty called him and wordlessly gestured at the chair in front of her desk. She poured him a cup of tea.
''Mr. Callen is a survivor,'' she reminded him and herself.
Nell and Eric slowly entered Hetty's office.
''None of his known aliases was used,'' Nell told them.
''No payment with any of his credit cards, no changes to Callen's bank account,'' Eric added.
''Go through the footage of cameras near Callen's house. Upload his photo into the facial recognition program so we can cover airports, ports, cameras on highways, border crossings,'' Hetty instructed them.
''Will do.''
''He disappeared,'' Sam commented on the latest discoveries. ''He's in trouble. He's a magnet for it.''
''He hasn't used the agent-in-distress-button,'' Hetty comforted him.
''Yeah, because he's so good at asking for help.'' Hetty didn't have any answer for this remark so they sat in silence.
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''Uhm, we are still going through the camera footage. It seems that Callen went to the beach on Monday around three in the morning, nothing since then. But that's hardly surprising, he knows where the cameras are...'' Nell said.
''So you are telling me that you have nothing. Equipment for millions of dollars and you have nothing,'' Sam got angry.
''We are still looking, but mhm I may have something,'' Nell announced.
''Come on,'' Sam urged her.
''It's just a shot in the dark, the description is vague,'' Nell hesitated.
''Miss Jones, please tell us,'' Hetty intervened.
''Metropolitan Police Service London sent a notice. They register a victim of a crime who may be a member of law enforcement. Caucasian male, around forty, short brown hair, extensive knowledge of languages, distinguishable marks on the body. The man has suffered a severe concussion and subsequent memory loss. They didn't provide any other information.''
''We have found Callen,'' Sam lit up.
''With a concussion and memory loss,'' Nell added dimly.
''Book two tickets to London, Miss Jones.''
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Tuesday 23rd, London
Antony was approaching his car parked in the hospital compound. His shift had ended and he was really looking forward to his bed.
''We believe you have something that belongs to us,'' he heard from behind.
When he turned around he saw a very small lady and a big dark man. They were so different that Antony almost burst out laughing. However, he stayed serious when he saw a gun behind the man's belt.
''I'll stay optimistic and will believe that this is not a robbery in the middle of a day.''
The strange pair were quiet.
Antony thought that he had experienced quite a lot of strange situations lately, all of them were somehow connected to Mr. Flash drive. These people were here because of him, probably. Were they also agents, spies?
Antony quickly recovered and answered: ''Technically, I don't have it... eh him. He is in the ICU, where you'll also find his attending physician.''
''I'm glad that we are on the same page. You've spent more time with our friend than his attending, so we figured that we would discuss the matter with you,'' the woman said.
''The matter is …,'' Antony left the sentence unfinished.
''… our friend, his health and his transport ... home,'' again the woman answered.
Antony shook his head, he had never seen two people so secretive.
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''Thank you, Doctor Nemec, for all the care you provided to your patient. Děkuji.''
''How do you know my name and everything? And do you speak Czech as well?''
But he was asking the air, Hetty and Sam had already left.
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''Everything is settled with the London police, Inspector Murphy was very understanding. NCIS helped her identify the body, though with the wheel-tatoo and fake documents for Andrej Grigorescu they had enough clues,'' Hetty informed Sam when she returned to the hospital.
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Sam entered Callen's room.
''G, what have you done this time? And why? Hetty talked to the London police. Comescu is dead and you are here in the hospital. Can you explain this?''
''I had a lead. I flew to Prague, found Comescu. He fled to London, I followed him. We met in the docks, he wanted to kill me, we fought and we both ended up in the canal. End of story,'' Callen recited.
''End of story? How about calling someone?'' Sam flared up.
Callen pointed to his head. ''Had some trouble remembering your number on top of other things,'' his voice was full of sarcasm.
''No, you won't get out of it that easily. How about calling me before you had this brilliant idea of flying to Prague alone.''
''You were with your family over the holidays.''
''You were supposed to celebrate the holidays too, and stay out of trouble.''
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''There's one thing I don't understand, Hetty. The finger prints. The report says that they've taken Callen's fingerprints. Why weren't we notified? I thought it works that way. I understand that not every tech and policeman is allowed to know our identities but the system should … I don't know, automatically alert someone,'' Sam wondered when he sat with Hetty on the bench in the hospital.
''Indeed, Mr. Hanna, that's how the system works. 'No match' appears on the screen whereas a notification is automatically sent to the Department of Defense. I was also concerned why the system failed, so I called the Minister and demanded answers.''
''You demanded answers from the Minister?'' Sam asked unable to hide a smile.
''Of course, Mr. Hanna, I did. First I don't enjoy being in the dark and second we have to prevent a recurrence of this failure, otherwise our agents can get into difficult positions. It turned out that the office received the notification on the weekend and there was no-one with a sufficient level of security clearance. They couldn't open the encrypted e-mail. How careless of them,'' Hetty explained.
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''I retrieved a laptop of 'Andrej Grigorescu' that the police found in his hotel room. Eric will analyze it when we return,'' Hetty announced.
''They also found a flash drive, there was only one picture on it. It was you and Kamran,'' she addressed Sam.
''Comescu had a photo of me?'' Sam asked in disbelief.
''Unfortunately, yes, he did. This photo could have convinced Mr. Callen to come to Prague, don't you think? Furthermore it was written directly on the photo: 'I'm sure you'll come and won't inform anyone because you want them to stay alive'.''
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''Soo... the lead we were talking about...'' Sam prompted Callen.
''We weren't talking about it.''
''But we will, Comescu sent you an e-mail with a photo of Kam and me.''
Callen didn't react.
Sam looked at him expectantly.
''Yes. And I flew to Prague, found him, he fled to London, I followed him...''
''Stop it, G. It didn't occur to you that I would like to be informed that my family was in danger?''
''I had it covered. You weren't in any immediate danger. He just wanted my attention.''
''Yeah?''
''I knew you were safe.''
''How could you be so sure?'' Sam asked.
Callen sighed. ''You won't stop until I tell you, right?''
''You bet.''
''I called the hotel you were staying in. I had someone check their security system and keep an eye on you.''
''You were spying on me, G? Why couldn't you just call me?''
''You were celebrating the holidays, Sam. I thought we discussed that already.''
''You are unbelievable,'' Sam stated. ''But thank you, G.''