Thank you to anyone who is still reading this story. I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update, I kind of lost touch with it.
A special thank us to Musab Shamali for your review and for getting me back into this story. Enjoy...
"So apparently Cook and Lee-Roberts were good friends in college" Callen announced as he and Sam emerged from the interrogation room.
"Some friend Jonathan is though, apparently he had racked up a pretty big gambling debt and got into a bad situation with a loan shark" Sam continued. "Last night was his deadline to pay up all the cash he owed. He couldn't get it together in time so he had his buddy Lee-Roberts deliver what he did have to the loan shark and his goons. He was too afraid to go himself and thought if he sent someone else in his place they wouldn't hurt them".
"Guessing that didn't go well seeing as he wound up dead" Deeks added in.
"We get a name for this loan shark?" Kensi asked.
"Vincenzo De Luca, Cook says he's the kinda guy to get his hands dirty instead of letting his lackeys do the dirty work, and he's one twisted son of a bitch" Callen told the junior agents. "We have a location on where this guy does his business, grab your gear".
"Hold on guys, If Lee-Roberts just delivered the money to these guys, how do you explain his house being trashed?" Deeks asked curiously.
"Good point" Sam added.
"Maybe our friend in there knows something?" Deeks said, pointing at the monitor showing Jonathan Cook pacing the interrogation room.
"Let's go find out" Kensi replied. "Meets you guys at ops in 30?"
"Sure, Sam and I will check in with Eric and Nell and get set up" Callen replied, and with that he and Sam left.
Let's do this" Deeks said as the two of them sauntered into interrogation.
"So, Cook, You wanna tell us what you know about your buddy's place being trashed?" Deeks asked.
"What makes you think I know anything about that?" he replied.
"Hmm let's see, the only person that knew he had your cash, was you. And seeing as he went to deliver the money, your Loan Shark pal wouldn't know where he lived to shake him down for more cash now would he…" Kensi stated in a matter of fact kind of way.
"Ok.. ok… I went to his house alright. When he didn't come back or call me like he was supposed to I thought he had bailed with my money ok. I was pissed, I went around there looking for it. Maybe I trashed the place a little trying to find it. Obviously I didn't find the cash".
"That's what happened? You sure you two didn't have some sort of disagreement? He try to take your money so you kill him? This loan shark thing isn't just a convenient way to lay blame on someone else?" Deeks accused.
"No! It's the truth! I didn't kill him I swear, he was my friend".
"Ok, we're done here" Kensi said as she stood up. "We'll have an agent escort you home, thank you for your co-operation"
"I can go?" he asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah you can go"
Back in O.S.P the guys were in the armoury getting geared up with their bullet proof vests pistols and assault rifles when Deeks and Kensi arrived.
"You guys get any more info?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, Cook was the one who trashed Lee-Roberts place, he thought his buddy had run off with his cash" Kensi filled them in as both her a Deeks got their gear ready.
"Right, let's go" Callen announced.
The team pulled up outside the small building in downtown L.A as Eric found the schematics and had them sent to each of the Agents phones.
"Guys you have two doors, one in the front and one around the back" Eric informed them.
"Kensi, Deeks you two take the back, Callen and I will take the front" Sam instructed.
Quickly and methodically the junior agents made their way to the rear of the building, quietly so not to alert anyone of the presence. "In position" Kensi spoke into her comms.
"On three" Callen replied. "One… two… three"
On three Sam kicked in the front door, both Senior Agents yelling "NCIS" as the stormed into the room. At the same time Deeks kicked in the rear entrance and he and Kensi made their way in yelling "LAPD" and "NCIS" followed by "Drop your weapons" from Kensi as the two guards at the rear attempted to raise their hand guns at the two of them. Feeling out gunned and clearly too slow to react, they decided to comply with her wishes and lower their guns.
Deeks secured their weapons as Kensi bound their hands with cable ties. "We're good" she told her partner as she finished the second one. "Clear back here, proceeding toward the front" Deeks spoke through his comms to the others.
As they entered the next room they found themselves amongst somewhat of a Mexican standoff. Callen and Sam each had their guns pointed at De Luca, meanwhile his two bodyguards had their guns pointed at Sam and Callen. "Drop it or you die" Kensi said pointing her gun at one of them, as Deeks focused on the other. The men made no move to lower their weapons.
"Drop it now, or this will not end well for you" Deeks told them calmly. The man with his gun pointed at Callen turned quickly to point his gun in Kensi's direction, without hesitation Deeks shot him twice in the chest. The two agents quickly moved their attention to the last body guard, who willingly lay down his gun, not wanting to suffer the same fate as his counterpart.
The four remaining men were taken into custody and escorted to the boat shed for interrogation. It didn't take long for the body guards loyalty to crumble and they gave up their boss. Turns out money can't buy everything, especially when the threat of life in prison is involved.
As the team sat in the bull-pen finishing off the days paper work, Hetty wandered in to congratulate the team on a good days work and their apprehension of Vincenzo De Luca and awarding them the rest of the night off.
"Guess you need a ride home again?" Deeks said to his partner with a grin, remembering he had driven her to work again that morning. Any excuse to spend more time with her had him smiling like an idiot.
"Guess I do" Kensi smiled.
By the time Deeks had driven Kensi home it was 6pm, he walked her to her door not able to wipe the grin from his face. He had been planning their date in his head all day. It was going to be perfect. "Okay, I know I said 7, but I think I need a little more time to prepare. I'll pick you up at 8?" Deeks asked.
"Sounds great" Kensi replied, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.
Deeks leaned in and kissed her cheek softly, "Great, I'll see you soon then Fern"….
Thank you for reading. Please take the time to review your thoughts and encouragement/constructive criticism mean a lot to me. :)