Life, Lies and Video Surveillance
By Cortexikid
Chapter 17: Quisby (Part III)
A/N: Part III/IV – the twist. And I'm not talkin' dancing! OMG jealous!Kensi and jealous!Steve are sooo much fun :D
Again dedicated to SuperDensi427 for all the advice and encouragement as without it this crossover just wouldn't be the same. Thanks again! :D
Disclaimer: While I do have a friend named Danno, neither he nor I are cops. Nor do we own a TV show with a 'Danno', 'McGarrett' or 'Kamekona' in it for that matter. *Sigh* Oh and while I also have a friend called Marty (Danno's brother – seriously, I could not make that up lol) NCIS: LA isn't mine either =[
WOTD: QUISBY; Quis·by noun. A suspicious or odd individual
A frenetic heart hammered deafeningly in her ears, as her groggy mind fought to right itself. With a painful wince, she tried to open her eyes, a sharp, intense pain shooting across her forehead as the back of her skull throbbed, every beat matching her rapid pulse. Slowly, her polychrome eyes peered open, only to find themselves shrouded in complete darkness. It was then that the agent registered in her fuzzy brain that there was something covering her head – some sort of cloth bag she gathered.
Just as that thought floated from her mind, she heard the distinct sound of footsteps on a concrete floor edge nearer and nearer to her. Before she could really prepare herself, the bag was suddenly lifted roughly off her head, pieces of loose hair from her pony-tail flying about her. With a steely determination, Kensi Blye raised her aching head, squinted gaze staring intently up at her captor with as much venom as she could muster.
Dark eyes met light.
Anger met fury.
"You idiot," Frank Delano spat at a man standing to the left of him, "that's not Kono Kalakaua!"
9 Hours Earlier
"Okay Louie, can I call ya Louie? I'm gonna level with ya here...me? I'm good cop. Seriously, I'm the best chance ya got, as soon as I let my friends in here it's gonna get real ugly real fast so, how's about you just tell us where Delano is now before Detective Williams decides that he wants to practice his tackling skills again, huh?" Detective Marty Deeks stood on one side of the interrogation table, resting his palms flat out on it, as he leaned forward and stared down at the jittery suspect.
"I—I don't know any Delano," he mumbled, his olive eyes darting from Deeks to Kensi and back again.
"Oh really?" Deeks asked, sharing a wry grin with his partner who watched on with interest, "that's funny Louie 'cause for someone who doesn't know the guy, you jumped pretty damn high when I showed you his picture, I thought you had springs on your shoes," he finished, folding his arms indignantly.
Macintyre gaped, seemingly at a loss for words.
"Okay Kens, looks like he's not talkin'—guess we better send in the Five-0 boys," Deeks started towards the door.
"Five-0? From Hawaii?" Louis croaked, a bead of sweat ran down the tip of his nose.
"Hear that Danny? Looks like we're famous," Steve flung open the door and stalked into the room, his partner hot on his heels.
Kensi smirked, taking her leave from the room, making her way back out to Kono who sat on the table outside, facing the screen that showed the live-feed of the interrogation.
"Think he'll talk?" Kono asked, her eyes never leaving the TV.
Kensi sat down beside her and folded her arms.
"Guys like him always talk...that's if Deeks and Danny let him get a word in," she grinned, secretly sympathetic towards Steve – the 'strong and silent type' stuck in a room with three people that didn't know when to shut the hell up.
"He's cute," Kono mused, her gaze flickering to the agent's.
"Who?" Kensi asked, her brow furrowed, her eyes searching the Hawaiian native's.
"Deeks," Kono replied, her tone suggesting that it was incredibly obvious.
The NCIS agent's eyebrows rose at that, her knuckle dragging along her bottom lip, her gaze fluttering downcast.
"You look surprised," the Hawaiian stated, tilting her head to regard her companion thoughtfully.
Kensi's eyes darted back up to hers before rapidly landing back on the screen. It was difficult to keep eye-contact for too long, not after that telling moment in the car.
"I just—didn't realize he was your type," she grumbled, trying to quell the bitterness in the depths of her stomach.
Kono erupted with a short chuckle that shook her shoulders.
"And why wouldn't he be? He's hot, funny, has a nice smile and...a good heart," she finished, a small grin passing over her face.
A surge of something flooded through Kensi's body as she heard that. This woman barely knew him 24 hours and she was already making assumptions (albeit accurate assumptions) about her partner? What was her end-game here? Was she seriously interested in him? If so, why was she talking to Kensi about it? Because she was a woman? Because she was Deeks' partner? Was this her way of asking Kensi's 'permission'?
"The way he talked about Melissa, while the story wasn't real, the warmth, clearly was," Kono continued, either not realising Kensi's stillness or ignoring it, "how long have you guys been partners?"
That snapped Kensi out of her downward spiral, her engulfing reverie filled to the brim with hypothesises, queries, anxieties...
"Uh—nearly three years," she murmured, remembering fondly how he gave her a small assortment of chocolate treats the morning that marked their second year of being partners for 'no reason' before offering her a small smile and sitting down at his desk as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. She bought take-out that night, from Angelo's, his favourite.
"But we've uh...known each other a longer than that," she clarified, her mind casting back to a MMA gym when her eyes first landed on a blond dressed in a white T-shirt, red shorts and black socks. He may have been Jason then, and she Tracy, but they were still Deeks and Kensi...just like they were when they were Justin and Melissa.
"And when were you Melissa?" Kono asked suddenly as if she'd read her mind, causing poor Kensi to splutter in surprise. Had she said something out loud!
"I—what?" she stammered, her polychrome eyes now glued to Kono's dark ones.
Kono merely offered her a soft shrug; her eyebrows raised in a silent 'don't bullshit me Blye' as Kensi scrambled to come up with a response.
"How...did you know?" she asked instead, trying to think of something, anything more intelligent to say but coming up with zip, zilch, nada.
"I am a cop, Agent Blye," she smirked, "and besides, you looked like you were gonna explode your face was turning so red..."
Kensi barely suppressed a groan when something caught her attention on the screen. Both she and Kono turned around fully to watch.
"You'll have to excuse my partner, he was raised by wolves," Danny was griping, a thunderous glare directed at McGarrett who (for the most part) looked a little sheepish for a fleeting moment before his face morphed back into his steely glare, directed firmly at Macintyre.
"Can I speak to you for a second?" the detective asked, his question sounding more like a demand before he practically dragged Steve out of the room and into the hallway by his elbow.
Although neither Kensi nor Kono could see them anymore, they could hear their raised hisses wafting down the corridor.
"Yo Romulus! What the hell was that, huh? You really think that's gonna get us Delano?"
"Come on Danno—"
"Nope, no McGarrett, I refuse to let this happen. You may have questionable free-reign in Hawaii but this is Los Angeles my friend, and we're technically not cops here so, forgive me if I don't look favourably on whatever crazy plan is forming in that goofy head of yours," Danny whispered harshly, the hand-waving and eye-rolling evident in his tone.
Kensi and Kono suppressed grins as Steve presumably rolled his eyes and walked back into the room, his partner sighing heavily, more than likely offering up a silent prayer for patience and following him. Silently, the two women watched as the partners joined Deeks back in the interrogation.
After a moment, a burning question erupted from Kensi's lips.
"What's McGarrett and Danny's story anyway? The way they bicker, I expected them to either have killed each other by now or at least be in serious couples' counselling," she smirked.
A pensive smile passed over Kono's face as she regarded the other woman, her eyes slightly narrowed as if she were trying to delve into the depths of her soul.
"Well," she began cryptically, "Steve and Danny have a complicated...relationship. And it is a relationship; it's far too deep to be just a partnership. They're more than just co-workers, they're friends, best friends, probably the best that either of them have ever had, especially Steve. And yeah, they clash, their personalities are too different not to sometimes, but they make it work. They both care too much about the job and about each other to let their differences tear them apart – their bickering is kinda like their own way of getting their frustrations at the world, at each other, out. But, at the end of the day, what they have is solid and good and effective, they're the ultimate, kickass team," she finished, clasping her hands together and looking at Kensi expectantly.
The agent was stunned at the cop's words. The parallelism between the Five-0 boys and her own partnership was not lost on her, and not on Kono either she suspected. There was more laced in her words than the Hawaiian let on, a sense of unadulterated knowing that Kensi would neither confirm nor deny. It was unsettling really, how fast this woman had her and her partner pegged, how easy it was for her to see through them, through their facade held together now by mere tendrils of thread that broke down bit by bit every day, threatening to unleash something just a little terrifying with each passing moment. It made the agent ponder if she and Deeks were this transparent to the rest of the world, the rest of their team, hell, everyone around them.
She found she didn't want to know.
Before Kensi could come up with an appropriate response (not that she actually had one), the two were interrupted by the arrival of another infamous pair, Sam Hanna and G Callen.
"Buddy Holly talkin' yet?" Sam asked with an amused glance to his partner.
"Just about," Kensi replied with a roll of her eyes as she witnessed what appeared to finally be an emotional break-down from the surprisingly strong-willed nerd.
After another ten minutes, Kensi, Kono, Sam and Callen watched intently as the three cops left the interrogation room and out towards them.
"He talked," Deeks announced, "after some...creativity on our part. Gave McGarrett a location, surf-shop not too far from here and where apparently Delano does his shady deals in the back when he's not at the warehouse. He gave us an associate too, Wilko – no last name, like Madonna or Cher or Pedro," he paused, a cheesy grin on his face.
Six pairs of eyes stared at him in silence.
"Really? Nothing? 'Vote for Pedro?' No? At least tell me you get it Kens..." he turned to his partner who held her hands up in surrender and shook her head.
"Sorry partner—"
"My talents are wasted on you people," Deeks interrupted, his tone exasperated before throwing his arms up and stalking out of the room.
Sam and Callen both glanced at Kensi sympathetically, offering her a wry grin.
"You gotta put up with that every day?" Steve asked with a smirk.
"That's just the tip of the iceberg," she replied, a chuckle escaping her lips.
Danny looked between her and Steve for a moment, his expression scandalised.
"Seriously? That's it? You got off lucky Blye, trust me," he said, pointedly ignoring the ever-growing look of chaste outrage forming on his partner's face.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Steve asked stiffly, folding him arms tightly.
"Really? You have to ask?" Danny countered, folding his arms to match McGarrett's perfectly, their eyes locked in a staring match.
"Take it from me Blye, you got off easy," he continued, breaking his gaze from Steve and turning to regard Kensi, his arms still glued against his chest.
"Oh that's where you're wrong Williams," Kensi stood her ground, staring him straight in the eye, the sense of a challenge rising in her veins.
Danny held her stare and smirked, a plan forming in his mind.
"Alright Blye, a trade. You take the neanderthal animal with an affinity for grenades and cargo pants and I'll take the fluffy-haired schnauzer with grooming issues...then we'll see who's got it worse."
"Deal."
It was at the precise moment of their handshake that Deeks' head popped back into the room, an expression of sheer disbelief on his face. It was clear to everyone present that he'd heard the entire exchange.
"So let me get this straight, Kens," he walked towards his partner, his hands held up in disbelief, "you get the American James Bond over there and I get a shorter James Caan?"
The Jersey-native gaped at him.
"That's who you remind me of!" Sam suddenly exclaimed with a click of his fingers.
Danny glared. He was starting to regret this already.
It wasn't even six hours later when the two teams found themselves back in OSP after a short-night's sleep, ready to go track down this 'Wilko' individual in the 'Stop 'n' Surf' store. Macintyre couldn't tell them much, he wasn't as tight with Delano as they would have liked – being recruited to the group by his ex-cell mate but the name and location was enough, for now. The plan was to they try and catch Wilko off guard, knowing there was a high possibility that Delano could be hiding out at his place now that he'd left the warehouse. If they came up empty, they'd at least get Wilko (a much closer associate to Delano than Macintyre) and try turn him.
As the Five-0 guys got themselves set up with some equipment, Deeks and Kensi waited impatiently at their desks, Kensi fumbling with a pen and Deeks staring into space.
"That was a nice show you put on last night, by the way," Deeks said suddenly, not looking at his partner.
"What?" she replied, looking over at him, honestly not knowing what he was referring to. With him it could be anything.
"You and Danny...you like him," he stated simply.
There was a beat of silence at that. Deeks' eyes finally met hers.
"Watching my armpit display and pelvic tilt closely were you?" Kensi pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest.
"Yeah actually, turns out you're just not that into McGarrett. A certain detective with anger-issues on the other hand..." Deeks trailed off, his meaning crystal clear.
"I don't—"
"He's blond...and we all know how much you adore blonds..." he trailed off, letting his words sink in.
"He's cute," she agreed with a small smile.
Deeks' mouth dropped open. He wasn't expecting that.
"You're taller than him," he countered, his lips forming a thin line.
"Not by much," she smirked.
"He has an ex-wife...meaning he has baggage," he quipped quickly with a pointed index finger in her direction.
"And I don't?" she asked, almost daring him to answer her.
Marty Deeks was not a stupid man.
"Okay, here's one, he lives in Hawaii," he changed tact, heavy emphasis on the detective's living coordinates.
"You never had a long distance relationship Deeks?" she pondered, balancing a pen on her nose.
"Not one that worked."
She sat forward at that, the pen falling onto the desk. There was just a hint of something in his tone that made her falter and as her eyes caught his, a flash of that same something passing across them. She opened her mouth to question it when Danny, Steve and Kono entered the bull-pen, looking geared up to go.
"Ready?" Deeks turned his attention to them, standing up and away from his desk.
"Ready. Alright babe, you're with Blye, Deeks you're with me," Danny informed them, making his way out towards his rental car.
"Babe?" Deeks questioned, looking incredibly confused, his eyes flickering to Steve as they halted at the doorway.
Steve hunched up his shoulders, his arms folded, his stance a little defensive.
"It's a Jersey thing."
Deeks' eyebrows rose.
"Really? 'Cause I gotta tell ya McGarrett, I've been in New Jersey a lot and that's not something I've ever—"
Deeks' voice died in his throat at Steve's glare.
"Uh...never mind."
He cleared his throat loudly before Kensi rolled her eyes and pushed past him, following Danny out, Kono and Steve close behind.
Deeks watched their retreating backs for a moment before murmuring to himself, "this should be fun."
The sun was beaming from the cloudless sky down onto Danny Williams' rental car as he and Marty Deeks sat in the front seat, binoculars and listening equipment on their laps.
"Alright so, what's the plan Deeks? The smash and grab? The Three-Card Monty? What ya thinkin'?" Kensi asked over the coms as she and McGarrett sat in her car from across the street.
"Uh actually Kens, I was thinking I could bring in Kono instead, you know, wouldn't want your and Danny's agreement to become null and void," came his response, his tone a mixture of teasing and something slightly more jagged.
There was a slight pause at that. Kensi gaped, staring out the window to where she could see the trunk of the rental car that housed her partner. She could feel McGarrett's gaze on her as she scrambled her brain for a response.
"Okay, yeah sure, good plan," she replied, cringing at her less-than-nonchalant tone.
Back in the rental car, Detective Williams regarded Detective Deeks with an unsure expression on his face.
"You sure about this Deeks?" he asked suddenly, his eyes flickering to the rear-view mirror to where his friend was donning sunglasses and fixing her shirt.
"Positive," Deeks assured him, "look, Kono and I can talk the talk, walk the walk, this guy would spot a novice or a cop pretending to be a novice a mile away."
It made sense, really it did. Kensi knew this, but despite this rational explanation, a sense of unease and agitation seeped into her skin, forcing her to fidget uncomfortably. McGarrett's azure eyes focused on her, a thoughtful thumb pressed to his chin.
"Deeks is right Danny, better that he and Kono take the surf-place, I can take the alley and you and Kensi can hang back. Sam and Callen are still working Macintyre, we could still get something from him but until then, Kensi can keep an eye out here, you keep watch from the front and let us take point...that way you won't have to forfeit either," he finished, his tone matching Deeks' perfectly.
"Ha, ha, you two are hilarious," Danny grumbled, "cute, really. What you think, Blye?"
Kensi sighed.
"Yeah, they're adorable," she deadpanned, rolling her eyes at Steve before continuing, her tone changing into something just for Deeks, "what're you waiting for then surfer boy?"
Deeks let out a laugh with a shake of his head, motioning to Kono before climbing out of the car. Together, the two of them made their way across the street, passing Kensi's car (she tried to ignore the larger spring in Deeks' step than usual) and entered the store. Steve waited one or two beats before exiting and making his way to the side of the place.
"So Williams, can your guy talk the talk too? Ya know, just in case he's caught lurking around? I mean, he has looks on his side but—"
"You kidding me?" Danny cut across her, "you put that guy in a potato sack and he could still sell rice to China!"
Steve's soft chuckle sounded in their ears just as Deeks' tone came across loud and clear.
"Hey man, my girl and I are looking for the ultimate board..."
Kensi tried her best to control the frown that wanted to attack her features as she heard those words. Focus Blye, focus!
At first, everything seemed to be going fine. Deeks and Kono traded the appropriate surfer jargon with the store clerk, Steve found nothing suspicious around the area, Kensi spotted nothing suspect from her vantage point and neither did Danny from his.
And then suddenly, with the arrival of a man in a leather jacket, a toothpick hanging out of his mouth, it were as if a silent gunshot had sounded throughout the store, as the burst of activity began to flourish in a blink of an eye. Kono's mouth dropped open as she caught sight of the very familiar man, the very same man that tied her up and dumped her overboard four months ago.
"They're cops!" the new guy yelled before Kono could utter a word, pulling out a gun and shooting in rapid secession.
Kensi's eyes widened and she couldn't bolt out of the car fast enough, catching Danny in her peripheral vision as he raced across the street towards the surf-shop.
Inside, Deeks and Kono leapt for cover while the clerk pulled out another gun and the new-guy bolted through the side door. Kensi caught a glimpse of him in the distance as he threw himself at the door and went to race down the alley. Knowing that Steve had the end of it covered, she picked up the speed and went to box him in.
"I got the alley, Danny you get the shop!" she yelled as she sprinted past the front door and verged to the left, down the alley.
"LAPD! Lower your weapon!" Deeks yelled as he and Kono pulled out their guns, huddled behind a long rack of surfboards, ready to shoot.
His response was to pump two more bullets in their direction before he let out a cry, dropping his gun and falling to the floor.
Danny rolled his eyes, lowering his gun as Deeks and Kono stepped out in front of him.
"Bad guys...they never listen," the Jersey-native shook his head at them.
Meanwhile, Kensi was nearing the suspect, her long legs pounding the pavement, her heart-beat thundering in her ears.
"McGarrett, what's your stat—"
A loud whack reverberated through the alley as suddenly the suspect was down, sprawled out on his back, McGarrett standing over him, holding out a large plank of wood exultantly.
"Nice," Kensi commented with a smirk as she slowed down to a halt, nudging the now unconscious man's foot with hers.
Steve flashed her a grin.
"Guys we got him, everything good there?" he asked the guys back in the store.
"Yeah, don't you worry McGarrett we—"
Deeks' reply was cut off unexpectedly as the loud rumble of an engine echoed around them, a large black van speeding down the alley towards Kensi and Steve. With a frantic glance, the two leapt in both directions, out of the way as the van screeched to a halt, just before it hit the unconscious suspect lying on the ground. Rapidly, the doors flung open on Kensi's side and she was engulfed by four pairs of hands, dragging her up and into the vehicle. She wasn't going easy though, she kicked and punched and thrashed before one of them pistol whipped her, slamming the doors shut as McGarrett leapt up, withdrawing his gun, yelling to the team, "207 in progress, they got—"
A swift kick to the face from the now open passenger door cut McGarrett before he had the chance to fire off a shot and he flew back harshly against a dumpster, his body bouncing off it roughly. Not even a second passed before he shook himself and straightened, firing a number of shots at the van's tires, windows but it had already sped too far away, reversing rapidly, the tires still squealing, smoke rising from them.
In the distance he could see the rest of the team, could hear the panicked voice of one Detective Marty Deeks as he sprinted to his partner's car to try and follow the van, yelling all the way...
"Kensi! KENSI!"
A/N: Yeah, I know James Caan guest-starred as Tony Archer in Hawaii Five-0 but the James Caan & Scott Caan/Danny similarity reference just wouldn't leave me alone LOL. Sorry for my geekdom.
Phew! Wow. That was HUGE. Gonna go put my hands under some luke-warm water now haha! I cringe to think what the next one's gonna be like...my fingers are already cramping lol.
Please review =]
~Ck
Again, I'm not incredibly satisfied with this and apologize if my writing isn't up to scratch. I hope it improves as I get over being sick and icky :/ lol
NEXT CHAPTER TEASER:
"Where is she McGarrett? How the hell did you—"
"Whoa, Deeks, calm down..." Danny interjected as Deeks began to square up to his partner.
"Calm down?" Deeks growled, whirling around to glare at the detective, "if it wasn't for your stupid bet, she would have been with me and not McGarrett and wouldn't have gotten kidnapped by some deranged cop-killer! This is on you, Williams!"