Okay, so I finally get the chance to write another chapter.
I'm on holidays, and the only reason I'm getting to write this now is because I'm sick, and my family are gone, so without further ado, here is chapter 9!
And you guys already know I don't own NCIS:LA.
Chapter 9
A.J's POV.
With the evidence leading us nowhere, Nate and I head back to Ops, where Nate will brief the team on the profile he has been compiling.
Nate Getz is a very intelligent man, I've come to learn. I know from Hetty, and the team, that he has been stationed overseas for the past 2 years. The Middle East, mostly, is what Hetty told me.
The car ride to the Ops centre is a silent one, but as we pull into the employee parking lot, an question pops into my head.
"What if the warehouse bombing that killed Nasir wasn't the first test?"
"I guess we would have heard about a similar incident." Nate assumed.
"But no two explosions are alike," I think, "there's different causes, locations, motives." I sigh. "What if the terrorist cell are targeting more than one event?" I say, as the idea pops into my head.
"It said that a bomb will go off within 72 hours, but what if they have a backup plan? If we identify the target, and shut down the event, or close down the building? We don't know if they only have one target. They're may be more."
"It's a possibility."
Deeks, Kensi, Sam, and Callen are in the bullpen, along with two strangers.
"Agent Gibbs," Nate says to the silver-haired man.
"Nate." he says, shaking my partners hand. "Nate, Dinozzo, Dinozzo, Nate."
The two men shake hands.
The younger man, Agent Dinozzo, extends his hand to me.
"Very Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo," he says," and you are?"
"Agent Ava-Joy Connors," Callen says to the two men, "our newest recruit."
"Newest, brightest, bestest," I say jokingly, with a laugh, "you can call me A.J."
"Now that everyone's acquainted, let's continue with the case, shall we?"
Everyone turns to find the source of the voice. Hetty.
"Yes," Kensi says, "A.J, Nate, we think we've found the target. The Naval Birthday Ball, everyone who's anyone in the Navy will be there, the Director included."
"Have we shut down the event?" I ask.
"No, the show runners think that its just a petty threat, 'nothing to be scared of,' is what I think they said." Kensi answered.
"The only guest that knows the severity of the situation is the Director himself, and even he can't convince them to shut it down," Hetty says,"so you must find this cell A.S.A.P."
"A.J, did you find anything in the evidence?" Callen asks me, his voice taking me by surprise.
"Nothing useful."
Callen re-directs his attention to Nate."Nate, what about the profile? Anything significant?"
"All I can tell you is that we're looking for a group of men in their late 20's to mid 30's, that have sufficient funds to finance their lifestyle, and they are very dangerous." Nate sighed. "I know that its not a lot, but terrorist groups are notoriously hard to profile."
"It doesn't narrow our search parameters down a whole lot, but it'll help." Callen says.
"Guys, I think we've got something." Nell says, bounding down the stairs with Eric in tow. "We've managed to trace the e-mail to an internet café in Venice, and we were reviewing the security cams, when we found this," Nell paused,"well, it's more like what we didn't find." She pulled up a video of the internet café. "Now, we traced the email to computer number six, in the corner of the café, and if you fast-forward to the time the e-mail was sent, 3.47 PM on Sunday, this is what you see."
My gaze focused to the corner of the screen, and then to the time code. Something was not right.
"There's no-one there." I say.
"But how is that possible?" Deeks, or the floppy-haired detective, as I like to call him, says, with a note of disbelief in his voice.
"It's because the sender composed the e-mail, on that computer, days, weeks, or even months before, on that computer, and set it to send to the NCIS headquarters in Washington, at exactly that time, on exactly that date." Eric explains.
"So this attack was pre-meditated." Kensi states.
"Yes. We're running facial rec. on everyone who has used that computer." Nell says.
"What's the significance of that date and time? I mean, 3.47 PM is too specific a time to just come up with." Sam says.
"I'll run it, see if it has any significance." Eric says.
"Uhh, guys, we just got a major hit on facial rec." Nell says, bringing an image up on screen. "Adam Porter," Nell said, "one of the top enforcers of the American Muslims . A home-grown terrorist group, made up of men who were born here, but have Islamic backgrounds. His relatives live in Pakistan, his mother's family."
"Home-grown terrorists?" Sam says.
"Yes." Eric says. "They claimed responsibility for those car bombings outside the federal building last month."
"Do we know where these guys are now?" Callen asked.
"The FBI has been tracking the cell's movements," Nell paused to type on her tablet, "last known location was just outside Carson City, travelling west."
"To L.A." Gibbs said.
"That's what the FBI believed." Nell confirmed.
"Eric, Nell, get to work on finding them." Callen ordered.
"I have a friend in the FBI's Counter-Terrorism division in Quantico," I say, "I'll see what they have on the American Muslims."
"That'd be great." Callen said. "Kensi, Deeks, go through the rest of the tape, in case we missed anything."
"Agent Gibbs, Dinozzo, I would like a word with you two in my office." Hetty said. "Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna, the Director wishes to be updated in ops."
"Sorry to interrupt, Hetty, but you guys gotta see this." Eric said. "I found the significance of the date."
"Then tell us, Mr. Beale."
"It's the exact time and date that of a drone strike, designed to take out a major arms dealer in Pakistan, five years ago. It killed the arms dealer, his two bodyguards, and two civilians. One of whom was Porters' sister."
"If one of the victims' was Porters' sister, then this isn't about terrorism." I say.
"No," Hetty says, "It's about revenge."
Please R&R!