Authors' Note- Going back to school tomorrow...I think I'm suffering from post-summer depression...But anyway, enjoy this chapter! The next few chapters will be told from A.J's, Callen's or Nate's POV. Thanks for reading!
Chapter 20.
Callen.
"The same place I was shot." A.J whispers, a look of despair painting her face.
"What?" Deeks asks.
"I was shot in exactly the same place. On this date, eight years ago." She pauses. "Where was her body found, Nell?"
"Uh...Her neighbour passed her door early this morning, found it unlocked, decided to take a look inside. Her body was lying in a pool of blood on the living room floor." Nell explained.
"I was shot in my apartment, and left to bleed out on my apartment floor." She looked desperately and me, and then Nate. The only two people who knew what she was talking about- bar Hetty, who always knew everything.
"Does someone want to tell us what you're talking about?" Deeks asks worriedly as Hetty Lange entered the room.
"Ms. Connors, I would advise you to tell the rest of your team, for their safety." Hetty addresses A.J.
"Yes, Hetty." She says obediently.
It was the second time she'd told the story tonight, the second time I'd heard it. Everyone in the room, at the end of the story, was in a shocked silence until A.J. says, "I believe Michael Sanders is the man responsible for Rachael's death." She took a deep breath, and said, "During his stay in prison, he repeatedly called me to say he was going to kill everyone I love. Which means I need my family put in protective custody." She turned to Hetty.
"Your sisters and your mother are already on their way. Daniel and Adam have just landed, and Ryan is in the boatshed." Hetty says, answering her rhetorical question.
"I have to go see Ryan. He has to know what's going on." A.J says.
"I'll come with you." says Nate.
"Thanks, partner."
And so they left. A part of me is worrying for A.J's safety. Another part of me is worrying for my teams'.
Nate.
She is silent the whole car ride over, her eyes focused out the window. I am not sure whether to say something or not, wondering if she wants my comfort or not. For once, Nate Getz, the Operational Psychologist who has worked with every government agency, who can read the mind of any killer, is at a loss of what to do. Why does A.J Connors have to be so damn hard to read?
As we pull the car into the boatshed parking lot, we see a car marked with Government license plates parked outside. A.J's hand rests on her weapon, as if she sees a threat that I don't.
Maybe it's just paranoia.
As we enter the large 'conference room', we come face to face with two bulky men blocking our doorway.
"ID's please." The first man, with a lot softer voice than I expected, demanded.
A.J is the first to present her ID.
"A.J Connors, that's my brother Ryan. And this is Nate Getz, my partner." She says as I hold up my ID.
"Go right ahead." The second man, with a voice deeper than the first, said, waving us on.
A.J greeted her brother with open arms. As they embraced, her brother, Ryan, asked, "A.J., what the hell is going on? Why was I pulled from a meeting with an important client by two FBI agents?"
"It's for your own safety. That's all I can tell you until the others get here. They should arrive within the hour." A.J replies, as her brother, who looks absolutely nothing like the other two siblings I am acquainted with, looks over her shoulder to look at me.
"Ry, this is Nate Getz, my partner." She introduces me.
"Your partner?" He asks. "I thought that you never went to the FBI after..." He trails off.
"It's okay Ry, he knows about everything. And I did go back to the FBI, I just didn't tell you, Mara or mom."
"Why did Danny, Lucy and Adam get to know?" He asks.
"You know well why, Ry." She pauses, observing his guilty look. "And I left the FBI a few weeks ago. I'm NCIS now."
"Navy?" He asks disbelievingly. "You're a Navy cop?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"You always were a daddy's girl, A.J. Wanted to be a Marine, just like her daddy, this one."
I raise an eyebrow. "Okay, now your family history is really starting to sound like Kensi's." I laugh, and so does she.
A few seconds later, two more men enter the group, presumably Danny- whom I know from the ball last week, and Adam, who looks nothing like Danny and A.J, but more like Ryan. Same pale skin, but different facial structure. The two other men also have brown eyes, not green, presumably inherited from their father.
A.J repeats the explanation for both men, and 20 minutes later, a redheaded beauty that has the same facial structure as Ryan and Adam, walks in, along with an older, greying woman with slightly red hair.
"Mara." A.J says, hugging her sister. "Mom." She says, her voice shaking.
"Ava, honey, what the hell is going on?" Her mother says.
"I'll tell you everything once Lucy arrives."
"A.J. I had to leave a man dying in the ER because you had two freakin' feds drag me all the way to LA. I demand to know what's going on." Mara asks.
"That's what I'd like to know, too." Another woman says as she walks into the room. Same red hair as her mother and sister, but the same face as A.J. They could have been twins.
"Lucy!" Adam says. "Finally. Now you two can tell us what the hell is going on." He looks to A.J and I.
"This is about your safety. You guys are staying here until this whole thing blows over, understood?" A.J says, taking charge as she usually does.
"What?!" Mara exclaims. "No way! I have an ER to run."
"A.J. You know we all have jobs we can't leave. Well, most of us." Danny says, looking to Ryan.
"Architecture is important! It's not like I have to follow suit and become a fed." Ryan argues.
Danny opens his mouth to say something but A.J cuts him off. "This is no time for fighting. I mean it." She sighs and picks up the TV screen remote. A photo of Rachael Matthews pops up on screen, her DMV photo.
"You guys remember Rachael, right?" A.J asks.
"Yeah, your old college friend. I heard she's Navy Intel now." Danny says.
"Was." A.J says shyly, pulling up the crime scene photos. "She was killed in her living room, this morning, shot above the heart, and left to bleed out."
"Shit." Says Lucy. "It's him, isn't it?"
"He got out yesterday. While he was incarcerated, he called me to say he was going to kill everyone I love. My friends. My family." She takes a deep breath. "Which is why you're all here. I can't risk him getting to you guys."
His name was never mentioned, but the look that displayed across the faces of the Connors' family showed that they all knew who she meant.
And he's coming for them.