a/n: thank you everyone that has continued to follow me and put up with me and my late posts. A special shout out to densireader and ncislaaddict for pushing me and not letting me slow down. And as always cat4444 for your advice has kept my imagination running wild. So for everyone here it is, delayed but here.
Chapter 9
"Christ, Dixon, did you have to hit him so hard?" the agent said as he pulled off his helmet and knelt down to check the pulse of the man lying at his feet. He looked at his partner, who lowered his riot rifle to his side and shrugged.
"Come on, Grimes, the guy was off his rocker. He could have compromised the whole sting." Dixon turned, looking at the security door in front of him. "Guy was going to mow through you to get in there."
"Don't matter. You heard Agent Callen. We need to restrain." He tapped his ear, "Control, this is Delta team. We have one suspect in custody."
"Delta team, copy that," Eric's voice came over his ear piece. "Location?"
"South east quadrant. We'll hold location. We will need medical." He watch Dixon look at the door, "Control, we have a security door that was not on the plans."
"Copy, Delta team, we're sending Alpha team to your location," Nell's voice responded this time. The man nodded as Nell continued, "Do you have eyes on the door?"
"Yes, Ma'am, we have eyes," he replied as he stood up.
Nell typed on her keyboard as she looked up at the screen; Eric was on his radio talking with Callen and Sam, guiding them to Delta team. Hetty moved in, also interested in what the man found. The door was high tech. A keypad was located to the right of the handle. Looking back to her keyboard and typing in a few more queries, Nell hissed as she again looked up at the screen.
"What is it?" Hetty asked as she looked at her.
"That's an SDC 918 Series lock. One code. We mess this up, the locking mechanism fries. And that door is a safe-style door. We can cut it, but I don't know how long it might take. It could be a few hours or a few days, and whatever is behind that door could be gone or destroyed before we can even get in." She didn't look at Hetty's scowl; even Eric looked away as he shook his head.
"Callen, we have a door and one shot to get in. See if you can get the suspect to talk." Eric said, tapping his pen against his hand.
"We'll see what we've got," he tapped Sam's arm, who nodded as they moved through the aisle of boxes. They reached the location Eric had given them, finding two men from the tactical team. One man stood over an older man who was lying face down, his hands had already been tied behind his back, while the other man stared at the door as he scratched the side of his head. "What do we have?"
The first man stood from where he squatted, "Dixon took out the suspect when he ran at us. I don't think he's going to be talking for a bit." The man looked at his partner. "We got a door but no idea what is on the other side."
"Eric, how long till you can get here? This needs a delicate touch." Sam stepped up to the door. He looked at Dixon who shrugged and stepped away, giving the Navy Seal space.
"I can be there in thirty." Eric sounded nervous; he never did like leaving the safety of the Mission.
"Better move it," Callen chimed in, stepping past the unconscious man. "We need to get to whatever is on the other side."
Sam rolled his eyes, keeping his comments to himself. Shrugging his shoulder, he reached for the safe's handle.
Callen shook his head, "It's not going to open."
Sam ignored the comment; to the surprise of the four men, the handle turned. Sam raised his weapon and pushed the door open. Stepping to the side, he looked at Callen and couldn't believe what had just happened.
Pale blue lights shone in the darkness as he motioned to his partner. Both Dixon and Grimes, standing on either side of the agents, readied their weapons. Callen raised his hand, silently counting to three by raising his fingers.
"God damn it!" a female voice made everyone stop. The sound of gunfire made Callen lower to his knee. He leaned over looking into the darkness; a single figure stood facing a set of screens. The nearest screen sparked from the damage caused by the bullet the woman fired. She didn't even know they were there. Callen looked at Sam who had seen the same thing. He motioned for Sam to enter, looking back at the two men. Holding his hand up, he moved into the darkness. "You were supposed to die!" the woman yelled at the broken screen. She turned, running her fingers through her hair. Her eyes caught the open door at the same time Callen slipped into the room. She ducked down behind a desk before slipping into the darkness.
The radios went silent; Eric stared at the darkness from Callen's video cam. His hands entangled in his hair. Nell had stopped working to watch as well. "Come on, come on." The tech muttered. It was Sam's voice that made the tech's knees dip.
"Drop your weapon!" Sam yelled. The darkened figure stopped and slowly stood up, no weapon in her grip. "Put your hands behind your head! On your knees! Now! G, I need some light."
Eric smiled, giving Nell a small fist bump, but the joy was short lived. His pad fell from his hands when the yellow light showed the face of the woman he had spent his down time with. Everyone in the room looked at him, the expression on his face turning sickly. "Tatiana?"
Sam smiled as the woman scowled at him; he took her right hand and twisted it behind her back. Zip tying her hands together; he lifted her to her feet. The room was small. Callen kept his pistol pointed at her until Sam gave a quick nod then sat her down on a chair. Both agents looked at the room, there were several computers that were untouched and still operating. From what Callen could tell, these were databases. He saw that the computers had the FBI, LAPD and other secured databases open.
Sam looked around at the pictures of faces stuck to the concrete walls. What disturbed him was that the most of them were pictures of children. And from the look of it, the pictures followed the child to adulthood.
Callen was quick to see the line of pictures missing an adult photo. He looked at the last picture, the shaggy blond hair giving the child's identity away. He was looking at Deeks' life line. Callen turned, staring at the woman. She smiled smugly at him.
"What is this?" he tried to keep his voice calm and under control.
"Fy Swydd." She said. Callen stared at her. The language was not one he was familiar with.
"Who are you?" he stepped closer, hoping Eric and Nell were getting this and it would give him a clue as to what she was saying.
"I benderfynu pwy sy'n byw ac sy'n marw." She smiled leaning toward him. "Hello, Eric."
Eric growled and looked at Nell, pressing his mike. "Callen that's Welsh. She says this is her job and she decides who lives and who dies." Nell stared at him. He also caught Hetty's surprised look. He swallowed the lump in his throat and said, "I know her. She is a girl Deeks was interested in. I've seen her a few times since he went missing."
"Eric, maybe you should head down there." Hetty looked at Nell who looked a little hurt by Eric's revelation.
Nell spun on her heels and walked away from him. He opened his mouth, but no words came. Hetty pointed to the door; bowing his head in defeat, he walked out. Hetty turned to Nell, "Find out who she is."
Kensi stared at Tatiana, who had a smug smile on her face. Kensi felt her hand drop to her side arm. Tori grasped her arm, "Kensi, don't."
"She knows where Deeks is," Kensi said, as she glared at her partner.
"And you're also an agent, and we have rules we need to obey or we are no better then she is." Tori looked at Callen, who glanced up from the papers he was pushing around on the desk. "We'll find Deeks; you don't need to lower yourself to her level. She'll pay for everything she has done, and you'll be able to sleep at night knowing you did the right thing."
"What if I don't want to do the right thing? What if putting a bullet between her eyes is the best thing?" Kensi growled her hand closing around the grip of her pistol.
"You okay, Kensi?" Sam asked, looking between the two women.
Tori glanced at her, biting her lip. "We're good."
Kensi groaned, lifting her hands in the air, and walked toward the computer that had a bullet in its screen. "Fine and dandy. Where is Eric?"
"Right here." He walked in, moving toward Callen. He glanced sideways at Tatiana, who smiled and wiggled in the chair she sat on. Shaking his head, he said, "I can translate for you, but I don't want to talk to her."
"Oh, come on, Eric. I haven't seen you in days. I miss the geeky talk, made me feel like I had a soul mate," Tatiana said in perfect English, smiling coyly.
"Where is Deeks?" Kensi pushed past Tori and grabbed the woman by the collar, ignoring the yells from her partner and Callen.
"You're the little brunette piece that Marty went on and on about." She licked her lips, "Don't worry. He didn't talk about you long; I put an end to that. You were the last thing on his mind once I was done with him."
Kensi raised her hand ready to knock out Tatiana's prefect white teeth, but stopped when Sam caught her arm. He shook his head. Kensi scowled, pushing Tatiana back into the chair.
Laughing, Tatiana repositioned herself and said, "What? You snooze, you lose."
Kensi dove at her but was caught by Sam, who struggled to keep the angry junior agent from getting her hands on Tatiana, who in turn simply laughed and egged her on.
Callen stepped forward, putting himself between the two women. "Get some air, Kensi!" he barked.
She shook her head, glaring at Tatiana. "You're going to answer some questions."
Kensi pushed off Sam and smacked away Tori's hand before walking out of the room.
"Who are you?" Callen leaned over her; his hands gripped the chair arms.
"I go by a lot of names; I think right now you know me as Tatiana Houle." She smiled and looked at Eric who stood back, working on the computer. "Eric, you won't find what you're looking for. You're good at what you do, but I am a goddess when it comes to computers."
Callen turned; she had just given him one of the answers he was looking for. He moved to Eric, "Can you get it running? Whatever is on that computer . . .?"
The new screen flashed, Eric looked up at him. "I win." Standing, he smiled, and turning, he looked at the screen. "She was streaming a video. Yup, here it is."
The screen flickered; the two watched the video play out as two men fought in a circular pit. At first, the images were hard to make out, the spotlight showed them to both be white males; one twice the size of the other, and he seemed to be winning. Callen stared. He watched the smaller man fall back and his head bounce off the cement floor. When the thinner man rolled onto his back, his face was unmistakable. "Eric, can you find out where this is coming from?"
Eric typed at the keyboard. Tatiana started whistling. He shook his head, "It's bouncing off too many servers, and the feed ended over an hour ago." He looked up at Callen, who looked ready to explode. Eric quickly typed something, "I'm sending the link to Nell. Maybe she can find something using the computers at the Mission. I'm only working with half of my resources; I need to get back to Ops."
"By the time you figure it out, they will be long gone," Tatiana mocked. She smiled when Eric turned to look at her. "Come on, Eric, talk to me. I've missed our late night get togethers. You were so nice to me. What changed?"
"You kidnapped my friend?" he stood up, Callen took his arm.
"Deeks had it coming. Damn fool was an easy mark," she said. "He was pathetic. He was nothing like you. You're special and smart. You have potential, unlike the others. Come on, talk with me. Please."
"No," he turned, and, walking back to the computer, he sat down to continue working. His phone buzzed; Callen's phone also went off. He looked at Callen and shook his head, "I won't do it, and curse the wrath of Hetty."
Callen bent down to look at him, "Eric, this is Deeks. You need to talk to her." He looked back at Tatiana, who smiled as she rocked from side to side in her chair. "You've got to take one for the team."
Eric looked at him, then over to her. Groaning he stood up and muttered: "I hate you." He walked over to her. "What do you want, Tatiana?"
"Just to talk," she said as she leaned toward him. "I don't know if you noticed, but it seems like these people are a little mad at me."
"You kidnapped our friend. Our teammate." He pulled back, biting his lip.
"I was doing my job; Deeks was on our radar long before I came to Los Angeles." She looked at Callen from the corner of her eye. "I find people. I track them. I do my job, like you do yours."
Eric ground his teeth. He didn't want to be there, and this was why he avoided going out in the field. "Why Deeks? Why all these people?"
"It doesn't matter why. Not anymore." She leaned forward, "He won't live to see the morning. Not now."
"What do you mean?" Eric found himself leaning toward her; he could feel Sam and Callen moving closer.
"They're going to kill him now. He broke the first rule: Fighters don't kill another fighter." She leaned back smiling. "She'll clear house and move on. Too many bodies piling up. He'll wash up sooner or later."
TBC