All characters and all rights at 'NCIS: Los Angeles' belong to CBS and Shane Brennan Productions. The following story does not serve any commercial purposes, but was written only for the pleasure of fans. An injury of Copyright is not intended. All further persons belong to the authoress.

English is my second language, if you find any mistakes in my story please send them back to me for correction.

I also would be very glad to get your reviews.

Chapter 9 - Seizure Part 1

With helicopters the NCIS agents had been placed near the ranch. Now there was a final, short briefing. From this meeting point the agents would have to reach their respective positions on foot.

"Remember what we've discussed. Mason Flynn is our first aim, then the backup of the data. Don't forget to pay attention to you and your partner. Our enemy is not to be underestimated."

Callen looked attentively at the faces of men and women around him. Hetty had put him in charge of this operation and ignored the report of the physician. During this definitely dangerous mission, not only his team was there, but several units of the NCIS. Being in command meant that he was responsible for more than six lives. Callen could only trust that everything went well.

"All set?" A general nod was the answer. "Well, then take up your positions."

Sam silently crept closer to one of the guards. Like a ghost, he appeared behind the man, took him in a stranglehold, and within just a few seconds the man was off. Well tied up, stripped of his weapons and means of communication, Sam left him behind.

"All right, we can go on."

Sam appeared between the trees. Without a word he communicated with Callen, before he disappeared into the vegetation. Callen made a sign to his colleagues and followed his partner.

"Don't stamp all over the place! You sound like a herd of rhinos!" Kensi hissed angrily at her partner.

"I'm as quiet as it is possible for me! I was not trained for the jungle combat! I live and work in the city!"

Slowly Deeks was sick of Kensi constantly grousing at him. After this mission, he would force Kensi to talk to him. Deeks shook his head. He asked his girlfriend to live with him, and she pushed him away.

"Shut up, both of you!" Callen glared at his two colleagues. "Resolve your problems after this operation, you understand?"

The rest of the way the two squabblers not uttered a peep.

Gradually the teams reported that they had achieved their positions. Finally, all were at their assigned positions and Callen gave the order to attack.

Joann crouched behind the corner of one of the smaller residential buildings; Ray took cover behind a parked car in front of that building. And then everything happened very quickly. From all possible and impossible corners was fired at them. The bullets were flying so thick as it was a hailstorm. Joann had no chance to return fire. Any attempt to emerge from cover, was fatal. Through her earwig Joann could hear that it was either do or die for all agents. Obviously the satellite images had not shown all persons present.

"Ray?...Ray, get in touch! What has happened?" Joann had heard the cry of her partner. When he did not answer, she ran to the car in spite of the fire, behind which he had hidden. Joann felt two blows in her back and fell to the ground. She gasped. Very slowly Joann rose to her knees and crawled, panting and gasping for air, behind the car. Ray was not there. "Damn! Damn it! Damn it! Ray, what the hell happened? Where are you?" But there was no response from her partner.

Instead a heavily armed enemy appeared from behind the corner of the building, where Joann had been a few moments ago, and took aim at her. From that moment on, Joann acted only automatically. Her conscious mind was like turned off. She let herself fall on her back, pulled up her rifle and fired. Joann then rolled a little further and prevented so that the deceased fell onto her. The adrenaline was flowing through Joann's body and allowed her physical top performances and lightning-fast reactions. With a start she jumped up and took the next attacker under fire. Without thinking about it, Joann let the magazine fall from the rifle and pushed into the next one. She ran across the yard towards the stables. That has been her and Ray's next target.

"Ray can you hear me? I'm on my way to you! Hang in there!" Still there was no answer. Vaguely Joann was aware of the voices of her teammates in the whole mess. She could not say whether the voices were coming through her earwig or not.

"We need backup, immediately! Eric, Nell, have you heard me?" While Callen covered his partner's back, he tried to reach the headquarters.

"Copy that, Callen, the backup is already on its way! You must hold out!" Eric's voice cracked with worry and hectic rush.

"Deeks, behind you!" Kensi spun around and made it just in time to stop the shooter.

Instantly Deeks got the opportunity to return the favor. "Down, Kensi!"

Without hesitation she followed the demand.

As Joann arrived at the stables, she threw herself behind a stack of straw bales for cover. She had hoped to find Ray there. Instead, Joann found an earwig on the floor and picked it up. Before Joann was able to continue to look for Ray, she was again taken under fire. She felt a plucking at the leg, but did not let her throw for a loop. In the next few minutes, she ran from cover to cover and knocked off several enemy shooters. Again and again she called Ray. As she had no more ammunition for her gun, Joann shoved it in her back, grabbed the gun and went on. She was now in an absolute adrenaline rush. Joann jumped over obstacles, rolled away under fire, and approached more and more the barn. She saw everything as through a tunnel, always called out for Ray. She incessantly returned the enemy fire.

"Jo, I'm here! Joann!"

Finally she discovered Ray. He crouched behind a horse trailer near the big barn door. Through a door next to the gate he was fired from inside. Joann sprinted to him and also went for cover. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I've been sitting ducks behind the car and got me gone. Somewhere on the way I lost my earwig, so I couldn't report to you!" Then he discovered the damaged vest. "Joann, you've been hit! Are you hurt?"

"No, the vest has held. Here! "Joann gave him his earwig. "Is it working yet?"

"Yes, I can hear the other."

"We have to go into the barn! Do you have any rifle ammunition?"

Ray checked it. "A full magazine and five shots in this." He handed Joann full magazine, but she shook her head.

"Keep it." Joann glanced towards the gate. "Are you ready?" Ray nodded. "Off then!"

In a stooped posture, they ran towards the door.

Callen and Sam sprinted for cover behind one of the vehicles. They were taken under fire simultaneously from three directions.

"Eric, where is our backup! We go down here!" Callen lost patience. His men were pinned down from the enemy behind inadequate cover. Increasingly, he heard reports of injuries or outgoing ammunition. Actually, the NCIS should be superior to the enemy, but this was clearly not the case.

"We are with you in a minute, Agent Callen."

Callen recognized the quiet voice immediately. "Agent Quinlan! I hope you come with enough men and ammunition!"

"We have everything you need, Agent Callen. Hang in there."

"We will." Callen glanced over at Sam. "Eric, we also need ambulances, if the situation is under control."

"Already arranged, Callen."

Carefully, covering their back, Ray and Joann entered. The shooters had vanished without a trace.

"This is clearly not a barn." Joann looked around.

From the outside the building had looked like a normal barn. From the inside, neither wooden walls nor straw or hay bales were to be seen. Instead, there were bunk beds, lockers, tables and chairs. There was also a small kitchenette and an armory. At the opposite end were showers and toilets and a door, secured with a code lock. This area was about three-quarters of the entire 'barn'.

"If the number of beds corresponds to the men on this property, they are abundantly superior to us." Ray was seriously concerned.

"And they are well armed." Quite impressed Joann looked at the weapons. Enough of them lacked to make their opponents not only numerically superior.

With relief Callen heard the typical flap-flap of approaching helicopters. Agent Quinlan as reinforcement was always a safe bet. He and his team knew exactly what they were doing. Although Quinlan's unit had repeatedly supported Callen's team, he still had no idea to what security forces they belonged. Hetty did not provide information, but merely smiled mysteriously. And Agent Quinlan kept changing the subject very cleverly. Not that it would have been important. Callen knew he could rely on Quinlan and his team as well as on his own.

"Here comes our backup." Even Sam had noticed the helicopters. "About time. Our people are pinned behind their cover and they run out of ammo." Sam shook his head. "No idea if we ever went in a mission so badly prepared."

Although they were in a blaze of gunfire, Callen grinned. "Even worse, Sam!"

Out of their cover the two agents watched the arrival of their backup. When the enemy started to fire at Quinlan's team, Sam and Callen broke cover and drew fire on themselves. Thus, the backup could land safely.

Moments later, the men walked in pairs to the embattled NCIS agents, support them and distributed ammunition. Agent Quinlan, accompanied by Agent Pratt, appeared at Callen and Sam.

"I think you are waiting for this, Agent Callen." Quinlan gave them rounds. "Where's the rest of your team?"

"Somewhere in this mess, Agent Quinlan." Worried, Callen looked around. "We quickly need to get the situation under control. The wounded urgently need help."

Together they discussed the next steps.

Joann controlled her ammunition stock and then threw a reasoning glance to the armory. She carefully looked at the safety precautions. Then she grinned.

"Eric, can you hear me?" Joann only heard a noise in her earwig. "Damn, the insulation!" Joann went back to the door. "Eric, can you hear me?"

"You sound distorted, but it works."

"Eric, I need the master code to an electronic lock." Joann gave him the data. While waiting for Eric's answer, she glanced outside. "Ray, our backup is there. Apparently, the tide turned in our favor."

"About time. Jo, we need to open that door. "

Joann turned to her partner. Ray was standing in front of the secured door that was in the back area. "Give me the data, Eric should seek out the master code."

"There are no data. That lock is absolutely neutral. I could crack it, but I have no idea what I would set off with it."

"Take a picture. Maybe Eric knows what to do with it. Oh, and you have to send it from here forward. Over there the insulation blocks off everything."

"Joann, I have your data." Eric rattled off the master code.

"Thank you, Eric. Ray will send you a photo of an additional lock. We need either the master code or a way to crack it without triggering any traps."

"Yes, copy that."

While Ray was waiting for Eric's answer, Joann opened the lock to the armory. She soon found the correct ammunition and provided herself therewith. She also took some for Ray, who was now standing again at the single door, which was in the rear part of the wrong barn.

"Here." Joann gave him the ammunition. "What did Eric say?"

"It takes too long to identify this lock. I take the risk and crack it." Ray pocketed the ammunition, knelt down and opened the cover panel. A quick look at Joann confirmed him that she was ready, so he kept going. The door opened, revealing a view to a small room, which was bounded on three sides by glass walls. Through them one could see into a server room. Securing her surrounding, Joann entered. Ray followed her immediately. With a soft hiss, the door closed behind them.

"Eric?...G?...Kensi?...Anybody out there who can hear me?" Joann got no response, she had not really expected one. "We are on our own, Ray."

"That's not good, Jo." Ray looked suspiciously through the windows. Several rows of servers were in the conditioned room. The two agents could not see what was between them. The only entrance was a door directly across from the one through which they had just entered. Again, there was a code lock.

"I know." Joann turned to the door, which had just closed. "How do we get out of here?"

"In the manner as we came in. I crack the lock on this side." Ray turned to the glass door. "There will be nothing else for me to do. However, it looks pretty complicated."

Joann sighed. There would be trouble if she and Ray would go on without backup. Get backup could mean, however, that Mason might escape and would destroy all data. But before she could make a decision, they heard a noise on the other side of the door. Immediately, Joann and Ray pulled back as far as possible.

The firefight was still very hard, but now the NCIS had the advantage. The agents pressed back Mason's men one by one. While Callen, Sam and Quinlan kept the survey and conducted their people, Kensi, Deeks and two other agents had probed into the big ranch house.

Deeks and Kensi were waiting at the front door, while their colleagues went to the back door.

"Ready!" The two agents had achieved their goal.

"On my count. Three, two, one!"

Kensi entered the house at first, Deeks upon her heels. After a moment, her eyes adjusted to the gloom prevailing there. Kensi gave signs to Deeks who nodded in response. They had crossed about half of the large entrance hall when the fire was re-opened on them. They quickly took cover.

"Did you see where the shooter is, Kensi?"

"No, no idea!" Kensi took shelter a bit deeper, when the flying past bullets just missed her.

This moment sufficed to Deeks. He had identified the shooter and was able to eliminate him.

"Come on, Deeks, go on!" Without turning to her partner, Kensi probed further into the ranch house.

Totally unexpected, explosions were heard. Alarmed, Callen and Sam looked around.

"There!"

Agent Pratt had discovered the place first. Several small buildings were blown up.

Again, there was an explosion, this time very close to them. Immediately, the four men took cover. They heard screams and then smelled smoke. They perceived some of the screams over their earwigs.

"These are our people!" Sam had recognized the voices.

"I've noticed. Go, but be careful for heaven's sake!" Callen gave the men a sign and the four agents went off.

On the site hell broke loose: fire, smoke, screaming people. The agents looked around, trying to figure out where their colleagues were.

"Over there!" Pratt started running, he had discovered a lifeless person with NCIS bulletproof vest.

The others followed him immediately. While Agent Pratt took care of the man, Callen and Quinlan secured the surrounding. Sam looked around for other victims.

"How is he, Pratt?"

"He's unconscious, Agent Callen. I see no serious injuries, but he has a laceration on his head."

"Okay, remove him to a safe place. We look around further. His partner has to be somewhere."

"Sir?" Pratt looked questioningly at his superior. Quinlan Pratt nodded and Pratt went off.

Callen, Sam and Quinlan began to search. After a few yards, they discovered the missing colleague. He was conscious, but firmly stuck under the debris of one of the buildings.

"Keep calm and stay lying down, we'll free you here now."

"My partner, what about Paul?" The man coughed violently.

"We've found him. He is currently brought in safety. Can you move?"

"I can feel my legs. I can move one, the other hurts like hell. But I'm stuck solid. The debris is too heavy, I don't get out on my own."

"All right." Callen looked around and found the rest of a beam. He and Sam put it to use as a lever. After several attempts, the two could lift the debris to the extent that Agent Quinlan could pull out the injured. They helped him up. "Can you walk?"

Their colleague tried to take a few steps, but in vain. He could not burden the injured leg. "Not without help."

"Where is your gun?" Sam had discovered that his colleague's holster was empty.

The agent looked down at himself. "I must have lost it during the explosion."

They all looked around. Sam found the weapon in the wreckage, checked it and then handed it to his colleague.

"Quinlan, do you bring him to a safe place? We will look around for more casualties."

"On my way. Take care of yourselves."

Tense, Joann looked at the door, which opened with a soft hiss.

"Mike! Nate!" For a brief moment, Joann allowed herself to be relieved. Then she glared at the two agents. "Are you nuts to sneak upon us? We could have shot you! What do you do here anyway?"

Renko grinned. He knew that Joann hid her relief behind the grumpy words. "Eric told us where you both went. He thought you could need support."

Nate put a chair in the door so that it could not close again. "We can discuss this later." Nate pointed to the server room. "Have you cracked the lock yet?"

"No, we didn't get so far." Ray looked at his colleagues. "It's much more complicated. That makes it difficult and time-consuming."

"I can help." Renko had a backpack with him, in which he rummaged now. "Quinlan's people carried a few nice little gimmicks with them." He held explosives and detonators in his hand. "We will blow up the door."

"Ray, what do you think?" Joann was not sure how an explosive charge would affect the servers.

"Can you make it so small that really only the door will be opened?"

Renko nodded. "Sure."

He quickly prepared the small detonation and prepared the door. Then everyone took cover.

Kensi walked carefully around the corner, the two-storey house was pretty big. She was extremely tense. One tried everything to stop her and her colleagues. Apparently she should not reach a certain part of the house. Therefore, their opponents took any risk. So far they did not found the reason for that.

"Kensi!" Deeks pointed to the door in front of him. "There was no door in Eric's construction plan." His voice was low.

"Are you sure?"

Deeks nodded. He kept his phone in his hand and let Kensi take a look at it.

She looked at the building plan. "Okay, so where does the door go to?"

"No idea, after all it's not there!" Deeks inner tension made its way outside.

"Well done!" Approvingly, Joann nodded to her colleague. The door to the server room was open, and the only collateral damage was a cracked sheet of glass.

Carefully but quickly the four agents controlled the corridors between the servers. Before they reached the last row, someone shot at them. They went quickly for cover between the servers. Joann gave her colleagues signs, who nodded in agreement. The agents split up and moved purposefully toward the back of the room. They were shot at from two directions.

"Ray, now!"

Joann threw herself forward, slipped a piece over the floor and had a clear view on one of the shooters. Her hit threw the man against the wall, where he slid down. With a similar maneuver Ray had eliminated the second man. Nate and Renko appeared immediately and disarmed their opponents. Both were not dead, their vests had ensured that.

"You clearly look far too many bad action movies." Shaking his head, Nate looked at Joann. Then he turned to Ray. "You have learned a lot from Jo, but you really don't need to take everything she does and says as a role model."

Ray grinned. "It worked, nothing else matters."

Renko and Nate looked at each other and groaned in unison. Before either of them could say anything thereto, Joann gave instructions.

"Nate, Renko, go to the exit and contacted Eric. I want to know what we need to do to save the data. Ray, we both will take a closer look around. Oh and guys, please take these 'gentlemen' with you, will you? Thank you."

"Eric, Nell, has someone discovered Mason?"

"No, Callen, not yet."

"How sure are you, that he's here?"

"Sam, there has been no change to our information booth. We still have only strong circumstantial evidence that he is on the ranch."

"Thank you, Nell."

Sam ducked his head, when there were more explosions.

"We must hurry, G, they will blow up the whole site."

"And Flynn surely won't be near one of the explosions. Nell, is there an area on the site where there have been no explosions?"

"There are even two, Callen. The ranch house and the barn. Joann, Ray, Nate and Renko are in the barn. Nate is talking with Eric, they found a server room in the barn. Kensi, Deeks and two other agents are in the ranch house. They are exposed to heavy fire and are doing badly."

"Got that. Thank you, Nell."

For a moment the two agents looked at each other in silence. Finally, Sam nodded.

"Let's go, G. Jo is already clear. Kensi and Deeks probably not."

"I know, Sam."

Together, the two ran to the ranch house.

After Ray and Joann had searched the server room thoroughly without finding anything unusual, they went to their colleagues. Renko had pulled a couple of bales of straw to cover the entrance, so that Nate could be on the phone with Eric in cover.

"Okay, understood, Eric." Nate got off the phone and extended it to Ray. "Eric has sent you information and instructions. He says, you knew what to do."

"Thank you." Ray pulled back to the server room to give Eric access to the data. After a gesture of Joann, Nate followed his colleague.

"What does things look like?" Joann glanced through the door. She saw fire and smoke, heard gunshots, the screams and cries of people.

"Pretty bad. Quinlan and his men have turned the tide in our favor, but we have definitely casualties." Renko paused. "Maybe even dead."

Joann nodded. "Why don't they attack the barn, Mike? They blow up the smaller buildings and some of the cars. But they leave the barn and the ranch house alone. Something's wrong here."

Renko looked into the grounds. "I have no idea, but it has to mean something, for sure. And I think that's no good."

Silently the two agents observed the happenings.

"Kensi? Deeks? Where are you?" Callen entered the ranch house, Sam directly on his heels. "Get in touch already!"

"Where are the two of them?" Sam sounded a little impatient. In response he only received a shrug.

As carefully as Kensi and Deeks before the two men walked through the rooms.

"Eric, where are Kensi and Deeks?"

"Here is Nell. Eric is helping Joann. The signals of Kensi and Deeks come from the ranch house, Callen, but they are somewhat weak. I'll lead you."

"Copy that, Nell."

Before Callen could walk around the corner into the next room, he was held back from Sam. He looked questioningly at his partner, and then followed Sam's sign. Barely visible behind a couch, the tips of a pair of shoes were looking out. Carefully, the two men approached. After a look behind the couch they relaxed a bit. The shoes belonged to a corpse with two bullet holes in his chest. None of their people.

"Kensi." Sam was dead certain.

Callen's mouth twitched slightly. "Would fit to our little girl. But Deeks also had not been idle."

Callen had already had a look into the next room and discovered another body. While the two agents continued to follow Nell's instructions, they found other traces of gunfire.

"They have to be directly in front of you, Callen."

"No, there is no one, Nell." Worried, Callen and his partner looked around. "Here is just a door leading to a basement."

"There's no basement, Callen. You must have gone wrong."

"Nell, we have gone as you have told us. Your instructions have led us right in front of this door. G and I can see the stairs that lead down."

Quickly, Nell activated the blueprints, data from work on the grounds of the ranch and then some more information. Finally, she came back to the agents.

"Officially, there is no basement under the main building or any other building. However, there had been a lot of construction going on at the site. The used materials are not necessarily in proportion to the officially done work."

"And that means what, Nell?" Sam was slightly impatient.

"There could be a basement, Sam, and it also explains the features of the barn."

"What about the barn?"

"Joann has discovered a soldier quarters, an armory and a server room in it, Callen. Moreover, it is a massive building. The exterior appearance is just a cover."

"All right, Nell. Would the basement explain why you can't receive clear signals from Kensi and Deeks?"

"Yes, definitely, Callen."

"We're going down now. We may lose radio contact."

"Understood, Callen. I try to keep an eye on your signals."

"It's always the basement! Can they choose no other purpose?" Deeks grumbled to himself.

Kensi rolled her eyes, but Deeks could not see that. Only their flashlights lightened the passage, which they had followed from the basement.

"Stop to complain, Deeks. When this is over, you should ask Jo, if she exchanges with you. Her suspects always run onto the roof."

With this proposal Kensi had managed to silence her partner for a short time. For a while the two of them walked in silence down the passage. But Deeks was no one who could long be silent.

"Where do they want to go? We are down here for ages."

"We go north. As we have no radio contact with the headquarters, I cannot tell you where exactly we are going."

Kensi remained calm. It had to be someone important, who wanted to clear out through the basement. Not for nothing the basement area had been let out of the building plans. Kensi estimated that they followed Flynn Mason. The only question was whereto. She called to her mind the satellite images of the surroundings, but there was nothing unusual to be seen.

"Deeks, we need to contact the headquarters. Wherever this passage may lead, there is certainly is a way to escape at is end. I'm pretty sure that the area is not monitored by us."

"This means that one of us has to go back." Invisible to Kensi, Deeks shook his head. "This is quite out of the question."

"The one in front of us could be Mason, Deeks. Who else needs an underground escape route?"

"That is why we have to stay together. Mason is certainly not alone on its way. He just needs one man to nail us down on this passage. One alone has no chance here. I'm also confident that we will reach the headquarters as soon as we approach the end of the corridor. Then we call for backup."

Kensi sighed. She disagreed with her partner, but also knew that she could not change his opinion.

"I hope you're right."

"If not, an appropriate punishment will come to your mind."

Instead of humor, Kensi heard quite a frustration from Deeks' words. She sighed again.

"Joann? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Eric. What's going on?"

"You have to get quickly out of the barn! It's full of explosives!"