"Mr. Deeks! Mr. Deeks!"
"Hetty…we need an ambulance." Deeks said into his phone.
In the far right corner of the locker, laying on the cement floor was a tiny blond haired child.
"We have Cassie Coverman…She has a pulse. She's unconscious. Kensi can't wake her; she's probably been heavily sedated."
"Hetty…we're standing in the middle of some type of…a command centre…office."
Pictures of Cassie and her mother, at various locations, adorned a section of the wall to Deeks right. Surveillance photos of two other children, and their families, hung on the same wall next to the Coverman's pictures. There was a metal filing cabinet and a computer server standing, in the back corner, opposite to where Cassie was lying. Three PC's sat on a table, along the wall, across from the photographs.
Kensi quickly handed Deeks her phone, as she attended to Cassie. Instinctively he knew what she meant. He snapped a few pictures of the room and equipment and swiftly sent them to Eric.
"Mr. Deeks, the ambulance is on the way. I am having a signed warrant faxed to my office as we speak. I will notify our LAPD lead detective and have Mrs. Coverman brought to the hospital and make sure he understands the importance that he is to remain the only one privy to this information for the time being. There are still too many unanswered questions in this case. I do not want our suspects "spooked" or arrested at this point. It is best that they remain, for lack of a better term, "clueless" for now while we continue to investigate."
The faint sound of a siren could be heard in the distance, rapidly becoming louder with each passing second.
"Hetty, the ambulance is almost here."
"Tell Miss Blye to accompany Cassie to the hospital. Then…"
"Wait…Hetty sorry, Deeks I need you to do something for me." Eric said as he studied the photos Deeks had taken and had sent to ops.
"Deeks, I can get in to their system and download the files, but I need you to do a couple of things. Go over to the first PC. The one that's closest to the server. Now…"
"Just a minute, the ambulance is here. I need to help Kensi a second."
Kensi gently picked Cassie up and carried her out of the locker towards the approaching ambulance. Deeks closed the door to the locker. The less the ambulance attendants saw the better. Kensi flashed her NCIS badge, and Deeks showed his LAPD badge, to the attendants as they exited the ambulance, and began questioning them about Cassie.
The two attendants looked at each other and without speaking another word opened the back of the ambulance, placed Cassie onto the gurney inside, took her vitals, placed an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose and started an IV.
"Gentleman, I need to accompany you to the hospital, and we need to leave now." Kensi stated.
"I'm sorry; we are not allowed to take anyone other than the patient." The younger of the attendants stated.
"The child is in the custody of the NCIS. I have to remain with her at all times. You have no choice."
"Greg, it's okay. This qualifies as a special circumstance. She can ride in the back with the patient." The older attendant said while motioning to Kensi to get into the ambulance and sit beside him.
"Gentlemen, you were never here. You did not attend this child. You know nothing. Do you understand?" Deeks said.
The two attendants nodded.
"Kensi, I'll be two minutes behind you." Deeks said as he helped the younger attendant close the back doors.
As soon as the ambulance was out of the storage facilities premises, Deeks lifted the door of the storage locker and entered.
"Okay Eric, I'm back. Tell me what to do."
"Miss Jones, where is the van currently located?" Hetty asked as Eric relayed instructions to Deeks.
"It's travelling east, and appears to be heading to the park."
"Please contact Mr. Callen on his cell phone and bring him and Mr. Hanna up to date and inform them of the approaching van with our suspect."
"Mr. Beale, how are you doing with the downloads?"
"Another 45 seconds till downloads complete Hetty."
"Mr. Deeks, as soon as the downloads complete I want you out of there. Leave everything the way you found it for now. Lock the storage unit door in the same manner as our suspect did. Then go to the hospital, and meet Miss Blye. Our suspect appears to be currently driving towards the park where Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna are located. They can handle things for the moment."
"Downloads complete." Eric stated
"Okay Hetty, I'm in Kensi's car now heading out of the storage facility. I'll call when I get to the hospital."