This chapter brought to you by back-to-back reading of Stieg Larsson and by music from Bang Gang
"What is the name of jewelry store?"
"It's San Démondé." Santori pushed himself against Sam, jabbing his index finger into the taller man's chest. "I can and will stick closer to you than your damn deodorant!"
Sam looked coolly at Chris, "We will handle this, you just need to step back and let us do our job." He said calmly.
"Then do it so I don't have to!" Santori spun away and stomped out, slamming the door behind him.
"That guy has some anger management issues." Deeks breathed. "And quite possibly a death wish." He mumbled.
Sam's eyes narrowed. "He seem at all familiar to you?"
Deeks looked puzzled, "No, should he?"
"You don't recognize his voice or his face?"
"I don't even remember his cousin, much less that guy. What's the deal, Sam?"
"I pegged him for involvement in your case."
"My case? What case?" Deeks shrugged, "I don't have a case."
"The guy you didn't kill. Robert Lansing."
Realization dawned on Marty's face, "Oh, that case. So what's Santori got to do with it?"
"Santori was a friend of Lansing's; he's got the skills for it and a shaky alibi."
"And the impulsive anger thing." Deeks added.
XxXxXx
It didn't take Sam long to arrive at the jewellery store, it did take Deeks several seconds to release his terrified grip on the car's door.
For once Marty's LAPD credentials seemed to carry more weight with the owner of the store than Sam's NCIS shield. They were admitted into the office only after Deeks passed over his identification.
Berge Nilsson nodded, gave a stiff smile and handed Deeks back his credentials.
"I did have words with a tough young man who threatened me with violence if I did not cooperate with him." Nilsson admitted. "He indicated that he would turn the matter over to some sort of lettered government agency, I can only assume he meant you." He eyed Sam apprehensively.
"Do you have the surveillance video of Robert Lansing?" asked Sam.
"I do." He got up, "Please, come with me and I will allow you to view it in our security office."
"No copy?" Deeks asked.
"I'm sorry, no. We prefer to keep our customers shopping habits private."
The footage from the electronically locked front door was clear, taken by the most up to date surveillance cameras on the market. It showed a white male, approximately 25 years old with brown hair trying unsuccessfully to enter the store.
"He attempted to come in shortly after Mr. Lansing. We admit only those who have made an appointment and have the proper identification. Two of our security officers escorted him to the corner."
"Did he leave?"
"They did not stay to see where he went."
"So it's possible that this guy waited until Mr. Lansing left your establishment and then attacked and murdered your customer." Sam said.
Nilsson gave a visible shudder, closed his eyes for a moment and seemed to compose himself. "It is possible. We normally do not accompany our customers outside the building unless they have made a purchase or ask for an escort."
Sam asked the technician to freeze the footage so that it showed a clear view of the suspect's face. He used his cell phone to take a photo of the film.
They thanked Nilsson for his help and walked back out to the car.
"Eric, I'm sending you a still from a surveillance camera, can you get an ID for me?"
"You betcha, Sam." Eric replied, "Back in a few."
"Are G and Kensi back yet?"
"Nope. They haven't called in yet either."
"When they do, let them know where we are, okay?"
"Dinner in Beverley Hills?" Eric teased.
"We'll bring you a doggy bag." Deeks kidded back.
"What did you get off that card the witness at the church gave us?"
"Mostly junk." Eric replied, "He may be an architectural student but his photography skills leave a lot to be desired. Though he does have a good eye for the local beach bunnies."
"Really?" asked Deeks with a mischievous grin.
Sam cleared his throat, "So nothing that would help us out on the case?"
"Sorry, no. I made a copy of the file and FedExed the card back to him."
"I think I should take a look at that file when we get back, just to make sure you didn't miss anything." said Deeks.
"What about the van from earlier?" Sam asked in an attempt to get the conversation back on the cases.
"Nothing on that front either. LAPD found it abandoned, it was stolen from a cleaning business this morning. It had been wiped clean but we did recover all of Deeks and Kensi's stuff."
Marty cocked his head, "Well that's good news at least. But I'm still gonna change all my locks."
"Got your zealous jewelry shopper; I've sent his details and home address to your phones."
"Thanks Eric."
XxXxXx
When G and Kensi returned, Eric stepped to the edge of the balcony, "Heads up Kensi, your partner is missing some of his cents." he made a wild toss to Kensi who missed it completely. The nickel hit the desk, bounced off and rolled across the floor.
Callen trapped the coin with the toe of his shoe and picked it up; he stared at the coin for a moment. "Hetty! Hetty?" he shouted.
Their diminutive boss stepped to the edge of her office space with a curious look.
"What is it Mr. Callen?" she asked.
"Do you have one of those little things?" he made a twisting motion with his thumb and forefinger, "that thing you fix your glasses with?"
"A micro driver?" she asked.
"Yes, one of those."
She turned back to her desk and picked up a small case, opened it and handed G a tiny steel screwdriver.
"G, what are you doing?" asked Kensi.
He didn't answer, just continued to fumble with the coin and screwdriver.
"Allow me." Hetty held out her hand and Callen gave her the items. "It takes a delicate touch." Seconds later she had the coin split open on her palm. "Is this what you were hoping for?"
G took the two pieces of the nickel from her with a nod, "Thanks, Hetty."
"What have you got?" Kensi asked.
"It's a micro SD card, like the ones in a cell phone." Callen ran upstairs with Kensi on his heels. He carefully handed the half of the coin containing the card to Eric. "Can you find out what's on this Eric?"
The tech accepted the coin half, "Not a problem. I can set it up on the wall screen." He removed the card and slipped it into a slot.
A red screen came up, white numbers scrolled up rapidly then text flashed that went too quickly for anyone to read.
The image on the screen suddenly tilted, shrank and disappeared. The entire display flashed red several times accompanied by a metallic squawk and then went black. The power in the ops center flickered and the sound of the humming computers that was a nearly silent background noise stopped completely.
"Mr. Beal." said Hetty sternly from the doorway.
"It's Callen's fault," Eric panicked, pointing at the agent with a shaky hand, "he told me to do it!"
The power slowly came back up in the building. The computers all showed blank blue screens but were humming.
Eric tapped at the data pad he held, his eyes flickering between it and the blank screens.
"Mr. Beal?" asked Hetty.
"It's okay," Eric replied, "mostly."
"Mostly? Exactly what does that mean?" asked Kensi.
"There's nothing wrong with our system, no intrusions or anything, it just shut down and is rebooting."
"What's on the card?"
Eric's lips were a thin line as he tapped on the pad, "I don't know. Yet." He laid the pad down and logged onto his desktop computer. "This could take a while," he apologized and dropped into the task chair with a sigh.
For several minutes he tapped madly on the keyboard with no apparent effect on the system. He paused for a moment, chewed on his bottom lip and then went back to typing.
Eric's face was white, his mouth moved but no sound came out. His eyes stayed focused on the screen, lines of code streamed while his fingers flew across the rattling keys.
"Could you stop speaking in a pitch that only dogs can hear and tell us what that is?" G demanded.
Eric swallowed hard, "It's the command codes for launching strategic missiles located on our military ships currently stationed in the Indian Ocean."
"Stop playing with it!" Kensi panicked.
"It's okay, I've isolated the command structures, it can't communicate with the launch consoles." He typed some more, "I think."
"Mr. Beal." Hetty warned.
"I'm pretty sure it can't." Eric stammered, "I think that it cut off all external communications when I opened it." He typed some more and shook his head. "That's it, we're down."
"Explain, please, Mr. Beal." Said Hetty patiently.
"When I opened the file it shut down all the external communication systems."
"And that means what?" Callen asked.
"No cell phones, no surveillance cameras, no computers, no com links. I can't communicate with anything or anyone outside this building."
ZZZzzzzzzzz
Special Thanks to those who have encouraged and supported me, you have no idea how much it means!
The-Hunters-Girl, Clarkson, pallysjr8855, Ms. B. Haven, EnsignRo, CherokeeIrish, Lady Seraphina, frostfalcon and Ryla
And to amblue36 who is always there when I need a pick me up or a boot to the head
YOU'RE THE BEST!
Yeah, no Nell in this chapter either…
She's growing on me but I feel like she takes away a lot of the attention Eric should have.
NATE! I MISS YOU!