"Michelle," Sam whisper as he suddenly jolts awake from his sleep on the make shift cot in the corner of the room. He hadn't been experiencing a nightmare, but a beautiful memory of him and his wife completing an extreme cross-fit exercise that turned into a romantic swim in the Pacific Ocean. Something in his mind had triggered him to wake up, either as a reminder of the job he's come to Abu Dhabi to do or to wake him up for the hell of it. When Sam rolls over and sees the clock above the armoire read half past noon, it's confirmed to be the first option.
"Crap!" Sam curses under his breath as he tries to push himself up onto his knees. A shooting pain runs across his chest and he falls back onto his stomach in pain. So much for feeling like I was healing. " Deeks!"
The blonde haired agent is sprawled awkwardly across the bed with his blonde hair almost covering his face. He twitches every few seconds in between drools onto the sheets. When Sam calls out Deeks' name again, he learns that Deeks is officially a heavy sniper when he doesn't stir. Sam pushes himself onto all fours again before slowly sitting back on his knees. With one hand, he grabs his pillow and tosses it lightly towards the bed.
The sleeping detective reacts much differently than Sam expects- he shoots straight into a sitting position and reaches out if he were reaching for a weapon. "No, don't take me! No-don't….." Deeks opens his eyes and drops his shoulder, " Oh…..was that you?"
"Who else would it be?" Sam replies, remembering to put something in his eyes to get across his teasing to Deeks. "You were sleeping like a zombie so I had to resort to interesting measures."
"And why did that have to involve a pillow?" Deeks asks, rolling onto his back and yawning loudly.
"Because I slept funny and I think I irritated some of the electrical injuries from Sidarov." Sam darkens his expression and points at the clock. "It's noon. We overslept."
Deeks quickly sits up and exclaims wide-eyed, " No, it can't be noon. Where's Kensi and Callen?"
Sam hadn't even remembered the two agents who were supposed to arrive a few hours ago. He stands up, ignoring the pain as he goes and walks over to the door. He sticks his head out to see the clinic moving along business as usual. He's about to step back into the room when a man in a dark suit speaking with a staff member near a vending machine catches his eye. He can't read the man very well from where he stands.
"Sam, what is it?" Deeks calls from back in the room. Sam steps out into the hallway and peers at the sight of the man. It takes him taking another step for him to realize that the man was one of the men he and Deeks had seen at the temple the day before. When it seems as if the man is about to look up, Sam bolts back into the room and says, "We have to go."
"What?"
"One of the men from the temple is outside in the hallway. With Kensi and Callen not here and someone from the place where Nahili has a history of going to, we need to be nowhere near here," Sam explains. He grabs his duffel bag and dumps the content onto his cot. Deeks doesn't move and it prompts Sam to yell, "Go!"
"I-I can't."
"What?" Sam looks up to see Deeks staring down at him, looking scared out of his mind. The SEAL stands up and says, "Hey, you aren't going to freak out like last time-"
"You don't know that. I'm not as Navy SEAL strong-"
"Were you not paying attention to our conversation earlier? Deeks, you are much stronger than you give yourself credit for. I'd love to go over this again, but we need to leave. Now," Sam says. He points to Deeks' bag and tells him, "Pack everything you need- gun, tablet, and anything else that you need. The only clothes you'll need is what you're wearing. We leave in two minutes, ok?"
As Deeks starts frantically digging through his bag, Sam pauses when he realizes that the six hour nap they just took means that Michelle had been out in the city on her own for the same amount of time. Babe, please be ok….
"Wake up, dear."
For a split second, Michelle swears that the voice in her head is of her husband's, but the raw stench that fills her nose tells her that it couldn't be and she's in trouble.
Her eyes open to complete darkness. She can hear the faint sound of knuckles cracking and can smell dirty water, and blood- with her own luck, hers. She immediately begins to pull up the last thing she can remember and comes up with the faint image of her sitting at the apartment in the south of the city.
I was going to kill Nahili. What happened after I left the house? A sudden kick to her rib cage brings her out of her thoughts. She grimaces and rolls onto her side in time to hear, " It is about time, Quinn. I was beginning to get worried."
"Nahili," Michelle manages to gasp out. A glob of blood drips from her mouth, the metallic taste making her nauseous. The handsome Saudi Arabia native is kneeling next to Michelle. His facial features are barely visible except for the perfectly white smile that the CIA agent can see in the dark. If Nahili had captured her, she's as good as dead.
"Do you remember the last time we crossed paths?" Nahili asks. "I saw more of you than Sidarov probably ever did, right?"
Michelle nods as she takes in a deep, heavy breath. The past few hours are slowly beginning to trickle back into her mind- she had walked five blocks from the apartment before being cornered by two SUVS with armed men. "Let me guess- you're cleaning up loose ends, right?"
"Like any good man in my position."
Someone set me up so I could get caught, Michelle thinks annoyedly. She hopes that the answer to her next question won't be as bad as she expects it to be. "So why am I alive?"
"You tell me…Special Agent Michelle Hanna."