"Sam, we should just go -"
"Shh….just wait."
Sam is absolutely positive that there had been at least one person that had followed Deeks and him into the apartment. No one had answered his knock from five minutes ago- about three minutes ago, he had dropped his badge on the ground and cautiously walked to peer over the stairwell. There was and still hasn't been anyone come up or down the stairwell since.
"I don't think anyone is coming, Deeks," Sam says in disbelief. He walks down a few steps and looks over the handrail again. "Unless someone is planning to storm the building, no one is here."
"So we sprinted for no reason?" Deeks scoffs. He attempts to push himself forward, but gets hit with a brutal round of nausea. There's nothing that he can think of- no possible reason on why he would have gotten so sick so fast.
"You haven't been sleeping much, have you?" Deeks suddenly hears next to him. He hadn't realized that Sam had already checked the stairwell, returned to the floor, walk back and judge the sight of him. Deeks doesn't look up and decides to wait for a comment from Sam before saying anything.
"Deeks…..when I woke up this morning, you were drooling in your sleep. That's the only time you've ever done that since we were tortured by Sidarov," Sam states. His annoyed glare elicits a shrug from Deeks and Sam realizes that he's looking at the same stubbornness he would be getting from Callen. "Why haven't you been trying to sleep?"
"Stupid question."
"Alright, smart ass." Sam drops the duffel bag onto the ground and kicks it over to the opposite wall. He takes Deeks' bag and slides it across as well before holstering his Sig and plopping down next to the detective. He pulls up his knees and rests his arms on his knees. "Go sleep."
Deeks rolls his eyes before he confusedly raises an eyebrow. "You're serious?" he gasps.
"It's health 101. You need rest to heal your body so that and the stress of this case…..and being stuck with me is why you feel sick, Deeks," Sam states. "If anyone comes to ask about us, I'll say we were trying to find a hotel that our contracting company set up for us- you got sick and the apartment was open. Try and get some shut eye or I'll sing you a lullaby and record it for Kensi."
Deeks leans his head back against the wall and begins a long pensive stare at Sam. He's half- hoping that Sam will let it go, fid some other thing to preoccupy himself. Nell needs to call so he can stop staring at me. He doesn't know me enough to think that I trust him…trust him to….
Sam watches Deeks' flutter close in almost an instant and it is one of the most settling thing he has seen since the beginning of the case- Deeks trusting him enough to watch his back.
Al Goa
"What do you mean you lost them?" Nahili groans when he receives a phone call from who was supposed to be his second best man. He had just sat through a irritatingly sticky return trip back to Al Goa with Michelle in tow. There had been plans for him to sit back and watch terrorist groups beg and barter for the weapons and the western countries to lose their minds over the chaos. No- he had plans to do anything but deal with his apparent best and brightest not following the simple direction of capturing Hanna and Deeks.
"One of them must have seen me or Eryk, sir," Abdel Ahmen stammers. "I spoke with a nurse who claimed that they were in Room 12B and they weren't. Eryk checked the perimeter and found nothing. It's a weekend so the city is pretty busy and the may have disappeared into the crowd, sir!"
"I know that, you dumbass. Tell me why the hell you shouldn't end up dead in the bay by the morning."
"Because I will find them, sir. With your permission, I'd like to draw them out by giving the police the impression that Hanna and Deeks should be arrested and questioned about the agent you captured missing and-"
Nahili takes a swig from his water bottle and straightens his light blue jacket. If he allows Abdel to say one more word, he'll kill the man, regardless of his brilliant idea. "Do it," Nahili barks and ends the call.
He'd brag to Michelle about the brilliance of Ahmen's plan, but he'd rather not have any screw ups first.
"Are you two ok?"
"Oh yes, sir. My friend was dehydrated from the heat, we came inside to sit and he fell asleep. We're fine."
After a third person entering the building sees them and begins asking questions, Sam decides he has to call home or Callen and Kensi and find them somewhere else to hide.
It's been an hour since they had decided to catch a breath in the hallway, Deeks sleeping fitfully every five minutes or so and Sam tapping his foot as he counts down the minutes. Nell still hasn't called and neither have Callen and Kensi nor Michelle- with the hour of free time, Sam's tired and fried mind has assured him that his entire team and wife are dead. Lovely.
Sam pulls the satellite phone out of his pants pocket and stares at the bright dial screen. If I try Callen and Kensi again and they don't answer, I might lose it; the agent thinks exhaustedly. He glances over to Deeks and hears a snore from the detective as if he was agreeing with him. In the midst of his panic, he's managed to relish in his triumph of Deeks trusting him for an hour now. As he dials Callen's satellite phone, Sam has to remind himself not to brag about his triumph.
"This is Agent Blye," Kensi answers instead of Callen and after the second ring, both sparking concern in Sam. He pushes himself onto his knees and then stands up, saying in a low voice, " Kens, it's me."
"Sam- oh thank God," Kensi says, sounding incredibly out of breath. "We just got into the city- the Prime Minister is pissed about us keeping the weapons a secret and almost didn't allow us into the country. Where are you?"
"Sitting in the hallway of an apartment building because we had been made at the clinic. We ran and Deeks felt sick so we had to take a second to-"
"Have people seen you?"
"Of course….." Sam looks down at Deeks and mutters, "What aren't you telling me?"
"Uhm- wait…" Kensi suddenly yells out Callen's name over the roar of a truck on her end of the call before returning the focus back to Sam. "How is he? How is Deeks?"
"I told him to sleep while we rest- Kensi, talk to me."
"The police have received an anonymous tip that you and Deeks have been involved in the disappearing of a woman looking exactly like Michelle. Sam, just get you and Deeks out of sight- whether it's a closet, the roof or an empty apartment. We will be there in 20 minutes, depending on where you are. Ok?"
Sam doesn't hear a word- his hand has shot over to his Sig holstered in his waist instinctively. Police want to talk to us about Michelle? What if it's a legit questioning about her? What if it's about her possibly being killed?
"Sam, can you hear me?"
"Yeah, there should be somewhere up there that we can hide on the roof," Sam answers. Yes- Sam will get Deeks and himself to the roof, but if he can't talk himself out of the image of his wife possibly laying dead on a slab, he may ditch his partner and go on his own.