A/N: Heads up, a bit more torture to come :) I'm sorry it's so short, but I'm still incredibly busy and I'm flying to Rome with my chemistry class tomorrow morning (4.45 am - what the hell?!)... As we're going to live together with nuns, there will be no internet, so I can't translate and that means that you probably won't get another chapter next weekend... So sorry!
Still, enjoy this one!
Kensi, Sam and Callen all but ran through the doors of OSP and up the stairs to get to Eric and Nell, both never having left their computers that day. Now that they knew that there obviously were two cartels, they had the double amount of work plus the kidnapping of Deeks. Two analysts were just not enough right now.
"Guys, what do you have?" Callen asked as soon as he had stepped through the automatic doors. His professionalism was long gone, it had become a tad bit too personal for his liking.
"Nothing new about where Deeks may be held. We're trying to locate them through the hacker, but he is really good, so he's really good at covering his tracks, too…. And of course we still have Kaleidoscope running," Eric answered without even looking up, his fingers still frantically typing.
"But," Nell said, "Julio called us. Hernando Sanchez called up a meeting to discuss the nest shipment and according to Julio all of the important people will be there."
Sam took a deep breath. That was at least something they could work with. "When?"
"This afternoon, 1600 hours. He called it last minute so that no one who isn't supposed to know about the meeting really doesn't know. Sanchez is careful since we busted the deal on the wrecking yard."
Nell held her tablet clutched in both of her hands, permanently walking up and down in front of the huge screen. She knew that the news, as positive as they might be, would not be taken very well.
"This afternoon?" Kensi asked, disbelief visible on her face. It was no problem to have a strike team ready until then as there were still some hours for preparation left, but there was something else bugging her, " But, what if you know until then where Deeks is being held? We need to be ready to get him out of wherever he is! We can't wait until we get back from busting a cartel!"
She would most certainly not arrest some cartel members when her partner could be freed the exact same time.
"Kensi, Deeks is a cop. He is trained to be able to take something. The weapons are priority right now, then comes Deeks," Callen stated. He had to remain the rational part of the group, the part that wasn't lead by feelings, by a thing. Of course he didn't want Deeks suffering for a minute longer than the time they needed to find him, but those arms deals were huge. G was sure that Deeks would decide for stopping the cartel and against saving himself, if it was his decision to make.
"Exactly that is the point, Callen! He is a cop, not an agent! He is not trained to endure hours and hours of torture! Doesn't he mean anything to you?" Kensi's voice had raised the last few words, fists clenched at her sides. She was undiscerning, she knew that. Callen was right, but it was her partner they were talking about!
"Of course he means something to me, Kensi! But Deeks is tough, he'll make it. Even if he only does so to still be able to banter with you. He is not weak and you know that. I promise you we'll get him back, but we also have to stop the arms trafficking, " G said in a gentle tone and saw Kensi trying to shut off her heart and turn on the rational part of her brain.
"Miss Blye, Mr. Callen is right, in everything, " Hetty's voice declared. All of the agents turned around, no one aware that she even had come to join them.
"I know that it is a hard decision that seems wrong, no matter how you look at it. I can only offer a compromise if that would put your conscience at ease. We have a team ready to take down the cartel, you're going to lead it, Mr. Callen. Another team will be at stand-by to get Mr. Deeks as soon as his location is known to us. If we should gather that information before you're going after Sanchez, we switch teams and you'll get Mr. Deeks back."
Hetty got grateful glances from five different directions, she - as always – seemed to have the most proper plan.
"Thanks, Hetty," Kensi whispered before she took off to the shooting range.
The cold that seemed to have taken over his body was what rose Deeks from unconsciousness. He was lying on his stomach and slowly opened his eyes. His head was still hurting like hell so that he was sure by now that he had been knocked out with a blast to the head when he had been taken. His blue hoodie was lying a few meters away and Deeks started to crawl towards it, trying not to re-open the cuts on his back. His injured knee was dragged over the rough ground and some of the cuts popped open despite his efforts. When Deeks had finally reached his hoodie, he was drenched in sweat and panting with pain.
He leaned his head back, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The moment the men noticed that he was back to the land of the living, they would come back and start torturing him again, there was no doubt about that. So, he needed to be prepared.
He wondered what his team was doing right now?
Deeks could only hope that they were looking for him and somehow had some trace to follow, some evidence that lead them to him.
He licked his dry lips and longed for water. He could not exactly tell for how long he already had been here, but his gut feeling told him that it must have been about six hours, his theory confirmed by the window through which the bright midday sun was shining by now.
For the second time during his short time of captivity, Deeks heard steps in front of the door and he hauled himself to his feet as fast possible.
Last time he hadn't been prepared for what came, this time it should be different. Putting as minimal weight as possible on his right leg, Deeks stood next to the door so that at least one punch should hit its target. The helplessness he experienced the last few days had made him angry and his situation right now wasn't helping either. He concentrated on that anger as hard as he could when the door opened and someone stepped into the room. Before Deeks even thought properly about it, his fist had already connected with the chin of a man and he felt the jaw popping from its socket. A grin spilt Deeks' face when the bone shifted. Unfortunately, there was one thing Deeks didn't know; this time there were more than two men.
One kick against his injured knee had him groaning on the ground where more kicks were hailing down on him. All of the air in his lungs was sucked out and when he felt several rips breaking, he couldn't suppress tears streaming into his eyes.
Deeks was grateful for the kick against his head that left him unconscious.
Kensi had given up shooting at target papers an hour ago and instead decided to beat the hell out of one of the punching bags. She knew that she couldn't burn herself out too much, she still had to be ready to strike anytime – either to rescue her partner or to destroy a cartel.
When thinking of Deeks, Kensi pictured the injuries he could have by now what made her punches even harder. She was so angry, deep in thought and fixed on her pounding fists that she didn't notice Callen who came walking toward her.
"It isn't your fault, Kensi."
She jumped visibly and threw a punch in the direction of the voice from pure reflex. G blocked her stroke with his forearm and then grabbed her wrist.
"Did you hear that? It is not your fault." His blue eyes locked in her dark ones and Kensi finally lowered her still raised fists.
"That tells me a certain G Callen who always blames himself for everything…," Kensi smiled briefly, then she huffed, " I know that I probably couldn't have prevented anything but still…Deeks doesn't deserve this. No one does."
Dom floated around in her head. She had already had held him in her arms and then he had just been shot. That mustn't happen again with Deeks, she could not lose another partner, her best friend.
Callen practically saw what was going on inside of Kensi's head and fastened his grip around her wrist a bit more. "Deeks isn't Dom. We will find him. And then we'll bring him home," he said in such a strong voice that there was no room left for arguing.
Time seemed to lengthen like bubble gum. It slowly became afternoon without any news about Deeks. Eric and Nell did their best in finding the black SUV but the men had kept changing the cars like they'd done before. Kensi got more nervous with every minute that passed. She wanted to be the one freeing her partner. She wanted to be the one hugging him and finding him unscathed. She and not some other team.
Unfortunately it looked a lot like the other team at the moment.
Even if Julio still hadn't called to give them the rendezvous point, it was time for the agents to get themselves ready. They would follow the GPS of the tacking device, which was still in Julio's shoe, for the start and then, when they knew where the meeting would take place, surround it.
Sam, Callen and Kensi strapped on their Kevlar vests and stored several guns at their thighs and hips.
"Let's hope that we will get the information for the rest of the shipments," Sam said and tried to soothe the frustration of his colleagues at least a bit.
Kensi looked at him unbelievingly and just wanted to retort something, when the screen in the weapon's room came to life and showed a visibly excited Eric.
"Guys, switch teams, Nell and I have something!"
A/N: Before I forget it, thanks to my wonderful beta and you guys for sticking with the story, you're awesome!
