SYLVIA
/Chapter 11/
As Chris disappeared into Deeks room, Kensi turned to her two team mates, "What was that all about?"
As Sam explained to Kensi what Chris had told them, Callen took a call from Eric.
"Eric find anything in the footage," Sam asked.
"The car was reported stolen the day before...Eric managed to track it through traffic...she dumped it about half a mile away..."
"She," Kensi interrupted, "so it was Sylvia?"
Callen nodded, "Traffic cams picked up a clear shot of her exiting the car...LAPD already has a BOLO issued..."
"Eric able to track her after she dumped the car," Sam asked.
Raising an eyebrow, Callen stated, "That's where it gets interesting. A block away from where she dumped the car, she climbed into another car..."
"She stole another car," Kensi huffed.
"No, she didn't steal it...she was the passenger..." Callen said.
"So, someone picked her up," Sam said, "someone knew she would need a ride...she has an accomplice?"
"Anything on the second car...the driver," Kensi asked.
"Eric's running it now...bad angle and the car kept to side streets and alleys, a lot of cameral blind spots...seems someone wanted to make sure they weren't seen. He's gonna be awhile piecing it together," Callen reported.
Sam frowned, "What is going on here...someone is helping this woman? Why? What is there to gain by feeding Sylvia's psychosis?"
"When we get an ID of the driver...we might get an answer," Callen commented.
...ncis la...
Chris came out into the hallway and met up with the agents.
"He okay," Sam asked, nodding towards Deeks room.
"He's settled for now," Chris stated, adding, "just remember what I said...keep him focused and don't be afraid to knock some sense in that thick skull of his..."
As the agents nodded, giving small smiles and huffs of amusement a tired looking doctor in bloody scrubs approached the group.
"Detective Deeks or Agent Blye?" he asked the group.
Kensi help up a hand, "I'm agent Blye..."
"I'm Doctor Fitzgerald...I operated on Lanni Sullivan: I was told that you and a Detective Deeks came in with her," the gray haired man said.
"Yes...yes, this is agents Hanna and Callen and ADA Peterson," Kensi quickly introduced the others before asking, "so how is she?"
The doctor pulled off his surgical cap and gave a heavy sigh, "Miss Sullivan is in serious condition...she presented with a dislocated hip, four broken ribs...which punctured her lung, and a closed skull fracture. We repaired the lung puncture and re-inflated the lung, reset the hip: our biggest concern is the head wound."
"God, is she going to...is she... going to make it," Chris choked out the question. The agents just looked on grimly.
"We're guardedly optimistic that Miss Sullivan can recover...but I won't lie—it will be a long painful process for her," the doctor replied. "Again, the biggest concern is the skull fracture...that combined with the anesthetic...we'll be able to judge her condition better when she regains consciousness."
"Can I see her," Chris asked.
"She's being settled into the ICU on five...I can give you a few minutes," the doctor said, "and if she has any next of kin, I suggest you contact them."
Chris nodded and shook hands with the doctor, "I'll let them know you're coming. Excuse me."
They waved the doctor off and turned to face each other, Kensi asking quietly, "What do we tell Deeks?"
"The truth..." Chris said pointedly, "don't treat him like a victim...he can handle it...he has to handle it—he's a cop and he's an agent: treat him like one. His imagination will just come up with far worse anyway."
The agents exchanged looks before Callen nodded.
"Thank you," Chris said, "look its getting very late...so, I want to check in on Lanni then I better go fill Paula in on all of this..." exhaling tiredly, "I do not look forward to that conversation."
"Sam will take you...he'll stay with you and Paula tonight," Callen said, "Kensi and I are gonna stay here."
...ncis la...
Sam and Chris stood outside Lanni's ICU bay...eying the plethora of life saving equipment.
"It's just like twelve years ago," Chris commented flatly, his eyes never leaving the woman in the bed, "only then it was a few swings of a tire iron..."
Sam looked at Chris in surprise, "Sylvia attacked her with a tire iron?"
"By that point Sylvia was experiencing a total psychotic break," Chris replied, "by time we heard about Lanni, got her settled in at the hospital—Marty was...gone..."
...flashback...
"Try again...he'd want to be here," Amanda said.
"I've tried six times already...he's not answering," Chris said in frustration.
Brow furrowed in concern, Paula asked, "You don't think..."
"What..." Amanda asked.
"Think about it; first Taylor's accident, then Sylvia attacking Lanni, in front of witnesses...now, the police can't find her...and Marty's not picking up..."
"God, you don't think..." Amanda said wide eyed looking towards Chris, "ya' gotta go find him. What if, what if he's hurt..."
Running a hand through his hair, Chris exclaimed, "I don't know what to think anymore..."
"Maybe we should call the police," Amanda suggested.
"And say what...it's not like they've been real helpful so far," Chris answered in frustration, "look, you two stay here, I'll go see if I can find him..."
A knot formed in his gut when he saw several LAPD cruisers in the parking lot outside of Marty's apartment complex. Chris slammed the car into park and bolted from the car and all but ran up the two flights of stairs to his friend's apartment, slowing to a hesitant walk when his fears were confirmed by the officers in and around Marty's open apartment door.
"What's happening...what's going on..." Chris demanded, pushing through the small crowd that had formed in the hallway.
An officer stopped him, "Sir, you're going to have to stay back..."
"No, you don't understand, I know who lives here. What happened; is Marty alright..." Chris demanded.
"You know who lives here," the officer reiterated.
"Yes... yes, his name is Marty Deeks...he's a friend of mine...just tell me what happened..." Chris continued to demand.
"Follow me sir," the uniformed officer directed, leading Chris into the apartment.
"Oh, my god..." Chris gasped out when he saw the condition of the apartment.
What he could see of the living room/kitchen area, it was totally trashed...every cabinet emptied, dishes smashed on the floor...textbooks ripped, pages strewn about the floor and perhaps most disturbing were the photo's...all of which were pulled from their frames, some pictures sported angry red or black marks scribbled over faces still others bore slash marks cut through faces...
"The bedroom is worse..." a voice said, pulling Chris from his shocked stupor.
"Detective Steve Sloane, LAPD homicide," a tall, sandy-haired, plain clothed officer identified himself as he came to stand in front of Chris.
"Oh god, he's not dead...Marty's not dead..." Chris gasped.
"No, sorry to give you that impression...but this level of destruction, there's more to this just breaking and entering...whoever did this—it was personal...and, the neighbors heard one hell of a fight..."
"A fight? Is Marty alright...where is he," Chris asked worriedly.
"By the time LAPD got here, there was no one in the apartment; you have any idea who'd do this to your friend or where he might be," the detective asked.
Chris nodded, "I know exactly who did this..."
...end flashback...
"So I laid it all out...LAPD finally had enough for formal charges-spent the next ten days looking or Marty..."Chris said
"So what did it...what sent her over the edge," Sam asked.
"Scottsville; Sylvia had followed Lanni to Scottsville," Chris explained, "Lanni just couldn't shake the feeling that with all the shit Sylvia was doing that she just seemed to adept at getting away with it...knew just how far to push things...so Lanni started digging into Sylvia's past-and sure enough found a similar case from her high school days. A boy Sylvia dated had a car accident..."
"So, Callen was right...it wasn't her first time doing this to someone," Sam mused.
"It's funny how everything is relative," Chris snorted angrily, shaking his head, "We were nearly insane with the shit Sylvia was pulling—slashed tires, missing mail, bogus charges showing up on our credit cards, hang ups; you name it she was doing it...she even trashed Paula and Taylors apartments...little did we realize just how minor all that stuff had been."
Incredulous, Sam exclaimed, "that was minor?"
"Compared to what she put Marty through, yeah it was minor..." Chris commented.
"Are you saying she was physically abusive towards him," Sam pressed.
If it was possible the grim look on Chris's face got even darker, and a deep sigh escaped him, "Occasionally we'd see a bruise, once or twice a black eye popped up; but I think it was more than that. I don't think everything that happened between Sylvia and Marty made it into the trial transcripts...I think there was something else...none of us but Taylor really knew what it was. The day of Taylor's accident he had gone to see Marty; said Marty had proof of how delusional she was...that we could get something more substantial than restraining orders..."
"What was it," Sam asked when Chris trailed off.
Chris shook his head, "Honestly, I don't know...I had my suspicions—but whatever it was, Taylor took it to his grave that day...then the accident and the funeral, Lanni's attack and Marty disappearing...by the time Sylvia's trial came around there was plenty to charge her with."
Sam just nodded; he would get Eric on the Scottsville angle first thing in the morning; for now he would keep Deeks friends safe.
...NCIS LA...NCIS LA...NCIS LA...NCIA LA...
a/n: sorry it's been awhile...and unfortunately updates will become even more sporadic for a while as I am days away from descending into the pits of HELL-school is starting and I have 15 hour days to look forward to for the next several weeks until my classroom is up and running.
...in this day and age of computers, I'm finding it hard to get characters alone to be "attacked"...twenty years ago you would actually have to meet up with someone to share/give them files and info-now, it gets sent via email, iphones, etc & a character doesn't have to leave the safety of their office...