Operation Formosa

Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.

Chapter 5

The Boat Shed

Bronte carried Thomas into the boat shed with Ella clinging to her side, afraid to let her go. When Ella saw Max inside, she ran over to him and hugged him.

Max looked up with a worried look in his eyes to his mother. "Mom, what's going on?" He signed over to her. "Where's Mel?"

Ella pulled on his arm and signed to him. "Daddy came home last night. Bad men took him and Mommy away."

Callen looked over to Bronte and both of them realised that Ella saw what had happened. Bronte knelt down beside Ella. "El Bel. What did you see?"

"Dark men with guns. They hit Daddy on the head with one. He went to sleep. Mommy screamed and she tried to fight them, but they were too strong." She was only five, but she was doing great telling them what she saw. "I was too scared to find Tommy. I hid in my cupboard."

"You did the right thing, sweetheart." She hugged the girl and signed to Max. "Why don't you and Ella do some drawings over at the table."

Max nodded and led Ella over. The distraction was what both children needed as she could see the fear in Max's eyes that something bad had happened.

Thomas continued to sleep in her arms and she was glad that they had a couple of days supply in a bag with them of formula, baby food and nappies. It's had been a while since she'd taken care of a baby, but she was familiar with Thomas' routine. She knew the look that Callen gave her of why she hadn't mentioned her friendship with the Nassirs, let alone her past with Mick.

"I need to ring their parents to tell them what's happened." She looked at her watch. "It'll be dinner time in London now." She noticed the confusion in Callen's eyes. "Mick's parents live in London. I need to call them." Callen nodded and allowed her to make the calls. She rang Beth and Peter's number and waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" Beth's English accent had returned after their move back to London. Mick had been born and raised in Washington D.C., although his parents were English. They returned to their home country after his father retired from his CEO position for a large international corporation. Although Mick had grown up with a great deal of money, his love to protect his country was strong. It led him on his path into the Navy and then later over to NCIS. It explained his beautiful home that he shared with his family.

"Beth, it's Bronte." Bronte's voice quavered and the older woman instantly knew something was wrong.

"What's wrong, Bron?" Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as she waited to hear what Bronte had to tell her. She knew Mick and Mel's wills had Bronte as the guardian for their young children. It made sense to them, with their past and their close friendship even today. "Ella and Thomas are fine." Bronte managed to get the concerns out for Beth's grandchildren out of the way first before she continued. "Mick and Mel have been abducted early hours this morning. We're doing all that we can to find them, Beth."

"We're coming on the next flight out, Bron. Give those grandchildren of ours loads of hugs." Peter moved closer to his wife when he picked up on the change in her demeanour. It meant only one thing, something had happened to their son. She disconnected the call and quickly wiped her tears as she looked over at her husband. "We have to get to Los Angeles quickly, Pete. Michael and Melissa have been abducted this morning. Ella and Thomas are okay. Bronte's has them."

"I'll make the arrangements, Beth. You go and pack." He held her tight for a moment longer, before he dialled British Airways.

Ops Centre

Owen Granger paced the floor, waiting for the information to come through from Director Vance. Nell looked up when the file on Operation Formosa arrived into her inbox. She pulled it up and threw documents up onto the large screen for them to read. All three of them scanned the documents over the operation, particularly the report that Agent Nassir had written up the day before.

"He's thorough in his report," Nell commented. She realised now, the importance of the agents completing their paperwork as soon as a case was over. Their intel was no good inside their head if something happened to them. She understood why Hetty was always on her agents' back about their paperwork. On the occasions that she had been out into the field, she had a taste for writing up her side of the case. But she also could see how mundane it could become doing them continuously, case after case.

Nell selected the images of the suspects that Agent Nassir was involved in following, onboard the USS Arlington. "Ensign Roger Davies and Lieutenant Lewis Jackson were his suspects and they were arrested just over a day ago." She quickly scanned his report about Agent Jack Stevens' death and what he'd done for him to Skype with his family on his son's first birthday and who Abby had witnessed killing Agent Stevens.

"These two Petty Officers are trouble. Petty Officer Shaun O'Leary and Petty Officer, Glendon Cary. Gibbs' report on when they interrogated them with regards to another Petty Officer's death, showed them to be arrogant and that they knew something that Gibbs and his team have yet to find out. But he suspects it was that the identities of the agents on board had been compromised. They discovered that fellow NCIS agents, NCIS Agent Bradley Wilson and NCIS Agent Harry Chambers were involved in Petty Officer Cromwell's death. Chambers killed him to protect Wilson, when he heard a scuffle outside his quarters. Wilson was following O'Leary and Cary at the time, when Cromwell attacked him."

"Does this mean that all NCIS agents on board USS Arlington had been burned?" Owen inquired, still trying to catch up on the highly classified operation that Vance had seen to himself.

"Yes. After Agent Stevens left Agent Nassir's quarters, he was followed and stabbed by O'Leary and Cary. They then went straight to Nassir's quarters, but found him gone. Abby witnessed the stabbing from tapping into the security system and set the alarm off, giving the other agents time to escape. They made it out in time and all access to the Arlington had been locked behind them until they were back safe at the Navy Yard. NCIS and DEA went in to arrest their suspects on all three of the five ships that were in port at the time."

"Do we know if any of the other agents have been abducted?" Granger prodded her with questions and wasn't surprised with her fast reply. Their intelligence analyst was fast and thorough.

"No. They're all safe. Vance had Gibbs' team contact them all to make sure. Gibbs is on his way over here with Agent DiNozzo to help find the Nassirs. Apparently Agent Gibbs has been friends with Mick for a long time."

"Like Bronte has." Sam Hanna entered the Ops Centre and scanned the data on screen.

"Bronte knows the Nassirs?" Owen furrowed his brow.

"She and Mick went through the Naval Academy together and became best friends." Sam knitted his brows together. "Was Agent Nassir assigned undercover on USS Arlington?"

Eric nodded. "Yes he was alongside a few others. Their handler was the onboard NCIS Agent, Jack Stevens. He was stabbed by these two men. Petty Officers, O'Leary and Cary."

Sam shook his head and looked sternly at Granger. "He shouldn't have been there. He was assigned to the Arlington when he graduated from the academy. Do you know why he was there?"

Owen shook his head. "No. Vance has kept this operation close to his chest." Not only was the risk of his real identity being burned high, he was too close to this case. He should never have been on the operation in the first place. "What do you mean, Agent Hanna?" Owen could see the agent was holding something back.

Sam sighed. "G didn't even know until Kensi and Deeks found a box of photos. Bronte and Mick have a past. They had a kid together, but he died at eighteen months from leukaemia. Was the happiest and cutest kid you ever saw," Sam shook his head.

"Bronte said she was furious with him when she found out what he'd been working on. She told him he was too close to it and it was too dangerous. Now we know why she was angry with him. She was worried and had a damn good reason for it. But we also understand he volunteered for her, after what the Formosa Cartel did to Greg and Carrie."

"And now his and his wife's lives are at risk because he went undercover for Bronte. But how come none of the other agents have been abducted?"

Nell's synapses quickly passed information through her brain to analyse and sort out the mess. "Bronte."

Sam looked to Nell. "Bring up Bronte's file."

Nell nodded and quickly brought it up onto the screen. "Here it is." Nell pointed to the details. "Bronte was assigned on the USS Arlington with Mick. If someone recognised Mick, they would have linked him to her. The Cartel are after her and her son. Didn't Max witness the attack on his dad and sister?"

"Yes. But why allow him to live back then, only to go searching for him twenty months later?" Sam pulled out his cell and dialled Callen.

"G. You need to take Bronte and Max to a safe house. The cartel are after them. No other agents onboard the Arlington or any of the other ships have been abducted. Someone recognised Nassir and burned his true identity. If they recognised him, they would have linked him to Bronte and her son."

The Boat Shed

Callen furrowed his brows, looking intently over at Bronte. She sat on the sofa, cuddling a sleeping Thomas, who had settled with her from the moment he saw her. Max and Ella continued to have their silent conversation signing as they drew. The pictures Ella had drawn were of the men who had taken her parents. For a five year old, she drew a lot of detail. When he looked at Max's drawings, his eyes widened. They were of the shooting from twenty months earlier. The morning events had triggered that horrid day for the boy and he alongside Ella, drew what feared them the most.

"I'll arrange to transfer them to a safe house along with Greg's parents. Mick's parents are on their way over from London. Not sure about Melissa's. I don't think Bronte's been able to get hold of them yet." Callen licked his lips, feeling his whole family life was falling apart from the danger that threatened them. "Sam, you need to call Nate. We need his analysis on Max and Ella's drawings. We might be able to pull something from them to find out who is after them and have taken the Nassirs."

"Will do, G."

Callen looked inside his phone for the nearest available safe house. He tried to analyse the situation from an agent's point of view, not a personal one. Why had they targeted Mick, when it was Bronte that they were after? She was just in D.C. She would have been an easy target on route home to L. A. Was it because Mick was the easier target? They had him in their sights so they could easily follow him? But why take him and Melissa and not wait until he led them to her?

He quickly dialled his cell. "Nell, can you send me a photo of Melissa for me please?"

"Sure thing, Callen." Nell pulled up a photo and pressed send. After she had done it she narrowed her eyes and took a closer look at the image.

Callen looked at the image as it came through and looked up over at Bronte. He looked between the two and shook his head. He walked across the room and sat down beside her. He showed the image of Melissa to Bronte.

"That's Melissa. What's going on, G?" Bronte looked into his eyes and saw fear in them.

"Don't you see that she's a lot like you?" Bronte took another look at the photo and shrugged.

"I suppose. I mean, we have the same colour hair and eyes. But that's about it. Why?"

"We believe that Mick and Melissa were taken because of you."

"Me? Why?" She shook her head. "No. They have no idea about me. It was Greg that they were after. I wasn't at the park." She paused and looked over at her son. "Max." She looked back at Callen and fear for her son grew within her. "But they spared him. Why come after him now?"

"We need to take the four of you to a safe house, Bron. It's not safe for any of you." Callen pulled her in for a hug, wrapping his arms around her and Thomas.