Tsunami

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

Chapter 15

Dovecote

The call from Deeks came through fast to Hetty. She listened to the concern in her detective's voice and she knew he didn't want to take Kensi to Harrison's place and leave her there. The man was clearly a psychopath and womaniser. He needed to protect his partner and girlfriend from the man. But their job took priority.

"I'll speak with Baxter and his sons and I'll get back to you as soon a possible. I'll have Mr Hanna ready to drop Miss Blye off at your alias' residence."

"Thanks, Hetty." Deeks heaved out his breath heavily and sighed. His gut churned double time and every muscle in his body tensed. He couldn't do this to Kensi. They needed a plan to ensure someone had Kensi's back while he was sent to Cuba. But what? Callen was always good at coming up with last minute plans that were off the wall, but solid, and they always ended up getting the bad guys. But he was in no shape to even think of a plan.

Henrietta Lang gently knocked on the bedroom door and pushed the slightly opened door wider. Two sets of red rimmed eyes met her and she knew instantly they'd finally had their talk.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to speak with you, Baxter."

"Hetty, what is it?" Callen tried to pull himself up, but his father gently placed his hands on his shoulder to keep him laying down.

Hetty wanted to protect him from what was going on, but she knew her boy too well.

"Mr Deeks and myself have had a successful few hours at the Law firm. We've found who really is in charge with this latest attacks on Pendleton, what went down in Prague and this morning at Long Beach."

Callen furrowed his brow, "Pajari wasn't the one in charge?" Callen had been certain, his personal grudge against his father was proof of that.

"After the news about Mike Russo's death and the raid on Franklin's property this morning, Mr Deeks and I headed to Harrison Clark Law Firm for answers."

"Clark?" Callen raised his brow, expecting Hetty to nod.

"No. Harrison. He's the one in charge. Mr Deeks managed to procure a recent photo of Scott Harrison. Baxter, do you know this man?"

Baxter took the cell from Hetty's grasps and furrowed his brow. He shook his head and his eyes widened. "No, this couldn't be."

"You know this man?" Hetty looked to Baxter with concern. After Sacha Pajari's admission to Callen over wanting revenge for his father killing his father, Hetty's intuition was on the ball.

"Yes." Baxter looked between Hetty and his son. "But not the name."

"What name did you know him as?" Hetty remained calm as she patiently waited for Baxter to catch his breath.

"Filip Marksimov. KGB Major like my alias. We worked together in the people smuggling business. He worked closely with Arkady, whereas, Boris worked closely with me. He vanished just before we found out Boris had burned Clara. We thought Boris had killed him." Baxter shook his head. "We had no proof, but he'd vanished, then we found out about Boris, so we assumed…" His anger re-emerged, igniting fire in his voice. "Arkady and I thought if we killed Boris, my family would be safe, but the Comescus still killed Clara and I lost my children." He breathed out a shaky breath. "All this time he was alive, living here in L.A. as a lawyer…"

"I have Miss Jones and Mr Beale working on finding out everything we can on Harrison. I'll give them the name you've provided us with and see what we can find."

"Thank you, Hetty." Baxter sat down on the armchair, his hands gripped the armrest tight.

"Dad?"

Baxter looked over to his son, Callen had remained quiet during the conversation, but he could see the concern and questions in his eyes.

"If we had searched for him we could have prevented this attack on our country."

"You said you couldn't find him, you did what you could at the time. Nell and Eric will find everything there is out there to fill in the gaps. Trust them."

"I need to find Arkady. His life is in danger."

Callen thought for a moment, it explained why Pajari held Anna captive in Prague, thankfully he was able to get her out of there and back safe to her father. That's if they were still safe.

"I need my phone." Callen looked around but couldn't find it.

"I'll get it for you, George. I've been keeping it safe for you." Hetty exited the room, fear for Arkady and his daughter grew within her. Neither had been seen since they left Prague almost a week earlier.

Allemand Ferme, Bellegarde, France

Days had past slowly for Anna Kolcheck, the Russian blonde who thrived on adventures working as a Chicago Detective. Her Russian heritage had been hidden from her employers due to the change to her mother's maiden name.

"You are putting me on edge, Anna. Please stop the pacing." Arkady Kolcheck pulled at his tie, loosening it from his neck. It was hot down in Southern France, his suit he'd arrived in was no good here. He needed new clothes and fast.

"Papa, you are the one whose placed me in danger in the first place. If you hadn't upset these people from our home country, I would have remained safe. You have no one to blame for the situation but yourself."

"Where are you going?"

She'd had enough, she needed some air and peace from her old man. "Outside to clear my head." She walked to the door, but Arkady grabbed her arm.

"We don't know if it's safe to go outside."

"What here? Papa, we are far from Russia and America. No one will find us here. I spent a year here about five years ago. I know these people, they are good people and I trust them more than I can say about you."

Her allegations hurt, but perhaps she was right. He'd not done anything good for her but place her in danger. But who were these people back in Russia who could be after him and his daughter, he wasn't sure. As he was thinking, his cell rang. He looked at the id of the caller and sighed with relief.

"It's about time you called. You took your time, Callen."

Callen fisted his hand to his side, once he was out of there, he would give the former KGB a piece of his mind for being such a pain. If he hadn't had to rescue his daughter, he could have gotten Jennifer Ashley out of there safely, and he'd not be lying in a bed recovering from torture.

"Callen?" Arkady furrowed his brow over his silence. "Is everything okay?"

Callen sighed. "Okay?" He took in a breath and slowly released it. "You have no idea what's gone down have you?"

Arkady looked out the window, watching his beautiful grown up daughter stroke a horse that had been tied up to the fence post about ten metres from the cottage they were staying in. She was good with horses and he realised just how much of his daughter's life he'd missed.

"No, I haven't a clue. You tell me."

"Did you know who Sacha Pajari was?"

"You make it sound like he's dead…."

"That's because he is. I killed him. But not after being captured by him and tortured. Thankfully, my partner and brothers had my back and saved me and my new partner from the sick bastard." Callen tensed his jaw, if only Arkady had been honest and warned Callen, things could have been different. "You haven't answered my question, Arkady. Did you know who he was?"

Arkady swallowed the hard lump in his throat. "You are okay, aren't you? I mean, you sound okay."

"Arkady…"

"Okay, okay. Yes, I knew who he was. But I didn't think that he knew who you were, that you were Nikita's son."

"So you do know who I am then?" He'd suspected over the years that Arkady had kept things from him, like Hetty had. But the former had come clean and admitted she'd known about his mother, not his father. Arkady continued to be shady in his answers, even after Vasile Comescu kidnapped the man they thought had been his father and killed him.

"Yes, of course I know who you are."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"I promised your father. Even after he tried to adopt you, you'd been through so much, it broke your father's heart. I couldn't betray him after Boris burned your mother. He needed to trust me that I would be there for you."

A burst of love flowed over Callen, the old guy did really care. It took Callen by surprise. His voice was hoarse and he quickly cleared his throat. "So you know that my father has made contact with me again?"

Arkady wiped the sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief. "Yes."

"Okay." Callen thought for a moment before he continued.

"Where are you? Are you and Anna safe?"

"Yes, we are. But I cannot tell you where we are, Anna led us to somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. She knows the people here and trusts them."

"I'll have Nell find your GPS location. Do not leave where you are. You are in grave danger."

"But you said that you killed Sacha, who…"

"Does the name Filip Marksimov mean anything to you?"

Arkady's eyes widened, his lips opened slightly, surprised by the mention of his old partner. "Yes, of course it does. He was my partner in the KGB. But he vanished so long ago, we thought Boris Pajari killed him."

"He's alive and well. He's been living in Los Angeles under the name of Scott Harrison."

Arkady's face paled. His mouth went dry and he coughed. He looked for a glass and quickly poured himself a drink of water from the jug. He swallowed the contents, but he was so parched, nothing could relieve him.

"He's the one pulling the strings on our latest problems, Arkady. We thought we had them all, but he's sent men to kill the two remaining Federal Agents on this operation who weren't rogue. One's body washed up on Long Beach earlier today. The other escaped, which is a good thing, seeing he's one of my brothers."

"Bradford?" Baxter had told him about how proud he was of his son's involvement not only in the SEALS but working for NCIS.

"No, Franklin. He's also working for NCIS. He was deep undercover, but he sent Deeks in his stead once he found out that I was over in Russia on the op."

"You are all so much like your father. Good men, fighting evil, to save innocent lives." Arkady poured another glass and swallowed. It was so hot down there in comparison to Russia and Prague. Even warmer than in Los Angles. At least there he had the Pacific breeze to keep the temperatures cooler.

"Stop. I'm angry, just to let you know. It's no fun lying unconscious in bed for three days from being beaten to a pulp. I went into that op disadvantaged. When I see you next, I will settle this with you. You should have told me I was in danger with Sacha Pajari."

"I know, I am sorry, Callen." Guilt washed over the older man. "We will stay here until we hear from you again."

"Make sure you both do. I'm not up to coming to save either of you."

Arkady disconnected the call, he exited the cottage and joined his daughter by the horse. "Callen called. He's the one who got your out. He and his partner, Sam. We're to stay put until we hear from him. It's not safe yet."

Anna nodded, she loved it down in the southern French countryside. "I can handle that. I owe them my life, they did get me out of there."