Chapter 2

As Kensi and Deeks drove to Naval Station San Diego, Kensi thought about the morning in the bullpen. Something about Carla obviously rubbed Callen the wrong way and she wondered why. "Deeks, did you notice the rift between Carla and Callen this morning? What do you think is going on?

Deeks for once, was all seriousness. "You honestly can't see what the problem is? She's old enough to be our mother. Having her around could get one of us killed or seriously injured. Do you know what her skill sets are? I don't. Do you want her backing you up?"

Kensi kept her eyes on the road. "She wouldn't be working for NCIS if she couldn't back us up. I want to know why Hetty thinks it's a good idea, that's all."

Deeks knew she really wanted the answers to her questions. "Really Kens, is it really this important?" Deeks kept his eyes on his partner. He wasn't quite reading her.

She began to laugh. "Why did you start laughing at her? That was a really big mistake."

Deeks barked a laugh. "Really Kensalina, you didn't think it was a joke at first. Why would Hetty do that to Callen and us? I don't think it's a good idea."

While he had some valid points, Kensi still wanted to understand where Carla fit into the scheme of things. Hetty wouldn't do this without a reason, so there must be one. Kensi knew that she couldn't just walk in and ask Hetty, but she'd be sure to keep an eye on the situation. She turned to meet Deek's eyes and snickered. "She took you down easy enough."

Deeks cheeks went pink but his laugh was genuine. "I let her do that."

Kensi stared at him. "Yeah… right."

The rest of the trip to San Diego went without a hitch. They arrived in the navy base and were directed to the U.S.S George Washington. They met the Agent Afloat, Jim Parsons, on the dock and were escorted onboard. From there Parsons took them to Fielding's rack area and then Kensi and Deeks proceeded to search his closet and trunk space. Kensi turned to Parsons as they searched. "What do you know about Fielding?"

Parsons looked around the berthing area. "The members of this berthing area had next to nothing to say about their rack mate, nothing good or bad. That in itself is telling. They either don't know him because he wanted it that way or it says they didn't like him for whatever reason. One member, Stanley Jones, noticed a gang style tattoo on your boy. He drew the tat for me and it was significant."

Deeks who had been rifling through Fielding's belongings stood up to face Kensi and Parsons. "So what was the significance of that tat?"

Parsons looked away from the two detectives and then back to Marty. "It was the art for Los Chicos Molinas, the feeder group to the Molina Cartel." Deeks and Kensi looked at each other and grimaced.

All the usual items were in the usual places, shoes, uniforms, personal items and a few books that were bought to fight the boredom of the time at sea. They also found a notebook that had nothing written in it. One page had heavy indentations that implied someone had written on the prior page with a heavy hand. Deeks picked up a pencil and scratched over the indentations. In the scribbles were the words "Staples Center." The question now became what Fielding was going there for?

In the locker was a small area the size of the container found with Fielding. Deeks pulled out the Geiger counter they had brought with them and tested the trunk. The rack area and the trunk tested just over the residual radiation of the ship. It was nowhere as high as the radiation count on the body in the dumpster. Why had he made that spot?

Chapter 3

Carla and I arrived at the rear entrance to the Staples Center and were met by LAPD detective Jason Stroh. He gave our credentials the once over and then stopped to really look at Carla. He chuckled and walked off. It pissed me off and I'm not sure why. "That was embarrassing." Carla just shot me a look that said 'don't say anymore.' Again this was the impression that my life would be like this until Sam returned.

I had kept quiet on my way over here. I was actually fighting my body's way of dealing with drivers other than Sam or myself. If I had to tell, I'd say Carla's driving was close to Sam's, so in reality I wasn't doing so badly.

We walked up to the dumpster where Fielding's body had been found, still was and gave Carla the lead.

She looked around the dumpster, at the body and finally the canister. Donning gloves, Carla began to poke around the outside of the dumpster. "Footprints – here and here, possible assailants and there's blood – not much, maybe not killed here but elsewhere. Have LAPD look for more areas of blood." She moved further from the dumpster, still searching the ground. "Possible, no, probable tire tracks." and she took close up photos to send to OPS.

She headed for the dumpster and I moved to stop her. She gave me the same stare that Jethro Gibbs gives. There was no 'Gosh I'm a Girl' or 'I'm too old for this crap' about her as she climbed up and into the dumpster.

She turned to the coroner and smiled. The young man just snickered and walked away. Carla shouted after him. "Ok to touch?" He waved as he walked back to his car. Carla turned to the body and started taking pictures of the knife and the holes that it had made. She then turned him over to look at the front of him. All the insignia were missing and that made the case odder. Why take the insignia and leave the wallet with identification and cash. It made no sense to either of us.

I watched as she worked around the crime scene. She hadn't missed a trick yet. I was becoming more impressed by her, but still felt that I was missing something.

Carla looked up at me and grinned like the Cheshire Cat. Out of Fielding's pocket she pulled out a yellow post-it with both an address and in small print, a name, 'Yuri Chenov."