Chapter 8
Callen had called through the address to Eric during the journey back to Ops and had also relayed the latest status update to Kensi and Deeks, expecting them to be arriving at NAVSEA ready to speak to Jeremy Mason, Kyle Mason's uncle.
"We'll meet you back at Ops," Deeks said to Callen, after his senior agent had briefed them.
"I thought you were going to NAVSEA in Riverside County?" Callen questioned, exchanging glances with Sam.
"Yeah well so did we," Kensi replied. Through the tinny sound of Callen's cell on loudspeaker, the pair could hear a slight edge to her voice. "Thirty minutes in to our drive we got a call saying that Jeremy Mason was no longer on base."
"And this is after Nell made several calls this morning to make sure he would be there to talk to us," Deeks added.
"So what reason did they give?" Sam asked.
"Just that as a senior engineer, Mason is on call 24-7 and his presence was required at the Naval Shipyard in Virginia. You'd have thought he would at least have wanted to pick up the phone and talk to us about his missing nephew."
"Maybe they weren't all that close," Callen offered an explanation to Deeks. "But the timing does seem strange. See if Nell can find out anything more. If she gets stonewalled I'm sure Hetty can persuade Vance to lend some weight to us speaking with Mason. And speak to Eric- find out if any ransom demands have been made."
"Will do," Kensi signed off.
Sam and Callen drove on in silence for a few minutes, both lost in their thoughts on how the morning had progressed.
"I'm not liking this case," Sam spoke out, slowing the Challenger down to a snail's pace as they encountered road works.
"Me neither. Nothing is stacking up," Callen replied.
"Too right, and what's with this traffic," Sam sounded as annoyed as Kensi had earlier, which Callen picked up on straight away.
"Seems like your stress levels are a little elevated this morning," Callen sneaked a sideways look at Sam and saw him scowling, although whether that was at him, the traffic or the case was unclear. "Maybe you should take a moment and practice some of those deep breathing exercises of yours."
"Are you serious?" With the car stationary in traffic, Sam literally turned his whole body to face his partner.
"Hell yeah, last thing I need is a partner with high blood pressure who can't back me up," Callen refrained from smiling but his blue eyes sparkled with mischief.
"You wouldn't survive one day without me," Sam said pointedly and shook his head. He turned his attention back to the traffic which was about to start moving again.
"I think you'll find I'm pretty self-sufficient," Callen countered, determined to annoy Sam as much as possible.
"I think you'll find that you're not pretty and you actually need me," Sam responded without delay. He had no idea why Callen always pushed his buttons but this time he had hit the nail on the head. He was frustrated with this case, mainly fuelled by the fiasco with his Challenger outside the hotel earlier.
"Wow, thanks for that," Callen feigned a kicked puppy look before perking up. "By the way, 'handsome' is the word you are struggling to find, it's so much better than 'pretty'."
"Y'know what G? I've found the word and it's-"
Before Sam could utter the choice word to describe how annoying Callen was right at that moment, a motorbike cut in front of him. Sam slammed on the brakes and slapped his hand on the horn, holding it down much longer than necessary as he vented his all round frustration.
"Yep," Callen said with a smug smile on his face. "Deep breathing exercises Sam..."
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Twenty minutes later the pair arrived at The Mission. They walked into the bull pen to see Eric tapping away at his tablet to bring up a satellite view of a business park on the monitor. Kensi and Deeks were leaning on the desks, sipping on their coffees.
"What do we have?" Callen asked, approaching the screen to study the aerial view.
"The warehouse is located in an industrial area several miles from the port of San Pedro," Kensi replied. "It's surrounded by a number of other units and any approach will be easily spotted by anyone driving by or looking out the windows."
"Some of the buildings look pretty rundown," Deeks added. "So if they're vacant, well that could go in our favour."
Nell came bounding down the stairs, calling for the team's attention. "Guys I've managed to tap in to the industrial centre's CCTV systems, searching for any unusual activity from midday yesterday onwards. I concentrated on delivery vans matching the one seen driving away from the cafe and came up with this, forty five minutes later."
She tapped her tablet several times and the video footage appeared on the TV screen for the team to see. A blue transit van pulled in front of the warehouse, turning round and reversing up to the delivery doors. The driver jumped out and opened the van's sliding side panel. He shouted and gestured wildly, slammed the door closed and climbed back in the driver's seat. A minute later the delivery doors rolled open and the van reversed inside, disappearing from sight.
"Someone's obviously in the back of the van, judging by how animated the driver is," Deeks observed.
"I took a screen dump of his face and it's running through facial rec at the moment," Nell said. "No hits yet."
"Do we have any idea how many men are inside?" Kensi asked.
"Negative," Nell replied. "The building doesn't seem to have any cameras, which is unusual. My guess would be that's why it's been chosen."
"Makes sense," Callen said to himself. He raised his voice to address the team. "There'll be at least three of them; one to watch Mason and two to stand guard, front and rear."
"What's that?" Sam said. He pointed to a small walkway adjacent to the next building.
"Well it seems to follow round from the rear of the warehouse next door," Eric responded.
"It looks like there's a bridge connecting the two buildings, maybe we could use that to breach the warehouse," Deeks suggested.
"Have you got the building's blueprints?" Callen asked Eric who instantly picked up his tablet. In less than a minute, intimate details of the building's set up were displayed before them.
Kensi moved closer, raising her finger to point as she thought out loud. "We need to cover the bridge as well as the front and rear exits. Eric can we get LAPD support?"
"Sure," Eric responded.
"I'll make some calls," Deeks offered.
"The area is open so if they're expecting a breach, they'll be expecting it at night," Callen thought aloud.
"So we go in, in broad daylight," Sam said with a knowing smile.
"Sounds good to me," Callen nodded his head in approval. He turned to Nell. "Did you have any luck with Kyle's uncle, Jeremy Mason?"
"Stonewalled by Washington, so Hetty's on the case. I've also been monitoring all electronic communications connected to both Mason's as well as scanning for chatter relating to kidnapped Americans. There's nothing at all. No mention of anything from any radical groups and no ransom demands have been made – certainly as far as we can tell." Nell chewed on her bottom lip, not happy about the lack of progress she had made.
"I'm not liking this case," Sam repeated his words from earlier and Callen turned to look sharply at his partner. Gut feelings were usually correct in this line of work and Callen had to admit that he agreed with Sam. Something was off. But they did have an address where Lance Corporal Mason may be held.
"I'm not liking this either," Callen admitted to his team. "Eric, Deeks, make those calls to LAPD. We'll be in the armoury."
"Hey, are you sure Hetty's cleared you for tactical ops?" Kensi asked, following Callen who was already walking rapidly towards the armoury.
"Yes I'm sure," came the confident response from Callen as he continued walking with one purpose in mind – to ensure Hetty did not spot him and confine him to Ops.
"I'm not so sure," Sam muttered to Kensi, who smiled and shook her head, knowing that if it came down to it, Callen would only listen to Hetty.
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Two hours later and with LAPD back up, the NCIS team raided the warehouse. The raid was quick and efficient and within minutes it was clear the only occupant was Mason tied to a chair with a gag covering his mouth. Nell and Eric had monitored footage of the warehouse and surrounding roads and could find no evidence of anyone having left in the build up. In fact the only vehicle to have left was the van that had transported Mason to the building in the first place. The team could only surmise that when the van had pulled out of the warehouse with only the driver visible, the rest of the bad guys were safely hidden from sight in the rear.
"Do you think Boris tipped them off?" Sam asked, his arm resting on his assault rifle which was slung across his body.
"I don't know, but I don't trust him," Callen replied cautiously.
"G, you don't trust anyone," Sam said, thinking that once again gut instinct seemed to be playing a heavy part in this case.
Callen held Sam's gaze and tapped his ear. "Eric,"
"Yes Callen," Eric said from the Ops centre.
"Can you put a trace on all calls made and received by Boris Kozlov since we arrived at the hotel this morning? No, make that over the past two weeks. And do the same with calls in and out of the Russian consulate and the Embassy – all locations in the US."
"Sure thing, I'll soon find out what Boris the Russian has been up to, don't you worry," amusement was evident in Eric's voice as he signed off to search phone records.
"What did I say Callen?" Deeks asked as he and Kensi wandered over to where Sam and Callen were conversing. "All Russians are called Boris, and I bet he just loves Vodka."
Callen shot Deeks a withering look and raised his eyebrows. This case was making no sense but Deeks was right in some ways – there was a very strong Russian connection, whether it was from a man named Boris or some other powerful arm of the Russian Government. Callen realised it was time to pay Arkady that visit which had been intended for earlier.
"I think we need to see Arkady next, but how's Mason doing?" Callen asked.
"He's fine considering," Kensi responded. "A little bruised from where he was forced in the van but the EMTs have confirmed he's fit for interview."
Kensi glanced towards the warehouse entrance. The large roller doors were now fully open and an ambulance together with several squad cars filled the space immediately outside. Mason was sitting on the rear steps of the ambulance, talking calmly to an EMT and LAPD officer.
"In fact he barely seems affected," Kensi said, looking back at the team.
"He's a marine," Sam commented. "It's how he's trained to behave."
"Interesting," Deeks said, cocking his head.
"What's interesting?" Sam asked.
"That soldiers are trained to respond in certain ways..." he trailed off, realising it would not be wise to remind Sam that dogs were also trained to behave. "I mean it makes it even more scary when that training breaks and a soldier cracks..."
"You been spending time with Nate again?" Sam was unsure whether Deeks was mocking him or being deadly serious.
"Just thinking," Deeks replied, grinning slightly at the confusion that was written across Sam's face.
"Well Dr Freud," Callen said. "Why don't you and Kensi take Mason to the boatshed and find out what happened and why. We'll see what Arkady knows about Russians named Boris"
"See Callen, you have to admit know that even you are obsessed with Russian's named Boris,"
"Deeks!" Callen glared at their LAPD liaison officer, who held his hands up in a mock gesture of defeat.
"I'm going, I'm going..." Kensi grabbed Deeks' arm and pulled him towards her SUV. "I'm gone...and have a vodka for me..."
Callen let out a loud sigh and turned towards Sam, a worried look in his eyes.
"Y'think Arkady'll have anything?" Sam asked.
"I hope so. Unless Mason knows something, Arkady may well be our last hope," Callen responded. His last chat with Arkady had been rather accusatory on his part, and he hoped the former KGB agent was in a forgiving mood.
They walked together to the Challenger. Sam opened the trunk and the pair removed their rifles, performing the routine safety checks before laying them in the cases. Callen was unstrapping his thigh holster when his cell rang. He removed it from the pocket of his Levi's and looked at the incoming caller. He took a deep breath and answered with a more positive tone than he felt.
"Hetty, did you manage to get anywhere with Director Vance? Can we speak to Jeremy Mason yet?" Callen thought it best to get his questions in first, attempting to deflect Hetty's thoughts away from the fact he had gone tactical with his team without running it past her first.
"Mr Callen, so glad you did not manage to compromise your team's safety." Hetty's manage to convey concern for Callen's well-being, with a voice that dripped with sarcasm.
"Hetty I can explain."
"I'm sure you can, Mr Callen, however you can explain in person. I need you back at Ops now," Hetty left no room for argument.
"But why? Sam and I were about to follow up on a lead," Callen knew it was fruitless to argue with Hetty but it was in his nature to at least try.
"That lead will have to wait. Return to Ops Mr Callen, I need to see you in my office immediately," Hetty hung up and Callen just stared at his cell.
"What the hell was that about?" he asked Sam, opening the car door and easing himself into the passenger seat.
"I have no idea, but it sounds like you're in trouble," Sam turned the key in the ignition and didn't even try to hide the broad smile that had crept onto his face.
"I'm glad you find this so amusing," Callen said.
"Oh I do. And you know what? I'm gonna drive us back to Ops with no stops, and then I'm going to deliver you right to Hetty's desk,"
"You would escort me right in to the dragon's den and then leave me there to die?" Callen questioned Sam's loyalty.
"Oh yeah," Sam pulled away from the warehouse and drove through the industrial estate. "I could do with a new partner. I think you've just about worn me out."
"Really? And who would you prefer? Deeks? The guy would drive you mad within an hour?" Callen leaned his elbow on the window frame.
"And you think you don't?" Sam retorted.
"That leaves Kensi then," Callen said thoughtfully. "Which would leave me with Deeks..."
"Oh yeah baby, what goes around comes around," Sam said in glee.
"I can handle Deeks," Callen said.
"Really? But can he handle you?" Sam was now smiling broadly as he pictured the team's most challenging agents paired up.
"Let's just get back to ops, before you start pairing Kensi and Eric up for field work," Callen raised his eyebrows in exasperation.
"Don't you worry, I'll deliver you to the dragon's den as promised," Sam beamed. "Then I might pay Arkady a visit for you."
"Y'know he won't speak to you," Callen reminded Sam that Arkady was rather particular with who he spoke with.
"That's why I'm taking Kensi with me," Sam's broad smile morphed in to a calculating smug smile. "You know Arkady will do anything for a pretty face."
"You're playing dirty," Callen complained.
"I know," Sam replied. "I have to, being partnered with you."
"Fine," Callen gave up. "Just drive."
Sam presses his foot hard on the accelerator and the Challenger shot forward. They would be back at The Mission within forty minutes and Sam was dying to see what trouble Callen had landed himself in with Hetty this time.