Set anytime in the series after Deeks joins the fun. Deeks has a secret.
I can't tell you all how hard this chapter was to write. As the fight gets closer and closer, OMG is this getting hard. This story was supposed to be a light-hearted look into Deeks' personal life and look what we have! I promise, I am working on it. I appreciate all you folks who have hung in there with me. I make no promises on when the next update will be but I will NEVER abandon a story. I learned a long time ago that if you write yourself into a corner, even if you've already posted a chapter, go back and re-write. Readers appreciate it when you give them a good story even if it takes a couple of tries. That's why I love you all and this site. Thanks.
Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one. I'm just writing them as I want to see them.
Reviews are a writer's coffee, they keep us going.
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Callen & Kensi arrived at the Mission to find more than the FISA warrant waiting for them. Eric pounced on them as soon as they walked through the door. "Callen! I've got something you need see." He turned and headed back into ops.
Callen & Kensi looked at each other with some worry on their faces before heading up to ops. They walked into ops, "What'cha got Eric?"
"I was bothered by the similarities between the two encryptions and decided to play out a hunch. I created a fake database with the same firewalls that the DOD used. I ran the encryption on it and found something amazing. It has a self-destruct built in. When I ran it, it stopped at the same point as the DOD attack stopped. It wasn't the firewalls that stopped it. It was designed to stop or fail after so long."
"What? That doesn't make any sense."
"It does if it's only supposed to pull our attention from something else." Nell added. "Like something going on at an MMA fight tonight." Nell handed Callen a sheaf of paper. "Here's your warrant. It's very specific, you can only access the security footage from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. And only the footage from cameras pointing out from the building." Callen gave her a look of disbelief. "It was the only way we could get the warrant so fast."
"So we have an MMA fight, a promoter whose strings are being pulled, a tangible connection to Deeks' opponent's manager and a fake attack against the DOD. What is the connection?" Callen asked.
"Whatever is going on, it should happen tonight. And we need that security footage to see if we can find whoever launched the attack. I've already called security for the building. They're waiting for you." Nell added.
Callen smirked at the petite analyst. "Come on Kens. I guess we have to go now." Kensi was looking down trying to hide her smile as they left.
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Deeks and Sam entered the arena and headed for their locker room. Sam giving instructions, "Eric said he had this area and the arena covered. We need coverage in the locker room areas and the tunnels. I'll take the locker rooms and you walk the halls. Do your pre-fight ritual; get a feel for the arena and the area around you. Walk the building," deciding to kill two birds with one stone, "also, use it as a warm up. Do some stretching or something while you're out there." Sam smiled at him.
They walked into the locker room that had been assigned to them. They put their earwigs in and attached their own button cams. They grabbed all the mic/cameras and the deletion device, locked up the rest of their gear and went about their tasks.
Deeks was wondering down a tunnel, placing cameras every 50 feet or so when he spotted someone coming towards him. The man was wearing a suit and tie and had short cropped hair but it was his eyes that caught Deeks attention. They were watching Deeks while also checking everything around him.
Deeks played it cool and simple with a relaxed "Hey" to the man as he was trying to pass him.
"Excuse me, sir. But this area is off limits to all except employees." He told Deeks.
"Oh, sorry. I'm fighting here tonight and I'm just wandering around. You know, getting the vibe of the place." Deeks tried to continue on his way.
The man stopped Deeks by taking a step back and placing a hand on Deeks' chest, "You'll need to leave the area."
Deeks looked at the hand on his chest then looked at the man in front of him. "I'll be happy to go back to the locker rooms if you'll tell me how to get out of here." He didn't blink at the man and his voice held a slight edge.
The man removed his hand and pointed behind Deeks. Deeks turned around and palmed a camera. He casually threw his arm over the other man's shoulder as they walked back to the locker room area. Carefully he placed the camera on the lapel of his jacket. He looked down at the man and noticed the man was wearing an earwig. "Thanks for the help man, I appreciate it."
"Please remove your hand from my shoulder, sir." The man politely said while glaring at him.
Deeks quickly jerked his hand off the man's shoulder and introduced himself, "I'm Jason Wyler."
"I know," was all the man said.
"Oh-kay. Do you know where I can walk around here? I walk to center myself before a fight. It lets me relax." Deeks wanted to know but the man remained silent and just kept walking towards the locker rooms.
The man left him at the junction of the hallway they had been walking in and the one that was used for the locker rooms. Deeks continued on towards the locker rooms; the man watched while Deeks entered the one assigned to him before turning around and leaving the area.
Deeks entered the locker room and immediately asked, "Eric? Do you have that?" Sam's head shot up at the question.
"Deeks that was smooth! Yes, it worked. We now have audio and visual for wherever he goes. At least until he changes jackets."
"Do you have a name for him?" Deeks asked.
"Not yet, but we're running it. I can tell you he doesn't work for the arena." Eric replied.
"Eric, what's going on?" Sam wanted to know.
"Deeks was smooth. He slipped at camera/mic combo onto the guy that stopped him down by the loading docks."
Sam smiled at Deeks, "Smooth."
"Eric," Deeks continued, "He had an earwig in. Maybe you can hack the frequency; hear what they're talking about."
"On it. All the cameras are up and working. You guys are done for now." Eric informed them. "Oh, Sam? Did you get the deletion device in place?"
"Yes I did Eric." Sam sounded exasperated with the question. Taking a little control over the situation, "Deeks is going to take out his coms for now so he can focus on the fight. If you need him, let me know."
"You got it, Sam. Break a leg, Deeks."
"That's just mean, Eric." Deeks exclaimed.
"That's not what I meant! Actors always say break a leg instead of..." Eric hastily tried to explain.
"I know." Deeks smiled at Sam who smirked back.
Eric heard the smile on his friend's face. "Not nice!" Eric said back before cutting the coms link.
"Deeks, you have weigh-in and ref's meeting in about 30 minutes. There are 3 fights before yours, so rest now, eat after weigh-in and then we will do a warm up." Sam looked at his fighter. He saw something that made him a little cautious. "Are you alright?"
Deeks was lost for several moments before answering, "I'm…Yea. I'm fine."
"Spill it."
Deeks gave a strange chuckle. "I just never thought we would be here."
"Here?"
"Here. Getting ready for a fight. Well this type of fight and with me being the fighter, you the trainer. I could see you getting ready for a fight and me working behind the scenes, working on the case. Not the two of us, here, away from the case, leaving our partners without partners."
"Our partners are fine, they have each other and we have a fight. You are good to go. You have worked very hard and are ready for this fight. Just relax and know that this team, your team, has your back. Don't forget that." He looked Deeks in the face. "Right now though, you have to get your head around this fight. You need to let the rest go."
"Right. Let it go, just like that. Concentrate and not worry. Just..like..that."
"Yes. You are an undercover LAPD officer. 'Go method' as you say." Sam was openly laughing at him. "Now, you've lost your chance to rest before the weigh-in. Get changed. We have work to do." Sam grabbed his own bag to get changed as well.
When Deeks hadn't moved to change, Sam grabbed a punching mitt and threw it at him. Deeks was so lost in space that he didn't see it until it hit him directly in the face. "Sam!"
"Get changed. Time to go to work." Sam's countenance had become deadly serious.
Deeks threw the mitt back at Sam purposely not hitting him with it and turned to get changed.
"I'm going to go find Polson. Make sure he understands what we need for him to do." Sam said as he left the locker room.
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Callen and Kensi arrived at the medical building and proceeded to the security office. They asked for the head of security and waited only a few seconds before a surly looking older man came out from a tiny office. "You the feds?"
"Yes, sir. NCIS Special Agent Callen and this is Special Agent Blye." Callen held out his hand for the customary greeting only to be left with his hand empty and handing in air.
"You got the warrant? I'm not releasing anything without it."
Kensi didn't say anything as she handed over the extensive warrant.
Surly man looked at the extensive stack of papers with skepticism. "You gotta be kiddin' me."
"No sir." Callen informed him, "This warrant covers all outside cameras for the times specified. We aren't interested in any of the interior cameras. We're just trying to find out who was here last night."
Mr. Surly pointed to a man sitting behind a bank of monitors. "He'll get you want you want." To show how important he felt he was, he turned to the man, "get them the copies they need. Outside cameras from 6pm last night until 7am this morning." He took the warrant and went back into his cubicle of an office and shut the door.
"Ignore him. We all do. He thinks he's better than this job and does his best to try and make everyone else as miserable as he is. He wasn't even here when your office called. I've copied what you asked for." He held up a thumb drive.
"Thanks, but the warrant states that we have to watch you do the work." Kensi let him know, "Chain of evidence."
"That's fine. This job isn't exactly action packed. I have the time." The man smiled at her with a chuckle. Kensi smirked at him and joined him behind the monitors to watch him do the work.
"I'm going to walk the perimeter and see if I can find anything." Callen said as he left.
Kensi joined Callen outside after about10 minutes. "You got the video footage?"
"Yea. That guy in there, the one who does all the work? He was wondering if you wanted to join him for a drink tonight." Kensi chuckled at him.
Callen gave her an 'are you kidding me' look.
"Relax, I told him you were otherwise occupied tonight and most nights." Kensi was laughing at him. "Did you find anything out here?"
"Yea. Over there." He pointed to place about 100 feet in front of them. "There's some trampled down grass where there really should be. And it's hugging the wall, like someone was sitting or standing there."
"Think that's our guy?"
"I don't know. Probably." Callen had been trying to see which camera or cameras covered that spot. "Great. I think that's a blind spot."
Kensi was moving forward to use both her tracking skills and forensic knowledge to see if she could tell what had been there. "Well, even it if it is, Eric should be able to see anyone who came near this spot. Unless whoever it was, was here before 6pm."
"I don't think they were. They ran too big a risk at being caught while there were people coming and going from the building. If these guys are the pros we think they are, they were here after the building closed for the day. You get anything from the area?"
Kensi stood up, "No. Nothing stands out."
"Alright. Let's head back and see what Eric can do with that." Callen pointed to the thumb drive in Kensi's hand.
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