A/N - This chapter was already started when I got a review from OhBuddy66 with an idea that sent me off in a slightly different direction. That led to a rewrite of the beginning. Thanks!

A/N 2 - As always, thanks to honus47 for reviewing!

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Chapter 62

Nell pulled up to Deeks's place. She'd debated going to Kensi's but figured her friend had just as many clothes here as at her apartment and it would give her a chance to let Monty out and give him some well needed attention. They'd all been taking turns with the dog since Kensi'd been allowed to stay with Deeks, but she knew he must be missing his people. She let herself in with the key they'd given her for emergencies and never noticed the car parked up the street. She turned on the light and was met by an ecstatic Monty who kept rolling over for belly rubs. She laughed at him and sat on the floor to give him the love he was looking for.

She finally got up, let him out to do his business and went up to their room, feeling somewhat uncomfortable about invading their privacy. She opened the closet and pulled out a duffle bag that was exactly where Kensi'd told her it would be. She threw some comfortable clothes, sweats, t-shirts and underwear into the bag. Moving into the master bathroom, she grabbed some toiletries. The combination of their stuff, co-mingling on the shower shelf, under the sink and in the medicine cabinet, caused her breath to hitch. Deeks just had to be okay. She couldn't imagine one without the other and the sight of all their things, in one place, just felt right.

Finished, she turned out the light and headed back downstairs. She let Monty back in and put some food in his dish. She was surprised when the mellow pup looked up from his dish and bared his teeth, a low growl rumbling deep in his throat. She turned in time to see a figure headed her way. Her training kicked in and she dove behind the breakfast bar, scrambling to pull her gun out. She held it out in front of her and watched the dog do a stiff legged walk out of her line of vision, the growling growing in volume. Popping up she yelled "Federal Agent" and ducked just as a bullet whizzed by her head. She heard a scream and popped up again to see Monty hanging off the man she know recognized as Carl Robinson, his teeth buried deep in the man's thigh. She yelled "Federal Agent, drop your weapon!" just as he hit Monty in the head with his gun. The dog yelped and let go, collapsing to the ground. He drew back his leg to kick the downed dog and Nell fired, catching him in the shoulder. He turned and ran out the now open front door.

She ran after him but he wasn't in sight when she reached the door. She carefully stepped out in time to see a car racing by, a gun aimed out the window. She ducked back inside and heard another bullet hit the door where her head had just been. She stuck her head back outside in time to see it disappear around the corner. She pulled out her phone and called ops as she raced back inside to check on Monty. The dog was breathing but out cold.

"Nell?"

"Eric, I'm at Deeks's place! Robinson was just here. I shot him in the shoulder but he got away. Monty attacked him after he shot at me. I'm going to take him to the vet; I think he might be hurt bad!" She had the name and address of Monty's vet from the various times she had watched the dog when Deeks and Kensi were away.

"Wait, what? Robinson was there and shot at you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thanks to Monty. Can you search traffic cams for the area around here to see if you can find a black Chevy Malibu heading east, away from here?"

"On it!"

"Let me know what you find out. Let Sam and Callen know that he was here and waiting. Maybe they can find out if Carson was the one who provided Robinson with Deeks's address. I'm heading to the vet now and then I'll head back to the hospital. "

"Will do. I'll also start checking local hospitals for gunshot wounds but you heard them on the tape, Parks has his own network of doctors so Robinson'll probably head to one of them. Please, Nell, stay safe! Come back to me in one piece!"

"Always, Eric."

She hung up from him and slung the duffle over her shoulder and gently picked up Monty. Thank goodness he wasn't a large dog; she could barely manage him as it was. She placed the dog gently in the back seat of her Mini Cooper and threw the bag in the front. She ran back up to the house and locked it up. She ran back to the car and took a moment to run her hand over Monty's head. "You stay with us, you hear? The last thing Kensi needs is for you to die on her. And Deeks would be devastated without his little buddy. Please, Monty, please be okay!" She wiped the tears from her face and sped away to the vet.

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Kensi looked up from the sight of her fingers linked with Deeks. The knock on the bathroom door was almost immediately followed by the sound of Nell's voice.

"Kensi? It's me. I brought your clothes."

"Come on in."

Nell entered the room with a small bag full of clothes and toiletries. She handed them to Kensi and looked at Deeks.

"How is he?"

"He's doing good. The move down here didn't seem to have any negative impact. Moira says she might be able to take him off the ventilator either tomorrow or the next day."

"That's great news!"

"It really is. Any news on Carson?"

"They've taken him to the boatshed but he asked for a lawyer as soon as they arrested him here. I think the boys are going to try to get something out of him before that happens." She looked at Kensi's rumpled clothes. "Why don't you go take a shower and get into some clean clothes? I'll guard him while you're gone." She lifted the edge of her shirt to show she had her gun.

"You're a god send Nell. I won't be long." Kensi moved into the bathroom and shut the door. The shared bathroom had a shower stall, unlike most of them.

Nell heard the water start and then moved over to the bed. She stared down at his pale, quiet form and reached out to stroke the side of his face. "You need to come back to us, Shaggy. She needs you. We all need you. It's not the same at OSP without you. There's no one to make silly comments to break the tension. No one to give us new nicknames. You were already here when I started but I've heard stories from Eric. Kensi was reckless and so closed off. He says you've changed her, for the better. She's my best friend; I don't want to see her go back to that. He said it wasn't as much fun to be around her back then. I can't even imagine that. You need to know that I just had to take Monty to the vet. Robinson was waiting at your place and Monty saved my life. He's going to be just fine, he's just a little bruised, nothing was broken but they're keeping him overnight. He's my hero, just like you." She looked up when the water turned off. Leaning down, she kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear. "We love you Shaggy."

When Kensi came back into the room, dressed in fresh clothes and looking more human, she found Nell sitting by his bedside, his hand in hers. With any other woman, the jealousy would have raised its ugly head but Nell was like her sister and Deeks was Nell's surrogate big brother. She knew her friend was worried about him and that she cared about him very much but, something was off.

"Nell?"

"What?"

"What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing, nothing's wrong."

"Nell, I know you. There's something wrong and you need to tell me what it is, right now."

"Why is it I can never keep anything from you?"

"So there is something! Out with it Nell!"

Nell sighed and said "Robinson was waiting at Deeks's place when I got there. I had just gotten your clothes together and let Monty back in. He took a shot at me and Monty attacked him. Robinson hit him and then I shot him in the shoulder. Monty's with the vet, who says he should be just fine."

"That bastard! How about you? Are you okay?" She ran a practiced eye over Nell's body, looking for telltale signs of injuries.

"I'm fine." She looked back down at Deeks. "I just wish I'd aimed for the heart."

"No, you don't. You were following your training, trying to keep yourself safe and at the same time, take a suspect alive to find out what he knows. You'll never be someone who'll kill another for revenge. Did you let OSP know?"

"Yeah, I spoke to Eric and he's trying to locate him on traffic cams and he's checking the hospitals."

"This has to end. We can only hope that Carson gives us something we can use!"

"You know they'll do everything they can."

"I know." She yawned widely.

"Hetty told me to stay as long as I was needed. You want to take a quick nap?"

"I'm not sure I can sleep now. "

"Try anyways; I'll keep watch over him."

Kensi smiled. "Thanks Nell." She lay down on the cot and was asleep in seconds. Nell knew she must be exhausted to able to sleep right now. She turned back to Deeks and started to softly talk to him, telling him about her family back home.

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"He's insisting on a lawyer. Won't say anything else." Callen said as he and Sam walked into the main room of the boatshed where Granger was watching the interrogation on the monitor.

"Maybe he'll talk to me."

"We need him alive, Granger." Callen raised an eyebrow at the Assistant Director.

"Oh, he'll be...alive...when I'm done."

Granger started towards the room where Carson waited when Eric popped up on the monitor. "Callen?"

"Tell me you found something Eric."

Eric nodded and said "Yup! Foreign and domestic."

"Thanks man!" Callen turned and grinned at Sam. He looked at Granger. "Let us have one more crack at him." Granger nodded.

Carson looked up when the two came back through the door and immediately said "I want my lawyer."

Callen sat down and smirked at him. "You're a federal agent; you know what the Patriot Act is."

"I do and, as I'm not a terrorist, it doesn't apply to me."

"You work for McGonagle, McGonagle works for Parks. Parks is an arms dealer who has sold weapons to terrorists both foreign and domestic. Ergo, you work for a terrorist and everything you've done does fall under the Patriot Act."

"Ergo, G?" asked Sam.

"Word of the day from that calendar you gave me for Christmas last year. Didn't think I'd actually get the chance to use it today."

"Good job, good job. Glad to see you expanding your vocabulary."

Carson looked from one to the other, not sure if he should take what they were saying seriously or not. "You'll never make it stick."

Callen slammed his hands down on the table and said "You committed treason and attacked a federal agent."

"I didn't know it was a federal agent in that room, I thought it was Deeks!"

"Deeks is a federal agent." Said Sam.

Carson's hands clenched on the table but he didn't say anything. Sam and Callen noticed his reaction but didn't look at each other.

"Why did you agree to kill a federal agent for McGonagle? Especially this one? You had to know that Deeks is an integral part of my team and no one, all the way up to Director Vance, would let this go!" said Callen.

"He isn't an agent! He's just a stupid LAPD cop! He shouldn't been given that spot on your team! That should have been mine! I was senior agent when Dom went missing. I'm sorry about what happened to him, I really am, but there is no way that scruffy cop should have been assigned to your team! Everyone knows it's the elite team, the one that gets all the high profile cases, all the glory! It should have been me, not him!"

The door opened and Hetty stood there. "And that, Mr. Carson, is exactly why you would never have been given a spot on Mr. Callen's team, whether Mr. Deeks accepted the Liaison position or not. Now, you need to cooperate with us or I will do everything in my power to see you sent to Gitmo for a very, very long time."

Carson looked from Hetty to the two agents in front of him and his shoulders slumped. "McGonagle approached me at a bar a couple months ago. I didn't know who he was. He was just someone who struck up a conversation. We hit it off and one night, I got a little drunk and complained about Deeks taking what I had expected to be my spot. I was angry and when he felt me out about giving him some information on Deeks, I thought I could get Deeks in trouble, off the team and make a little extra on the side at the same time. I never thought he wanted to kill him! I gave McGonagle what he wanted in exchange for a significant amount of money to me, pocket change to him. It wasn't much info, just his background, what he did for NCIS, who he was partnered with; if I knew any place he went to all the time. By the time I found out why he wanted the information, he already had it all. I still don't see it as betraying NCIS! He wasn't, and isn't, an NCIS agent."

"Mr. Deeks's is close as anyone can ever come without actually being an agent, Mr. Carson, and he is as important to us as any other NCIS agent at OSP. Where is Mr. McGonagle?" Asked Hetty.

"I don't know. I never had an address for him. He only contacted me by burner phone or at the bar."

"Did you kill Officer Pastor? Did you help McGonagle escape from his custody?" asked Callen.

"No. I got a call after Deeks went missing and was just told that if I heard anything about him being found, to be sure to be on the rescue team and to be on the east side of whatever building we were searching, if I couldn't get them a warning in time to close up shop. I was to make sure it was clear of everyone, federal or cop. I just did what I was told and McGonagle showed up, already free. I just made sure the coast was clear and didn't sound the alarm."

"Did you give out information on any other agents?" asked Sam. Carson looked at him and knew the answer was likely to get him hurt. He didn't respond. Sam asked again "Did you give out information on any other agents?!"

"You need to understand, I was in too deep at that point. I'd given out confidential information on Deeks in exchange for payment. He threatened to let NCIS know I was a mole. It would have been the end of my career! Plus, McGonagle? He's insane. I was in fear for my life!"

"I'm only going to ask you one more time. Did you give out information on any other agents?" At this point, Sam was standing, his fists clenched by his sides.

Softly he said "Yes."

Callen stood up and put his hands on his partner's chest as he started towards Carson. "Sam! You need to step outside."

"He gave out information on me, G. On my family! McGonagle knew Michelle's name, knew I have kids. He could know where I live."

"No! I didn't give out your address! And I only gave them Deeks's yesterday."

"And he sent Robinson to watch Deeks's place where he attacked Nell Jones today, shot at her, twice!" said Callen.

"I didn't know that would happen! I never wanted anyone to get hurt other than Deeks!"

"So you knew Deeks was going to be abducted and tortured and you let it happen?" Callen looked at him incredulously.

"No, I mean I knew they were going to take him but I never knew anything about torture, I thought they were just going to rough him up a little! I would have given myself up if I had known what was going to happen. Once it was over, there was nothing I could do."

"Nothing but let that sick bastard escape and then try to kill Deeks yourself! How much was Deeks's life worth?" Sam yelled.

Carson cringed back in his chair, trying to put as much distance between himself and the furious ex-Seal. "Ten grand but I didn't have a choice by then!"

"Were you working with anyone from LAPD?" asked Hetty.

"No. If McGonagle has someone in LAPD, he never mentioned it to me."

"Were you working with anyone else at NCIS?" Asked Callen.

"No! Again, if he had anyone else inside NCIS, he never told me!"

Callen turned away from him in disgust. "I doubt we'll get anymore from him right now. Let's leave him alone to see if he can come up with any additional information that will help us…" he looked back at Carson "…and himself."

The others nodded and left the room, leaving the defeated soon-to-be ex-NCIS agent sitting at the table. Outside they walked up to where Granger had been watching on the screen. He turned to them and said "Do you believe he's told us everything he knows?"

"Yeah, I don't think he's hiding anything from us at this point." Said Callen. "What I don't understand is why the significant amount of money he mentioned getting paid never showed up in our financial analysis." He picked up his phone and dialed Eric.

"Yo Callen. Did you get what you needed from Carson?"

"We did, Eric. Thanks for the info on Parks; it was just what we needed. He said that McGonagle paid him money for inside information. Did nothing turn up in his financials?"

"No, nothing. He does have a safety deposit box at Pacific National. Do you want me to initiate getting a warrant for it? We have probable cause now."

"Yeah, do it. He wasn't able to give us any information on who, or if, there's a mole inside LAPD. Keep looking into everyone, including the other NCIS agents, just in case Carson wasn't the only one here."

"Got it."

Callen hung up and turned back to the group. "Ok, we've probably plugged the leak here but we still don't know about LAPD. Deeks could still be in danger and we're no closer to getting McGonagle or Robinson." His frustration was clear in his voice.

Granger stood thoughtfully. "We have Carson's personal effects. Was his cell phone among them?"

"Yeah." Said Sam.

"Get it. McGonagle may not know yet that Carson was caught. We'll have Carson call and tell him Deeks is dead and that he wants his payment."

"Do you think we can trust him to not tip McGonagle off?" Asked Callen.

"It's the only play we have right now if we want to end this any time soon."

Grabbing the personal effects envelope, Callen dug out Carson's cell phone. He walked back into the room with Granger. Sam had tried to go with them but the others had felt he was compromised, which hadn't set well with the big man. Hetty elected to stay back with him.

Carson looked up when the door opened, afraid to see Sam entering. He wasn't sure he was any happier to see Granger. The man had a reputation. Callen threw the phone down in front of him. "You're going to call McGonagle right now. You're going to tell him that you succeeded and Deeks is dead. Set up a meet with him to get your payment, as soon as possible. Tell him you want to get out of town for a while until things die down and you need the money now."

"He'll kill me if he finds out I set him up. You saw what he did to Deeks and he wasn't even angry with him!"

"I can always go get Sam and leave you two to work this out alone." Growled Granger.

Carson swallowed hard and picked up the phone. He dialed the burner number but got voicemail. "Hi. It's Carson. It's done and I want my payment. Things are getting too hot around here right now and I want to get out of town for a while. I need the money now. Call me as soon as you get this."

He hung up and said "It's done. Now what?"

"Now we wait."