DiNozzo caught up with Gibbs easily as the man walked to the departure gate at the airport.
"Thought you were gonna leave without me Boss." He said with a grin.
"Told ya to be here an hour ago DiNozzo." Gibbs growled.
"Had some things to take care of, the fish needed to be taken to my neighbors." DiNozzo shot off his trademark megawatt smile and Gibbs sighed. "So the land of Sun, Sea and Movie stars?" He asked.
"Vance is sending us; We've both been to LA before." Gibbs replied.
"But you haven't said why we are going?" Tony asked, "Even Abby didn't know."
"It's top secret, I'll fill you in on the plane."
Tony smiled at the flight attendant as she handed him a coffee and turned to leave. Finally, he turned to Gibbs, "So, what's the job and why the secrecy?"
Gibbs, looking grim took a file out of his carry on bag and pulled the table down in front of Tony and opened the file.
"Damn!" Tony exclaimed, looking at the file, "There's no chance it's wrong?"
Gibbs shook his head. "No."
"But…?" Tony stopped for a moment, "He's your friend isn't he? I thought you trusted him?"
Gibbs sighed and looked out of the window at the clouds below. "Sometimes people you trust can let you down DiNozzo."
Tony nodded as if he understood, "But sometimes people have their reasons. Even reasons to betray their country."
"If it actually is his country." Gibbs said, "I need to be here for this, I need to take him down."
"Fair enough." Tony replied, "What's the play?"
"Catch him in the act, arrest his contacts and take him down." Gibbs told him.
"Gibbs…" Tony started as his boss looked again out the window, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too DiNozzo."
Callen finished putting on his suit as Anna turned around at her dresser.
"Callen, will you help me with this necklace?" She asked.
He smiled and took the diamond necklace out of the box, looking appreciatively at the way the teardrop diamond lay against her skin as he did up the clasp.
He let his hand run down the side of her neck to her shoulder, "Beautiful." He sighed.
Anna smiled at him. "Thank you."
"You know the play for tonight?"
Anna nodded, "We hand over the first part of the information, and see if we can meet with the person in charge, collect our money and leave."
Less than an hour later, having lost Sam in the maze of evening traffic, Callen and Anna pulled up outside the restaurant, handing the valet the keys they entered.
"Callen, party of three." Callen said to the maitre d, who looked at his list.
"Ah… yes, your guest has already arrived, please follow me." He walked to a booth at the back.
Callen's eyes were fixed at the table and his guest, he put his hand on the small of Anna's back and ignoring the other guests in the restaurant he walked through and held out her chair as she sat.
"Callen?" The elder man said as he sat down.
Callen nodded, "You alone?" He asked.
"Of course." The man said, "Do you have the information."
"I have enough to get your interest." Callen said, "The rest will come when I'm sure I can trust you."
The man laughed, "You're the one selling out your country."
It was Callen's turn to laugh, "Not my country, not yours either so I hear."
The man smiled, "You are correct in that."
Callen pushed the envelope across to him, "So you picked the restaurant, what do you recommend?"
"The Veal Picatta is good, or the pasta."
Callen nodded, "Very well."
He turned to order and they ate, not noticing the annoyed eyes of the man who was standing behind a plant, watching and taking in every word.
After the meal Callen handed over an envelope, the man scanned the writing on the paper inside. "This is current information?" He asked.
"It is… Now, my money." Callen insisted. He smirked as he was handed an envelope. He opened it and quickly counting the money inside smiled as he slipped it into his jacket.
The next morning Sam walked into Hetty's office before Kensi and Deeks arrived at work.
"Do you have G on an undercover mission alone."
"Mr. Callen is on sick leave." Hetty told him. "He has a note from his doctor signing him off for the next week."
"What's wrong with him?" Sam asked.
"Stress." Hetty replied.
"Bull!" Sam snapped. "Callen, off with stress, seriously Hetty?"
Hetty looked at him, "I have told you all I am able to Mr. Hanna, now… Go and round up your team and get your overdue paperwork done."
Hetty watched with a resigned look on her face as Sam walked back to the bullpen.
"I am sorry, Mr. Hanna." She sighed softly, turning to her desk and opening the folder on it as Granger walked into the enclosure and sat down.
"Any word on Callen?" Granger asked.
"He hasn't returned my calls, you?" She asked.
"He met with a man, Italian I think last night. Handed something over. I think it's time for phase 2. I have the footage, I haven't run it past those tech geeks of yours."
"Jethro will be here in about 20 mins, we need to get the team read in then." Hetty said quietly.
"Go upstairs and fill in the team," Granger sighed, "I'll wait for Gibbs."
Hetty sighed, looking older than her years and started, what seemed to her like, the long climb up to the operations center.
A few moments after she entered a shocked looking Eric came up and leaned over the balcony.
"We have a case." He said and turned leaving a shocked looking team to follow him up the stairs.
"We're a man down Hetty." Sam told her as he walked in, "Unless Granger is going to join us?"
"All non essential personnel out now." Hetty said and waited as the support staff, minus Eric and Nell left the room. Hetty nodded to Nell, who pressed a button and the room sealed itself off."
"Hetty?" Sam asked as he look over at Kensi and Deeks who were just as confused as he was.
Hetty took a deep breath and nodded towards an upset looking Nell.
Sam looked at the screen and took a deep indrawn breath as he looked at the face of his partner.
"As of now. Mr. Callen is considered NCIS's top priority. We have Agents coming from D.C."
"Has he been kidnapped Hetty?" Sam asked stepping forward.
"No Mr. Hanna. Mr. Callen is our mole."
Hetty waited as the team all voiced their disbelief as one, it was hard for her not to smile at the way they defended one of their own.
"Run the footage." Hetty said to Nell.
"This is Angelini's, last night. Mr. Callen and Ms Kolcheck arrived at 9pm and met a contact there." Nell said, the picture changed to the inside of the restaurant, Callen and Anna could be seen, however the third man at the table had picked that spot as it was a blind spot for the cameras. They watched as they talked for a while."
"It's not a crime to have dinner, and he looks relaxed and happy." Sam said.
"Wait." Hetty said and nodded to Nell, who forwarded the footage a bit.
Callen took an envelope out of his jacket and slid it across the table to the man whose hand came into view as did the back of his head as he took the paper out to examine it. He nodded and handed Callen an envelope of cash, which was unmistakable as Callen opened it to see and counted it quickly before placing it inside his jacket."
"No… No way?!" Sam exclaimed, "There is no way G is on the take."
Kensi was staring at Callen lip reading his words and shaking her head. "No…!" she threw her hand across her mouth is shock.
"What did he say?" Sam asked, turning to her.
"He said, 'Not my country, not yours either, so I hear.' Callen is the mole." Kensi gasped, looking betrayed.
"There is no way. I don't believe it!" Sam said, glaring at Hetty not even noticing the doors behind him opening and Granger entering.
"Accept it Agent Hanna, if you won't hunt your partner down then stand down. I have Agent Gibbs and Agent DiNozzo here with the evidence that they have gathered that proves Callens guilt." He growled.
Sam whirled on him, "You are his friend, he trusts you. You know this is wrong."
"It's not wrong, Callen's been playing us for years. We have the proof, he's a Russian sleeper agent and he's been working with several underground groups in Europe. The information Callen handed over was the movement of several terrorists due to take place from Guantanamo next month. It was accessed from here and has the name of a few prominent people on it. This has had to be postponed now. He could have got good agents killed. He's also responsible for handing information over to Sergei Mishnev a Russian who shot down a Helicopter McGee and I were in last year, trying to kill us as I had a score with Sergei and Callen knew I was getting close to finding out he was the mole."
"Also, we have other information." Hetty said grimly, "As some of you know there was a bombing in Egypt last year, we lost an Agent."
Gibbs and Tony looked sad at that, they had known Agent Dorneget well.
"We have been looking into the origins of the group known as The Calling. We discovered this group is huge and has been around since the early 80's and the rise of the internet recruiting vulnerable teenagers into their ranks, placing them in strategic positions as sleeper agents. Callen was recruited in 1985, he was placed with me to lead him on this path. We thought that we had the head of The Calling earlier this year, now we know we were wrong." Gibbs said, "In '85 Callen was ripe for turning."
"But that isn't who he is now." Sam argued.
"Exactly WHO is he?" Tony asked. "I mean… How much do we truly know about him?"
Deeks looked grim as he answered his friend, "Good Question."