Watching carefully, Marco had seen various members of the Los Angeles team going in and out of the hospital confirming his suspicion that Callen was still a resident.
He had used the unobserved time carefully.
He'd gone back to his hotel room, picking up the list he'd left there.
Knowing Gibbs as he did, he had known that the man was all case and wouldn't have gotten around to going back to his own hotel room to sleep. He was right, the room was untouched, the list just where he'd left it. He was pleased that Alexei had died, but Callen still needed to go. His father wasn't just any father. He had been a special man and there was no way either Callen or Alexei would be allowed to live. He didn't know how Callen had done it, but he was convinced that he had poisoned his father.
After a shower and a change of clothes and taking Gibbs' back up weapon from his former boss's bag. He headed off to the hospital, he needed to know if Callen was dead or not.
He'd walked into the hospital, stopping at the cafeteria and getting himself some coffee and food watching as people, including team members, walked in and out of the building not noticing him there.
He smirked behind his coffee as Kensi and Deeks stopped not less than 5 meters from him stocking up on coffee's for the team. Sitting with his back to them, he listened as Deeks reassured Kensi that Callen would be ok.
He shook his head slightly as all the information he needed was quietly spoken behind him. All except, to his frustration, the name Callen was registered under and the room he was in. But, not to worry, he had time and he would get his revenge.
He moved from the cafeteria and took up position in a car in the parking lot.
He hated using such an old, generic car. The '97 blue Datsun was old and slightly dirty, but he'd picked it up from a breakers yard for cheap and it would do until he scrapped it in a few hours. The one thing he had always been grateful for was the fact that The Calling had deep pockets and an emergency fund that he could access as needed. He looked at his bag, slightly open on the seat beside him. He would have to get some more weapons. He knew that, for a while Callen wasn't going anywhere, so he put in a call to collect more weapons and supplies. There were a few things he did want to do before he killed Callen. After all Callen had hurt him badly. This wasn't just about The Calling now, this was personal. He smiled as he watched the two people who were next on his list leave the hospital together. Maybe stocking up on weapons could wait.
He put the car in drive and followed as they left the grounds, keeping far enough back that the occupants of the car in front wouldn't realize they were being tailed.
Callen paced his room as Sam sat in the chair watching him. He'd gotten dressed, which Sam was grateful for as those hospital gowns left nothing to the imagination.
"You need to relax G." Sam told him again.
"I can't. I don't believe she's done this to me!" Callen snapped in frustration.
Sam smiled indulgently. "Really?"
Callen stopped, turned and glared at him.
"Ok, so maybe I can believe it." He sighed, "But I'm a sitting duck here; a danger to everyone in the hospital, and she's put a halt on my leaving and left you here as a jailer!"
"Hey!" Sam argued, "I am not a jailer, I'm here to protect you."
"I don't need protecting!" Callen argued.
"Maybe you don't but I need you to have my back if Marco does target you here. And you are in no fit state to go anywhere until they finish clearing your system out of poisons."
Callen sat back on the bed with an audible huff, "Fine. But he's not going to attack me here." he reiterated.
"You're sure of that Callen?" Gibbs asked, walking into the room.
"You're not?" Callen countered.
Gibbs handed him the coffee and Callen sat back on the bed, one knee raised to lean on and sighed as he took a sip of good coffee.
"Not sure of anything." Gibbs admitted.
"Come on Jethro, you've known Tony… I mean Marco almost thirteen years, only a few years less than you've known me. How did you know I needed this?" He asked, holding up the coffee.
"Knew you well enough, but that's not the point. The point is, I know Tony DiNozzo, my second and my senior field agent. Marco Marsino? I don't know him at all and apparently everything I know about Tony is a lie." Gibbs snapped.
Callen shook his head, "Tony isn't Rebecca. This isn't on you." He gave a short, barked laugh. "That wasn't on you either."
Gibbs glared at him as Sam looked on questioningly. "This is different Tony isn't screwing my lawyer!"
Callen laughed, "I know Jethro. But you cared about the man, for a long time. You trusted him, took him in as family and now you find that all that trust was a lie. I'm just hoping you take this better."
"I'm not about to handle this in the same way I handled Rebecca."
"Good." Callen smiled.
Gibbs walked over to the window. "I picked him. I saw something in him. I trusted my gut." He said quietly.
Callen knew what was coming. "Sam, you wanna go see if Eric has anything else for us?" He asked.
Sam nodded, leaving the two old friends alone.
"I have always trusted my gut Callen, until now it's never failed me. I was sure he was a good man. A great agent. I hoped he'd take over the MCRT after me." Gibbs admitted, "I… I looked on him like a son. I never saw this coming until you told me."
"I'm sorry Jethro." Callen replied, feeling guilty for hurting his friend.
"No." Gibbs turned and looked Callen right in the eyes. "If you hadn't said anything Marco would have hurt a great many more people than just me. Too many have died already because I couldn't see past what I wanted to see. Maybe I'm just too old to do this job."
"Stop it!" Callen snapped, "This is us, just you and me. No pity party. The question is Gibbs, are you up to putting a bullet in this son of a bitch if you have to."
Gibbs nodded. "I won't get played again. I won't allow…"
"Jethro, you were not played, you didn't miss anything. We are trained to be exactly what you need us to be. We know the right answers for therapists and Operational Psychologists. We know how to get where we need to be to be most effective. We are taught to be invisible when need to be and the only thing you see when we need you to. This is NOT on you!"
"We?" Gibbs took a step back.
Callen nodded, "I may not have stayed with The Calling, I sure as Hell do not agree with them, but I was good at my training and had I not found that wallet and been accused of theft I probably would have been the person you were hunting for instead of Marco. I know how he thinks because I was taught the same way he was. Find the weaknesses in others, exploit, extrapolate… and…"
He stopped a horrified look crossing his face. "I know who Marco is going to go after."
"You said already, you." Gibbs said.
Callen shook his head, "I was wrong, he wouldn't just kill me, he knows my weakness, he'd go for those I care about first."
"So Anna then?"
Callen shrugged, "I think worse, he knows my deepest fear. He knows what I would hate to lose the most and he knows who fills that role." He pulled the IV out and grabbed his boots.
"He's gonna kill Hetty." He said with undisguised horror in his voice.
"You're sure?" Gibbs asked, grabbing his phone.
"It's what I would have done." Callen replied, his voice flat taking his gun out of his go bag and putting it into the small of his back taking comfort in having it there. "Never mind the paperwork." Callen reached down and wrote a note, "We're leaving; Now!"