Anna looked around the home appreciatively. Taking in all the ornaments and keepsakes that Hetty had accumulated over the years.

"I thought apartment in Moscow was decorated beautifully; this is better." She smiled.

"Thank you Anna." Hetty said as she walked past her to the kitchen. "Tea?"

Anna smiled as if she was expecting it, "Of course. You think it will be long?" She asked as she took a seat on the small oak table in the kitchen.

"I should think not, but we always have time for tea." Hetty smiled as she poured water from her ornate Russian Samovar into the pot.

Anna took her gun and placed it on the table, under a napkin as Hetty's back was turned.

"Did you know Arkady was involved with The Calling?" Anna asked Hetty.

"Not until I asked him." Hetty admitted, "Then your father has his hands in many things."

"But you know he will never hurt Callen."

Hetty smiled as she turned to Anna with a tray in her hands. "I know. I know that now."

"So, we do this thing for him?" Anna asked.

Hetty nodded grimly.

"Marco worked his way into Jethro's family. Mr. Callen is, even though he chooses to deny it, Jethro's family as well. We both know how this is going to end. I do not want Agent Gibbs to hold a grudge against Mr. Callen. He hasn't had many people in his life that he has trusted long term, myself and Jethro are lucky to be counted amongst the very few. He cannot afford to lose anyone from that number." Hetty said as she took a sip of her tea.

Anna looked on at the smaller woman, her concern for Callen radiating from her like a beacon.

"The list…" She started, not sure how to have the conversation. "He told me, if he used it you would terminate him with extreme prejudice. After this, will you?" she asked.

Hetty sighed and stared into her tea cup.

"I misjudged him. I knew… I have always known about his time in The Calling, I feared he was the mole. It wasn't until he talked to myself and Director Vance that I found out he wasn't the mole but knew who was. When your father went missing he went over and above trying to find him. The one thing he was looking for was information, specifically the information on that list. I assumed he was working for The Calling. I was wrong. Had he been the mole then yes, as much as it pains me, I would have done." She gave a small smile, "His parents would be proud of him."

"He will not say, but he is hurting about this. Marco was good friend as a child."

"That's nice to hear. It won't stop me from killing him, though." Marco said as he entered the room with his gun drawn.

Callen's leg bounced nervously as Gibbs drove towards the address that he had been given. Gibbs looked over at the worry on the younger man's face.

"I don't understand." Gibbs said, breaking the silence.

"About what?" Callen snapped not looking at his friend as the worry in his gut grew.

"I understand if Marco thought you killed his father, he would kill Mishnev in revenge. I even understand how he would try and hurt you, or even Anna. It's obvious that you have feelings for her, but Hetty? Why would Marco target your boss?"

Callen looked down at his leg and placed a hand on his knee to calm himself down.

"That's not the question." Callen muttered, "The question is if you don't know, how does he know?"

"How does he know what?" Gibbs looked over at Callen in frustration. "What is it you're hiding from me Callen?"

Callen sighed deeply, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Hetty was my foster mother for a while. No one knows this, not Vance, not even Sam."

"So we are going to Hetty's house?" Gibbs asked.

Callen nodded, "One of them. The one where I lived as a child. Dovecote. He must have bought Hetty's file from the dark web when it was for sale. I would have done if I didn't know what was in it."

There was a hint of, Gibbs wasn't sure what it was. Admiration, wistfulness, a longing for his time with The Calling? It unnerved him.

"It's time this happened Gibbs." Callen sounded almost remorseful, "It's been coming for a while… Turn left here." He directed as they drove down the road to the large driveway of Dovecote.

"Whose car is that?" Gibbs asked as they saw the beat up blue Datsun sloppily parked outside the house.

Callen shrugged as he picked up his phone. "Eric, call Sam. Tell him Dovecote, he'll know what you mean." he hung up and pulled his weapon. "It's time this was ended. Gibbs… You take the back."

Trusting that Callen knew this house a lot better than he did he nodded.

Watching Gibbs go around the corner Callen sighed in relief, it would be hard enough on his friend, but if he had to see it… He shook his head to clear the thought away and entered the house.

He could hear voices and his gut dropped as Hetty cried out in pain.

"STOP!" Anna's voice drifted down the hall.

Marco laughed, "Don't worry, I'm not planning on killing her… Yet."

Callen looked around the corner. Anna was tied to a chair, her hands zip tied behind her back. Hetty was tied to another chair, a small trickle of blood escaping from the corner of her mouth and her glasses askew.

Marco had hit Hetty!

Callen saw red. This shouldn't have happened, she should never have been hurt because of him. His hand tightened around his gun as he waited for Marco to move.

Marco did just that. Moving closer to Anna standing behind her placing the barrel of his Sig Sauer painfully into her temple as he slowly moved his hand across her neck, tracing the line of her collarbone and slowly moving his hand down as he talked.

"I know how he feels about her." Marco said a head nod indicating Hetty. "You are an unexpected and pleasant surprise. It's a pity my father never got to see exactly what you had to offer before Callen killed him. But maybe I will. I have never been one to turn from a pretty face. The bonus will be the look on Callen's face when he sees how damaged you both are. His mother and his lover. Who will I torture first? Decisions, decisions…" He smiled menacingly at Hetty. "I hear you were with the group that legalized waterboarding as an acceptable means of interrogation."

"I voted against that Mr. Marsino." Hetty replied, not showing an ounce of fear.

"I've read a lot about you. Imagine my surprise when hidden in those files that were for sale on the dark web was that little morsel that not only did you have more than one house, but that you had, as inheritor of your properties a son." Marco laughed as he stepped away from Anna who slumped in relief. "I looked through the NCIS files and there was no mention, anywhere of you having any children. Then I looked at Callen's file and low and behold, there you are! Next of kin!" He laughed triumphantly.

"I am Mr. Deeks' next of kin as well. I'm not his mother either." Hetty argued, "I am their operations manager. It is protocol an agent has a next of kin. I stepped in when they had no one."

"Now come on Hetty. You can't pull that on me. I know that Deeks has a mother and you were temporary while she was in Rehab. See Hetty, I know a lot about your team. I know that Sam had an affair while on assignment. I was surprised actually I didn't think he had it in him. And Kensi… sweet Kensi… you sent her to kill her ex." He walked up to her and put his face right in hers. "And you call ME EVIL!" he shouted.

"I called you nothing of the kind." Hetty replied, noting but not responding to the small amount of spittle running down her cheek."

"You took Callen in, you knew what he was. What he is! Does his team know. Do they know what a killing machine the Calling made of him? Do they know the only reason he hasn't been arrested is that you HID HIM! Why? Why was he so special. He broke the rules, he was caught, he should have been left to the wind for his crimes. Does he know? Does he know that you should have saved his mother, that you let her and him down, does he know about it?"

"He knows." Hetty said sadly, "And I regret it. I regret it everyday." Her eyes flicked for an instant in the direction that her gut told her he was hiding. "He also knows that despite what he didn't have he had something you never had, and that Mr. Marsino is the difference between you two. The difference that makes him a great agent and you a killer."

Marco laughed incredulously, "And what's that old woman?"

"A team that believed in him. People that knew he was destined for great things, people who saw the potential in him for who he could be and not for their own ends."

Marco stepped back as if slapped as Hetty's words hit home.

"I'm gonna make you pay for that." He snarled and lifted his gun aiming it at the center of her forehead.