Callen stirred his coffee slowly, focusing on the liquid swirling around his mug whilst listening to Deeks potter around the boatshed. He was tapping his fingers against the boat, the table, the back of the sofa - constantly on the move and clearly restless. Callen raised his head slightly and sighed before turning to face Deeks.

'What's wrong?' He asked bluntly, staring at the LAPD liaison.

Deeks stopped in his tracks. He was taken aback by Callen's question even though he was half expecting it. He inserted his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and rocked back on one leg, perfecting the casual look.

'What do you mean? What's wrong? There's nothing wrong with me. Nothing and there's nothing wrong with Kensi, nothing wrong with either of us...'

Deeks tailed off as he watched Callen take a few paces towards him with a slow smile spreading across his face.

'Deeks,' Callen said. 'You're protesting too much. We've been here five minutes, you've been fiddling with everything and you've not uttered a word until just now. You and me,' Callen pointed his left hand towards Deeks and then himself. 'We might not be partner partners, but today - we're partners. So what's up?'

'Partner partners? Really?' Deeks face lit up, his eyes flashing at the thought of having caught his team leader being ridiculous. 'That's the best you can come up with?'

Callen shrugged, the words had just sounded right to him. 'Yeah, and don't deflect. So what's up partner?'

'Well, there's nothing wrong really, but I just get the feeling that Hetty split me and Kens up for a reason. More than just her and Sam arguing this morning. I mean, I know she's happy that we're together.' Deeks paused and reeled himself in a little. 'Not you and me, me and Kens. But she's split us up before and sent Kensi away. Now I think maybe she's keeping us on the same team but still splitting us up, like, tormenting us, but then that means punishing you and Sam and-'

'I can't believe I'm saying this,' Callen muttered before raising his voice to a conversational level. 'Deeks, you're thinking too much. You know Hetty. She sometimes moves people around. We all need to be able to work as a team, rely on each other in different situations and that can mean switching up partners. I worked with Kensi a lot before you arrived, her and Sam - not so much. Same with us. So here we are.'

'How long d'you think this partner thing will last? I have to say you're not nearly as easy on the eye as my last partner...'

Callen remained straight faced. 'What are you trying to say? Are you calling me ugly?'

'Wha...no, that's not what I meant...'

'Agent Callen?'

The call was accompanied by a knock on the already open boatshed door and both Callen and Deeks turned towards the sound. A middle aged man, dressed in a dark grey designer suit entered the room, pausing as he waited for confirmation he was in the right place.

'And you are?' Callen remained where he stood.

'Agent Mark Beaufort, Homeland Security.'

'I'm Callen, and this is our LAPD Liaison, Detective Deeks'

Callen stepped forward and held out his hand. Agent Beaufort grasped it firmly, giving a short shake before turning to Deeks and repeating the action.

'I heard you guys before I entered. Wasn't sure I was in the right place. And I sure hope your last partner was a woman, detective.'

'She certainly is, all woman - this here is just my temporary partner, we're just switching things up a little.' Deeks replied with a sideways glance at Callen who was clearly content to let Deeks explain their overheard conversation.

'Take a seat.' Callen said. 'Can I get you a coffee?'

'Water will be fine,' Agent Beaufort said pulling out a chair and seating himself at the table. He scratched his head briefly and then removed some brown folders from his briefcase and placed them neatly in front of him. Deeks joined him at the table as Callen grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

'So what can you tell us about the attacks this morning. We've been briefed by our own analyst but would like to hear your take on events.' Callen asked.

Agent Beaufort looked at Agent Callen, summing up his character on first impressions. Clearly a man who spoke as he found, no frills and was used to being in charge. If small talk was not on the agenda, then he too would refrain from making any, which was unfortunate as he believed this was one of the reasons why there was so little voluntary inter-agency cooperation.

'Certainly, Agent Callen. We've been gathering intelligence on home grown terrorism for a number of years now, compartmentalising it into manageable sections. My specialist area is militia, mainly in the densely forested areas such as Idaho, Michigan, Montana and up in the wilds of Maine - you get the picture. We started hearing chatter about a group in Southern California, up in the Angeles National Forest.'

'What kind of chatter?' Deeks asked.

'Mainly disgruntled civilians, unhappy about their misfortune, nothing that made us want to investigate further. No militia gathering, just a bunch of people complaining about their lot.'

'You didn't send in local PD to check the area?'

'No, not then. But two months ago we heard they were becoming more vocal in their displeasure about the United States Government so we investigated. Just outside the rural town of Three Points is a ramshackle community with no name. An old ranch has been rebuilt. There are barns, outbuildings and trailers. We couldn't get close to them but word is they're stockpiling weapons and men. They're close knit, wary of outsiders and that was as far as it went. All we had were rumours.'

'So you have a small private community who dislike the Government, and a pile of rumours that they're stockpiling weapons and collecting men.' Callen's eyes bored into Agent Beaufort. 'You failed to investigate thoroughly, so how did you make the leap between them and this morning's attacks?'

Beaufort cleared his throat and looked away, deliberately taking his time to unscrew the cap off his water bottle. He took a long sip, swallowed and carefully replaced the lid thinking how he had made the correct assumption about no inter-agency cooperation or niceties on this case.

'The evidence is mostly circumstantial I'll admit, but my sources did identify two of the men from the community and just before I got here I received confirmation that one was seen at the VA Centre as the bomb detonated, the other at the realtor.' Agent Beaufort stopped as he opened the cover of both the files he'd placed on the table. 'This here is former private Anton DuValle, dishonourably discharged from the Navy back in 2010. Charges of attempted sexual and physical assaults were withdrawn due to a lack of evidence; the victims - locals - all disappeared. But repeated insubordination and several failed drugs tests were enough to shift him back to civilian life. And this is-'

'Joshua Lyneham.' Deeks said. 'We're already on to him, got a couple of agents looking to pick him up as we speak.'

'Good luck with that. He and DuValle served together although we're not sure when they hooked up after as there's no record of any contact since Lyneham's discharge - the man's a ghost. We wanted to have a chat with him but every time we thought we were close, he vanished. He's lived below the radar for over ten years. You're gonna need a whole lotta luck to get that bastard. We think they might've hooked up again at a homeless shelter and gut instinct says it's probably where they picked up some of these other people that now make up their group.'

Agent Beaufort gathered his papers together, shuffling them back in to their respective folders. He looked up at the two men seated in front of him.

'I'll made arrangements for hard copies of all records to be sent to your HQ, wherever that may be.'

'Is that all you've got?' Callen challenged, leaning forward to drive some intensity in to his words and to intimidate the agent before him. 'What's your intelligence say about their next moves?'

'As I said Agent Callen, we've not been able to get close to them. They can smell a Federal Agent a mile off and we weren't able to find a source nearby to be our eyes and ears. We accumulated extensive records on a number of shelters in and around LA where we think they've been recruiting men and women and we still have nothing concrete. The community is in the middle of nowhere, with patchy, if any GPS and cell coverage and wifi is about as alien to them as, well aliens. As with most militia, we strongly believe they're looking to gather momentum, acquire more men and eventually try and take down the Government. This first attack was minor, but the fact they have enough followers and could coordinate attacks on a number of places at once suggests they are testing the waters. We've done enough analysis over the years to know that groups like these step up for the next attack. Instead of using smoke grenades, they'll use bombs that will cause maximum damage, most likely take innocent lives. We received intelligence that suggests these guys have reached out to a radical faction of the Idaho Light Foot Militia, aptly named Northern California Light Foot Militia. They advocate violence in order to protect the Constitution and so Idaho are trying to disown them. These guys mean serious business and we're already tracking their weapons trading and explosives. This group here in LA is small-fry but we want your help in tracking down Lyneham and DuValle. I'll make sure you have access to all our records on the Northern California Militia and what little we have on this new group. I wanna take these bastards down now.'

Agent Beaufort stood and drew himself up tall and stretching his shoulders back. The action prompted Deeks and Callen to stand too.

'Appreciate the intel, we'll let you know how it goes.' Callen nodded.

'That would be great, Agent Callen. Our resources are stretched thin so any leads you can get...' Beaufort nodded his thanks and stooped to pick up his briefcase. 'I'll be in touch.'

He walked towards the exit, followed by Deeks who closed the door firmly behind him. He walked back to the table at sat down, this time opposite Callen who was sitting again and leaning back in his chair, a pensive look on his face.

'So what d'ya reckon to our friend at Homeland Security?'

'I reckon they've got nothing, no solid evidence. If Lyneham is as good as he says, we'll never find him unless we tear the community apart, and that would only end in a blood bath.'

'Maybe Sam and Kensi got lucky at the VA Centre, found a lead, followed it up and are bringing Lyneham here right now.'

'Really?' Callen raised his eyebrows in disbelief at Deeks' optimism.

'Well, maybe. It's probably about time we checked in with them.'

Callen made an exaggerated movement to look at his watch. 'I guess it has been what, over two hours since you last spoke to Kensi?'

Deeks pulled out his cell and smiled broadly at Callen. 'You know it brother,'

He speed dialled Kensi. 'Miss me?'

'Deeks you're on speaker...'

'And no I did not miss you...' Sam chipped in.

Callen glanced at Deeks. 'Our illustrious detective wanted to check in, make sure Kens wasn't causing you too much damage with that mean right hook of hers.'

'Ha ha,' Sam replied. 'Kensi and I are getting on great. How about you two?'

'We're good. Not missing our old partners at all.' Deeks retorted with hesitation.

'Really, Deeks?' Kensi said, her voice full of exaggerated hurt. 'You've replaced me with Callen already? Guess that time spent with Kirkin did change you after all...'

'Ok, ex-partner.' Deeks continued seamlessly. 'We've just had a chat with the lovely man from Homeland Security who said Lyneham's like the invisible man. Goes to ground better than even Callen.'

Callen narrowed his eyes at Deeks, unsure whether he should actually be taking that as a compliment. Deeks flashed a grin.

'Well then, that would explain how Nell tracked Lyneham getting on to a bus in Culver City to central LA, and then swapped to a bus up towards Palmdale.'

The smugness was evident in Sam's voice, this time causing Deeks to narrow his eyes in confusion. That certainly did not sound like the actions of a man who had lived for a decade under the radar and had just committed a terror related crime.

'Palmdale?' Callen questioned. 'That's not good with the airbase there. How far away are you?'

'Probably about another twenty minutes,' Kensi responded. 'Quicker if Eric keeps the lights green, Sam keeps his foot down and the bus keeps stopping.'

'You mean he didn't let you drive the Challenger? You'd've been there by now.' Deeks smiled at his own joke while Callen shook his head, thinking that both Kensi and Sam were probably mirroring his actions in despair.

'No Deeks, no one drives my car unless it's an absolute emergency, and even then they're threatened with death if anything happens to it.'

'But Callen's still alive.'

'Just...'

'Ok guys,' Callen interrupted, keen to get back on track. 'There's no point us trying to get to Palmdale. We'll go back to ops and work through the files Homeland Security are sending to Ops. If Lyneham is openly leading us to the next target then we need to find out what Beaufort got wrong about Lyneham and what he's missed.'

'Sure thing. We'll keep you posted.' Sam said, ending the call.

Deeks pocketed his cell phone and leaned forward against the table, focusing on his hands for a minute before looking up to find Callen staring at him patiently.

'Do you think Lyneham's gonna attack Palmdale?' Deeks held Callen's gaze.

'It's a possibility we can't rule out. This group haven't announced themselves, taken credit for this morning's attacks or made any demands. So far they're off the grid as far as the public, the media and even Homeland Security were concerned. And that makes them unpredictable, there is no pattern and no real intel. All we can do is wait and work the case from here. Sam and Kens are the ones on the ground now.'

Deeks slowly nodded his agreement and watched Callen exit the boatshed, leaving him to his thoughts. He abruptly pushed himself away from the table and raised a hand to his hair, sweeping it out of his eyes in a slightly nervous manner and followed his team leader to the door.