Less than twenty minutes after leaving the boatshed Callen and Deeks strode purposely in to the Mission. The ground floor was devoid of any activity and the pair immediately headed for the stairs, keen to hear the latest from Nell and Eric.

'Mr Callen?' Hetty's voice rang loud and clear, causing Callen to stop in his tracks at the bottom step.

Deeks and Callen shared a look before starting to move towards Hetty's office.

'Not you Mr Deeks, not yet.'

Deeks pursed his lips and muttered okay as he turned swiftly on his heel, leaving Callen to face the music on his own. Callen barely glanced at his new partner as he disappeared up the stairs. Instead he slowed down and wondered what Hetty wanted this time. Reaching her office, he pulled out the chair in front of her desk and set down with a barely perceptible sigh.

'There's no need for that Mr Callen.' Hetty said, steepling her fingers and tapping them against her lips.

'What?' Callen feigned innocence over his sigh. How could he have forgotten Hetty had bat-like hearing skills. He also rapidly revisited his actions and conversations from the day in case there was something about which he should be feeling guilty.

'Those sound like the words of someone who needs to confess. Do you?'

'No Hetty,' Callen decided today was not the day to partake in a verbal sparring battle. Hetty had already announced her intension to hand out punishments for minor squabbling and divided the established partnership. He certainly did not want to give her any more ammunition.

'I didn't think so. Now I want you to stop shaving and to let your hair grow. I want you prepared to go undercover with this group at a moment's notice.'

Callen stared at Hetty. These were orders with which he was familiar, to always be ready and flexible for undercover assignments. It sounded like he was to go in alone which was not unusual, but it went against the many principles Hetty had painstakingly attempted to drill in to him over the years and was generally not how his team worked.

'Is this a solo mission? Who's my backup?'

'Firstly I want to see how the investigation progresses over the next few days. My initial fear is we won't get much further than Homeland Security managed, but they don't have highly skilled agents at their disposal.'

'So if I go in, what will be my cover?'

Hetty smiled at her lead agent and held her index finger up to indicate he should wait. She reached behind her and placed a second bone china cup and saucer in front of Callen, who looked suspiciously at the fragrant tea which was now being poured.

'If I send you on assignment, you'll be infiltrating this group as a like minded individual, someone who has been wronged all his life by the American Government and society in general. Think about where you would have been if we hadn't met, the different path you would have taken through life. If you had been sent back to the juvenile detention centre and maybe solitary until your court case, and then served time at a state prison. On release you mixed with the underbelly of LA and then, rather than continuing a life of crime you joined the military to try and break the cycle. That lead to a career in black ops yet you couldn't escape your past. Regular, minor disciplinary charges for insubordination, going off the books and violent altercations led to an early discharge. PTSD kicked in, resulting in homelessness and dabbling back in to minor crimes...You get the picture.'

Callen lifted his chin slightly but generally remained unresponsive to Hetty's words. It sounded to him like she was laying out his what his future would have been had she not saved him. He had a sudden flashback to the many conversations - or rather lectures - he had experienced during his time in her care. It was an alternative he used to think of regularly but over the years had managed to suppress and push to the dark recesses of his mind. Such thoughts could not interfere with the confidence he exuded in his professional life.

'This is just a preliminary conversation Mr Callen. This operation may not even take place.'

'So just a request to start looking scruffy then?'

'Yes, Mr Callen. Be prepared, as the scouts say.'

'I was never a scout Hetty, they wouldn't have me. Did you partner me up with Deeks so we can work undercover together? I mean, he's scruffy already.'

'It's one of many possibilities I'm considering. Mr Deeks has not had many long term undercover missions with NCIS although he does have extensive experience with LAPD, albeit working alone. Sam and Kensi are also suitable candidates. They have military backgrounds and could go under as disgruntled vets. But I can hardly ask Mr Hanna to grow his hair in preparation now.'

Hetty smiled gently at her joke and Callen smiled with her. He knew full well that Hetty always played the long game. She already knew she would be sending him on this mission and she also knew exactly who would accompany him, as well as the full backgrounds of their aliases.

'You knew about this before the attack this morning. This is the case you've had Nate challenging us about.' Callen leaned back in his chair and smiled knowingly. 'Nothing I've heard so far suggests this would be different to any other undercover op so why send in the psychologist?'

'Nate's analysis of you and your team has not yet passed my desk. Please don't read more in to this than is necessary. And before you go getting too many ideas Mr Callen you must continue to follow all the leads. You'd better join your new partner up in ops and start tracking your old partners progress in Palmdale.'

Callen scraped his chair back from Hetty's desk and nodded his understanding. Hetty too nodded and watched as her lead agent walked away from her.

NCIS:LA

Luck was on the side of the NCIS agents, and Sam and Kensi made excellent time reaching Palmdale. The bus had stopped regularly to allow a number of commuters both on and off and Nell kept them updated with confirmation that Lyneham was still on board. Traffic was light, meaning the Challenger cruised along, assisted by the absence of red stop lights which allowed them to arrive at their destination five minutes before the bus. Alerting ops of their plan, they requested local law enforcement officers be made available for back up and only on their request; Sam and Kensi had agreed to observe Lyneham's actions before deciding whether to arrest him. It was a risk they had discussed in detail but the coordinated organisation of the earlier attacks eventually led them to believe that Lyneham was headed back to his base camp, albeit in a rather circuitous route which possibly allowed him to scope out a future target. Sam had parked the Challenger in the car park adjacent to the bus depot and the new partners relaxed in to their seats, adopting a casual and easy pose as they waited.

The Greyhound bus pulled to a stop eighty meters away from the agents. The doors opened and the first passengers clambered down the steps; a family of three, the father picking his young daughter off the top step and swinging her round to the ground, her blonde hair and pink floral dress swirling with the motion. An old man with leathery tanned skin and a head full of grey hair hovered at the exit, lifting his head slightly and sniffing the air before he grimaced and hesitantly negotiated the steep bus steps. Next was a young girl of about fifteen, whose face lit up as she smiled at her waiting boyfriend. There was a slight gap before the final passengers made an appearance. Kensi had discretely photographed them all and she paused, dipping the lens slightly until the outline of a man passed by the second to last bus window. Joshua Lyneham emerged in to the shot. He turned back towards the bus interior and held out his hand. A child's hand grasped his and Lyneham exited with a seven year old boy.

'Where the hell did he come from?' Sam muttered as he speed dialled Nell.

'I don't know.' Kensi replied.

'Nell,' Sam spoke as his call was answered. 'Lyneham just got off the bus with a kid, a boy - looks about six or seven. There's no one else left. Go back through all the traffic cams and see where he came from. They've got no bags, just a light jacket. Nothing to indicate he's planning an attack here at the moment.'

'Will do Sam. Give me a few minutes and I'll get back to you.'

Nell ended the call and Sam turned to Kensi.

'You ready for a bit of shadowing?' He asked, a look of concern etched over his face at the latest development.

Kensi swapped the camera lens for a smaller, less obtrusive one and smiled tightly at Sam.

'Let's do it.'

Keeping Lyneham and the child within eye sight, Kensi and Sam crossed the road. They seemed to be heading in the same direction as a number of other pedestrians, towards the Blackbird Airpark of Palmdale's Air Force Base. The pace was unforced and the agents had to slow down and adopt the pose of visitors. Lyneham and the boy had the appearance of father and son. The former pointing out planes and clearly explaining some important piece of aircraft design whilst the child hung on to every word. With an animated gesture, the boy would become excited and fling his right arm out, pointing at a plane or a drone. The pair talked, laughed and not once was there a furtive glance towards the exhibition's volunteers and nor were any covert photographs taken.

Nell had called back fifteen minutes in to their tail. She and Eric had backtracked through the bus's stops, focusing on families and young boys. Several children had matched the description Sam had given them, and they had also grabbed an image of him from the Plamdale stop to ensure accuracy. They managed to trace the child to a woman in her early twenties who boarded the bus at the point of origin in Los Angeles. She was accompanied by another woman who had three children with her, one boy and two girls all under the age of five. Somewhere along the route, the two women and three children had exited and left the boy on the bus with Lyneham, who they clearly knew well and trusted. Eric had scanned the footage and discovered they had parted company at San Fernando. The pair were running facial recognition on the two women with no immediate results. Warning Sam and Kensi that it could take days for a match to come through, they were able to confirm that Lyneham's own daughter would be in her late teens by now and as far as they could tell, was not in the country. The best bet Nell could make was the child was from Lyneham's community and that he would eventually head back there later in the day with the boy in tow.

Sam acknowledged the information and then relayed it to Kensi, who agreed it was the most likely scenario.

'So I guess we continue to tail them and hope they lead us all the way back to their home.'

'I guess so too.' Sam agreed.

'This really does feel like a normal family trip. I remember my dad taking me on tours of the local airbases...' Kensi smiled at the memory.

'Yeah, me too.' Sam chuckled at the similar aspects of their childhood. 'I remember going to the Armed Forces day at Chattanooga. I must've been about that boy's age...'

'Oh my God,' Kensi stopped walking and placed her hand on Sam's arm. 'Me too. Y'know I hate to admit it, but maybe Hetty is right. This partner swap thing might actually be a good thing.'

'Hetty's always right. Mind you, I still can't see Callen and Deeks finding anything in common.'

'Well, they can compare notes on how to be annoying partners.'

'Yeah, but neither of them need ideas on how to improve on that. C'mon, lets grab an ice cream, I think we're gonna be here for a while.'

Sam and Kensi managed to enjoy a few hours together hidden amongst the tourists and were easily able to follow their marks. The pair conversed more on their upbringing with military fathers and discussed the pros and cons of relationships with work colleagues, with Sam offering advice from his personal experience with Michelle. Kensi found herself opening up to Sam, revealing her frustration with Deeks' inability to not have the last word, and her love of his caring nature and sense of humour. Sam also spoke to Kensi about the positive changes he had witnessed since Callen had discovered and actually met his father. He also shared his concerns about the longer term heartache Callen might endure by starting a relationship with someone as independent as Anna Kolcheck. In his opinion, two strong minded individuals would create sparks of the passionate kind - which also meant fiery fights. When the conversation came round to Hetty the pair stumbled somewhat. Although both respected her immensely, they were well aware of her Machiavellian ways even though she usually had the best interests of the team at heart, even if it wasn't clear at the time. Having eventually exhausted work discussions, Sam and Kensi found themselves heading towards the exit. Sam reached in to his jeans pocket and pulled out his cell.

'Eric we have a problem.'

'What's up Sam?'

'We've exited ahead of Lyneham and the kid but we might have a problem with whatever they do next.'

'Copy that, let me get a visual from all the traffic cams in the area.'

There was silence for a number of seconds. Sam glanced around and nodded slightly towards Kensi. She turned and saw Lyneham and the boy were by the exit, chatting with one of the staff at the gate.

'OK,' Eric came back on line. 'I've got the exit, car parks, bus depot all covered and all major intersections. But if Lyneham leaves the fourteen as we think he will and heads out on Elizabeth Lake Road then we'll be blind.'

'Exactly what I thought...Thanks Eric, I'll head back to the car and leave Kensi here to tail them. If we can pick them up once they start moving then we will but we might have to call it off. Don't want to get him all spooked.'

Sam ended the call and turned to Kensi.

'I'll wait around here then.' Kensi said with a wry smile, understanding that she was less conspicuous than her partner. 'Y'know we still run the risk of being spotted. The Challenger doesn't exactly blend in with all the mom and pop cars around here.'

'I know. And if that boy is half as curious about cars as he is about planes we could be in a whole heap of trouble.'

Kensi watched as Sam made his way back to his car opposite the bus depot. Lyneham and the child walked hand in hand towards the main road. Kensi could discern no clear destination; they were wandering in the opposite direction to all the car parks and the bus depot. Suddenly the pair burst in to a brief run and headed towards two men and a woman who were standing on the grass verge about fifty meters away. Kensi grabbed her phone and speed dialled Sam, who confirmed Eric still had eyes on them. Pretending to be flirty on her phone, Kensi kept her observations and conversation low key. The small group spent a few minutes chatting and then moved to a restored VW camper van.

'That's it Eric,' Kensi said. 'Sam are you good to pull round the corner when I give the signal?'

Sam gave an affirmative and the team remained in stasis, waiting. It was a further five minutes before the VW pulled away from the curb with Lyneham, the boy and the three other adults inside. Sam drove steadily round the corner and stopped beside Kensi. Just as she closed the passenger door behind her, the VW abruptly stopped and the boy jumped out, followed quickly by Lyneham.

'What the...?' Sam started to say and then smiled as he watched the child grab himself and Lyneham desperately look around. 'He needs to pee.'

'Great.' Kensi replied. 'We can stay here and wait to get made or drive ahead and hope they're taking Elizabeth Lake Road.'

'Option two,' Sam said and slowly eased the Challenger on to the road, watching in his rear view mirror as the boy relieved himself against the fence, shielded by Lyneham.

'OK Sam, Kensi, they've just gotten back in the van. Taking their time - I think you'll be about three minutes ahead of them.'

'Keep us updated.'

'Will do.'

The Challenger cruised at a leisurely pace along highway fourteen for five minutes before taking the right hand turn, driving along the outskirts of Palmdale's residential area, the road becoming progressively narrower as they passed through Leona Valley, Elizabeth Lake and Lake Hughes, where the main road became Pine Canyon Road. Eric had long since stopped providing them with updates and Sam had eased off the throttle in the hope of catching a glimpse of the camper van behind them.

'Sam, we haven't seen another car in the last ten minutes.' Kensi turned to look at Sam, watching as he pursed his lips and knowing he was thinking the same as her. 'If we stop and let them pass us, we'll be made. If we carry on as we are we won't see where they turn off. And if we slow down to let them get closer, we'll probably be made too.'

'You're right,' Sam reluctantly agreed. He hated the thought that his Challenger could ultimately be responsible for them failing to get a positive lead on Lyneham and his camp. 'Best dial Eric and tell him we're calling it off for the day.'

'No signal,' Kensi shook her head at the no service message on her cell phone.

'If we keep going we can pick up the Golden State Freeway and head back. As soon as you get service, let the others know.'

Sam shook his head in frustration and glanced at Kensi. Their only lead was nowhere to be seen and without the assistance of Nell and Eric, they were officially blind and on their own. Homeland Security knew the approximate location of the community and they could only hope that Callen and Deeks had found an alternative angle and lead. So far, their investigations were going nowhere fast.