Before Deeks had time to collect his thoughts he found firm but gentle hands guiding him through an apartment, then out into the street. He was grateful there was no daylight, but the street lights were still painful. Kensi pulled him close and put her arms round him.
Callen and Sam watched Deeks closely. "I think you should get yourself checked out" Sam looked into Deeks eyes "You can barely see"
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Kensi pulled back and gave Deeks the once over.
"No, I'm fine. I just need a little while to readjust to light. I'd like to know what just happened" Deeks blinked trying to make sense of his surroundings.
"We can talk about it on the way home" Kensi guided Deeks to the car.
"Can we stop for pizza?"
It was after midnight when Kensi and Deeks got home. Fatima had brought Rosa home and the youngster had gone straight to bed.
"Baby, I'm sorry I wouldn't talk about Kessler" Kensi said, chewing on a large slice of pizza. "If I had, none of this would have happened"
"It doesn't matter. I mean, it would probably have happened sooner or later" Deeks picked up his second slice of pizza "I walked down the path, then woke up in the dark, I had a feeling it had something to do with Kessler. I should have told you about John Rogers phone call"
"Were you really stuck in the dark for six hours? Sounds horrible" Kensi put her arm round Deeks' shoulders.
"All I wanted to see was you" Deeks snuggled into Kensi's neck.
"Charmer. Why don't we put the pizza in the fridge and I could...um….help you recover"
Next morning, over breakfast of leftover pizza Kensi explained about the MacIntyre brothers and said John Rogers would have to explain the connection between them and Kessler. Deeks picked up his phone "We need to go. Rogers wants to meet us at the boat shed."
John Rogers was waiting with Sam and Callen when Kensi and Deeks arrived. He nodded to the couple and pointed to the screen. "Rory MacIntyre is here, he says he's keen to talk. I'm sure he's got plenty to tell us" Rogers sipped his coffee. "Kessler is smart, he plays the system. We need to be smarter. You're a lawyer, I'm a Special Prosecutor, we should be able to use the law to take him down."
Rogers picked up a large file and turned to Sam "You're a former SEAL, perhaps you'd like to sit in on this"
"Let's do it" the big man replied.
Rory MacIntyre was a dejected figure as he sat at the table in the interrogation room. He was a large muscular man in his mid forties. He had his hands on the table in front of him and his head down.
"I'm Special Prosecutor John Rogers and this is NCIS Special Agent San Hanna"
"A former SEAL legend and a Special Prosecutor. I must be in more trouble than I thought" MacIntyre sat up straight and smiled wryly.
"Sorry for your loss" Rogers said as he handed MacIntyre a coffee and sat down opposite.
"Thank you" MacIntyre toyed with the cup "My brother didn't deserve to die. He didn't mean any harm, he was a victim"
"How so? He killed two people"
"That we know of" Sam added.
Rory MacIntyre took a deep breath "I was fifteen when Bruno was born. He was really sick as a baby, Mom nearly died too, but he grew big and strong, good with his hands. He could fix anything, had a job as a handyman. He just never grew up. You know, he was a child in a man's body" MacIntyre looked up straight into Rogers eyes. Rogers nodded for him to continue.
"He had this thing, an idiosyncrasy, a lop sided idea of right and wrong. If anybody annoyed him, or upset him, he would shut them away. His hamster bit him when he was a kid. So he shut it in a cupboard, poor thing nearly died. He locked his grandfather in the basement because he wouldn't take him to the fair. He really didn't see he was doing anything wrong. When he was just a teenager two cops arrested him for selling drugs. He was innocent but they terrified him. Somehow he lured them out to different buildings and shut them away. Took them days to get out. Then he got locked away in some sort of institution. I think the cops deserved to be locked up."
"You seem a bit vague about some of this" Rogers frowned at Sam.
"I wasn't there. I joined the Navy at seventeen. I joined NCIS to be closer to home. Bruno was becoming a bit of a handful. We used to live in LA, still got family here. My Mon and Bruno moved east after our Dad died"
"How did he become a killer?"
"I don't think he did. He had no concept of death. People go away then they come back. I went away with the Navy, then came home on leave. Our Dad worked away sometimes, but came back"
"So what changed?" Sam was intriqued.
"He met Kessler" Rory MacIntyre looked straight into the camera.
Kensi and Deeks watching the screen glanced at each other.
MacIntyre continued "Kessler convinced him to make it so anyone he shut away couldn't get out. Kessler got inside Bruno's head." MacIntyre drained the last of his coffee "You didn't bring me here to talk about Bruno. Shall we all talk about Kessler"
Looking away from the screen Deeks turned to Kensi "That's the first time I've felt sorry for somebody that's just tried to kill me"
"Technically he didn't try to kill you, just lock you up" Kensi laughed "That's understandable"
"But what did Deeks do to upset Bruno?" Callen asked.
After a brief recess Rogers rejoined MacIntyre in the interrogation room. He looked up from the file in front of him "How long were you working with Kessler?"
"You don't work with Kessler, you get manipulated by him. He gets a hold on you makes you do things you don't want to"
"Like what?"
"Get the address of the two agents. Are they the two outside?" MacIntyre nodded towards the camera.
Rogers nodded "Anything else?"
"Argue with Pederson, we got along just fine till Kessler came along."
"What did you argue about?"
"Bruno" MacIntyre shrugged his shoulders "Pederson was adamant that Bruno was involved with an arms dealer. I was certain he was wrong, we argued. Pederson was right, but at the time we didn't know who or what we were dealing with"
A/N You can tell I have no knowledge of psychiatry, psychology or anything else much.
