Deeks and the team were overwhelmed by what had just happened. Wilshire Federal Building had just blown up into pieces and there was yet to be any valuables leads, except for the cellphone that the suspect left behind.
Everyone in the team except Dani (who he wasn't going to allow to go up anyway) went up to Ops and Eric put the message up on the screen for everyone to see.
"This message was on the phone after it was used to detonate the bomb". Eric informed the group.
You had the chance to change and since there was no change I now declare war on you. T.R.H.
It was bolded in green letters, against the black background, looking like the graphics of an old sci-fi movie. Deeks didn't like this. Was this T.R.H trying to be cool or something?
"Who's T.R.H.? What can it stand for?" Callen asked the obvious.
"Could be a group or a person. I'll run it through the system and check the hits" Eric replied. They all respected Eric. The young tech-guy had really helped the group in so many cases before, and he knew that they would need the help now. The suspect, T.R.H, seemed crazy about technology.
"The license plate of the van. Where are we with that?" Callen questioned.
"It was stolen from downtown Hollywood two days ago,"
The computer then dinged for Eric's search for T.R.H.
"T.R.H stands for The Red Horsemen. It's a group that believes in the upcoming apocalyptic race war against earth. This isn't the first time they did this. They have hit other cities, and the message was the same. You had the chance to change and since there was no change I now declare war on you". Eric recited.
"What does that mean?" Deeks asked.
"I don't know but we need to stop them before they hit again". Callen said.
"They just did, they hit an abandoned building near west Hollywood. LAPD is there now". Eric said.
"Alright Sam and I will check the crime scene. Kensi and Deeks find what you can on the van and its origins. I want to know everything by the time I get back" Callen said.
Sam and Callen then left to see the crime scene while Kensi and Deeks stayed with Eric to find what they could about the van.
"Alright Eric can you find out who owned the van". Kensi said.
"One sec". Eric replied fast. He was typing fast on his computer till he got a match."It belongs to Max Ryder. He recently changed the ownership to his sons Jason and Seth".
"Where does he live?" Deeks asked.
"Sent the address to your phones,"
"Thanks Eric". Kensi said.
"Thanks. Hey Eric I need a favor," Deeks asked his friend, after everyone left. He was hoping he didn't have to kiss-up to Eric, but if need be, Deeks would do it.
"What's up?"
"If Dani tries to leave, stall her to make sure she doesn't. If she ends up escaping, track her phone and send her location to me. Got it?" Deeks answered. He felt a little uneasy trying to track his daughter's phone, and he didn't want to be the overbearing parent, but he needed to. Police work is not, and never will be, easy.
"I will". Eric said.
"Thanks man". Deeks thanks Eric, and leaves to follow Kensi out.
Kensi noticed something off with Deeks the moment he stepped into the car. Police officers are usually closed off people, but Kensi and Deeks have known each other long enough to have no problem reading each other's minds.
"Hey Deeks, you alright?" Kensi asked while starting up the engine, and steering off into the road.
"I'm fine, never been better". Deeks replied. He needed to cover up his real emotions. But he should have known that Kensi wasn't going to let him go that easy.
"Just curious because when you talked to Dani, you sounded kinda harsh,"
"I just don't want her involved with this kind of stuff"
"You also said because of what happened last time. What did you mean?" Kensi didn't just ask for formalities, she was actually curious. She wanted to comfort her partner and friend.
Deeks held that secret for 10 long years. Every time he thought about it, it formed a lump in his throat and made tears pool in his eyes. It broke his heart every time he thought of it.
"Hey it's alright you don't have to say". Kensi said gently, noticing the water in his eyes.
"No, no. It's ok. My wife was an undercover agent for the FBI. She worked there for a long time, and was planning on quitting because she knew the work and job was dangerous. We were going to raise Dani together. It was her last case. She was going undercover as a cartel member. I guess someone must have tipped the cartel off because they found out that my wife was a fed. She got killed in the line of fire. I have missed her so much" Deeks cried out. There was so much pain now in his heart. It was trouble at first, to live with this hollow in his heart, but he learned to live with it.
"I'm so sorry Deeks". Kensi consoled.
"Dani was only 6. Ever since that day I swore that she would never ever get involved with stuff like this. Dani is never gonna be a cop. She's all I have left of her mother"
"What was the lucky girl's name?"
"Grace. We met in our senior year of high school. We went to college together then we both started our careers. We had Dani after that"
"She sounded pretty special,"
"She was special,"
Soon after, Kensi and Deeks made it to the location, then swerved into the parking lot and got out of the car.
"Van's not here, but someone is,". Kensi observed
"Could be the father,"
"Let's find out".
She then knocked on the door and a guy who looked to be in his forties, with beady little eyes, and a bald head shining in sweat, opened the door.
"Can I help you?" The guy warily asked. The look of the police officers in front of him, and Max figured he was going to be arrested.
"Max Ryder, NCIS I'm Agent Blye, and this is LAPD Detective Deeks. Can we come in and ask you a few simple questions about the bombing that took place this morning at Wilshire Federal Building," Kensi asked first.
"Sure, come in,"
"The van you transferred ownership to your sons a couple months ago was present at the scene of the explosion this morning. We were wondering where it is now"
"I gave it to them a few months ago. I don't know what they did with it"
"Do you know where they are right now?" Deeks asked.
"Haven't seen them, they don't talk to me much. Spend most of their time in their room"
Kensi and Deeks both shared a look. They realized that Max was a dead end as a suspect, that wouldn't mean his sons wouldn't be considered suspects.
"Alright if you remember anything else, don't hesitate to give me a call". Kensi said, handing him a business card.
"You got it". Max replied.
"Have a good day,"
"You think it was the boys?" Deeks asked, as they were heading to the car in the parking lot.
"I don't know but let's see what Eric can pull up on them".
Just then Deeks' phone rang with Eric's number. "Well, what do you know? Speak of the devil and the devil comes calling," Deeks smirked.
Dani was at her dad's desk bored out of her mind, wanting to bang her head against the table. Dani was getting annoyed by the 'click-clack' on Eric's computer.
"Can he just stop? Please!" Dani thought to herself.
She hated the idea that her father was still trying to baby her. Dani needed to prove once and for all that she can take care of herself. She understood Dad's worry, but she can learn from her late mother's mistakes. Dani just needed a good way to show her dad that. Soon enough, an idea popped in her head.
She packed up her stuff, swiped the address of the crime scene off Eric's computer and ran, not caring who saw. She knew that Eric would know that she was gone anyway, but Dani needed a fast enough head start.
Eric came back and saw that the teen was gone. He clamped a hand to his forehead in exasperation. When did Dani learn that enough was going to be enough? He ran upstairs to call Deeks.
She got on the bus, heading towards the crime scene. It was swarmed with cops and firefighters and in the distance, she saw Callen and Sam talking so she quickly dodged them. She planned on going around and looking for clues she knew that the older ones were definitely going to miss.
She started to look around and her eyes fell to the black iPhone 5s on the floor. It was near the roots of some plants that were covering the phone. No one would have seen it otherwise. Dani picked up the phone, and carefully placed it in an evidence bag she had on her. She kept looking around till a cop stopped her.
"Hey kid! You can't be here!" One of the cops yelled.
"Wait, you don't understand. My dad's a cop" Dani tried to save herself.
He then dragged Dani away by the arm. She tried to get out of his hold but couldn't. Callen and Sam were talking when they saw the cop taking Dani away.
"Officer, officer it's ok she's with us". Callen saved Dani.
"Phew, that was close" Dani thought to herself. "Thanks Uncle Callen"
The officer then released her, and bent about working on his other duties. Dani took in Callen and Sam who looked at her with angry expressions.
"Thanks Uncle Callen"
"Dani, what are you doing here?" Sam asked.
"I wanted to help you guys". Dani said.
"Dani, you're too young to be here. You probably have your dad flipping out right now looking for you" Callen scolded
"And besides, you're distracting us from attending to more urgent matters at hand!" Sam added.
"But look, I found another phone" Dani handed over the phone.
The two agents look at it reading the same message as they had on their first phone. The one Dani picked up too.
"See. I told you I could help,"
The two agents look at each other then their niece.
Deeks' phone went off with Eric's number. "Yeah Eric, you have anything for me? I was meaning to call you," Deeks answered.
"Ok don't freak or flip out but Dani's not here" Eric nervously replied.
"What do you mean she's not there? Where could she have gone?"
"I have the trace on her phone and she's at the crime scene. Sam and Callen are there right now, they probably have her"
"Thanks, Eric,"
Deeks hung his phone up and Kensi looked at him. "Everything ok, Deeks?"
"We need to get to the crime scene now. Dani snuck out and went to the crime scene. Callen and Sam have her. I swear this girl is gonna give me an early death"
Dani had to stay with Sam while Callen got more information. She didn't like the idea of being left out of everything.
"You know when your dad gets here you're in trouble right?". Sam said
"I wanted to prove myself Uncle Sam, that's all. I don't like Dad babying me all the time. I mean, come on, he is tracking me with my phone!" Dani pleaded. "I'm 16, not 6. I can take care of myself"
"D, you know you're too young to do this, not to mention we don't know what we're walking into and what if you got hurt? How would your dad feel? You can't keep sneaking out to do stuff like this'' Sam consoled. He understood the situation that Dani was in, but as a father, he sided with Deeks here. Parents only say and do things for the good of their children.
Before Dani spoke, Kensi and Deeks pulled up. Dani knew she was screwed big time with her dad. He practically jumped out of the car and ran over to his daughter. Deeks eyed her over for any kind of injury then crushed her to his chest then pulled her away to talk to her.
"I know that can't be good". Kensi commented to Sam, looking from a distance at the dad-daughter duo.
"It's not," Sam nodded.
Deeks had his daughter by the arm then stared at her with a pissed off expression. He was taking a moment to calm down and gather himself.
"I'm sorry dad". Dani said.
"Dani what you did today not once but twice was totally uncalled for, what would you have done if you got hurt? What would you do if you had an attack? Dani I can't do my job if I'm worrying about you sneaking out" Deeks said.
The young girl had tears pool in her eyes as a couple ran down her face. "I'm really sorry dad, I just wanted to help". Dani sniffed.
Deeks then wiped the tears off her face and brought her into his embrace, she laid her head on his chest while he rubbed her back getting her to calm down.
"Dani I know you wanna be like me but sweetheart you have to understand this case is dangerous. We still don't know what we're dealing with or who we're dealing with. I can't lose you, like I did your mother"
Just as Dani tried to get her breathing under control it started to become heavy to the point she couldn't catch her breath, an asthma attack had been coming on.
"Dad...can't...breath". Dani gasped between breaths. They were sharp, short, and heavy.
"Where's your inhaler?" Deeks asked, grabbing the backpack already.
"My...backpack...I think". Dani heaved. Deeks looked and couldn't find it till he searched in one of his pockets and found it. He always made sure to keep a back up with him.
"Alright Dani on three ok. 1...2...3". Deeks then pushed on the inhaler with this finger.
She inhaled one puff of the medication and waited a minute before she got the second one. Sam, Callen, and Kensi then got worried about what happened with their niece.
"Hey you alright, D?" Callen asked.
"I'm fine". The teen said. This was not going well. Dani didn't want to be babied, and that was exactly what ended up happening.
"What happened?" Kensi asked.
"My asthma was acting up". Dani said, as she shook her head in annoyance, her chocolate curls flying in the wind.
"But you're alright now right". Kensi replied, wanting to be sure.
"I'm fine, Aunt Kensi" Dani gave a forced smile, inside she was bubbling with anger and annoyance.
"Well we should head back and see what Eric can get off this for us". Callen said.
"Where'd you find that?" Deeks asked.
"We didn't find it. Dani did". Sam said.
"Let's head back". Kensi walked toward the car, with her partner and his daughter.
Dani rode with her father, who kept running his fingers through his shaggy long, dirty blond hair, and Kensi while Sam and G rode back in Sam's car. Dani picked her nails on the ride back, the ride was dead silent. The car was filled with so much tension
Once back at HQ the team went up to Ops while Dani went to her father's desk on the main floor. There was no way he was going to allow her to Ops now. If ever again. Two sneak out stunts in the same day wasn't the brightest idea.
"Can you guys try and figure out if this phone is connected to the other one?" Callen asked, while handing the phone Dani found to Eric and Nell.
"You got it boss,". Nell said.
They quickly were typing on their keyboards and got the results back. "The phones are connected, they were first used to detonate the bombs then after a message appeared on both phones," Eric later stated.
"What was the other message?" Callen asked.
Eric then brought the message up on the screen for everyone to see.
'Si vis pacem para bellum' T.R.H.
The team looked on the screen, the same bold green letters against the dark black background. This time in a language none of them didn't understand. One of them inferred that it was Latin. Big time criminals loved the dead language.
"What is that?" Sam asked.
"I don't know". Callen said.
"I do, it's Latin. You want peace. Prepare for war". Hetty translated.
The agents looked at their field manager and back at each other.
"Whoever these people are, they want to do something big" She continued.
"Great, now we got bombers figuring out how to use Google Translate. Well congratulations to them," Callen said sarcastically.
"Question is; Who are 'they'" Deeks asked the obvious.
"And where are they right now," Sam added.
The team was contemplating the meaning of this message. They knew now that there were going to be even more innocent people in the cross-fire. They got the reports back from the bombing at Wilshire. Four dead, eleven injured.
Deeks didn't get anything back from the Memorial site bombing, but he figured that the number were going to go even higher.
"It's getting late so why doesn't everyone go home and get some rest". Callen suggested to his team.
They agreed and gone down to pack up their stuff, Dani was close to falling asleep when Deek touched her shoulder and she jolted awake.
"Sorry sweetheart. Come on we're leaving now". Deeks said.
She got up and stretched and waved everyone good-bye. Deeks threw an arm around her when they were heading out. The father and daughter got Chinese takeout from their favorite place for dinner. There wasn't much conversation. Dani knew that her Dad was still thinking about the bombings. That, or he was still upset over what happened.
Dani noticed her father's drooping eyes. She knew that he was going to be out soon. Deeks fell asleep on the couch after eating his food, while Dani went to her room to read over the files she took from the office.
It was nearing midnight when the teen gave up and went to bed. Deeks woke up at around 1 am to see he fell asleep on the couch so he then went to his room but first he checked in on Dani and smiled then went to his own room changing into some shorts and a shirt then went back to sleep. It's been awhile since Deeks fell asleep,and soon nightmares started to plague his dreams.
*NIGHTMARE*
Deeks was walking inside an abandoned building with his gun raised ready to take down a suspect but when he entered the room he went into shock, all the color drained from his face as he saw his daughter. His little girl, covered in blood as she tried to move. He ran as fast as he could over to her bringing her in his arms.
"Dani, Dani it's alright i'm here baby, daddy's here". Deeks said, bringing her body close to his.
"Daddy...I'm sorry"
Dani's eyes kept closing, making tears spill from Deeks' eyes. "Stay awake Dani, just stay awake please stay awake sweetheart". Deeks pleaded.
"Daddy"
"Daddy's here sweetheart, daddy's got you".
"I'm...sorry"
"Dani! Dani! DANI!" Deeks yelled.
Deeks shot up in bed in cold sweat looking around. Still not out of his dream-like state, he checked his daughter's bedroom.
"It's four in the morning. She's probably still in bed. Please, still be in bed!"
He quickly glanced at the bed, and saw that Dani was missing. Deeks gasped in shock, and walked in, looking to see for any signs of struggle. He couldn't think straight, and he called everyone to the squad.
Everyone was walking in half-asleep, looking at a view of a Deeks walking back and forth, pacing in the room.
"Alright Deeks what's the emergency at four in the morning". Callen said.
Deeks looked up, and Callen saw the red eyes as a sign. "Dani's missing"