No Ordinary Love - G.Callen NCIS L.A

Chapter 28

It had started as any other day. Dee had the late shift, so they had breakfast, and she kicked him out the door with "I love you's" and "be safe's". While she was wearing one of his button-downs, he hadn't really wanted to go, but knowing that Hetty was not easily persuaded to forgive him because he couldn't let go of his girlfriend, and Dee was buried in the café's administration for the next few hours, he went anyway.

He arrived in the nick of time, throwing his tea strainer in a cup of hot water and tried to figure out why everybody on his team seemed to have a bucket list except for him. Maybe it was time to make one. There were things he wanted to do and they all included Dee. When he asked Kensi how the wedding planning was coming along, he got more details than he bargained for and instantly regretted having asked the question.

It promised to be a slow day as he settled in for paperwork. Looking back on it, he should've felt something. He should've known something was up. Then again, hindsight was always 20/20, and there hadn't been any clue that would've told him that something was about to happen.

Half an hour later, Eric's familiar whistle sounded and they went up to OPS. The fact that Hetty was there, too, wasn't unheard of, but for some reason it made him feel on edge. And when he looked at the screen, he instantly knew why.

"When was this?" he demanded.

"An hour ago," Eric answered, frowning. "And explosion downtown. A café." He touched his tablet. "Called Indulge, owned by..."

"Deja Barrow and Lindy Knight."

Eric looked at him, surprised. "Yes..."

"Casualties?"

"Two dead, four injured. There didn't seem to be anyone else at the café," Nell answered.

No, it had been too early. The real traffic wouldn't start coming in until ten.

"Surveillance on who did this?"

"Not yet," Eric shook his head. "The apartment above the café is owned by Miss Barrow, but we don't know if she was home at the time of the explosion. The fire department didn't find anyone upstairs when they went to check."

Callen bit his lip, not wanting to tell them that he already knew that. He turned to Hetty. "Why are we watching this? Domestic terrorism?" Not that he didn't want to know that Dee's café had gone up in flames, but this seemed more like a FBI case.

Hetty sighed. "LAPD found something when checking the premises. Mr. Beale, please."

Eric put a picture up on the large screen. Callen screened it and was on his way out within seconds. "Where is she, Hetty?"

"On her way to the boatshed." But Hetty wasn't going to let him go like that. "Mr. Callen, I would appreciate it if you shed some light on this situation, please."

He turned around in the doorway. "It says: Вы будете знать, что он чувствует, как. You'll know what it feels like. It's signed with initials of someone who isn't alive anymore. You need to call Gibbs, let him know he's in danger. His team, too."

"I gathered that." Hetty frowned at him. "I know you need her safe, but I need to know what we're up against here."

Callen took a deep breath. "Serbia. Classified mission. It was only Gibbs and me. We needed to kill a Russian arms dealer living there. Long story short: not everything went according to plan and we had collateral damage. Both his wife and daughter were killed, too." He squared his shoulders. "His son was left behind, it's the only one I can think of that would want revenge."

"Do you have a name?"

"His father's name was Oleg Bogdanov. That's the initials on the bottom of the picture. I don't know what the son was called." With that, he finally left OPS.