Paranoia or Reality

Paranoia or Reality Chapter 9

"What!" Callen frowned as Gibbs stared at him.

"You're still as stubborn as you ever were. I thought Thea had snapped that out of you." Gibbs' pale blue eyes stared back at the vibrant blue of a summer sky of Grisha Callen's.

"I'm not being stubborn. I'm doing my job."

"You were supposed to stop at D.C., get off the plane and head home. It's not safe for you to continue onto Europe."

"It wasn't safe at home. I told you what happened."

Gibbs shuffled himself more comfortably into the streamline jet's leather chair and mulled over all Callen had told him earlier that day. He was supposed to have headed to Los Angeles and take Thea and the children to Moresby Island, protect them and the Deeks, while they worked the case, and solved any mole problems NCIS might have. He'd been fine with Callen going to Europe, more than fine with it until the chatter that someone was after Callen and his father came through on the CIA's intelligence. Instead, Shay Mosley told him Hetty was sorting out the families protection, and they needed him on board this flight to Europe, in lieu of Callen.

"Mosley doesn't play nice to those who go against her orders or question her authority." Gibbs' eyes shifted to another set of blue eyes that sparkled in the cabin light. Blue topaz eyes met his and stared him out. Deeks knew the remark was about his questioning to Mosley when it came to the Mexico case to rescue her son.

"Mosley reacts too quickly before she thinks things through. She shoved us out of L.A. without much thought, rushed us out, as a matter of fact." Callen called in his defence. "We hadn't even left U.S. airspace, and she's changed her mind, ordering me to get off at D.C. No, Gibbs! We can't chop and change things to someone who is behaving like she has split personalities. We're doing our job with or without Mosley's support. She ordered us to Europe to solve the case, she can't expect us to jump ship because she'd changed her mind."

Gibbs hummed deep in his throat, he understood Callen's frustrations. He'd been there before with Sarah Porter. 

"Okay! I will support you on this. But if this intelligence turns out to be true, you do as I tell you, else I will be the one who will face Thea if anything happens to you."

"It's old news. Did Mosley tell you what the intelligence said?"

"Not exactly!"

"That there are former KGB looking for me and my father. But they're looking for an old name for my dad. They're looking for Nikita, not his real name. Nor do they know that the Russian Government already have him locked away. This rumour has nothing to do with our case, and I believe it's a spoof. I've told Eric to dig deeper, to find out what is really going on."

"I've told him he shouldn't be going." Sam butted into their conversation.

"As I suspected." Gibbs nodded his appreciation to Sam who always had Callen's back. "What name are you travelling under?"

"Matthew James." Callen showed Gibbs his alias. "I.T. Consultant for Yursant Enterprise."

Gibbs mulled over the information. "I suppose that will do. As long as you're not travelling under the Callen family name, you should be safe travelling to Europe. Now, bring me up to speed on the case."

"Two NCIS agents who were unknown to us even being NCIS agents, worked with the CIA and a couple other agents on a case dealing with the Federov family in Georgia. During the operation, a Fabergé egg went missing from Russia. From interviewing the wife of one of them, our neighbour, actually, she thought they were after something French."

"Easy to do." Gibbs looked at the file Callen handed over to him. "So this is an in and out ask questions about the op and fly home?"

"Technically, yes, a simple case. But we have an unknown number of Russian operatives in Los Angeles who have killed two of our people after they've been interrogated and tortured for information. From what the wife told Kensi, she had no idea her husband was working for NCIS, let along about a Russian egg. The clock is ticking. We need to interview these agents from NCIS and the CIA operatives before any more of them are executed. They could be on their way to Europe and make their way to each of the men we're looking for before we even land."