Paranoia or Reality

Paranoia or Reality Chapter 21

Detective Marty Deeks' mind was in a whirl. He tossed and turned and only achieved four hours of solid sleep. He needed coffee and he needed it now. The news that the Campbells' dead neighbour had been protecting Callen and his family, hit home to him. Although they had intel that Callen was being hunted again, there were no signs of a threat to the Campbells in their home. He shuddered at the thought of those masked Russian mercenaries entering their home instead and killing Callen and his family. Memories from Lanz Island where Agent Matthew Dodds held Alice hostage, held pole position in his mind and his heart raced. And Matt had been on their team for five years. His family had been held hostage to force Dodds' hand, and the terror that it could have been any one of them placed into that position rocked him deeply. He'd held conversations with Sam on this matter over the years since, and every time Sam returned with, "he had a chance to talk to me, tell me about the situation, but he didn't." Sam was wise, Deeks knew, but he never told the big guy just how much his words of wisdom and encouragement meant to him. To be welcomed into the team and treated like a brother, had meant the world to him. And each time one of them was in danger, he fought like a bat out of hell to help protect them. This time was no different. It provided him with some relief that his wife and son were safe and far away from Los Angeles. It meant that he could focus on his work and not worry about them. But he still worried about Callen. Someone in the team always appeared to in danger. "Callen's safe," he said over and over in his mind. He's alive and far away from danger. If danger did find him, he had the confidence that Sam and Gibbs would protect him. He entered the old water treatment plant at six in the morning and unlocked the door, switching the alarm off. The sky was brightening outside, and he switched on the lights to show him his way inside the deserted building. His footsteps echoed along the tiled floor and he stopped at the bullpen, framed by patterned iron trellising. This had been his home for so long, and three months later, he missed this place so much. It was more the people than the place that he felt deep in his heart, and it felt wrong to be there without any of them. Even Eric who was usually perched upstairs, he missed just as much as the others. His eyes shifted across the vacant area that separated their desks with Hetty's and he sighed. How many times had they seen her desk empty of recent years? They couldn't fool themselves to think she was Yoda and live forever, even if she'd defied death on numerous occasions. His eyes lifted up to the recent addition of Mosley's office, the low ceiling darkened their bullpen and sighed. Mosley had vanished with her son, which meant that Shay wasn't around to kick him out. There were some blessings in this situation at least. He needed Deputy Director Ochoa to reassign him back to OSP permanently, and he'd be happy. He belonged here. So why, he wondered as he opened his laptop, why was he contemplating opening up a bar to work in, instead of this place where he considered it home? The shrill of his cell phone brought him out of the morning cobwebs of his brain.

"Deeks.  Where are you?" It was Detective Shane Moyles and he sounded too awake to have slept last night.

"At work."

"I know you're not at LAPD. I'm there now. How soon can you arrive here?" He sounded excited, almost out of breath.

"I can be there in twenty.  Make it ten." 

Moyles disconnected the call, and Deeks snapped to attention. He had to move quickly. Ten was pushing it, and he had to lock up OSP and set the alarm, his reason for adding time onto his eta with Moyles.

"Crap." He slammed his laptop shut and bolted for the door. As he went to open it, Deputy Director Ochoa entered, giving them both a surprise.

"Detective Deeks. What are you doing here at this time in the morning?" He double-checked the time of his watch. He'd caught an early flight to Los Angeles, with the hope of getting in early to catch up on work before the staff arrived.