Los Angeles
"Stay still, Callen." Kensi's soothing voice echoed through the abandoned warehouse. He was being his stubborn self refusing help, but she had noticed the bleeding on the back of his head. "Let the paramedics take a look at your head wound."
"No! We don't have time, I need to call Gibbs." Callen searched for his cell, but he couldn't find it. "Your cell? I can't find mine." Resignedly, Kensi caved in and gave their team leader her cell.
"You gave him your cell?" Deeks quipped over to his partner. "You caved in just like that? Now if it had been me, you would have stretched it out longer and pretended like you weren't going to let me have it..."
"You're such a blatherskite, Deeks," Callen snapped at the detective.
"I'm a what?" Deeks asked stunned at Callen's retort towards him. "You been hanging out with Wikipedia here and learning new words.."
"Shut up, Deeks!" Callen glared at him. He was not amused by the detective's blabbering. "I can't hear over your chatter." He knew he was being snappy with him, but he had no patience and his head continued to throb. "Gibbs. Sidorov has a man up there following you...Who? When?"
Deeks shook his head and walked over to see how Sam was doing. "He's worried." Sam told him. "Don't take it personal, Deeks. He's under a lot of pressure worrying about his family."
Deeks shrugged. "How are you?" The detective and former Navy SEAL had made amends since he tried to save his and Michelle's lives.
"I'll be fine when we get Sidorov." Sam watched Callen talk to Gibbs on the cell. "Sidorov has a man in town where Gibbs and the others are. He never mentioned them, but his man has been following Gibbs..."
"He's worried that they'll find out that they're still alive and tell Janvier?" Deeks inquired.
Sam nodded.
"He's not the only one to suffer because of Janvier. Look what we've gone through because he had burned you? Surely he can see we're all in this together?"
"He still feels the guilt of going into Iran and bringing Janvier back here. All that's happened to us, to Matt, and the rest of his family -- he blames it on himself. He needs to find peace with it all. But now he's had to hide them, take them away from their own lives because of something he did." Sam eased himself up onto his feet using the support post. He swayed a little as the dizziness remained from the concussion he sustained by Sidorov's men.
"We're on our way." Callen hung up and handed Kensi her cell back. "We've got to go."
"You're not going anywhere, Agent Callen." Owen Granger moved closer to the team leader, forcing his position over him. "You need to have your head looked at."
"I'm fine," Callen snapped. "What are you doing here?" He glared at him briefly. "I don't have the time to deal with you." He went to walk past the Assistant Director, only to sway and have Granger grab him for support.
"Do you have a headache, Callen?" Concern spread over his face as he looked at his son more closely.
Callen shook his head, but it throbbed and hurt too much. He winced.
"Like hell you don't." Granger called over an paramedic. "Agent Callen needs to be assessed at the hospital before he can be released. He's suffering pain from his head injury, losing balance and is more intolerable than usual." Owen advised the paramedic. He handed Callen over to him and watched his son resist, only to lose the battle. Callen bent over and heaved, as his body purged the contents from his stomach, onto the warehouse floor.
"I need assistance over here." The paramedic called out to his colleague who had just finished up with Sam. His partner rushed over and helped him walk Callen to the ambulance. They laid him on the stretcher and began assessing him thoroughly.
"Damn!" Sam watched with worry over at his partner. "I should have known he wasn't good."
"He's in good hands now," Granger added. "I think you should go too, just to be sure."
Sam nodded in agreement. He still felt unstable on his feet. Sam looked over at his challenger.
"Don't worry, I'll drive it back to the mission." A small smile crept on the older man's face, as he saw worry over his car in Sam's eyes. The last time Granger had driven the challenger, Sam had to put it in the shop for the brakes to be fixed.
Sam hung his head low as he ducked into the rear of the ambulance to join his partner. Callen looked pale and he worried over him as well as their families. He was glad Michelle left home yesterday to drive up the coast to Half Moon Bay. Safe and far away from Sidorov for now. But the threat of Sidorov's man being in town following Gibbs', concerned them both.
"Did you get through to him?" Sam asked Callen.
"Yeah! He's seen the Russian already in the bakery. But that's not all. One of his daughter's good friends is also in town. She asked him if they had met before. He denied it of course, but still, if she saw any of them..."
Sam gently squeezed his partner's shoulder to succour him. "Are they okay?" That was the main thing on both of their minds. Michelle was due to arrive there tonight with their girls in tow. He had tried her cell unsuccessfully, knowing that she was probably driving at the time. He had left a message, stressing the urgency and hoped she would ring back before they arrived in the seaside town.
"Yeah! Gibbs rang through to the house on the office phone and told them all to stay put. He's offered to help Sandra in the bakery seeing Ryan can't do his shift and to keep an eye on the Russian."
Both men sighed with relief at the news from Half Moon Bay. "Let's hope Michelle get's my message and calls me before they arrive there."
"Oh Sam, I'm sorry. I forgot they were on their way up there." Callen tried unsuccessfully to sit up collapsing back down again. He placed his hands on his head to force the pain to go away.
"You okay, G?" The paramedic leaned down over Callen as he saw Callen was in pain.
"How much pain are you in, Agent Callen?" The paramedic opened up a syringe and drew in some liquid from a bottle.
"I'll be okay." Callen tried to overcome the pain that stabbed into the rear of his head from the movement.
"I'm going to give you some morphine for the pain."
"No morphine..." Callen's pleading went unheard as the paramedic inserted the syringe into his vein. "Ouch!" His vision became blurred as he dozed off to sleep.
The ride to the hospital was swift and before long both Sam and Callen were lead inside on stretchers to be looked at. Hetty stood beside her agents as the doctors took blood samples, checked Sam's cranial nerves from vision and eye movement and ordered head scans for them both. However Callen's condition was more serious and the swelling on the back of his head was detected even before he went in for a scan. The fact that he had been knocked out by morphine due to the pain he was in, made assessing him more difficult.
"How are they, doctor?" Hetty watched Dr Morris sigh before he answered.
"Agent Callen is not in a fit state to leave the hospital today, Miss Lange. He needs a few days at least to recover from his head wound."
"You know he won't stand for it, Dr Morris." Hetty remained stoic as she listened to the doctor inform her the seriousness of her team leader's injuries. "But we can at least try, I suppose." She tried to appear in agreement with the doctor, as she knew Callen needed rest to recover properly, but with all that was going on, she doubted he would stay. As long as the morphine was working, there was no way Callen was going anywhere.
Half Moon Bay
Dan Walker stayed in the bakery to assist Sandra Levitt, seeing he had told his grandson, Ryan, to stay at home. The Russian kept his head in the newspaper while the woman who had approached him finally left with her husband and children, much to his relief. His nerves were wrought tight as he went about the usual business of serving customers and cleaning up from those who had left. He was on edge waiting for this man of Sidorov's to make his first move. Part of him wanted to push the unsuspecting man to the floor and arrest him there on site. At least everyone in the bakery and Half Moon Bay would be safe with this man locked away. But he wasn't in this town as Federal Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He was there as Dan Walker, father-in-law to Natalie Walker. For the sake of their new identities, he had to play along with being oblivious to the threat.
It was approaching six, time to lock up and move the remaining customers out of the front door. He had gone through the back to ensure the rear door was secure before approaching the stranger. "Excuse me, Sir, but we are locking up now." Gibbs pretended to not notice the man, but he took in his features and regarded which direction he left as he walked outside. He turned off the lights and observed the man climb into a black SUV and drive away, heading north, away from the Walkers' family home. He persuaded Sandra for dinner out, allowing him to have more time out and away from his family. After his phone call with Callen, he didn't want to head home and place them all at risk. He knew the man wasn't going far, seeing the threat Sidorov made to Sam and Callen was by the following morning. He might as well enjoy his time with Sandra for the time being.
"Well I think I'm going to have you help me out more often, Dan, if this is the treat I get afterwards." Sandra Levitt smiled warmly over to Dan, as they sat and enjoyed an Italian meal by the marina. Fresh seafood caught that day out at sea sat in plenty on their plates. "This looks delicious."
Dan laughed at his red head companion. She was six years his junior, but she glowed and made him feel that bit younger again. "I wish I could say we caught it ourselves, but as you already know we went diving not fishing," he jested with her. Their conversation remained light and both enjoyed the other's company.
Walker's family home
Michelle pulled up outside the Walkers' family home and noticed the missed calls from Sam. She and Kamran were tired from seeing the sights on their way up. It gave her the opportunity to check if they were being followed and make the drive more enjoyable for them both. She looked in her review mirror and smiled at the sleeping forms of her daughter. "Wake up my beautiful girl. We're here."
Eden Johnson opened her eyes and yawned, stretching her arms out as she took in their surroundings. "We're here?"
"We sure are, sweetie. Let's get our bags inside and say hello, hey!" Kamran nodded and helped her mom carry bags to the front door.
A creak on the porch behind them put Michelle Hanna on high alert. She grabbed her weapon from the rear of her jean's waistband and switched the safety switch off.
"It's okay. It's Dan."
Michelle sighed with relief when she saw Dan Walker appear from the shadows.
"You gave me a fright..." Michelle Hanna placed her arms protectively around her daughter.
"You have every right to be alert, Melanie. Has Rob contacted you yet?" Dan could see the effects of hiding from Sidorov had taken a toll on the woman before him.
"I have a few missed messages..."
"Call him. It's urgent," Gibbs interjected. "I'll take Kamran inside to settle, seeing it's late."
Michelle nodded and dialled Sam.
"Michelle, what's taken you so long to call me back?" Sam sat beside his partner's bed in the hospital room.
"Hi there, babe. What's up. Dan says it's urgent."
"You're there already?" Callen saw Sam's face crease from worry.
"What's going on?..."
"Sidorov is back in town. He wants Quinn. He says he know's who she is. He know's my real name too. Janvier has been talking from prison," Sam advised her.
"Crap! Well it's a good thing we're out of town then..." Michelle paused as her mind tried to catch up on all her husband had told her. "Wait a minute, how did you find all of this out?" Worry crossed her face as all prior events flicked through her mind. "Are you okay?"
"He's got a man in town. Stay low. Gibbs will tell you about him. Don't worry about us, Shell, keep yourselves safe up there." Sam hoped that would appease her.
"What aren't you telling me, Sam Hanna?" She kept her voice low, although she really wanted to shout it out at him to make him tell her.
"Sidorov laid a trap for G and I..."
"Sam..." Michelle's heart pounded in her chest from fear of what had happened to her husband and partner.
"We're fine. Just suffered some minor concussion. G's being forced to stay overnight, but we'll be on our way first thing. Nell's book us all onto a flight tomorrow..."
"Just some minor concussion? Do I have to call Hetty to get the details or are you going to tell me what went down?" Her patience was running thin with worry.
"We had a lead on a case, or so we thought. We were knocked out as we entered the warehouse. Ww woke up with a concussion and feet tied to a support post. Then Sidorov walked out and demanded Quinn. He's got a man up there to kill Gibbs if we don't deliver. We don't think they know about Natalie and the kids. Callen's out of his mind with worry and has threatened a few nurses for not letting him leave." It would have humoured the former Navy SEAL had the situation not be so dire for both men. He understood his partner's frustration.
"When's the deadline?" Michelle's voice rose in pitch as fear set in.
"Twenty-four hours. But that was hours ago..." Sam tried hard to think back to the details. His head was still fuzzy from the concussion.
"What time, Sam?" She had worked out Sam was struggling with the details due to the concussion.
"Ask Gibbs what time G rang him. It was about twenty minutes before that when Sidorov and his men left us. I'm sorry, Shell, my mind is fuzzy."
"Get some rest, Sam. Love you, babe." Michelle scanned the neighbourhood before entering the Walkers' home. Nothing seemed inauspicious.
Dan welcomed Melanie Johnson with a warm cup of coffee as she entered the house. All the lights were switched off except for the ones in the kitchen, highlighting the oak cupboards and bench, contrasted with a white porcelain farmhouse sink and antique tap ware. Narrow gloss white brick shaped tiles adorned the walls to break up the oak, with large earthen tiles and rug on the floor. Matching exposed wooden beams supports hung overhead, giving a real country living feel to the room. A double black and green cooker sat inside the old original fireplace, using the chimney instead of the modern extractor fan. A sliding door through to the butler's pantry to where the refrigerator and other appliances were, hid them from view.
Melanie sat on the wooden bar stool beside Dan and nodded in appreciation for the warm liquid. "You've been busy here." She nodded towards the craftsmanship he had made on the kitchen. Her inspection on the rest of the house would have to wait till she had a chance to wander. "Jake told me how skilled your hands are with wood. It's beautiful."
"Thanks. Jake and the kids helped too." Dan sipped from his mug, savouring the aroma. Normally he wouldn't drink coffee so late when he wasn't working, but there was too much danger in town. He needed to stay alert. "I see it as team work."
"Jake helped too? He could do with some furniture in his own house." Michelle laughed as she thought over the sparseness of Callen's house.
"Next project." Dan smiled. "Rob update you on what's going on?"
"Yes he did. Did you know that they were knocked out today and held hostage in a warehouse?" she inquired.
"No, I didn't. Jake's never good at telling the finer details," Dan replied.
"No, he's not. Now Rob said there was a man in town. We need to dispose of him tonight. We can't risk him finding me here nor discovering Natalie and the kids are alive," Michelle stressed.
"I agree. Hence why I gave you coffee and not tea."
Michelle smiled over at the older man. "Thanks. Okay, so what do you have planned?"
They remained close as Dan Walker became Agent Gibbs and delivered his plan of attack with the former CIA Agent, Quinn.