And here is the climax. I hope it lives up to expectations. My chapters keep getting longer and longer.

Thank you everyone for following and commenting.

(Please read the author's note at the bottom after reading the story.)

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS:LA.

Nell was crouched on the catwalk in the forward portion of warehouse facing the harbor and the Archangel. She was looking through her spotting scope. She and Kensi had set up a table to use as the rest for her scope and Kensi's rifle. As she watched she could see movement on the deck of the ship, but nothing that looked out of the ordinary. She swung the scope up and to the left to look at the crane that normally would be used to load the ship and began carefully searching its crisscrossing steel skeleton.

"There he is." She whispered quietly. Under normal conditions it would have been quiet enough for only her to hear it. However, given how close she was to Kensi and the absolutely unnatural silence of the building the other woman heard it easily.

Kensi was on her knees on her shooting mat attaching her silencer to her rifle. After securing the silencer she pulled a magazine out of the rifle's case and slid it home with the resounding click that let her know it was seated properly. Hearing Nell's whisper she responded.

"You found the first lookout?"

Nell didn't take her eyes off the scope. "Yes. He's on the crane, just to the left of the door of the operator's cab. He's standing right now. Looks like he has a pair of binoculars as well." Nell leaned back to look at her surroundings. "Given the shadow and distance, even with binoculars he won't be able to see us here."

"Nope, not a chance." Kensi said as she folded down the bipod legs on her rifle and set the two little feet on the table. She tucked the stock into her shoulder and looked through the scope. It only took her a second to find the man standing on the crane. "Got him."

Nell looked back through her scope giving Kensi range and wind speed.

"Got it." Kensi responded. She keyed her mike. "Wizard Sentry – have visual on first lookout. Crane, catwalk by the cab, awaiting orders."

Moments later the other two over watch positions checked in.

"Priest Sentry – have visual on one lookout on roof, front left corner, of building three. Repeat, single lookout."

"Wyvern Sentry – no other lookouts sighted."

"Just two?" Nell questioned.

"Well, they aren't expecting trouble. Having armed guys roaming around would eventually attract attention, even here."

Nell shook her head in agreement.

"This is Wizard actual to all sentries. Execute now." Callen called.

Kensi placed the crosshairs a little up and to the left of the targets heart, took a deep breath, let it out slowly, held it, and then began to slowly pull the trigger. At four and a half pounds of pressure the trigger broke launching the bullet from the rifle.

Nell watched the lookout stagger back from the blow of the bullet and then collapse to the walkway of the crane. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized how much different it was to see this happen live and relatively up close rather than watching it from OPS, but it didn't bother her.

Kensi once again keyed her mike. "Wizard Sentry – target is down. Say again, target is down."

Her statement was followed by Priest. "Priest Sentry – target is down. Say again, target is down."

"Wyvern Sentry – all clear. No further movement."

Callen immediately came back on the net. "Wizard Actual – execute breach. Execute breach."

Callen set foot on the entry ramp first. He was followed by Sam who was in turn followed by ten members of the OPS rapid response group. As he got to the top of the ramp he was greeted by the wide, surprised eyes of the first armed guard that evening. A quick double tap of the MP5 to the man's chest ended any chance of resistance. At the first hatch they found, Callen quickly opened the door while Sam and the remainder of Wizard entered the boat proper.

As he stepped through the door to follow the rest of the team, Callen couldn't help but notice the drastic difference between the inside and outside of the boat. While the outside had the appearance of an aging completely spartan work boat, the inside was anything but. The floor was carpeted. The walls were actually covered to hide the bare metal and pipes. The lighting was the sort that would be found on cruise ships. He could only imagine what it cost to do the conversions. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts to set his mind on the task at hand.

As Team Wizard moved forward toward the suspected crew quarters, team Wyvern made its way to the bridge. Stealth was the missions biggest asset during the operation so flash bangs were completely out of the question. That meant the standard dynamic entry the tactical team was used to simply wasn't an option. Instead the group, crouched low so as not to be see, moved around the gantry on the outside of the bridge until they had positioned themselves completely across the front of the bridge. The plan was to stand up and point their guns through the windows, suppressing any resistance, and allowing three members of the team to enter the bridge to restrain the crew.

Agent Henson looked to his left and right to be sure everyone was ready. He held out his hand with three fingers raised. As the last finger fell, everyone stood as a unit, pointing their weapons into the pilot house. Of the seven men there, only two were armed. Both made the choice to resist. Shots from the team's silenced weapons ended the resistance before it had a chance to start. The only noise was that of the breaking glass and the bodies hitting the floor. As the rest of the team kept them covered, three members moved through the room zip tying everyone and laying them on the floor. After everything was secured, Henson and his second in command moved into the room to disable the ship's controls.

The second in command reached behind his back producing a sledge hammer. He looked at his boss grinning. "Never leave home without it."

Henson smiled back and waved his hand indicating to his second that the floor was his.

In less than a minute the navigation, throttle, and anchor controls were completely destroyed. Millions of dollars of equipment destroyed by a ten dollar hammer.

"This is Wyvern Actual. Ship is immobile. Moving to support Wizard."

"Wizard Actual. Copy that."

Leaving two men behind to insure no one freed themselves, the rest of Wyvern made their exit from the bridge and began their move forward to support Wizard.

Team Priest wasn't having as easy a time. Not having schematics of the boat the group was moving based on the normal layout of boats like this. The problem was it had been heavily modified. The first path they took ended in a blocked corridor. It took them an extra ten minutes to get around the dead end. Now they were standing outside a set of large double pressure doors.

"This is Priest Actual – large set of pressure doors. Going to have to go loud to get through."

"Wizard Actual – Roger that. We are on the clock. Make it happen. Wyvern and Wizard have joined up and are moving forward."

Greeson motioned to two of his men who moved toward the doors and started wiring up charges. Greeson hated this part. They could protect their hearing but the pressure wave always left him queasy. The two agents came back and the entire group moved down the corridor and around a corner.

The agent started the count down. "Three, two, one." He triggered the device.

Greeson and several of the other agents shook their heads to clear them and then went around the corner slowly, guns raised.

The individuals on the other side of the door were in worse shape. Not only were they standing closer to the door and not expecting it, they were in an enclosed room that made the shock wave that much worse. Most were on the floor but several were staggering around. Team Priest didn't even have to fire a shot. They entered the room and secured everyone without incident.

"Wow, this is really impressive boss." One of the agents said looking at the pool in the belly of the boat along with the underwater hatches.

"Boss, come look at this." Greeson walked over to the agent calling him. What Greeson saw was both amazing and a little disturbing. "It's got to be at least a ton of cocaine. I can't even fathom what the street value would be."

"Priest Actual – sub room secure. Got at least one sub and a lot, repeat a lot, of drugs down here. DEA is going to have a heart attack when they see this."

Back at OPS, Hetty, Granger, Deeks, and Eric were watching the raid take place. They had the feeds not only of the agents themselves and but also the security cameras around the boat they had been watching for a while.

While Hetty and Granger were focused on the team cameras, Eric and Deeks were focused on the external cameras.

"There is a car approaching the docks." Deeks said pointing to the screen showing the feed from the security cameras. Deeks touched the one button to his head set.

"Homeplate – there are two, repeat two vehicles approaching the dock. Coming up between building two and three now." Deeks watched as they stopped and gunmen climbed out of the vehicles.

Granger realized the problem immediately. "This is Granger – agents on the bridge come to the window and repel the boarding. All sentries, reposition immediately. They are in your blind spot. Someone got a message out after the explosion."

Deeks watched as three men entered the building that Kensi and Nell were in.

"Kensi, you've got three armed me that just entered the building on the west side."

Kensi tried to ignore the panic she heard in Deeks's voice. She looked over at Nell, who had shouldered her M4. Kensi put down her rifle and grabbed her own M4. The two agents turned and began slowly moving away from the west side to try get a visual on the three men approaching. Nell saw them first coming up the stairs.

"They want to be over watch for their group." Nell whispered.

Kensi nodded her head. "Let them make the landing, then we take them."

Nell nodded in agreement.

As the third man made the landing both agents opened fire. The first and second man both went down hard as bullets hammered into their chest, instantly ending their lives. The third man immediately threw himself down the stairs, avoiding Kensi's and Nell's rifle fire, and disappeared into the darkness of the warehouse floor.

Kensi started down the stairs closest to her with Nell following behind. Upon hitting the warehouse floor they began moving through the crates and boxes searching for the one that got away.

Kensi wasn't at all happy about the tactical situation. This guy had help just outside the door if he got to them and he could be anywhere in the maze of boxes and crates. It didn't mean she didn't have to search for him, but it didn't mean she had to like it. She was looking the wrong way when the gunman came out from around a crate to her rear, but Nell wasn't. Nell shoulder checked Kensi out of the line of fire. Even as she fell toward the floor Kensi marveled at the woman's strength. She heard the gunfire as she hit. She rolled turning her weapon toward the attacker and pulled the trigger. She was rewarded with seeing both bullets hit home and the gunman fall to the floor.

She turned to thank Nell, but found her lying still on the floor.

"Nell!" Kensi scrambled over to Nell and saw to bullets holes in the front of her vest. "No. No. No." Kensi pulled the Velcro on the vest and lifted up the front. "Thank God." The bullets hadn't gone through.

That's when Nell started coughing and sputtering. "Ow." She opened her eyes and looked at Kensi. "I specifically remember that the plan was changed so I didn't get shot." She rubbed her chest and ribs. "Holy hell, that hurts."

"Better than the alternative." Kensi said helping her up.

Everyone in OPS was on edge after hearing the shots.

"Sentry – status?" Granger barked. He was entirely too aware of what happened the last time he let Agent Blye out in the field on a sniper mission. He must be getting old. He was never the sentimental before.

"Wizard Sentry – I'm good." Kensi answered. "Wizard Sentry 2 took two to the vest but is fine. Very sore but none the worse for wear."

Granger and Hetty both let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding. Eric dropped his head forward banging it on the keyboard. Deeks went to flop into a chair, missed, and on reflex used both hands to brace himself. As his hand hit the floor the stress immediately went to the wounds in his shoulder tearing out three of the stiches. He let out a hiss of pain as he sat on the floor. He looked up at Granger, Hetty, and Eric. Hetty and Eric looked concerned. Granger looked more like he wanted to laugh, but he didn't.

"No one." Deeks glared at Granger. "No one tells Kensi about this." Deeks leaned back until he was laying on the floor. "Actually, nobody tell anyone. Ever."

Everyone turned back to the screens.

By the time the remaining arriving gunmen made it to the top of the boarding ramp, members of both team Priest and team Wyvern had made it to the deck. The firefight was intense but very quick. Two agents were hit but nothing life threating. The most interesting part of the fire fight was the person who was leading the group who was captured alive. Hectar Rodriquez.

Sam and Callen along with the rest of team Wizard were running out of zip ties. They had managed to take the boat with minimal shooting. There were members of Death's Head tied up all over the boat. It was going to take hours to get them all out. However, since the big boom in the back of the boat, things had become a little more exciting. The remaining members of the cartel were moving forward. Callen assumed they were moving to a more defensible position to have a last stand.

Sam peaked around the latest corner and quickly pulled his head back. "Found'em." He turned toward Callen. "This turns into a large hallway. Leads up to a large set of double doors, most likely some sort of master suite. The guys we've been herding have set up a barrier in the hallway."

"Well" Callen said. "We can throw ourselves at the walls of their defense." Callen sat down on the floor. "Or we can simply wait. They have no place to go."

Sam slid his back down the wall till he was sitting on the floor. "I'm good with waiting."

In the end, it took seven hours and two dozen canisters of tear gas, but the remaining cartel members finally walked out, Santiago and Manuel Perez among them.

The team didn't get back to the Mission until the sun had started rising. It had taken hours for them to deal with the ATF, DEA, FBI, Customs, and Homeland Security once they arrived. All the agencies wanted in on the take down and the agents just wanted out.

Paramedics at the scene had checked on Nell and declared her ribs bruised and sore, but not broken. Nell had tried to avoid it, but Callen had put his foot down and played the agent in charge card. She had tried to stare him down, but when he threatened to go to Hetty and have her agent status reevaluated, she conceded. They both knew he wouldn't actually do it, but Nell got the message.

Eric had been downloading the data from the ship using the cartel's own uplink after the team had secured the communication room. He was still going through most of the data, but had found several items of interest that he forwarded onto Agent Del Campo.

Granger, Hetty, and Eric met them at the bottom of the stairs as they entered the mission.

"Very good work, Agents. Very good work indeed." Hetty pronounced.

"Agent Jones." Granger spoke up. "I thought we agreed that you weren't going to play decoy."

Nell did her best not to smile. "So did I sir. So did I."

Granger looked them all over. "Excellent job."

Eric looked everywhere but at Nell. "I'm glad you guys are alright."

Kensi looked around the Mission. "Where is Deeks?"

"Right here." Deeks walked up behind her. He had gotten one of the medics on team Priest, who hadn't stayed for the seven hour standoff to re-stitch his wound. He had taken two pain pills to take the edge off and was sleeping on the sofa when the team returned. He shook hands with Sam and Callen and hugged Kensi with his good arm.

"Well, the last several days have been a mess. So I recommend a long weekend. Everyone go home. I'll see you on Tuesday." With that Hetty and Granger walked back up the stairs.

"Excellent." Sam said heading for the door.

"I'm beat. Later guys." Callen waved as he followed Sam out.

"I'm going to go home and soak." Nell said as she gingerly left the bullpen.

Deeks looked around sort of lost. "I…I don't have a home to go to."

Kensi, who still had her arms around his waist, looked up at him with a smile. "Yeah, about that…"

Well there it is. My first planned story and it actually turned out the way I had intended it too. Now, I have an interim story planned out to deal with Densi moving in together and shopping. It also deals with the semi mess I've made of the Callen/Nell/Eric 'thing' (which I'm going to fix). Hetty still has to talk to Deeks about the car. Then I have the next case. I've kind of gotten strung out on this. It's really rather sad, but oh well.