Chapter Eleven: Plus One

After another hour, there was still no evidence of a person being in the burned house while it was set on fire. The gun was the only thing worth mentioning.

Still.. Sam couldn't get rid of that nasty feeling inside him. Callen wouldn't just drop his gun, unless he had been in a struggle. And the fact that he was not in the house.. could only mean one option left.

He was kidnapped.

A train of different emotions sped through Sam's head. Besides the feeling of uselessness, fear and determination of finding his friend, he was most of all angry. He was angry at himself for buying the excuses G had told him about his behavior. Angry at Kensi for letting Callen walk in a trap and not telling him the truth. But he was even more angry at Callen.. How could he have been so stupid to go look up that address alone? Why hadn't he confided in Sam? He must've known by now Sam would do everything for his best friend, the best partner he ever had, his baby brother. From the very beginning Sam had been protective of him. He had known he needed to protect that brilliant and selfless yet simple mind of his, because it was doomed to do stupid things. But Sam also had thought Callen trusted him enough to let him in, to open his shield for him only, so he would be able to hide him from unnecessary danger. But now this. Sam wasn't so sure anymore.

A minute after they had found the gun, Sam had informed the others of the events of last night. He had heard the OPS room go deadly silent while he told the mere facts Kensi had told him and the things they had seen at the motel room and the burned house. Sam was mostly afraid of Hetty's current state of mind, but wasn't able to find out because she hadn't said a single word during his call. She couldn't lose another agent.. it would be the last drop.

Kensi had settled herself down in the Challenger while waiting, still unable to get her head around the things that had just happened, the things that had changed the lives of all the NCIS in mere minutes. And it was her fault. She knew it. How much better had it been if she had been the one gone now.. NCIS was far less without Callen's weird yet great thoughts and plans to let an operation succeed. And now he was gone. In which way he was gone, no one knew. And maybe they'd never know. Besides the gun, nothing of worth had been found in the house. All traces gone. There was no evidence, no lead, no nothing. A dead end.

She heard Sam entering the car, but didn't look up. He just sat there for a while without saying a word or moving a muscle. Finally, he moved his head. Kensi still didn't dare look at him.

"Kensi.. don't do this to yourself. Don't blame yourself for this. No one could've known." With eyes tired of crying, she turned to face her colleague.

"How can I not blame myself? First we lose Dom because of me, and now we'll lose Callen because of me. I'm a pure road of destruction. I'm no good for this.." Sam was taken aback by the forceful answer of the woman in front of him, yet he wasn't going to let her delve in self pity. He placed his hand on her cheek so she was looking him straight in the eyes.

"Kensi.. You're the best goddamn young agent I ever had the pleasure to work with. You're fast, smart, witty, a talent at improvising, full of love and care for the people around you. No one in his sane mind would blame you for what has happened, because it has been pure coincidence. You didn't force him to go to the address. And Dom went rogue to go drive through that crazy neighborhood by himself. He wasn't kidnapped while you were there. No one was there. No one is to blame, or everyone is to blame." Kensi's eyes had welled up again, which strengthened Sam.

"We need you now, we need your great actions and plans to save the greatest and stupidest agent of all times." This got a smile from the female agent. She wiped the fresh tear out of the corner of her eye.

"You're right. We have an agent to find. Alive. Only to tell him we'll kill him afterwards." Sam grinned.

"Exactly." They exchanged another look, giving one another extra courage to start this personal mission. Sam then started the engine.

"Nate told us that Hetty wants us back at the office. We're of no use here. She'll arrange someone for temporarily backup."

They were already on their way when Kensi finally asked.

"Nate told you the name of this backup?"

"Some guy named Deeks."

This operation was going way too slow for him. All that stupid fighting in this amateur version of Fight Club. He got in alright, but the leader and the rest of the group hadn't done anything illegal enough so the LAPD could arrest them for it and put them away in prison for a long time.

He sighed again while resting his sweaty head in his hands. He watched two of the group fighting each other in the ring with fake interest, but in real there were a thousand places he'd rather be during this lovely and sunny day. Jogging.. drinking coffee at a terrace while watching women pass by.. dating that woman he spoke to in a bar the other night.. instead he was watching old guys with tattoos fighting each other.

Marty Deeks was just about to break the record of the longest sigh ever when his phone rang. His real phone. He quickly touched 'accept' while finding a place out of hearing sight from the fight club.

"Marty, at your service.."

"Hello, Mr. Deeks. This is Ms. Lange, head of NCIS in Los Angeles." His heart abruptly stopped.

"Woaw.. The Ms. Lange? The NCIS?"

"I wasn't aware of any other Ms. Lange working at another NCIS in town, Mr. Deeks." He tried to get his breathing under control again.

"Apologies. I mean, it's an honor. To talk to you. For you to call me.. Uhm.. wait.. why did you call me, exactly?" He didn't saw Hetty smiling at the other end of the line. The stories about this particular LAPD agent appeared to be real after all.

"There's problem at NCIS. I'd like you to join us temporarily until this problem is solved." Joining NCIS? Marty didn't have to think twice.

"Absolutely, I'd like to very much. I've heard so much about you and the team and I'd like to be a part of that and complete missions together and.."

"It wasn't a question, Mr. Deeks. I'll send you a text with an address. Be there in 15 minutes, one of my agents will pick you up in a silver SUV." Before he had time to react, the line got disconnected. Deeks stared at his phone in disbelief. The stories about the boss of NCIS appeared to be real after all. Much more time to think wasn't there, so Marty Deeks quickly made up an excuse with the gang members of the fight club and he sped himself towards the given address.

It was going to be an exciting day after all.

Nate was there waiting for this agent of the LAPD, as Hetty told him so. His mind had a difficult time processing all the events of the last past days. The missing and finding of Dom, the death of Dom, a case of a dead ex-Marine that hits a personal nerve in Kensi, and then Callen. All that Nate could think of was.. Poor Callen. That man must've been through the most times of bad luck you can have in such a short life. And now he was kidnapped.. or even worse. Nate thought of all the emotional and physical pain that guy had been through and was unable to explain how he had turned out to be the man he is now. Or until now. The psychologist couldn't think of a world without G. Callen around. The world wouldn't survive.

Nate stared out the car window while pumping his head full of these kind of thoughts, while he saw a tall and thin man walking towards him. His shirt partly wet of the sweat, his blond hair sticking out in all directions. He waited until the guy slowly made his way towards the side window and knocked on it a few times. Nate let the window down.

"Hey man, you know any Ms.."

"Get in." The blond man only smiled his big smile and quickly made his way to the other side of the car to step in. He offered his hand.

"Hey there, I'm Marty Deeks, LAPD." Nate shook his hand.

"Nate Getz. I'm a psychologist working for the NCIS." Deeks made an 'oo' sound. That'd explain a lot.

"Cool." Nate started the car and drove away. From the corner of his eye, he saw Deeks almost jumping up and down in his seat of excitement. A little smile appeared on his face.

"So, what's this problem you guys needed me for?" Marty turned his head around, his permanent smile still there on his face.

Nate's smile on the other hand, immediately vanished. He concentrated on the road, his face stern and diplomatic.

"We'll tell you when we get there."

Hetty, Eric, Sam and Kensi were already waiting for them in the OPS room. Nate went in first, followed by the LAPD Agent. Marty had secretly hoped for a warm and happy welcome, but had never expected the atmosphere to be so dark. He saw the other four members of the NCIS looking down or eyeing him with suspicion, not one of them offered him their hand.

The moment Nate and Deeks had entered, Hetty took the lead. She had taken her moment back at her desk a moment earlier. She had stared at Callen's case file, at his unfinished reports, the clothes he had worn undercover. She couldn't live with another one of her agent gone. But not just that idea made her sad.. the idea that it was Callen made her angry and upset. It's so not fair, that's the only thing she thought. The problems he had been in, the difficulty to stay alive even when he was still an innocent child.. it had been inhuman. Unworthy of someone so great and selfless. While staring at his file, at his picture taken while he first became a member of the NCIS, she made a promise with herself: she would stay strong, she wouldn't show fear or any emotion. She would bring him back alive.

Hetty slowly made her way to the middle of the OPS room.

"Agents, I'd like to introduce to you, Mr. Deeks, a LAPD Agent. He will temporarily be part of the team without replacing any other member of this team." She said this clear and direct, so there'd be no misinterpretations.

"Mr. Deeks, you already met our personal psychologist, Mr. Getz. Furthermore, I'd like to introduce Mr. Hanna, our experienced Field Agent, Ms. Blye, Junior Field Agent, and our IT-specialist Mr. Beale." All of them nodded once towards the LAPD agent, only Eric smiled and attempted a wave. Deeks rose his hand.

"Hi there. It's nice to join you. I hope I can be of use." No one said a word, so Hetty continued.

"We hope so too, Mr. Deeks. And now let's tell you the reason why we asked you to join us."

"Yes, that's right, you had a problem.." This got him an angry glare from Sam and so Deeks silenced and made himself comfortable next to the table.

"This is the problem." While Hetty spoke, they all turned towards the big screen. A large image of Callen appeared on it, the picture from the case file. Deeks looked at it with a crooked head.

"Hmm.. Guy's dead?" Immediately, Sam moved towards Deeks and grabbed him by his T-shirt.

"I should shut your mouth if I were you or.." His grip got stronger. Deeks threw his hands up in defeat and stumbled excuses while Nate tried to get Sam off of him.

"Sam! Don't."

"Mr. Hanna." After hearing Hetty's calm voice, Sam relaxed his grip on Deeks again, slowly releasing him. When he turned around towards the little and strong woman, he calmed down again, his anger subsiding while the fear stayed.

"Mr. Hanna.. Will you explain this situation to Mr. Deeks?" Sam could only look up, straight into the crystal blue eyes of his best friend on screen. He looked calm in the photo, his expression showed that he had settled for the constant unknown of his history and his future. While staring in those eyes, the eyes he came to know more than the eyes knew themselves, he finally found the word he had been looking for to describe the way he felt right now.

Incomplete.

"You're staring into the eyes of G. Callen. He's a Senior Field Agent. He's our team leader. He's my partner."

He felt completely and utterly incomplete.

"He's our friend and he's missing."

Drifting in and out consciousness, his black world lightened up every once in a while to show him a person, a group. In all those hours he was lying there, unable to move, unable to think, unable to do anything, all his mind could think about were those people showing up in his head.

Sam, Hetty, Nate, Eric… Kensi.

He was glad he still remembered the names since he remembered not much else besides the horrible pain. Those images and names gave him the strength to break through that black hole his body was sucking him in.

And so his unconscious kept fighting the will to surrender every time he thought of those five people.

His five best friends.

His family.