Chapter 1

No day on Skid row was easy but today was particularly bad. First, was the bad batch of heroin that seemed to be making the rounds. Then, there was the near riot between two rival gangs. Doctor Emily MacAvoy had enough. From the time her clinic opened its doors, she had been non-stop, not even finding time for lunch. Now all she wanted was her easy chair and a nice glass of wine.

"Mac, you still here?" Emily heard as she shook her head. Her quiet evening was not meant to be.

"Good, you are still here. He's hurt bad and I can't help. He needs you."

"Slow down, Doc. Who needs me?" Emily asked as she began to gather up some medical supplies.

"The guy outside. I found him down by Alameda and 6th. He had this." Doc told her, handing over a wallet.

She slipped it into her pocket as she ran to the door. Doc never disappointed. The man was badly beaten, probably the worse she had seen in a while. She did a quick cursory check, carefully looking around to see if the people who had done this were not still around. More than once a beaten man had brought his trouble into the clinic. Noting the injuries she could see, she pulled the wheel chair Doc used to bring the patients to her into the clinic. Locking the door, she brought her patient to the room she used for her most serious patients.

"Doc, help me lift him."

The two of them lifted him on the table. Even though Doc was homeless, in an emergency he was quite helpful. Doc was an RN in the army and due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he just couldn't function. As often as Emily had tried to help him, he always ended up back on Skid Row. So she told him to bring her any injured people and he did. The only time she saw Doc as somewhat normal was when she allowed him to help her.

They made quick work of their patient's clothes. As each article was removed, Emily saw how badly he had been beaten. She knew he had broken ribs and she hoped there was no internal bleeding, though she had a feeling there was. Doc had backed off, knowing he could contaminate the wounds.

"Mac, I'll keep my ears open, see if anyone is looking for 'im." Mac nodded as she continued her evaluation as Doc slipped out.

Emily knew he was bad. The bruises were distinctly boot shaped. He was very tender in the chest area. After listening to his chest, she was relieved to see he hadn't punctured a lung. His eyes were swollen completely shut and his lip was very swollen. With the exception of cuts, his face wasn't bad. He must have protected it. Looking at his arms, she knew he had done exactly that. His left wrist was broken and several fingers on both hands were broken. He needed a hospital. Badly. Reaching for the wallet, she looked for ID. Terrific, he was Russian. Stavros Gorshkov was his name. Damn, the Russian were beginning to make life difficult here on Skid Row. More and more she was hearing how they were causing problems on the docks and in many of the warehouses that made up Skid Row. He was a long way from home and no hospital would treat him. He had a concussion and when he woke up; she would patch him up and send him on his way. She picked up his jacket to put the wallet in it. It seemed heavy to her. Feeling gently around she found a pocket that was hidden. Reaching in, she found another wallet and a disposable cell phone.

"Bloody Hell, who are you?" She asked quietly as every hair on her arm stood up.

Reaching for her phone she realized how serious this was. She glanced at her patient and she was suddenly very glad she had a couple of days off.

"Hi, you know what to do." Damn, him.

"Marty, it's me. Get down here right away and I don't mean tomorrow. Tonight." Emily ordered in her English lilt. "I'll be in the office and come alone."

"Great." Emily sighed as she began to clean up the cuts. "I guess it's you and me for a while, Mr. G. Callen."

It had been a hard take down, harder because they were short a team member. Marty Deeks stretched and glanced at the controlled chaos that surrounded him. It figured an Albanian Terrorist group would pick now to buy some major explosives from a Mexican Cartel. The cartels lately were diversifying into explosives and high end military hardware. There was no money in drugs anymore. As normal, it went wrong. There was shooting and now there were dead Albanians and dead Mexicans scattered around. To top it all off the explosives, military hardware and money they were dealing with is missing. It figured.

Marty looked for his team members but all he saw was a sea of alphabet agencies. He hated that they were all the way in San Diego, Otay Mesa to be exact because he knew he would get to bed just in time to get up again.

"No worries, Deeks." Special Agent Kensi Blye said suddenly materializing out of nowhere. "We'll stop and get you a Double Double on the way home."

"I was thinking more that I would enjoy some Carl's Jr.. Maybe a Teriyaki Burger."

"You'll be lucky if we get breakfast at Mickey D's." Special Agent Sam Hanna groused. "This is a mess."

"Yeah, well, here's to a long night." Kensi replied walking off. "I'm going to call Hetty to see if she can speed this up."

Sam and Deeks looked at each other and shrugged.

"Hear from Callen?" Deeks asked. "We could have used him tonight."

"We won't hear from him until he needs us. He is deep undercover." Sam answered.

"Doesn't that make you nervous? Even when I was deep undercover, I had a handler I could contact."

"Hell yeah, I'm nervous. But G is G. He can handle himself. He'll contact us if he gets in over his head."

"I hope your right." Deeks answered.

"Deeks, I think your pants are vibrating." Sam said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I have a voicemail." Deeks said bringing the phone to his ear.

"Hetty said to leave. She said that they will sort it out by tomorrow and tell us what we need to do." Kensi told them as she rejoined the guys.

"Lets mount up." Sam ordered.

"Hey, can I borrow your car?" Deeks asked rejoining them.

"We're leaving Deeks. I'll take you to your car." Kensi answered.

"Something has come up I have to take care of. I promise your car will be fine. I'll even pick you up in the morning."

"I'll just come with you." Kensi answered.

"Its case related. It has to do with an old informant and I don't want to spook them. Please."

"I'll take you, Kens. Besides, he hurts your car. We'll do some sparring." Sam told him.

"Deal. Thanks Kens. I owe you. You too, Sam." Deeks said taking the keys and running off towards the car.

"What was that about?" Sam asked.

"With Deeks, it could be anything." Kensi answered with a shrug.