Apologies and thanks to all of you who are still hanging in there with me on this. Hopefully, I will be able to devote more attention to finishing and updates will be more frequent.

Also, check out Kensi's Journal at Wikideeks. com

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(Just a reminder that Granger is a bad guy in my story!)

The plan was to have a team moving party over the weekend. Her Mom would also be there to help them get settled into their new house and they needed all the help they could get. Kensi was supposed to be spending her morning online, ordering things for the baby's room but all of that had come to a screeching halt.

She had texted Deeks several times in the last three hours and had received nothing in return. He was usually the one who texted her first with some sort of cute quip and the absence of any communication was worrying her. She started to call him but was afraid she might interrupt something important or worse, blow his cover if he was in the field. So, she called the one person who she knew would have the inside scoop about where he was and why he wasn't answering her texts.

"Nell, hey what's going on?" she asked trying to sound normal.

"Umm, what do you mean?" Nell stammered nervously.

"Well, I can't seem to get in touch with Deeks and was hoping you could tell me why."

"He is out on a case at the moment. Umm, can I call you back later? We're a little busy right now," she said very formally.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks," Kensi said as she hung up. Suddenly her heart was in her throat and she felt a tightness grip her chest so hard that she was having difficulty breathing. Something was wrong. Really, really wrong.

"Guys that was Kensi. I didn't know what to tell her so I told her I would call back later," Nell said softly.

Callen looked at Sam and shook his head. "This is why it isn't good for partners to be married."

"You think it would be any better if they were still just partners? Trust me G. It wouldn't," Sam said frowning. "Let me call Michelle and have her go stay with Kensi. She can tell her what's going on and try to keep her calm. We need to concentrate on finding them and figuring out who's behind this."

"Good idea," Hetty agreed.

Bozo walked slowly toward Deeks and reluctantly he decided to change tactics. "Look guys, just tell us what you want. I can be really agreeable if you'll just ask," he lied.

Bozo got right in his face and growled, "What I want is for you to shut your mouth."

"I can do that. But first, what do you want from us? I mean, surely we're here for a reason. Why don't you get your boss to come in here and clear up this little mystery so we can be on our way?"

Shorty raised his leg as if he was going to kick Deeks but got a scathing look from Bozo and he backed away.

"You'll find out soon enough," Bozo said as he looked back toward Emily.

The amazing thing about your hands being taped together while they are made into fists is that once you get one of them 'opened', suddenly there is room to wiggle your hands. Deeks had been working on this when they weren't looking and was actually making progress but had to make sure he wasn't caught. This was proving to be difficult since he was trying to keep their attention on him and not on Emily.

Shorty wasn't really a problem. He was obviously the submissive one but he was too busy gawking at Emily in her underwear. Bozo was going to be a challenge but he also knew Emily wouldn't let the guy touch her without a fight. Maybe it would give him enough time to at least get his hands free.

As it turned out, he didn't need to worry about it. Bozo walked over to Emily and squatted down in front of her but not close enough for her to reach him. "Hey girl, just sit tight. I'll be back soon and we'll have a nice party. Just you and me, okay?" He stood up and motioned for Shorty to follow him and left the room. The door slammed and they heard the bolt being shoved into place. A few seconds later, the lights went out and again they were in total darkness.

Deeks heard Emily sigh loudly and sit back down on the cold cement floor.

"You okay?" he asked.

"For now. But what about when they come back?"

"I wouldn't worry about that," Deeks replied.

Before she could ask him 'why' she heard the sound of tape ripping.

"Are you free?" she asked with a sense of hopefulness.

"Well, my hands are but I'm working on my feet."

"How are we going to get out of here? I heard them bolt the door?"

"We'll have to wait until they come back but I think we can take them both."

"How?"

"The old fashioned way. We take them by surprise and beat them senseless. I'll take care of Shorty and you get to bring down Bozo."

"With pleasure," she said as she waited for Deeks to free himself.

Callen, Sam and Hetty had been working with Nell to figure out where the original intel had come from but were unable to get past the original message that Hetty had received. Eric was spending the time working his magic with the traffic cameras.

"Hey guys, I think I've got something," Eric called out.

"The short version, please Mr. Beale," Hetty replied.

Eric cleared his throat and began. I have three vans that left the dock area during the specified time range that we can't verify right now. I'm hunting down the owners of two of them but the third is really a mystery. Whenever I try to find out anything about the owner, the screen reverts back to the beginning."

"What do you mean?" Callen asked.

"It makes me start the process over again. Someone has a block on the ID of the vehicle."

"Any way to get around it?" Sam asked hopefully.

"I can try but I can't promise anything. As soon as I pick it up again on the grid I can follow it to find out more but I'll do what I can," Eric answered truthfully.

Callen paced back and forth deep in thought. Sam reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you OK, G?"

"No. Are you?" he asked frustrated.

"No, but we have to push that aside for now and concentrate. What is the plan when we find them?" Sam asked.

"You're assuming we will find them alive. What if we don't?" Callen asked quietly.

"G., we can't think like that. Come on! Focus on our plan once we find them alive.

Callen swallowed hard and turned back toward Eric and Nell. "Nell, track down Granger's movements for the last two days."

"On it," she replied, thankful to have a new direction.

"Eric, send me the info on that van and call me when you find it. We'll be ready when you do. Sam, let's go."

"Where are you going Mr. Callen," Hetty asked with a frown.

"We can't just stand around and do nothing. We're going back to the docks and hope we get lucky."

She nodded and pointed toward the door. "Be safe," she said as they hurried out.

Kensi jumped when she heard a knock on the door. She got up quickly and looked through the window. Her disappointment in seeing Michelle and not Deeks quickly turned to concern as she opened the door to let her in.

"Hey Kensi," Michelle said with a smile as she entered the house and gave her a quick hug.

"Hey, Michelle. What's wrong?"

Her smile faded then she replied, "Let's have a seat and I'll explain."

"No! I can't sit down. Please tell me what's wrong," she pleaded with tears in her eyes.

Michelle grabbed her hands and held them tightly. "Kensi, we don't know anything right now but I need you to stay calm and come sit down with me. We can't put your baby under any more stress, okay?"

Kensi nodded and reluctantly allowed Michelle to lead her to the couch. Monty quickly curled up at her feet and stared up at her with concerned eyes.

"Marty and Emily went to check out a warehouse this morning and have disappeared," Michelle said calmly.

"What do you mean by disappeared?" Kensi asked as tears trailed down her cheeks.

"I don't have all of the details but Sam and Callen found their cellphones at the location but nothing else. Eric and Nell are tracking vehicles at the moment and as soon as they find out anything Sam will call me."

Kensi's eyes closed and she let go of Michelle to lean back against the couch. All kinds of horrors were racing through her mind and before long she was breathing heavily.

"Kensi," Michelle said sternly. "Stop thinking the worst. You need to think positive thoughts and calm down."

Kensi turned to look at her and realized she was right but she also couldn't just sit here and do nothing.

"Take me to Ops."

"Kensi, you need…."

"No, Michelle. I need to be there. I need to help with whatever I can. Sitting here and just waiting will make me go crazy. Please, please take me to Ops now," she begged. "You know you would want to do the same thing."

Michelle looked down at the floor then back up at Kensi. "Yes, I would. Let's go," she said as she stood up. "Sam is going to kill me and Deeks will probably be upset when he gets back but they'll just have to understand that we aren't the type of women who just sit around and wait!"

"Thank you so much!" Kensi said as she stood to give her a hug.

Eric had finally found the ID's on the other two vans and they looked legitimate. The third was still a problem but he was doing everything he could think of to get around the blocked ID.

Nell however, wasn't having any trouble tracking Granger's movements over the last two days. His activities seemed to be normal except for his whereabouts this morning. She couldn't find him. Hetty had tried to contact him to let him know what had happened to her agents but he hadn't returned her phone call and his office staff seemed to have misplaced him as well.

"Got it!" Eric yelled causing Nell to jump.

"You've found the owner of the van?" Hetty asked.

"No, I found the van. It's heading south on the 710 toward Long Beach."

"Good. Let Callen know and please don't lose it!" Hetty said with a worried frown.

Deeks had never been really good at figuring out how much time had passed without his watch but he was pretty sure they had been sitting in the dark for over an hour. He had managed to get them both freed from the duct tape and untied from the bolts above their heads however it was not an easy task to accomplish in the dark. He had removed his jacket and given it to Emily then they had both carefully made their way in the dark to the door where the men had entered earlier.

"What if they don't come back?" Emily asked again as she and Deeks sat side by side on the floor near the door.

"They will. What would be the point of taking us? You notice they haven't asked one single question yet?"

"Yeah, I did. I don't get it," she answered.

"Me either. Unless the point was to see what the team's response would be."

"Who would do that?"

"Terrorists maybe. But honestly, do those two look like they're smart enough to be terrorists?"

Emily laughed, "No, but I love your nicknames for them."

Deeks smiled and suddenly had another thought. "Or maybe…."

"Maybe what?"

"Okay, just follow me here a second. What if someone took us to try to get to the team? Or more specifically, to get to Hetty. And who do we know that really has a problem with Hetty?"

"Granger," she said flatly. "You think he's that desperate?"

"I think he'll do whatever he can to make Hetty look bad. What that means is when those two goons come back; we need to make sure they're still breathing when we take them down. They have lots of questions to answer."

"Ok, but I hope they come back soon. I really want to kick Bozo in the nuts!" she said with determination

Deeks laughed and replied, "Wow, you and Kensi really do have a lot in common."