Author's note: Call me paranoid but in the season finale, Sam may not have uttered the words but he did imply that he doesn't trust Deeks. This lends credence to my point that Sam doesn't trust Deeks.

I have no idea what criteria are used to gauge the risk before sending a person or a family into witness protection. I tried looking it up but failed. Using my knowledge from movies, I have assumed a few things as a writer. Please forgive me if I am wrong.

Now back to the story.

The photograph was that of Patrick's wife of four years and his one year old son in a park just a few blocks from his home.

Bates sent Patrick Fisher with a few Uniformed Officers to his home and moved his family to a LAPD Safe House. After brainstorming for an hour, Deeks and Bates were walking out of the precinct when two men in suits approached them.

"Nick Patton?" One of the men asked.

"Who might you be?" Bates questioned from beside Deeks as Deeks frowned at the guys in suits.

"FBI! We have an arrest warrant for Nick Patton." The other guy spoke.

"Can I see an ID?" Bates questioned. Any Federal Agent worth his salt would know that Nick Patton is an alias for an undercover operation as soon as they see the file.

"Who are you?" The first guy questioned arrogantly.

"Lieutenant Bates, Head of the Detectives. Now can I see some ID?" Bates shot back equally arrogantly. Both the 'FBI' Agents flashed their IDs and put them in the pocket before either Bates or Deeks could properly see them.

"Where did you complete your training from?" Bates questioned them in a raised voice. The raised voice was sign enough for the few uniforms in the area to round up the 'FBI' Agents. Deeks detected a hint of fear in their eyes and that confirmed his suspicion.

"Now, would you like to come inside and kindly don't give my men a reason to shoot you?" Bates questioned. Both the men in Suits walked inside silently, still covered by the uniformed officers.

Both the Federal Agents were seated at a desk and a Detective was assigned to confirm their identification with the FBI. FBI confirmed that they were both impostors. With that information as ammunition, Bates took them both to the interrogation room.

"Who are you?" Bates questioned curtly. One of them putting a brave front replied with the same arrogance as before, "FBI Agents."

"Really, FBI just confirmed that they don't have any Agent named Michael Elgers or Albert Nicholson." Bates replied sharply. An Officer knocked on the door and entered with a stamp pad and Finger Print Sheet.

"Tell us who you really are and what did you want with Nick Patton?" Bates questioned again as the Officer completed his task of collecting the finger prints and left the interrogation room.

"We want our lawyer." The second guy demanded.

"Fair enough. Just so you know impersonating as a Law Enforcement Officer carries a prison sentence of up to 3 years and since you tried to get your hands on my informant, it amounts to obstruction of justice which could add another 20 years to your sentences." Bates threw over his shoulder before leaving the interrogation room. Another officer entered the room with a phone.

"Adam Campbell is trying to get his hands on Nick Patton." Deeks spoke thoughtfully as he heard Bates step up next to him.

"Do you think he's behind this?" Bates questioned pointing at the two impersonators.

"Who else do you think is outside that wants to get their hands on Nick Patton?" Deeks more stated than questioned.

"Hmmm…I agree. So what do you propose?" Bates questioned.

"Not sure. We have to seek Campbell out. We'll not know what Campbell has planned for Nick unless these two talk." Deeks replied as he watched both the perpetrators make their phone calls.

"Why don't you go and stay with Fisher. I'll call when we have more information." Bates suggested. Deeks cast one last look at the perpetrators and left the observation room.

Deeks walked straight to the Lieutenant's office and stepped inside. A box with the label Nick Patton was on the table. Deeks opened the box. Inside were the Nick Patton's Driver's License, Car Registration ID, Insurance Papers, parole and probation documents, the LAPD file created for the Alias and finally the switched off cell phone. Deeks stood looking at the contents of the box for a few seconds. Making a decision, Deeks took the box and walked straight to the evidence garage.

"Hey Marty!" The evidence garage clerk, Carl Svenson greeted him casually.

"Hey Carl!" Deeks replied with a fake smile. Carl saw through the fake smile.

Carl Svenson is a ready-to-retire old generation uniformed officer who took pride in his job. He is as straight laced as they come. He had also worked undercover in his younger days before an undercover operation went entirely wrong and he got injured in the line of duty. He was caught between a rock, his wife, and a hard place, his dream. After his injury, Carl's wife demanded he leave the job and find a safer job. By the time Carl was discharged from the hospital, the evidence garage clerk job opened up in the precinct. He convinced his wife that even though he will technically still be a Cop, there is no danger in working in the evidence garage and took the job.

For the past twenty years, he had seen Cops come down to the evidence garage with varying expressions on their face ranging from anger for not getting their target or at the Lawyer who got the criminal away on a technicality, sad for not being able to save more lives, happy to have gotten the intended result without any bloodshed. The harshest toll he had seen on any Cop was when they had lost their partner. It was a similar expression he was seeing on Marty's face.

"Marty!" Carl called him opening the gate to the evidence garage. Even though there are rules and guidelines on who should enter and exit the interior of the evidence garage, Carl makes exceptions for the Cops he is close to. The higher ups let him get away with it since he would never compromise the integrity of his job or that of the evidence garage.

Deeks walked in silently and sat down on the bench behind Carl. Carl turned around to talk to Deeks. He noticed how uncertain the young man looked.

"Tell me Son! What's up?" Carl asked genially.

"What do you want me to say, Carl? Should I say that my childhood mentor was a crime boss recruiting kids from my foster neighborhood into his chop shop crew? Should I say that I got away because the CPS Officer picked me up randomly since the foster home I was in was overcrowded? Should I say that the criminal I put away escaped and is threatening the safety of my Partner and his Family?" Deeks vented.

"Ah! The Adam Campbell case" Carl murmured to himself but loud enough for Deeks to hear. Deeks looked up at Carl surprised.

"How do you know?" Deeks questioned.

"People talk, Deeks. This is the evidence garage inside the precinct, safe as any other place in this building to talk. When they come down to file the evidence, they talk to each other, bouncing theories and ideas off each other and I tend to lend my few cents from time to time and I tend to remember cases involving people I care about." Carl pushed himself off his chair and sat beside Deeks.

"What should I do, Carl?" Deeks asked, leaning against the mesh grill separating the clerk's office from the evidence storage area.

"I don't know, Deeks. What should you do?" Carl asked. Deeks looked at Carl confused. Carl gave him a smile.

"I know the struggle you're going through, Son. The options you have are to wait for the results of the APB or BOLO notices or to seek Adam out yourself. The first one is easy to do. Your partner is safely tucked away in a LAPD safe house. But how long would it take for Adam Campbell to find the safe house and attack there? I would approach the case with the second option." Carl explained.

"Bates wants to play the waiting game. We have two people off Adam's payroll upstairs." Deeks replied.

"What do your instincts tell you?" Carl asked.

"To seek that bastard out and put a bullet in his brain." Deeks replied.

"I wouldn't take the law into my hands but I would definitely do what you want to do." Carl replied before squeezing Deeks shoulder in support. Deeks looked at Carl for a second, digesting what the older man just suggested.

"Thanks, Carl!" Deeks replied. Making a decision, he took the cover cellphone, license, vehicle registration, and Insurance papers. After signing in for the rest of the cover ID documents, Deeks took off in the pick-up truck that was used as Nick Patton's car. The first thing he did after he took off was to go to Campbell's home. Though it was painful for him to revisit the place after the betrayal was revealed, Deeks knew he had to do it. He owed that much to the Cops that have lost their lives trying to stop Campbell. He felt he owed more than that to the kids whose futures Campbell stole. He got the better deal after all when CPS moved him away from that place.

Everything the Crime Scene Unit thought was relevant to the case was bagged, tagged, and sent to the precinct for further examination by the detectives. Deeks was looking for information that wasn't relevant to the case. A criminal mastermind like Campbell would definitely have a Plan B which would be completely dissociated from Plan A. Deeks was looking for a connection within the LA County but outside the urban LA region. For Campbell to be able to arrange for two guys to impersonate FBI Agents in such a short time, he should be in LA but away from his regular hang outs which all fell within the LA urban region and were under LAPD surveillance.

Deeks spent about an hour looking for everything and anything and finally came up with nothing. Thinking on his feet, he turned on his cover cell phone. Deeks took a deep breath and called Campbell and turned the call recorder on.

"Nick, I was expecting your call." Campbell sounded pleased with himself.

"I know." Deeks replied.

"LAPD has arranged protection detail for your friend but not for you." Campbell started taunting Deeks. Deeks replied with a non-committal sound.

"They don't care about the informants. They never do. As far as they are concerned, you're just another criminal. At least, if I was a mob boss and you were one of my trusted enforcer or my accountant, you would've gotten witness protection but we're not." Campbell ranted.

"Listen, you have no time for this. The fools you've sent as FBI Agents are in custody. Once they reveal that you're the one who employed them, LAPD will have more ammunition against you. So, it's in your best interest to surrender." Deeks replied.

"You think I'm that easy to catch. My operation defied LAPD for over 20 years. LAPD couldn't even link me to the operation till I allowed you and your friend into my crew. You and your friend betrayed me. LAPD will not find me before I have my revenge." Campbell growled.

"How'll you escape? LAPD has surveillance on all your hangouts." Deeks provoked Campbell.

"You don't think I have a Plan B to escape?" Campbell smiled.

"Oh Yeah! I know you have a Plan B but I also know that LAPD is not filled with fools. You don't think your idiots would tell the cops where you're." Deeks continued provoking Campbell.

"Not if they want to live. I have enough connections to have them killed before I complete a day in court. Even if you and the LAPD succeed in catching me, I will have you and your friend killed from behind the bars." Campbell replied angrily and hung up.

Campbell's last statement shook Deeks from his being. All this time, he, Bates, and Fisher were of the thought process that catching Campbell would resolve the issue but if he has connections, Fisher and his family are not safe even if Campbell is incarcerated.

Deeks drove like a mad man to the LAPD safe house. His mad dash had both the LAPD Officers guarding the safe house and Fisher family in confusion and on a stage of alertness. Deeks called Bates to the safe house.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Bates barked as he entered the house.

"I was thinking of putting away a bastard who has killed 17 cops and is threatening the lives of my best friend and his family." Deeks shot back.

"That bastard is threatening your life as well." Patrick reminded.

"No one will cry over my dead body, Patrick but you have people who care about you." Deeks replied angrily only to be slapped and slapped hard by Carolyn Fisher. Everyone was stunned at the unexpected response from Patrick's wife.

"Don't you dare say you don't have anyone! For God's sake, you're the Godfather for my son and when I have more kids, you'll be the Godfather for them too. We have a lot to lose if we lose you." The tears in her eyes told everyone that she wasn't trying to placate Deeks.

"C'mon, Carrie…" Anything else Deeks wanted to say died in his throat as Carolyn stormed off the living room. Deeks looked at Patrick for support.

"Don't look at me, Marty. I told you before and I am telling you again now, you remind her of her brother who died in Iraq. There is no way you can placate her. She's not ready to lose her brother all over again." Patrick replied. Deeks sighed and shook his head.

"Campbell says he's got connections." Deeks said after a few minutes of silence and played the call.

"I think it's better to place you and the Fishers in witness protection, Deeks." Bates spoke after listening to the call.

"I am not going anywhere till Campbell is behind bars." Deeks spoke with determination.

"Neither am I." Patrick replied strongly.

"Pat! It's not safe for Carrie or the baby to be in LA." Deeks tried to convince.

"So it's safe for you if I leave you here alone." Pat shot back hard.

"Pat!" Deeks practically begged.

"Not happening, Deeks." Pat replied. The usage of his surname conveyed how determined Pat was about the matter.

"What's going on?" Carolyn stepped back into the room. Droplets of water hanging from her hair indicated that she washed her face to gain some control over her emotions.

"This dimwit wants us to go into witness protection." Pat explained.

"I think that is a good idea, Pat. I know we will be moving away from our life here but still, we'll be safe." Carolyn replied.

"But this idiot wouldn't go into witness protection." Patrick pointed at Deeks. The fire that seemingly faded when Carrie washed her face returned with a vengeance.

"Carrie! Please listen to me before you can say anything." Deeks pleaded. Carolyn nodded slightly not trusting herself with words.

"If I am still here, Campbell will be hunting my alias while you, Pat, and Mark would be safe somewhere else. It gives me lesser things to worry about and capture the bastard. As long as I know that you're safe, I will be at peace." Deeks explained his point of view.

"What about our peace, Marty? How can we feel safe when you're here fighting off a cop-killer without your partner and best friend watching your back?" Carolyn questioned.

"C'mon, Carrie, I have entire LAPD watching my back. As soon as Campbell is captured, I will get in touch with you in any way I can." Deeks tried to convince Carolyn and Pat.

"So does my husband when he watches your back." Carolyn argued.

"Carrie! Please. Patrick needs to take care of you and Mark besides watching my back. So please take witness protection and get out of LA." Deeks pleaded.

The argument and pleading continued for another hour before Patrick and Carolyn agreed to go into witness protection with one very important and non-negotiable condition, Deeks will remain their next of kin, and primary contact for any emergencies, no matter where they are sent.