Callen's Shooting

The Office of Special Projects (OSP) was full of busy people going about their daily lives. The team was just settling in for the day when a shrill whistle caught everyone's attention. Eric Beale, one of their technical analysts, was standing at the top of the stairs. They knew what he was going to say before he said it.

Sure enough, they hear him say, "case on deck."

Sam Hanna reached Eric first since he took the stairs three at a time. Sams partner "G" (Grisha) Callen was right behind, taking the stairs two at a time. The teams two junior agents Kensi Blye and LA Police Liaison Detective Marty Deeks brought up the rear.

When the two teams of agents walked into their Operations Center (OP's) they were greeted by their tiny, yet incredibly intimidating boss Hetty (Henrietta) Lange.

When everyone came in they were briefed on their new case by Hetty: Last night a shipment of weapons was stolen from Camp Pendleton. When Callen asked what type of weapons were in the load, She motioned to the Technical Analysts Eric and the other side of the "Wonder Twins" Nell Jones to elaborate. Eric and Nell took turns listing the weapons: M-16's, RPG Launchers, Grenades, Land Mines, Prima-cord, Blasting Caps, Detonators, weapons-grade C-4, among other things. "WOW" was the only thing that the group could say.

Hetty responded with "that is enough weapons to start a small war." "We cannot lose this shipment, we have to bring it back."

Callen asks the Wonder Twins if they have any witnesses? A question to which Nell response with "yes, there was one witness."

Callen being the team leader told the junior team of Kenzi and Deeks to go check out the crime scene.

"So you are going to interview the witness" inquired Nell.

Addressing Sam and Callen who respond with a simple nod.

Eric chimes in, "I sent the addresses to your phones."

Before they leave OP's both pairs put their COM's in their ears and do a sound check.

Getting into Sam's car which was a 2017 black Dodge Challenger they settled into companionable silence. A silence that was broken by an ambulance driving by with its sirens on.

When it passes them, Callen looks at Sam and says, "I wonder where they are going."

About five minutes later they arrive at the witness's address. They look at their phones and look up at the house to make sure that both addresses match.

Sam and Callen both approach the front door. When Callen knocks the door swings open. Both draw their Sig- Sauers at once. Weapons at the ready the pair quickly clear each room. Stopping only once. In the dining area just off the kitchen, they find their witness dead. Sam shakes his head at Callen when Sam checks for a pulse. They cleared the rest of the house a few minutes later. Sam tells Eric through COMs, "call the Coroner, we have a dead body here."

While they were waiting for the coroner to arrive, they take a closer look at the body. The victim was shot in the head. The bullet entered in the back of the head and exited out the front. Based on the small amount of blood spatter, the position of the body, the direction the body is facing, the bullet hole in the sliding glass door and the raised edges on the inside they were safely able to deduce that the shooter shot the victim from outside.

"Probably a sniper," Callen comments to Sam.

The dining area was quite large, and the dining table was quite small, so a lot of room was open. Sam was in the kitchen. Callen starts to cross the empty space of the dining area. Looking up Sam sees the red dot of a laser sight on Callen's chest right above his heart. Before he could say the words, "sniper G, get down," two shots ring out. To Sams horror Callen crumbles to his knees then falls back onto his back. Grabbing a white dish towel, he rushes to his partner's side. Pressing the cloth into G's wounds, he attempts to stop the bleeding.

Eric and Nell were screaming into the COMs, " Sam... Callen... can you hear us. What happened".

The sounds of their voices snap Sam out of his daze.

He is finally able to get the words out. " G's been hit. I repeat G's been shot."

Those were the three words he prayed that he would never have to say again. OPS was silent.

Finally, Sam hears someone say "an ambulance is on its way and should be there in five minutes." Sam recognizes the voice, it was Hetty's.

A dozen years ago to the day Callen was shot multiple times in a drive-by. He took five bullets and survived.

As Sam cradles G's head in his lap, he says " I can hear the ambulance coming. Hang on buddy help is coming".

Looking down at G he sees G take a deep breath. Then nothing. G stopped breathing. Frantically Sam checks for a radial pulse.

Finding no pulse, he screamed, " this can't be happening again."

Starting CPR on his best friend and partner and just hoping that G starts to breathe again. Sam knew G was not shot in the heart because G was breathing two minutes after the shots were fired.

About three minutes later the ambulance arrives on the scene. They introduced themselves as Bill Cassidy and Mary Jane Ross.

Bill asks Sam 'how long has your friend not been breathing".

Sam manages to tell them that "Callen stopped breathing a little over two minutes ago."

Sam was still giving G CPR. He was not going to stop till the medics had the defibrillator charged and ready. Mary orders Bill to charge to 200 joules. When Bill said charged and clear for a shock. Mary zaps G's heart. Bill checks for a pulse. Nothing. Charge to 250. They repeat the process. Again no response. Charge to 300. Yet no response. One more time okay. Charge to 300. Bill checks for a pulse and this time gets one. It was weak, but it was there. Still needing to get Callen breathing the medics intubate him so they can force oxygen into his lungs. Finally, Callen is stable enough to travel to the hospital.

Sitting in the ambulance, Sam flashes back to a dozen years ago when he was in this exact position.

Sam hears Bill radio ahead. "Dispatch notify county we are bringing in a multiple GSW. He's a federal agent".

Both Sam and Mary notice a small twitch in Callen's left hand. That slight twitch develops into a Grand Mal seizure. Mary reached for a vial of Lorazepam, sterile syringe, and a 22 gauge needle from the far drawer. The drug not only stops the seizure but it also stops Callen's heart. Again the medics shock his heart back into sinus rhythm. The ambulance finally arrives at the hospital. The paramedics brought him to Los Angeles County hospital since they have the best trauma center around.

One of the trauma doctors overhears the call. Telling the other trauma staff, "I got this one."

Having served in the military, Dr. Ethan Willis tends to go above and beyond for those who serve. He was a little older than a lot of his peers. Older, but still quite handsome. With a pair of baby blue eyes, the twinkled with mischievousness.

The ambulance pulls into the bay, and the doors fly open. Before Bill or Mary could say anything, Ethan recognizes the man bleeding before him.

Sam could barely hear what Ethan was saying, "Callen what have you done to yourself."

Noticing the look on Sams' face he quickly tells the confused man that he knew Callen from back when Callen worked for the FBI, In fact, Callen saved his life once.

"This is it, it's my chance to repay you for saving my ass," Ethan quietly tells Callen. Ethan quickly stabilized his old friend.

Very loudly Ethan shouts to a nurse above the noise of the trauma center. Inquiring if OR 1 was open. "Yes, OR 1 is open", replies the nurse.

"Get the Trauma Surgeon in here stat," orders Ethan.

Rolling Callen's gurney into the OR Ethan has to tell Sam that he couldn't go in. In what he hoped was a reassuring tone Ethan tells Sam, " Don't worry I will be with him the whole time, I owe this man my life so I will not give up on him."

Sam nods silently and releases the death grip he had on Callen's gurney.

The bullets missed Callen's heart by micrometers. They did, however, go through his left lung. Causing a Tension Pneumothorax. After traveling through the lung one bullet lodged itself near Callen's spine. The other bullet ricocheted off a rib. Bouncing around his body like a pinball machine. Causing massive soft tissue damage but miraculously missing all his other vital organs. Eventually stopping just above Callen's Large Intestine on his right side.

To repair the damage, the surgeon had to open Callen up from his left clavicle bone to his right pelvic bone. Locating the first bullet was easy. Removing it, however, was the tricky part. It was dangerously close to Callen's spine. With the first bullet removed they turned their attention to the other bullet. Cutting through muscle on a " treasure hunt" to find and tie off the veins and blood vessels that the bullet tore through. After all, Callen was losing blood as fast as they could put it in. Once they stopped the bleeding, they were able to locate the second bullet. Callen's heart stopped twice during the surgery, but they were able to shock it back into sinus rhythm.

Meanwhile, out in the hospital waiting room, Sam was pacing the full length of the room. Making the staff very nervous. Sam only stopped his pacing when the team walked in. The whole team was there. Hetty, Kenzi, Deeks, Eric, Nell. Hetty called Gibbs at the hospital. Sam could overhear the whole conversation. Hi, Gibbs, it's Hetty. Callen's been shot. How bad is it? It's bad. We're not sure he's going to make it. I'll be there in a few hours. See you then. Hopefully, Callen will survive. Hetty hangs up the phone. Seeing the shocked face of Sam, Hetty explains that Gibbs is listed as Callen's next of kin and Callen is Gibbs next of kin. They are very close.

Gibbs quickly called the lead FBI agent and dear friend Tobias Fornell. After explaining what happened Fornell offers Gibbs the FBI's G-5 jet. Telling Gibbs, it's fueled and ready to go. I was going to use it to fly to NYC for a meeting, but that is a quick drive by car. I'll drive to NYC, and you take the jet to LAX. I'll give the pilot a heads up on the change of plans. Go I'll take care of everything. "Thanks" Gibbs quickly says to his friend. On route to the airport, Gibbs calls Hetty to let her know that he would be there in a few hours. "A car will be waiting for you when you get here, Hetty says to Gibbs. Callen is at Los Angeles County General Hospital.

By the time Gibbs got there, Callen had been in surgery for four hours. It wasn't until Callen had been in surgery for six hours that Ethan came out to talk to Callen's " family." Ethan knew that Callen had no family by blood, but he had a family by choice. Since Callen was in law enforcement, Ethan ushered the team into a private room to debrief them. This is the protocol for Ethan anytime that law enforcement is injured.

Ethan began to explain what happened and why it took so long to repair the damage. "Both bullets missed Callen's heart by micrometers. They traveled through the lungs causing a Tension Pneumothorax. A Tension Pneumothorax is when air gets trapped in the space around the lungs. The pressure causes the injured lung to collapse. Untreated it will eventually cause the heart not to be able to beat. They had relieved the pressure that was building up in Callen's chest cavity. If pressure were not relieved Callen would suffocate".

The surgeon needed to place a 14 gauge needle into the second intercostal space. With the needle in place, the doctor put a catheter through. Then he removed the needle leaving the catheter in place. The pneumothorax needed a one-way valve to let the trapped air out but not allow outside air in.

Ethan continued to explain the surgery to Callen's team. "The first bullet was easy to locate but complicated to remove. The bullet was very close to his spinal cord, but we were able to remove it. The second bullet was an entirely different story. Before the surgeon could remove it, they had to locate and tie off all the blood vessels and veins that the bullet tore through."

Noticing the confused look the team was giving him, he realized they didn't know the exact nature of Callen's injuries. "One bullet lodged itself near Callen's spine the other ricocheted off a rib and ended up just above Callen's large intestines."

Hetty nodded her head in understanding.

Ethan continued with his explanation. " we had to make a large incision on Callen. The incision went from just below his left clavicle bone all the way to just above Callen's pelvic bone." "His heart stopped twice, but we were able to restart it. When he finished, he calmly walked out of the room. Before he left, he told the team that Callen is getting settled into the private recovery room. They could come back to visit him in a few minutes."