Discord: Chapter 1

...

Callen pulled against his bindings again, but they were so tight it did nothing but cause his wrists to bleed more. He shook his head to try and clear away the cobwebs clogging his brain and give himself some clarity on their situation, but that didn't work either. He could still feel blood seeping from the wound above his left ear and his knee was on fire with a pulsing pain that wouldn't go away. He glanced quickly at Kensi. She was tied tightly to the post next to him and she seemed to be regaining consciousness and that eased some of the guilt he was feeling. He tried to see how badly she was hurt, but the lighting was too dim in the gray room and he was having trouble focusing. He felt his anger boiling as he went over the mistakes he had made that had gotten them into this situation, questioning his own judgment once again.

"Kens, you okay?" He called to her, but she didn't respond. His anger increased as his eyes roamed the filthy room where they were being held. It smelled old and stank of urine and he shivered from the coldness that clung to it. The concrete walls were covered in ugly graffiti and the floor was littered with broken liquor bottles, used needles and assorted trash. The windows were high clerestories, which made him believe they were being held in one of the industrial building by the train yards, judging from the sounds he kept hearing.

"Callen?" Kensi's voice was shaky, but just hearing her speak sent a flood of relief through him.

Before he could answer, the metal door at the end of the far wall slid open and four men entered. The man leading the group walked up to him and began searching his clothing, quickly finding and confiscating his phone and identification. Then he did the same to Kensi, spending a little more time searching her and smiling as he did it. After he pocketed the items he started to put his hands on her when another man entered the room and walked rapidly up behind him, and yanked him away.

"Back off, Lugo!"

He shoved the man back and then spoke to him rapidly in Spanish, ending his monologue with a suggestive laugh. Lugo didn't join him in the laughter, but turned and left the room with a fierce look on his face.

The new man turned back toward Kensi. He was tall and lanky and dressed in dark clothes and a leather jacket. His hair was long and greasy and the look in his eye was predatory as he spoke to the men behind him in Spanish, his voice rough and low. His laugh was guttural and cold as he walked slowly toward Kensi, his icy eyes skimming over her body as a he licked his lower lip. Callen watched as she tried to shrink back from him, her eyes wary, but defiant. The man laughed again when he reached out and grabbed the hair at the back of her neck and yanked her head back. He kissed her cruelly as his free hand reached up under her shirt. His body pressed her hard against the post and Callen heard her moan and she began to struggle harder when his hand reached her breast.

"Stop it!" Callen yelled as loud as he could, but the man barely paused in his attack. He saw the others laughing and he thought they were looking forward to their turn and it made him sick to his stomach.

The man's hands began to move roughly over Kensi's body, pulling her shirt open and grabbing her by the waist and looking her body over hungrily and then he stared into her eyes before yanking her hard up against him as his mouth closed around the base of her neck. She struggled and gasped, but he didn't release her as his mouth moved up to her ear. He whispered something Callen couldn't hear, but Kensi's face became rigid as he spoke and she looked quickly at Callen when the man pulled back, running his tongue down along her jaw line. Her eyes flashed with fire as the man's hands slowly moved down her arms and around her back to her hands. His body slammed her hard against the post again as his mouth closed around hers, kissing her roughly as his body pressed against her. Suddenly he pushed himself off of her and laughed and hit her hard across the cheek with his open hand. He turned toward Callen and looked at him, his eyes dark and sorrowful.

One of the men started to move toward Kensi, but Max Gentry hit him in the face, knocking him to the floor.

"She's mine! Any of you touch her you're dead. Understand?" Max stared menacingly as the men nodded in agreement.

"I'll be seeing you two later tonight," Max said harshly to the two agents. "The boss wants to question you personally."

Then he indicated to the others that they should leave, and they did. He looked back at them both before following the men out and his eyes were full of regret as he looked sadly at Kensi, and Callen felt a chill as Deeks walked slowly out of the room and slammed the door closed.

"What the hell was that?" Callen asked heatedly. "I know he's undercover, but why did he do that to you?"

Kensi could see the raw anger in Callen's eyes. She smiled then and saw the look in his eyes change to confusion. Then he saw Kensi's hands come free and she held up the small knife that Deeks had given her. Callen shook his head and finally smiled, still trying to let go of his anger toward Deeks for how he had manhandled Kensi.

"I'm okay, Callen," Kensi reassured him as she cut him free. "He didn't hurt me." She understood how protective he felt toward her, but she was surprised he was angry with Deeks.

"I hate that alias. In fact, I'm not sure it is one." he grumbled as he felt the wound on the side of his head as it began to pulsate with a dull and powerful pain. He blinked as it sharpened and his mind clouded.

"You think Deeks is really Max?" Kensi helped him walk over to a bench next to the wall and sit down, taking some of the pressure off of his injured knee.

"Part of him, yes." Callen gasped at the pain when he flexed his knee and it worried him almost as much as the throbbing in his head.

"What other way was he going to pass the knife to me Callen?" Kensi was starting to get frustrated with him. She thought he had not been quite right since he'd been hit by that pickup truck when they were taken.

"You're right," he conceded as he tested his knee.

"Hetty was the one who insisted he go undercover on this op as Max Gentry," Kensi sat down and checked her own bruises. "He hated the very idea of resurrecting Max. He dreaded doing it so much, she had to threaten him with a suspension before he would agree."

"Was she serious?" Callen asked in surprise. But he knew Hetty and he knew he shouldn't have been.

"Deeks thought so and he was pissed," she shivered as she remembered his ranting monologue about the stubborn Operations Manager. "I'm pretty sure he based that alias on his father. You saw the look on his face when he left just now. He hated hitting me. It reminds him of what his father used to do to his mom and it scares him that he might be even a little bit like his father. Also, that's his alias and he had to stay true to Max or he might have blown his cover. You know that Callen. Plus, he set it up so no one else will touch me, and I'm grateful for that. Aren't you?" She looked quickly at Callen and she got a begrudging nod from him.

But Callen still couldn't shake the feeling he'd had while Deeks was roughing up Kensi. It had made his skin crawl and he had wanted to pound him into the ground, even though he knew it was Deeks and knew Deeks would never hurt Kensi. But he had slapped her and Callen still didn't agree that he needed to do that. He realized Deeks had been undercover as Max Gentry for over two months and had undoubtedly settled into that dark alias and sometimes it's hard to step back once you're in that mind set.

"What did he whisper to you Kens?" Callen asked as he walked around gingerly, testing his bad knee.

"He said he'd contact Hetty and let her know we were here," Kensi winced as Callen suddenly stumbled into her as his knee gave out. Her ribs were very sensitive where they'd kicked her, and Callen's elbow had slammed into them as he lost his balance. Now she was thinking some of them might even be cracked.

"If they try and rescue us, how is Deeks going to cover himself." Callen was breathing hard as he leaned back against the wall.

"We're just going to have to trust him," Kensi said, wondering again if Callen wasn't more badly injured than she had first thought. His thinking seemed slow and he wasn't as sharp as he normally was. She would have to be alert if his judgment became muddled.

...

"Mr. Deeks, why are you calling?" Hetty's voice sounded distant and decidedly unfriendly.

"They've captured Kensi and Callen and they're here at the rail yards."

"And, what have you done about it?"

"I managed to pass a knife to Kensi, so they should have cut themselves free by now. But the boss is coming later to interrogate them." He drew into himself at the tenor of her voice. She made him feel like it was his fault they screwed up and were captured. "Are you sending Sam and a rescue team?"

"No, that would blow the op, and we can't afford to do that." She was tight and upset about how things had gone since the beginning of this operation. Not one of her agents seemed to be on the same page as the other and none were on the page she was on and she didn't like it. Deeks had been fighting her the whole way and it irritated her. Callen had messed up and gotten him and Kensi taken hostage and Sam was furious that he hadn't been with the two agents when their surveillance had been discovered. Sam blamed Hetty for that and he was now sulking because he was worried about his partner.

"Hetty, do you want me to bring them out?" Deeks asked hopefully.

Hetty knew how much he hated this alias and it was clouding his judgment. Now she was starting to get really angry. "No, Deeks! I want you to help them escape and stay undercover."

She was short with him and he heard the anger and exasperation in her voice and he felt a flash of fury.

"Hetty, there hasn't been one mention of this group meeting with any terrorist organization wanting to buy arms in the two months I've been here." The fury evident in his voice was swift to arouse a response from his boss.

"Who do you think you are talking to Mr. Deeks?" Hetty's anger was not something anyone wanted to experience, especially a young man on the brink of becoming an agent and he realized his mistake almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

"If you want to run this office, please let me know and I can redo your application." The sarcasm dripped from her words and Deeks hurriedly backed down.

"Sorry, Hetty, I'm just worried, that's all," he replied softly and raked his hand through his hair in frustration. "Nothing seems to be going smoothly on this op." Dejection colored his words and Hetty reined in her anger and sought to sooth her agent's sullen mood.

"You're right about that, Mr. Deeks," she said kindly. "Can you get them out without compromising your cover?"

"I'll do my best, Ms. Lange," Then he hung up before she could reply and she wanted to throttle him again. His use of her last name disturbed her and she wanted to kick herself for her own impatience with him. She knew being Max Gentry for this long was bound to cause some problems. She could chalk up some of his surliness to the alias, but she was afraid she was losing control over her agent and worse than that, she was afraid Deeks was losing control of Max and that made her nervous and a little pissed off. Why the hell was this op so damn difficult, she wondered?

...

"I'm gonna pay the little chica another visit," Max informed the three men guarding the door. He had at least an hour before his boss Camacho got back, and that was going to have to be enough time for him to get Kensi and Callen out of here.

"Can we watch?" Sanza asked with a lurid grin.

"This one's gonna be private, pendejo," Max was instantly angry and his face a mask of venom. The men backed off and headed into the other room to put some distance between themselves and the volatile arms trafficker.

Max slid the door open and closed it loudly behind him. Kensi was kneeling next to Callen as she examined his knee, and Max felt a sliver of jealousy in the pit of his stomach. They looked at him expectantly and he stopped to get himself under control. This is really a shitty assignment and he couldn't wait for it to be over, he thought as he walked over to them.

"You hurtin', Callen?" he asked, trying to sound concerned, which for some reason, he wasn't and that surprised him.

"What does it look like, Deeks?" Callen was on edge and it came out in his voice.

"It looks like you screwed up, that's what it looks like to me," Deeks replied and the sound of his voice was pure Max Gentry and Callen was suddenly furious.

"Really? Speaking of screw-ups Deeks, you want to explain why you felt it necessary to paw and slobber all over your partner and then hit her? Is that the Max Gentry special?" Callen was on his feet now and the intensity in his eyes made Kensi step in between the two men. Kensi was surprised at the sudden animosity between them.

Deeks lunged at the agent and Callen slugged him hard in the mouth, bloodying his lip and nose and causing him to almost go down. Cold fury darkened Max Gentry's face and he charged the agent, penning him against the wall and holding him there.

"Stop it you two!" Kensi was trying to pull them apart, but the two men shoved and pushed each other as their anger grew.

"Did Max hit her, Deeks? Or was that really just you hiding behind a name?" Callen was enraged as he hissed roughly at Deeks, who fought past Kensi and swung wildly at the lead agent. Callen ducked and smashed his fist into the side of Deeks' head and he went down. Kensi slapped Callen and pulled him around to face her.

"What are you doing?" She asked in disbelief.

Callen wasn't finished. He kicked Deeks as he struggled to get up, knocking him onto his back. He lay there, staring up at his team leader with a stunned expression on his face.

"You're no better than your father, Deeks," Callen said harshly.

Kensi let go of Callen then and stared at him, not believing what she had just heard him say. Then she turned toward Deeks and bent to help him up from the floor, but he brushed her hand away and she saw a look of shocked hurt in his eyes, followed by pure anger. When he got to his feet he turned away from them both and walked toward the door. He stopped and leaned his head again the cool metal of the door and Kensi started toward him.

"Hetty wants me to help you escape, so be ready," his voice was flat and empty of emotion. Then he pulled the sliding door open and walked into the other room.

Kensi turned to look at Callen, who had sat back down on the bench and was holding his head in his hands as he stared at the floor

"Why did you say that?" Kensi whispered. "How could you do that to him, now?" She shook her head and walked toward the open door as gunfire erupted in the other room. She ran out in time to see Deeks shoot down the last of the three guards. Then he stood swaying slightly as he stared at her with a haunted look in his stormy blue eyes.

"Go get Callen."

Deeks didn't wait to see her leave; he just walked toward a set of double doors and stumbled as he reached them. He leaned silently against the wall, waiting for the two agents, his head down and his breathing labored.

Callen and Kensi were suddenly beside him and he opened one of the doors and handed Kensi a set of keys, their phones and IDs. He watched her silently as she helped Callen into the truck.

"Deeks," Kensi came quickly back to him, but he put his hand up to stop her.

"You better go now, Kens. Camacho will be here any minute, and you need to be a long way off when he and his personal bodyguards get here." He wouldn't look at her as he walked back inside and shut the door.

It wasn't until then that she saw the pool of blood where he'd been standing and her heart jumped. She would have followed him, but Callen was mumbling incoherently and she needed to get him to a doctor. Tears stood in her eyes as she drove away and her heart hurt as she remembered the look on Deeks' face when Callen had told him he was just like his father. Now, he was wounded and she wouldn't be there to help and to back him up. She hadn't felt this distraught in a long time.

"Hetty, I'm taking Callen to the hospital," Kensi said quietly into her phone. She felt disconnected and so depressed she could barely speak.

"Good, Ms. Blye. Deeks got you out." Hetty sounded cheerful and it made Kensi feel even lower.

"Deeks is wounded," she said with an ever-increasing sense of numbness.

"How bad, Kensi?"

"I don't know."

"Kensi, are you hurt?" Hetty was starting to sense there was more going on than Kensi was telling.

"Just a couple of sore ribs, I think," Kensi was pulling up to the emergency entrance and used that as an excuse to end her conversation with Hetty. Right now, she needed someone to help Callen, who had been unconscious for the last ten minutes. She was still angry with him, but she told the doctors what had happened to him and then went into the ER to wait for Sam, who she was sure was on his way. She would happily pass Callen off to his partner and then go see Hetty, to find out when they could get Deeks out of there.

...

Kensi walked out of the ER with a prescription for pain medication and in the darkest mood she had experienced in a long time. Sam had already gone to find out more about Callen's condition and she was glad he was gone. He hadn't even asked about Deeks and that had alienated her and made her feel even more isolated from the team.

"Kensi, we need to talk," Hetty stood in the middle of the waiting room and Kensi almost ran into her.

"Okay," she said without enthusiasm. "But you have to answer a question for me first."

"Really. And why is that, Ms. Blye?" Hetty glared at Kensi and felt herself stiffen.

"Because you sent Deeks in there as Max Gentry and now he's wounded and I want to know when you're going to pull him out." Kensi crossed her arms in front of her body to keep herself from shaking as she stared down at the tough little Ops Manager.

"I'll pull him out when I decide it's time to pull him out. Not before." Hetty stood her ground. "Certainly not when you think I should."

Suddenly Kensi lost it. She grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a vase of flowers and threw it against the wall. Hetty was shocked at Kensi's loss of control.

"Hetty, do you want him to get killed?" Kensi shouted.

"Of course I don't, Ms. Blye. Why would you think that?" Hetty was bewildered by her outburst and wondered once again if this operation was jinxed. Now she was sure there was something she hadn't been told.

"Kensi, what happened in there?" Hetty said calmly, back in control of herself and the situation.

Kensi told her what Deeks had done in order to pass her the knife and Callen's reaction to it.

"Hetty they fought and Callen hit and kicked him and told Deeks he was no better than his father," Kensi's anger was raw and Hetty was afraid the team's chemistry might be badly damaged by what had happened during this operation and she wasn't sure how to repair it.

"How did Deeks seem when you left him," Hetty's concern was evident and Kensi's anger subsided a little as she tried to remember everything that might help Hetty determine whether to pull Deeks out.

"He was distant and cold and wouldn't look at me," she said quietly. "Hetty I think he believed what Callen said and if he based Max Gentry on his father then I'm afraid he might just let himself be swallowed up by Max. Hetty we can't let that happen."

"You're right, Kensi," Hetty felt a sense of dread building in her gut and she didn't like it. "I'll talk with Callen when he comes out of surgery and make my decision then."

"Well, ask him to explain why in the middle of an op he went off on his own undercover agent," Kensi's voice was hard and angry and it surprised Hetty.

The team was now in deep turmoil and Hetty had to find a way to bring them together or this operation would be officially blown and the discord might just tear her team apart.

...