Boulevard of Broken Dreams

chapter 5

Los Angeles || Alhambra Hospital

"Have you found him already?"

Callen frowned and shook his head. "No. Tell me, this was in LA?"

"Yes. Poliakoff, she... they came. Three of them, Alexa - Poliakoff- and two men. And she told Marcus that were assessing all of it. The location. The safety. Whether or not he could..." she looked away and swallowed several times, closed her eyes. Blocking her emotions for him, a stranger. "He was... Marcus never stood a chance."

Callen took his phone. "What's the address?"

"6321 Mayflower Avenue."

He simply sent the info to his office and added to it 'send a coroner and have LAPD block it as a crime-scene'.
Then he looked up again and asked "Marcus has a surname?"

"Andreas, his name is Andreas Marcus," she replied. "Was..." she corrected with a soft sigh.

After he sent the name to the Ops Callen put his phone away. He glanced her way and noticed how much paler she was right now, looking exhausted. Which didn't actually surprise him, after surgery, after what she'd gone through and what she just told him.

"You know, you'd better try to catch some rest."

She blinked a few times and knitted her brows, either because of sadness or because thinking wasn't as sharp as she was used to.
It caused Callen to add "I'll be around the corner, in case Poliakoff shows up."

A soft hum sounded which he took as a approval and so Callen closed the blinds of the window and door and left her alone, thinking she would be asleep soon which would help her heal too. There was much more to her story he wanted to know of.

o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)o)

Los Angeles || NCIS' office of special projects || fifteen minutes later

Staring at their screens and listening to everything the colleagues in the field were talking about, Eric finally breathed out more relaxed.
There had been a phone call with Poliakoff and much to their surprise, she had agreed to meet Kensi and Deeks at the boatshed. His only message had been 'Because we received a call from the hospital. There's a serious matter about the patient that was admitted.'

As a matter of fact, it had been all too easy and a relief that she was alright with the request.

Preparing the next steps, Fatima had decided to have a team's brainstorm, all through the mutual phone system.

"I could call off LAPD extra services," Fatima suggested. "I mean, this Poliakoff is cooperative, right?"

Callen let his left hand go through his hair, leaning against a wall near the nurses station. "Sam, what's your thoughts about this?"

His usual partner was silent for a few seconds, then said "We were on our way to you, y'know, in case of... But Roundtree and I could just as well go and have a look at the place your woman in there mentioned as a crime scene. See what the CSI's found in there."

He chuckled softly with Sam's words 'your woman' and shook his head. "Sure, Sam. Great idea, and with that I mean that the two of you check the Mayflower Avenue address. Meanwhile, Fatima and Eric, if there's anything new you find on Andreas Marcus and Elizabeth Sharden, just share it."
He fell silent for a while and said "Man, we could use a few more hands. Perhaps a visit to Poliakoff's office. Also, her car, her house. Possibly her gun, gunshot residue on her clothes, things like that. But we need things done by the book, so we'll need the right paperwork. Fatima, how's Nell involved so far? Is she around? In that case, any chance you can ask Nell if she can arrange that. Or else... an official request through director Vance will do. Oh, and Eric, see if we can check her phone records. I'm sure you can do that without leaving a trace?"