DOUBLE TAKE

Chapter 27

Callen felt cold when he came to. Not just cold in the sense of the air being cool around him. He felt cold to the bone. His head pounded from the gun that had whipped him, leaving him with no memory of what had happened. He tried to move his arms but he couldn't. He tried again, then he realised they were tied together. As his awareness around him became clearer, he realised he was in some sort of standing position with his hands tied above his head. He tried to stand properly, to take the pressure off his shoulders and arms that screamed out in pain at him. But the ground wasn't quite close enough for him to stand properly. Then he realised his feet were barely touching a dirty and cold floor. Each breath he took was a challenge. What the hell happened to me? His whole body felt weak and the pain started to kick in as he became more awake.

He heard a noise, he turned and saw a figure. He tried to focus on who it was. He knew it was a male, but it wasn't Sam or Deeks. He tried to think but he couldn't remember where he had been nor what had happened. All he knew was the other person was tied up like he was and barely conscious. Both of them had been stripped down to only their jeans. Then Callen noticed the other man's torso. Badly bruised and what looked like broken ribs. Crap! He tried to look at his own body. Then noticed he had the same bruised markings on his torso and then it hit him—-he also had broken ribs. That's why it's so hard to breathe. He coughed and was hit with sheer pain.

He blacked out from the pain, for how long, Callen had no idea. When he came to again, he knew he and the other person were in deep trouble, and hoped Sam and the rest of his team knew where they were and would rescue them soon. He didn't know how much longer they could survive. He coughed again, and his body was rocked with pain. He tried to breathe. He closed his eyes and thought of Nell. His sweet Nell who could soothe him. Comfort him. Then he thought about their baby. Their little girl. He knew its was a girl. He knew it in his gut.

She was running along the beach, calling him. "Rescue me, Daddy, from the evil Ursula." He was pretending to be King Triton, the King of the Sea, to rescue his daughter, Ariel."

Washington D.C.

Director Vance, Assistant Director Granger and Navy Commander Jacobs (who had four teams recruited for the largest operation abroad involving NCIS and Navy SEALs since Leon Vance took over as Director), stood in MTAC with the Secretary of the Navy, Clayton Jarvis. Gibbs' team were waiting outside the Prostitution Business the Jankovics ran, with Agent Ziva David positioned inside the building. Ziva had snuck inside through the back door unnoticed, and was sickened by what she saw. She hid in a store room, hoping no one came in until the rest of her team and one team of Navy SEALs entered the premises. The Red team lead by Agent Paris Summerskill, were ready to go outside the Jankovic's family property with another of the Navy SEAL teams. Their intel advised them that all children from the Jankovic family were away at their Switzerland Boarding school, which avoided any concern about any trauma placed on children by their raid. A third NCIS team and SEAL team were outside the property where the Drug trade was run from, and lastly Sam Hanna led his team with the fourth SEAL team were positioned at the entrances to a rundown and disused warehouse they had tracked Callen and Jackson's location to.

"We have a go, teams Gibbs, Red, Styles and Hanna. Go! Go! Go!" Navy Commander Jacobs ordered.

"We are moving in," Gibbs replied.

"Red team moving in," Paris added.

Team Styles have entered the building," Agent Ben Styles reported.

"Team Hanna have breached the warehouse," Sam whispered into his comms.

From the cameras all NCIS Agents and SEALs were equipped with, and the security surveillance Eric had tapped into for this operation, they had multiple views of each team going in. They heard gunfire and saw armed men from each of the properties go down. Paris, Clare and Dave had Roy support them as they needed all the manpower they could get on this mission. They managed to round up all the family members and take down the armed guards without any injuries on their side. "The Jankovic's family residence has been secured."