Trust Your Training

Human Asset

A/N: I own nothing.

"Who do we have here?"

Nell stopped struggling when the man whispered in her ear. Her brain was running at a million miles an hour, trying to understand what was happening.

However, she recovered quickly and without a second thought, slammed her elbow into her captor's ribs with all the strength she could muster. The man was taken off guard by her attack and let out a grunt of pain, loosening his grip around Nell's waist. This gave Nell the chance she needed to stand from the chair she was sitting in and distance herself from her would-be captor. Once again she tried to take out her weapon, but as she turned around, she was met with a gun to her face.

Three other men stood in the doorway of the security office, all pointing their guns in her direction. Nell raised her arms in surrender, seeing how badly she was outnumbered. She recognized the men in front of her instantly as the members of Inman's tactical role playing team.

One of the men standing in the doorway chuckled and looked at his team member who was still recovering from Nell's well placed hit to his ribs. "Hey Willis, couldn't handle a girl, huh?" he asked the man on the floor.

"I had everything under control Lee," Willis snarled as he got to his feet. "Clearly," the other man at the door said jokingly. Willis glared at him, "Shut up, Jamison or I swear I'll-"

"All of you shut up!" The man standing directly in front of Nell shouted at his team members. Nell had been standing awkwardly, listening to the exchange between the TRPs, but she flinched when the man still pointing his gun in her face yelled. Instantly, the other men stopped talking and looked to the man who Nell assumed was in charge of the group when Inman wasn't around.

He focused his attention back on Nell and said to the men behind him, "One of you search her." Willis stepped forward grabbing hold of her arm far more rough than was necessary. Probably because of how she embarrassed him earlier.

Nell stood still as Willis patted her down. He had already taken her phone, so all she had left was her gun and her NCIS badge.

"She's got a weapon." he said in a surprised tone, holding it up to show his team members.

Willis then found her badge and frowned when he saw the emblem on the front. "Keller, you might want to take a look at this," he said handing the badge and Nell's phone to the man directly in front of her.

Keller examined it and a look of anger and confusion crossed his face. He holstered his weapon, walked over to Nell and placed a rough hand onto her shoulder, forcing her to sit back down in the chair at the security desk.

Keller knelt down to her eye level and opened the badge, reading it out loud, "Intelligence analyst Nell Jones, NCIS," he said, glaring at her. "What are you doing here?" Keller asked in a threatening manner. His voice was so cold that it sent a shiver down her spine.

On the inside, Nell was terrified, but she refused to show any sign of weakness to the men in front of her. She looked Keller directly in the eyes and returned his glare without saying anything. "I asked you a question," he said, squeezing harder on her shoulder, "And I expect an answer." Nell remained silent, clearly angering her interrogator.

The man named Lee who was standing at the doorway suddenly stepped forward and said, "Wait, I recognize her."

Keller looked over to his teammate and asked,"What do you mean?"

"Yeah, she got here after all the police were leaving the crime scene. I saw her walk up to two of the guys from that unit we were training to take out Cisneros. She's probably a member of their team," he responded.

"Oh really?" Keller said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice as he turned his attention back to Nell. "Is this true?" he asked her, but she kept quiet, refusing to answer. "I'll take that as a yes," he said with a smile on his face as he patted her shoulder.

"Tie her up," he ordered Willis, "Make sure she doesn't go anywhere." Willis obeyed and walked over to Nell, pulling her arms behind the back of the chair and securing them tightly with zip ties. She winced as he tightened them, almost cutting off her circulation.

The other man at the door, Jamison, glanced at Keller with a confused look and said, "What are you doing? She's a liability at this point. We'd be better off cutting our losses and getting rid of her now."

Nell's blood ran cold. This man was talking about ending her life as if it was nothing.

"She's more useful to us alive, you idiot," Keller spat at Jamison. Nell relaxed slightly, hearing they had no plans on killing her yet, but it was a small reprieve considering the gravity of her current situation.

"Since she's a member of the team assigned to take out Cisneros, then she'll be able to give us intel to leak, so Cisneros and his men will be able to set up an ambush, like they did in Reynosa. Understand?" Keller told Jamison as if he were talking to a child.

At hearing this, Nell's heart sank to her stomach. They were going to try to use her against her own team, as a human asset.

She desperately analyzed every detail of her situation, looking for any solution or means of contacting help. She remembered her phone, which Keller now held so agonizingly far away. Nell cursed under her breath. She was supposed to check in with Eric in OPS in less than an hour, so no one would suspect anything was wrong until then.

Keller glanced over to Nell and caught a glimpse of her looking at the smartphone he had in his hand. He put on a devilish smile, mocking her.

"Well, I guess you won't be needing this anymore," he said, dropping the device and smashing it under his boot, effectively cutting Nell off from her only lifeline to her team.