NCIS: LOS ANGELES - "Falling Star"

Labyrinth

Early that Monday morning a loud, shrill whistle echoed around the old water plant administration building. After the Northridge earthquake that had shaken Los Angeles back in '94 the building had been condemned and was now the home of the NCIS Office of Special Projects. The headquarters was dedicated to the more covert of operations than most of NCIS - undercover and surveillance - and was shrouded in secrecy; so secretive that for security reasons it didn't officially exist, meaning those who worked for the elite unit were required to use 'cover stories' to maintain that secrecy. Cover stories that often spilled over into their private lives.

The three agents and one detective sitting behind their assigned desks within the area known as the "bullpen" were used to the trademark sound that alerted them to a new case; even so they all found themselves wincing ever so slightly.

"Lady and Gents," said the whistler, Tech Operator, Eric Beale, "we caught a case." The blond, bespectacled tech geek turned and raced back up the stairs the way he came.

"All this time and that still goes through me like Mexican food," said former Navy Seal and the OSP teams Senior Field Agent, Sam Hanna.

"I say we all chip in and buy him a flute or something equally as delicate. I can see it now, Eric Beale, the Pied Piper of Special Projects," quipped Special Agent Kensi Blye, who was the only female Special Agent attached to OSP.

LAPD Detective and NCIS Liaison Officer Marty Deeks scratched a hand through his shaggy blond hair and got to his feet. "Yeah, but then we'd have to buy him the whole get up to make it work. Pointed hat and shoes and don't forget the tights." He paused to shudder at the image. "I'll take the imminent hearing loss."

Lead Senior Special Agent, G. Callen, smiled at his teams banter as they all trooped up the stairs towards Ops Center. "Admit it, guys. If he suddenly stopped, you'd miss it."

"Care to wager your next paycheck on that, G?" Sam asked his partner with a lifted brow.

Kensi and Deeks entered Ops first. The large room with subdued lighting was equipped with all the latest technology and gadgets, plasma wall screens, computers, state-of-the-art electronic surface table, the works - all of which enabled Eric, along with Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones, to search, hack, gather and retrieve information that helped the team take down the bad guys.

Once all four were inside the room and the sliding doors were closed, a female figure of small stature dressed in a tweed trouser suit and wearing round black spectacles, stepped forward and nodded at her team. Henrietta "Hetty" Lange was the Operations Manager for the NCIS Office of Special Projects, gruff with a no nonsense temperament; but with a great deal of maternal affection for Callen and the rest of her agents. She commanded the best and with this team that was precisely what she had.

"Lockdown, Mr. Beale," she softly instructed and Eric immediately closed down the window shutters and locked the doors. This was Hetty's version of 'code red' where the agents were able to have covert discussions on classified cases that required a higher level of secrecy. It was imperative that no one other than the seven people inside the room be privy to the information about to be shared.

"Code red, Hetty?" enquired Sam. "What's this about?"

"Take it away, Mr. Beale," Hetty said once she knew the room was secure to the world outside of the room.

Eric pulled up the images from the tablet in his hand and sent them over to the main plasma wall screen, playing the video that accompanied them. "Okay, we're looking at security camera footage taken last night from the Pavlo Jewelry Store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills," he explained. "Thieves got in, surprising the guard on duty, forced him into opening up the vault and took off with almost eight million dollars worth of jewelry, five million of which was diamonds."