Story: Sebastian (part 3 of ?)
TITLE: "Sebastian"
AUTHOR: tess_dicorsi
RATING: R
GENRE: Mystery
CHARACTERS: Ensemble
DISCLAIMER: Recognizable characters are not mine. Just playing with them and promise not to break them. There are a few original characters, they're mine. I'm also trying not to break them.
SUMMARY: An old collar from the LAPD and an angry colleague from the FBI are back and looking for Marty Deeks. Established Deeks-Kensi. Multi-chapter story.
3.
"Is this some sort of test?"
"Indeed. Everything that doesn't kill you is."
"Mind you," he added, "surviving doesn't always mean you passed." - Michelle Sagara, "Cast in Secret"
"He did what? Why didn't you ever..." Kensi stopped talking suddenly when she saw everyone's attention move her way.
Deeks watched Kensi catch herself and smiled. "Kensi, it's fine. I'm here, so I obviously things turned out fine."
"That's what Sgt. Ramos meant by the longest car ride of his life," Hetty said, putting some pieces together.
"Yeah, Ruben grabbed a bar towel and got another cop, I don't really remember who, and they tried to walk me to a patrol car."
"Tried?" Kensi was getting less happy by the minute.
"I lost my footing when we got near the car and the two of them dragged me into the backseat. I don't remember anything after Ruben yelling directions to UCLA Medical Center until I woke up and saw Ruben's daughter doing her math homework and sitting with me. Ruben's wife made him go home for a shower and a meal. Maribel was a volunteer at a hospital by their house so Mrs. Ruben used her to get her husband home. She's in Med School now."
"I remember when I was back the following summer hearing the bar was closed because someone was almost killed in a fight," Eric added, stunned. "It was you."
"I wasn't almost killed. Really, there was just a lot of blood and a lot more luck. Boothe managed to miss everything important."
"How is Boothe getting out of jail if he tried to murder a police officer?" Kensi demanded.
Deeks shrugged sheepishly. "He was never officially charged with assaulting a police officer."
"And how did that happen, Mr. Deeks?" Hetty joined Kensi on the outrage bandwagon.
"LAPD got a search warrant after Boothe was arrested for what happened in the bar. No surprise, they found all the stolen property exactly where I said it would be." Deeks put up a photo of the LAPD evidence garage with boxes of evidence. "Obviously, I was out of the loop for a bit but right after Boothe was arraigned his lawyer came up with a deal for the D.A.'s Office. He'd do five years for possession of stolen goods and on a misdemeanor assault charge and a couple of years on parole if the D.A.'s Office would guarantee him a bed in the CMC."
"He went to a minimum security facility. Mr. Deeks, that's outrageous."
"No, he was in the eastern wing, which has cells and fences. The D.A.'s Office got a guarantee he'd do every day of his sentence and he actually did an extra ten months for assorted violations while he was inside. If you ask anyone in the D.A.'s Office, they saw this as a big win for them."
"What about you?" Kensi interrupted.
"Kensi, you know the D.A.'s Office has had more than a few high profile losses over the years with wealthy defendants. O.J. anyone? Boothe was probably worth close to a quarter of a billion dollars the day he was arrested. All this happened before the financial meltdown and even with it, he'd have the money and the legal team to keep the D.A.'s Office in knots for years. Phil Spector anyone? I'd have been ruined. Everything in my life would have been under a microscope. My career as an undercover cop would be over two years after it started because there would have been wall to wall press coverage."
"So you let them talk you into agreeing to the deal," Kensi said.
"I don't get to sign off on deals the D.A.'s Office cuts. State of California charged him, not me. After it happened, I just wanted to go back to work and prove I was good at what I do."
"Where was Miss Miller during all of this?" Hetty asked.
"Covering her ass big time in Washington. Bates had a friend in the Bureau who told him she was blaming her loss of Boothe on LAPD in general, Bates and me in particular. She never told them about the stolen goods. She never told them the particulars of how I saw Corey Moran. She never told the FBI she was keeping us in the dark about why she was investigating Boothe. While I was laid up at home, Bates asked me to write up a complaint against Miller for my personnel file and e-mail it to him. He wrote up one of his own and sent the two complaints to the Office of Professional Responsibility at the FBI."
"I assume there was a hearing," Kensi said, still annoyed. "Or did they also decide that trying to kill you doesn't count."
"No, the FBI was receptive to the complaints. Andrea Miller was not Miss Congeniality in the Hoover Building. By the time the Boothe case imploded, the professional knives were out, no pun intended. We were flown in, testified about the case. It seems she sold Boothe to the Bureau as the next big serial killer." Deeks put six photos of six men with long, blonde hair. "Besides Lt. Moran, there were a half-dozen other men who washed up along the coastline south of Santa Monica. All of them were naked, like Moran. All had serious ink like Moran, all were either gay or bi-sexual. All were missing a body part - hands, feet, an ear. None of them had any real connection to LA or family in the area."
"Boothe could make them disappear and nobody would notice."
"And who would think a lonely gazillionaire was killing people. And I think it is people."
"Mr. Deeks?"
Deeks hit another key and the photos of four women appeared, all resembled Elizabeth Kelly. "These four women were found dead, washing up on the beach around the same time the dead men started appearing. Except for one, none of them had any family in the area or any connection to the other victims. All were seriously inked. Amanda Webb, the third dead woman, did know Darren Gardner, the fourth official victim. They disappeared around the same time."
"When was this possible set of victims discovered?" Eric asked. He started to run his own search.
"I was back to work a week before I was supposed to go to Washington for Andrea Miller's hearing. Bates had me deskbound, preparing for the hearing. I started looking over Boothe's real FBI file and wondered if there were more victims. I started looking at reports of people washing up on the beach and went for there."
"What did the FBI think of your work?" Kensi asked.
"I met with the profiler at the BSU, I don't remember her name. Sorry. The profiler said she was open to the idea that the UNSUB slash Moran could have killed others but didn't see the same patterns in the female victims that I did. That makes sense since she never met Elizabeth Kelly. Their bodies were also returned intact but badly beaten, something the FBI thought didn't work with Boothe's M.O. The bruises on the body could have been from being tossed around in the water for days. There were other differences. The men washed up after about a week in the water, give or take a day. The women showed up two or three weeks after they disappeared. The women were all also reported missing early into their disappearances. Two of the male victims were never reported as missing."
"I don't have much on these missing women," Eric looked at the files. "One is called a drowning and not a homicide."
"I don't like coincidences, so I was suspicious. Still am. The profiler said she was going to track other missing men and women in Boothe's travels but wasn't sold on the women as Boothe's victims. Back to what we really know about the case, Andrea Miller was removed from Violent Crimes and sent to the New York Office which is considered a big punishment in the Bureau."
"Why?" Eric asked.
"New York is an expensive place to live on an FBI salary. While working with Violent Crimes, she was staying in DC in a studio apartment in a suite of apartments owned by her father's lobbying firm. Since she was being reassigned to New York as a punitive action, she did not get the usual relocation bonus agents usually earn. She was put in the White Collar division which until 2008 didn't hold the same high profile as Violent Crimes. She wound up doing good work there."
"And you know this how, Mr. Deeks?"
Deeks threw up a 2009 New York Times article on the big screen. "She was lead investigator on a case right after the financial meltdown. There was a big Ponzi scheme at one of the mid-level brokerage firms and there were actual convictions based on her work. She started rehabilitating her reputation. I still was stunned when you, Hetty, told me she was an Assistant Director."
"So what's the plan?" Eric asked.
"I don't know about and of you but I could use some breakfast," Deeks said. He smiled, "Well, I probably know Kensi could use some breakfast, too."
"That sounds like an excellent idea," Hetty told the group. "Mr. Beale, Miss Blye, would you two mind picking up something for Mr. Deeks and yourselves. I'd like to speak with him alone for a few minutes. We'll reconvene in the lounge area downstairs when you return."
"Egg white primavera omelet from Norm's?" Kensi knew the order but she still asked him. After a quick Deeks nod, she turned to Hetty, "Is there anything you'd like Hetty?"
"A nice bowl of fresh fruit and some Greek yogurt, please."
"We'll be back," Eric said as he and Kensi left.
"Where does this leave us, Mr. Deeks?" Hetty asked once they were alone.
"I'm not sure if there is an 'us,' Hetty."
"Mr. Deeks, NCIS has as much jurisdiction in this case as the FBI and the LAPD. Lt. Moran may have been in the process of separating himself from the Navy but his paperwork has him still as an active member of the service at the time of his death."
"Then call Agent Yates and get her involved. Hetty, I'm not sure about how LAPD is going to handle this but based on this morning, Andrea Miller is a problem."
"A problem we can handle."
"I don't want anyone here to have to handle her."
"Mr. Deeks..."
"Hetty, she can't ruin me with the LAPD because I'm basically ruined anyway..."
"Detective, you need to stop blaming yourself for the problems in this case."
"You know what I mean, Hetty. I'm not going to get damaged in the eyes of the LAPD because of who I am and because Bates doesn't trust her. Any bad reports up my chain of command from Assistant Director Miller, God, that's unbelievable, won't carry much weight. If she finds out I'm Kensi's partner," Deeks shook his head, "I'm not letting her run Kensi's career into a ditch because she thinks I'm responsible for her problems."
"Miss Blye is more than capable of protecting her career. It's obvious she's also still very worried about you."
"If this is about the spring and summer, I'm fine."
"And Miss Blye's influence on you grows by the day." Hetty walked over to the work table. "Mr. Deeks, we will put together a plan that will lead to Mr. Boothe's arrest, keep Ms. Miller in check, protect you, Miss Blye, Miss Blye's career and this agency. You are not that novice undercover detective. I'm going to ask Roger Bates for a copy of all the work you did in this undercover assignment. I'm finding there are significant holes in your files here."
"It was typical stings, monitoring buy and busts, the undercover cop usuals."
"Your stabbing, which I have a feeling you more than glossed over for Miss Blye's sake, is missing from your medical history."
"I warned you Andrea Miller is good."
"And I saw far too much of your medical background after you and Mr. Hanna were rescued last spring to miss an on-duty assault as serious as a stabbing. How long were you hospitalized?"
"Two or three days. I missed about a month's worth of work. I got lucky, if you want to call it that, when I got to UCLA. There was one of the Disney TV star kids who decided to film his own little version of the TV show "Jackass" unsuccessfully. He tried to ride a modified snowmobile down the stairs at Murphy Ranch. Wound up with a broken nose, cuts and bruises to his face. The doctor saw me come in, heard I was a cop and offered to stitch me up pro bono once the bleeding stopped. I have two scars that if you know they're there, you see them but the beard covers a lot of sins."
"When this is over, I'm going to have a long talk with Lt. Bates and see what else is missing from your personnel record." Hetty started moving to toward the door. "Mr. Deeks, you were on your own in that bar. You're not on your own here."
Deeks watched Hetty leave and started to pack up his laptop. He noticed the time on the computer was 7:21AM. One of those rare days when the Marines had nothing on him. He walked his dog, met with three bosses and a woman professionally scorned, had to explain one of the biggest failures of his professional career to two women he admired and close friend and now there was going to be a big meeting to fix his life. God, he was in bed sleeping two and a half hours ago and happy.
"Hey, earth to Deeks," Kensi walked in front of him, waving her hand.
"Hey. Please tell me you got some coffee with the food."
"Soy latte, large. Your omelet is downstairs, too. Even got you a Vanilla PowerBar for the ride over to the boat shed since you've had a rough morning."
Deeks smiled. "And I owe you breakfast at some point."
"I'd take an explanation instead. Why didn't you ever tell me about this?"
"You want a detailed explanation of every failed case I've been involved with? We may be celebrating your twentieth year with NCIS before I'm done."
"You can narrow it down to the ones where you get stabbed, shot, badly beaten or hospitalized," Kensi voice was a mix of anger and hurt. "My God, Deeks, were you ever going to tell me about this? You and I once went over a long list of who you arrested…"
"…And I told you Sebastian Boothe was doing two more years."
"You never told me about being stabbed in the line of duty."
He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Would you like me to talk my clothes off and we can do an inventory of every bump, bruise, scar and mark I have."
"That's not funny and you know it."
"It would be fun," he half-leered at her, trying a bit too hard to change the subject. "Then you can take your clothes off and I can do a thorough examination."
"Again, not funny."
"I'll be happy to have this conversation with you in a room without the finest surveillance equipment known to mankind. Right now, I need coffee, food and you to stop worrying about me and start worrying about yourself."
"Me?"
"You. My problems aren't your problems." Deeks stood and started walking with her to the door.
"The hell they aren't."
"Fine, my problem right now is keeping you, Hetty and my position here with NCIS away from Andrea Miller. If you can come up with a plan to hide a large federal agency from a larger and more annoying federal agency, I'm all ears." He took Kensi's hand and gave it a little squeeze before walking down the stairs. "Thank you for everything this morning."
"We're a team, Deeks and we're in this together."
He found a little comfort in that.
"You work here?" Ruben asked Deeks as he entered the boat shed. Deeks, Kensi and Hetty were sitting at the table when Bates and Ruben walked in. "This is different."
"This is a secure meeting location for our agency, Sergeant," Hetty answered. "While Det. Deeks and Agent Blye spend considerable time here interrogating suspects or interviewing witnesses, the actual NCIS offices are in a different, more secure location."
"A pleasure to see you again, Agent Blye." Ruben was all smiles.
"Please, it's Kensi. Good to see you too, Sergeant. Lt. Bates, nice to see you as well."
"I only get to see you and Ms. Lange when there's trouble," Bates grumbled. "Is he behaving himself?"
"I am in the room, you know," Deeks said.
"Yes, and we're hoping to keep you in the room going forward. Gentlemen, please sit down," Hetty called the meeting to order. "Detective Deeks filled us in on the Sebastian Boothe case. Is there anything you can add?"
"The FBI kept us out of loop with Boothe. We were told he was under investigation for financial crimes, not a suspect in multiple missing persons turned murder cases," Bates told the group. "I don't know where we thought Corey Moran was after Deeks saw him and he was reported missing but everything we heard from Andrea Miller and all of Deeks's weekly reports made Boothe seem like a strange but harmless man."
"So, to be clear, the LAPD believes Boothe killed those young men," Hetty asked.
"There is a video of Boothe with one of the victims, helping a drunk Thomas Carr outside the Bar at Chateau Marmont. Of course, the FBI never told us about this. Carr was a twenty-eight year old freelance writer with no family. The first time LAPD knew he was missing was when he washed up off Lunada Bay. The funny thing, well not funny, was that he had stories showing up for about a month after his death at his online magazine. His work was sitting in a queue and ready to go on specific days so he could have been missing for weeks and his employer would not know anything was wrong."
"When exactly is Boothe being released from prison?" Kensi asked.
"He's out a week from Thursday at 6AM. He will need to check in with a parole officer once a week for a year after his release."
"Just a year?" Deeks was surprised.
"He's going to return to the CMC once a week for the next three years to continue mentoring the inmates." Bates's eye roll would have been the envy of a teenage girl.
"Who is he mentoring?" Deeks wondered.
"He's helped a number of inmates get their financial houses in order. Helped set up savings accounts, handled some debt management, even taught classes in how to put together a budget, how to read the financial statements, the stocks columns in the papers or online."
"Great, "The Shawshank Redemption II" come to life." Deeks sighed.
"They should have never let him make that deal," Ruben muttered.
"But the District Attorney's Office did, so now we need a plan," Hetty said.
The plasma screen came to life and Eric appeared. "Sorry to interrupt."
"Eric Beale, this is Ruben Ramos, LAPD retired and Lt. Roger Bates, LAPD boss," Deeks offered as an introduction. "Ruben, Lieutenant, this is Eric Beale, NCIS computer wunderkind."
"Deeks, someone has just tried to download your personnel file from both LAPD and from NCIS. It was a well-masked request through the Marshal's Office using the Ray Martindale/Nelson Sanders investigation to cover the request."
"Unbelievable," Kensi threw her hands up.
"What did she get?" Deeks asked, knowing full well the request did not come from the Marshal's Office.
"Nothing. As soon as I upped the security clearance needed for your files, I added a notice that said the ISP for any request would be traced and reported to NCIS, the DoD, LAPD and you. Once it appeared, the computer was disconnected. I was able to trace to the request to the Admiral's Club at LAX. Andrea Miller is on an 11AM flight to DC." Eric put up security video of the Admiral's Club on the screen, "As you can see, Assistant Director Miller was the person making the request." The few minutes old footage showed Miller quickly powering down her computer.
"Mr. Beale, would you send me a copy of the computer records and the video footage," Hetty smiled. "I may need to share that with an old friend or two."
"Done," Eric told her.
"I'd like a copy for my files as well," Bates said to Eric.
"Of course," Eric quickly signed off.
"I believe by this time tomorrow Miss Miller will be at least temporarily neutralized but Mr. Boothe is and must continue to be the focus of our attention."
"Agreed," Deeks and Bates said simultaneously.
"Do you have a plan, Deeks?" Bates asked. Turning to Kensi and Hetty, he remarked, "This is when he usually starts selling me on a bad idea."
Deeks took a deep breath. "It's not a bad idea if you just hear me out. I think we can all agree I'm probably where I should be with the liaison position. I'd like to do whatever I can to protect that..."
"I'd argue this position has not been the best position for you but go on," Bates told him.
"And I'd argue that you don't need to protect anyone or anything but yourself," Hetty added.
"It was a tough spring and summer but things are better now and I want to keep them that way. I also want to get Sebastian Boothe back in jail. We're all on the same page there. Lieutenant, I'd like to keep my current apartment out of this. Does the Department..."
"I think I may have the perfect place for you."
"Are you going back in as Edward Martin?" Ruben asked.
"Nope. Different idea. Any spare space in the Admin Building? I'd need a small office but one with limited access."
"Why would you need an office?" Kensi asked.
"I think I'm taking the liaison position on the road. The office would have to look like I've been there for a while."
Kensi did not look happy as Bates said "I can find you a spot."
"What are your plans, Detective?" Hetty asked.
"Set myself up in a small office in the Admin Building or some precinct if you can't find the room. I want to have it look like the liaison position is more along the lines of what Dave Simmons is doing with the FBI."
"Simmons is two months away from retiring," Bates told the group. "He's shuffling papers until he's done."
"He's doing more than shuffling papers but he is sitting in an office coordinating investigations with the FBI. He's doing what I thought the liaison position was going to be when I was assigned to NCIS. Having what looks like a desk job frees me up to deal with Boothe and if Andrea Miller comes looking for me, she doesn't wind up here."
"You'd be alone. That's unacceptable," Kensi told him
"I'll be fine. I'll be in a secure location and if I could have an office where I can buzz people in, that would be even better."
Bates nodded.
"While you being away from our offices may keep the offices secure Detective, how does this help LAPD and NCIS investigate Sebastian Boothe?" Hetty wondered.
"Boothe is leaving lock-up and probably looking to get back into the swing of being a free man," Deeks smiled. "Probably looking forward to going back to that fabulous house. Probably looking to find a new place to eat, new people to follow and new people to kill."
"Spit it out Deeks," Bates told him.
"If Boothe gets out of jail next Thursday, I'm going to the house on Friday to renew our friendship and clear up a point of confusion. I plan on walking in and introducing myself as Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD and tell him I know exactly who he is and exactly what he did."
"How long did it take you to come up with that plan?" Bates asked while an aghast Kensi told him, "You're insane."
"Lieutenant, Kensi, it makes perfect sense. This guy just spent five years thinking he got away with murder. Literally. He thinks he stabbed his local friendly barkeep and got off on a misdemeanor. He thinks he was a jail for five years for stealing things over half his life. He thinks he's winning. He's out next Thursday so he's sure he's won. He's wrong. Who better to remind him that he's going to be on parole than Detective Misdemeanor Assault. Since he's on parole, I'm going to be able to walk into that home at any time, no warrant and check things out. And I plan on doing that regularly."
"You're going to provoke him," Ruben said.
"Provoke, no. Just let him know he's on the docket."
"You're not doing this alone, Mr. Deeks."
"No Hetty, we can coordinate with LAPD and NCIS to have people around while I'm making Boothe uncomfortable."
"What if he starts following you again?" Kensi asked. "Or is that part of the plan."
"First, if he's following me he's not killing anyone. Second, I can find another ice pick."
It was obvious to Deeks that Bates was working through the plan in his mind. "Deeks, he's going to have lawyers. They're going to file complaints."
"And if he's following me, I can file complaints back. My complaints can mess with his parole, put him back in the CMC. He made this deal with the D.A.'s Office. I can make him realize he's going to have to live with it."
"What happens when you're off duty, Deeks?" Kensi asked.
"Well, that's why I need a different apartment. I'm sure we can set up some surveillance and some extra security."
"You need more back-up," she complained.
"Where I'm going to put him, Agent Blye, there will be an undercover detective nearby," Bates assured Kensi.
Kensi still objected. "That's not good enough."
"Kens, I know what's coming this time," Deeks told her.
"I find myself agreeing with Miss Blye. Several armed officers were closer than 'nearby' when Mr. Deeks was stabbed several years ago," Hetty noted.
"Respectfully, Ms. Lange," Bates was getting angry, "in something that has become a pattern, a federal investigation did not deem local law enforcement important enough to be brought into a case. Had we known then what we know now about Sebastian Boothe, Deeks would not have been sitting with the suspect during the raid."
"Lieutenant, I know you're still angry about what happened to Mr. Deeks last spring..."
"Detective Deeks, Ms. Lange," Bates snapped.
"I'm sorry, you are correct, it's Detective Deeks. I know you are still angry about what happened to Detective Deeks last spring and I am in no way arguing that Detective Deeks was left in a dangerous situation intentionally by LAPD at the bar. Where my concerns lie, where I believe everyone in this room concerns lie, is keeping Detective Deeks safe while a successful case is built against Sebastian Boothe."
"Deeks needs a girlfriend," Kensi announced.
Deeks smiled and tried to defuse the tension. "I've been telling you that for years Kensi but you won't introduce me to any of your friends."
She rolled her eyes, playing along. "Then they wouldn't be my friends. The person we're presenting to Sebastian Boothe and really A.D. Miller, that Marty Deeks, needs a girlfriend."
"If she's volunteering," Ruben said to Deeks, "you are the luckiest man in America."
"Can NCIS spare Agent Blye, Ms. Lange?" Bates asked.
"Lieutenant, I do believe this case would work best as a joint LAPD-NCIS operation so Agent Blye would be part of the investigation. Detective Deeks and Agent Blye have posed as a couple before..."
"Why don't you tell me these things," Ruben whispered to Deeks.
"This has to be a joint investigation, I want one of my detectives working with Deeks on this."
"I don't need a babysitter," Deeks told his boss.
"No, but if you're going to be aggressive with Sebastian Boothe, Deeks, I want every angle covered. You ditch your partner here," Bates pointed to Kensi, "or who I assign to work with you, your ass will be back in Legal and if you're good, I'll let you draft any search warrants we issue for Boothe's cars or property."
"Yes, sir."
"Lieutenant, if Sebastian Boothe is returning to Sea Lane Drive, it wouldn't do to have Detective Deeks and Agent Blye living too far away."
"As I mentioned earlier, I have a place in mind. I think Deeks will be happy. You're going back to Malibu, kid."
Deeks lit up, "Sully's old place. I loved that place."
"Finally sold at auction while you were in the hospital last spring. I've got someplace else nearby. I assume Agent Blye won't be Agent Blye on this assignment?"
"No, what do you have in mind Lieutenant?" Hetty asked.
"Arthur Winston, who was the TV producer who employed Corey Moran at the time of Moran's death, has always wanted to help. He's former military, a Marine pilot in the Gulf War and now with the Reserves. Interested in a career in show business, Agent Blye? Because where I'm putting Deeks, you're going to have to be the breadwinner."
Kensi looked at Deeks. "Marty Deeks, kept man."
"Only by you, darlin', only by you." Deeks winked at Kensi.
"We'll need to run a full background on Mr. Winston and I would like to meet with the man but that should be acceptable," Hetty said. "If it is alright with you, Lieutenant, I'd like my staff to wire both the house and office space Detective Deeks will be using."
"As for the office space, I'll contact you in the morning when I have an official place to store Deeks. The house is already wired. I've got a long running undercover going on in that location, you can take the same feeds LAPD has."
"Matthew is in Malibu, isn't he?" Deeks asked.
"Yes he is, and he needs you almost as much as you're going to need him."
-30-
AUTHOR: tess_dicorsi
RATING: R
GENRE: Mystery
CHARACTERS: Ensemble
DISCLAIMER: Recognizable characters are not mine. Just playing with them and promise not to break them. There are a few original characters, they're mine. I'm also trying not to break them.
SUMMARY: An old collar from the LAPD and an angry colleague from the FBI are back and looking for Marty Deeks. Established Deeks-Kensi. Multi-chapter story.
3.
"Is this some sort of test?"
"Indeed. Everything that doesn't kill you is."
"Mind you," he added, "surviving doesn't always mean you passed." - Michelle Sagara, "Cast in Secret"
"He did what? Why didn't you ever..." Kensi stopped talking suddenly when she saw everyone's attention move her way.
Deeks watched Kensi catch herself and smiled. "Kensi, it's fine. I'm here, so I obviously things turned out fine."
"That's what Sgt. Ramos meant by the longest car ride of his life," Hetty said, putting some pieces together.
"Yeah, Ruben grabbed a bar towel and got another cop, I don't really remember who, and they tried to walk me to a patrol car."
"Tried?" Kensi was getting less happy by the minute.
"I lost my footing when we got near the car and the two of them dragged me into the backseat. I don't remember anything after Ruben yelling directions to UCLA Medical Center until I woke up and saw Ruben's daughter doing her math homework and sitting with me. Ruben's wife made him go home for a shower and a meal. Maribel was a volunteer at a hospital by their house so Mrs. Ruben used her to get her husband home. She's in Med School now."
"I remember when I was back the following summer hearing the bar was closed because someone was almost killed in a fight," Eric added, stunned. "It was you."
"I wasn't almost killed. Really, there was just a lot of blood and a lot more luck. Boothe managed to miss everything important."
"How is Boothe getting out of jail if he tried to murder a police officer?" Kensi demanded.
Deeks shrugged sheepishly. "He was never officially charged with assaulting a police officer."
"And how did that happen, Mr. Deeks?" Hetty joined Kensi on the outrage bandwagon.
"LAPD got a search warrant after Boothe was arrested for what happened in the bar. No surprise, they found all the stolen property exactly where I said it would be." Deeks put up a photo of the LAPD evidence garage with boxes of evidence. "Obviously, I was out of the loop for a bit but right after Boothe was arraigned his lawyer came up with a deal for the D.A.'s Office. He'd do five years for possession of stolen goods and on a misdemeanor assault charge and a couple of years on parole if the D.A.'s Office would guarantee him a bed in the CMC."
"He went to a minimum security facility. Mr. Deeks, that's outrageous."
"No, he was in the eastern wing, which has cells and fences. The D.A.'s Office got a guarantee he'd do every day of his sentence and he actually did an extra ten months for assorted violations while he was inside. If you ask anyone in the D.A.'s Office, they saw this as a big win for them."
"What about you?" Kensi interrupted.
"Kensi, you know the D.A.'s Office has had more than a few high profile losses over the years with wealthy defendants. O.J. anyone? Boothe was probably worth close to a quarter of a billion dollars the day he was arrested. All this happened before the financial meltdown and even with it, he'd have the money and the legal team to keep the D.A.'s Office in knots for years. Phil Spector anyone? I'd have been ruined. Everything in my life would have been under a microscope. My career as an undercover cop would be over two years after it started because there would have been wall to wall press coverage."
"So you let them talk you into agreeing to the deal," Kensi said.
"I don't get to sign off on deals the D.A.'s Office cuts. State of California charged him, not me. After it happened, I just wanted to go back to work and prove I was good at what I do."
"Where was Miss Miller during all of this?" Hetty asked.
"Covering her ass big time in Washington. Bates had a friend in the Bureau who told him she was blaming her loss of Boothe on LAPD in general, Bates and me in particular. She never told them about the stolen goods. She never told them the particulars of how I saw Corey Moran. She never told the FBI she was keeping us in the dark about why she was investigating Boothe. While I was laid up at home, Bates asked me to write up a complaint against Miller for my personnel file and e-mail it to him. He wrote up one of his own and sent the two complaints to the Office of Professional Responsibility at the FBI."
"I assume there was a hearing," Kensi said, still annoyed. "Or did they also decide that trying to kill you doesn't count."
"No, the FBI was receptive to the complaints. Andrea Miller was not Miss Congeniality in the Hoover Building. By the time the Boothe case imploded, the professional knives were out, no pun intended. We were flown in, testified about the case. It seems she sold Boothe to the Bureau as the next big serial killer." Deeks put six photos of six men with long, blonde hair. "Besides Lt. Moran, there were a half-dozen other men who washed up along the coastline south of Santa Monica. All of them were naked, like Moran. All had serious ink like Moran, all were either gay or bi-sexual. All were missing a body part - hands, feet, an ear. None of them had any real connection to LA or family in the area."
"Boothe could make them disappear and nobody would notice."
"And who would think a lonely gazillionaire was killing people. And I think it is people."
"Mr. Deeks?"
Deeks hit another key and the photos of four women appeared, all resembled Elizabeth Kelly. "These four women were found dead, washing up on the beach around the same time the dead men started appearing. Except for one, none of them had any family in the area or any connection to the other victims. All were seriously inked. Amanda Webb, the third dead woman, did know Darren Gardner, the fourth official victim. They disappeared around the same time."
"When was this possible set of victims discovered?" Eric asked. He started to run his own search.
"I was back to work a week before I was supposed to go to Washington for Andrea Miller's hearing. Bates had me deskbound, preparing for the hearing. I started looking over Boothe's real FBI file and wondered if there were more victims. I started looking at reports of people washing up on the beach and went for there."
"What did the FBI think of your work?" Kensi asked.
"I met with the profiler at the BSU, I don't remember her name. Sorry. The profiler said she was open to the idea that the UNSUB slash Moran could have killed others but didn't see the same patterns in the female victims that I did. That makes sense since she never met Elizabeth Kelly. Their bodies were also returned intact but badly beaten, something the FBI thought didn't work with Boothe's M.O. The bruises on the body could have been from being tossed around in the water for days. There were other differences. The men washed up after about a week in the water, give or take a day. The women showed up two or three weeks after they disappeared. The women were all also reported missing early into their disappearances. Two of the male victims were never reported as missing."
"I don't have much on these missing women," Eric looked at the files. "One is called a drowning and not a homicide."
"I don't like coincidences, so I was suspicious. Still am. The profiler said she was going to track other missing men and women in Boothe's travels but wasn't sold on the women as Boothe's victims. Back to what we really know about the case, Andrea Miller was removed from Violent Crimes and sent to the New York Office which is considered a big punishment in the Bureau."
"Why?" Eric asked.
"New York is an expensive place to live on an FBI salary. While working with Violent Crimes, she was staying in DC in a studio apartment in a suite of apartments owned by her father's lobbying firm. Since she was being reassigned to New York as a punitive action, she did not get the usual relocation bonus agents usually earn. She was put in the White Collar division which until 2008 didn't hold the same high profile as Violent Crimes. She wound up doing good work there."
"And you know this how, Mr. Deeks?"
Deeks threw up a 2009 New York Times article on the big screen. "She was lead investigator on a case right after the financial meltdown. There was a big Ponzi scheme at one of the mid-level brokerage firms and there were actual convictions based on her work. She started rehabilitating her reputation. I still was stunned when you, Hetty, told me she was an Assistant Director."
"So what's the plan?" Eric asked.
"I don't know about and of you but I could use some breakfast," Deeks said. He smiled, "Well, I probably know Kensi could use some breakfast, too."
"That sounds like an excellent idea," Hetty told the group. "Mr. Beale, Miss Blye, would you two mind picking up something for Mr. Deeks and yourselves. I'd like to speak with him alone for a few minutes. We'll reconvene in the lounge area downstairs when you return."
"Egg white primavera omelet from Norm's?" Kensi knew the order but she still asked him. After a quick Deeks nod, she turned to Hetty, "Is there anything you'd like Hetty?"
"A nice bowl of fresh fruit and some Greek yogurt, please."
"We'll be back," Eric said as he and Kensi left.
"Where does this leave us, Mr. Deeks?" Hetty asked once they were alone.
"I'm not sure if there is an 'us,' Hetty."
"Mr. Deeks, NCIS has as much jurisdiction in this case as the FBI and the LAPD. Lt. Moran may have been in the process of separating himself from the Navy but his paperwork has him still as an active member of the service at the time of his death."
"Then call Agent Yates and get her involved. Hetty, I'm not sure about how LAPD is going to handle this but based on this morning, Andrea Miller is a problem."
"A problem we can handle."
"I don't want anyone here to have to handle her."
"Mr. Deeks..."
"Hetty, she can't ruin me with the LAPD because I'm basically ruined anyway..."
"Detective, you need to stop blaming yourself for the problems in this case."
"You know what I mean, Hetty. I'm not going to get damaged in the eyes of the LAPD because of who I am and because Bates doesn't trust her. Any bad reports up my chain of command from Assistant Director Miller, God, that's unbelievable, won't carry much weight. If she finds out I'm Kensi's partner," Deeks shook his head, "I'm not letting her run Kensi's career into a ditch because she thinks I'm responsible for her problems."
"Miss Blye is more than capable of protecting her career. It's obvious she's also still very worried about you."
"If this is about the spring and summer, I'm fine."
"And Miss Blye's influence on you grows by the day." Hetty walked over to the work table. "Mr. Deeks, we will put together a plan that will lead to Mr. Boothe's arrest, keep Ms. Miller in check, protect you, Miss Blye, Miss Blye's career and this agency. You are not that novice undercover detective. I'm going to ask Roger Bates for a copy of all the work you did in this undercover assignment. I'm finding there are significant holes in your files here."
"It was typical stings, monitoring buy and busts, the undercover cop usuals."
"Your stabbing, which I have a feeling you more than glossed over for Miss Blye's sake, is missing from your medical history."
"I warned you Andrea Miller is good."
"And I saw far too much of your medical background after you and Mr. Hanna were rescued last spring to miss an on-duty assault as serious as a stabbing. How long were you hospitalized?"
"Two or three days. I missed about a month's worth of work. I got lucky, if you want to call it that, when I got to UCLA. There was one of the Disney TV star kids who decided to film his own little version of the TV show "Jackass" unsuccessfully. He tried to ride a modified snowmobile down the stairs at Murphy Ranch. Wound up with a broken nose, cuts and bruises to his face. The doctor saw me come in, heard I was a cop and offered to stitch me up pro bono once the bleeding stopped. I have two scars that if you know they're there, you see them but the beard covers a lot of sins."
"When this is over, I'm going to have a long talk with Lt. Bates and see what else is missing from your personnel record." Hetty started moving to toward the door. "Mr. Deeks, you were on your own in that bar. You're not on your own here."
Deeks watched Hetty leave and started to pack up his laptop. He noticed the time on the computer was 7:21AM. One of those rare days when the Marines had nothing on him. He walked his dog, met with three bosses and a woman professionally scorned, had to explain one of the biggest failures of his professional career to two women he admired and close friend and now there was going to be a big meeting to fix his life. God, he was in bed sleeping two and a half hours ago and happy.
"Hey, earth to Deeks," Kensi walked in front of him, waving her hand.
"Hey. Please tell me you got some coffee with the food."
"Soy latte, large. Your omelet is downstairs, too. Even got you a Vanilla PowerBar for the ride over to the boat shed since you've had a rough morning."
Deeks smiled. "And I owe you breakfast at some point."
"I'd take an explanation instead. Why didn't you ever tell me about this?"
"You want a detailed explanation of every failed case I've been involved with? We may be celebrating your twentieth year with NCIS before I'm done."
"You can narrow it down to the ones where you get stabbed, shot, badly beaten or hospitalized," Kensi voice was a mix of anger and hurt. "My God, Deeks, were you ever going to tell me about this? You and I once went over a long list of who you arrested…"
"…And I told you Sebastian Boothe was doing two more years."
"You never told me about being stabbed in the line of duty."
He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Would you like me to talk my clothes off and we can do an inventory of every bump, bruise, scar and mark I have."
"That's not funny and you know it."
"It would be fun," he half-leered at her, trying a bit too hard to change the subject. "Then you can take your clothes off and I can do a thorough examination."
"Again, not funny."
"I'll be happy to have this conversation with you in a room without the finest surveillance equipment known to mankind. Right now, I need coffee, food and you to stop worrying about me and start worrying about yourself."
"Me?"
"You. My problems aren't your problems." Deeks stood and started walking with her to the door.
"The hell they aren't."
"Fine, my problem right now is keeping you, Hetty and my position here with NCIS away from Andrea Miller. If you can come up with a plan to hide a large federal agency from a larger and more annoying federal agency, I'm all ears." He took Kensi's hand and gave it a little squeeze before walking down the stairs. "Thank you for everything this morning."
"We're a team, Deeks and we're in this together."
He found a little comfort in that.
"You work here?" Ruben asked Deeks as he entered the boat shed. Deeks, Kensi and Hetty were sitting at the table when Bates and Ruben walked in. "This is different."
"This is a secure meeting location for our agency, Sergeant," Hetty answered. "While Det. Deeks and Agent Blye spend considerable time here interrogating suspects or interviewing witnesses, the actual NCIS offices are in a different, more secure location."
"A pleasure to see you again, Agent Blye." Ruben was all smiles.
"Please, it's Kensi. Good to see you too, Sergeant. Lt. Bates, nice to see you as well."
"I only get to see you and Ms. Lange when there's trouble," Bates grumbled. "Is he behaving himself?"
"I am in the room, you know," Deeks said.
"Yes, and we're hoping to keep you in the room going forward. Gentlemen, please sit down," Hetty called the meeting to order. "Detective Deeks filled us in on the Sebastian Boothe case. Is there anything you can add?"
"The FBI kept us out of loop with Boothe. We were told he was under investigation for financial crimes, not a suspect in multiple missing persons turned murder cases," Bates told the group. "I don't know where we thought Corey Moran was after Deeks saw him and he was reported missing but everything we heard from Andrea Miller and all of Deeks's weekly reports made Boothe seem like a strange but harmless man."
"So, to be clear, the LAPD believes Boothe killed those young men," Hetty asked.
"There is a video of Boothe with one of the victims, helping a drunk Thomas Carr outside the Bar at Chateau Marmont. Of course, the FBI never told us about this. Carr was a twenty-eight year old freelance writer with no family. The first time LAPD knew he was missing was when he washed up off Lunada Bay. The funny thing, well not funny, was that he had stories showing up for about a month after his death at his online magazine. His work was sitting in a queue and ready to go on specific days so he could have been missing for weeks and his employer would not know anything was wrong."
"When exactly is Boothe being released from prison?" Kensi asked.
"He's out a week from Thursday at 6AM. He will need to check in with a parole officer once a week for a year after his release."
"Just a year?" Deeks was surprised.
"He's going to return to the CMC once a week for the next three years to continue mentoring the inmates." Bates's eye roll would have been the envy of a teenage girl.
"Who is he mentoring?" Deeks wondered.
"He's helped a number of inmates get their financial houses in order. Helped set up savings accounts, handled some debt management, even taught classes in how to put together a budget, how to read the financial statements, the stocks columns in the papers or online."
"Great, "The Shawshank Redemption II" come to life." Deeks sighed.
"They should have never let him make that deal," Ruben muttered.
"But the District Attorney's Office did, so now we need a plan," Hetty said.
The plasma screen came to life and Eric appeared. "Sorry to interrupt."
"Eric Beale, this is Ruben Ramos, LAPD retired and Lt. Roger Bates, LAPD boss," Deeks offered as an introduction. "Ruben, Lieutenant, this is Eric Beale, NCIS computer wunderkind."
"Deeks, someone has just tried to download your personnel file from both LAPD and from NCIS. It was a well-masked request through the Marshal's Office using the Ray Martindale/Nelson Sanders investigation to cover the request."
"Unbelievable," Kensi threw her hands up.
"What did she get?" Deeks asked, knowing full well the request did not come from the Marshal's Office.
"Nothing. As soon as I upped the security clearance needed for your files, I added a notice that said the ISP for any request would be traced and reported to NCIS, the DoD, LAPD and you. Once it appeared, the computer was disconnected. I was able to trace to the request to the Admiral's Club at LAX. Andrea Miller is on an 11AM flight to DC." Eric put up security video of the Admiral's Club on the screen, "As you can see, Assistant Director Miller was the person making the request." The few minutes old footage showed Miller quickly powering down her computer.
"Mr. Beale, would you send me a copy of the computer records and the video footage," Hetty smiled. "I may need to share that with an old friend or two."
"Done," Eric told her.
"I'd like a copy for my files as well," Bates said to Eric.
"Of course," Eric quickly signed off.
"I believe by this time tomorrow Miss Miller will be at least temporarily neutralized but Mr. Boothe is and must continue to be the focus of our attention."
"Agreed," Deeks and Bates said simultaneously.
"Do you have a plan, Deeks?" Bates asked. Turning to Kensi and Hetty, he remarked, "This is when he usually starts selling me on a bad idea."
Deeks took a deep breath. "It's not a bad idea if you just hear me out. I think we can all agree I'm probably where I should be with the liaison position. I'd like to do whatever I can to protect that..."
"I'd argue this position has not been the best position for you but go on," Bates told him.
"And I'd argue that you don't need to protect anyone or anything but yourself," Hetty added.
"It was a tough spring and summer but things are better now and I want to keep them that way. I also want to get Sebastian Boothe back in jail. We're all on the same page there. Lieutenant, I'd like to keep my current apartment out of this. Does the Department..."
"I think I may have the perfect place for you."
"Are you going back in as Edward Martin?" Ruben asked.
"Nope. Different idea. Any spare space in the Admin Building? I'd need a small office but one with limited access."
"Why would you need an office?" Kensi asked.
"I think I'm taking the liaison position on the road. The office would have to look like I've been there for a while."
Kensi did not look happy as Bates said "I can find you a spot."
"What are your plans, Detective?" Hetty asked.
"Set myself up in a small office in the Admin Building or some precinct if you can't find the room. I want to have it look like the liaison position is more along the lines of what Dave Simmons is doing with the FBI."
"Simmons is two months away from retiring," Bates told the group. "He's shuffling papers until he's done."
"He's doing more than shuffling papers but he is sitting in an office coordinating investigations with the FBI. He's doing what I thought the liaison position was going to be when I was assigned to NCIS. Having what looks like a desk job frees me up to deal with Boothe and if Andrea Miller comes looking for me, she doesn't wind up here."
"You'd be alone. That's unacceptable," Kensi told him
"I'll be fine. I'll be in a secure location and if I could have an office where I can buzz people in, that would be even better."
Bates nodded.
"While you being away from our offices may keep the offices secure Detective, how does this help LAPD and NCIS investigate Sebastian Boothe?" Hetty wondered.
"Boothe is leaving lock-up and probably looking to get back into the swing of being a free man," Deeks smiled. "Probably looking forward to going back to that fabulous house. Probably looking to find a new place to eat, new people to follow and new people to kill."
"Spit it out Deeks," Bates told him.
"If Boothe gets out of jail next Thursday, I'm going to the house on Friday to renew our friendship and clear up a point of confusion. I plan on walking in and introducing myself as Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD and tell him I know exactly who he is and exactly what he did."
"How long did it take you to come up with that plan?" Bates asked while an aghast Kensi told him, "You're insane."
"Lieutenant, Kensi, it makes perfect sense. This guy just spent five years thinking he got away with murder. Literally. He thinks he stabbed his local friendly barkeep and got off on a misdemeanor. He thinks he was a jail for five years for stealing things over half his life. He thinks he's winning. He's out next Thursday so he's sure he's won. He's wrong. Who better to remind him that he's going to be on parole than Detective Misdemeanor Assault. Since he's on parole, I'm going to be able to walk into that home at any time, no warrant and check things out. And I plan on doing that regularly."
"You're going to provoke him," Ruben said.
"Provoke, no. Just let him know he's on the docket."
"You're not doing this alone, Mr. Deeks."
"No Hetty, we can coordinate with LAPD and NCIS to have people around while I'm making Boothe uncomfortable."
"What if he starts following you again?" Kensi asked. "Or is that part of the plan."
"First, if he's following me he's not killing anyone. Second, I can find another ice pick."
It was obvious to Deeks that Bates was working through the plan in his mind. "Deeks, he's going to have lawyers. They're going to file complaints."
"And if he's following me, I can file complaints back. My complaints can mess with his parole, put him back in the CMC. He made this deal with the D.A.'s Office. I can make him realize he's going to have to live with it."
"What happens when you're off duty, Deeks?" Kensi asked.
"Well, that's why I need a different apartment. I'm sure we can set up some surveillance and some extra security."
"You need more back-up," she complained.
"Where I'm going to put him, Agent Blye, there will be an undercover detective nearby," Bates assured Kensi.
Kensi still objected. "That's not good enough."
"Kens, I know what's coming this time," Deeks told her.
"I find myself agreeing with Miss Blye. Several armed officers were closer than 'nearby' when Mr. Deeks was stabbed several years ago," Hetty noted.
"Respectfully, Ms. Lange," Bates was getting angry, "in something that has become a pattern, a federal investigation did not deem local law enforcement important enough to be brought into a case. Had we known then what we know now about Sebastian Boothe, Deeks would not have been sitting with the suspect during the raid."
"Lieutenant, I know you're still angry about what happened to Mr. Deeks last spring..."
"Detective Deeks, Ms. Lange," Bates snapped.
"I'm sorry, you are correct, it's Detective Deeks. I know you are still angry about what happened to Detective Deeks last spring and I am in no way arguing that Detective Deeks was left in a dangerous situation intentionally by LAPD at the bar. Where my concerns lie, where I believe everyone in this room concerns lie, is keeping Detective Deeks safe while a successful case is built against Sebastian Boothe."
"Deeks needs a girlfriend," Kensi announced.
Deeks smiled and tried to defuse the tension. "I've been telling you that for years Kensi but you won't introduce me to any of your friends."
She rolled her eyes, playing along. "Then they wouldn't be my friends. The person we're presenting to Sebastian Boothe and really A.D. Miller, that Marty Deeks, needs a girlfriend."
"If she's volunteering," Ruben said to Deeks, "you are the luckiest man in America."
"Can NCIS spare Agent Blye, Ms. Lange?" Bates asked.
"Lieutenant, I do believe this case would work best as a joint LAPD-NCIS operation so Agent Blye would be part of the investigation. Detective Deeks and Agent Blye have posed as a couple before..."
"Why don't you tell me these things," Ruben whispered to Deeks.
"This has to be a joint investigation, I want one of my detectives working with Deeks on this."
"I don't need a babysitter," Deeks told his boss.
"No, but if you're going to be aggressive with Sebastian Boothe, Deeks, I want every angle covered. You ditch your partner here," Bates pointed to Kensi, "or who I assign to work with you, your ass will be back in Legal and if you're good, I'll let you draft any search warrants we issue for Boothe's cars or property."
"Yes, sir."
"Lieutenant, if Sebastian Boothe is returning to Sea Lane Drive, it wouldn't do to have Detective Deeks and Agent Blye living too far away."
"As I mentioned earlier, I have a place in mind. I think Deeks will be happy. You're going back to Malibu, kid."
Deeks lit up, "Sully's old place. I loved that place."
"Finally sold at auction while you were in the hospital last spring. I've got someplace else nearby. I assume Agent Blye won't be Agent Blye on this assignment?"
"No, what do you have in mind Lieutenant?" Hetty asked.
"Arthur Winston, who was the TV producer who employed Corey Moran at the time of Moran's death, has always wanted to help. He's former military, a Marine pilot in the Gulf War and now with the Reserves. Interested in a career in show business, Agent Blye? Because where I'm putting Deeks, you're going to have to be the breadwinner."
Kensi looked at Deeks. "Marty Deeks, kept man."
"Only by you, darlin', only by you." Deeks winked at Kensi.
"We'll need to run a full background on Mr. Winston and I would like to meet with the man but that should be acceptable," Hetty said. "If it is alright with you, Lieutenant, I'd like my staff to wire both the house and office space Detective Deeks will be using."
"As for the office space, I'll contact you in the morning when I have an official place to store Deeks. The house is already wired. I've got a long running undercover going on in that location, you can take the same feeds LAPD has."
"Matthew is in Malibu, isn't he?" Deeks asked.
"Yes he is, and he needs you almost as much as you're going to need him."
-30-