No Ordinary Love - G.Callen NCIS L.A

Chapter 32

Callen slammed the car door closed. The interviews at the hospital had been useless, and that was an understatement. Nobody had seen anything, and the two people he had wanted to see, were unavailable. He couldn't seem to catch a break.

He was angry with himself. He should've paid more attention. To everything. To their surroundings, to things that were not the way they were supposed to be. But he'd been captivated with her, with this life he was building with her. He'd been too busy with his own healing to pay attention to what was happening around him. And he blamed himself for her being hurt.

"This is not your fault," Sam mentioned as he took a corner. "I know you go all over-protective of those you love and care for... This is not on you."

However thankful he was for his friend saying that, he knew better. The Special Agent in him would rationalize that there were less to no signs he could've paid attention to, but Grisha Callen, the man madly in love with Deja Barrow, didn't feel that way. He should've protected her better. Of him. Of his lifestyle. Of the dangers his job brought with it.

"I should've noticed something." Clenching his fists and shifting in his seat, he shook his head. "I should've kept her safe."

Sam understood where he was coming from. "I don't think she's going anywhere."

"Maybe not right now."

"If she loves you, she won't go anywhere. She may not like you for a while, but she won't leave you."

Callen didn't respond for a while. He stared out of the window. Sam was afraid he'd retracted back into his shell, when he started talking. "It was the first place out of work where I could be me," he said. "The first time I met her, I'd been driving around after the case with Nadir. Something struck with me, and I was restless. I ended up at Indulge. She served me borsjst with soda bread. The first time I looked into those eyes, something clicked. She seemed to look right through me. And then I took a bite..." More silence. Then a deep breath. "And then I saw my mother. I saw my mother in our kitchen, back in Romania, and Amy giggling at me and I remembered."

His partner quietly listened as he told him about the first time he met Deja. How he'd broken down, tried to pull himself back together to find Deja hunched down next to him, asking him if he was okay. That he hadn't been prepared for happy memories at all. Or for the way she treated him. And that he, after that, against everything Hetty had told him about an inconsistent schedule, just kept coming back to the café, to her.

He hadn't meant to fall in love with her, but he found himself fascinated with her. She'd liked him too, and they'd started dating. "For the first time in my life, I found myself sharing things voluntarily; about the foster homes, about me growing up, about my family. Things about me. I even told her about the job, expecting her to run away, but she stayed anyway. I should've made her leave."

Sam parked the car outside of Ops and turned to his partner, disbelief flashing in his eyes. "What the hell are you saying that?"

Callen shrugged. "None of this would've happened if she hadn't stayed."

"Maybe. They would've found another way to get to you. She stayed because she loves you. She'll stay because she loves you. Trust that."

Judging by the look on his face, he didn't, but he got out of the car, so Sam couldn't comment on it further. Up in Ops, Kensi and Deeks were helping Eric and Nell to tie loose ends together. One look at his face and Deeks took a deep breath. He tugged on Callen's sleeve. "Come on."

Sam wanted to interfere, but Kensi shook her head at him. Once the doors had closed behind them, she spoke. "Let Deeks work some magic, all right? He'll shut himself out. And I hate to tell you, but Deeks is your best shot right now, if you don't want him to shut himself out completely."

"Why?"

"Because Deeks knows exactly what he feels."

Outside, Deeks had worked Callen into a corner. "You need to snap out of it," he softly chided. "You're not helping this case if you keep telling yourself you should've done something to prevent it. It doesn't work this way."

Callen looked at him, exhaling slowly. "Something I've done in the past came back to haunt me and it hurt her in the process."

"It did. It still does. It will hurt for a while longer. But you're not to blame for what happened. Bogdanov is to blame for all that happened, not you." Deeks frowned at him. "I know I'd go crazy too, if this was about Kensi, but you need to keep it together until we've got him. We need you focused on finding him, so you can put a bullet in his brain and keep her safe."

Knowing Deeks was right, he nodded. "I'll do my best."

"You're going to give it all you have. Because this is her, okay?" Marty wrapped his arms around his friend for a brief moment. "Let's go, the Wonder Twins have found something."

Sam didn't comment when they walked back into the room, but Kensi winked at him and gave him an encouraging smile. Callen cleared his throat. "Deeks says you've found something."

"We have." Nell swiped her screen. "This is Keira McMullen aka Masha Toporov. It took us a while to find her. She's been missing for a few years. Twenty, came in to the States on a fake passport almost a year ago. She's a student at LAU. After lots of digging, we found her tuition is being paid by Egor Bogdanov."

Callen knotted his brows. "What is their connection? There has to be a reason he's paying her tuition."

Eric spoke up. "We found that Bogdanov has not only picked up his father's arms dealing, but he is suspected from setting up a human trafficking ring. Our best guess is that Masha is one of those girls, but she must've wormed her way close to him as a way of surviving. Far as we know, he's only using her to find you."

"So she's a victim, too." He paused, piecing the information together. "Still, LA is big. And when she came to work for Dee, we hadn't even started dating yet."

Nell bit her lip. "I think he got lucky you started dating Deja."

It took a moment to sink in. Callen swore under his breath. "I should've stayed away."

Deeks wouldn't let him linger. "Have you checked if Bogdanov entered the country?"

Eric pulled up a different screen. "He did. A week ago, under the name of Oliver McMullen. He's here as Masha's big brother, a business man who deals in antiques."

Callen stared at the photo for a while. "Did you get an address? Where is he staying?"

"He's alternating between a warehouse downtown and an apartment. Addresses are on your phone."

Nodding, Callen mentioned to Sam. "Let's find him."