Chapter 1
~Turn Back Time ~
Ghosts from the past return, eleven years after an operation in Serbia.
"Worked with some good people", Gibbs said.
Callen nodded, thinking back of what happened all those years ago. "Yup. Made some good friends. Lost a few."
Disclaimer: All credits for the great characters of NCIS-Los Angeles go to Shane Brennan, his writing team and CBS. Thank you for letting me use them!
Prologue
Despite the recent 'War against Terrorism', the CIA still was alert on what happened on other places of the planet.
Rumors had been going on about the possible assassination of the president of Serbia, Djindjic, since the end of 2002. This would ruin the only recent achieved stability in the Balkan.
It was the CIA who found out all about it; the CIA who even found out about a group of seventeen possible assassins, some of them from the former Special Operations Unit of Yugoslavia's secret police and some of them who nowadays had ties to the Serbian Mafia.
However, the CIA did not have the right amount of people around to prevent any assassination plots.
That was when they had requested the help of a NCIS senior agent, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, together with one of the agents who recently switched from the CIA to NCIS, a young agent called G. Callen. Both men mastered the language, both men were used to undercover work and both men were familiar to black ops.
In Belgrade, their contact would assist on getting the job done, if necessary together with a small group of locals.
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Belgrade, Serbia || February 2003
It had taken Rebel, their local contact, some weeks to make a list of members of a criminal gang that came together every other day.
"So… Geca, Jude…", Rebel looked at their faces, knowing both men did not use their own names in case they were to be betrayed. With black ops like these, agents were on their own and in mostly in no circumstance to contact their operations manager at all. Rebel continued "In some days, let's say six days max, I will be certain that this is the right group and that we won't miss any persons. Do not ask me how and please do not intervene. I will contact you whenever there is something to share."
"How?" Callen asked, both curious as suspicious, a quality that had saved his life several times already.
"Any preferences?" Rebel smirked. "I was thinking about an advertisement in the 'Beograd Kurir', unless you have other ways to communicate of course."
A blush crept up to his face, not knowing how to parry those words.
"It'll be alright," Gibbs told them. "How about 'wanted for a rebellious party – contact—ehm, what to add, an address or a phone number?"
Notwithstanding a swift reply - 'Novak Café, Bulevar Arsenija, one thirty in the afternoon' - it was Rebel's turn to blush right now.
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Novak Café, Belgrade, Serbia
At two o'clock in the morning, Callen walked out of the café. The Lav Pivo during the surprisingly good night program had tasted well.
Now all he intended to do was wait in the shadows until the persons he thought he remembered from pictures he'd seen would leave the place as well. He hoped to pick up something from discussions, things he and Gibbs would be able to find out about the whereabouts of those on the list Rebel was going to complete.
Callen stood, waited and stayed unnoticed from the people who left the café. Meanwhile he picked up an address when three men mentioned when they ordered a taxi-driver to take them home.
He stretched a little and decided he should be on his way back to the place he and Gibbs stayed, a shabby pair of rooms with a nice but mothering and a little nosy old lady.
He carefully inched closer to the street side when he suddenly felt the cold blade of a knife against his neck. His skin turned cold and he held his breath.
Then a voice softly hissed "Now I thought I made it clear that you were not to interfere with any of my business? So how come I find you in here, messing around?"
Callen slowly breathed out. Then he replied rather nonchalantly "Dobro je da te vidim zaista okolo" [It's good to see you around indeed].
Another voice came from the dark. "Reeza?"
"Da, ja ću biti sa vama uskoro. Razgovarao sam sa prijateljem " [Yes, I'll be with you soon. I was talking to a friend.] .The response came just as easy as Callen himself had switched language and tone.
In the blink of an eye, the knife was gone and so was Rebel.
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"You're far too restless boy."
Gibbs had been observing the young agent for some time now. All in all he liked what he saw. During his time as a marine, Gibbs had worked with all kinds of men. Never before had he met someone with this much experience at such a young age - eager, curious and willing to take calculated risks.
Someone who could let others believe he was who they thought he was. So far, Gibbs heard that G. Callen could be undercover longer than anyone he'd met so far.
The CIA had gladly used this quality and it made Gibbs wonder why on earth the CIA had let this agent go. He made a mental note to himself to find out why NCIS had enlisted him instead of one of the other agencies.
"I'm not a boy," the younger man answered. "And I'm not restless. This… woodworkthing you're doing is making me nervous, y'know."
A half smile appeared on the older man's face. "Woodworkthing. So far, nobody ever called it a woodworkthing. Look, I've used my energy on carving all kinds of shapes. Meanwhile I let my mind go and my brains work."
"That's okay by me. Me and knives don't work, Gibbs. Doing my thinking differently I suppose."
Gibbs stopped what he was doing and showed Callen what he had been working on. "Now don't you tell me you cannot recognize what I've been working on."
Callen nodded and let his hands make the form of an hourglass, the perfect woman's figure. "I'm still looking". He then sent the other man a genuine and friendly smile as he retorted "Is there a reason we're not meeting in a bar right now?"
"Well, yeah, it's 10.00 in the morning." Gibbs responded matter-of-factly. "Besides, I think you visited 'a certain bar' the last few nights already."
"No reason not to go there right now. It's a nice place to go to, Jethro," Callen tried to win over right now. "Besides, they serve great coffee."
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Of course they'd ended up in the place Callen had visited some times already.
"Tell me why we're in here, will you?" Gibbs asked.
"Told you, their coffee is great," Callen told. "And we can practice the language-thing even more." He sat in one of the corners, his back turned to the walls and facing both the entrance doors and the bar from where he sat.
There was no single moment Gibbs was able to read the younger man's face. No stress signs, no excitement. All appeared in control. Even the moment when Callen took a napkin and a pencil and scribbled some names on it felt natural and not forced.
Gibbs raised his brows as he looked up in the clear blue eyes of his co-worker. Their contact had mentioned this same place indeed, to meet whenever the time was right. But how did Callen manage to recognize the faces and names of those five men who either were around already or coming in right now?
Gibbs scanned the small group of men who were discussing something serious. Too far away to overhear.
Callen on the other hand leaned his chair against the wall, had it balancing on two legs, sipped his coffee and read his newspaper, all in a laid-back way. In Serbian, he said in a quiet voice "Like I said. There's more than coffee alone in here."
In a way, Gibbs understood that there must have been another reason for Callen to come to this place. However, he decided not to ask about it.
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The advertisement appeared in the 'Beograd Kurir' only one day later and Gibbs and Callen met with Rebel in front of the same café around lunchtime.
"It's better to have lunch in a different place," Rebel stated.
Gibbs acknowledged "If we are going to plan things, this is not the best place indeed."
The three of them wandered on the streets, cautious and continuous checking the other public and careful not to share any information in their own language. Finally they decided to take the tramway system and shared their information as discretely as possible.
"Geca already found out the whereabouts of eight hits," Gibbs mentioned casually.
"You did?" Rebel asked in surprise. "So you want to know about the other three?"
Callen nodded. "You bet. It should be easy. We can start from tonight on," he figured.
Rebel looked him straight in the eyes. "Depends on where you want to start. Just… avoid the café please. I don't know, I just feel like someone's watching the place."
He cocked his head and asked "Only the café or are they watching you as well?"
A single shrug came as an answer.
"We know about this address." Gibbs took a pen and pointed at the city map in the trolleybus.
This time, a short nod came from Rebel. "There should be four in there."
"How about the five from the café?" Callen wanted to know. "Can you lure them to another place?"
"Perhaps. You should try to get as many as possible within one working day."
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It was all about the distance. The further away, the easier it was to eliminate the ones who were threatening peace in Eastern Europe.
Jethro Gibbs' qualities as a sniper were famous. Nevertheless, he needed Callen to be around. Together they managed to get rid of the first three domestic terrorists – although in a country that wasn't theirs.
"One of them wasn't around," Gibbs figured. He had contacted Rebel to discuss what to do next.
With a worried voice Rebel asked the oldest of both men "You checked?"
"I did," Callen stated. It hadn't been a pretty sight, but he had seen many deceased people in his young career already. "There weren't any more around."
Gibbs shook his head as he observed both younger people watching each other as if they both wanted to prove who was sharper. "We should stay alert. Now what we need to do now and do quickly is to find and make sure those five men won't visit your café any longer."
"Not my café, Jude," Rebel snapped. Then, after a short pause "It wasn't that difficult to find out. I—had myself invited with them when they visited a casino. I know where they feed themselves. I know how they travel, I've been around in a club, I know which shops they frequently visit. They all are creatures of habit. Daily routine hardly ever changes."
"So?" Callen cocked his head as he smirked.
A piece of paper and a rather offended glance came his way. "So this is about it, Geca. I don't need to know how or when you two decide to hit. As Iong as you do it soon."
This time he sent their contact an appreciative look. "Thanks." And softer, he added "For all."
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Creatures of habit should be easy targets indeed. In a city where bomb attacks happened every now and then, both men planned a fake bombing near the club Rebel had mentioned. The cheap car Callen had bought, was bomb-wired by Gibbs – another skill he mastered. Rebel had given them the brands and number plates of the cars the men owned. There were only two free spaces on the parking lot when the hideous brown Opel Vectra arrived and it was parked immediately on the right of the old and cheap Mercedes – Callen's.
Making sure there weren't any other people around, Callen pressed the button of the remote control and the car – with its passengers, was destroyed completely.
In relief, Gibbs nodded to his younger partner. "What's done, 's done," he concluded. Together with many others he left the car and stood on the road, doing his utmost to watch the scene in awe.
When a car drove off with screeching tires he quickly turned around, only to see how Callen followed the other car.
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Belgrade || ulica Vojvode Stepe
Although he realized it was risky, this was the only place in town he knew he could find and where he'd be safe. Besides, Callen knew their informant would know how to contact Gibbs.
He leant against the cool wall of the elevator which brought him up to the third floor of the dull apartment building he visited before.
Instead of the usual knock he nearly felt his whole body collapse against the door.
"Geca! Geez..." Strong arms managed to guide him inside where Callen gratefully sank down on the floor, his back against the wall. "What happened?"
"Got shot. Pav-Pavlovic," he gasped. "Call Jude."
He probably passed out. Next thing Callen was aware of was the intense darkness in the bedroom he stayed in right now. His breathing probably changed as he heard Rebel ask "Hey. How're feeling?"
Tight bandages around his shoulder, a dull and deep pain. No cutting pain anymore - the result of drugs, he realized as with the groggy feeling nausea set in.
"Sick", he mumbled. "Thanks, though."
"You shouldn't have come. It's not safe, not anymore. I've called your buddy Jude, asked if he can come and take you with him this morning. Really, the two of you need to leave town, get out of the country as soon as possible."
Part of the sentence simply never reached his brain as their contact, Rebel, noticed that the man whose codename was Geca, had fainted again. Which was, in his current condition, probably best.
Next time he woke up it was from a feverish dream, hours later.
This time it was Gibbs who was sitting next to him. Despite his fever Callen read the worry in Gibbs's eyes, so peculiar and so unlike the usual stoic facial expression of the older agent..
"How about this new rule - If it seems like someone is out to get you, they are."
His weary mind heard but could not process the meaning of the words as Callen's world went back to black again.
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Despite all efforts, Zoran Djindjic was killed only two weeks later, when Gibbs and Callen had finally returned safely back in Washington.
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Venice Beach, Los Angeles, 5 years later
"I don't like our chances. Kind of like that first op in Serbia. You saved my ass on that one."
They were quiet for a while, watching the waves come and go. "Worked with some good people", Gibbs then said.
He nodded, thinking back of what happened all those years ago and swallowed some times, before he said. "Yup. Made some good friends. Lost a few."
In fact, although the memories of what really happened had faded by now, there were images that kept haunting his dreams every now and then.
In his dreams, Callen heard the screams he never heard in real life. And after all those years, guilt was hunting him.
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Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
It's the city I live in, the City of Angels
Lonely as I am, together we cry
I drive on her streets 'cause she's my companion
I walk through her hills cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy
I never worry, now that is a lie
I dont ever wanna feel like I did that day
Take me to the place I love, take me all the way
I dont ever wanna feel like I did that day
Take me to the place I love, take me all the way
Yeah, yeah, yeah
It's hard to believe that there's nobody out there
It's hard believe that I'm all alone
At least I have her love the city, she loves me
Lonely as I am, together we cry
Red Hot Chili Peppers ~ City Of Angels Lyrics
Thank you for reading. As ever - feel free to comment. Your reviews are very welcome.