Chris LaSalle: first one through the door and the last man out. He's the only man you want when a job goes sideways. –Agent Sonja Percy

Sideways and Upside down, Agent Percy thought as she dodged a hail of bullets to take cover behind a row of storage containers. It's been exactly 18 minutes since her cover has been blown and she knows for all practical purposes it's over. Paul Jenks and his syndicate of men are going to kill her.

She and NCIS Agent, Chris LaSalle were pinned down, trapped, being fired upon. At last count, it's about half a dozen against the two of them.

"We have to move!" LaSalle tells her, noting that the storage containers they chose are actually filled with some sort of highly flammable material.

Sonja returns fire and ducks behind one the containers. "Just where do you suggest we move to?"

Chris reloads quickly and stands to fire, taking out one of their men. But for every man they take down one more appears. That's the problem when dealing with an entire syndicate. They seem to have an endless supply of mercenaries.

Chris crouches back down. "There's a set of concrete pillars to the west, from there we can try to make it into the warehouse." Hopefully that will buy them some time until backup can arrive.

Sonja looks at him. "Cover me on the count of three!"

Chris gives her a simple nod." 1"

Sonja "2"

In unison they look at each other. "3!"

Chris jumps to his feet and fires off three shots before turning and hauling ass after the fiery agent. Sonja is safely behind the pillar when he slides in behind her, breathing hard.

Sonja glances at him before firing at a group of men a few yards out. No matter how much they run, they are still out numbered. "You sound tired."

"I'm just getting warmed up," On his feet, Chris takes a stance and fires into two of the flammable containers, igniting a small inferno.

Sonja's big dark eyes went wide. "What did you do that for?"

"Deterrent," Chris answers as the flames begin to form a wall between them and the syndicate. He has just bought them enough time to get inside the warehouse for cover.

A good idea but the men on the other side haven't let up. They are still firing at them despite the flames. Together, he and Sonja stand and return fire, before they take off running again. Sonja is the first to reach the large aluminum door. As she begins to tug on it, a sniper on the roof sets her in his sights and commits to firing.

"Percy!" Chris yells, firing at the man on the roof.

Before Sonja can turn away, LaSalle crushes into her, pushing them both through the small opening she has made in the doorway. Sonja meets the concrete first, with LaSalle landing solidly on top of her. Before she regains her bearings he rolls over onto his back with a groan.

Springing to her feet, she closes the door and punches in a key code to lock it. "I think you dislocated my shoulder!" she groans, looking over to LaSalle. He's still flat on his back, knees bent upward toward the ceiling.

"I can fix that," he quips as his com suddenly crackles to life.

"Christopher, I need a status report," Pride's voice echoes from the acoustics' of the hollow room.

A pause lapses as Chris attempts to catch his breath.

"Christopher!" Pride's voice echoes.

It's then that Sonja sensed that their entire situation has just changed. For some reason, LaSalle is not eager to answer, nor is he in a hurry to get up. Crossing over to him, she offers him a hand and helps him to a seated position.

"Christopher, answer me damn it!" Pride's voice roars into the earpiece.

Chris swallows and then takes in another breath as Percy begins to work on his Kevlar. "We're good, King! We're in trouble though."

"Brody and I are about 8 minutes out," Pride's voice comes back. "Just hang tight until we get there."

"Roger that, King."

Pushing the Kevlar, from his shoulders, Percy realizes the reason he can't seem to catch his breath. There's blood blossoming onto shirt. Peeking over his shoulder, she notices the same spot on his back. The bullet had gone all the way through and was lodged in the front of the Kevlar.

LaSalle had taken a bullet that was meant for her.

"Those bastards are using armor piercing rounds." She hissed. "And you just lied to your boss!"

"King'll get over it." Chris returned.

Sonja removes her jean vest and presses it to his wounded shoulder. It wouldn't provide much help but it was better than nothing "Pride might but I won't."

So, you'd rather be the one who got shot?" he asked incredulously.

"No," Sonja answers quickly. "I'm just worried, that you might slow me down."

"Pfft…If you think I'm slowin' you down, you've got another thing comin,'" Chris flashes his famous grin, the one that she has heard so much about.

A wide grin spreads to Sonja's face. "Chris LaSalle, a man with a plan."

Chris attempts to reload his weapon but fails miserably, forcing Sonja to do it for him. "Right now, the plan is to move away from this aluminum door. Once they figure out how to get around the fire, they'll be running up our asses again."

Sonja grins and hands him back his gun before helping to his feet. "Who knows maybe this time, we'll be the ones runnin' up theirs."

"I like the way you think," Chris grinned as she helped him to his feet and slid her arm around his torso for support.

"You'd better not bleed out or pass out on me, LaSalle," she quipped as a spray of bullets peppered the large rollaway door. Jenks's men had once again found their way to them. It wouldn't be long before they were inside.

Moving toward the center of the room, the two agents situated themselves in the middle of several large pallets filled with Jenks's special street version of oxy. If they shot through it, they would ruin their stash.

"How much do you think is here?" Chris grimaced as he pulled out his pocket knife and cut through the plastic coating prompting a waterfall effect of white power to spill out onto the floor. When it was empty, Chris discarded the empty packaging and then repeated the process three more times, creating a perfect vantage point. He could easily use the opening he'd made as a view point to the entire front half of the warehouse.

"About a hundred grand," Sonja answered as Chris turned off his com. He couldn't take the chance that Pride or Brody might accidently give their location away.

The eight minutes that Pride had quoted him seem to move painstakingly slow as Jenks's men began to overtake the warehouse.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Sonja asked keeping her weapon trained. From where she stood she could easily pick off the scout that had been sent to flesh them out. The only problem being that it would cause a domino effect. The other 12 would come running. The best plan of action was to keep their position as long as possible, retaliating only when absolutely necessary.

"It's never let me down yet," Chris was starting to feel woozy uncertain of how much longer he was going to last. Sweat was beginning to form on his brow at an alarming rate. His adrenaline rate was starting to drop.

"C'mon King." The sounds of sirens were heard faintly in the distance. Chris knows that they are still too far out to matter if the men that are pooling just yards from them discover their presence. He's down to his last clip. Even if he and Percy were able to take out the mob in front of them, he wouldn't have enough bullets to bring down the army that was lurking outside.

"I've got two on my side!" Percy tells him as the sirens draw closer.

Chris looks out the opening he has so expertly created and notes two more men. They are carrying automatic weapons which have him wishing for his rifle. His SigPro is good but it doesn't stand a chance against rapid fire weapons.

"I can take them!" She starts to move and Chris feels his heart begin to accelerate.

"We need to wait for King!" he reaches out grabbing at her shirt, only to have her slip through his grasp. Outside, he hears the skid of tires followed by gunfire.

Sonja jumps out into plain sight, firing her weapon and hits her two targets and Chris knows he has no choice but to join her. Unfortunately, he can't move fast enough. He can only watch as she turns right into their path taking one bullet to the leg, while a second one bounces off of her skull.

"Christopher!" Pride shouts as the two remaining men begin to advance.

"King!" he shouts, firing though his handmade view point. He knows that if they want him they are going to have shoot right through their dope to get him. Hearing a hollow moan, he glances at Sonja's limp body. She's starting to move.

Fear rips through him as he steps out to cover her, knowing that she probably won't survive another direct hit. Deftly, he manages to step over her still form as if to form a barrier as bullets whiz past him. Returning fire as fast as he can, Chris doesn't notice the bullet that clips his side. He manages to take down one of the remaining men as Pride and Brody enter the room along with several officers from NOPD.

Together, Pride and Brody fire, taking down the last mercenary and for a second, Chris LaSalle is the last man standing.

The battle is over. He has won he thought as his body begins to give out.

"Chris!" he hears both Pride and Brody call out for him, but he's too far gone to respond. He wakes up briefly in the ambulance. Brody is holding his hand. King is saying something to him, but he isn't able to comprehend.

He wakes up again on the way to the O.R. King is running beside the gurney telling him to hold on.

Over the course of the next 24 hours, Chris feels Brody's presence. He can feel the warmth of her hand as it slips in and out with his. The scent of her perfume helps him fight through the haze and brings him closer to consciousness.

She tells him repeatedly that she wants her partner back.

From time to time he hears, Cade reading to him from J.D. Salinger.

Loretta's voice fades in and out as well as she tries to tempt him back to life with the promise of her famous Bloody Mary.

Agent Percy berates him with threats of ruining his reputation and threatens to kick his ass if he doesn't recover. She's constantly reminding him of what her friend, little BB, told her about the being the best lawman she'd ever worked with and the only guy you need when things go sideways. She says her friend was not wrong.

Given what he's been through, the term sideways now has a new meaning.

Ross P stops by and tells him that he has earned whole new reputation on the streets. Chris is now a force to be reckoned with.

But the strongest presence of all is King. He's the Elephant in the room that never leaves. He's doesn't say much but Chris knows he's there: waiting, without judgement. King knows that if he were in the same situation that it wouldn't have played out any different. Baitfish is still in control of the city, his syndicate growing stronger every day. However, Agent Percy is alive.

When Chris finally awakes, King is there playing on a portable keyboard. For several seconds, Chris just listens trying to gather cohesive thought.

"Hey King," he manages groggily.

Pride stops playing and immediately puts the key board aside. "It's a beautiful day for some Louis isn't it?"

"Guess so," Chris replies indifferent. If King is playing a keyboard in the hospital that his stress level must be through the roof. He knows that he really scared the shit out of King this time.

Pride stands and reaches for the bedside chair pulling it closer. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Chris closes his eyes for a moment. "Bullets, lot of em."

King offers him a lazy smile. "It was close this time, real close."

"I know, I was there," Chris responds wearily. "But Percy's cover was blown. There was nothin' I could do."

Pride debated about using the words you could have waited for back up but then thought better of it. Chris had taken a risk and it had paid off not only did he save agent Percy's life but he'd taken out several of Baitfish's men and prevented a hundred thousand dollars' worth of poisoned Oxy from hitting the streets.

"There's always something you can do." Pride returned in a fatherly fashion.

"I just did what you always taught me to do," Chris countered, knowing that King was the reason that Sonja Percy was able to speak her iconic words. He'd been watching and learning from the man for over a decade now.

King reached over and ruffed the younger agent's hair, "You did a good job, Chris, real good."