Statement of No Objection

By Phillydi

I hope you had the chance to read my previous fanfic, Touché to help explain a few things…. but this can be read as a standalone if you prefer…..enjoy!

Prologue

Deeks returns tired and bleary eyed from Guam exactly two weeks to the day he left Kensi behind at the Mission. As he descends from the military aircraft, all he wants to do is get home and fall asleep in Kensi's arms. Deeks looks around the tarmac searching for his lady but aside from the airport personnel, the hanger and terminal are empty.

"Welcome back Deeks….Good to see you Deeks….how was Guam Deeks….?" He sarcastically imagines how his return would have gone if Kensi had been there.

Deeks drops his carrying case and props his hands on his hips. He reaches for his cell phone to call Kensi. He hadn't heard from her in 24 hours but they had agreed to meet as soon as his plane touched the ground.

There was no answer to his call. Deeks switches numbers and calls the Mission.

"Deeks, are you back in LA?" Eric asks.

"Yeah, Eric, I'm at Magu waiting for Kensi to pick me up. What are you doing at work so late?"

There was a pause and a bit of static before the voice on the line changes. Hetty clears her throat.

"Mr. Deeks, there's a military escort at the information desk waiting to take you directly back to the Mission. We have a situation here and have lost contact with Mr. Callen and Ms. Blye. I'm glad you're back, we're going to need your help." Hetty signs off leaving Deeks to find his way back without Kensi.

Not exactly the homecoming Deeks was expecting. His instincts are kicking in and he doesn't get a good feeling about any of this.

Chapter 1

Earlier that day in ops…..

Kensi and Callen walk into the dark room and adjust their eyes to the low level lighting. The team is down two members with Sam attending to personal business and Deeks flying back from Guam. Hetty stands in front of the large screens next to Eric and Nell's work stations.

"Mr Beale, what do we know about our missing lieutenant?" Eric slides the personnel records on the monitor and the official Navy ID of a man in his mid-thirties fills the screen.

"This is Lt. Michael Blanton from the USS Grey Seal which is stationed at Point Loma. He is the submarine's navigator, specializing in sea floor geology. His specialty is interpreting the configuration of the ocean floor which is sent back by the sub's sonar.

Hetty turns to Callen. "Because of his skills, Navy intelligence is concerned that he may have been kidnapped and did not go absent without leave."

"His wife reported him missing when he failed to show up at his home the night before," Nell continues. "As of yesterday, he was officially declared AWOL from the Navy."

"So where does that leave us?" Callen asks. "Any ideas as to his last known whereabouts?"

"Not really," said Eric. "It's like he just vanished. He went out after work with a few of his fellow officers to a local watering hole but Blanton left early to get back to see his son pitch for his little league team. He hasn't been heard from since."

"I would start with his commanding officer and then the friends he was with that night, Mr. Callen," Hetty advises.

"Right," Callen concurs. "Kensi and I will leave for San Diego now and see what we can find out."

"Ah….." Nell hesitates.

"Yes, Miss Jones?" Hetty turns to her intelligence analyst.

"I know this is going to sound a bit farfetched but I was thinking about Lt. Blanton and his specialty on board the Grey Seal. I don't know if this is just a coincidence but I ran a Coast Guard manifest of all the international vessels at the San Diego ship yard and there is a Columbian container ship moored in the waters right now. "

"Not exactly an anomaly Nell since they export many items here to the States," says Hetty. "What's your point?"

"Well it wouldn't be that big of a deal except the company that runs the ship is owned by Andrés Herrera. The name sounded familiar to me so I ran it through the DEA intelligence data base. He's had some minor run-ins with authorities in Columbia but his activities to this date have all been pretty low key. But lately, he has been suspected of funding…get this…"

Nell walks over to the screen and enlarges a visual of a 70 foot mini sub.

"…a semisubmersible vessel off the Columbian Pacific coast. It cruises just below the ocean's surface with only its air and exhaust pipes sticking out of the water. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the new boat of choice for Columbian cocaine smugglers." Nell points to the mini sub.

"But that's only been an urban legend up to now," Callen challenges.

"Not anymore," Nell rebukes. "In February of this year, the Columbian military impounded a homemade sub with 3 tons of cocaine nearby ready to be loaded into a storage compartment on the sub. These babies can hold up to 10 tons of illegal narcotics at any one time."

"That's a lot of drugs with a big pay off," Kensi adds.

"The DEA is considering this a quantum leap in technology. With the sub's nautical range and payload capacity, the cartels have raised the stakes in the war against drugs."

"So what's your supposition Nell?" asks Hetty.

"These traffickers have been known to have made a number of successful runs to Mexico so far…and maybe they're looking to broaden their scope." Nell walks back to the ops screen and pulls up a map of the California coast. "If they want to infiltrate US waters, they would need someone who was an expert in navigating the west coast sea floor. Who better than our missing navigator off the Grey Seal?"

Callen nods his head and looks to Hetty for permission to pursue Nell's theory.

"Not a bad hypothesis Miss Jones. I think it's worth pursuing. We are going to need the services of the Coast Guard to check out the Columbian cargo ship though. I'll call my counterpart at CGIS to make the arrangements. Good luck Mr. Callen, Ms. Blye."

As the agents make their way out of ops, Hetty turns to Nell and Eric. "Good work you two."

"You rock, partner," Eric holds up his hand in time to receive a high five back from Nell.

Callen and Kensi make the trip to San Diego in relative silence. They discuss their plan of action but sit with their own thoughts for the rest of the ride. All Kensi could think of was seeing Deeks again for the first time after a two week separation. They had finally declared their love and she was counting the days before she would see him again. From start to finish the last mission was the beginning of a love affair which at times was more like a soap opera than the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. If she wasn't running away from Deeks, he was running away from her. But in the end, the fragility of life and how short a time we get to inhabit this earth made them realize they couldn't waste another moment without each other.

Now with this new case, she's nervous she may not make it back to LA in time to pick him up at the air station tonight.

"What time you picking Deeks up?" Callen asked. He must be reading her mind her mind.

"Not until nine o'clock."

"We should be back long before that."

"I hope so," Kensi adds.

Silence.

"I really miss him."

"Well, I'll try and say a few stupid things throughout the course of the day so you won't even know he's gone."

Kensi shakes her head back and forth. "You guys have got to start treating him better, you know."

"What's the fun in that?

"Callen!"

"Alright, I'll try, but I'm not promising anything and all bets are off with Sam."

Kensi smiles as she watches the southern California landscape rush by her car window. She knows her team is a tight unit and as much as they enjoy slinging insults at Deeks, it was done in fun and camaraderie. They would all give up their lives for the well being of each other and that was something she could take to the bank.

Kensi and Callen arrived at Point Loma and headed straight to the docks to meet with the commanding officer of the USS Grey Seal. Other than a few words of praise and concern for the missing officer, neither the CO nor his fellow officers could add any more to the location of their crewmate. Callen shared Nell's theory with the CO and he agreed that Lt. Blanton would be a valuable commodity if the traffickers were looking for a man with his skills. Now homeland security would have to deal with yet another threat to their military service members.

Callen's phone rings. "What do you have Eric?"

"Special Agent Ruiz of CGIS is waiting for you and Kensi at the ship yard."

"Send over his coordinates and tell him we'll be there in 30 minutes."

Oscar Ruiz meets the team on the pier in front of the container ship. Callen briefs the agent on the missing sailor and their fears that the Lieutenant could have been kidnapped and why.

"Do you have the Statement of No Objection?" asks Callen.

Ruiz hands Callen the document. "Yeah, this letter will give us permission to snoop around and go into the container hole but we're not going to need it since I don't think you're going to find anything. We've been watching this ship every time it comes into port. We finally succeeded in putting an agent undercover as part of the crew," Ruiz says. "He's pretty sure the ship is clean."

"Then why is he still on board?" Callen wonders.

"We're picking up a lot of chatter that a big containment of coke is coming into this country soon and this ship and her owner may be our number one suspect. So your sub theory is as good as any right now."

The three agents climb the gangplank to the stern of the cargo ship. Here they receive a cordial but reserve welcome from the captain. The crew is used to surprise visits from the US Coast Guard due to their known affiliation with Herrera. But as predicted, the two hour walk through and interrogation of the crew yields no further clues or information.

"That was a dead end," Kensi says as they stand together in the captain's cabin.

"Well it's not like they are going to come out and admit they are protecting an illegal narcotic sub off the coast with a kidnapped Navy sailor on board," Calen laments.

"Ok, we're pretty much back to square one, so now what?"

Callen speculates out loud. "If I had just kidnapped an invaluable Navy lieutenant where would I take him? Not here on the container ship, someone might see him."

"Another off-site location?" Ruiz asks.

"No, that's just one more place they would have to guard. If I were them, I would take him directly to the sub."

"Yes, but that sub could be anywhere and that's a lot of coastline to search," Kensi presses.

"I don't think we're going to have to. I bet this ship is the watch dog. If there is ten tons of coke on that sub, Momma bear is not going to be too far away… in fact I think it's going to be sitting right on top of it."

"How very clever of you. Mr. Callen, is it?"

The three agents spun around to the cabin's bulkhead. A man in his late 50's stands with a gun in his hand and two body guards on either side of the doorway.

"But I am afraid you will not be leaving this ship anytime soon to alert the authorities of your theory."

"Who the hell are you?" Callen demands.

"I am your host, Andrés Herrera."