Low Risk

With Callen and Sam testifying all week in court, Deeks out with a badly sprained ankle and Kensi taking care of her partner, the Office of Special Projects was really quiet.

“It’s eerie,” Eric said as he sat beside his partner in a horrible Hawaiian blue and yellow pineapple printed shirt and grey board shorts, backing up files to external drives. “I just…”

“Expect one of them to walk in,” Nell finished she pulled at the hem of her green swoop neck dress that she wore over brown tights, her little deep chocolate brown boots tapping against the floor.

“Yeah,” Eric replied spinning around in his chair. Long ago he had ceased being bothered by Nell’s habit of finishing his sentences, now it just served to show how well they worked together, always on the same page. “Quiet week, and we’ve nearly finished backing up files.”

“And the file room has been completely reorganised,” Nell said fussing with a stray bit of hair that had escaped her perfect order.

Eric smiled, he knew that she had gone in, seen one file out of place and quickly gone about completely destroying the room before putting it back together. “It looks fantastic,” Eric said. “I can easily find everything now.” A satisfied smile lit up Nell’s face and his smile broadened.

The automatic sliding doors opened with a quiet woosh of air and Hetty walked in. She looked immaculate as always in a charcoal grey suit, a golden leaf pin on her lapel, a file in her hands. “Mr Beale,” she greeted as she stepped forward. “Miss Jones,” and with that she dropped the file between them.

“What’s this?” Eric asked curiously as he opened the file. Nell leaned in to see as well, their shoulders bumping together. Nell flushed and moved just slightly away.

“A new operation,” Hetty said slowly.

Eric and Nell both turned to each other, eyebrows raised in a mirrored expression of surprise. “Well… we could call in Kensi, “Nell suggested, the female agent being the only one available.

“Actually,” Hetty said slowly. “This is an operation for two people… two people with a high degree of technological skills.”

“But Hetty,” Nell began.

“We couldn’t,” Eric continued.

“We shouldn’t!” Nell exclaimed with rising panic.

Hetty put up both hands and further protests died on the tongues of the technical support team. “I understand that both of you have your… reservations about this case, but it’s low risk, information gathering. We have a brief window of opportunity, we must grab the bull by the horns!”

“You’re going to have to give a better pep talk than that,” Eric said his head dropping to the back of his chair. “Last time I did field work I nearly got frelted. I nearly died in a way so bizarre, a word needed to be made up!”

“This time, Miss Jones will be right by your side,” Hetty said in attempts to reassure the young man.

“Was that suppose to make me feel better?” Eric said in surprise, his hands thrown up in the air.

“What is that suppose to mean?” Nell growled. She crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive and haughty manner.

“No, no, Nell,” Eric waved his hands. “I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just…” Eric sighed loudly. “It doesn’t exactly fill me with happiness and Oreos that you could be put in harms way,” he said quickly as if to diminish the power of his words somehow. Nell’s lips quirked up slightly and her defensive posture loosened.

“Miss Jones is trained with a firearm,” Hetty reminded him. “Which she will be authorised to take on the case.” Both Eric and Nell realized that Hetty wasn’t asking them to go on assignment, she was telling them. “You will both be just fine,” Hetty insisted. “Low risk.”

Eric and Nell looked to one another gave a mirrored shrug of their shoulders. This was their job, the life that they had dedicated themselves too. Nell gave him a reassuring smile and he bumped his shoulder against hers. They both turned in their chairs and started studying the file.

::

Hetty was right, they decided after reading the full file, it was low risk and they shouldn’t have any problems. They’d go in as partners from the computer company to fix the line that had already been called in with a fray. Easy patch job, and then they’d boot the computer back up, transfer the files from the man’s office computer to a jump drive, get back into the van and drive back. Easy.

Eric came out of a changing room in wardrobe first. Black slacks, a white button down shirt tucked in, a pair of white running shoes and a name badge reading Carl Hanley. Hetty looked him over and then grabbed a black leather belt from a hanger. “This too,” she insisted. Eric sighed, took the belt and started looping it through the holes.

Nell came out a few seconds later. The trousers were a little long on the petite analyst but the shirt fit just fine. She wore a name badge with the same insignia as Eric’s that read Allison Arwell. Hetty passed her a blue windbreaker which the analyst took and quickly put on. Hetty then handed Nell a standard issue Glock with the back holster which she quickly got clipped onto the inside of her pants.

Hetty did a last minute assessment of the two youngest members of the team. They looked every bit the part they were playing, Eric looked the most nervous and was fidgeting with the shirt buttons on his wrist. Nell appeared to be much more at ease, her hands shoved in the pockets of the windbreaker, she rocked in a pair of white running shoes that finished off her ensemble. She clasped her hands and nodded. “You’ll do,” she said with a wink as she pulled out the keys and jingled them. “The van is out front.”

Eric took the keys and looked over at his partner. She seemed far more confident and shot him a reassuring smile when she caught his gaze. “Ready?” she asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” Eric responded and the two turned and walked side by side out of wardrobe and out of the office.

::

Eric pulled the van into the large circular driveway and parked by the door. The house was more of a mansion, tall, white, lots of large windows. The gardens were well tended and colourful, fragrant he’d discover as he got out of the van and shut the door. He met up with Nell at the back of the van and he pulled the back doors open. “Ready for this?” he asked.

“It’s just a wire job,” Nell said, but he could hear the slightest of tremors in her voice. Her relaxed posture from earlier was now tense as the job loomed close. “It’s no big deal,” she continued and he wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. “We’re going to be fine.”

He put both hands on her shoulders and it shocked her, her hazel eyes widening as she looked up at him. “You’re right,” he insisted. “We’re going to be fine. In and out. Hetty wouldn’t have sent us if she didn’t think it was safe.”

Nell bobbed her head just once. She still worried though, but bit down on her lip to keep from vocalizing her fears. She was the one with the warming metal of a handgun tucked into her pants. If something went wrong… she was the one who’d have to take action. She’d never shot more than paper targets. It was one thing to go into the field with the other agents when they’d been watching over Kensi. In that one case she’d been backup. In this instance, Eric’s life could be in her hands and it left her with growing anxiety.

Eric grabbed the tool box from the back of the van and shut the doors. Together they walked toward the grand looking staircase, the scent of the beautiful flowers were rather calming but out of place in the garden of a man suspected of funding a violent terrorist group. Nell checked her trouser pocket for the jump drive. Still there she forced herself to let out a long breath and pull herself together. At the door Eric hit the doorbell and they waited. Eric rocking on his heels impatiently and Nell biting on her thumbnail hoping that everything went as smoothly as Hetty said it would.

The door opened, the man was from their files. Michael Braxton, five foot eight, short and styled light brown hair, calculating brown eyes, wide nose, thin lips formed in an angry line as he stood before them. He wore a white polo and a pair of designer pants that probably cost more than either Eric or Nell made in a week.

Braxton’s eyes went to their name badges and the insignia of his computer company. “About damn time,” he said moving aside to let them in. “I called two hours ago.”

Nell fought the urge to roll her eyes. The legitimate company wouldn’t have been able to make it in until the late afternoon, or morning of the next day. Braxton was an impatient man and his bristly personality rubbed the technicians the wrong way.

“Sorry,” Eric said easily. “It’s been a busy day. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Nell was both surprised and impressed by not only how swiftly Eric hand handled the situation, but also with how easy he made it look. It was kind of like watching one of the field agents work.

“The problem is this way,” Braxton said leading them through the grand opening and down the hall way to the left. “My kid’s dog got in here. Damn mutt chewed up the wires.” He opened the door to his office. It was rather large, The antique hand carved mahogany desk sat predominantly in the centre of the room. Floor to ceiling book shelves on the right wall, the left wall was home to professionally taken posed happy family photos, and diplomas.

Eric ducked down behind the desk seeing a bundle of cords, a few of them frayed from obvious dog chewing. He hoped the dog was okay. “This could take a while,” Eric said despite the fact that the job wouldn’t take him long at all, but they needed the extra time to transfer the data. “About an hour or so.”

Braxton sighed. “That long? I have things to do? Can’t you do it faster?”

“Sorry, that’s the best I can do. Allison, can you give me a hand?” Eric said sending Nell a slight smile. With Nell at his side, he wasn’t too worried. He felt comfortable with his partner at his side, whatever came he had a sense of calm that they could handle it together.

There was a howl and then a few barks. “Damn dog,” Braxton muttered. “Kids got to camp and I’m stuck with it.” With a roll of his eyes he left the room.

Eric opened the tool box filled with wires. “Lets get moving,” he said.

Nell nodded and got down on her knees beside her partner hidden behind the desk and pushed up the sleeves on her windbreaker. She crawled under the desk and got a good look at the problem. It wouldn’t take long to fix. “Power cord,” Nell said. “Ethernet cable.” She reached behind her. “Knife, please.” He grabbed a pocket knife and put it into her palm. She clicked it open and cut the cable ties getting a full look at the damage. “Bad dog,” she said clicking her tongue on the top of her mouth. “The damage doesn’t look too extensive, seems to be just the power and ethernet that have been effected.” Nell ran her hands over the other cords just to be sure there weren’t any tooth holes in the protective coatings.

“Good, we need to get this baby powered up and tap all her secrets,” Eric said. She closed up the pocket knife and crawled back out backwards, she felt Eric’s hand on the top of her head. “Not yet,” he said when she’d been going to sit up. She scooted back an extra few inches and Eric’s hand left her, she would have bumped her head on the desk had he not stopped her.

She smiled warmly over at him. “Thanks Eric.”

He tapped his badge. “Carl.”

She bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Sorry. Carl.”

They quickly got to work, pulling the computer out from where it was sitting so they could get a better look at what they were doing. Nell stood up and turned on the desk lamp and bent it’s head making it a spotlight for their work. Eric pulled out the old power cable and Nell passed him the new one. Minutes later they’d switched out the ethernet cable with just as much ease and had booted the computer back up.

The power light turned on and the fans started to whirl. They shot each other a satisfied smile. Eric sat down and Nell passed him the jump drive. “I’ll watch the door,” she told him since she was the one with a weapon.

Eric pulled out a notebook laptop and plugged it into the computer and used the program on it to bypass the computer’s password. “We’re in,” he told her.

“Hurry up,” Nell whispered anxiety mounting. It was one thing to be doing what they were expected by Braxton to be doing. It was another to be in the room while they were stealing information off of his computer. She looked down the hall, but no on was coming she poked her head around the door, no one in the other direction either. Maybe just maybe the plan would go off flawlessly.

“Everything’s encrypted,” Eric complained. “Nothing is labelled! It’s a nightmare!”

“Just copy everything then!” Nell said frantically. “We’ll sort it all when we get back!”

Eric started copying all the documents and transferring them to the jump drive. A status bar came up on screen. “Come on, come on,” he whispered quietly urging the computer to hurry up. Five percent… six percent…. ten percent. “Come on.”

Braxton turned around the hall and Nell ducked her head back into the room. “He’s coming!” She warned. “How much do we have?”

“Thirteen percent,” Eric said with panic. “Stall him!”

“What? Me! How?” Nell’s hazel eyes widened.

He waved his hands at her. “Think of something, we’re only at fifteen percent!”

“Uh… okay,” Nell opened the door and closed it behind her nearly bumping into Braxton. “Sorry! I was just looking for you,” she said biting down on her tongue trying to keep from speaking too quickly. Taking in a deep breath. “We’re replacing a couple of cords. We’re making good progress,” she informed him with a nod of her head.

“Shouldn’t take so long to replace a couple of cords,” Braxton complained with a heatedly angered manner. She quickly went on and on about different brands of cords, lengths and Braxton put up his hands. “I really don’t need to know, I just need my files for work.”

He reached past her for the door and she flattened herself against it. “Sorry! Um… bathroom!” she said. “Could I… ah… use your washroom?” She asked. “Tiny-tiny bladder,” she lied with a bit of a nervous laugh as she danced a little side to side.

“Yeah, sure,” Braxton replied. “Just go down that hall, to your right, and then-“

“I’m terrible with directions,” she said. “That’s why my partner always drives. I’d get lost going to the coffee shop down the street.” She smiled brightly and hoped he didn’t suspect anything.

He sighed heavily as if she were a nuisance. “Yeah, follow me.”

Letting out a sigh of relief she followed Braxton down the hall and hoped Eric could copy the data before the man came back.

::

Fifty seven… fifty nine. “Come on!” Eric was annoyed with the slow progress, the anxiety mounting.

He could hear Nell speaking loudly and concisely on the other side of the door, she trying to convince Braxton about her ‘tiny-tiny’ bladder. He pressed his lips together trying to keep from laughing. He paid attention to what was happening on the opposite side of the door while his eyes stayed on the screen. The progress bar stalling out at sixty three percent. She got Braxton to show her the way to the bathroom and he knew she’d stalled him a bit of time. Sixty four… sixty five…

With nothing left to do but wait he got up and paced a bit, a hand running through his styled blond hair. He worried now that Nell was out of his sight, but if she could keep Braxton distracted long enough for him to transfer all the data… they’d be okay. And if she couldn’t…

Eric dropped back down in the seat. He couldn’t think about that, not now.

Sixty eight…sixty nine…

::

Nell knew that Eric was counting on her, and it was better to stall too much time than not enough. Then again, she didn’t want Braxton to realize she was stalling. That would be a whole different kind of problem. She spotted the puppy which she assumed had been the guilty party of the cord chewing. The dog was a pug, cute little thing, light brown in colour with black paws and one black ear, he was shaking the daylights out of a stuffed pig toy. The dog let go, the pig went flying and squeaked when it hit the wall.

“Oh how cute!” Nell gushed. She was an animal lover, and better yet, she’d found her distraction. She dropped down to her knees. The dog turned to her and ran up to her crawling into her lap jumping to her face, his paws on her chest as he tried to kiss her face. She giggled. “He’s a sweetheart, what’s his name?”

“Leo,” Braxton said the name with a great deal of distain. “He’s the little monster that chewed the cords.”

Nell reached out and grabbed the pig squeaking it a few times and throwing the toy. Leo ran to get it, tried to stop but kept on sliding on the polished hardwood floors. He kept his feet moving and a few seconds later finally found traction he ran back and grabbed the toy with his teeth, the pig squeaked and the dog shook it viciously before trotting back to Nell. “He’s such a little angel!” She pet Leo and the dog looked up at her adoringly.

“Little devil more like,” Braxton responded. “The bathroom is this way.”

She realized her stall tactic had come to an end and reluctantly got back to her feet. Leo went back to attacking the stuffed pig toy. She followed Braxton and he opened the door and turned on the bathroom light. “There you go,” he said before walking away. Shutting and locking the door she quickly pulled out her phone and found Eric in her contacts.

‘Braxton’s coming your way!’ she sent it. She shoved the phone back in her pocket and flushed the toilet. She hoped the files had finished the transfer, Eric would be in big trouble if they hadn’t. She let the water run, forcing herself to count to thirty in her head before turning the taps off and opening the door and heading back to the office.

::

Ninety three… ninety five…

Eric’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he quickly pulled it out. ‘Braxton’s coming your way!’

His eyes went from his phone to the status bar that was clearly against him. “Shoot,” he whispered to himself. He unplugged the notebook from Braxston’s computer and put it back in the toolbox, he’d only needed it to bypass the password stage anyways. “Okay, okay,” he said to himself. He’d be fine, he could lie his way out of this… right? His eyes dropped to the status bar.

Ninety six. “Seriously!” he exclaimed quietly, his hands in fists. “Unbelievable!”

Eric could hear footsteps coming down the hall. “Come on, come on.” He knew it had to be Braxton.

‘Need more time!’ he shot the text back to Nell and prayed for a miracle.

::

Nell got Eric’s text and wildly looked around the room. Leo was still taking all of his puppy frustration out on the pig. Her eyes then fitted onto a very expensive looking vase. She did a quick look making sure no one saw, she jogged over and gave the vase a push. It fell to the floor and shattered in to hundreds of fragments.

“LEO!” Nell exclaimed. “I’m really sorry,” she whispered to the surprised looking dog.

Braxton came into the large open space quickly and ran his hands through his hair. “This dog is the devil!”

“I’m sure it was just an accident,” Nell defended the poor dog who was laying down now, his head on the stuffed pig.

“I’m sure he was sent straight from Hell to drive me nuts,” Braxton replied. “Stupid dog! Bad dog!”

“Hey! I’m sure he didn’t mean it!” Nell defended her hands on her hips.

Braxton glared at the puppy and pointed at it. “Evil!”

“He is not!” Nell picked him up defensively holding him to her chest. “He’s just a puppy, it was an accident!”

“You like the monster so much, you take him or I’ll take him to the pound! I’ve had enough!”

“Well then I will,” Nell said shocking herself holding the cute little dog to her chest. “You’re coming with me, Leo!”

“Allison,” Eric said from the entrance way, the toolbox in hand and a smile upon his face. “All done. Wires have been replaced, computer powered up just fine.”

“Finally!” Braxton said quickly writing a check and signing the fake documents that Eric had brought.

“Have a good day,” Eric said with a smile and then looked to Nell curiously. She was still holding the puppy close to her chest. “Um…” he pointed.

“He’s coming with me,” Nell said fiercely before shooting a glare at Braxton. “Have a good day,” she said but her tone was laced with anger.

::

They got settled in the van, Eric putting the key in the ignition he started it up before looking to Nell. “So… you took the dog.”

She smiled. “His name is Leo, he helped me today.”

Eric smiled at the dog. “Good job, Leo.” If the dog helped out his partner in anyway, he was grateful. With the job done, and the information safely tucked away in his pocket he put the van into gear.

::

The two of them walked into the office, having made a brief stop to pick up a dog toy and a leash for Leo. Nell walked the dog, Leo sniffing everything as they made their way down the hall. Hetty smiled at them and then spotted the dog and looked at them curiously. “Did everything go well?” she asked.

“Pretty much,” Eric said. “We got the information.”

“And a dog?” Hetty said, her voice raising in surprise.

“It’s a long story,” Nell said with a smile and a bit of a blush.

“Then perhaps, over tea,” Hetty replied thankful her two brilliant technicians had returned safe and sound. They both nodded and she went to get the beverage prepped.

“So,” Eric rocked in his shoes. “You were kind of great out there. You’d make a pretty good field agent…”

“Maybe,” Nell shrugged. “But then I wouldn’t get to spend all day with you.” Eric smiled and looked down. He bumped against her, and she bumped him back and they walked side by side to Hetty’s office for debrief.