Forever's a long time

Chapter 8

Nick McPherson looked at Sam, after all he had done to the man, he was still defiant.

Granted he was sweating with pain, and soon, if untreated those wounds would be infected.

He had had a call from his brother, worried and shakily telling him he'd been arrested and sent to county lock up.

Nick, as the elder brother, promised to deal with it. He knew the only way they could make the charges stick against his little brother was for that Agent to make a statement. He had followed Callen's career diligently, knowing that the man who had been their first boy, knew far too much. Although, had Nick been a gambling man, he would have bet that his first run in with Callen had caused the boy so much fear there was no way he would voluntarily tell anyone what had happened when he was a child.

One thing he did know was that he had trained that boy well.

Callen shook his head, water droplets dripping from his face. He peeled off his T-shirt and wrung it out, pulling it back on and hoping he wouldn't catch a cold. But the sun was quite warm and he hoped that his clothes would dry soon. More importantly though his thoughts were focused on one goal. Finding Sam.

He took his wallet out of his back pocket, the little cash he had was ruined beyond saving. However his bank card was fine. Knowing he only had a small amount of time before they had Eric or Nell track him, he walked to the nearest ATM machine and took out as much as the card would allow. It would have to do. Then he broke the bank card up and threw it in the trash.

Walking into a thrift store nearby, he purchased a change of clothes, smiling at the clerk and explaining he'd had a fight with his wife and she'd chucked water at him.

He emerged a few minutes later, wearing dry clothes and a ball cap to hide his face. He dumped his wet clothes in the trash and took off his watch. That hurt the most, Sam had given him the watch for his birthday and had told him it had a GPS chip in it in case he ever went missing. He wasn't sure if Sam had been joking or not, but right now he couldn't take the chance.

He walked through the holiday makers and crowds of shoppers trying to make sure he wasn't spotted on any security cameras. He couldn't afford to be.

He had thought about taking a cab, but that would take money he didn't have and both cabs and public transport had cameras that he could be traced on. There was nothing for it but for him to steal a car. After all, after this he'd be going to jail anyway when they found out his part in the whole thing.

He stole a beat up looking green Honda and headed in the direction that he hoped, Sam was being held.

Granger walked back into the office, balancing another file and two coffees in his hands.

"Hetty found some information we need you to corroborate." He looked up and realized he was talking to an empty room.

"Damn..." He put the coffee and the file on the table and figured that Callen must have gone to the bathroom, then he saw the open trapdoor.

Sighing he walked out to the main room where Hetty was sitting.

"Problem Owen?" She asked.

"Callen's gone."

"Bugger." Hetty cursed and walked to the monitor. "Mr. Beale." she called.

"Yes Hetty." He replied instantly on the screen.

"I need you to track down Agent Callen. Check Camera's and his GPS in his watch."

"On it." Eric turned to complete his task as Nell shot him a worried look and went to help him.