Author's Note: This cross-over is a homage to Criminal Minds, especially it's style of quoting words of wisdom and sayings by great minds and writers.
For back story, START (an anti-terror unit) was first introduced in the story "The Long Shadow of Michaelangelo..."
Set after Season five finale. So spoiler warning applies.
What's the Third?
It finally happened! After nine years in the Force, three as a street cop and six as an elite police officer, Spike Scarlatti finally fired his weapon and took a life, thankfully justifiable.
It was a late night burglary at a warehouse, but not just any warehouse. It was a chemical and fertiliser depot. By the very nature of the products stored in it, there's not a chance they'd let the burglars get away with anything; not even a doggy-bag size plant food, aka, ammonium nitrate.
Being what it was, the property was secured by state-of-art security, with a back-to-base alarm system that alerted the security company something was wrong. There was no second thoughts, SRU was immediately called and Team One, on duty that night was despatched.
Patrol cruisers set up a wide perimeter. Before they reached the crime scene, not willing to take any chances, Sgt Ed Lane requested for the fire brigade to be on stand-by. He rightly didn't want to risk combustible materials accidentally exploding for whatever reason.
Team One has been through a lot of changes. Their beloved long-time Sargent and father figure Greg Parker has moved on to head the Police Academy and also START (Special Terror Alert Response Team); not long after that their Team Leader First Officer Constable Samuel Braddock moved to lead Team Three for family reasons; and, his wife Constable Jules Callaghan has gone on maternity leave.
Three new recruits joined them. All experienced police officers with outstanding qualifications. There's Constable Jean Martin, formerly of the Quebec SRU. Multilingual, sniper, martial arts instructor; not to mention tall and drop dead gorgeous. Then there's Aiza Yamamoto, second generation Japanese-Canadian. Multilingual, computer whiz kid, gymnast, parkour expert and cute as a button. Lastly, Constable Frank Knight. According to his résumé, he's also multilingual (British English, American English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Irish English), undercover specialist, frustrated comedian, but very deadly with a rifle. So, all in all, they were a well-balanced team.
By virtue of seniority, Spike Scarlatti received the mantle of leadership, something he was surprised to be handed. He was contented to be the man in the truck, guiding his team from the background rather than the front line. But this new challenge was an occasion to prove himself in a new role so he accepted it whole-heartedly.
Constable Leah Kearns sank her teeth into profiling and negotiation. By her own admission she has a lot of learn, fortunately, she wasn't thrown into the deep end. The words, "Leah, you're my second" was music to her ears. Learning in practice from one of the best was learning by osmosis, not just by textbook.
The 'new look' Team arrived at the industrial section of the city within 10 minutes, glad to see the perimeter secured and the fire trucks already prepped.
"What do we have here?" inquired Sgt Lane from the head of security before his feet even touched the ground. The man was looking very anxious, "From our cameras, we see three men. We have checked the perimeter of the building itself. No gates or doors were breached so we think they entered through the roof."
Curious, Spike asked, "Do they know what's stored in there?"
"That's what we're thinking, it doesn't make sense. Who wants to steal fertilisers and chemicals?" replied the head of security as he glanced back to his own team of three. "We can understand people being interested in alcohol, or cigarettes or designer label accessories, but fertilisers?"
One of the other seconded, "Unless they're domestic or international terrorists or desperate farmers, it could easily have been a crime of opportunity. Maybe they saw the warehouse and saw an opportunity to help themselves."
"Only one way to find out," Spike said, "Aiza..."
"On it," said the knee-high one. She patched into the camera system and scanned the faces for possible identity matches with police and other law enforcement databases. Barely fifteen minutes after she started, she had her first hit, "Boss, come take a look."
Sgt Lane climbed up on the Command Truck, Spike tailing him. "This guy here" she said, "has a criminal record thick as a phone book. Last arrest was for burglary and grievous bodily harm. He's a nasty piece of work but appears not to be too clever. He didn't recce the place before hitting it, so now he's trapped in there with two accomplices."
Now the problem for Team One was limited tactical option. The camera helped them identify some of the chemicals stored inside, Spike offered his advice, "Boss, you have to negotiate them out of there... however long it takes. We fire our weapons or they fire their weapons and we could be looking at a potential inferno."
Ed Lane grimly thought, It could be a very long night. But on second thought, it could also be a very short one, depending on his powers of persuasion. With a bull horn he introduced himself and categorically advised the three burglars there was nothing in the warehouse worth having, stealing or risking their lives for.
Meanwhile, Spike ordered Frank Knight and Jean Martin to take up sniper positions to cover both exit gates of the warehouse, one at each end.
Yamamoto continually fed them information, "They're pacing. Agitated...appears to be in disagreement. Would be good to know what they're saying?" Spike had the idea to scale up to the roof, plant a listening device via the same entry hole the trio created.
"Aiza, I'm going up to the roof." He took two items from their arsenal; a grappling hook with compressed air propeller, and a small but very sensitive, blue tooth device. He gave a running commentary to appraise his team of what he was up to.
"Now on the west side of the building."
"Firing grappling hook."
Seconds later, they heard him say, "Climbing up..."
Knight and Martin scoped the roof to cover him, minutes later his crouched form appeared. He padded softly on the tin roofing and quickly found the hole. The bandits made easy work of removing a roof sheet common to warehouses. He laid on his stomach. He waited patiently until his eyes adjusted to the dim light below.
Gradually, he saw the same three men. Stealthily, he dropped the listening device. It landed on sacks of fertilisers stacked up nearly to the rafters of the ceiling. Aiza's voice crackled in his ears, "Loud and clear," she said.
He let out a soft sigh of relief and started to slowly crawl back, his vision covered an area a little further in as he moved back. There, just outside of camera range. Hidden in a blind spot was another man assembling improvised explosive devices (IED). Moving slowing and quietly, Spike removed a small bino from his vest pocket.
Focusing it up to four times magnification, he studied the subject carefully. Caucasian male, about 35 to 40 years old. Bony but appears to be strong. Black. At his feet was an open bag of fertiliser, diesel fuel, nails and shards of broken bottles and several empty tin cans. It didn't look good at all.
He crawled a little further away. Once he was a fair distance from the hole, he rolled on his back and reported what he has seen to the Team. He has a suspicion, "Boss, I think the other three are decoys. They'd surrender, come out through the gate with their hands up, unarmed; while this guy climbs out through the roof with the fertiliser bombs and we'd be none the wiser."
They all said, "Copy that." Ed Lane instructed him to stay on the roof.
An hour passed. The three men inside the warehouse hasn't said a word. Never made a demand. Didn't ask for a thing, not been for free pizza. Another half an hour later, a call to a 911 operator was routed to Sgt Ed Lane.
"Sgt Lane," he said, "How can I help you?"
A man with a slightly high pitched voice said, "We're coming out."
The Sarge said, "Ok, come out with your hands in the air. Come out through the North gate."
Knight replied, "In position." Martin, although, he didn't expect anyone to come out via the south gate, responded likewise.
"Boss, I've gotta cover Spike," said Kearns.
Ed Lane nodded, "Good idea." She hastily ran to the building and scaled up the same rope Spike used earlier. As former fire fighter, she was an expert rope climber. Spike heard the exchanges and anticipated her arrival on the roof even as he continued to peer down the hole. Minutes later, still out of camera range, the man monkey climbed a rope with a backpack full of IEDs.
Spike looked back and motioned for Leah to stay low, she flattened herself against the tin roof. He knelt on one knee, his dominant arm stretched out in front of him, the other arm slightly bent to absorb the recoil. His finger lightly on the trigger as he waited for the man to pop his head out.
As soon as his head was out, Spike identified himself as per protocol, "Constable Spike Scarlatti, SRU. Come out slowly, keep your hands where I can see them." The guy slowly hoisted himself up with difficulty, the backpack weighing him down. Both men kept their eyes fixed on each other. Finally, the man was completely out of the hole. He slowly stood erect and made a show of carefully removing the pack off his back. As he did so, he made for a hand gun that was tacked in the small of his back.
It happened very quickly, the man raised one arm with a weapon and fired it, narrowly missing Spike's head by inches; and Leah Kearns having stayed low per Spike's instruction. Without so much as blinking an eye Spike fired back and hit the man dead centre on the chest. The impact sent the man backwards which landed him wedged bodily in the hole. The SRU constable who until then has never fired a gun in the line of duty expelled a deep breathe, approached the bandit cautiously to check for a pulse. There was none.
Later that night, officers from the investigation unit arrived to interview both Constables Scarlatti and Kearns who was the lone witness to the shooting.
After four hours of Q and A, Spike was cleared. His dedicated Sargent was still in the briefing room waiting for him to be released. He shook his head, "Boss, you didn't need to wait."
Ed Lane smiled and said, "I didn't need to, I wanted to." He paused to look him over, "How do you feel?"
Spike replied, "I know I should feel something but I don't."
His Sarge. Friend. Mentor, and big brother quoted Jason Gideon; knowing Criminal Minds was one of his favourite television shows, "This is going to hit you, and when it does, there's only three facts you need to know. You did what you had to do, and a lot of good people are alive because of what you did."
He smiled, "Or in this case... will be alive, to put it more accurately."
Spike smiled and chanelled Dr Spencer Reid, "What's the third?"
His Sarge said, "I'm proud of you." Then he swiftly added, "It's me saying it. I'm mighty proud of you."
They walked out of HQ, just as the sun was coming up to announce a brand new day.
-The end -
The word for word quotes in italics were taken from Season 1 of Criminal minds, Episode 6, entitled "L.D.S.K." when Dr Spencer Reid killed a man for the first time.