Summary: Mick gains some new knowledge.
"As a FBI agent, I deduce you're reading a kid's book, Mick," Beth Griffith said with her tongue in cheek.
She and the other members of the Red Cell team, were waiting for results of a BOLO on a sniper who had been taking potshots at passersby from downtown rooftops. The Red cell team had used surveillance cameras to get a photo and old-fashioned legwork to identify the shooter as 43-year-old Matthew Lockwood, a formerly navy SEAL generally regarded as "weird" and "creepy" by his teammates.
Now the Red Cell team just had to wait for someone to spot the SEAL.
Beth had occupied the waiting by working out in their gym because they usually didn't have cases this simple, with her other female co-worker, and friend, Gina LaSalle.
Mick Rawson had been filling out paperwork when they left, but when they returned, Beth found him reading a thin book with a wide, square cover that showed a colorful picture of a girl with a bunch of junk on her head. Even she could determine it was a children's book.
"And as a FBI interrogator, you want to know why I'm reading it," Mick suggested.
"Don't make me get Cooper," Beth mock threatened, referring to their Boss who would undoubtly know the answer.
"Please don't do that, agent. I'll talk," Mick replied in mock fear and with a wince of real remembrance. "One of Jenna's kids did a book report and well she said it resembled me in some sort of way so she send me the book after I told her she was nuts" Mick replied shrugging.
"What's it called?" Gina asked. she couldn't read the title because it was covered with library stickers.
"'Thinkers,'" Mick replied, "It's about all great thinkers, including John Garand"
"Who?" Beth asked. Gina looked equally puzzled.
Mick shook his head sadly. "A great man, unappreciated by those who should revere him most."
The head of the Red cell team, Sam Cooper burst into the conference room behind him John 'Prophet' Simms . "He's been spotted going into an office building on the Johnston street, Local PD is setting up a perimeter now"
The others leaped to their feet and followed him out, but his quick gaze spotted Mick's reading matter.
"A little above your usual grade level, isn't it, Mick?"
"It's got words and pictures," Mick agreed. "But at least they're not full of ways on how to spot a suspicious person. Do you own any books that don't say, 'Always check the person behind you'?"
"There's nothing like good preparation," Sam said nostalgically.
"Bedtime stories for you."
Their friendly sparring continued on the drive to the scene.
Mick, Gina, Beth and Prophet took cover behind the command car while Sam coordinated with SWAT commander David Gibbson.
While he waited, Mick scanned the area. From the roof of the building behind them, he saw a flash of light, the distinctive slide of sunlight along a rifle barrel. He stiffened and started to ask if Gibbson had placed a sniper up there, when he saw the red dot of a laser sight creeping up Sam's vest-protected back to his unprotected head.
"Sam!" Mick shoved his crouching partner aside as two shots cracked out. Because Mick was standing, the shots hit him – One in the vest and one in his unprotected shoulder. He staggered back and clunked his head on the roof of the car. He saw stars and saw the red dot tracking across the car toward his face.
Two strong hands grabbed his arm and yanked him to the right. Pockmarks appeared on the patrol car, following Mick but not catching him as Cooper hauled his partner around the nose of the car to safety on the other side. The other officers on the scene followed suit in a mad scramble.
"Thanks," Mick coughed.
Sam crouched beside him. "Likewise, and you're welcome."
"Likewise." Mick's smile flickered; then he coughed some more.
"Are you all right?" Gina asked, eyes wide in concern. She put a hand on his chest as if she could feel his heartbeat through the bulletproof vest.
The former Military man coughed again tentatively, pressed his chest cautiously and then touched the sore spot on the back of his head. "I think so," he decided.
Mick glanced at their boss who was ripping off Mick's vest, Cooper got as far as the left shoulder strap because at the right he paused.
Cooper withdrew his hand who was now covered in crimson red blood, Mick nearly winced when he saw the fierce look Cooper shot him.
Mick frowned, Hmm I didn't even notice that he thought, "Mick, when someone asks you a question you reply them honestly especially in situations like these!" Cooper growled at him, referring to Gina's earlier question.
Cooper's big hands pressed him down on the dirty pavement as he tried to stop the blood flow, Prophet was talking to officer Gibbson and Gina's hands were trying to strap off the rest of the vest whilst Beth was coordinating SWAT inside the building.
Cooper gave him one worried glance before he scowled around at the crouching police officers.
"How the hell did this happen?" he demanded.
Another shot rang out and smashed the driver's window of the command car, everyone flinched but it was debatable which was more alarming, the random shots or Sam's laser glare.
The officers surrounding them exchanged glances and the by now red-headed David Gibbson took a deep breath, but Prophet beat the man to break the bad news himself.
"Looks like Matt Lockwood slipped passed the officers surrounding the scene and took perch at the building facing the original one" he said without excusing anyone.
As if in response, Matt fired another shot that punctured a tire on the abused command car.
"On the plus side," Prophet continued with a touch of irony in his voice "We know where the suspect is"
"Petulant brat, isn't he?" Mick mused through clenched teeth. "Waste of time and ammunition shooting at this car. Self-absorbed, certain he's the center of the universe. Now he's mad because we've spoiled his rifle-fueled power trip," Mick ranted.
They all listened to the Command car's radio, SWAT currently was in pursue of the suspect – was clothed in all black how ironical.
Cooper huffed impatiently and fixed him with a stern glare that clearly said 'shut the hell up' although he doubted the fact that Cooper would use such words.
"No broken ribs as far as I can tell, just bruised" Gina muttered as she had finished her 'exam'.
Gunshots rang through the radio but even without it they were still clearly heard, minutes later it was confirmed what they already thought "Suspect down, need medic" it crackled over the radio.
The next few minutes were all a blur to Mick, apparently the ambulance had been waiting for them because in what seemed like second two medics were crouched above him rambling on in medic talk.
He protested as loudly as he could, he so didn't need to go to the hospital it was just a scratch but the two medics wouldn't listen – Cooper and the rest of them had gone off to the scene.
Cooper first had insisted that he'd stay with him but after pointing out a few valid points Cooper followed the rest of them – Truth was that he really didn't want his team to see him this vulnerable, so weak.
Sure they'd seen him when he was in a bad mood or when he had a cold but this was a different sort of vulnerability, he couldn't control himself very good when he had blood loss or was on those damned pain meds.
It only took his team a few minutes to get downside again, he raised a eyebrow at them and Prophet quickly jogged over to him – he really couldn't recall how but the medics had somehow managed to get him sitting in the back of the ambulance.
"SWAT wouldn't let us near yet, said that he had some white powder on his hands" Prophet shook his head.
He hissed in pain again when the perky blonde medic cleaned his wound some more, Cynthia he thought she was named "Sorry hun, but this still gonna need some stitches it would be better if it was done in the hospital" she hinted at him and shot Prophet a hopeful look but fortunately for Prophet he knew that it wouldn't work to get him to a hospital.
Bloody things.
"Here take these" Cynthia held out two pills, her eyebrows were raised and she looked dangerously at him – for someone only a few years older than him she sure could look intimidating.
"What are these?" he asked, he wasn't going to take pills if he didn't know what they were – Prophet shot him a questioning look.
He guessed he deserved that one, after all she was a medic not some lunatic selling drugs on the street.
"One is a muscle relaxer, and the other is a painkiller" She didn't say which one was which and if the look on her face was anything to go by she wasn't planning on telling him.
Muttering darkly he took the pills, Prophet snickered slightly told him to "Suck it up" then left to join Cooper and the rest of the team – who by now where vehemently arguing with officer David Gibbson.
He wondered what the hell had them so worked up.
Suspect was injured not a threat to anyone because a sudden biological attack just wasn't their unsubs, Matthew Lockwood's, style.
And yeah sure him getting shot wasn't exactly one of the best things on the world but he had worse.
So, what the hell was going on.
As if on cue Gibbson called his medics away with such an urgently he seriously thought about following, but the drugs running through his veins and the reprimand he would surely get from Cooper had him sitting there like a good little boy.
He looked around bored as the team suddenly followed Gibbson and the two medics hot on their heels leaving him here with some rookies, he sighed what was he suppo-
His eyes settled on a dark figure in the nearby alley, as far as he could tell the figure was deeply upset, he got up and tested his footing.
Not as great as usual but then again Cynthia hadn't patched him up yet and he still had those pain killer running through his veins.
The rookie cops surrounding him either didn't notice him walking off or simply decided that they didn't care, he opted for option two.
He casually strode towards the dark alley, avoiding the few pair of eyes that wandered his way in questioning gazes, and finally saw that the dark figure was a girl – and she was hysterically crying.
Her hysterics were probably the only that kept her silently sobbing, then he noticed what she was trying to do, she was trying to squirm away from Matthew Lockwood – he nearly froze when his brain realized that he was standing face to face with their unsub.
Said unsub hadn't noticed yet, his sole attention was on the hysterical teen in front of him. He forced his body to relax and casually held his hands plainly visible then spoke soothing words to encourage the suspect to surrender.
"Hey! Asshole!"
The former navy Seal spun around and raised his weapon at him.
"Whoa, Just wanna talk" Mick said, raising his empty hands "Just talk".
"Stay away or I'll shoot" Matthew warned him.
He swaggered a bit, damn drugs, and gave the suspect a heavy nod.
"Why would you do that? She didn't do a thing, you can shoot me again if you like but let her go she's just a girl"
He leaned against the wall looking for support, the gun switched targets was now pointed at him.
"You mean that?" he had the big urge to eye roll but a voice in his head that sounded way too much like Cooper told him not to.
"Yes, I mean that" he calmly forced out, speaking of Cooper it would be a real good time for ya to show up.
He saw the sobbing teen shoot him a terrified look but once he nodded at her she – thank god that there were smart teens around – ran away.
"But I shot you" Lockwood arched his head sideways giving him a curios look, also he could've sworn he saw something else.
"Yes! You. Shot. Me." He waved his hands slightly upwards to give his point a bit more power "It did have a reason right? Because shooting me without one would just suck and plainly hurt." he switched his tone from a biting one to a irritated one.
"I wasn't shooting at you" the sniper said sulkily.
"No, you were shooting at my friend. How come?" Lockwood's eyes flared with fury – just like the profile had said very unstable.
"He was in charge, bossing people around. I hate that." Lockwood's eyes smoldered with self-justified hate.
They had had a suspicion, the previous victims had all been authority figures of one sort or another but they weren't sure if it hadn't been just random.
"So, the first victim, Commander McLean.."
"He told me that I wasn't going back" Matt said
Mick kept his eyes fixed on the unsub, but out of the corner of his eye his could see Sam and Prophet creeping up from behind.
Sam and Prophet continued to creep up behind Matt, If Matt turned now he'd see them for sure.
He just had to figure out a way to keep Matt's attention on him.
"Well, I'm sure he had his reasons. The people that they send back usually are nuts or just plain bad marines. If I had to guess I'd say the latter one.
You shot eight people – nine including me! – and what did they do to you? nothing they were just doing their jobs!"
Lockwood gaped at him.
"You don't like people who tell you what to do?
He said, swaying slightly, Lockwood's attention was solely on him now – if the fury blazing eyes were something to go by.
"Well, I'm telling you what you can do right now. You can go and put the damn gun down then if you're lucky you get to go to prison" he gave Lockwood one of the most arrogant en smug smiles he could muster, he saw how Lockwood raised his gun.
Suddenly Lockwood's view was blocked, Prophet's hand closed around the barrel, in front of the sight and yanked the rifle out of the marine's hands.
Sam shoved the guy forwards, tumbling him over his own feet, Lockwood was sprawled across the pavement in a defeated look.
He leaned back against the wall and closed his heavy eyes, god those damned pain meds – every single time they would do something to him.
Next time he would just flat out refuse to take the bloody things.
"What the hell were you thinking!" Sam's big callous hands landed on his shoulders and he felt the older men growl in his ear.
He shrugged helplessly.
Sam's hands continued to grope him, first his face – his hands moving from chin to cheek to all over his face checking every inch – then he felt Sam's hands work around the wound.
He heard a low growl again, he opened his eyes to see a very worried Sam – practically looming above him.
Then he saw how Sam wriggled his own arm underneath his chest and let him lean against Sam "Cm'n, let's go back and see that properly looked at".
He glanced backwards and saw Prophet hoisting up the still defeated looking Lockwood, he then looked forwards again and saw Gina and Beth run towards them.
He sighed deeply, they would probably be angry with him too just like Cooper and Prophet for wandering off.
"Hey Mick, keep those eyes open okay" Cooper softly murmured beside him, he frowned wasn't Sam supposed to be mad at him?
"'Kay" he softly agreed.
For the next two hours things were pretty much a big blur to him, first Cooper dragged him to the medics – Cynthia was ecstatic to see that he hadn't ripped out the stitches – then Sam single handedly embarrassed and chewed out all the cops that were supposed to be watching the scene for any suspicious behavior and the SWAT team leader for shooting the wrong guy.
And now he was laying on the couch of their little gym, which was deserted except for them, he had argued a long time before Cynthia let him go without a trip to the hospital.
And even then it had taken Cooper to promise her that he himself would look after Mick, also she had insisted on him taking an extra dose of painkillers which he took – one glare from Sam and he had decided that it didn't matter this one time.
Now he was quietly dozing off on the couch whilst the rest of the team discussed the case, every now and then one of them would spare a glance at them probably just to make sure that he was still breathing.
He closed his eyes, his team would look after him.
He knew that now.