No Business Like Cho Business
(Another day at the office)

"Van Pelt has been keeping an eye on Shushu's cell phone and we've got a hit, at last," Lisbon informed them. "The tower map indicates that he's in this area. It's GPS shows the location as here," she said tapping a corner. "There's an apartment building and a theater there, so let's roll and find him. The signal has been stationary for some time, now."

They took two cars, rather than the van, Lisbon driving, Cho and Jane with her, Van Pelt and Rigsby in the second vehicle. They used no lights or sirens, wanting to be as unobtrusive as possible. The drive was short and fast, parking readily available.

The building was an old theater that had been partially converted to use as an apartment complex, but there was still some sets and storage on the third floor.

As they mustered on the street, Lisbon quickly took charge. "Van Pelt, you stay here and keep on the computer. If the status of Shushu's phone changes, or you come up with anything that can help us, I want to know immediately.

"Yes, Boss." Van Pelt nodded and got back into one of the cars and flipped open the lid of the laptop. "Got it covered."

"Rigsby, you're with me. Cho, you and Jane check out the top floor. I doubt he's hiding in a storage room, but you never know." Lisbon wheeled and entered the apartment facility.

Jane and Cho made their way up an outside stairway, to the third floor. At the top of the stairway, there was a small landing. Not too surprising they were faced by a metal door secured by a large pad lock. They hesitated. "Lisbon said check out the top floor," Cho observed.

"This is true," Jane removed his picks and bent to open the lock. "She must have a warrant or she wouldn't have told us to go in." The lock opened as if he had a key.

They stepped through the open door, guns drawn, senses alert. The light was dim with a yellowish cast, streaks of light were visible in the dusty atmosphere. The odor was musty, dusty and unpleasant. They knew that the third floor was devoted to storage, but at one time it had apparently been used for low budget filming. It was divided into small rooms that were outfitted appropriate for various scenes, all of them probably sexually oriented and relating to subjects that neither Cho nor Jane wanted to contemplate.

"Creepy," Cho observed.

"Understatement of the week," Jane said in agreement. They moved from room to room, set to set, using as much caution as possible.

There was a loud commotion, shouting, and the sound of multiple gun shots. There was the pounding of footsteps, then silence. Their radio squawked to life saying, "We're OK. Heads up on the third floor."

Jane and Cho looked at each other, wondering what had happened down there. They realized that things were going really wrong when the thin wall of the set shattered and Shushu stepped through the tattered plaster and dust. He aimed the biggest pistol Jane had ever seen at his face, or maybe it only appeared to be the biggest because he was looking down the barrel, but he knew this was not good.

With a lithe movement, Cho stepped forward and slapped the gun from the line of Jane's body. The bullet Shushu fired dug into the floor boards, causing splinters to fly. Cho followed through, grabbing and twisting the gun until he heard the trigger finger snap. Using the gun as a lever, he forced the ends of the bones together, causing Shushu to scream like a 13 year old girl on a roller coaster. He continued by slamming his elbow back into Shushu's face breaking his jaw and shattering his cheek bones. Shushu went down, completely unmoving and limp. Cho carefully kicked the gun from the vicinity of Shushu's body.

Jane was wiping his forehead one handed with a handkerchief, the other hand against the wall, supporting his weight. He was ashen and shaken. "Thank you, Cho. I owe you one."

Cho stared at him and deadpan: "Not one. Another one." He knelt and put cuffs on Shushu and turned his head so he'd not choke on his own blood. He keyed his radio, "We need an EMT up here for the perp. Jane and I are OK. The situation is resolved." The radio squawked a response and he clipped it back onto his belt.

As they walked out of the wrecked room, Jane turned and said to the groaning Shushu, "That's Cho business dude. You bombed in this theater."

oOOOo