Chapter 2: Polaris
The border crossing into Mexico had been uneventful and they were well on the way to their planned destination. Lisbon was still a bit disgruntled at having to leave her arsenal behind but she knew firearms were strictly prohibited and that many tourists had fallen foul of this regulation in the past and ended up in jail. She felt strangely naked without any means of defence and was sending out distinctly grumpy vibes in Jane's directions.
"Teresa just remember this is a holiday, we're not going far into Baja California, just enough to catch some autumn sun, so please can you leave Agent Lisbon behind as this region is the territory of the drug cartels. By and large the tourists are left to their own devices, provided that they don't start looking into things that don't concern them."
"I can do holidays, I know how to relax." She said defensively.
"Of course you do. I'm just saying be careful who you talk to and don't interfere in anything that doesn't concern you." Jane was already starting to doubt the wisdom of this trip, knowing Lisbon's propensity to want to fight everyone's battles. She only needed to upset the wrong people and they were in trouble. He almost wished they had ditched the Airstream and caught a flight to one of the major resorts, where they would just blend in with crowd.
They were having a brief sojourn in Mexico before wending their way cross country to spend Thanksgiving with Lisbon's family in Chicago. They had some bridges to mend, Lisbon's brothers had been none too happy about their impromptu wedding and Lisbon still felt bad about it.
Jane had only met Tommy and Annie so far and knew he was going to have to be at his most charming when he met the rest of the clan. He suspected Lisbon may be regretting telling them about the antics of her irritating consultant, in the days before they had hooked up. Initially her brothers had assumed it was a shot gun wedding, which Lisbon angrily refuted. Seriously how old did they think she was?
It was an easy drive down the coast to Rosarito and they were soon settled in a RV site just south of the city, which faced out toward the Pacific Ocean. It was a fairly modern site, Jane's own preference was for something a bit wilder but in the circumstances he thought the formal site might offer a bit more security.
As night drew on they sat on the grassy bank overlooking the beach just listening to the sound of the crashing surf. There was a distinct chill in the night air, although the daytime temperatures were still in the low 70's, the clear skies resulted in decidedly cool evenings. They huddled together watching the moonlit waves, keenly aware of the elemental forces of nature. The dark night skies, devoid of light pollution, provided a wonderful showcase for the starry night.
"Over there Teresa, that's the constellation Ursa Minor, the Little Dipper. The star there is Polaris, sometimes known as the pole star or the lode star; it marks the celestial north pole and has been the guiding star for mariners for centuries."
Lisbon already knew that but wasn't about to ruin the mood, as Jane stared deep into her eyes and began to wax lyrical, quoting some unknown poem to Lisbon.
"I have made You the polar star of my existence; never again can I lose my way in the voyage of life. Wherever I go, You are always there to shower your beneficence all around me. Your face is ever present before my mind's eyes. If I lose sight of You even for a moment, I almost lose my mind. Whenever my heart is about to go astray, just a glance of You makes it feel ashamed of itself."
Such an evocative piece of prose, Lisbon could not help but be touched by his words. She leant over to gently kiss Jane before breathing deeply and snuggling back up to him, then turning her gaze back towards the Pole Star. Words seemed superfluous at this point, they just held hands as they soaked in the atmosphere. Eventually Jane arose and held his hand out to Lisbon; they slowly made their way back to the Airstream, no longer star crossed lovers but united at last.
After a lazy morning catching up on sleep from the night before, they made their way into the resort of Rosarito, which had been famed as a repose for the Hollywood greats during the prohibition years. It had been frequented by the likes of Orson Welles, Rita Haywood, Hepburn and Tracy to name but a few. These days it was a favoured retirement place for American citizens, who chose to avail themselves of the lower cost of living and reasonably priced medical facilities.
Lisbon hunched over her morning coffee inhaling the nutty aroma appreciatively, as Jane surveyed the promenade with an iced tea in front of him. They had indulged in a breakfast of Mexican scrambled eggs, in truth Jane preferred the plainer version they normally made themselves but their supplies needed replenishing, so they had eaten out.
A loud female voice caught Lisbon's attention and she watched as a young female cop berated some youngsters with skateboards, who had given some elderly tourists a fright. She rattled off at them ten to the dozen, gesticulating as she left them in no doubt of her displeasure. The young cop was lithe and energetic and her mid length raven hair framed an attractive face with lively dark eyes. Lisbon could not help but smile as she watched the performance. The cop caught her eye and grinned back in Lisbon's direction, she was clearly a rookie presumably assigned to the municipal police for community policing.
Lisbon had read about the dangers of being a police officer in Mexico, the drug cartels were ruthless and several police chiefs and police officers had been most brutally murdered. Furthermore the pay was atrocious and police corruption was rife, Lisbon just hoped this vivacious young cop would be able to steer clear of trouble.
Jane smiled as he saw Lisbon's interest piqued, she clearly saw something of the younger Lisbon in the cop. He would have loved to have seen the rookie Lisbon, he bet the young bucks foolish enough to try their luck had been given short shrift.
They wandered around the street market idly browsing the stalls, they were not in the market to buy anything other than fresh goods but enjoyed the hustle and bustle nevertheless. Before long they heard the familiar voice, now speaking in accented English to an elderly American couple who had lost, or more likely been relieved of, their wallet. Pick pocketing was rife in the markets.
Jane disappeared under the pretext of seeing a tea stall and wanting to sample the selection, leaving Lisbon looking at some handcrafted local jewellery. After what seemed an eternity to Lisbon, he re-appeared well satisfied with his purchases. Jane was somewhat uncomfortable to find Lisbon getting acquainted with the young cop.
The rookie's name was Marisol Garcia, she had been delighted to make Lisbon's acquaintance once she had learned Lisbon used to be a cop herself. Jane winced when he heard them talking; Lisbon had marked herself out as a target by admitting her past and he suspected no good would come of their association.
Despite his reservations Jane had to admit Marisol was a delight, such a vibrant personality, not classically beautiful with her strong features but undeniably attractive, he could see Lisbon was quite taken with her. Over the next few days Lisbon would go out of her way to talk to her whenever she saw her, enjoying the chance to talk with a kindred spirit.
Jane knew that even the most lowly cop would be keenly watched in this environment and that her association with Lisbon would not go unnoticed.
The mornings were spent on the beach, Jane hired some surf equipment and had taken to the water. Lisbon could only admire his natural grace and balance as he rode the waves, gaining confidence as the days went on he was soon tackling some of the bigger swells, much to Lisbon's disquiet. Although she was a reasonable swimmer, the thought of being engulfed by the power of the mighty oceans still held some fear for her and she could only wonder how the man, who eschewed physical confrontation, could be so fearless in this environment.
Jane tried to entice Lisbon to join in but she would only lie down on the board and ride the gentler waves closer to shore. Lisbon preferred to indulge in her favoured recreation jogging along the length of the beach, taking in the sights as she went and having a prime view of her husband's performance on her return leg. He really was incredible with his large feet anchored to the board, maintaining his balance as he danced with the surf, his movements almost balletic as his hands and arms moved to shift his weight and counter balance the forces of nature.
Sitting in a street cafe enjoying a taco, they heard the now familiar female voice shouting out, they watched as she chased a pickpocket from the market area, taking him down and pinning him to the floor before calling over her nearby colleague to complete the arrest. A group of young men were barracking her and she just cheekily looked over her shoulder putting them down with ease. They all laughed with her as she moved on.
They watched as Marisol walked through the street market, engaging the traders with her relaxed repartee. She stopped. She had clearly spotted someone she recognized in one of the side streets and cheerily shouted out Hola before going over to greet them. With horror Lisbon and Jane heard a shot ring out and before Jane could do anything, Lisbon was out of her seat and racing across to the downed rookie. Marisol had been thrown back from the impact of the shot and was bleeding profusely from her abdomen, it didn't look good with that amount of blood.
"Someone call an ambulance," Lisbon yelled as she took command of the scene. She took Marisol in her arms gently comforting the rookie, then she took off her wrap and pressed it against the haemorrhaging wound. Jane watched on helplessly as Lisbon did her best the quell the flow of blood, the bleeding was so profuse that Jane did not hold out much hope but Lisbon continued with her ministrations. Marisol bent up to Lisbon and whispered something in her ear, before finally losing consciousness. Lisbon attempted CPR but was taken aside by the paramedics, who could tell instantly it was too late.
Jane pulled Lisbon gently away as the paramedics pronounced Marisol dead. Lisbon looked up helplessly at Jane, who was himself stunned by events. Jane pulled himself together as the approaching cops came closer. Unfortunately he didn't have the opportunity to ask Lisbon what Marisol had said before they were questioned by the cops. Jane knew corruption was endemic and wished he could have cautioned Lisbon to be economic in what she divulged. Needless to say, Lisbon recounted the full story like the good cop she had been, including the disclosure that Marisol's final word had been Maestro. The cops clearly knew who Lisbon was, presumably Marisol had told them back at HQ about the lady cop. Jane could not help but feel they were in danger.
It had been sickening seeing this vibrant life snuffed out so callously. They had gotten hardened to events like this in their time at the CBI, hiding behind a barrier of professional detachment, but they had started to let their guard down and this hit them hard, particularly Lisbon. She was tense and tetchy and Jane knew that she was contemplating getting involved in something that could well end in disaster.
"Teresa, we are in a foreign country, we have no backup or means of defence – it would be suicidal to think of getting involved." Jane tried to appeal to her sense of reason, though he didn't hold out much hope of success.
"So we just let everyone sweep it under the carpet?" She snapped back angrily.
"If we were back home of course not, but we don't even know who we can trust." Jane was starting to lose patience.
"You may be able to turn your back on it but I have no intention of walking away." Lisbon looked coldly at him.
"And what good will it do anyone, if we get killed in the process - who does that help? Just use your commonsense Teresa think about it." That was like a red rag to a bull.
"Use my common sense? That's great coming from you. Since when have you ever thought about the consequences of what you do or say?" Although she had intended that as general comment, she could see Jane's face freeze with hurt.
"Fine, do what you want." Jane turned and angrily walked out towards the beach.
Oh crap! Lisbon had not meant it to come out like that and to re-awaken his old feelings of guilt.
The small footsteps were barely audible, as Lisbon joined him outside.
"You know I didn't mean it like that Patrick. I would never throw that back at you." She said gently.
Jane just turned his head away from her, resolutely looking out to sea. Lisbon sat down alongside him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
He nodded wearily, his lips set in a thin smile. "I know. But can't you understand that is precisely why I can't bear the thought of you putting yourself in danger. You can't even fall back on the 'it's my job' defence now. It's neither your job nor responsibility anymore. I know you're not going to let this drop, so let's see if we can work out a compromise. Just promise me you won't do anything stupid Teresa."
She nodded in agreement, it had been a long time since they had fallen out like this and it hurt them both.
The atmosphere was still cool in the morning, although they kept up a veneer of civility. It was not so much anger as the tension of not knowing how best to resolve the issue.
Jane decided to have a chat with Cho, to see if he could tell them what was going on in the drug scene at Rosarito.
"Teresa has got the bit between her teeth and is determined to avenge the young cop's death. I'm really worried she's going to do something stupid." Jane confided.
"That sounds like the boss." Cho replied. "You know she lost one of her friends in similar circumstances when she was a rookie?"
"No I didn't know that. What happened?" Jane's interest quirked at this, it would certainly account for Lisbon's reaction.
"Apparently she inadvertently walked in on a drugs bust and got caught in the cross fire. They never identified the shooter."
"Thanks Cho. I'll keep that to myself for now but that explains a lot. Just one more request, the last thing Marisol said was Maestro. You can read that so many ways, can you ask if that means anything to your guys?" Jane was glad they had Cho to fall back on, he was a good friend to Jane as well as Lisbon.
"Look, I'll talk to Abbott and see if we've got anyone on the ground down there who you can talk to. Whatever you do don't draw attention to yourselves. I'll call you back again tonight. Just keep out of trouble for now." Cho rang off, genuinely worried about his friend's predicament.
Jane told Lisbon he had enlisted Cho's help and that they should hold fire until he got back to them. Lisbon appreciated that Jane had made an effort to meet her half way and they decided to stay close to base and hopefully out of trouble. Lisbon undertook a punishing run to try and sort things out in her head, Jane took to the surf to kill time, though his heart was not in it.
Jane kept a close eye on Lisbon, never going far out to sea or taking on anything too taxing. He knew she needed some time alone to clear her head, although he wasn't entirely happy with her going off by herself. Jane had just started to ride a wave, when he noticed a jogger approaching Lisbon from the opposite direction. Jane surfed toward the shore, trying to keep an eye on what was happening, to his horror he saw Lisbon suddenly go down. Losing his concentration, he was soon engulfed by the wave and when he resurfaced he just saw the jogger bending down to Lisbon, ostensibly helping her up.
The strap attaching him to his surfboard was ripped off and Jane hurtled to meet Lisbon to find out exactly what had happened. Lisbon looked pale and worried when he got to her; she looked guiltily at Jane, by now accepting that his fears had been justified.
"Teresa what happened?"There were no recriminations from Jane, just relief that she was unharmed.
"He tripped me up. Before he helped me up, he warned me to mind my own business, as next time I wouldn't be walking away." She couldn't look Jane in the eye as she spoke.
"Come on, let's get out of here. If they'd wanted to do anything worse they could easily have done so. This was a warning and one we shouldn't ignore." He ushered her back along the beach, the tension between them soon dissipated as they made their way back to the RV park.
That night Cho phoned back and they put him on speaker phone. " I spoke to Abbott. Apparently we have an agent there going by the name José Fuentes. If you can make your way to Puerto Nuevo, he'll meet you there at the seafront Lobster Restaurant, lunchtime the day after tomorrow."
They told Cho about that morning's incident, it just intensified his concerns. "Seriously Lisbon you need to get out of there, just tell Fuentes what you know and get the hell out of there."
It was Marisol's funeral the following day, both Lisbon and Jane wanted to pay their respects at the burial ceremony despite the risks. Jane and Lisbon had been to far too many of these gatherings and it never got any easier. They lingered at the back of the gathering, Marisol had clearly been a popular figure and people of all ages had turned out to say their goodbyes. The distraught family were just struggling to get through the day, going through the motions of what was expected of them. Jane empathised with her parent's grief at seeing a life needlessly cut short. While he shared Lisbon's desire for retribution, he knew practically there was little they could do.
A man in his mid twenties caught Jane's attention; he was set apart from the main mourners and he looked particularly upset. A secret lover perhaps? Marisol's friends revealed that his name was Luis and he taught at the local high school. Luis and Marisol had grown up in the same neighbourhood and had known each other since they were kids.
Jane made his way over to talk to Luis, it soon became apparent to Jane that Luis was profoundly sad at the loss of his childhood friend, although he surmised their friendship was purely platonic. Luis was harbouring deep feelings of guilt about something and although Jane guessed he was not the shooter, he was pretty sure that Luis knew who was.
Jane and Lisbon watched as Luis walked away and in the distance they heard one of the school kids running down the street calling Maestro after him.
Of course! How could they have been so stupid? With their limited Spanish vocabulary, they had automatically assigned the American interpretation on to Maestro, forgetting that in Spanish Maestro could mean teacher.
It was obvious who Marisol had seen that day but Jane and Lisbon didn't trust the local police enough to say anything and opted to keep a low profile until they met Cho's contact.
They decided to relocate to a bigger more secure RV site nearer Puerto Nuevo. A few miles down the road as they approached a major road junction, Jane realised the brakes weren't working. "Hang on Teresa, we're going to crash" he yelled. Thankfully there was no oncoming traffic and the Airstream went straight over the junction and onto a patch of scrub land opposite before coming to a halt. They both counted their blessings that they had not been on the coastal road and that there had been no other traffic around.
"Someone's tampered with the god damned brakes." Lisbon fumed.
"Full marks for observation." Jane sarcastically replied.
"They must have seen us talking to Luis and assumed we knew something. We need to get the hell out of here." Lisbon retrieved their essentials from the Airstream and they waited on the roadside, in the hope of flagging down someone for a lift.
They felt very vulnerable stuck out on the roadside, just hoping the next vehicle that came along was not connected with the dealers, even Jane was thinking wistfully of Lisbon's armoury at this stage. Fortunately a passing truck pulled over and gave them a lift to the nearest garage, where they arranged for the Airstream to be towed in for repair.
They booked into a small hotel overnight, where they could stay out of sight until their meeting with Cho's contact tomorrow.
"You never told me you lost one of your friends under similar circumstances." Jane ventured.
Lisbon looked up sharply. "I guess Cho told you about Donna. We were good friends and had gone through the academy together. Only a couple of hours earlier we had been talking about a hot date she had planned for that night, then in a flash she was gone. I was no stranger to loss, having lost both my parents by then but losing one of your contemporaries always has a profound effect on you. You suddenly start to feel mortal and appreciate the life that you have." She looked over at Jane before adding, "they never found her killer."
"I guess this is why you want to find Marisol's killers so much," he said quietly.
Lisbon just nodded silently in response; in some ways it was good to get it out in the open but she had no wish to discuss it further.
Fuentes was waiting outside the restaurant smoking a cigarette when they arrived; he had been sent photographs of them, so he knew what they looked like. He tossed the cigarette butt onto the ground in front of them and briefly caught Jane's eye before grinding the butt into the ground and looking away.
"There's a small bar just ahead. Go in there and walk straight through to the back entrance, my van's out the back. Just follow instructions and don't say anything. Cho warned me you can be a right pain."
Lisbon suppressed a smile, as they followed their instructions.
Fuentes bundled them into the back of his van before driving away. "Don't want to break my cover," he explained simply. "We'll stop shortly and talk things through."
Fuentes pulled off the road by a secluded vineyard, where they could talk in complete privacy.
"Retired cops are the bane of my life." Fuentes muttered. "They never know when to walk away, we try and warn them off but they persist in messing up our operations."
Lisbon looked sheepishly at Jane before saying, "we did not go out of our way looking for trouble."
"You never do" Fuentes replied, they were not the first couple he'd had to dig out of a scrape.
Jane bridled at the slightly patronising attitude."Actually we are here to pass on information, not to be rescued."
Fuentes smirked "Is that so?"
"We were at the scene when the young cop Marisol Garcia was shot. My wife tried to comfort her and see if there was anything she could do to help. Marisol's dying word was Maestro."
Lisbon picked up the story. "We didn't know what that meant but after her funeral we realised a local teacher was the Maestro she identified."
"Ok. That ties in with what we had suspected but we had no grounds to investigate further. We'll step up the surveillance on him and see if we can finally close down that particular operation." Fuentes tacitly acknowledged their information had been useful.
"Look word on the street is that you've have caught the attention of the Cartels, they think you're undercover agents and one way or another they will be after you. You need to leave straight away, they've already had one attempt at derailing you and it won't be long before they try again."
Without further ado Fuentes drove them back to their hotel, dropping them off in the service area, so no one would see them together. After checking the Airstream was ready to go, the Janes checked out and made their way to the border crossing at Tijuana.
Safely back on US territory, Lisbon was reunited with her arsenal. Jane just shook his head as he watched her check them over, although he admitted he had kind of gotten used to having his own personal armed guard.
"It's like Christmas Day having your Glock back again." he teased.
"Best present a girl could wish for." She replied archly, while putting her Glock back into its case.
"Well I do have a slightly more romantic present for you. I intended to give it to you earlier." Jane reached nervously into his pocket.
Lisbon looked up surprised, she certainly had not been expecting anything. Jane handed her a simple box, the gift tag read "To my Polaris."
Lisbon melted as she opened it, there was a clear multifaceted gem stone suspended on a fine silver chain that sparkled and caught the light.
"It's Goshenite a form of Beryl, it's supposed to ward off evil spirits and protect traveller's from danger, if you believe that sort of stuff." Jane said softly.
"Do you not think you should have given it me earlier?" Lisbon said with a smile on her face.
"Events got in the way, there never seemed to be the right occasion." He watched contentedly, more than rewarded by her look of delight.
"It's lovely Patrick, I love the way it catches the light. I'll happily be your Polaris." She was decidedly touched by the sentiment behind the gesture.
"In fact next time we go on holiday, I will definitely be your guiding light and choose somewhere safer to go," she added with a twinkle in her eye.
Jane just shrugged his shoulders, Lisbon was not any easy person to buy for and he was content that his gift had been accepted in the spirit it was intended.
Cho called them a couple of days later. Luis had been caught passing on some drugs and was in custody. He came clean straightaway, he was racked with guilt about Marisol's death. Apparently he been doing a deal when Marisol saw him and she came running over to greet him before he could stop her. The dealers had seen that she recognised Luis and before he could do anything they gunned her down, simply because she could identify him.
Luis was moved to a safe house; he was a target himself now that the dealers knew he had been arrested. Too many witnesses were found dead in their cells. Once his family had been taken into protective custody, he finally named the culprits knowing there would be no repercussions on his family. He was given a deal in return for his co-operation; he would serve a short sentence before being released with a new identity.
The Jane's were pleased that Marisol's killers would be brought to justice, in some ways it gave Lisbon some closure about her own lost friend. She may not have been able to do anything back then but at least this young woman had been avenged.
A/N The poetry is by Rabindranath Tagore. I am sure he would have struck a chord with Jane, as he was not an advocate of formal education. Tagore's mantra was that proper teaching does not explain things; proper teaching stokes curiosity.