Agony and Vengeance

Lisbon stood at her new boss' computer with wide eyes as fear and anger quickly rose in her chest. She thought of telling Grace about this. She squeezed her eyes tight and took a deep, rattling breath. Smith, the new boss, didn't exactly know how to react to this. He just sat at his desk with his mouth open in shock. Lisbon looked to him and swallowed. Her heart was pounding and she left Smith in his office alone while she went to get Grace. Poor Grace, she thought. Not only did they suffer enough losses for a lifetime with Bosco and his team, now her sister was being held hostage by the evil man who was the reason for most of the pain the CBI as a whole was feeling. Focusing on each step, Lisbon arrived in the office where she saw Rigsby and Grace on the same computer going over possible leads.

"Van Pelt, can you come with me please." Her voice was stiff and still in shock. Grace looked up and stood, curious to why Lisbon would single her out.

"Hey boss. What's going on? How's the new guy?" Grace's eyes were curious and alive. Lisbon lead her outside where they would not be heard. She didn't know how to do this; this was a very serious and urgent matter.

"Grace, do you have a sister?" Lisbon figured she'd start out with confirming that she actually did have a sister. Grace was caught off guard by the personal question. Lisbon never asked her about her personal life.

"Uh…why?" She narrowed her eyes at her boss and cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Van Pelt, I need to know this. Please answer the question." Lisbon was practically begging her, hoping the answer would be no. If she didn't, then they wouldn't be as personally compromised. Grace didn't understand why Lisbon would ever need to know this, but she trusted that this was relevant to something.

"Um…yeah. I have a little sister named Sam." She looked at Lisbon, waiting for an explanation. She saw as Lisbon's face fell and her eyes closed as she gritted her teeth. "What's wrong? Why would you ask me about my sister?" Grace could see pain in Lisbon's eyes as she opened them to answer her.

"Come with me." Lisbon's voice was dead. Grace's brows drew together and she followed Lisbon into Minelli's previous office. When she entered the room, she was greeted with the same scene that Minelli left behind. The new boss obviously hadn't been here long. She then saw a rather tall man standing from his chair. He was quite muscular and didn't really look like he was meant for a paper pushing job.

"Agent Van Pelt, I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. You can call me Smith." He held his hand out for Grace to shake.

"Um…Nice to meet you, Sir. What…are the uh…circumstances? I have no idea what's going on." She glared slightly at Lisbon, who was looking down at the ground with her jaw clenched tight. Grace wondered what was wrong with her, but was pulled to a chair by the computer.

"Agent Van Pelt, the only way to tell you this is to show you. Watch this video, and once again I'm sorry." Smith pushed play on the video and she saw a shadowed figure and a girl bound and gagged in a chair. Grace narrowed her eyes, trying to see who it was. She looked awfully familiar with the red hair and the blue, teary eyes. Her eyes widened and she pushed the chair back and stood up. Her eyes were then full of fiery rage. She clenched her teeth together and tears formed in her eyes.

"Grace." Lisbon whispered this, putting a comforting hand on her arm. There was a long silence as they all stared at the screen. "Grace, listen. We're going to do everything we can. You don't have to be involved in this." She whispered softly. Grace turned to her and swallowed every emotion in that second. Her facial features turned from devastated and livid, to blank.

"I'm fine. We need to find her. I'll be right back, if you'll excuse me for a second." Her voice shook and she walked out without another word. There was a long silence and Lisbon cleared her throat to speak.

"I'll gather the team…I think we have our lead." Her voice was small and she walked out with purpose in her step.

"Rigsby, where's Jane and Cho?" Lisbon's voice was still a little shaky, but barely noticeable.

"They called and said they were on their way back." He paused for a second then started again. "Where's Grace?" He wondered curiously.

"She went to the bathroom. Call Cho and tell him to hurry." Her voice was serious and Rigsby wondered what was going on. He could feel the tension in the air and he didn't like it. Picking up the phone, he glanced to Lisbon. She was sitting at her desk, her knee bouncing up and down nervously. He narrowed his eyes and dialed, figuring that he would find out what was up soon enough.

"Cho, where are you?" Rigsby was partly focusing on his conversation and partly on what Lisbon was doing.

"We're on our way, Rigsby. I already told you that…why are you calling again?" His voice was irritated.

"Lisbon told me to call you and tell you to hurry up and get here. She sounded really serious; I think something is going on…I think you should hurry." Rigsby sighed.

"Alright, alright. We're about a minute away." With that, he hung up.

"Boss, they're almost here." Lisbon nodded, but didn't look at him. Rigsby narrowed his eyes and hesitated. He wanted to ask her what the heck was going on, but he didn't know if he really did want to know. He swallowed and cleared his voice. "Uh, boss? What's going on?" He pulled up a chair and sat, waiting for an answer. He looked around and noticed that Grace hadn't come back from the bathroom yet. He gritted his teeth and fully decided that he wanted to know exactly what was going on as soon as possible. Lisbon looked up and blinked, sort of coming out of whatever trance she was in.

"Red John sent us a video. He kidnapped Grace's little sister."

Sorry for the long wait! Please R&R and tell me what you think!! :D –soccergirlmich--