THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

AU: ATF UNIVERSE

FIRESTORM OF THE HEART

CHAPTER 4

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and there is no profit expected. The Magnificent Seven belong to Mirsch, CBS, MGM and Trilogy. No copyright infringement is intended.

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Language, Violence, Adult Situations

NOTES: I have written three complete TMS fanfics set in the old west and have a fourth in progress. This is my first attempt at a TMS AU ATF fanfic.

Summary: A new woman enters Chris Larabee's life and, for the first time since losing his wife and son, he feels he may just be ready to love again. All the usual folks are present plus some new faces.

(Catherine is sitting at a table at the very back of a small coffee shop not far from her office with her elbows up on the table and her forehead resting on her clasped hands when Chris nears the table and slides into the chair opposite her. When she lifts her head, Chris is somewhat startled to see a tinge of uncertainty in her eyes.)

"Thanks for coming, Chris."

"No problem. How can I help?"

"I'm not sure you can. I just needed to talk to someone."

"What's wrong, Catherine?"

"Mark Thompkins confronted me when we got back to the office a little while ago. In fact, he all but threatened me. Said they were doing just fine before I got here and they'd do just fine after I was gone."

"Sounds like a threat to me. What'd you say?"

"I told him I wasn't going anywhere and if he thought he was going to run me off he'd better think again. Damn it, Chris, I let him goad me into reacting with anger! I had really hoped to show those guys that I wasn't going to come in and start changing things right away. I wanted to try and deal with them as calmly and considerately as I could. Let them get to know me so they'd see that I wasn't that bad a person."

"It's too late for that now, Catherine. You don't have a choice; you've got to take a hard line approach with them."

"I know. I just, . . ."

(Chris is startled to see tears forming in Catherine's beautiful emerald green eyes and he is suddenly filled with a fierce sense of protectiveness. Before he can react, however, Catherine angrily swipes at her eyes, sits up straighter in her chair and squares her shoulders.)

"I'm so sorry, I should have never allowed myself to fall into a cesspool of self-pity like that."

"Hey, you have nothing to apologize for, Catherine."

"Yes, I do. That was completely unprofessional of me. It won't happen again."

(Before he can think twice, Chris reaches across the small table and takes Catherine's hand in his. Once again, a jolt of sensation washes over him and he sees that something similar is happening to Catherine, too. Instead of letting go of her hand, he begins to ever so gently rub his thumb across the back of her hand while his eyes lock with hers.)

"We haven't known each other all that long, Catherine, but my instincts are pretty damned good and they're screaming at me right now. They're telling me that you're a good person at heart and damned fine F.B.I. Agent. I think you called me because you felt you could trust me. You can."

(The moment Chris took her hand in his, Catherine's entire being was assailed by all different kinds of sensations. First and foremost among them is the delicious heat that is pooling low in her body and spreading warmth throughout. She. Wants. This. Man! Good God, Catherine, less than forty-eight hours ago you didn't even know this man existed. How can you want him this much? Never before has she been so deeply and immediately affected by anyone, and it both scares and exhilarates her. Now is not the time, however, to allow her personal wants and needs free reign, and she valiantly works to get herself back under control. Reluctantly, she gently withdraws her hand from his and immediately regrets the loss of contact.)

"Thank you, Chris, and, yes, I know I can trust you. And to prove that I trust you, I'm going to 'lay my soul bare' as they say. . . I'm scared to death that I'm not going to be able to pull my team together and that is unacceptable. A maniac is out there raping, mutilating, and killing women. He's escalating and we need to stop him and stop him now, and I can't even get my guys to work with me! I don't know how to make this work!"

"Yes, you do. You just haven't realized it yet."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Somewhere, inside that highly intelligent brain of yours, you have the answer; you just have to find it."

"I think that is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me."

(Team Seven has arrived at the F.B.I. building and are in the process of helping set-up computers in the conference room when Mark Thompkins asks Vin to step out into the hall for a little chat. As soon as the door to the conference room closes behind them, Mark explains the reason he wanted to talk to Vin away from the others with a smirk on his face.)

"Just wanted to let you and your team know that the Major Crimes Unit has no intention of allowing Catherine Stewart to screw up the relationship between you guys, the Denver P.D., and the F.B.I. I know that you all are worried that she's going to come in here and try to take over but we aren't going to let that happen."

"First of all, I can't speak for the Denver P.D., but not a man on my team is worried about anything to do with Catherine Stewart. Secondly, the only ones I see tryin' to screw up anything is you. As far as Catherine takin' over, well, the folks in Washington saw fit to send her out here to be the Team Leader for the Major Crimes Unit so that makes her your boss and she has every right to take over anything she wants any way she wants. Maybe you boys should take a step back and give the woman a chance before you start whinin'."

"Give her a chance? Did you know she was thrown out of the B.A.U.? That's the most elite unit in the entire Bureau and she got kicked out. That tells me that she has no business being the leader of anything."

"How do you know she got 'kicked out' of the B.A.U.?"

"Talked to a friend of mine who took her place. He said the Unit Chief got rid of her because she couldn't follow orders. Now, you tell me, is that the kind of person you want working with you? We don't want anything to do with her and we're going to make sure she leaves as soon as possible."

"Your friend couldn't possibly know why Catherine left the B.A.U. As far as the Major Crimes Unit is concerned Ethan Smith doesn't seem to have a problem with her at all."

"Ethan's a brand new Agent. He doesn't know enough to understand that she's bad news for us all."

"Why do you all hate Catherine?"

"She's incompetent, she's dangerous, and we don't want to get killed because she's incapable of doing her job!"

(Vin has had just about enough of Thompkins' nastiness but he knows he doesn't need to start anything that would cause trouble between the ATF and the F.B.I. so he counts to ten before responding to Thompkins.)

"The woman's been here less than forty-eight hours, Thompkins. Washington apparently thinks highly enough of her to put her in charge of your team and they wouldn't have done that if they thought she couldn't do the job. I suggest you and your friends get rid of your ignorant attitudes and get on board. 'Cause if you don't, you all might find yourselves working somewhere else."

(And with that parting shot, Vin walks back into the conference room and leaves Mark Thompkins in the hallway sputtering with anger. Buck and Ezra intercept Vin when he enters the room and pull him off into a corner.)

"What was that all about?"

"Thompkins wanted to let me know that they were plannin' on givin' Catherine a hard time, Buck. Told him what I thought about that and he didn't like it."

"Neither did any of the other boys when they started in with the same thing to us. This ain't good, Vin, ain't good at all."

"Not much we can do about it, Buck, except warn Catherine."

"I believe, Gentlemen, that SSA Stewart is already aware of the situation. Ethan Smith told me that he talked to her and informed her the rest of her team were, shall we say, less than thrilled that she was here. Oscar Carr just told me that he, Thompkins, Willie Tate, Bob Marshall, and Finn McCorvey have a few 'surprises' planned for Catherine. He also said they were going to leave Ethan Smith out of their plans. In my humble opinion, that young man is the only member of the Major Crimes Unit who has any sense."

"Agreed, Ezra, but, now that they know we're on Catherine's side, they won't be sharin' any of their plans with us."

"They will be sharing them with Nathan. Once he realized what was going on, he decided to pretend that he was in agreement with those miscreants in the hope it would cause them to bring him into their fold."

"Good for Nathan. If he can find out what their up to we can step in and stop whatever they're plannin'. I'm goin' to bring Chris up to speed as soon as he gets here. We need all the eyes and ears on these boys we can get."

"Where is Chris?"

(After Chris' comment about Catherine having a very intelligent brain in her head, things became much lighter and Catherine actually relaxed a little bit. Feeling not quite as alone as she did when she first got to the coffee shop, Catherine offers Chris a beautiful smile even though she reluctantly pulls her hand from his.)

"We'd better get going if we're going the meet everyone. Thank you, Chris, talking to you really did help."

"I'm glad, Catherine, and I'll be here anytime you need me."

"I appreciate that, and, not that the shoe will ever be on the other foot, but I'll be here should you need someone to talk to, as well."

"Good to know."

(Promptly at one o'clock, both Catherine and Chris walk into the conference room at the F.B.I. building and find that everyone else, including Mary and her partner and the Medical Examiner, Dr. Inez Rocios, are already there. Since the meeting is in Catherine's office, she takes the lead and asks everyone to be seated. Once they are, she throws pictures of the six murder victims up on the huge, wall screen from the smart table.)

"Ladies and gentlemen, over the course of the past three months, these six women have been the victims of an extremely sick-minded individual. We've been over this case numerous times but have been unable to come up with anything that will lead us to the killer. However, something changed with victim number six. Dr. Rocios?"

"Thank you, Catherine. The genital mutilation of the previous five victims occurred post-mortem. With victim number six, it occurred ante-mortem."

(This bit of news sends shivers of revulsion through most everyone sitting in the room; especially the women. Inez, however, is not through revealing new information.)

"When Mary suggested that we needed to go back and review information on each of these victims, I decided that I should do the same. I don't know why this didn't jump out at me before. I believe I have found the link between all our victims. Of the six victims, we thought three of them were brunettes, two were blondes, and one was a redhead. We also thought that the victims had different eye colors. Hair dye and colored contacts achieve amazing results. However, all six victims were blondes and they all had green eyes."

(This revelation stuns the room into absolute silence. Even the five members of Catherine's team sit up a little straighter. They now have something that links all six victims and Catherine's profiling instincts kick in.)

"I'm convinced that the killer is attacking someone from his past and I think the Denver P.D.'s psychologist may be on to something, as well. Whoever this woman was, she was an authority figure in the killer's life and she was someone very close to the killer. I think he's killing his mother again and again. I also think he's an only child. His obsession with his mother is indicative of behavior usually found in individuals who have lived in somewhat isolated environments. In this case, the isolation would be from other children. All the victims were in their mid-twenties to thirties, so something happened when the killer was a child, and he's suppressed that event until now. Maybe his mother was a prostitute and he was present when she was entertaining customers, or she was having an affair, possibly more than one. That would explain the genital mutilation. We're also probably going to find that his mother died three months ago; that's the trigger."

"You seem awfully sure of yourself, Agent Stewart"

"I was a profiler in the B.A.U. for two years, Agent Tate. I do have some experience with the psychological profiles of serial killers."

"Until you were kicked out of the unit."

"What was that, Agent McCorvey? I didn't quite hear you."

"I said, you were in the B.A.U. until they kicked you out."

(Catherine allows a tight smile to curve her lips as she deliberately takes the few steps necessary to put her directly in front of Finn McCorvey and glances down at him with a neutral expression on her face.)

"I left the B.A.U. because I was transferred here to be the Team Leader for the Major Crimes Unit, Agent McCorvey. Now, if you can keep your mind on the business at hand, we have a sadistic murderer to catch before he finds another victim. Understand?"

(Not a person moves nor is a sound made for several seconds as all eyes are on Catherine and Finn McCorvey. The man is sitting back in his chair looking rather uncomfortable and Catherine, a calm expression on her face, is making no move to back down. Finally, a somewhat flustered McCorvey haltingly nods his head and then and only then does Catherine step away and the meeting resumes. After agreeing what course of action they joint task force needs to pursue, the group splits up onto teams consisting of members of all three agencies and begins their assignments. Catherine slips out of the conference room and heads to her office followed moments later by Chris. He finds her standing in front of a window with her arms crossed in front of her staring down into the courtyard of the building. Although her back is to the door and the floors are carpeted, Catherine knows that Chris has walked into her office although he hasn't yet made a sound.)

"McCorvey's not completely wrong, you know. I'm here because I was told to leave the B.A.U."

"I don't particularly care why you left the B.A.U., Catherine. What I just saw and heard in that conference room only reinforced my belief that you're damned good at what you do, and that you're going to be a tremendous asset to all of us; most especially to your team."

"You don't want to know why I was told to leave the B.A.U.?"

"Nope. Unless, of course, you want to talk about it."

(Catherine turns to face Chris and has an expression on her beautiful face that he can't quite define.)

"You mean that, don't you?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Wow."