Cascade PD
Major Crimes
5:05 am Monday
Simon Banks, Blair Sandburg, Jim Ellison and Joel Taggart were all at their desks trying diligently to catch up on the backlog of paperwork. Once they had seen ATF 7 team off at the airport that morning it hadn't made sense to go back home.
"They haven't had time to even get to Denver yet, Big Guy calm down," Blair chuckled as he watched his sentinel rearrange the pencils in his cup for the third time in fifteen minutes.
"Childish I know but I really did think about arresting the whole damn team to keep them off that plane," Ellison admitted sheepishly.
"We're going to fly out to see them on Labor Day. You're not going to lose Vin this time," Sandburg soothed.
"I know Chief, it's just that . . . trouble really likes Junior." Jim rubbed the bridge of his nose distractedly.
"Josiah too . . . things had a way of . . . there was the time he was patching the roof at this place we were staying. Naomi and a couple of the other mothers from the commune went to town to sell some fresh produce and left four toddlers for the poor man to look after." Blair grinned ruefully.
"Now that's a recipe for disaster if I ever heard one," Joel muttered from his nearby desk.
"Oh it was," Blair sniggered.
"Were you one of these toddlers?" H looked up from his battle with the copier. H and Rafe were attempting to finish up the reports on a late night stakeout and go home.
"Josiah accused me of being the instigator," Blair admitted.
"What happened?" Jim asked. It must be good the way Blair's sparkling.
"We moved the ladder on him," Blair sniggered.
"Toddlers?" Bryn Rafe stopped typing to stare.
"Never, ever underestimate the abilities of small children," Joel snorted. "Their capabilities increase with the potential for mayhem. I had to recarpet my house one time." Taggert shuddered in memory.
"You moved the ladder," Jim reminded nudging the story back on track.
"We were pretty small and we couldn't really move it much but we did shift the center of balance." Blair dropped his head to study his teacup.
"Enough to drop a distracted man on his behind," Simon Banks laughed before handing Jim one of his reports. "Jim there's this thing called spell check . . . use it."
"Yeah." Blair winced in memory. "I really can't remember much but Naomi said they came back three hours later and found Josiah unconscious in the yard."
"Four toddlers?" Joel asked faintly.
"With paint brushes and roofing tar," Blair responded.
"How bad?" Jim demanded.
"We . . . painted ourselves and him," Blair giggled.
"Not good," Simon grunted.
"Did I say it was summer? And a very back to nature commune?" Sandburg asked sweetly.
"So?" Rafe looked puzzled.
"Clothing optional I take it?" Joel winced.
"Yeah, the only clothing between the five of us was Josiah's sweatband and the leather ties on our braids." Blair answered. "We painted each other and Josiah from the tops of our heads to the souls of our feet. Lots of screams and tears involved in the cleanup I can remember that much. The moms just gave up and shaved our heads after a while. They had to use mineral spirits to get the worst of it and washed us down with the water hose before putting us in a tub and scrubbing our hide off."
"I can see how that would have been traumatic," Jim growled reaching out to tug on one of Sandberg's curls. A bald Blair?
"Oh the screams and tears weren't ours they were Josiah's. Think about it man. We were just babies but Josiah is a really . . . fuzzy kind of guy. The ladies weren't happy. Once they were sure he hadn't broke anything or gotten hurt bad they helped clean him up with scrub brushes. They'd work up the edge of some of that tar and then . . . rippppp. They finally took pity on him. He had this full beard way down onto his chest and his hair was below his shoulders. His beard was . . . glued to his chest hair and well he ended up shaved from top to bottom. Let me tell you Josiah Sanchez without hair is one ugly dude." Blair said.
"Why didn't he run?" Simon asked. "I would have."
"He couldn't his inner thighs were glued together along with parts that were near and dear to him." Blair sniggered.
"Oh Man," H hissed in sympathy.
"And he didn't drown you when he got the chance?" Ellison said in amazement.
"I think he was considering it four or five days later when the hair started growing back in." Blair admitted. "Did you know it's almost impossible for a grown man to shave his own butt?"
"Don't go there," Simon growled before returning to his office.
7777777
The members of Major Crimes were gathered around as Simon Banks explained some new procedures.
"Where's Blair, he needs to know this too?" Banks asked.
"Break Room, he'll be right back," Jim responded.
Simon began to cover the non-essential things while they waited on Sandberg.
A loud crash was followed by startled yelps from the members of the Major Crimes team. Ellison spun around, the sentinel's eyes widened as he registered the presence of the cougar atop his desk. His computer monitor lay shattered on the floor.
"Do not move, it is terrified, any movement may trigger it to attack," Rafe said calmly, slowly pulling his handgun from his shoulder holster.
"You can see it?" Ellison demanded.
"Claws, teeth, fur. Looks like a cougar to me," Simon muttered.
I think that was what I said the other night. Whoa! Rafe and Simon can see it? Jim stared at the animal.
"Of course we see it. Why wouldn't we?" H asked shakily staring at the crouched cougar.
The cougar was almost lying on the desk. The deadly claws were locked in the desktop where it had gouged scratches. Its hair seemed to be standing on end. Its eyes were clamped tightly closed.
"Looks scared to death," Simon whispered tightening his grip on his own weapon.
The crash of Blair's tea cup startled everyone. The cat's eyes sprang open and it flinched wildly falling off the desk top to land with a loud thump on the other side of the desk.
"Real graceful there slick," Elison chuckled.
The mountain lion's head lifted into view, the startling blue eyes glared across the desk top at the sentinel.
"Ghost lion, it has blue eyes," Rafe whispered in awe, lowering his weapon.
"What?" H hissed.
"It is not really there, it is a life guide," Rafe smiled.
"Blair, is this one of those spirit guide things Tanner was hallucinating?" Joel Taggert asked faintly staring toward 'nothing' along with Megan and several other detectives.
"I've never heard of a blue eyed cougar," Blair responded.
The cat's head dropped out of sight, then the big cat walked through the desk and sat down in front of Ellison.
"I'd say that answers the question," Simon chuckled weakly, reholstering his weapon.
"He's hurt." Blair walked over and knelt down by the cat gently touching a dark patch of hair on its side.
"Damn," Jim groaned sinking down beside his guide. "Runt's in trouble."
"Uh guys I know this is kind of hard to explain but . . ." Blair's mind raced as he tried to come up with a feasible explanation for invisible cats as he faced the burglary detectives that had appeared after hearing the crash.
"Figure this is some of that Ellison Mojo?" one of the detectives asked his partner.
"I'd say so," the other officer shrugged and wandered away.
Shortly all the officers had gone about their day leaving the shocked Major Crimes detectives to regroup.
The ringing of the phone in Bank's office drew everyone's attention. Simon sighed deeply and went to answer.
"Take my truck, go back to the loft and get our camping gear. I'll be ready to head out when you get back," Jim ordered holding out the keys to Blair.
"Jim," Blair said miserably.
"I'm not writing Runt off, not this time. I'm going after him." Ellison said flatly, looking down on the cougar. The big cat seemed to wink and grin then faded away, the grin the last to go.
"How very . . . Alice in Wonderland," Blair grumbled.
Jim's head turned toward Simon's office as he listened intently to the phone conversation taking place.
"Jim, man don't do this," Blair hissed. "Come on back big guy." Blair gently rubbed Ellison's arm calling Jim back from a zone.
Ellison jerked back to awareness an expression of such loss filled his face that Blair's heart plummeted.
"What's wrong?" Sandberg asked hoarsely.
Simon's office door opened and the big captain was obviously shaken.
"The US Marshall prisoner transport unit has been attacked, there were no survivors. The plane that ATF Team 7 was aboard went off course and has now disappeared from radar," Simon announced shakily from the door of his office. Damn we can't afford to lose those kind of men.
A shocked murmur of voices filled the air.
"At this time it is assumed that this was a criminal act. The Air Controller on duty reported gunfire before losing contact with the plane. Needless to say, Gentlemen, Ladies, we are all on alert due to the nature of the prisoner they were transporting." Banks reported.
"Prisoner? What prisoner?" H asked. "I thought they were ATF not US Marshalls?"
"They were moving Edward Benson. The strongest case against the senator at this time is arms dealing. The US Marshalls were moving a decoy," Simon explained.
"There was a leak," Joel growled bitterly.
"Probably," Simon agreed. Banks stiffened and returned to his office as his private line rang once more.
"I liked those ATF guys," H sighed sadly.
Joel frowned. Wonder if I'd be any help or just a burden if I went along? I can't believe that Wilmington may be gone. Suddenly Jim's words sunk in."What do you mean not this time?"
"I've written that kid off as dead twice. I'm going after him. If he's disorientated or hurt and on his own and being hunted . . ." Jim's voice trailed off.
"Bad news man, real bad news," Blair agreed. He hasn't had time to find his balance after the debriefing.
"Twice?" H demanded.
"Vin's a lousy flyer." Jim smiled weakly."During a Ranger training exercise my unit and Captain Nelson's were jumping together. Runt's 'chute failed during insertion." Ellison answered.
"Reserve 'chute, but the landing would have been a bit hard." Rafe, a serious skydiver considered.
"Tanner luck, 3500 feet and no 'chute at all. His main deployed and got twisted he cut it free, the secondary failed to deploy. I radioed it in and my unit finished the exercise, while Nelson's looked for the body. When we got back to base that evening there's Tanner sitting on the barrack's roof. Somehow Blue Dumont saw him falling and managed to snag him. Nobody could believe it. They landed a little hard, but neither of them got so much as a sprain. Next day Tanner went back up. We had to shove the kid out of the plane, but he'd keep going back up. He'd throw up every single time but he stayed on the team. Investigators proved his 'chute had been tampered with. It was a murder attempt we never did find out if Vin was the target or he just got the short straw." Jim responded. He was madder than a wet cat. He didn't get scared until after he was back on the ground. First time he let any of us actually touch him. He slept curled up on the foot of Blue's bunk that night and nobody said a damn thing about it.
"The second time his team didn't make it home," Jim said bitterly. "I'm going to go find him."
"Blair," Ellison nodded toward the door.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," Blair answered worried eyes lingered on the sentinel.
"I'm alright Blair. He's not dead. Think we'd know it if he were." Jim said calmly.
7777777
Simon came out of his office. "It's official, Mike Dawson has asked for you, Blair, and as many officers as I'll let him have."
"Do you own anything as mundane as hiking boots?" H teased his dapper partner.
"Of course. Jim should I bring my rifle?" Rafe asked in his soft South African accent.
"Yeah we could run into whoever took out the Marshalls." Jim nodded.
"You have a rifle? Why didn't I know? We've been partners for a while here, Rafe," H demanded as they headed out to get gear.
"At least there should not be hyenas," Rafe's voice carried clearly.
"Hyenas!" H spluttered.
"It was an issue when my Boy Scout troop went camping," Bryn said calmly as they stepped into the hall.
"Hyenas?" Simon asked Jim in disbelief.
"South Africa, just the local wildlife," Ellison responded.
"I need to reread Rafe's file," Simon grumbled.
7777777
An hour later
Major Crimes
Simon scowled at the pile of armament carefully stacked by Ellison's feet. "Is all that legal?"
"Yes, registration and tax stamps." Jim held up a weather proof document case. That he slipped into a pocket inside his jacket.
"Where'd you get these?" Blair demanded looking down.
"Secure storage," Ellison grunted. The Sentinel was rapidly rearranging everyone's backpack.
"Jim, won't we need the tents?" H asked as the tents were set to the side.
"We're traveling light. H, you were a marine right?" Ellison growled.
"Yes sir," H reverted to military training.
"Then you know how to handle the M-16. It's selective fire." Jim handed the detective a rifle.
"Medical kit, compasses, food for 3 days, space blankets, water purification tablets, extra socks, and a change of clothes, collapsible water bottles, canteens, matches, flint and steel," Ellison checked the items off.
"Toilet paper." Rafe held out a package. "There is roughing it and there is torture."
"Topographical maps, flares, hand held secure channel radios," Joel carried over the items he had scrounged for the group.
"If there's anything we can do from this end let us know," Simon ordered.
"Yes Sir," Ellison agreed before picking up a pack and heading for the door leaving Blair, Rafe and H to scramble to catch up.