A/N: SPOILER ALERT!!! The following chapter contains spoilers for the "Pilot" episode of Psych. There will also be a few more spoilers from the Pilot in chapter nine. Just giving you all the heads up.

Disclaimer: I have never owned and will never in the future own Psych.


Out of Sight, Out of Psych?

Chapter Eight: Unmasked

Shawn crept down the hill, careful not to slip on the slightly damp leaves that matted the forest floor. He lifted his feet over a few raised tree roots, trying to move as silently as possible. He glanced back up at the road where he had parked his motorcycle, just barely able to glimpse the bike through the tree trunks heavily dotted along the slope. His breath was shallow and layered with a nervous shudder, but he was doing everything he could to keep his body under control. After all, he did not want to drop the pineapple.

Now, it may seem ridiculous that Shawn, in this very serious rescue mission, had decided to bring along a pineapple. He had actually debated whether or not to bring it along, because he could somehow guess that Gus, Juliet, and Henry would be less than thrilled when he burst in prepared to save the day with a spiny Hawaiian fruit. However, Shawn did in fact have a practical purpose to his prickly present. He felt it was unlikely the three of them had gotten sustainable food over the past several days, and were probably deprived of water too. Shawn distinctly recalled from one of his father's many lectures over the past twenty years that in any kind of hostage situation, the best meal to get into a rescued captive right away was fruit, due to the high water concentration in this particular food group. Shawn had scoured over his apartment before departing, trying to find some delicious fruity treats to bring for his kidnapped comrades. However, being a true pineapple enthusiast, there was only one fruit he could find: the "yellow jewel of the islands", as he fondly referred to it. So while it may have seemed like a joke, Shawn was confident that at least his father would understand the gesture.

Granted, the large purple ribbon he had tied around it may have made it harder to take seriously, but Gus' birthday was just two days away now, and Shawn felt the need to put him in the proper birthday spirit. And at the very least, he thought Juliet would find it pretty.

He tenderly cradled the pineapple in his left arm, as his free hand pulled aside a bundle of branches blocking his vision. And he could see it, just around the curve of the lake: the Orso family cabin. This was not Shawn's first visit to the little lakeside abode, and oddly enough, it had been a kidnapping case that had brought him here the first time. He could still recall every detail of that case, his very first, and how Camden McCallum had faked his own kidnapping and bunkered down in this secluded spot with his best friend, Malcolm Orso.

Shawn began to trudge closer to the cabin, keeping his head low and trying to stay hidden among bushes and low-hanging branches. As he crept along, he felt a squish and a sinking feeling beneath his right foot, and nearly tumbled over in a loss of balance. He glanced down and saw his shoe half-submerged in mud, and with a disgruntled snort, struggled to wrench it out. With an abrupt yank of his leg, his foot came shooting out of the muck, and the sudden momentum knocked him right on his butt.

Shawn Spencer groaned, his pride a little bruised but his will not yet defeated. He forced himself to his feet, made sure the pineapple was secure, and continued to close in on the cabin, hoping he had not been spotted. He was not really concerned about the Orso family calling the cops on him; by all accounts, the Orsos had not been here since their son was murdered in the small house. In fact, they had recently sold the cabin in an attempt to rid themselves of the memories it harbored.

Shawn was willing to bet he knew who had gotten their hands on the little getaway from civilization, and it was this person whose wary eyes he was attempting to avoid. As he reached the edge of the clearing where the cabin sat, Shawn silently wished that Lassiter would hurry up and confirm his suspicions so he could get his standard-operating-procedure ass out here with reinforcements. Despite Lassiter's warnings, Shawn had not been willing to wait for police backup. But now, crouched among the brambles, the doorway of the cabin less than thirty yards away, he would not have said no to a few uniforms behind him.

Shawn sighed, biting his lip a little bit. He knew what he was up against, and if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that his opponent knew damn well how to shoot. He could not deny that, deep down, he was scared. No, terrified. Not just of what would happen to him, but what may have already happened to the people on the other side of that cabin door. What if he was too late? What if the kidnapper had already run out of patience? He could not help but think about the scene he had witnessed the last time he had entered the cabin, could not help but wonder if history would repeat itself...

Shawn shook his head and raised himself to his full height, doing his best to hold his head high. He pushed all the negative thoughts to the back of his mind, and blocked off everything in the world except for the thirty yards between him and the door of that cabin. He stared straight down this tunnel of vision, and took a deep breath. He was going to finish this now, for Henry, for Juliet, and for Gus. His chest swelling with determination, he took a step forward.

"Not so fast, Shawn."

The voice was all to familiar to him as he froze up. He cursed silently, annoyed that while he was so focused on what was ahead of him, his enemy had caught him from behind. Slowly, he turned around, putting on a slightly showy grin, and said with a cheery tone, "Detective! Long time, no see."

Detective Lucinda Barry stepped out from the bushes, her gun trained on Shawn, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Oh, and we have so much catching up to do, Mr. Spencer."

To be continued...


A/N: For those of you who just said, "Lucinda who?", think "Lassie's partner before Juliet" (I tried to link her article on Wikipedia, but the format won't work on here...she's still on there if you search "Lucinda Barry").