When You're the Target
Chapter Nine

Sunday morning at CBI headquarters was a grim experience. The entire team was there, sipping coffee, eating on the huge box of doughnuts that Lisbon had provided, claiming the sugar would help the stay alert. Patrick's pronouncement that Red John's note meant that he was holding hostages, still alive, had been impetus for them all.

Grace had tracked down the suspects home address from his blog registration the prior night. Several people had received 2 AM calls and were less than happy, but had provided the information requested when the situation was explained. The original suspect being dead absolved any privacy issues.

They'd gone to the address, which was an efficiency apartment. Again, the building supervisor had gotten the 3 AM knock on the door, and after some explanation, and some less than gentle suggestions, had let them into the apartment.

The apartment was not remarkable in any way. Nondescript was the word that Rigsby has used. They collected as much evidence as they felt would be helpful, when Jane noticed that a picture was not hanging straight. Closer examination revealed that there was a recent patch made to the wall beneath the picture.

Cho took one look at the patch and struck just to the right of it with heel of his hand, shattering the plaster wall and revealing a small metal box concealed within. Retrieving it from it's plastery abode only yielded the fact that it was a very strong little metal box and was going to take some finesse to open. Jane quickly tried to pick the lock, but it was one of those circular locks that are very difficult to defeat. It was going to take some effort.

Lisbon had finally called an end to the effort. "You guys, call it a day." She looked around. "Or night. Whatever! Get home, get some sleep and we'll meet at the office 9 AM tomorrow. This is going to be a long weekend."

Now, they were gathered, and given enough coffee and doughnuts, were prepared to face the day.

The clattering of the elevator caught everyone's attention, and the turned to focus on it. Kip, the forensics lab tech, came in whistling. He grinned, grabbed one of the doughnuts, and placed the metal box on the desk. "Stubborn little critter," he said, "but sufficient ingenuity applied ingeniously can solve many an conundrum." He flipped the box open and took a huge bite of the doughnut.

"Why, thank you, Kip," Lisbon replied. "I'm sure you and Jane can figure out some way to adequately repay you for your excellent efforts in easing our burden!" She stared at Jane. "Can't you, Patrick?"

Kip and Patrick looked at each other and then at Lisbon. "You know," they said together.

Lisbon grinned. "I know everything, boys! I know everything!" She grinned at the expression on their faces. "I even know that they thought you are cute, Kip. Now, scoot and let us work. You can deal with Jane later." She made shooing motions with her hands. Kip reddened. "Yes Ma'am," he said heading towards the elevator much more rapidly than he arrived.

Lisbon turned the box so all could see. There were photos on top of what looked like newspaper clippings. She carefully, with tweezers removed the photos, spreading them so all could see. The first thing they noticed was the bound and gagged girls. The appeared to be oriental, with ages ranging from early teens to maybe early twenties. They were scantily clad and seated against what appeared to be a stall, in a barn, of some sort. They were on straw, their backs to the wall, and there knees drawn up, as if to protect their bodies. Their expression could only be describe as numb terror.

There were several photos, all variation on that theme. All of the photos were revealing, but none were pornographic. That was left to the imagination. Grace nodded. "I think we just found the 'flowers'. I do hope they are still alive."

Lisbon then remove the folded newspaper clippings and carefully unfolded them with a pencil, not wanting to contaminate any possible evidence traces, but feeling they really needed to know what was there.

The clippings were news articles, over several months, describing missing oriental ladies. The type faces were different, leading to the conclusion that they were from different papers, possibly even in different states. Lisbon sighed and got her high resolution digital camera and photographed the evidence. "Rigsby, you get this stuff back down to forensics, and see what Kip can dig out of it. The rest of you, sit on your terminal till I email these shots to you, then examine them like your lives depend on it.

Time passed. The coffee got cold and the doughnuts had vanished. The phone rang, causing all of them to jump. "Lisbon," Lisbon said, picking up her phone. "Yes, Kip. Yes. Really? Ok, come on up and brief us." She hung up and turned to the team. "Kip thinks he's found something that may help us.

Kip arrived within a few minutes bring several folders of unknown content. Unlike his departure, his arrival was all business and professional. He walked over to the dry erase map of the area and picked up a marker. Your suspect's shoes have provided some interesting soil samples. They contained samples of a form of schist, that is found in this area. He marked a circle on the map. The gloves you found had a spoor from a desert grass found in this area. He drew another circle on the map. Only a narrow band overlapped on the map.

Grace spoke up. "You all know that I love horses. Those photographs were taken in a horse farm stall. She pointed to the overlapping area. I know there are stables in this general area. We should be able to do a Google geographic search and get a list of stables in the area.

Lisbon stood. "Ok, people, let's find the stables and move! Kip has given us a direction. There are lives a stake, here."

oOOo

A/N: My story statistics have not updated for two days. I know some of you are reading this, but good old fan fic dot net is not helping! Let me know what you are thinking!