The Mentalist
- A nightmare, A dream -
Posting this chapter in advance because the last chapter was quite disturbing. This one will clear things up ;)
With a sharp breath, Jane's eyes opened and he immediately sat upright in his bed. As soon as he looked around him, and he recognized his temporary home, the attic of the CBI building, he returned to reality. His racing heart slowed down, and his breathing turned steady.
Nightmare. It was a nightmare. Well, most of it was.
Patrick looked through the windows. It was darker, and he guessed it was around 4 PM. So he'd slept for about two hours. He was amazed by how much time a short nightmare like that could endure.
When the consultant had recovered from his nightmare and he had made himself presentable, he walked downstairs, into the office, where Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt all were.
''Any news on Lisbon?'', Jane asked, hopeful as always. He had asked this question at least a hundred times, and the answer was the same to all. No.
Teresa Lisbon had been missing for over two weeks now. There was no news. Red John didn't contact them anymore, and there were no leads.
Gale Bertram, their boss, had decided to pass all there cases on to the FBI, for the time being, so that the CBI could focus on the safe return of their abducted agent.
''Nothing'', Van Pelt answered, and she looked up to Jane with a soft, comforting smile. Every single one of them was exhausted, they barely slept, and they worked extra hours. Sometimes, one of the agents would stay in the office during the night, hoping for the slight chance that the phone would ring, and Red John would call. He never did.
But even though they were tired, worried and stressed, none of them gave up. They were determined to find their boss.
In the meanwhile, Teresa's dissapearance had only added fuel to the fire that was burning inside Jane's mind. The anger that he felt towards his wife and child's murdered grew bigger with each day that passed, and with each day that Lisbon was gone.
Lisbon wasn't only his collegue, she was also one of his few, and best friends, and maybe, just maybe, there was something inside of Jane that wanted it to be more than that.
Red John had taken her, and was doing God knows what to her, and that made Jane even more determined to find and kill him.
''The thing that I don't understand is.. why'', Rigsby said with a deep sigh.
Patrick looked up to Wayne Rigsby and raised his eyebrow. ''Why? To torture us and to amuse himself'', he answered.
''Maybe'', Risby answered. ''I mean.. you know, Red John never does anything without reason. He only kills when someone makes fun of him.. or, well, you know what I mean'', the agent mumbled.
Patrick knew. He was saying this because of him. He had taunted Red John on the television, and the serial killer had murdered his child, and raped and killed his wife.
''Yes'', Jane said, sitting down on his couch. ''But he knows how much I- We, care about Lisbon. And a part of him wants us to find him. He's playing a game with us and he's using her to get all the attention on him''.
Rigsby slowly nodded and sighed again, taking a sip of his coffee.
Everyone in this office knew that there was someone in the CBI working for Red John. The tricky part was that they had no idea who it was. So it didn't matter how hard they tried to find Teresa. Red John's friend would tell him everything, and thus, Red John would always be smarter and faster.
Suddenly, Gale Bertram came rushing in and he threw a file on Cho's desk. ''Jane, Van Pelt, Rigsby, come with me. Now'', he said.
''What is it?'', agent Van Pelt asked, jumping up from her chair.
''There is an empty building in Los Angeles. Mostly used for offices, but, yesterday night, the building has been rented on the name of Roy Tagliaferro'', the boss explained.
''That's the alias Red John uses!'', Rigsby mentioned.
Immediately, Jane starting running, he ran after Bertram, Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt. They ran out the building, towards the cars. Bertram, Jane and Cho jumped into one of the cars and raced off, followed by Van Pelt and Rigsby. The two cars were followed by six other police cars, each one driven by two other policemen.
The drive from Sacramento to Los Angeles took them a little over three hours. All this time, no one spoke. The only sound was the sirenes screaming. And for three hours long, Jane's teeth were clenched together and his heart was racing. His anger grew with every second, because he knew Red John wouldn't be this stupid. He wouldn't purposly give up his alias to rent a building. He wanted them to find her. But why? What was his plan for them? Maybe she wasn't even there, and he was just having a little fun. But it was worth a try. All Jane wanted right now was Teresa's safe return to Sacramento, where she belonged.
So, when the night fell, they arrived at the empty building in Los Angeles, rented by Roy Tagliaferro, AKA, Red John.
The building was away from civilization, close to the forest, on the outside skirts of Los Angeles, where there was nothing to be found but woods, forests and empty buildings. There was barely any light. It was a dark, horrible place to be, and Jane couldn't imagine Teresa being in there. She was tough, yes. But she too had her limits when it came to her bravery and optimism.
Soon, the entire building was surrounded by cops. Cops everywhere. They had their guns in their hands and wore bulletproof vests, and Jane didn't like the sight of it. Of course he knew that this could turn ugly. If Red John was still there, he wouldn't just hand himself in, he was going to shed blood first. And Patrick realised he was scared to death that it would be Lisbon's blood.
''Okay, here's the plan. You four, go 'round the back. Agent Cho, Rigsby, go through the side entrance, you two, you come with me through the side entrance, the rest of you, surround the building. Make sure no one gets in or out without us knowing. We wait two minutes, then we go in'', the FBI agent in charge, Dennis Abbott said to his policemen.
The FBI had joined the CBI for this operation. Abbott and Lisbon were friends, kind of, and had worked together before, and Abbott had insisted on joining them to LA. Jane could only appreciate it. The more cops, the better, in this case.
The only thing that bothered him was.. wel, them. He knew that if Red John was in there, they would kill him without thinking about it. That meant that Jane would never get the answers he desperately needed for the past six years, and it meant that he would never get his revenge.
But, for whatever reason, he decided not to speak his mind about this, to anyone.
So, the FBI and the CBI joined each other. Abbott went in front, followed by two FBI agents. Cho and Rigsby ran in the middle, guns out and bulletproof vests on, and behind them, another set of four agents ran behind them. The remaining agents, at least ten, stayed behind, together with Bertram, and Jane, nervously standing next to the car, watching everything.
The men creeped over the yard, holding their guns up, their eyes switching from place to place. They were quiet as a mouse, but incredibly fast. Abbott and his team stood still in front of the entrance, the rest dissapeared around the back and the side.
The two minutes passed, and then, out of nowhere, there were loud screams, the sounds of doors being broken down. The calling of 'CBI' and 'FBI' and 'CLEAR', were everywhere. Seconds passed, and Jane's racing heart raced even faster. She wasn't there. He was playing a game with them. Teresa wasn't here, he knew that now.
He had almost given up hope, when his phone buzzed. He slowly pulled his phone out of his pocket and revealed the text message that appeared on his screen.
''Tick, tock, boom'', he whispered while he read it.
Then, everything happened in slow motion. Somewhere in the building, he could hear someone yell: ''I FOUND HER''. And then, another police officer yelled something.
Jane couldn't hear what he was saying because of all the noise that was suddenly there. Teresa had been found, and everyone ran towards the building.
But then Jane realised what the cop had yelled. Tick. Tock. Boom.
Jane's heart skipped a beat, his eyes widened, and in horror, he watched all of the agents running into the building.
He opened his mouth, and as loud as he could, he shouted.
''NO! THERE'S A BOMB!''.
A deafening noise, so loud Jane's ears started ringing. A bang, a lightflash that blinded everyone who looked straight into it, and an immense power that threw his body flat to the ground. His head hit the concrete, and then everything turned black.