As soon as he was in his car, Jane's phone rang. He picked it up, knowing full well who was calling.
"Hey, Mark," he said into the phone as he sped out of the parking lot and onto the road. He felt like he was flying, and he was even able to smile and sound friendly as he greeted his nemesis.
Mark Doe, a.k.a. Red John, laughed. "Hello, Old Friend," he said, almost fondly. "You finally found me. Well played." Jane heard something that sounded like a single person applauding over the phone.
"Not on my own," Jane said modestly.
"Yes, you asked for outside help…I confess, I never thought you'd do that," Red John drawled. "All the same, you've found me fair and square. That text I sent you was a little joke, really; I'm not going anywhere. You've earned this, o foolish old friend of mine, and it would be highly dishonorable for me to run."
"You'd rather die than flee?" Jane asked.
"In this case, absolutely," Red John replied. "You know how highly I value integrity, Old Friend."
"Enough that you'd gladly spend the rest of your life punishing me for insulting you," Jane said; "yeah, I know."
"Insulting me?" Red John repeated angrily. "You slandered me! You disgraced my name, my work, my image, everything I stand for, and for what? Money and the cheers of a crowd! You disgusting little worm - your very existence sickens me! I hate you! I despise you beyond words!"
"Yeah, I hate you too," Jane said, half smiling at being able to push Red John's buttons for a change.
Red John growled in disgust. "That Saint Teresa would give her heart to you is abhorrent!" he snarled. "Someone as extraordinary as her, with her heart in your pocket…Of all the stupid, miserable little lowlifes for her to-"
"Oh, you're one to talk," Jane commented.
"I am not a lowlife!" Red John shouted. "I am a monster! I am a living nightmare! I am far smarter and more powerful than anyone who has ever existed, and you know now that I'm not exaggerating! Don't you dare compare me to you, you stupid, ignorant piece of scum!"
"You're full of yourself," Jane said calmly, no longer affected by Red John's taunting now that he was minutes away from ending this fight. "I don't believe half of that stuff about you - you can hack official records easily, you probably did all that just to make yourself look like more than you are. How else would you not be all over the media?"
But to Jane's surprise, Red John suddenly laughed. "Your doubts will be banished when you look into my eyes," he said wickedly. "As soon as you see me, read me…you'll know. You'll know exactly what I am - your gift will make sure of it. And you'll never be the same…" More laughter.
"We'll see about that," Jane said lightly. He was speeding down the highway now, headed for Red John's out-of-the-way home as fast as he could go.
"Yes we will," Red John said mockingly. "You know, even My Dear Little Saint Teresa isn't quite the same since I told her the full truth…Oh, wait, she hid that particular bit from you and your new special agent friends."
Jane said nothing, but his chest constricted slightly. Lisbon had been keeping more secrets?
Red John chuckled. "No doubt she thought the truth would break you," he taunted. "It probably would have, too. She only kept that bit from you to keep your stupid little psyche intact-"
"Shut up!" Jane snarled.
"Is that really the best comeback you can come up with?" Red John asked.
"Why are we talking about Lisbon?" Jane demanded.
"Because I love her," Red John replied, "and she loves you, and you are about to kill me. Nice little circle, isn't it?"
"You're not capable of love!" Jane exclaimed.
"I used to believe the same," Red John said, a smile in his voice. "Then she happened to me."
Jane shook his head, but had no words.
"Oh, speaking of sweet Teresa, she's trying to call you right now," Red John said after a moment. "Hold on a minute, I'll let her through."
"What-?" Jane began, bewildered.
"Jane?" Lisbon's voice asked over the phone. "Are you there?"
"Yeah…" Jane said.
"We're right behind you," Lisbon said; "when you get there, wait for us."
"Why?" Jane asked.
"Because I have as much right to see this as you do," Lisbon replied.
"She is right, you know," Red John commented.
"Red John?" Lisbon's voice was confused.
"Hello, My Dear, I'll see you soon," Red John said; "bye for now."
"Lisbon?" Jane asked.
"I hung her up," Red John told Jane. "Now it's just you and me, until you get here."
"How are you…?" Jane couldn't even put his question into words.
"Picking up and hanging up your phone for you?" Red John asked. "Wouldn't you like to know…"
"You know what? I don't care," Jane said; "I'm going to kill you soon anyway, so it really doesn't matter."
"Come and get me, then," Red John hissed, and then he hung up.
Jane tossed his phone aside without a single glance; none of what Red John had said mattered anymore - all that mattered was blood and revenge for his family.
~o~
As the BAU listened in on Jane's phone conversation via Garcia's computers, they tried to figure out the purpose of it all.
"It's almost like he wants to die," JJ said.
"But that doesn't make any sense," Reid said, frowning.
"Unless he feels that he has something to gain by dying," Hotch said. "His mission in life is to make Mr. Jane's life as miserable as possible…"
"And if Jane kills him, he'll be guilty of first-degree murder," Rossi picked up.
"Jane'll go to jail for the rest of his life," Morgan realized out loud; "his life will be over."
"And there's no way in which Red John would rather die than by making that happen," Hotch said.
"Garcia, jam his signal!" Morgan said urgently.
Garcia tried. "I can't, it's too strong," she said, sounding alarmed.
"Too strong?" Reid repeated, confused.
"We need to reach him, to warn him," Rossi said.
"JJ, go talk to Director Bertram now," Hotch ordered JJ; "have them get an arrest warrant and send some blue-collar cops out to Mark Doe's cabin as quickly as possible!"
"Yes, sir!" JJ said, and she ran off.
Garcia was still trying to block Red John's signal, get through to Jane, do something, but all to no avail.
Then Red John hung up on Jane.
"Now's our chance," Rossi said.
Garcia typed, trying to call Jane.
"I can't, his phone's still busy," she said.
"But Red John hung up," Reid said.
"Yes, I know, but I…I can't get through, I…Hang on!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Why is this recording the call? I didn't do anything to make it record that call!"
"It's going to record a lot more than that, little Penelope," said an evil voice.
"Red John," Hotch said, closing his eyes as understanding hit him and his team.
"The one and only," Red John's voice replied proudly. "You won't be talking to my Old Friend anymore - not until after he's placed under arrest. Oh, and thank you ever so much for sending Agent Jeroe to get some regular police officers out here, I really do appreciate it." His tone was smug, mocking.
"What's your plan?" Rossi asked.
"My Old Friend is going to murder me," Red John answered, "and it will be your computers, little Penelope, that will record the damning evidence to prove it. You'll be legally obligated to provide it in court - you are one of the FBI's top teams, after all. Oh, and I looked into The Reaper, Aaron Hotchner - The Boston Reaper - and I must say, he wasn't too bad at what he did. He was just too confident; you got off on self-defense claims that were perfectly reasonable, and that was the end of him. Shame, really…He had such…potential…" Red John laughed. "For a human, that is," he added nastily.
Garcia started trying to type something.
"Don't bother, Penelope," Red John said amusedly; "your technology is under my control now. You can do nothing but listen helplessly to my Old Friend perform the last action he will ever make as a free man. You can't stop me."
Garcia's eyes were wide, her fingers frantic, but nothing made a difference. In desperation, she tried to shut down her computers, but the buttons didn't work. As Red John laughed, she tried unplugging everything, but still they operated as though on full power.
"How are you doing this?" she exclaimed, distraught to the utmost.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Red John taunted.
"Why?" she cried.
"Because none of you had any business getting involved in this," Red John hissed, his amusement gone. "My quarrel with my Old Friend was mine and his, and arguably Teresa's, but you had no right to interfere. You should have walked away before you even saw my case file, but you were just so moved by my Old Friend's tale that you charged blindly into the middle of a battle that was not yours. Now, you will pay just as much of a price as he. I know how much you all respect him, but it will be your duty to put him in jail for the rest of his days." He paused, presumably to take a breath. "I'm going to turn off my audio input now so you can't call out to warn him," he told them; "so sit back, relax, and enjoy the show…it'll start any minute." And he laughed.
"Garcia…" Morgan said.
"I can do nothing!" Garcia said, panicking. "I don't understand how he can do this! These shouldn't even have the electricity to run! No buttons I push anywhere do anything at all…I'm frozen!"
Red John laughed again. "Alright, I admit I waited to hear you panic," he said. "I love the fear in your voice, Penelope…It must really be quite a shock for the machines you've relied on all your life to simply not obey your commands any longer. You'll have them back a few minutes after I die - I've set everything up to ensure it. Farewell."
"Wait!" Reid called, but this time, Red John really had shut them off.
"Should we…go…?" Garcia half-asked faintly.
Hotch shook his head. "No," he said. "It wouldn't make a difference, and…" He trailed off.
"I want to know how this ends," Morgan said, voicing the very words all of them had been thinking.
When JJ returned a minute later, they explained what had happened. And then…there was nothing to do but wait.
~o~
It took every ounce of self-control Jane had to pull up in front of Mark Doe's cabin, get out of his car, and wait for the others instead of charging in, but he did. The team was there in seconds anyway, though they felt like the longest seconds of Jane's life. They all leapt out of the car as soon as Lisbon pulled up.
"Thanks for waiting," Lisbon said as she ran up to Jane.
"Thank you for not taking too long," Jane replied.
To Jane's exasperation, Lisbon took a breath as the others joined them. "Okay," she said, "remember the profile - he has multiple plans for every possible outcome."
"He knows we're here," Jane said. "And he's still inside, he told me so - said we'd earned this." His body was burning to charge in and rip Red John's head from his shoulders.
"That doesn't mean we go charging in there without a plan," Lisbon said firmly. "He's clever, alright? I know from personal experience, he has some means of making this work out in his favor."
"So what do you suggest?" Jane asked, trying to keep his impatience out of his voice.
"Me, Rigsby, Cho, and Van Pelt go in together, guns at the ready," Lisbon said; "you don't take a step further than any of us. Once we know there are no traps - if there aren't - we'll stand back and let you finish this." She looked at the others. "Sound good?" she asked.
"Yes, boss," they said, and they drew their guns as Lisbon drew hers.
"Please tell me you're not going to knock and ask him to come out quietly," Jane half-begged as the four armed agents approached the front door.
Lisbon hesitated, as though considering.
"Nah," she said, and she kicked the door down without further pretense. It opened with almost no resistance, slamming against the wall of the hallway it opened into.
Lisbon had never actually experienced entering the building she had been held captive in years ago, so at first, the cabin felt completely unfamiliar to her. She and her agents walked down the hallway as close to abreast as possible, guns raised and ready to fire.
She kicked down the first door they came to, which was on their right, to reveal a pantry full of little glass vials filled with clear liquid, none of which were labelled. It was empty otherwise, and they moved on.
The next door was also on the right. Lisbon kicked it down, too, and revealed a low table, beyond which stood a large wardrobe. It was empty, so they kept going.
The third door they found was on the left, and at last, a prickle of unease ran down Lisbon's spine as she registered the layout and apparently natural but faint lighting. When she kicked the door down, she revealed an enormous surveillance room, identical to the one Red John had taken her to to show her Jane's despair and break her completely in the end. Rigsby, Cho, and Van Pelt had never seen anything like it, and all three of them (yes, even Cho) gasped audibly at the sight.
"He's not here," Lisbon forced herself to say, and they moved on.
There was a large opening coming up in the wall on the right. Lisbon had only seen its like from this angle once, but suddenly, she felt like Red John was walking her back to the room he'd kept her chained up in to wait to die. She slowed, but her agents were behind her and didn't understand, so she kept herself moving forward, half afraid of what that room had correlated to in Red John's real home.
Rigsby and Van Pelt were behind her when she lurched forward around the corner, ready to face a large, empty room. But it wasn't empty. It was…
Oh, god… Lisbon swallowed, fighting the urge to gag, at the realization that Red John had kept her in a room that had correlated to his bedroom.
The bed was large, the head against the left wall of the room, the covers unremarkable. There was a chair in a corner - a chair Lisbon also recognized - and a lamp on a table by the head of the bed on the far side. Other than that, there was nothing; Red John wasn't there.
Lisbon knew Jane would have recognized the setup of this building by now - perhaps he had noticed before she had - but to her relief, no one, not even Jane, said anything as the four armed agents continued through the house.
There was one more door on the left, and then the hallway ended in a final door. Lisbon knew that Red John was in the room at the end of the hall, but she couldn't resist kicking down the other door first. Sure enough, it was the bathroom, identical to the one she had used when she had been Red John's captive. She noticed, this time, the door on the far end of the room, which, according to Jane, opened to the actual bathing room, but she didn't want to see that.
She went on, Rigsby, Cho, and Van Pelt behind her, looking through the bathroom door curiously but following her lead all the same. When she reached the final door, she stopped.
Red John is on the other side of this door.
The thought scared her, a lot more than she had expected or would ever admit.
We're here on our terms, though, this time, she reminded herself. Just a couple of minutes from now, it will all be over - he'll be dead, Jane will have had his revenge, and we can all leave this nightmare behind us.
She took a deep breath, then, with more force than she had used on any of the other doors, she smashed it down with all her strength.
Quickly, she and the others who carried guns leapt into the room and lined up, Cho to the far left, Lisbon beside him, Van Pelt to Lisbon's right, and Rigsby on the far right. All of them automatically aimed at the head of the man who sat behind a simple but efficient desk, twirling his fully unsheathed knife between his fingers; evidently, the room was his workspace.
He smirked at the guns aimed between his eyes, completely unintimidated. "The door wasn't locked, you know," he said.
Lisbon recognized him. This was the same figure she had seen through vision blockers, she was sure of it.
"Jane," she said, her voice shaking only slightly, "do your thing."
Jane walked between her and Van Pelt, approaching the man at the desk. The man stopped twirling his knife, stood, and met him halfway. They stopped when they were only several inches apart, and Lisbon registered what she was witnessing: Two greater foes than the world had ever seen before, face to face, eye to eye, for the first time.
"I only want to know one thing about you," Jane said. "Are you the one who murdered my wife and daughter? Are you the man I've been chasing for years? Are you Red John?"
For a moment, all was still. Then, the man's lips curled into a smirk.
"Yes, Old Friend, I am," he said. He leaned forward slightly to look down on his opponent, emphasizing the fact that he was taller than Jane. His smirk widened. "Now what are you going to do about it?"