Australian Christmas Greetings

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

by RoadrunnerGER

Disclaimer: No, still don't own them. Who said so? They're not mine. :((

11

Snow

"It fits! I can't believe it!"

It's too easy, Bobby thought. Maybe I shouldn't open it.

"What are you waiting for?" Mike wanted to know.

"I'm wondering if it's such a good idea to open it."

"Why should she put something dangerous in if she intends to play with you?"

Mike's right. Bobby stared at the case. Of course he was curious. "Okay…"

He turned the key and pushed the lid back. Nothing but a folded carton box was inside.

"Popcorn?" Mike scratched his head through his own bonnet. "How's that supposed to help?"

"I know these colors… and Dante's Inferno… that box's from Astroland." Bobby got the bag out and turned it, then peeked inside. There was a slip of paper.

I know it seems to be easy, but come alone! Alone! Well, just you and Mike! I see just the tip of a nose of one of your colleagues you can say bye bye love… and we're gone for good. See you later, Bobby, Mike.

Nicole.

"That bitch!" Mike swore.

"Come alone... just with you," Bobby thought out loud. "We have to get rid of Ross."

"Are you crazy? We know they're at Coney Island! Let's call SWAT and get them out!"

"We have no idea where they are exactly! Maybe she just wants to meet us there. We have no guarantee that Eames and Barek are there, too! By the time we find them, Nicole could have killed them! Or she lets them die a slow death by poisoning them and we have to watch because we can't find the antidote!"

"But, Bobby..."

"Are you in?" Bobby glowered at Mike. "Otherwise I'll get rid of you, too, and go alone."

"Don't you dare!" Mike exploded. "These are Barek and Eames we're talking about!"

"As if I could forget that!" Bobby also rose his voice with fury. He started to walk away to do it alone, and Mike, frustrated, followed right on his heels.

"I didn't mean it! Hey! She told us to come together! So I'll go with you."

"Nicole's inventive. We can't just assume that we can take her down easily. And she has two hostages."

"As if I could forget that!" Mike replied, grinning sourly.

"So let's go. It should not be too difficult to shake him and Falacci off in this snowfall."

Mike grimaced. His partner just had arrived at the house in Rockaway when they set off to go to the cemetery. She stayed with Ross in the car when he and Bobby went to Frances last resting place. When they approached the cars now, Ross stood next to the one Falacci was driving.

"Detectives! Did you find anything?" he demanded to know.

"Yes, we did," Bobby replied, holding out the case at him. "There was a short note inside." He read it aloud and saw Ross frown deeply.

"There was no clue about where you should go to alone?" the captain asked. "That doesn't make sense."

"But that's all we got," Bobby insisted, his gloved hand resting on the popcorn bag in his coat pocket. His stomach churned. He knew that it might be a mistake not to involve SWAT, but his fear for Eames ruled that out. Once he almost lost her when Jo Gage kidnapped her... For nothing in the world he would let that happen again.

"So, do you have any idea where the hell she wants to meet you? And when? There's nothing said about a place or a time."

Ross was right and that was why Bobby thought that the amusement park would be where Nicole was holding the two women captive. He was crunching the popcorn bag in his big hand. Nicole had to pay for what she did. This time she would not get away. He would make sure of that.

"Can it be some place that has some significance for her?" Ross mused. "Somewhere where she hid before?"

"No idea, captain," Bobby said.

"Okay..." Ross sounded disappointed, yet did not want to let it show. "Then let's go back to One Police Plaza. Maybe we can find something in her file. Maybe CSU has first results."

Her file? Inwardly Bobby had to chuckle. I know her file by heart. There's nothing in it.

"Yeah, let's head back," Mike threw in, trotting to his SUV. "You come, Goren?"

Bobby nodded and slowly followed him. When he sank into the passenger seat he sighed. He did not look forward to confronting Nicole, not at all. A part of him wished Mike would go alone.

I can't do that! Nicole's expecting us to come together, so we will!

Following behind Falacci and Ross, Mike steered their car carefully over the fresh snow.

"Is that a weather," he grumbled. "If that really becomes heavier…"

"We'll have trouble getting to Coney Island at all," Bobby murmured. "So we should back out soon."

"Like now?" Mike smirked and turned their car to the right just when Falacci got ahead of a small truck. "They'll think we're behind that truck."

"Well done, Logan," Bobby said, getting out his gun to check it.

On their way to Coney Island the storm truly increased, gusts of wind threatening to shove the car off the road. The snowfall became so heavy that the wipers could hardly keep the windshield free.

"Oh, shit," Mike grumbled. "I hope we make it to the park at all."

"We have to," Bobby murmured. "She won't wait on us forever."

They were one of the last cars still on the road. Thick layers of snow covered the lane, making it difficult to steer. Mike had to fight to keep the vehicle in line, slipping from one side to the other. He almost missed the parkway's exit to Ocean Parkway. You could barely see enough to make out the houses on both sides of the street and it became worse when the parkway passed into Surf Avenue. A brutal squall coming from the bay finally made the car spin on the fresh snow and it slid off the street into a snowdrift.

"Shit!"

"We must be close," Bobby said, rubbing at the fogged window. But that did not help. In the upcoming blizzard he could not see further than a few yards ahead.

"Yep, that's Asser Levy Park," Mike confirmed. "You don't want to go by foot, do you?"

"You see another possibility? Want to get snowed in here?"

Mike just rolled his eyes.

tbc…