Chapter 11
Ellison burst through the bullpen doors and frantically looked around. "Where is he?" Brown and Rafe looked up in surprise at his noisy entrance. "Where – is – he?"
Simon rushed in after him having waited for a lift rather than climb the seven flights of stairs as his detective had done. The pair of them had been enjoying their greasy burgers and had been talking about going camping with Blair and Daryl, Simon's son when Jim suddenly stiffened. For a few moments the captain hadn't realised that Ellison had checked out of the conversation and then had ground to a halt at seeing his detective's vacant look.
'Oh, God,' he'd thought, 'had he zoned?' He'd cleared his throat, "Uh, Jim? You all right?" Was he going to have get Sandburg here?
The sentinel had stood up letting his cutlery fall to the table. "Blair!"
"What? Where?" Simon had also stood looking around the restaurant expecting to see the guide.
"Something's the matter." Ellison had started for the door oblivious to the stares coming from the staff and other customers.
Simon had thrown some money on the table and had quickly followed the other man. He'd caught up with him on the pavement and had grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute. What's going on?"
"Blair's upset." He'd turned to look at his captain. "Come on. We need to go."
"Call him."
"What?" Ellison had stared at him impatience clear in his eyes.
"Call him on his cell, while I drive." Banks had been under the impression that his normally on the ball friend, hadn't been firing on all cylinders.
"Oh, yes. Good idea. Come on."
The ten-minute drive back to the PD had been fraught with tension, as the sentinel had tried desperately to get hold of his guide. At one stage Simon had been certain that Jim had been growling. At their arrival people had flattened themselves against the walls as the detective had rushed through the corridors and up the stairs to Major Crimes.
"Jim." Ellison turned and saw Edwards standing in the door to Banks' office. "In here."
"No. I need to find Blair." He whirled round to examine the room again trying to listen out for his guide's heartbeat. "Is it that woman? That mad sentinel, does she have him? He's not hurt is he?"
"No. We need to talk."
"Not now. I…"
"Senior Sentinel Prime, we need to have a conversation regarding the Senior Guide Prime." Edwards' formal tone brought Jim up short.
"Come on, Jim. I have a good idea he knows what's going on." Simon took hold of the sentinel's upper arm and guided him to his office.
On entering, they found David and Joel seated at the conference table. Edwards pulled out a chair next to his guide for his Clan leader and once the other man was seated he sat so that Jim was seated between them. Simon looked at Taggart who nodded at the chair on his right. Even before his captain was seated, Jim rounded on his second in command.
"What's going on? Where's Sandburg?"
Surprisingly it was Taggart who answered, "With Megan getting something to eat."
"What? I don't understand. Where?" He half rose out of his chair.
"He's all right," Joel continued.
"Will someone PLEASE explain to me what's going on?" Ellison was becoming angry.
"Senior Sentinel Prime, please listen to Captain Taggart and he'll tell you everything you need to know."
"But, but… Joel's not a sentinel or a guide."
"Jim," Banks spoke up, "the quicker you listen, the quicker you'll understand. Okay?"
The detective nodded and turned his eyes to the former Bomb Squad captain.
"Jim, I found Blair in the men's room in a right old state. At first, he didn't want to tell me what was the matter, but eventually I got the story out of him. Before I tell you what he said I need to ask you some questions."
"Wha…?" Ellison subsided at his captain's glare and looked enquiringly, if somewhat mutinously, at Taggart.
"Have you registered Blair as your guide, yet?"
"No. I was going to do it…"
"Has he been put on your medical insurance?
"Not yet."
"So who's playing his medical bills?"
Jim opened his mouth, but Joel rode over his explanation with the next question. "Have you done anything about his return to Rainier?"
"I didn't know I needed to…"
"Have you made arrangements for him to see his mother's grave?" Joel's voice was implacable.
"Um, I haven't thought… I didn't…"
"Have you been aware that Blair's been losing weight?"
Ellison went to open his mouth then paused. With a sinking feeling he could see where this was all going. "Joel, what did Blair tell you?" He asked softly.
Taggart's stern face relaxed a bit; he couldn't be totally angry with this man. He'd never gone through the sentinel education system having been a late bloomer, so he could be forgiven some of the blunders he'd made. As far as he was concerned the Clan itself and the Cascade PD had also been less than stellar in their handling of the guide.
"I'll tell you about the university first, because I, to my shame, have a hand in this as well. When Blair got to his office the day he left the hospital without telling us there was a letter waiting for him. He'd been fired from his teaching position due to his long unexplained absence and also was no longer eligible to complete his Ph.D. This meant he was going to have to start paying back his student loans."
"But we told the Commissioner's office to write to Rainier explaining the situation!" Ellison protested.
"Apparently, it was never done and we never checked."
"But…"
"Let me finish and then you can explode."
Ellison nodded curtly.
"He then received another letter from the university asking them to reimburse all the damage done to his office. Considering that the office contains many artefacts and rare written records, the total amounts up to a pretty penny."
"But that was Barnes or Bannister or whatever she calls herself."
"Chancellor Edwards it appears, doesn't care. Blair's an easy target."
"Why didn't he come to me and explain all this? I'm his sentinel for God's sake!"
"You're also the person who lied about his mother and forced him to bond with you." He held up his hand to stop the other man from speaking. "We all know the reasons why, but just for a moment, look at it from his point of view. He'd been taken from all his friends, from his work, his property destroyed, all his dissertation work destroyed. He longer had a job except to play second fiddle to a sentinel." Both sentinels bristled at that, but Joel ignored them. "He'd been injured, is being sued, has no money and he's lost his only relative, who was his mother to boot. D'you think he's thinking properly?" Despite his best intentions, his voice rose in anger.
Jim looked poleaxed. Before he could gather his wits together, Edwards spoke, "Senior Sentinel Prime, as your second in command I also am guilty. You do your job as Clan leader so well we tend to forget that you've not had the same training as us. Had you registered Sandburg as your guide he would be now receiving the Guide's Allowance. It's not an enormous amount, but at least he would have had enough to buy clothes, food etc."
"But he eats at home with me," Jim's voice was no longer angry, but bewildered and plaintive.
"And when he's here at the PD?" Joel asked gently. "How often does he go out eating with you or do you see him eating something in the break room?"
Jim frowned.
"Not only that," Edwards continued. "He would've gone for counselling at the Guide Centre as you should have done. You know that it's mandatory for anyone forced into a bond. I'm sorry. I failed you and more importantly, I failed your guide."
"As have I," David spoke for the first time looking extremely apologetic.
The senior sentinel looked around the table reeling from all the information he'd been given. During the last two weeks when he'd been on cloud seven his guide had been depressed and hurting and he'd not seen it. What good were these senses if he couldn't even detect what was going on with the man with whom he had an intimate, mental connection? His lip curled up in self-recrimination.
"Jim, stop it," Banks' voice cut through his morbid thoughts. "This isn't the time for apportioning blame. I think what Joel and Edwards are trying to say is that we had better make things right. We were all caught wanting on this one."
"We?" Ellison's tone was sarcastic. "What have you done that you need to be reproached for?"
"Sandburg maybe a guide and I admit I don't really understand this sentinel/guide shi… business, but he's also a member of Major Crimes. It's my responsibility to make sure that he's integrated into the team with the minimum of problems and that like all my men he knows he has my support."
Silence greeted this statement for a moment. Jim looked with gratitude at his friend and gave him a small smile.
"Right," the captain continued, "we now need a plan of action."
"First, we go and sort out the bastard who fucked up when they didn't do the letter for Rainier."
"I'll deal with that," Simon jumped in. "You have a much harder task – making up to your guide."
"Joel, where is he?" Ellison turned towards the other captain.
"He's over at the vegetarian bistro on Cooper Street."
"He's a vegetarian?" Jim asked in horror thinking about all the meals they'd shared in the loft: meat lovers' pizza, grilled steaks, lasagne…
"No. It's just that he really likes vegetables."
"You gave him money, didn't you?" Jim went to put his hand in his pocket.
"Forget it. It was my pleasure."
"But.."
"No, really. I wanted to."
"Thanks."
"Okay," Banks interrupted the two men, "Sandburg's okay for the moment in Megan's tender care." He ignored the sardonic snorts and incredulous looks he got from the others. The Australian Inspector was a fine police officer, but she wasn't known for her 'soft' side. "I take it that you, Edwards, and David are going to sort out the guide registration and counselling?"
The two men nodded and Edwards turned to Ellison. "I'll let you know when your first appointment's going to be and if you give me his details I'll start the registration process. All you'll have to do is take him in and sign the papers."
"Thanks."
"I'll see what I can find out about his mother," Joel offered. "I know his name's Jewish, but I don't know if he practices." He looked at Jim enquiringly who shrugged his shoulders. Another thing he didn't know. "Well, that's something to find out. He lost all of his stuff when that woman destroyed his apartment. Maybe the PD can do something there?"
Banks was nodding his head. "He was working on a police matter when that happened. I'll make sure that the department's insurance replaces the maximum possible."
Jim looked at his colleagues – no, his friends - with gratitude. He then sobered as he thought about what he was going to have to do now. His guide was hurting and lost and it was up to him to try and make things right. They'd got off to a bad start so a new start was needed. "Okay, that all sounds good. But I'm going to sort out that Chancellor myself. My guide is going to get his doctorate."
The most important sentinel in Cascade, Detective Jim Ellison, former Ranger, ex-special ops agent and general badass sat nervously in his vehicle contemplating his residence. And why was he vacillating? One longhaired, short, stubborn, opinionated guide was waiting for him in his loft and he had to go and speak to him. Apologise, comfort, be touchy feely – all the things he hated doing. In fact, he'd rather single-handedly face a machine gun emplacement armed only with an umbrella and a rolled up newspaper.
He rubbed his hands over his face and took in a deep breath. 'Come on, Ellison,' he berated himself. 'You know damn well that he deserves this and more!' He glanced at the parcel on his passenger seat. It contained a top-of-the-range laptop he'd bought to replace the one destroyed at Sandburg's warehouse. He hoped that the younger man would see it not as an attempt to buy him, but as the apology it was intended to be and a promise of how things were going to be for now on. Deciding that he'd prevaricated long enough he picked up the box, opened his door and froze when something cold and hard pressed into his neck.
"Senior Sentinel Prime," said a low, purring voice, "we finally meet face to face – so as to speak."
"Bannister?" Jim breathed the name.
"I prefer Barnes. Alex Barnes. Now, I believe that you have something that belongs to me."