Title: A Change of Plan

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with The Mentalist.

Author's Note: I can't tell you how much all your reviews and favorites mean to me! Thanks for hanging in there. You make me feel way better about the fact that apparently part of my brain can think like a serial killer. :)

Chapter Eleven: Escape

Lorelei looked sullenly at them, not even offering a greeting. Jane pretended not to notice. "So how are you today, Lorelei? How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she replied. Then she gave him a sly smile. "How are you? Anything interesting happening?"

"That depends on how you define interesting," Jane said. "Your friend seems to find Lisbon irresistibly photogenic."

That got him scowls from both women. Jane grinned at Lisbon before turning back to Lorelei. "So I have to ask this, Lorelei. Would you be willing to take a paternity test?"

"Yes," she said, looking more cheerful. "If it will help you accept your new path, I'll be happy to."

That wasn't the answer they had expected, but Jane merely nodded. "Good. Because I have some decisions to make, but I want to make sure I have all the facts first."

Lisbon's phone rang. She glanced at it and frowned. "I have to take this." She got up and started for the door, glancing back over her shoulder at Jane. "Behave!"

"Of course," he replied as she left.

Lorelei seemed to relax. "What kind of test do you want me to take?"

"There's one we can do in six weeks or so. There's a slight risk to the baby, so you'll want to discuss it with a doctor first," he said. He leaned forward. "Are you comfortable here? Do you feel safe?"

"Yes," she said.

He hesitated, then said, "Because we're not sure you are. None of Red John's friends survive long in custody. So we're thinking about moving you."

"If you think it's best. But I'm not worried. He doesn't want to kill me, you know. I haven't given you his gift yet."

"None of the others thought he wanted to kill them, either," Jane said.

"They had fulfilled their purpose," she said serenely. "I haven't yet. You'll see."

Lisbon came back into the room. "Jane, we have to go," she said. She looked between them and frowned. "What were you talking about?"

Jane walked over to her. "Nothing to concern you," he said easily. Then, to her astonishment, he leaned in as if he were going to kiss her.

Her hand came up automatically, covering his mouth and pushing him back a little as she tried to figure out what the hell he was doing.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Not while we're at work, I know. But you're just so darn adorable when you're suspicious."

She frowned at him, but she thought she knew what he was up to now. "What did you do?" she demanded. "You only flatter me when you're hoping I won't notice something." She glared at Lorelei. "What did he say?"

"I'm not one to kiss and tell," Lorelei said smugly.

"You said something you weren't supposed to, didn't you?" Lisbon demanded. "Jane, I swear, I can't trust you out of my sight for five minutes! Come on, we're leaving." She stalked angrily out the door.

Jane called a casual good-bye to Lorelei as they left, and that was the last either of them spoke until they were safely in the car.

"So," Lisbon said. "You were wrong about the paternity test."

"We'll see if she actually does it," he said, seemingly unconcerned. "She's just trying to convince me. I told her we were thinking about moving her. She didn't seem to care."

"So Red John's plan may not involve anyone at this particular jail," Lisbon mused. They drove in silence for a while, until she couldn't resist saying, "I hate it when you improvise, you know."

He grinned. "I knew you'd stop me." He looked at her for a few moments, then said, "Don't worry, Lisbon. I'm well aware that you will never forgive me if I kiss you for the first time under false pretenses."

For the first time? she thought. Well, that was a can of worms she wasn't willing to open while driving to work on four hours' sleep with a bagel sitting in her stomach like a lead weight. "I need more coffee," she said. "Let's stop and pick up some of the good stuff for everyone."

"My treat," Jane offered.

mmm

When it came time for everyone to go home, Lisbon realized that her team hadn't accepted her decision as final after all. For the next three nights, one of them followed her home from work, and when she peeked out her window at odd hours, she always saw a familiar vehicle parked on the street.

"Look," she told them finally, "you can't keep this up. You're all sleep deprived, and nothing has happened. Jane and I both agree that Red John is trying to throw us off our game. He has no immediate intention of coming after me."

Jane made one of his little nonverbal disagreements. "I wasn't quite so definite, Lisbon. He's likely just waiting for us to let our guard down again before his next move. Which may just be another taunt, but may be something more serious."

"We all know what Red John is capable of. Sitting in a car outside my place is probably not an effective defense," she retorted.

Cho said, "Then you should agree to protective custody."

"We've been over this," Lisbon said impatiently. "Anyway, Red John is probably distracted right now. Ever since we told the FBI we wanted to move Lorelei to protective custody, they've been arguing with Bertram about who gets her. He's probably busy with his FBI contacts making sure it goes his way."

"You're just guessing," Van Pelt pointed out.

"I'm being careful," Lisbon said firmly, looking at each of them in turn. "The surveillance stops. That's an order. It's not sustainable without putting us in more danger because you'll be tired and not thinking straight. I've taken precautions, and my gun is never out of reach. All right?"

They all knew she was right, but their response was unenthusiastic. Lisbon rolled her eyes and went into her office, sitting down to pore over the background checks on people with access to the jail. They still hadn't been able to find a viable suspect, despite several initially promising leads.

Jane came in and sat down on her couch, taking a sip of his tea and looking at her. She ignored him for a while, until he got up and headed for the door again. Surprised that he was giving up so easily, she looked up, only to see him pull the door closed and sit down in the chair across her desk. "I have been informed," he said, "by a group of armed and determined individuals that I am not allowed to leave this room until you agree to go into protective custody."

She sat back in her chair and sighed. "I guess I'd better get you a toothbrush, then."

"I can't help but sympathize with them," he mused. "If our roles were reversed, you would have tased me by now and dragged me off to some dreary safehouse. This, by the way, is a plan being seriously considered in some circles. The main drawback seems to be that no one knows what to do next. Hypnotism has also been suggested."

Annoyed as she was, Lisbon couldn't help being a little amused by these hints at the discussions that must have taken place in the bullpen over the last few days. "I assume you told them what I promised to do to you if you ever hypnotize me against my will?"

"It didn't seem appropriate for polite company," he replied. "I did state my firm intention to avoid such a fate, however." He took one last sip and set his empty cup and saucer on her desk. "Lisbon, we can't all go on like this. They're not going to go home and sleep when they think you're in danger."

"Maybe I should have you hypnotize them," she muttered. She looked at him for a moment and said, "You look like you're sleeping even less than usual. You're not sitting up nights staring at my window too, are you?"

"No. I leave that to the professionals, who are inured to boredom." He grimaced. "I have been enjoying an entirely new set of nightmares, thanks to Lorelei and Cho. Fortunately for you, I've had someone else to call to ascertain that you're still alive, rather than disrupting your sleep."

"There's a silver lining to being spied on," she grumbled. Not that she'd been sleeping much either, she admitted to herself. She had no doubt Jane could tell, too. "Listen. We need to—"

Her desk phone rang, and she picked it up. "Lisbon."

"Agent Lisbon, this is Doctor Dever at the Sacramento County Jail. I wanted to inform you that Lorelei Martins is being rushed to the hospital after complaining of severe abdominal cramps and bleeding. She's being taken to Mercy hospital—"

"Thank you, Doctor, I'm on my way," Lisbon interrupted, hanging up the phone and grabbing her gun and badge out of her drawer. "It's Lorelei," she told Jane. "She's on her way to the hospital."

"We need a police escort for that ambulance," he said as they hurried out of her office.

"Right." Lisbon detoured through the bullpen. "Cho, Lorelei's being taken to Mercy hospital—get a police escort down there."

"Right, boss."

Van Pelt looked up. "Do you want me to come with you?" she offered. The rest of the team had lately been reluctant to let her leave without one of them, evidently feeling that Jane wouldn't be much protection.

"No, I'll let you know if we need you," Lisbon said, hurrying to join Jane at the elevator.

mmm

When they got to the hospital, Lorelei hadn't been admitted yet. In fact, she never arrived. Retracing the route turned up nothing, and they returned to headquarters seething with frustration.

Two hours later, the police found the ambulance five miles away, the driver shot dead and Lorelei and the paramedic missing.

"And there's our mole," Lisbon scowled after she hung up with Sacramento PD, looking around the bullpen. "We should have expected this. Dammit." She looked around. "Where's Jane?"

"He was here a minute ago," Rigsby said.

"Nobody goes anywhere alone," Lisbon ordered. "Red John may be getting ready to make his move, and his threats against me might be just a distraction from his real intention."

Rigsby looked worried. "I'll call Sarah and tell her to go stay with friends tonight."

"And be ready," Lisbon said as she headed for the stairs. "We won't have a lot of time once things start moving."

Jane hadn't spent much time in the attic since his return; he seemed to be enjoying their company after his extended absence, and she thought he was also updating his mental files. Six months was a long time, after all, and people could change. She wondered what he'd observed as she climbed the stairs.

The door was open; he was standing at the window, drumming his fingers against the sill. She could feel his nervous energy all the way across the room, and that was always a very bad sign. "We're sticking together from now on. No wandering off by yourself," she said.

"Red John's end game almost certainly involves the two of us. It might be wiser for us to stay as far from each other as possible," he said without turning.

"All right," she said, folding her arms, "who else will you listen to and not ditch at the first opportunity?"

He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Those are some high expectations, Lisbon. Are you implying that I will listen to you and not ditch you?"

"In this case, yes. Because I'm not going to let you do otherwise. And yes, I am packing a taser." When he didn't respond, she continued, "Jane, we need to be focused on Red John, not trying to protect each other."

He did turn around then, looking angry. "You're such a hypocrite, Lisbon. As if you haven't been trying to figure out scenarios to protect me, or at least prevent me from getting my revenge."

"And if it's not Red John we find, just another one of his friends? You'll never get away with that twice, Jane. We need to be able to prove he is the real Red John, and for that we're almost certainly going to need him alive. This is not just about you and what you want. There are other families out there who need closure. And I want to be able to sleep again without worrying I'll wake up to a madman with a knife."

"Red John is mine—"

"Of course he isn't, you selfish bastard," Lisbon snapped. "You think Van Pelt doesn't want revenge for O'Loughlin? That Rigsby's not terrified Red John will do to him what he did to you? Jane, this is bigger than you. And yes, we all want to see you get some kind of closure. Nobody is trying to keep you out of this. But you need to stop trying to keep us out. We have to stick together. We're what you have that he doesn't, remember?"

"People I care about who can be used to manipulate me, yes. It's quite an asset," he retorted sarcastically.

Lisbon's fists clenched, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I don't have time to argue this with you. They found the ambulance. There's no blood in it, so I want to go down to the jail and make sure they test the blood in her cell. This was either Red John risking her life to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity, or it was a well-laid plan that involved someone on the inside. Possibly on the medical staff."

"It would be useful to know which," he agreed after a moment. "All right. Let's go."

They barely spoke on the drive, and Lisbon told herself that she had to accept what Jane had been trying to make clear to her for years now: she was never going to argue him out of his intention to kill Red John, no matter how many good points she might make. She wished she could make him understand that he was putting them all in more danger, though, by dividing her attention between catching the serial killer and making sure Jane didn't do anything stupid.

"Don't worry about me, Lisbon," he said softly as she made the turn into the jail's parking lot. "I'm going to do what I need to do, and you can't stop me. It's better if you don't waste your time trying."

"I'm just curious," she said, "why you think I can't stop you. How far are you going to go, Jane? Will you hurt me? Kill me? Plant a post-hypnotic suggestion of some kind?"

"That last would definitely be my preference, if I'm ever in a position to implement it," he said, as calmly as if he were discussing the weather. "And if I have to step over your dead body to get to him, it'll be because I couldn't stop him. As for hurting you, well, we both know who would win if it comes down to a physical contest. But I know you, Lisbon. And I'm pretty sure that if I need to stop you for a second, I can find the right thing to say. Or the wrong thing, depending on your point of view."

She suddenly felt cold all over. Yes, if Jane ever tried to hurt her, it would be with words. And she had no doubt he'd succeed. Whether he could overcome all her training and experience long enough to achieve his goal was an open question, but the attempt would leave their relationship irrevocably scarred. Well, at least now she knew where she stood.

They were silent as they made their way to Lorelei's cell to stare at the stark pool of blood that had soaked into the thin mattress. Miscarriage or cunning escape plan, it was impossible to tell just by looking. If it was an escape plan, whoever had placed the blood hadn't made any obvious mistakes.

"We should look at the security cameras where they took her to the ambulance. Maybe you'd be able to tell if she was faking it," Lisbon suggested after a few minutes.

"Yes," he murmured, but he seemed in no hurry to move.

Just when Lisbon was getting ready to speak again, Jane's phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open. Lisbon stepped closer and grabbed his wrist so she could see the text too.

It's time to come home. Your family's waiting.