Sorry this has been a while in coming, Im sure I told someone this would be up before Christmas but a lack of internet connection and writers block put a stop to that, so I do apologise. Please keep reviewing, as this was written after a major block and this is to try and get it to where I want it to go. The italics are Flack's flashback, which I felt was needed to explain the story but ignore it if you dont feel it fits. Also, I have no idea how to steal a car, so the technicals is all made up! Thank you!
Flack had a subtle strut in his step, and he wasn't trying to hide it, it had been his first good day for weeks. He'd cracked a difficult case, admittedly with some help from Hawkes, had a proper lunch that involved sitting down at a restaurant with Stella, and beaten Danny had basketball this morning with record 26-12 score-line. Now he was about to pick up his final set of results for the day, then go home and sleep, the city had gone strangely quiet that afternoon, and his workload had been light since his and Hawkes's case. He walked into the familiar break room of the crime lab, finding Danny and Kenzie sitting on the sofas playing Jenga on the coffee table, Danny's forehead furrowed in concentration as he pushed the small wooden block from one the sides, trying to keep the tower to still stand. Stella was at the main table, that day's newspaper spread across it.
"Well aren't you lot a busy little bunch of bees.'' He said sarcastically, catching them all off guard, Danny's hand slipped and the wooden tower fell, scattering pieces across the table and floor. Stella rolled her eyes, as she watched Danny begin to grumble under his breathe as Kenzie faced smiled in victory. "What's up Messer? Continuing your losing streak?'' He asked laughing, taking a seat next to him. Danny threw him a dirty look, obviously blaming him for the slip and losing the game.
"You here for any particular reason?'' Danny asked, as he began to rebuild the tower with Kenzie. Since she had started school a few weeks earlier, it was stranger to see her at the lab during the day, since she now she only really came in when Mac was still on shift when she'd finished school, having now taken over his corner couch as the best place to do her homework.
"Results?'' He asked, Danny shoved the folder against Flack's chest and continued to rebuild the tower.
"Once this moron is out of here I'm gonna kick your ass Kenzo, I wasn't champion Jenga master for nothing.'' Danny teased.
Kenzie smiled in response, "Of what the girl guides?'' Flack flashed a grin at her, her smiled had a hint of confidence about it.
"Oh would you listen to this Stel? Who's been teaching you smack talk? Wouldn't be him over there, sounds like something the loser would say.'' Danny laughed, pushing the first block out of its location and placing it on the top of the pile. Stella rolled her eyes again in response to Danny's whining and continued to read her paper.
"Just cause I beat you twice already.'' She added quietly, Flack admired her quiet confidence. She had become a long way in the three months she had been there. Three months? Flack wouldn't have guessed three months, it seemed like years. After the whole 'run away' attempt, and consequential police report that Mac had insisted he handle, she seemed more settled in herself.
"I think I'm gonna stay and watch this, watching you lose is the best part of my day, and today I get to do it twice.'' He laughed, leaning back against the sofa casually opening the folder and beginning to read the content. "What the hell is a 2000 scanner doing in a Mercedes?'' He asked no one in particular.
"I dunno,'' Danny answered, his eyes glued on the tower as Kenzie placed her block at the top. "There was damage on the inside, looked like the system had been rearranged, couple of snapped wires too.''
"It would've been the magnet.'' All heads in the room turned to Kenzie, "You know, magnet messes up the central system means that it doesn't recognise that it's not from assigned keyless system. Quite easy when you know how.'' As she looked at them as three surprised faces glared back at her. "Scanners are cheap enough, but the magnets depend on the make and model for the frequency.''
"So wait a minute, you know how this stuff works?'' Danny said grabbing the folder out Flack's fingers and handing it over to Kenzie.
"Well...yeah'' She answered looking over the folder at the pictures of the scanner. "You found the tracker right?'' As she handed it back to Danny.
"What the hell is a tracker?'' Danny asked, "Is there something I don't know about?''
"Well you place it somewhere on the car, means you can leave it for a while and not have to wait all day, then it tracks the signals the keyless cards and alarms, so all you do is switch the wires over in the scanner and it scans the codes back out from the tracker, opening the car.'' She gave a nervous glance around the room, "can you stop staring, it's freaking me out.'' As everyone continued to stare.
"So where do you 'usually' place these trackers?'' Danny made quotation marks in the air.
"As near to the system as you can get.''
"Ready for a treasure hunt?'' Danny asked snapping his gloves on as he, Flack, Mac and Kenzie all stood in front of the silver Mercedes in the evidence garage. Having called Mac in, Flack had managed to persuade him that it would be quicker to let Kenzie show them where this tracker was. He'd been surprised when Mac had said yes without much of an argument, maybe he too was curious as to how good Kenzie actually was at this stuff. Flack had only ever heard her statement on the subject, without much detail that he had understood, since car crime was not his forte.
"So high end cars were first choice?'' Flack asked as he tapped the pen against the paper on the desk.
"Yeah.'' Kenzie answered, playing with the label on the bottle of water in front of her.
"High end tend to be more sophisticated with their alarm systems, there's easier options out there, way easier.''
"Higher price tag, you can get thousands, anyone can steal some old banger, lessens the value. The better the car, the higher the return. Not that I saw any of it.''
"So this model has been out what? Four weeks at best, and they've already figured it out?'' Flack asked.
"Usually its about a week, depending on how long it takes to get the designs, you find the designs work out what type and where the system is, and technically you're away.'' Kenzie said quietly as Mac passed her some gloves. "Brand new make and model, shifting it quietly would take some doing if you didn't have connections.'' She was studying the designs from over Flack's arm. "Could be part of an order though.''
"Order?'' Flack shot her a look, "you mean like 'Gone in 60 Seconds' movie kinda order.''
"I guess yeah, whatever 'Gone in 60 Seconds' is,'' Kenzie answered, taking a seat on one of the wheeled boards to gain access under the car as Danny did the same, disappearing under the silver car so only their legs and feet were visible.
"You've never seen it?'' Flack asked a pair of feet, "Where the hell you been for the past couple of years?'' There was a few seconds pause as Flack realised that he knew where she'd been, stealing cars and being a punch bag, not sitting in the movies. He gave an uncomfortable cough as Danny and Kenzie began to argue from under the car.
"It's up there.''
"How do you know that?''
"Cause I can read plans, and it's in the same place as the SLK model.''
"You expect me to get to that?''
"Well if you didn't have a fat arm you could.''
"My arm is not fat.''
"Look at it, looks like a sumo wrestlers arm.''
"I do not look like a sumo.''
"Never said you look like a sumo, just your fat arm.''
"Its muscle, not fat.''
"Keep telling yourself that.''
"Will you two quit it?'' Mac asked, as the pair fell quiet again with only a few sounds of Danny and Kenzie obviously hitting each other from under the car. "I can hear that.'' Flack noticed he gave him a small smile at this. He was getting the feeling that the presence of Kenzie was beginning to soften Mac, he had to admit that it was nice to have him back; the hurt of Peyton leaving him had caused an even bigger wall around him than had previously been there. "You got anything yet?'' He asked, as the legs disappeared further under the car.
"No, there's something in the way.'' A mumble that sounded like Kenzie.
"Danny, can you get it?'' Mac asked.
"Hang on, wait…'' Kenzie answered as Flack heard a few clinks of metal, "what the…'' As a thud echoed from under the car, followed by an ear piercing scream that seemed to fill the whole garage, with Danny's yells being mixed in with it, as Mac and Flack jumped into action each grabbing a pair of legs and pulling them from under the car. Flack pulling Danny up has he wiped the side of his face, and started to pace around the car, trying to walk off the shock of whatever had happened, as Mac was already pulling Kenzie into a hug as she started to shake and continued to scream at the top of her lungs. Flack flattened himself to the floor searching for the object that had caused the commotion.