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[Chapter 13]
"You okay?" Cho asked as he climbed out of Bailey's car.
"Yeah, I'm fine. My own stupidity, just landed a little funny. I lost Jane. Need to find him." Rigsby pushed the note, now in an evidence bag, into Cho's hands and continued to limp towards his car with determination. "404, in the bathroom."
Once in his car, he reached under the driver's seat and pulled his laptop. He put in a few keystrokes and laughed.
"Yes! Thank you GPS."
Jane had his phone in his pocket and was a few blocks down heading westward.
Rigsby threw the car in reverse and backed out of the parking space. He spotted Lisbon who had just arrived at the scene. She had just gotten out of her car when he pulled up next to her.
"Boss get in," Rigsby flung the passenger door open. "I lost him, but I got a GPS fix."
Rigsby absently rubbed his throbbing knee as he sped down the street. The lights and sirens were off. He didn't want to spook Jane, but if Red John was involved, he wanted to find him quickly.
"What happen?" Lisbon asked. She watched her agent . Judging from the look on his face, this would not be good at all. The week's events were beginning to take their toll. The mole, the mall, the bullets, jail, court, were wearing her thin. She learned a long time ago to roll with the punches, but the beating was getting a little hard to take.
"Cho and I decided to have an Jane got out of jail party. I got to his apartment and I found Jane in the bathroom. He was a little freaked out there was- wait, there he is!"
It reminded Lisbon of one of those old zombie movies. Jane shuffled along the street without his shoes. His hair was out of place, his dress shirt was half tucked in, and his pants were soiled with dirt and grass. He stared out into the distance, and continued on to an unknown destination. Wandering. Lost.
Lisbon hopped out of the car and grabbed his arm to stop his gait. He stared blankly past her, no recognition in his eyes.
"Look at me," she ordered.
Jane tried to pull away, but Lisbon refused to let go. There was a crowd forming around them. They had stopped in front of a laundry mat, with bored people, who wanted to see what the commotion was.
Curious murmurs rippled through the crowd that formed around him.
"Its the consultant guy..."
"It figures he's out. If I shot someone at the mall I'd be locked up..."
"He killed that guy..."
"Call channel 13. I wanna be on tv..."
"The CGI dude. Isn't he dangerous?"
"Didn't he use to be psychic?"
"Jane look at me." Lisbon grabbed his face and their eyes locked. She ignored the gathering. They were unimportant. Her agent would handle that.
Lisbon tried to grab his arm as his knees buckled. They both unceremoniously fell to the ground. She pulled her arm out of the sling and tossed it aside.
"You're okay. I'm right here."
Lisbon grabbed both of Jane's shoulders and tried to get get his attention.
"Jane! Look at me."
Jane broke away from Lisbon's grip and began to rock back and forth.
"Jane! Look at me! Your going into shock. Call an ambulance!"
His breathing shallow and his eyes were dilated.
"Jane, you need to focus. I need you here. Your going into shock. Jane! Rigsby forget the crowd, find where that ambulance is."
The darkness crept in. It's long fingers grabbed and clawed and choked the light from the partly cloudy sky. It was never sunny here, not anymore. He was used to that. He killed the sun. All that remained were gray skies.
Then the rain came down, first at a steady pace, then came the lightning and the high winds, and before he knew it he was engulfed by a torrential downpour with hurricane force winds. He knew he should seek shelter, wait until the storm passed. The skies would gray again, but the darkness sang a siren song, just past the edge. It called to him with promises of peaceful slumber and he was just so tired. Just one step.
The palace was under fire. The demons were storming. He could see their leader, a terrible being in a red mask, give the order to destroy everything in sight. It was coming from all sides. Surrounded. This was not the first time the palace had been under fire, and it took a while for him to rebuild. Some parts were still not the same.
Surrender. Just one step. It would be all over. No more blood. No more destruction. No more smiley faces.
He had surrendered to the darkness before. It took him a while to climb out from the abyss, and he didn't know if he had the conviction to do it a second time. He was just so tired.
From the distance there was an authoritative yell. The angry, armed princess (minus the tiara), beckoned for him. Step away from the ledge, she commanded. Step away from the ledge before he fell. She would protect him from danger. She tried to usher him away to safety, away to more stable ground. She grabbed for him, but he was just out of her reach. Her loyal rottweiler stood next to her pacing anxiously, a worried look on his face. The dog had also made several attempts to reel him in, but had not succeeded.
The princess called out again. Her voice a beacon of light, pierced through the darkness and chased some of the marauders away. She told the dog to call for reinforcements, and chase the intruders out.
The princess walked over to the ledge disregarding her safety. She peered into the darkness that lingered. He feared its tendril would grab for her. The demon was back. He told her to get away, it wasn't safe, but she held her ground.
She grabbed his hand firmly and gently guided him away from the edge.
He reluctantly followed.
He laughed.
Jane's laughter was unnerving and it scared her. It was a humorless, maniacal laugh and he was the only one who got the joke.
"Jane?" Lisbon hesitated. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gently guided him to face her.
"He got me. I was two steps ahead, but he was four... He got me good..."
"Who?" She asked, afraid to know the answer. The look in his eyes scared her. He had the same look he got when they were doing one thing. But it was more raw. Intense. Pure. He was not masking his true emotions.
"That was good. I never expected it."
"Jane, Red John is dead."
"He just wants you to think he's dead."
"Jane."
"He is not dead."
"Jane, Red John is gone."
"He's not dead!" Jane snapped. "That was good. Have me think Finkle was him. Next time I have to make sure, before I kill him. You guys aren't going to find any useable evidence in my motel room..."
"Evidence?"
"He's a cunning bastard, I got to wait next time have forensic evidence tell me that he is who he says he is. I'm sure I can't read him. He's a sociopath..."
Lisbon's phone went off in her pocket. She looked down it was an urgent message from Cho. It read-
Boss, you need to come down to Jane's now.
There were a couple of pictures attached. One was the smiley face on the mirror and was of the bathroom as a whole.
"Had Finkle tell me about my wife, and the shampoo... Do you think I could shoot him after the trial?"
She stared at him in disbelief. After all that's happened he would go through with his original plan of revenge. She would join Cho at the crime scene later. Right now she wanted to make sure Jane was okay. Lisbon text Cho of their situation, and he replied that he would take care of things.
"I would have to get a gun through the metal detectors. Plastic or ceramic is the way to go."
"Jane!"
Jane snapped back to reality. He looked momentarily confused.
Lisbon watched him carefully, trying to gauge his mental state.
"I'm okay. I'm not going to shoot him." He told them. Jane smiled and she didn't believe.
Lisbon glanced over to Rigsby who seemed to be favoring one leg over the other. He managed to keep the crowd at bay with the help of couple of local LEOs. He walked over when he noticed Lisbon looking at him.
"I'm taking you both to the hospital." Lisbon said as she stood up.
"I'm fine." Rigsby assured her. "I'll walk it off. Really, I'm fine."
"So am I. Just a bit out of sorts," Jane said. "I'm okay now."
She could see the wheel in his head turn. He was already plotting and planing. His sole purpose was given back to him and it was a like a fire was lit under him.
"Your hand." Lisbon pointed.
"Just a scratch," Jane flexed his hand for good measure. He tried not to wince in pain.
"You're bleeding, boss," Rigsby pointed out.
"Damn, I must have popped a stitch," Lisbon said.
"Sorry," Jane whispered.
"I guess it's a group trip to the hospital?" Rigsby joked.
"Can we swing back to the hotel room I wanna grab a beer? I saw a case on the landing. I could really use a drink." Jane said.
"I think I broke most of them when I tripped over the case trying to chase you," Rigsby told them.
"Sorry. I felt a bit closed in and needed some space," Jane explained.
"No, my fault anyway. I put them there. We were trying to have a surprise got out of jail party," Rigsby said.
"That was very kind of all of you," Jane smiled.
"Don't look at me I was passed out on the couch. It was all Rigsby and Cho."
"It was a sweet gesture."
"Let's go. Both of you."
The two men grumbled something incoherently but followed Lisbon to the ambulance.
They were alone in one of the exam rooms. The doctors had finished stitching them up and had taken Rigsby to radiology to x-ray his knee as a precaution.
"I know I screwed up." Jane finally spoke.
"Jane now is not the time," Lisbon said.
"I jumped the gun so to speak. Let my emotions get the best of me. I put all my cards on the table and in the end I still lost. I've only managed to get the captain instead of the general."
"Jane, you inadvertently put a serial killer out of commission. That's got to be worth something."
His plans for vengeance all ruined.
All his years of planning and waiting all for nothing.
His family was still not avenged.
TBC
I hope I'm keeping you guys amused. I know I am. lol.