A big thank you to everyone who wrote reviews yesterday. I have a problem though. I am receiving your reviews but now I can't respond. When I try to respond, I get a message on the FanFiction page telling me the review cannot be found! So, until something changes or I figure out what is wrong, I can't reply to your comments. So sorry. It is pretty frustrating because I have things I wanted to say in return! For example - no, this has absolutely nothing to do with Visualize; yes, it would pretty darned hard if not impossible to hypnotize Jane but you could drug him into submission and mess with his mind; no, Michael has no idea who Jane is, such is his conceit; yes the McCalls are good people (FiascoWay, why did the name McCall give you pause - is there someone famous named Dianna McCall out there?); yup, Michael doesn't have a clue what is coming his way!

Ok, last chapter for a while. Talk to you soon...

The Messenger

Chapter 14

De Luca Exposed

The SUV pulled into the FBI parking garage with Cho, Lisbon and a very much more subdued Calvin inside. Abbott had been brought up to speed and Wylie was checking Google Earth for any large structures out in the desert that could possibly be Refuge Ranch. So far, he had found nothing suitable.

Two guards brought Calvin upstairs to an interrogation room while Cho and Lisbon went through to the bullpen to check up on Wylie and the other team's progress. A few other agents out in the field today had also heard stories of a man matching Calvin's description, moving from place to place, chatting up vulnerable people with tales of a wonderful place out in the desert. So far no one had heard of anyone actually taking Calvin up on his offer to drive them there. No one but Evie, and now, maybe Walter Carruthers if he had gotten messed up with that strange group. Time would tell if anything linked his disappearance directly to Michael.

Abbott came out to meet Cho and Lisbon, careful to gauge how she was handling the stress of Jane's disappearance. He was relieved to see that her anger and determination to find Michael was keeping her anxiety at a safe level.

"Ready to grill Calvin?" Abbott asked his agents. Lisbon decided to step out and watch the questioning, as she was tired and frustrated. Better for now to let Abbott go at him, fresh and intimidating. Cho had sent Calvin's fingerprints to Wylie to run while they made their way into Austin. That would tell the FBI just who this guy was. Cho would tag team Abbott and brow beat the man until he confessed everything he knew. Wylie had run a background check on Calvin and found a long rap sheet on him. He had prior arrests for theft, extortion, fraud, drug possession, intimidation and coercion. Looking at the man sitting in the glass room dressed in boring khaki pants, large white sneakers and an old-fashioned short sleeved shirt, it was hard to imagine him being aggressive enough to fit those crimes. Wylie handed Cho and Abbott the information on Calvin which they perused as they made their way over to the interrogation room. Lisbon was already perched on a chair reading the same report in the observation room next door. She had a clear view of Calvin and relished seeing his smug expression change to one of self-preservation as his options dwindled.

Abbott entered the room followed by Cho. Both sat down and put the report of Calvin's previous crimes on the table.

"So… Calvin De Luca. Born in Detroit Michigan of immigrant parents. In and out of trouble with the law all through school, ran with a local gang until you figured out how to make more money on your own. Hooked up with Carmine Bello and Frankie Costa. Took orders from them until you went behind their backs on a big gambling score and lost badly" said Abbott, reading from the page. He looked up at Calvin and shook his head.

"It's not smart to try to outplay the boss man Calvin" he said, staring over the rim of his glasses. Calvin just huffed his disdain for the reading of his crimes and looked disinterested in the proceedings.

"You lost a lot of money that didn't belong to you in that game. Money that Bello and Costa wanted back with interest." Abbott sat back and folded his hands across his stomach.

"So why are you still alive Calvin? Did someone bail you out for a price?"

Calvin fidgeted with his fingernails and said nothing, as if silence would do him any good in the presence of the FBI. Lisbon was smiling behind the mirror watching the show go down.

"Carmine and Frankie got their money. I told them I'd repay them and I did, so no cement shoes for me, OK?" Calvin said with a smile, not worried in the least. This was small potatoes, these were stupid agents apparently.

"So your debt was paid, but now you belong to someone else. Someone who controls you, tells you where to live, where to go, what to do and how to dress" said Cho, eyeing the sad-sack outfit the man wore. With a smirk, he continued.

"Nice duds Calvin."

Calvin's face flushed red, his vanity assaulted but he knew Cho was right. He did look like a nerd and it was all due to Michael.

Leaning forward, Cho closed the file and studied Calvin closely.

"You must be pretty heavily indebted to Michael to be willing to put up with looking like that and trolling the back roads of Texas on his command. How's being a schmuck working out for you?"

Calvin's chin stuck out when those words stung him. They knew about Michael and it wasn't working out at all, and he honestly saw no end in sight. Michael would never set him free. He would always be a schmuck driving around convincing people to run away with him to find Heaven in the desert. He was a schmuck.

"Michael who?" was all he could come up with. Lisbon laughed quietly to herself.

"Evie McCall. Remember her? Evangeline McCall, nursing student and now disciple of your buddy Michael. She's one of the people you delivered to him. You coerced her brother and mother to work in the diner just to provide a spot for you to find more people to sacrifice to Michael and his merry band" said Cho, holding out a photo of the young woman.

Calvin shook his head. "Never seen her. Never."

Abbott held out another photo. "And what about this man?" he said, displaying the photo of Walter Carruthers. Calvin glanced at it and shoved it away. "I don't know either of these people" he said diffidently. Lisbon studied his face and knew he was lying. Jane had taught her what to watch for and this guy was almost writing a confession with his face.

"Can't remember Carruthers? Well how about this man?" said Abbott, producing a photo of Jane. "We know you met with him at the diner last night, warned him to avoid flash floods during the storm and watch for roadblocks. Roadblocks that you made sure were in place on the only road that was actually safe for Jane to take back to Austin. Instead you steered him directly to the back road that was sure to flood. Then all you had to do was wait until he lost control of his car and he was trapped. Michael's goons could take over from there. Sound about right Calvin?" Abbott was just guessing now, hoping that his assumptions about Jane being taken by others working for Michael was a possibility.

Calvin shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his handcuffs chafing his wrists. It had been a while since he had found himself in cuffs. He still hated it.

"I never met the man. It's all bullshit. Who told you that crap?" Calvin said with some worry creeping into his tone.

'You know who told us Calvin. You messed up. You got too smug and screwed it all up. Richard and Dianna saw you talk to Mr. Jane and were more than glad to help us with their testimony. They want their daughter to come back home."

"Those two crazies? Have you seen the diner? Only crazy people would run a place like that. You gotta do better than that" said Calvin, turning sideways in his seat to indicate the conversation was over.

"So Richard and Dianna McCall didn't see you speaking with Mr. Jane in their diner?" asked Cho.

"That's what I'm tryin' to tell you. They're backwoods hillbillies who wouldn't know their own asses from a hole in the ground, capisci ?"

"We understand. More than you know Calvin. If the McCalls didn't see you in their diner last night, then they won't be able to pick you out of a lineup tomorrow. Capisci?" said Cho in return.

"Oh I ain't saying I didn't go there once in awhile, I just wasn't there last night" said Calvin, covering his butt as well as he could.

"You know Calvin... you made one very big mistake when you directed Mr. Jane to a road that would flood in a storm. You didn't figure that the FBI would come after you" said Abbott. "Aren't you wondering just about now why we are so interested in him?"

Calvin looked from Abbott to Cho and back to Abbott again. Yeah… what was so special about some guy missing in the desert. Why this guy?

"Well let me give you a bit of information that neither you nor Michael are probably aware of. You see, this guy…" Abbott pointed to Jane's photo, "is one of us. He works for the FBI. This is his office, I'm his boss and we don't give up. Ever. When someone tells us that they saw you talk to our man just before he disappeared, we sit up and listen. We chew on that bone of information and we eat it until there's nothing left. So if you think you can "aw shucks" your way out of this mess you're in, you are very much mistaken...Calvin. Do you want to go down for kidnapping an FBI agent? Is that what you're willing to do for Michael?" Abbott said to Calvin softly.

"If you are then you're a bigger fool than I thought."

Time to make Calvin sweat. Cho and Abbott gathered up their reports and stood up. Before leaving, Cho had one more comment to make.

"Our forensic guys are out in the desert right now, at the base of the hill where we think Jane's car went over the side of the road and crashed. We already found his license plate. When we find the rest of the evidence proving you engineered his getting caught in a flash flood and his death or kidnapping, we'll be coming back with questions you won't like."

"Either way, enjoy prison" said Cho and they both left a shaken Calvin sitting alone in the interrogation room, digesting their bombshell.

'Holy shit, an FBI agent!' was his only thought. He hoped to God Michael knew about Jane's FBI status and took care of this problem or both of their lives would soon be worthless.

Abbott stalked out of the interrogation room and met up with Lisbon as she returned to the bullpen. Cho was talking to someone on his cell and judging from his facial expression, something important had happened.

"Nice work in there Dennis" Lisbon said. "Way to make him squirm."

"I do what I can" he smiled.

"He was lying through his teeth" suggested Lisbon. "He knows a lot more than he's saying."

Cho rejoined them and spoke up. "He's lying all right. Forensics just got back. They did a large grid search of the area at the top of the hill and below the spot where Jane probably went over in his car."

Upon hearing Cho say this with so much certainty was a small dagger in Lisbon's heart. Gathering herself up for what he was about to say next, she made her face as unreadable as possible.

"The wire running along the edge of the highway had black paint embedded in it that is a match for the paint on our FBI SUV's. The grid search below was successful in finding more pieces of the car. A windshield wiper was found, along with part of a broken side mirror, tools from a tool box and Jane's FBI ID tag. It was tangled up in brush and mud about 20 feet where the car slammed into the ground. There is an impact zone that showed up more as the mud dried."

Cho turned to Lisbon, and looked at her with sympathy. "I'm sorry Lisbon. He did get swept away in the flash flood."

Now that she had no other option than to believe it had really happened, a tear slid down her cheek which she rapidly wiped away. Abbott put his hand on her arm and suggested she go and grab a coffee, process everything that had happened and then go home. At that suggestion, she resolutely refused.

"I'm fine Dennis. This is the information we needed. Someone not only took Jane, they got rid of the car as well. This was a well coordinated effort. Calvin over there" she said, pointing to the room where the man still sat " is just an enabler. The man we need to find is Michael."

Turning towards the kitchen to get that much needed coffee, she called back over her shoulder.

"Find Michael and you'll find Jane! And don't let Calvin go downstairs to get processed. I'm going to talk to him next!" she said with finality. Cho and Abbott turned to see her stomp off and grinned. This is the Lisbon who would deal best with Jane's disappearance. Cho smiled at Abbott and headed to the coffee room himself.

"Might as well get prepared for round two!" he said with enthusiasm.

(Refuge Ranch)

Jane left Michael's office and let his tense shoulders relax. That had been a close call. He hoped Michael bought his act and thought he was just lost. He took a painful step or two and then heard the door at the end of the hall open. Looking up Jane saw Martha walk purposefully towards him. Putting on his brightest smile, Jane waited for her but was surprised when she ignored him and kept walking straight to Michael's office door. A quick tap of her knuckle on the door gave her access to his sanctum. Confused now, Jane turned at the sound of the door opening again. His smile fell off his face as he saw the two men in black suits heading his way, their faces a mask of service to The Messenger. Jane involuntarily took a step backwards but they quickly advanced and grasped him by the upper arms and pulled him away with them, not letting him keep ahold of his crutches. Eventually they dropped with a clatter to the floor and he hopped and hobbled along with the men in a painful march back to the main courtyard, and then the hospital.

Jane was in their grip until he reached his room. Only then did the men let him go and left him leaning against his bed, daggers of pain roiling up his leg and into the pit of his stomach. With shaky hands he turned back his covers and almost fell into the bed. Surprised at how bad he felt, he had to remind himself that this time last night he was dangling upside down in a flooded car. By that standard, he wasn't doing so badly after all. Soon after he got himself settled, the door opened and a young nurse came in holding a tray loaded with food. Setting it down on his table, the nurse smiled and gave Jane his instructions.

"Michael says you looked tired after your walk today and wants you to eat every bit of your meal tonight. We want you to be well as soon as possible!" she said with an innocent smile.

"Yes we do…" muttered Jane, eyeing the delicious repast with suspicion and regret. He was hungry. It had been hours since lunch and his strange afternoon. The food was surely drugged, the drinks too. The nurse lingered, waiting to see him begin to eat. Jane pulled the table over and across his bed and uncovered each dish.

"Looks wonderful! My compliments to the folks in the kitchen!" he said. The nurse started to walk towards the door but kept her eye on Jane. Taking his fork in his hand, he dug into the first thing he saw on his plate and put a large forkful into his mouth.

"Mmmm… so good" he mumbled, chewing vigorously. The nurse grinned and finally left, pleased he was being so cooperative. Jane immediately spat the food out onto his plate and pushed the table away. Too bad. The food was very good. He edged himself over to the side of the bed and stood up, pushing his tray table ahead of himself to use for balance. When he was all the way across the room he hopped over to open the bathroom door. Plate by plate, he gradually disposed of the food into the toilet, flushing often, until only a couple of store-bought cookies remained. Those he kept and then filled his cup up with tap water. He hopped back to his bed pushing the table back into place with the now empty bowls, plates and cups sitting on the tray to be found by his nurse later. He slowly savoured the dry cookies and drank his water, the only trustworthy food he would get tonight. Fortunately, his mind would continue to get clearer and clearer with each passing hour as the drugs from lunch left his system. He intended to use that time to figure out how to get home, back to safety and his Teresa.

(FBI Austin)

Cho held the door open to let Lisbon enter the interrogation room first. Calvin looked up and stared into her beautiful face with disappointment. He was hoping they were done with him today and he could stretch out on a bunk in a cell somewhere. He knew the drill.

Once seated, Lisbon sat still for a while, staring at Calvin and gathering her thoughts.

"As you know Calvin, we'll have a lineup tomorrow to see if witnesses can identify you as being in the diner the night Mr. Jane disappeared."

"Won't do you any good, like I told your buddy here" Calvin said, nodding at Cho. "I been in that diner lots of times, just not that night. So what if they know me?"

Lisbon opened a file folder and pulled out some photographs. One was of Jane's FBI ID badge, muddied and bent. The others were photos of a lemonade bottle, a license plate, a broken mirror, plus a windshield wiper.

"These came off Mr. Jane's car. The car he was driving the night he stopped at the diner and bought a bottle of lemonade and a bag of potato chips" she continued.

"So?" said Calvin with a sneer. "What's a bottle got to do with me?"

"That bottle came from Dianna McCall's diner. She sold it to Jane while you sat on a stool right in front of her. You advised Mr. Jane to avoid washed out roads and then you called someone to place a barricade across the road to Austin when to Jane left. He had no choice but to take the wrong road and was then swept away in a flash flood."

Calvin smiled at Lisbon and leaned back in his chair.

"You got nothing on me. Like I told Sumo over here" he said, pointing at Cho "I had nothing to do with it!"

"That's interesting, because we pinged your cellphone off the local towers out there and found that you made two calls last night during the storm. One right after Mr. Jane left the diner and another one 30 minutes later, most likely to call a cleanup squad to find Jane and dispose of his vehicle. The first call was witnessed by the McCalls, and the next call was placed at the scene of the accident. Cell phone towers don't lie Mr. De Luca" Lisbon said.

Calvin looked from Lisbon to Cho and back again. A tiny bead of sweat rolled down his chin as he contemplated his next move.

"It's all circumstantial. You got nothing!" he said again, having nothing else to offer up in the way of an excuse for the phone evidence.

"Now we know that you were just the point man" said Lisbon continuing as if Calvin hadn't said anything. "It was your job to find people and lure them into Michael's cult. When Jane went over the cliff last night you had to call someone to come out in the storm and find the car, and take Jane out to the Ranch."

"What we want to know is, where is the Ranch?" interjected Cho. "We know you took Evie McCall out there, at least twice. Give us the location of Refuge Ranch and we'll see if the DA can cut a deal for you, lighten your sentence by a few years. Kidnapping could get you a lifetime in prison Calvin. Consider your options carefully."

Calvin looked at Cho and swallowed hard. The more these two agents talked, the more they revealed just how much they knew about Michael's operation. The McCalls would definitely pick him out of a lineup tomorrow and a lie detector test would reveal that they were telling the truth and he was lying. He had never figured out to fool one of those Goddammed things. More sweat gathered across his forehead and he wiped it off with the back of his hand. Maybe if he helped these agents he could get out from under Michael's yoke, finally. Cut a deal, serve a bit of time as an accessory to kidnapping… better that taking the whole hit for Michael's crimes…

"Ok. Ok. Look, I didn't kidnap anybody OK? I just told that McCall girl about Michael and she went willingly. She wanted a new life of service and I just helped her to find it. And… and I never drove her out there! Michael didn't trust me to know where he was located. Sometimes we would meet up in Austin, but he never did tell me where he went to when he went back into the desert."

"So who picked up Evie and Mr. Jane?" asked Lisbon.

"Look, I make a call and two guys show up. Dressed in black business suits, they picked up Evie at a point in the desert then I turned around and came back to my route. The same guys came out in the storm last night and found your agent. I directed them to the wreck and watched them take him outta the car. They put him into a jeep and took off in the night. Some time later they came back with a tow truck and got rid of the car. That's the God's honest truth! I swear it!" he said, his story spilling out of him in a rush.

"Was Mr. Jane alive when he was taken away?" Lisbon asked. She had to.

"I dunno. He sure as hell wasn't awake. They carried him off like a rag doll. Made their job easier I guess" Calvin said with a smile, which then fell off his face when he got a stony look from Lisbon.

"So you only make contact with the two men and they take over?" said Cho, making notes. "I want their number. Any lies and whatever deal the DA could have made will be off the table" warned Cho.

Calvin nodded 'yes' and gave Cho the number to call. At a signal, two guards entered the room and escorted Calvin away to a cell downstairs.

Cho turned to Lisbon and smiled tightly.

"We've got him Lisbon. We've got Michael. Wylie can either find the ranch via satellite or we arrange a meet up with the two suit guys and go out there ourselves."

Lisbon smiled and followed Cho out of the room. Knowing that she would soon learn Jane's fate both thrilled and frightened her, but for now, the idea that they could soon be on their way to Refuge Ranch filled her with hope.