Chapter 28 Standoffs
The BAU and the other team representatives, sit in the meeting room of the Sheriff's office with Garcia and Abby on the line with them.
Felix gives details from his report on what the CIA has on the disappearance and death of agent McDonald and her partner in 2004. "It was declared a crime of passion and closed according to the agents that investigated with the FBI. It did not seem to fit this situation at all."
Hetty calls her contact in the CIA, Jack ward and he agrees with Felix's information. "The CIA had nothing on the Russian twins and Weisen. They have documents on them, but they did not even known that they were residing in the U.S. They were seen last in Europe in the 1970's." Hetty adds.
"It seems likely that these two former KGB agents were responsible for the death of the CIA agents in 2004, along with Janice and Lara, and the Potts brothers." Hotchner says as he shakes his head.
"We still have no idea why they were here and why they committed the murders they did?" Reid says.
"Do you think the British agents will come in for questioning?" Prentiss asks.
"I trust Ducky to keep them inline but they will not cooperate. When have we ever known another agency to cooperate with us from the start. Ducky has his medical bag and will conduct a preliminary report on the bodies at the Sheriff's cabin" Gibbs adds.
"DiNozzo manage to find the radio and give you an update?" Fornell asks.
Abby can be heard over the comm. Yes...Tony and the others are in Gibbs car which we have eyes on. They took Carol-Ann to a neighbours and they are taking her into hospital for a check over. They lost their cell phones and guns to those crooked cops, but there are supplies in the trunk...if that is Gibbs' car.
"Yes they have supplies." Gibbs smirks.
"Reid, you Prentiss and McGee go north of the cabin and meet with the coroners. The FBI coroner trucks are on the way for the bodies that DiNozzo says the Brits left behind. It would be great if you could help coordinate agent Fornell?" Hotchner asks.
"I will. Hey, Hetty are you up for another adventure?"
"Might as well. They don't need my help here any longer. Maybe we can discover the mystery item buried in the woods."
"That would be fantastic...show up all the others who have tried and failed. That Bond said he thought it had been moved. They didn't have time to move it far if it was Potts, although he denies it." McGee adds.
"I don't think he's lying about not knowing, but one of his men may have moved it and not said anything. But unfortunately they are all now dead because of the MI6 agents." Reid adds.
"I'm going to meet up with DiNozzo and look for the three missing sons." Gibbs says.
"I will join you Gibbs." Hotchner says and then moves to shake Felix's hand. "Agent Leiter, thank you for bringing this to us."
"Glad to help. I've got to get back now anyway." Felix pulls Hotchner and Gibbs aside while the others head out to accomplish their tasks. "I have to warn you that Bond will not cooperate well at the best of times, but with M here as his primary concern, you will not see them again. Your doctor Mallard will come as close as anyone has ever managed to interviewing M."
"So what you're trying to say, is not to even try to speak with them? We've been hearing this from many sources. That we should be wary of MI6 and let them be, but we still have to try. We owe it to the victim's families to find the truth." Hotchner says with a frown.
"I understand that, but just be careful and don't push him too hard. Bond's bite is as bad or worse than M's bark." Felix shakes their hands and leaves, dialing his phone as he exits the building. Bond answers.
"James...if you want to get that lovely boss of your's out of the country before the FBI holds her for questioning you had better hurry."
/*****\
DiNozzo heads north after contacting Gibbs by radio. The three of them watching carefully for sign of the three younger men involved in all of this. They drive up to the cabins where they were kept earlier and see a SUV.
"Gibbs...you read me?"
Yeah...DiNozzo...what's up?
"Are all the police SUV's accounted for because there is one at the cabin where they held us?"
On our way. Don't let them leave.
"Ok." DiNozzo looks to Morgan and Rossi as he parks and they get out and open the trunk. They are limited to shotguns but do find flack jackets.
"How are we doing this?"
Morgan looks at the front of the cabin. "I will go around to the window we escaped through and you two take the front."
"Element of surprise." Rossi says. Morgan heads into the trees to round the building and Rossi and DiNozzo sneak up to the door.
DiNozzo takes the doorknob and nods to Rossi as he readies himself…
The door flies open as the two agents rush in. One of the deputies, Jones pulls his gun as another suddenly throws a duffel bag towards DiNozzo and Rossi. This throws them off balance as the two deputies get the drop on them.
However, Morgan closes in from back room. "Freeze!"
Deputy Thomas is standing further back in the room and he rushes Morgan knocking him to the ground and grabbing the cumbersome shotgun from his hand.
"Out now. Jones screams as the younger Thomas collects his duffel and follows his brother as he rushes out the door. Jones follows shooting the tires of their car as they jump into the SUV.
They take off, in a desperate hurry. Gibbs and Hotchner drive up the road and around the corner, stopping as they see their three men stumble out of the cabin door.
Rossi, Morgan and DiNozzo run towards their car as Gibbs stands in the open door with a questioning look on his face.
"You lost them?"
DiNozzo nods…"the SUV did you see it?"
"Just the dust." Gibbs says as the three jump in and they take off after them.
Garcia we need to follow the three rushing away, and they have the advantage of knowing the area well. They are headed north on the road from the cabin where Rossi, DiNozzo and Morgan were kept."
Prentiss is to the north...won't they crash into her?
"Let her know Garcia." Hotchner says. "We are on the way!"
/****\
After passing the cabins the dirt road begins to whined away from the river where it turns to swamp. As they drive to meet the coroners, the road turns away from the river to round a hill. The road then turns to skirt the ravine where the British tech experts say that Bond and Hart fought off Potts' men.
They park the cars along the hill side of the road and place some cones around the car to indicate to the FBI that is on route.
Tim and Emily stand on the embankment looking down with Fornell and Hetty, as they look down on several bodies strewn about.
"Garcia says that the bad guys are on the loose and off to places unknown. We are to keep our eyes peeled for them." Prentiss tells the others as McGee begins taking pictures of all the bodies and an umbrella riddled with bullet holes.
Fornell helps Hetty down and she examines the umbrella with interest, taking photos of it for herself.
"What was that used for?" Fornell asks.
"I believe it was a shield of some sort. The British agents must have had it and I dare say it saved their lives." Hetty adds.
Reid looks at it critically. "I think it shot something from the tip also."
The see FBI vans arriving. "I will go deal with them." Fornell says as he nods to Hetty and the others.
"These men were killed from whoever was down here in the depression, but the two up here were shot from the road." Prentiss observes.
"Yes, but this one shot from above, was distracted so that someone could dispatch him from behind." Hetty adds.
"Felix said he took out two when he came across the situation, after he took Potts prisoner." Reid adds.
"Hey...look at this!" Tim yells for them from the bottom of the impression in the woods."
Hetty and Prentiss make their way further down the rise, to join him at the bottom.
"A fresh hole in the dirt. It doesn't look like they found anything." Hetty says.
"No...the shovel and duffel are still here. They did know where to look, there are no test digs anywhere." Prentiss adds.
Tim is off wandering the area taking photos as Fornell and the two coroners and four assistants begin making their way down.
"Get enough evidence to pin this securely on Potts and the Sheriff?" Fornell inquires.
"Yes, I think so, but whatever they were looking for was gone when they got here which I believe leads to even more questions." Prentiss says.
"I do love a good mystery." Hetty says to Reid as she clasps her hands.
Above the rise, the road is blocked by the FBI vans. The team can see a large speeding SUV makes its way around the corner above, but it comes to a slamming halt. The vans are too close together and there is no way for them to get through or around because of the ravine to one side and the hill on the other.
"That must be our escapees." Fornell says as he runs up the rise followed by Prentiss, Reid and McGee. Hetty remains below with the medical personnel.
The three men hop out of the SUV, screaming at them to move the coroner's van with guns drawn.
Fornell reaches the top of the rise, just as shooting begins. The two agents left with the FBI vehicles, take cover behind them, as one of the deputies makes his way around to try to get in the vehicle blocking them to move it. Fornell and Prentiss pin him down from their side, as a car comes whipping around the corner behind the SUV blocking them in further.
Gibbs, Hotchner, DiNozzo, Rossi and Morgan spill out and yell for them to stand down. They really have no chance. They are surrounded with no way to escape, however, desperation makes for stupidity at the best of times, and Deputy Thomas starts the FBI truck and begins to drive it straight towards Gibbs and company.
They all open fire. Raining bullets smash the windshield of the van, as the other suspects standing in the open doors of the SUV begin to shoot. The younger Kevin Thomas aims towards Hotchner and Gibbs while Jones shoots towards Prentiss and Fornell as duck below the rise.
Gibbs hits the driver and he veers off into the opposite ditch, as Fronell hits the young man closest to him in the leg. Unfortunately, it is just as someone from Gibbs' direction takes him in the chest and he falls towards the ground.
Prentiss and Reid stop shooting, realizing that this is quickly becoming a kamikaze mission for these three. It may be circumstantial, but these three really do not want to be taken alive for questioning.
"Hold your fire!" Hotchner yells and everyone obeys but the last deputy. Jones stands with his gun gripped tightly in his hands as he scans the area as if deciding what to do...his brother's in arms are dead, and by now he must realize that his father is dead, and or captured.
They can see the hesitation in the man's posture, as they move towards him. He looks at his fallen friends; then a flash of anger on his face.
Gibbs has seen that look before and shoots him in the head, just before he is able to pull the trigger in the direction of Hotchner.
A calm silence washes over the crowd of them. For a few moments no one moves.
Fornell is the first to the SUV as he kicks the gun away from the fallen Thomas and leans down to check for a pulse. The coroners are up over the rise and move towards the stolen van to check the driver Gavin Thomas.
The doctors pull the man out and begin working on him. They do this for a few minutes and stop. Leaning back, one of the coroners says…"too much blood lost." He shakes his head at Hotchner and Gibbs.
"What is it about this case that there is no one left to answer for these crimes?" Prentiss exclaims.
"I don't know." Gibbs adds with a frown as the rest of team gathers on the dirt road.
"Dead men tell no tales." DiNozzo adds as the lot of them look at the path of death and destruction around them.
"It's almost a cult like mentality. They were probably ordered by their fathers not to give themselves up, if they could not escape." Reid states.
"Yes, so we now only have Potts and Carol-Ann to question. Maybe she can tell us something new that we don't know or was doled out to us by the British agents." Rossi says as he shakes his head.
"McGee, Prentiss and Fornell can you stay here with the teams to load the bodies, while we go question Carol-Ann." Hotchner asks.
They all agree, as Gibbs and McGee help Hetty up from the depression where the first shoot out occurred.
"One thing is for certain, whoever claimed that artifact knew exactly where it was. MI6 and Kingsman agents knew exactly where to collect it for their government." Hetty adds.
"So that means...what?" DiNozzo asks confused.
"It means my dear Tony that the mystery is still afoot and that our missing Lieutenant is not so dead or missing after all." Hetty says, as the realization she just presented them becomes clear to all.
/*****\
Hotchner, Gibbs, Rossi and Dr. Reid enter the hospital room an hour later. Carol-Ann is sitting up in bed watching some television.
"Hello Carol-Ann. How are you feeling?" Rossi asks.
"Better thanks. I have a bump on my head and a real dry mouth from the drugs but not bad considerin'."
"You saw who took you?"
"No...the car came out from nowhere and smashed into me. I was dazed and then I woke up in a cabin tied to a bed. I wondered what in God's green earth they would want an old doll like me for? I only saw Frank later on and then I got worried. The entire county knows what that one is like...just like his damn brothers. They told me that you got him."
"Yes we did, and he will be going away for the rest of his life I assure you." Hotchner says.
"Good. Why did they do this?"
"As near as I can tell it was someone in the diner when you told me about proof, a letter or something to one of the dead girls, Lara to her grandparents."
"Yes and I had it...in my purse. No one found it did they?"
Gibbs frowns and goes to out into the hall. He calls Abby and Garcia to have all the cleared officers and agents look for Carol-Ann's purse.
To be continued...
