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Disclaimer: Bruno Heller owns the Mentalist and I make no money writing these stories!

Blood Is Thicker Than Water

Chapter 29 Meet Mr. Packovski

Teresa was on her way back to the hospital when a sharp pain hit her full force. Sarah was driving and was unaware that her companion was in distress. Teresa didn't know what labour felt like and wasn't sure that this was it, so she was not going to get excited, not yet. Maybe it was all the stress of the last week? Little sleep and irregular meals were making Lisbon very tired of late, so maybe that was a contributor to her feeling unwell. A few more miles went by and suddenly Teresa doubled over in pain, this time in full view of Sarah.

"What's wrong? Are you OK?" asked Sarah with concern.

Teresa bit her lip in concentration, and the pain disappeared again. Breaking out in a sweat, she turned to Sarah wide-eyed.

"I'm not sure. I just had two really big pains, one in the front and one in my back. God I hope it isn't labour yet! I still have a few weeks to go!" she said in distress.

"Look, we are on our way to the hospital to see your husband anyway, why not just let a doctor check you out and then you can stop worrying, one way or the other. Then you can relax" suggested the ever cool Sarah.

Lisbon looked worried, not because she was afraid of labour, but she wanted Jane there with her, at her side, to help her and also for him to experience this wonderful moment with her. 'Please not now…' she prayed.

When they arrived at the hospital Sarah guided Teresa into the ER and explained the reason they were there. They were directed to the chairs to wait to be called. Upstairs, Patrick waited patiently for his wife to come back from the other hospital. Their thoughts were always for each other.

XXXXXX

Karil had seen Teresa leave but not return. The other bodyguard, Sarah, also was gone. There was just one guard on Jane's door and he was clearly bored out of his mind. The ICU was as busy as ever, but because Jane was no longer critically ill, the nursing staff had finally stopped coming into his room every 10 minutes. Karil smiled at this alignment of the stars so to speak. This was his first opportunity to get to Jane since he arrived nearly dead days ago. There would be no better time to make his move. Now to get the guard out of the way. Karil poured a cup of tea and a cup of coffee in the staff coffee room, adding a mild sedative to both of them, then he sauntered down the hall and stopped at Jane's door. The guard was well used to seeing "Phil" come and go into the room, so thought nothing of it. Karil entered Jane's room and put the cup of tea on the table in front of his enemy, who was dozing in boredom. He left noisily, making sure Jane would be disturbed at the sound. Once outside, he handed the cup of

coffee to the guard.

"Here, looks like you could use this. Pretty boring job eh?" he said, giving it to the grateful man.

"Yeah, really boring. Sounds so exciting, guarding someone, but after a while it is just the same old same old, day in and day out. Nothing happens and it's boring as hell."

"So have a coffee, maybe the caffeine will help keep you awake!" laughed the kind orderly.

"Thanks man!" said the guard, taking a big swig of the hot liquid. Karil busied himself in the department, keeping an eye on the guard. Within minutes, his eyes started to droop, and he sat down on his chair, valiantly trying to stay awake. Karil watched as the guard slowly started to fade into a deep sleep. Then he walked back to Jane's room and strolled right in, hoping to see the same going on inside.

Patrick had awakened at the sound of someone leaving the room, and was pleasantly surprised to see a nice cup of tea sitting on his table. He was sure that if Teresa had brought it she would have stayed. Must have been that nice new student nurse who was so kind to him. She knew he loved tea. Yes… must have been her. He took several long sips of the nectar, letting it soothe and refresh him. A good cup of tea, like a hug in a mug…. how he loved to say that to people who would not try tea. Another good swig of it and he was feeling mellow. Where was Teresa? He wanted to tell her the good news about his shoulder not needing surgery. A wave of tiredness swept over him and he took another big drink of tea, hoping the caffeine would perk him up. As he was finishing the cup, "Phil" the orderly came through the door. Funny that he neglected to knock this time Jane noted in his fuzzy brain. Teresa would have been ticked off…

His hand relaxed around the cup, letting it fall onto the table. His head lolled back and he hit the pillow, out cold. The orderly stepped up to the bed and removed the tray table. Jane's eyes were closed and he was breathing evenly, calmly, unaware of Karil's presence. Karil lifted an eyelid and Jane's eyes were rolled up in a sedated slumber.

Time to get going.

Karil put the bars up on both sides of the bed, put the head of the bed down flat and covered Jane up with a sheet to his chin. Next he propped open the door. Taking the brakes off the bed, he began to push it towards the door. He got halfway out of the door when the perky young student nurse appeared around the corner. The bed hid the sleeping guard, who was sitting down and out of sight.

"Can I help you with the bed?" she asked "Phil'.

"That would be great!" he said, trying to sound happy about her intervention. "I need to get Mr. Jane downstairs for an ultrasound" he lied.

The student helped the orderly pull the bed down the hall towards the back elevator, the one they put patient beds into instead of the public elevator out front. This was working out beautifully Karil thought. Now just get to the elevator before the battle axe supervisor sees them and he would be on his way with his victim.

The nurse hit the button and helped Karil slide the bed into the large elevator space.

"Thank you so much. I've got it from here" said the orderly.

"No problem!" replied the young woman, glad to be of help. She turned and went back to her work, unaware that she had just given that nice Mr. Jane into the hands of a killer.

XXXXXXXX

Teresa was getting agitated. The pains had stopped and she wanted to go upstairs to tell Patrick about her visit with Laila. This was taking too long. She got up and started to walk out when Sarah stopped her.

"Teresa, please stay. Get checked out. You don't want to go into labour when you leave here tonight do you? If you are in labour, we are already here."

"But no one is coming and I need to go see Jane!" groused Lisbon.

"OK, leave it to me. I can get pretty official when the need arises!" smiled Sarah, and off she went, badge in hand, to find a doctor to attend to Teresa. Ten minutes later, Sarah returned with a red-faced young doctor trailing behind her.

"I am so sorry Agent Jane, there must have been a mix-up somewhere. We don't like to keep our mothers-to-be waiting" he apologized. God only knew what Agent Sarah of the FBI had told him, but now he could not do enough. Teresa was escorted to an examining room while Sarah waited outside the door, ever vigilant. She also hoped it was false labour. Mr. Jane needed to be with his wife when she delivered their little boy. They deserved that special moment.

At last the curtain opened and the doctor emerged smiling and relieved to be getting far away from two FBI agents. Sarah entered the small room to find Lisbon buttoning up her long maternity top.

"Well? Is it baby time yet?" she asked with a grin.

Teresa smiled and shook her head, no. "False labour. The doctor told me I needed to eat and sleep more. Good luck to that with all that is happening right now!"

"Well I can't make you sleep, but I can feed you. Have your visit with your husband, then how about we go out for a nice supper, then off to bed with you!" ordered Sarah.

"Yes mother!" laughed Teresa. She was so relieved it had been false labour. She needed to just hold on a bit longer, till everyone was safe and back in Austin. Please baby Jane, cooperate!

Sarah and Lisbon took the elevator up to the 4th floor. They walked down the hall and when they rounded the corner, they saw the guard snoozing in his chair. Both women immediately were stunned at his lack of professionalism. Kicking him in the shin to wake him, Sarah barked at him to get up! Instead of leaping up in fear, the guard merely slumped over and fell out of his chair. Lisbon's eyes grew as large as saucers as a cold chill struck her to her core. Not waiting for Sarah, she bolted for the door and ran into Patrick's room, followed closely by Sarah, gun drawn. What she saw stopped Lisbon dead in her tracks. Her husband was gone. The whole bed was gone! Sarah ran out of the room and down the hall to the nurses station. Flashing her badge she demanded to know where Mr. Jane had been taken. The nurses were startled by the agent's aggressive manner and jumped up to check his medical records and scheduled treatments. Teresa came huffing up the hall and stood red-faced next to Sarah, sadly regretting not having her gun on her hip right then.

"Get a nurse to my husband's room. The guard is drugged!" she panted. A frightened nurse took off running in that direction while the other nurses looked concerned at the possibility of a breach of security.

"There is nothing in Mr. Jane's chart about treatments tonight. He should be resting in his bed this evening. Why, what is wrong, is he ill?" asked the nurse, looking up from the computer screen.

"Mr. Jane is missing. The room is empty and his bed is also gone! What the hell is going on here?" yelled Sarah. The assembled nurses gasped at this news, not sure what to say or do next.

Just then the young student nurse, Michelle, came around the corner with curiosity. She had been with a patient and heard the commotion at the end of the hall.

"Are you wondering where Mr. Jane went?" she asked, happy to be in the know.

Teresa rounded on the young woman and demanded an explanation for his empty room.

"It's OK! He's been taken downstairs for an ultrasound. I helped the orderly take the bed to the elevator about 35 minutes ago. Why, what's the matter?" she asked innocently.

The head nurse looked ashen as the reality of the situation now revealed itself to her.

"But no tests were scheduled for Mr. Jane. He should not have been taken or moved. The orderly lied to you!" she told the nurse. The student took a step back, the news like a slap to the face.

"Oh God, no…" cried Lisbon, reeling at the realization that Patrick had been taken from under their noses. "It was him… the fourth man… Sarah, he got him!" she shouted.

Sarah took off running while Lisbon was given a chair. Taking her phone out of her bag with shaking fingers she dialed Cho. Everything had just gone to hell.

XXXXXXX

Wylie had been home for just a short time, having stopped for pizza on the way. He had just gotten settled with a beer in hand, looking forward to a leisurely night in when he heard an alarm on his home computer. He had so many projects on the go at the moment, he would have to scroll down his task list to see what had set off the alarm. He hoped it was worth interrupting beer and pizza! After searching for a few minutes, he found a file telling him that the program he had loaded into his laptop at work had received a hit. Groaning at having to check it out just as he was reaching for his pizza, he took a large slice in his hands and hunkered down to see what the wonders of the internet had revealed. A moment later he let out a whoop of excitement, eyes scanning the screen at the information Cho had so desperately needed. Staring back at Wylie was a crisp black and white photo of Karil Packovski, the mysterious fourth grey man.

XXXXXXX

Cho was at a diner trying to relax and decompress after another frustrating day here in Maine. He needed to get back to Austin, but until he could tie things up here, he was loath to leave just yet. He had just finished off his fish and chips when his cell phone rang. Wylie's face showed on the screen. 'Hmm.. wonder what he's discovered' smiled Cho to himself.

"Cho here. What ya got for me Wylie?"

"Cho! I've got our fourth man! His name is Karil Packovski, a known associate of Luka Maco. They went to the same small school back in Slovakia, then there are a few arrests for burglary, assault, car theft, armed robbery, the usual laundry list of charges. They seemed to work as a team".

"I need a photo Wylie, along with the name. Can you find a photo?" Cho asked with excitement.

"I'm sending it now!" said Wylie with glee. This was the best part of his job, finding the needle in the haystack.

Cho sat staring into space, waiting for the photo to drop into his phone. They had him! A name and a photo. "C'mon, c'mon…" he mumbled, willing the photo to materialize. At last! A ding alerted him that the photo file had been loaded, and a moment later Cho was staring at the face of Karil Packovski. Even though the photo was clearly at least 20 years old, it showed him as described: black hair and goatee, fair skin, lots of tacky gold jewellery on his fingers and around his neck. He must have been a real disco charmer back in the day. Cho got back on his phone with Wylie, his next request already in his mind.

"Wylie, I need you to change this photo, using that program you have at the office. Change the hair, the beard, do anything you can so we can see what this guy could look like with new hair color, no hair, you name it. We have to assume he has radically changed his look and I need it yesterday - got that? Thanks Wylie!"

Cho hung up, staring at the photo of the phantom they had been searching for. 'Just wait til I find you, you bastard… ' Cho reached for his coffee, pulling out some bills to pay just as his phone rang again.

"Cho here" he deadpanned.

"Cho, it's Teresa! He got him!" she wept into the phone.

"Hold on, slow down. What is going on Teresa. What happened?" he asked, a bad feeling hitting him, replacing the elation he had felt only moments ago.

"Cho, while Sarah and I were out, an orderly took Jane for an ultrasound test, except no tests were scheduled for Patrick. Cho, what if it is the guy we have been looking for?"

"Teresa, calm down. Maybe there has been a mistake made and he is just off for tests. Has anybody gone to the ultrasound department looking for Jane? He might fine".

'Yes Cho, that's what Sarah checked out first and he wasn't there. Cho, the guard outside of Jane's room was drugged. We found him unconscious in his chair".

Cho stood up and started to run for his car. "Lisbon, stay calm, I'm on my way. Keep an eye on the guard as he is an eyewitness. Anyone else we can interview who saw what happened?"

"Ah… yes.. ahh.. a student nurse. She actually helped the orderly move Jane's bed into the elevator."

"Get her into a room and keep her there so I can interview her. Don't let anyone leave. We'll find him Teresa. Be strong". He rang off and leapt into his SUV, tearing out of the parking lot leaving a cloud of dust streaming out behind his speeding vehicle. This was the worst case scenario, the worst possible outcome, the one he had feared the most. Grabbing his phone he started to call his team together, barking out orders as he sped away to the Trauma Centre, his mind going off in all directions as he made his plans to mobilize his men and find Jane.

XXXXXXX

Wylie ran the program to alter the photo of Karil. His home office was just as good as the one back at the FBI office. He could access all of his programs here so he got down to it and sat back waiting for the results to accumulate. Munching on his pizza, he had no idea that Jane was missing and that time was of the essence. His contribution to the team was now critical, as his results would give the FBI a final, accurate profile of their wanted man. It took a good 10 minutes, but finally the program tinged, telling Wylie all possible combinations had been compiled. He scanned the assorted photos and marvelled at how a person could change his appearance. Wylie forwarded the entire file to Cho's phone, hoping he had somewhere to print off the results.

XXXXX

Cho pulled into the parking lot and raced for the hospital entrance, flashing his badge in the face of the astonished security guard. He ran to the elevators, jabbing the button and cursing when the elevator slowly descended from the topmost floor, stopping at every other floor on its' way back to the first level. The doors slid open and Cho lunged inside.

"Sorry folks, take the next one!" he barked at the other waiting passengers, flashing his badge at them to keep them out of the lift. The doors slid closed and Cho ascended to the fourth floor.

As he got off the elevator his phone vibrated with a large file. He stopped for a moment and opened it. There in front of him was an variety of Karils. Each one looked slightly different. Running to the nurses station he commandeered a computer and downloaded the file, sending it to the printer. As pages started to stream out of the machine, Sarah walked up the the nurses station and stood waiting to talk to Cho.

Cho grabbed the two pages of likenesses and stood up to get up to speed with Sarah.

"Where's the girl?" he asked.

"This way. She's pretty shook up. She feels like she helped a crime take place."

"She did". Cho answered shortly, not happy about how easily Karil had slipped through their fingers.

The student nurse, Michelle, was sitting quietly in a small room, avoiding looking at Teresa, who was in her own private hell at the moment. Both women were startled when Cho barrelled into the room. He walked right up to Michelle and stood over her, intimidating in his anger.

"I am Senior Agent Kimball Cho of the Austin FBI. Speak to me. What happened?"

Michelle shrank back in her chair, looking like she was about to be arrested, such was her fear.

"I… I just helped the orderly like I am supposed to. He was struggling to get Mr. Jane's bed out of the doorway and down to the patient elevator, so I offered to help him." she said tearfully.

"Didn't it occur to you to check and see if Mr. Jane was supposed to be moved? Did it occur to you that it was odd to do tests so late in the day?" he boomed.

The girl shook her head in confusion, distraught at her horrible mistake.

"I'm so sorry… I just started here and I am not sure about procedures. I thought he was supposed to be moved if the orderly was already half way through the door with the patient. I mean, why would he move him if he didn't have to?" she asked, clearly having no idea what was at stake.

Cho pulled up a chair, some of his hostility diffused and replaced by dogged professionalism.

"If I show you some photos, could you identify the man who took Mr. Jane?" he asked.

'Oh I know who took him sir. It was Phil Burk. The orderly, Phil." she said with conviction.

Teresa stood up, confused. She knew Phil, saw him several times a day. If he was actually Karil….

"What does he look like, do you see him in one of these photos?" Cho asked her, pulling out his copy of the pictures Wylie had just sent over.

Teresa and Michelle both poured over the photos and almost at once, both put their fingers on a photo halfway down the page, showing a man with no beard, and short sandy brown hair.

"That's him! That's Phil Burk!" the student nurse exclaimed with excitement. Teresa looked at Cho with a sick feeling coming over her. The bastard had been in the room with them, watching them, talking to them for almost a week. She thought she would throw up and had to sit down. Sarah came and stood by her, holding her shoulders and embracing her in a soft hug.

"We need to talk to HR about this guy, get someone up here immediately!' said Cho. Sarah got on her phone and placed the call. 5 minutes later a very worried man was ushered into the room with an armload of files in his hand.

'Tell me about Phil Burk. When was he hired, were does he live. We need everything you have on him" Cho told the man.

Mr. Colborne opened his files and scanned them alphabetically, shaking his head, no… no… no. Then he had an idea, and turned to another file. He ran his finger down another list and then stopped, his finger next to a name, a look of dread on his face.

"Well?" asked Cho.

"We do not have anyone working here at the Trauma Centre by the name of Phil Burk. We did hire some new people about a week ago, and there was a Phil Burk on the list to be interviewed, but he never showed up. So we took him off the list of applicants and put him down as a no-show. We have never hired this man." he said with finality.

"But he has been here as long as Patrick has been in ICU, he had a uniform and a hospital ID badge… " said Teresa numbly.

"I'm very sorry, but we did not hire this man. He is an imposter." said Mr. Colborne.

Cho pulled out his phone and called up his team leader. He forwarded the photo of Karil as he now looked and ordered it to be sent to everyone in the field. They now knew who they were looking for and his real name.

But just where he and Jane were, was anybody's guess.

XXXXXX