Lisbon, Jane, and Cho dropped what they were doing and raced to Rigsby's apartment, sirens blaring. Van Pelt met them outside the door, her face sheet white.
"Consuela's dead," she said without preamble.
Lisbon nodded, her heart sinking. It was about what she'd expected, but to have it confirmed was a blow nonetheless. "Ben?" she asked, her throat tight.
Van Pelt shook her head, and Lisbon could see tear tracks down her cheeks. "No sign of him."
"That's good," Jane said.
Lisbon looked at him incredulously.
He met her eyes unflinchingly. "That means he's still alive."
Van Pelt hesitated. "There's something else."
"What is it?" Lisbon asked.
"Red John left another note for Jane," Van Pelt said reluctantly.
"Well, let's see it," Lisbon said impatiently.
Van Pelt avoided Lisbon's eyes as she handed the evidence bag containing the note to Jane.
He read it aloud. "Dear Mr. Jane—If you do not wish your friend Mr. Rigsby's son to share the fate of your wife and daughter, please arrange for Teresa Lisbon to be delivered to me at the Griffin Theater at 4pm today. Please be aware that only you giving me Agent Lisbon willingly could possibly persuade me to give up my current prize. If you favor me with this gift, you have my word that I will release the boy unharmed and will never come after him or his family again. Should you fail to provide me this token of your esteem, I'm afraid young Benjamin will suffer the effects of my displeasure and his poor father will become a wraith of his former self, just like you. Kindly refrain from engaging any members of law enforcement outside your team to oversee this transaction, or I will be forced to end our game in a way that will prove most unhappy for the Rigsby family."
Lisbon looked at her watch in panic. "Four o clock? That's only four hours from now!"
"Then we'll have to think fast," Jane said. "We won't have much time to come up with a plan to rescue Ben."
Lisbon felt a great weight pressing down on her and for a moment she feared the sickening dread in her stomach had paralyzed her.
Then she realized it was Cho's hand, heavy on her shoulder.
She reached up and patted his hand, gently extricating herself from his grip at the same time. Apparently, this was Cho's way of expressing solidarity. She appreciated the sentiment, but she didn't have time for that right now.
"I need to talk to Rigsby," she said brusquely.
"He's inside," Van Pelt said.
Lisbon went into Rigsby's apartment. The rest of the team followed behind.
She found Rigsby standing at the end of his front hallway, staring dazedly at the red smiley face over his nanny's dead body. The smiley face, unlike the one in Jane's house, untouched for so many years, was marred by a large hole in the wall. The knuckles of Rigsby's right hand were swollen and bruised, but it looked as though he'd spent most of his initial rage in that blow. Now, his face was haggard, his eyes hollow - he looked like he'd aged ten years in the past forty minutes.
"Rigsby," Lisbon said.
He looked at her, but his eyes were unseeing.
"Listen to me," she said, putting her hand on his arm. "We're going to get him back."
His eyes refocused and he met her gaze.
"It's gonna be okay, you hear me?" she said fiercely. "We're going to get him back. I swear to you, Wayne, I am not going to let him hurt one hair on Ben's head. I won't allow it. Do you understand?"
He looked away. "Yeah."
Cho was inspecting the door. "Looks like Red John picked the lock. The nanny didn't let him in."
Jane came over to look at the body. "No," he agreed after studying it a moment. "She fought him. You can tell from the defensive wounds on her arms." He looked at Rigsby. "She was very brave. She died trying to protect Ben."
Rigsby sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. "Oh, God. I need to call her family."
"I can call them for you," Van Pelt offered.
Rigsby shook his head. "No. I should be the one to tell them."
Van Pelt looked unhappy, but didn't fight him on this point. "Okay."
Rigsby stepped out into the hall to make the call.
"Did he tell Sarah yet?" Lisbon asked Van Pelt in a low voice.
"He called her," Van Pelt said. "She just flew back east to visit her family this morning. She's trying to get a flight back now."
Lisbon nodded, feeling a stab of guilt for feeling secretly relieved that she wouldn't have to face Sarah right away. It was bad enough trying to look Rigsby in the eye right now—she wasn't sure she could face the woman whose son had been kidnapped by a serial killer so he could use him as a bargaining chip in exchange for Lisbon's life.
She turned to the team. "Anything else we can learn from the scene?"
"He must have been planning this for awhile," Jane remarked. "He was familiar with Rigsby's visitation schedule with Ben. He knew about Consuela and planned it purposefully for a time when Rigsby would be out of the apartment."
Lisbon frowned. "And that helps us how?"
Jane shrugged. "It doesn't. But it does let us know that he's planned this whole thing meticulously, so he's probably planned for any immediately obvious move we're likely to make."
"Great," Lisbon muttered. "Thanks for those words of optimism, Jane."
"Rigsby left the house at eight and called Consuela at eleven, so there's a three hour window when Red John could have taken Ben," Cho said. "Maybe one of the neighbors saw something."
"Good call," Lisbon said. "If one of them saw him leave, they might be able to give us a license number, or at least a make and model of the car he used."
Jane shook his head. "It's a waste of time. Even on the off chance you do get a license number from a neighbor, there's no way you would be able to run a search through DMV and run down the address before the time limit has elapsed. And he wouldn't be there anyway, because he's too smart for that."
Lisbon glared at him. "If you have a better idea, feel free to contribute it." She looked back at Cho. "Call local PD, get some bodies out here canvassing, see if one of the neighbors saw anything that could be useful."
Jane raised an eyebrow. "You're going to let the local cops in on this? I take it that means the veil of secrecy has been lifted from the investigation?"
"It's too late for that," Lisbon said. "He already knows we're onto him, or he wouldn't be making these desperate moves. He's got time on his side, which means he has the upper hand for the moment. All we can do now is come at him with sheer numbers."
"I'll make the call," Cho said.
"Good. I want our techs, though. Van Pelt, can you call the forensics unit and get them out here?"
"Sure thing, boss."
Jane was looking impatient. "Am I still needed here?" he asked.
"You have somewhere more important to be?" Lisbon said incredulously.
"Yes. I need to go back to the office so I can come up with a plan to save Ben and keep Red John from kidnapping you, too."
"Go ahead."
"You're coming, too. We'll need Van Pelt as well, once she's done with her phone call."
"But—"
"The canvassing is a waste of time, Lisbon," Jane repeated. "Everything is going to hinge on the time and location of the trade. We need to be preparing for that, not waiting around for the forensics unit."
Lisbon sighed, realizing he was probably right. That really never stopped being annoying, even when he was trying to save her life. "Fine. Cho, you stay here with Rigsby. Coordinate with forensics and the local uniforms, then meet us back at the office."
Jane, Lisbon, and Van Pelt trooped back to the office. Once there, Jane set Van Pelt on pulling up satellite images and of the Griffin Theater and blueprints of the building.
Jane was getting agitated. "Too many exits," he said when he saw the plans. "We won't be able to cover them all ourselves. If we had enough manpower to surround the place, we could cover them all, but if we take a SWAT team to that theater—"
"Red John could kill Ben before we even get inside," Lisbon finished, swallowing the bile that rose in her throat at the thought.
"Maybe we could break in beforehand and surprise him," Jane muttered.
"And then what?" Lisbon asked. "Point a gun at him while he's holding Ben and ask him nicely to hand over the kid?"
"I don't know," Jane said, frustrated. "He'll have planned for that possibility too, I'm sure of it. And every other plan I'm likely to come up with in the next several hours.
Lisbon laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You'll come up with something."
Jane laughed bitterly. "I haven't bested him yet. What makes you think that I'll be able to do it now?"
"I have faith in you," she murmured, squeezing his shoulder.
He closed his eyes, hoping against hope that her faith in him would be justified.
She let go of his shoulder and turned to Van Pelt. "Can you pull up the satellite images of the theater again?"
Van Pelt complied. Lisbon looked at the satellite images and sighed. "Damn. That building is close to onramps for Highway 50, I-80, and I-5. There's no telling which direction he might be coming from or which way he might be planning to go when he leaves the theater. Are there any major public events in that area this afternoon?"
Van Pelt clicked her mouse. "The governor's making a speech to at a hotel to the Small Business Association, and there's a groundbreaking for a new community center, but neither of them are that close to the theater. It's kind of a run down area- there's not a lot around there."
"He chose it because it's isolated," Jane said. "He'll want to have the run of the place without anyone accidentally interfering with his plans just because they were in the neighborhood."
"Do we know anything about the theater?" Lisbon asked. "Besides what we can tell from the blueprints, I mean?"
Van Pelt clicked her mouse again. "It was built in 1949. It was pretty popular through the fifties and sixties, but started going downhill in the mid-seventies and never really recovered. It closed down in the early nineties but the owners never bothered to sell it, probably because the value of the land had declined so much. It's just been sitting there ever since. It was condemned about a year ago and then nine months ago the property was purchased by—" she stopped and looked up. "Cut Iron Properties."
Lisbon sighed. "Of course it was."
Cho and Rigsby returned shortly thereafter.
"Got anything?" Lisbon asked Cho.
He shook his head. "None of the neighbors saw anything. We've still got uniforms canvassing, but so far, no luck. How about you?"
"Yeah, did you guys find anything?" Rigsby asked desperately.
"Not much," Lisbon admitted. She relayed what little information they had found, and Rigsby's face fell. "Don't worry," she said quickly. "We'll figure something out. There's still time."
The team worked frantically, but still couldn't come up with a solid plan.
Jane was panicked now. He was longing to retreat into the attic so he could concentrate, but he was afraid of letting Lisbon out of his sight. He stayed on his couch in the bullpen, desperately trying to come up with a solution to their current dilemma that would end with both Ben and Lisbon alive and safe from Red John. Nothing could happen to Ben. Jane couldn't let sweet, affable Rigsby become like him, a broken shell of a man. At the same time, the thought of Red John getting his hands on Lisbon was intolerable.
Jane was convinced Red John didn't have any real interest in harming Ben for the sake of the act itself. However, this was hardly useful, because he knew Red John wouldn't hesitate to kill Ben as punishment if Jane succeeded in foiling Red John's plans for the acquisition of his true prize.
Jane came up with a half a dozen plans to get Ben back, but he discarded all of them—they each had at least one gaping hole that he was sure Red John would spot a mile away. No matter how many ideas he came up with, he couldn't seem to come up with a single one that didn't pose an unacceptable risk to either Lisbon or Ben.
This was the trouble with allowing yourself to care about other people again, he thought miserably. It ruined your ability to think objectively about any situation in which your loved ones' lives were at stake. If he wanted to have any chance of coming up with a workable pan to defeat Red John, he needed to be cold and detached. Instead, he was an anxious wreck who apparently couldn't scheme his way out of a paper bag.
After several precious hours had ticked away, Lisbon called a halt to the team's activities and ordered everyone to huddle up in the bullpen. "All right," she said briskly once the team had gathered in a half circle around her. "What've we got?"
"I've reviewed the results of the code script I ran last night," Van Pelt reported. "Based on that, I've come up with a list of twenty-three properties Red John owns, either under the name Jonathan Russo, one of his aliases, or one of the company names he's associated with."
"Twenty-three?" Jane said, dismayed. Yesterday he would have been overjoyed to hear this news; now it appalled him. It was too many. Even if he was able to narrow it down to the few most likely properties, they wouldn't have time to look into them all before the deadline was up. Hell, at this point, even if they knew exactly where Ben was being held, there was no guarantee they'd be able to get to him in time.
"Yeah. He's hidden the connections to himself pretty thoroughly, but they're all his," Van Pelt said.
"Good work, Van Pelt," Lisbon said. "Cho?"
Cho shook his head. "Nothing. All the military stuff was a dead end as far as tracking down a location goes. Sorry, boss."
"Rigsby?"
Rigsby looked haunted. "Nothing new," he choked out.
Lisbon turned to her consultant. "Jane, please tell me you have some crazy plan up your sleeve that will get us out of this mess," she said fervently.
He looked into her eyes, full of trust and hope. He had never hated himself more for disappointing her. He met her gaze bleakly. "I'm sorry. I can't—" he swallowed. "I can't think of anything. I don't know how to save Ben." Or you, he thought.
Telling her this was a thousand times worse than he'd imagined. Not least because she didn't believe him at first. "Come on, Jane," she said. "You have to have at least one insane idea that you think might work."
"I don't," he said, forcing himself to keep his eyes on hers. "He knows me too well. Every move I could possibly make ends with me in checkmate."
He saw the exact moment the truth of his words sank in, the instant she comprehended that he had failed her. Her face fell; her beautiful eyes were full of dismay. She'd been relying on him to come up with a brilliant scheme to save them, and he'd let her down when it mattered the most.
She swallowed. "Okay."
"I'm sorry," he said pathetically.
She shook her head. "Not your fault."
She turned away abruptly and walked to the window, half in a daze.
"Lisbon," Jane began. He started towards her, but Cho laid a staying hand on his arm.
"Give her a minute," Cho said in a low voice, and Jane reluctantly obeyed.
Lisbon stared out the window, her eyes unseeing. She fiddled with the cross on her neck and closed her eyes, her lips moving in silent prayer. After a moment, she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and returned to the team.
"This can't be happening," Van Pelt said desperately. "There has to be something we can do."
"There is," Lisbon said, and there was a certainty in her eyes and a resolve in her voice that Jane recognized. When she got that look in her eyes, Jane could talk until he was blue in the face, but it would be impossible to dissuade her from doing what she believed was right. He wasn't sure exactly what it meant in the current circumstances, but he had a bad feeling about it.
"What's that?" Cho asked.
She met his gaze calmly. "It's very simple. We're going to that theater. When we get there, I'm going inside, and Ben is coming out."
"You're planning to turn yourself over to Red John?" Cho said.
"I'm accepting the terms of his trade," Lisbon replied.
"Forget it," Jane said flatly. "That's not happening."
"We don't have a choice, Jane," Lisbon said. "This is the only option."
"No," Jane said stubbornly. "I won't allow it."
"You won't allow it?" Lisbon said, annoyed. "This is my decision, Jane. You don't have a say in it."
"Oh, yes, I do," he contradicted her. "I'll tie you up and lock you away if I have to."
She glared at him. "I'd like to see you try it."
"You can't just turn yourself over to Red John," Van Pelt said.
Lisbon looked at her. "I have to, Grace."
"But… he'll kill you," Van Pelt said, aghast.
Lisbon met her gaze squarely. "It's the only way to save Ben."
"What if Red John breaks his word?" Jane argued. "He might decide to just kill both of you."
"That's a risk we're going to have to take," Lisbon said, infuriatingly calm.
"Sure, no big deal. It's only your life you're gambling with here," Jane snapped.
"For what it's worth, I believe he will give Ben back if I turn myself in to him," Lisbon said.
"He's a sociopath, Lisbon!" Jane said incredulously. "You can't trust anything he says."
"I know, but think about it. He doesn't have anything to gain by keeping Ben if I give myself up to him. Ben is just a means to an end, to him. I'm the one he's wanted all along."
"So giving into the demands of a serial killer is suddenly acceptable law enforcement procedure?"
"Like I said. We don't have a choice."
"Yes, we do. We have the choice not to hand you over to Red John like a prize he won at a carnival game."
"I'm not letting Ben die," Lisbon said stubbornly. "I'd never be able to live with myself if I didn't do absolutely everything in my power to save him."
Jane turned to Cho. "Tell me you're not going to let her go through with this insane suicide mission."
Cho shook his head. "It's her decision," he said, sounding unhappier than Jane had ever heard him.
Jane turned to Rigsby. "Rigsby?"
Rigsby looked away, but said nothing. Jane should have known - Ben was his top priority, no matter what the cost.
Only Van Pelt took Jane's side. "Jane's right, boss," she said. "You can't go through with this."
"I've made my decision," Lisbon said with finality. "Unless one of you has a better idea, I'm walking into that theater at four o clock."
"No," Jane said desperately. "I'll go instead."
That was the right ending to this story, he realized. He should be the one to die. He, the worthless, lying worm, was the expendable one. Not good, strong Lisbon. The world needed her in it.
Lisbon didn't like this suggestion one bit. "No. I'm the team leader. I'll be the one to go."
"You wouldn't even be in this situation if it weren't for me," Jane argued.
It was true. If Red John hadn't caught onto Jane's feelings for her, he would never have gone after her like this.
"How many times do I have to tell you to stop blaming yourself for everything he does?" Lisbon demanded.
"It's the truth, Lisbon! He's only coming after you to get to me. I should be the one to face him."
"Not happening, Jane."
"Lisbon, for the love of God. Please listen to reason. I know how he thinks- of the two of us, I have a better chance of figuring out a way to escape once I'm on the inside."
Lisbon shook her head. "Even if I agreed, it wouldn't work, Jane. I'm the one Red John wants, not you."
"Lisbon's right," Cho said. "Red John wants you alive so he can keep messing with you."
"Exactly," Lisbon said. "He's not going to accept you as a trade for Ben's life." Then she added awkwardly, "But it was nice of you to offer."
Jane shook his head. He wasn't nice. His offer was entirely selfish. He couldn't bear the thought of his life without Lisbon in it. He searched her face. "There's nothing I can do to get you to change your mind?" It was framed as a question, but it came out sounding more like a statement. The awful truth of his words settled in his stomach like a cold stone.
"No, Jane," she said quietly. "I'm going to go into that theater and I'm going to make sure Red John doesn't hurt Ben."
He sighed. "Fine. Then I'm going with you."
"No," Lisbon said. "I need you on the outside so you can figure out how to catch him after—" She caught herself. "After this is all over," she finished lamely.
"Someone else is going to have to do that," Jane said grimly. "I'm going with you."
"That's crazy," Lisbon protested. "There's no point in both of us surrendering to Red John. He'll just kill both of us."
"Either you let me go in your place, or I'm coming with you," Jane said. "Those are your choices."
"No, Jane. I'm not going to let you come with me just so you can get killed for no reason."
"I'm sticking to you like glue, remember? I decided earlier it would be better not to handcuff myself to you, but don't think I won't change my mind and chain myself to you if you continue to be difficult about this."
Lisbon looked at him in alarm. "You thought about handcuffing yourself to me?"
"Yes. At the time, I decided the disadvantages of that plan outweighed the advantages, but let me tell you, right now, that plan is looking more attractive by the moment."
"Jane, it's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do, but there's nothing to be gained from letting Red John get both of us," Lisbon said.
"Lisbon, I'm not letting you walk to your death alone. If he wants you, he's going to have to take me at the same time."
"I don't want anything to happen to you," Lisbon said.
He threw up his hands. "How the hell do you think I feel?"
"Jane…"
He cut her off. "There's nothing more to say on the matter. If you go into that theater this afternoon, I'm going to be by your side."
She looked into his eyes, and she must have recognized the resolve she saw in them was equal to her own, because she looked very unhappy. She swallowed. "Okay," she said reluctantly.
Jane breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks."
She shot him an odd look, then turned back to the rest of the team. "We're leaving in twenty minutes," she said abruptly. "Be ready."
She went into her office and shut the door. The rest of the team lingered in the bullpen, somewhat shell-shocked as the realization slowly sank in that the team was about to voluntarily give up two of its members to Red John's knife.
Van Pelt was frantically scanning her lists of search results, but her face was pale and she was biting her lip in a vain effort to keep her emotions in check. Cho was leaning forward in his chair with his elbows on his knees and his hands knotted together, frowning at some unseen image which appeared to be manifesting itself in his mind's eye in a place roughly level with Rigsby's waste basket. Rigsby was staring into space, his eyes hollow.
Jane spent a few minutes reviewing the blueprints of the theater again, but it was no good. His concentration was shot. He'd already learned everything he could from them, anyway.
He stood and stretched, then wandered over to Rigsby's desk. He produced a deck of cards from his jacket pocket and started shuffling them idly. Rigsby appeared unaware of his presence as he continued to stare into nothingness, his gaze fixed.
Jane placed the shuffled deck on Rigsby's desk. "Rigsby."
Rigsby looked around. "Yeah?" he said distantly.
Jane nodded at the stack of cards. "Cut the deck."
Rigsby sighed. "Jane, I'm really not in the mood for card games right now."
"Too bad," Jane said. "You're going to have to get over that."
Rigsby looked annoyed. "Why's that?"
"Because I'm about to show you a really cool trick."
"Seriously?" Rigsby said incredulously.
"Yes. You think you can learn it in twenty minutes?"
"I don't know, I guess," Rigsby said, confused.
"Good. Because when he's older, I'm going to need you to teach this trick to Ben for me," Jane said lightly.
Rigsby looked up at Jane. The eyes of the two men met in a moment of understanding. Rigsby swallowed. "What do I need to do?"
Jane nodded at the cards again. "Start by cutting the deck."
Rigsby did as Jane instructed.
"Okay, now pick them up and fan them out…" Jane told him.
Cho came over to stand at Jane's side so he could watch the trick, too.
"Now offer me one," Jane instructed Rigsby.
Van Pelt appeared at Jane's other elbow, peering over his shoulder to watch as well. Jane gave no sign of noticing this, merely continued walking Rigsby painstakingly through each step of the trick.
The four of them clustered around Rigsby's desk, the hypnotic lilt of Jane's voice soothing and oddly reassuring as he patiently explained the mechanics of his favorite trick.
When Rigsby finally mastered the trick, they were all smiling. All in all, Jane decided this was one of his favorite moments he'd ever spent with these three comrades. He was exceedingly grateful to have it to take with him in his memory palace for whatever time he had remaining to him.