As he dodged, and ducked, and dipped, and dove, and dodged various cobwebs, creepy lamps, and overly large spiders in the underground tunnel, Shawn tried to think of a plan. He did have a tendency to lead Gus and himself into sticky situations without one, and that usually worked out quite well, but this time Kate was involved…again…and he didn't want her to wind up in the hospital…again…

The floor began to curve slightly upward and he figured they must be reaching wherever their destination was, but this time, there was no ladder, only a low ceiling above him and a smooth wall in front of him.

"What now Shawn?" Gus asked agitatedly from behind.

"Up I guess, but careful. Kate said she'd try to clear the room for us so we could snoop uninterrupted, but there may still be someone there." He began feeling the ceiling and eventually found a small latch, which he cautiously turned and then held the full weight of the trap door—testing to see if something was on it.

"When did she say that?"

"Weren't you listening in the car?" He asked in a loud whisper, he didn't have time to explain the whole plan at the moment.

Gus sighed heavily. "I couldn't understand half of what you two were saying…apparently I don't speak fluent Spencer."

"Neither do we. We had to repeat half the stuff in different ways until we both got there, but I'm sure we'll all get it soon enough. Now shh."

"Don't 'shh' me Shawn! You know you're the louder whisperer!" Gus replied in an incredibly loud whisper.

"Shh!" He repeated and Gus hit him. So he kicked Gus because he was still holding the increasingly heavy door. After a couple more hits and kicks, they had settled their differences and he slowly and carefully lowered the trap door. Kate was good to her word, no one noticed and as he peeked his head in, he found the room to be empty. Or not quite empty…there were stacks upon stacks of white saran-wrapped packages. Far more than they had estimated.

"Lassie's going to blow a gasket when he sees this…" Gus sighed. "This is top quality stuff—Lassie thought they were getting bottom rung …"

He looked around, trying to figure out what Kate had wanted him to sense. This was clearly enough to get everyone thrown in jail for a terribly long time, so why didn't Kate send the signal to Jules? Why no cops? "Look around, see if there's anything that would make Kate hold back."

"Shawn, what did we get her in to?" Gus asked the question that was weighing most heavily on the back of his mind. "And all I see here is cocaine…lots and lots of cocaine…enough to send everyone involved to prison for a long, long time."

"That's what I was just thinking…did you mind-meld me?" He asked as he searched the room, squinting to make something…anything clear. And then he got it. "Gus! That's it!" He exclaimed excitedly as he looked for what he needed.

"What's it? Shawn, what are you doing?"

He was digging through boxes, through notebooks, anything and everything. " 'to send everyone to prison' Gus! Don't you get it?"

"The cops know Kate's working for them, she won't get sent to prison…"

"Right, but maybe Kate isn't the only innocent one here! Come here, tell me what this means." He gestured to one of the books and Gus reluctantly came over.

"It's a ledger. It records each shipment's size, date, and where it came from. It's excellent proof, I'm surprised it's laying here out in the open actually, usually these things are locked up in safes hidden behind tacky paintings."

"A safe you would've been able to crack—Kate is lousy at safes, which means there's someone helping her—but she must not know who it is…" He was speaking nearly as fast as he was thinking, as all the pieces began to come together, but before he could reach the final conclusion, Gus interrupted.

"You're still not making sense…"

"The cocaine…it's obviously enough to put people away, but who? Is everyone really involved? Evidently not…or we wouldn't have this ledger…"

"Shawn! I hear someone coming, let's go!" Gus had returned to a whisper, a quiet one this time, and he too heard someone coming, so he jumped down the hole after his friend and still holding the ledger, which had to contain what he needed somewhere inside.

He and Gus lifted the trap door, evidently just in time as they suddenly heard voices and footsteps. But the latch for the door was stuck—Gus couldn't get it to budge and the footsteps were coming closer, and closer, and then they stopped….right on top of the door… They nearly squealed in the effort to hold the door completely closed, both their faces straining in extreme effort—Gus looking ridiculous.

"I just don't get that new counter-girl…Robin…" A muffled voice said above the door.

"I don't know, she's young and innocent, that can be kind of fun." Another, deeper voice responded. "And it's even more fun when they pretend to be disinterested. She might fight the kiss at first, but she'll give in to everything if I make her."

Shawn nearly dropped the door, and he knew Gus did too. These…these pigs were talking about his sister…about…doing things to his little sister…obviously they were not the innocent ones Kate was trying to protect. The door kept getting heavier as exhaustion started and he heard a high whine from Gus in his effort.

"You're the boss…" The first voice said before pausing. "Hey, do you hear something?"

Another pause, then, "No. Now start counting here. I want it properly documented before it gets shipped out tomorrow morning."

Tomorrow morning…that's why Kate needed to act fast. He just figured she wouldn't need long because she was a surprisingly good detective…but now there was a deadline—big and looming, and he didn't do well with deadlines…

But he couldn't think of that now because his knees were beginning to buckle. In a desperate move, he reached for the latch and found it moved easily into the locked position. "Are you kidding me?" He whispered to Gus.

"I thought it went left…" His best friend whispered back with a shrug.

"Lefty loosey, righty tighty!" He grumbled, probably slightly too loudly but it appeared as though those above were shifting boxes. "Where were you in kindergarten?"

"We didn't learn that in kindergarten Shawn. And I forget sometimes."

"It rhymes!" He replied, exasperated and the argument devolved into unintelligible mumbles until it ended with Gus' tongue snap. "Just…go back and help me figure out this ledger or whatever before Kate gets into any more trouble." A deadline, a big one that could make or break his, Gus', Jules', Lassie's, and a lot of other officer's careers and could make or break a lot more for Kate. Why was it always a deadline? He loved the mystery, the puzzle, but deadlines and expectations were far more than he liked to deal with…

As he followed Gus, Shawn thought about what he already knew: There were drugs—lots of them, and high-grade stuff. There was a ledger that someone must have mysteriously given to Kate—an unspoken ally and one that obviously needed protection. The ledger likely held all the evidence they needed to free the innocent and convict the guilty. And finally, he had no idea how to decipher that information…

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sorry it's been so long! I had writers block and went on vacation and, you know, there were finals and whatnot. Whatever, it's been busy and I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to write or post or anything! Anyway, I am back! Hopefully you haven't given up on me and/or Kate!

WriterEs...yeah, I kind of didn't continue the idea of Shawn wanting kids here, but I know we'll come back to it! And I'm so glad you like the story, sorry it's been so long!

Potato...I'm glad you've at least been rereading the story, but hopefully a new chapter is a happy find! I've been terribly busy, and unfortunately, it only gets worse as my summer continues...but I'll address that in a moment...anyway, hope you like the chapter!

Cupcake...well my brother once saved me from drowning, and then I've sort of unwittingly saved him just by calling or texting him at the right time. Let's just say, if you ever get a random feeling to remind someone you love them, you should remind them right then, you don't know what it could mean for them. Anyway, glad you liked the last chapter and hopefully you like this one too! I kind of just whipped it up in like the past hour so here's hoping it's not riddled with errors or awful or something...

And to everyone...in the next couple of weeks, I start a job at a camp where I will have little to no internet access...which will mean no updates for 7-9 weeks :'( I will do my very bestest to update fairly frequently before I start and if possible while at camp, but I start the end of May and don't finish till either late July or early August. But don't forget about me! I will be back in August at the latest and continuing both SKJ and 50 years, as well as maybe another Very Shules Moment if I ever get the whim...but yeah, that's my sad news, but don't fret yet! (that rhyme was for you Cupcake), I will update both SKJ and 50 at least once more before I leave! And like I said, I will return after camp...just think of it as a little hiatus!

I'll update soon! {#}