Author's Note: Next chapter is the big showdown, but for now, an unexpected opportunity to talk to Patterson... Thanks for sticking with me through all this case stuff!
There was a guard barely out of his teens in the surveillance room with Kurt, attempting to find a compatible wire to replace the damaged one. Pete's presence made it impossible for Kurt to slip away, or to cause more permanent damage to the camera system. He chafed at the inaction, hoping Jane was having better luck downstairs.
Boyd, who'd gone back downstairs after Kurt had successfully convinced him that Patterson's sabotage was caused by rats, had sent a radio message about fifteen minutes ago, disgustedly informing everyone that 'the nanny' was roaming the warehouse looking for tampons. It seemed Jane had come up with a good way to ensure the guards both avoided her and let her wander around.
Something clattered noisily in a nearby room, and Kurt flinched, hoping Patterson's remote-controlled car hadn't knocked something over. "I'll go check that out," he said to Pete, and went to investigate.
Through an open door farther down the hall, he saw Jane chaotically searching through a desk, and relaxed a little. Patterson's car was safe for now.
A couple of guards passed by, glancing in at Jane and moving on hurriedly, as though she had the plague. What is it with most guys and periods?
Kurt suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Emma Shaw had made sure to lecture any squeamishness out of him in his mid-teens, when Sarah had started her cycle and begged him to go next door to get supplies from their substitute mother. Even so, he couldn't help but be glad that the typical male aversion to anything menstrual was working in their favour tonight.
He met Jane in the doorway, making sure anyone nearby would hear him in his ex-husband role. "Oh, no, you know I can't stand you when you're PMS-ing."
Jane's lips twitched, and he guessed she was thinking he was lucky he was only playing at being an asshole, not actually speaking as himself. Then she glared at him, assuming her Penny Yates identity again.
"Yeah, and I can't stand you any of the time, PMS-ing or not."
She looked over his shoulder, and Kurt glanced backwards to find Pete leaning out of the surveillance room.
"I'm still learning my way around here. Where are the bathrooms?" Jane asked, swerving around Kurt.
"Uh…there's one just that way," Pete said, gesturing vaguely.
"Which way?" Jane was either playing dumb, or really had no clue where he was trying to direct her. Either way, it provided a good opportunity for Kurt to get away for a while.
"Come on, I'll show ya." Kurt glanced at Pete. "I'll be back in a sec."
Pete grunted and went back to hunting for wires.
Kurt led Jane across the warehouse floor, skirting around crates, and murmured to her, "Loose water pipe just here. I'm hoping I can dislodge it tomorrow, cause some flooding and make it look like an accident."
Keeping her scowl in place for the benefit of the two traffickers who passed them, Jane nodded. "I tried to smuggle our handguns back to our room, but in these clothes, it's impossible. I managed to stash mine near the kids—I'll show you where if I get the chance."
At least that would be a tiny thing in their favour, if things all went to hell. Kurt tried not to look visibly relieved. With the odds stacked against them this highly, they needed every bit of help they could get.
"Are the cameras fixable?" Jane asked.
"Patterson must have managed to fray a wire somehow. I managed to convince them it was chewed through by rats, and that the replacement wire that needs to be connected goes into a different socket. Don't know what that one's actually for, but it's a shape I haven't seen many times, so I'm hoping it'll keep them confused until Adil, the electronics guy, gets back here tomorrow. He'll be able to spot the problem easily, but I was hoping to be able to do something else to the system if I was left alone with it. Haven't managed yet."
Jane shot him a worried glance. "Earlier, I was thinking about taking out the guards down there and getting the kids out now, sending the log book with them. There are only four guards down there."
"That's crazy." Alarm surged through Kurt. "There are probably ten or fifteen of them for each of us stationed up here, and the only way out is through the exits on this floor. They know we're not allowed out of the building, and we don't have bulletproof vests, or enough ammo to hold them off for long. Backup isn't coming until noon tomorrow."
She nodded. "I know. If we could get all of the kids out through the tunnel, I'd say we should chance it anyway. But one of the boys has an injured arm. He's too young to understand he should keep crawling through the pain. He'd give up and have a tantrum for sure."
Kurt swallowed a groan. Having to protect an injured toddler during a raid would make things infinitely more complicated.
"The kids okay otherwise?" he asked softly.
Jane sighed. "As okay as they can be in this situation. I tried to prepare them for what's coming today. I'll let you know more when we're locked in again."
Something flashed in Kurt's peripheral vision, and he turned his head just in time to see a small radio-controlled car backing into the shadows by the wall.
Kurt abruptly dropped into a crouch, pretending to re-tie a shoelace. Jane went an extra step before realising he'd stopped, then returned to his side with a melodramatic sigh for the benefit of anyone close enough to hear. "I don't have all night, you know."
Kurt brushed his hand over her arm as he got to his feet. "Look left. Floor level."
Jane did, and her eyes lit up. After a quick glance around, she raised her hand in a tiny, subtle wave. The car flashed its headlights briefly in reply.
"Is there time for one of us to rendezvous with Patterson? Maybe do a 'one flash for yes, two for no' thing?" she asked Kurt quietly. "We could bring the raid forward, get the kids and the logbook out before it happens."
"But if we do, we might lose Shapiro. He won't be here until tomorrow." There was no way they could risk the head of this trafficking ring going free. "We should try to give Patterson the intel we have, though."
Jane nodded.
Kurt gave Patterson a quick signal to wait, then continued on. "Bathroom's just up here," he said loudly, then lowered his voice. "You head in, leave the door cracked. I'll head back and see if I can pick the car up, or distract anyone who comes near while Patterson drives it to you."
She nodded and brushed her fingers briefly against his, then headed up the hall that led off the main warehouse area, glancing into the rooms to the left and right of her. Reaching the bathroom door, she gave Kurt a silent signal that everything up there was clear.
Kurt meandered back, trying not to look too purposeful to the guards and night-workers within his line of sight. Reaching the shadows where the car was hidden, he leaned against the wall and said, as loudly as he dared, "Jane's in the northwest bathroom on this floor. If I make sure the coast's clear, can you get there?"
The car whirred forward, its movement sounding way too loud and conspicuous to Kurt's ears. It was something they'd have to chance, though. Better that Jane had that conversation with Patterson in private than him trying to do it here, where there were enemies within sight. Any headlight flashes here might catch unwanted eyes.
What followed was a tense couple of minutes of Kurt pretending to search boxes on shelves—he could say he was looking for wires or menstrual products, if questioned—and Patterson navigating into different cover points every time he tapped his foot. Since the shelving units' bottom shelves were a few inches off the ground, Patterson could hide the car under them, moving with him as he 'searched'.
It was a huge relief when the car veered around the corner into the bathroom hallway, and out of sight. Jane would have to take it from here.
He turned around, and almost crashed into Pete and two other guards, who were all looking at him suspiciously.
"Hey. What's up? You found a wire yet?" he asked Pete, hoping none of them could tell how nervous he was. Had they seen the car?
"No. Came to find you, since you've been gone a while. Where's the nanny?"
"In the bathroom. She sent me to carry on hunting for tampons or whatever. Usually I'd say she can find her own, but I really want her to consider taking me back, so…you know how it is." He gave them a hopeful look. "There has to be something around here, right? You must have at least one other woman working here?"
Pete shook his head. "You know what women are like with kids, man. Way too sentimental for our line of work. Your ex is the first one we've dared approach."
"Oh, great, that means I'm screwed. Unless…" He feigned a lightbulb moment. "Hey, you got a big pair of scissors? Maybe we can cut one of the kids' diapers down to size or something."
He steered them back down towards the elevator, as far away from Jane and the car as possible, and hoped like hell that something came of his wife's rendezvous with Patterson.
Jane locked the door behind the remote-controlled car, sighing with relief. At least no one was likely to disturb her for a good few minutes now she was in here.
She crouched on the floor, trying not to shudder at the disgusting state of the tiles in this bathroom, and looked into the camera mounted on the tiny vehicle. Speaking quietly, she said, "One flash for yes, two for no, okay? Am I talking to Patterson?"
The car flashed its headlights once, and Jane smiled. It was amazing how much the contact with outside allies could raise her spirits on a mission like this.
"I'm so glad you guys have eyes inside now. Things here are way more complicated than we first thought. Flash at me if I tell you anything you already know…" She gave Patterson as much information as she could about the kids, the log book, Kurt's deception with the cameras, then their plans for the morning, wishing Patterson could reply in more than yes-or-no flashes.
Once she'd relayed everything she could think of, she said, "The guy who'll be looking at the surveillance system tomorrow is called Adil. Sorry, I don't have a last name. Is he on the list of people we've managed to identify coming and going from this place?"
A few moments later, Patterson flashed, Yes.
Jane crossed her fingers for luck, knowing she was being superstitious, but not caring. "Do you know where he lives? Any way you guys can arrest him, or otherwise delay him from coming into work until after the raid?"
Yes.
Jane blew out a relieved breath. "Thank you. If we can keep the cameras off all morning, it will really help. Is the raid still scheduled for noon?"
Yes.
"Things are gonna be tough. Kurt will probably be upstairs, hopefully with Shapiro, if we can manage to lure him away so I can grab his book. If I can, I'll start neutralising guards with stealth at about eleven forty-five, and get as many kids out as I can. When the raid starts, I'll make my stand in the basement, and I'll have at least one of the kids with me. Kurt will try to retreat downstairs when you break in, but the sooner you guys can come back us up, the better."
Jane rubbed her aching temple, trying to think of anything she'd missed. Nothing sprang to mind, so she said, "Tell Avery I love her, okay? If Kurt and I don't make it out of this…take care of her."
Yes.
Jane swallowed hard, wondering if this would be the last contact she ever had with her team. "It makes me feel so much better knowing you guys are out there waiting to help. This has to be one of the worst cases I've ever worked." She shook her head. "Okay, I should get back out there before they get suspicious. Wish us luck."
The car headlights blinked on and off several times, which Jane assumed was Patterson's equivalent of 'good luck'. She smiled, but sobered quickly.
"And tell the team to be careful. These assholes are not playing around."
As the car flashed another 'yes', there was a knock on the door. "Hey, Penny," Kurt called through the door, "Couldn't find you any tampons, but I got the next-best thing!"
"Sanitary pads?" Jane called back, making sure Patterson was mostly out of view behind the basin pedestal before she went to the door and cracked it open.
Kurt glanced down the hall, checking they were unobserved, before grinning and passing her a vaguely pad-shaped object. "Nope! But I improvised with one of the diapers from downstairs."
Jane stared down at the cut-down diaper in her hands and fought the urge to burst into uncontrollable laughter. "You know this is barely better than just using toilet paper, right?" she whispered to him, laughing under her breath.
"Yeah, but they don't know that." Kurt inclined his head towards the warehouse floor. "You need more time with Patterson?"
She shook her head, and loudly said, "Guess it'll have to do."
"I'll wait here," Kurt said, signalling that he could hear someone approaching.
Jane shut the door in his face, and turned to show the snipped-up diaper to Patterson. "Can you believe this?" She rolled the thing up in toilet paper and stuffed it into the trashcan, making sure to cover it with paper towels. Then she flushed the toilet and gave the car a small wave. "See you tomorrow. Don't let them see you, okay?"
The car flashed its headlights.
Jane put on her Penny Yates face and pulled open the bathroom door, making sure to leave it open enough for Patterson to navigate the car out of there.
"All set?" Kurt asked.
"Don't get too smug," she told him. "Just because you helped me out doesn't mean we're going on that date."
"Awww, come on, Penny!"
They bickered all the way back to the surveillance room, which was now empty. Kurt shot Jane an urgent glance and made a beeline for the security system, while Jane leaned in the doorway, still telling her 'ex-husband' how useless she thought he was, keeping watch for enemies.
When Pete reappeared, five minutes later, Kurt had plugged a multitude of wires into incorrect sockets. Jane guessed that was as much as they could get away with, since anything more irreversible would be seen as sabotage, not an inept attempt to fix things.
"Boyd says that if you found what you were looking for, get your asses downstairs so he can lock you back in," Pete said, looking bored.
"Oh, joy," Jane said sourly. "A few more hours locked up with my ex."
Once they were locked back in, Jane joined Kurt on his cot, snuggling up in his embrace as she filled him in on what she'd asked of Patterson, and the details of what she'd told the kids. "I told them my name is Lauren, so if for some reason you have to go in instead of me, use that."
Kurt nodded, stroking her hair. "No matter what happens tomorrow, just remember that I love you," he told her.
Jane tightened her arms around him. "I love you, too." She took a deep breath and let it out, trying to dispel her anxiety about the coming day. "We've got this, right?"
"Yeah. We're gonna be fine."
Jane could tell her husband was on edge, just as she was, but didn't have the heart to call him on it. They'd made their way out of nearly impossible situations before, though rarely without injury.
Just let Kurt and the kids survive, she thought, unsure whether she was talking to God, the universe, or just herself. It doesn't matter what happens to me, as long as they make it out.