CHAPTER 8
The next morning, Quinn and Finn walked into the precinct office a little bit late.
"Sorry we're late. He slept in." Quinn announced. Finn shrugged. He looked around the room and saw Captain Kurt, the ATF agent and Artie all dressed in suits, and he looked down at his three-day-old ratty jacket and pants.
"I didn't realise this was so formal." Finn remarked. "I would have worn dress socks."
"I brought the bagels, so…" Artie said. Finn picked one up, ripped a chunk off, scooped some cream cheese straight out the tub and put it in his mouth.
"You please use a knife?" Artie asked, shuddering. "This is a real meeting."
"Sorry." Finn replied, rolling his eyes. "Continue."
"Bullet fragments found at the scene and in the body are particularly lethal. They're designed to split mid air, giving them a wider hit radius and almost 100% accur… Finn, that's not a thing people do. It's not gonna enhance the flavour. It's just weird."
Finn had just started dipping chunks of bagel in his cup of coffee and eating them.
"You know, the good news about these bullets, they can only be fired out of one gun, the MG10. It's illegal stateside and it's only licensed for use in the military overseas." Agent Hirsch said.
"Well, one of 'em got out. Who makes this thing?" Quinn asked.
"It's a private arms contractor, Stonehill Industrial Group, down south near San Diego."
Quinn and Finn looked at each other and stood up.
"Hey, any luck with the witness?" Hirsch asked.
"She's in protective custody, going through I.D books today." Kurt replied. As Quinn and Finn walked out the door, Hirsch called to them.
"Hey guys! Just a word to the wise. Arms contractors don't take kindly to accusations of misappropriated weapons." Hirsch said. Kurt turned to his two detectives.
"What he means is, it's a government facility, so tread lightly."
Quinn laughed.
"I'm taking Finn to a gun factory. What could go wrong?"
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"I don't understand what some gangbanger shooting has to do with this company." The owner of the company, Garrison, said. Quinn and Finn had just arrived at the facility and Quinn was questioning the man while Finn wandered around, exploring the facility.
"Well, we believe that one of your guns was the murder weapon." Quinn replied. "The MG10."
"That's impossible." Garrison scoffed. "That weapon's for military use overseas only."
"I assume that you have records of every weapon you manufacture here." Quinn remarked.
"Yes. We have detailed manifests to ensure that every gun we make, every gun we ship is accounted for, every single one."
"Can I see those?" Finn asked. Garrison laughed.
"Sure. Just call the Pentagon, ask permission. That big building in Arlington?"
Quinn laughed back.
"Or…" She said. "I could freeze your operation till I got a warrant. You know, smelly little building in downtown L.A? I could shut you down for days, maybe even weeks."
Garrison sighed and handed Finn his tablet.
"You got twenty minutes."
Quinn smirked.
"Okay, but don't start the clock until I start reading."
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Meanwhile, outside, Finn had just made it out to the testing range, and he watched as one of the men fired a machine gun and practically blew up his target.
"Whoo!" Finn exclaimed gleefully, clapping his hands. The man turned to face him and put the gun down on a huge pile. "You gotta let me try one of them!"
"Oh, this is a closed range." The man snapped. Finn shrugged.
"Oh, I'm just browsing. Finn Hudson." He said, holding out his hand for the man to shake.
"Jack Kirstein." The man replied. "Head of weapons testing."
As they shook hands, Finn noticed rifle burns on the man's arm. He realised that this could well be the man who took a sniper shot at him and Natasha on the roof.
"Ooh, those burns look fresh." Finn remarked. "Let me guess. Hot brass from a sniper rifle? You been sharpshooting lately?"
"I was trying to kill a coyote who was trespassing." He growled, squaring up to Finn. Finn didn't back down or get scared though. He just grinned.
"Did you get him?" Finn asked, eagerly.
"Slippery bastard got away." He replied. Finn nodded and started walking around the range. He pointed at a pile of guns.
"Ooh, what are these?" He asked, grinning.
"I test the weapons. If they're not up to spec, I tag 'em and they destroy 'em."
Finn picked up one of the machine guns.
"But how do you know if they're defective?"
He pointed the gun upwards and fired a couple of rounds at the air. He started giggling as he fired them but the man wasn't pleased. He quickly grabbed the gun from Finn. As the two men came together, he didn't even notice Finn swiping something from his pocket.
"That is for authorized professionals only!" He shouted. "You need to leave now!"
"I was not expecting that kick!" Finn laughed. "That gun is definitely defective though. I'll tell you that right now! It should be destroyed immediately!"
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"Hey man, while you were playing with toys, look what I found." Quinn said, handing Finn a sheet of paper. "All defective weapons are signed out to the ATF to be destroyed. And look who just signed out a whole cache of those MG-10s."
Finn attempted to read it and he squinted his eyes to read the tiny font.
"What does that say? Joe… Gonzo?"
"Gino Corelli." Quinn snapped, snatching the paper back from Finn. "The fake name of our mystery man. We don't know who he is, but that's a damn good start. That is how Starsky rolls."
"Or we could just call him." Finn suggested, taking out a phone and showing it to Quinn. "See, because I've got his number right there."
"How… How you…? How'd you…?" Quinn stammered. Finn smirked.
"You could be Huggy Bear. That's a good idea. But, see, this is Starsky. Speaking of which, how's your hood slide? 'Cause mine's spectacular."
"If called upon, I could do a great hood slide." Quinn argued. Finn laughed and pointed to their car in front of them.
"Consider yourself called upon." Finn remarked. Quinn looked at the car, then back at Finn, then back at the car, then back at Finn.
"You know, just call the damn number." Quinn snapped. Finn smirked.
"Uh-huh." He said, and then dialled the number. There was no answer and the phone went straight to voicemail. Finn's face paled. He sprinted over to the car, did an epic hood slide over the car and dove into the front seat.
"Finn?" Quinn yelled, confused.
"It was Hirsch's voice on the phone!" Finn shouted back. Quinn's eyes widened in alarm. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
The tyres of the car screeched as Finn drove maniacally to the safehouse…
Meanwhile, Agent Hirsch had just walked into the safehouse building to 'pick up the witness.' He knocked on the door and Natasha opened it. Her face paled when she saw him and her legs almost gave out. He smirked at her.
"Hey darling…" He said. "You miss me?"
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"This is on me!" Finn yelled as they tore towards the safehouse. "I should've stayed with her!"
"It's not. It was Kurt's call. Besides, we don't know if anything happened yet. Do… do you realize you're in the wrong lane?"
Finn ignored her.
"I gave her my word that she was gonna be safe." Finn growled. Quinn called Tina, who picked up immediately.
"Quinn?" Tina asked.
"Tina, I need you to connect us to the safe house where Natasha is."
"Well, she's gone. Agent Hirsch picked her up an hour ago. Took her to the ATF offices for photos."
Finn slammed his hands on the wheel in frustration. Quinn put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, hey, hey. Agent Hirsch may not know that his cover is blown. All government vehicles are installed with LoJack." Quinn remarked.
"All right. I'm on it. You want me to put out a BOLO?" Tina asked.
"Yes!" Finn shouted.
"No!" Quinn yelled. "Track him and call us back."
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"Let's go!" Hirsch shouted. He had just pulled into an abandoned warehouse, which was basically a warehouse from hell. It was filled with guns, dynamite and gasoline. Jack, the weapons tester, walked over to him.
"Yo, we got a problem." He said. "Your cops were sniffing around Stonehill today."
"I know. We gotta move these to a more secure location now." Hirsch replied, pointing to the guns that were strewn all over the floor."
Suddenly, there was dull thumping coming from the car. Hirsch sighed.
"First, we gotta deal with this." He said, walking over to the trunk of his car and opening it to reveal a gagged Natasha, who was inaudibly screaming and crying.
Meanwhile, Finn and Quinn parked silently outside the warehouse.
"If we call it in now, SWAT's at least ten minutes away." Quinn informed him. Finn cocked his weapon and nodded.
"Yeah." Finn growled in reply. Quinn sighed.
"So let me get this straight… we're going into a room full of trained killers who have guns that have a 100% kill rate."
Finn's facial expression was unreadable. It was the expression of a… of a soldier.
"Yup." He replied. Quinn sighed.
"All right." She replied. "Just wanted to make sure that you were up to speed."
"Ready?" Finn asked. Quinn looked at her smartwatch, which read her heart rate as 90bpm.
"Let's go."
They got out of the car and they walked over to the entrance of the warehouse, where there was a small window by the door. They peered in to see a couple of gunmen, all carrying the unique machine guns. Finn turned to Quinn.
"I have an idea." Finn murmured.
"Yeah?"
"You stay out here and cover the perimeter. I'm gonna go inside. I got this. I got it."
Quinn grabbed his arm.
"No, no, no! I got a better idea. I go inside, YOU stay out here with the perimeter."
Finn chuckled.
"Good one, Quinn. I'll see you inside." He whispered before scurrying away. Quinn rolled her eyes.
"I'll see you inside." She murmured. As she prepared to burst in, her watch started beeping louder and louder. She groaned and took it off her wrist.
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Meanwhile, in her firm, Santana was working hurriedly when suddenly, she got an alert on her computer. She opened it to reveal Quinn's heart rate app. She watched as her heart rate went from 110 to 120 to 130 before the message DISCONNECTED appeared on the screen. Santana took off her glasses nervously and watched the screen.
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"All right, we need to make it look like I was ambushed before you kill her." Hirsch said, spraying his empty car with rounds. He then dragged Natasha, who was shouting NO over her gag, onto her knees. "I'm gonna make it look like I was caught in the crossfire, so I want you to shoot me in the right shoulder."
Jack cocked his gun and aimed carefully at Hirsch's shoulder.
"Are you sure you can make this shot?" Hirsch asked. Jack rolled his eyes.
"I test guns for a living. There's no one better." He snarled. A shot rang out a moment later. However, rather than Hirsch going down, it was Jack's skull where the bullet was buried and he collapsed in a heap. Finn stood in the doorway of the warehouse. Quinn stormed the warehouse moments later…