"Just get…get your hands off me, will ya?"

Mike's voice was filled with agitation as he pushed the paramedic aside and rolled the shirt sleeve on his left arm back down, effectively preventing the other man from taking his blood pressure. Next to him, a nervous Steve paced the length of the living room floor, once again checking all the bullet holes and triangulating the position of the shooter.

"Mike, you were out cold for several minutes. At least have them check you out to make sure your head is okay."

"Keep that fretting to yourself for now, wise guy.", the Lieutenant growled and got up from the couch, wincing slightly when he moved his injured left shoulder that was newly decorated with a thick gauze pad, "This is just a scratch. And the bump on my head will disappear soon enough. In the meantime, we have work to do and I don't want this lead to go cold. Let's head back to the office and gather some support. Have you called in an APB on that car yet? What did you say it was, an LTD?"

"Already done. Sergeant Swanson has four units in the vicinity looking for cars that match the description I gave him."

Shaking his head in stoic annoyance, Steve turned his back toward the Lieutenant and glanced across the San Francisco skyline, grasping his elbow with on hand and scratching his chin with the other.

Continuing his oath of silent defiance, the young Professor reaching for a folded-up blanket draped over the green couch and shaking out all the planting soil and glass shards in a futile effort to restore some sort of order and peace in Mike's house.

When he finally ushered the paramedic away with a swift wave of the hand, the Lieutenant approached his old partner, stopping a few feet short as he cleared his throat.

"Well, you were right on when you said she was going to come after me next. Now…if you can tell me where to find her, I'll recommend for you to get a key to this city."

Steve dropped his head to his chest and sighed, before turning around to face him, his weary green eyes full of worry and fear that night.

"Mike…it's not that easy and you know it."

"I think you should try it anyways. I believe in your skills, and I think it's about time you do the same. After all, you've been right so far. What else have you got in that magic hat of yours?"

Hesitating for a moment when he realized that he wouldn't win the argument with Mike in his determined state, Steve drew in a deep breath and shoved a hand into his jean pockets to keep himself from fidgeting.

"Well, there are changes to her behavior now. It is actually escalating which indicates to me that you are indeed her…her trophy. It signifies a psychological climax of sorts.", Steve fell silent for a moment as they watched the parade of patrol officers and first responders bid their farewell and leave Mike's house, "First of all, she didn't wait for you to sit in a car to target you. She knows where you live and targeted you there, which is an intrusion of privacy, a very intimate act. Also, and this is interesting, she targeted you from a much greater distance than the other guys. It's not so much what she did, but what she didn't do. She didn't knock on your door and pulled a gun. Instead, she fired all the way from the road, knowing that there was a good chance she might miss you. And she fired even after you were out of sight. It leads me to think that mixed within her rage is a certain amount of respect, possibly even fear of you, which is why she's keeping her distance."

"Fear and anger are a dangerous combination…", Mike added and pursed his lips, as his mind drifted back to the fateful shooting.

"It is. The only good thing, and I am using that expression lightly, is that this…well, that this combination might cause her to make mistakes. Just like she did tonight. It is making her compulsive, rather than well-organized, like she's been with her previous killings. You could literally sense the adrenalin in the air when she fired the shots earlier. I think it's time we take a long hard look at any females in the police force and beyond, who may have been affected by something you did in the past, Mike."

"What I did to them, or possibly even their loved ones. Spouses of murderers, family members of potential victims, numerous cases of internal misconduct…thirty years of this is going to add up to quite the long list."

Steve's solemn expression didn't change for the better as both men stared at each other for several long moments, dreadfully aware of the mountain of new research ahead of them. Eventually, the young Professor rubbed the back of his neck and then pointed at Mike's phone.

"R&I won't be available for another five hours, so I guess it's time to call my troops back into action."

"It's two in the morning.", Mike cautioned with a frown, but hesitated when it was met with the famous Steve Keller smile.

"They want to become homicide Inspectors, they better get used to the cruel and inhumane hours of late-night work you put me through, Lieutenant."