Morning, as usual on hunts, came bright and early, and after several hours of work, the team scattered to their various tasks around 9am. Barnes, Hana, and the boss left to deal with the investment office. Kenny left to sit on Megan's place in case Brock showed up unexpectedly and Clinton and Kateri headed off to the University of Richmond to shadow Megan herself during her classes in case she did something or Brock tried to come after her there.
Going after her on campus risks being seen, but better to be safe than sorry.
Megan's first class on Thursday was in a small, old brick building that conveniently only had two entrances/exits—one on either end of the building. Thus, once they knew Megan was inside and in class, Clinton settled down to 'read' the newspaper and watch one end, while Kateri did the same with a book at the other end.
"You know," Kateri mused after about twenty minutes, as she idly flipped a page in the book she really wasn't reading. Lord of the Rings was one of her favorite fantasy novels, so she could have told you what the story was about anyway. She'd certainly read it plenty of time, even wearing out her first set of cheap paperbacks.
Stakeouts, to which this is similar, are hours of boredom interspersed with minutes of actually doing something productive towards a case.
"What?" her partner replied. They had comms running between them, but their earpieces were simple Bluetooth-looking earwigs, instead of the usual, police-esque ear pieces, to be less noticeable.
I think he sounds as bored as I am.
"I think this might be the first time I've been on a college campus in a decade."
I don't think I've been at a college since I graduated, not even for work.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Clinton replied.
Ehhhhh … sometimes about college were nice … others not so nice.
"I'd have to think about that."
The only reply was an answering snort of amusement.
One long and boring hour later, Megan exited that one building and headed off to her next class. A few minutes after Kateri and Clinton had gotten set up outside the next building, their teammates' voices appeared over the comms, as they patched themselves in to give a status update about the trip to the investment office.
The three accounts had been opened by Brock about three years before, and between them all, there was almost two million dollars in them, two million bucks gained from his drug operations and pill-mills.
No wonder Brock's headin' this way. One cash source gone, and he wants access to this windfall.
Bloody h**l, he's not going to stop until he gets that money.
Megan had never contacted the investment company about the accounts set up in her name, and Barnes had noted that she probably did not know about the accounts, given her concern about finding a job to support herself.
To make the situation potentially worse, Brock was not able to access the money himself. He needed Megan to get to the money.
And thus, his real reason for coming is finally revealed.
Brock needed the money to escape, and he had already proved that the lives of his family meant nothing to him when his own skin was on the line.
Oh, joooooyyyyyyy.
This is going to be interesting.
Megan finished classes for the day around lunchtime and then headed home for the rest of the day. Kateri and Clinton joined Kenny in sitting on her house and watching the area, while Barnes and the boss went to make one last attempt to get Megan to help.
This attempt was finally successful. With the information about her father's drug money staring her in the face and his lack of care for her when she was trying to scrape by, Megan finally caved, finally accepted the truth, and agreed to help.
The next step in the plan was removing the money from the investment accounts to draw Brock out of hiding. The whole team, except for Clinton and Kateri who were sitting on Megan's place, reformed at the bus. Kateri knew that, once Brock realized what had happened to his money, his reaction was going to be explosive and dangerous and, thus, they needed to be here waiting for him. She still regretted not getting to see Hana in her element, doing her thing.
It's always fun to watch, Kateri mused to herself, alternating scanning the block and checking for movement around Megan's house. It's like watching Clinton go all lawyerly on someone.
Once the funds had been wired from Megan's accounts, it was less than two hours before a call came from Brock. Hana got to do what Hana did best, and Brock's reaction was, as the team expected, explosive and unprintable. His arrogance had worked in the team's favor, as Jess succinctly put it, and Brock never saw the trap coming.
As soon as the trap was set, the whole team reformed on Megan's house. She was given a Kevlar vest and primed on how to react, what to say, and then it came time to wait. Again.
Hours of boredom interspersed with moments of action … or terror.
Kateri was looking forward to this case being over. Brock being dead or arrested would mean one less criminal on the street. Getting more than a couple hours of sleep most nights and sleeping in her own bed would also be a plus.
It was late afternoon when Brock made his move.
Megan was working in her front yard, making adjustments to one of the chains on her bicycle as well as doing other routine maintenance. To most any observer, the scene looked completely normal, and Megan seemed calm and untroubled, as if there was no trouble looming on the horizon.
Clinton and Kateri were parked at one end of the street, when suddenly a black pickup turned the corner at a high rate of speed.
Here we go.
"On the pickup!" Clinton warned the others.
"Copy."
Clinton did not manage to get their car out in time to block Brock's path down the street, but Kenny, coming from the opposite direction in a much heftier SUV, took up the gauntlet, almost playing a game of chicken with the dastardly doctor. At the last moment, Brock turned sharply to avoid colliding with Kenny, and Kenny and Clinton were forced to do their own fancy driving to avoid colliding with each other.
Bloody h**l! Kateri swore silently, seeing the SUV oncoming at a high rate of speed.
"Hang on," shouted Clinton, spinning the wheel left.
Already doing so!
The two cars screeched to a halt safely, but the trouble was not over. Brock's truck had gone straight across multiple yards and through some greenery, ending up in Megan's front yard, much, much, much too close to the girl herself.
Clinton and Kateri were the furthest from the scene, and by the time they joined the others, guns drawn, Brock already had one arm around Megan's neck and was holding a gun to her head.
"Get out of my way! She's coming with me!" Brock yelled, despite being faced with half-a-dozen armed FBI agents and having no path of escape.
Kateri swore viciously inside her own head, as she surveyed the scene. Megan and Brock were almost exactly the same height, and they were so close together that if someone tried to take the shot to take out Brock, Megan could just as easily be hit as Brock.
This was not how this plan was supposed to go.
"Let her go, Doctor!" ordered Jess calmly but firmly.
"You set me up?" Brock exclaimed. He was turning and turning and turning, dragging Megan around with him, trying to keep an eye on the whole scene. "Your own father?"
You wouldn't exactly earn father-of-the-year award!
The gun was pressed more firmly against Megan's unprotected neck.
"Talk to me, Doc!"
"I'm not going to jail for this," replied Brock.
Well, you won't be a loss to the world if you end up in a body bag.
"Let her go, and we can talk," said Jess, trying to negotiate, trying to calm the situation down.
No collateral damage.
Kateri took a step to one side, moving a little way from her partner's side, while trying not to crowd Hana on her left at the same time. Kateri wanted to try to get a better angle on Brock and get Barnes out of her line of fire.
He's encircled. He's going nowhere, but our lines of fire aren't clear this way. She swore again.
"No, no, she's coming with me," Brock replied, backing up several steps, dragging Megan with him.
Then the whole plan went sideways in an instance. Even more sideways.
Putting her physical training from ROTC to good use, Megan twisted out of her father's hold, knocked him to the ground, got hold of the gun, and ended up straddling his back holding the gun to the back of his head. It all happened in an instant.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Suddenly, Megan had become the aggressor, and Brock was now the hostage. Guns were adjusted to target Megan.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Please don't make us shoot you, kid.
Please don't do this!
Kateri felt a lead weight settle in her stomach as the scene was totally flipped sideways. She had been forced to use her weapon too many times in her career, but the last thing she—or any of the others—wanted to do was be forced to kill a college-age kid distraught over her father's betrayal.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." Megan's face was anguished. Seeing the physical evidence of what a deadbeat her father had been and still was, that was one thing. Having him hold a gun to your head was another.
"Megan, don't!" Jess almost begged.
"I looked up to you," Megan continued, speaking directly to her father, not seeming to hear the pleas of the agents.
Come on, kid. Put the gun down. You don't want to do this.
Kateri kept her gun trained on the side of Megan's head. She was close enough for a head-shot, even though that was the last thing she wanted to have to do. A head-shot would kill you quickly, but splattering brains across the grass was a horrible sight.
"You were my hero." Megan was almost in tears. "It was all fake."
"Listen to me," said Jess, trying again to get through to her.
Megan still didn't seem to hear, "Everything that I am, you took from me when you lied. I have nothing." Her grip on the gun tightened.
The knot in Kateri's stomach tightened in reflex. Don't make us do this. Please, God!
"Megan, listen to me!" Jess took another step forward and then suddenly holstered his gun, "You can get that back…"
Finally, Megan reacted to what was going on around her, looked up, shook her head. Kateri was at just the right angle to get a decent sight of her face, see the look in her eyes. Grief, fear, and betrayal warred with a look that the agent interpreted as "what do I have to lose?"
Jess crouched. "But not if you kill him. You lose it all forever."
Come on, kid. Listen to him. Please.
Brock then picked the exact wrong time to speak. "Megan, please don't. I'm sorry." Given the gun an inch from his head, sincerity was less of a motive than preserving his own skin.
"Shut up!" Megan screamed. "Shut up!" Her grip on the gun, which had started to relax as she started to respond to Jess' words, started to deescalate, tightened.
"Look at me, Megan," Jess said, continuing to try to get through to the girl.
Finally, she responded, looking up, looking towards him.
"You're graduating soon,"[1] said Jess, voice low and emphatic. He was finally getting through to her, "You did that. You did the work, not him. You're starting a new life, your life, a good life. Don't let your anger at him take that away from you. You're going to be okay. Just give me the gun."
Megan finally broke. Her posture relaxed. The gun moved away from Brock's head. She ejected the magazine and wracked the slide to clear the chamber and then clambered off of her father's back.
If Kateri had had a hand free, she would have kissed her cross in relief. She had to settle for a hurried but thankful prayer.
Kenny and Clinton holstered their guns and hurried forward to deal with Brock. Guns still drawn, Hana and Kateri covered them, until the doctor was restrained, cuffed, and then dragged to his feet.
Barnes helped Megan to her feet and then led her away.
Once Brock had been thoroughly and not so gently searched for other weapons, Jess stated, "Justin Brock, you are under arrest pursuant to a federal fugitive warrant."
"You like uniforms so much," hissed Kenny, who always took stolen valor incidents personally, "we've got a nice pretty orange one you actually deserve."
Kinda poetic justice, I think. Or at least, karmaic.
Kateri bit her lip to keep from snickering and then took several steps back to clear the way for Kenny and her partner to force Brock away to one of the waiting cars.
"What's on the menu for the flight home?" Jess asked Hana, once Brock had been sent away and Megan had been settled and de-geared.
"Local specialties," Hana replied, "sweet potato soup and spoon bread. We'll pick it up on the way to the plane."
"We'll try and save you some," joked Kenny, passing the boss on his other side.
Kateri had been making for her and Clinton's car as the discussion of dinner happened, and her steps carried out of hearing range before she could hear what Jess wanted when he called Kenny back.
What on earth is sweet potato soup and spoon bread?
Kateri was perched on the hood of the car, still mulling over the menu for dinner, when her partner joined her and leaned on the hood beside her. The others had not finished their respective tasks quite yet, so they were still waiting to leave for the airport together.
"Penny for your thoughts?" her partner asked.
"Hmmm?" His words drew her attention back to the present and away from her cogitating about food.
"You look like you bit into a lemon."
Kateri laughed, reaching up to push a loose strand of hair behind one ear, "I overheard Hana telling the boss what was for dinner on the flight open, and I'm trying to decide what on earth we're about to get to eat and whether I need to start negotiating with Kenny for access to his powerbar stash."
One eyebrow went up, and now Clinton looked slightly skeptical … or maybe worried. "Okay. What is for dinner?" Their propensity for getting local specialties for dinner meant that the team had occasionally ended up with weird food or semi-normal food from weird places as well as perfectly normal food from known-quantity chains. No one had ever gotten sick, thankfully, but Kateri had occasionally ended the meal wanting to scrape the taste of the food off of her tongue with a fork.
"Sweet potato soup and spoonbread," Kateri replied, "I know what spoons are, and I know what bread is, but what do the two have to do with each other? And why would you put a sweet potato in soup?"
"Oh, okay," Clinton relaxed, which made Kateri relax. He had normal taste in food, unlike some other people on this team, and if he thought sweet potato soup and spoonbread was decent, she probably wouldn't find it that bad.
Hopefully.
"Should I be worried?" Kateri asked to confirm.
Her partner shook his head. "Despite the unusual name, spoonbread is basically just cornbread, and I've seen you eat that before. Sweet potato soup is a little odd, but as long as whoever is making it doesn't overdo the spices, it's not bad."
"Whewwww," Kateri sighed with a half-grin, "I've had enough fast-food and powerbars for the last few days. Real food will be good."
Doors slamming nearby drew their conversation to a halt. The others were loading up. It was time to go.
"Ready?" Clinton asked.
"Yep," Kateri replied. "Let's go home."
[1] Given the release of Wally at the beginning of the episode, I have changed the date of this episode to fit more neatly with the timeline established in "Most Wanted" (FBI 1x18). Thus, this episode takes place in March, not May.