When she got to work the following morning, she was bleary eyed and in much need of multiple caffeine fixes to keep functioning. The meeting the night before left her much to think about, and restful sleep was not part of the night's agenda.

Luckily, the precinct could practically run itself, and she was grateful that all of Gate's direct reports opted to stay when she took on the lead role. The big issue of the week was a disagreement about the needs of one of her best divisions – robbery. It was run by of all people - Tom Demming, and that made everything awkward. Although she had tried to keep their brief relationship under wraps, it was pure folly to think that a bunch of cops would not notice and gossip accordingly.

Unfortunately, as a lack of manpower in his division became an issue, he started having contentious solo meetings with her where nasty barbs were flying both ways across her desk. She knew his leadership was largely responsible for the glowing statistics she could not deny. What she did not like was his rather overt insinuation that their past relationship was clouding her judgement about his resource arguments.

The decision meeting happened that first afternoon after her first meeting with Hunt and Rita. She was determined to take a conciliatory tone, and it worked. By the end of the meeting, he got what he wanted, and the friction was gone. As he left, Tom said, "Thanks for this, Captain; I owe you one." Little did she realize then, just how helpful that gesture would be down the road.

That night she went over all the paperwork she and Vikram had accumulated on the LOKSAT front, and none of it left her optimistic. She was now openly skeptical that her vaunted detective skills were up to the task of finding her nemesis. Even with Vikram's expertise, they really had no solid leads.

Their meeting the next day started with the usual security sweep, while they discussed his NYPD projects. After that, they got down to the real agenda, and each voiced their increasing frustrations about continuing their secret investigation. Vikram was borderline envious saying, "This guy is good – perhaps too good for us. We are blindly grabbing at straws, but if we grab the wrong one, he will not hesitate to target us."

Beckett could not argue with his logic and openly wondered if the joint FBI/AG team investigating the three agent deaths was hitting the same wall. Vikram offered to check with his old contacts and report any gossip later that day. The news from DC was not encouraging. The agent in charge was screaming for leads, while the team charged with the investigation was trying to look busy though none of their leads looked promised. The problem was no one wanted to admit failure in a case where agents died. That stench was a career killer, and everyone assigned to the case knew it.

That evening on her way home, she took the post card from her purse and deposited it in a mailbox. There was really no other alternative. Whoever LOKSAT was; he was a master of concealment. In their quest to uncover his identity, she and Vikram were pitifully outmatched. However, Jackson and Rita were another story entirely. Finding and taking out concealed targets was what they did.

With that settled, she turned her attention to formulating a plan for unwinding the investigation that left Vikram none the wiser about her sudden change of heart. That process began the following week. After a quick update on his precinct projects, she began a long mournful diatribe about the status of their investigation. All their work so far had simply proven who he was not. Hints and hopes were hardly leads. It was time to put an end to this once and for all. They were outmatched and should have the good sense to admit it.

For his part, Vikram was petrified LOKSAT would target them for the same grim fate as his former colleagues. "We are no further along than when we started. If the FBI has nothing, how do we expect to do better? We are just spinning our wheels, and that's when mistakes happen. He had already killed three FBI agents who he thought might be loose ends. If he gets wind of our efforts, he won't hesitate to off us as well. Continuing this is a fool's mission where we risk death for hardly any gain on our objective."

With Kate doubting that their skill-set was up to the task and Vikram fearing for his life , the decision to end their efforts was easily taken. Beckett would dispose of all the hard copy they had accumulated, while Vikram cleaned up every cyber trace that could lead back to them. Both left the meeting resigned to an frustrating outcome neither wanted, but both needed.