Thought Police

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This story is on an AU track.

Chapter 8:

"Rough night?" Serena asked her partner in an undertone.

"What -" he was interrupted by a yawn. "What makes you say that?"

"You look more tired than the jet-lag brigade over there." She smiled, indicating the LA team, who did in fact look half-asleep. "What happened? Anything to do with that call from yesterday?"

"Everything to do with the call," he said wearily. "Andrea had multiple nightmares last night. Every time it seems like she's going to be okay, something like this happens and pushes her back into that place." He sighed. "It's to the point where I'm considering pulling her out, finding another school. What?" He added at Serena's clear surprise. "You think that's a little drastic?"

"Under normal circumstances, absolutely. But in your case...it seems like you've tried everything else. I was just surprised to hear that it had gotten to that point. But your biggest issue is going to be making sure the issue doesn't repeat at a new location."

He sighed audibly, burying his face in his hands. "Tell me about it."

Noticing something, she reached over and tapped him on the shoulder. "I'll tell you later," she teased gently. "Looks like something's happening."

The three team leaders were walking in, all laden down with cups bearing the logo of the coffee shop down the block, which they began distributing to their respective teams. Alex walked over to the two New York detectives. "I think I remembered right," she said, setting the tray down on the edge of the twin desks. "Serena, skim milk, no sugar, Zach, black, double-sweet. Right?"

They both nodded, reaching eagerly for the cups. The senior detective immediately took a long drink of his. "Thanks. You didn't have to."

"It's no problem. Besides," she added with a slight smirk, "Don and Cho both asked me where to make a coffee run for their teams, what with everyone still adjusting to the time difference. I couldn't well be shown up, now could I?"

"Looks like it was probably necessary," Serena commented. "Most of the LA team looked like they were about to fall asleep at the table."

"Only most?" Alex asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, Charlie was full speed ahead the moment he walked in the door. He must have some kind of internal energy reserve."

"That would certainly explain a few things." Don had walked up unnoticed behind Alex. "This isn't new. I've seen him go at problems for days straight."

"And you bought him a coffee?"

He shrugged, grinning. "Hey, Charlie's an adult, he can take care of himself." He considered this for a moment. "Usually. Besides, he'd never let me live it down if I 'forgot' him in the coffee run." He took a mouthful of his own drink. "Good call on the shop, though, Alex. This is some killer coffee."

She smiled. "Hey, you pull enough all-nighters and early mornings in this office, you learn where the best coffee within walking distance is." But her attention was quickly diverted by the file in his other hand. "What've you got?"

"Preliminary lab report on the car." He passed the document to her. "It confirms what we already suspected. The composition of the bumper doesn't match the composition of the rest of the body. They're going over the wheel wells and undercarriage, looking for anything that might tell them where the car might've pulled off the road, either during the kidnapping or when it was being repaired."

"Okay, good, but we're not waiting for lab results. We need to step up our game if we don't want this thing getting too far ahead of us. Don, did you record interrogations from the old case?"

"Of course. You want the recordings?"

"As soon as humanly possible. Zach, I'd like you to have a look at those. Pull Jane to help you. We need to know more about these people and this organization if we're going to have any hope of guessing what they'll do next."

He nodded. "Understood."

"Don, are you able to pull the case file? I'd like to go over it, pick it apart if necessary, to look for anything that might help us here and now. I'd like you to work with me on that, you're the only one we have who knows this case inside out. Cho!" she called out to the Austin lead agent as he passed by. "How's Wylie coming with the computer trace?"

"Not a lot to go on as yet," he replied. "Eppes, you weren't kidding when you said you collapsed this organization. There's still chatter, of course, but everything we've found is all talk and no action."

"Which makes sense," Zach put in. "Those are the people who were able to stay out of prison four years ago, the ones who didn't have anything to do with the violent part of the plan."

Cho nodded. "Wylie thinks there might be more hardcore stuff out there somewhere, but he says it'd be much harder to find - actually, he used some technical lingo I couldn't follow, so I just nodded along, but that was the gist of it."

Don exchanged a quick smile with Colby, who had just come up beside him. "We're familiar, believe me."

"In any case, he's looking, but it's slow going. From what I understood, he doesn't know where to start looking because everything's so deeply buried."

"You know what, have him talk to Charlie," Don suggested. "He might have an idea."

"Because he's not doing enough work," Alex chuckled.

She'd meant it as a joke, but it clearly brought Don up short. "Okay," he said after a moment. "I'll amend that. Have him ask Charlie if he's got the time. Alex is right, he's already working on multiple things for us. I'm sure he'll get to it when he gets a chance."

"In the meantime," Alex added, "have Wylie check what he's found so far for anyone local who's still posting. The more reluctant to get on board with the violent segment, the better. Colby, Serena, you're on the car, but in the meantime, if Wylie finds anyone, track them down and see if they'll talk to you. Key word is insight. We need as much as we can get, from as many sources as we can get."

"Copy that," Colby replied as Serena nodded.

Don was already paging through the contacts on his phone, stopping the rapid button-pushing only when he had apparently found what he was looking for. "Give me a minute." He stepped into a nearby hallway, phone already against his ear.

"I have a strong feeling we'll have the file within, oh, an hour or so at the most," Colby commented with a small smile.

"Hope so," Alex replied a little skeptically. "FBI playing hardball on that kind of thing wouldn't be unprecedented - no offense, Granger," she added quickly. "You guys in the field are usually pretty cool. It's the pencil pushers and glory hogs who bother me."

Her tone seemed light, but Zach couldn't help but notice that there was a note of anger under it that couldn't be hidden. But she didn't seem inclined to discuss it, so he let it drop as she continued. "Of course, that said, Don was lead agent on the matter. That's got to count for something. They're basically his files, right?"

xxxxxxxxx

"So. Profiling, huh?"

Zach raised an eyebrow slightly. "You don't have to make it sound like a four-letter word."

The blonde man shrugged. "Never put much stock in the whole idea myself. People who think they can distill the human condition down to a series of predictable values, while at the same time trying to pretend they can't possibly be swayed by such an illogical thing as emotion."

Again the raised eyebrow. "That's an...awfully specific generalization." He considered for a moment. "I'm going to say - you're thinking of someone specific. A profiler you met once, probably worked with given your knowledge of this person's approach to a case. Someone who got under your skin." He smiled at Jane's shocked expression. "See? Profiling."

"More like being on the other side of the microscope," the consultant remarked. "It's a little weird from this angle when you're not used to it."

"Sorry. I don't usually rattle off my observations to the person I'm observing, I just wanted to make a point. Which you just finished making for me, by the way. All Alex wants us to do is what you do anyway; be the one looking through the microscope."

"Okay." Jane's confident smile was back. "Point well taken."

"Oh, by the way," Zach added, "you want weird, try being profiled by a nine-year-old. My daughter's been bitten by the profiling bug. Let's just say I've gotten very used to being on the other side."

"Hm." Jane looked upset, almost pained, for a moment, but whatever was bothering him was quickly pushed aside. "She any good?"

"Andrea? Oh, yeah, she's good. I've known professionals with less intuition. I swear sometimes it's like she's looking right into my soul. It's all just observation now, of course, she is only nine."

"But you think you've got the next generation Nichols profiler on your hands."

He shouldn't have been surprised, he reasoned, that Jane could read him as easily as he could read Jane. "The thought's crossed my mind," he admitted, "but only if that's what she wants. I've been on the other side of this; my parents were sure I'd follow in their footsteps, and it caused a lot of pain and heartache all around when I decided that wasn't what I wanted out of my life. The last thing I want is to do that to my own child."

A knock on the door forestalled any further discussion, and they turned to see Alex holding a USB drive. "First set of interview videos. I'll get you Carolyn's profile notes once we have the full file too; let me know what you come up with."

xxxxxxxxx

"I didn't do anything!" the man protested as he was led into the interrogation room. "Nothing except exercise my constitutionally-protected right to free speech!"

"Really?" Colby said skeptically as he directed the man into a chair. "Why'd you run, then?"

"I know how you people operate," he said indignantly. "As far as you're concerned, I'm guilty by association. Why else would I be here?"

"Oh, I don't know. But if I had to guess, I'd say it might have something to do with you deliberately smacking Detective Stevens with a door so you could have a head start."

"Which was a really stupid move," the detective in question added as she stepped into the room behind them. "We just wanted to chat with you. If you'd cooperated, we could be having this conversation in the comfort of your living room."

"Why should I believe that?"

"Because, recent events notwithstanding, you're smart," Serena replied, sitting down across from him. "We know that, Jake. And you know that violence isn't the answer. That's why you're walking around free when others went to prison."

"But you see," Colby added, picking up the line of questioning without a second's hesitation, playing a well-rehearsed game, "most of the people you associated with, they still haven't learned that lesson. Even after they saw their friends arrested and convicted, they still think violent action is the way to go."

"I know," he admitted. "I know."

"So talk to us," Serena encouraged. "Look, we may not agree with what you have to say, but we're not interested in hounding you over that. All we want to do is keep anyone from getting hurt. You want that too, don't you?"

"Yes," Jake admitted. "God, yes. Look, I don't like the way our government spends money. I don't like the idea of lazy people coasting along on the tax dollars of hardworking Americans. I connected with a group of like-minded people on the Internet. You know, there were other people in that group who thought like me, who wanted to work through the elections and the legislatures. But then some people started talking about violence, about committing some kind of massive operation that 'America would never forget'. I guess that sounded sexier than 'elect politicians who share our values' because the next thing I knew, everyone was buzzing about bombings, and anyone who said that it was a bad idea was ignored or worse."

"Worse?" Colby prompted

"Oh, you know, insults, flaming. One guy was threatened with doxxing, but I don't think it ever actually happened. We were locked out from some of the discussions, maybe because we were annoying or maybe because they were afraid we'd go to the cops, I don't know, but I told the feds when they came knocking in 2010 that I never saw anything more than the initial discussion regarding the bombings."

"We know that too," Serena assured him. "So let's go over what you do know. I think we've well established you don't like cops."

"I used to like them fine," he objected. "Right up until I was interrogated by the Feds for ten hours straight because they refused to believe I had anything to do with the bombs. Like I said, guilt by association."

"What about the group?" Colby continued as if he hadn't heard the man's last remark. "What was their feeling about law enforcement?"

He shrugged. "What's anybody's feeling about law enforcement? Didn't love them, didn't hate them. Specific incidents got discussed from time to time, that's about as in-depth as it ever got. I mean, I'm sure the ones doing illegal things didn't want the cops involved, but like I keep saying, that wasn't me."

"Specific incidents," Serena repeated. "So cops who did things you didn't agree with -"

"Same as any civilian who did things we didn't agree with."

"And some people were willing, even eager, to take violent action against civilians they didn't like," Colby said grimly, pushing a pad of paper towards Jake. "We need names. And any other identifying information you can remember."

xxxxxxxxx

"Wow." Alex stared down at the list. "Just how many people were involved with this?"

"A lot. The group had been collecting members for years before anyone talked bombs; it gave them a chance to whip up a frenzy first. I think we made something like sixty arrests across the country."

"'Something like sixty'?" Alex repeated disbelievingly. "Come on, Eppes, I know your type. I bet you could give me the exact number in your sleep."

He blushed slightly. "Yeah, well - we made sixty-two arrests. Happy?"

"Ecstatic," she said wryly. "But I bet you were happier when you first heard it."

"I admit, it's always nice when your hard work pays off. But it took us aback a bit - me and Carolyn especially - how many of them there were to arrest. Especially given how scattered they were. Just the idea that so many people could be radicalized, over the internet no less. And the sixty-two were only the ones with enough connections to arrest. We always suspected there might be more who were like-minded enough to think of trying something but that we couldn't quite connect in. We hoped that the arrests would be enough to deter them, but deep down we worried that it wouldn't. Looks like we were probably right to worry," he added, "though for once I wouldn't have minded being wrong."

"Speaking of you being wrong," she teased, "what was the deal with that whole thing about Charlie earlier? You know I was kidding, right?"

"I know," he assured her. "But you weren't wrong. I've made that mistake before, you know, you'd think I'd be able to avoid it by now."

"Mistake?"

"Oh, you know, forgetting that my little brother is only human," he admitted with a laugh. "You have to understand, some of the things he's pulled off for us - I would've thought it wasn't possible if I hadn't seen it. You see that enough times, you start to think he can do anything. Hell, I'm not entirely convinced he can't. But the downside of that is that it's easy to get caught up in what he can do and forget that there's a person behind it all. As I said, I've done it before; piled five things on him at once, or tried to demand that he drop everything and work on what I needed, regardless of what he had going on or who else might be counting on him. I've been called out on it enough times, I try not to let it happen, but it's so easy to fall back into that bad habit if I'm not careful."

"I find it hard to believe you could ever really forget about Charlie as an individual," she commented. "You two seem close. Not just in a work sense, I mean. Is it just the two of you, then?"

"Siblings, you mean? Yeah, just me and Charlie. Which is probably a good thing. The two of us pushed our parents to the limit as it was." He let out a soft laugh, remembering. "What about you? You have siblings?"

"Oh, yeah. We're the quintessential big Irish Catholic family; I have three brothers and a sister."

"Wow," Don said before he could stop himself. "That's...a lot."

But Alex only smiled. "You're telling me. I grew up with that brigade. I was the fourth and my little brother was born when I was a toddler, so I've been one of five since I can remember." She leaned in closer, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I'm Dad's favorite, but don't tell anyone."

That drew another laugh from Don. "Oh, I see what your family was like. You close now?"

She shrugged. "We get along well enough, but I wouldn't say we're especially close. I'm a lot closer to my sister than my brothers, but I'm still not sure we'd be able to manage working together like you two do; we just don't handle each other that well. I'm godmother to her son, and we've had some spectacular blow-ups just over our different ideas of how to care for him."

"It's not exactly smooth sailing between Charlie and me either, you know. Despite what it might look like."

"I'm a realist," she countered. "It's not like I think it's all sunshine and rainbows all the time, but you've clearly got an arrangement that works."

"Which doesn't by any stretch of the imagination mean we don't fight," he replied. "You of all people probably know, sibling dynamics that start up in childhood don't just vanish once people become adults, and Charlie and I have a weird one."

"Weird how? If you don't mind my asking."

"I don't. Well, Charlie's five years younger than me, so right away that's a different kind of relationship than siblings who are closer in age. But where it really started to get complicated - you know that Charlie's a math professor, I mentioned that. What I didn't mention is that he's a prodigy. His talent for math started showing up before he was four years old; he was doing college-level work before he started kindergarten. I think an old friend of mine said it best; it put an edge on the whole sibling rivalry thing. I was constantly feeling like my brother got all the attention, and he - " Don paused, sighing deeply. "Honestly, I think he was just confused as much as anything. All of a sudden, he was being treated differently by everyone, and he was too young to fully understand why. In some ways, I think he spent so much time being a prodigy that he never really got a chance to be a kid. And that included the way that we interacted."

"Seems like you get along pretty well now," she commented.

"We've - we've 'achieved an equilibrium', as Charlie would say," he said with a soft chuckle. "I love Charlie, I see him all the time, and we've definitely improved our communication. Doesn't mean we don't lock horns every so often."

Alex chuckled. "Don, that's the nature of humanity. I had the same partner for eleven years, we were so close we could practically read each other's minds, and we still locked horns from time to time."

He smiled. "And on that note, what do you say we get back to work?"

She smiled back. "I think that sounds like an excellent idea."

I know, the assignments I gave some of the characters don't exactly match what they were assigned when the group was split, but that follows how it works in the series; nothing is ironclad, and people are assigned and reassigned where they're most needed. A good example of this comes from the Numb3rs episode Manhunt, where the team is technically on two tracks but in practice they all end up switching back and forth between the two, and working together on pieces that involve both tracks.

The profiler that Jane tangles with is from the episode Bloodhounds, and she does have a much more technical view of the world than the profilers on either Numb3rs or the Law & Order 'verse.

Please review!