"Alison got the car. It's parked outside of a storage facility off of hill and Duesy." Russell's voice came over the phone. Greg looked over at Nick.
"We're close." Nick nodded, turning his lights on and heading down a street. It took them about 5 minutes to get. Greg pulled his gun, and his flashlight ran for the car. The back window was broken, and a quick glancing inside told him Morgan wasn't in the car. Scanning the area with his flashlight, he spotted a bloodstain on the ground near the vehicle. Looking up at the entrance to the storage facility, a thought started to form. His legs started moving before he fully knew what he was doing and ran into the building. Following the trail, he came to an open unit and froze. There was a boat in the center with a woman stapped through the back, a spear piercing through the front of her back. A large figure of death looming behind her. He heard Nick and the other officer join him.
"Greg Nick, talk to me." Russell's voice called out.
"Standby, Russell," Nick said, walking over to the woman. Greg was going his best to keep the light on the body so Nick could see. The light, for some reason, seems to be shaking. Then he realized it was his hands. They were shaking. Nick pulled the hair back from the woman's face, revealing a stranger's face. Greg struggled to press the button on his radion.
"It's not Morgan. It sure looks like her, though." He said through clenched teeth. "Her hair, her dress." Nick walked over, taking the radio.
"I think it's one of the missing girls from Larson's church. The crime scene is staged like the fifth circle of Hell. We'll start to process." Nick looked at Greg. "Get us some help out here, will you." Nick clicked the radio off and turned to the officer. "We're going to get out stuff. You secure that area." Nick took Greg's arm and led him out of the building.
"We…We should get our stuff. I'll take pictures if you mark the evidence." Nick stopped by their car.
"No, we're going to stay here until we get a chance to reset." Greg looked over at that.
"What are you talking about." Nick leaned forward.
"Grego, you're whole body is shaking. Your breath is coming in gasps. I've been on the force long enough to know something. Made you think of Alison, and you need a minute to refocus." Greg hadn't noticed the change in his breathing until he started to see dots and his legs bucked. Nick helped him sit down, handing him a paper bag. Greg took it, trying to focus his breathing. "how long until the anniversary." Greg looked at that.
"What?" he said through the bag.
"How long until the anniversary of when Alison was taken. You and Alison have had panic attacks in the past few days, and I don't think you can blame it entirely on this case. You two are dealing with something else." Greg closed his eyes, trying to keep the world from spinning.
"Three weeks."
"Okay, it's getting closer." Greg felt Nick squeeze his shoulder.
"The whole team is here for you, Grego, but you have to let us help you. If that mean's you and Alison have to step back from this case, then we will understand." Greg was already shaking his head.
"Not while Morgan is still missing."
Alison and Finn walked around the apartment where Morgan had been taken from.
"It's clean." Finn finally said in frustration. Alison shook her head.
"We have to be missing something. He knew Morgan was going to be taken. He had that body ready in that storage unit. There has to be something here." Finn raised her hands, spinning around.
"If you can see it, please point me in the right direction." An idea popped into Alison's head, and she looked up at Finn.
"The killer left marks on the backs of our victims." Finn nodded, not seeing where this conversation was going. Alison was hurrying over to the light switches. We used blue light to be able to read the message." She flicked all the lights off. "What if they kill wanted us to find it in the dark," Alison said, turning on her blue light. Finn walked over to her.
"I think it's worth taking a second look." Alison started on one side of the apartment while Finn worked on the other. "Pingo," Finn called out. Alison hurried over to her. On the large painting was the word "warm." Finn slowly moved her light around until she found the word "warmer" on the wall. Alison followed behind her as they moved from wall to floor. They both stopped when the message said, "you're here." Alison looked at the fireplace then flicked it on.
"That's strange." She as the center flames weren't as high as the others.
"He has something in there." Alison turned the fire off, and Finn moved the coles back, revealing a tile. Under it was a contain. The hair on the back of Alison's neck shot up, and she turned, pulling her gun. The reporter from the lab was standing there. Finn seeing Alison's movement stood up looking at the man.
"How did you get up here." Finn asked.
"Officer downstairs, let me up." He explained. He glanced at Alison, who was still holding her gun up. "You don't want to shoot the messenger." He held up a small container. Alison slowly lowered her gun, and Finn turned on the lights. "Someone left their Bible and a dowel outside my hotel door with that inside with instructions to come here." Finn looked at the small container it had a USB inside of it.
"Alison, do you have your laptop." Alison walked over to her bag, ensuring it was entirely disconnected from the network pulling it in.
"Abandon all hope ye who enter here." She said, reading the message. "A Quote from Dante's Inferno. Inscribed on the Gates of Hell." Alison clicked the word and jumped back when an image of Morgan popped up on the screen.
"The King said, "Bring me a sword divide the child in two. Give half to one and a half to the other by this wisdom…Solomon discerned the worthiness of the one that would lay claim to the child." Morgan's voice was shaking. "You can only have one daughter back. You have a decision to make. Or the decision will be made for you. You have six hours." The video ended. Alison looked over at Finn and the reporter.
"Morgan and Ellie. We need to get this back to the lab."
Greg leaned over one of the tables in the lab. Sara walked into the lab.
"I processed the dowels that you and Nick got out of the boat. Just like the ones you've been finding in the Bibles. But I can't seem to figure out the sequence of numbers. If it's a sequence, then I'm not sure where to begin." Greg straightened, looking at the image.
"it's ternary code. Like binary code but instead of just having zeros and ones, you have zeros, ones, and twos." Sara looked over at him.
"Alright, smarty, where did you learn that." Greg smiled.
"You forget my wife is an engineer."
"So you're talking about digital encryption?"
"I'm also talking about DNA." Reached over, grabbing what he had been working on. "Finn and Alison found this case in that condo. Synthetic DNA in saline solution. An exact match to the DNA we thought was sweat from our killer engineered for data storage." Sara looked at the container.
"That sounds pretty sci-fi. But Tate did work at a biotech company."
"Forget about flash drives—this is the future. Let's say that we wanted to store this digitally on synthetic DNA. First." He set the container down, grabbing the picture of the dowels. "We would have to translate the pixels into zeros, ones, and twos of ternary code. Then we'd transfer those numbers into the nucleic acids of DNA. The information can be retrieved if you have the correct decryption key. Tate must have been storing something important, something he wanted to protect."
"Well, if the dowels are a decryption key, we should be able to read it, right?" Greg nodded.
"We'd need the biometric scanners from Tate's company and a warrant."
"Let got get one then."
Alison put an earring in her ear.
"The service starts in 30 minutes." She said over to Greg, who was at his computer.
"I know, but I need to get this report finished before we leave."
"Is Morgan going to be there," Alison asked, grabbing the car keys.
"Hodges said she go cleared this morning. He said she was planning on going with her dad." Alison shook her head.
"Hard to believe Brass' daughter did all of this just to try and kill him." Greg turned the computer off, walking over to her.
"In the end, her mother was the one that died, and she is going to end up in prison." Alison adjusted his tie.
"After the funeral, let go back to the house." Greg looked at her.
"You don't want to go to the reception afterward." Alison reached up, cupping his cheek.
"You haven't had a full night's sleep in over a week. Brass will understand." Greg closed his eyes, his shoulders sagging.
"I just want this to work." Alison smiled.
"I know, but you have to be ready for when it doesn't." Greg nodded, and they walked out of their office, passing the reporter.
"You're Alison Reagan?" He said, causing them to spot.
"I didn't recognize you at first, but when I saw you with the computer, it all clicked into place." Alison could feel Greg tensing next to her. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on putting you in my article."
"Thank you," Alison said. He reached over, handing her his card.
"But if you ever want to tell the whole story, give me a call."
"Who would want my story." He smiled.
"The daughter of the New York Commission helping solve crimes after she was taken herself. I can think of three journals and one book publisher that would buy it in a heartbeat." He glanced at Greg. "Unless you already have a deal with you're husband's publisher." Alison smiled.
"There is no story to tell." The reporter nodded, heading do the hallway before turning back to them.
"Not yet."
