A few hours later, the Nest received a phone call from a different man, who informed them that Neil was dead.

"Neil is dead?" Rene exclaimed incredulously. "Frank has been injured? And this guy, who on earth is he? Oh my, my…" She finally broke down crying. She had been so confident in dealing with Neil, who obviously still loved her despite her infidelity. Besides, there was Frank to rely on. And now Frank was captured and wounded; she felt helpless. And Iris, would they release Iris?

From the phone conversation, Rene found herself against an even mightier enemy than Neil. This man was ruthless, crafty, apathetic, and obviously dead against Frank. The team agreed that he had come for revenge, but that gave them too many possibilities. The voice on the phone sounded mature, like a man in his thirties.

He had warned seriously against the team taking any action. The man gave a detailed physical description of each of them and said that he had all the police profile pictures as well. As soon as one of his camera in the area detect one police going his way, he would shoot Iris and Frank both, "maybe not to death."

The triumph in his voice angered all the team members. They knew where Frank was but simply could not reach him. They even had to call the police department to warn them not to go anywhere within half a mile of the place. Jake and Alex practically threatened the policemen, who were in the beginning very whiney.

Monica did psychoanalysis, as usual. Her judgment of the criminal made Jake groan out loud: the guy was dangerously serious about every word he uttered.

Rene felt more than sorry. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Alex patted her shoulder, "It's not your fault, Rene. Don't worry about boss. I know he would help even if you haven't asked."

"Yeah," Cody agreed, "we just finished one case and he simply couldn't wait for another one. (Pause) I mean, he always survives anyways, just to come back and torture us, you know." He tried to chuckle but the sound died very soon. The situation was too grave even for his humor.


(Author's note: I certainly wouldn't leave out Frank in this chapter, right?)

The man watched his people carry the semi- conscious agent upstairs and dragged Neil's body into a corner himself. Then he walked up the staircase, upon which Frank left a trail of blood.

A guy went up to him cautiously. "What should we do with the cop, Mr. Gatille? He looks pretty bad. I mean, he's probably gonna die soon."

Mr. Gatille - as he was addressed - glanced at him with disinterested eyes. "Take him to the examination room, take off his shirt, and wash off the blood with warm water. I'll be there in a second."

"Are we giving him some of that painkiller stuff, sir?"

Mr. Gatille looked at him more intently this time. A malicious smile crept upon his lips, "No. He doesn't need it."

"Sure, sir." The guy started walking away, but turned back as Gatille gave further instructions, "Take the girl to where he is. Guard them carefully. The man is dangerous."

The guy nodded.

Gatille thought about the upcoming operation. The second one after he dropped out of Harvard Medical school.