Chapter 9
It only took about a minute after Sue agreed to lunch with Jack for the team to realize that he was no longer in the room. Bobby and Myles went to the bathroom to look for him, D and Sue went to the cafeteria, and Tara and Lucy started looking in the conference rooms for any sign of him. Soon they all returned to the bullpen with the same negative results. Bobby picked up his coat, preparing to go outside to check. It was at that moment when he was putting on his jacket that he realized that he didn't hear the jangle of his keys like he usually did. A quick check of his pockets revealed that they were nowhere to be found.
"Tara, can you get a video feed from the garage?" Bobby asked.
"Of course." Tara answered. "Why do you want a feed from the garage?"
"To see if my car's still there." Bobby answered, "Because my keys are missing." Tara raised her eyebrows and soon had a video feed from the garage. After a minute she straightened up.
"Yep, it's still there." She told him. Bobby nodded and started out the door. "Where are you going?" she asked.
"My car may be here, but that doesn't mean that it's empty." Bobby said. "Jack planned that diversion so that he could slip out. He heard us." Bobby was then out the door, D and Myles hot on his heels. Soon they got out to Bobby's car, and just as he suspected, it wasn't empty. A quick peek revealed that Jack was unconscious on the floor in the back. Opening the door, Bobby retrieved his keys from the now unconscious Jack.
"Now what are we going to tell Garret?" D asked as they headed back into the bullpen.
"We'll just tell him that Jack's at a meeting." Bobby said. Sue, who had only caught the last part of the sentence, looked confused.
"Jack's at a meeting?" She asked, not knowing how that came about.
"If Garret asks." Dimitrius told her, clearing it up. Understanding dawned on Sue's face, and she nodded that she got it now.
Half an hour later, Garret did indeed enter the bullpen for an update on the case.
"Where's Jack?" he asked.
"At a meeting." Bobby told him as agreed upon, feeling guilty about lying to Garret. He was pretty sure that he'd get a very stern reprimand for not telling the truth the first time around, since this would have to come out in the report. "He said that he expected to be back around nine or so."
Garret nodded and asked, "How's it going so far?"
"We've got the meeting set," Myles said, "to discuss 'purchasing' some cocaine."
"Good. Let me know if anything else develops." Garret told them. "You have the all clear to take them tonight if the opportunity presents itself." The team nodded, and Bobby even held his breath until Garret had gone. They all breathed a sigh of relief once he was gone.
"Garret's not going to like this." Myles said, shaking his head.
"Not going to like what?" Bobby asked innocently.
"The little 'situation' with Jack." Myles said.
"If Garret finds out now, he could pull us off the case." Bobby told him. "We can't risk losing Shiva."
"So, what's Jack going to do now that he's…'dead'?" Lucy asked.
"Well, obviously he can't go back to the restaurant undercover." D said.
"But there's no way he's going to let us take him off the case." Bobby said.
"So he'll have to be backup." Tara said, finishing the sentence.
"He's not going to like that." Sue commented.
"It's our only option." D told her. "Besides, having Jack seen would completely blow our cover."
"And, it's either that, or taking him off the case." Bobby said.
"And knowing Jack, that wouldn't go over very well." Lucy told Sue.
She sighed and the team returned to their work. At about ten minutes to nine, Bobby headed back down to the car garage to wait for Jack to wake up.