"The ballistics report came back on the slugs that were found in the jewelry store shooting," Megan said as she walked into the bullpen.
Colby eyed her with interest. She had a glow about her that he didn't often see. A glow like the one Hannah usually had after they'd had a long evening making love.
Megan ignored him pointedly, but couldn't help the blush that to rose to her cheeks.
He grinned, but decided to leave her be.
"Any good news in that report?" Don asked, frowning at Colby, who shrugged and turned back to what he was doing with a smirk on his face.
"Yes. Get this. The slugs match the ones in the Hague case."
That got everyone's attention.
"The Hague case?" David was incredulous. "What are the odds of that happening?"
Colby rolled his eyes, "Just don't ask that when Charlie's around."
Don grinned, he couldn't help it.
Megan sighed, then continued, "Well, there hasn't been any reports of shootings in the jewelry theft case until this one. It's either an anomaly, or they've acquired a new partner. Or one of them just got the gun that was used in the Hague murder." She paused to catch her breath. "I also have the name and last known address on the fingerprint that was found at the crime scene. One Hector Ramirez."
Don glanced over at Colby and David.
"On our way," David said.
-----
"He didn't kill Hague," Colby told Don. "He didn't arrive in Los Angeles until a couple of days ago. But he says the shots were fired by one of the other guys who were at the heist. Apparently he was also new with the ring. A cold, deadly kind of guy, is how Hector describes him. Could be our man."
Don nodded, "Can Ramirez tell us where we can find him and the rest of this ring?"
"There was a falling out. Apparently this guy isn't with the ring anymore. But Hector gave us the address where he had apparently lived. But, get this. The entire ring is carrying guns now because of him."
Don grimaced. That was the last thing they needed. "Get a sketch of this guy. Also have Hector look through the mug shots to see if he's in our database. Might as well get some use out of him. Then stake out the place, see if we can get this guy."
He paused for a few minutes, and Colby started to leave, thinking that he was done, but Don stopped him. "Rilla's last day here is Thursday. I thought we could take her out to dinner or something."
Colby looked startled, "Already? I didn't think the work was done on the fraud case!"
"It's not, but Rilla's going back to working on the data warehouse for CMS. Her work is done for the task force. She'll be working at the CMS office in Washington, D.C., at least while the data warehouse project is going. I know you got along very well with her."
"Yeah. I'm going to miss her. She's a hoot." He sighed, and wondered if Hannah would have enough time to put that party together. "Let me call Hannah, see what she wants to do. She'd talked about asking Rilla over for dinner one day. Maybe she'll want to have this goodbye dinner at her apartment."
"Okay. Just let Robin know. She'll get the word out."
-----
It turned out to be the easiest arrest David and Colby had ever made. They'd caught him as he was coming back from the grocery store, arms full of bags of groceries. And it didn't take them long for him to cut a deal in exchange for a lighter sentence. He'd even had a video recording of Gimbel telling him to kill Hague.
David looked at Colby, who shrugged. "It can't be this easy," David said, stunned.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. We have too many tough ones as it is."
Robin nodded in agreement. She looked at Don and said quietly, "It will be very satisfying to put Gimbel away. He will be charged for murder in the first degree and one felony count of execution of a health care fraud scheme, a $325 million dollar medical fraud scheme. He won't be going anywhere for a while."
-----
At the end of the work day, Colby looked up to see Hannah and Olivia strolling in, carrying bags of stuff. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "David, were you expecting Olivia?"
"No, why?"
"Because she's walking down the hallway, with Hannah."
David looked up in surprise.
"Oh, it's time!" Megan dropped what she was doing and dashed down the hallway after them.
Don looked up in annoyance.
Colby grinned, and got up to go after them.
"Don't you have paperwork to do?" Don asked dryly.
"Nothing that can't wait. I have to find out what's going on," Colby replied, already halfway down the hallway.
David looked at Don. He grinned, and went after Colby.
Don rolled his eyes. He knew what the ladies were doing.
"What are you up to, Hannah?" Colby said from the doorway, staring at the things that had been spread out over the tables in what used to be the command center.
"You can't come in here, Granger!" Rilla exclaimed, "or you, Sinclair!"
"Why not? This is an FBI conference room," Colby retorted.
Hannah giggled, "This is a District Attorney's dressing room right now."
She started to give Colby a kiss, but Olivia grabbed her by the arm.
"Not now, Hannah, you can cuff him later."
Rilla's jaw dropped as she stared at Hannah, and the other women burst into laughter.
Colby grinned, but started to leave, satisfied that he'd found out what they were up to.
"You can leave now, too, David," Olivia called out to him, intent on what she was doing.
Colby laughed at the dejected look on David's face. When they got back to the bullpen, Don had already left, presumably to put his tux on.
An hour later, they saw Don leave with Robin on his arm. She looked radiantly beautiful in her gown, and the necklace that Hannah had made.
Hannah went into the bullpen to look for Colby, and smiled to see him and David watching Don and Robin leave. She slid into his arms, and leaned her head onto his chest.
"I'm not in the way or anything, am I?" David asked wryly. "The temperature seems to have gone up a degree or two."
Colby chuckled, "Nah, we're just leaving. We have to get things together for the party tomorrow night at Hannah's."
"And we have to get started with our share of it, David," Olivia hugged him in greeting. David's grin widened at the sight of her.
"Can't we do that later?"
"How much later?"
"A lot later," David replied, kissing her.
"Now who's in the way?" Colby laughed. "See you kids!"
-----
Despite all of Hannah's misgivings, everything came together nicely for Rilla's going away party. Everyone pitched in to do something, and all the food seemed to fit nicely together.
Colby came into the apartment just as Hannah was putting the finishing touches to the place before everyone arrived. He came up behind her and slid his arms around her for a hug. He kissed her on the sensitive spot just behind her ear, and trailed kisses down to the nape of her neck. Her eyes drifted shut, and she moaned softly. He slipped something on her left wrist, and she laughed, "Cuffing me again? We have guests in a few minutes."
He chuckled, then said very softly, "I love you, Hannah."
She spun around in surprise.
He smiled, and raised her left hand to his lips for a kiss.
She caught her breath when she realised that he'd slipped a diamond bracelet on her wrist. "Oh, Colby!"
"I'm sorry it took so long to get you anything, but I could hardly ask you to design a gift for yourself. Then I saw you looking at one of these in a catalog one day."
Hannah's eyes widened, she remembered the S-link three carat total weight diamond bracelet she had been sighing over. The catalogue had disappeared but she simply thought she'd lost it or thrown it out. "Colby, you should't have, it's too..."
He kissed her, "You're worth it."
"I love you, too, Colby."
-----
The next day, everyone dragged into the office. The party had run late the night before, everyone had been reluctant to leave.
Rilla was getting her things together, packing things into boxes to be shipped.
Robin struggled with her emotions. She'd never felt this affection for anyone she'd worked closely with before. "How do you do this everytime?"
Rilla smiled, "I keep in touch. I travel a lot, so you'll see me again. This isn't the end, Robin. It's just the beginning of another part of my life." She hugged Robin, who held her tightly for just a minute longer. Rilla grinned, "And I definitely wouldn't be missing your wedding. Or Granger's."
Robin laughed, "That was a beautiful bracelet. It'll be a while before he can afford a ring to go with that bracelet."
"Possibly, but it wouldn't surprise me if he had quite a bit stashed away. I can't imagine that there's much you can spend your money on in Afghanistan."
Rilla made her rounds before she left, saying good byes to friends she'd made over the time she'd spent there. Despite her words to Robin, she always felt a little sad at the end of each project. Each person she'd worked with touched something in her. She finally stopped at Colby's cubicle.
"Saved the best for last, did you?" But Colby's voice was a little huskier than usual.
She hugged him, she was really going to miss him. "You be good to her, or I'll come down and smack you down personally," she threateed.
He grinned, "You don't have to worry about that. I'm well and truly hooked." He kissed her on the cheek and whispered, "I'll deny it if you ever mention it, but I'm going to miss you."
Rilla laughed, then jumped back out of everyone's way as word came in on a jewelry store heist.
Megan and Don came running back into the bullpen, "Heist at the corner of Hammer and Hillier in progress, LAPD thinks its the theft ring we're after. We have to go."
"Corner of Hammer and Hillier! That's where Hannah's store is!" Colby's voice was raw with fear.
"And Olivia's there with her today," David said grimly.
They were both already putting on their kevlar vests. Don looked at them and said, "I don't think you two should be in this. If this turns out to be a hostage situation, I don't want you there."
"Just try and stop us, Don," Colby's response was quiet, but all the more deadly for it.
Don sighed, but paused to say quietly to Megan, "Make sure we have ambulance support." Megan nodded.
SWAT had already been deployed and were in position when they got there. Don took a few minutes to speak with the SWAT commander. "They are holding two women hostage. A black woman, and a white woman, the owner of the store. They're demanding that they be allowed to leave, in exchange for the hostages." Don grimaced. It was not what he wanted to hear.
"They're being held hostage, aren't they?" Don turned at Colby's calm question. He shivered involuntarily at the cold gleam in Colby's eyes.
"Yes."
A door slammed somewhere, and everyone ducked for cover. Two gunmen, dragged Hannah and Olivia out of the store, using them as shields, came out of the store, holding their guns to the women's heads. Don could tell they were frightened, but they had their lips compressed, as though willing their fear into submission.
"Where's our car? We're tired of waiting! We'll kill one of them if we don't get our car right now!"
The SWAT negotiator tried to calm them down, but they were having none of it. "Right now! We want the car right now, or one of these women dies."
"I have a clear shot," the calm voice of a SWAT sniper came across the radio. "Do you want me to take it?"
Just then one of the gunmen spotted the sniper, and fired off a shot. Then all hell broke loose, and Colby felt a claw of ice rip out his throat and his heart when he heard Hannah scream.
"Olivia! Get down!" David shouted.
"Oh, God! Hannah! No!"
The now-silent street reverberated with the horror and anguish of Colby's scream. Tears streaming down his face, he cradled Hannah's limp body tenderly in his arms, as he tried desperately to staunch the blood that seemed to flow endlessly.
finis
-----
Author's note:
Medicare Fraud is a serious issue. It costs Medicare billions of dollars every year, resulting in higher Medicare premiums, deductibles and co-payments. Losses due to fraud can prevent Medicare from offering more services and better coverage. And it happens to elderly people who can least afford it.
Here are some websites that I used in researching facts for my story. Do your share to fight Medicare fraud. This money comes from us the taxpayers, and should be used to benefit us the taxpayers. Don't let someone steal it away.
This website talks a little about scams that are used to steal Medicare numbers. Help the people you know who are on Medicare to be on the alert for these scams. This stupid thing won't let me provide links properly, but check the CMS website www.cms.hhs.gov and the medicare website www.medicare.gov The fraud section is www.medicare.gov/FraudAbuse/Overview.asp
As far as I know, there is no data warehouse like the one I described. Back when I was still working in data warehousing, there was some talk of putting together such a data warehouse, but privacy laws being what they are, it didn't look like it was going to happen. I have not kept up with the news to find out if anyone ever went forward with it. I still think it would do wonders in tracking many things, not just fraud and abuse.
The fraud case that I used is true, the murder is not. The case is against Gambro Healthcare and you can read about it here at the Department of Justice website www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/December/04civ774.htm
And I picked up the idea of the jewelry theft ring from the FBI's website, this page in particular www.fbi.gov/page2/dec05/gatecutters120105.htm
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. At this time, I don't know if I will be writing another Colby and Hannah story. My beloved Cardinals need my support, and they need it particularly badly this year.
Enjoy your summer!