So, the warehouse was a bust so now they have two options left. Will Warton be at one of them?

Discreet, they were not.

There were about half a dozen agents when they arrived at the centre, a number that doubled shortly after their arrival. Blue jackets with yellow letters on the back swarmed the local community on a Monday morning, spreading out in different directions and tasks. Reynolds was coordinating them while trying to find someone from the facilities he could speak to, easily slipping into the role and compartmentalising things. The conversation with Cal over the phone had been registered but also put on a back track; for the time being he had an operation to deal with, and not time to soothe Lightman's bruised ego.

Gillian, on the other hand, had been instructed to wait by the car as he sorted things out, and with not much to do she was far more exposed to considerations about Cal's call. It wasn't as easy for her to ignore him, nor the information he had shared. The first because she knew how much it meant to him, to be able to pitch in one way or the other, and the second because he had made some really good points. Not that she was an expert, but they spent enough time with law enforcement for her to see the logic that a big complex busy with visitors might not be the best place for someone looking to hide. More importantly, the emotional connection Warton had to the house was not to be dismissed in her professional opinion. The warehouse were Ward had died had rightfully be on top of their list, but since there was nothing left of it it was no longer an option, and as she looked at the sports centre bustling with people looking to exercise, Gillian struggled to picture Warton coming and going at strange hours without raising any eyebrows. Then again if he was smart and careful enough to make his movements during the business hours and put some thoughts into a disguise, he could easily blend in with the users of the centre.

Still, the last home the twins had shared obviously held a strong psychological meaning and Cal knew that as much as she did. Sure, during the call he had been addressing her and Reynolds together but Gillian knew more than once he had been pleading directly to her, which was why she had asked him to send them everything they could find on the house in the meantime. It had been a bit like throwing him a bone, showing appreciation from afar for the work he had been putting in, and proved to be helpful in keeping her busy while she waited for Reynolds to be done with his operations.

The pictures of the house and aerial view of the location did match what Cal had said; a fairly isolated place, plenty of outdoor space and no neighbours for miles. A perfect place for a family with kids…and possibly for a maniac to lay low in between attacks. Gillian's jaw clenched when she kept scrolling down on her phone and saw pictures of the Wagners, their cute kids playing in the vast backyard, and mentally cussed at Cal. No doubt it had been his idea to throw them into the mix, perhaps to tip the scale of her judgement a bit more on the side of his desire to make the house their priority.

"Cheeky bastard!" She muttered to herself with a smirk, then sighed and closed her eyes.

"Hei," Reynolds came up to the car and she got out, still browsing through the phone. "Everything ok?"

"Yes, just going through the information Loker sent." She bit at her bottom lip and gave him a sideways look. "You know, they're not wrong. A place like this would make a perfect base for Warton. And we can't discount the connection he has with it."

"You're gonna like what I have to say then. I just got off the phone with HQ, they were going through Warton's juvenile file." The agent turned around and pointed at the centre behind him. "Turns out, this is where he popped his criminal cherry. Warton was 13 when he broke in with some friends. They didn't steal anything, just made a mess and some damages, broke equipment and vandalised the place."

"Was he arrested?"

"Yes. They had security cameras and all the kids were identified. Since it was his first offence he got away with a slap on his wrist, it was barely recorded. That's why it took so long to find the connection."

"Well, that changes things," Gillian sighed, not looking forward to reporting that to Cal for some reasons. Then she folded her arms on her chest and nodded over at the FBI men behind him. "Found anything yet?"

"Something, yes. I spoke with the centre's director and he confirmed that they've been having issues with unknown individuals accessing the facilities at night."

"Individuals?"

"They can' be sure it's the same person or more than one, the descriptions are not great and they've never really worried too much about it."

"What did the local police say abou it?" She asked, as they both started walking toward the main building.

"They were never called. Nothing was ever stolen or damaged, nobody was affected so they figured the Police wouldn't have done much." He shook his head. "I wish I could say they were wrong, but you know how it is. But they are putting together copies of the security footage from the past few days for us to take a look at."

"These individuals, or man, whatever. How long has this been going on?"

"A couple of weeks, give or take."

"That would fit the timing," Gillian computed out loud. "Warton arrived in Washington about a month ago, right?"

"Yes, and I can see why he might choose this place." They stopped, staring at a building that was in desperate need of some major renovations. "This place has been open for nearly three decades. It's always been updated with regards to regulations and got some paint jobs here and there but not much has changed. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that whatever way in Warton and his buddies found years ago it's still accessible."
"Do you know how they got in?"

"That wasn't in the file, and it might be a little hard to find out." They reached the door and went inside, where one of the agents was waiting with the director of the centre. "We've got two teams searching the place and surrounding grounds, but I still think the security footage is our best bet."

Gillian really wanted to share his optimism, but after days spent uncovering Warton's past and seeing his ability first-hand, she struggled to see how he could have been careless enough to let his face be captured on camera. Yes, when he had come to their office he hadn't bothered hiding but then he wanted them to see him; on the other hand, when he had approached her at the hospital they hadn't been able to find a single glimpse of him on camera as he had carefully shied away from them.

Reynolds made the introduction between Gillian and Mrs Holmes, and she didn't fail to notice how he didn't bother to explain why she was there. Then they followed Mrs Holmes to the room hosting the security system, where a young and excited security guard couldn't wait to be helpful. Gillian imagined he didn't get much thrills in that job, especially when working the night shift, and he was beyond ready to show off how well he could operate the surveillance system.

They were still going through it, scavenging through days of grainy footage, when Gillian's phone went off. She excused herself and took the phone, ready to answer, then saw the caller and tapped Reynolds on his shoulder, deciding that it would save everybody a lot of time, and perhaps some headache, if Cal could have a go at them at the same time.

"Cal," she said, the following words slipping out before she could stop them. "What's going on? Are you ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?!" He grunted in response, annoyed. I'm not the one who went back to the place where I had the worst day of my life, he wanted to add, but decided against it. Her concern was sweet but misplaced, the only thing that could harm him while he was stuck on the sideline was boredom and frustration, and frankly the reason why he had called was far too important. "Listen, we've got something on the hou-"

"We've got something on this place too, Lightman," Reynolds jumped in, not willing to spend more time on rehearsing what had already been said. "Warton was arrested for breaking in here when he was a kid."

"It was his first crime-"

"Splendid! Grand!" He shushed her. "Now listen to me."

"Cal-"

"No Gill, listen. The family, the Wagners." Gillian heard him take a deep breath, and easily pictured Cal struggling to combine the burst of mental energy with his less than top notch physical form. "The kids didn't go to school today. And the parents called in sick at work, both of them."

"H-"

"I swear Reynolds, if you ask me if I'm sure I am going to punch you the next time I see you!" Cal hissed, his voice oozing frustration.

"I was going to say how did you find out."

"Loker?" Gillian called out then, anxiously waiting for the young man to answer.

"Yeah?"

She closed her eyes and sighed, relieved, not sure how to play the next move.

"Where did you get this from?" she asked then.

"We looked into it, Miller made some calls." Cal took the answer away from Loker, then snorted loudly on the phone. "Stop checking with him. I'm still here, still grounded."

Reynolds looked at Foster, who clearly didn't like having been unmasked, especially when she honestly thought she had been stealth enough about it.

"We spoke with their employees, they said the Wagners both notified on Saturday that they weren't feeling well and were going to take a few days off." Cal was trying to explain calmly now, perhaps understand that frenzy was not his friend. "Ring any bell?"

Reynolds frowned but Gillian saw where he was getting at with that. Somehow, the dynamic he had reported wasn't much different than them shutting down the offices and telling all employees to stay home. Not to mention, the timeline was suspiciously familiar as well.

"Give us one hour, ok?" The agent pleaded. "We're here. We're searching the place and we were about to review the security footage when you called."

"We might not have one hour," Miller's voice stated from somewhere on the other side of the line.

"Why?" Gillian asked, not liking the silence coming from the phone. "Cal, what is it?"

"We called them," Cal revealed, immediately bracing for impact.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Reynolds nearly yelled on the phone.

"Relax, we were careful."

"We?" Gillian started to feel uncomfortable, not for the first time the distance between them becoming a problem for her to manage.

"It was Loker's idea," he explained, and she thought she would have to have a word with the young man later. "Miller called, pretended to be some real estate agent looking for properties that might be up for sale in the area."

"And?"

Reynolds didn't like that investigative path going on - and off - without his supervision, but he knew he couldn't do much else but find out as much as he could about it.

"Mrs Wagner picked up-"

"See? All good then."

"Nah mate, it was all shades of wrong." Cal huffed, clearly not happy to share how right he felt he was. "She was all over the place-"

"Agent Reynolds?"

Reynolds and Gillian looked up from the phone and directed their attention to one of the other agents, who had just joined them from outside. Gillian put Cal on hold and watched Reynolds interact with the newly arrived agent, one of those who had been searching the facilities, and she could tell something was up. Then Reynolds came back to her and nodded, signalling they could get back to the call.

"Lightman, I just spoke with one of my colleagues, they found something in one of the equipment storages. There is a partition disguised as a wall, there's a makeshift bed behind and clear signs that someone had been sleeping and eating there." Cal didn't respond, obviously struggling with findings that didn't go well with his own. "We're checking for prints and DNA, we've got Warton's to check them up against."

"It's gonna take time," the scientist tried, knowing he was probably starting to sound a bit delusional. "That woman on the phone, she sounded a lot of things but being sick with the flu was not one of them."

"Lightman, let me check on this lead ok?" Reynolds was about to run out of patience by the sound of it.

"How long?"

"I can't say, especially if I have to keep talking to you." That might have been a little too much, but he needed to get the message across. Lightman was on a trail that wasn't his priority, and truth was he didn't have the resources to spare to check both of them at the same time. "Listen, you spoke with the woman so she's ok, right? And it's fair to assume that if she is, so is the rest of the family."

"Bit of a stretch on the second part," Cal mumbled, then sighed exhausted. "Foster, do me a favour?"

"Sure, what is it?"

She responded with no hesitation, earning a disapproving look from Reynolds who clearly didn't want to indulge Lightman any longer. But she didn't need his permission nor wanted his opinion on how to deal with her business partner; enabling Cal wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and even the promise of doing so could help to keep him under reasonable control. Of course, there was also the fact that sometimes she struggled to say no to him, but in that situation she felt that exploring two avenues at the same time was hardly a bad strategy.

"We recorded the call, I'll send you the file. Will you listen to it and let me know what you think?"

To an untrained ear it would have sounded like a normal and neutral request, but Gillian was way too familiar with Cal's voice and manner of speaking to miss the pleading intonation and nature of his words. She held the phone tight, once again wondering if splitting up so close to the end had been a good idea , then quickly recovered.

"Of course," she promised. "Sent it over, ok?"

"Will do. Thanks, love."

Gillian wasn't surprised to hear him hang up with no further insistence; he hadn't gotten what he wanted, but he still managed to secure something he needed. As little as it was, the promise she would listen to the recording was of great help and Gillian knew how much it all meant for both of them. Cal hadn't needed to clarify that he needed her to listen to it because she could turn into a goldmine of information, that she had the skills and knowledge to pick up on voice fluctuations and wording that might give them a clue: she knew he trusted her abilities with that, and not only he wouldn't dare to question her opinion but was actively asking her to show him the way.