Congrats to the one who figured out exactly who the person that drugged Tommy was :)
Sorry I've had a busy few weeks and couldn't update, but like I said before I will finish this story even if it takes a while.
Tommy woke up slowly with a shooting pain behind his eyes and a major headache. His thoughts felt completely muddled. He blinked hard trying to get his vision to focus. Slowly, he managed to make out a bright water colored painting across from him, some kind of scene depicting an ocean at sunset, it was pretty. His eyes roamed around the room trying to get his bearings. There was a small desk, a bookshelf stocked with both books and CDs, and a few beanbag chairs scattered around. He realized he was lying down on a black leather couch and since he could hear pounding club music, although a little muffled, he knew he was still at IRL. He must be in some kind of backroom that Sophia used to hang out in when the club got to be too much.
His mouth was dry. He felt like he had a freaking hangover. How much had he had to drink? He tried to remember why he was here in the backroom instead of back at the bar, but his memories were foggy at best. He tried to get up, but immediately a wave of nausea hit him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice said, cutting through the fog in his mind. Tommy turned to see Yeager sitting uncomfortably in a corner of the room on a beanbag chair. Somehow, Tommy had missed him while searching the room. Apparently all that Sophia had to sit on in this room were beanbag chairs and the couch that Tommy was stretched out on.
Tommy groaned, holding his head. "What the hell happened?"
"What was the last thing you remember?" Yeager asked instead. Tommy cast his mind back to the events of earlier that night. He'd been waiting for Lindy when Sophia had given him that drink and then that weird guy had talked to him just before Lindy had arrived. He remembered feeling uncomfortable and a lot of dancing and then...nothing.
"I was out on the dancefloor with George and Lindy." He felt a rising sense of panic as he realized this. Had something happened to them? To her? "Wait, Lindy? Where's Lindy? Is she okay?" He started to sit up, ready to go out and find her, but Yeager was there in a flash despite having been sitting pretty close to the ground. He placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
"She's fine. Don't worry about her. She's upstairs with George right now checking the club's security footage trying to figure out who drugged you."
Tommy leaned back against the couch trying to process this information. She was safe. "Here, drink this," Yeager said, uncapping a water bottle and holding it out to him. Tommy took it gratefully. Although his hand was a little shaky he managed to down a few sips. He was handing it back to Yeager when something he'd told him finally registered.
"Did you just say I was drugged?" He rubbed his head and blinked repeatedly, trying to assuage the feeling of his head pounding.
"Yes, you were drugged," Yeager said, his face grave. That would explain why he had felt so disoriented when he first woke up. It certainly made sense. "Someone put something in your drink and then you collapsed on the dancefloor. You scared Lindy, and George," he rolled his eyes at the memory. "You scared him too. You pretty much made him hyperventilate so he wasn't much help in picking you up off the floor and getting you back here. I had to go and help Lindy."
"I didn't see you around earlier. Where were you?" Tommy questioned.
"Around." By the way Yeager wasn't quite meeting his eyes he knew that he had been with Sophia. Tommy didn't want to make him more uncomfortable than he already was. What he did with Sophia was his business, not his. They stayed silent for a while. The only noise was the club's music that filtered in through the walls.
"I just didn't think that he would come after me so soon," Tommy said finally. They both knew who was behind what happened.
"Neither did I," Yeager said, fixing him with a look. "But I guess that's why he did it. We weren't expecting it and you know that he lives for the unexpected." Tommy knew well what Yeager's look meant, but he didn't acknowledge it. He didn't want to have this discussion again. He knew that Yeager was right, but in his mind to have a protective detail was like admitting that he was scared. It meant that Bubonic had control over him and there was no way Tommy Calligan was going to give Bubonic that satisfaction.
The door to the room swung open revealing a worried looking Lindy with George, Sophia, and Connor in tow. "Good, you're awake," Lindy said, giving him a small smile despite how uneasy she looked. Damn him he had probably scared the hell out of her collapsing like he had.
"Yeah, I'm awake," he mumbled. He wanted to talk to her but he didn't feel like he had much energy anymore. Whatever the hell Bubonic had given him, it was strong. Yeager seemed to sense this and asked the question that was on his mind for him. "So what did you find?"
Lindy took a deep breath as if to gather her courage, but George piped up before she could say anything. "Lindy said that you'd told her that you had been talking to someone?" he directed his question at Tommy. Tommy nodded feeling sick to his stomach both from the drug that was still in his system and from the fact that he had been so careless, making it easy for Bubonic to get to him.
"I think he sent someone to do it for him," Yeager said from where he now stood at Sophia's side.
George and Lindy exchanged a glance. She sighed. Clearly she did not like what she was about to say. "No, it was Bubonic himself. He did it." Her voice was firm and she looked absolutely confident that it had been Bubonic himself who had drugged Tommy, but there was no way for her to know that for sure.
"Like him in disguise?" Tommy managed to get the words out. "It could be. But I doubt that he would show up personally. He's too smart for that," No, he was arrogant Lindy thought bitterly.
She should tell them what she knew. She had had her reasons for keeping the fact that she had seen Bubonic's face a secret before, but not anymore especially now that he was endangering Tommy life.
She glanced at Tommy. He didn't look like he was in condition to hear what she knew. At least not right now. He looked like he was about to pass out again. "Yeah, maybe it was him in disguise," Lindy said finally, deciding to tell him the truth later when he was up for it. George stared at her but said nothing.
Tommy sensed that Lindy wasn't telling him something and the way George looked at her confirmed it, but he was too tired to ask her what it was. He just wanted to get home and get some rest. He would ask her what was on her mind when the drug was out of his system.
"Why does this keep happening?" Sophia asked everyone at large, her arms flailing at her sides dramatically. Connor patted her arm, comfortingly. "I thought we were past this psycho-craziness after Jake." The room became quiet. They all just wanted to forget that Jake Bolin had ever come into their lives.
"We'll talk more about this later," Yeager said assuring Sophia, but giving Lindy a pointed look. He felt like she was keeping something from them too, but looking at Tommy he knew he needed to get him home. Lindy nodded, agreeing.
Yeager grabbed one of Tommy's arms and put it around his shoulder. Connor and Lindy both stepped up ready to take Tommy's other arm. They both looked at each other, annoyed.
"I'll help you," Connor told Yeager, starting to reach toward Tommy.
Yeager looked him up and down. "I think Lindy should help me."
Connor crossed his arms looking offended. "What, you think I'm weaker than her?"
Yeager's lips twitched as if he were trying hard not to smile. "I'm saying I think she can handle him better than you can." He turned towards Lindy. "So, will you help me take him out to the car?"
She glanced quickly at Connor. He did not look pleased, but she didn't feel bad about it. She looked at Tommy. He had already fallen asleep or had passed out, she wasn't sure. "I'll help." She quickly stepped past Connor who was now staring daggers at her and draped Tommy's other arm over her shoulder. She knew full well that Yeager didn't just want her help with Tommy. He wanted to talk to her. Fine, she would just get it over with. As they made their way out George reached out and squeezed her arm, smiling at her reassuringly. He knew why Yeager wanted her alone too.
They stepped out onto the main club area where everyone was back to dancing and getting drunk as if nothing had happened earlier. As they emerged outside of the club a few people heading in snickered at what they thought was the sight of a man so drunk he couldn't even walk upright and had to have his friends support him. Lindy and Yeager shot them murderous glares and they quickly looked away, picking up their pace before disappearing into the club.
Somewhere during the short trip to the car Tommy's head had lolled onto Lindy's shoulder. She could feel his warm breath on her neck giving her goosebumps.
"Hold on to him while I open the door." Yeager told her. Lindy held Tommy steady as Yeager opened the car door and then took Tommy himself easing him into the passenger seat of the car ducking Tommy's head with his hand so that it wouldn't hit the roof of the car. It reminded her of all the cop shows she'd watched. Lindy smiled. "Force of habit?"
Yeager realized what he had done and chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so." He shut the door and turned expectantly toward Lindy. "Thank you for helping me bring out Tommy. Now down to business. You know exactly who the person in that video is, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do." She didn't elaborate.
"Well, why are you so sure that the person who drugged Tommy is Bubonic himself? You agreed that it could be him in disguise but I can see that you don't believe that. I know that you usually go with your gut on this stuff, but we can't do that in this case. If it's Bubonic we need cold hard proof." She glanced at Tommy. His head was resting against the window, his eyes closed. She could see his chest rise and fall with every breath he took clearly asleep. Good.
"I know that it's Bubonic himself because I've seen him without his mask before."
There was a shocked silence as Yeager tried to process what she'd just said. "When did you see him?" he finally managed to ask. "Bubonic goes through great lengths to hide his face. From what I know even when you were going to work for him he didn't reveal it." Right, Operation Magnifly. She felt a stab of annoyance thinking about it. "The only other chance you would have had to see him—when any of us would have had a chance to see him was when he tried to blow this place up." He jerked a thumb behind him at Sophia's club. Lindy could see the gears in Yeager's mind turning and knew he was going to figure it out.
"You said you didn't see him when you went down into the boiler room. You said you just found the phone down there to deactivate the bomb, unless… you lied." His face turned serious. He had figured it out.
"I did." She couldn't help feeling guilty, but she'd had her reasons for not saying anything before.
"Why didn't you tell us? We're on the same side, Lindy."
She looked him right in the eye. "I didn't say anything because he said that you were all hiding something from me. And he was right."
Yeager closed his eyes. He wanted to be angry at her but he couldn't. Even though he hadn't been personally involved with the events leading up to Lindy's arrest, he knew it couldn't have been easy for her to find out that she had been used by the man she'd loved or the friend she had trusted with her life, and there was no way he could imagine what she had gone through with her sister only to find out it had all been a lie. No, he couldn't tell her anything.
"You know Tommy's sorry about what happened right? He's never going to use you ever again."
All she could do was nod. She thought back to last night's confessions. She believed what Tommy had told her and she believed Yeager now.
"But now the story's changed," Yeager continued. "Bubonic's after Tommy and he's not going to stop until he's dead. We need every lead we can get and this is the biggest one we've had in a long time. With the club's security footage we might actually be able to ID him and it could help us catch him once and for all before he strikes again."
She knew what Bubonic was capable of and that he was out to get Tommy, but hearing Yeager say it out loud like that it fully sunk in that if Bubonic succeeded Tommy would be gone. She felt a surge of anger go through her. She had already had so much taken from her. She was not going to let Tommy be taken away too. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner. Do whatever you have to do, Yeager. I don't want Bubonic to get anywhere near Tommy." Then something occurred to her. "Wait, why doesn't Tommy have a protective detail? He's in danger and from Bubonic of all people. Didn't Catherine think that one of her best cop should be protected?"
"Catherine was going to put him on one but he refused. He's stubborn like that."
"Yeah he is." She thought of all the times he had butted in or tried to convince her otherwise on what she had her heart set to do. He knew exactly how to get under her skin. "I want to help, Yeager. I want to help catch Bubonic."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Tommy would kill him if he let Lindy get involved in another case, especially one having to do with Bubonic. "Besides, I don't think Tommy's going to be very happy when I tell him how we know for sure we can ID Bubonic's face."
Lindy bit her lip. "Let me tell him that, please. He deserves to hear it from me." She didn't want him hearing it from anyone else. It's the least she could do after everything he had told her even though he hadn't had to. Lindy could see the internal struggle on Yeager's face, but finally he relented. "Deal."
She knew Tommy was going to be furious because she had kept this from him. No doubt about it. "He'll get over it, Lindy" Yeager said softly as if reading her thoughts. "He always does." She felt like Yeager was trying to tell her something by the way he was looking between her and Tommy's sleeping form in the car, but she didn't know what.
"Let's hope so," she said instead.
"I have to get going. I gotta get Tommy home. I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing you on Monday though." She nodded, agreeing. "I'll come by tomorrow to get the security footage from Sophia and to pick up Tommy's car." He shook his head in disbelief. "I just can't believe he actually came after Tommy personally. It seems so careless of him."
"That's the thing, Yeager. He knows that nobody knows how he actually looks like. He can walk up to anybody and they wouldn't know that they're talking to the most wanted criminal in the world." She felt a wave of anger hit her for the things Bubonic had done. "But we are going to bring him down from his pedestal, Yeager."
Yeager grinned at her certainty. "Agreed. I'm not giving up until Bubonic's locked up in a maximum security prison." He patted her shoulder and made his way to the driver's door. "I'll be seeing you later, Lindy." He got in the car and in another minute she was watching the red taillights disappear into the night.
"We're having lunch at Sandro's," George told Lindy with no room in his voice for debate.
"Um, okay," she said baffled by his sudden request, "Sounds good."
George could hear her confusion over the phone. "I found something important that's definitely going to interest you."
"Why can't you just tell me over the phone?"
"Nope. I need to show you," He sounded giddy with excitement.
She sighed. She was used to George being so cryptic. "Okay."
They arrived at Sandro's at the same time. George requested a table outside in the patio. Despite the fact that the sun was warm, there was a chill in the air. They were the only ones eating outside since the rest of the clientele had decided to stay inside where it was warmer. Usually after being cooped up all day in the office they liked to sit outside to get some fresh air which was good since hacking also involved being indoors for long periods of time. Although Lindy wasn't working or hacking she didn't mind eating outside. It was autumn, her favorite season because of the leaves changing into beautiful colors of orange, gold, and red.
Sandro's was one of their favorite places to eat since they served a mish mash of international cuisine despite the fact that the name made it sound Italian.
They were seated and after they had ordered George asked her, "How's Tommy doing?"
"I called him yesterday. He said he feels better and Yeager's been checking up on him. He called to tell me that the drug left Tommy's system, so Tommy went back to work today."
"That's a relief. He scared me when he passed out at the club, and I was having a good time too." Lindy rolled her eyes and looked over the metal railing separating the patio from the street to watch some of the leaves scatter with the wind.
"He scared me too," she said softly. "I just wish there was a way we could know where Bubonic is or at least be able to anticipate his next move."
"Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." George said with a twinkle in his eye. Lindy stared at him, wondering what he meant, but before she could ask a cute redheaded waitress served them their food and left, but not before earning a wink and a grin from George.
Lindy took a bite of her lasagna, closing her eyes, savoring the taste. It was amazing. She dabbed her mouth with a napkin and looked at George. "Okay, why did you make me come here?"
His mouth was stuffed full with some of the chicken enchiladas he'd ordered. Lindy rolled her eyes and waited for him to swallow. "What, I can't just call my best friend to come have lunch with me using the pretext of having something to show her?" Lindy glared at him hard.
"Okay, okay, just stop staring at me like that. I feel like you're burning my soul." He wiped some sauce beside his lip and took out his laptop from his satchel that he'd hung on his chair. "See, yesterday I came across something very interesting." He moved their drinks out of the way and turned the laptop toward her so that she could see. On the screen there was an announcement for an event that was taking place that weekend at a high end museum in Manhattan. It was an art auction for priceless art and other priceless artifacts. And suddenly she knew why George was showing her this. It was absolutely brilliant.
"George, this is perfect. You're a genius," she exclaimed. She felt like she could kiss him.
"Yeah, well, you know me." George was never one to be humble.
Bubonic was mainly known for his hacking, but he also specialized in a lot of other illegal activities and one of them was art theft. He hacked into even the most secure museum and deactivated their security system and cameras. He then sends in his lackeys and they take out the guards and whatever art they're after frames and all. An art auction where there were original paintings like Picassos and old Roman artifacts seemed like precisely the kind of thing Bubonic would be after.
"But that's not even the best part." Lindy looked at George expectantly. "It's a masquerade."
"Are you kidding me?"
George shook his head, gleefully. "We can easily blend in. No one will recognize us."
"There's only one problem," Lindy said hating to be a spoilsport, "It's by invitation only."
"And when has that ever stopped us?" George challenged. It was one of the reasons she loved him. He was always willing to help her no matter how far on the other side of the law it was. "We have connections that can help get us in. Well at least you do, especially since they're practically blood thirsty for Bubonic."
Lindy sighed. She knew what he was talking about, but that would mean having to go to the Cyber Crimes Unit. She hadn't stepped foot in there since she had found out what they'd been hiding from her. But she knew that she had to go and face Catherine eventually. And Tommy.
She didn't need to tell George what she had decided. He could see it in her eyes, but he could also tell how uneasy she was. "Want me to go with you?"
Lindy looked at him gratefully. "Yes, please. I could really use the moral support."
"No."
"No? What do you mean no?"
"No. As in hell no."
"It's a good idea. You know it is," Lindy said following him with George trailing at a safe distance behind the both of them.
"It's a terrible idea."
"Why?" Lindy huffed.
"Why?" Tommy whirled around to face her, their height difference abundantly clear. Lindy didn't back down despite his tall frame towering over her. "Are you seriously even asking me that question? Okay, let me tell you why." He counted off on his fingers as he talked. "It's dangerous, it's reckless, we can't even be sure Bubonic will be there, and if he were there we wouldn't even know who to look for since I seriously doubt he'll be wearing his usual bird mask. He's not an idiot."
So Yeager hadn't told him who the guy who had drugged him really was. She was half thankful but half wished that he had told him so that she wouldn't have to.
"We're 95% positive that Bubonic will be there."
"So there's a 5% chance he won't then."
"You're focusing on the negative."
"I'm being realistic."
"Tommy," George piped up. He knew this argument was only going to get more heated and neither of them was likely to back down. "This is our best chance at catching Bubonic. He wouldn't be expecting us there. Lindy and I have worked for him before. We've heard things and this is definitely the type of thing he would do. You can't miss this opportunity."
"And what opportunity would that be?" A new voice asked.
They all turned to see Catherine striding over to them. Tommy pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. He knew that this wasn't going to end up the way he wanted. His superior always tended to side with Lindy despite how dangerous the situation was. He could only count on the fact that Lindy was probably still too angry at Catherine to work with her. Catherine's eyes widened slightly when she noticed Lindy. She obviously hadn't expected to see her in the precinct either. Lindy stiffened.
"What's going on here?"
Lindy piped up before Tommy could say anything, eliminating any hope that she wouldn't work with Catherine. "I have a plan to catch Bubonic."
Catherine crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in interest. "I'm listening." Tommy suppressed a groan. Why was Lindy getting involved in their cases again? After the Flirtual Killer was caught she was supposed to be done since she was no longer a source.
"Sergeant, don't listen to her. It's not a good idea." Lindy glared at him, clearly irritated.
"What's your plan," Catherine addressed Lindy and ignoring Tommy. Tommy could feel his anger rising.
"There's an art auction this weekend at a museum in Manhattan that's going to be auctioning off priceless art. This is something Bubonic will definitely be interested in, being as he's also an art thief." Catherine nodded, clearly following. "Since it's a masquerade he and his lackeys won't be able to recognize any of us. We can blend in and if we see anything suspicious we can put a stop to it. We'd be one step ahead of Bubonic, since he won't be expecting us."
"But how can you be sure Bubonic himself will be there and that he won't just send in some of his men to get the art for him?" Catherine asked, although Lindy could tell she was interested.
George and Lindy exchanged looks before George explained. "We've heard things when we worked for him. He likes to rub it in the authority's faces that he's stealing the valuable art personally, but nobody knows that since he's always hiding his face. Not even the people who are helping him out know it's him."
"That seems pretty careless of him," Tommy grumbled. He could tell that Catherine was warming up to the idea.
"I think you two are right," she said looking at George and Lindy.
Damn it. "Sergeant!"
She looked at Tommy with steel in her eyes. "There have been two other art thefts that we believe Bubonic has orchestrated but they haven't been proved and there's one other one that has. It's in his file if you remember, detective."
"I remember," he said hotly.
"I say we do this. Like Lindy said, he won't be expecting us and he won't have a clear view of your faces. We can try to catch him once and for all, Lindy," she said, turning to her. "Why don't you come into my office so we can talk?"
Lindy nodded stiffly and followed after her. She didn't trust Catherine. She always seemed to have an ulterior motive for everything she did. She had said so herself. She would do whatever it took to catch the bad guy, but at least she agreed with her unlike Tommy who'd completely shot down her idea.
Tommy watched them go. He was so angry he could punch something. He glared at George in a way that made George very thankful that looks couldn't kill or he was sure he'd be dead. George scuttled over to where Yeager was for safety while Yeager looked on in amusement. Tommy strode after him. "Yeager, help." George said desperately, pointing at Tommy.
"Okay, man," Yeager told Tommy. "You need to calm down."
"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down?" he demanded. "Lindy's getting herself into where she doesn't belong. Again, and George here," he jerked a thumb at him, "Is helping her." George was furiously typing into Yeager's computer pretending he hadn't heard that. Tommy half expected to hear yelling coming from Catherine's office but he didn't hear anything at all. He turned back to George, glaring at him so hard George was surprised Tommy hadn't burned a hole through his sweater. "Why is Lindy doing this?" Tommy demanded, angrily.
"You know, Lindy." George said laughing nervously but stopped when he saw the look Tommy was giving him. "When she sets her mind on something there's no talking her out of it."
"Isn't that the truth," Yeager muttered, before Tommy threw a dark look at him too.
"Why are you helping her do this, George?" Tommy asked, irritated about how everything was turning out. "This is Bubonic. It's bad enough Lindy's getting involved, but why are you putting your own life at risk?"
George looked at him steadily. No nervous laughter or anything. "She's my best friend and partner in crime. If she asked me to help her hack into the CIA I would."
Tommy knew that George was loyal to Lindy. That's he'd do a lot for her, but he hadn't known how deep their friendship ran. He didn't say anything more. They were all quiet for a while, the only sound being the clacking of the keyboard George was working on.
"So what do you guys think about wearing matching bow ties to the event?" George asked after a while back to his usual self, looking hopefully between the two detectives. "Personally, I think we'd look pretty snazzy." They both glared at him until George grumbled out a fine. "Just don't be jealous when I get all the ladies."
"What are you doing anyway?" Tommy questioned.
"I'm hacking into the museum's security network and planting a bug so that if the codes get changed before the event it'll alert me."
"We don't do that here." How many times had he told Lindy that? "And besides, it's Bubonic, he'll easily detect it."
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong Tommy boy. That's the beauty of this thing. I designed it so that it's completely undetectable not to mention untraceable. Not even Bubonic will be able to find it," he said gleefully. Tommy supposed that he should feel grateful that George was on their side and not against them. Yeager gave him a look that showed him he felt the exact same way.
Lindy came out of the office then with Catherine. By the satisfied look on Lindy's face Tommy knew they were going through with this. He made his way over toward them knowing he wasn't going to change Catherine's mind knowing it was already made up, but still hoping he could. Damn it, why did Lindy have to get involved?
"Sergeant, can I have a word with you?" He glanced at Lindy and by the look on her face he could tell that she knew what he was up to. "Privately," he added.
"There's no need, detective. I've already made up my mind. Lindy's right. This is the perfect opportunity. Bubonic won't be expecting us to have figured out his next move. We have to take advantage of that. We're doing this and she's involved. And so is George. So work with them." She turned to Lindy. "I think you two need to have a talk. As I understand there's information that you have that he needs to know about, correct?"
Information? "Right," Lindy said not meeting Tommy's look.
Catherine went into her office and shut the door after her without looking back.
"Damn right we're going to talk," Tommy muttered under his breath, but with the look Lindy threw his way he knew she had heard him.
"Let's go talk," she said leading the way towards the tables by the big floor to ceiling windows that looked out over the Brooklyn Bridge and the water below. Tommy ranted the whole way there, attracting the stares of more than a few of his co-workers. She finally had enough. "Tommy, shut up." She pointed to a chair. "Sit down and listen to what I have to say already." Tommy stared at her slightly slack jawed, but did as she said grudgingly.
She sat down across from him. Tommy didn't even try to hide his anger. He knew it was written all over his face. That would have been enough to make most people edge away and not approach him for a few hours until they knew he had cooled down…somewhat. But this was Lindy and she stared back at him unflinchingly. It both infuriated him and made him admire her even more. "Why are you involving yourself in this, Lindy?" Tommy asked exasperated. "This is Bubonic. I know you know how dangerous he is, but you're acting like he's not."
Lindy gave him a withering look. "I said I get to talk now." Tommy leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"Fine, go. But this better be good."
She didn't know how to tell him gently and she knew Tommy wasn't the type to beat around the bush so she just blurted it out. "The man who drugged you at the party wasn't one of Bubonic's lackeys or even him in disguise. It was actually Bubonic himself." She let that sink in. "I know without a doubt," she said before he could ask, "Because I've seen him without his mask before."
Tommy stared at her, trying to connect together what she couldn't have possibly just said in his mind, but knowing that he'd heard her clear as day. "When did you see him?" he asked quietly.
"Back at the Reconnoiter party."
"You've known who he was since then?" he exclaimed, looking furious. A few people turned to see what was going on but Tommy ignored them.
"He only took off his mask. He didn't tell me his real name. He just told me that he was angry because about what happened to his girlfriend and that's why he had a grudge against you guys."
"You knew about Melanie before I even told you?" He recalled how she had seemed to guess who would know Bubonic's real identity before he had even told her when he was telling her why Bubonic hated him. And now he knew why.
"All he told me was that his girlfriend killed herself because she was afraid of what Cyber Crimes would do to her and that's why he was bitter. He didn't give me any details. He made it seem like it was all your fault, but I knew that wasn't true," she said trying to look into Tommy's eyes, but he wouldn't look at her.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he demanded, finally looking her right in the eye. "He could have hurt you. I told you not to go down there without backup but of course you never listen to me. What if something had happened to you?" He would have never forgiven himself if Bubonic had done something to Lindy. He had threatened him as much when he'd watched helplessly as Lindy's signal had disappeared going into the boiler room. Why did he keep making bad calls? He had promised her he wouldn't do that again.
Lindy was watching him curiously. Could she tell what was running through his mind? She already felt guilty. She didn't want to keep bringing up Operation Magnifly, but this was leading up to that exactly. "He didn't do anything to me, Tommy. Nothing happened. I'm sitting right here in front of you." Tommy had the sudden urge to reach out and take her hand to make sure she was really there but he was angry at her for keeping this to herself for so long although he knew he wasn't being fair. He had done the exact same thing to her.
She told him everything that had happened the night of the Reconnoiter party and why she had lied and told him that she hadn't seen Bubonic and only found the phone to stop the game and deactivate the bomb. Tommy listened intently. He couldn't really blame her. She had picked saving all those people over catching Bubonic. He had done the same thing by picking to erase Babylon rather than arrest Hamish. When she was done he said, "I can understand why you didn't tell me since Bubonic was right. I was keeping something from you." The words tasted bitter on his tongue. "But I wish you had still told me." Now he knew how she had felt about Operation Magnify. "If you had told me before we could have identified him sooner."
"We can do it now. We have footage of him at the club this Saturday. He does it quickly but you can see him putting something in your drink and most importantly you can see his face. Normally you wouldn't know it was Bubonic himself, but now you do. Yeager and George are on it right now." She nodded her head towards them. Tommy could see them busily typing away at their computers and looking up at the series of images that had come up on the monitor once in a while.
"Why do you keep saying we?" She fixed him with a look that most people wouldn't have challenged but this was Tommy and that was exactly what he did. "Lindy, I don't care what Catherine said. There's no way I'm letting you in on this. I don't want you getting involved with Bubonic again. He's after me. This is my problem. I don't want you getting hurt. Despite the fact that he let you go once I doubt he'd do it again. Just please don't get involved."
"I think I'm the best person to help you guys, besides Catherine already agreed," she said ignoring his plea.
"I don't care if she agreed. You are not doing this," he ground out.
"It's done, Tommy." It was like talking to a wall. It infuriated him when she gave him that tilt of her head and that defiant expression as if that was supposed to end the discussion. "Bubonic showed me his face not you. There must have been a reason for it. He must think we're kindred spirits or something because he believes we've both been hurt by the Cyber Unit. He probably thought that he could get me on his side- not that that would ever happen- but I can use that to our advantage. I want to help you, Tommy."
"It's too dangerous, Lindy."
"I know, but I'm willing to take that risk."
"Hey," Yeager said walking up to them. "I've got some leads if you guys…" he trailed off, glancing back and forth between the two. He could feel the tension between them. "Or maybe when you're done you guys can just come over to where we are." He started to turn away, feeling awkward for interrupting.
"We're done here," Lindy said standing up and following Yeager. Yeager threw Tommy an apologetic look over his shoulder. Tommy let his anger boil. He knew that when Lindy made up her mind neither Heaven nor hell could change it. Even though he did not want her involved he knew he had to let her. He was just going to have to keep her safe. Only he wasn't sure if it was for her sake or his.
"…our face recognition software identified him. Although the most recent stuff we could find on him was from four years ago, before he became Bubonic," Yeager was saying as Tommy walked up to them. "With this information we can identify him more easily at the auction this weekend."
Lindy sat down at Yeager's workstation. She caught George's eye and nodded at him, a signal. Their fingers flew over their keyboards, typing in a series of codes as a series of images came on the screen showing Bubonic's last known address, medical records, old school records, and old pictures of him.
Tommy knew that Lindy was really good at what she did, but with George she was lethal. Yeager gave him an amused look that showed him he agreed.
"So that's him," George said looking up at the monitor.
"Yeah, he's younger there but it's definitely him," Lindy said, nodding.
Yeager looked at the name on the ID from Connecticut. "His real name is Derek Wheeler."
Tommy was staring intently at the screen. He felt a sense of horror wash over him. The man on the screen-Bubonic-Derek- had curly brown hair, light blue eyes, and a slightly boyish face. He looked younger than what Tommy had originally thought Bubonic would be. Tommy recognized him as the man he had been talking to at the club, but he realized then why he had looked so familiar. He couldn't believe it. He let out a string of curse words under his breath.
"What?" Yeager asked looking at him like he was crazy. "Do you know him or something?" He was only joking around but the smile dropped from his face when he noticed the shocked look on Tommy's. "Where?" was all he asked because he knew from Tommy's reaction that he had seen him.
"He was in my apartment," Tommy half whispered to himself. He sat down on a chair nearby. He wasn't one for getting weak in the knees from any situation. As a cop he had been in many horrific situations, but the thought of Bubonic having been in the place where he slept at night and that Tommy had actually talked to him face to face. It was almost too much to bear.
Yeager didn't think he had heard him right. "Did you just say he was in your apartment?"
Tommy nodded feeling too dazed to speak.
"When was this?" Lindy demanded. At least she was still thinking rationally he thought numbly. "Tommy?"
He looked at her. At those chocolate eyes that were concerned, for him. "Back before the Reconnoiter party, when he put that ad for the furniture in my apartment. When I got there I saw people taking my stuff. I went inside and he passed himself off as one of the people that had seen the ad. He was even the one who told me about it when I had him at gunpoint. I thought he was a civilian and then I got distracted because I noticed Boris was gone."
"Boris?" George asked, confused.
"It's his dog," Lindy answered. "Go on Tommy."
He was fully aware that he was babbling now, but he couldn't stop. "I had him at gunpoint! If only I had known who he was I would have arrested him. He was in my apartment. He was just waiting for me to come home. He was just rubbing it in my face, oh God." He felt like an idiot. "How could I have not known?" Lindy stood up and put a hand on his arm, he became less agitated but not much. "If I had just known…"
"There's no way you could have known, but at least now you do know who he is." She looked into his eyes. "We're going to catch him. I promise." How many times had he told her that when they were looking for the Flirtual Killer? He smiled ruefully at her. "You shouldn't promise something you might not be able to deliver."
"Yeah, well I could say the same about you."
"I'm gunna keep mine, Lindy." He said looking at her seriously. He had meant it when he had told her that in the alleyway.
"Yeah, well so am I."
A few days later Lindy was lying on her bed, a discarded book beside her. She had never been much of a reader preferring to have her hands on a computer. She wasn't sure what that said about her, but she didn't particularly care either. She knew what she was good at. She was trying to distract herself from thinking about what she hoped was going to take place on Saturday. Yeager had told her they were going to make arrangements with the museum to get them in without giving away too much information. There was no need to cause a panic. They were pretty sure though that they could the tickets without too much trouble. Tommy had finally come around to the idea, but he still hadn't looked happy about her being involved.
Sophia and Connor's voices drifted in from the living room. She was about to go join them when her phone rang.
She rolled over in her bed, reaching to get her phone she'd left on her nightstand earlier. Tommy's picture flashed on the screen. She smiled remembering when she had taken it. She'd done it when he was unaware. She wouldn't have normally done that but he refused to pose for her stating he hated getting his picture taken. It was a good picture. He had been working on something at the precinct when she had called his name, pretending she was going to ask him something. He had looked up, one eyebrow raised in expectation, and snap. She had taken the picture. He had demanded that she delete it and she'd told him she had but by then she had emailed it to herself and sent it to George as well.
"Hello?"
"Hey," his voice said coming through the phone. "What are you doing right now?"
"Nothing, just hanging in my room." She could imagine him sitting down at his work station in the precinct, looking over a file, rubbing his temple, likely feeling stressed.
"Well, we're in."
"You got the stuff for Saturday ready?"
"Yeah." In that one word she knew how he was feeling. It was weird how in tune to his emotions she was becoming.
"Tommy, it's gunna be okay. We'll be undercover. With the masquerade masks no one will tell it's us."
"I know," he hesitated. "I just have a feeling that something's going to go wrong." She felt the exact same way, but she didn't want to tell him that. She already knew how he felt about having to do this undercover operation in the first place.
"Don't think like that. We just have to hope for the best. This is going to get us closer to Bubonic. We can put a stop to his plan and catch him. And he can finally stop coming after you," she added quietly.
He was quiet for a moment before saying, "Last chance to back out, Lindy."
"Nice try, Tommy," she said, feeling indignant, "But I've already made up my mind." She could hear him grumbling. "Anything else I need to know?" she asked before he could try to say anything else to change her mind.
"Just wear something pretty," he said before hanging up.