I promised a summary of the actual case and there is one as part of the chapter as the team goes through the case again. Enjoy!
Chapter XXIII
"He'd been wrong, there was a light at the end of the tunnel and it was a flamethrower." ~ Terry Pratchett
Gloria's adrenaline was pumping from the fight. She was hyper alert, in case he tried anything more to fight her. One wrong move and he could beat her. She was threatening him but in reality she couldn't pull that trigger.
Hathaway didn't give any sign that he got scared. But that was simple tactics. 'Never show them fear.' That was the basic rule when dealing with every kind of lowlife. He was just watching her, waiting to see if she would lose her temper. Gloria could tell that he was scanning her features, too, like he was trying to recognise her face. That wasn't good. But she shouldn't act like she was concerned about that.
He rose an eyebrow instead.
"You are really one of us.", he concluded.
Of course, Gloria thought. Who sensible agent would have a suspect trying to convince him at gun point? Only people like him and her. They had some differences, though. She had the limit of not being allowed to pull that trigger. He had none. But she had far too many things more important than her own life. He didn't. He put his life and his own ass above everything. And she was playing exactly on that.
"At least I'm getting my point across.", she replied, still pressing steadily the gun on his neck, "So are you going to be a good boy, co-operate with me and save your life or should I just end it, like I'm supposed to?"
"You are not going to do it. You spared me once. For some reason you need me.", he challenged.
"I need no one that's pushing their luck."
Hathaway studied her face for one more time and then he nodded.
"OK. You won.", he replied, "This round."
Gloria smiled to the side and bent to his ear, brushing her chest on his.
"You're still pushing it. Come on, James. We both know that there is no loyalty in what we are doing. At the very end I'm not asking you to betray anyone. I'm just asking you to help me.", she said in deeper voice.
She felt awfully doing that, even if it wasn't the first time. This man was related to Richard's murderers. But it wasn't that. Dave was still on her mind. It was so strange. She had abandoned everything and David kept popping up in her brain. She had to do it, though. She had to convince that man that she had no restraints.
"These tricks are not going to work with me.", he said firmly, pulling his head away.
Thank God, Gloria thought.
"Don't flatter yourself. I don't need to use them.", she replied sharply, finally getting back to the driver's seat but keeping the gun pointing straight at him.
"So what do you want from me, Maria?", he challenged.
"I'm upgrading my game. I've been played for too long and been kept in the dark for too long. The money were good I'm not complaining. But between being asked to provide information and being ordered to kill someone, there is a huge difference. If I go to this level, I'm playing in equal terms and for more. I'm not ending up like you, doing everything fine and then they get someone else to kill me.", she explained firmly.
"You don't know everything.", he said probingly.
"I've only dealt with middle men. I want access to the bigger heads.", she ignored his comment.
"I'm just an employee, like you."
"Oh, you are much more, James. You are around for long. You seemed to know far too much about an Interpol case. You are not 'just an employee'. You came to deal with the bigger heads."
"What are you after? Some kind of introduction?", he asked ironically.
"They are expecting to hear the news of your 'accidental' death. They are going to learn that you escaped, instead. You got an idea that the agents knew you were onto something, you got the chance, you managed to flee and you will make contact with them, without mentioning me."
"And why should I not mention you?", he asked seemingly innocently but it wasn't an innocent question.
"That would mean that you know they want you dead and you get in touch. They would think of it as a trap. And I haven't followed my orders. Simply you'll just get us both killed."
"They wanted me dead when there was a danger of me talking to the FBI.", he commented.
"Do you really wanna try it? No.", she raised an eyebrow, "I'll stop at a phone booth and you will make the phone call. You will contact them and arrange a meeting. That's all for the starters. There is more afterwards."
"OK, Maria.", he replied back in his usual tone of disbelief.
"Remember that your ass is safe as long as you are with the person that has the OK to kill you, dear."
Gloria put her gun in the left pocket of her trousers and pulled out the car, making a U-turn, towards DC again. However, the truth was that she was getting some strange vibe from Hathaway and one question was formed in her mind: Who was fooling who?
Emily was driving the rental car to small hotel just off the centre of New York. There was no point finally in that. In a couple of hours she had to head to back to Washington. She kept watching through the mirror if anybody was following her. Nobody seemed to. She took a dozen of irrelevant turns, though, as an extra precaution. She was too tired but had no time to get a bit of sleep and the next day would hold even more surprises. She had to get something to eat, though. Her stomach was still turning a bit. What was wrong with her? Apparently she had found the perfect timing to catch a stomach virus. Then, she thought about the dizziness the day before. Emily frowned. She had those symptoms before, many-many years ago… She tried to count the days from her last period in her head and then she stopped herself. She was on the pill and even if she was late taking it more than a couple of times, they were always careful with Aaron. No, no. It wasn't possible. Honestly, she wasn't ready for something like that. However, was anyone ever ready something like that? Aaron had told her that he wanted kids with her and it wasn't like she didn't want, too. She did, too much. But she was scared, too scared. And all that mentioning of Doyle had enforced that fear.
"I'm asking you to become his mother."…
"I have connections. I can get you out."
Emily shook her head. It wasn't the time to think about all of this. For the moment, she was asked by Brooder to do something that raised enough problems on its own.
In an hour everything that they had come to know by that moment was on the whiteboard of the conference room in chronological order. Everyone was briefed about everything and Hotch revised all the details in his head:
In the 90's, a scandal with gun dealers' took place. An Interpol spy, Richard Whelan, working undercover during that time stumbled upon a rich man craving power, Charlie Blackmore. Some American gun dealers involved in the scandal seemed to work for him. Nothing was ever proven. Blackmore had connections and half of the scandal never reached the justice system. But the Interpol agent kept following the man's actions.
End of 2001 – The investigation on the Paradise Demons had started with an undercover operation. Gloria Paterson posed as Maria Lloyd, a dirty FBI agent that was willing to facilitate the first steps of the organisation in US soil. The infiltration was proved too risky and extreme and she was pulled out by the leader of the operation, Richard Whelan.
End of 2002 – Prentiss and rest of that team, after working closely with the Organised Crime Unit, built the character of Lauren Reynolds around Paradise Demons and she went under with that alias.
– During that time she met Gregory Murphy, an Irish diplomat getting paid to facilitate various illegal transports for Paradise Demons.
– Emily stayed undercover till November 2003 and she left Interpol for the FBI in January 2004.
January 2004 – The Paradise Demons investigation seemed to get closer to an end. But Richard Whelan for some reason froze Gloria's transition to become a full agent for Interpol leaving her in the operator basis status, keeping all the details about her missions and her aliases deeply hidden.
February 2004 – Whelan had suspicions about a guy, under the name Peter Rogers. Rogers was shadowing Henry Fidget, a gun dealer.
– A ship with illegal cargo got stopped but it sunk. After its recovery, it was found that it was carrying MQ-300's. Whelan seemed to know that in advance or at least suspecting it.
– Paterson and Whelan's affair got known to their superiors and they split them up in the field till further action. (This wasn't actually written on the whiteboard but Clyde had to tell Hotch everything, given the current events.)
– As the arrests of the heads of the Paradise Demons started, some of them took hostages in a farm in Ireland. There were many casualties and Whelan got killed.
– The arrests came to an end and Clyde Easter, finishing off the case, put in a notice for Peter Rogers.
July 2012 – Paradise Demons were revived and the law enforcement named them New Paradise Demons, NPD.
April 2013 – Prentiss and Paterson came to the USA. Emily started having problems with her position, while some of the uppers paid attention to Gloria, pushing for a further promotion. That could mean that someone wanted her transition finalised so they could access whatever information on her and around her was kept hidden for all those years.
May 2013 – A suspicious row of killings started in Washington, two of them related to a private security firm, called Black Cross. There was a terrorist alert and Rogers reappeared.
– A letter threatening law enforcement was sent to the media.
– A bomb exploded in the FBI parking lot.
– Police stations started getting attacked.
– After figuring out Henry Fidget and that he was involved in the gun dealers' scandal related to Charlie Blackmore, Fidget said that Whelan got killed on purpose and he seemed to know that Gloria and Whelan weren't allowed to go in that farm together.
– Rogers was no other than James Hathaway, a private spy.
– Hathaway offered himself quite willingly to the FBI, claiming that he had information about the bombing in the parking lot and he was in danger.
– He said that he was the one that passed the information on Whelan about the MQ-300's on the boat in 2004. This fact plus the previous meant that whoever is behind it was getting inside information, so Interpol had a snitch.
– Black Cross used to offer protection to the Irish diplomat, Emily had met while with Doyle. Judging from a recovered piece of communication between his security ship and someone unknown, he still facilitated illegal transfers.
Clyde looked at the timescale. Unfortunately, it wasn't just a case, it never was. His friend's life and death revolved around those events. In their line of work, things could become so ironic. The case lasted longer than the agent's years on this world. Was there any point in a person's life ending up on papers in brown files and data in high-security computer systems finally? His friend's woman had risked and still risked to end up on papers and data. Probably Clyde would, too. Once he had developed a "soft spot" for a woman and she had almost ended up in brown files, too, Doyle's files. It was a vicious circle. Was there any meaning in what they were spending their years on? Easter shook his head. All the others had lived or at least tried to live outside those papers. He was the one that lived for and in those files completely. There was no point to become the philosopher right then.
"You know there is one big question if we consider that all of this is related.", Morgan started, "Why now? I mean if the attacks and the terrorism were someone's end game and he eliminated the threat back in 2004 by killing the agent, why didn't he carry on back then? Why did he wait?"
"Paradise Demons were taken down. He had to make new connections.", Easter answered.
"OK, I can buy that.", Derek continued, "I can, also, buy the fact that they spared Paterson. The part I don't get is why fooling around her status just before the things started here."
"That could mean that there was a plan.", Blake spoke, "Whatever information is hidden with her was vital for their step here in the USA."
"A piece of information.", Derek nodded, "Or her, herself. They spared her for some reason. These people don't seem to me like they think much before killing someone. Her personal involvement with the agent was enough for them to suspect that she could be a threat, too. They would have eliminated her, even if she was the girl at the reception of the building, not an agent with her set of skills."
"The information could actually be the reason.", Clyde answered, "If Paterson was gone, then that inormation could never be retrieved. Since she didn't pose as a danger and she disappeared, they left her alive in order to get what they wanted, when they wanted it."
"And Emily appears a lot into all this.", Morgan finished and Hotch realised that Derek was making the same thought as him, that nothing was a coincidence.
"Guys, I think we look at it the wrong way.", Spencer spoke, "We are focusing on the people while we have to focus on the strategy."
Ironically enough it was the 'kid', out of all of them, that thought logically, Hotch thought, probably because he was still blaming himself for Maeve's death, if he had cleared his head quicker, when they were searching for her, Maeve could still be alive. However, at some point he had to accept that there was nothing he could have done differently.
"It's not only our friends involved consecutively in these facts.", the young man carried on, "It's the informer and…"
"Hold on that for a moment. Sorry to interrupt you, kiddo.", Rossi turned to Easter, "Hathaway knew about the agent's suspicion concerning that boat. Shouldn't it only be someone close to the investigation to have this kind of knowledge?"
"It can be anyone.", the British agent replied, "They had tried very openly to retrieve the boat quickly but the budget and the weather didn't help. When Agent Whelan was so convinced about something, he could move the whole planet to find proof."
"I hear you.", Rossi nodded.
"And the other common thing is the guns.", Reid finished his sentence, "Do you know who is bringing or handling the guns here?"
"We know their contacts overseas but not here.", Clyde explained, "Actually, back in 2004, MQ-300's never reached this country."
"The Leader of this terrorist group attacking law enforcement", Hotch started, "apart from the guns needed also to recruit the members."
"Probably local gang members or even brainwash kids into this, if we accept that that boy's family is right.", Blake continued his way of thinking, "Actually the initial victims may not be failed contacts but recruited members that they failed."
"I cracked them!", Garcia said storming into the room, carrying a laptop, "I cracked the files!", she sat down logging on the screen.
"So quickly?", Easter wandered, "Glad you are working on our side."
"Oh, you are talking to a genius, dear and that's me, not Reid even if people often get misled by appearances. No offence, dear Doctor.", Pen joked, "So I think that's your colleague that was supervising the files…", an agent's card appeared on the screen and that agent was no other than Richard Whelan.
David focused his eyes on the photo. It was the first time he saw a picture of the man that he always knew he once existed. For some reason that man looked exactly like the man that Gloria would have fallen in love with. Probably it was his driven look. Probably it was his rough dressing and long hair that showed that he was an unconventional agent, as well. He was a handsome guy, they would have been a beautiful couple. Rossi couldn't avoid to notice for one more time that if things had been different, they would have been different people. 'If'. 'If's' were indeed a tricky game, but sometimes even David Rossi used to play it with himself. If his marriage with Caroline had worked out, if James hadn't died on the first day of his life, David would have been in a sunny backyard playing with a couple of grandkids by now. If that man had lived, Gloria would have been in a semi-detached house in the suburbs of London reading a story to child, one of those ones were the prince fights the dragon and the princess gets saved once and for all. But 'life is a hell of a thing to happen to a person' and for sure is no fairy tale. In real life angels get born to die. In real life, the prince gets beaten by the dragon and the princess is left with no other option than to give herself to the dragon till there is nothing left of her but wounds and scars.
Rossi didn't even know why he thought of his son and of Gloria with a child. It was probably due to Aaron's confession about his proposal to Emily or because it was one of the things that made David think that he had to stay away from Gloria. He wasn't that old and she wasn't that young, either, even if they had twenty years between them. The matter was that she was still young enough to make a family and he was too old to offer her one. He took his mind out of those thoughts. That was something that had to do with the tomorrow and at that moment they didn't know if a tomorrow would exist and Gloria wasn't even thinking of one. He pressed the side of his jacket with her badge in the pocket on his chest and focused on the facts.
"And the only reason I wasn't here even earlier was that it took me longer to group the info. Your guy had a habit of handwriting instead of typing.", Garcia carried on.
"It was wasn't just out of habit. It was actually an additional safe measure in our classified files ten years ago.", Easter clarified.
As they were about to start going over those files Hotch's phone rang. It was JJ. It was too early for any news on Emily, wasn't it? Aaron felt his heart skipping a beat.
"JJ, you are on speaker.", he answered.
"Emily contacted me.", JJ's voice was heard, "She managed to meet a shadowy woman she knew from before. According to her, only a small amount of MQ-300's has reached land."
"And?", Morgan pressed.
"They are trying to find a way to smuggle a large amount that at this moment is outside the borders in international waters and they are struggling with it. Guys, she asked Emily for help.", JJ answered.
"What's the woman's name?", Hotch asked.
"Samantha 'Sam' Brooder."
"Owow…", Garcia spoke, focusing quickly on the screen, "This lady is mentioned in here, a lot."
"This name…", Rossi spoke, too, going through the old notebook he had in front of him, "It's written here, too."
"Give us a moment JJ.", Hotch said, "What about her, Garcia?"
"Here it is.", Penelope said and a handwritten diagram and a couple of pages appeared on the screen.
"She wasn't one of Paterson's main targets. They didn't know her existence in advance.", Easter read quickly, he was familiar with these diagrams, "Paterson stumbled on her. Brooder was trying to bring stuff to the US and expand the Paradise Demons here. But she wasn't a dealer really. Emily met her, as well, I remember. But nobody knew exactly what she was."
"Here though, Brooder is mentioned as one of Blackmore's mistresses.", Rossi raised his eyebrows, "And there is a big question mark beside it. How old is the woman?"
"She is American, it should be easy to find that.", Clyde added.
"Give me a moment.", Garcia said, "Oh, I got it! She is fifty two!"
"Even fifteen years ago, she was too old for Blackmore's taste.", Rossi concluded.
"And if I remember correctly, Emily had said back then that Brooder looked like she is gay.", Clyde added again.
"So they weren't romantically involved. They were working on something together.", Blake assumed.
Hotch looked around to his team. Apparently they had found that common person they were looking for and Emily met her fast. That was good news. At least he hoped so.
"What help exactly does Brooder need, JJ?", he asked.
"They are looking from someone with contacts in the authorities here so they can smuggle the cargo. Apparently, whatever cover they have with Black Cross is convenient for small amounts and mainly other types of guns. But not for this.", JJ replied through the phone.
"She is the one providing the guns, since she is the one the one trying to sort the transport out.", Blake said.
"That's why they needed Paterson.", Morgan realised, "Actually, they didn't need her. They needed her alias. She played a dirty FBI agent willing to facilitate their business. Even if Maria Lloyd hadn't been an agent herself, she would have been under your radar, inside this information.", he pointed at the screen.
"Why to get into this hassle, though, while they could just find someone else and buy them, rather generously?", Blake spoke.
"There's probably a personal aspect.", Derek carried on and he looked at Rossi for a moment, "I hate to ask, but how can you be so sure that they don't know or guess that Paterson and Lloyd is the same person? You have a snitch, her role is known and she wasn't hiding in any basement. People can't change their face and if the informer knew Lloyd's face, then that's it."
"Whelan wouldn't have chosen that way of hiding her, if that was the case. The informer was never in immediate contact with them.", Clyde answered and then he frowned.
No, the informer was never in the London Office and he never saw Ria. He could only learn about her. Then something flashed in Easter's mind. But there was a possibility that could have happened. The uncovering of the affair could have served that, if it hadn't been stopped abruptly by the agent's death. Clyde always wondered why they actually made such a big deal with that story. OK, it was against rules but it was Europe, as well. Normally supervisors never paid too much attention on these matters. Richard was in the process of that divorce for three years and finally about to get it. Gloria wasn't married. One of their superiors would have had a chat with them and, in the worst scenario, put them to different teams. To be honest, given the circumstances back then – which unfortunately didn't last – Gloria would have gotten an office position in the Unit and stayed away from the field forever, so they could have still actually worked together. But the uppers had overreacted and they had created too much noise around this story, talking about disciplinary acts and so on, ready to follow every single line of the regulation to the maximum. Someone didn't only try to destroy Whelan's career, he wanted to expose Paterson, as well. Damn it. This political story was going on for even longer than they could have ever thought. But to begin with, who had pressed Emily to rat the two agents out?
"Gloria is down there fishing, only maybe she is the fish.", David thought loudly.
"The matter is that they have Emily to help them now.", Hotch said.
"Paterson and Prentiss shouldn't be around Brooder at the same time.", Blake commented.
"Emily and Brooder are coming to DC in a few hours.", JJ informed them.
"According to the tracking of the car, Gloria and Hathaway are already in the suburbs on their way back here.", Garcia added.
"Garcia, try to contact Paterson. At least let her know that we have to talk to her. She has to know. I'll call you later JJ to update you on what we are going to do with Emily's problem.", Aaron got more problematised and he was about to end the call when Clyde spoke in low voice.
"I would like to ask Agent Jareau to pass a question to Emily and I'd rather do it privately.", Easter didn't want to announce in front of everyone that Emily ratted her colleague and Hotch gave him another glare of disbelief, "You can learn what I told her. It's just that Emily wouldn't like it to be common knowledge."
Hotch nodded and Clyde took the phone out of the room.
"Are we really going to play along with them?", Morgan asked.
"I have to talk to Strauss and our own Organised Crime Unit.", Hotch let a breath.
Hotch could already count the cons and pros of every option in his head. Eventually meeting that key person wasn't good news at all.
"Here we are. And don't try anything stupid. Understood?", Gloria said stopping the car with the phone booth from the passenger's side.
She was uncomfortable of taking this outside of the car but a mobile phone would have made him even more suspicious. The booth was beside a rather busy petrol station. As long as Hathaway didn't get hold of the gun, he wouldn't try to attack her in front of all of these people.
She unlocked her door, walked around and opened his. She had already taken the handle off from his side anyway. He obliged without any resistance and he dialled a number. Gloria memorised the number. It was a mobile one.
"Hey… Of course not. Does the number you see has an FBI prefix? I'm out. Look they know more than we thought. There was no point of me being there. …"
Gloria tried to listen to the voice coming from the phone. It sounded like a man's voice but she couldn't clear the answers. So she stuck beside Hathaway pressed the volume up button, making Hathaway to pull the device a bit further from his ear and she could listen clearly.
"What do you mean they know?", the voice said through the device.
Gloria didn't know why but that voice sent chills down her spine.
"They knew I was talking bullshit. Look we need to meet in person, boss.", Hathaway replied.
"In person? This hasn't happened in a long time."
"We will meet up.", a woman's voice was now heard.
It sounded manly but it was a woman and that voice was known to Gloria but she couldn't pinpoint from where. She threw a glare to the man beside her to insist.
"I don't trust the phones and I have to tell you something important."
"Are you sure those bloody agents hadn't put you up to anything?", the woman asked.
"I will never go against your orders."
"Hathaway, people like you, are not loyal to anyone.", the man said.
"The meeting will be in three hours at the usual restaurant and just wish that whatever you tell is worth it. ", the woman added and they hanged up.
"Where is 'the usual restaurant'?", Gloria asked, not really expecting an answer and making a notice that in two hours would be around seven in the morning, so that whatever was the restaurant the mystery man was probably the owner or related to the owner for him to be there at such an unusual time.
"I think you need to stick with me.", he challenged.
She pushed him inside the car. Bloody bastard. He didn't want her to get the information and get rid of him and he knew that his boss would say it like that. The phone in her pocket vibrated once. It was the phone that Garcia had given her. Vibrating once meant that they had to talk to her. She was indeed stuck with Hathaway and she had to find a way to talk to the others at the same time. Something was going on and with her instincts already alerted by Hathaway she had to know everything. There was no other way. She had to do it after finding out whoever the mystery man was, whether she liked it or not and to be honest she didn't.
"But you got your wish. You know, though, what they say. Be careful what you wish for.", Hathaway said indifferently.
"Clever.", she replied.
That off feeling just grew stronger. That man was acting far too arrogantly and confidently, while he was forced to oblige to her. He was either planning something or… he had achieved something by being with her or actually by handling her to whoever he had just phoned. She could literally smell a trap.
"Do you realise what you are proposing, Aaron?", Strauss protested, staring at Hotch and Easter across her desk.
"I know, Ma'am, but it's the only way to put an end to this.", Hotch said.
"Is it possible to just stop the guns?", Erin asked.
"We can't trust the source of the information.", Clyde replied, "I'm sure that Brooder hasn't said to Prentiss the full truth. Of course, they don't trust her yet. But even if we do stop them, they will go deeper and they'll try again very soon. And in this case Prentiss has to be pulled out."
"Any leads that can be found now will be in vain.", Hotch added.
Things had become so messed up. He was against Emily's idea to go under and now he was the one pushing it. Let alone the fact that he was indeed agreeing with Easter.
"You do know that if we help in any way and after we lose track of them, the illegal market is going to be filled with dangerous weapons. And this will be on us.", Strauss protested.
"We're aware of that, Ma'am.", Hotch admitted, "But the Organised Unit of the FBI is already in contact with Interpol and they are confident that they can manage any scenarios."
"They informed me.", Strauss answered, "Go ahead with what you are planning. But I warn you. If the plan fails, it's taking down all of you, Agent Hotchner."
"We're aware of that, too, Ma'am."
It was already seven when Gloria reached the restaurant that Hathaway had guided her. The parking lot was empty. But instead of turning towards it, she passed the door, speeding to the next block.
"What the hell are you doing?", Hathaway got alarmed.
She had remembered the woman's voice. Brooder. Sam Brooder. And that woman had a grunge against her, not her, Maria Lloyds. That was why suddenly Hathaway was so keen to offer her what she wanted. He had recognised her finally, probably from descriptions. If he had known her as an agent, he would have recognised her immediately. No. He was described a twelve years younger woman, with much shorter hair and blonde.
"It was very convenient of you meeting me, wasn't it?", she said firmly, pulling the car to a stop and reaching in the pocket of the door, where she had another trick hidden.
She wasn't allowed to use a gun but she could get away with using that. They were lucky, too, there was a hospital one block away.
"What?", he asked and that time he got enraged, he had really thought that she had bought it all, "Fucking bitch!"
That time he attacked her with force and, even if Gloria was prepared for a second round, that time his hands reached immediately for her neck. But she had already the needle in her fingers and she pricked him with it. In a matter of seconds, he dropped unconscious. She pushed him to the seat and released the brake.
"Your boss should have taught you not to mess with women, dear."
She drove off to the hospital, threw him at the Emergency Department door and sped out, circling back towards the restaurant.
Garcia was back to her lair with Rossi combining information.
In the meantime, what Morgan had said about the personal aspect of wanting Maria Lloyd had clicked. The initial effort against Paradise Demons with Gloria's operation was stopped with no arrests, but the authorities had managed to stop one cargo of illegal, regular guns. But so as not to raise attention, they had rumours spread that Lloyd was the one that fooled Brooder and took the cargo for her own profit. That was why she had disappeared. Actually, Emily as Lauren had said the same thing, that Lloyd had fooled her, too. The most possible theory was that Brooder wanted revenge and now through their connections and the snitch she was trying to find her in order to blackmail her to help them. Brooder was sure that in order to save her life and career, Lloyd would do everything. Lloyd was a safe option for them. Still, though, not all of it sticked together perfectly in Rossi's head.
He let a breath. Now, with just Garcia, his feelings were written all over his face, he knew it. The only other time he was obviously emotionally involved in a case was when Emily had taken off to find Doyle. But still, back then it was different. It wasn't like this time. Everything getting uncovered was bothering Rossi more and more. If these people wanted Gloria for any reason, she shouldn't be down there at all. The worst of all was that he was guessing that Gloria already suspected that there was something around her alias and her name, she knew that there was something hanging over her head and she jumped into the situation like there was no other option, while nobody was sure of that. His palm turned into a fist. Why? Why was she provoking her fate like that?
"I passed her the message. She knows we have to talk to her. When she can, she will contact us.", she reassured him, "Both girls are gonna be fine. They are quite tough cookies, you know that. Owow!", she exclaimed suddenly, after a beep came from the computer.
"What is it, Penelope?", Rossi asked.
"Glory just drove off a hospital! I put alerts when they drive by certain spots."
"What?", Rossi got scared, "Can you see what happened?"
"I have to access the street cameras. Give me a moment. Just a moment.", Pen said getting worried herself.
The two minutes that she needed felt like an eternity to Rossi. Finally the view of the street camera at the entrance of the hospital appeared on the screen. They could clearly see the figure of a man sliding off a car.
"It's not her. It's Hathaway."
The tracker was on the window beside the video. A red dot stopped a three blocks away from the hospital.
"What are you doing, stella mia?"
Gloria circled the restaurant on foot. It wasn't a good idea to go in there. She knew it. That woman probably wanted her dead. But she had heard a man's voice as well through that phone call. She had to figure out who that man was. She should have phoned the others, too. But she wasn't sure that she had the time.
There were no guards or anyone outside. She couldn't risk any of the back doors, though. They were probably alarmed. She noticed the exits of the air ventilators and a couple of them were at her height. She wasn't confident climbing anymore but she had to try.
Carefully she took the iron cover of the ventilator out. Thankfully the pipe was quite big and of strong material and since it wasn't smelling too much like burned oil it was the ventilator of the customers' area and not the kitchen. She pulled herself up inside and then reached for the upper corner. Both of the times the movement upwards caused a sharp pain on her back. With all this overworking, it hurt more and more. But she pressed lips together and let it subside a bit before carrying on crawling on the horizontal part, assumingly the one above the ceiling. After a couple of meters, she heard voices and stopped.
"That bastard. Is he thinking that he is a fucking celebrity and he is always late?", a voice that indeed belonged to Sam Brooder was heard, "Have you seen anything outside?"
"No.", a man replied and that wasn't the one from the phone, "But the other woman just arrived."
A third person? Gloria was trying to guess what other thing she had stumbled upon, when the pipe cricked and shook a bit. Oh, no. There should be a ceiling below that pipe supporting it, shouldn't it? There wasn't one. Before she was able to move back, the pipe broke. Gloria fell on the floor with it and thank God for that otherwise she would have been seriously injured. Still the fall and the loud noise disoriented her. She opened her eyes to two guns pointing at her, while the door of the restaurant opened.
"Oh hello, there.", Brooder spoke, "Look who fell from the sky. You do know her, don't you, Lauren?"
"Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can't get any better, it can." ~ Nicholas Sparks
But is the last incident turning the situation into a worse or a better one?
This chapter is to push us to the next phase and to mark the two years anniversary since I started this fanfic. Wow! I can't even believe I'm writing this for two years now. I have to really thank you guys for still following and reading it! 23 chapters in 24 months! Apparently that's the reason I'm getting a bit lost in my own story...! Anyway! I hope the summary helped!
Emily is gonna be back to action in the next chapter! She has to play a dangerous game and deal with a "fallen from the sky" Gloria as well!
Spoiler: Only one person knows who both women really are...
Don't forget to let me know what you think by leaving a word in the box below!