IX. Introspection
East Village, New York City, January 16th 12:45 PM
"The password is 1234 Ms. Shaw."
"Really?" Sameen asked as she unlocked Agent Moss's front door, quickly stepping inside, flipping open the keypad panel to the security system and entering the code. Shaking her head after the alarm was disarmed.
"You would think a seasoned FBI agent would come up with something that a five year couldn't figure out."
"It is relatively common for people to use simple passwords. Typically they use their address, significant dates or even their social security number. The ten-digit keypad that is attached to Moss's security system has a maximum of 10,000 possible combinations. A few years ago a study contradicting the validity…."
"Finch I got it." Sameen retorted as she shuffled around Moss's apartment. Her eyes roaming over the generic furniture. "Man, this guy gives new meaning to plain and boring. A double bacon and jalapeño cheeseburger has more personally than his furniture."
Harold raised an eyebrow "Says the woman who keeps her guns next to her milk."
Shaw frowned as she walked towards the bedroom. "I've made improvements since then."
"Oh really?" Harold asked curiously.
"Yep, I keep the guns next to the Kool-Aid now," Shaw smirked as she imagined the irritated look on Harold's face.
She casually strolled into Moss's bedroom, taking in the rooms' tidiness. "So why does this goon have a hard on for Reese?"
"I suppose the simplest answer would be retribution," Harold explained grimly.
Shaw raised an eyebrow at the change in Harold's demeanor. "For what?"
" I believe Agent Moss is acting on behalf of a dead FBI agent named Donnelly." Harold remarked.
"Isn't that the agent who tried to arrest Carter and Reese?," Shaw asked.
"Yes, Ms. Shaw." Harold trailed off as he remembered trying to save the man's life. "Unfortunately, he was murdered by Mr. Reese's former CIA partner."
Shaw frowned "So he's going after Carter to get to Reese because he thinks Reese killed Donnelly."
"Indeed," Harold finished.
Shaw pushed open the closet, pausing in surprise. Her eyes locking on the cork board with newspaper clippings and blurry surveillance photos all focused on the Man in the Suit. "Finch, Moss has a creepy home project in his closet dedicated to Reese."
"What do you mean Ms. Shaw?," Harold asked in confusion.
"As in he has a cork board with article clippings and pictures, all focused on who the Man in the Suit is?" Her eyes focused on a character sketch of what looked like Reese with shaggy hair and an even shaggier beard.
"What else do you see?"
"Just random articles about an urban legend saving people. He even has some articles about Carter and some of her arrests." Shaw replied as she looked at a newspaper picture of Carter and Fusco bringing in Elias. She paused as her focus shifted to two articles in particular, one headline read 'Local Detective Attacked Outside of Precinct by Alleged Stalker' and the other read 'Serial Killer Found Dead in West Virginia Family Home, Accidental Suicide.'
Shaw took a step back and snapped a picture of the board and sent it to Harold. "Looks like Moss is a little obsessed with finding Reese."
"I think that's an understatement Ms. Shaw." Harold remarked as he eyed the picture of agent Moss's organizational board.
Manhattan, New York City, January 16th 3:10 PM
Fusco nodded to one of the uniforms as he entered the bathroom. He quickly made a beeline to the open urinals. He unzipped his pants and began to empty his bladder. He paused and his body tensed up as he felt a familiar presence behind. He turned to look over his shoulder.
"Hello, Lionel." John stated nonchalantly.
"What the hell!" Lionel hunched over feeling exposed and uncomfortable. "What are you doing in here?"
"Last time I checked this is the men's bathroom."
"In a police station!" Fusco added. "Jesus what is with you always invading my privacy. I can't even take a leak in peace!"
"Calm down Lionel I'm only here for an update."
"You couldn't have called like a normal person..." Fusco muttered under his breath. "Can you leave and let me finish my business!"
"What's the matter? Do I make you pee shy?" John smirked as he eyed his phone watching a blinking dot that showed where Joss's phone was.
Fusco quickly zipped himself up flushing the urinal before walking past John and into a stall and closing the door to finish his business in private.
John moved toward the sink area as he leaned against the wall waiting for Lionel to hurry up.
Lionel flushed and quickly exited the stall pushing his sleeves up as he walked toward the sink. "So what the hell is so important that you have to interrogate me in the bathroom?"
"Why is Joss at another precinct?"
"She went to drop off some evidence for another homicide case. A cop was murdered a few days ago. He had Carter's contact card on him."
"The same Detectives who showed up at her house?" John questioned.
"Yeah." Fusco nodded as he grabbed some paper towels and dried his hands.
"Are they HR?" John asked wondering if Womack and the higher ups had already forgotten his warning about what would happen to them if they went anywhere near Joss.
"Take it easy big guy," Fusco stated as he saw the predatory glint in Johns' eyes. "I'm pretty sure there all on the up and up. Besides the lead Detective will have her hands full."
"Why?" John asked in concern.
"That case is starting to look real fishy," Fusco began "Carter got the idea to look at the security footage of the bullpen. Turns out the dead cop was snooping around her desk. That's not even the fishy part, the autopsy revealed that Officer Reynolds had been dead for almost 2 hours before he showed up in our precinct."
John narrowed his eyes at the new information "Someone was impersonating a cop. Why?"
"I don't know, you tell me why someone would impersonate law enforcement personnel" Fusco replied sarcastically.
John smirked at Lionel's jab at his numerous law affiliated cover ID's. "Thanks for the update and..."
"Keep an eye on Carter and if anything happens to her you'll kill me…yeah yeah, I got it." Fusco replied flippantly as he marched past Reese and out the bathroom.
Manhattan, New York City, January 16th 9:37 PM
Kate reached out grabbing the handle and turning the shower off. She quickly rung out her hair out before pulling the shower curtain back. The scream ripped from her throat as she fumbled backwards losing her balance as she fell to the tub floor taking the curtain with her.
Matt held back a chuckled as he sat on the toilet "You really are just an analyst."
Kate quickly covered herself with the shower curtain "What the hell are you doing! Get out you pervert!"
"I will I'm just here to give you some advice," Matt replied as he handed her towel over.
Kate quickly yanked the towel out of his hand, "And you couldn't talk to me at work like a normal functioning member of society."
Matt frowned "You need to stay in your lane."
"Excuse me?" Kate uttered confused.
"You know what you need to. Don't go digging where you shouldn't."
"Wha…"Kate trailed off as her thoughts began to race.
Matt watched as her mind began putting pieces together.
"So I was right this isn't just about Reese." Kate hypothesized.
Matt felt his lip twitch into a smile. Here he was, a trained operative intimidating her, and she still kept asking questions. She was either courageous or completely stupid, he wasn't quite sure which one yet.
"I have a theory as to what's really going on" Kate began when she realized he wasn't going to answer her question.
"You're here for Reese," Matt replied as he stood up and headed for the door.
Kate narrowed her eyes "Then who are you here for?"
Matt smiled as he walked out of the bathroom.
Kate quickly wrapped her towel around herself as she rose from the tub and followed him out the bathroom.
Matt opened the hotel room door looking over his shoulder "Take the advice Kate."
Kate frowned as she watched the door close.
She felt torn as she stood in the silence of her now empty room. Her brain was telling her to listen to Matt but the dedicated nature that always drove her was telling her to keep digging.
Brooklyn New York City, January 16th 9:45 PM
Joss smiled as she detangled herself from the leash for the fourth time. Artemis had an annoying habit of wrapping the leash around her legs when they went for walks.
As she continued down the block, her pace slowed, and her smile dropped from her face as she saw a very unwelcomed guest on her stoop.
Moss stood up from his seat on the step as he saw Carter come into his line of vision.
"Agent Moss how unpleasant to see you." Joss held onto the leash tighter the last thing she wanted was the asshole to shoot her dog cause he felt threatened.
"Detective." Moss greeted as he eyed the white husky that was growling at him.
Joss rolled her eyes "What do you want?"
"Just stopped by to inform you that your protective detail is in place."
Joss smirked "Protective detail, yeah right."
"The man we're after is dangerous. It's for your own protection Detective," Moss tilted his head "Unless you have reason not to fear a rouge CIA agent."
"I'm a cop I can handle myself" Joss narrowed her eyes as he tried to pry for information.
"I suppose you can, but better safe than sorry. Men like him are unstable and unpredictable. He might loose control and snap your neck or something," Moss shrugged his shoulders as he stepped down the stairs, pausing when the dog snarled viciously at him.
"She doesn't like strangers approaching me, especially men." Joss stated as she petted Artemis on the head to calm her down.
"A little macabre don't you think?" Moss eyed the dog.
"Excuse me?" Joss questioned.
"Most woman wouldn't adopt the dog of their stalker even if he's dead." Moss stated.
"She's a good dog, deserves a good home, and like you said my stalker is dead, he killed himself." Joss fired back as she headed up her stairs.
"I know it's the FBI's case now since most of the woman were from different states," Moss frowned as he thought of the case. "It's a shame a lot of the victims families will never have real closure, since the culprit is dead. No one to tell us where the bodies are. Crazy how he died, accidental death from a self inflicted wound."
"Is there a point to your lecture?" Joss asked annoyed as she ushered Artemis inside.
"No point just wondering what lengths a man who kills for a living would go through to protect you." Moss asked eyeing her reaction.
Smirking when he saw the flicker of doubt and worry run across her face."Judging from that look I just saw on your face you've been wondering too. Makes you wonder if he's keeping secrets.
Moss turned on his heel and walked away."You have a lovely night Detective."
Cape Town South Africa 2009
Damien rushed up the stairs to his apartment. His thoughts replaying the phone call he received
"Damien …..don't come back….don't come back they'll kill you."
He had gotten too careless, too complacent. They shouldn't have stayed in one place for so long. Once he reached the third floor, he leveled his gun ready to fire on anyone who got in his way. He quickly made his way down the hall, his heart dropping into his stomach as he saw his front door cracked open. He rushed through the door not caring who might be on the other side.
The sight that greeted him caused his whole body to shut down. He rushed into the living room dropping his gun and falling to his knees in front of her bound and gagged body. Her lifeless glazed over brown eyes staring back at him. Her face was bruised, swollen and battered. His tear-filled eyes traveled down her blood stained shirt eyeing the single piercing in her chest.
It was had nothing left.
They had finally taken everything from him.
"I never thought I'd live to see you cry Wilson." A familiar voice taunted from behind him as he felt gun against the back of his head.
x-x-x-XX-x-x-x
Highland Park, Brooklyn New York, January 17th 12:10 AM
"Hey, Hey pal I'm talking to you."
His memories receded at the sound of a rough voice as he refocused on his surroundings, eyeing the two want to be thugs standing in front of him. He looked at his watch realizing that hours had passed since he sat down on the bench. The once lively park was now seemingly empty as the cool breeze of the night rustled the trees and grass.
Damien rolled his shoulders before bringing his attention back to the kids in front of him. "First and last warning leave me be or else."
The oldest of the would-be robbers extravagantly flipped open a butterfly knife and held it in a threatening manner "I don't think you're in any position to be making demands pal now give us your money and whatever you have in the bag."
Damien eyed the knife they couldn't have been older than 16 and 17. Neither one of them were carrying, he could easily just kill them and be done. But he knew she wouldn't approve of him killing kids, so he settled for intimidation. He removed the gun from behind his back and casually leaned back into the bench. Waiting for them to try and rob him.
He watched as his would-be robbers ran away. Sighing as he stood up.
He hide his gun before grabbing his bag of supplies moving towards the parking lot. He wasted enough time; he needed to finish rigging his makeshift holding the area. Once it was developed to his liking he would rattle the cage and kick start his final plan into motion.
AN: Sorry for the delay in updates, life got in the way. Any whoooo...Thanks for reading and reviewing. Next time Taylor and Maya go into sleuth mode,John gets grilled by teenagers and Shaw gets hurt.