Chapter Twelve: Appetizers
Strapped to a metal chair with restraints and a black cloth hood over his head, he sat in a windowless room that was cool and slightly damp. The only light came from a single naked bulb that hung from the ceiling and the only sounds were from the faint buzz of the electrical current that ran to it and the sound of his own breathing. He had been in and out of this cell for the last several weeks and was no longer sure of the time or the day, but he was sure of this, these people would have killed him if he served no purpose, and because he was still alive, he deduced he must have some value. He might be able to manipulate his situation with a few answers or even a few made up stories and he would use this time to refine the details. He knew, if he showed some patience, the right moment would arrive and in that moment he would escape. There was still much to accomplish and work to finish, a vision of Teresa Lisbon's face flashed in his mind and under the darkness of his blindfold, Red John laughed to himself. It was only a matter of time.
Nina Sharpe sat in her sleek and spartan office on the 65th floor of the skyscraper which housed the Massive Dynamic corporate headquarters. Below her windows, New York city bustled with energy, while two floors below her, John Mosely was incarcerated in a prison cell. After reviewing the video feed on her computer monitor, she tapped the table impatiently before swiveling her chair and turning her back to the screen. Dressed in her usual monochrome of black, she wore a silk sheath dress and draped a cashmere shawl around her shoulders, opera length gloves and tall boots made of the same soft leather completed her ensemble. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, her pale skin and dark lipstick made her auburn hair take on a deeper shade of red. Nina ruled with an iron fist that only a devoted and focused individual could develop after 25 years with the same firm.
"This is most unfortunate. We've misjudged the situation and I'm afraid we will need to continue our search." She looked at the two men who sat across from her, the glass and steel table acting as a buffer zone.
"What do you want to do?" Newton spoke in his usual polite and elegant tone.
Nina rested her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers, a thoughtful look on her face. The moment passed and she shrugged. "No matter, the answers will come. I trust you will find a way to gather the information we need."
Newton looked smug. "But of course. The Beacon is traceable and once we discover who it is currently following, we will find it and discover it's origins." He rose out of his chair. "It can be done." He smiled pleasantly at Nina and nodded to the man sitting in the chair next to him, before leaving.
When the door abruptly shut, Nina spoke to the other man still sitting across from her. "You think he is up for the task?" She looked at Sam Weiss with a curiosity.
"I believe he will keep trying until he find the answers, but Nina, then what?" Sam stood and brushed the wrinkles from his gabardine slacks and adjusted the french cuffs on his white dress shirt. He was something of a chameleon and looked much different in his expensive suit than when he met Olivia in the bowling alley. He walked toward the picture window and looked out. "What about Mosely?"
"He's no longer important, we'll use him somehow." Nina softened her tone. "I understand your concern Sam, but these matters tend to fall into place. There are many more projects to work on and one of them is long term. We need to think of a name for a new organization that we will be putting in place sometime in the future. How does the World Safety Council sound to you?"
Sam turned to face the woman and nodded.
One year later...
Angela Montenegro held her glass of champagne close to her heart and surveyed the odd assortment of friends, family and law enforcement. She smiled to herself when she realized some of them were all three.
"I'm still shocked we're here." Jack Hodgins, with a plate of assorted goodies in his hand, walked up and stood next to her, he made a sound of approval after devouring a crab puff.
"You're not kidding. But it just goes to show, truth is stranger than fiction." Angela smirked.
Hodgins nodded in agreement, he popped a stuffed date in his mouth, chewed and swallowed.
"It was really nice that they invited all these people. I'm not sure how they all got the time off." She nodded her head toward two men who sat opposite each other engaged in deep conversation. "Doesn't Zach look great? There's got to be a really interesting story on how they pulled that one off." Their former colleague nodded his head earnestly, while the other man gestured with his hands in an animated fashion.
"The man with Zach, he's a scientist named Walter Bishop. I was told he spent years in a mental institution and was released to work with Homeland Security on secret government projects. Take a whiff Jack, you smell a conspiracy?"
The Entomologist chuckled, "It definitely stinks, but what else is new? They are quite a pair, I can see the equations bouncing around between them. You can actually thank Sweets and Daisy, they agreed to be responsible for Zach." He gave a heads up gesture to the tall dark haired psychologist who stood off to the side, his girlfriend waved back while bouncing up and down.
Hodgins took a flute of champagne off of a passing Server's tray. He slurped instead of sipped and Angela rewarded him with a disapproving eye. "How is it you know everybody here?" He asked as he ate a curried almond off of his plate.
"It took a little digging, but yeah, I got a lot of dirt." She shifted her weight to the other foot, tossed her hair back discreetly and sipped her champagne. "You see that pretty young woman with the short black curly hair? Her name is Astrid Farnsworth, she's FBI with that wacky Fringe Unit."
"The interns seem to be having their own little party. It's looking a little intense."
"That's an understatement, I'd say Mr. Nigel-Murray and Clark are having a pissing contest, look how amused Wendell and Aristoo look."
"And how dour Foster looks."
It was true, the Jeffersonian's brightest interns were gathered around the petite FBI Agent with the warm smile, some competing for her attention, others enjoying the competition and one looking completely depressed.
"What about those two." Hodgins pointed over toward a couple standing off to the side, their body language was exclusive.
"The man is a big honcho from DHS, Phillip Broyles and he's talking with a big honchette from the CBI, Madeline Hightower. They make a striking pair don't you think?"
"Not as striking as the babe with Max." Hodgins not so discreetly smiled and winked at Brennan's father. From across the room, Max Keenan raised his eyebrows in return, he was entertaining an elegantly dressed redhead.
"That would be Martha Rodgers, Richard Castle's mother. She's an actress in New York."
"Well, you know what they say... What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!"
Angela and Hodgins looked at each other, grinned and their glasses touched rims before they polished off their champagne.
"I never expected the long white dress, veil and bouquet of roses, but when Brennan told me they were going to get married, and in Las Vegas of all places, I thought to myself, here's a Forensic Anthropologist on crack." Angela looked over her shoulder before tactfully walking over toward the buffet table.
Hodgins chuckled and followed her. "And, having Richard Castle and Nikki Heat officiate over the marriage was different… but much classier then if fat Elvis had been here." They looked at the author and his muse who were in deep conversation with the bride and groom and another couple.
Angela furrowed her brow. "Her name's Kate Beckett and she's a Homicide Detective with the NYPD. Booth said she's a solar flare compared to the character of Nikki Heat. They all met when Brennan and Castle were involved in that airport thing. Someday, I'll get one of them to tell me what really happened, even the abridged version is pretty wild."
"Maybe Castle will write a book about it." Hodgins held up a shrimp and pea-pod on a toothpick and started munching. "Who's the other couple they're with?"
"That's Peter Bishop, Walter Bishop's son and Olivia Dunham, they work for the Fringe Unit under Agent Broyles and are another Fed slash Consultant duo, remember when Booth and Brennan flew to Boston a couple of months ago? They went to their wedding, Booth said they wanted to be married before their baby was born."
"Judging from the big smiles on their faces, it doesn't look like a shotgun marriage." Peter and Olivia stood side by side, one sensed a halo of light around the two of them, when she tilted her head to look up at him, he beamed a smile at her that brightened her face.
Angela bobbed her head up and down in agreement. "Somehow, Booth and Agent Dunham seem to have a connection, in a good way, not odd or creepy."
"Must be the job, it brings people together."
"It's good that Jared and Russ made it. Sometimes I wish I had a brother."
"You and me both. Let's face it, there's nothing like a wedding reception to bring people together." Jared hugged Brennan and Russ shook Booth's hand before they were introduced to the others.
"Jack, you see that Asian man?" Angela waved and the man nodded back at her. "He's with the CBI, I was chatting it up with him, it led to talk about our background and we had a small world moment, we think Agent Cho's grandmother and my maternal grandmother were cousins, which makes our mothers second cousins and us third cousins!"
"Thanks for the genealogy update. Who's he with?"
"She's one of us, well one of you… her name is Lainie Parish and she's a forensic analyst and coroner with the NYPD. She and Cam worked in the same unit, but at different times."
"Why's the California Bureau of Investigation here?"
"Booth told me that Agent Cho, and that couple…" Angela pointed to Rigsby and Van Pelt, "…they helped rescue them."
"They should get the award for best looking pair."
"From what I gathered, they're relationship is under constant threat because they work together."
"The heart wants what the heart wants." Hodgins murmured. He widened his eyes when Angela gave him a surprised look.
"What? I read it in one of Castle's books!"
Angela laughed "I read that one too!"
"When are they going to cut that cake?"
"Jack, you can't possibly be hungry?" Hodgins looked slightly embarrassed.
"Hey look! There's Cam." Angela squinted and looked confused. "Who is that with her?" She spotted their boss, Camille Saroyan with a masculine and handsome looking man, they entered the room with big smiles on their faces."
"That, my dear…" Hodgins said dryly, "…is Detective Javier Espisito, NYPD. Now, how did you not know that? He and his partner work with Beckett and Castle, they're here to work security detail." Hodgins strained his neck and looked around the room. "There... Detective Kevin Ryan, he's the other half." Ryan was totally engrossed in his plate of food and looking very content.
Angela raised her eyebrows at him. "Very impressive, it's nice to know you're paying attention. They look totally smitten with each other. That is so cute!"
"Who? Cam and Espisito or Ryan and his plate of mini-quiches?" Angela rolled her eyes, they exchanged their empty glasses for full ones and she did another quick examination of the room.
"Small Booth's found a friend." She looked over at Parker who sat on a couch with a teenage girl, the two had their heads together, and were playing with a hand held video game. "That's Castle's daughter, Alexis, according to Brennan she's brilliant with a definite interest in journalism."
"That's great, you know she's our future."
"Jack, that is so profound." Angela leaned over and kissed his cheek.
"Okay Ange, I see Caroline over there and..."
"Captain Roy Montgomery, NYPD, another part of that New York contingency."
"Well at least all of these people seem to have someone to talk too."
"Except for them." Angela pointed with her eyes at the couple standing by the punch bowl, they both looked slightly awkward and uncomfortable. "That is Agent Teresa Lisbon and Patrick Jane. Do they remind you of anyone?"
"What are you alluding too?" Hodgins looked a bit perplexed.
"Booth and Brennan... you know a few years ago. Cho told me they dig each other but personal baggage keeps getting in the way. That and their obsession with catching a serial killer."
"Homicidal murderers will do that, spoil the moment, that is."
Lisbon looked at Jane out of the corner of her eye, while Jane pretended not to notice.
"All right! They're going to cut the cake." Hodgins exclaimed excitedly.
Booth and Brennan held hands and walked over to the three tiered wedding cake while camera flashes lit up the couple's happy faces.
The Observer stood next to the entry of the banquet room and watched the festivities, he found the activities interesting and sensed there would be a satisfying outcome. He picked up his hard sided briefcase preparing to leave and looked up to see Patrick Jane raising his glass at him, he had a very large grin on his face. The Observer stared back and cocked his head before turning and walking away.
~End
Whew! I definitely bit off more than I could chew with this one, but I really had fun, so I can't say I'm sorry.
Once again, I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to read and if you left a review, you get a piece of wedding cake.
I think there are certain elements of this story that work pretty well and I hope they can carry the rest of it, you know the part that makes no sense or leave questions unanswered.
For those of you who are big time shippers, I give you Booth & Brennan, Peter & Olivia and Castle & Beckett. I am sorry that I can't give you Jane & Lisbon, it just didn't seem possible, maybe after this season it will, I hope you'll be satisfied with Rigsby & Van Pelt.
I've been watching these four shows on Hulu and streaming on-line and there are certain things from each of the shows that I really love. If you don't watch all four of these shows, there are probably big gaps and the items I've recycled may not be evident to you. I urge you to watch them all, they are all entertaining in their own way and have some terrific writing.
I know I could use a brutal beta reader, the time has come to burden someone with my misplaced commas, my incorrect tenses, my disjointed thoughts and participles in a noose.
Once again, merci, gracias, arigato and thank you all for reading!
~Mochi