Disclaimer- They are like little action figures I do not own, but have the incisive need to play with. CBS owns them. Mr. Heller made them. No money is, was, or ever will be made from this.
[Chapter 3]
Bright orange evidence markers litered the ground as Lisbon made her way past the yellow crime scene tape. She surveyed the area. There were CBI Agents everywhere, along with CSIs, police, and news vans.
"The first time this camera picks him up is here."
Lisbon overheard Van Pelt say to another agent as she walked past.
"The uniqueness of Jane's car makes it easy to spot him in the traffic cams," Grace continued to the Agent, as they huddled over her laptop. She pointed to the screen. "See there, there, and there."
"He made four lefts. They knew they were being followed," the agent named Bailey nodded. "I'm going to see if I can get any of the surveillance video from the area. If we can get a license plate of the car following them..."
"I'm going to work with this and see if I can get anything useable here," Grace said.
Lisbon continued on trying to absorb as much information as she could. She heard most of the altercation, though somewhat muffled from Jane's phone. What she heard was bad, to see the aftermath was worse. The Citroen was a little worse for wear, the bumper was smashed and most of the windows were gone, with a few bullet holes here and there. They did not go quietly. The feeling of anger, worry and dread rose as she continued on her tour of the scene.
"Geez, how many times is that man gonna get kidnapped? Didn't he get kidnapped a month ago? Someone should plant a tracking device on his ass..." Another Agent said as he scratched his head.
"Really?" An officer asked.
"Yeah, I think Jane gets kidnapped every other week or something. There was that time at the fruit stand," The Agent stared upward trying to recall. He counted off on his fingers each incident. "Then there was the time at the taco stand-"
"Now is not the time for this!" Lisbon snapped at the two.
"Sorry," the agent blushed.
"Did you find anything useful yet?" Lisbon asked.
"Yes ma'am," The agent named Garrison offered. "Black. Older model Buick Skylark. Sedan. California plates, I've got a partial, Victor-Nine and the last letter is Ida"
"It's a start," Lisbon told the young agent.
"Call the next witness," Garrison told the officer.
"You got it," The officer waved the next person over.
She shook her head and kept walking. There were no large pools of blood on the ground, just a lot of broken glass and debris. The initial reports indicated, that it could have been worse. Only minor injuries were reported and a lot of property damage, mostly cars caught in the crossfire.
The coroner's van was no where to be seen. Lisbon took that as a good sign.
"Yes Mr. Mayor, I have every available Agent on this case, and the FBI has been called. I understand sir," Bertram spoke into his bluetooth, "Yes, we have to let the criminals know that this will not be tolerated. Brenda is here with me. We are preparing a statement for the press..."
"Bailey! Coordinate with CHP. Have them set up a roadblock on all major highways within a 50 mile radius," Hightower barked out commands. "Garrison! Did you finish taking the witness statements yet? Get me something I can use."
"Jane described one of them," Lisbon told Bertram and Hightower. "He said the man was round in the middle with a pointy head, with a comb over. There was another person with him. I heard shots from a shotgun and a handgun."
"Don't worry, Teresa, we'll find them," Hightower told her.
Ice coffee definitely would have been better.
Or even better yet, a mango smoothie.
Rigsby knew it was the heat doing it to him, but he wanted to stop struggling and day dream about about sipping mango smoothies on a tropical beach, a cool ocean breeze blowing, with Grace basking in the sun, lying next to him on the immaculate white sand, wearing a two piece bikini. He would definitely love to deal with that kind of heat. He pushed that thought far from his mind. She was marrying Craig, and he kept telling himself he was fine with that, he was over her, and he was happy for her.
His big frame was stuffed into the Skylark's trunk and it was hard to maneuver. The hot stale air smelled of rubber and grease which did not help the motion sickness he felt. He'd hit his head on the trunk door more than once as they sped down the road, and he was slightly dizzy for it. Rigsby continued his search and felt around for anything to cut the duct tape that bound his hands.
Pushing himself as far back as he could, he ignored the pain as the tire iron jabbed him in the back. The vibrations of the rumble strips they sped over were not helping as he clawed at the trunk's liner. He managed to rip a piece off, exposing the tail light's casing, and with a little force he pushed the light out and gasped at the fresh air that slowly blew in. Rigsby rubbed the tape on an exposed piece of metal slowly wearing it's cloth fibers.
There was a sharp turn which sent the trunk's contents flying towards him. Then there was an abrupt stop, that sent the toolbox behind him flying forward. He winced as it smacked him in the head. Rigsby growled in frustration, the sweat dripped into his eyes as the stifling heat sapped the last of his energy. He took a moment to try and compose himself, adrenaline wearing off and exhaustion setting in. He was now light headed and felt like he was suffocating. The agent knew this was not a good sign, but could hear Jane's voice and found solace that his friend was still all right enough to argue with their captors.
The darkness was suddenly flooded with light, and Rigsby tired his best to shield his eyes. He felt someone's hands grab him and pull him out of the confined space and he fell to the ground with a thud.
"Try anything, and we'll put you back into the trunk, then shoot your friend. Do you understand?" Humpty told him. "Do you understand?"
Rigsby slowly nodded.
They were parked in an alley away from prying eyes. Humpty pulled Jane out of the car.
"Help him into the car blondie," Humpty ordered.
Jane grabbed Rigsby's arm and tried his best to help him up. Rigsby looked disorientated and his dress shirt was drenched in sweat and he was pale. Jane's hands were still bound, but he managed to get Rigsby to a standing position and leaned him on the car.
"You say you need one of us alive, though you haven't said who, not that I'm not complaining, but you've given him heat stroke. Can we at least get some water?" Jane asked. "There's a store right there."
"Do you think were stupid? We let you go and you'll take off, sending every law enforcement officer on us," Lanky said.
"I'm not going to try anything. You're both are armed. One of you can follow me in, the other can watch him. I only want to get him something cold to drink. Look at him."
"He doesn't look so good. That was a smart plan putting him in the trunk," Humpty said.
"Troy said he was resourceful. I didn't see you offering any solutions now did I?" Lanky growled defensively.
"I am not a trained member of law enforcement," Jane offered after putting Rigsby into the back seat. "I'm a consultant. My ID is in my vest pocket. If I were armed don't you think I would have been firing at you when you grabbed us?"
Lanky grabbed Jane by the lapel and punched him once in the gut. After Jane fell to the ground in pain, he reached into Jane's pocket and pulled his ID.
"That's for hitting me with your car." Lanky said, throwing the ID badge back towards Jane. "Get moving. If you're not back in five minutes, I will shoot him."
"You're the boss," Jane wheezed.
"I'll be right back Rigsby. It'll be okay, big guy," Jane told him.
"Yeah. Mango smoothie... " Rigsby panted, eyes closed, his head leaning on the head rest.
Humpty cut the tape from Jane's hands and followed closely behind him.
Jane bee lined for the freezer and grabbed a bag of ice, then made his way down the beverage isle and grabbed a couple of bottles of cold water and a quart of Gatorade. On his way to the register he grabbed a pack of kitchen towels. He shifted on the balls of his heels as the cashier rang him up. She gave him the total and he dropped his credit card onto the counter.
"Uh uh," Humpty growled into Jane's ear. "Do you think I'm stupid? Pay in cash."
"Sorry. Force of habit. I mean who pays for anything with cash now a days."
The cashier finished their transaction with the obligatory, "Have a nice day."
"You too..."
"Let's go!" Humpty said impatiently.
"All right. All right."
Jane grabbed his bag, but accidentally knocked a container of candy off the counter.
"Oh! Sorry." Jane quickly bent down and scooped all the items back into the canister and set it back onto the counter. "That was my bad. You have a nice day."
"Come on!"
"All right."
The two men hurried out of the store and back to the car.
"Over here," Cho waved Lisbon over. "I've found Rigsby's phone."
"How do you know it his?" Hightower asked.
Cho flipped the phone for them to see, "Jane stuck a Chiquita banana sticker on it yesterday after Rigsby said banana aren't stakeout food."
The phone vibrated and displayed an unknown caller, Cho picked up the call. "No. This is Cho. He is currently unavailable. We work for the same unit, I'm his partner. Yes, that's me. Why what happen? I see. Don't do anything else. I'm going to send someone for the car. Thanks Randal."
"This is Lisbon," Her phone when off while Cho was on the phone. "What? Where?"
"Boss," Cho started.
Lisbon put her hand up for him to wait a moment. "We'll be right there."
"Boss, I can narrow the search down on who took them. I just got off the phone with a friend of mine, Rigsby's mechanic, he said some of the hoses in Rigsby's car had been cut."
"What?" Hightower said.
"They weren't after Jane, they were after Rigsby."
"Get the car. We're headed to Stockton. That was the personal department, a store clerk just found Jane's ID badge and called to ask what she should do with it."
TBC