"Jackass!"
Jake burst out laughing, "Ten years and that's the best you got?"
"Kramer took my gun."
Jake didn't believe her, "Really?" when Sofia nodded he started smiling again, "I guess I'm safe then – you can't take me in a fist fight."
"Don't tempt me..." Sofia replied with a face like thunder.
Falling against the wall, Jake was starting to get pissed, "What the hell is she doing? She can't seriously expect to keep us in here forever."
"Just until we make nice..." Sofia trailed off, "You're right. We'll be here forever." she smiled sarcastically.
They stood at opposite ends of the interrogation room in silence for what seemed like an eternity, "I didn't mean to do it." Jake whispered so quietly that Sofia wasn't sure she'd heard him right.
"What?"
"Hurt you." He said, looking up from the floor that had been so interesting moments before.
"Don't Jake-"
He cut her off, "No, I don't know what I did to get you so damn mad at me...But I apologise..."
Sofia stared at him, her eyebrows nearly shot through the ceiling, "You don't know...?!! Let's see, Jake..." She started ticking things off on her fingers, "You ruined my credibility. You destroyed my confidence. I stopped trusting people. I had to move states because of you. I haven't had a serious relationship since you..."
Well, that explains it." Jake replied with a click of his fingers. Sofia just stared at him, "You're cranky 'cause you need to get laid!".
Jake couldn't believe she'd just slapped him. Maybe he shouldn't have said that – but dammit he was angry with her, too. "I try to apologise when – quite frankly – I don't think I've done anything wrong, and you blame me for your failings? You can't blame me for everything, Sofia!"
She ignored him and stood by the door. Folding her arms across her chest, she was going to wait until Kramer let them out.
"Sofia..." Jake said quietly. He never could stand getting the silent treatment.
"What do you want Jake?! You want me to forgive you?" she spun round to face him.
"I wish you didn't have to. Sonny was your friend, too... I wasn't there when you needed me and I'm sorry..." he smiled at her, "Although, in my defence, I had been shot...I wasn't at my best. Sometimes life gets the better of you and I just didn't know how to cope. Neither of us did. You should know that...I didn't want things to..." He took a breath and then tried again, "I meant every word I said to my father."
He knew exactly what she was angry about and his honesty stunned Sofia. She didn't know what to say. This man had hurt her so much...but some habits are hard to break, and as the first tears fell, she let him hold her and she felt ten years younger...
Brass was standing on the other side of the two-way mirror. He flinched as a file flew into the glass in front of him. A hand rested on his shoulder and he turned to see Kramer.
"They've been at it for a half hour." He flinched again as Sofia jabbed a finger at Jake's chest to emphasise a point.
Kramer was about to ask him how it was going when Sofia answered Jake with an almighty slap across his face. "Well...that's progress." she said, almost as surprised as Jake had been. Jim looked at her like she'd just sprouted another head, "Trust me, Jim...this manhunt is going nowhere. Those two tracked him down before, they can do it again – once they sort themselves out. "
"I'll take evens they kill each other first."
Kramer pointed at the glass, seeing Jake with one arm pulling Sofia against his chest while the other dug around in his jacket pocket. She answered her cell as soon as it started chirping.
"Unlock the damn door."
Kramer walked out of the observation area and round to the door of the interrogation room she had locked her 'kids' in. She motioned for Brass to wait outside as she went in.
"Get the troops together, we need to cover every possible place this sonuvabitch is hiding."
"We don't know where to start, Jake. He's in the wind."
"We shake down any contacts he's got. Make it too much of a risk to help him."
"That won't work – Juanito's a lot scarier than we are." Sofia had worked free of Jake's arm and composed herself before waving away the argument she knew was coming, "However...we can revoke parole and pull in any outstanding warrants."
A cough caused all three to turn to where Brass was standing, "Sorry to interrupt but...this just came for you Agent Barret." Jim handed over an envelope and stood back.
"Is it important?" Kramer asked as Jake's face got paler the further he read.
"No." he said, quickly shoving the note into his pocket, "I've got some business to attend to."
"I'm coming with you." Now she didn't want to kill him, Sofia noticed what had already got Kramer worried – something had got Jake Barret spooked.
"No." When Sofia started to follow him, Jake turned, "What the hell are you doing?"
Sofia pointed to the pocket that contained the note, "You're still a really bad liar."
Jake wasn't in the mood to argue any more.
Jake and Sofia had driven to a park in the Vegas suburbs. In the early evening dusk, both could see that it was deserted. Jake hadn't explained the reason for their stake out but she was just grateful they were finally following some sort of lead.
They were interrupted by Jake's cellphone ringing. Sofia only caught half of the conversation but it seemed to make Jake sit up a little more in his seat.
"Are you sure, Billy? All three are the same?...No...Thanks. Bye."
Jake ended the call and Sofia could tell he was turning whatever he'd just learned over in his mind. The longer he thought about it, the more nervous he seemed to get.
"What exactly are we waiting for?" Jake didn't reply, so Sofia glanced across to see him concentrating on something in the mirror, "Jake...?"
"Get out of the car."
"Wha-"
"GET OUT!!!"
Emergency vehicles arrived within minutes of the explosion. Jake and Sofia had been thrown ten feet by the blast and were being checked out by the EMTs when Kramer and Brass arrived.
"Are you alright?" Kramer asked as she squatted in front of Sofia.
"I'm fine, by the way." Jake interrupted.
Kramer turned to look at him, "You are an idiot. What the hell were you thinking?"
"I didn't know someone was gonna fire a bloody rocket at us!"
"What happened?" Brass decided it was wise to get their statements before things descended into another fight.
"I didn't see anything. Jake's spider-sense started tingling and the car exploded." Sofia shrugged. Kramer smiled at the reference to their LAPD days – Jake's 'spider-sense' was legendary.
Jake made a face at her and said, "It came from those trees." He waved an arm at the smoldering wreck that was his car.
Nick and Catherine had arrived at the same time as the detectives. They made a beeline for the car and started looking for evidence of the weapon.
"Why would someone do this?"
Catherine looked back towards Nick from the tree line, "It seems a little excessive – from what I can see, it was some serious hardware."
"I hear you...They were lucky to get out...Y'know, I don't think we're being told the whole story... Sofia and Barret were both LAPD – I think they're the two that card was talking about."
Catherine stopped what she was doing and stared at Nick incredulously. "Nicky, the guy is picking off the people who put him away. The star witness and the lead detectives would be at the top of my hit list. Who else is it going to be?".
"Is there any way to trace it?" Brass asked the room.
"A partial serial number from a bit of the grenade." Nick replied.
Jake nodded, "I can see if it's in any of our databases, it could give us a place to start."
"This is the best lead we've got so far. Track this weapon and we might be able to put together some of Juanito's movements." Kramer sounded more confident than she felt.
"Well, we know he was on Boulder Highway to dump the body." Greg pointed out.
At that moment, Sofia stuck her head into the break room, "Jake...tell me I'm brilliant."
Jake looked up, "What have you got?" Sofia raised an eyebrow at him and he let out a sigh, "You're brilliant. Show me the damn paper."
"I had Archie pull all the traffic cameras around the dump site." She said as she handed over the report.
"Put out a BOLO – get patrol to report the vehicle but do not approach."
Sofia left to get Dispatch to relay the message.
Kramer was looking at Jake, "What?"
A slow smile spread across her face, "She didn't try to kill you. In fact, it was almost like old times."
Jake made a face in reply, "We called a truce."
Two days into their manhunt and all they had was a possible vehicle that their suspect had probably already dumped. Jake was still waiting to hear back from the FBI about the grenade launcher...
Something was keeping Juanito in Las Vegas beyond revenge against the witness. She decided to see if the CSIs had turned anything else up from Sally Jessop. Sofia hadn't been told about the business card, Jake had seen to that.
Sofia found Greg in the AV lab, "Hey." she greeted, perching on a seat behind the young man.
Greg turned slightly to acknowledge her, "Hey, yourself."
"What are you looking at?"
"Juanito's file...I figured there might be something in here," he paused for a moment, "You really took this guy down?"
"A lifetime ago..."
"I think I'd have called in the National Guard."
Sofia laughed, "We had SWAT...And Jake thought he was Superman so..."
"How long were you married?"
Sofia was silent for a long time before answering, "Four years...How did you...?"
"It was in the file."
"Oh."
"I'm surprised they're still letting the two of you work the case." he turned back to the big screen in front of him.
Sofia was confused, "What are you talking about, Greg?"
He pulled up the business card found at the crime scene, "It's pretty obvious who he means."
"That stupid sonuva..." Sofia's tirade was lost to Greg as she bolted out of the room.
"C'mon, Josef! We both know that if anyone wants wheels for a little job, you're the man to come to. I'm not going to arrest you...I just want to know about this truck."
Josef had been easy enough to find. Jake knew he hit the Dragon's Den bar at the same time every Sunday. The place was dark, dirty and stank of things Jake hadn't smelt since college. The atmosphere was not helping his mood.
"Why should I know anything about it?"
Jake grabbed the smaller man by the ear and twisted, "Not tonight, Josephine. Where is this truck?"
"OW! OW! FINE! I dropped it off at an old airstrip – out of town – I don't remember the name."
"Thank you, Josef. You've been most helpful."
"Where's Jake?"
Kramer and Brass looked up as Sofia skidded to a halt in front of them. "He went back to his office to run some information through the FB-"
"No, he didn't."
"What are you talking about?"
"I've seen the note. Why the hell didn't anyone show me?"
"Jake said it wasn't relevant. Juanito wouldn't be looking for Meck and Lopez in Las Vegas – something else is keeping him in town."
Sofia couldn't believe what she was hearing – from Kramer of all people. "'Wasn't relevant'!...The last thing Juanito said was that we'd be dead before he was!"
"Jake knew that?"
"He was there when he said it!"
Kramer sudden had a nasty feeling in her gut, "What's he up to?"
The young woman gave an exasperated sigh, "Apart from going off half-cocked? I think those notes he's getting are from Juanito. He got another one today, but he didn't want me to know about it, he suddenly got very interested in that truck from the traffic camera."
"He's not stupid, Sofia." Kramer started dialing the number Jake had given her. After a brief conversation, she reported back, "That was the Vegas Field Office. They say he's there...I left a message for him to call as soon as he can."
Sofia relented, "Fine."
Brass had known Sofia long enough to know that wasn't the end of it, "She's not gonna drop this, is she?" he asked, looking at Kramer.
"Oh, I'd put money on it."