(Just a not so quiet shout-out to all you incredible reviewers who make writing this an absolute joy. So much love to you!)
Part II
i.
The second time, they have more information.
Shortly after six am on day nineteen, Billy Cooper sweeps into the bullpen with Charlie in tow. Nikki is in the break room, pouring coffee while David hovers in the hallway with one eye on her and the other on Colby and Liz.
Billy directs a meek, vague looking Charlie to the war room and motions with his head for the others to follow. They do so without question because there's very little left of their traditional command structure and Billy is somehow the closest thing they have to Don.
He sits them down and pins a photo to the board. A grainy surveillance photo of a man with a hat pulled low over his eyes. Angelo Barinelli, he says with a bite in his voice that makes David sit up a little straighter.
An Italian kingpin under suspicion for people trafficking for years, Billy explains. Their main business was your typical mob deal, drugs, arms, stolen goods, money laundering. Organisations all over the world have been trying to link him to the resurgence of people trafficking with little luck. Fifteen years ago, he relocated to the States.
Billy's eyes flash as he pins four more pictures to the board. Two mugshots line up with two shots of bodies with clusters of three rounds, centre mass. Fugitive Recovery days, his voice cracks like a whip. A protégé and a favoured henchman who refused to come quietly after a twelve day chase. They'd held Billy at gunpoint and Don had done all he could in the circumstances.
They'd never been linked to Barinelli, not before Billy's sudden realisation and Charlie's math, but now they were.
Nikki calmly asks whether it involves Ian at all or whether he was just unlucky.
Charlie speaks for the first time. They don't know, but they intend to find out.
ii.
They get a hit two days later when Narcotics drag a high level distributor carrying some serious firepower in. A flag goes up in processing and Violent Crimes descends like a pack of wolves, all flaming, flashing eyes and glinting teeth.
Colby remembers Don and Ian during the Buck Winters and Crystal Hoyle fiasco and he remembers the all-consuming fury during his own dance with the devil. This burn, agony, this indescribable madness has had nearly three weeks to smoulder and he sees it in the set of Liz's jaw, the almost imperceptible twitch in David's cheek, the rigid line of Nikki's stance, the ice of Billy's eyes.
David watches from the observation room while Nikki paces behind him.
Billy leans close, face mere inches from the man's, and breathes out, almost a hiss, that the man's boss has something of theirs, something that they'd very much like back.
The man tilts his head back, arrogance in the long line of his neck, and informs Billy dryly that his boss isn't in the habit of sharing well and that whatever he has will more than likely remain his.
Hands flatten against the table as Colby pushes himself up and closer, commenting that the man obviously doesn't know what is good for him.
Liz's hips sway just enough to draw his attention away from Colby as she rises, methodically closing the blinds on every wall of the room before settling on the edge of the table, all feral grace and flashing eyes.
His fingers begin tapping a staccato rhythm on the table as his eyes remain on Liz. Billy's teeth gleam as he smiles and rises, spinning the chair and settling into it again, arms draped over the back and fingers tapping against the plastic in mocking mimicry.
Charlie's voice from behind him startles David, who whirls around as the mathematician quietly asks how they plan on getting information from someone so obviously trained to handle interrogation.
David offers a smile and nods at Nikki before turning his eyes back to the screen. She places her hand on Charlie's shoulder and leans close to his ear, whispering that she doesn't think it matters how much training he's had, with Billy, Colby and Liz working him over like they plan to, he'll be lucky to escape with all his body parts attached and functioning.
Charlie's smile doesn't reach his eyes, but he sits down a seat over from David and watches the screen as the toe of Liz's right boot takes up the same rhythm against the leg of the table.
There is no response as Colby asks whether he's going to tell them what they want to know, and the ex-soldier's fingers take up the symphony of tapping seamlessly, eyes not leaving the man's face.
Nikki comments wryly that she thinks they had different interrogation instructors than she did. David chuckles and the sound brightens the observation room just a little as Charlie asks curiously whether they really think he's going to talk.
His answer is given a moment later as both agents lean closer to the screen with satisfaction settling over their faces and a hope that hadn't been there before as Charlie realises that the vein throbbing in the man's forehead certainly suggests so.
iii.
When Billy and Colby leave the room, Liz's fingers are still closed around the man's wrist as her eyes bore into his. She lets his arm drop to the table a moment later before leaving the room.
The man is hunched in his seat, sweat beading his face. The satisfaction burns in their stomachs as David asks whether they're sure they got it all.
Billy's lips quirk up at the corners and Liz nods. Satisfaction brightens Colby's eyes for just a moment as he says that if the man knew any more, he would have told them.
Dispatch has SWAT preparing to roll as ten agents take the stairs down to the carpark.
They'll be heavily armed, Liz warns as she and Nikki tighten their Kevlar vests and pile into the backseat of the SUV. They've been especially careful since the hit at the last place and the loss of so much 'merchandise'. She almost snarls the word.
Billy makes sure to brief the SWAT team when they arrive and arrange themselves around the building.
Gunfire comes over the radios, deafening as the real life echo sounds nearby and everyone erupts into action. The door folds under the battering ram and they flood into and around the building, shouts and orders blending with the gunfire in an indistinguishable cacophony.
At the same time, Colby and David recognise a man from the hierarchy they'd pieced together on a board in the war room. David hesitates for just a second but Colby doesn't, tackling the man down and to the ground.
There are shouts over the radios that they have fleeing vehicles on the east and south sides, suspected hostages and two agents down. Billy disappears around the corner and out the doors with a SWAT agent on his heels.
Colby hustles the man to his feet, barking orders and launching them towards the east side of the warehouse as agents take the last stragglers into custody. David runs after his partner as Liz and Nikki bring up the rear.
Tim King is bellowing into his radio about roadblocks and ambulances as they reach the east side and pause just for a split second to take in the carnage. One vehicle has rolled and burst into flame against the darkening sky and there are fresh skidmarks leading towards the freeway. A vehicle, one of theirs, screeches past in the same direction.
Two agents are propped against the side of another car with slashed tyres, one panting for breath with three rounds in the vest and another bleeding from the thigh.
Grabbing the still-dazed man from Colby, Billy's fists close around his collar and slam him up against the wall of the building. The man trembles, eyes wide, and Billy roars in his face.
The lion is certainly not sleeping tonight. For someone I didn't intend to involve too much in the initial plan, he is carving out a pretty important role for himself (I hope I do justice to all of you who wanted him involved in your reviews). This part built itself around the scene with Billy, Colby and Liz in the interrogation room. Those three are rapidly becoming a force to reckon with, and possibly a minor obsession. Don and Ian are very lucky to have them fighting on their behalf.