"Got it!" Juliet waved the video tape as she walked into the chief's office which still occupied Henry, Gus, Lassiter and the chief sitting at her desk. She pushed the tape into the video player and pressed play. For the second time, the group watched the screen.
"Okay," Juliet picked up the remote and fast forwarded. "From the camera at the gas station, we know that Shawn was taken just after half three." She stopped the tape when the time code in the corner said 3:30 and pressed play. Everyone watched the empty road, no cars driving past until a couple of minutes later.
"There!" Gus cried as a van drove past. Juliet paused the tape quickly. Gus stood from his seat and walked towards the screen. "Shawn's in that van," he said.
"At least we know he's still in Santa Barbara," Lassiter piped up, "That road goes into town."
"That's only reduced our search to 41 square miles," Henry huffed, crossing his arms.
"It's a start," Karen interjected before a fight broke out between her old friend and head detective. "Let's run the number plate on that van, that'll reduce our search even more"
"On it," Lassiter spoke. He scribbled down the number plate on his notepad and walked out the office. "Coming, O'Hara?" He called. Juliet patted Gus on the shoulder as she moved passed him and joined Lassiter at his desk.
"Now we have the number plate, we have a much better chance of finding him," Karen began.
"You and I both know that this isn't going to end well, whatever happens," Henry replied.
Gus frowned at the resigned tone in Henry's voice, "What are you talking about?"
"If we find the bomb first, Shawn's chances are slim. If we find Shawn first, chances of the bomb going off rise," Henry explained.
"Are you saying that even if we found Shawn, we might not be able to rescue him unless we pay the kidnappers, which you're not going to do because you don't negotiate?" Henry and Karen said nothing, which said a lot more to Gus than words.
"How can you-," Gus shook his head. "If it were you or me….," he directed at Henry, "Shawn would find a way…to save you and the city….Shawn would find away."
"I'm not Shawn, Gus."
"No, you're not."
"Gentlemen please," Karen interrupted, "This isn't helping."
Gus opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when his cell rang. "Hello?" He answered.
"Ah," a voice replied, "This must be Detective Guster."
Gus frowned, "Who is this?" Henry and Karen looked up.
"I'm the one who has your psychic," Gus's eyes widened and he mouthed kidnapper.
Karen rose from her desk. "Keep him on the phone," she whispered as she went to get someone to trace the call.
"What do you want?" Gus asked.
"My money….account number 4829012. Once the money has been wired into the account, I will let the psychic go with the location of the bomb. If I don't get the money in the next two hours, you can say goodbye to him and most of Santa Barbara," Gus didn't notice the chief re-enter the room and sit back down at her desk.
"Let me talk to him. Let me talk to Shawn."
"He's not available at this precise moment."
"What have you done to him?"
"Just taught him a few lessons."
Gus shivered when the man laughed. "Leave him-," Gus stopped when he heard the dial tone. He sighed as he shut the phone. "We have two hours to wire him the money….or he kills Shawn"
Henry rubbed a hand over his scalp. "Two hours," he repeated. In two hours his only son could be dead. He couldn't bare thinking about his last conversation with his son, knowing how guilty he would feel if Shawn died and never got to know how proud Henry was of him. His thoughts were interrupted when Juliet burst into the room, this time waving a single piece of paper.
"Daniel Jordan, aged twenty eight, owns a white Ford van, licence plate 2DTB9991, no parents, one brother, Adam Jordan, aged twenty three," Juliet babbled excitedly.
"Residences?"
Juliet shook her head "Don't know yet, Carlton's looking as we speak," She explained.
"Good work detective," Karen praised the younger woman. Everyone turned around when Buzz rapped on the nearest doorpost. "Yes?"
"Phone call was traced to a burger joint, a Flippy's burger place. It's a couple of miles from the gas station when Shawn's bike was found," he explained, handing over the information.
"This is good." She stood again and moved out of her office to the map of Santa Barbara pinned up on the wall. "McNab, pen," she ordered. He jogged back to his desk and grabbed the nearest black marker. "Okay," she spoke as Buzz handed the marker over. "His bike was found here." She marked a big black X over the location of the gas station "And the burger joint is…" She looked at the piece of paper quickly "Here." She added a second X not too far from the gas station. "The kidnappers aren't going to venture far from where they are holding Shawn so…" She drew a circle around the two X's "I'm guessing Shawn's somewhere here."
"Glad you remembered something I taught you," Henry commented from behind her.
She smirked, "Hard to forget…O'Hara, does this burger joint have security cameras?"
"I'll find out" She replied, leaving the group and heading back to her desk.
Ten minutes later she motioned for everyone to join her at her desk. "The burger place has suffered from vandalism quite a bit this year, so upped it's security. Three cameras, one inside, one in the drive thru and one in the car park. There's a payphone in the car park which is the one Daniel Jordan used." She motioned to her computer screen. "The company emailed me today's video," she explained. She clicked on something and brought up the video. "There's the van," she pointed at the white van in the car park, "and there's the payphone." They watched as a figure walked up to the pay phone, spent five minutes talking on the phone before hanging up and walking towards the restaurant. Juliet clicked on a second video "Daniel enters the restaurant," she explained and everyone watched the back of a figure walk towards the counter and order food.
"Do we know what he ordered?" Karen asked.
"Three burgers, three sodas," she answered.
"So we are either dealing with three kidnappers who like to watch a starving man suffer or two, slightly more compassionate kidnappers," the chief surmised.
"Two," Henry spoke. Everyone looked at him questioningly. "My son can talk people into most things; getting food for him is one of 'em," he explained. Gus thought about the amount of food Shawn had the police bring him when he was at PD bugging the chief for a case and smiled.
"Okay, two kidnappers, one white van. Lassiter? Found anything?"
He nodded, "Finally, Daniel Jordan's late uncle left him an electrical shop," Lassiter moved back towards the map and picked up the marker. "Here." He left a black dot at the location.
"It's in the circle," Gus commented.
"As far as we know it's abandoned, hasn't been used as a shop since Jordan's uncle died five years ago. There's also a large workshop at the back."
"That's it," Gus cried, "That's where Shawn is!"
