Tricks and treats
„All right everybody, listen up!" chief Vick cried over the gathered officers. „You all know what happened today so I don´t need to tell you how high the stakes are. This case has started to get much bigger than we initially thought. Two of ours were killed in the explosion at the station. More were injured. This man we´re dealing with is not just a regular kidnapper. He is a multiple murderer and he obviously doesn´t care who gets hurt in his way. We have to assume that he holds a personal grudge against detective Lassiter, what is why he chose him as a target."
She paused for a moment and overlooked the faces in front of her. They varied from sorrow over their killed colleagues to determination to get the man who was responsible. „Fortunately we could spot the plate of the van he used to run from us." she went on. „We are now in the process of finding out, where he is." She looked over to her office, where Lassiter was working on her computer, Shawn standing next to him, the two of them debating and consulting with each other occasionally.
„The plan is this." chief Vick went on. „As soon as we know his whereabouts we will leave and go there. Last time he saw us coming and we all know how it ended. Now the consequences of this experience will be that this time we will send in a small group, instead of a big team. That way we hope to be much less suspicious. The rest of you will remain ready here at the station. When the call comes in, you´ll have to be out of these doors immediately to give us backup if we need it."
„Excuse me, chief!" someone cried raising his hand.
„Yes, officer Kersh." chief Vick addressed the asker when she spotted him.
„Wouldn´t it be better if we would leave together with you when you head for the place?" the man asked. „That way we would lose less time."
„Up until now we don´t even know where we will go." the chief explained. „Detective Lassiter and Mr. Spencer are working on it. As soon as they know the location, the team, which I will lead myself, will leave the station. There will be no time to inform you all first. I just wanted you to know that when a call comes in, you are supposte to be ready for a field operation. And I mean ready. Understood?"
Everybody nodded. The chief nodded as well. She was satisfied. The first step was done. Now it was up to Shawn and Carlton. The officers left the gathering and chief Vick was left alone. For a while she was following her officers and detectives with her eyes. She knew each and every one of them. They were all good cops. It was almost unbelievable for her that one of them should be a traitor. But she had to admit that Lassiter´s argumentations had been intriguing. She at least owed it to him to trust his instincts and let him have a try on this part. And Shawn´s idea to lure the mole out was good enough. It was simple. Feed the mole with information and wait for him to make his move. She had prepared the ground for it. Now it was time to go through with it.
She looked over to McNab. The young officer was the only one next to herself, Gus and the two Spencers who was in on the plan. He would leave with them, so it would look like a small group of cops would go on that mission just as she´d said. Guster and Henry would stay behind to keep an eye on the others. If there was a mole, it was up to them to find him. If they would spot any suspicious behavior, they would call Karen on her cell phone. Simple enough. She hoped.
In her office, Lassiter threw a look over the edge of the computer to check on the situation in the bullpen. The chief was there, waiting for them to make their move. Their gazes met for a second and he saw that she was ready.
„I hope you know what you are doing, Spencer." he mumbled at the fake psychic next to him.
„I´m hoping that myself." Shawn replied. „But don´t worry. I sense a eighty-eight percent possibility that this will work."
„Cut the crap." Lassiter growled. „I´m just going along with this because it´s the only chance we have."
„Exactly." Shawn nodded. „And because you trust me." When Lassiter didn´t respond, he said: „Come on, you can admit it. You asked me for advice in this. You wouldn´t have done that if you wouldn´t think that I could …"
„Well, all right, okay?" Lassiter cut him off impatiently. Shawn just smiled.
The detective took a deep breath. With a last checking glance on the outside of the office, he made his decision. It was time to go.
„All right, let´s do that." he said and jumped up from the chair.
Outside Karen tensed at the sight and prepared herself. The detective threw open the door and rushed out into the hallway, Shawn right at his heels.
„We´ve got him." Lassiter barked and was already on his way to the door.
„Where is he?" chief Vick asked but Lassiter wouldn´t wait to tell her. He was so in a hurry that he probably hadn´t even heard her question. That at least was what everybody was supposte to see.
„Officer McNab." chief Vick cried and the young man hurried to follow her. The four of them left the station without looking back. Outside they jumped into their cars, Shawn and Lassiter in one, chief Vick and McNab in the other and drove of with squeaking tires. There was no way anyone in the station could have missed this exit. The second step had been accomplished.
...
Inside the station Henry went over to the coffee maker and poured himself a mug. He slowly started to drink, his eyes intensely locked on everything that was happening around him. Each and every person in his reach was on his radar and he wouldn´t miss a thing. He saw Gus on the other side of the room, strolling around. He was watching too. Not the best key to get everything in, therefor one would need much more eyes. But it was all they had right now. In this point Shawn was right. They couldn´t trust anybody right now.
When Henry had come back, after he´d been stuck in a traffic jam for half an hour, he had laughed about Lassiter´s idea of a mole inside of the department. It sounded too much like a bad TV action show. But considering the facts and all that had happened, the theory had not been that far off. Even he had to admit that. Besides. It wasn´t the first time they experienced something like that. Dirty cops existed. It was a shame but it was true.
Henry himself had never been the perfect one either. He had never been dirty nor had he committed a crime. But covering up someone else´s crimes, was not that much better. The only reason why he wasn´t in jail right now, was the fact that his help on the case had prevented Lassiter – head detective after all – to be killed and six criminals had been arrested. Now he was on probation. One year. Not the usual six months but a multiple murder was not a usual crime to cover up either. No matter what crimes the victims had committed before they had died.
It should somehow comfort him that the system still worked. But it surely comforted him that Karen Vick still trusted him with a task like this one. It told him that at least for him everything could be all right again. One day. A man had to earn trust. And he had gotten a second chance to do so. Not something to be taken for granted.
Now Henry stood in the coffee corner, drinking out of his mug sip by sip … and watched. Waited. If Lassiter was right and Shawn´s plan worked out, he would be right here to see it happen. If the spy should drop his cover to pass the fake message on, the whole thing would be over even before it really started. It was up to him, so he was there. And even if there was still some doubt left, Henry was pretty sure, that there could be one. Yeah, it really was possible. Henry hated to admit that but Shawn barely failed. If he believed in Lassiter´s theory then there was something about it. It was a good plan. It could work. They only needed to wait.
...
A few streets away, two cars were parked at the curbside, each on another side of the street. The occupants were sitting on their seats in tensed silence. They were waiting too. Though their task was probably even harder than the one Henry and Gus had to fulfil. Because the only thing they could do was in fact waiting. They couldn´t even see what was happening in the station. No way of knowing if any progress was made. All they could do was waiting for Henry or Gus to call them. And even then it was not said that the call would be a good one.
„I certainly hope this plan of yours works." Lassiter remarked his fingers nervously massaging his chin.
„Don´t worry, Lassie." Shawn said. „I can guarantee …" He met Lassiter´s warning glance and reconsidered his words. „The chances are good." he finally said. „Believe me. The spirits told me so."
Lassiter gave him a look as if to ask: Really? „You know that I know you´re not psychic." he said.
Shawn looked at him for a while, considering if he should come up with some stuff to insist on his gifts, like he usually did. But then he decided that it was useless anyway. There had been too many things lately that made this superfluous. The act Lassiter had helped him stage when these Santerias had kept them hostage was only the last in the line.
Still he was far from admitting anything, so he just said: „I didn´t ask to be one." And with a sideglance at Lassiter he added: „You guys left me no choice. Now deal with it."
Lassiter didn´t give a response but Shawn didn´t need one. They dismissed the whole subject as fast as it had come up and looked out at the street again. A game they had learned to play quiet perfectly over the years. Don´t ask, don´t tell. Teasing was allowed but only as long as it ended before it got too serious. It had worked perfectly for them so far and Shawn intended to keep it that way.
„If I had had a choice, I´d never agreed to that." Lassiter said after a while.
Shawn immediately knew that he was back at the subject of this plan. Save ground. „I know." he said. „But you had no choice. That´s why we are here now. And of course because you …"
„What?" Lassiter interrupted impatiently. „Trust you? How do you figure that?"
„Don´t you?" Shawn replied. „You know me. You trust my gifts."
„Yeah, if your gifts would be so great you would have stopped Juliet from going into that building before it went off." Lassiter snapped.
Now Shawn´s smile faded. „Okay, that´s not fair." he said truly hurt.
Lassiter´s eyes lost some of the anger that had come up in them. „No." he agreed. „It´s not."
„The paramedics said it looked worse than it was." Shawn recalled more to convince himself than Lassiter. „She surely is back on top sooner than we think."
„Surely." Lassiter agreed looking out of the window. After a while he looked at his watch. „It´s been twenty minutes." he pointed out.
„We should wait a little longer." Shawn said. „Something like that needs time."
„Don´t tell me how to set up a trap, Spencer." Lassiter growled. „I have some more experience with that than you have."
„Sure." Shawn agreed. „But you need some more patience."
„Every minute that goes by is too much." Lassiter said. He slowly started to lose his patience.
„It will pay out." Shawn promised.
„It better." Lassiter growled.
„We just need to wait a little longer. Wait for iiiit."
Lassiter slapped him on the arm with his open hand to stop the stupid singing. „Don´t push me." he hissed. „I´m not in the mood for your silly jokes. I warn you, Spencer."
Shawn massaged his shoulder and sank down in his seat a little. These last words had sounded rather serious. „All right." he murmured. „Just wanted to relax the atmosphere."
...
Twenty minutes had passed. Thirty. Then forty. Nothing happened. The officers were still doing their routine work. They were more tensed than usual but that was to be expected after the chief´s speech she had given earlier. They waited for the call to come in. But as far as Henry could see it, none of them tried to get a secret call out.
The guy they had brought in some time ago, Jacobson, was watching the e-mail connections. Not the most legal thing but in a case like this this fell under a grey zone. Constitutional rights were more transparent for cops during their working time and this was the intranet of the department. A watching program had not been hard to install. That at least was, what this cable guy Jacobson had said.
Henry didn´t like him very much. He was a nerd. But he was not a part of the department and therefore he was the only one, that could help them with that stuff without being suspicious himself. The kidnappers never could have known that Karen would bring him in here today. So he definitely was off the list of possible suspects. And to be honest it was a great asset to have someone at hand to watch the computer communication channels. Since almost every cop in the department was working on his computer, Henry or Gus couldn´t have noticed if they were writing reports or e-mails that contained compromising information.
Henry looked at his watch. Three quarters had passed by now. Nothing had happened. He looked over to Gus, giving him an asking face. Gus just shook his head. He hadn´t seen anything either. And Jacobson would have told them already if he would have heard anything.
Henry sighed. It was no use. The plan didn´t work. The spy, so there was one, was obviously too smart to fall for this bait, they had offered him. Or … there wasn´t any spy in the first place. Either way, there was no point in keeping this charade up any longer. He put out his cell phone and dialed Karen´s number to tell her that they could come back.
...
„I never should have listened to you, Spencer!" Lassiter barked when they were back in Vick´s office.
„Detective." Karen tried to put him in his place but he just went on.
„NO! I never should have listened to you!" he yelled so loud that everybody outside the chief´s office looked up in surprise this time. „We wasted an entire hour just because you thought that you had this great idea. An hour in which we could have looked for Viktoria instead."
„Hey!" Shawn now shot back at him. He had listened to all of this for a while, knowing that Lassiter was worried and even more out of his mind than usual. But on a certain point everybody reaches his limit. And his was reached now. He didn´t need to let himself blame for everything that went wrong.
„It was your idea, that there could be a mole." he recalled. „I tried to help you. I tried everything I could to help you. And that is what I´m getting in reward. Insults and accusations. I´m sorry but that was not the deal."
„The deal was to get my wife back alive, Spencer." Lassiter snapped.
„You think you´ll do this by initiating a witch-hunt for a spy?" Shawn replied. „If anyone wasted time here, then it was you."
That finally made Lassiter snap. He jumped at Shawn and grabbed his collar. With fury in his eyes he started to punch him, again and again. Shawn tried to dug away from him, pushing himself backwards through the door out of the office. Lassiter followed him, never stopping with the punching.
„Detective!" chief Vick cried angry and shocked all the same.
Henry hurried to them and grabbed Lassiter to pull him away from Shawn. Lassiter shook him off and would have probably went back after Shawn if not two other officers had grabbed him. He struggled for a moment and then finally gave in. The chief came up to him and stood before him with a stern face.
„This was the last time, detective." she said. „You will leave this station."
„You can´t do that." Carlton argued, still angry. „This is my wife we´re talking about."
„And we will do everything we can to get her back, but you …"
„I will not let this go." Carlton told her.
„You just attacked Spencer violently." Karen recalled. „I have enough of these outbursts of yours. You´re officially off this case. In fact you should have never been on it in the first place."
„Don´t you dare giving me that crap about conflict of interests." Carlton snarled. „I´m not leaving."
„If you don´t leave on your own, you´ll leave me no choice but to put you on suspension." Karen threatened.
This argument finally seemed to get through to him. She gave him a weary look.
„Please." she said. „Carlton, don´t make this harder than it alrea …"
„Fine." he snapped and shook off the hands of the officers, holding him. He looked around and for a moment his gaze met Shawn´s. There was still this cold fury in the detective´s eyes and Karen even expected him to jump at the psychic again. But he didn´t. He looked at her again briefly, with the eyes of a hurt and betrayed man. The big plaster on his cheek stood out like a sign to prove that.
„I´ll go after this myself." he said. „If you don´t do anything, I will."
„Carlton!" Karen cried offended and alarmed but he was already on his way out. „Carlton, I won´t allow that." she said.
He stopped at the door, looking back at her with anger. „Try to stop me." he said. And then he was out.
Karen looked around. There were shocked faces everywhere. That had been an ugly scene to watch. Shawn looked shaken, there was even some sweat on his temples. Guster was holding his friend´s elbow in case Shawn´s knees should give in. He looked as shocked as everybody.
Henry walked up to Karen. „What are you gonna do about him?" he asked her.
She looked at the door, behind which her head detective had just vanished and shook her head. „There´s nothing I can do about it, can I?" she said. „When he is off duty, he is a civilian and I can´t deny a civilian to do something he wants to do."
She looked at the door again and sighed. Eventually she turned to all the people who were still watching them and told them to go back to work. There was nothing left to be seen here. Reluctantly the men and women obeyed.
A few feet in the background, from where he had watched the whole scene, officer McNab eventually left the bullpen and silently headed for the restrooms. Now that was some information the kidnapper would be interested to hear.