Twelve hours later, Lisbon and Jane parked in front of an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Vegas.

Jane turned off the ignition. "Listen, Teresa…"

Lisbon opened the door and got out of the car. "I don't want to hear it, Jane." She grabbed her bag from the back and marched towards the entrance to the warehouse.

Jane followed her without bothering to grab his own bag from the car. "Listen, I know you're upset with me—"

"Six months, Jane! You didn't speak to me for six months! You didn't listen to a damn thing I said, even though I told you over and over that this was a stupid idea—"

Jane keyed in the entry code to the warehouse and gestured for her to precede him inside. "I know you're still mad, but there's actually something important I need to tell you."

"Sharing information now? That's your new thing? Too little, too late, Jane!"

"Teresa, please listen to me," he pleaded. "This is really important."

She threw her bag into a corner and turned to face him. "Well? What is it?"

He took a deep breath. "It's going to make you really mad."

"Madder than I am right now?" she said pointedly.

"Well—yes. I think so. I'm pretty sure, anyway. It's definitely going to be unpleasant, in any case."

"Gee, getting unpleasant news, I wonder what that's like," Lisbon said sarcastically. "Stop beating around the bush, Jane. Just tell me whatever it is."

He grimaced. "I slept with Red John's minion."

Lisbon recoiled. "What? When?"

"Two days ago," Jane said miserably. "She bailed me out of jail, then stopped by the hotel where I was staying."

Lisbon struggled to keep her expression neutral. "Okay…"

"It gets worse," Jane said.

"Worse than sleeping with someone who works for Red John?" Lisbon said, incredulous.

"Yeah. She, um, wore a leather jacket."

Lisbon waited, but nothing more was forthcoming. "So?"

"She had dark hair, a little wavy. Petite, but strong. She wore jeans, a tank top, and a leather jacket." He looked at her meaningfully. "With a gold necklace."

A leaden weight sank into Lisbon's stomach. "You think…" She couldn't finish the thought.

He nodded. "He got the details wrong, but the intent was clear."

"The details?" Lisbon said faintly, certain she would regret asking.

"Her jeans were ripped. The gold necklace was a heart, not a cross."

Lisbon shuddered. "And you…?"

"Slept with her to sell the con," Jane finished. "Yes."

Lisbon was silent for a long moment. "Okay," she said finally. "We can use this."

xxx

Red John's girl called Jane and told him Red John wanted to meet him that afternoon at 3pm.

"Bring the gift." Lisbon could hear the voice on the other end of the line, syrupy sweet even muffled and at a distance. She shot Jane a look and he shrugged in apology.

He hung up a few minutes later. "Time to go."

"I'm ready," Lisbon said. "Let's go."

They didn't speak on the drive. When they got to the address Red John's girl, Lorelei, had given him, there was a bike on the sidewalk with a note addressed to Jane. It had a second address on a tag affixed to the handlebars, along with a note that read, "Bring Lisbon."

Jane paid no attention to the note and instead turned to face her. "Are we really not going to talk about this?" he said abruptly. "I mean, I confess my love after all this time, and you don't even want to discuss it?"

"For God's sake, Jane, this is not the time," Lisbon said irritably, frowning at the bike.

"We don't know what's going to happen," Jane insisted. "One or both of us could die. This could be our last chance."

"Neither of us is going to die, Jane," she said firmly.

"You don't know that," Jane said, disgruntled.

"Fine, guess if you want to talk about it, you're gonna need to not mess this up and die, then," Lisbon said. She gestured to the bike. "Get on."

Jane looked at the bike dubiously. "Must have been a while since you rode on the handlebars of a man's bike, huh, Lisbon? I guess it's kinda romantic, don't you think? Wind blowing through your hair?"

"Like hell." Lisbon snorted. "Get on the back. I'm steering."

xxx

"Well, this is humiliating," Jane said a few minutes later. He was perched on the seat of the bike with his legs dangling to each side, his hands on Lisbon's waist to help him balance while she pedaled in front of him.

"Good thing you're used to making a fool of yourself for the sake of justice," Lisbon grunted. She gripped the handlebars and made an effort to pick up speed. "Jeez, Jane, you weigh a ton."

"I still think we could have managed with a melon in a wig," Jane commented. "I mean, come on, there's a basket on the front and everything."

It was one million degrees outside, and Jane's hands at her waist were only making her sweatier. "There was no way that was ever going to work," she panted. "Admit it. My plan is way better."

"I guess we'll see," Jane said, unwilling to concede the point.

Lisbon slowed as she reached the end of the street. "There's no 571," she said, bringing the bike to a halt and looking around in confusion. The street ended abruptly, giving way to a vast expanse of desert as far as the eye could see. "Just…sand."

Jane dismounted gracelessly. "I hear a car."

Lisbon got off the bike, too. A moment later, a black limousine rolled up through the sand, kicking up a cloud of dust behind it. It came to a stop in front of them.

Lorelei got out of the car, frowning. "You were supposed to kill her before you brought her here, Patrick. This isn't the gift Red John asked for."

Jane's face lit up when he saw her. He hurried to her side and kissed her deeply. "I know, darling, but honestly, I thought you'd like this better."

Startled, Lorelei shook him off. "What are you doing?"

He gazed down at her affectionately. "Don't you see? She's the only thing that stands in the way of our new life together, Teresa. She betrayed me, but Red John wants her back. So I tricked her. I tricked her into coming here with me, and now he'll give you back to me. It's a fair exchange. We're square after this, him and me, and there won't be anything stopping us from having the life we planned, Teresa. Not anymore."

"Well," a voice drawled from the back of the limousine. "I had to see it for myself to believe it." The door opened and a tall man with graying hair climbed out of the car. Sheriff Thomas McAllister smiled at Lisbon. "Guess he really is off his rocker, isn't he?"

"I think you know him better than that," Lisbon said coolly.

McAllister chuckled. "That I do. Lorelei, darlin', check your pockets."

Lorelei did so, her face contorting with rage when she realized Jane had gotten the better of her. "They're empty."

Lisbon looked at Jane. "What'd you get off her?"

Jane held up a pair of pruning shears. "I don't even want to know what she was planning to do with these." He looked at McAllister with distaste. "You. I have to say, I'm disappointed."

"You must know I wouldn't have left myself so exposed merely on your word, Patrick." McAllister cast a pointed glance at Lisbon. "I'm surprised you'd risk so much."

"No," Jane agreed. "I imagine you've got one or two more lackeys in there covering us from the car."

McAllister shook his head. "It's a shame. You really should have considered what I was offering, Patrick. We could have been friends, you and I."

Jane looked at him with loathing. "You don't know the meaning of the word."

"That's really all you have to say to me?" McAllister said. "After all this time?"

"I have nothing to say to you," Jane said coldly. "Go to hell goes without saying."

"Ah, well. That's too bad. I might have known you'd be unreasonable. In that case, I suppose we'd better be going. Off to our next destination." McAllister studied them. "The three of us have many new horizons to explore. I expect it will be most illuminating."

"We're not going anywhere with you," Jane spat.

"Surely you don't think we would have walked into a situation like this without backup," Lisbon put in.

McAlliseter flashed a grin at her. "Ah, but there is your mistake, Agent Lisbon. I hate to disappoint you, but the cavalry isn't coming to your rescue. Instead, you have handed yourself and Patrick over to me most willingly. It's been so entertaining, watching the two of you dance around each other these past few years. It will be all the sweeter, knowing Patrick has tasted happiness again, when I drain it out of him for good. It's so lovely, having both of you here together, right in front of me. I must say, I'm looking forward to having a front row seat."

"Well, I wouldn't buy the popcorn just yet," Lisbon advised. "You see, the cavalry is coming after all."

He looked amused. "You don't understand. My reach extends farther than you can imagine. I have friends in the FBI, you see. When they learned of your little plan and responded to the CBI's request for assistance, they laid a false trail. Your friends are miles away, I'm afraid. No one is coming to help you."

"No?" Jane tilted his head to one side. "Then what's that?"

McAllister's expression flickered as the unmistakable sound of sirens approached. He went pale. "But—"

"You see, we have a friend in the FBI, too," Lisbon said. "When we told her we suspected additional moles inside the FBI after O'Laughlin's death, she was only too happy to help us out by feeding your moles false information. In fact, I'm pretty sure Agent Darcy is going to be riding right at the head of the cavalry."

The sirens were getting closer. McAllister cast a wild look around, then bolted for the handle of the back door. "Drive!" he yelled.

Jane lunged for him, but McAllister knocked him back. Jane scrabbled desperately on the ground and stabbed a hole in the back tire with the pruning shears he still had in his hand while McAllister fumbled for the handle.

Lisbon drew her weapon. "Thomas McAllister, you're under arrest for suspicion of murder in the first degree. You have the right to remain silent—"

Lorelei shrieked in outrage and flung herself at Lisbon. "Don't hurt him, you bitch!"

Jane scrambled to his feet and intercepted Lorelei, catching her around the waist before she'd gotten within two steps of Lisbon. Lisbon shot him an exasperated look. "Keep an eye on your girlfriend there, won't you, Jane?"

"She's—not—my—girlfriend," Jane grunted, dropping the pruning shears in the effort to restrain Lorelei, who was fighting to escape his hold with the rage of a cat in a sack.

The driver got out of the car, gun in hand, and took aim at Lisbon. She dropped and rolled in the dust to evade the shot, taking cover behind the car and keeping her eyes on McAllister. He'd managed to get the door open and scrambled through the back seat despite the injury to his leg, trying to get to the door on the other side.

Lisbon swore and shifted, trying to keep a line on him.

Her movement exposed her to the driver's line of sight again. He got off another shot, but before he could get off a third, the deafening sound of sirens and tires screeching signaled the cavalry had arrived at last. A dozen shots rang out. Blood blossomed on the driver's chest. He fell to the ground with a grunt and stared up at the sky with unseeing eyes.

McAllister had made it through to the other side of the car. He scrabbled on the ground for the driver's fallen gun, and when he surged up from behind the car, he pointed the gun at Lisbon with murder in his eyes.

A dozen more shots rang out and McAllister fell.

Later, when it was all over, Lisbon heard several agents speculating whose shot had actually killed him, but she remained silent. She knew for a fact that it had been her shot that had hit him squarely between the eyes.

When Van Pelt cuffed Lorelei and led her to the back of the rig, Jane hobbled over to Lisbon's side, wincing.

Lisbon glanced down at his leg. His trousers were covered in blood. "What happened to you?"

"She stabbed me in the shin with the pruning shears," Jane said, grimacing. "It hurts like you can't imagine."

"I never want to hear a word from you about anyone I've dated ever again," Lisbon commented. "You gonna be okay?"

"I will be if you promise to kiss it better," Jane said, turning big pathetic eyes on her.

Lisbon flagged the paramedics down and beckoned them to come over. "Maybe I will, if you're lucky."

Jane perked up. "Really?"

"If you're good," she amended.

"But Lisbon, we both know that's never going to happen," Jane protested. "Please, will you just promise anyway?"

Lisbon rose up on her toes and pecked him on the lips. "There. Will that do?"

"Yes. That will do nicely," Jane said, mollified. "For now."