Disclaimer: I obviously do not own CSI: NY. I just own my car, my laptop and my crazy muse who seems to want to write 4 different stories at a time. I also do own any characters that you do not recognize. You can borrow them if you ask permission first!
A/N: Okay. Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed! Here's the next chapter!!! Many thanks to Aphina and Axellia for the beta. I don't own the chapter title either. That belongs to Ani Difranco. Many thanks to Axellia for the chapter title!!!!
Chapter 29.
Crime for Crime
After making the short stop at Cory's hotel, Alistair and she began the long journey to Yorkshire. His black Jaguar S-type felt luxurious to her with walnut trim and every single amenity that one could put in a car. The leather seats were as soft as butter and as she looked out the privacy glass at the countryside flashing by, she felt hope that she would get the answers that she was seeking. She had spent an hour on the phone with Agent Michaels, who had agreed with her that the possible information was too vital not to try to get it. He had cautioned her to not make any sort of deals until she'd made sure that the information was useful.
About three hours in to the journey, Cory turned to Alistair. "So, do you care to give me any information in regards to what I'm getting myself into?"
Alistair motioned to his briefcase. "His dossier is in there, if you want to read."
Cory pulled the dossier out and began to read. "What the hell? He's American?" she exclaimed as she read the top of the dossier. Lukasz Adamicz, born December 13, 1961 in Chevak, Alaska.
Alistair just looked at her in exasperation. "What, you don't think that an American could plot to bring down his own country? Surely you're not that naive, Corrine."
"Of course not, especially after 9/11, but it still shocks me to see that, Alistair. Why don't you just tell me about him? I have a feeling there is more to him than the dossier can tell me," she surmised.
"All I can tell you, Corrine, is that his parents were part of a sleeper cell that the KGB had put together to bring down the American Oil Industry. This was before the American government began their dependency on foreign oil."
"So, he was never raised as an American, or more truly he was raised as an American so he could fit in with us to bring us to our knees," Cory supposed.
"You're right. So, expect him to be charming and trying to make you think that he's just a fall guy, but that can't be farther from the truth."
Cory sighed, wishing for one moment that the world was black and white instead of suffused with every shade of gray imaginable. Her eyes flicked back to the picture of him. He was an extremely attractive man, in fact he reminded her of Daniel Craig and she wondered if he played that up. Probably, she thought to herself. "So, what ever happened to the cell?" she asked out of curiosity.
"It was decommissioned after the oil embargo in 1973, but I have conflicting intelligence on that point. Some say it was completely disbanded, but many more state that their purpose was changed. To what, I don't know, but since I know that Lukasz stayed in the States until after college, when he then joined up with the KGB, I believe that."
Cory pursed her lips. "This will be fun, then," she said dryly. Both of them lapsed into silence as they got closer to their destination.
When they finally pulled up to the imposing concrete and brick structure, Cory bit her lip. "I hope that he will give us the information that we need."
Alistair smiled. "Corrine, with a smile like that, you could probably have turned George Michael straight. I don't think getting information from Lukasz will be a problem."
Cory blushed a little at hearing someone old enough to be her father say something like that. "All righty then, let's get this show on the road," she said in embarrassment as she quickly climbed out of the car. As they entered the prison, Cory became aware that Alistair was definitely well known there. The guards greeted him by name and other than a couple of lingering glances treated her with respect. Moments later, they were taken into an interview room to await the arrival of Lukasz.
As they waited, Cory glanced in the mirror to re-pin her hair up. Some of it had fallen down during ride. Just as she was done, the door opened and a guard led Lukasz in. Cory studied him coolly as he walked in, noting the fact that he was even better looking in person than in his photograph.
Lukasz nodded to Alistair as he sat down in front of them, his eyes roaming over her body ravenously. "Well Agent Murphy," he said with his voice surprising devoid of any accent, "I see that you took my advice and brought me someone prettier to talk to." He looked at Cory and winked suggestively. "I'm glad to see that the United Kingdom branch of InterPol has such gorgeous agents."
Cory suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and instead decided to emphasize her drawl. "Well, I wouldn't know about that, sweetie, seeing as I'm not from around here," she said doing her best imitation of a Southern Belle. She noticed his eyebrows rise and resisted the urge to smirk. Two can play this game, boy.
"Well, this is a surprise. American, the South, possibly Georgia. I love my Southern girls."
Cory just looked at him coolly. "American, yes. Southern, yes. Georgian, no. But that is neither here nor there. SSA Corrine Reid, FBI. I'm here to ask you some questions about Etienne Martel."
Lukasz's smile grew. "Well, Agent Reid, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Etienne didn't tell me how beautiful you are. But why should I give you any information on the man that has saved my life numerous times?"
"Because I've been authorized to offer you a deal," Cory responded.
"What kind of deal?" he returned.
Cory smirked. "It depends on the information, which shall be verified before any deal is made. So basically, if you give me crap, you get crap."
Lukasz smiled arrogantly. "Fair enough. What would you like to know?"
"What are his plans in regards to America? Why does he want to destroy us?" Cory asked.
"You don't believe in going slow, do you?" he responded.
"Why go slow, when I can get everything I want?" she shot back.
Lukasz laughed. "I do believe I like you, Agent Reid. To answer your first question, I don't know. I was never privy to those plans, but for your second…I'll need to take you back to when he joined the KGB."
"So enlighten us," Cory said.
Lukasz sighed. "We joined the KGB at the same time. It's a very enlightening experience for both of us, but for different reasons. His goal, which I discovered when we were rooming together, was to bring down the KGB. He blamed them for the murder of his parents ten years before. I, on the other hand, was raised on patriotism to The Red Banner. My parents were patriots and raised me the same way. I joined because it was expected of me."
Cory and Alistair glanced at each other, the information was nothing that they hadn't surmised.
"Anyway, the unexpected happened. We became best friends. We were inseparable during training, often going out for drinks. I think I showed him a different side to the USSR. With my help, and the help of my parents, we discovered what had actually happened to his parents. They were murdered by undercover CIA agents in an attempt to raise dissention among the Czechs."
Cory bit back a hostile retort in defense of her country. Such politics were not unknown in the CIA, but in this particular sense something about it seemed off. "So what happened after that?"
Lukasz laughed. "What do you think happened? He became a good little soldier," he said sarcastically. "He shot to the top of the ranks and then the Curtain fell. The policies changed into a more Western sympathizing tone and we left. Etienne decided to infiltrate InterPol and I just went freelance."
"So how does this help me stop him?" Cory interposed.
"Who said that I was going to help you stop him," Lukasz sneered.
Cory just stood. "And who said that I was going to save you from a long and painful death in Rwanda?" she countered as she grabbed her bag to leave. "Think about it. You play ball with me and I can help you. Let's go Alistair."
Together they exited the room and Alistair looked at her in admiration. "I'm very impressed Corrine. You handled him very well."
Cory smiled. "I just put the cogs in motion; the ball is in his court now. But, at least we have a starting place to try to profile Etienne, so I can get this info to Lydia."
"Very well. I do believe that he will contact us very shortly," Alistair said as he led her back outside to the car.
----------------------------------
When Hawkes got back to the lab with the news that their prime suspect had disappeared, no one was surprised. As soon has he Hawkes done reporting to Mac, Adam walked in, fairly jumping in excitement.
"I think you guys need to see this," he said, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. "I got some information off of the computer in the bedroom. It's very enlightening."
Intrigued, Hawkes and Mac followed the young man, grabbing Stella and Danny as they walked towards the AV lab.
Once everyone was settled in the lab, Adam tapped a couple of keys and pulled up a word processor document. "I found this, it was behind three layers of encryption and written in an obscure Germanic language known as Gothic. Let me tell you, it took some time to find an internet service that could translate it."
Mac looked at Adam with respect. "I'm impressed," he said simply.
Adam flushed slightly, but continued on, "Anyway, this is basically a diary. It starts just after his father was murdered. He suspected Polina of murdering him and only went with her to try to gather evidence."
"So why stay with her for twenty years?" Danny asked in confusion.
Adam shrugged. "He was terrified of her. When they were arranging to flee the USSR, he wrote that she contacted a person in the KGB known as Ivan Barteslavic and he arranged for them to come into the U.S. The meeting with the man terrified him and Polina issued a concealed threat that if he were to leave her, he would be killed. So he stayed."
Stella shook her head sadly. "It's actually sad. I wonder how he reacted when he found out what she was doing to the homeless people she brought home."
Adam grinned. "I've got that answer as well. It was in the more recent sections. He didn't become aware of the monstrosities until about a year ago and as he put it," Adam said as he scrolled through the translated pages quickly and then highlighted a section. "Polina has been doing crude and monstrous experiments on the poor people she has brought home. I have long been aware that she was more than likely killing them, since none of them ever were here more than a week, but the atrocities that she has committed would even had made my father, who was a Nazi torturer, sick to his stomach. He must certainly be spinning in his grave if he is aware of what is going on here from his reserved spot in Hell. I can't abide by this any longer and I must discover a way to give these poor abused souls some relief. I am a doctor, surely I can discover a way, if Polina will ever let me out of this prison that she keeps me locked in."
"He's referring to the house. He was not allowed to leave it," Adam supplied helpfully as he scrolled down some more. "This explains more."
"By doing some covert research on the internet, I have discovered what I must do. The only catch will be gathering the necessary supplies to put my plan in motion. I have found all of her hiding places for the people she has kidnapped and to humanely euthanize this many people will take large quantities of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. I must somehow find a way to smuggle these drugs in."
Hawkes nodded in understanding. "That really is the best way to euthanize someone. And it leaves very little trace since the drugs are metabolized by the body. That's why there was no smoke in the lungs."
"So, he euthanized them, then set the house on fire. But he was killed," Mac thought aloud.
"He said in his diary that he intended on killing both Polina and himself while the house burned down. Something about it being the just thing to do," Adam stated.
Mac nodded. "I'll get with Angell and see if she can issue a warrant for her arrest and hopefully something will turn up," Mac stated. "Stella, why don't you contact Lydia and see who we need to speak with to get her added onto the most wanted list. She's a psychopath and she's only likely to do this again."
Stella nodded. "I'll also see if she's gotten in touch with Cory about how they managed to get into the country, around the safeguards in place. We really need to find out if there are anymore compromised ICE agents."
Hawkes looked at them. "I'll be down in autopsy, working with Sid and Marty to see if we can possible put names with the bodies down there. Hopefully, we'll be able to identify them and get some closure for their families." He shook his head. "It's only a shame that we don't know how many victims there truly are," he muttered as he left the room.
Mac looked at Danny. "I want you working on seeing if we can pinpoint the actual hospital that she went to. With her injuries, she can't have just left. She must have some sort of escape route planned."
Danny looked thoughtful. "I'll go through tax records and such to see if she has any property outside of the city. She can't have gone far."
"Make sure you check under both names. She was crazy, not stupid," Mac advised.
"I will, boss."
----------------------------------
Lydia had just finished reading all the material that Cory had sent her, on both the case she researched for the crime lab and Etienne. She had to admit, the more she found out about the Etienne, the more he made her skin crawl. But she did agree with her boss on one count. She was sure that with the information that she had found out, Morgan and his team might be able to put together a good profile.
Smiling, she dialed Morgan.
"Hey, Mami," he greeted her. "What's going on?"
"Hey, babe. I'm actually calling about business. Cory has managed to get some more info on Etienne, so I was wondering if it might be enough for your team to put together a profile."
Morgan thought for a moment. "I can certainly see. We're in between cases right now, so give me a sec to round everyone up," he said as he walked into the Pit. He quickly gathered Dr. Spencer Reid, SSA Emily Prentiss, SSA Jennifer Jareau, Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia, Senior SSA David Rossi and Unit Chief, SSA Aaron Hotchner together. Then he put Lydia on speakerphone. "Okay, go ahead, Lyd. I've got you on speaker."
"Hi. I'm Lydia Sanchez, from the New York office. I don't know how much info Derek has given you on the case that I'm working on, so I'm going to start from the beginning," she said as a way of introduction. As quickly and concisely as possible she went over the history of the case. Then she moved on to the new information. "My boss, SSA Reid is in England right now with InterPol. She has managed to get some information from an informant there. We know that when he joined the KGB, he was brainwashed into believing that the CIA engineered the murder of his parents, so he transferred his hate from the USSR to the U.S. The informant wasn't more forthcoming today, but if I know Cory, she'll get more out of him soon."
In Virginia, the BAU team looked at each other, each processing the information that they'd been given. David Rossi, the most senior profiler started out with his suppositions. "Given what information we have now, I'd say that he would definitely try to infiltrate the U.S. as he did with the KGB. Have you cross checked to see if he ever applied to be hired into the FBI or CIA?"
Lydia sighed. "I did, but there was nothing there. He's been on an InterPol watch list since he went rogue in the early nineties, so his fingerprints would have come back. I'd guess that he knew that and knew that he couldn't infiltrate us the same way," she reasoned.
Reid nodded his head. "It sounds as if he is a very intelligent man. So he knows that he can't go the same route twice. If I were him, I'd find someone that I could trust to infiltrate the organization from within. Someone with no known connection to me or a criminal history."
"I agree," Morgan interjected. "He did work for the KGB, so maybe he had some old contacts through there."
"Or maybe he had something better," Garcia exclaimed. "What if he had someone in a sleeper cell?"
Prentiss looked at Garcia in disbelief. "Come on, Garcia. A sleeper cell? You've been reading too many conspiracy theories."
Lydia cleared her throat. "Actually, sleeper cells are not just fiction. The informant that Cory is getting this information from was part of one."
"Then how can we trust the information that she is getting," Hotch questioned.
Lydia smiled. "Since she is pretty much guaranteeing that she won't send him back to Rwanda to be charged in the genocides that he was part of there, he will not be giving her false information. She basically told him that all info would be verified before she would give him anything."
Hotch nodded. "Smart woman. Can you send us copies off all the information that you've gotten so far?"
"Not a problem. I'll zip and encrypt the files and then send them to Morgan in an email," Lydia began.
"Actually, why don't you send them to Garcia?" Morgan suggested. "If she can't find an electronic trail of him, then one doesn't exist. We do need to find out where he is going, especially if your boss's theories are correct and he is planning a major attack on American soil."
"Okay. I must remind you guys that he brainwashed three good American teenagers into committing mass murder. He is dangerous and the quicker we find him, the better," Lydia cautioned before hanging up.
The profilers looked at each other before Hotch began to issue assignments. "Garcia, while you're waiting on the email, why don't you see what you can find on him. Any properties, bank accounts, that sort of thing."
"Sure thing," the blonde technical whiz said.
"I want the rest of you, except JJ, to work on building a profile on what we know. JJ, I want you to continue looking at cases for us. Since this isn't a hot case, we can't put everything to the side because of it."
The team nodded their understanding as they left to begin their tasks.
----------------------------------
Several hours later, Hawkes was finishing up in autopsy for the night. He had just removed his scrubs, when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He fished it out and looked at the unfamiliar number on the screen. "Dr. Hawkes," he answered.
"Hey, Sheldon. It's Carla. I was wondering if you were free for coffee now," the pleasant voice said.
Hawkes smiled. "I am actually just finishing up," he answered. "Did you have anyplace in mind?"
"There's this great shop down the street from the hospital, if you want to meet there," Carla responded.
"I think I know what you're talking about. Give me an hour to get there."
"Great. I'll see you there."
AN: Okay guys. Only 2 reviews for the last chapter? :( Anyway, I hope to get back to regular weekly updates soon, but I'm busy with spring projects right now, so it may still be a couple of weeks. Y'alls feedback is much appreciated!!!
Soccer - I understand. I'm exhausted, so I haven't been online a lot. Too much to do, too little time.
Maddy - Thanks! Ax was such a big help with 28. I had ideas and I just couldn't get them to go!!! Now, my muse is going back to the Twilight story. Grr. She's jumping around way to much right now! How've you been? Is school out yet?