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. So, it's been over 2 months since I've posted. I am so sorry. My muse is gone, but I did manage to squeeze out another chapter. :p I can promise a quicker update than 2 months, but until my muse is back full time, I don't know how long between updates. 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 Sick of It All.

Chapter 35.

Butting Heads

Cory had made some headway into her research by early afternoon. She sat back in her chair, stretching her muscles, letting the strain of the previous four hours ease out of her shoulders. I was right, she thought with a smile. While gang violence has increased over the last year, the inter-gang violence has almost dissipated. I've never seen anything like this and I wonder if L.A. and Chicago have experienced the same thing. She itched to call those field offices, but knew that Lydia was taking care of that information.

She was brought out of her musings by a knock on her door and when she looked up, her heart plummeted. Agent Joyner was walking in, a sour look on her face. The blonde woman closed the door behind her before settling into a chair in front of her desk. Cory steeled herself for whatever the woman had to speak with her about.

"Agent Reid," Kate began. "I have been reviewing your files and have a couple of questions."

Cory squared her shoulders, but fixed a pleasant smile on her face. "How can I help you?"

"Why have you transferred a prisoner from InterPol to the FBI?"

"Because he has valuable information that I need to uncover the exact plot of a man named Etienne," Cory answered readily.

"And what brought this man to your attention," Kate questioned back.

Cory let out a breath. "He came to my attention when my mother was kidnapped by Javier Montoya. When she was being help captive on his boat, Etienne was present. He set about in questioning her, using torture to extract information about me and my duties here at the FBI. She had no reason why and the only thing that he would say was that I was the key to the destruction of the United States."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. Please continue."

Feeling a bit of encouragement, Cory nodded. "There is not much more than that. Through my investigation and help from a contact at InterPol, I discovered that his real name is Boleslav Kladivo. He is a former KGB agent who was recruited by InterPol and then went rogue. All I know is that he is focused on me and I don't know why."

Kate nodded. "Could it be because of you and your family's association with known criminals?" she asked scathingly. "I don't like the fact that we are now housing one of Rwanda's most wanted criminals? Why not just let InterPol handle this?"

Cory cocked an eyebrow, but refused to rise to the bait. "Because I believe that Etienne is planning an attack on us. He wants to destroy us because he has a faulty belief that the CIA killed his parents. He has knowledge of us, he has a hatred of us, and I believe has access to resources that we know nothing about. If I had more evidence, I would have him put on the Most Wanted list," she shot back calmly.

"I see," Kate drawled as she tapped her list. "Doesn't this lack of evidence lead you to believe that he is not as dangerous as you suppose? You are a loose cannon, Agent Reid, and from looking at your records, I don't believe that you are truly capable of handling an investigation of this magnitude. You depend too much on the resources of the NYPD. I see many more cases that are joint investigations than any other agent. Why is that? Does it have something to do with your fiancé?"

Cory ground her teeth. "It has little to do with my fiancé," she spat out. "It has to do with the fact that the NYPD crime lab is second to none. Not even the FBI has analysts that have the level of professionalism and drive that the NYPD has. Most of those cases are cases that they bring to me, not the other way around. If you would read the entire case file, you would see that."

"None the less, you depend on them too much, thus that leads me to believe that you are not capable."

Cory's fiery response was cut off by the ringing phone. "Reid?" she all but growled into the phone.

"Cory? It's Mac. I've got Tang in custody. You want to watch the interview?" Mac questioned, wondering what had put the force behind her words.

Cory closed her eyes briefly. "I'll be there soon," she told him before hanging up the phone. She returned her attention back to her boss. "Look, Agent Joyner. Either let me do my job or demote me. You have no reason to question my cases. You have no hard evidence and unless you are going to bestow the same line of inquiry to the other Special Agents in Charge to justify their actions, then I am not going to play that game," she said icily as she stood up and grabbed her gear. "Now if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to in hopes of unraveling the weapons smuggling case. Good day," she finished as she walked out of the door, unaware of the broad smile that crossed Kate's face.

After Mac hung up the phone, he shook his head. He didn't envy the young FBI agent. He knew the stresses that came with a position of her power and wondered if she was able to handle the stress. Lord only knew what her breaking point was and he hoped that she would never have to find it. He thought back to his own breaking point. September 11. The day the city stood still. He still didn't remember his feelings during that time. He had shut down emotionally. Once he had realized that Claire was more than likely dead, he had shut that part of himself down completely.

It was only in the last few years that he had begum to open himself back up. He had Stella to thank for that. It was because of her love and care that he felt his heart open back up. Shaking his head, he brought himself back into the present as Danny knocked on his door.

"You wanted to see me, boss?" the bespectacled man asked.

"Danny," Mac responded with a smile. "You closed your case with Maka?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, it was a simple gang initiation. She arrested the kid, he was only thirteen," he responded, shaking his head.

"Good. I want you to help me interrogate Tang Lan. We'll start when Cory gets here."

Danny looked at Mac in confusion. "What's the deal with him?" he asked.

Mac looked at him. "He is mentioned in the diaries that Mrs. Harring gave me. I have a feeling that he knows more about where the school shooters got their weapons than he's admitted to Cory. She wanted to watch the interrogation, but didn't want to take part since she didn't get any evidence from him when she first found the connection. I want you to do some research on him."

"You got it, boss," Danny responded. "I'll be ready when you are."

Mac just waved the young man out of his office as he resumed looking at the paperwork in front of him. He was still engrossed in the case file as he heard the sound of heels clicking towards him. He looked up to see Cory striding through the lab, her head held high. He had a small smile on his face as she entered his office.

"Hey, Mac. I'm ready when you are," she said pleasantly.

Mac gave her a look. Her tone now was completely different than it was on the phone, but she didn't seem inclined to share, so he let it go. "Let me grab Danny and we'll go over there."

Cory nodded as she flicked open the briefcase at her side. "I don't know if you plan on asking him anything about Etienne, but I brought his dossier with me. Just in case you want some ammo to go after him with."

Mac noticed the twinkle in her eyes. "I'll see what I can get," he replied as he accepted the dossier from her. It was a quick walk to the interrogation room, where Tang had been cooling his heels for the previous two hours. As Mac and Danny walked in, Mac threw two file folders on the metal table.

Tang looked at them in anger. "This is ridiculous. Why are you holding me here?" he said angrily.

Mac raised an eyebrow. "I never said that you were a prisoner. I said that I wanted to speak with you in regards to Laquandra Harring. You are free to leave at any time," he responded calmly.

Tang let out a sigh as he stood up. "Then I will be going. You've taken enough of my time."

Mac let him get close to the door before speaking again. "But, of course, then I'm going to have to speak with your supervisors about your connection with a group of school shooters who got their hands on military grade weapons that are connected to a smuggling ring running out of Port Authority."

Tang stopped in his tracks, a look of fear in his eyes, before returning to his seat. "Ask your questions," he returned simply.

"How well did you know Laquandra Harring?" Mac began.

Tang shrugged. "Nice girl. She helped me get my job. I was down on my luck after my previous job was outsourced and at a loss for what to do."

Mac raised an eyebrow at that. "You see, that's where I have a problem with your story. One that was easily accepted by a naïve teenager. She wrote that you were working to support your wife, family and your parents. But if so, why were you the only one in homeless shelter?"

"And," Danny put in, "how come we have no records of you ever being married?"

Tang's eyes opened wide, but he didn't respond.

"You see Tang, that's where I have a problem," Mac said. "You give the girl a fake story, and then miraculously come up with a job less then two months into a job hunt, in an economy that is floundering. It doesn't make sense. So, why lie?"

"Um…" Tang began, but couldn't seem to form any words. Cory was smirking from behind the glass, watching in wonder as Mac and Danny tore the man's story down to nothing.

"You know, Tang," Danny said conversationally. "You're not the brightest crayon in the box. You might as well come clean and tell us everything you know."

Tang stared at the two men, hoping for some sort of relief, but finding nothing but stoniness in their faces, he finally cracked. "It was a set up. My boss told me that there was going to be a girl at that specific homeless shelter and he wanted me to befriend her. Where he got the information about her, I have no idea, but he created a background for me. I stuck to the script. Telling her over and over about how bad the government was. How it was responsible for my downfall. And she fell for it. Hook, line and sinker."

Mac nodded his head. "What part did Fredrico Martelli play in this?"

Neither Mac, Danny nor Cory had expected the look for pure terror that crossed Tang's face at the sound of the name. They stared at the man in shock as he literally quaked with terror. "I do not know," he almost whispered. "The man who brought me in would know more. His name is Jay Roze. He is an inspector at JFK." With that, he clamed up and no amount of questioning from Danny or Mac could get him to say anything else.

Sighing, the men walked out of the room and met up with Cory, who was looking puzzled. "He's terrified of Etienne," she said without preamble. "I wonder why."

"I don't know," Mac responded. "But I think that we need to talk to this Jay Roze guy."

Cory smiled. "I took the liberty of pulling up his information while y'all were trying to get him to talk more," she said. "I also called JFK and was told that he was not working today, so I thought we could start at his home."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "You were certainly busy."

Cory laughed. "More like eager to get this thing closed. It's been a thorn in my side for too long." She looked at them both, a twinkle back in her eye. "So, who's driving?"

An hour and a half later, Mac, Cory, and Danny were stepping out of Mac's lab SUV in front of a well maintained brownstone in Brooklyn. Cory pushed her sunglasses back on top of her head. "Nice," she murmured. "Definitely not what I'd expected. I figured that if he is as in deep with Etienne as I think that he'd live in something a little more auspicious."

"Unless he's trying to stay under the radar," Danny interjected. "I know that if I wanted to hide what I was doing, then I'd definitely look like I was living within my means to the rest of the world."

"Good point," Cory responded as they walked up the steps to the door. She paused and stood to the side as Mac knocked on the door, only to have it open as he connected with the painted wood.

The three exchanged looks as they drew their guns. Mac nodded to Cory to take the lead and she eased the door fully open with her foot. She went in first, Mac and Danny following after her. Together, they cleared the downstairs and met at the staircase to go upstairs. Cory climbed up the stairs carefully, her heels making no sound on the thick pile of carpet that covered them.

When they got to the top of the stairs, Cory and Mac looked down the hall, Danny a scant step behind them. Cory noticed one of the doors slightly ajar at the end of the hall. She made a motion with her hand and Mac nodded his agreement, so they began to creep down the dim hallway.

Danny walked sideways, his back to the wall, checking behind them to make sure that it wasn't a trap. Cory slowed down as they neared the open door and motioned for Mac to precede her, to flank the door. Once they were in place, Mac opened the door and they both peered inside.

Cory stifled a gasp of horror at what lay in wait for them. It was the body of a medium built black man, lying on his stomach in a pool of blood. Blood and brain matter decorated the wall in front of him, the back of his skull blown away. She, Mac and Danny shared a look, knowing that they needed to clear the rest of the house, to make sure that whoever had done this was not still in the dwelling.

Quickly, the three of them cleared the other rooms before coming back to what must have been the master bedroom, holstering their weapons. "This was a professional. The positioning of the body tells me that. He was on his knees when he was shot in the back of the head," Mac surmised.

Cory shook her head. "They're tying up loose ends," she stated sharply. "I think that Tang knows more than he's let on, so we need to get him into protective custody."

Danny could almost see the wheels turning in her brain. "Whatcha thinking, Cory?" he asked her.

"WITSEC," she replied, using the acronym for the witness protection program.

Mac nodded. "Makes sense. Think you can get it done? There is a whole lotta red tape to get someone in there."

Cory just smiled. "With the right information, I can have him in the middle of nowhere so fast that it'll be just a blur." She turned to leave the room. "While y'all are processing the scene, I'll make Tang wish he had told me everything the first time I talked to him," she promised as she walked down the hall.

AN: Again, I apologize for the wait, but please don't hold that against me! I'd love to see 5 reviews for this chapter. Even if you hate it, just drop me a line and let me know!!!

Soccer - Thanks! I'm sorry for the wait, but with my muse gone, I've been kinda listless. :( Hopefully, the holidays will get me back in the writing mood!

Aphina - You're not a crap reviewer! I'm so far behind on your story!!! I'm off this Friday, so I'm trying to get totally caught up!