Chapter 4: Won't Get Fooled Again
Ariadne Pov:
God whoever is calling me is getting a foot up their ass.
I reach my arm out to grab the phone that woke me up out of dead sleep. Actually being able to get a full nights rest is rare for me. Typically the nightmares keep me awake, but ever so often there's a night where they don't come and I get some actual sleep.
Until someone decides to call and wake me up that is.
I grab the phone and hit answer without looking to see who it is. "Somebody better be dead for you to be calling me this early."
I hear chuckling. Must be my brother, he's the only one who never takes my threats seriously.
"Close, almost dead but not quite. There's been a bombing and we got called in. Time to wake up sweetheart."
Why can't people ever wait till it's a normal hour to have a crisis? I sigh and sit up so I can stretch my back. Looks like I'll be napping on the plane.
"Alright fine. I should be there in about an hour or so. Good enough?"
"Perfect, see you soon" Derek says before he hangs up.
I get out of bed and make my way into the shower. One of these days I might actually get to sleep for a whole night.
I'm standing behind Spencer as I look at the photos of the bomb fragments that ATF sent over. I'm looking at the same one as Gideon when he says "Pipe bombs, packed in cardboard boxes. Sent through the mail?"
"No that would move them too much. They must have been hand delivered" I say looking up at him.
"The other picture in your hand is of the switch ATF found. Same mechanism for both bombs, mercury activated" Derek goes on to explain.
"What does that mean?" Could someone please remind me how Greenaway got on this team? Because I really can't figure it out for the life of me.
For once this is a question that I can answer, "There are contacts to a detonator on each end of the mercury filled tube. Therefore all someone has to do to detonate the bomb is tilt it." Being in the military I've seen a lot of bombs, even had to make a few myself.
"So they couldn't have been sent through the mail. The bomber had to deliver them himself." Greenaway I see that notepad in your hands. But are you actually writing anything down though?
"I literally just said that" I say unamused.
"Strange way to commit an act of terrorism. Why go to all this trouble to kill just a few people?" Hotch asks, drawing us back to the topic at hand.
"He might be targeting the actual people instead of trying to incite panic like a typical act of terrorism does." It's not much but it's really the only suggestion I can come up with at the moment. It's such a small bomb that is designed for single impact so I didn't think that the unsub would use it for terrorism.
The door opens and JJ walks in and turns on the television, "We got news. This is just a local channel, but the coverage is everywhere now. CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, you name it."
Whelp there goes our chance to keep wraps on it.
"According to doctors he's badly injured, but in stable condition in the ICU. Now neighbors say that they heard a blast at about 10:30 this morning, and police arrived…" The news woman informs.
"If DHS doesn't raise the terror alert now, they'll look weak." Gideon looks resigned.
Hotch turns to JJ, "Make sure Homeland Security knows that this is everywhere."
Another explosion goes off on the news.
Crap. Maybe it is a terrorist.
"Look like we're going to Palm Beach. Let's meet at the airstrip in twenty" Hotch says before he walks out of the room.
When I had thought about taking a vacation in Palm Beach this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. But I'll roll with it.
"Bombing occurred within three miles of each other. First victim was a 74 year old widow, Barbra Keller. Two hours after that, Clurman got hit in his driveway, and forty-five minutes later… well we all saw that. Jill Swenson, 34 year old housewife who lived across the street from Clurman. Of the three only Clurman survived." Hotch says as he passes the photos of the victims around on the plane.
"Is there any connection between the victims?" Spencer asks from the seat right beside me.
Hotch turns around from his seat to look at us. "One. Clurman was a partner in a ten million dollar condo development deal in which Keller was an investor, and a few weeks ago, the whole deal went bust."
"Went bust how?" I look over at Greenaway and see her writing furiously into her notebook. What is the deal with that? Does she have memory problems or something?
I'm a little more agitated then normal considering Derek stayed behind to work with the bomb fragments. He has a history in the ATF so it was decided he would stay back and work from home base. I had the option to do the same but seeing as that would undermine the entire reason I was placed on the team I decided not to. However it does make me slightly relieved to know that he won't be anywhere near a potential bomb.
"Went bust as in the land he purchased was on methane. Therefore the condos were never built and the land was rendered useless. Thus creating a lot of angry investors." I decide to answer her question without any sarcasm this time. I know, it seems miracles do happen.
"Maybe one of them was mad enough to take aim at Clurman" Spencer suggests.
"But that doesn't explain why Keller or Swenson were targeted" I point out.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's a little too early to theorize about motive" Gideon adds looking at Spencer and I.
"Then where do we start?" Okay now I really want to see what she's writing in that notebook. It obviously can't be anything helpful.
"Where we always start Greenaway. At the beginning. Like what do we already know about bombers?" I say. Where did she think we were gonna start?
"Mostly male, loners, history of criminal activity. About 50% of all bombings are actually the product of vandalism" Spencer decides to chip in.
"And more often than not, bombers end up accidentally blowing themselves up, so the first suspects you always look for in the bombing case are the victims." Hotch adds.
I look over at Greenaway, "You writing all this down in your little notebook there Greenaway?"
We finally get to the location where the bomb that tried to kill Clurman was activated. Since there were two bombings in this area I'm scanning every house in sight for a brown package. I don't see any more of them but who knows where they could be placed.
"Before Clurman passed out he told cops that he saw the package sitting on the stoop outside his kitchen door." I'm on the other side of the car with Spencer and Greenaway, so who is Hotch talking to?
"Why didn't it go off until he got to his car? It's like fifty feet away" Spencer asks as he walks around the burned vehicle.
Maybe the dude has impeccable balance or something.
Hotch then goes on to inform us that one of Clurman's investors, Joe Reese, was here when the bomb went off. Apparently the cops have determined that he's no longer a suspect and told them that he saw Clurman get inside of the car with the package.
"So maybe Clurman wasn't receiving a bomb at all. Maybe he was on his way to delivering one" Greenaway oh so helpfully points out.
I look at her and shake my head, "If he was the one delivering the bomb then he would have known how easy it was to detonate and would have handled the package with extreme caution. Also Keller was a 74 year old widow who was one of his investors, I doubt she was a big enough threat to him where he had to go and kill her. Additionally Swenson was his neighbor who was a housewife. What reason would he have to place a bomb on her doorstep?"
The rest of the team just looks at me for a couple moments. "Glad to know you're paying attention" Hotch says with a small smile.
"I'd still like to talk to Clurman. In the meanwhile let's get a search warrant on his house" Gideon says before walking away.
Spencer turns and gives me a proud grin, "You're on your way to becoming a really great profiler Ari."
My heart clenches in my chest. Here he is, so proud of me, and I'm lying straight to his face. I want to tell him the truth so bad, that I'm not actually working on becoming a profiler. That I was hired by the directors to keep tabs on them and neutralize any threat in their path. But I also know that if I tell him he'll never trust me again, none of my team will. I'll have lost another family all over again. And this time Derek wouldn't be there to help me through it. I push the feeling aside and lock my arm around his as we turn and walk in Gideon's direction.
I might lose this one day. This feeling of warmth and safety and acceptance.
So I'll cherish if for as long as I can.
Gideon and Spencer went to go talk to Clurman at the hospital while Hotch, Greenaway, and I stayed behind at his house to have it searched.
"Agent Hotchner? Detective Morrison, Palm Beach PD. I'm lead on the case." The man said as he walked up to us and shook Hotch's hand.
"Nice to meet you. This is Agent Greenaway and Agent Morgan. Agents Reid and Gideon are at the hospital. I think you meet Agent Jareau at the station house." Hotch says as he motions to Greenaway and I.
"Oh yeah" Morrison tilts his head, "She's taken over the place."
Greenaway chuckled a little, "She does that."
Excuse me? She's known JJ for what? A month? She doesn't know JJ enough to make any sort of statement about her. I glare at her head hoping that she could feel the waves of hatred I was emitting through my stare.
"ATF hasn't found any hard evidence yet," Hotch continues as we all begin to walk into the house. "Just some kitchen timers, tape recorders, and electrical switches."
As soon as we shut the front door behind us a woman makes her way into the kitchen through the side door. She looks at all the officers in the room and looks confused. "Hello? Excuse me!"
"Mrs. Clurman" Morrison whispers besides me. I didn't realize how close he actually was until he did that. Ever heard of personal space detective?
Mrs. Clurman quickly walks over to us, "What's going on here?"
Well ma'am my team seems to think that your husband might have killed two women and put himself in the hospital with a bomb he supposedly made.
Yeah I'm so not telling her that.
"Mrs. Clurman, my name is Special Agent Aaron Hotchner with the FBI. There's a copy of the warrant on the table. I know that this is hard to believe, but we just need to cover all of our bases. We need to make sure that your husband was not involved in any way." Hotch definitely put it better than I would have.
She gives us the 'are you kidding?' look. "Involved? My husband's in the hospital with his leg blown off. What are you talking about?!" She starts to lose it by the time she's finished.
Okay time to step in. I'm not good with strangers who start crying.
"Mrs. Clurman I understand that you're upset, but the sooner we can talk to your husband and clear him the sooner we can find who is responsible for this. I know that this is a very stressful and difficult time for your family and as soon as we get this done you and your husband can move on to begin healing."
She takes a breath and relaxes a bit before she nods her head. Great, crisis averted.
"Agent Hotchner? We found something" An ATF agent says from behind us.
Not gonna lie, I'm shocked at the news.
The ATF agent leads us down to the basement where the others are surrounding a tool case with different supplies and a book entitled "The Anarchist's Companion".
Hotch looks up at Clurman's wife, "Mrs. Clurman do you know anything about this?" By the look on her face I'm gonna go with a no.
Was this man really stupid enough to make a bomb and then proceed to accidentally detonate it, resulting in losing a foot?
I turn and head back upstairs with Hotch and Greenaway. I continue to watch as ATF search for anything else that could tie Clurman to making the bomb. I notice Greenaway grab a picture and walk over to Mrs. Clurman, talk with her, and then walk back over to Hotch who just got off the phone.
"Look at this. This is their nephew in Texas, and according to Mrs. Clurman he was staying with them for a month and left last week" I can hear her say.
"Mercury switches are a little sophisticated for a twelve year old kid." Normally I would be all about Hotch disproving Greenaway's ideas but I see the point she's making and I agree with her.
I think I just vomited in my mouth a little.
"I'm not saying he's the unsub, but boys his age like to blow stuff up." She may have the right idea but I'd still like to smack the smug look off her face.
"I'll call Morrison. He'll contact local PD in Texas, he'll pick up the kid and talk to him." Hotch then pulls out his phone to do just that.
I pulled out my phone to check everyone's GPS. Derek's was back at Quantico with Penelope's. JJ's was still at the station and Gideon and Spencer's were headed in her direction.
Okay, time to go. With a bomber on the loose no place is safe.
We met back up with Spencer and Gideon at the police station. All of us, including Morrison, congregated into what looked like a classroom.
"Morgan emailed these over." I did what now? "The three on the left are the bombs from yesterday. The one on the right's from the evidence room at Quantico." Ah I got it now. Wrong Morgan.
"They're all identical. Made with steel reinforcement rods" Spencer said while studying the photos. I swear I've seen this before. The setup seems very familiar to me for some reason.
"Adrian Bale." My head snaps over to look at Gideon who is leaning down staring at the photo intensely.
How can that be possible? The man is doing life in federal prison. "Who?" Morrison asks stupidly.
"He uh held our agents in a standoff in Boston last year. He took out six agents and a hostage with one of his bombs" Hotch decides to answer.
I was extremely lucky that all of my team had safely made it out of that one. After the bomb went off I checked all seven bodies to ensure that none of them had been Derek. I had been panicked and disoriented at the time.
"So you're thinking he's behind this?" No Greenaway I do not. The man is in federal prison, if he is behind this he would have to be some sort of genius. Which he is not.
"He's in prison so it's unlikely. He's got some kind of a cult following though. Like Charles Manson. It could just be a copycat." The whole time Spencer was talking I was watching as Gideon sat down and drank some water. I hope he's going to be able to handle this.
"There's one way to find out. Let's put the screws to this guy" Morrison adds, like he's going to march down to the prison himself and demand answers from Bale.
Unlikely.
"No, no, no. Bale's too smart. If we want information from him we have to handle him carefully, and even then you have to assume that road will lead nowhere." Gideon's tone of voice makes me worry. I hope he doesn't think he'll be going to talk to Bale alone.
"You're saying the connection to Bale doesn't help us at all?" No Morrison that's not what he said in the slightest. "No. I'm just saying let us handle Bale." If I have anything to do with it Gideon won't be getting anywhere near Bale.
"Look we just heard from local Texas PD. You were right about Clurman's nephew" Morrison says turning to Greenaway. "He admitted the bomb stuff was his, which is great for the Clurman's, but it leaves us with zero suspects. So what do you suggest my men do now?"
"Typically the next step is to proceed with the profile. Which is, if I'm correct, finished." I say looking over at Gideon.
"That it is" he says nodding at me, "If you would gather your men we can give you the profile."
Spencer and I were in the back while Gideon was giving the officers and detectives the profile. Spencer was sitting on one of the tables and I was standing in between his legs. Since he is significantly taller than me he could slouch and still see above my head.
Greenaway looks over at us with a raised eyebrow. Stare all you want Greenaway, you'll never get your claws into this team. They'll never be comfortable enough with you to the point where you can lay all over them like I can.
Gideon is my teacher. Hotch is my boss man. Penelope is my lady love. JJ is my blonde angel. Derek is my big brother. Spencer is my genius.
They are mine.
So back off.
I give her one last glare and burrow myself into Spencer some more before I tune back into the profile Gideon's giving.
"When we're dealing with a bomber we're talking about someone who's non-confrontational. If you bumped into him in a café he'd apologize, even if it wasn't his fault."
Hotch then decides to jump in, "We would classify this bomber as highly organized based on the meticulous design of his bombs. It signifies above average intelligence. He probably has a skilled job, a trade, one that allows him to work alone. That's how he was able to make a sophisticated device without raising suspicion. Furniture maker, jeweler, etcetera."
"Background in explosives?" Morrison asks.
"He might but there's a higher chance that he won't. Bombers typically like to blow things up because it gives them an emotional or sexual release, they're not so concerned with death. This unsub however is targeting specific people. He's not just blowing things up, he's killing people" I explain.
"How do you know he's targeting specific people?" An officer asks turning to look back at me.
Because he placed the bombs on people's doorsteps. Who else does that other than to kill someone?
"By the process of elimination. We know bombers fall into a discreet number of categories according to motive. There's the terrorist whose aim is to spread fear, we expect him to strike in a populous area like a subway. There's the politically motivated bomber who makes a statement by choosing a symbolic target like an abortion clinic. Then there's our unsub. He made bombs designed to kill and like Agent Morgan said by placing the bombs on their stoops he was choosing his targets specifically. That tells us he has a direct motive."
Gideon takes over from there, "Somewhere among the three victims, there is a direct motive. We just need to keep digging."
"Thank you, if you have any questions we'll be around" Hotch address the crowd one last time before Gideon and him make their way to us in the back.
"You'll be around. I'll be in prison. Somebody's got to talk to Bale." There it is. Hope he's prepared for a partner.
Because that's exactly what he's getting.
After a short plane ride we arrived at the penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. Gideon didn't think that he needed anyone to come with but Hotch thought it was a good idea for him to have somebody. Spencer was able to come to the penitentiary but was unable to come into the cell because they would only let two of us at a time.
After the breakdown that Gideon had as a result from Bale's actions, there was no way I was gonna let him face this demon alone. He shouldn't have to.
We were put in a small guarded room with Bale. They took our guns so that there was no chance of Bale overpowering us and taking them. Personally I was more concerned about Gideon shooting Bale on sight than I was about the man trying to overpower us. Key word being try.
"You know why I'm here?" Gideon asked softly from the corner he was standing in.
Bale shrugged and tried to act nonchalant. "This guy in Palm Beach, right? The Palm Beach Bomber. Somebody's got to give him a better name."
I clench my fists. This man had made me believe for a second that I had failed to protect my brother. This man in one moment almost shattered my entire world.
It's a good thing they took my gun.
"He uses your bombs, your designs." I don't know how Gideon is being so calm right now. I want to rip this man to shreds and Gideon is standing there with his hands in his pockets.
"Well he should be careful. Those things are dangerous."
I look Bale straight in the eyes, "You'd know all about that wouldn't you?"
"Adrian…" Gideon cuts in. "You can't fool me. If you're involved in this in any way and you do not help me I will make your life even worse than it is now."
Bale suddenly sits up, "Oh, but no, actually, I can fool you because I fooled you before. And now there's another me out there, watching, waiting." He has no self-preservation does he? He's taunting the wrong person. As Gideon goes to sit down opposite of Bale on the bench I stand up straighter and take a step forward.
"You were more ruthless than I expected. If you hadn't pushed that button, you might've had a chance at parole someday."
Bale's jaw clenches ever so slightly, "Yeah" he responds in a clipped tone. "You know, I've thought a lot about that day, and there's one thing I still can't understand. You trusted me. Why?"
"I never trusted you" Gideon quickly retorts.
"You listened to me" Bale insists.
"I made an error. I calculated you wouldn't do it, and you did. Whatever you think, I'm gonna walk outta here and you never will." Score one for Gideon.
Bale's face twists and rage flashes in his eyes as he starts to shift in his seat. "Here's what I think. Sending those Agents into that warehouse, it just doesn't make any sense. I mean I've read your books. I had all those things, what did you call it? Um… a homicidal triad." He points to his head and chuckles. "I even came from a broken family, classic sociopath, so when I had the chance to kill six agents plus a hostage, I mean, just because I gave myself up doesn't mean that I was finished with those people. I still had the remote. You…you should've known that. And the emotional release I would feel by pushing that button…well that was just a little too overwhelming to pass up."
The more he talks, the more I want to take the blade that's currently resting in my bra, because yes I am always prepared, and shove it in his thigh so that he could feel a fraction of the pain he caused others on that day. The pain he almost caused me that day.
"Why didn't you search me before sending those agents in?" He continues to talk. "Why didn't you do your job, Agent Gideon?" Then he looks over at me, "You rushed into that warehouse pretty quick for having been hit by the blowback. What were you looking for?"
It takes every single cell in my body not to pounce.
He'll get his one day. I'll make sure of it.
Gideon motions to the guard signaling that we are done. We are then handed back our weapons and called Hotch while we made our way to where Spencer was waiting. "Bale may be part of this, but he's not in control of it. If he were, he would've taunted me with specifics" Gideon explained to Hotch.
"So what's our next move?" I doubt Hotch would appreciate my solution. It mainly consists of locking me in a room with him alone for five minutes and beating the living crap out of him until he cooperates.
Gideon comes up with a better solution. "I let Bale know the unsub's using his designs. It should bait him into wanting to be a part of it, if he isn't already."
"I'm gonna stay behind and monitor his mail, calls, visitors, and see if there is any contact he has with the outside world" Spencer says cutting in. I don't know how I feel about it. But he's in a federal prison so he should be safe, and I need to get back to the rest of the team since the bomber is still at large.
"Good. Even if he doesn't know the unsub he may want to try and contact him" Gideon says before he walks out.
I turn to look at Spencer and grab his hands in between mine and bring them up to my chin. I wait till he looks me in the eyes, "I know that there are guards everywhere and that this is a federal prison, a place that should be as secure as can be, but I need you to promise me that you'll be safe." Spencer just tilts his head at me confused.
"Adrian Bale already made me think that I lost someone I love dearly. He made me think that I lost Derek. I'll be damned if he ever does that to me again." Understanding dawns in his eyes. "The thought of you anywhere near this man goes against everything in me. So I need you to promise me that you'll be as safe as you possibly can. Don't go anywhere near him, okay Spence?"
He just looks at me with soft eyes and says, "I promise, don't worry." He places a kiss on my hands that enclosed his. "Now go help the rest of the team find this guy."
I let go of his hands and he turns around to walk away. A wave of determination hits me. The sooner we find this guy the sooner I can get Spencer out of here and head back home to Derek.
It was about an hour before Gideon and I made it back to the station in Palm Beach. Morrison was the one to meet us outside and caught us up on what was going on. Apparently some guy named David Walker was the bomber and Greenaway had almost been hit by his car when she went to go talk to him.
Now I may not like her but she is a part of my team, which I'm tasked to protect, so I'm a little pissed at the guy. I'm not fond of her, but I don't want her to be run over by a car either.
"So far nothing from the search." Not a very hard conclusion to come to Morrison, seeing as how Walker's not in custody and all. The fact that Derek and Spencer are away from me have me on edge at the moment.
"What do we know about Walker?" Gideon asks him.
"He's a quiet career criminal. Spent four years in prison for a series of forged checks when he was in his early twenties. Now he's 46" Morrison goes on to explain. "Past 18 years he owned a store which sold coins, maps, and historical documents. We raided the place as soon as you gave us Walker's name" He said looking over at Hotch. "Most of his inventory was fake, forgeries valued in the millions."
"But the walls had started to close in on him" Hotch interrupted, "We talked to some of his clients and he was in debt up to his ears and promising stuff he didn't have time to forge." You'd think he would bomb the people he owed money to instead.
"Then Barbara Keller found out that the coins he had sold her were fake. She threatened to out him" Greenaway added. And this is a prime example as to why you don't tell people you have dirt on them, they tend to not take it very well.
"And if she had then he would have been discovered he would have done twenty years" Hotch finishes.
"Wait, wait, okay that explains why he went after Keller, but why go after Clurman and Swenson if they had nothing to do with it?" I ask looking over to Gideon.
"He made it bigger than it needed to be in order to throw us off from suspecting him. It was really all just to get Keller." So this bastard killed a stay at home wife and blew off a man's leg just to throw off the cops. It pisses me off, smart on his part, but I'm still mad. This just proves that he's willing to hurt anyone to make sure he doesn't get caught.
"You hear me? I said stop now!" We all turned around when we heard one of the officers yell.
A man walked around the corner with a bomb collar on.
Jesus...
Please…help me" The man said as he opened up his jacket to reveal a bomb strapped to his chest. Every officer, including me, had our guns out and trained on him in an instant. I move in front of Hotch, Greenaway, and Gideon.
"Everyone back now. We need bomb squad in here" I can faintly hear Morrison in the back giving directions.
The man looks absolutely terrified. His hands are shaking, his voice in unstable, and he's sweating profusely. "Please, it's not me" he cries out and takes a step towards us.
"Do not take a step closer. Hands up and slowly walk outside" I say as I lift my gun higher. Whether or not this man is terrified he's not coming any closer to the people behind me.
"I can't. He'll kill me." Unfortunately for you sir that's a chance I'm willing to take.
But apparently Gideon has another idea. "Who will?"
The man starts shaking again, "I don't know. He held a gun to me… put this on me. He said…you'll know who he is."
I see Gideon shift in the corner of my eye. Don't even think about it. Now is not the time to play hero Jason, not this time. He finally gets the message to stop moving forward when I move my foot in front of him as to limit his movements. "Well, what does he want?" Gideon asks from where he's standing.
"A helicopter, a passport. He's watching. Once he gets what he wants he's got instructions to defuse the bomb." The man stutters out while looking at us desperately. Morrison orders snipers to be placed around the perimeter and on the roof. If Walker is outside watching us I don't see how they'll be able to get a swat team outside without him knowing about it.
"Ok, we understand. We're not gonna leave you." The hell you're not Gideon.
"Please…take it off!" he cries out as he places his hands around his neck in what looks like an attempt to rip it off himself.
I lower my gun and clip it back onto my hip and I walk towards the man. "I'm sorry sir but we can't do that just yet. We need to figure out how the bomb is made first, otherwise if we just go to pry it off then it's going to detonate" I explain to him calmly with my hands out in front of me so as to not alarm him.
An officer than comes up and takes a photo of the bomb. The man just continues to shake and whimper at the prospect of having to continue to wear the bomb. Gideon and I stayed with the man while Hotch and Greenaway went into a room to discuss the best way to get the bomb off the guy.
I look at the bomb closely, it seems rather familiar for some reason. I try to remember if I've ever seen anything like it before from my time in the military. Tara, one of the women who was on my team, was our ammunition expert and made it a point to show us how to make weapons if we were ever in a bind and didn't have time for an Evac.
Gideon and I look over at Hotch and he just shakes his head with a lost look. Great, well I guess it's time for plan B.
"What is it?" Looks like this guy saw the look too.
"Sir we need to go outside now" I tell him gently. It's either that or everyone else in this building evacuates.
The man takes a step back from us and his eyes get wider, "No! He said he'd kill me if I went back out. He made sure I told you that."
"Then we need to isolate you" Gideon informs him.
"Why?" The man started to frantically turn his head to look back at Hotch and then us again. "There's nothing you can do? Is there anything?"
"We are going to try sir but we can't take the possibility of anything happening in a crowded area. Do you understand?" The man just nods his head at me as tears begin to well up in his eyes. I feel terrible but there's nothing more I can offer him.
He either goes into isolation, or he goes outside. No ifs ands or buts about it. These are the only choices I can afford to give him.
They put us all in a backroom where they sat the man in a steel cage with a member of the bomb squad working on the bomb. I was frustrated because if I asked the others to leave no matter how I put it they would ask questions that I couldn't answer. I couldn't come up with a valid reason for them to not be in the room. I decided to stand outside of the cage to watch as bomb squad worked on the man, the others choosing to stand on the other side of the room discussing our next course of action.
"We have a bead on Walker" Morrison calls out to us. "Sniper spotted him in his scope. He's sitting in an office building across the street. It looks like a storage room with a small window facing us."
"We could surprise him" Greenaway suggests. In what world would that be a good idea?
"That's a good idea." What the hell Hotch!? "If he feels cornered he might give himself up."
"Or…" I say butting in, "That could make him angry and he could decide to detonate the bomb. Surprising people who have weapons is never a good idea. This situation could become more hostile than it already is if we spook him." I would know. Every time Derek would wake me up right after I was out of the military I would put a gun in his face not knowing it was him.
Fear makes people do irrational things. Like set off a bomb.
"However bombers are generally cowards" Hotch says as if reminding me of the fact that this man was a spineless coward.
I look him in the eyes, "Do you really want to take that chance?"
"We really don't have any other options at the moment. I'll take a team in and we'll go in through the back of the building. Ariadne you're with me." Hotch says before he leaves the room. I imagine he's finding others to come with.
"Don't say I didn't warn you" I mutter as I go to follow after him.
Hotch had found a small group to come and was waiting by the door for me. I made my way to them and we left to go to Walker's location. I still felt as though this was a bad idea, but there was no way I was gonna let him go alone.
Once we got to the back door of the building Hotch turned to the rest of us, "Remember we have to take him alive. Walker is the only one who can diffuse the necklace bomb. Everybody ready?" I pull out my gun and nod at him as I move in front of everybody so that I enter the building first.
Well here goes nothing.
As we walk Hotch is telling Gideon our every move. If Walker didn't know we were here before he did now. The man does not know how to whisper apparently. Must not have taught that in FBI training. We approached a door labeled 324-C. Hotch and I flattened ourselves on either sides of the door and the other followed suit. Hotch then opened the door and we both peered in from our sides on the wall.
It was dark and all I could see were boxes. Didn't mean Walker wasn't hiding within though. Hotch then pulled out a tiny compact long mirror stick. Where did he get that from? Apparently he had spotted him because he looked over to me and nodded. We turned into the room with guns up and ready. A figure in the back dropped down.
"Walker freeze!" Hotch yelled.
"Ok, please, don't shoot!" Walker cried from his crouched position.
"Hands up and walk out slowly" I commanded. I didn't think he would but I had to try on the off chance he did.
He did not.
"I will shoot and trust me I will not miss." Looks like we're going with plan B. Do or die.
"Ok…" he said bringing his head up. Plan B usually works.
"All right, now put your hands where I can see them" Hotch tells Walker.
"I can't do that" Walker replies. Like hell you can't, it's more like you don't want to.
"If you're hands do not come up in the next five seconds I will shoot" I tell him calmly.
I know Hotch said to take him in alive but from the looks of things that might not be a possibility. Hopefully the bomb squad is having better luck than us.
"My hand is on the remote" Walker quickly says, as if that in itself will save his life. "I told you what I want. The passport, the helicopter, the flight!" Based off of the staggered breathing he has he's becoming nervous.
"Walker listen to me" Hotch tries to reason with him, "You're at the top of the FBI's most wanted list, I think you're smart enough to realize there's no way we're letting you go. But here's my counter offer, a chance to get out of here alive. All you have to do is give yourself up. Just slide the gun across the floor. You have until three. One…"
Hotch begins to count but Walker is quick to cut him off. "You wouldn't let the hostage die."
"I believe in sacrificing the few to save the many Walker. You've already proven that you're okay with killing innocent people, so we can't let you go. If that means that a man has to die than so be it" I tell Walker as I look him in the eyes.
Hotch than begins his count again, "Two…"
"Okay! Okay" Ah there we go. As Walker bends down to slide the gun to us I consider taking the shot. However Hotch wouldn't be too happy with me if I did that.
"I'm coming out. Don't shoot" Walker says as he brings his head back up. There's something not right about this, it's too easy. Walker went through all of this trouble and now he's just going to give himself up? No something's very wrong with this picture. I crouch down and begin to slowly step towards Walker. This man is copying Bale, who gave himself up and had a trick up his sleeve. A trick which killed six agents. There's no way that this guy wouldn't follow in his idol's footsteps.
"Now walk slowly towards me" Hotch commands, "Let me see your hands Walker!" I know he's confused as to why I'm slowly making my way towards Walker but he can't afford to alert Walker to my presence by asking me. As I get closer I see one of Walker's hands reach down past the remote. I than hear the unmistakable sound of a bomb being activated. My entire body freezes and all of a sudden I'm back on a battlefield dodging explosives and running from bullets as I try to get my squad to safety.
No.
Not again, not again, not ag-
I bolt upright, spin around, run to Hotch and yell for everyone to take cover. "Bomb!" I yell as I grab Hotch's arm and drag him away from the room. I can hear the other's footsteps behind me but I don't spare them a second glance. I have one goal and only one goal.
Protect the team. No matter the cost.
Even if that cost is other's lives. That is not my concern. We just barely make it to the next corridor to take cover behind a wall before the bomb goes off. The flames are so close I can feel the heat on my cheek, the force of it whipping my hair around my face.
Too close…I should have been faster. Now the hostage is going to die.
Hotch and I look over at each other, "You okay there Boss man?"
Hotch just gives me a fond look and nods his head. "Yeah I'm alright thanks to your quick thinking back there. How about you?"
I give him a weak chuckle and bend so that my hands are resting on my knees. "I'm not going to lie, I'm a little winded right now" I admit.
All of a sudden Hotch's radio goes off, "Get out of there now! Now!" We hear Gideon yell. Well you're a little late with the warning there boss.
"Everyone's fine, except for Walker. Ariadne already found the bomb and warned us in time" Hotch says as he gives me a smile.
Good to know it takes a life threatening close call to make the man smile.
Since Walker blew himself up we no longer had a way to disarm the bomb, therefore Gideon decided that we should try Bale again. Because of the way things went during the last visit both Hotch and I decided to stay in the room with both of them. They brought him and his lawyer up to where we were so as to not waste anymore time.
"We'll start with a transfer, you're in a high security facility now. We can get you medium." It was Gideon and Hotch's idea to negotiate with Bale, I told them I could get the same results after five minutes in a locked room with him. Needless to say they did not approve.
"No I want out of prison. A mental facility" Bale counteracts. Oh hell no.
"You killed six federal agents. You're not leaving prison" I tell him coldly.
"You are asking for something we wouldn't give a bank robber. There are minimum security facilities-" Hotch begins to explain.
"I don't care. I want to be able to talk to people who aren't prisoners, I want to have access…to people, things, the world. I want to connect again." The only thing you're about to connect with Bale is my fist. I had to bite my tongue so that I didn't speak my thoughts aloud.
Gideon's quiet for a while before he responds, "Alright." Damn it, sometimes I hate the fact that Gideon is such a nice guy.
"One more thing…" I whip my head back around to stare at Bale. What in seven hells could he be asking for now? "Without which there is no deal. I want you to confess. I want you to admit that I beat you in Boston. That I outsmarted you. I want you to apologize to the families of those six victims that you got killed. And I want it all in writing."
God as my witness I'm about to commit a murder.
It appears that Hotch has had enough of Bale as well as he stands up and looks at Gideon, "Jason, that's enough." Even Hotch has his breaking point, and Bale just found it.
"If I do this you'll tell me how to defuse the bomb?" Gideon ignores Hotch and looks at Bale.
"Only if you do this" Bale replies smugly.
"Or…" I say as I sit in Hotch's empty seat and wait for Bale to look at me, "Because of your unwillingness to cooperate with the FBI and help to save a man who you inadvertently put in danger I could have you moved to say… Guantanamo Bay for instance." I cock my head at him and smile, "How does that sound Adrian? There's plenty of people to connect with there."
Bales face starts to turn red and I can see a vein in his temple begin to throb when he bares his teeth at me.
Bring it bitch, I'm not afraid of you.
Bale's lawyer is smarter than him however. She quickly puts a hand on his shoulder to remind him of where he is.
In my territory. A dangerous place for a criminal to be.
Gideon draws Bale's attention away from me, "How do I know you won't lie to me?" You don't, that's the whole point I'm trying to make here.
His lawyer jumps at the opportunity to move to a different subject. "It's all in writing Agent Gideon. If my client refuses to give you the information or if he gives you information he knows to be untruthful, the deal is void" she goes on to explain.
Gideon decides to write the letter. As he does so Hotch and I just sit in absolute silence, occasionally glancing at each other, both of us angry but knowing it wasn't our choice to make. Once he was done Gideon slid the paper over to Bale's lawyer. "I wanna hear it" Bale says. This dude is beginning to run out of buttons of mine to push. Gideon brings the paper back to him and gets ready to read. At this point Hotch has leaned back in his chair clenching his jaw.
"It was a hostage situation-"
Gideon is promptly interrupted by Bale. "No. Don't read it. Say it."
That's it, I'm officially out of buttons for him to push. I reach over Hotch and snatch the paper from Gideon's hand. "Either you take this paper or you walk out of here with no deal. He is not going to read this, which was not a part of the agreement in the first place. And if you don't like it than I would be happy to escort you back to your cell."
Bale looked over at me with a scowl and narrowed eyes, "Do you want the hostage to die? If he doesn't read it I won't tell you how to diffuse the bomb" he tells me outraged.
I continue to stare him down, "Like I told your friend Walker, sometimes people die, it happens. It'll happen today, it'll happen tomorrow, it might just happen in five minutes. And I can evacuate everyone from this building in less than two, so I'm not concerned with others getting hurt in the crossfire. Should that innocent man out there die? No. But will I let him if I need to? Yes. So enough of the games, either you take this piece of paper and be content with that, or you walk out of here with nothing. So what's it gonna be?"
Bale's jaw clenches and unclenches a few times, I can see the rage in his eyes, yet despite that he grabs the piece of paper. Good boy.
I can feel Hotch squeeze my shoulder as Gideon takes my hand in his and gives it a couple of loving pats. It my job to protect the team physically and emotionally and the man sitting in front of us was hurting Gideon and I wasn't going to stand for it, hostage be damned. And if that makes me a bad person than fine.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions after all isn't it?
"Four more minutes" Hotch lets us know with a small smile on his face. We all get up and walk over to the window where we watch as Gideon begins to communicate with the member of bomb squad.
"Ok. I've isolated the wires connected to the actual device. We've got one shot at this. It's either the blue wire or the red wire" the guy informs us.
"Which do we cut Bale? Red or blue?" Gideon asks without taking his eyes off the timer. 30 more seconds till it all goes boom.
Bale takes a deep breath in, rolls his shoulders and says "Red." Was saving a life so hard for this man that he had to take that much effort to tell us a simple color?
"You know if you're lying and this thing detonates you get nothing right?" Gideon says finally looking over at Bale. He just nods his head with a blank look on his face. Not typically the response of someone who is about to get out of a maximum security prison. It makes me feel uneasy.
"If we cut the red it's over…you get to spend your time in a cushy asylum, bushes, trees, visits, nurses…and we get this man out of here alive." Gideon tells Bale with a thoughtful look on his face.
"I don't see how I could be any clearer." Okay his attitude is raising an alarm. What was it that Gideon said about Bale telling Walker something? Oh yeah, "Don't let them keep you."
Bale doesn't want to go back to prison and he doesn't want this hostage to live. He's going to let the bomb go off and take all of us including him down with it. His last piece of work. "Red wire right?" I can hear Gideon ask Bale one more time.
"Yes" I hear Bale confirm.
Liar.
"Cut the blue" Gideon and I say at the same time, both Bale and Hotch's heads fly in our direction.
"Are you sure?" the bomb squad member asks. I don't blame him, I would want to double check too.
"Do it" Gideon responds while looking directly into Bale's eyes. We all held our breath while the wire was cut. The timer stopped with four seconds to go.
Immediately Hotch and I each grab one of Bale's arms and we jerk him out of the room and make our way the car to take him back to prison. "Guess you'll never know what was on that piece of paper now will you Adrian?" I taunt him while we pull him through the station.
Dragging him back to the prison is somewhat therapeutic, and I can tell from the look on Hotch's face that he feels the same way.
Gideon and I took extreme pleasure in walking Bale back to his cell. The inmates were yelling at Bale, almost taunting him. Oh it was wonderful, I guess my little rumor had already spread like wildfire. Once we reached his cell Gideon and I stopped outside the bars and looked at Bale.
"Despite the fact that you lied to us and your deal is void, I made sure to tell all your friends here how extremely willing you were to give up information on your fellow inmates" Gideon tells him with satisfaction. I can't help but let out a chuckle, who knew Gideon still had a few tricks up his sleeve? Bale just nods in frustration and looks at the ground.
"You're a rare bird Adrian. I can't tell you how much pleasure I get just knowing I put you in this little, tiny cage. You might even call it an emotional release" Gideon finishes before he goes to walk off. Bale's door begins to shut and I wait it's completely closed before I begin to talk to him.
"And you might want to be cautious now that there's a little rumor going around about you being a child molester."
Bale's head snaps up at my words and his eyes widen and he quickly grabs the bars. "I'm not! I've never touched a child in my life! It's not true!" As he speaks I can see the terror in his eyes. Good.
I tsk at him, "You see I know that Adrian, but they don't. And that makes all the difference in the world. You do know what happens to child molesters in prison right?"
I can see his eyes become misty and he frantically starts shaking his head. "You can't do this! I didn't do anything to you. Why are you doing this to me?"
My gaze hardens and I lean towards the bars until we're face to face. "You taunted and hurt a member of my team. You made me think that I had lost the most precious thing in the world, you made me believe that for a moment I had lost the only family I have left. I want you to feel the same fear that I did. I want you to be afraid for the rest of your life, always wondering when someone's gonna be coming for you. And yes I can do this. I already did." By the end of my little speech I was whispering. Bale looked horrified, I could see his hands shaking on the bars. My work here is done.
I step back and cast Bale one last flitting glance before I walked away, "Have a nice life Adrian Bale…for however long it may last."
Now that that was done with I had a genius to pick up and a brother to get back home to.
A home that nobody was ever going to take away from me.
And if they tried I would burn them to the ground.
"I am there, waiting, watching, keeping to the shadows.
But when you need me I'll step out of the shadows,
And protect what's mine."
